Son of Power, Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  _Son of Power_

  His Indian name was given to Skag in the great Grass Jungle; but he didnot know the meaning of the words when they first fell upon his ear.There India herself first opened for him the magic gates that seal hermystery. But he did not know it was her glamour that made him utterlyforget outside things, in the unbelievable loveliness of Grass Jungledays; did not know it was just as much her spell that made him forget hisown birthright, in the paralysis of perfect fear.

  A part of her mystery is this forgetting--while she reveals canvas aftercanvas of life--uncovers layer beneath layer of her deeper marvels. Skagwas involved with his animals--and interests peculiarly personal--till itall came to seem like a dream. Yet underneath his surface consciousnessit was working in him, as the glamour of India always does, to colour hisentire future--as the magic of India always will.

  After their night in the tiger pit-trap, Cadman and Skag had wanderedsoutheast-ward--still searching for the Monkey Forest and the ColdwaterRuins--and had become lost to the world and the ways of civilisation inthe mazes of the Mahadeo mountains. They had found a dozen jungles fullof monkeys, but none of them looked to Cadman like his dream. Themonkeys were all so melted-in to everything else; and there was so muchtoo much of everything else.

  As for Ruins, the thing they found was too old. It was like an exposureof the sins of first men--alive with bats and smaller vermin. Themonkeys there had preserved from age to age the germs of all depravity.Without words the two Americans turned away from that spot, to forget it.

  Skag was learning that his training in the circus had been but a merebeginning in the study of wild animals. It seemed impossible that therecould be a jungle anywhere with more beasts or greater variety, than theyheard at night.

  It was as hard to come in good view of any wild creature--exceptingmonkeys--as it had been hard at first to sleep, on account of the voicesof all creation after sundown. To approach undiscovered, and to lie outand watch undiscovered, taxed and developed all their faculties; thefascination and excitement of it stretched their powers; and theirsuccesses enriched them both for a life-time.

  After the first eagerness to get twenty different positions of a tigressplaying with her kittens, Cadman had become a miser of material and anadept in noiseless movement. Finding that he was in danger of goingshort on sketching paper, he used it more and more as if it were finegold, till his outlines were not larger than miniatures. Also, helearned to glance for the flash of approval in Skag's eye.

  The two men had grown into a rare comradeship. This time of year,sleeping in the open was luxury. They had not suffered for food,excepting in the memory of such things as had once been most common.Well above fever-line, no ailment had touched them. So, eating simply,sleeping deeply and working hard, they toughened in body and keened inmind--the days all full of quickening interests, every next minute due todevelop surprise.

  It was by a little headlong mountain stream, that the revelation came.Skag was looking to see which was the business-end of his tooth-brushthat morning when Cadman broke his sheath knife. The accident was acalamity, because Skag's was already worn out cutting step-way to climbout of khuds, and this was all they had left to serve such a purpose.

  "That settles it, we must go," said Cadman, looking ruefully at the stumpof his old blade. "Our nearest kin wouldn't know us, but we are stillrecognisable to each other, and I'm not exactly ready to quit--are you?"

  "No," Skag answered absently--unwilling to realise the necessity.

  Cadman studied the crestfallen face--they had loved this life togetherand equally.

  "But do you realise, my son," he asked, "that others will have to see us,before we can ever again be clothed and groomed properly?"

  Now Skag looked at his friend with seeing eyes and blushed.

  "It's not the clothes, so much as--" Skag stopped.

  Cadman focused on Skag's face through his queer spectacles, then helaughed as only Cadman could laugh.

  So they climbed down and took train for Bombay. Like fugitives theydodged the sight of correctly dressed Englishmen all the way; stoppingover more than seven hours at Kullian--so as to reach the great city atnight.

  Next morning two clean-faced and very much alive Americans arrived at thePolo Club for late breakfast. Indeed they were good to look at, being inthe finest kind of health and full of initiative. That breakfast wasroyal in every flavour; they felt like young spendthrifts squanderingtheir patrimony. Just as they were finishing, a distinguished lookingEnglishman came across the room and greeted Cadman:

  "Now this is my own proverbial good luck! Come away up to the house andgive account of yourself. Where are the pictures? We'll take 'em along."

  Cadman presented Skag to Doctor Murdock of the University, explained thatit was imperative for them to do some general outfitting, but promised tobring his friend in the afternoon.

  "Doctor Murdock is an extraordinary man, Skag," said Cadman, as theEnglishman hurried away. "Beside his chair in the University, he is saidto be top surgeon of Bombay. Barring none, he has more of differentkinds of knowledge than any man I know; becomes master of whatever hetakes up--authority, past question."

  "I wondered why you promised to take me along," Skag put in.

  "You'll be glad to have met him. He'll be interested in you," Cadmananswered. "He's quite likely to take us to see some of the Indiannautch-girls. They're one of his fads--for their beauty. He hasspecialties in art as well as in science; but he's clean stuff--nothingrotten in him."

  They forgot time in the Bombay bazaars; first looking for bags, to beeasily carried on their own persons; and then giving themselves toquality and workmanship in things designed for their special uses. Therewas no hurry. All life stretched before them, in widening vistas.

  Doctor Murdock's house was high on Malabar Hill. Their hired carriagecame in behind his trim little brougham, as it turned on the drivewayinto his compound.

  "My fortune again!" the Doctor called. "I've been detained by a case andproperly sweating for fear you'd reach my den first."

  Tea was served on a verandah entirely foreign and tropical and strangelooking to Skag. A field of palm-tops stretched away from their feet tothe sea. They told him the city of Bombay was hidden under those fronds.

  "And now you understand, Cadman," the Doctor was saying, "there's yourown room and one next for your friend Hantee. Your traps will be upbefore you sleep, which may not be early, for I've a tamasha on for youthis night--you remember, I enjoy dinner in the morning?"

  That tamasha was a maze of strange colour, strange motion and strangerperfume to Skag; not penetrating his conscious nature at all--feelingunreal to him.

  "I've been watching you without shame this night, young man," the Doctorsaid to him, as they finished the after-midnight meal. "My entertainmentfell dead with you. Sir. You've been 'way off somewhere else. I'msimply consumed to know what you have found in life, to make your eyesblind and your ears deaf to the lure of human beauty. You're not to bedistressed by my impudence--it's innocent."

  "If I may answer for my friend, I belive [Transcriber's note: believe?] Ican tell you, Doctor." Cadman saw consent in Skag's eye and went on: "Hehas found the lure of creatures. He has entered into the spell of ayoung tigress playing with her kittens, in her own place. He has watchedanother tigress fight her mate to a finish, defending her little onesfrom their sire. He has listened to the symphonies of night and seen thedrama of the wild. He lives in the clean glamour of the primeval jungle."

  The Doctor's eyes widened for seconds; then they gloomed as he spoke:

  "Between you, you challenge modern manhood. We have not conceived that'clean glamour' since men were young--forgotten ages past. No, there wasno human beauty to-night to make a man forget those tigresses. . . . Shewas not there. I am one of many who miss her, but I would give--" TheDoctor broke off, searching their faces before he spoke again: "There isno hope you will know the depth of t
he calamity; the bitterness of theloss. Speaking of clean things--"

  "Who was she?" Cadman asked.

  "She was the most beautiful thing on earth. She was indeed the mostmarvellous thing on earth, being a Bombay singing nautch-girl--undefamed.There has been no one else, these ages."

  The Doctor sat smoking, apparently oblivious of his guests.

  "The Spartan Helen?" Cadman suggested.

  "Hah! The Spartan Helen was not invincible!"

  "The Noor Mahal?"

  "The Noor Mahal was always in seclusion."

  "Her name?" Skag questioned.

  "She had no name," the Doctor answered, "but she was called 'Dhoop KiDhil'--Heart-of-the-Sun; possibly on account of her voice. There hasbeen none like it. The master-mahouts of High Himalaya, their voicespass those of all other men for splendour; but I tell you there was noneother in the world, beside hers. Rich men in Bombay would give fortunesto anyone who would find her."

  "Then she is not dead?" Skag spoke startled.

  "We do not know that she is dead," the Doctor answered. "We wouldsuppose so, but for a curious happening four days before she disappeared.Down in the silk-market a dealer was buying silk from an up-countrynative--a man from the Grass Jungle. The native was exceptionally goodto look upon. Dhoop Ki Dhil came into the place to make some purchase.Her eye fell on the jungle man and she stood back. She was a valuablecustomer, so the silk-merchant made haste to signal her forward. But sheshook her head and moved further back."

  The Doctor stopped to smoke.

  "After a while Dhoop Ki Dhil came forward, moving like one in a trance,and said to the jungle man, 'Are you a god?' and the jungle man answeredher with shame, 'No, I am a common man.'

  "Now that silk-merchant will tell no more. One doesn't blame him. Thenatives are not patient with such a tale of her. To hear that any manhad taken her eye, maddened them. She had passed the snares ofdesire--immune. She had turned away from fabulous wealth. She haddenied princes and kings. She smiled on all men alike--with that smilemothers have for little children."

  "She was a mother-thing," murmured Cadman.

  The Doctor turned, questioning:

  "A mother-thing? Yes, probably. But she led the singing women like asuper-being incarnate. She led the dancing women like a living flame.They sing and dance yet, but the fire of life is gone out!"

  "Where is the Grass Jungle?" Cadman asked.

  "Nobody seems to know. As for me, I never heard of it--till this. Thesilk-merchants say that once in several years some strange man--one oranother--in strange garments, comes down with a peculiar kind of silk, toexchange for cotton cloth. He won't take money for it and he's easilycheated. He won't talk--only that he's from the great Grass Jungle. Heusually calls it 'great.'"

  "It must be possible to find," said Cadman, glancing at Skag. "What doyou say?"

  "I'm with you," Skag answered.

  "Now am I gone quite mad, or do I understand you?" the Doctor enquired.

  "I think you understand us," Cadman answered.

  The Doctor sprang up, exclaiming:

  "I've often told you, Cadman, you Americans develop most extraordinarysurprises. Most remarkable men on earth for--for developing at the--atthe very moment, you understand!"

  "Do you know anyone who might give us something on the locality?" Skagasked Cadman.

  "That's the point. I think I do," Cadman nodded. "But we'll have to goand find out."

  "My resources are at your disposal," the Doctor put in.

  "Your resources have accomplished the first half," smiled Cadman. "It'sfair that the rest of it should be ours."

  "Then what's to do?" the Doctor questioned.

  "A few things to purchase first, easily done to-day," Cadman answered,glancing out at the faint dawn. "Then, I know Dickson of the grain-foodsdepartment, at Hurda--Central Provinces. He ought to be familiar withthe topography of all the inside country. We'll risk nothing by going tohim."

  "Then away with you to bed and get one good sleep. The boy will bringyou a substantial choti-hazri when you're out of your bath at six. Ihave a couple of small elephant-skin bags--you'll not find the like inshops--they're made for the interior medical service."

  So Cadman and Skag went up from Bombay that night on the Calcutta-boundtrain, facing the far interior of India. The boy in Skag found joy inevery detail of his outfit; especially the elephant-skin bag, stockedwith necessary personal requirements and nothing more. But somewhere,far out before him, lost in this mystery-land--was a woman. That womanmust be found.

  "What's the secret about the Doctor?" he asked Cadman, after they hadbeen rolling through the night some hours.

  "Nobody knows, unless it's a woman he didn't get," Cadman answered.

  "What's the grip this wonder-woman has on him?"

  "Beauty and music and life, in the superlative degree; when it allhappens together, in one woman--she grips."

  After that they both dreamed vague man-dreams of Dhoop Ki Dhil.

  "There stands Dickson Sahib himself!" Cadman exclaimed, at Hurda station;and Skag saw the two meet, perceiving at once that it was a friendshipbetween men of very different type.

  Then Dickson Sahib promptly gathered them both into that Anglo-Indianhospitality which is never forgotten by those who have found it. Skagwas made to feel as much at home as the evidently much-loved Cadman; notby word or gesture, but by a kindly atmosphere about everything. He meta slender lad of twelve years, presented to him by Dickson Sahib as "Myson Horace," whose clear grey eyes attracted him much.

  After dinner Cadman told the story of Dhoop Ki Dhil. There was perfectsilence for minutes when he finished. Skag was groping on and on--hisquest already begun. Dickson was smoking hard, till he startled themboth:

  "Of course, it's altogether right; I'd like to be with you."

  "Then will you direct us?" Cadman asked.

  "As an officer in a land-department, you understand--" Dickson answeredslowly, "I'm not supposed to send men into a place like that, to theirdeath. But I want you to know that my responsibility has nothingwhatever to do with my concern. Because I value your lives as men--Iwant to be careful. You must let me think it out loud. It's a maze. Imay place you, as I get on."

  "We appreciate your care," Cadman said earnestly.

  "The 'great' Grass Jungle is the proper name for vast territory--not allin one piece," Dickson Sahib began. "It comes in rifts between parallelrivers among the mountains. Seepage back and forth between the streams,gives the moisture necessary for such growth--year round.

  "When white men come to the edge of one of those rifts, they turn back.It's pestilential with wild beasts. Natives call it the Place-of-Fear.White men don't challenge it--they go round. Government has named onepart of it--over toward the eastern end of the Vindhas--the Bund elKhand, the closed country; that name tells its own story."

  Dickson Sahib stopped, frowning.

  "The native with silks to exchange goes down to Bombay?" he went on."That means, not Calcutta-way. It also means, not anywhere in theDeccan--which clears us away from large tracts. Yet he usually calls it'great'--that should mean, the Bund el Khand. No one knows how far in;but you'll best approach it from this side. I'm not dissuading you; I'dlike to be along. I'm offering you choice of my assortment offiring-pieces. I'll work you out some running lines--they'll be ready bylate-breakfast time. But I'm certain your best place to leave the trackswill be Sehora."

  Dickson Sahib was worrying with a match, his face troubled, as hemuttered:

  "Now if Hand-of-a-God--"

  "What is that?" Skag asked quietly, of Cadman.

  "That," smiled Dickson Sahib, "is a Scotchman. This civil station ofHurda is famous because he lives here. He is an absolutely perfect shot.Years ago he took all the medals and cups at the great shootingtournaments. He took 'em all, till for shame's sake he withdrew fromcontesting. He goes to the tournaments just the same--the crackshotmenwouldn't be without him--but he doesn't
enter for the trophies any more."

  "He is called the avenger of the people, Skag," Cadman put in, "becausehe goes out and gets the man-eaters; never sights for anything but theeye or the heart, and never misses."

  "As I was saying," Dickson Sahib went on, "if Hand-of-a-God were here,he'd go without asking. Or even if the Rose-pearl's brother Ian werehere, he's quick enough. But he plays with situations, rather."

  "Don't let this situation trouble you, Dickson," said Cadman.

  There fell a moment of curious silence. Cadman was a bit pale, butSkag's face looked serene, as he questioned innocently:

  "Rose-pearl?"

  "Yes," Dickson Sahib began absently, "she's here when she's not visitingone of her numerous brothers; just now it's Billium in Bombay. Herdegree is from London University and the medical service recognises herwork among the people. She's a holy thing to them; indeed, she neverrests when there's much sickness among them. But one wouldn't ask afavour of one of her brothers."

  "Hold on, Dickson, I protest!" Cadman interrupted laughingly. "I'm notsuch a bad shot myself, you know!"

  "The Grass Jungle is crowded--I say crowded--with the worst kinds ofblood-eaters. You may want an extra good shot; at the very top notch ofpractice, what's more."

  As Dickson Sahib came out with it, he noticed Skag's surprise, andchallenged him:

  "Bless your soul, man, I believe it's your grip that grips us!"

  Skag's serene face got warm, but Cadman assented.

  "Skag dwells in the fundamentals," he explained; "most of us never touch'em. He's practically incapable of fear; and the idea of failure neveroccurs to him."

  Early next morning Cadman got a telegram calling him to Calcutta; andafterward to England.

  "We'll take time to do this big thing first, though," he said, puttingthe wire into Skag's hand. "They want me sooner--as you see; but they'llget me later. Come away and I'll send word to that effect."

  Skag was realising what it would have meant to him, if Cadman had failed;so he asked--vaguely--something about the Rose-pearl.

  "Don't let yourself get interested in her, son. That family is like asecret sanctuary; and she is the holy thing behind the altar. She'sunattainable."