登陆注册
15470700000004

第4章 THE COMING OF THE RING(4)

Also it struck me as odd that he should happen to be present on this occasion, for I have always held that there is nothing casual or accidental in the world; that even the most trivial circumstances are either ordained, or the result of the workings of some inexorable law whereof the end is known by whatever power may direct our steps, though it be not yet declared.

"Certainly I am willing," I answered; "your face and your friendship with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must ask you to give me your word of honour that without my leave you will repeat nothing of what I am about to tell you."

"Of course," he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:

"There, that will do; you don't want us both to kiss the Book, do you?

Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen years, and whence do you come now?"

"I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa's among other things. I had five years of that entertainment of which my back would give some evidence if I were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never embraced Islam whom they allowed to live, and that was because I am a doctor, and, therefore, a useful person. The rest of the time I have spent wandering about the North African deserts looking for my son, Roderick. You remember the boy, or should, for you are his godfather, and I used to send you photographs of him as a little chap."

"Of course, of course," said the Professor in a new tone; "I came across a Christmas letter from him the other day. But, my dear Adams, what happened? I never heard."

"He went up the river to shoot crocodiles against my orders, when he was about twelve years old--not very long after his mother's death, and some wandering Mahdi tribesmen kidnapped him and sold him as a slave. I have been looking for him ever since, for the poor boy was passed on from tribe to tribe, among which his skill as a musician enabled me to follow him. The Arabs call him the Singer of Egypt, because of his wonderful voice, and it seems that he has learned to play upon their native instruments."

"And now where is he?" asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer.

"He is, or was, a favourite slave among a barbarous, half-negroid people called the Fung, who dwell in the far interior of North Central Africa. After the fall of the Khalifa I followed him there; it took me several years. Some Bedouin were making an expedition to trade with these Fung, and I disguised myself as one of them.

"On a certain night we camped at the foot of a valley outside a great wall which encloses the holy place where their idol is. I rode up to this wall and, through the open gateway, heard some one with a beautiful tenor voice singing in English. What he sang was a hymn that I had taught my son. It begins:

'Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.'

"I knew the voice again. I dismounted and slipped through the gateway, and presently came to an open space, where a young man sat singing upon a sort of raised bench with lamps on either side of him, and a large audience in front. I saw his face and, notwithstanding the turban which he wore and his Eastern robe--yes, and the passage of all those years--I knew it for that of my son. Some spirit of madness entered into me, and I called aloud, 'Roderick, Roderick!' and he started up, staring about him wildly. The audience started up also, and one of them caught sight of me lurking in the shadow.

"With a howl of rage, for I had desecrated their sanctuary, they sprang at me. To save my life, coward that I was, I fled back through the gates. Yes, after all those years of seeking, still I fled rather than die, and though I was wounded with a spear and stones, managed to reach and spring upon my horse. Then, as I was headed off from our camp, I galloped away anywhere, still to save my miserable life from those savages, so strongly is the instinct of self-preservation implanted in us. From a distance I looked back and saw by the light of the fired tents that the Fung were attacking the Arabs with whom I had travelled, I suppose because they thought them parties to the sacrilege. Afterwards I heard that they killed them every one, poor men, but I escaped, who unwittingly had brought their fate upon them.

"On and on I galloped up a steep road. I remember hearing lions roaring round me in the darkness. I remember one of them springing upon my horse and the poor beast's scream. Then I remember no more till I found myself--I believe it was a week or so later--lying on the verandah of a nice house, and being attended by some good-looking women of an Abyssinian cast of countenance."

"Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel," remarked Higgs sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum.

"Yes, something of that sort. The details I will give you later. The main facts are that these people who picked me up outside their gates are called Abati, live in a town called Mur, and allege themselves to be descended from a tribe of Abyssinian Jews who were driven out and migrated to this place four or five centuries ago. Briefly, they look something like Jews, practise a very debased form of the Jewish religion, are civilized and clever after a fashion, but in the last stage of decadence from interbreeding--about nine thousand men is their total fighting force, although three or four generations ago they had twenty thousand--and live in hourly terror of extermination by the surrounding Fung, who hold them in hereditary hate as the possessors of the wonderful mountain fortress that once belonged to their forefathers."

"Gibraltar and Spain over again," suggested Orme.

"Yes, with this difference--that the position is reversed, the Abati of this Central African Gibraltar are decaying, and the Fung, who answer to the Spaniards, are vigorous and increasing."

"Well, what happened?" asked the Professor.

同类推荐
  • 辩中边论

    辩中边论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 蜀乱述闻

    蜀乱述闻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Cupid's Understudy

    Cupid's Understudy

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大乘广百论释论

    大乘广百论释论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说出家缘经

    佛说出家缘经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 酒酿小园子

    酒酿小园子

    高考后,小汤圆走上了不一样的人生道路……她和他走到了一起,吵吵闹闹,细水长流。
  • 无上至尊剑神

    无上至尊剑神

    一个武林大师的到一把剑被杀害带着前世的记忆来到了天马大陆托生在上官世家,重新他的修仙之旅,弹指间苍穹覆灭,威震山河,翻手破星河。神魔鬼怪在他剑下陨落。踏上至尊神位。
  • 玄天尊主

    玄天尊主

    一刀一剑平生意,壮志重披英雄衣。刀行剑化通天地,红尘染心卷风云。灵轮聚明台、明镜玄心埃、玄心悟真元、五元天光开、一段刀剑行侠的故事。
  • 世界之巅峰

    世界之巅峰

    生于地球,生死一刻。穿越时空。浑然不知,已于新星球。四周美丽无暇,似中华之古。不知不觉,地球之事皆抛之脑后。带上信仰。站在世界之巅峰。
  • 破茧成蝶1

    破茧成蝶1

    一个男人水性杨花般的爱恨情仇打上了时代的烙印;一名人民警察的睿智与机敏彰显了社会的正义。小说贯穿了主人公文春南下打工的情感经历;他依靠女人上位,入赘豪门,成为那个时代的新贵;随着他的至爱一个个死去,他变得万念俱灰…。通过方剑的巧妙断案,黑帮和保护伞被摧枯拉朽…郑重声明本故事纯属虚构!若有雷同,纯属巧合,请勿对号入座!小说所使用的真实地名和人名,仅为写作方便,不针对任何单位和个人!望请读者原谅!
  • 网游第二大陆

    网游第二大陆

    不yy,不11,不虐主的网游为主体的小说。于彬,颖皇工作室的主力人员,掌握了“神战状态”的人。工作室如何发展?与各大网游公会有什么联系?最强俱乐部战队归属如何?都在《网游之狂怒双刃》之中。呃,书名得等两个月才能改过来。
  • 元气超人

    元气超人

    在4022年的地球上有一队考古学家发现一个远古遗址但是他们不小心打开了远古遗址里的一个神秘封印放出了一股能量团,能量团飞出了遗址融入到了地球的空气中........后来人类发现地球的空气中多了一种能够使所以生物都能进化的粒子,经过几年的变化,人类已经可以一只手指举起一部轿车,原来可爱的动物也变成了恐怖的异兽........超人大时代就这样开始了.............
  • Richard II

    Richard II

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 全世界原来你还在我身边

    全世界原来你还在我身边

    那年,夏初安16,黎暮森16,仿佛命中注定般的相遇了。所有的故事,都随着那个悄然而来的春天,展开了。一切都如同潘多拉的盒子一样,神秘而又未知。所有人都被牵涉其中,无法逃离。地球之所以是圆的,是为了让失散的恋人重新团聚。————摘自《何以笙箫默》
  • 难吟两相错

    难吟两相错

    火红火红的花朵大批大批的开着,每一株花都非常奇特,有花不见叶,叶生不见花,生生世世,花叶两相交错,这是接引之花,亦是魂断之处,长长黄泉路,这是唯一的风景与色彩,血色的温柔......衣袂翩飞,长风恣意席卷,绿叶白涛,汹涌翻滚,双双对视的璧人,横卧,相拥。突如其来的爱怜,顺势袭来,燥热全身,阿毓直勾勾的凝视着花樱,呆呆的,落叶细碎的斑驳轻轻的打在她的面庞,微风过后,发梢轻摇,她竟在偷笑,来不及多想,阿毓含着她温润的唇,叶子上的梅子酒滴滴滚下,沿着干涸的躯干,寸寸侵蚀,愈是疼痛,愈加缠绵,一次次,一遍遍,蔓延全身,直至他柔和的面庞清晰而来......