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The Expedition of Captain Flick: A Story of Adventure

Chapter XXI. The Festival of Venus

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Chapter XXI. The Festival of Venus.

“Hail, Queen Venus, goddess holy,
See us bending, silent, lowly,
In thy dwelling, pure and fair;
From thine altar to the skies,
Curls the smoke of sacrifice,
White wreaths in the sunny air.
We implore thee, we beseech thee,
That our chants of joy may reach thee;
We beseech thee, we implore thee,
As we humbly kneel before thee,
Hear, O goddess—hear our prayer.”

For the next two days we saw nothing of the king, and we were still debarred from entering the Temple of the Star. All this was the work of Basilea, as I afterwards learned; for, her fancy being taken by Harry's looks, she had devised certain plans to gain him, making use of her sacerdotal power to forward such schemes. Indeed, she was the most powerful person in the island; as, being the high priestess of Venus, she was believed to be greatly favoured by the goddess, and it was by favour of the divinity alone, so the inhabitants believed, that the volcano remained harmless. The islanders were page 237 afraid of Venus, by reason of this volcano, which they held, after the Greek fashion, to be the workshop of her spouse, Vulcan. The common belief was, that were Venus to be offended, she would plead with her husband, and cause the volcano to overwhelm Isk, and bury it under the waves. With this visible terror constantly before their eyes, it may be guessed how dreaded was the goddess—how supreme was the high priestess. Hesperus ruled the island, it is true; but Basilea, by the power of superstition, ruled the king. And so, as I said before, she held our future in her grasp—for weal or woe.

Harry, with the flippancy of youth, was disposed to scoff at the fancy taken to his good looks by a woman old enough to be his mother; but both Flick and myself warned him against treating the matter lightly. The chance that Bertha had, carried away the portrait, the accident that Basilea had seen and fallen in love with the young man's looks; these had smoothed our path for us in no small degree. We advised him, should he come face to face with her, to be wary in his conduct, lest her love changing to hate, as is the way with some women, she should withdraw her protection, and doom us to destruction.

“Not that we will die without a fight for it, lad,” said Flick gravely; “but it might happen that Basilea may change her mind before we can get your sister page 238 aboard. In such a case it might go hard with us, for we cannot leave Isk without Miss Bertha; and should we be forced to storm the temple, there would be bloodshed, and loss of life.”

“I don't think these negroes can fight much!” said Harry.

“On the contrary, I fancy they are perfect devils when roused,” replied Flick. “It is not the quality, but the quantity I fear; we may be overwhelmed by numbers. And, after all, Harry,” he said, resting his hand on the lad's shoulder, “is it not well to do our work as quietly as possible? For love of you Basilea may give up Bertha—she may give up even the statue—and, those aboard, we can blow up the iron gates with dynamite, and stand out to sea. Once away from this isle, and you need have no fear of Basilea.”

“I hardly like to make use of her in the way you say, Flick. It seems dishonourable.”

“You must act for our common safety, lad. Basilea is a tigress, and she will have no scruples with you. Smooth her down, and we escape, perhaps with both prizes. Treat her with contempt, and there may be trouble.”

Although Flick talked sound sense, I quite saw Harry's side of the matter. It was no light thing for an honourable man to deliberately deceive a woman who had set her heart on him. With him, I admitted page 239 that it was dishonourable; but in the straits to which we were reduced, I saw no other chance of accomplishing the twofold object of our expedition, and coming off with our lives. Needs must when the devil drives, as the proverb has it; therefore I added my urgings to those of Flick, so that in the end Harry promised to sacrifice his scruples, and make what use he could of Basilea. I was greatly cheered that he agreed to do so; although, honestly speaking, I feared he was too inexperienced in the ways of the sex to baffle the cunning Basilea. She was a woman armed with immense power, and subtle beyond all conception. I foresaw, then, that it would require all our dexterity to counteract her schemes, and escape from the island with our prizes; and, as events proved, my forebodings were true. In fighting the high priestess, we matched ourselves against no ordinary foe.

While waiting for a sight of Basilea and Bertha, the latter of whom I hoped to see after the festival, we made ourselves acquainted with the city and the neighbourhood about it. The land was admirably cultivated, and although the island was well populated—the number of people amounting in the aggregate to some fifty thousand—there was ample food for all. Food, indeed, was cheap in Isk, and I was amazed at the provisions which could be bought for a single blue stone. Hesperus had sent to each page 240 of us a bag of these turquoises, so that we could buy anything we had a mind to; and, for the rest, he ordered that meat, fish, corn, and fruit should be given to us without payment in such quantities as we required. Indeed, throughout our sojourn on the island, Hesperus treated us more as honoured guests than as prisoners. But we were regarded as the latter, for the islanders thought we were at their mercy, through being shut up in the port. They did not know how useless, with the resources we had on board, were their iron gates to stay our yacht. A well-laid mine would shatter those gates, strong as they were, into a thousand pieces, though unfortunately—but that comes later on in the story; at present I have to speak of Myrtea, and of the festival of Venus.

On the morning of the third day, we heard the sounds of music in the dismal city of Awazil. For the first time since our experience of them, the islanders gave themselves up to pleasure, and made merry after a dreary fashion of their own. Their black cloaks were discarded, for, in honour of the goddess, they wore white garments over their scarlet tunics, and crowned themselves with flowers. When we went ashore, we actually saw some of them dancing, men and women, to the shrilling of pipes and the beating of drums, and oddly enough they looked, with their serious black faces, as they capered page 241 solemnly to the sound of barbaric music. Wine there was in plenty, but not even wine could make them really merry. Like the English, they took their pleasures seriously, and amused themselves that day in a fashion which smacked of duty rather than of agreeable relaxation. So far as heartfelt joy was concerned, I considered the festival a failure; but, I have no doubt, they thought they were having a rollicking time.

Throughout that day the negores feasted and danced and sang strange barbaric songs. The religious festival was to take place at night in the temple, when the king would be present. Then the doves sacred to the goddess would be slain, the sacred fire would be kindled on the altar, and the priestess, with loosened hair, would dance the sacred dance to the singing of the people. Wearied out with the tumult on shore, we withdrew to the yacht, and kept our sailors aboard, lest, in the frenzy of the festival, trouble might come of their mingling with the crowd. We had no wish that accident should upset our plans, and bring a horde of fanatics about our ears.

On the quay we saw the people gazing at our ship; some even paddled themselves out into the pool in canoes, others swam like otters—for the islanders were as much at home in the water as on the land; page 242 but none of them attempted to board the yacht, although we were ready for any attack. There was no need for fear, although we knew it not, for Basilea, for the furthering of her plans, had laid a taboo on the boat, and it was death for any votary of the goddess to touch even the side of the yacht. We three sat on deck after dinner, smoked our pipes, and talked of our plans; as the sunlight died out of the sky, the cup, wherein the town was built, filled with darkness, and myriad lights began to sparkle in the dark city.

The illumination of the temple immediately in front of us was the most splendid of all. Lamps of all hues were set on either side of the terraced staircases which rose to the fane itself. Lines of pale yellow fire enwreathed the many pillars of the building, and outlined the triangle of the pediment. At the summit of the temple a large globe of white fire gleamed like the moon—the moon which, even at that hour, was glimmering in pearly lustre behind the black cone of the mountain. Red lights flared fiercely along the quays, and the city itself flamed a many-coloured constellation of stars. The stars themselves, mellow in the purple sky, looked down calmly on the brilliance in the hollow, which for the moment was equal to their own.

A gong roared from the temple, followed by the page 243 strident shrieking of trumpets. Then we saw the white-robed people streaming in thousands along the quay towards the great staircase. No voice was raised in song, not even a laugh or a cry could be heard; but, dominated by religious fear, that great multitude toiled upward in silence to the glimmering temple, which glittered like a jewel set in the blackness of the forests. And, as if adding to the illumination, a pale streak of fire played fitfully through the pillar of smoke that curled lazily from the mighty volcano. Despite our position, our fears, and anxiety, the scene fascinated us all, and we stood staring at it with delight and wonder, until the gong, rolling its hoarse music for the third time, summoned us to the rites of the goddess.

“Well,” said I, as we rowed ashore,” I am fond of the classics, and I have studied them closely, but never did I expect to see an antique religious ceremony in honour of Venus.”

“There are strange things done in far-off lands,” replied Flick, with a shrug, “of which this is not the least strange. It will be something to talk about in Devon, if we escape.”

“Ay, Flick-if!” said I bitterly, for I remembered how his desire to gain the statue had led to the kidnapping of Bertha, and to our imprisonment in this strange and undiscovered isle.

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He said nothing in reply, knowing what was in my heart, but he addressed himself to Harry, who sat near him.

“Have you your revolver, lad?”

“Yes; so has Denis, and the men have theirs. With four men, and us three, all armed, there will be no danger, Flick.”

The captain grunted his approval, and having instructed the two sailors left in charge of the boat to keep near to the quay, so that we might have the means to regain the ship in case of treachery, he climbed the staircase, with Harry on one side, myself on the other, and the four men behind. The stairs were white with worshippers pressing upward, but at the sound of our strange voices they parted like the waves of the sea, and we passed up easily between their ranks. Very queer we must have looked in the eyes of these black people, in our rough yachting suits and caps; and strange they looked in ours, with their dwarfish stature and sullen faces, whence all the joy of the festival had not been able to banish the look of sadness. To me the whole weird scene was like a dream, and I could hardly believe that I was awake and in the nineteenth century.

At the door of the temple there was a great blaze of torchlight, and a few steps in front of the throng page 245 which crowded the portico stood a woman, tall and slender, clothed in white, and deeply veiled. In her hand she held a silver cup, encrusted with rough turquoise gems, and when we appeared she moved swiftly forward. At first, deceived by the height, I thought she was Bertha, but the moment she spoke I perceived my mistake. It was not Bertha, nor did I know the voice, but later on I guessed that she was Basilea. Like a true woman she betrayed herself when she came to Harry.

“Drink, stranger!” she said, holding out the cup to Flick. “The goddess welcomes you to her holy house. Drink.”

Flick hesitated, thinking the cup might contain poisoned wine, whereupon she laughed in a jeering manner, and, slightly lifting her veil, sipped the beverage herself. Captain Flick grew red with shame, as he perceived that she sneered at his hesitation, and, seizing the cup, he drank some of its contents. Then it was presented to me, and I followed Flick's example. Lastly, the woman came to Harry, where he stood, noble and splendid, among the dwarfish crowd. She looked closely at his face, and I heard her draw a long breath; after which she bowed before him, and lifted the cup, slightly varying the speech of invitation.

“Drink, Adonis,” she said sweetly. “Venus, thine page 246 handmaiden, welcomes thee to thy dwelling, where thou wilt be the lord of her servants.”

With a look of wonder at this strange address, Harry drank. Basilea then disappeared, the crowd parted, and we entered the great hall where the silvery veil hung before the statue of the goddess.

Here a surprise awaited us. The roof had been removed, and overhead glittered the star-gemmed sky, and the glory of the summer moon. By what mechanism this had been managed I cannot say, but assuredly the islanders of Isk were more civilized than any of us hitherto had believed. On the daïs stood Hesperus, robed in purple, with silver crown and sceptre; beside him his two brothers, in white; Ixtael in scarlet. The king did not look at us, nor did the rest of the crowd; but all eyes were fastened on the silver veil which, as it rustled in the night wind, shook out pearly lights under the cold radiance of moon and stars.

Scarcely had we taken our stand on the daïs by the king, where a place had been reserved for us, when low music was heard, the curtains at the side of the hall parted, and a train of maidens, some old, some middle-aged, a few young, swept in These were the daughters of the royal house, sworn priestesses of Venus, and they came forward till they formed in a kneeling group before the shrine. page 247 As they lifted their voices in a hymn, Basilea, with a garland of roses on her grey locks, appeared and cast incense on the altar. A thick smoke arose, and veiled the curtain hung before the shrine. When it cleared away, we saw that the silver veil had been drawn aside, and there, matchless, wonderful in her naked beauty, appeared the statue of Venus which Flick had come to carry away.