Part 6

I must have presented a weird spectacle to the inhabitants, sailing through the air suspended by my parachute and surrounded by a ring of flashing, sputtering, sizzling torchlights. I had quite a comfortable seat where the ropes crossed, and from this position I selected a verdant place to disembark, and succeeded remarkably well, for I landed not only on a nice soft spot, but what was decidedly better, for I was beastly hungry, at a hunter’s camp, and it had been recently occupied, for there were standing against a tree several fine Remington rifles and one Winchester, with full magazines, as I learned.

What then bothered me was the whereabouts of the owners of these fine articles; but as night was coming on rapidly, I made myself comfortable for a good sleep.

I cannot tell what hour it was when I was awakened by a frightful roaring near at hand. Placing my arsenal handy I awaited developments with expectation, knowing if there was one thing above another at which I was an expert it was in the use of firearms.

There was not much delay in the operations, for the lions had undoubtedly been driven from their haunts by the heat from the volcano, by the light from which I soon discovered an immense drove of fine ones on the first ridge between me and the lurid mountain. I counted a hundred, and there were many, very many more—not to say anything about the cubs. And it was to the presence of these young ones that I attributed the fierceness of the old ones.

My experienced eye told me they were advancing directly toward me and I must make ready for them. My knowledge of this game was such I knew my artillery would be of no power whatever against these rapacious animals when once they had scented me, which they quickly did.

Now, what I was to do I did with celerity, and it was to ascend a palm tree and ensconce myself in its branches, taking with me the ropes with which I had constructed my parachute.

As is usually the case the monarch of the herd led the way and was the first to come beneath the tree. In following my scent he ran his head through the noose I had hung down for the purpose. I thereupon gave him such a sudden and powerful jerk as to break his neck. Another came and I treated him to a hanging. And so it went until two massive fellows got their heads in at the same time, and, knowing it would require additional effort to crack such vertebrae I gave them an extra twist; but it seems they must have sprung into the air at the exact moment, and between the force of my arm and the spring of their limbs, they went to such a height as to pass clear over the tree and, what was worse than all, carried my noose with them.

There still remained about twenty females and their young, and these seemed inclined to camp out there and then, which was not at all to my liking. They must have been almost starved, for they fell upon the bodies of their lords and masters with a horrible snarling and snapping.

All would probably have been well if I had not in a spirit of wantonness shot one of the cubs with the only bullet I had brought up, not thinking I should have occasion to use the firearms at all. This so angered the mothers they held a council how to get me down. They began to smell around the guns and I was thunderstruck to see one gray-whiskered old female take the Winchester between her paws, point it at me, and begin to fumble for the trigger. I did not lose my presence of mind, and proceeded to put into execution another plan for ridding myself of these obnoxious beasts.

My knowledge of ventriloquism did me splendid service. I threw my voice into a clump of bushes right behind the madam with the gun, which so startled her she lowered the point of the rifle and while she was turning around to learn the exact whereabouts of the intruder she dispatched the piece twelve times in rapid succession, killing a lion at every crack. Then I threw my voice in such manner as to keep her turning and by the time she had got back to the starting point she had disposed of several more.

Then I threw my voice immediately beneath her and gave a terrific yell, which caused her to bound into the air and discharge her gun as she went, which happened to be pointed toward the other rifles, and the ball somehow or other struck in such a manner as to discharge several of them, one of the balls disposing of her in excellent style, the others killing the few remaining.

I quickly descended from my perch and captured all the cubs, which I tied together and fed with the flesh of the dead lions.

In the morning the hunters returned and their astonishment at the havoc I had wrought among the lions, they could not find an end to their congratulations. I sold them the young lions for a handsome fortune and gave them the hides of the old ones, as they were in the employ of some museums and parks and were out hunting lions for their employers. They had expected to remain a year and this was their first camp. As they only desired twenty lions they could now go back at once with their herd of fifty beautiful cubs.

After they had gone away rejoicing, I laid my course in another direction which finally brought me to the desert.

Wishing to reach an oasis I pressed on, but night overtaking me I lay down on a little mound and went to sleep.

I was awakened at the break of day by the approach of a flock of ostriches coming pellmell toward me. In my hurry to be prepared for them I disengaged my burning fluid from my pocket, and before I could recover it some of it had been spilled on the mound. I had barely time to grab around the neck the young ostrich that was hatched by the heat produced by my fluid—for it was an ostrich nest on which I had slept.

This chick must have been pretty well saturated by the fluid for his growth was prodigious. As he had been born so suddenly, and therefore was a very newcomer in the neighborhood, he became frightened by the noise made by the mothers and fathers of the brood and made off with me on his back, he going at the top of his speed.

I may be pardoned for remarking it was the prettiest race I had ever witnessed, and I believe now I did a very contemptible thing, though it did not so appear to me at the time.

The flock was in ripe feather and represented a goodly pile of gold. As I sped along I concerned myself with the problem of their capture, and I was not long in formulating a plan.

Having observed the growing effect of the fluid on the chick I spread some more of it on him. The result was marvelous indeed, for he grew to such a height it made me dizzy to look upon the flying ground. He expanded in every direction, and his back became large enough for me to walk around upon it with comfort.

By dint of exercising some caution I secured a bit in his mouth and was pleased to find he answered quite readily to the rein.

I then turned him about and made for the flock, which stood in open-mouthed wonder—for none of them had ever seen such a chick. He so shook the earth with his tread that it frightened them and they made off at the top of their speed, which appeared to me quite slow, as I had not the slightest difficulty in riding down first one and then another and pulling out the best feathers. This I continued to do until I had a bale of them many feet square. Then I put them into a frenzy and they scurried across the sand out of sight. I thereupon stopped my horse and alighted with my bale of ostrich feathers. Perhaps it was the love of mother or of father or home, anyhow something, some impulse took possession of my chick and he trotted away leaving me in the burning sand. I grabbed at his tail as he started, but only succeeded in getting fifty or sixty feathers, each about ten feet long and all beautifully curled.

I was somewhat fatigued and lay down on my bale. When I awoke I was surrounded by a herd of Arabs, all with their faces in the sand, muttering exhortations. I spoke in their own tongue, commanding the shiek to arise. When he had done so I asked him the cause of this proceeding. He seemed tongue-tied, with hardly strength enough left to point at the feathers of the young bird.

I asked him what that had to do with it, and after about an hour of urging, with the greatest difficulty he told me, but he had to turn his back to the long feathers, for every time his eyes caught sight of them, he wiggled and twisted, gasped and choked, and would have burrowed his head in the sand at my feet if I had not made him stand up straight.

He said he had no words to describe his admiration for a man who could find such feathers. After about another hour he managed to face the feathers again with composure, though he accomplished it by the exercise of great care; he turned but an inch at a time, and first took a very little peek out of the tail of his eye, then one a little larger after he had got over his spasms, and so on until at last he was fairly capable of real thought. Then he begged the privilege of hefting one of them. I handed one to him, whereupon he cried aloud to his followers, who jumped to their feet and began to sing as he waved the feather backward and forward. When he had finished he returned it to me most tenderly and fell upon his face; whereupon the others did likewise.

I again spoke to him, commanding him to rise and command his fellows to do the same. Then I communicated to them my desire to dispose of my stock. They could do nothing but look at me and at the long feathers; not a word did they utter for such a time I became provoked and said if they did not want to buy to begone.

They shook their heads, saying there was no man among them rich enough to buy them. I told them to pile up their money in front of me, that I might know how much they had. I was surprised at the quantity; for it was considerable—as much as I had any particular use for. I divided the bale into equal parts, one for each Arab, and asked them if that was a fair exchange for their money, and I never saw such grinning since I learned to swim.

There were fifty women in the party, and to each of those I gave a feather from my feathered horse’s tail, and they took turns in embracing me—in fact, they kept it up until I was sore from head to foot, for sometimes there were three or four at it at once, strung along from my neck to my ankles, and I begged them to desist.

The shiek insisted I should select a wife or two from the lot as a slight token of his esteem. This kind offer I politely refused, giving as my reason that I was a man of adventure, and could not very well be burdened with a wife. At this, one of the most beautiful of the girls fell to weeping and tearing her hair. I had great difficulty in reducing her grief sufficiently for her to part with me; but at last, by filling a water-bag with gold, and presenting it to her, together with the remainder of the long feathers, I got away.

The Arabs made a pretty sight as they moved across the desert, their feathers nicely wrapped in tissue paper and waving above their heads.

XVII

_In which I give an account of the receipt of a curious message concerning a most beautiful princess and a labyrinth, and start out in search of both. I also give some details on transactions on the way, which I trust will be diverting._

ON reaching an oasis, I was very thirsty, and sought the well, to which I descended, and had about satisfied myself, when I observed a peculiar stone at the bottom, which I procured and was examining when I discovered it was hollow. Now, I knew not whether to break it open or seek some other means of ascertaining whether or not it contained anything of value. I pondered a while on the problem, when I found the stone was quite soft and easily crumbled in my hand. I was about to throw it away when I saw what appeared to be a piece of parchment rolled into a very small parcel. It proved to be what I had supposed it was, and upon it was written the following.:

To him who shall find this message I send greeting, and say unto him that I am of great beauty and wealth, and that I have sent this message forth in this manner in order that I may know that he who shall bring it to me is a man of strength of purpose and goodness of heart.

For I am lone and lonely, having placed myself in the center of a troublesome labyrinth, which will test the powers of the most acute.

But unto him who shall come to me and bring this message, I will give my love and my wealth and my devotion.

He will know the labyrinth, for it is surrounded by pure white trees in triple rows, and it is not many leagues from this place.

TETE TETE.

Now, of all the things I most desired to encounter, a labyrinth was the thing. And as I considered about it, it occurred to me that of the world I had seen enough; in fact, about all there was to be seen, and a great longing for quiet and rest and the companionship of a loving wife came over me, and decided the matter.

But in which direction I was to look for the prize, I at once knew not, for as far as I could see was barren waste and sand.

I climbed to the top of a great palm tree, and gazed about me, but was no wiser.

So I lay down to rest, fell asleep, and dreamed of the princess and the troublesome labyrinth until the following day was well along.

XVIII

_I continue my search for the labyrinth and come upon a hermit who relates a rather interesting story, which decides my course of action._

I HAD lived a bachelor’s life for the reason I have heretofore given, and had been exceedingly contented. But now nothing but an overpowering desire for connubial felicity found place in my thoughts, and that felicity persisted in centering around the writer of the message I have set forth at length.

I had been made much of by many admirable women, owing to my many adventures and traveling experiences, as, somehow or other, women like brave men, and a man who has traveled a great deal they think must of necessity be brave. I do not wish to be understood as saying they made love to me; far from it; they were too polished: but I doubt not, had I been so inclined, my suit would have received favor. But now my soul was consuming for the presence of this unknown.

The days of magic were over, else I would have sought its aid. And yet I was in a land of mystery. Might I not find some one whose vision might locate this fair one?

I searched among the tribes of nomads diligently, without any degree of success. Many there were told me much I knew, and more of which I have not ascertained the truth or lack of it.

I spent several months in these fruitless efforts, and at last was brought to a realization I had never failed when I relied on my own ingenuity, and I should not fail in this case.

A short time spent in analyzing the situation, when I had reached this conclusion, gave me a plan of operations: I must build another airship and sail over the country until I found her, which should be a matter of brief duration, as, if I could rise high enough, I could take in a vast space, and must discover the white trees from a great distance, and those once discovered, nothing could prevent reaching the goal.

I therefore journeyed to the mountains, as I could not launch my craft from a low altitude.

About half way up the mountain side I came upon a cabin occupied by a hermit. Now it so happened that one side of his cabin was composed of a single board—just precisely what I desired. I made the remark I would be glad to purchase it of him. At which suggestion he laughed immoderately. What had he to do with gold? He neither bought nor sold. He did not even so much as exchange one thing for another—not even in the matter of clothing. I was convinced I could not find another board so well suited to my needs, and I was not to be rebuffed.

I asked him upon what terms he would part with it. No terms whatever. Did it not form one side of his cabin, and was it not exactly what he needed in the place in which it was? I admitted the point. And he went so far as to assert it came with very ill grace for me to suggest its removal. Not saying as much as he would like, or as the circumstances might permit, he would, however, state that I was laboring from one of the ailments which were ultimately to ruin the human race, to-wit, selfishness; that it had been the one blot on his fair life, and he had come hither to atone.

I showed my interest, and he narrated the following story:

_The Hermit’s Story_

Five years ago come spring I was a husky man, indeed. Of such power was I there were few men in the realm having sufficient temerity to cross weapons of whatever nature with me.

There was a very beautiful woman in the country, to whose hand I laid siege. I may as well state in the outset, I had little hope, but I determined if I should not succeed no other one would. Her father was very austere, and gave her few liberties, though she was permitted greater license than any other young lady. Her father loved her dearly, and it was his wish she should marry well. It is my opinion she inherited a desire in a similar direction, for no one of her suitors received the slightest encouragement.

At the time I came upon the scene of her life there was a chivalrous young man who considered all else but her love of trifling importance. I quickly became of the same opinion. Each observed closely all the other did, and it so happened I one day met him in the woods at the hunt.

When we came in at the death I rode to a conspicuous place and challenged to mortal combat any man who held claim as a suitor of the princess—for she was a princess, and would, if she chose, receive the throne on her father’s demise. The young man rode forth, spear in hand, and the entire company proceeded to an opening of size near by, which we circled around for some time, when he suddenly wheeled his horse and came at me with his lance atilt. I was on my guard, and by a simple twist broke his lance. I rode away, and a friend handed him a broad-sword; mine was at my side.

I could have killed him before, but preferred to prolong the matter for the edification of the assembly. He was frothing with rage, and his eyes blazed dangerously as he came at a swinging gallop, his sword in a very awkward position—so it seemed to me, but proved otherwise, and I barely escaped without injury. My horse was of excellent metal, and was snorting gleefully. I whirled about and made at my antagonist pellmell.

I now observed that he was left-handed, which accounted for my supposition of awkwardness on his part. He therefore tried to ride on the opposite from the usual side, which I tried to prevent, but was not quick enough, and lost the top of my helmet, being thankful to come off so well.

My veins were now well filled, and I set my teeth hard as I careered toward him in an attempt to quarter his course, and his sword struck my horse’s flanks as I swung my sword with a blow that would have split in twain an ordinary man. He caught it with such dexterity as to break my sword in halves.

I dismounted, drew my light Damascus blade, and stood awaiting him. He was no laggard, and was soon facing me, as the guests formed a circle. It was as pretty a battle as any one might wish to see. I never saw a man with such a pair of lungs. He never seemed in the least to suffer for breath, though I kept him quite busy, and I may say he kept me well occupied. Neither of us could gain a point.

Suddenly there broke into the ring a page from the court, who cried aloud:

“Gentlemen: The princess sends greeting, and says she has learned you are indulging in this display of valor because of her. Therefore she sends word, saying as follows: She is curious in no way as to what the outcome may be, as she is not in the least interested in either of you. And she says furthermore if but one of you survive he shall be banished from the realm during the remainder of his natural life for deigning to go to such extremities without her permission. And that if this message shall have the effect of stopping the combat it will show your true merit. And she wished me to close my remarks with the following manifesto: That whoever shall further witness your efforts upon this or any other field shall be punished by banishment and confiscation of his entire property and title.”

Thereupon he left us. Neither of us speaking nor moving for a time, the entire body of spectators disappeared, and we were alone. Then he spake:

“Sir Swelltoad, you have heard the message. The combat was stopped without the consent of either, and therefore I must give warning and say that I seek banishment. What is your will?”

“Defend yourself,” was my reply.

It was a short matter, for he was now over-zealous, and I was soon on my horse and am here where you have found me.

I might add that two years ago the princess became so disgusted with all mankind she had a wonderful labyrinth erected for her, repaired into its secret chamber, and will see no one who will not solve its mystery; but that no one who has ever fought for her may strive to enter under penalty of death in a most ignominious manner.

* * * * *

This ended the hermit’s story. It is needless to say my interest was aroused, and with all the composure and carelessness I could command I endeavored to adroitly ascertain the whereabouts of the labyrinth. I therefore said:

“And has no one found the secret chamber?”

“No one has found it, and no one has returned, for it is so constructed that, having once entered the labyrinth, there is no way of return, and he who enters wanders until starvation ends him.”

“Is this labyrinth at a great distance?”

“It is the other side of the mountains,” he returned.

“I am exceedingly curious to see what that secret chamber is like,” I remarked, carelessly.

“Let me dissuade you,” said he, “from the undertaking, for it will be fruitless.”

“Why so?” I asked.

“For it is a most wonderful labyrinth. It is full of every imaginable thing in the way of pit-falls and wild-eyed beasts, and it is impossible for any one to succeed. I say this, because a most formidable knight who had faced death in every conceivable form went on the quest a month ago and has not returned. Each day there is a herald sent forth to cry out whether any one has succeeded. A week ago—the last news I had—no one had been crowned. And no one ever will be.”

XVIIII

_I enter the labyrinth and listen to the rules governing my progress therein. I meet a terrible lion which I overcome quite readily, as I likewise do other difficulties I encounter, especially a huge serpent which I gorge with an indigestible meal._

NOTWITHSTANDING what the hermit had said, I proceeded on my journey across the mountains. When I reached the highest peak I saw a square of white trees. This was of great extent, inclosing several hundred square miles of land, which was full of hills and rivers. I noticed the trees within the square were so closely set the ground was not visible from my position, and if I had passed over it in my airship I should have been none the wiser.

I observed, however, what I supposed to be an entrance on each of the four sides, and made my way to the nearest one.

As I was about to enter, I was accosted by a voice (the owner of which I could not discover, though I diligently sought to do so) which said:

“Enterest thou here as a suitor to the hand of the princess?”

“Thou dost speak with great truthfulness,” I made answer.

“Then harken thou to the following rules, each one of which must receive strict attention at your hands under penalty of death.