Читать книгу Fugitive Anne, A Romance of the Unexplored Bush - Rosa Praed - Страница 13

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"MISSA ANNE! Missa Anne!" the black boy cried. "Ba'al you jerron (don't be afraid). Plenty mine lookout long-a you."

As Kombo spoke, he swung himself down the face of the cliff with marvellous dexterity, clutching at the saplings and shrubs which protruded from the crevices, and balancing himself wherever a projecting rock gave him a chance of foothold. The Blacks watched his descent, greeting him with friendly yells, and making way for him when he flung himself to earth. He rushed through the little throng to the boulder against which Anne stood.

"Wunda Mormodelik!" he too cried, pointing to the grey figure, and making before it a quaint imitation of the white man's deferential bow.

"Wunda Mormodelik! Yuro Kateena! Spirit of the Pleiades! Cloud--Daughter!" And then Kombo harangued the tribe briefly but forcibly; and Anne, following his discourse, made out that the Karràji-Wiràwi (the Medicine Woman)--meaning herself--was known to all the tribes below Mount Coongoon, the mountain near Cooktown; for had they not heard her sing songs which the Great Spirit had taught her, and did they not know that Baiamè the Creator had taken a star from the sky and made it into a woman; and that he had sent the woman to his children, the Blacks, to bring them rain and food, and to make them victorious against their enemies? Then Kombo proceeded to tell how Yuro Kateena had sung to Baiamè in the great thirsty time; and how Baiamè had given rain to the earth, and had made the rivers run again, and the wallabis rejoice and the fish glad; and so had he provided food in plenty for the tribes to eat. He told how, when Yuro Kateen sang for a tribe, so that its warriors might fight and conquer, and grow mighty men of battle on the slain flesh of their enemies, great Baiamè listened to Yuro Kateena's prayer, and the tribe flourished even as she had asked. And so all had gone well with the Blacks while Yuro Kateena remained among them and sang. But there had come a day when the white man drove Yuro Kateena from among them, and Cloud-Daughter could sing no more. Eeoogh! Eeoogh! Yucca! Yucca! Alas! Alas! Cloud-Daughter had gone across the big water, had left her children, the Blacks; and Baiamè had been angry with the Blacks because they had not kept his beloved. Then Kombo told that after a great Woolla (Council) of the tribe, he had gone from his people and followed Cloud--Daughter over the great sea to the land where only white people dwelt, serving a queen who knew not Baiamè. There Kombo had seen that Yuro Kateena was not happy with the white people, and that she longed to be again among her brothers the Blacks; and he had brought her home by sea and by land, so that now she was here to sing once more to Baiamè, and thus call down blessing upon the people. Kombo paused dramatically, and again bowed before Cloud-Daughter. The Blacks set up a great shout, and the warriors made a line, advancing to tender allegiance to the Medicine Woman, the beloved of Baiamè. But Kombo had more to say. He had not lived among Whites for nothing. He knew how to bargain, and could turn his astuteness to account even among his kindred Blacks.

So he dilated upon the advantage to the tribe of having a great Medicine Woman among them. He pointed out that if Cloud-Daughter were to remain, she must be treated as the divinity of a once-time star demanded. There must be no burden laid upon Yuro Kateena. Were she tired in marching through the scrub, young warriors must cut a great sheet of bark, and carry her thereon upon their shoulders. Her gunya must be made in the best fashion and held sacred, none entering therein without her permission. The King himself must do Cloud-Daughter honour.

Whereupon an old man, much wealed upon the chest and shoulders, which is a sign of age and dignity, stepped forward and spoke. He said that Multuggerah, King of the Maianbars, was verily King, and all others were his servants. Even Buli--he who spake--oldest chief in the Maianbars, had no will but that of Multuggerah. Multuggerah had not followed the wind of the south, in whose footsteps had trodden Buli, but had remained in the great camp beside Maianbar, which Kombo interpreted to Anne as the Deep Tank near to Kubba Ulala, the Mountains of the Dead. For the King Multuggerah, the old man went on, not even his chief Buli might answer. But Buli the Whirlwind--for he it was who made the warriors and their gins to run fast through the scrub, who laid low the brigalow trees, and carved spears therefrom, who with his weapons of war swept like a tempest over the herds of white men, and killed the white men in the camps they had made, therefore was he named the Whirlwind--he, Whirlwind, would swear now before the sister of the Pleiades, Cloud-Daughter, that he and his warriors, old men, and gins, would obey the word of Cloud-Daughter till, after many days marching through the scrubs, they should reach Maianbar the Deep Tank. Then when Yuroka-Gora, the North Wind, brother of Yuro Kateena, should sweep his children the clouds from off the sky, they should behold, higher than the hills, Kubba Ulala the Mountains of the Dead. So then also when they came to the camp of Multuggerah, he--Buli the Whirlwind--would deliver Cloud-Daughter, unharmed, to the King; and Multuggerah should say whether he would hear or no the song of Yuro Kateena, sister of the Mormodelik, the beloved of Baiamè.

Having thus with much dignity delivered himself, the Chief retired, first prostrating himself before the messenger of Baiamè; and Cloud-Daughter, some guardian power compelling her, sang in recitative in the native tongue:

"It is well, oh! Buli, Whirlwind, and chief of the family which bows before Multuggerah the King. Cloud-Daughter will cause the wallabi to fall beneath the Maianbar's spears, and the roots and the fruit to yield themselves abundantly for Buli and his warriors who shall lead Cloud--Daughter to Multuggerah the King."

But Kombo continued, warily making his stipulations for the safety and honour and well-being of his mistress.

The finest opossum robe should be laid at the feet of Cloud-Daughter, and the first portion of game, and first gatherings of roots and vegetables and berries from the high trees. To all, the word of Cloud-Daughter should be as the word of Multuggerah the King, till the King should himself behold and acknowledge the wisdom and power of Cloud-Daughter. And in return for the honour bestowed upon her, to Yuro Kateena, the Maianbars should be as her own people, and each night would she petition Baiamè for them, that the Murnian (troopers) should not find their camp, that the wallabi should fall plentifully beneath the warriors' spears, that the caves and hollow logs should yield bandicoot, and the earth roots in abundance, and the high trees bear many thousand berries. For all these good things would Cloud-Daughter entreat Baiamè. Therefore every night at the mouth of her gunya, so long as the tribe did her honour, would Cloud-Daughter sing her song aloud, so that all the warriors might hear her commune with the Great Father Baiamè. Therefore, likewise would she hold converse with the gods made by Baiamè over whom the Great Spirit had made her queen--with Munuàla, God of the Waters; with Kurru--Kurru, his wife, Dropper of Dew and Gatherer of Mists; with Woong-goo--gin, mother of the earth's produce; and with Billibira, God of Fire, most cruel and most mighty enemy of gods and men. All these, at the will of Baiamè, even the dread Billibira, were subject to the song of Cloud--Daughter.

Buli, the Whirlwind, bowed his head before the words of Kombo, and said affirmatively, "Yoai Pika," in the manner of the Blacks. But he set before Cloud-Daughter that the gatherings of the forest might be few, and the spearing of wallabi difficult, for the Murnian--the black troopers--were pressing upon the tribe for what they had done at Kooloola; and it had been needful to hide in haste in the caves, because their camp-fires had betrayed them, and there had not been time for them to escape afar--"yan wàra wàra."

Then Kombo related how on that very day he had tracked the Murnian and had found mandowie (foot-prints) going eastward. Therefore he knew that the troopers had ridden, as far as they could, into the scrub, and finding nothing, were gone eastward, believing that the Blacks had fled towards the swamp near the coast. He had been returning in haste to tell of what he had seen when he beheld Cloud-Daughter, and heard the voice of the goddess calling upon her Father Baiamè to hold the spears of his children that they were about to hurl against her. Now, he said, must the Blacks hasten where the north-west wind would lead them--the wind Yuro Ballima, brother, too, of the Cloud-Daughter. "Nalla yan!" (Haste, haste!) he cried. "Let them go quick through the scrub into the places where no white man on a horse might enter; then would they be free from the fear of the Murnian, and might travel as they would, to the camp of Multuggerah the King."

So the Blacks decided the matter. The sacred circle was broken. Buli issued his commands. The gins hastened back to the cave to collect their dilly-bags, their piccaninnies, and a supply of food; also to let loose the tame dingoes which had been imprisoned in a corner of the cave, lest their barking should call attention to the camp. The old men followed the gins; and the warriors, at the order of Buli, defiled before Anne, making a double line, through which she passed with Kombo to the mouth of the cave. As she stood waiting for what should come, and realising with dismay that, though a divinity, she was a prisoner, about twelve of the braves closed in round her, and by order of Buli, constituted themselves a guard of honour, appointed, as she understood, to be responsible for her safety till Multuggerah the King should make known his ordinance as to her keeping. As she heard this command, Anne's courage sank for the first time; and forgetting that she was a goddess, she appealed pitifully to Kombo to save her from the Blacks, and to keep her in the cave they had left till she could give herself up to her cousin. "Mine think-it that fellow Tom dead like it ole Missus," was Kombo's reply. "Mine no see Massa Tom long-a police. Mine think-it that fellow no come any more long-a Kooloola."

It was, alas! most likely that Kombo was right. Anne recognised the justice of his argument. If Tom Duncan had been alive, he would certainly be with the troopers, helping them in their work of vengeance. It was no doubt due to the fact that Tom was dead or disabled that their hiding-place had not been discovered. For was it otherwise probable that Tom should be unaware of caves so close to the head-station? That the troopers had not found them was hardly to be wondered at. Of course it would be supposed that the Blacks had fled westward. No one would suspect that they had concealed themselves so near the scene of their misdeeds. Kombo made a feint of not understanding Anne's English, as she went on alternately pleading and commanding. He turned away and spoke to the guard in so low a voice that Anne could not hear what he said. The girl grew desperate, and addressed the tribe in their own dialect, bidding them leave her behind, for that it was not her will, nor the will of the great Baiamè that she should be taken to Multuggerah. She even disclaimed her divinity. She had been made brown, she said, in order that she might escape from her enemies among the white men. In reality, she was the daughter of a white man and a white woman, not Yuro Kateena descended to earth from among the Mormodelik, the Pleiades.

At her words the Blacks scowled and murmured among themselves much disquietude. Several spears were raised threateningly. Then Kombo, moved by a sudden inspiration, cried, "Unda burgin duriga maial Billibira." "Billibira, the God of Fire, has driven the stranger mad in the scrub."

Scrub madness was not unknown among the Blacks, and they feared greatly Billibira, the fire-smiting god. The men of the guard had been standing at ease, each with his shield of wood lowered against the right leg, the left leg bent, the left foot resting in the hollow of the right thigh, and the weight of the body supported by the spear held upright, its point in the ground. Now they were at attention again.

Among the Blacks an insane person is sacred; and at the words of Kombo, threatening gestures changed to those of commiseration. Kombo, pursuing his advantage, spoke eagerly to Anne in broken English. Would she sacrifice both their lives?--for the Blacks would most assuredly kill and eat them both, unless she sustained her position as the beloved of Baiamè, and the sister of the Mormodelik, in which birthright Kombo, indeed, to do him justice, believed implicitly as a certain occult mystery. Had she not proved that the gift and the withholding of rain was in her power? She was Yuro Kateena; and were she not Yuro Kateena sent down from the sky as the child of a white man and a white woman, born in the Blacks' country, and destined to be the Blacks' saviour, then he, Kombo, could regard her no more as a divinity. She would be to him merely an ordinary white woman--one of those who were the enemies of his race. Besides, he argued ingeniously, how could she remain in the cave and not be discovered, supposing that the Maianbar tribe permitted her to do so? And now that Massa Tom was no longer at Kooloola, would not her husband most certainly hear that she was alive and come to claim her?

Kombo's reasoning was not to be gainsaid; and with the terror of Elias Bedo before her eyes, Anne silently submitted. Then Kombo cried "Undara Bunman," to the relief of the Blacks, who understood from the words that the madness of Cloud-Daughter was now cured.

Kombo subtly set forth in broken English that, once established among the Maianbars as the divinity Kombo himself took her to be, Anne might so rule the people that they would do her bidding even to the sending her from them at the will of the Great Baiamè. So might he and she by-and-by strike north in safety and make for the port of Somerset, according to their original intention. He explained also, that though the language of the Maianbars, and the Moongars, his own tribe, was alike, and that though the Maianbars had undoubtedly heard from the Moongars of the physical existence of Cloud-Daughter, which had been bruited among Blacks ever since that memorable bringing down of rain a few years back, there were many points of difference in the tribal customs, and he would not have the same influence with this race as he might have had with his own. He also told her that the Maianbars and the Pooloongools had the reputation of being the most bloodthirsty warriors and the fiercest among the northern tribes; also that they were cannibals to a greater extent than his own tribe, the Moongars. The Maianbars, said Kombo, lived in a place "burrin burrin (many) moons journey," to which none of the coast blacks had ever yet penetrated, through the scrub and over the mountains.

In the midst of Kombo's explanation, a little wailing, but most tender cry, sounded from the cave's mouth, interrupting his eloquence and causing him to turn sharply round, for Kombo was a gentleman never insensible to the claims of womanhood, even though it might be black womanhood, and for three years he had been mateless. The secret of Kombo's mysterious glee was now explained. A girl stepped forward and pathetically stretched forth her arms to the lover who she feared might be leaving her. She was a comely creature, scarcely matured, with long straight hair, a skin like brown velvet, and dark soft eyes. A smile broke over Kombo's face.

"Kunman Kurridu nungundung inta," he cried, which Anne knew meant, "Darling, I love you." He turned to Anne with the dignity of a man who has incurred family responsibilities.

"Mine no want-im stop behind," he said. "Mine want-im go long-a Maianbar camp. Ba'al mine been have-im wife plenty long time. Now mine got-im gin belonging to me. Name Unda. Come,"--and he beckoned with loving hand,--"Taiyanàni Unda!"

Unda crept between the legs of the guard at the call of her spouse, and Kombo presented his bride.

"Unda servant belonging to Cloud-Daughter," he said. Anne bowed to fate in the shape of Unda, and from that day became the goddess of the Maianbar tribe.