White men, white men, anger
not the dead, for the dead are mighty, and will be revenged upon you
when you are dead; soon, very soon, when you are dead--dead in your
sorrows, dead in your sins, dead, gathered to that company of the dead
who await us here."
And, still chanting his mystic song, he led Benita by the hand out of
the light, onward into darkness, away from life, onward into the place
of death.
XI
THE SLEEPERS IN THE CAVE
Like every other passage in this old fortress, the approach to the cave
was narrow and winding; presumably the ancients had arranged them thus
to facilitate their defence. After the third bend, however, Benita saw a
light ahead which flowed from a native lamp lit in the arched entrance.
At the side of this arch was a shell-shaped hollow, cut in the rock
about three feet above the floor. Its appearance seemed familiar to her;
why, she was soon to learn, although at the moment she did not connect
it with anything in particular. The cave beyond was large, lofty, and
not altogether natural, for its walls had evidently been shaped, or at
any rate trimmed, by man. Probably here the old Priests had established
their oracle, or place of offering.
At first Benita could not see much, since in that great cavern two lamps
of hippopotamus oil gave but little light.
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