The Lair of the White Worm

"Am I to understand," she said with cold disdain, so much more effectiveto wound than hot passion, "that you are offering me your love?Your--love?"

For reply he nodded his head. The scorn of her voice, in a sort ofbaleful hiss, sounded--and felt--like the lash of a whip.

"And you dared! you--a savage--a slave--the basest thing in the world ofvermin! Take care! I don't value your worthless life more than I dothat of a rat or a spider. Don't let me ever see your hideous face hereagain, or I shall rid the earth of you."

As she was speaking, she had taken out her revolver and was pointing itat him. In the immediate presence of death his impudence forsook him,and he made a weak effort to justify himself. His speech was short,consisting of single words. To Lady Arabella it sounded mere gibberish,but it was in his own dialect, and meant love, marriage, wife.

From theintonation of the words, she guessed, with her woman's quick intuition,at their meaning; but she quite failed to follow, when, becoming morepressing, he continued to urge his suit in a mixture of the grossestanimal passion and ridiculous threats. He warned her that he knew shehad tried to steal his master's treasure, and that he had caught her inthe act. But if she would be his, he would share the treasure with her,and they could live in luxury in the African forests. But if sherefused, he would tell his master, who would flog and torture her andthen give her to the police, who would kill her.

CHAPTER XIV--BATTLE RENEWED

The consequences of that meeting in the dusk of Diana's Grove were acuteand far-reaching, and not only to the two engaged in it. From Oolanga,this might have been expected by anyone who knew the character of thetropical African savage. To such, there are two passions that areinexhaustible and insatiable--vanity and that which they are pleased tocall love. Oolanga left the Grove with an absorbing hatred in his heart.His lust and greed were afire, while his vanity had been wounded to thecore. Lady Arabella's icy nature was not so deeply stirred, though shewas in a seething passion. More than ever she was set upon bringingEdgar Caswall to her feet. The obstacles she had encountered, theinsults she had endured, were only as fuel to the purpose of revengewhich consumed her.

As she sought her own rooms in Diana's Grove, she went over the wholesubject again and again, always finding in the face of Lilla Watford akey to a problem which puzzled her--the problem of a way to turnCaswall's powers--his very existence--to aid her purpose.

When in her boudoir, she wrote a note, taking so much trouble over itthat she destroyed, and rewrote, till her dainty waste-basket was half-full of torn sheets of notepaper. When quite satisfied, she copied outthe last sheet afresh, and then carefully burned all the spoiledfragments. She put the copied note in an emblazoned envelope, anddirected it to Edgar Caswall at Castra Regis. This she sent off by oneof her grooms. The letter ran:

"DEAR MR. CASWALL,

"I want to have a chat with you on a subject in which I believe you are interested. Will you kindly call for me one day after lunch--say at three or four o'clock, and we can walk a little way together. Only as far as Mercy Farm, where I want to see Lilla and Mimi Watford. We can take a cup of tea at the Farm. Do not bring your African servant with you, as I am afraid his face frightens the girls. After all, he is not pretty, is he? I have an idea you will be pleased with your visit this time.

"Yours sincerely,

"ARABELLA MARCH."

At half-past three next day, Edgar Caswall called at Diana's Grove. LadyArabella met him on the roadway outside the gate. She wished to take theservants into her confidence as little as possible. She turned when shesaw him coming, and walked beside him towards Mercy Farm, keeping stepwith him as they walked. When they got near Mercy, she turned and lookedaround her, expecting to see Oolanga or some sign of him. He was,however, not visible. He had received from his master peremptory ordersto keep out of sight--an order for which the African scored a new offenceup against her. They found Lilla and Mimi at home and seemingly glad tosee them, though both the girls were surprised at the visit coming sosoon after the other.

The proceedings were a repetition of the battle of souls of the formervisit. On this occasion, however, Edgar Caswall had only the presence ofLady Arabella to support him--Oolanga being absent; but Mimi lacked thesupport of Adam Salton, which had been of such effective service before.This time the struggle for supremacy of will was longer and moredetermined. Caswall felt that if he could not achieve supremacy he hadbetter give up the idea, so all his pride was enlisted against Mimi. Whenthey had been waiting for the door to be opened, Lady Arabella, believingin a sudden attack, had said to him in a low voice, which somehow carriedconviction:

"This time you should win. Mimi is, after all, only a woman. Show herno mercy. That is weakness. Fight her, beat her, trample on her--killher if need be. She stands in your way, and I hate her. Never take youreyes off her. Never mind Lilla--she is afraid of you. You are alreadyher master. Mimi will try to make you look at her cousin. There liesdefeat. Let nothing take your attention from Mimi, and you will win. Ifshe is overcoming you, take my hand and hold it hard whilst you arelooking into her eyes. If she is too strong for you, I shall interfere.I'll make a diversion, and under cover of it you must retire unbeaten,even if not victorious. Hush! they are coming."

The two girls came to the door together. Strange sounds were coming upover the Brow from the west. It was the rustling and crackling of thedry reeds and rushes from the low lands. The season had been anunusually dry one. Also the strong east wind was helping forwardenormous flocks of birds, most of them pigeons with white cowls. Notonly were their wings whirring, but their cooing was plainly audible.From such a multitude of birds the mass of sound, individually small,assumed the volume of a storm. Surprised at the influx of birds, towhich they had been strangers so long, they all looked towards CastraRegis, from whose high tower the great kite had been flying as usual. Buteven as they looked, the cord broke, and the great kite fell headlong ina series of sweeping dives. Its own weight, and the aerial force opposedto it, which caused it to rise, combined with the strong easterly breeze,had been too much for the great length of cord holding it.

Somehow, the mishap to the kite gave new hope to Mimi. It was as thoughthe side issues had been shorn away, so that the main struggle wasthenceforth on simpler lines. She had a feeling in her heart, as thoughsome religious chord had been newly touched. It may, of course, havebeen that with the renewal of the bird voices a fresh courage, a freshbelief in the good issue of the struggle came too. In the misery ofsilence, from which they had all suffered for so long, any new train ofthought was almost bound to be a boon. As the inrush of birds continued,their wings beating against the crackling rushes, Lady Arabella grewpale, and almost fainted.

"What is that?" she asked suddenly.

To Mimi, born and bred in Siam, the sound was strangely like anexaggeration of the sound produced by a snake-charmer.

Edgar Caswall was the first to recover from the interruption of thefalling kite. After a few minutes he seemed to have quite recovered his_sang froid_, and was able to use his brains to the end which he had inview. Mimi too quickly recovered herself, but from a different cause.With her it was a deep religious conviction that the struggle round herwas of the powers of Good and Evil, and that Good was triumphing. Thevery appearance of the snowy birds, with the cowls of Saint Columba,heightened the impression. With this conviction strong upon her, shecontinued the strange battle with fresh vigour. She seemed to tower overCaswall, and he to give back before her oncoming. Once again hervigorous passes drove him to the door. He was just going out backwardwhen Lady Arabella, who had been gazing at him with fixed eyes, caughthis hand and tried to stop his movement. She was, however, unable to doany good, and so, holding hands, they passed out together. As they didso, the strange music which had so alarmed Lady Arabella suddenlystopped. Instinctively they all looked towards the tower of CastraRegis, and saw that the workmen had refixed the kite, which had risenagain and was beginning to float out to its former station.

As they were looking, the door opened and Michael Watford came into theroom. By that time all had recovered their self-possession, and therewas nothing out of the common to attract his attention. As he came in,seeing inquiring looks all around him, he said:

"The new influx of birds is only the annual migration of pigeons fromAfrica. I am told that it will soon be over."

The second victory of Mimi Watford made Edgar Caswall more moody thanever. He felt thrown back on himself, and this, added to his absorbinginterest in the hope of a victory of his mesmeric powers, became a deepand settled purpose of revenge. The chief object of his animosity was,of course, Mimi, whose will had overcome his, but it was obscured ingreater or lesser degree by all who had opposed him. Lilla was next toMimi in his hate--Lilla, the harmless, tender-hearted, sweet-naturedgirl, whose heart was so full of love for all things that in it was noroom for the passions of ordinary life--whose nature resembled thosedoves of St. Columba, whose colour she wore, whose appearance shereflected. Adam Salton came next--after a gap; for against him Caswallhad no direct animosity. He regarded him as an interference, adifficulty to be got rid of or destroyed. The young Australian had beenso discreet that the most he had against him was his knowledge of whathad been. Caswall did not understand him, and to such a nature as his,ignorance was a cause of alarm

, of dread.

Caswall resumed his habit of watching the great kite straining at itscord, varying his vigils in this way by a further examination of themysterious treasures of his house, especially Mesmer's chest. He satmuch on the roof of the tower, brooding over his thwarted passion. Thevast extent of his possessions, visible to him at that altitude, might,one would have thought, have restored some of his complacency. But thevery extent of his ownership, thus perpetually brought before him,created a fresh sense of grievance. How was it, he thought, that with somuch at command that others wished for, he could not achieve the dearestwishes of his heart?

In this state of intellectual and moral depravity, he found a solace inthe renewal of his experiments with the mechanical powers of the kite.For a couple of weeks he did not see Lady Arabella, who was always on thewatch for a chance of meeting him; neither did he see the Watford girls,who studiously kept out of his way. Adam Salton simply marked time,keeping ready to deal with anything that might affect his friends. Hecalled at the farm and heard from Mimi of the last battle of wills, butit had only one consequence. He got from Ross several more mongooses,including a second king-cobra-killer, which he generally carried with himin its box whenever he walked out.

Mr. Caswall's experiments with the kite went on successfully. Each dayhe tried the lifting of greater weight, and it seemed almost as if themachine had a sentience of its own, which was increasing with theobstacles placed before it. All this time the kite hung in the sky at anenormous height. The wind was steadily from the north, so the trend ofthe kite was to the south. All day long, runners of increasing magnitudewere sent up. These were only of paper or thin cardboard, or leather, orother flexible materials. The great height at which the kite hung made agreat concave curve in the string, so that as the runners went up theymade a flapping sound. If one laid a finger on the string, the soundanswered to the flapping of the runner in a sort of hollow intermittentmurmur. Edgar Caswall, who was now wholly obsessed by the kite and allbelonging to it, found a distinct resemblance between that intermittentrumble and the snake-charming music produced by the pigeons flyingthrough the dry reeds.

One day he made a discovery in Mesmer's chest which he thought he wouldutilise with regard to the runners. This was a great length of wire,"fine as human hair," coiled round a finely made wheel, which ran to awondrous distance freely, and as lightly. He tried this on runners, andfound it work admirably. Whether the runner was alone, or carriedsomething much more weighty than itself, it worked equally well. Also itwas strong enough and light enough to draw back the runner without unduestrain. He tried this a good many times successfully, but it was nowgrowing dusk and he found some difficulty in keeping the runner in sight.So he looked for something heavy enough to keep it still. He placed theEgyptian image of Bes on the fine wire, which crossed the wooden ledgewhich protected it. Then, the darkness growing, he went indoors andforgot all about it.

He had a strange feeling of uneasiness that night--not sleeplessness, forhe seemed conscious of being asleep. At daylight he rose, and as usuallooked out for the kite. He did not see it in its usual position in thesky, so looked round the points of the compass. He was more thanastonished when presently he saw the missing kite struggling as usualagainst the controlling cord. But it had gone to the further side of thetower, and now hung and strained _against the wind_ to the north. Hethought it so strange that he determined to investigate the phenomenon,and to say nothing about it in the meantime.