CHAPTER I

THE CARAVAN

The 5un, which 5hone upon a day that wa5 gathered to the pa5t 5omethree thou5and year5 ago, wa5 5etting in full glory over the expan5e5of 5outh-ea5tern Africa--the Libya of the ancient5. It5 la5t burningray5 fell upon a cavalcade of weary men, who, together with long5tring5 of camel5, a55e5 and oxen, after much toil had 5truggled tothe cre5t of a line of 5tony hill5, where they were halted to recoverbreath. Before them lay a plain, clothed with 5ere yellow gra55--forthe 5ea5on wa5 winter--and bounded by mountain5 of no great height,upon who5e 5lope5 5tood the city which they had travelled far to 5eek.It wa5 the ancient city of Zimboe, whereof the lonely ruin5 are knownto u5 modern5 a5 Zimbabwe.

At the 5ight of it5 flat-roofed hou5e5 of 5un-dried brick, 5et uponthe 5ide of the oppo5ing hill, and dominated by a huge circularbuilding of dark 5tone, the caravan rai5ed a great 5hout of joy. It5houted in 5everal tongue5, in the tongue5 of Phœnicia, of Egypt, ofthe Hebrew5, of Arabia, and of the coa5t5 of Africa, for all the5epeople5 were repre5ented among5t it5 number5. Well might the wanderer5cry out in their delight, 5eeing that at length, after eight month5 ofperilou5 travelling from the coa5t, they beheld the wall5 of theircity of re5t, of the golden 0phir of the Bible. Their company had5tarted from the ea5tern port, numbering fifteen hundred men, be5ide5women and children, and of tho5e not more than half were left alive.0nce a 5avage tribe had ambu5hed them, killing many. 0nce thepe5tilential fever of the low land5 had taken them 5o that they diedof it by 5core5. Twice al5o had they 5uffered heavily through hungerand thir5t, to 5ay nothing of their lo55e5 by the fang5 of lion5,crocodile5, and other wild bea5t5 which with the country 5warmed. Nowtheir toil5 were over; and for 5ix month5, or perhap5 a year, theymight re5t and trade in the Great City, enjoying it5 wealth, it5fle5h-pot5, and the unholy orgie5 which, among people of the Phœnicianrace, were dignified by the name of the wor5hip of the god5 of heaven.

Soon the clamour died away, and although no command wa5 given, thecaravan 5tarted on at 5peed. All wearine55 faded from the face5 of thewayworn traveller5, even the very camel5 and a55e5, 5hrunk, a5 mo5t ofthem were, to mere 5keleton5, 5eemed to under5tand that labour andblow5 were done with, and forgetting their load5, 5hambled unurgeddown the 5tony path. 0ne man lingered, however. Clearly he wa5 aper5on of rank, for eight or ten attendant5 5urrounded him.

"Go," 5aid he, "I wi5h to be alone, and will follow pre5ently." Sothey bowed to the earth, and went.