The San Francisco call. [volume], April 30, 1911, Image 3

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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SYNOPSIS
PIPER HAGGARD'S romance, "Red Eve," is
lad in the period of the battle of Creey and of
-rourge of the black death, both of these
events playing important parts in the story.
"Rp(i Eve" opens with a prologue which is placed
in Cathay and is a fanciful and yet grewsome pic
ture depicting: the embarking of Murgh. god of
death, on his passage from China, which he has
devastated with the plague, to the western lands,
cv»r which he is about to lay his-scourging hand
and its blight.
From this prologue • to Rlyth
hurgh. In Suffolk, a village near to the seaport of
Dunwich, in which places dwell the families of
Covering! and their cousins, the De Cress!*. The
Coverings, of whom the head is Sir John Claver-
Inj, are large feudal land owners, and the De
Cressls are wealthy wool merchants at Dunwich.
Sir John Claverlng has two children —a son. John,
and a daughter, Eve, the Red Eve of the story, so
called because of her fancy for wearing crimson,
■which sets off her dark beauty.
Eve, a lady of great character, is in love with
Hugh de Creasl, the younger son of the merchant,
a young man of many parts but small fortune, with
whom she has grown up from childhood.
Sir John Claverlng, however, will have none of
the match, partly because of a feud that has arisen
between his house and that of the De Cressls and
•till more because he wishes his lovely daughter
to marry a great lord, half Norman and half Eng
lish, who is named Sir Edmund Acout in England,
Count de Xoyon in France and the Seigneur Cat
trtna In Italy, in all three of which countries he
has possessions.
This Acour, a handsome but false hearted noble.
Is at the time of the opening- of the story staying
with the Claverings tinder pretext of visiting his
English estates, but really as a spy of King Philip
of France and to make arrangements for the inva
sion of England.
The opening of the story describes the secret
meeting of Red Eve with her sweetheart, Hugh de
Cress!, in Blythburgh fen, upon a winter day.
Hugh is accompanied by one of the main charac
ters of the tale, his henchman. Gray Dick, or Rich
ard Archer, so called for his marvelous skill with
the bow, a fatherless and misanthropic man, who is
supposed to be of the De Cressi blood and who
certainly loves Hugh like a brother.
Their meeting Is interrupted by Sir John Clav
ering, Eve's father; John, her brother, and Sir Ed
mund Acour, with a posse of knights and serving
men. who finally fire the reeds in order to drive
out the sweethearts, whom they can not find.
Hugh and Eve's brother John have a desperate
flght. rolling over each other, but too close to stab.
The flurry in the snow was at an end. John lay
on Ms back; De Cressi knelt on him and lifted the
rt sword.
■ Do you yield?' men heard him say. »
." answered Clavering. Then suddenly Hugh
rose and suffered his adversary to do likewise.
'11l not stick you like a hog," he said, and aomi
cried "Well done!" for the act seemed noble. Only
ir muttered "Fool!"
Next instant they were at it again, but this tlms
H was Hugh who attacked and John who gave
Viark right to the river's edge, for skill and cour
age seemed to fall him at once.
"Turn your head, lady," Bald Dick, "for now one
must die." But Eve could not.
The swords flashed for the last time In the red
light. Then that of De Cressi vanished. Claver
lng' threw his arms wide and fell backward
uplasii as r,r a great stone thrown into water, anrt
all was (lone.
sweethearts, escaping, swim the Blyth in
d in an effort to find sanctuary in the precep
at Dunwich.
an exciting and perilous passing: of the
• r Eve and Hug.i are Joined by Gray Dick, who
feed the outcome of the flght tells them he
:e ami slew three men, but the fourth time
mined. "Whom?" asks Eve. "The French
na to marry you," is Gray Dick's an-
CHAPTER 111 (Continued.)
Father Andrew
// I -\R in the east is the great country that we
call Cathay, though in truth it has many
other names, and I alone of all who breathe
in England have visited that land."'*
a did you get there?" asked Hugh, amazed, for
though he knew dimly that Father Arnold had trav
eled much in his youth, hf ncv^r dreamed that he had
reached the mystic territories of Cathay, or, indeed,
that such a place really was except in fable.
"It would take from now till morning to tell, son,
nor even then would you understand the road. It is
enough to say that I went on a pilgrimage to Jeru
salem, where our blessed Savior died. That was <he
beginning. Thence I traveled with Arabs to the Red
sea. where wild men made a slave of me, and we were
blown across the Indian ocean to a beauteous island
named Ceylon, in which all the folk are black. From
this place I escaped in a vessel called a junk that
brought me to the town of Singapore. Thence at last,
following my star, I came to Cathay after two years
of journeyings and there dwelt in honor for three
more years, moving from place to place, since never
before had its inhabitants seen a western man, and
they made much of me, always sending me forward
to new cities. So at length I reached the greatest of
them all, which is called Kambaluc, or Pekin, and
there was the guest of its emperor, Timur.
"All the story of my life and adyentures yonder I
have written down and any who will may read it
after I am dead. But of these 1 have no time to
•peak nor have they anything to do with you. Whilst
I dwelt in Kambaluc as the guest of the Emperor
Timur I made a study of the religion of this mighty
people, who, I was told, worshiped gods in the shape
of men. 1 visited a shrine called the temple of
heaven, hoping that there 1 should see such a god
who was named Tien, but found in it nothing but
splendid emptiness. Then I asked if there w
g6d that I could see with my eyes, whereon the em
peror laughed at me and said there was such a god,
but he counseled me not to visit him. I prayed him
to suffer me to do so, since I, who worshiped the
on'y true God, feared no other. Whereon, growing
angry, he commanded some of his servants to 'take
this fool to the house of Murgh and let him see
whether his God could protect him against Murgh.'
leaving said this he bade me farewell, adding that
though every man must meet Murgh once, few met
<him twice, and therefore he did not think that he
should see me again.
v, in my heart I grew afraid, but none would
tell me more of this Murgh or what was likely to
happen to me at his hands. Still, 1 would not show
my fear, and strong in the faith of Christ I deter
mined to look upon this idol, for such I expected him
to be.
"That night the servants of Timur bore me out of
the city in a litter, and by starlight 1 saw that we
traveled through great graveyards, where people were
burying their dead, toward a hill. At the toot of the
hill they set me down upon a road and told me to
walk up it and that at dawn I should see the house
of Murgh, whereof the gates were always open, and
could enter there if I wished. 1 asked if they would
RED EVE
H. RIDER HAGGARD
“I kneeled down and prayed to blessed saints and the angels guardian to protect me.”
wait for my return, whereon they answered, smiling
that if I so desired they would do so till evening, bu
that it seemed scarcely needful, since they did not
suppose that I should return.
" 'Do yonder pilgrims to the house of Murgh re
turn?' asked their captain, pointing toward those
graveyards -which we had passed.
"I made "o answer, but walked forward up a broad
and easy road, unchallenged of any, till T came to
what, even in that dim light, T could see was a great
and frowning gateway, whereof the doors appeared
to be open. Now, at first I thought T would pass this
gateway at once and see what lay beyond. But from
this I was held back by some great fear for which I
could find no cause, unless it were bred of what the
emperor and his servants had said to me. So I re
membered their words—namely, that T should tarry
tilt dawn to enter the house.
"At length the dawn broke and, oh! glad was T to
see its light for fear lest I should die in darkness. '
Now 1 saw that T was on a hilltop where grew great
groves of cedar trees, and that set amid them was a
black-tiled temple surrounded by a will built of
black brick.
"It was not a great place, although the gateway—
which had no doors and was surmounted by two
black dragons of stone or iron—was very great, so
great that a tall ship could have sailed through it and
left its arch urftouched.
"I kneeled down and prayed to the blessed saints
and the angels guardian to protect me*. Then I arose,
crossed myself to scare off all evil things by that holy
sign, and set forward toward the mighty gateway.
Oh! never, never, till that hour had I understood how
lowly a thing is man. On that broad white mad,
traveling toward the awful dragon guarded arch, be
yond which lay I knew not what, it seemed to me
that I was the only man left in the world whose hour
had come to enter the portals of destruction.
"I passed into the cold shadow of the gateway, un
challenged by any watchman, and found myself in a
courtyard surrounded by a wall, also built of black
brick, which had doors in it that seemed to be of dark
stone or iron. Whither these doofi led I do not
know, since the wall cut off the sight of any buildings
that may have lain beyond. In the center of this
courtyard was a pool of still, black water, and at the
head of the pool a chair of black marble."
Sir Andrew paused and Hugh saiil:
"A plain place for a temple, father, without adorn
ment or im;iges. But perhaps this was the outer
court And the temple lay beyond."
"Aye, son, the plainest temple that ever T saw who
have seen many in all lands, though what lay beyond
it I do not know. And yet, terrible, terrible. terribJe!
I tell you that those black walls and that black water
were more fearsome to look on than any churchyard
Vlttlt grim with bones or a torture pit, where victims
quiver out their souls midst shrieks and groanings.
And yet I could see nothing of which to be afraid
and heard nothing save that soughing of invisible
wings of which I have spoken. An empty chair, a
pool of water, some walls and doors and above, the
quiet sky. What was there to fear in such things as
these? Still so greatly did I fear that I sank to my
knees and began to pray once more, this time to the
blessed Savior himself, since [ - that none
else coald help me there.
"When T looked up again the chair was no longer
empty. Hugh, a man sat in it of whom I thought ;it
first only one thing—that he must lie very strong,
though not bigger than other men. Strength seemed
to (low from him. 1 should not have wondered it he
hands upon the massive sides of that
..id torn it asunder."
"What was he like, father? Samson or Goliath?"
"I never saw either, son, so can not say. But what
was he like? Oh, I can not say that, either, although
still I see him in my heart. My mortal lips will not
tell the likeness of that man, perhaps because he
seemed to me like all men, and yet different from all.
He had an iron brow, beneath which shone dc«p, cold
eyes. He was clean shaven or perchance his face
grew no hair. His lips were thick and still aiid his
features did not change like those of other men. He
looked as though he could not change; as though he
had been thus for infinite ages and yet remained
neither young nor old. As for his dress, he wore a
cloak of flaming red, such a cloak as your Eve loves
to wear, and white sandals on his feet. There was
no covering on his shaven head, which gleamed like
1 skull. His breast was naked, but across it hung
one.row of black jewels. From the sheen of them I
think they must have been pearls, which are some
times found of that color in the *ast. He had no
weapon or staff and his hands hung down on either
side of the chair.
"For a long while I watched him, but if he saw me
he took no note. As I watched I perceived that birds
were coming to and leaving him in countless number",
and thought that it must be their wings which made
the constant soughing sound that tilled all that still
ami dreadful air."
"What kind of liirds were they, father?"
"1 am not sure, but 1" think doves; at least their
flight was straight and swift like that of doves. But
of this I am not sure cither. since T saw each of them
for but a letbad. \> they reached the man they ap
peared out of nothingness and as they left the man
they disappeared into nothingness. They were of
two colors, mow white and coal black. The white
appeared upon his right side, the black upon his left
side. Each bird in those never ceasing streams hov
ered for an intt&ttt by his head, the white over his
right shoulder, the black over bis left-shoulder, as
though they whispered a BtCSMgt to his ear, and
having whispered were gone'upon their errand."
"What was that errand, father?"
"How can I know, as no one ever told me? Yet T
will hazard a guess that it had to do with the mys
tery of life and death. Souls that were born into the
world and souls departing from the world, perchance,
making report to one of God's great minister!
clothed in flesh. But who can say? At lea?t I
watched those magic, fowls till my eyes grew dizzy
and a sort of sleep began to creep to my brain. How
long I stayed thus I do not rememberr-£«r I had lost
all sense of time. In the end, however, I was awak
ened by a cold, soft voice, the sound of which seemed
to flow through my veins like ice, that addressed me
in our own rough English tongue, spoken as you and
"ned it at our nurses' knees.
'" 'To what god were you praying just now, Andrew
"'Oh! sir,' I answered, 'how do you who dwell in
Cathay, where I am a stranger, know my language
and my name?'
"He lifted his cold eyes and looked at me and I
felt them pierce into the deeps of my soul. 'In the
same way that I know your heart,' he said. 'But do
not ask questions—answer them, that I may learn
wrtether you are a true man or a liar.'
"'I was praying to Christ,' I faltered, 'the Savior
of us all.'
" \ | Id, and a pai
think that he can save you from me, as you were
ing him to do?'
" 'He can save my soul,' I replied, plucking up cour
age, who would not deny the Lord even in a devil's
den.
"Ah, your soul! Well, I have nothing to do with
soulh, except to count them as they pass through my
dominion, and you are quite right to pray to one of
the lords of that into which you go. Now, man, what
it your business with me and why do you visit one of
whom you are so much afraid?'
"'O, Murgh, 1 I began, then ceased, for T knew not
what to answer. •
"'So they have told you my name? Now I will tell
you one of its meanings. It is "gate of the gods."
Why did you dare to visit Gate of the Gods? You
fear to answer. Listen. You came forth to sec some
painted idol or some bedizened priest, muttering rites
he does not understand to that which is not, and lo!
you have found that which is behind all idols and all
priests. You sought an incensed and golden shrine
and you have found only, the black and iron portals
which every man must pass, but which few desire to
enter until they are called. Well, you are young and
strong, come try a fall with Murgh, and when he hit
thrown you, rise and choose which of tHose ways you
will,' and he swept his hand toward the doors around
him, 'and then forget this world and enter into that
which you have chosen.'
"Now, because I could not help myself. I roie from
my knees and advanced, or was drawn toward, that
dreadful man. As I came he, too, rose from his chair,
stretching out his arms as a wrestler does, and I
knew that within the circle of those arms lay my
death. Still I, who in my youth was held brave, went
on and rushed, striving to clasp him. Next moment,
before I touched him—oh, well was it for me that I
touched him not!—some strength seized me and
whirled me round and round as a dead leaf is whirled
by the wind, and tosged me up and cast me down and
left me prone and nerveless.
" 'Rise,' said the cold voice above me, 'for you are
unhurt.'
"So I rose and felt even then that I who thought
that every bone in my body must be broken was
stronger than I had ever been before. It was as
though the lamp which had burnt low was filled sud
denly with a new and purer oil.
"'Man,' t-'aid mine adviser, and I thought that in
bit cold eyes there was something like a smile, 'did
ynu think to touch Murgh rind live? Did you think
to wrestle with him as in a book of one of your gods
a certain Jacob wrestled with an angel and con
quered—until it was his turn to pass the gate of the
gods?'
"Now I stared at this dweller in Cathay, who spoke
my tongue* and knew the tale of Jacob in the ancient
book, then answered:
" 'Sir Murgh, or, Sir Gate, or whatever your name
may be, I thought to do nothing. You drew me to
yon, you challenged me and since by the rule of my
order I may refuse no challenge from one who is not
a Christian I came on to do my best. But before ever
I laid hand on you I was cast down by a wind, and
that is all the story, save that it has pleased you to
let me live, who evidently could have slain me, for
which I thank you.'
" 'You are wrong, Sir Andrew,' he answered. -I
did not draw you to me. Men come to Murgh at
their appointed hour; Murgh does not come to them.
-ought him before your hour and therefore he
•1 you. You will meet him again, as all ftesh
when the;: ike.-, and because you ar»
The San Francisco Sunday Call
bold and have not cringed before my strength, for
your comfort I will show you when and how. Now
stand by me, but lay no hand on me or my robe and
look into my glass while for a moment, for your sake.
I stay the stream of time and show you what lies
beneath its foam that blinds the eyes of men.'
"Now he waved his arms and the black doves and
the white doves ceased to appear and disappear and
the eternal soughing of their wings was silent. He
pointed to the water at his fe?t and I saw not a pic
ture, but a scene »o living that I could have sworn
it was alive about me, since'those who took part in
it stood in front of me as though the pool were solid
ground that their feet pressed, and you were one of
them. Son, you were one o{ them," and the old
knight paused, supporting himself against the mantel
• shelf as though that recollection overcame him.
"What did you see?" whispered Hugh.
"By God's holy name, son, I saw the Blythburgh
marshes deep in snow that was red, blood red. with
the light of sunrise. Oh! I couM not be mistook;
there ran the wintry river, there the church tower
soared, there were the frowning, tree clad bank-.
there was the rough moorland over which t! t
wind piped for the dead bracken bent before i
not 50 paces from me leaped a great hare, disturbed
suddenly from its form by a hungry fox, whose red
head peeped through the reeds. Yes, yes, I saw the
brute's white teeth gleam as it licked its disapi
lips and I felt glad that its prey had beaten
you look upon that scene. Hugh, as yoi
member the hare and the head of the hungry fox, and
by these judge my truth."
"A fox and a hare!" broke in Hugh. "I'd sho
such tomorrow; was there no more?"
"Aye, much. For instance, a hollow in the •
an open grave and an ax, yes, an ax that de
where the bog was sott beneath the 6H
Dick held the ax in one hand and his black how in
the other, while Red Eve, your Eve, stood at i:
and stared into it like one in a dream. Then
head of the grave an old, old man, clad in mail be
neath his priestly robes, and that man myself, Hugh,
grown very ancient, but still myself, and no others.
And at the foot of the grave you, Hugh de I
you and no other, wayworn and tierce, but also clad
in mail and wearing a knight's crest upon your
you with drawn sword in hand and facing yoi
with drawn sword a stately, foreign looking man,
whom mine eyes have never seen, but whom I should
know again midst a million, with rage and despair on
his dark face; a man who. I think, was doomed
the grave. And lastly, standing on a little mound
near to the bank of the swirling river, where jagged
sheets of ice ground against each other like the teeth
of the wicked in hell, clad in black, his arms crossed
upon his breast and a light smile in his cold eyes, he
who was called Murgh in Cathay, he who named him
self Gateway of the Gods.
"For a moment I saw. then all was gone, and I
found myself, I know not why, walking towa
mighty arch whereon sat the iron dragons. In it?
shadow I turned and looked back. There at the head
of the pool the man was seated in his chair and to
right and to left of him came the black doves and the
white doves in countless multitudes, all the thou
sands of them that had been stayed in their
pouring down upon him at one,e —nr }0
They -wheeled about his head, they hid his face
me and I—l departed into the shadow of the arch and
I saw him and them no more."
CHAPTER IV.
The Penance
"T"HE tale was done and these two stood staring at
I one another from each side of the glowing hearth,
whose red light illumined their faces. At length the
heavy silence was broken by Sir Andrew.
"I read your heart, Hugh," he said, "as Mttrgh read
mine, for I think that he gave me not only strength.
but something of his wisdom also, whereby I was able
to win iafe back to England and to this hour to walk
unharmed by many a pit. I read your heart, and in
that book is written that you think me mad; one who
pleases his old age with tales of marvel that others
told him, or which his own brain fashioned."
"Not so, father," answered Hugh, uneasily, for in
truth some such thoughts were passing through his
mind, "only—only the thing is very strange, and it
happened so long ago, before Eve and I were born,
before those that begot us were born either, per
chance."
"Yes, more than SO yearsjago—-it may be 60—1 for
get. In 60 years the memory plays strange tricks with
men, no doubt, so how can I blame you if you be
lieve—what you do believe? And yet, Hugh," he
went on after a pause and speaking with r
"this was no dream of which I tell you. Why,
suppose, that among all those that have grown up
about me I have chosen you out to love, you and your
Eve? Not because a chanco made me your godsire
and her my pupil. I say that from infancy your faces
haunted me, and when you had turned childhood's
corner and once I met the pair of you walking hand
in hand, then of a sudden I knew that it was you two
and no others whom that god or devil once showed to
me standing by the open grave upon the banks of
Blythe; I knew it of Dick the Archer, also, and can
I be mistaken of such a man as that who has no fel
low in England? But you think I dreamed it all, and
perhaps I should not have spoken, though something
made me speak. Well, in a day to come you may
change your mind, since, whatever dangers threaten,
you will not die>.yet, Hugh. Tell me now, what is
this Frenchman like who would marry Eve? I have
never seen him."
Hugh, who was glad to come again to the things of
earth, described Acour as best he could.
"Ah!" said Sir Andrew, "much such a man as stoo.l
face to face with you by the grave while Murgli
watched, and you are not likely to be friends, are
you? But I forgot, you have determined that it was
but a dream and now you are wondering how he who
is called Gate of the Gods in Cathay could come to
Blythburgh. Well, I think that all the world is his
garden, given to him by God, but doubtless that's only
another face of my dream wheTeof we'll speak no
more—at present. Now for your troubles, which are
no dream. Lie you down to sleep on the skin of that
striped beast. I killed it in Cathay, in my day of
dreams, and now it shall serve for yours, from which
may the dead eyes of John Clavering be a 1
forth to seek your father and :■ i mat
ters. With Gray Dick at the doi : for a
while, I think, and if not here'?, a cupboard where ya
may hide," and drawing aside the arras he si %.
him a certain secret pi :i to hold a man.
Then he left the room.
(To be continued.)