Again the youths made as if to run them through. The injured savage rebuked them more sharply than before and apparently ordered them to stand guard outside, for they evacuated the clammy cave with some show of reluctance.
"They are good boys," the savage said. "They hate the English as much as I, and wish to kill you."
"Then there are English on this island? What is the name of't?" Bertrand was still too frightened to speak, but Ebenezer, despite his recent daydreams of a poet's island, could not contain his joy at the prospect of rejoining his countrymen.
The savage regarded him narrowly. "You do not know where you are?"
"Only that 'tis an ocean isle," the Laureate replied.
"And you know not the name of Quassapelagh, the Anacostin King?"
"Nay."
For some moments their captor continued to search their faces. Then, as though persuaded of their innocence, he lay back on the pallet and stared at the roof of the cave.
"I am Quassapelagh," he declared. "The Anacostin King."
"King!" Bertrand exclaimed in a whisper to Ebenezer. "D'ye think he's king of one of our golden towns?"
"This is the land of the Piscataways." Quassapelagh went on. "These are the fields and forests of the Piscataways. That water is the water of the Piscataways: these cliffs are our cliffs. They have belonged to the Piscataways since the beginning of the world. My father was a king in this land, and his father, and his father; and so for a time was I. But Quassapelagh is king no more, nor will my sons and grandsons rule."
"Ask him which way to the nearest golden town," Bertrand whispered, but his master gestured him to silence.
"Why do you lie here in this miserable den?" Ebenezer asked. " 'Tis no fit dwelling for a king, methinks."
"This country is Quassapelagh's no more," the King replied. "Your people have stolen it away. They came in ships, with sword and cannon, and took the fields and forests from my father. They have herded us like animals and driven us off. And when I said, 'This land belongs to the Piscataways,' they turned me into prison. Our emperor, Ochotomaquath, must hide like an animal in the hills, and in his place sits a young whelp Passop, that licketh the English emperor's boots. My people must do his bidding or starve."
"Injustice!" Ebenezer cried. "Did you hear, Bertrand? Who is this Warren that so presumes, and makes me feel shame to be an Englishman? Some rogue of a pirate, I'll wager, that hath claimed the island for his own. I'faith!" He clutched at the valet's sleeve. "I recall old Carl, the sailmaker, spoke of a pirate town called Libertatia, on the Isle of Madagascar; pray God 'tis not the same!"
"I know not the Emperor's name," Quassapelagh said, "for he hath but lately come to oppress my nation. This Warren is but a jailer and chief of soldiers — "
At this moment a great commotion began outside the cave.
"Drakepecker!" Bertrand cried.
There at the cave's mouth the great black stood indeed: at his feet, dropped in anger, lay the rude spear improvised by Ebenezer, on which two bloody rabbits were impaled, and in each great hand he held a young sentry by the neck. One he had already by some means disarmed, and before the other could use his weapon to advantage, the fearsome Negro cracked their heads together and flung them to the beach below.
"Bravo!" Ebenezer cheered.
"In here, Drakepecker!" Bertrand called, and leaped to pinion Quassapelagh. "Come hither and crack this rascal's head as well!"
The Negro snatched up his spear and charged into the cave with a roar, plainly intending to add Quassapelagh to his other trophies.
"Stay! Drakepecker!" Ebenezer commanded.
"Stick him!" shouted Bertrand, holding Quassapelagh's arms from behind. The savage offered no resistance, but regarded the intruder with stern contempt.
"I forbid it!" said Ebenezer, and grasped the spear.
Bertrand protested: " 'Tis what the wretch designed for us, sir!"
"If so, he showed no sign of't. Release him." When his arms were free Quassapelagh lay back on the blanket and stared impassively at the ceiling. "Those young boys were his sons," Ebenezer said. "Go with Drakepecker and fetch them here, if he hath not killed them." The two men went, Bertrand with considerable misgivings which he did not hesitate to give voice to, and Ebenezer said to Quassapelagh, "Forgive my man for injuring your sons; he thought we were in peril. We mean you no harm at all, sir. You have suffered enough at English hands."
But the savage remained impassive. "Shall I rejoice to find an Englishman with mercy?" He pointed to his evil-smelling knee. "Which is more merciful, a spear in the heart or this poisoned knee, that I cut while fleeing like a rabbit in the night? If my sons are dead, I starve; if they live I die of this poison. Your heart is good: I ask you to kill Quassapelagh."
Presently Bertrand and the Negro returned, marching at the points of their spears the two young boys, who seemed to be suffering only from bruises and sore heads.
"It is enough that my sons live," Quassapelagh said. "Tell your man to kill me now."
"Nay, I've better work for him," Ebenezer said, and to Bertrand he declared, "Drakepecker will remain here with the king and mind his wants while we sound the temper of these English bandits. The boys can lead us to the outskirts of their settlement."
" 'Tis not mine to argue," Bertrand sighed. "I only hope they've not snatched all the goden towns and set themselves up as gods."
Ebenezer then made clear to the Negro, by means of signs, that he wished him to feed the King and dress the infected knee; to the latter item, presented more as a query than a command, the black man responded with bright affirmative nods and an enthusiastic chatter that suggested acquaintance with some prophylactic or therapeutic measures. Without more ado he removed the dirty dressing and examined the malodorous inflammation with a clearly chirurgical interest. Then, in his own tongue, accompanying his orders with enough gesticulation for clarity, he directed one of the boys to clean and cook the rabbits and sent the other to fetch two crockery pots of water.
" 'Sheart!" Bertrand said respectfully. "The wight's a physician as well! 'Tis an honor to be his god, is't not, sir?"
The poet smiled. "Haply he merits a better, Bertrand; he is in sooth a masterly creation."
Before two hours had elapsed, the rabbits were cooked and eaten — along with raw oysters provided by the youths and a kind of parched and powdered corn called rockahominy, of which the King had a large jarful — and Quassapelagh's wound had been lanced with his own knife, drained of pus, washed clean, and dressed with some decotion brewed by the Negro out of various roots and herbs which he had gathered in the woods while the rabbits were roasting. Even the savages were impressed by the performance: the boys fingered their lumps with more of awe than of resentment, and Quassapelagh's hard eyes shone.
"If the English are not far distant, I should like to have a look at them ere dark," the Laureate announced. When Quassapelagh replied that they were not above three miles away, he repeated his orders to the Negro, who, kneeling as usual at the sound of his name, acquiesced tearfully to the separation.
"If we find them to be pirates or highwaymen, we'll return at once," Ebenezer told the King.
"The Emperor of the English will not harm you," Quassapelagh said, "nor need you fear for my sons, who are unknown to him. But speak not the name of the Anacostin King to any man unless you wish me dead, and do not return to this cave. Your kindness to Quassapelagh will not be forgotten." He spoke in the native tongue to one of the boys, fetched him a small leather packet from the rear of the cave.
" 'Tis a map of the Seven Cities he means to show us!" Bertrand whispered.
"Take these," said the King, and gave to each of the men a small amulet, carved, it appeared, from the vertebra of a large fish — a hollow, watery-white cylinder of bone perhaps three quarters of an inch in width and half that in diameter, with small projections where the dorsal and ventral ribs had been cut off and the near-translucence characteristic of the bones of fish. Bertrand's face fell. "It seems a small repayment for my life," Quassapelagh said sternly, "but it was for one of these that Warren turned me free."