THE INVINCIBLE ADAM GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK AND PAUL ELDRIDGE Duckworth 3 Henrietta Street, London 1932 First pubhshud 1932 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHT IN TJ.S.A. Printed in Great Britain git th* ^URLEIGH PRKSS, l^ei^m^ Mead. BRISTOL TO GRETCHEN AND SYLVETTE CONTENTS PAGE I. "STOP HIMl CATCH HIM!" —LORD KOTESBURY SURRENDERS—" WOMAN ! "—A FRIEND INTER- VENES—A JURY OF SCIENTISTS—KOTIKOKURA'S TALE..........15 II. MY FATHER LOOKS AT ME—THE GREAT TABOO— THE AMOROUS LION—LOIN-HUNGER—I DANCE IN THE JUNGLE—LOVE AMONG PARROTS—-THE DUEL OF THE PACHYDERMS ----- 25 III. TOM-TOMS—THE VINTAGE OF THE GREAT APE— KALARBA'S HEAD GLOWS LIKE A YELLOW MOON — THE GOD OF A THOUSAND TAILS—CLAIRVOYANCE —A CYCLONE WHIRLS ABOUT MB - - - • 33 iv. MY MOTHER'S NEW HUSBAND —i PROWL IN THE TREE TOPS—KOTIKOKURA, THE REBEL—MAN-ROOT— SACRED NECK BANDS—THE RAPE OF THE EAR — THE FEAST OF ALL APES—THE BARE EAR OF MY MOTHER—" WOMAN 1 " I GROWL - 39 V. INITIATION—THE LOST APPENDAGE—THE KNIFE OF THE COVENANT—THE CHANT OF THE APE— FLOWERS OF PAIN—TOKOMA'S DISCOVERY—THE VICAR OF THE GREAT APE—THE GREAT APE GROWLS.........47 VI. SECRETS OF THE UNDERWORLD -THE MUTE LITTLE PEOPLE -THE ROAR OF THE APE —THE WAND OF KALARBA—MARBLE GODS.....56 VII. DISAPPEARING WALLS—THE VOICE OF THE HIGH PRIEST—THE GROVE OF THE MUSHROOMS—ICHOR OF YOUTH—A SILVER GHOST—I DISCOVER THE FLUTE ------- --gi 7 CONTENTS PAGE VIII. THE BREAD OF THE GODS—THE SONS OF THE BEAST —I CRACK A WHIP -SIMIAN MYSTERIES -THE GREAT APE SPEAKS —THE WIFE OF GOD 64 IX. NOSTALGIA —A ROPE LADDER DANGLES —THE EMPTY THRONE—THE PURLOINED MASK—THE HUT OF THE VIRGINS —ALLATU ------ 67 X. ENTICING PERFUMES—ARBOREAL SIRENS—THE GREAT APE OF THE SKY—THE SEAL OF THE IMMORTAL GROWLER—THE OTHER FACE OF GOD 71 XL THE GREAT EAR—THE GREAT EYE—THE GREAT NOSE—THE FRAGRANCE OF ALL FLESH—THE WEARINESS OF THE GODS—I SEAT MYSELF ON A COFFIN—I WHISTLE ------- 77 XII. THE ELIXIR OF KALARBA—PROPHECY—WINE OF IMMORTALITY—I SWOON......82 XIII. THE VANISHED TEMPLE—I SEEK ALLATU—THE EMPTY CAGE OF GOD — DESECRATION —CARR-TARR- PHARR—I ENCOUNTER TOKOMA—I UPROOT A TREE—THE TEARS OF ALLATU—THE LAW OF CATAPHA—A COVENANT OF BLOOD—I EAT THE SACRED PARROT.......87 XIV. I DISCOVER SHAME—FINE FEATHERS, FINE BIRDS— I ENTRAP MY SHADOW'—THE HERESY OF THE RAT—SHAKING PILLARS—A WORLD ON FIRE—THE FLOOD -WE GALLOP AWAY.....95 XV. ETERNAL CROSSROADS -BIRD OR MAN ? —A ROMAN HOLIDAY—EARS, EARS, EARS—I AM CAPTURED— I INVOKE CATAPHA—ROMAN JUSTICE—I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF MONEY— BANISHMENT*. « 104 XVI. I WANDER AT RANDOM'—PHANTOM FEMALES— BROKEN BONDS—THE BENEFICENT UDDER—I AM A THIEF—I PAY FOR MY TRANSGRESSIONS—I PROTECT CATAPHA—CATAPHA KNOWS - 11 CONTENTS g PAGE XVII. THE FLIGHT OF THE GENTLE RUBBER—I JILT A ROMAN SENATOR —OBSOLETE TASTES —BREASTS OF VENUS —I LIFT A CURTAIN —A ROW WITH THE CHRISTIANS —BROTHERS-OUT-OF-LAW - - Il8 XVIII. THE NET OF TIME—MY IMAGE MOCKS ME —" SEEK NOT LEST YOU FIND"—ROOTS OF THE PAST— CATAPHA's BIRTHDAY—" LONG LIVE THE DIVINE COCK OF AFRICA "—CATAPHA CHOOSES A SPOUSE —I HURL A SPEAR—I WIN A BRIDE- - 133 XIX. MY RELUCTANT BRIDE—THE WAY OF THE ELEPHANT —METAMORPHOSIS —I AM ACCUSED OF MURDER — ROOT AND FLOWER OF PASSION—THE FLAMING SWORD OF CATAPHA —I RETURN TO THE JUNGLE - 145 XX. " WOMAN —WOMAN —" —THE FAITHFUL MASTIFF—- THE MEANING OF LOVE—MAN OR APE—I PRAY TO THE GOD OF MY FATHERS—BITTER HERBS—I LOSE A FRIEND—LIFE TRIUMPHS - 150 XXI. I AM THE GREAT GOD PAN—JULIAN BUILDS AN ALTAR —NEWS OF CATAPHA—THE SACRIFICE—EMPEROR AND GALILEAN—ILL-OMEN - 157 XXIL I WORK LIKE A CAMEL—THE APHRODITE OF THE DOCK YARDS—I SUP WITH ALEXANDRA—AND ALEXANDER—PAN RE-ARISEN—THE POULTRY OF THE EMPRESS -------- 164 XXIII, I AM KOTUS, THE MASKED MARVEL—THE BATTLE OF THE CIRCUS—THE LEAP OF THE JUNGLE—I THROW THE DISCUS, I RACE, I WRESTLE—THE GRIP OF THE ELEPHANT —BRENNUS, THE NORDIC GIANT—A BROKEN NOSE —I SWALLOW BLOOD —I BREAK THE WORLD'S RECORD—i REACH THE PALACE OF CJBSAR'S WIFE........176 A * PAGE XXIV. A RING O'F LEECHES—THE PLEASURES OF THE EMPRESS—THE FATHOMLESS WELL—THEODORA IS PLAYFUL— BARNYARD SLAUGHTER—THE DANCE OF THE GREAT APE—I FORGET THEODORA—A SECRET MESSAGE—TWO SHADOWS - 187 XXV. CATAPHA STRAIGHTENS MY NOSE—THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT APE—IMMORTAL FRIENDSHIP—SEVEN DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS—TEN VIRGINS—I DENY THE GREAT APE—WHAT IS LOVE ?—THE LOVES OF LING LU—THE QUEST OF PERFECTION - - 194 XXVI. A RED-HEADED GODDESS—SALOME STRIKES A BARGAIN—SALOME LAUGHS —A DREAM OF EDEN — I AM ADAM—THE BLESSED GROVE OF COCO-NUTS —LAKSHMI CHIDES JAHWEH—AN AMATEUR DIVINITY—JAHWEH PLUCKS OUT MY RIB- FORBIDDEN FRUIT—A DREAM OF EVE—I AM STILL KOTIKOKURA.......203 KXVH. I COUNT MY YEARS'—WHAT IS TIME ?—ON TO DAMASCUS—THE TALE OF THE WANDERING JEW- COBBLER AND CARPENTER—MINIONS OF THE LAW—I AM ADMONISHED—I SNORE - 222 XXVIII. THE CALIPH OF DAMASCUS—IBN BEN HAHMUD PULLS HIS BEARD—THE SECRET OF NUMBERS—RELATI- VITY—I AM BORED—THE BATHING HAREM— BEWILDERED EUNUCHS—FAVOURITES OF THE SULTAN—I DECIDE TO TAKE A VACATION - - 235 XXIX. A HAREM ELOPES WITH ME—MUFFLED HOOFS— FOUR HUNDRED WIVES—THE EAGLE'S NEST— PRISONER OF LOVE—THE MAGNIFICENT JUGGLER —CATAPHA BEHEADS HIMSELF—FLIGHT - - 242 XXX. MONKS OF ISLAM—ARITHMETIC OF LOVE—CATAPHA IS HUNGRY—AN UNDERGROUND HOSTELRY— " NOTHING IS TRUE AND ALL IS PERMITTED " *• 253 CONTENTS II PAGE XXXI. KOTIKOKURA, THE SAILOR — IS THE EARTH FLAT OR ROUND ?•— THE TERRIFIED JEW— JAHWEH HOLDS A COUNCIL*— ETERNAL SCAPEGOAT — A TIFF WITH CATAPHA — MUTINY-—! AM FIFTY SAILORS — SHIP- WRECKED --- ..... - 257 XXXII. DIVINE HONOURS— ALLATU WAITS FOR ME— I RULE HEAVEN AND EARTH— TWO SOULS WITHIN ME — I SEEK THE LOST ELIXIR— CRAWLING LIZARDS — I STRANGLE A WIFE — WOMAN-RULE — I FEIGN SUBMISSION — THE FALL OF THE MATRIARCH — UNITED - - ...... - 267 SXXIII. A FOREST OF FIREFLIES —I DREAM OF MIGHTY THINGS— I LEAP TO SHORE IN CAIRO— I BRING A GIFT TO SULTAN SALADIN —I AM A MOSLEM KNIGHT —THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM —THE BEARD DOES NOT MAKE THE PROPHET— I TURN MY FACE TO MECCA ..... « .. „ - 280 XXXIV. NEGLECTED WIVES— I SEEK MYSELF— MY SIRE, THE APE— MY SOUL, CATAPHA — THE DUALITY OF NATURE— THE ONENESS OF GOD — SUPERLIFE — UNFINISHED ADAM — THE PRIMAL RIB — CRAZY — I FIND MYSELF ...... - 286 XXXV. FROM VINEYARD TO VINEYARD — FROM HAREM TO HAREM — AN ADVENTURE IN HAMLIN — THE BURGO- MASTER'S DAUGHTER — I MAKE A BARGAIN — THE POT-BELLIED CLERIC— A BOND DISAVOWED — THE PILFERED TREASURE — PIPES OF PAN— YOUTH LIKE A DRUNKEN GOAT .-»--- 306 XXXVI. GUADALQUIVIR CHURNS ITS WATER— AN ASS DECIDES MY DESTINY — I SNIFF — CATAPHA— THE HEN-PECKED GOD— LAUGHTER IN THE CITY OF SCAPE-GOATS — SATURNALIA IN THE GHETTO — ym LEAVE SPAIN - I2 CONTENTS PAGE XXXVII. AN ARTIST IN SEARCH OF A MODEL—MICHEL- ANGELO TESTS MY CALF—I SLAY GOLIATH— THE JILTED MADONNA—I HAVE A RIVAL— SMASHED TABLETS OF THE LAW - 333 XXXVIII. I CROSS THE ALPS—I TEND MY GOATS—I MEET A MADMAN—JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU RETURNS TO NATURE—TUGGED HEARTSTRINGS - 341 XXXIX. PARIS HAS A NEW FAD—THE ROYAL SHEPHERDESS— THE MENAGERIE OF CAGLIOSTRO—I UNLOOSEN A FLOCK OF SHEEP—NATURE SPEAKS - 346 XL. THE MARQUIS MAKES MERRY—THE WOMB OF NATURE—A DESSERT FOR THE MARQUIS—THE CATECHISM OF PAIN—I TURN CHASTISER —I RESCUE DAMSELS IN DISTRESS - 358 XLL CITOYEN KOTIKOKURE—I STORM THE BASTILLE — I AM THE REVOLUTION —I RESCUE TWO SUSPECTS — I OVERHEAR A CONVERSATION—I SUCK A LEMON - 366 XLH. I AM A COWED HUSBAND—DOVE-GREY TROUSERS— A CURTAIN LECTURE—STILTED PLEASURES—I MAKE A PROMISE—AN ENCOUNTER IN HYDE PARK—I PINCH A BARMAID—THE REGISTRY OF MY SINS—CATAPHA FORGIVES - 375 XLIH. 1AND WITHOUT WOMAN—THE BELFRY OF MOUNT ATHOS—A PSYCHO-ANALYTIC EXPERIMENT - - 386 XLIV. NINA PETROVNA GOES TO THE " ZAGS " -KOTIKO- KURA CATAFOWICH IS JEALOUS—THE HOLY TRACTOR —AN OLD MAN OF TWENTY-TWO -—COR- RUPTING THE YOUTH—I AM EXCOMMUNICATED — TOVARISH KOTIKOKURA CROSSES THE BORDER - 390 XLV. BOOTLEG MAN-ROOT—THE FEAST OF ALL APES AT THE RITZ WALDORF—THE LURE OF ALLATU— .......400 CONTENTS 13 PAGE XLVI. THE VERDICT OF THE JURY—TWO SCIENTISTS DISCUSS A RIDDLE—THE SECRET OF KOTIKOKURA —SPIRIT TRAFFIC—THE BIRTH OF LOVE—HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE......403 L'ENVOL MR. AND MRS. LAQUEDEM WELCOME LORD KOTESBURY—HOISTING LAKSHMI, MOTHER OF THE WORLD—THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS - - 409 A PERSONAL NOTE - 411 "STOP HIM! CATCH HIM!"—LORD KOTESBURY SURRENDERS—" WOMAN ! " A FRIEND INTERVENES —A JURY OF SCIENTISTS—KOTIKOKURA'S TALE " STOP him! Catch him ! " A man, stark naked save for a monocle swinging on a black ribbon, dashed up the marble steps of the Ritz Waldorf. His pursuers, guests, private detectives, floor supervisors, pressed against one another, stepped on one another's heels. " You'll never get him ! " " He is leaping up the balustrades like an ape from tree-top to tree-top! " " Who is he ? " " They say he is Lord Kotesbury." " What ? " " Yes, didn't you see his monocle ! " The great hotel was steeped in silence. Most of the guests, even those who had danced at cabarets or supped at speak- easies, were already tucked in their beds. Belated home- comers, their hands upon the door-knobs, gaped in utter amazement at the fleeting figure that bolted past them. " Did you see ? " a much bejewelled lady asked, breathless. " What superb muscles! " She cast a sidelong glance at the flabby paunch of her middle-aged husband, and sighed. " I saw ! " he exclaimed with unwarranted anger, " And I shall certainly complain to the management, It's absolutely immoral/* 15 j6 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " A Faun ! A Faun ! " a young debutante, a trifle bleary- eyed, exclaimed. " My dear/' her companion hiccoughed, " you are drunk ! " " But it was a Faun/' she persisted. " One of the bronze Fauns from the entrance hall come to life," she whimpered. " Get me the Faun, honey." " Come, darling—what I shall get you is the bed." The elevators rose at top speed, but, always as the pursuers emerged, the figure eluded them. Only the glow of a bronzed skin and a dangling crystal like the flash of a firefly. " Mon cher, regarde! " a dainty French lady pointed her forefinger. " 0 tempora ! 0 mores ! " her scholarly consort exclaimed. " Once upon a time lovers hid under beds or in closets at the unexpected arrival of irate husbands—now they dash out sans night-shirts, sans fig-leaves." " Oui, mon ami," she added, her hazel-brown eyes filled with understanding. " Kolossal, meine Kollegen 1 " an elderly German, with thick glasses and a heavy drooping moustache like that of a walrus, ejaculated. " I have always maintained that there is no such thing as a hundred per cent, man or woman but I think I have discovered the exception—perhaps the only one in the world." His companions, scholarly looking gentlemen of three continents, agreed respectfully. " Yes, Professor," they replied in a half-dozen languages. " Ah, if I could only exhibit him at my Institut in Berlin ! " the Professor sighed. " What's happened, Miss ? " one of the men asked of & floor supervisor, all out of breath. " I don't really know, sir. We must catch him, that's all I know. And it doesn't seem so easy." " He's not running away from you, my dear," the Professor THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 17 said, pinching the cheek of the bewildered girl, " he's running away from himself." And turning to his companions, he added: "Have you noticed, meine Herren Kollegen, the strange look in his eye ? He is suffering from some psychic trauma." " I am all out of breath," one fat woman complained. " But, madam," a gentleman remarked, " it's not at all essential that you run after the rascal." She glared at him " Oh, isn't it ? " she retorted and, in possession of a second wind, dispersed the cluster of the curious, and climbed two steps at a time. " My Lord," an English novelist on the twelfth floor exclaimed, his long teeth protruding like a horse's, "how quaint these Americans are ! But they carry physical culture really too far 1" " He's a nudist," someone whispered into his ear. " Ah ! " the Englishman nodded, reconciled. " I know that man I" an Italian sculptor, his arms in the air, shouted." He is—he is—per la Madonna—who is he ? Where did I see him ? " He tore at his beard. " Ah—I have it! He is David 1 David, caro mio ! " " David ? " his companion asked, pouting. " David-----" " David—the statue of Buonarotti in Florence—mera- viglioso, amico—does nature really imitate art ? Or was he fashioned by some Michelangelo of the flesh ? " The elevators whizzed upward. Fleeter and nimbler, however, the naked figure. Two young men with slim, blond souls, startled, pressed against the wall, " Did you see ? " " Who was that ? " " Pan ! Pan ! " the first one shouted, starting up the stairs. " Don't! " the second gasped. " It may be an escaped lunatic or a criminal." l8 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM The first one stamped his foot, and continued his ascent. The other tripped after him uttering shrill shrieks. " Hello, what's this—a bird flying past me ? " a burly, red-nosed individual asked no one in particular, and, balancing himself on the balustrade, sang : " Kommt ein Voglein geflogen— Setzt sick nieder auf meiri Fuss I" And as the pursuers rushed by, he harangued against Prohibition and its rotten stuff. " To hell with Prohibition !" "Did you see how crude the masculine body is, dear, compared with the soft curves of ours ? " And the angular arm of the angular actress passed caressingly round the hips of her buxom companion. The pursuing army crowded the entrance to the roof. "Where is he?" " Oh, there he is ! I see him ! " " Look!" All heads turned where the finger pointed. There they saw the lithe, powerful figure of the man. In the shadows surrounding him, he gave the impression of a denizen of the jungle, ready to spring out of his ambush. His eyes had a strange phosphorescence and moved back and forth with simian quickness. Thick, black hair covered his head like a cluster of grapes and gathered like a heavy blue reflection upon his body. " Stand aside there." The detectives pressed the people back. Their hands upon their guns, three men approached warily. "Lord Kotesbury," one of them said, "don't budge or we shoot! " Lord Kotesbury bowed with punctilious elegance. He tapped his side as if seeking his cigarette case, and realizing J. XI £, JL1\V1JNI/JL.B.L,J& A JJ A M 19 suddenly that he was naked, a curious, almost inhuman grin appeared on his lips. " Lod Kotesbuly I Lod Kotesbuly I " a Chinaman pierced through the crowd. " Stand there," one of the detectives ordered. " What do you want ? " The Chinaman, without answering, thrust forward a dressing- gown of Chinese design heavily embroidered with gold and a pair of slippers. The detective searched the pockets of man and gown, and finding only a cigarette case studded with precious stones, and filled with long Russian cigarettes, said: " Go ahead, dress him up. He needs it." The crowd, considering the remark humorous, laughed. The valet approached his master with oriental obsequious- ness, shod his feet, covered his body, raised the monocle to his eye, presented a cigarette, struck a match and vanished as mysteriously as he had appeared. There was something positively exotic in Lord Kotesbury. He looked like a proud mandarin of the days when the ruler of Cathay was the true Son of Heaven. " Lord Kotesbury, you are under arrest," the three detectives said at one time. He bowed. Two of the men flanked him, the third followed. Lord Kotesbury was quite young, perhaps not more than twenty or twenty-two. But as he turned his head somewhat, his profile revealed a curious agelessness like that of a figure on an Egyptian frieze. His step was agile and noiseless like that of a feline. " Make room there/' the detectives ordered the crowd. If the people had been prepared to laugh and indulge in quips, the quiet dignity and the vibrant power of the prisoner dispelled their intentions. Silently, they followed the four men to the elevator and watched the gate close behind them. 20 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Lord Kotesbury paced up and down the long, narrow room adjoining the office of the District Attorney. The monocle would not stay screwed in his eye. His clothes, made in London by the purveyors to His Majesty, hung loosely over his powerful body, which stooped and crouched. His shadow which crossed and recrossed the wall resembled uncannily that of an enraged panther. He mumbled to himself in a medley of languages, punctured by sounds which once reverberated in primordial forests. Every now and then he raised his head and spat, his face assuming a beatific expression. From time to time also, as if suddenly repenting, he made the sign of the cross over his body, a mutilated cross, revealing the ancient significance of that symbol. " Kalarba—father of fathers—come to my aid! 0 Thousand Tailed One, Ruler of the Universe, remember thy son, the son of Chief Mokuharu ! Catapha, God of the World, do not forsake me!" Like the monotonous maddening beat of a tom-tom, the young aristocrat repeated this litany, this prayer to wild aboriginal divinities. And always, as an overtone—or an amen—he growled—" Woman—woman 1 " Suddenly the door opened and two men entered. One was tall and heavy set. His grey eyes were two sharp dots piercing a pair of very thick spectacles. His white moustache bristled over an energetic, ironic lip. His bald head, surrounded by a fringe of white, gave the impression of a majestic dome dedicated to knowledge. The other, a younger man, was of medium height. His lineaments were delicate, almost ascetic. His hair, once fair, had an intermediate hue—wavering between greyness and brown. His blue eyes had a far-away look. There was something weary in his smile. " Good morning/' the two men said simultaneously* Lord Kotesbury leaped to one side with a force and sudden- THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 21 ness which made his visitors withdraw a little in self-defence. The older man remarked with a vague, imperceptible current of irony, " Your Lordship has lost nothing of your youthful agility." Lord Kotesbury did not answer. He watched his visitors with a mixture of disdain and apprehension. His eyes pranced in their orbits like startled colts. " We had the pleasure of meeting several years ago in a monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. I am Professor Bassermann of Harvard, and my colleague is Dr. Lowell, as you may remember/' Lord Kotesbury did not reply. " We have grown older, but, I hope, not entirely unrecog- nizable," he added. Lord Kotesbury persisted in solemn silence. " Kotikokura," said Dr. Lowell, addressing the lord by an almost forgotten name. For the first time the rigid face of Lord Kotesbury relaxed. " Kotikokura," he repeated softly, " we are on a most friendly mission. The unfortunate occurrence of last night must not leak out. The consequences would be too far- reaching, involving many." Lord Kotesbury listened attentively. " You have, of course, powerful friends-----" The ghost of a smile or a grin played about the lips of the lord. " They have so far succeeded in silencing the newspapers. But the law requires a thorough investigation and justice demands its due/' The hands of the young lord tightened into fists—one for law and one for justice. ' Bassermann, the foremost professor of psychology in the United States, interpreted the meaning of the gesture. "My friend," he said, the strain of irony in his voice attenuate^, " the custom of the jungle cannot be transplanted 22 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM into civilized Amerida, and you are accused of crimes heinous in the eyes of our people/' Kotesbury grumbled. " You really must believe us, Kotikokura," Dr. Lowell interjected, " that we are sent here by------" He did not mention the names, but Lord Kotesbury nodded understandingly. " By/' the doctor pursued, " your best friends, who for obvious reasons do not wish to appear in person. Consider us, I beg you, as their ambassadors " Lord Kotesbury became more amenable. "We are endeavouring," Bassermann explained, "to avoid a catastrophe. This case must not be brought to court for your sake and the sake of the others. You understand/' The lord screwed his monocle into his eye. "The avoidance of this misfortune rests entirely with you/' The slightly dictatorial note in the professor's voice irritated the listener. Dr. Lowell took a step nearer him. He spoke almost in whispers, as if fearful of being overheard. " Kotikokura, we have not rested the entire night—all of us—believe me, in the titanic effort to spare you. Finally, we persuaded the District Attorney and the Governor to permit Professor Bassermann and myself to choose a jury of scientists instead of a jury of laymen, and to try you in private and behind closed doors. If our judgment is favourable, the case will be hushed completely. If not/' he threw up his hands, " the case will have to be tried in court/' Lord Kotesbury did not commit himself. His deep-set black eyes galloped from one side to the other. Professor Bassermann stretched out his firm, stumpy fingers. Dr. Lowell, however, interrupted him and £op.tmued: THE IN VINCIBLE ADAM 23 " You will readily realize, my friend, theimmense advantage of being tried by men of understanding and sympathy." " My son," the professor nevertheless interposed, his voice assuming an unaccustomed gentleness, "it may be that your deed was most justifiable, most rational. We do not accuse you of crime. We merely wish to understand and analyse the causes, the impulses which brought about the painful denouement. It is never who's to blame, but what's to blame." Lord Kotesbury pouted his lips reluctantly. " Kotikokura," Dr. Lowell said, taking out of his vest pocket a ring surmounted by emeralds, the shape of a tortoise, ' your friends—our friends—have sent this seal—as a symbol 'hat you may trust us completely, that you should follow >ur counsel." The young lord looked at the ring carefully and read the nscription carved upon it in a tongue incomprehensible to an >rdinary mortal: " Catapha—Salome—love to Kotikokura." A smile gathered around his lips. His eyes glittered with , boyish confidence. He drew the ring upon one of his fingers, and motioned o the visitors to precede him. Professor Bassermann's laboratory at Harvard was trans- Drmed into a court-room. On a platform twelve of the rorld's most celebrated physicians, psychiatrists and historians. %o the right a table for the stenographer. To the left, behind desk, Professor Bassermann and Dr. Lowell in their doctorate ips and gowns. Facing the jury, Lord Kotesbury, leticulously dressed, a trifle overbearing. Professor Bassermann rose and addressed the jury: " Gentlemen, you are all acquainted with the details of le alleged crime committed two weeks ago to-day in a shionable New York hotel. We are here neither to excuse ;>r to accuse, but to learn and to judge in the true sense 24 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM of the word. We shall dispense with all the legal trappings and ask Lord Kotesbury directly to relate, without mental reservations of any sort, the origin of his deed. Uninhibited and unembarrassed Lord Kotesbury will lead us through the labyrinth of his memory. He will uncover, fearlessly, nakedly, every root, every thorn, every weed, every blossom in the jungle of his emotions. Truth knows no false modesty, science no hate." Turning to Lord Kotesbury, he said: " Are you ready ? " " I am." The professor reseated himself. The youth drew himself up and began— THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF KOTIKOKURA II MY FATHER LOOKS AT ME—THE GREAT TABOO— THE AMOROUS LION—LOIN-HUNGER—I DANCE IN THE JUNGLE—LOVE AMONG PARROTS—THE DUEL OF THE PACHYDERMS MY father, Chief Mokuharu, squatted on the doorstep. \t his feet reclined Tokoma, the priest. On the turf opposite I played with a goat whose udders touched the ground and whose belly was swollen like puffed cheeks. " How many more moons before I must get him a wife, Tokoma ? How many moons before he may wear the sacred necklace of manhood around him ? " my father asked, pointing his forefinger at me, his eyes, black flames, penetrating ny body* The priest motioned to me. I swung my arms and leaped in front of the two men, the joat at my heels. " His legs are good. He is fleet," the priest said. He stood up and appraised me with his eyes. Then he examined my teeth and the first downy hair on my highs and chest; with lingering finger-tips, he tested each nuscle. I turned my face. There was an odour about him which lispleased me. I disliked his soft, hairless skin, his enormous >elly which hung in three rows, his voice dipped in fat. He 'eseated himself, " How many moons ? " my father repeated. The priest spread out the fingers of both hands like a >eacock's tail, twice. "So many, Mokuharu/' he said, his mall, round eyes fastened upon me. 26 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM "I shall buy him a strong mate worthy of bearing my seed. Look at the hair on his arms and see his Adam's apple." " He is as powerful as a young ape/' the priest admitted acridly. The men looked at the totem pole which towered above the houses, with the ferocious face of our ancestor, the Great Ape, carved upon it. They spat in sign of worship. The goat butted my calves playfully* I stretched out underneath her and rubbed her udder gently A few drops of milk squirted into my eyes. I laughed. My father smiled. The priest, however, had a strange scowl upon his face. My hands itched to grasp the wide neck with its diminutive Adam's apple and bury my nails into it. The goat spread her hind legs and waddled away. I remained with my face turned upward. The sun was a cracked bowl through which rained long sheaves of white flames. One cloud the size of the goat's rump spotted the blue sky. I closed my eyes. In the distance monkeys chattered and called to their mates. Eagles screeched. The echo of an elephant's roar shook the ground. " How long before we celebrate the Feast of All Apes ? " my father asked. His voice was deep and resonant. It charmed my ears in the daytime and at night it cradled my dreams^ "When the next full moon is overhead. Last night it lacked a rim the thickness of a thumb, and was still yonder," the priest replied. " The men are restless, Tokoma." " I know. They must be patient. The virgins are washing their chastely covered ears in the basin of holy water into which the Thousand Tailed One dips his Celestial Paw." He spat reverently. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 27 I opened my eyes. My father's jaws were clenched. His throat moved as if he were swallowing. An unaccustomed scent hovered about my face. My father rose. His round head touched the upper frame of the door. His powerful muscles shivered. He pouted his heavy lips and squinted his eyes. My mother approached, a jug of water upon her hip, which protruded like a shoulder. She was naked, save for her ears, concealed in the shells of modesty. My mother's breasts beat against her chest. Her hair fell below her knees, enveloping her limbs. She deposited the pitcher on the ground and knelt before my father. " Master, I have brought water to refreshen your mouth." " Avaunt, woman! Leave at once! " the priest com- manded, sitting upright, his heavy nose screwed in disgust. She lingered, her eyelids half lowered. ' " Leave/' my father said, his voice strangely muffled. " Leave/' he sighed. My mother shuffled her feet, her hips turning in wide semicircles. It seemed to me her ears pulsed under their covers. My father seated himself, placed his head between his palms and his elbows upon his knees, and watched, his nostrils distended voluptuously, his Adam's apple piercing the necklace of corals, until my mother was out of sight. Tokoma's face suffused gradually, until I thought his blood would burst out of his eyes and the heavy veins on his temples. " The women are forgetful of the Great Ape's command, Mokuharu. They do not count the days until the feast on their fingers. They inflame the men with their own unclean fire. It is not well, Mokuharu, to tempt them to violate the Great Taboo of the Mighty Growler." 28 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Hesitatingly, my'father retorted: " Throughout the jungle there is no such taboo, Tokoma. Why should the Great Ape deny us what he freely grants to the beasts ? " " The ways of the Great Ape are inscrutable! " "When did the Thousand Tailed One impose his taboo ?" " In the beginning of the world, he drove man from the Blessed Grove of Coco-nuts, uprooted his tail and withdrew from his body the prop of the sacred rib " My father made no reply, but his nostrils trembled. " The Great Ape will scourge you with his Thousand Tails, Mokuharu, if you disobey him " He stopped and, frowning, shouted at me: " Go away! The sacred knife has not yet placed upon you the seal of manhood. It is not lawful for you to listen! " I left, but, unlike my mother, proudly, my fists clenched. A group of boys, their bare bodies glistening in the sun, leaped from stone to stone and swung from branch to branch like young monkeys. They urged me to play with them. I rushed toward them, grasped them by the waists and hurled them over my shoulder. They dashed away, hurling invectives at me. When they were at a safe distance, they threw coco-nuts, which broke against trees or on the ground, making small white pools, over which bees buzzed in masses. My head reverberated with many things. My own strength, the bloody baptism which awaited me, the sacred necklace, the Great Taboo, the forbidden words lawful for men only to hear, I could still feel the priest's fingers searching my body. His slimy smell filled my nostrils. His insolent voice beat against my ears. I walked quickly, breaking through bushes, jumping over rocks, lifting myself from tree-top to tree-top. Gradually, THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 29 ew smells, new sights, new noises, invaded me. A great Dy overpowered me. I stamped the ground wildly, slapping ay buttocks, beating my calves, throwing my arms into he air, turning somersaults, shouting through my half-closed ists. The sweat of my body mingled with the sweat of the earth tnd the pungent odours of wild plants and beasts. My head eeled. I laughed. The jungle answered in a hundred ongues. Birds sang, screeched, hooted, whistled. Beasts lowled, roared, chattered. The great leaves of the trees ;truck against one another like cymbals. Insects danced n spirals and circles, buzzing, rattling, clattering. I climbed to the top of a tree and swung from one of its branches, whistling. Suddenly, below, the grass stirred silently like the surface of a lake cut by an oar, and two eyes blazed through it like tips of torches. I seated myself astride upon the branch and remained motionless. In the valley a dromedary stopped grazing, and lifted his immense scrawny neck. His lips, dripping with foam and shreds of hay, protruded and shivered like the mouth of a fish cast upon the shore. A roar that seemed to come from the bowels of the earth froze the jungle into silence. I clung to the tree with my legs and arms. A lion breaking through the great foliage bared his teeth which gleamed more ominously than knives of hunters and sprang into the valley. The dromedary turned and fled toward the desert. I shaded my eyes with the palms of my hands and watched. The lion roared again. The echo curled about the jungle like a gigantic cobra. Two dots dashing over the immense white sea. . , . Suddenly from the bushes issued a long caterwaul. Louder 'and hoarser it persisted at regular intervals, like an jv THE INVINCIBLE A DAM tom-tom. The lion stopped and raised his head in the air. The dromedary pursued its mad flight. The wail in the bushes continued with a clamorous insistence The lion sniffed and roared, then, forgetting his prey, dashed back into the jungle. There was something fiercer than the hunger of his maw. Two huge parrots, one green, one red, pursued each other, screeching. They turned in circles, dashed into bushes, alighted upon trees. Finally, they landed. One of them hopped ahead. The other, its plumes outspread and stiff, strutted behind. Suddenly, it attacked its com- panion which made no attempt to fly. The one pressed beak and talons into the vanquished. Then the conqueror fluttered its wings wildly. A moment later it flew away and disappeared among the leaves of a tree. The other, dazed, shook itself and vanished. Only two feathers, one green, one red, were my booty. I placed them both in my hair and continued my way into the thick of the jungle, I tore a large leaf and placing its stiff edge against my lips, I began to whistle, improvising tune after tune, skipping and leaping. Two lion cubs approached me warily, their ears cocked quizzically. From behind a rock, the lioness watched for a moment, then uttered several small roars in succession, like the scolding of a big woman with a hoarse voice. The cubs turned and scurried back to the lair. The lioness continued to watch me for a time, then crouched, and blinked lazily. I pursued my walking, separating the great thickets as if wading through water. Suddenly I stopped. In front of me two enormous buil elephants were battling furiously. A little away from them a female grazed nonchalantly, I climbed up a tree to see better, The combat continued in silence, interrupted now THE INVINCIBLE A ft AM 31 and then by furious trumpeting. The great tusks were scarlet, the gorged flanks streamed with blood. The trunks spouted foam. From time to time the female turned to watch, her ears moving gently to and fro like fans, her trunk raised in the air. The wind carried a wild odour of blood and excretions, mingling with the scent of plants which blossomed in the swamps. One of the combatants lowered his head, withdrew a few feet, then plunging into the body of the other, pierced it, "and raised it upon his tusks. The victim, maddened with pain, uttered a shrill shriek. The victor tore the tusks out, and dropped his antagonist to the ground, which shook and broke. Panting—a storm between two long rows of trees— he watched the manoeuvres of the conquered monster. Out of the great cavities the bowels curled in a sea of black blood. Once more the beast rose, staggered blindly toward his foe, then fell limply on his flank. A long tremor like a snake running through dry grass, coursed through his body. He turned, his legs in the air, and remained stock- still. The conqueror threw his head back, roaring triumphantly. The jungle responded tumultuously. A thousand beasts and birds of prey joined in a mad cyclone of sounds. The victor, his great feet splashing in the blood of his antagonist, moved cautiously toward the female, uttering staccato bellows. She turned her head slowly and stopped chewing. His trunk curled upward. His ears spread out sideways. His short tail beat against his rumps. His blood-shot eyes stared motionless. Taking small, mincing steps, he pirouetted warily forward. The female raised her hind legs and kicked the air. He recoiled, then recommenced his slow, circumspect approach, his body stiffened, his jaw drooped. 32 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM The female began to run. He dashed after her and grazed her skin with his tusks. For a time they trotted side by side, their heads and ears touching. Suddenly, he whirled about. She made a motion to escape, but he whipped her with his trunk, and held her in a gigantic vice. For a long time neither budged, two rocks overtopping the trees. Suddenly he roared—a roar of conquest as when he had killed his rival—and once again the jungle responded like a hurricane. The female nibbled the palm tops. A scent, more salty than sweat, more pungent than the nests of wild birds, suffused the air. Ponderously, head bent, trunk pressed against his chest, ears flattened against his neck, the mate trotted away. Over the carcass of the conquered elephant, crows turned in circles, and a giant vulture swooped, his talons glowing. Through the bushes hyenas stirred cautiously. I descended the tree and walked homeward* The sun had turned to scarlet, and its lower rim rested upon the peak of the hill like an animal in ambush. In the marshes bull frogs croaked vociferously. Around the muddy shores snakes crawled, leaving behind them clusters of eggs. On the rocks lizards lay motionless. Two gigantic turtles turned, clumsily, imperceptibly, in wide circles. Insects crowded the air The pollen of flowers floated in the breeze. My face was in flames. My skin tingled with a sensation I had never experienced before* Every muscle in me stirred and tightened. I began to run, as if to break loose from a pursuer, shouting at the top of my voice. Ill TOM-TOMS—THE VINTAGE OF THE GREAT APE— KALARBA'S HEAD GLOWS LIKE A YELLOW MOON— THE GOD OF A THOUSAND TAILS—CLAIRVOYANCE— A CYCLONE WHIRLS ABOUT ME MY shouting was drowned in the piercing cries and the beating of drums and kettles. Ordinarily the tom-toms thrilled me with joy. This time, however, I was seized with terror. I stopped and sniffed about me. The scent of death pervaded the air. I knew it could not be the dead elephant. The distance was too great. I searched with my eyes in all directions. There was no carcass. Besides, no beasts or birds of prey were in evidence. The cries continued. The drums beat unceasingly, Terror gave way to curiosity. I ran at top speed. Standing upon a rock, I could see my house surrounded by people. The men beat the drums while their bodies swayed from side to side. The women, their faces hidden in their laps, wailed disconsolately. The children, huddled together, watched their elders fearfully. The name of my father winged its way to my ears. Something gripped my throat. I jumped off the rock and continued to run. I made my way through the barrier of people, separating them with my arms, leaping over their heads. When I reached the door, two priests stopped me, their staves stretched in front of them like spears. " Stand aside! Chief Mokuharu is dead 1" I crouched back. My knees shivered. My stomach turned into a mass of lead within me. I looked about, my mouth 33 B 34 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM wide open, trying"to grasp the meaning of their words. My mother, like a sack emptied of its contents, lay in a heap, facing the wall. I approached her. But the look of the priests warded me oil " Chief Mokuharu is dead ! Chief Mokuharu is dead! " the people wailed. From the house came low chants like the growling of beasts at bay. I recognized among the voices that of Tokoma and my hatred against him flared in me once more. I walked through the village, a snarling hound. From time to time I caught whispers among men. The Great Ape had killed my father, they said, because he had violated the Great Taboo. What the taboo was I could not quite grasp. Once or twice I wished to ask, but the men suddenly stopped and continued their funereal rhythm. Weary, I seated myself, my head between my palms. Chief Mokuharu dead:! My father dead! What did it mean? Was not my father the mightiest man in the world ? Had I not heard that he had slaughtered a whole tribe single-handed ? Did I not see him one night strangle a rhinoceros ? Did he not bring a wild boar on the point of his spear ? Did not all the men of the tribe tremble at his approach ? My father dead! I thought he was immortal, I thought he was like the High Priest who was born before the sun opened its eyelids, and would not die until it closed them for ever. I could still see my father sitting on the threshold asking Tokoma how many moons before I could take a wife. I could hear him say how powerful I was. Was it not only a while ago, just before I witnessed the battle of the elephants ? The sun still had its eye wide open. But my father was dead! My father dead! What did it mean ? Was he no longer THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 35 the chief of the tribe? Would he never lead the men against our enemies ? Would he never speak ? Would he never laugh ? Would I never see him again ? Would Tokoma keep him in the house always, while the two priests barred my way ? Would he never look at me again with his invincible eyes ? Would his voice never again envelop me like a caress ? I started to my feet. I would break my way through. I wanted to see my father again ! The people were marching toward the temple headed by Tokoma, the priest, who walked pompously, the rungs of his belly shaking in rhythm with his step. Around his loins he had a white cloth—garb which he wore only on solemn occasions. High above his head he carried a tall staff on which was nailed a long tail—the divine appendage bequeathed by the Great Ape to his worshippers. Tokoma was followed by five priests who carried my father's body horizontally—one his head, the rest his arms and legs. I shaded my eyes, rose on tiptoes and watched intently. My father's face was ashen. His limbs were rigid. Over his heart there was a long gash, from which trickled a thin stream of blood. My mother preceded the women, all shouting and wailing. They were followed by the children, silent with fear. Tokoma opened the gate of the temple, which lay between two gigantic trees like a colossal pumpkin, and entered. The men followed. The women and children remained in the outer circle. Never before had I crossed the holy threshold heavily carpeted with the skins of monkeys. Being as tall as a man, I entered unobserved. I was anxious to see what they were going to do to my father. A great pity for his helplessness filled my heart. The temple was filled with the incense of beasts. At every angle rose a pole carved with the images of simian divinities 36 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Through apertures in the walls scowled the dead heads of monkeys. Upon a pedestal rose the immense statue of the Great Ape—a ferocious ourang—with tusks as long as an elephant's and numberless tails. At the altar, sat enthroned Kalarba, the High Priest. His head, too sacred for mortals to behold, was concealed by a mask, whose hideousness made me tremble. He wore a necklace of one hundred rows of corals. His arms and legs were encircled by bracelets of burnished copper. In his right hand he held an ivory staff to which were nailed three long tails—symbol of his authority as Vicar of the Great Ape. The Sacred Keeper of the Sacred Beast, King of Kings Kalarba, was as immobile as the statue of the God of the World. Had he turned his head to the right, the sky would have rained fire. Had he turned his head to the left, all the hurricanes would have rushed forth like white lions and devoured the trees and the houses. Had he risen, and turned his back, the seas would have broken their fetters and drowned the world. The priests deposited the body of my father in front of the altar. They surrounded it, their arms outstretched, covering it like a vine. Tokoma beat his staff upon a silver drum which hung from the paw of the statue. From the subterranean recesses of the Temple, the Great Ape growled The edifice shook. My heart froze. We spat upwards and dropped upon our faces. "Risel" the High Priest commanded, ''The Thousand Tailed One—whose true name no one may utter and live— accepts your homage/' I was startled by his voice. It was the voice of my father with a more majestic resonance. I looked at his eyes which pierced through the mask They were the eyes of my father. But they glowed with a more terrifying brightness. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 37 " Glory be to thee, 0 Father of the world! " the Divine Vicar chanted. " Glory/' the priests repeated. " From thy inexhaustible loins all things blossom. Thy Great Tails, which all fingers of all men cannot count, encompass the Earth and the Sea, and curl upwards, up- holding upon their tips the bowl of heaven. Thy voice is the thunderclap which freezes the marrow of beasts. The glint of thy teeth is the lightning which fells the trees of the jungle. Live thou for ever, 0 Mighty One, that we may live whom thou hast made in thine image ! " " Live thou for ever, O Father of all Mankind!" "Thine shall be the choicest flesh to devour. Thine the ripe fruit and the cool water. Thine the spittle which is the soul of the living, and the white worm which is the soul of the dead." " Live thou for ever ! " "Withdraw not thy tails, 0 Mighty Growler, lest the earth sink into the abyss like a rock. Break not the bars of thy golden cage and forsake not thy temple, O Great Ape, who penetrates the womb of the earth, and lo, all things are!" " Live thou for ever 1 " Tokoma beat the drum once more, and once more from the depths came the roar of the Thousand Tailed One, His eyes turned to my father, Kalarba said kindly: " Mokuharu, your soul is no longer the spittle which rises upward. Soon it will be the white worm, holy sacrifice to Him of the Thousand Tails." There was anger in his voice, it seemed to me, as he looked at Tokoma. " Mokuharu, may the Great Ape lead you to the Blessed Grove of the Coco-nuts which has no beginning and no end. May he grant to you the Sacred Tail and the Sacred Limb which man lost upon earth because he disobeyed his Maker! " 38 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM The people spat and chanted the sacred words whose meaning was known to the initiate. Tokoma placed the hair of a monkey's tail across my father's lips. As he approached him, the wound opened slightly, and bled again, I realized suddenly that it was not the claw of an animal which had ripped my father's heart, but the knife-thrust of a human being. A vague, unnameable suspicion crossed my mind as the shadow of an eagle crosses the back of a sheep which is grazing. I glanced at Tokoma. His heavy jowls were purple. Long streams of sweat crossed his belly in all directions and fell into his girdle. His heavy fingers were bent in, claws of birds of prey. Once more the desire to strangle him itched my clenched hands. Tokoma beat the silver drum. The Lord of the World growled. The people spat. The five priests raised my father and carried him out of the temple. The procession started homeward. I remained behind. My mind was in turmoil. I tried in vain to co-ordinate the things I had witnessed. Death, life, blood, murder, love— a cyclone whirled about me. Something struck against my calves. I turned round. The goat butted me playfully. Grateful for her friendly caress, I placed my arm around her neck, and walked away slowly. I entered a grotto. The goat stretched at my feet. Exhausted, I fell into a dreamless sleep. At dawn, when I awoke, two tiny red creatures tugged at the breasts of their mother. IV MY MOTHER'S NEW HUSBAND—I PROWL IN THE TREE TOPS—KOTIKOKURA, THE REBEL—MAN-ROOT —SACRED NECK BANDS—THE RAPE OF THE EAR— THE FEAST OF ALL APES—THE BARE EAR OF MY MOTHER—" WOMAN 1" I GROWL THE new chief, Tokoma's sister's son, married my mother. My father's house henceforth was closed to me. My mother, obedient to her new duties, forgot Chief Mokuharu and her son. Her brother, my natural guardian until I received the baptism of the knife, was hardly aware of my existence. Lackadaisical and absent-minded, he pursued his own pleasures and wasted my father's substance. At first I was much hurt by this general unconcern. I prowled about my former home. I watched from the tops of trees in hope to catch a glimpse of my mother as she brought water to her new husband. I moped and grumbled. I swore vengeance against everyone. Gradually, however, I felt a new strength possess me. I turned my back upon the past. I made my home in a cave surrounded by tall trees like protective totem poles. The goat, which considered me her progeny, gave me her teats, the fruit trees their bounty. From time to time, following the fancy of my palate, I hunted an animal. The jungle reverberated with my singing and laughter. The ground shivered underneath my dancing feet. The more valiant of the boys would steal away from the village to come to listen to my music or watch my feats of strength and agility. I became their acknowledged chief. I taught them to make flutes and drums and strange instru- 3Q 40 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM merits out of horns and tusks. I taught them to imitate the calls of the jungle. The birds and the beasts answered us from a distance, or gathered timidly, their eyes peering quizzically through the bushes or the leaves of the trees. We called ourselves "The Awe of the Jungle." We struck terror into the hearts of the timid youths. The elders frowned upon us, but since we broke no taboos we were unmolested. I beat the tom-tom. The boys came rushing from all directions. They squatted in a circle about me, awaiting my orders. " Might of the Village/' I said, " do not your muscles ache to prove their strength ? " " They do, chief." " Do not your hearts beat like the tom-tom for adventure ? " The boys howled assent. " Shall we sit quietly at the feet of our elders and wait until they offer us a bite of the man-root before we seek what man seeks ? " They slapped their buttocks and stamped their heels. " Awe of the Jungle, hearken! " Henceforth I am Kotikokura ! " There was a sudden hush among the boys. They clustered together like bushes at night when the leaves merge into one another. " I am Kotikokura, the Rebel! " They grunted. "I am Kotikokura—he who obeys no chief save him- self." I looked at each one, piercing their eyes with my eyes. " Who joins Kotikokura ? " I demanded. They sniffed timidly in all directions, fearful of the approach of an elder. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 41 " Go back, cowards ! " I commanded. " Go lap the milk of your mothers 1 Go, weave mats like your sisters ! " I turned my back upon them and swung from one branch of a tree to another. They shouted after me: " Kotikokura ! Kotikokura ! Don't go away ! Kotikokura ! " They waved their arms frantically. They tried to overtake me. When I felt certain that they had repented of their cowardice, I jumped to the ground. They surrounded me, dancing for joy. " Be our chief, Kotikokura ! " they exclaimed. " Very well, then. Hearken! He who utters my true name, except in whispers, dies." " Kotikokura," they whispered fearfully. I pierced my arm with the point of my arrow. Each boy touched the wound to his lips. " From now on you belong to me," I said. " To-day you will prove your prowess. Get your arms and follow me." Their arms consisted of a few broken spears, branches of trees and slings. In single file we entered the neighbouring village. We reached the lake which marked the frontier between the two tribes. " Halt! " I commanded. We crawled on our bellies, noiselessly, hiding behind the bushes. The girls of the village bobbed in and out of the water like fantastic corks. We stifled with laughter at the awkward feminine gestures. We deprecated their lack of muscle, their diminutive stature, their shrill voices calling to one another. And we speculated concerning the shape and the size of the mysteries concealed from our eyes by the mystic ear cloaks which the girls did not discard even in the privacy of their ablutions. B* 42 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Shall we capture them and bring them as slaves to our village ? " they whispered. "We have too many women already. Women are more dangerous than the pythons and the cobras. Their blood withers the grasses and consumes man like flames. Because of woman man was driven from the Sacred Coco-nut Grove. The Great Ape tears the hearts of chiefs who disobey his taboo in regard to woman," I half-chanted like another Tokoma. The boys shivered. " What taboo, Kotikokura ? " several asked. " It is not for unmuffled necks to know such things. Not until the priests hide your young throats with the sacred necklaces may you know the secret of the Great Taboo/' I answered pontifically, "You know it, and yet your Adam's apple protrudes unconcealed," one of them retorted. " I am Kotikokura," I growled. " I hear and see every- thing." The girls swam to shore and stretched out to dry. The sinking sun gilded their brown bodies—some frail and scrawny, others already revealing their plumpness. " You are ripe for marriage," one of them said to a group of older friends. " Look, the Great Mother Ape has already swelled your breasts and scattered about the leaf of the sacred palm." " Yes, but my ears are still unpierced." " It is not proper to speak of ears even among ourselves," one of the girls said, blushing. The others giggled. "No man hears us, you little prude," one of the girls countered, laughing. The boys, inflamed by the reference, poked at one another and tittered. "Well," one girl said, placing her arms underneath her head, " only two more full moons for me. That's all." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 43 " Only one for me," another added, her hands upon her •oft, round hips. " Kotikokura," one of the boys whispered, torn between hame and curiosity, " did you ever see a woman's ears ? " " Fool, don't you know that no woman from the time he begins to walk ever takes the shells off her ears except it the Feast of All Apes ? " " They say they can sting your blood like the tongues of idders." " Our ears are all the same—nearly," someone suggested. " Of course. The soul of man dwells in his Adam's apple, le may reveal it until he receives the baptism of the knife. ?he virtue of woman resides in her ear and she must preserve t inviolate for her husband." " My father's Adam's apple sticks out through the necklace/' >ne boy said. " Mine will be as big as a fist," another added, " Touch mine, Kotikokura " They all extended their necks like goats about to be acrificed. " You are all still unworthy of a muffler," I said eprecatingly. " Look at mine." They gasped. " It's the hump of a camel," they exclaimed. The girls clustered together. Their hands and legs inter- wined. They chattered quietly like sleepy monkeys. Our bodies tingled. Our throats were parched. I clapped my hands. The boys rose and began to play n their tom-toms and the nameless instruments which had improvised for them. The girls shrieked and attempted D run away. We dashed out of the ambush and blocked heir passage. They huddled together, their palms pressed gainst their ears. " Don't be afraid. We haven't come to steal you. We rant to play and dance for you," 44 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Reassured, they squatted in a semicircle. " Play/' I ordered the boys. They blew into their instruments until their eyes bulged out. Their arms beat against the drums as if felling giant trees. I danced. My legs had acquired a new power, as if the sap of the earth had risen in them My arms were snakes that sought a thousand victims. My eyes were like arrows piercing the girls. " Dance one—dance all! " I commanded. The boys dropped their instruments and accompanied themselves by slapping their palms against their open mouths. The girls twisted their torsos slowly. They thrust their stomachs forward, threw their heads backward. Their breasts, pending like swollen grapes or round and stiff like apples, kept in rhythm. The sun set. Like weightless wings the shadows of the trees fell upon us. At a signal the boys rushed toward the girls. Bodies mingled on the ground. Stifled groans and shrieks merged into one another. Their caresses tantalized me but the flames in my blood remained unquenched. " Why do you not wear the sacred muffler ? " a girl gasped and pretended to flee. I grasped her by the ear and, half startled by my own audacity, tore the protective shell. The girl swooned. I had never seen the denuded ear of woman although in my dreams I had often attempted to picture its pink loveliness. Obeying an instinct more ancient than the jungle I bit into it as if it had been a luscious fruit. First fearfully then more boldly, she stroked my neck. Her friends espied her. Their shrieks aroused her fears. She fled, covering her ears with her hands. • Her playmates surrounding her called the names of their fathers and brothers. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 45 My gang gathered about me and roared. The jungle reverberated like a gigantic empty maw. Suddenly in the distance the antelope's horn blew seven times. I looked up. The totem pole which rose through the roof of the temple stood against the full moon like the sacred phial of the Great Ape. , " The Feast of All Apes ! " I exclaimed. When we reached the outskirts of the village, I sent my band to their huts. From the top of a tree I watched the festivities. The bodies of the men and women glowed from the grease and the juice of red berries. Their faces were concealed beneath masks of apes. Over a great fire the old men and women broiled the meats. The priests, their bodies streaming with the blood of the sacrifices, invoked the blessings and the power of the Great Ape. Then, taking the choicest morsels, left for the temple. The people tore the meat and devoured it. They dipped their mouths into the long troughs overbrimming with black wine and lapped like beasts which have galloped through the desert. The old men beat kettles and tom-toms with iron and wooden sticks. The others danced, their knees reaching their chins, their bodies twisted in a wild rhythm. A heavy odour of flesh of men and women mingled with the tallow dripping over the flames, and choked the jungle. Ear shells and neckbands dropped to the ground. The women pretended to flee. The men seized them and held them. Once more the battle of the elephants was enacted —hundreds of bull elephants grappling with she elephants flapping their ears. The moon was a sea of milk churned by black and red bodies. From the temple issued piercing cries of virgins. 46 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Maddened by the scent and the noise and the fumes, and blinded by the glow of femininity, I jumped to the ground, broke several coco-nuts, greased my body with the juice, and hid my face in the discarded mask of an ape which I found at the foot of a tree. The revellers took no notice of my arrival. Many, worn with passion and drink, slept on their bellies. Others continued vaguely their caresses. I was an unquenchable flame. One gasped—" Are you the Son of the Great Ape or are you the Great Ape himself ? " " Bite me!" one groaned, extending her ear like a fig. I looked at her intently. Under the mask, half awry, I recognized my mother. It seemed to me I had seen her for the first time. Her long hair was twisted into a hundred braids and coiled around her head like a litter of snakes. Her skin glimmered like the hoofs of bullocks in the sun, her legs were massive and supple. Suddenly sobered as If I had plunged into a pool of Ice water I rose and dashed away "•Woman ! " I growled. INITIATION—THE LOST APPENDAGE—THE KNIFE OF THE COVENANT—THE CHANT OF THE APE- FLOWERS OF PAIN—TOKOMA'S DISCOVERY—THE VICAR OF THE GREAT APE—THE GREAT APE GROWLS FOR thrice the number of a man's fingers did the sun like a silver eagle perch upon the peak of the hill. Thrice the moon butted the sky with her sharp horns like a young goat. The span of trial was at an end. Our arrows struck the wild birds in flight and the beasts in their lairs. We jumped to the ground from the tops of palm trees and swam the lake, chains of coco-nuts around our necks and feet. For seven days we touched neither food nor drink. For seven days we ate the offal of animals. At night the ghosts of our ancestors menaced us and the roar of the Great Ape shook the earth, The boys, huddled in a corner of the hut, awaited the final test of the initiation into the covenant of the Thousand Tailed One. Impatient for the sacred knife to carve its seal into me and the holy band to grace my manly neck, I walked up and down like an animal entrapped. " Calunga, is the sacred bone taken from the tusk of the elephant or the body of the Great Ape himself ? " one of the boys asked. " Fool 1 " Calunga answered. " Don't you know that the sacred bone is the same which the Great Ape withdrew from us when he drove the first man out of the Sacred Grove of Coco-nuts ? " 47 48 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Is that true, Kotikokura ? " someone whispered. I growled. " How large was the bone, if it is sufficient to replenish all men with it ? " "Don't the priests say that the sacred bone rises like a totem pole from the centre of the earth to the sky ? Did not the Great Ape make man in his image ? Does the Great Ape wither or shrink ? " Calunga, thin, long-lipped, and with a nose flattened against his face like a piece of manure hurled against a wall, spoke with the vehemence of a priest. " They say that the sacred knife hurts more than the tooth of the lion." "I am not afraid/' Calunga said, defiantly standing up. " Not even of the Great Ape's tooth ! " " Silence! " I shouted, glaring at him. He crouched, his head between his shoulders. From a distance came the roar of an elephant. The boys looked at me, trembling. I grasped a spear. " Stand aside ! " I commanded. " I shall fell him single- handed if he attacks us ! " I was ready to hurl the weapon, when a priest with the head of an elephant entered. He scrutinized us, waving his arm as an elephant waves his trunk. Between roars, he called the roster: " Kalaxinga, Calunga, Mukelenga, Mulanda, Kamjika, Kibinda, Nanega." We followed him in single file. I led the band, towering above the rest proudly, defiantly. The tongues of the Holy Fire of Manhood rose lustily. Around them, the priests danced, stately, slowly. At each step they uttered the prowesses, the valour, the beauty, the perfection of the Great Ape. "His teeth are sharper than the lightning which cracks the mountain." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 49 " His eyes detect the louse and the ant 'which crawl on the rim of the earth." " His claws tear the hearts of a thousand lions." " His nostrils know the scent of each bird and beast and fish." "The fur on his chest is thicker than the jungle in spring/' " His arms clutch a thousand mates in one embrace." " His buttocks glow with a greater glow than the moon when it rises above the mountain peaks." " His spittle is the foam of the sea which breaks against the shores." The young men beat the tom-toms in measured rhythm with flat stones. The elders twisted the sacred whips studded with hooks and nails. Tokoma honed the holy knife, and dipped it into the flames. The priests, their bodies streaming with oil and sweat, ceased their dancing. They bound our hands behind our backs. The elders rose, danced about us seven times, then raised the scorpions and lashed us furiously. Their eyes flashed. Their nostrils were distended The corners of their mouths were dotted with foam. Their voices, as they howled, were husky. I was seized with the impulse to break asunder the chain which tied my hands and jump at the throats of our tormentors. I remembered, however, the law of the tribe; He who winced under the sacred scorpion was rejected from the covenant of the Thousand Tailed One for three full moons. He who trembled for six moons. He who cried out for nine moons. He who attempted to run away or strike back relinquished to the unholy knife for ever his claim to manhood. Besides, was I not Kotikokura—the pride of youth, the awe of the jungle ? Tokoma watched us intently, like a beast in ambush. At his side a priest held upon a platter the bands of shining 50 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM brass and the glittering fragments of the sacred rib which our first ancestor relinquished when he fell from the glory of Apehood in the Sacred Grove of Coco-nuts. Suddenly Calunga, maddened with pain, roared like a wounded beast, and dashed away, his back streaming with blood. The elders stopped. The priests shouted imprecations. " Seize the coward! " Tokoma commanded. Calunga was captured and brought before Tokoma, He dropped to his knees and begged for mercy. Tokoma glared at him. " You shall never be a man! The Great Ape never talked in your mother's womb." He bent over him. One stroke of the relentless knife! The boy uttered a terrific shriek. Tokoma hissed contemptuously: " Take him to the women's quarters where he henceforth belongs." Two of the men carried him away. The elders more vigorously than before cracked their whips over our bodies. Their chests heaved. Out of the agony a strange pleasure blossomed within me. " Strike ! Strike harder! " I shouted contemptuously. The elders panted, their arms trembled. Their hands could not hold the sacred scorpions. I laughed triumphantly. The elders danced about me, howling my praises, the points of their spears grazing my skin. " Worthy son of Mokuharu 1 True scion of a chief! " Only Tokoma pouted in discontent. " Bring him here," he commanded, " that I plant into him the sacred limb ! " Then he chanted: " 0 Great Ape, we bring unto Thee this day a man ! " The people spat upward. " Incomparable Growler," Tokoma continued, " Thou Who has driven man out of the Sacred Coco-nut Grove and withdrawn the sacred limb from his body, allow us this day to replant it into him ! " THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 51 " O Incomparable Growler." " Out of the limb of man hast Thou created woman. Allow us to replant the lost limb into man that the race of man may not perish ! " " 0 Great Ape ! 0 Mighty Talons ! " " 0 Thousand Tailed One, accept the son of Mokuharu! " One of the priests offered me a bowl filled with dark wine. "Drink, son of Mokuharu, of the wine of the man- root." I swallowed the contents at one gulp. My blood dashed to my brain. My body was in flames as on the night of the Feast of All Apes. Tokoma withdrew the sacred knife from the fire, whirled it above his head seven times, then approached me. There was something in his eyes which told me that he would spare me no pain, that he would pierce me deeply, savagely. He grasped me firmly. Suddenly his eyes, like two torches in a cave, flared. His great chest heaved. His enormous belly shivered. The sacred knife fell out of his hand. The tribesmen stopped short in their playing and howling. I looked bewildered. Why did he refuse to carve upon me the holy seal ? What had I done ? I had not even winced. " I cannot implant the lost limb/' Tokoma proclaimed. " What has happened ? " " What is he guilty of ? " " How has he trespassed ? " "Behold," Tokoma continued, "the holy limb is still within him." A great awe descended upon the people. "The Thousand Tailed One has not wrenched it out of his body as he wrenched it out of the body of the first man and all his seed 1 " There was howling and roarings 52 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM A hundred voices mingled together. A hundred hands grasped me at one time. " The son of Mokuharu has not relinquished the lost rib 1 " They stood about me gasping. In Tokoma's eyes I detected an envy and an anger fiercer than that of a famished beast entrapped watching another beast drink the blood of a victim. " He is an ape ! He is an ape 1 " one of the elders shouted. " He is the son of the Great Ape ! " " He is the chosen one of the Almighty Growler ! " They all spat upward, and fell upon their faces. I stood erect. My look defied Tokoma. The bone which pierced his nostrils rose like the tusk of a wild boar. The image of the Thousand Tailed One glowed upon his cheeks as if freshly branded. Why did he not acclaim me like the rest ? Why did he not fall upon his face ? The hatred for him which smouldered in me since the death of my father, burst into flames. I broke the chain which bound my hands, and clenched my fists. " Rise! " Tokoma commanded. The people rose reluctantly. " The Great Ape demands as a sacrifice him upon whom he has set his seal." The people grumbled. Tokoma continued, his voice smooth as the juice of the coco-nut: " The blood of the chosen is delectable to the Great Ape." " It's a lie 1" I exclaimed. " Tokoma wishes to sacrifice me not to the Great Ape, but to his envy, even as he sacrificed my father, the great Chief Mokuharu." Seeing that my voice was lost in the general tumult, Tokoma purred "Greater is the joy of being dedicated to the Incomparable Growler than the embrace of a thousand females 1** THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 53 " You lie! You lie ! " I overtopped ttie hubbub. " Bring him into the temple," Tokoma ordered the priests* " You shall not touch me ! " I exclaimed. " I am the son of the great Mokuharu and the scion of the Great Ape! I am Kotikokura! " " Kotikokura ! Kotikokura ! Kotikokura I" the people stridulated like a forest of crickets. Tokoma's eyes were sharper and redder than the holy knife which lay in the flames. I leaped at his throat. The people gasped. ^ " In the name of the Eternal Growler, I command you to bring him into the temple." Bodily I was carried into the Sacred House of the Sacred Beast. " Tokoma, whom are you bringing here ? " Kalarba, the High Priest, seated motionless on his hierarchic throne, demanded. " Oh, Vicar of the Immortal Growler, I bring a sacrifice to the Great Ape." " Who is he ? " the High Priest asked, gazing at us through his mask, terrifying as the head of the Great Ape himself. " The Son of the chief Mokuharu, may his soul wander in the Sacred Grove of Coco-nuts." " Is it he who calls himself Kotikokura ?" Kalarba asked I shivered. How did he know that I was Kotikokura ? Did he, like the Great Ape, know each one's name and thoughts, as well as his scent? Would he pluck my heart for my audacity ? " He is Kotikokura, the rebel," Tokoma replied, mockery in his voice. " How has he delighted the nostrils of the Great Ape that the honour of sacrifice has been granted him ? " 54 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM "The sacred limb, 0 Immortal Vicar," Tokoma said suavely, " is not withdrawn from his body. More delectable is the sacrifice of the inviolate to the nostrils of the Great Ape than a hundred male children/' The High Priest remained silent for a moment* His eyes, as they scrutinized me, were like many hands. " So be it, Tokoma. Kotikokura shall be delivered to the Great Ape." Tokoma, triumphant, motioned to the priests to place me upon the Altar of Sacrifice. Three priests bent my head backward. From the ceiling the skulls of the sacred monkeys grinned at me like grotesque lamps dimly lit. Tokoma poised his knife. " Halt! " the voice of the High Priest shattered the awed stillness of the worshippers and the priests. The people drew their breaths. Tokoma's arm stiffened in the air. The glow of the knife cut across my eyes. " The Great Ape demands Kotikokura/' Kalarba continued, " but he demands him alive/' Tokoma clenched his teeth. His brow knit. " 0 mighty Vicar of the Incomparable Ape, it is the will of the Thousand Tailed One that the blood of Kotikokura rise to his mighty nostrils." "The Thousand Tailed One does not desire the fumes of his blood. He himself will dispose of his victim in his own inscrutable fashion/' Kalarba replied. Tokoma's look wandered from the High Priest to the people trying to gauge their temper. Sternly, but still deferentially, he resumed: " O King of Kings, I speak in the name of the Law! " "The Law—the Law," the worshippers whispered in awe. " And I," replied Kalarba, " I speak in the name of the Living God—he from whose loins the Law is born." Tokoma raised his staff and beat upon the silver drum THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 55 which hung on the paw of the statue of the Great Ape. He listened for the response. But the Great Ape was silent. Enraged, the priest tapped the floor thrice. Still the Sacred Beast made no answer. A vague smile, like the shadow of a bee in flight, crossed the eyes of the High Priest, He did not stir—and yet did not the toe of his right foot bend inward more vaguely than the paw of a monkey asleep ? " 0 Great Ape, is it thy will that Kotikokura be delivered unto thee body and soul ? Speak ! " The Thousand Tailed One roared a mightier roar than all the jungle awakened at night. The temple shook. The totem poles shivered. Tokoma dropped his knife. The people fell upon their faces, groaning, and muttering prayers. The priests released my head The Altar of Sacrifice f pread open like two arms. VI SECRETS OF THE UNDERWORLD—THE MUTE LITTLE PEOPLE—THE ROAR OF THE APE—THE WAND OF KALARBA—MARBLE GODS SUDDENLY the invisible grip released me and I landed upon my toes, as if I had jumped from a rock. Instantly from the vastness behind me came the roar of the Great Ape, accompanied by the rattling of chains and the shaking of bars. The echo of the noise rolled about me and beat like giant hammers in slow rhythmic succession against the cave. A fear such as I had never experienced before made my teeth chatter and my knees shiver, I fell upon my face, and cried in the darkness : " Do not devour me, 0 Great Ape. Do not dig your teeth into my loins* Let not your tails smother me as the cobra smothers the dromedary. I am the son of Mokuharu, mighty chieftain/1 I spat in reverence and adoration. There was a yawn and a growl like the barking of a mastiff when the moon whitens the earth, and then silence. Only chains rattled vaguely like the empty shells of coco-nuts rolled by the wind. Had the Mighty Growler granted my prayer ? Had I escaped both the knife of Tokoma and the jowls of the Thousand Tailed One ? The darkness dispersed gently as the mist at daybreak. Light percolated from all sides as through a sieve. Where was the Great Ape ? It seemed to me that I had been whirled about, and lost the direction whence the growl had issued. 56 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 57 I looked upward. The floor of the temple which formed the roof of the Sacred Pit rose higher than five tall palm trees placed tip to tip. Suddenly, as if piercing a veil, a multitude of eyes glared all about me. Were they the eyes of the sacred monkeys leaping from the walls of the temple to torment me ? I hid my face in my hands, and waited for a long time. Gently I spread my fingers and watched as through the bars of a cage. Strange beings such as I had never encountered in the jungle walked around me. Their backs were bent like kangaroos, their faces had the greenness of frogs, the scent of their bodies was that of plants growing in swamps. They sniffed me, touched me with the tips of their fingers, tickled me. I did not budge, but the muscles of my arms stiffened. Even if they were the emissaries of the Great Ape himself, I was determined to defend myself. I was Kotikokura. I would not die meekly 1 They looked at one another quizzically, amused Suddenly they burst into a cackle more gloating, more dismal, more mocking than the laughter of hyenas unearthing a prey. Their mouths were wide open. To my horror I noticed that they had no tongues. They nudged one another, and, as if by a secret signal, began to dance about me, on their toes, waving their thin, emaciated arms like the bony wings of bats. A shadow advanced slowly. I watched intently. As it touched the foot of one of the dancers, he dropped upon his face, uttering a queer sound like that of a flying fox. The rest imitated him. I remained standing amidst this circle of buttocks, like a yellow pistil rising out of a gigantic black lily. My temptation to burst into laughter was smothered by the appearance of the High Priest. He walked slowly, noiselessly, his body erect. I dropped upon 58 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM my face, but watched with the corner of my eye. An impulse stronger than awe, more relentless than fear, made me rise softly, and follow the Vicar of the Great Ape. My steps were softer than the footfalls of a panther approaching his prey, yet I vaguely felt that the High Priest was aware of my presence. We reached a gate. He touched one of the totem poles with the tip of his staff. The gate opened. He entered. For a moment I wavered. Did an invisible power press me forward, or was it Kalarba himself who drew me as the sea draws the tiny stream that cracks the heart of the mountain ? I followed. Immediately, the gate closed, and behind me the strange creatures uttered a shriek that sounded like the gurgle of a beast suddenly strangled, and in the distance the Great Ape roared like a jungle uprooted. We reached an impenetrable marble wall smooth as the shaven heads of priests. Kalarba tapped the ground with his staff. The wall cracked in two. My legs prompted me to run back, to hide, but the same strange power that had drawn me so far, mastered me. I followed. The wall closed behind me. I dared not take another step, I dared not breathe. Suddenly, as if a noon sun had burst through the barriers of night, I was flooded in a sea of light. Kalarba had vanished, and I was left in an immense hall, whose ceiling seemed to reach the sky. Who were those great white giants that surrounded me ? Would they descend from their pedestals and crush me ? Was it their luminous bodies that spread the light about me ? I fell upon my face, and waited, motionless. The giants did not stir. I rose, and on tiptoes approached one. I touched His foot with my palm. The coolness delighted my fevered hand Stone! Were there people of stone as well as of flesh and blood ? THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 59 I passed my hand over the body. Never had such smooth- ness thrilled my senses—not even the surface of the lake when I floated upon it. I walked from one stony giant to another. My hands and eyes were bewildered by their white glamour. What mighty arms ! What powerful thighs ! What round breasts ! What exquisite ears! Were they the totems of another world ? I felt two eyes—eyes as intelligent, as luminous as those of the marble people—look at me. I knew they were those of the High Priest. Were they behind me ? Were they facing me ? Were they the light that invaded the hall? Fear forsook me. I walked slowly from giant to giantess. Suddenly I halted. In front of me rose, as the morning sun rises above the mountain peaks, a statue so dazzling that I caught my breath. If the rest of the stone giants were men, to what greater race of humans did he belong ? If they were gods, what mightier divinity was he ? Taller than all the rest, his head was encircled with a golden diadem. His feet were encased in slippers studded with precious jewels. Snakes of jade wound themselves about his arms, His smile was like the dew that tips the blades of grass. His body glowed. I approached. I touched with my fingertips the out- stretched hand. What made me tremble ? It was not awe. It was not terror. It was a nameless joy, sweeter than the scent of the female, more exquisite than the song of the male bird calling to his mate, sharper than the shout of the warrior triumphant. My heart hammered against my chest. My blood rushed to my head like the wine of the man-root. I placed my fists against each other, and whistled and sang through them. The sap of the earth rose into my legs and I whirled in a wild, frenzied dance. 60 THE INVINCIBLE A DAM " Kotikokura ! Kotikokura ! " Who called me ? I fell upon my face. " Kotikokura! " The voice came from the rim of the earth. "Kotikokura!" I dared not stir, I raised my eyes cautiously. Upon the pedestal I espied a basket filled with fruit and a jug of wine. Who had placed them there? Had they been there all the time? Were they of stone ? I sniffed. A delicious scent invaded my nostrils. Cautiously, I lifted a date, and bit into it. Never had I tasted anything half so sweet. The perfume and the colour of the rest of the fruit made my mouth water. I ate the figs, the bananas, the grapes. I drained to the last drop the wine, red as the blood which gushes out of the throat of the elephant struck by an arrow. Weary, I stretched out at the foot of the statue, and fell asleep. VII DISAPPEARING WALLS—THE VOICE OF THE HIGH PRIEST—THE GROVE OF THE MUSHROOMS—ICHOR OF YOUTH—A SILVER GHOST—I DISCOVER THE FLUTE THE last rim of a shadow disappeared underneath the marble wall. I walked stealthily in that direction. I placed my ear against the wall, I detected a sound vaguer than a leaf which tumbles to the ground. Curiosity vanquishing prudence and fear, I tapped the spot three times. The wall shivered. I crouched. Silently, like the opening of a palm, the wall separated into two. As a lion, wary of a trap, I crawled in. A dense smoke, such as rises from faggots before bursting into flames, but sweet-scented as if sprinkled with myrrh, curled from an immense cauldron in the centre of a room and vanished through an opening in the ceiling. Near the cauldron, Kalarba stood, his back to me. In his hand he held a silver staff, with which he made strange signs in the air, I pressed against the wall, holding my breath. Kalarba chanted quietly. The words were mellow like ripe figs. Gentle sounds answered him, like the choir of invisible priests. Why did not the Great Ape growl ? Where was the god of the universe ? Kalarba walked to each of the four corners of the hall, where in smaller cauldrons things brewed and boiled. From a basket which hung over his shoulder he took out roots and herbs the colour and shape I had never seen before. He 61 62 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM dropped them carefully into the utensils. Small jets of flames like fledglings leaped out. The High Priest returned to the centre of the hall. He waved his staff above his head seven times. A thick vapour enshrouded us for a while, then crowded, as if swept together, to the ceiling. The cauldrons had disappeared. The choir was silent. At our feet a door opened upward, revealing a staircase, leading into a garden. Kalarba descended slowly. I followed. Cautious that my shadow should not intermingle with the sacred shadow of the Vicar of the Great Ape, I walked in slow, measured step. Kalarba turned a corner. We walked between two rows of mushrooms, tall as pygmy palms. From time to time the high priest touched one, held another between his cupped fingers, or pressed his lips against it as if to whisper something. I watched carefully which ones he singled out and repeated the gesture after him. Was it the consciousness that I did something unforgivable that made my blood pulse in my head, or a violent vibration which emanated from the mushrooms ? Were these mush- rooms, or miniature, fantastic temples under which invisible worshippers prayed ? The High Priest stopped in front of a mushroom the colour of amber. He took out of his basket a knife, cut a small slice and placed it into his mouth. He walked on. I bit into the same mushroom. The juice that trickled into my throat was a liquid flame. A new power invaded me. My muscles hardened. I felt that I could uproot a giant tree with one hand, that I could crush an elephant with one fist, that I could shake the temple of the Great Ape, and crumble it. " Kotikokura! Kotikokura!" someone called behind me. " Who calls me ? " I asked, startled. I waited for my voice to die in the distance. Then furtively looked all about, Kalarba had vanished. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 63 Should I continue or retrace my steps ? The new power in my muscles clamoured for locomotion. Released from the immediate vigilance of the High Priest, and no longer con- strained to follow in his measured step, I began to jump and run. Beyond the garden wall stretched a vast road of buildings n ruins. I clambered through gaps in walls, over roofs, icross mounds of debris. From time to time I encountered stone men and women like those in the hall of the stone gods, but mutilated, crumbling. Dancers with one leg, breastless #omen, armless men. Faces without noses or ears. Headless :orsos or heads rolling between the feet that once must have carried them proudly. Implements of brass and gold. Armour which no arrows ;ould pierce. Immense stone caskets with strange figures >f men and animals carved into them, sometimes empty, ;ometimes filled with skulls and bones and queerly shaped Bracelets and trinkets. At my approach, lizards crawled quickly into crevices >r remained plastered motionless against the walls, their imbs outstretched. Bats glared blindly, flapping their vings. Was this the beginning of the world or the end ? My toes struck something glowing like a white snake. I ecoiled. It did not stir. I raised it. Was it the silver jhost of an animal I could not name ? I touched my cheek with it. I placed it against my lips, md blew into it. A sound like a breeze which wanders hrough the reeds at the edges of lakes floated through the tir. My heart became heavy. Tears rolled down my cheeks. VIII THE BREAD OF THE GODS—THE SONS OF THE BEAST—I CRACK A WHIP—SIMIAN MYSTERIES- THE GREAT APE SPEAKS—THE WIFE OF GOD FOR a long time I had not seen Kalarba. Only his gaze, like the reflection of the sun long after it sets, kept watch over me. I scoured the secret by-paths of the underworld. I fed upon the sacred mushroom. With each mouthful of the amber-coloured plant, my muscles hardened, my power increased, my blood clamoured for joy, for battle, for conquest. I reached the spot where I had first descended from the upper world. I listened intently. Once more I heard in the distance the sounds of chains and the frog-like footsteps of the tongueless beings* The scent of wild beasts became keener and keener. I turned a corner. Suddenly a noise like the squealing of a pig struck my ears. The squealing increased, swelled into a monstrous grotesque chorus. The tongueless beings, whom I had not seen since my descent, rushed from all sides, blocked my passage, menaced me with prongs and whips. " Stand aside, weazened creatures 1" I shouted I gnashed my teeth ferociously. They did not budge. Were they humans or semi-apes ? Did they understand me ? Were they the bastard progeny of the Thousand Tailed One? They raised their whips and pointed their prongs at me. Infuriated, I spread my arms among them, as a swimmer cutting a stormy sea. Several sprawled at my feet, groaning in pain. As an angry bull I butted and 64 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 65 pushed into the rest. They dropped to the* ground, grunting. I snatched a whip and cracked it over their heads. In one hand a prong, in the other a whip which I cracked from time to time, I drove forth the flock of tongueless creatures. I continued my walk in search of the Great Ape. As I reached the end of a narrow corridor, my marrow chilled. In a cage opposite, a gigantic creature towered ibove me like a mountain. His mighty paws gapped the bars. His teeth were spears. His enormous chest heaved bellows-like. His eyes glared from underneath his brow which protruded like the ledge of a chasm. A thousand tails, like the roots of a forest, encircled the world, and Around themselves about the sceptre of universal fatherhood. Trembling and panting I watched the Incomparable Growler, Ruler of the Universe. Why did he not sunder the bars and tear me to shreds 'or my impiety ? Was I indeed his progeny ? Did he •ecognize me ? Slowly I regained my composure. As I straightened out, he Great Ape shrank in stature. His eyes dimmed and iiminished. His claws lost their fierceness. His teeth flowed less than the tusks of an elephant. The thousand ails dwindled into one. He watched me intently. Unconsciously, I moved my vhip. The Great Ape winced. I repeated the motion. Jullenly, he sidled away from me. I cracked the whip md raised the prong. In terror, the mighty beast with- Irew to the far corner of the cage. We faced each other ilently, each glowering at the other. Suddenly, I heard , faint sound filtering through the ceiling and a voice say : " Let the Great Ape speak 1" For the first time I noticed a chain running from the ceiling nd winding itself around one of the shanks of the Lord f the World. The rope was pulled tight and a prong-like 66 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM protuberance pierced the divine buttocks. In rage and pain, the Great Ape growled. And I knew that the priests could make God speak as they wished. I walked slowly away, my head upon my chest, thinking. As I turned a corner, I saw another cage. Within it a female ourang squatted beside her cubs. At my approach, she uttered a sharp shriek and dashed into a corner. Who was this creature—the Great Apess, the World Mother and her progeny ? I remained still. Seeing that I had no intention to molest them, the female began to relieve her children of the sacred lice and crunch them between her teeth. I opened my mouth to laugh but a growl of the Great Ape made me run wildly. What had I to fear ? Did not the God of the World shrink before my whip ? Did he not obey me like a tamed pet ? What nameless something pursued me ? IX NOSTALGIA—A ROPE LADDER DANGLES—THE EMPTY THRONE—THE PURLOINED MASK—THE HUT OF THE VIRGINS—ALLATU THE absence of the High Priest filled me with melancholy. The stone gods chilled me with their eternal calm. The tongueless creatures hid at my approach. The God. of the World treated me with utmost disdain, mechanically replying to the cracking of my whip, his back turned toward me. His interest lay in plucking his thick fur daintily with the edges of his teeth or licking his navel which protruded like a thumb. His sacred offal lay about him thickly as manure around the roots of trees and plants. The Great Apess, more nervous than her mate, followed and admonished her progeny as they jumped from one stump to another. I yearned to return to the earth. My body was taut. It clamoured for an outlet, like a river beating against a dyke. The sacred mushrooms enflamed me. I was a fire seeking prey. I prowled about seeking a clue which would lead me out. Suddenly I saw a long rope-ladder dangle from the ceiling. I jumped upon it and began climbing. I swung above the Sacred Pit like a branch in a storm. Below me the tongueless creatures gathered and howled. ^The Great Ape roared. I pursued my ascent. When I reached the top, the roof opened, and I found myself in the temple at the foot of the statue of the Great Ape. I spat and fell upon my face. Why did I fear the wooden 67 68 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM image, when I no longer feared him whose features it bore ? The temple was empty. A dim light sifted through the ceiling and the eyes of the sacred monkeys whose heads peered from the walls. I walked cautiously to the throne of the High Priest. What would happen if I sat on it ? The priests said that he who looked at the Great Ape became instantly blind. But I had looked and nothing happened. Would I crumble into dust if I desecrated the holy seat of the Holy Vicar? I touched the platform on which were carved the claws of the Great Ape, trembling and reluctant, as one touches the shore of a river with one's toes, fearing to plunge into its icy waters. I jumped into the chair. I waited, breathless. Nothing happened. I made myself comfortable, imitated the postures of the High Priest, ruled the winds and the seas by the motion of my hand. My foot pressed against a circular spot on the platform. From the sacred Pit issued the response of the Great Ape. His voice was far louder and more terrible than it had sounded below. How small, how dismal was the temple compared to the hall of the gods of stone! How ludicrous the heads of the sacred monkeys which peered from the walls ! How pathetic the fierce heads carved upon the totem poles, caricatures of the little tongueless people of the underworld ! And yet, why was my heart gripped as if in the web of a giant spider ? Was it the memory of my father's body as it lay outstretched in front of me ? Was it the echo of the High Priest's voice which vaguely wandered about ? Was it the ghosts of all my ancestors who once prayed and trembled and spat here ? I descended slowly from the throne and walked noiselessly to the door. I looked out through a long crevice. The rays of the moon were a hundred leashes pulling me. I THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 69 Dpened the door and took a deep breath. The scent of the *arth filled my lungs—wild, sharp and pungent—the essence rf things and beasts and plants. From the depth of the jungle the roar of the lion ind the bellow of the bull elephant stirred the male in ne. My head swam. I thought I witnessed once more the "east of All Apes. Once more I heard the groans and shrieks >f the women. Once more the scent of bodies mingled with he smoke and the tallow of roasting animals. I re-entered he temple. Rummaging among the paraphernalia of the >riests, I chose the fierce mask of the Great Ape, placed it ipon my head, spat three times reverently like a jet, and talked out, the pillars of the temple shivering underneath iy feet. The priests who watched the hut of the virgins snored aucously, while over their open mouths giant flies buzzed, liming in circles. I leaped over them and entered the room. The girls 'ept, huddled together. Their hands, by an instinct as Qcient as modesty, cupped their ears hidden in the ivory lells of virtue. In another day or two, when the moon would stand directly ver the temple, Tokoma and his assistants would pierce le tiny lobes. The bodies of the virgins were like trees outstretched, om which hung two ripe fruits, and whose roots were swollen ith the sap of life. My eyes were a thousand sharp tentacles, seeking, pressing, iercing. I unclasped one of the girls from the embrace of her friend, id carried her away from the rest in a corner of the hut. .placed her gently upon the mat. She yawned, stretched > her toes, but remained asleep. yo THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Slowly I removed the shells from her ears and caressed them with my lips. Aflame, I bit into them. A thin stream of blood trickled across her neck. She uttered a stifled shriek and opened her eyes. I grasped her in my arms, she gasped and opened her eyes, wide. A ray of the moon mingled with her gaze. Between awe and ecstasy, between rapture and astonishment, her mouth parched from the flames of love, she muttered—" The Great Ape! The Great Ape! I am Allatu—I am your wife!" Slowly I released my grip. I approached the others. Wonderment and delight glowed on their faces. At my feet, forming a circle, they lay prostrate. They murmured— " The Great Ape. The Thousand Tailed One! " I ran out, My immense shadow darkened the reflection of the moon, rose and clambered over the tops of the palm trees, stretched over the face of the earth. I growled. The jungle responded. Our voices mingled in the triumph of the male. The earth pulsed underneath my feet, I threw the shells far into the air. They clattered and rang like bells, symbol of the visit of the incomparable god of fertility. The flames in my body still rising, I danced, my arms a thousand tails. Swinging from tree to tree, I disappeared in the temple, I replaced the mask among the paraphernalia of the priests, and descended into the Sacred Pit. 72 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM mightier than the passion which led me to the hut of the virgins. My body was taut. My Adam's apple pierced through my throat. My arms clamoured to crush in one embrace all womanhood. If I pursued this lure, would I lose track of Kalarba? Would I be stranded in this uncharted forest ? I tightened my nostrils with my fingers. Suddenly a lion leaped, warring after a panther. As the pursued one approached, one of the trees stretched out its branches like the tentacles of a monstrous octopus. The leaves became claws. The twigs paws The beast waddled. His tail swung limply. His eyes blurred. He caterwauled. He sprang forward. The ten- tacles wound themselves about his body like the threads of a spider's web. The tree opened. The panther vanished within it. The tree closed slowly like a yawning mouth. Bewildered at the disappearance of his prey, the lion roared. Another tree stretched forth its tentacles. Like his predecessor, the lion, helpless, vanished in the arboreal maw. Had these beasts pursued one another, or had the scent of the trees entrapped them both ? Were these the man- eating trees of which the priests whispered in awe, and whose name made the chiefs tremble and their faces grow ashen ? Were these the trees which enticed with a mightier lure than the female, and, more terrible than the female, devoured their lovers, leaving nothing save white bones, which they belched forth? Did Kalarba lead me to this forest to destroy me? I was seized with a new awe and a new reverence for the High Priest I tore myself away from the monstrous ogres, and followed humbly in the footsteps of the Vicar of the Great Ape. We readied a rock. Kalarba climbed it. I remained at THE INVINCIBLE ADAH 7^ he base. The High Priest removed his mask, and dropped to the ground. His shaven head glowed like a yellow moon. His white eard was a lion's mane dipped in milk. His face had the )olness of a lake. He lifted his head and his arms, and chanted : " O Immortal od of the Universe whose Face at day is the Sun and at night ie Moon, whose eyes are the stars, more numerous than ie leaves of all trees of all forests of the earth, blessed be tiou! " His voice rose slowly, and encircled the air. " 0 Eternal One," he continued, " Thou who rulest the skies id the earth and the waters, bring harmony and peace to y soul! Purify it as the rain purifies the fields. Make it arthy of Thee, 0 imperishable Divinity—and when the time mes, accept it and make it one with Thee ! " Kalarba remained still for a long time, then slowly descended, led, and hid behind a tree. " Kotikokura ! " the High Priest called gently. I approached sheepishly, my head upon my chest. The High Priest smiled. " Why do you hide, my son ? " His voice was soft and soothing. " Do not fear me, my child. Had I wished to destroy u, would I have hindered Tokoma from slashing your -oat ? Would I not have slain you when you wandered the halls of the stone gods ? Could you have survived 5 sacrilege of sitting upon my throne ? Would you have urned from the hut of the virgins, unmolested ? " Vty eyes darted to and fro. f I have been with you, ever since you proclaimed yourself tikokura to your comrades. I liked your strength and irrebel spirit I have tested you, and found you not wanting/' lis eyes gauged me, as one gauges the depth of a water h a rope and a rock. 74 THEINVINCIBLEADAM " You are the scion of the Great Ape and of His Vicar. Once more the seal of the Immortal Growler is placed upon his descendant. You are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone, Kotikokura! " He placed his ivory staff with the sacred tails of the Sacred Beasts upon my head, upon my shoulder, against my belly, against my thighs, and against my legs. " Son of my son of my son of my son from the beginning of time and until the end." I fell upon my face. " Rise/' he commanded. " Henceforth, you shall walk at my side and in my shadow, Kotikokura." " Kotikokura," Kalarba continued, his face lifted, " you have seen this night the High Priest of the Great Ape pray to a strange divinity. In your heart doubt gropes like a blind man." I nodded. " Many were the gods of man, Kotikokura, until he learnt to raise his head and behold the true god. Look, my son— are not the heavens the only habitation worthy of a god ? See how beautiful it is ! What on earth, or below it, is comparable to it ? What face is more dazzling than the face of the moon ? What eyes in all the jungle glow with the glow of the stars ? And at dawn—when God turns his other face to the world—what mountain of rubies is more than its shadow ? "When God hides from the world, the world is blind. When his myriad hands refuse to bless the fields all things wither. He breathes into flowers and trees and fruits and the earth is drunken with perfumes. His breath enters the bodies of men and beasts and the male pursues the female and the female waits for the embrace." The High Priest raised his arm. " He is the father of all living things. He is the creator. His body is heavier with seed than all the seas with water, than all the mountains with jocks," THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 75 We seated ourselves, our legs underneath us. I remembered he time when my father and I squatted upon our threshold n silence, and a strange nostalgia overcame me. " Kotikokura, my son," Kalarba said, placing his powerful tand upon my knee, " death is a hammer which breaks all hings. Life is a rake which gathers the dust, making new hapes. Let not sorrow devour you/' The moon moved slowly like a hoop tapped lightly. " Kotikokura, my son," the High Priest said, his brow nit, " you have beheld the Great Ape face to face. He owered before your whip, and at your command. There- )re, you think you are more powerful than he, and you oubt his divinity. Kotikokura/' he raised his forefinger ke a totem come to life, " beware of vainglory ! The Great pe is unconquerable. Man is like a temple. Within him lere is a pit, whose God is the Great Ape. He may not iinquish him. It suffices if his head is raised to the other :>d in the stars." " Are there two Great Apes ? " I asked, bewildered. " There is only one Great Ape, my son. When his children *ow up, and understand him, he moves to the sky. When s children are still too young, like a fond father he remains tth them in his golden cage, that they may hear his growl id smell his 'divine scent. He admonishes them, and rewards em. His thousand tails embrace them like arms, or if raged, like serpents. " The Great Ape has an iron cage, and one small tail, not powerful as that of a lion. The tongueless men pierce m with their prongs, and flay him with their whips. He owls when the chain which is tied around his shank is died. "The infant draws life from the breasts of his mother, t when he grows up he disdains her and will not look upon r. But could he have lived without her milk ? You have Dwn up, Kotikokura, and you disdain your siref I allowed 76 THE IN VINCIBLE ADAM you to see at once what the rest of mankind will have to wait for thousands of moons, perhaps." His eyes caressed me. " Kotikokura, do you never dream you are a child again, your head upon the lap of your mother ? " I nodded. " Are you not happy then ? " I nodded. " Thus shall you dream of the Great Ape, even if you live as long as the mountain which hides the bed of the Sun. And something in you will rejoice always, for the Great Ape is our sire, and he created us in his image. We draw blood from his blood and our flesh is bound to his flesh, as the trunk of the tree is bound to its roots. The higher the tree rises, the deeper the roots must be. He who denies the Great Ape, dies!" Kalarba rose. •" The earth cannot swallow at once the waters of a flood. Come, it is sufficient for you. Besides, the moon is a thin leaf. It Is time for the High Priest of the Great Ape to return to the temple." He replaced Ms mask, I spat upwards. XI HE GREAT EAR— THE GREAT EYE— THE GREAT 3SE-THE FRAGRANCE OF ALL FLESH-THE EARINESS OF THE GODS— I SEAT MYSELF ON A COFFIN— I WHISTLE led me to an empty room, whose ceiling was dotted th holes as if bored by a woodpecker. The High Priest struck one of the walls. Suddenly the )m was filled with a storm of noises — lions roared, >nkeys chattered, birds shrieked, people spoke, beat torn- ns. ' Where are we ? " I asked, frightened. Kalarba smiled. "This is the cave of the Great Ear, tikokura, into which every sound upon earth, every whisper my people, penetrates, flows. No secret noise is withheld m me. I am the sea into which all streams plunge." 7rom the babel of voices, one disentangled itself— the voice lokoma, strident like a sharp whip. ' The Great Ape has spoken in the wombs of our virgins, people - " trembled. Where is he ? Where is Tokoma ? " Tie High Priest raised his forefinger to his lips : " You I soon see/' bkoma's voice continued. " The Thousand Tailed One — Incomparable Growler opened his golden cage, rose from Sacred Pit to the earth, visited our virgins, filled them i new life, scattered the shells of virtue that all things ht grow." 77 j$ THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Kalarba said: " It is well." " Praised be the Great Ape " Tokoma chanted. "Praised be the Incomparable Growler/' the people responded. " Now let us go to the Chamber of the Great Eye, my son, that you may see Tokoma." I followed the High Priest, dazed as in a dream. We entered a room whose walls were transparent as thin shells placed against the sunlight. The High Priest tapped the wall, and made a sign to me to remain in one of the corners. From all sides the shadows of people fell upon the floor. Around the Rock of the Sacred Cobra the tribesmen danced and beat the tom-toms. Tokoma, surrounded by the priests, his arms crossed upon his great belly, watched. " Kotikokura, my son, you have witnessed your apotheosis. Henceforth the people will know the Great Ape in your image. You have given birth once more to the God of the World." A great pride stirred every part of me. I stiffened like a tree. "After your visit to the hut of the virgins there was a great dispute in the village. Some claimed it was not the Great Ape who removed the shells of virtue, the virgins swore they had felt his thousand tails. Tokoma knew it was you. He asked me to deliver you into his hands, and the virgins to the Great Ape. I convinced him that the visit of the Great Ape in person would mean fresh obedience to the law, which is the salvation of a people. He agreed with me. You heard him publicly announce that the Great Ape re- plenished the virgins. Their male progeny will be set apart for priests and chiefs." " 1 hate Tokoma," I exclaimed. ef He is a good and true priest, my son. I have never had a better one. He is always right, according to the letter THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 79 f the law. He is the perfect priest of the Great Ape. You hould not hate him, Kotikokura. Without him the power f the Great Ape would dwindle/' " He killed my father," I said. " Your father was guilty. The Great Taboo must not be •ansgressed." " What is the reason of the Great Taboo ? " " The reason of all taboos, great or small, is to remind ian that there is a power outside of himself which he must Dey If I decide to make you my successor, Kotikokura, stain Tokoma and do not wreak vengeance upon him, and *ep the tongueless little people, without whose dumb servitude D authority could subsist." After a silence, he resumed : " You have been in the Cave ' the Great Ear and the Chamber of the Great Eye. It >es not suffice for the High Priest to see and hear his people, e must smell them, for in the scent of a being lodges the soul. Tien the soul is healthy, the scent is clean and pure. When e soul hides evil secrets, the scent is evil. When the soul is :ad, even though the body is still alive, the scent is putrid, :e a weed that draws life from a pestilential marsh." We entered the Pit of the Great Nose. Scents human and 'astly rained upon my nostrils. I sniffed in all directions. There was the scent of youth d the scent of age, the scent of the warrior, the scent the beast asleep, the scent of health and the scent of sease. I breathed in deeply. " Kalaxinga, Mukelenga, Mulanda, imega/' I exclaimed, " my companions ! " Suddenly pervading all, like a whirlpool churning mightily, e scent of the virgins who relinquished their shells of virtue me mingled with the heat of the sun, and wilder and more licious than the rest, the perfume of Allatu. My eyes med. My arms ached to throttle, my legs and thighs to 8o THE INVINCIBLE ADAM crush. My throat pulsed as if clutched in rhythm. My mouth watered with the memory of the sweetness of Allatu. Kalarba placed his palm upon my buttock, taut as a rock. " To-morrow you may go again among my people. Replete the race whose sire is our sire—the Great Ape/' Calmed by the promise, I followed the High Priest. We passed by the cage of the Great Ape. The Sacred Beast was snoring. Kalarba looked at him pathetically. " He is becoming aged. We shall soon have to train one of the young ones." " Does not the Great Ape live for ever ? " I asked. " Of course. But he grows weary of his ancient teeth and claws, and moves into a newer body." " Does the other Great Ape who lives in the skies also grow weary of his teeth and claws ? Does he also move into a newer body ? " I asked. " Yes/' he replied sadly. " Every one who lives for ever grows weary of himself, my son, even the Great Ape of the skies/' " Who are the stone gods, Father of Fathers ? " " They are the beautiful bodies of the God of the Sides, Kotikokura. Some day, he will enter one of them and come to earth alive. He will come triumphant, riding upon a camel taller than the palm trees. Upon his head he will carry the sun. His fingers will dazzle with stars. From his mouth will issue music." Kalarba's eyes shed a light over his mask, like sun-rays sifting through a morning fog. A strange joy filled my heart. Kalarba watched me thoughtfully. " Perhaps you will see him, Kotikokura—the White God, He will breathe new life into these ruins, which he will raise to the surface of the earth once more/' "Were they on the surface of the earth before?" I THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 8l He nodded. " How beautiful it was, my son 1 What lighty giants lived once upon a time! " " Did you see those giants ? " I asked timorously. Kalarba shook his head. " No, but I still could hear the :ho of their footfalls; catch a glimpse of their wavering ladows. Now all is dead/' " Have you been since the beginning of time, O Father : Fathers ? " "What is time, my son? Where is.its beginning, where its middle, where is its end ? Since I have been, generations : men and apes have breathed and died. All the people tat you know are children of my children of my children : my children in an endless row like' trees' bt a forest. I rget the beginning, my son/' I shuddered with awe. " Kotikokura, I have waited for you, for a son of mine 10 like myself bore the sign of the Great Ape. Now perhaps ne will have an end/' he said wearily. For a long while he added nothing. I dared not ask the ultitudinous questions which galloped to my mouth. " Kotikokura/' he said finally, " leave me now. I must alone. I must consult with the Great Ape of the Skies, shall call you when all things are ripe/' I seated myself upon one of the stone coffins, and whistled ;une. XII THE ELIXIR OF KALARBA—PROPHECY-^WINE OF IMMORTALITY—I SWOON ONE day, as I was eating of the sacred mushroom, I heard the voice of Kalarba: " Kotikokura ! Kotikokura ! " I leaped over the great plants and swung from one branch of a tree to another until I reached the High Priest. He looked at me for a long while, as if he had seen me for the first time. Then, slowly, he removed his mask, and placed it upon my head. " It becomes you, my son. You will make an excellent high priest of the Great Ape/' His eyes suddenly acquired a far-away look, as if they had annihilated all things about them, and gazed into another world. " Kotikokura, my son, I have been as a shore which watches an endless river flow past it for ever. Old waters—new waters—carrying on their backs like caravans of dromedaries the debris of time. The day has come for the river to break its shackles, to drown the shore, and hide it for all time underneath its silver feet/' The High Priest raised his forefinger. " Kotikokura, I have waited for more moons than there are leaves upon these trees for the stars to cluster as they have clustered this night like the sharp cones of a pine-apple, and the moon to shine through them like the milk of sacred coco-nuts. For this night I have brewed a thousand herbs and mushrooms culled from a thousand summers, each hidden 82 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 83 e a timorous heart in the bowels of the forest. And yet------" sighed, " and yet—I shall relinquish the elixir which I have tilled from their essence." le pointed to a brass bowl swinging mysteriously at the >t of the rock. ' He who empties it, Kotikokura, son of my sons, lives il once again the stars cluster as they do to-night, which 11 occur when the desert becomes a sea again, and the turns once more into a desert. But I shall not taste a p of it." Why, Father of Fathers ? " I asked. For he who drinks of it remains what he is at that moment, m old, I will not accept old age into all eternity/' he i defiantly. " I will not accept the half-withering muscle the slow-beating heart, like the tom-tom at a funeral. arba will not be the white-bearded High Priest for ever 1 " n—half closing his eyes, he continued, sadly: "I have d long enough. The sacred mushrooms gave me strength years, years without number—generation past generation I will not endure immortality without youth. The ed mushroom would give you a life perhaps as long as mine, ikokura. But he who drinks of this ichor lives while the h lives." Has any man drunk of the juice and lived for ever, ler of Fathers ? " I asked, awed and delighted and atened. I do not know, Kotikokura." Father of Fathers, who planted the sacred mushrooms ? " alarba did not answer. Father of Fathers, is it good to live from generation to nation—for ever ? " e remained silent for a long time. Kotikokura, son of my sons, immortality without youth ke a tree that sprouts no leaves. The trunk may be ity. The branches may stretch across the jungle. But 84 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Spring passes it by scornfully, and birds alight, but will not make their nests." He sighed. " My son/' he pursued, " to what avail that the body be strong, that the muscles be taut like bars of iron, when the spirit is weary with the repetition of pleasure ? " The High Priest counted the corals slowly, and as he counted, he continued: " Kotikokura, bone of my bone, the day will come when you will see the God of the Skies. You will be his favourite son. You will go with him to the end of the earth. Strange and undreamed things will happen to you. Love and obey him. Whatever he utters is perfection. He will speak a thousand tongues, but you will understand him. Question nothing of him. Be silent m his presence The gods are jealous. They know everything, and they will not be told. If they ask, it is merely to test man. He who cannot control his tongue, forfeits their favour. Stretch your muscle, wrestle with your brain, but put a clamp upon your mouth. Worship the God of the Skies. Imitate him. Fashion yourself in his image." He placed his palm upon my buttock. " But forget not the Mighty Growler. Remember the High Priest of the Great Ape." "I shall always remember you, Father of Fathers. I shall always worship and love you. Forsake me not, Father of Fathers." He shook his head. " Do not forget, my son—let your tongue stiffen in your mouth in the presence of the White God. Speak not my name, for I will not be recalled from the silent shores to the noisy river of Life. Let me be as a bucket at the bottom of a deep well, filled with water, but whose rope is cut." The High Priest bent to the ground and lifted the steaming THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 85 wl. He raised it in front of him, and looked at it for a long tie. A wan smile played about his lips. Kalarba chanted : " O Immortal God of the Universe, upon whose fingers 5 clustered the stars; around whose throat the moon tigs like a bowl of crystals—touch with the tips of thy ;s the juice of this bowl! Breathe upon it! Stir it with t forefinger ! Drink the first drop ! " Kalarba bent the bowl slightly. One drop fell to the >und. He dipped his finger into it and stirred it in a ;le. le waved his arm about his head several times. Suddenly, of nowhere, a great parrot, whose plumes were a lapful emeralds, darted through the air, uttering strange sounds ich I could not imitate, and disappeared ^we-struck, I watched, my mouth wide open, my fingers stretched. O Great White God, allow Kotikokura, flesh of my flesh rib of my rib, son of the Great Ape, to drink of this juice mmortality ! " .gain the voice of the parrot, invisible now, answered the h Priest. lalarba continued to chant in a tongue I could not erstand. /hen he finished, he turned to me. It is the will of the Immortal God of the Universe that drink of the wine of immortality." He placed the bowl cay lips. "Drink, and you shall be Kotikokura—for -. You relinquish nothing, except the power to re-create rself." A half-cynical smile played about his lips. " But have already planted your seed in the wombs of the ins." Father of Fathers, I am afraid." e pressed the bowl against my teeth. Drink! " 86 THE'INVINCIBLEADAM I took the bowl between my hands, and, throwing my head backward, emptied it. A great flame surrounded me, flowed into me. The stars fell across the horizon. The moon spilled its whiteness over the earth. Winds howled. Beasts roared. Trees, uprooted, crashed to the ground. " Father of Fathers/' I called. •" Father of Fathers ! " Somewhere in the great distance I heard Kalarba's voice. My head reeled. I fell in a swoon. XIII HE VANISHED TEMPLE—I SEEK ALLATU—THE MPTY CAGE OF GOD—DESECRATION—CARR-TARR- HARR—I ENCOUNTER TOKOMA—I UPROOT A TREE -THE TEARS OF ALLATU—THE LAW OF CATAPHA— COVENANT OF BLOOD—I EAT THE SACRED PARROT y body was stiff. My legs were nailed to the ground. I )ened my eyes slowly. The sun flooded them. I closed them again. A vague echo of drums beat in my us, A parrot screeched. I rose to my feet and yawned. My blood coursed through y body with an unaccustomed rhythm. I was filled with a w strength. I felt a oneness with the earth. I was lighter an the air. I leaped, I flew. Suddenly I remained pensive. Where was I ? What had .ppened to me ? I seated myself. Slowly as one pulls an [yielding fish out of the depths of waters, I pulled the ndents out of the depths of my memory. Kalarba— e bowl of immortal juice—the chant—the fire—the storm— e by one I stretched them out upon the shore of my nsciousness, I jumped to my feet: " Kalarba! Father of Fathers! " :alled. " Father of Fathers ! " A vague echo of my voice clattered in the distance, like the t hoof-beats of a zebra in flight. I climbed upon the peak of the rock and searched in all 'ections. I felt the High Priest's eyes all about me— t where was he ? Had he disappeared from the Earth ? is he dead ? Did his soul unite with the God of the Skies ? )uld he ever return to me ? 87 88 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM A perfume, acrid and mouldy, rose to my nostrils. I sniffed, trying to guess what plant or flower could exude it. Unable to determine, and curious, I walked cautiously. At my feet the man-eating trees lay outstretched, their barks opened, their roots dry and crumbling like the cast-off skins of snakes. Here and there mingled with the branches the thin white bones of victims long devoured. Only maggots and ants still found the rotting wood tempting. Was this the end of all love ? Did always the perfume of sex change into the putrid and sour stench of death ? Would Allatu, the virgin, be like these trees ? Allatu ! Strange —her alone I remembered vividly. All the rest mingled into one general, impersonal sphere of femininity. Allatu—at whose memory my heart leaped and my teeth clenched. Allatu, whose skin, whose flesh, I sought in all the rest. I leaped over the trunks of the man-eating trees, and continued my search. I entered into the City of Stone. It seemed to me that the houses had become still more formless, that the statues had lost every semblance of reality. A fine white dust floated about, as if a cavalcade had recently galloped by. I reached the cage of the Great Ape. The God of the World, his mate, his young progeny—all gone. The iron bars were bent and thrown into a heap. I looked for the little tongueless people. I called them. My voice struck back as if I had shouted into an empty barrel. Bewildered and awed by this general desolation, I sought for something that had not been destroyed since I drank of the juice of immortality. Where was the Cave of the Great Ear, the Chamber of the Great Eye, the Pit of the Great Nose ? Where was the laboratory where Kalarba brewed the herbs of a thousand summers ? Lizards crawled at my feet. Flying foxes darted to and fro. The temple of the Great Ape ! The temple must be intact! THEINVINCIBLEADAM 89 I looked for the rope on which I used to swing to the earth. In its place a tall hill of lumber mingled with the broken masks of the sacred monkeys and the chopped heads of the totems, I crawled to the top. I reached the earth. I was standing upon the ruins of the temple. " Kalarba," I groaned, " Father of Fathers, is the earth dead ? Am I the only survivor ? " I looked in all directions. In the distance I espied the roofs of houses. Soon the air was filled with the delicious odour of animals roasting. Suddenly the shriek of a parrot pierced the air. " Carr— Tarr— Pharr— Carr— Tarr— Pharr------" Was it the sacred parrot which the High Priest had conjured from nowhere ? I entered the village. It seemed to me the population had increased greatly. I had never seen so many women :arrying infants, so many children tugging at their mothers' hair and legs. Were these my progeny ? Pride stirred my blood. Kalarba was right Even if from now on, for a reason I could not fathom, my seed no longer blossomed, I was x father into all generations. What was the strange tumult—the beating of tom-toms, the saving of arms ? "Carr— Tarr— Pharr— Carr— Tarr— Pharr------" the carrot screeched. " Ca-Ta-Pha—Ca-Ta-Pha—Ca-Ta-Pha/' the people repeated. What was the meaning of the word ? Was it a name ? Was it the call to battle ? Was my village invaded by an inemy from beyond the desert ? I felt powerful enough to lestroy a whole army. I would defend my children. I dispersed the crowds. " Who attacks us ? " I asked. " Where is the enemy who Lares fight Kotikokura and Kotikokura's children ? " My roice drowned the tom-toms. " Kotikokura ! Kotikokura 1" a high pitched voice which easily recognized as that of Tokoma broke the silence. go THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Korr— Ti— Korr— Kurra— Korr— Ti— Korr— Kurra,' the parrot repeated. Tokoma raised his staff upon which was carved a came now instead of the head of the Great Ape, and waved it above the multitude. "Stand aside," he shouted, "that I maj face him! " He approached me. We looked at each other for a long while. His belly had grown stouter and flabbier. His face was jaundiced. His eyes had lost their sharpness. His Adam's apple had completely vanished in the fat. Tokoma turned to the people: "It is he—the enemy of Catapha, God of the World, who came from Heaven riding upon the Sacred Camel, Mother of the Earth, and whose advent was proclaimed by his son, the Sacred Parrot, who carries upon his beak the stars/' In the distance, the parrot screeched: " Carr— Tarr— Pharr— Carr— Tarr— Pharr ! " The people made the sign of the new god, clutching the cardinal points of their bodies, and repeated—" Ca-Ta-Pha— Ca-Ta-Pha ! " " His god is the Great Ape," Tokoma continued. " The Great Ape, who held Man enslaved since the beginning of time, who drove our first father from the Sacred Grove of Coco-nuts." My blood boiled. Tokoma pursued: "Where was he when Catapha, God of the World, freed the soul of man ? He was with the Great Ape, who set upon him his shameful seal! " Raucous with envy, he shouted, pointing his fat forefinger: " Behold, he has remained an ape ! He is not a man ! Look at the heritage of the Mighty Growler ! " The men hissed like venomous snakes. The women sighed. " Hide your faces, lewd wenches!" Tokoma ordered Then turning again to the men, " You have torn the Great Ape! Now tear his bastard son ! " THE INVINCIBLE ADAM QI I clasped my arms around a tree, and glared at them menacingly. " Tear him ! " Tokoma commanded. " It was he, and not the Great Ape who seized your virgins and took your wives, and peopled the earth with his apish spawn." I uprooted the tree. The people gasped, " His father violated the Great Taboo. He has violated the taboo of the sacred shell. Tear him to bits, I command you. I—Tokoma, High Priest of Catapha ! " " Renegade ! " I exclaimed, infuriated. " But yesterday you were the priest of the Great Ape, the Mighty Growler f How dare you utter blasphemy against the Sire of us all 1 " " You lie, Kotikokura ! Our Sire is Catapha, God of the World, who came from Heaven to redeem us." The men clutched themselves mightily. " Did you hear, people ?—Kotikokura's sire is the Great Ape. He acknowledges it himself. Kalarba, the High Priest and Kotikokura—both branded with the sign of the ape ! Destroy the seed of the ape ! " " No, no ! " a woman's voice pleaded. " Who dares contradict me ? " Tokoma asked imperiously. " Catapha—God of the World—speaks through me ! " I caught a glimpse of Allatu who wept. Innumerable emotions assailed me—the coining of the God of the World—the death of the Great Ape—the impkcable hatred of Tokoma—the love of Allatu—but I dared not try to unravel the threads of events. Another moment, and the followers of the new god would tear me limb from limb. Riding upon a huge camel, a man appeared. His face lazzled. His eyes glowed. His body was draped in a golden •obe. His feet were shod in sandals studded with jewels. He raised his alabaster arms. The tree dropped out of my hands. He was the God of 5tone come to life 1 Feature for feature the same ! Q2 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM I wished to utter cries of joy, to shout praises and paeans of triumph, but my tongue was lead in my mouth. Kalarba's warning had been needless. Before the White God of the World, I would always be mute ! " Who is this man whom you wish to slay ? " the God of the Skies asked. " Kotikokura ! Kotikokura ! Kotikokura 1 " A thousand voices answered. " Korr— Tirr— Korr— Kurra—" the parrot echoed, " Of what crime is he guilty ? " Like the bleating of sheep and the roaring of lions and the chattering of monkeys, the men uttered their complaints and anathemas against me, against Kalarba, against the Great Ape. The women moaned and the children shrieked. <{ Silence—all! " the White God commanded, his voice mightier than a hundred tom-toms. And turning to Tokoma, he said: " Priest, what is the crime of this man ? " " 0 Catapha, God of the World, who hast come to earth to redeem man from the thousand tails and the thousand woes of the Great Ape, thou who hast come riding on the Mother of the Earth, and announced by thy son, the Sacred Parrot, who carries upon his beak the stars of the skies—this man is Kotikokura ! " " What is Kotikokura ? " "He is the rebel, the befouler, the scoffer of laws and taboos, the son of the Great Ape, whose token sets him aside from all of us! " Once more his malignant eyes wandered over me. Across the haughty lips of Catapha flitted a smile. " He must die, 0 Catapha, Father of Life! " Tokoma pursued. " He must be torn to pieces by the worshippers ! " The people dashed toward me. " Do not touch him ! " Catapha ordered. The people withdrew. " 0 Catapha/' Tokoma said, his face growing scarlet like THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 93 the crest of a wild cock, " it is thy law! Kotikokura must perish! " " I am the Law! " the God of the Skies replied " It is my will that Kotikokura be unmolested 1" He waved his urn, and a sheaf of lightning blinded us. Once more Tokoma was thwarted. Once more his hatred 'or me reverberated against himself. I itched to jump at us throat, and wring his head off as one wrings the head of i capon, when Catapha commanded: "Follow me, Sotikokura! " The camel galloped wildly. But I was fleeter. Over our reads the parrot screeched: " Carr— Tarr— Pharr— Carr— Tarr—Pharr—" The people shouted " Ca-Ta-Pha—Ca-Ta-Pha—" until their poices vanished as the smoke vanishes in the air. Catapha descended from the camel, and motioned to me o walk at his side. " Who are you ? " he asked. " Kotikokura." " Are you an ape or a man ? " I grinned. " Who is the God of the World ? " " Catapha—God/' " Who was God before Catapha came ? " " Catapha—God." " Who is the Great Ape ?•" I grinned. " Was he not God before Catapha came ? " " Catapha—God." " And Kotikokura his High Priest/' Catapha smiled. My toes twitched. My knees bent. My belly shivered. y hips turned. My shoulders rose. The earth throbbed in y veins—and I danced—slapping my buttocks. I fed the camel,' and stretched out a leopard's skin for itapha. Catapha slept. 94 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM I squatted at his feet and watched. How beautiful was Catapha ! How white his skin! How exquisitely shaped his limbs 1 His breath was sweeter than fresh-mown hay. His hair more lustrous than the wings of blackbirds. Like a spiral of smoke rising from a log, a snake crept warily out of the sand, struck Catapha's arm with his fangs, and stole back into the sand. Catapha rose with a start. His arm swelled immediately. I grasped it between my teeth and sucked at it violently, drinking the blood The arm resumed its normal shape. Catapha looked at me intently Catapha sprinkled a drop of his blood upon a few seeds and fed them to the sacred parrot. The bird turned upon his back and remained stiff. What was the meaning of this ? The son of the God of the Skies dead! Suddenly I understood. I plucked the bird and devoured it. Henceforth I was the son of Catapha, God of the World I stuck a feather in my hair, and whirled wildly about Catapha. XIV I DISCOVER SHAME—FINE FEATHERS, FINE BIRDS— [ ENTRAP MY SHADOW—THE HERESY OF THE RAT—SHAKING PILLARS—A WORLD ON FIRE—THE FLOOD—WE GALLOP AWAY " KOTIKOKURA !" Catapha called. I leaped like a kangaroo, and dropped upon my face at the feet of l*e God of the World. " Rise/' he commanded, " and put this robe on and these sandals. Also you may wind this turban around your head. Et will not be long before we reach the edge of the desert, where other eyes besides the stars and the moon will gaze upon you/' I looked bewildered at the paraphernalia which Catapha spread upon the sand. Catapha smiled. " Kotikokura, henceforth you will walk among people who rave discovered the meaning of shame." My arms dangled like broken branches, "What is the Great Ape's opinion on this subject, Kotikokura ?" I barely restrained my instinct from spitting reverentially it the mention of the Incomparable Growler, but I remembered the injunction of Kalarba, and grinned. I must not forget that henceforth I was the son and High Priest of the White God. I must never utter the name of the Other One. Catapha, God of the World, was testing me, even as Kalarba tested me in the sacred Pit. " While it may be disputed where knowledge has her sacred seat—whether it be the heart, the brain, the spleen, the liver, 95 g6 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM the blood—no one has yet questioned where pleasure has her zone/' He smiled, Catapha, God of the Universe, watched, amused by my efforts to cover myself in the fineries with which he presented me. Now and then, seeing me flustered and perplexed, he gave me instructions mingled with advice, whose meaning I could not fathom. Somewhat uncomfortable, but very proud, I finally stood dressed before God. " Excellent, Kotikokura ! " he exclaimed. My face burned with satisfaction. "Let no one lie to you that fine feathers do not make fine birds, my son. It is the proverb of the poor consoling themselves. But you must see yourself. You must be a joy unto your own eyes, as you are unto the eyes of Catapha/' He took out of a bag a strange implement which he unfolded until it reached my height. " Look, and admire the High Priest of Catapha 1 " I cast a glance and shrieked in terror. " I am drowning in a white sea ! " I cried. " Catapha— Catapha! Help!" Catapha looked at me puzzled for a moment, pretending that he did not know the cause of my distress, for did he not know everything from the beginning of time to the end of time upon earth and in the heavens ? He laughed. " Kotikokura, this is not the White Sea into which you have dropped. It is a mirror, and only your shadow is entrapped within it. Look—the desert, the moon, the stars—all honour this slab of silver with their gleaming presence. It is the Great Eye which tells the truth. The aged and the ugly dare not look into it. The young and the beautiful strut before it Eke peacocks before their mates/1 I thought of the Chamber of the Great Eye, and knew how much mightier was Catapha than the Great Ape, for his THE INVINCIBLE A DAM 97 eye saw not only a village but the whole earth and the sky. "Do not hide your face, Kotikokura, in the hollow of your elbow, but gaze at yourself in the mirror, and see how dress accentuates what it seeks to hide, and why from the fig leaves of our ancestors blossomed luxuriantly the tree of unendurable pleasure indefinitely prolonged." I strutted before the mirror, turned in every direction, puffed my cheeks, scowled, laughed, threatened. The other Kotikokura responded gesture for gesture. Slowly accustomed to the phenomenon, I began to admire the whiteness of my robe, the sheen of my turban, the pattern of my sandals, and as if to outdo the other Kotikokura, my body moved in rapturous frenzy. I slapped my buttocks; I kept tune by beating my palm against my open mouth. Catapha, God of the World, delighted, clapped his white hands, and tapped the ground with the tip of his sandals. Over the desert the face of Catapha shone, and it was dawn. In the distance the smoke from the chimneys rose proudly like giant trees. But the breeze, the silver hatchet, felled them, and scattered them across the sky. The echo of the barking dogs and the bleating of sheep passed by us like a last vague ruffle of a lake into which one hurls a rock. My blood throbbed with wild rhythms, I leaped over the great hump of the Sacred White Camel, and exclaimed: " Catapha—God ! Catapha—God ! " Catapha smiled. " Come, my Great Ape, our provisions are at an end. We shall stop for a while at the first village, replenish, and continue our journey toward Rome, whither all roads lead." I helped him mount the animal, and running ahead, we soon reached the edge of the desert, where the last billow of the sea of sand merges with the solid earth. -n 98 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " We shall now dispose of the camel, Kotikokura. There are more comfortable ways of travelling. These people have fine strong horses, and solidly built waggons and chariots. I am a little weary of rocking like a lamenting Jew/' My eyes galloped wildly. My mouth overbrimmed with questions. Dispose of the Mother of the World! Weary of the sacred hump ! Catapha riding in waggons and chariots ! Was all this a colossal jest ? Did the White God test me again ? If only I dared utter a word I If only Kalarba had not cast a spell upon my tongue! If at least I could grunt like the little tongueless people in the Sacred Pit! Catapha looked at me, and laughed. He who knows everything knew my thoughts. " Catapha has other wives besides the Mother of the World/' he said. f the world, unshakable, invincible monarch. He upon vhom he smiles grows luxuriant like the palm trees of your country. Upon whom he frowns, withers and rots like a hrub devoured by vermin." " Catapha—God," I murmured to myself, unconvinced }y the words of Catapha. " Multitudinous are the shapes Mammon takes—animate md inanimate—but in civilized communities he is worshipped >rincipally in the form of gold and his name is Money 1 Come long with me, Kotikokura, and you will see how numerous ire the worshippers of Money, and how ardent! " Catapha mounted his steed and trotted slowly. I followed ,t his side, my head a bee-hive, buzzing and stinging. At the sight of money, people relinquished to Catapha alias, slaves, women, steeds, robes. They clustered about no THE INVINCIBLE ADAM him, grovelled at his feet, trampled upon one another, fought, clutched one another's throats, flashed knives, danced in mad joy, wept, laughed, sang. No wine of the man-root, no scent of the female, no spring in the jungle, stirred the blood like the pieces of gold which glittered in the palm of Catapha. "What you have seen is nothing compared to what is invisible to you, Kotikokura. You have heard of Caesar, Emperor of the Earth, you have seen his mighty armies return triumphant from the farthest corners of the globe, you have passed by temples and courts and the Capitol. " All this, Kotikokura, is conceived in the image of Money, conceived and upheld—root and branches and trunk. You have heard people speak of wisdom and virtue and knowledge and beauty and the arts—all, all, but the thousand names of Mammon!" Catapha remained thoughtful for a while. " Before long the followers of my perennial enemy will wage war against the worshippers of the ancient and merry gods who dwell upon Olympus. Who will win, Kotikokura ? Not they who pray best, but they who pay best! " He waved his fist: " The creed of the Nazarene must perish/' he exclaimed. I raised my fists, ready to crush whomsoever Catapha desired to annihilate. Catapha smiled. " No, Kotikokura, your fist will be of no avail in this battle." He stretched out, his arms underneath his head. teed. Strange were the ways of Catapha and many were lis disguises, but always I discovered him. Once, however, the God of the World disappeared. Des- perate, I ran through the streets of the City of Stone, calling ' Catapha—Catapha------" I ploughed my way through the orest of people, scrutinized each face, sniffed the ground like i hound. I seated myself upon the curbstone, my head between ny palms, and mourned. Was it the voice of Catapha— vas it his scent—was it his eyes that pulled me like reins ? rose, and began to run through alleys and highways, unerring. I jumped over the fence of a garden, silenced the guard vith one pressure of my fingers around his throat, and tip- oed to the oval opening in the wall. I looked in. My heart eaped. The God of the World more beautiful than his image in the ity of Stone underneath the Sacred Pit, held in his embrace white goddess whose ears were shells of mother-of-pearl. " Catapha ! Catapha ! " I called out jubilantly. The woman turned her head, looked at me, uttered a shriek nd swooned, and fell. Catapha frowned, his eyes two great pears. He approached the window slowly. "Kotikokura," he said with restrained anger, "youhave ispleased me." * I hung my head upon my chest. " Catapha-----" I lumbled. " You are like a spoiled child banging to the skirts of his lother, following her where his presence is not desired." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Catapha-----" I growled. " It is time that you learn to be self-sufficient." I sighed, "Here, take this purse, Kotikokura. There is enough gold within it to seduce a whole city of virtuous wives. Go your way." I turned my head " Catapha—God/' I whimpered. " Catapha—god—but money is money, Kotikokura. If you wish to be his high priest you must become civilized. A civilized person is one who knows how to use money intelligently/' " CartapMlus! Come back to me ! Send that hairy lout away I " The woman pouted, leaning on her elbow, the tip of her ear more scarlet than the tip ol her breast. " I am coming, my honey-bird from Hymettus/' he answered sweetly, and turning to me he said sternly: " Here, take the purse and go/' I clutched the purse by its neck as if it had been the neck of the woman and pounded the ground. XVI . WANDER AT RANDOM—PHANTOM FEMALES- BROKEN BONDS—THE BENEFICENT UDDER—I AM \ THIEF—I PAY FOR MY TRANSGRESSIONS—I PROTECT CATAPHA—CATAPHA KNOWS DISCONSOLATE, I wandered at random, brushing walls, my houlders rigid, my arms pressed against my belly. " Kalarba, Father of Fathers, come to my aid 1 Whisper nto the ears of the God of the World! Tell him not to forsake lis son, Kotikokura! Kalarba! " I moaned. People looked at me, their eyes squinted, their brows arrowed. I dared not lift my head. The women dazzled ne, as lights dazzle the fly and the moth. I bit my lips, clasped my fingers. I dared not breathe. How did these len look unconcerned upon this vast parade of femininity ? Vhat cool blood flowed within their veins ? What deadened Lostrils opened into their lungs ? Did not they throb and >ulse as mine ? The houses became scarcer The air was filled with the •erfume of vines. From a great distance came the echo f the roar ot the famished lions destined for the arena. The on, the heavenly face of Catapha, all ablaze, looked at me indly. My legs unstifiened. My stride lengthened, I sang, iirds flew over my head, answering in a gay chorus. Hungry, I climbed over the fence and snatched from the ighest branches the ripest grapes. A spring, which murmured ke a timid lamb, cooled my thirst. I stretched out under a tree. The moon was a sea of warm lilk. I [watched the sky, and slowly homesickness invaded xy heart. I yearned for the time when I used to sit on the H4 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM threshold at the feet of my father, his arms folded, towering over me ; for the days when I led my gang of boys into the jungle in quest of adventure and prowess; for Kalarba whose terrifying mask concealed a face gentle and wise; for the Sacred Pit; for the roar of the Great Ape. Once more I stole into the hut of the virgins. The tom-toms beat, the people danced wildly, roaring and growling. The Feast of All Apes ! From the jungle the echo of great beasts. Unassuaged by the phantom females, passion writhed within me. I was a lion lassoed. My hands broke the bonds. The earth was a geyser spouting its fiery essence, flooding me with the lava of life. A flock of sheep came toward me, at first cautiously, huddling together, then more confidently. They placed their horny heads upon my lap. They rubbed their woolly buttocks against my legs and bleated, moaning with pleasure under my caresses. They lay upon their flanks, and their warmth was a quilt warding off the chilly breath of night. The chin of the heavenly face of Catapha still pressed into the peak of the hill, and silence reigned in the City of Stone. The sheep grazed the grass cool with the dew. I yawned and stretched and leaped joyously from the branches of one tree to another. I bent underneath one ot the sheep, and moulding gently her udder, emptied into my mouth her maternal ichor. Suddenly I heard an angry voice in the distance. A man ran toward me, waving a crook. Not knowing exactly how to greet the man, I made the sign of God Catapha, clutching the cardinal points of my body. " Ihief," he shouted, " thief ! " I looked at him bewildered. " I am a stranger," I explained, " I do not understand you." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 115 " A stranger, indeed ! " he snorted. " The world over a ief is a thief/' he pointed furiously a bony index. " What is a thief ? " I asked. The man leaned on his crook and looked at me, his lips ickered, his small eyes half-shut. " Who are you ? " he asked, at last. " I am Kotikokura, son of Catapha, God of the World." " I see—you pretend madness that you may escape from e hands of Justice—but you won't. Your mouth is still lite with the milk you stole—and besides you jumped to my orchard, and from the crushed grass yonder I gather at you slept there. You are a trespasser, a vagrant, a .gabond, a thief ! " The word " justice" made me crouch. I remembered lat Catapha had told me about Justice, whose teeth were arper than those of the Great Ape and the Great Rat. it what wrong had I done now ? I had not violated the odesty of women. I had not bitten into the forbidden ait. Was the virtue of sheep in the City of Stone also sacred id taboo ? " But before you feel the whip of Justice, thief," the man ntinued, " you shall feel the teeth of my dogs. Leone, ripe! " he called. Two great mastiffs dashed toward us. le sheep scattered, bleating wildly. The man made a gesture with his hand for the animals to mp upon me. Instead, however, they sniffed me, turned a few mes about me and lay on their bellies, awaiting my caresses. The man caught his breath. His eyes bulged. " I have never seen the like ! Leone—Volpe—you beastly ols ! Bite this thief! Tear him to shreds—or I'll strip the ish off your carcasses ! " The dogs paid no attention to his threat, and licked my aids. " You have cast a spell upon my animals, you wizard I shall have you flogged to death/' U6 THE INVINCIBLE AD AM " Catapha," I murmured, " Catapha, come to my aid. Make me understand why this man is enraged at me. Kalarba, Father of Fathers ! " " You can invoke all your barbarian gods. It will avail you nothing. I am a Roman and Rome is a civilized country, where justice rules. He who steals into a man's property and robs him must pay for it! " Suddenly an idea struck me. I had seen how Catapha had freed me from the lictors. He was testing my ingenuity now. I would be worthy of him. I was on the verge of throwing the purse at the irate citizen of the great capital, but remembered that Catapha said that its contents were" sufficient to buy the virtue of a whole city. Slowly, I untied the neck of the purse, took out one gold coin, and gave it to the man. He looked at me frightened. His hand trembled as he took the money. He examined it closely, tested it with his teeth, made it ring against the ground. " This will pay for my transgression, I hope," I said. " My Lord/' he whimpered, falling on his knees, " forgive me, My beasts were more intelligent than their master. They recognized princely blood Forgive me. May Jove bless you, my Lord! May you live long and enjoy life. I was a fool, the gods sent me a saviour, and I did not recognize him. The lictors were to throw me into jail for debt this very day, but now the joke will be on them, when they come for me." He crawled to my feet and kissed them. " I shall sacrifice the good sheep that fed you to the bountiful gods, my Lord." " Catapha—God," I thundered, " there is no other god." The man, dazed, looked at me. I threw another coin at him. " Who is God ? " " Catapha—God." I grinned, patted the dogs, called to the sheep, and leaped over the fence. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 117 Despite Catapha's injunction that I leave him, for some ,crutable reason I followed in his footsteps. His eyes, e the eyes of Kalarba in the Sacred Pit, encompassed d watched me, and like Kalarba he pretended not to know my presence. The false gods of the people of Rome were locked in stone Qples, and watched over by priests and priestesses. Should j High Priest of Catapha allow his god to walk the perilous fcroads of the earth, unprotected ? Through the zig-zag roads of Rome and the throngs of i people and the chariots, on top of the hills, across the >er, I scented the whereabouts of the God of the World, the shade of tottering walls, between the branches of es, leaping, crawling, walking, I was always within the I of my master. &oney, the god all the Romans worshipped with nearly s same reverence and affection as I worshipped Catapha, med and closed the gates for me, silenced guards, dis- :ched foes, softened the ire of jealous husbands, placed ders underneath the casements of maidens. Sensing the ires of the God of the World, I, his son and his High Priest* h the help of the spirit of the Sacred Camel, Mother of the >rld, removed aU obstacles and cleared all paths. Catapha iw, for he knew everything and was satisfied. XVII THE FLIGHT OF THE GENTLE RUBBER—I JILT A ROMAN SENATOR—OBSOLETE TASTES—BREASTS OF VENUS—I LIFT A CURTAIN—A ROW WITH THE CHRISTIANS—BROTHERS-OUT-OF-LAW MY arms and legs closely shaven radiated beneath the cold shower that pricked like a rainstorm of needles. Cassius, my masseur, a heavy beardless fellow, whose many-runged belly reminded me of Tokoma, but whose eyes and lips were gentle and melancholy like a camel's, watched me, sighing from time to time. I slapped my buttocks and whistled. The masseur threw a blanket around my body delighting me with its soft warmth. Cassius brought pomades and oils, and bade me stretch out upon the couch. Dexterously, like a sculptor, his fingers moulded each muscle. His thumbs scooped into every part of me. At intervals his eyes closed, as his hands became entangled in the hair of my chest, heritage of my divine male ancestry which I would not sacrifice to the deplumed mode of the Romans. "How strong you are, master," he lisped* "Iron and steel, iron and steel." His bald pate was studded with sweat. His mouth looked like a leech tugging and drawing. I stood up. " You annoy me ! " I roared, upsetting pomade and oil. Frightened by mock fury, he screamed in a thin falsetto voice, and plunged out of the window. §i}Qrmous buttocks, however, would not pass through th$ 118 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM IIQ erture. Pinned to the sill, lie waved his arms and legs e an overgrown infant in fear of chastisement. ' Mercy, master, mercy ! " he piped. [ pulled him into the room by the legs. He fell upon his knees. I struck his pate, which resounded e a coco-nut breaking against a rock. His head shook my times as if saying " No " to all the questions of the iverse. I doubled up with laughter. ' Master," he whispered, " I know someone who would willing to pay gold for your favours." [ rubbed my toe and whistled. 3assius waited for an answer. Seeing that I was not inter- ed, he resumed : " Not only that, master, but he can make a a Roman citizen ! " [ expressed contempt. Nonplussed, he continued: " I have been a masseur to ,ny a man, but you, master------" he smacked his lips and hed, " you are not a man." ' What am I, fool ? " Se crouched into a corner, his belly drawn in. ' You're—you are—ten men—master—twenty." [ approached him and grasped his wrists. He howled pain. ' Do you think I am an ape—like the others ? Speak, >11" ' No, master," he yelled. " No, master." ' Do you think this hair on my chest is an ape's fur ? " ' No, master. It's hair—ten men's hair/' [ released his arms. He blew upon his wrists and licked them, moaning. ' I know what will stop your pain more quickly than unguents." He looked at me, one tear in each sentimental eye. ' A gold piece," I grinned; " to-morrow I shall give a Id piece." 120 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM "Master, master/' he grovelled at my feet, "you are more generous than Caesar himself. If anyone says you are an ape I shall slap his face and cut his throat! " His voice rose stridently. Still rubbing his wrists, he resumed his harangue : " Master, accept the gold ot your admirer. He will bequeath to you all his wealth after his death, which will be long before yours." I remained thoughtful My death ? I had never thought of that. Would I die? Was I really immortal? Had I grown older ? If I returned beyond the desert would I find my companions already aged ? Taking advantage of my silence, the masseur continued: "Master, he is a senator, a favourite of Caesar himself/' " Who ? " " Senator Vitellius, master. He has more gold talents than there are fleas in Rome. He would rather have you, master, he confided in me, than a troop of youths as numerous as that of the King of Persia. He has been watching you in the baths every day. He is now in one of the other rooms, awaiting your reply, master." In a mood for mockery, I thundered, " Bring him in." Cassius rushed out. A little later he re-entered, preceded by a little man, lost in the many folds of a silken toga. The senator raised his arms, and closing his eyes, he sighed deeply: "At last!" Cassius rubbed his hands soft with the oils. "At last," Vitelhus repeated, his hands clasped together in utter admiration. Despite the heavy perfume, a fetid scent emanated from the senator, like that of a beast on whose putrid flesh flies mass. I screwed my nose and turned my face, " Carcass/' I growled. The senator frowned. I grasped him by the nape of the neck and swung him like a censer filled with unclean incense. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 121 " Help, help," the senator screamed, " let me go, ape, tonster! " I dropped him to the floor and wiped my hands in a towel. " You will pay for this/' he approached me threateningly. I'll have you cast to the lions." I threw out my chest. The senator withdrew, shivering, >rn between anger and desire. His ire, like his passion, iquenched, he butted Cassius like a goat. " You fool. You idiot. I'll cast both of you to the lions ! » e wrapped himself in his toga and flew out. The masseur rubbed his belly, lamenting. " Master, we are lost! " His face wrinkled like an aged ig's. " We are lost! " " Do you think I fear any mortal—beast or man—I, otikokura, son of Catapha, God of the World ! " I bellowed. The eyes of Cassius rolled to the rims of their orbits, and iffened there. " If you ever dare bring me another ill-smelling senator shall wring your neck! " " Never, master, never ! " " Senator—carcass ! " I sneered. " Caesar—pigmy ! I ught a glimpse of Constantine—your Csesar, speaking Catapha—I could snuff his soul out of him like this------" squeezed my thumb and forefinger together as if I meant to ash one of the sacred lice of the Great Ape. Cassius stared at me. " But, master, Csesar is the lord of the earth/' " My father was Caesar, too." I said proudly. " He was ghtier than all his men. He vanquished single-handed whole village. He strangled a lion between Ms fists. His ice was more terrifying than the thunderclap. His eye netrated like arrows. A thousand females swooned in his ibrace." Cassius shut his eyes and whistled in admiration. " O worthy son of a worthy sire! " he exclaimed. 122 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Csesar------" I shrugged my shoulders. "And yet, master, they say that Constantine is a great general. There is little doubt that he will defeat Maxentius, who, by the way, they say, is on his way to Rome." " He will defeat him, if Catapha wills it." " Gold, master, gold will conquer. Gold makes and un- makes Csesars. Gold is the spice of life—the salt in the meat." " Mammon worshippers—all of you—Mammon is your god ! " I exclaimed, my face a mass of disgust. Cassius nodded sadly. " Who is the true God of the World, Cassius ? " I asked. He looked at me puzzled. " There are so many, master/' " But who created the world ? " "They all claim to have created the world. The newest one is the god Caesar prefers." " Catapha ? " I asked jubilantly. He shook his head. " No, a Jew called Jesus. It seems Caesar will wage war in order to substitute Jesus for Jove as supreme god of the Parthenon—already overcrowded/' he sneered. " Caesar lies—they all lie—Catapha is God! " I exclaimed. The masseur shrugged his fat shoulders. " Just as my master desires." My vanity tickled, I slapped his bald pate. " You son of a she-dog, you will get another gold coin for this 1 " Persistent as a tsetse fly on the rump of a horse, Cassius returned to his original argument: " The world, master, is ready to worship your godhead. Why do you withhold your glory, my lord ? " He made a little gesture of despair. " You are not a Roman, master, for what Roman patrician or plebeian rejects the attentions of wealthy senators ? But my master is a little old fashioned. He prefers women— perhaps ? " THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 123 [ grinned. " Lucky females, master! How they would crowd the nple of your divinity! With what fervour they would ly and sacrifice and throw themselves upon the altar of 5 son of Catapha. Command me, master, and I shall ther the most beautiful, the most voluptuous, the richest, your worshippers/' Women ? Roman women ? I remembered with a feeling anxiety and anger how those goddesses of stone, awakened life, had screamed and fled at my approach. ' Women/' I growled, " have they ears ? " ' Ears, master ? " Cassius asked, perplexed. ' Yes, ears ! " Cassius meditated a while, then burst into laughter. " Oh, understand, master. Ears—donkeys—the symbols of pidity. You don't cherish the new species of females o pretend to be the descendants of Aspasia. It's true, ister, the more brains the less breasts. Brains in a woman ! " neighed. "It is well, master, I shall provide you women #ith ears—luscious and large—and all other attributes," sighed—"you desire. Leave it to Cassius, master. He aot inexperienced/' Dassius preceded me through the long corridor. He proached a bronze door embossed with the image of Venus, golden rod, the shape of a heavy tongue of a bell, protruded m her. The masseur raised it, and struck three times. The breasts of Venus opened, and an eye peered out of ;h. Cassius whispered: " It is I—with my master." The pectoral casements shut again. The door spread slowly art, cleaving the goddess of love in two, and we entered. \ scent such as emanated from the hut of the virgins fc mingled with perfumes as if a whole garden had been ished and squeezed, rose to my nostrils. Dim lights flickered 124 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM in long rows like an avenue of stars in a sky veiled by thin clouds. A little uneasy, I shifted from one foot to the other while two stout matrons examined and measured me with their eyes. They looked at each other in amazement, Cassius rubbed his hands : " Did I deceive you ? " The matrons sought to confirm their impression. I sub- mitted, laughing, to their examination. " Have you ever seen the like ? " one whispered. The other shook her head " My lord," one asked, " who are you ? " " I am Kotikokura, son of Catapha, God of the World/' " I knew you were not a man/' both exclaimed. " Not a man," I thundered. They retreated, startled Cassius interposed. " My lord, my ladies mean that you are twenty—fifty—men." The women nodded many times------ " Fifty men—a hundred." One of the matrons winked to Cassius, " Come to-morrow, we'll settle accounts." The masseur rubbed his hands, tapped my wrist with the tips of his fingers. " Good luck, master. Vale ! " A small side door opened and Cassius disappeared. My impulse to follow him was frustrated by the matrons. " Master, will you leave us ? Why, the Emp------" The other struck her mouth. "You cannot leave us, master. We have a most dis- tinguished patron to-day," she whispered. "If you stay it means your fortune—and ours," she added, "Yes, master—our fortune—and yours. She is most liberal—to all youths—and to you—she------" " She may make you her chamberlain." The other pinched her arm: " She will shower you with jewels like a crown." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 125 Each grasping an arm, they pulled me quickly along. From the cubicles came whispers and the muffled laughter men and women. Some feminine heads peered out izzically. '* Come, come, master. These are not for you—although >y are great ladies—some oi the most virtuous and most zed of Rome/' they whispered. * Some are even the guests of Caesar, master/' ' But for you, master, we reserve------" ' The Queen of all------" Dne woman rushed out of a cubicle, and whistled after . A few more joined her. 'Don't listen to them, master. Don't look at them," sy urged, as my steps wavered at the sudden array of lininity. ' Another time, ladies/' the matrons waved their hands rding them off. " Another time, you will be favoured." ' Now ! Now ! " they remonstrated, stamping their feet 1 holding their breasts in their palms like white-feathered eons upon trays to tempt me. " Come here, youth! ne here! Don't listen to those hags. There are no more ectable than we. Youth, youth ! " The matrons pulled me with all their might. ' They are sirens, master. Do not hearken to them." 1 Another time, my ladies. Another time. He will return all of you. Have patience." They responded with grunts like a litter of sows. /Ve turned abruptly a corner. The matrons breathed piy- ' I don't blame them. Modern youth reject our endear- nts. They find more pleasure and profit in the bath ise." ' Women don't attract them any more/' the other added. ' It is a good thing foreigners—like yourself—still deign favour our sex. Some rascals—people who were among 126 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM the wealthiest of Rome—offer themselves as slaves. Their families are starving." " If only our city were overrun by an invading army of barbarians ! " the other sighed. "Why, master, there are thousands upon thousands of virgins praying in vain for deliverance from their natural bondage." Bewailing thus the status of the city of Rome we approached a silk curtain, faintly waving in the breeze which came from the small window opening into the garden. "Master," they whispered, their warm breaths tickling my ears, "fulfil the promise." They passed their fingers skilfully once more over me. " Enflame and quench. May Jove and Cupid and Venus and Priapus be with you." I lifted the corner of the curtain, and entered into a room the shape of a half-moon. The walls were streaming with carpets embroidered with gold. A large bronze statue of a centaur watched over a bed canopied with red velvet, upon which reclined a woman. Her eyes were shut, but rather in reverie than in sleep. Her lips trembled vaguely as if in secret conversation. Her torso was swathed in a diaphanous robe, A small torch hanging from the ceiling poured its fluttering light into her tiny pointed ears and set them ablaze, like red wine in crystal cups. I remained standing, my back caressed by the curtain, my throat throbbing. The woman opened her eyes slowly. She looked at me bewildered, then at the centaur, as if making comparisons. She descended from the bed and approached me warily, walking on the tips of her sandals. She stretched out her hand and touched me lightly. " Oh ! " she exclaimed. " You are real. You are flesh and blood. You are not a statue ! " And like one who desires to capture a bird unawares, she. grasped me suddenly and tightly, THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 127 " You are my dream made incarnate/' she sighed. " Who e yon ? Where do you come from ? " I did not answer " Are you related to him ? " She pointed to the titaur. I grinned. " Are there still men like you upon earth ? " Her hand became entangled in the hair of my chest. " Wild ! Wild ! " she exclaimed. " From the very jungles Africa or — from Olympus ! " Her lips swelled. Her eyes were covered by a film. Her js trembled. The flames which had devoured me since I had arrived iu >me were still unquenched and I was impelled to seek her ibrace, " My centaur ! My centaur ! " she murmured again and ain. Suddenly, she tore herself from my arms. Her eyes were >odshot. Her body quivered as if cast into a pool of icy iter. " No more, my centaur ! No more ! " She unclasped a bracelet studded with precious stones >m her arm and placed it around my wrist. " You should wear a crown — a triple crown, my centaur. it I am weary, very weary. I - " she yawned, She stretched upon the floor and fell asleep. Unappeased, I went from cubicle to cubicle. " Master, master/' the matrons pulled at my legs. " Do t forget us ! Master 1 " I laughed and walked to the gate where my toga lay in a ap. I flung it upon my body, impregnated with the varie- ted feminine scents. The women from all the cubicles waddled after me calling 3 endearing terms. 128 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Stay here ! Do not go ! Do not leave us ! Boar ! Ape ! Elephant! Centaur ! Unicorn ! " " Open the gate 1 " I ordered. The matrons giggled hysterically. " You cannot go ! We won't open the gate ! " " Do not open the gate 1 Do not open ! " the others shouted I uttered a terrific growl. The women fell back. I dashed against the gate. Like a beast struck in the head by a poisoned arrow, the gate tottered for a moment, then fell, flattening Venus and her pectoral casements. I flew through the corridor, jumped over the iron fence which surrounded the garden of the palace of assignation and breathed once more the fresh air. A strange sadness pressed against my heart like a heavy paw. Was it the memory of Allatu, which the multitudinous embraces of the white goddesses of the City of Stone could not obliterate ? Night, vanquished, crawled to her lair, her pale shadow trailing over the mountains. Cocks, the advance guards of day, heralded the triumphant approach of the new monarch. - Suddenly my body pricked as with a thousand needles. My ears reverberated with echoes like caves through which crowds of mischievous boys run and shout. My nostrils trembled like the antennae of insects. " Catapha! " I thought. " Catapha is in danger ! " " Catapha ! " I called. " Catapha ! Catapha ! " I remained stock still, and like a weathercock waited for the wind of life to direct my footsteps. Suddenly I knew, I bounded and flew. On the outskirts of Rome, Catapha, riding upon a steed, was surrounded by a regiment of soldiers with drawn swords and tall crosses. * " He is the accursed one ! " they shouted. " Pierce him through, even as our Lord was pierced! Crucify him ! Nail THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 129 tn to the tree 1 He has come to destroy the word of irist! " The steed raised his forelegs in the air. Catapha waved s hands, his eyes ablaze. Like a tiger plunging into a flock of bellowing sheep, I rted into the enemies of Catapha, God of the World. I twisted arms, wrung necks, stamped upon bellies. Howling with pain, the enemies of Catapha writhed upon e ground, or fled, trampling over their swords and crosses. " Run, brethren ! Save yourselves! The Devil has risen >m the bowels of the earth ! The Ape ! The Gorilla ! The al One in league with the accursed! Lord Christ, save 1" I jumped upon the steed behind Catapha, and we galloped ray. When Rome appeared as a garland of rocks upon r seven hills, Catapha pulled the reins. " Kotikokura," Catapha said, placing his hands upon f shoulders, " you are indeed my son, and the High Priest Catapha." I knelt, and placed my head between his knees. " Henceforth, let this be a covenant between us two/' tapha continued, piercing my shoulders lightly with the int of his poignard. " I must confess that on many occasions I wished to rid fself of you, Kotikokura. Your attentions annoyed me, d your presence embarrassed me. By what secret sense u always discovered me and recognized me under my jguises, I do not know. When I gave you the purse filled th gold, it was to still my conscience, I could not leave u stranded in the city of Mammon." I grinned, knowing that even now Catapha weighed and >ted my soul, as the matrons had weighed and tested my dy. f< At break of day, I planned to gallop away, beyond your ich, nasal or auditory. Fate willed it differently, Kotikokura. I30 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Soldiers of Constantine led by some religious maniac recognized in me the enemy of their god-----" " Catapha—God." " God only because he refused to accept the divinity of his enemy—but that you do not understand—as yet. Perhaps some day I shall clarify this mystery to you. No! Gods must remain for ever enigmas to their High Priests." My eyes danced in the glow of the eyes of Catapha, as insects dance in the sun. "I was menaced—if not my life—my well-being, perhaps-----" I knew that Catapha's life could not be menaced any more than the moon could be shattered by casting rocks at her reflections in the lake. " Kotikokura, I can no longer reject your fidelity and your friendship." A village of tom-toms beat in my legs and arms. " Fate—or mere accident—wills it that our lives be bound together henceforth—and for as long as your mortal life allows." He scrutinized me. " Are you mortal, Kotikokura ? " I grinned. Did not Catapha know everything ? " Does the blood of mine which you imbibed with the snake venom or some strange power or divinity in the jungle replenish your life, that all these years have left no mark of their passage upon you as upon the rest of men and things ? Shall you remain for ever—or at least until the last horizon of time is reached—alive and young ? How old are you ? When were you born ? Was your mother human ? Was your father indeed the Great Ape ? " " Catapha—God—Kotikokura—his son." " Well," Catapha replied, scratching his head, " I expect your explanation is final, and time will prove the truth, although I am beginning to realize that time proves nothing —save that superstition and lies are weeds against whose THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 13! ots all ploughs split and break, while truth is a delicate int that can hardly survive a generation." " Catapha—God/' " That, too, must be a superstition or a lie—for it persists, Dtikokura—despite all the inclemencies of reality/' " Catapha—God/1 I answered, and my words were un- akable as a mountaiji. " So be it! And Kotikokura—his------" Catapha stopped ddenly, and looked at my wrist and then at his own, where bracelet of exactly the same pattern as mine sparkled in 2 rising sun. " Not my son—Kotikokura—let us say, my brother-in~ v—my brother-out-of-law. I thought Catapha alone merited 3 insignia of imperial joy and gratitude." Catapha laughed, as he turned his bracelet meditatively. ' I shall not ask you, Kotikokura, how you discovered 5 couch of Caesar's wife. But evidently the august Fausta luded us both in her favour. After all there is but one ,ster-key which opens royal gates and rustic fences. And a," he smiled, " possess it." ' Woman------" I growled, remembering that Fausta, hough an empress, could not withstand the power of passion 1 snored like a weary beast. Catapha laughed, and imitated me. " Woman------" Delighted, my body shook, my legs rose, my buttocks swung, ang and danced until my heels broke through my sandals, tapha kept rhythm by tapping the ground with his foot. ' Kotikokura/' he said at last, " this is the dance of friend- p and you will repeat it often. Meanwhile, however, must continue our journey. Before the sun sets once re, Constantine and Maxentius will pitch battle, and it is er and more advisable for us to be as far from the Eternal y as possible. ' You, too, have played unwittingly a part in the game. was upon your back that I painted in phosphorescent 132 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM colours the cross that converted Constantine. It was upon your back that I wrote the legend, ' In This Sign Thou Shalt Conquer/ But you were utterly unaware of what transpired. All you noticed," he laughed, " was a little tickling. But the tickling of your back made history, " I have planted the seed. Into what it will blossom, I prefer to see at a distance of time and space. Do you think a god who preaches peace can long live by war, Kotikokura ? " " Catapha—God," I replied. Catapha smiled, pleased with my answer. XVIII IE NET OF TIME—MY IMAGE MOCKS ME—" SEEK )T LEST YOU FIND"—ROOTS OF THE PAST- TAPHA'S BIRTHDAY—" LONG LIVE THE DIVINE CK OF AFRICA "—CATAPHA CHOOSES A SPOUSE- I HURL A SPEAR—I WIN A BRIDE E thin tendrils I had wound about the poles became gnarled les, while overhead hung ominously heavy clusters of pes, like the many rows of breasts of a goddess of plenty. 5 saplings I had planted rose, a forest defiant of hurricane 1 lightning. Generations of colts, and heifers, and kids, 1 whelps of wolves and mastiffs, grew to full power, and ghed and romped and pranced and fretted and barked— L vanished in the invisible net of Time. Only Catapha and nd the Danube which garlanded our estate with a silver &th remained unchanged, Vas I really unchanged? Was I the Kotikokura of the er side of the desert, fearful of the Invincible Growler, eller of the Feast of All Apes, enemy of Tokoma and his oos ? Was I even the Kotikokura of Rome, bewildered by splendour of the City of Stone ? approached the long silver mirror in the great hall of palace of Catapha, God of the World, until the tip of nose met the tip of the nose of my image. scrutinized every trait of my face, every inch of my body, virled the hair of my chest, testing its length and its thick- s. I watched the gleam of my teeth and the sparkle of eyes* I stiffened my muscles. How had I altered ? 133 134 *HE INVINCIBLE ADAM ''Answer/' I commanded, "what part of Kotikokura is different ? " The image mimicked my words. I squinted. It squinted. I pouted. It pouted. I stuck out my tongue in derision. It repeated my gesture. I bent my fingers and withdrew a trifle, ready to jump at its throat, when the image of Catapha shone across the mirror. I turned round sheepishly. The Ruler of the World, dressed as a chieftain of the Barbarians, smiled a little sadly. He understood, even as he understood all things. " Kotikokura, your age to-day is what it was when I saved you from the hands and spears of your countrymen—genera- tions ago." He scrutinized me. " Shall we say twenty times twelve full moons ? " I shrugged my shoulders. How long since Tokoma had counted my moons upon the fingers of both his hands ! " No more," Catapha pursued, " judging by the agility and elasticity of your joints. The changes of a man who is the slave of time may be discerned on the surface of silver or water or the glitter of a pair of lacquered boots. The High Priest of Catapha, whose existence must evidently be measured in terms of rocks and mountains, must seek subtler mirrors." I bent my head and rolled my eyes, trying to pierce through me, to discover the image reflected there, placing the tip of my nose against the tip of its nose, breathing upon it. Catapha watched, a smile quivering over the corners of his mouth. " Kotikokura, seek not, lest some day you find." My tongue was twisted in my mouth like uncarded flax. My eyelids trembled like wings of flies crawling on window- panes in terror of the shadow of a hand. " Remain the scion of the Great Ape, Kotikokura." " Catapha—God—Kotikokura—his son," I replied proudly. " You descended into the Sacred Pit of your temple, and THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 135 u found the Great Ape. If you placed mountain upon Duntain, summit upon summit, and climbed them all, u would not be the length of your stubby nose nearer to e stars, nearer to God's abode, Kotikokura." " Catapha—God/' I said, and in a transport of reverence spat upward like a jet. To atone for my atavistic trans- sssion, I made the sign of God Catapha many times, gripping j cardinal points violently. " We can never overcome the past, Kotikokura/' Catapha ,hed, and a cloud settled upon the luminous face of the >d of the World Had I committed the unpardonable deed of impiety ? Had j respect for the god of my childhood destroyed my worth the eye of the god of my manhood ? I made a motion to 1 upon my face and beg forgiveness. r< Your reverence for the Thousand Tailed One did not stroy the love Catapha bears you. Catapha remembered nething of his own youth—his own past/' 3atapha's past! What did it mean ? Was he not from 5 beginning of time to the end of time ? Was he not always tapha, even as the sun and the moon, his celestial faces, re always the sun and the moon ? Was he testing * faith again ? Had I not yet proved worthy of his ifidence ? 3atapha placed his hand upon my shoulder. My blood it against my temples like the tender tapping of a night- :ale's beak against the lip of its mistress* ' Kotikokura, the past is our root. In vain do we pull i tear at it. Woe to the blossom disdaining the mud and 5 manure which give it life ! Do not cut your feet in order it you may fly." Suddenly my ears trembled. I frowned and sniffed in all ections. Catapha looked at me uneasily. ' What is wrong, Kotikokura ? " VEy hands opened and shut. I rushed to the window and I36 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM bent out. Catapha looked over my shoulder. I pointed to the hill " What do you see, Kotikokura ? What do you hear ? " he asked. Catapha placed a crystal against his eyes, and watched intently. He laughed. " What eyes you have, Kotikokura ! What ears I Through this crystal which pulls the world near to me as if drawn by a vast caravan of dromedaries, I barely distinguish the heads of the horses and donkeys on which my neighbours are crossing the hill to pay me a visit/' My eyes darted to and fro. " No, no, Kotikokura. Do not make ready for war. These people are not our enemies. They are not marauders. They are our guests. I have invited them to come and celebrate with us—Cartaphilus Romanus and Kotikokura Africanus— as they call us—my birthday." I opened my mouth in wonderment. Catapha understood. " Is not the sun born every morning ? Does not the moon begin by a horn fragile as that of a young doe ? At any rate, if you had not been so engrossed upon trying to understand yourself, you would have noticed that our servants are rolling barrels of the new May wine into the courtyard and the cooks are broiling lambs and hogs and oxen and deer, filling the air with a hundred delicious spices, such as these barbarians have never heard of." I sniffed like a child ready to sob. Catapha pursued: o, do you not, Kotikokura ? " I nodded. " I like their gods/1 " Catapha—God." " True, Kotikokura—but the gods of these people are in mnony with Catapha; they are but the thousand names y which Catapha is recognized, for it is given only to Kotiko- ura, his High Priest, to know his god face to face. The ist must hear him in the rustle of the leaves, in the rush * the waters, in the rolling of the thunder, in the blaze of le lightning, in the frailness of the dawn. Ah, if only the Dostles of the sad god of the cross never corrode with their •ucifix the simple minds and the joyous hearts of these sople!" Catapha sighed. " Are not these women lovely and strong, Kotikokura ? " " Woman------" I grunted. " Have you observed how these mighty giants revere teir wives and their sweethearts ? " I grinned. " Once upon a time the mothers of these barbarians ruled, hile the fathers were their slaves. " They still believe that woman has a strange, unearthly >wer in her blood. They fear her witchery—the night- Lades she gathers, the love potions she squeezes from hidden E* I38 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM plants, the secret communion with the moon, the replenished womb. They fear woman and honour her as she is honoured or feared nowhere else/' I scowled. " Men must be romantic and reverential before their women, and dance around them like peacocks/' I screwed my nose. " It's a pother, perhaps, Kotikokura—but you cannot deny that my wives were lovely, with their eyes blue as the Mediterranean and their hair like burnished rays of the setting sun." -Woman------" I muttered. " Kotikokura," Catapha whispered, laughing a little, " one of the reasons for this festival is the choice of a new wife for me—and one for you—for more than one at a time these people will not tolerate." I shook my head. "It is not well for a man, Kotikokura, to be alone for too long a time, or seek in visions what reality can afford. My son must not squander himself. But let us hurry. Our guests are not far from our gates." Catapha, his face flushed from the wine, like his celestial counterpart when twilight, the grey spider, crawls over the earth, raised his tall stone cup, and toasted: " To the health and long life of the mighty chieftain, Cloten, to his unconquerable warriors, to the dazzling beauty of the women of Gaul 1" The guests clinked, drank at one gulp, and turned their cups. The servants refilled them. Cloten, whose yellow beard streamed with the red wine like the muzzle of a lion lifting his head from his victim still wriggling with life, raised his cup overhead, and exclaimed: " To the long life of Cartaphilus Romanus! " The guests surrounded Catapha, and raising and lowering THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 139 heir cups, sang at the top of their voices. The women seated, lummed, swinging their heads. Suddenly Cloten pointed his cup at me, and called to his len: "Halt!" They stopped, their cups in mid-air, their mouths twisted /ith a torn note. I was standing, propped against a tree, moody, dreaming f other feasts and other wines. "Wait!" Cloten continued. "There is Kokokuriku— iricanus------" Amused by his mispronunciation, he repeated -" Kokokuriku-Kokokuriku------" The others crowed, laughing—" Kokokuriku-Kokokuriku," The women, like hens who have just laid eggs, cackled, Kokokokokokukiriku------" Cloten's voice, like the beating of a great ass' drum, over- >pped all the rest—" Long live Kokokuriku Africanus ! " " Long live Africanus I " the others repeated. " Long live my friend 1" Catapha joined, his voice, as his gs, a trifle unsteady. The general good will of the barbarians calmed my blood ad relaxed my fists. " Kokokuriku-----" Cloten crowed hoarsely. " Come ther !" " Come hither," the men yelled, spilling their wines in their vish gestures. Catapha smiled at me. " Come, Kotikokura, High Priest id son of Catapha, God of the World ! " The barbarians laughed, but their laughter displayed no reverence. "Cornel Africanus! Come!" they shouted, like the frain of a song. I leaped twice the height of the tallest of the revellers and opped upon my toes in the centre of the circle. The men gasped. Cups fell to the ground. The women se and shrieked. Catapha laughed. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Then, throwing their cups away, the men called to the women to join them. Grasping one another's hands, they formed an immense circle about Catapha and me, and began to dance. Catapha's eyes were riveted upon the daughter of Cloten, whose face was crimson with modesty and pride. In my nostrils mingled the scents of all the women and their ears, forsaking the rest of their bodies, danced a weird, mad dance around my head. From time to time I snapped at the phantoms, as a dog snaps at a shadow. To relieve the tension I crowed and crooned the war song of my land beyond the desert and danced in wild abandon. The fair barbarians unclasped one another's hands, their mouths open in utter astonishment. Cloten's beard quivered. " Kokoku-----" he stammered and hiccoughed, " are you an eagle—or-----? " Someone interrupted—" a cock ? " The guests crowed and cackled and hiccoughed my name in all fantastic manners. Cloten raised his half-empty cup and toasted: " Long live the divine Cock of Africa ! " " The divine Cock of Africa ! " the rest intoned. Once more raising and lowering their cups, the fair barbarians sang their song of friendship and joy to Catapha and his high priest. The guests returned to their food and their wine. They tore the meats and emptied their cups like ravenous beasts, but the blood of the men did not stir in them, did not pulse as mine, their teeth did not yearn to dig into more delicious morsels. What taboo governed these people ? Was not the female made for the male ? Were not food and wine the forerunners of pleasure ? The men bent toward the women, kissed their hands, and THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 141 vhispered compliments—but that was all. What god forbade he embrace ? What aged ape, jealous that his descendants oight enjoy what was no longer in his power, prohibited, under aortal penalty, the rapture ? Chieftains and warriors, men of mighty muscles and heavy •eards, looking on with sleepy eyes and blabbering tongues, rhile female ears glowed and bosoms heaved. Cloten suddenly rose and clapped his large freckled hands, 'he people, their faces in their cups or meats between their ^eth, looked quizzically at the chieftain. " Men and women of Gaul/' he exclaimed, his hairy fist i the air, " we are invited to celebrate the birthday of our iend and neighbour, Cartaphilus Romanus. How generous 3 is with his wine and meats and strange spices which tickle id burn the palate, I need not tell you. Your bellies and DUT throats speak louder than my words/1 " Long live Cartaphilus Romanus ! " the people shouted. " His father and his grandfather before him have dwelt our country and returned to their native land only when ;e and death approached. Our fathers and our grandfathers tve recounted to us often their generosity and their yalty." The guests applauded. " Indeed, Cartaphilus Romanus is a Roman in name only, it in truth he should be called Cartaphilus Gallicus." Catapha nodded. " Like his father and grandfather—may their souls wander Walhalla—Cartaphilus desires to mingle his blood with rs." Cloten remained silent for a moment, as if his words ire seeds which he desired planted deeply in the ears of his teners. " Men and women of Gaul, Cartaphilus has asked d received the hand of my daughter, Clotilda the fair one, marriage. " Look/' he pointed his stubby finger to his daughter who £ sitting at the side of Catapha, her head, red as a rooster's 142 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM crest, pressed against her chest, " does not her blushing, as becomes a virgin, answer for her heart ? " Catapha rose and extended his hand to Cloten. He thanked him for the honour, promised jewels and horses and gold as gifts to Cloten and to all present, and swore eternal love to his bride. Pointing to me he continued: " The blood of Kotikokura, my steward and my friend, is stirred at the sight of your women. Give him your niece, Cloten, and I shall double the gifts to you and to your men and women." There was a long silence. Nemetonia, frail and dainty as the first buds of Spring, shrank coyly. Cloten looked about him inquiringly. The women whispered to one another. The faces of the men wore deep frowns. Their hands clutched meditatively at their beards. Was it because my skin was darker than theirs that they hesitated ? " The consent is difficult, Cartaphilus," Cloten said at last, a look of cunning in his eye, " for I have promised Nemetonia to him whose spear shall pierce yonder oak." He pointed to a tree soaring on the peak of the hill transformed by distance into a frail shrub. The guests applauded their chieftain. Nemetonia smiled. Catapha meditated for a while. " Cloten/' he said finally, " a chieftain's word is irrefutable, beyond argument or sword. So be it, Cloten! Let all the youths of mettle and muscle and keen eye compete. He whose spear reaches the goal shall win the lovely maiden and a fistful of jewels, the gift of Cartaphilus!" " So be it 1" Cloten exclaimed. " Let all youths unmarried try their mettle!" he commanded. Catapha looked at me, his eyes pledging the promise of divine intervention. Resentful at his lack of confidence in my prowess, I refused to accept it. Was I Kotikokura in vain ? Was I not my father's son ? Had not my spear and my arrow struck eagle and tiger in flight ? Were not my THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 143 muscles mighty enough and my eyes sharp enough ? How long would Catapha judge me as a child ? How many genera- tions of men must die before I, High Priest of Catapha, would be considered worthy of my rank ? I would win the virgin of Gaul and the fistful of jewels by sheer power and skill. I would prove my valour to Catapha, God of the World! One by one, the youths of Gaul, enamoured of the niece of Cloten, and of the jewels of Catapha, cast their great spears. The wind turned them like wisps of hay right and left or in derision drew them into the bowels of the earth. The oak, erect and unconcerned, waved lightly its branches, like plumes of helmets. Cloten swore and fumed and called his men fools and :apons and eunuchs undeserving of a woman. When all had tried their skill, Cloten turned to me : " Kokokuriku Africanus, if your arm is mightier and your jye keener than that of my men, I shall give you my niece and De proud to call you nephew ! " The Gauls clustered together. The light of their eyes mited into one great sheaf of spears hurled against me. " Great Ape, Lord of the Jungle, Kalarba, Father of "athers," I invoked silently," strengthen my arm. Sharpen ny eye. Let not the winds mock me. Make me worthy of >tapha 1" Thrice I spat and thrice I made the sign of the God of the Vorld, clutching myself reverently. Then leaping into >osition I hurled my spear. Like an eagle spying its prey, it flew. It rose, it bent with he wind, and plunged deeply into the heart of the shivering •ok. The Gauls caught their breaths, looking from me to the ak, from the oak back to me, measuring the incredible distance, making gestures of helplessness, buzzing and whispering and houting and finally, like a sudden thunderbolt, exclaiming: 144 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " Long live Africanus 1 Long live the Divine Cock of Africa! " Cloten kissed my cheek, and put Nemetonia's hand, cold as ice, into mine, " You have won your bride, and she is yours. Let no one dare dispute your claim 1 " Catapha embraced me. I had proved my valour to the God of the World, I was satisfied. XIX MY RELUCTANT BRIDE—THE WAY OF THE ELEPHANT—METAMORPHOSIS—I AM ACCUSED OF MURDER—ROOT AND FLOWER OF PASSION—THE FLAMING SWORD OF CATAPHA-I RETURN TO THE JUNGLE NEMETONIA pressed into the angle of our bridal chamber. I still held in my hands the shreds of her shimmering robe which, in a frenzy, I tore from her struggling limbs* I approached her warily. Nemetonia covered her eyes. Wavering between anger and surprise, I grasped her arm. She uttered a shriek. I could not release the grip. Her skin, smoother than the silk which had covered her, held me like the prongs of a trap. My blood roared within me, smothering me. Nemetonia dazed me like the eyes of a serpent. I dropped the shreds of the silk and clutched my bride with both hands. Like the timid she-elephant, Nemetonia, I thought, must be vanquished. And like the great male of the jungle I roared lustily. Nemetonia, her small muscles taut, pulled and jerked in a futile effort to escape me. I laughed. My little white she-elephant, I said to myself, the newly-born ewe-lamb can escape the talons of the eagle sooner than you can escape Kotikokura. My laughter enraged Nemetonia. She bit my arms, kicked me with her pink toes. Her small round breasts quivered. My breath was a quick succession of hammer strokes* "Go away I*' Nemetonia shouted. The indentation of her teeth on my arm and the thin thread of blood churned my passion. It was like the sacred lash of 145 146 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Tokoma on the day of my consecration in the covenant of the Great Ape. " Bite ! Bite again 1" I said. She bared her teeth, spotted with my blood. "You brute! Beast! Ape!" Whenever a woman had called me ape, my chest swelled with pride. I was an ape—the Great Ape to the virgins of the land of the Immortal Growler. I was the Great Ape to the Roman matrons—to a Roman Empress. Her gift still glowed upon my wrist even as upon the wrist of Catapha. But what hate, what derision, what disgust were there in the tone of my bride's voice ? The scent of her white body stirred by her anger was like the perfume of a white rose shaken and wafted by a fierce wind. My head turned as if I had drunk a troughful of the wine of the man-root. In one powerful embrace I crushed Nemetonia to my chest. She gasped and muttered invectives. My white she-elephant, I thought vaguely, groan your feminine groan. Kotikokura always conquers his mates. The luxurious smell of the jungle mingled with the delicate fragrance of the garden of the North and the thick forest of the male chest smothered the smooth, foam-like bosom. Nemetonia opened her eyes. I grinned. Like the number- less women who trembled and swooned in the embraces of Kotikokura, whose vital rib still blossomed within him, little bride of the North, you, too, shall grope after him, and whisper in adoration—" The Great Ape! " You will cut one of your golden curls and wind it around your husband's wrist —a more precious gift than that of the Empress of the World. Slowly, painfully, Nemetonia limped from the couch. For a long while she watched me. Her look was not the look of gratitude and admiration, not the look of contented virgins f\nr\ rnatrrvn^ T "hpramp nArtnrlWI QV»P G+raiorh-i-Anprl nut THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 147 proud and tall. Her little breasts rose defiant. Her ears, heavy and swollen with my caresses, shone like lamps. She was no longer the timid maiden, no longer the trembling female, the white she-elephant fearsome of her powerful mate. She was one of the goddesses of stone in the Sacred Pit come to life. My throat was parched. My blood pulsed monotonously, like the weary beating of the tom-tom by a sleepy reveller. Nemetonia opened her mouth as if to speak but a con- temptuous sneer twisted her lips and a gleam of triumph streamed from her eyes. She turned her back upon me. Majestically, like a high priest, she walked toward the wall on which glowered, like the tusks of giant beasts, the weapons of her ancestors, the wedding gift of her uncle, Chief Cloten. She drew from a leather sheath studded with rubies, a dagger, long and thin and ominous like a serpent's tongue. I could not stir. My feet were nailed to the floor. Nemetonia raised her head, murmuring something incoherent. I wished to growl, to crow, as the Gauls had crowed play- fully my name. I wished to invoke Kalarba, my father, the Great Ape, Catapha, but my tongue froze in my throat. Nemetonia stretched forth her arm. My eyes opened wider and wider as if someone pulled them apart. The arm of Nemetonia, princess of the North, bent deliber- ately and the knife plunged into her heart. She reeled and fell face downward. Suddenly my arms regained their power, my feet were unnailed, my tongue thawed in my mouth. I rushed out of the hall, shouting : " Catapha ! Catapha ! Catapha ! " I ran through the courtyard and the garden which separated Catapha's castle from my more modest abode. " Catapha—Catapha-----" The workers, the servants, the gardeners, shrank at my approach, then united, whispering anxiously. The horses 148 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM neighed, the dogs barked, the geese cackled, the doves flew desperately to their nests. " Catapha!" My head bent forward, I dashed past without seeing him. " Kotikokura ! " he called. I remained stockstill like a steed whose reins are pulled suddenly, Catapha approached me. His brow was encircled by a coronet. On his arms crept golden snakes. " What happened, Kotikokura ? " he asked imperiously. Like a hound that desires mutely to inform his master of a catastrophe, I began to run back to my house followed by Catapha, fleeter than a deer. We entered my bridal chamber. I pointed to Nemetonia. She was like a statue of snow, underneath which a setting sun spread in all directions its scarlet rays. Catapha turned the body, withdrew the dagger, stopped the flow of the blood and tried to breathe life into her body. Nemetonia did not budge. Gently, Catapha covered her with the shreds of her gown. Catapha looked at me for a long time. His eyes were sharper than the dagger which ended the life of my bride. I cowered into the angle of the hall where a while previously the quivering body of Nemetonia wrestled in my embrace. " Kotikokura/' Catapha said at last, " you have murdered this beautiful child." I tried vainly to indicate that she herself plunged the knife into her heart. Catapha frowned. The line which divided his brow was a flash of lightning cracking the heavens. " You have slain her, Kotikokura, even though your hand did not hold the knife. You are the son of the Great Ape, not the son of Catapha! " My mouth opened and closed in vain to utter a sound. My body shivered as if I had been cast into a well of icy water. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 149 " You are an ape and a beast, Kotikokura! " Catapha pursued. " Begone ! " he pointed to the door. " Begone ! Return to the jungle whence you came! Wander across the face of the earth, until you learn the meaning of love. Learn that the tree of passion has not only root but blossom/' The finger of Catapha was a flaming sword. I cast an angry glance at the silk-covered corpse of Nemetonia. For a woman my father was sacrificed to the taboo of the Great Ape. For a woman I was driven from the face of Catapha, God of the World I " Woman------" I muttered, and lumbered out of the room. Past the inquisitive looks of the people, defiant, I walked toward the forests which lay beyond the hills. At my heels, as morose and defiant as myself, followed Atmu the mastiff, tawny and wiry as a young lion. XX " WOMAN—WOMAN-----"—THE FAITHFUL MASTIFF— THE MEANING OF LOVE—MAN OR APE—I PRAY TO THE GOD OF MY FATHERS—BITTER HERBS—I LOSE A FRIEND—LIFE TRIUMPHS WANDER until I learn the meaning of love ? Did I not love my father, Kalarba, Catapha? Was not love worship of the gods and their high priests? Love woman? Did I not love woman ? Did I not quench the flame of my blood in her embrace ? Must I worship at the altar of woman as I worshipped at the altar of the Great Ape, as I worshipped the moon and the sun, the heavenly faces of Catapha ? " Woman "—The forest re-echoed my voice. Atmu barked desolately. " Atmu/' I said, " did you love the bitches whose scent enticed you? Did you not always return to Kotikokura, your master ?" Atmu wagged his tail. Did the elephant, and the lion and the tiger and the ape and the bull worship their mates or conquer them? Did I not conquer Nemetonia ? Why did she plunge the knife into her heart? Why did Catapha drive his High Priest and son from, him? Who was Nemetonia? Was she not a female, even as all the virgins and the matrons I had crushed in my embrace? I wandered at random, meandering through the crowded trees, my mind a more intricate forest through which winds howled and beasts roared and the flaming forefinger of Catapha menaced. Atmu now followed, now preceded me like a shadow changing positions. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Love? Where and when should I learn its meaning? How many moons must be born and die, how many forests and seas and mountains and deserts must I cross ? Kalarba—Kalarba—I thought—was it for this I drank the cup which like an impregnable cuirass protects me from the assaults of Death, the mightiest archer ? Why did you not spill the wine of immortality like bitter venom ? Was it love you bore me or hatred ? Was Tokoma my friend and you my enemy? Why was I not sacrificed to the Great Ape, and our blood mingled, since Catapha says I am, only the son of the Incomparable Growler ? Kalarba—Kalarba------ Have I not obeyed your divine injunctions ? Have I not worshipped the White God ? Have I not tried to become like him, like his shadow ? Have I not been speechless in his presence ? Have I not been his loyal High Priest, his obedient son ? Why has he driven me from him, purseless, foodless ? Should I, like Nemetonia, plunge a knife into me ? Is there a knife sharp enough to penetrate my heart ? Atmu snapped at a quail and placed its writhing body at my feet. " You devour it, Atmu/' I said. " My mouth is a desert. My bowels lie in me like dry twigs." Atmu tore at the bird, looking after me sadly. A few feathers pasted to his lips; he ran to join me again. " Atmu, return home. Kotikokura is a wanderer, a vagabond. Go back where food and bitches are abundant. Go I" He looked at me puzzled. " Is not Kotikokura your god, even as Catapha is the god of Kotikokura ? Obey 1" As if some mischievous boy had tied a noisy rattle to his tail, Atmu dashed, yelping, ahead of me. " How much more fortunate you are than man, Atmu/' I said. " You do not have to obey your god ! " Man ? Was I a man ? Did not Catapha say I was an THE INVINCIBLE ADAM ape, son of the Great Ape ? Did he not say that I belonged to the jungle ? By what sign was man recognized ? Was it lack of hair, diminutive muscles, dim eyes, nostrils so insensible that he could not detect his mate a few paces away or disease facing him ? Was that the meaning of man according to Catapha, or did he judge me the son of the Great Ape because, like my divine sire, I retained the sacred rib? Ape? Was I an ape? Had I not rejected the high priesthood of the Great Growler for that of the White God ? Had I not merged my blood with the blood of Catapha? Had I not partaken of the sacred parrot ? Was I not flesh of his flesh, blood of his blood ? Atmu, squatting, waited timidly for my approach. " Do not fear, Atmu. Kotikokura is kindlier than his god. You may stay with me, since you prefer your master to crunching bones and sniffing redolent bitches." He rolled upon his back and offered me his belly. I seated myself and scratched him lightly. He rolled his eyes in ecstasy and sneezed. His tail was a drumstick beating the earth. Catapha rejected, disowned me. Would the Great Ape accept within his mighty paws—a renegade ? " 0 Incomparable Growler/' I said, my eyes riveted upon the ground, as if seeking the opening of the Sacred Pit— " Hearken 1 Kotikokura, son of Chief Mokuharu and of Kalarba, Father of Fathers, is speaking to you ! " I spat thrice, higher than the trees. " 0 Great Ape, whose thousand tails encircle the Universe, whose teeth are sharper than the teeth of lightning, whose claws are more powerful than all the claws of all the beasts of all the jungles merged together from the beginning of time, whose scent is more pungent than the scent of all forests rising from the backs of mountains like menacing porcupines— hearken to Kotikokura! " THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 153 My lips touched the earth. " Hearken—O Immortal Plunger, whose body is fuller of strength than the seas of salt, Father of Fathers, and accept in your covenant your scion, bearer of the strong- ribbed token of life, Kotikokura ! " A mighty growl issued from the centre of the world and its echo lassoed the trees. I dropped upon my face. Atmu barked long, fearsome barks, like a famished wolf at night. I challenged him who repulsed me. " So be it! " I exclaimed. " I am Kotikokura, rebel, son of the Great Ape, God of the Jungle!" I danced the dance of reverence and allegiance, my knees touching my belly, my buttocks churning the air. Atmu barked in rhythm. " Atmu," I said with appropriate dignity, " sharer of the sacred root, henceforth you are the high priest of Kotikokura —set above all ribless creatures." Atmu threw his forepaws upon me, and licked my chest. I cast off my toga, discarded every raiment, breathed deeply and freely. " Come, Atmu, let us continue our wanderings, wherever our legs and our noses lead us—and if to the jungle—then to the jungle I The Great Ape shall wind his thousand holy tails around us and no evil shall befall us ! " Once more there was a mighty growl. I spat. Atmu sneezed. I stretched upon my belly and drank of one of the streams which flowed from the mountain like milk from a many- breasted beast. Atmu lapped the water slowly, painfully, his legs trembling. " Atmu, my ancient friend/' I said, " come near me/' Atmu dragged himself to my side and stretched upon his flank. His eyes were covered with cataracts. His fur was 154 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM lustreless. His tail shook vaguely in a pathetic effort to wag his affection. " Atmu," I said, " how many moons have guided our steps through forest and field and town, across rivers and mountains since you became the companion and high priest of Kotikokura, son of the Great Ape, the Immortal Growler ? There are not so many toes to count upon in fa pack of wolves." Atmu whined like a weary puppy. " Do you regret being high priest of Kotikokura, Atirm ? " The dog moved his paw as if to caress me. " Catapha," I said, and his name was a bitter herb in my mouth, " drove me accursed from the paradise of his presence, because of woman—but Kotikokura found another and more clement god—the god of his childhood, who pointed the way and provided with food and shelter," I spat. " Were we unhappy, Atmu ? Did we not vanquish towns ? Did we not seize arrows and spears ? Did I not wreak vengeance upon virgins and matrons, subduing them more ferociously than the tiger and the lion subdue their mates ? Did not bitches feel your might ? Who shall tell how many generations of you bark and wag their tails upon earth? Alas, Atmu, I have not found love. Love ? What is love ? Where is the blossom which pleases the nostrils of Catapha more than the root? Where does it grow? How is it nurtured ? " Atmu raised his head and looked at me with his opaque eyes. "What eyes you once had, high priest of Kotikokura, nearly as piercing as those of your master! And your legs- were they not fleeter than those of a dromedary ? You reached my prey as swiftly as my arrow. Your teeth—how they plunged into the frightened beast, like a row of spears ! "And your bark—Atmu—it froze the marrow of foxes THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 155 and wolves and deer—and people shouted in terror—' There goes the Ape-man and his hound !' " I laughed. "You were the thunder, announcing the arrival of your god! Alas, Atmu, mighty hound—Time has plucked your eyes and broken your legs. And when you bark now even the young whelps hardly cock their ears/' Atmu emitted a sigh. " But Kotikokura loves you, ancient companion of his wanderings! Ah, if I were really god, Atmu, I would grant you youth and immortality! The forest would reverberate with your bark for ever. A million generations of your progeny would lord over the canines of the earth. Or perhaps, like Kotikokura, you would exchange fertility for longevity. I have implored in vain the Great Ape, Lord of the World, and the spirit of Kalarba, brewer of the herbs of life. They turned a deaf ear. And Atmu must submit to the fate of the ribbed and the unribbed/' I placed the flute which I had carved from the tusk of an elephant to my mouth and began to play. My lips and the pulse of my heart improvised song after song. From time to time, Atmu uttered tiny, hoarse barks. " My tom-tom," I smiled, rubbing his belly with my toes. Suddenly the dog gasped, jumped to his feet, crouched against me as if in fear of an invisible enemy. " Atmu/' I said, a little anxiously, " what do you see ? What do you smell? What is the danger which I cannot sense ? " The dog tottered and—fell, " Atmu," I whispered tenderly, " Atmu! " His tongue tried to lick my hand in vain. His body became rigid. His jaw fell. His eyes rolled into his head. For a long time my tears flowed into the hair of my chest and across my loins. Then I built a fire and cast to its flames the carcass of the high priest of Kotikokura. 156 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " 0 Great Ape/' I prayed, " receive the soul of Atmu! Let his bark mingle with your divine growl. Let his tail wag among your thousand sacred ones ! " I danced around the flames, and beat a funeral air upon my buttocks. The rays of the sun united with the tongues of the flames and the ashes of Atmu. Gradually, my dance of death changed into a dance of life. The forest resounded with my triumph. XXI I AM THE GREAT GOD PAN—JULIAN BUILDS AN ALTAR—NEWS OF CATAPHA—THE SACRIFICE- EMPEROR AND GALILEAN—ILL-OMEN SUDDENLY I heard footfalls. I remained with my knees in the air, my flute at my lips, my eyes wide open, my nostrils quivering, separating the thousand scents of the forest from the scent of the being approaching me. A short man with a red sparse beard, dressed in a white silk robe, propped upon a golden staff, watched me intently. His face became gradually illumined as if the sun concentrated its flame upon it. He dropped his staS, flung his arms in the air and exclaimed ecstatically: "Be praised, 0 Zeus! Be praised all ye gods of my ancestors 1" Addressing me, he continued: 11 Hail! Pan—Pan—God of the Earth, God of Joy! You have deigned to reveal yourself to the last of your worshippers!'* His voice, reedy like the top note of my flute, made me laugh. " 0 that my ears have heard your laughter, Pan—you* laughter which is the gurgle of the streams and the rustle of the leaves and the echo of all the songbirds!" Who was the worshipper of Kotikokura ? Who was Pan ? What God ? Was it another name for the Great Ape ? Was this man a descendant of the Incomparable Growler—my brother—degenerate and decayed? Had his forefathers, moons without number since, dwelt beyond the desert like 158 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM my own ? Was his puniness caused by the long absence from the source of all power—the jungle and the desert ? " 0 son of Zeus, Pan, Great God Pan, merriment and passion incarnate, reveal yourself to the rest of mankind! Let the echo of your song, let the gurgle of your laughter, invade the earth once again ! " By a sudden impulse he grasped my legs. Was he another senator enamoured of my strength, of my muscles ? Would he, like the one the masseur introduced to me at the baths of Rome, offer purse and honours. " 0 mighty Pan! I feel your blood pulse in your veins like an ocean stirred by winds ! 0 Great God Pan, stir in ,, His fingers tickled me. I wrenched myself away, leaped into the air, swung from one branch to another. Still curious to see what the little man with a goat's beard and tiny eyes would do, I hid in one of the ancient trees, hollowed like a grotto, and watched. " Pan ! Great God Pan ! " the man shouted, placing his palms against the sides of his hips and running about. A group of men, mostly in the uniform of the Pretorian Guard, approached slowly. They were followed by a priest pulling a stubborn white goat. " Where is he ? " one of them asked. " I thought he walked this way," another responded. " Hearken ! Is it not the Emperor's voice ? " " So it is." " What does he say ? " They cocked their ears to listen. " Pan ! Great God Pan ! " They made deprecating gestures with their hands and mouths. " The moment he gets away from the city he sees forests full of Pans. I say he is mad, with all due respect to his imperial rank." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 159 The goat bleated trying to free his horn from the rope. The priest swore. " Stop pulling me in all directions. I have a good mind to thrust my knife into your damned ribs before His Mad Majesty pronounces the benediction upon your horned head! " The men laughed at the antics the priest was constrained to perform to curb the animal. " Pan ! Great God Pan! " " Julianus throws salt on the tail of Time, thinking thus to capture that restless bird ! " one of the men sneered. " Well said, Fabianus," the rest answered. " I wish he would throw salt on this damned beast's tail and make him stand still a moment," the priest remarked. " I cannot understand this furious hatred for the creed of the Nazarene," Fabianus said, twirling a lock of his hair around his finger. " Julianus claims it makes men effeminate." " Nonsense. The army of Constantine was as powerful is that of any other emperor. Give a man good food, the promise of plunder and wenches, and he will fight whether lis god is Christ or Mars, That's my experience." " Julianus thinks that you can tell a nation by the gods t worships. It's all nonsense. One set of gods is as good as mother. That's what I have seen everywhere and I have .ravelled to all corners of the earth." ** One religion is as good as another, as long as the populace wrings sacrifices and obols," the priest interposed. "But tfhen the temples are empty and only this preposterous goat s brought on a holy day—it's high time another religion were naugurated." The listeners laughed. One of them slapped the priest's >ack. " That's honest speech for you—from a priest of Jupiter I " L remembered Tokoma, the turncoat. This is how he l6o THE INVINCIBLE ADAM must have reasoned also. And suddenly I thought of myself. Had I not relinquished the Great Ape for Catapha, and; because Catapha reprimanded me, had I not returned to the god of my childhood ? Was it the fate of all gods to be betrayed by their priests ? To contradict my thoughts, I spat rever- entially upward and murmured prayerfully the name and the prowesses of the Incomparable Growler. " Why should a ruler interfere with the religion of his people—and jeopardize his throne and his army ? " one officer stamped his sword angrily. " Pan ! Pan ! " the Imperator called imploringly, turning around the tree where I was concealed, without seeing me. For a moment I was tempted to speak to him, to pledge him my friendship, even to consecrate him high priest of Kotikokura, Pan, scion of the Great Ape. It would be more amusing to have an emperor as high priest instead of a dog! But the puniness of the man, his thin voice, his sparse tin- masculine beard, repelled me. " Pan ! Pan 1 " the Imperator's voice mingled in perfect harmony with the bleating of the goat. " I wonder if the Emperor's near-sightedness is the cause of this illusion of seeing a god in every tree and a nymph in every shrub/' one of the men remarked. " I think it's more likely due to the influence of that Hindu Prince—what's his name—Cartaphilus or something like it," the priest answered. " He has instilled in Julianus the hatred he himself bears the Nazarene—that—and all the gold he has offered him if the Olympians are brought back to the temples/' " I have never seen that man." " Nobody ever sees him. But he is everywhere—always-----" Catapha! Catapha ! Had these people spoken ill of him I would have leaped at their throats. Why? What was Catapha to me—to me, High Priest of the Thousand Tailed One ? Had he not driven me from him for a woman ? Had he THE INVINCIBLE ADAM l6l not rejected me ? Was I still his son—h^ son and the son of the Great Ape ? Was I unfaithful to one, when I worshipped the other ? What part of me belonged to Catapha, what part to the Incomparable Growler ? Still Catapha was god— still he was everywhere and always—but who was his High Priest now ? The Emperor walked away meditatively. " He was here at this very spot," Julianus said as he ap- proached his attendants, " Who, Csesar ? " "Pan! Pan!" " Oh," the men sighed significantly. Julianus looked at them, half-closing his eyes, biting the hair of his upper lip. " You do not believe me/' he said bitterly. " We believe, Caesar," the men responded. " Whether you believe or not—he was here 1 " Julianus exclaimed. " I saw him dance. I heard him sing. His laughter thrilled the forest. A thousand nymphs echoed it. I touched his limbs, mighty and furry," The voice of the Emperor became sharper with every syllable he uttered, until I thought it would crack like a thing of glass. "Hearken!" Julianus pursued, as if addressing a great multitude, " the pallid Nazarene—god of the women and the slaves—is doomed. Our ancient gods are still alive, still young, still meny, still lusty. The brooks and the flowers and the ;rees still tremble with their voices and their footsteps. In the veins of man still flows passion, Man cannot worship pain and tears for too long. Ugliness may raise her neck above the parapet of Time, but the arrow of Apollo is sharp and unfailing! " The Emperor stopped to catch his failing breath. "The beast is impatient to be sacrificed, Caesar," the Driest insinuated. The goat stepped into the ashes of Atmu, the faithful F THE INVINCIBLE ADAM mastiff, whose tail was entangled now with the thousand tails of the Great Ape. "Behold," the Emperor pointed victoriously, "the ashes of the divine sacrifice of Pan are still smouldering. You doubted he was here. Here is the proof ! " The people looked at the hoofs of the goat. Their nod of approbation was an emphatic denial. "This is the holy spot," the Emperor pursued. "The gods of my ancestors led my steps aright. Bring the goat here ! " he ordered the priest who was battling with the beast. The Emperor unsheathed his dagger. The priest held the beast by the horns, pressing the head backward. " Accept, 0 great Pan, this sacrifice which Julianus, Emperor of the world, brings to you! Let his blood enter the ashes of your divine sacrifice to Zeus, your father ! May the vapours rise to your nostrils and delight you ! May you dance and laugh, and may the echo of your divine hoofs resound through- out the earth! " Quickly he drew the knife across the throat of the beast, The melancholy face of the Emperor so resembled the wistful face of the goat that I laughed. The people, startled, opened their mouths and eyes, and flung their arms in the air. The priest released the horns of the sacrificial beast, exclaiming: " Mighty Jupiter, Eternal God! " The Imperator, triumphant, looked scornfully at his attendants. The goat fell to the ground head foremost, then turned upon its flank. The priest ripped opened the body and withdrew the steaming entrails. He gazed at them for a long time. The Emperor, uneasy, knelt beside him, watching the secret hand- writing of the gods. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 163 " It augurs death, does it not ? " Julianus asked. The priest nodded. The Emperor rose suddenly and proclaimed: ; " It augurs death—the death of Jesus. It is well, soldiers. Now we can start for Spain. At our return the temples shall be crowded once more/' The priest rose slowly. His face was white. His hands trembled. One of the men nudged him. " Is it death------? " he whispered. The priest nodded, pointing at the Emperor whose back was turned: " Death------" he murmured. XXII I WORK LIKE A CAMEL—THE APHRODITE OF THE DOCK YARDS—I SUP WITH ALEXANDRA—AND ALEXANDER—PAN RE-ARISEN—THE POULTRY OF THE EMPRESS " Hooooo ! Hooooo ! Hooooo ! Hooooo ! " We moaned under our loads like winds caught with cramps. The wharf rumbled and shivered beneath our measured steps. " Hooooo ! Hooooo 1 Hooooo ! Hooooo ! " The whip of the overseer, an Abyssinian, cracked over our heads. His sharp black eyes followed and pierced our backs. " Move on, you lazy louts! Move on or I'll flay your carcasses! " " Hooooo I Hooooo ! Hooooo ! Hooooo ! " " What's this ? " the overseer pulled me out of the gang, He scrutinized me, his brows forming one straight line, his jowls hanging over over his chin like the long ears of hunting dogs. " What's this ? " he repeated. He turned toward his assistant: " This fellow's back is not bent under his load. He carries it like a boy's knapsack going to school," he sneered, " It's double the weight of the others, master," the assistant answered " Double ? But look at his muscles! He is not a man 164 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 165 —he is an elephant—an ourang! Let him carry the load of a dozen slaves." " He's not a slave, master. He's a freeman/' the assistant whispered timidly, excusing himself rather than protecting me. " Freeman ? What of it, fool 1 Don't I pay him wages and food, and he eats for two !" " Yes, master ! " " Shut up, you idiot! " the overseer yelled, raising his whip. " Load him up until he is bent like the rest. What is this, a parade ? " The assistant crouched. " Yes, master." " What! " the whip cracked over his shoulder 49 No, master, no! " Should I leap at his throat ? Should I wring his neck ? Should I trample upon him and squeeze his vitals like that of a worm ? Pride and anger battled in me with prudence and the fear of hunger. No, not yet, I thought, the time has not come yet Kotikokura, High Priest, Pan, immortal, must submit to more pain and more indignity; so the Great Ape willed it -Or why had there been a drought until every blade of grass and every leaf had withered and burnt, and I famished in the woods ? So Catapha willed it—or why had he not come to my aid ? Why had I been despoiled of all my jewels and gold while I slept profoundly ? Did the Great Ape punish me because once upon a time I had forsaken him ? Did Catapha avenge himself because I returned to the god of the jungle ? Meekly, I bent my knee like a camel and awaited the burden. " More ! Another load! Still another 1 Those shoulders can carry the whole damned boat from here to Antioch. He's not a man, he's a bastard son of Atlas!" the overseer laughed at his witticism, his elephantine body shaking like a buoy. l66 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Seeing that there would be no end to the burden heaped upon my shoulders, I suddenly pretended to crush under it, " That will do ! " the overseer ordered, " Henceforth, this is the measure of his load! " I took my place once more among the gang of slaves, and, bent like the rest, I joined in their moan, like a never-ending dirge. " Hooooo ! Hooooo ! " The freighter quivered with every new load—linen and silks and spices to grace the bodies and delight the palates of the people of the East. The Bosphorus was a straight white line between two seas—the pathway of a lonely ox. Athwart the grime and the sweat of the labourers, suddenly my nostrils were thrilled with a sharp delight as if a bed of roses had broken unawares through a hill of offal. Was it a long forgotten dream invading my waking life ? Was it the memory of nights and days of pleasure comforting the long hours of pain ? Forgetting my shame, I straightened my shoulders, and carried my ten-fold load like an empty amphora. The slaves stopped their moaning and snickered and sneered, muttering obscenities in a Babel of tongues. I turned my head. The dream, the memories of which had invaded me, became incarnated. My nose had been more quick-witted than my eyes. Was it the hunger of many moons, was it the glow of the setting sun, that transformed the woman, who measured my limbs and my muscles with her dreamy eyes, into a goddess fairer than the statues I had worshipped in the City of Stone adjoining the Sacred Pit of the Great Ape ? Her robe was more scarlet than flowing blood and the gold which embroidered it more dazzling than rays of the heavenly face of Catapha. Her arms were encircled with rubies. Her fingers were weighted with precious stones, each a star caught in a net. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 167 An imperceptible twinkle from the corner of her eye— one bud upon a stalk promising the approach of Spring— made me shed my burden. The ground broke under the weight. " Wretch ! " shouted the overseer, raising his whip to strike my face. I grasped him by the waist, shook him and hurled him clear across the ship into the sea. The slaves, delighted, avenged, pretended not to notice. " Hoooo ! Hoooo ! Hoooo ! Hoooo ! " they moaned, but the sound had a joyous strain. " You will pay for this ! You will pay for this ! " the overseer waved his fist as he swam to shore. " You will pay for this, all of you, dogs and sons of dogs ! " Turning neither to the right nor to the left, as in a trance I pursued the woman, who walked mincingly away from the dock, only once glancing behind to make certain that I followed* Suddenly, unable to still my blood turned to hammers, rapping at every muscle, I leaped and grasped her in my arms. Her face flushed, her eyes swimming, she placed her fore- finger whose nail shone like a ruby, to her lips, and whispered softly: " Not here, not here/' She motioned to me to turn into a side-street, where four giant Africans, with gleaming teeth, scurried to us, made genuflections, growled and muttered eulogies. One of them opened the door of a chariot whose wheels were gilded, whose canopy was of red velvet. The woman entered, allowing a glimpse of bewitching toes to peer out of her jewelled sandals. She motioned to me to sit beside her. Two of the giants jumped upon the seat, and urged the horses forward. The other two ran after us, swifter than the galloping beasts. For a moment I caught sight of the overseer dripping like the god of rain, standing on the freighter waving his fist l68 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM in all directions. My joy of vengeance was soon forgotten in the infinitely greater joy of the delicious scent which en- veloped me and the pleasure of the soft cushions which surrounded me like an embrace. The woman looked at me, her liquid eyes half shut. The lobes of her ears shivered underneath her headgear of delicate aigrettes—two locks of hair, like sheaves of burnished sun rays, beating lightly against them. " What is your name ? " she whispered, and her voice was molten honey. " Kotikokura," I answered hoarsely. " Kotikokura! How beautiful! How delightful!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands. " Are you an empress ? " I asked, thinking of Fausta. " I am Alexandra, Kotikokura." The coachmen pulled the reins and jumped off their box. The other two Africans, a trifle out of breath, arrived and, kneeling, opened the door. I lifted Alexandra in my arms. I could have lifted the entire chariot. The brass gate of the palace opened by itself, and I brought in the precious load as a bridegroom brings jewels upon a golden platter. Alexandra clapped her hands and a bevy of slaves fell upon their faces. She made a motion with her head. The slaves jumped to their feet and half carried, half led me to the pool into which perfumed waters streamed from the orifices of four statues, two male, two female, bending over at each corner, as if to bless the bather, A dozen hands tore my loin-cloth and plunged me into the pool. They massaged me, rubbed rare unguents into my skin, threw a purple tunic over my shoulders, clasped silver sandals on my feet, a wreath of golden leaves upon my head, a necklace of pearls around my throat THE INVINCIBLE ADAM l6g The silver mirrors reflected a royal personage who only a short hour before had been a slave, a camel loaded with packets. I lingered a while, smoothing my robe and playing with my jewels. Pride straightened my shoulders and filled my chest. Every muscle in me was as a pillar supporting a temple. Was it the Great Ape who had at last come to my succour ? Or Catapha ? I spat and clutched my cardinal points in honour of both divinities, and murmured the name of Kalarba, Father of Fathers. The slaves stood agape, moving their hands and arms to indicate the size and strength of my muscles. Laughing, I ordered them to precede me into the banquet hall. I remained standing upon the threshold. The torches united into a noon-day blaze. Their reflection was caught in the crystal and the gold of the cups and the platters and spoons of the table. Draperies of red velvet embroidered with gold shimmered from the walls like half-frozen cataracts of blood. The pillars were encrusted with mother of pearl. The lacquered floor was strewn with the skins of leopards and lions. A slave drew a curtain and Alexandra appeared. At the sight of me, she stretched her arms, and exclaimed : " Pan ! Pan ! 0 Adorable One ! " The flash of her ears, the contours of her body moulded in her silken robe, the colour of rose petals in autumn, her eyes heavy with dreams, her scent more enticing than the perfume of the man-eating trees, benumbed my tongue. She approached me with mincing steps, and said: " Let us dine." We reclined upon marble couches. Slaves appeared and vanished silently like cats, bringing dish after dish of dainties more delicate, tastier than those which fashion the dreams of hungry men, and wines, golden and red and more THE INVINCIBLE ADAM dazzling than the crystal which contained them. We ate in silence. From time to time, Alexandra's lips, archly curved, murmured words of admiration. My blood turned slowly to flame. My muscles tautened, My eyes were hungry beasts devouring Alexandra, a luxuriant jungle. " Shall I sing for you ? " my hostess whispered. I nodded. What forests of birds, what golden streams tumbling over precious stones, what winds enamoured of trees and flowers, what flames stolen from sun and moon, what silver flutes, mingled in the throat of Alexandra. I rose and clasped her in my arms. I stepped back with horror. Alexandra, most delectable, most enticing, was not a woman. Furiously, I shook the masquerader. "Alexandra" tried to smile. Seeing my half-closed fists about to light upon his throat, he shivered. " Do not kill me, Kotikokura! " " Who are you ? " I snorted. " I am Alexander—the greatest singer of Constantinople. Emperors and kings and queens fawn upon me, shower me with titles and riches. For weeks I watched you at the docks. Now I have deceived you." My fingers relaxed. My face softened its expression of disgust. I shrugged my shoulders. " Very well, order your slaves to give me my rags. I return to the wharves," I said, taking a step or two toward the door. Alexandra tugged at my elbow. " No, no, Kotikokura, Pan ! Slay me if you must, but do not leave me in anger ! " 1 looked at him. Alexander understood. "I shall bring you young maidens to your couch, and place my laurels at your feet. All I ask in return is a smile." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 171 " My rags/' I muttered. Alexander knelt, clasped my legs in supplication. " You are too marvellous to slave like a beast of burden for a crust of bread and a cup of stale wine." The thought of the overseer, the penury, the monotonous labour, restrained somewhat my impetuousness. Alexander sensed my wavering. " Stay/' he pleaded. " I shall sing for you more beautifully than I sing for emperors and empresses. I shall buy a hundred slaves to wait upon your whims. We shall travel to all parts of the earth; and everywhere you shall be fSted; and my honours shall be your honours. Stay with me, Kotikokura/' We returned, and the table was again steaming with, food —rare fruits, and creams and honey and cereals of a dozen climes, and young pigeons and white wines. We reclined where we had reclined before. Only, instead of the most alluring of women, a handsome, well-proportioned man sat beside me now. My host, regaining his composure, said smiling: " You began supper with Alexandra; continue with Alexander/' Alexander raised his crystal cup, embossed with grapes, I raised mine. " To the friendship of Kotikokura and Alexander!" he toasted. Reconciled somewhat to the hoax Alexander had played upon me, I said: "Why should you trespass in pastures reserved ? " Alexander bit into a luscious peach whose skin was as smooth and delicately tinted as that of the Alexandra who came for me at the docks. " Kotikokura," he answered, " neither the face nor the body determines the sex. I am a man, but my blood is as the blood of a woman, my heart a feminine heart. The lips of women are tasteless, their embrace irksome." I tore a limb from a pigeon dipped in honey and spices and crunched it, THE INVINCIBLE ADAM "Does it seem strange to you, Kotikokura? You are still so young, my friend. In time you will not wonder at the vagaries of nature. Nothing will surprise you in Constantinople." I laughed. A morsel of the meat stuck in my throat. I coughed. Alexander offered me my cup of wine. " Why did you laugh, Kotikokura ? " For a moment I was seized with the desire to tell him how young I really was, what things I had seen long before Constantinople had been baptized by the first Christian emperor. " I thought of your hoax, Alexander, and how thoroughly you deceived me. For you must not think that I am as inexperienced—as I am young," I said slyly. " Inexperienced ?" Alexander roared with laughter. " Inexperienced-—why, my friend, I thought you were Zeus himself metamorphosed into the bull which carried off Europa —nay, not only Zeus, but all the rest of the Olympians a-froUcking." " Not Zeus nor the other gods," I said," but the Great Ape 1" He looked at me strangely, then clapped his hands: " That is true. Your muscles, your hairy chest, your growl—the King of Apes ! " Somewhat piqued by his quick acquiescence I emptied my cup at one gulp. " I was right—Pan—Pan 1" he exclaimed. " Pan " reconciled me. Why did I prefer Pan's godhead to that of the Great Ape ? To conciliate the Immortal Growler, I spat. " It is not so easy to deceive me, Alexander, as it may seem to you. My eyes are sharp. My hands are sensitive. Your deception was perfect." "The creation of the greatest artist of Constantinople, Kotikokura." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 173 " But even though fooled by four senses I do not understand how you deceived the fifth/' I said, placing my forefinger to my nose. " For I do not think there are nostrils more sensitive. I smell a female at a greater distance than a dog smells a bitch or the bull-elephant his mate." I suddenly regretted my words. Would he suspect me ? Would he say once more—" King of Apes " ? " While you exaggerate your powers somewhat, my friend/' he laughed, relieving me of my anxiety, " still I believe that even a dog or an elephant would have been led astray." He bent and whispered into my ear. "A witch who lives in a cave near the Bosphorus prepares a perfume for me, gathered from a hundred animals and a hundred herbs, the quintessence of femininity, a few drops of which betrayed even the nose of—Kotikokura/' he said, bowing a little. "And she can transform a woman in like manner. We are a civilized generation, Kotikokura, and know how sexes may waver and merge and alter/' " I'm glad I was not born too late or too soon for this perfect and most liberal generation/' I said, a little sarcas- tically. Alexander's pride in his own times annoyed me somewhat, I could not tell why. Was I not of the same gener- ation, of any generation ? A sudden sense of time invaded me. Was I really young ? To drown the thoughts which rushed to my brain like em- battled ants I drank several cups of wine without breathing. " Your capacity for drink," Alexander laughed, " is only equal to your capacity for food," and he cracked an almond with the tips of his fingers and sighed. Still feeling that he had not yet explained himself Alexander continued : " The gods themselves grew weary of their masculinity, Kotikokura. Did not Hercules once don feminine habiliments ? Salmacis was a youth before she metamorphosed herself into a nymph. Alas," he sighed, "the world is turning Christian and eunuch." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM My glance involuntarily wandered to a gold crucifix upon the wall. " That," he pointed his forefinger in the same direction, " is merely for protection. It is safer to be on the side of those in authority. Besides/' he whispered, "it is only gilded wood. It does not cost me more than a box of imported figs." I grinned. " You are not a Christian, Kotikokura ? " I shook my head. " Of course not. You are Pan! Oh, how you would have delighted the great Emperor Julianus whom they now call the Apostate ! " My mind galloped back to the woods and the near-sighted ruler of the world—the first to hail me as Pan. " Alas/' Alexander resumed, "the Jews have defeated him/' " The Jews ? " I asked. " Who are the Jews ? " " Who are they indeed ? No one knows. They have neither country, nor language, nor temple—and yet they rule the world/' Alexander pointed to the cross—"That is the symbol of their god—he who has conquered Olympus." We sipped our wine slowly. From the inner palace floated softly the music of an orchestra of flutes. t{ Who are you, Kotikokura ? Where do you come from ? " Should I tell him, ? Would he believe me ? Was it safe ? The voice of Kalarba whispered in iny ear: " Say nothing, Kotikokura, son of my son of my son. Let your tongue be as a log within your mouth." Alexander smiled. " You were born in the forest. You have the scent of the wild about you. Your mother was a nymph and your father Zeus!" Alexander suddenly leaped in the air and whistled. "Kotikokura, my friend—I have an ideal Shall your strength and your skill be wasted ? Shall only Alexander, the singer, know that Pan has come to life again ? " THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 175 He waited for an answer. " No ! No ! I shall make yon the most famous man from Bosphorus to Rome, across the forests, among the bar- barians—everywhere ! Everyone shall whisper your name in fear and admiration. Sculptors shall carve your image. Poets shall declaim in mighty rhythms your prowesses. " The world has turned Christian—but the circus, glory be to Zeus, is still with us ! I shall make you the greatest athlete, the most illustrious of gladiators. A month's secret training—and who could compete with you, Kotikokura ? I have great influence with the greens who are now in power. When the annual games are given, you will appear suddenly —the masked wonder ! " Alexander began to sing a song to my honour. I rose and danced. " Marvellous ! Euge ! Euge ! " he exclaimed. " Even Cesar's wife, Empress Theodora, never danced with such abandon when she was the darling of the crowds." Approaching me, he whispered: " Perchance, Theodora, seeing you, might relinquish her barnyard/' " Her barnyard ? " I asked, pouting. He nodded. " Her cocks with silver beaks, for her boudoir." " Her cocks ? " I roared. " Sh ! " he warned. " She has ears everywhere! " " Ears ! " I exclaimed. " The ears of an empress must be delicious." I raised my cup : " Theodora ! " I toasted. " And the death of her cocks !" he responded. " To the divine cock of Africa ! " I toasted myself. Alexander bent with laughter. " To the divine cock of Africa, Emperor of all Barn- yards !" Somewhat unsteady on our legs, we walked out of the hall, arm in arm. XXIII I AM KOTUS, THE MASKED MARVEL-THE BATTLE OF THE CIRCUS—THE LEAP OF THE JUNGLE- I THROW THE DISCUS, I RACE, I WRESTLE-THE GRIP OF THE ELEPHANT-BRENNUS, THE NORDIC GIANT-A BROKEN NOSE-I SWALLOW BLOOD- I BREAK THE WORLD'S RECORD-I REACH THE PALACE OF CESAR'S WIFE THE battle raged on, a battle of vituperation, imprecation, menace, challenge, invective. Only here and there a nose bled, a fist struck, a knife gleamed. Constantinople was a city of geese cackling, their necks craned in all directions, awaiting the pack of wolves which never arrived—a seething cauldron never spilling over, the rumbling of a hundred thunders, but no lightning. Yellow, white, blue, green—a crumbled rainbow dancing a mad, frenzied, vertiginous dance—a four-coloured cyclone with green dominating, eclipsing, discolouring the white, the blue and the yellow. We were standing on the balcony, Alexander, Procopius, the trainer, and I. Procopius bit the tip of his beard and grumbled like a. young puppy tearing at his leash. " The Emperor is a jackass—a milksop. While he codifies laws for posterity, his own Capital is as lawless as a loose woman among a company of drunken soldiers. Look at them. Look at them! The most civilized city in the world 1" he sneered. Alexander smiled: " Don't take it too seriously, Procopius, my friend. These squabbles between the greens, the yellows, 176 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 177 the whites and the blues are a sort of family affair. It has been going on so long that no one remembers the reason for it. It suffices to be dressed in a different coloured garb from your neighbour to begin to quarrel with him, to question the legitimacy of his birth, the morals of his mother, and all the rest. At any rate, we happen to belong to the right colour—the greens are in command now, in memory of Akrekios, the Empress's father—the bear-feeder at the menagerie." " I suppose the only way Justinian knows of stopping these squabbles is to order the circus closed as he did a few years ago—Justinian—the world's jurisconsult—a modern Minos!" "You forget that Theodora is Empress now, Procopius. There is nothing she loves more than the circus/' " Oh, she has forgotten the days when she was a dancer. Now it's barnyards and banquets." "Nonsense, Procopius. Besides, Theodora knows about our friend, Kotus, the Masked Marvel, who will engage in every one of the sports, and win—all of them—thanks to the instruction of the greatest trainer the world has ever known, Procopius, the Athenian. Procopius looked at me and smiled. "The glory is only half mine, Alexander. Just see the material I had to work with!" " Kotus," he turned to me, " remember what I told you —the bear grip—no hammer can break that." I grinned. The bear grip, I thought! I remembered the grip of my father when he broke the neck of a lion. I re- membered how I defeated the whole village of the worshippers of the Great Rat. I felt within me the surge of the whole earth* What mere mortal, what child of twenty or twenty- five could compete with the son of the Great Ape! Procopius continued his instructions. I wavered between amusement and anger. 178 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Half guessing my thoughts, Alexander said: " Above all, remember, Kotus, my friend, that even when one goes warring against a flea one must be prepared as though it were an elephant/' Dawn, like a mischievous boy, crawled over the parapets of the city. The people forgot their quarrels. Their voices hung in mid-air, crumbled, vanished. Green, yellow, blue, white—all rushed toward the circus to capture the best seats. Charioteers shouted to pedes- trians to make room. Vendors screamed their wares at the top of their voices—foodstuffs, flags, rattles, flutes, little clay statues of gladiators and athletes. " Get your Kotus here! Kotus, the Masked Marvel! Kotus ! Kotus ! " " Move on, you lazybones 1 Idiot! Watch your step ! " "Kotus! Kotus!" " Behold yourself immortalized, Kotikokura—Kotus, the Masked Marvel I" Alexander laughed. " They are not bad, those little dolls masked like ladies going to illicit rendezvous/' I growled. " Some day when you are long dead, Kotikokura, the people of Constantinople may worship along with Jesus aad other gods, Kotus—the modern Pan ! Who knows ? " When I am, dead, I thought. Before I anx dead, Con- stantinople and Jesus and all the other gods will be forgotten. Perhaps, perhaps—Catapha will be worshipped, and Koti- kokura will be his High Priest once more. No, no—I grumbled defiantly—not Catapha—but the Great Ape, the Incomparable Growler. And yet, something in me would not relinquish him who drove me from his presence like a mangy dog! " Come, brace up, Kotus," Procopius said, " stop dream- ing. We must get ready I" THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 179 Constantinople was silent as a city of the dead. Only the sick and the aged were at home, and on the streets only the sentinels, prowlers, and priests of Christ, who muttered invectives against the sinful generation and against their own colleagues who, stripped of their crosses and their sacerdotal garments, had joined the crowds of the ungodly. " The decathlon, father, takes place only once a year/' a soldier remonstrated with one of the priests. " Only once a year ? Once a year ? " the cleric shouted, his face scarlet with indignation. " Where is it written that a whole city has the right to indulge in sin and murder once a year, my son ? " " Murder, father ? The athletes jump and throw the discus and run and-----" " And murder one another/' the priest interrupted. " Don't they box with iron knuckles ? " " Only two gladiators—and only one of them is killed generally/' " And what about the wagers ? How many a man goes home impoverished to-day ! " " But think of those who are enriched, father ! " the soldier answered banteringly. The priest raised his arms— " O Jesus, 0 Lord of the World, send a plague upon this generation, so glib and so sinful! Drown the wicked, burn them, ravage them I " The soldier laughed and walked away whistling* My appearance in the arena brought the sudden outbreak of a storm. Men and women, rabble and royalty, rose, applauded, stamped feet, waved arms, shouted: " Kotus! Kotus! Kotus!" The cyclone of smells and perfumes of five thousand matrons and five thousand courtesans dazed and confused THE INVINCIBLE ADAM me like whole vineyards of the man-root crushed and brewing and steaming. " Kotus ! Long live Kotus ! " A company of horsemen galloped into the arena, and blew long silver trumpets. The people reseated themselves. The first feats I accomplished as in a dream. My discus whizzed by the others as an eagle flashes past a wild goose. My legs outran the legs of my competitors as an antelope outruns a timorous sheep. While the heavy iron balls of the athletes had risen and rolled and long remained still upon the ground, mine continued its flight upward, until it seemed a speck such as dots the eye of a man upon a dusty road, and when it fell back it crashed through the earth and dis- appeared. "Kotus! Kotus I" The attendants planted a crossbar upon two prongs. Each contestant, a great pole in his hands, dashed, gathered momentum, and leaped over it. The crossbar was lifted higher and higher. One by one the athletes struck against the bar, and fell. Only Basilicus, the most famed of jumpers, and myself remained. The crossbar was raised thrice the height of a tall man. Basilicus spat upon his palms, measured the pole, breathed deeply, dashed, and with one supreme effort, leaped. The bar shivered, but remained standing. Basilicus dizzy, staggering, his mouth a mass of foam, was acclaimed tumultuously. " Basilicus 1 Basilicus 1" The world's record had been broken. Never in the history of man, not even in the glorious days of Athens, had anyone surpassed his feat. Procopius, trembling, pale, approached me. " Shall we renounce the palm for jumping, Kotus ? " he asked. "Shall we let Basilicus win one of the trophies? No mortal can outdo him, I am certain of it." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM l8l No mortal, I though c—no mortal, perhaps—but Kotikokura can! I shook my head. " Kotus, if you lose, the people will not remember your other triumphs. Whites and yellows and blues will point in derision to the greens and roar their victory. If you acknowledge graciously the superiority of Basilicus------" I pushed him away before he finished his sentence. He fell, stunned, into the arms of the spectators. I measured the crossbar with my eyes. The people . shouted: " Kotus ! Kotus ! Basilicus ! Basilicus 1" Suddenly I placed the pole across my knees, broke it into two, and threw it away. What did it mean ? Had I accepted defeat ? Had I acknowledged a superior? " Raise the crossbar/' I commanded. The attendant looked bewildered. " Raise it," I repeated. " Raise it once again its height! " Timidly, reluctantly, the attendant obeyed. I spat upwards and invoked the Great Ape and Kalarba, Father of Fathers. The jungle appeared before me and the enormous trees, whose peaks pierced the clouds. My legs quivered with the sap of life. My arms outstretched like the wings of mighty birds. I uttered a terrific growl and leaped. Below me the crossbar turned into a rickety little gate over which the sparrow flies, a feather in its beak. Over the heads of the spectators I flew, and back to earth lightly. The people howled. All colours—white, yellow, blue, green, merged into one thunderous acclamation. " Long live the Masked Marvel! Euge I Euge! " Procopius approached me. Tears streamed down his cheeks and remained encrusted in his beard like dew in a spider's web at dawn. " Kotus ! Kotus," he murmured, " you are a bird 1" THE INVINCIBLE ADAM Already the arena was strewn with disabled athletes, limp- ing, moaning, swearing. Few were left whose muscles were still supple for wrestling. Every breath I drew was like a mouthful of the sacred mushroom in the hidden garden of Kalarba, adding power and agility. Epeios, victor of all the rest, faced me, proud, defiant, like a young stallion whose neck never felt the reins. " Remember the bear grip/' Procopius reminded me. " Bear grip!" Epeios sneered. " Come, try your bear grip, Master Kotus ! I have wrung many a bear's neck !" The youth pleased me. I was almost tempted to allow him to wear the victor's laurels. What greater honours were there in store for me, Kotikokura, High Priest of the Great Ape and Catapha, long-lived as the mountains and the stars ? " Are you afraid ? " Epeios shook his shoulders insolently. The people applauded. " Epeios ! Epeios ! Long live Epeios !" Their applause was as a whip struck across my face. I hurled myself against my antagonist. Our arms clinched. Our chests pressed against each other. I released the grip. The face of my antagonist was pale. His body had felt the iron of my muscles, and his braggadocio turned to terror. Nevertheless, gallantly, he returned to the combat. I stretched my leg forward, grasped my foe's body, and bent it across it, slowly, persistently, like an unyielding great branch. Muscle after muscle cracked. Suddenly, by a supreme effort, Epeios tore himself away. Panting, his mouth twisted and foamy, he muttered an imprecation. The bear grip, I thought—grinning. The bear grip? What about the boa grip, the elephant grip, the lion grip ? I was a scion of the desert, not of the mountains! Epeios approached me, glaring, watching for a spot of my body which he could grasp. He threw his arm about my neck. "JIowl" he shouted. "Now!" I did not THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 183 budge. He strained every nerve of his body, he clenched his teeth. He bent his shoulder. My neck was a pillar of marble. Worn by his efforts, he released the grip, his arm falling limp at his side. I grasped his shoulders. My hands were the claws of eagles pressing into their prey. I pushed my knee into his belly. He crouched. His body bent like one caught with the cramp. His eyes, suffused with blood, bulged farther and farther. His feet slipped. I released my grip Epeios fell in a heap upon the mat. I placed my foot upon his neck, and raised my arm, in sign of victory, A hurricane of clapping—a cyclone of shouting, which must have made the sailors upon the two seas bound by the Bosphorus, for miles distant, shiver with terror. The final feat of the decathlon was introduced with a flourish of trumpets and a salvo of drums. A young barbarian giant, taller than I, his powerful arms crossed upon his chest, faced me, frowning. Long golden curls surrounded his short massive neck, giving him, a strange, almost ludicrous touch of effeminacy. Something in his clear blue eyes reminded me of the woods beyond the Rhine, of Nemetonia, my wife, of Atmu, my canine high priest. Once more as with Epeios, I had the impulse to relinquish a victory which I knew was mine. Why had he been chosen as my antagonist ? Why had he defeated the burly, bull-like Ethiopian, whom my fists ached to strike, and thus sealed his own doom ? " Brennus ! Brennus ! " the populace shouted. Brennus turned his proud head in all directions and smiled conceitedly. A woman threw a rose which fell at Ms feet. He raised it, placed it to his lips, then waved it like a The manager fastened the iron spikes around our knuckles, and whispered an obscene jest. A stench as of a corpse long decaying in the sun struck my nostrils. Was it an evil THE INVINCIBLE ADAM omen ? Had I, perhaps, overstepped the limits of my im- mortality? Was it I, and not this barbarian, who would breathe the air for the last time in a few minutes ? Had not Catapha warned me again and again to be wary, never to fight in the open, to use stratagem rather than force ? What had this man to lose, if he fell in the combat—a few years ? But I, Kotikokura, aeons, perhaps, and a destiny too marvellous, perchance, for dream or imagination! The war was quite unequal. Why had I allowed my vanity and Alexander to persuade me into this perilous adventure ? It was not too late yet. I could leap to freedom. I could dazzle the spec- tators with my spectacular flight before they could think of capturing me. I could swim across the sea or hide in the forests until all these people and the very memory of my escape had turned to dust. A bugle announced the beginning of the battle. The jungle and the fierce warfares of my youth, my father, the Great Ape, appeared before me. My fists stiffened into stones. My body was an invincible rock. Brennus and I took mincing steps, danced on our toes before each other, watching, testing, waiting for that fraction of a moment when either of us could be taken unawares, and the first blow, often fatal, might be delivered. The wind wafted to my nostrils the scent of the sweat and perfumery of the women. My throat twitched. Brennus placed one fist before his face, and struck with the other. Instinctively, like a panther, I leaped away. The crowd shouted. "Brennus! Kotus! Strike him! Hit him! Kill him I" Once more we began our dainty pantomime. Once more we watched like colossal adders for the spot to strike our mortal blow. Our bodies collided, our fists in the air. We clinched, We separated. THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 185 The spectators became more and more vociferous. They clamoured for blood. " Kill him ! Slash him ! *' Under the stimulus of their words, we struck, we parried, we turned, we danced—our bodies grazed lightly, as with the edges of claws. If only the laws of the game allowed it—how I could leap, like a lion, at the throat of my adversary ! How I could break with one twist his powerful neck 1 Suddenly I felt a shattering blow against my nose. My head shivered. A hurricane of voices struck the air: " Brennus 1 Brennus ! " I touched my face. My hand was flooded. I swallowed. The saltiness of my blood roused me as if from a deep slumber. The ire of a thousand beasts at bay beat against my veins. I withdrew a little, then plunged both fists into the chest of my foe. He opened his mouth wide as if to howl, but choked by the blood, he fell, silently, his great weight shaking the ground. He rolled in agony, then sprawled, stock-still. A stampede of elephants—the howling of the jungle caught in a flaming trap—the roaring of a hundred seas crashing against the shores------ " Kotus ! Kotus 1 Long live the Champion of the World! Champion of Champions! Victor of Victors ! Kotus! Kotus 1 Euge ! Euge 1" Flowers, rings, necklaces, precious stones of a hundred hues, fell upon me like a violent rainstorm. I crouched under the avalanche of riches and honours. " Tear his mask off ! Tear the mask ! Kotus i Champion! Champion 1" A hundred hands pulled the mask off my face. Greens, yellows, whites, blues—embraced, danced, laughed, sang. Trumpets, drums, rattles, hoof beats, rolling of chariot wheels mingled, merged into ten thousand All Apes' Feasts! Like a ball I was hurled from one set of shoulders to another. l86 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM A company of officers with drawn swords separated the crowds. " Stand off! Stand off ! Her Majesty commands ! Her Majesty commands! " " What does Her Majesty want ? " a thousand voices asked, forgetting rank and defying swords. " Her Majesty commands the champion to her chariot!" " We'll carry him to the palace ! To the palace ! To the palace1" they roared. Rocking and balancing myself, as upon the most fantastic camel created in a dream, while massaging my bruised nose, I reached the palace of Theodora, Empress of the World. XXIV A RING OF LEECHES—THE PLEASURES OF THE EMPRESS—THE FATHOMLESS WELL—THEODORA IS PLAYFUL—BARNYARD SLAUGHTER—THE DANCE OF THE GREAT APE—I FORGET THEODORA—A SECRET MESSAGE-TWO SHADOWS LEECHES hung from my nose like rings from the ears of an African princess. The physician, tall and thin as a totem pole, and with mouth and teeth like a horse's, rubbed his thin hands. " Now, Master Kotus, there is no more danger of infection. We do not need to amputate the nose. Your youth and phenomenal vitality have saved you from being ' Kotus, the Noseless'," he neighed. Kotus, the Noseless, I thought shivering. What a fool indeed I had been to risk my precious body 1 Did one have to live for innumerable centuries to overcome the vanity of applause? Ah, Catapha, why had I not obeyed your injunction ? The Empress, her bare arms wound underneath her breasts which pierced the bodice, entered the room, followed by three dwarfs carrying the train of her imperial robe. The physician and I knelt and bowed thrice to the floor, " How is the patient ?" she asked, smiling at my nasal ornaments. " I have just told him that he will not be called Kotus, the Noseless/' he neighed again. "The nose will remain tilted just a tiny bit to the East, Your Majesty, that is all." 187 THE INVINCIBLE ADAM " That is all ? " I shouted, my fist in the air. The physician drew back, hiding his face in his hands. The Empress laughed. " Our Kotus," she laughed, her voice a handful of silver bells, " is a dangerous man, is he not ? A wild man ? " The physician nodded, swallowing his fright. " Do you know, Kotus, for a time I thought you were not human at all/' Turning to the physician, she continued: " Doctor, did you ever see a man leap like Kotus ? " "No, Your Majesty, never." " Did you ever see a man run like him ? " "Never, Your Majesty/' " Did you ever see such muscles, Doctor ? " "No, Your Majesty. It is his muscles and his super- human vitality," he pursued, touching me and lingering over my body. He sighed. " It is well," Theodora said sternly, her eyes also testing my muscles and my vitality—-her eyes which, like golden arrows, pierced and pricked me. The physician bowed to the ground and moved away from me. " I am really glad that your antagonist struck you, Kotus. When I saw blood, I breathed freely—I knew you were a man, a man, incomparable, peerless—but still a man. Had you come out of the combat unscathed, I should have had you decapitated to see if you were a magician or a devil—who could replace his head at will." She laughed. The physician neighed. I grinned. " Besides," she cooed, " I like noses slightly tilted." She closed her eyes as if to recall something. " Doctor, as soon as the leeches are off and the champion is in shape again, inform my steward that we may entertain our hero as he deserves." "Yes, Your Majesty." THE INVINCIBLE ADAM 189 She cast me a glance which penetrated me, and, turning daintily upon her toes, the toes of a nimble dancer, she left. I was Her Majesty's prisoner. Her breasts, her mouth, her ears were chains that bound me—and I did not fret, " Allatu-----" I whispered, " you are Allatu-----" " Who is Allatu, beloved ? " Theodora asked. " Allatu," I answered, biting her imperial ear, " Allatu— the maiden of the jungle—whose body grasps and holds—as a vice." " I, too, belong to the jungle, Kotus. My blood is the flame of the sun." " I love you, Kotus. Do you love me ? " she murmured. I nodded. Something cold crossed my heart. I knew I lied. I did not love Theodora as Catapha ordered me to love. She delighted me even as wine, even as food, even as the scent of the forest and the music of insects and birds. But this was not what Catapha meant. Since he had driven me from him there was an empty well within me—a well which nothing could fill—not even the lava of Theodora's passion, " Kotus, I am a little weary," the Empress said, half- closing her eyes. "What a man you are, Kotus. You conquer a hundred champions, famous the world over for their strength and prowess, you conquer the Mistress of the World, famous for her unquenchable passion, and your muscles never relax, your nerves never quiver. You are a fathomless well, ceaselessly replenished." She pressed my head between her breasts, pale as alabaster. " Kotus, I shall make you Emperor." I started. "Why not, Kotus? Are you not the man of men? Justinian-----" she pouted, " once he, too, was a man—now he has become a law-making machine, He has forgotten jgo THE INVINCIBLE ADAM me, forgotten everything, in his madness to codify laws for posterity/' She laughed a little. " What are laws, Kotus, but things for advocates and senators to dispute about, and the rest of the world—the intelligent world—to ignore and to break ? " I remembered the taboos of my native village. They could not be ignored and broken. I remembered the Tokomas, sharp-eyed and sharper fisted. And yet—was I not Kotikokura, was I not the breaker of laws ? " Yes, darling," the Empress pursued, her fingers buried in the hair of my chest, " I shall make you Emperor." I saw myself seated upon a golden throne, garbed in precious stones, commanding the world. I was mightier than the Great Ape, mightier than Catapha. Theodora pulled my nose : " Kotus the Great—Emperor ! " The vague pain which still lingered in my bruised nose reminded me that in order to be the champion athlete I had nearly become Kotus, the Noseless. What more must I relinquish to become a monarch ? Remember the words of Catapha, I said to myself: " Be content with sharing the imperial couch. Let who will share the throne 1" And yet—my image as Emperor tempted me. Suddenly the velvet curtain moved slowly and the steward appeared. He fell upon his face. " Your Majesty/' he said, " the Cythian cocks have arrived. They are as large as turkeys and their beaks are sharper and harder than those of parrots." Theodora jumped up. " Fool!" she exclaimed. " Wring their necks and throw their carcasses to the slaves, before I wring your neck and feed the hounds with your carcass! " The steward crawled out. Her Majesty pulled off one of her slippers and threw it after turn, She smiled, TEE INVINCIBLE ADAM IQI I rose, raised the slipper, filled it with wine and, toasting to the beauty of Theodora, I drank. " Kotus, no one dances like you. Men-dancers are like Alexander the singer. The women bore me. Dance for me." I danced the dance of the Great Ape, growling and singing. Theodora beat her slippers in tune. " You shall be Emperor—Kotus the Great! " She remained silent for a long while, planning. I bent out of the casement and sniffed the perfumes of the imperial gardens. Suddenly I pointed my forefinger, exclaiming: " Look ! Look ! " " What is it, Kotus ? " Theodora asked, a little annoyed at the interruption. " Look ! Look ! " I repeated, my eyes darting to and fro like mad bees. The Empress bent out. " You little fool," she said, pulling my nose, " that's only the Emperor walking arm in arm with one of his ministers/' " No, no—that's Catapha—Catapha ! " " Who ? " she asked, frowning. Without replying, I plunged out of the casement and in two leaps I approached the men. " Catapha—Catapha-----" I murmured, falling upon my hands. The face of Catapha was a pool of diamonds. My face was a jungle aflame. " Kotikokura!" he exclaimed, then restrained himself from embracing me. " Kotikokura," he whispered, his voice more tender than the first breeze of Spring. He watched me intently for a moment, trying to discover what change a century had wrought. " Kotikokura," he said at last, " what is the matter with your nose ? " Justinian scowled upon me. Catapha's eyebrow moved imperceptibly. He warned me that it was not safe to continue THE INVINCIBLE ADAM our conversation, and that he would meet me alone soon. Turning to the Imperator, he whispered something in his ear which made him smile. Justinian pressed Catapha's arm and bade him continue their walk. I remained upon my knees, murmuring—