Dennis Wheatley - They Found Atlantis

'He didn't mean to kill him though,' protested Sally.

'Perhaps not, but the fact is that he did.'

'He made a smashing most unfortunate as I might have done myself,' said Vladimir, 'but what do you think the Atlanteans will treat him to?'

The McKay shrugged. 'It's impossible to say. They may have some form of trial. If so it's my view that we ought to let their law take its course. It's the usual thing to accept the decision of the courts in whatever country you happen to be, and this place belongs to the Atlanteans after all.'

'If there is a trial I don't see how they can say it was anything but manslaughter,' Sally argued, 'but even if they did there won't be any question of—of an execution. They are far too gentle.'

Axel backed her up. 'They would shrink from that for their own sakes I am certain, but if they sent him to Coventry it would only be asking for more trouble, and in such a small place it is hardly practical to put him in prison with everyone taking turns at jailer. It is just possible that they might turn him out of the island though.'

'They couldn't!' exclaimed Camilla.

'No—no,' Vladimir followed her horrified protest. 'I have never liked that Nicky but he has been through as much as us. It would be death twice times out there in the black dark. I would wring his so stupid neck myself rather than he should suffer such awfulness.'

'That's how I feel,' muttered the McKay. 'He is one of us so, rotten little blackguard as he is, we've got to do our best for him. The Doctor wasn't a vengeful man and I'm sure he would say the same if he were here to speak for himself.'

'What will you do if Menes decrees some punishment for him of which we have no thought?' Axel enquired slowly.

'Providing it's humane things must run their course. Nicky will have to take his medicine, I'm afraid.'

'Even—even if they do say it was murder and want to— to . . .' Camilla's voice trailed away at the awful thought of the fair handsome Nicky who had so often made love to her in his own conceited way, being led out to die.

'I think so, if it's a fair trial, although of course it's up to us to do every mortal thing we can to get him off. You see . . .' the McKay paused and then went on again more slowly. 'I hope I haven't pushed myself forward, but in a way you seem to have looked to me as the leader of the party ever since we got stuck in the bathysphere, and the old Admiral appears to regard me in that way too—so I feel a certain responsibility towards you all. That's why I take that view. If the law here decrees that Nicky is "for it" we can hardly say the verdict isn't just, so we have no real moral grounds for using force in order to save him. If we did the Atlanteans would be quite entitled to retaliate in any way they chose. Well, they at all events are completely innocent and they have been marvellously kind, so it would be the basest ingratitude on our part to start a scrap in which some of them would be certain to get pretty badly hurt; but there's worse to it than that. If it came to a showdown the odds are in their favour, so we might even have to kill some of them before we succeeded in getting control of the island; or they may have something up their sleeve, seeing the way Quet laid Nicky out, which would make a mess of us—and we've got Sally and Camilla to consider. I'm sorry for Nicky, just because he's been with us from the beginning, although he's a vicious little brute, but my sympathies are with the Admiral and his pals. In any case though, even if I liked Nicky a lot better than 1 do, I couldn't advise the sacrifice of innocent lives to save him from justice, and I've no intention of imperilling the safety of the Atlanteans or our party in that way.'

Axel nodded. 'The thought of starting a civil war here is too horrible to contemplate and, as we should be the aggressors, totally unjustified. Whatever Nicky's punishment it will not be barbarous—we can be sure of that— therefore we have no possible right to interfere.'

'Oh, poor Nicky!' Camilla suddenly burst into tears.

The conference ended then. Everyone felt that the McKay was right. They could do no more for Nicky than plead his jealousy and drunkenness as extenuating circumstances. There was nothing else to be said.

The leaden hours of the morning drifted by at last, but when midday came the Atlanteans again refused all offers of food. The others had no heart to cook a meal and nibbled at the fresh fruit without a thought as to its flavour.

In the early afternoon Lulluma awoke and Axel managed to get her to himself for a few moments behind one of the blocks of buildings.

She stared at him in dumb agony, her big eyes ringed by deep purple circles. On his questioning her she clung to him like a frightened child and became almost incoherent.

All he could gather was that the Doctor's funeral would take place at twilight and after that she saw everything 'Black—black—black.'

The island now seemed to have become unreal again. It was held in the thrall of a horrid silence. To all the McKay's party the time of waiting seemed interminable. At length the earthshine began to dim and Nahou approached them.

'Menes says that you may come to the temple if you wish,' was all he said. Then he turned away as though reluctant to have further speech with them.

They stood up at once and followed him to the temple steps where the Atlanteans had already gathered, then the whole population of the island except Nicky, who still slept, Dassed through its golden doors.

None of the McKay's party had been inside the temple before. It was small but exceedingly magnificent. Only the dim light prevented their eyes being dazzled by the pure red gold of its walls and ceiling, while countless gems glittered dully in its furniture.

Two lines, each of six throne-like stalls, faced each other across the choir, but none of these were now occupied, the whole congregation stood bunched together just inside the doors while Menes, robed in white, occupied a position before the altar, which was quite plain, having only an inscription in Atlantean above it.

In the middle of the choir there was a gorgeous bier upon which lay the still form of the Doctor. At each of its corners stood a blue stone jar about a foot in height, and Axel guessed rightly that these held the brains, heart, liver and intestines which had been removed from the body by the women during the night. It was evident that they meant to embalm and mummify Doctor Tisch, hence the necessity for the immediate removal of these perishable parts, later his corpse would be soaked in bitumen, and this was only a preliminary service.

Menes muttered in Atlantean. The congregation bowed as if in assent, then they broke into a doleful dirge. After that came an interminable litany, more chanting, more mutterings from Menes and deep obeisances from the rest. Next Menes sealed the nine openings of the Doctor's body, with ritualistic signs, so that no evil thing might enter into it.

Little Ciston came forward from the crowd and stood behind the head of the bier, Menes took up a position at its foot and began to ask questions in a loud voice to each of which Ciston made the same response. Axel's knowledge of Egyptian beliefs, which had been based on this earlier religion, enabled him to guess that Menes was playing the part of the Forty-Two Assessors of the Dead, each of which would ask the departed soul if it had been guilty of some particular sin when it reached the 'other world'; and Ciston was taking the doctor's place by replying to each interrogation : 'I am innocent.' Then there was another litany, more dirges and further anointing of the body.

Sally, Camilla and Vladimir found it an incredibly wearisome business, so also did the McKay, and only a sense of respect held him rigid through the two and a half hours of what he considered senseless mummery. Axel's interest alone was held by following this ritual which had been practised when the world was young.