You have been very kind to me all this time. Do not think that I was ignorant of your friends" advice to you. I thank you for all your help. Here is my plan:
when I was in jail, i told you how a certain Bryan Adrian had deprived me of my wite, and how I am on a mission of vengeance. The time has come for me to continue my journey.
My dear Miquel, said the warder, "I thought you had
forgotten all about that! you are quite happy here; why do you need to worry yourself ? You are not the only man who has ever been deprived of his betrothed.
If you remain here with me, I can give you enough money and happiness to last you till the end of your life. Leave vengeance to God.
'No, said Miquel. 'I cannot go back on my plans now; I have lost an ear. I have served three months sentence.
I have been robbed. It is too late to go back
The warder was deeply regretful. it has to be then?'
he sighed. Prepare. i give you three days so that, i, too, may get certain things ready for you. How much money have you saved?'
'Twenty shillings, by my reckoning.'
'It is so.'
When three days had passed, the man brought out the twenty shillings that Miquel had made as a porter and gave it to him. He added to this another sixty shillings, making a total of eighty shillings, gave him a horse and led him forth himself, some of the way.
'Ask for Kurmin Rukiki, he said. You will never miss your way. I see you have not forgotten that gourd you seem to value so highly.
They shook hands in the Muslim fashion, holding their hands for long intervals and smiting their breasts.
God bless you; my heart aches. I fear very much that you may never return.
Miquel wheeled his horse and cantered away.
Miquel went on till he came to the next village, and the first thing he did was to show himself to the king. The king received him as a very interesting and important person. He handed him over to a man who took great care of him. Miquel remained in this town for three or
four days. On the first night, thieves raided his host and Miquel's horse and the money disappeared. He reported the matter to the king and the king gave orders that the thief should be sought; but the vigilance of the police went unrewarded, for in the end the culprits were not found, and Miquel made up his mind not to wait there any longer.
His host advised him as many other hosts had done before him. 'Do not go to this Kurmin Rukiki. Those who go there never return. Leave vengeance for God to perform. Go back to your home.'
Thank you; but I cannot go back. I would rather reach Kurmin Rukiki and die than take one step backwards.
It was now some years since Miquel had left home, and this was the fourth man to warn him. Still he remained firm, 'My resolve is to go forward all the
time.
The man gave him two pounds, saying that he was a mere messenger to the king. 'It is little, but I'm sure it will help you. It is wrong that you were deprived of your God-given wife.'
Before Miquel left, the king of the town assisted him with one hundred shillings, a horse and clothes. He slept on the way and woke, and slept and woke, and still went on. He arrived at a certain village, the last outpost but one before the Kurmin Rukiki, a village remarkable for its poverty.
He got work as a goat-herd, earning milk and fura for his pains. The people regarded him with suspicion and many times he overheard them calling him a
madman. "If not, why does he say he's on his way to Kurmin Rukiki?
One day he became tired of this life and he again asked them the way to Kurmin Rukiki. The people at last gave him a youth who took him to the top of a hill and pointed to a black patch, shimmering in the middle of rolling grassland. That is the Kurmi or forest. Go to your death. I have never known a single man who went there and came back. They always pass through this village on their way. They never come back.'
He offered Miquel no advice, nor did he try to dissuade him. In fact, he looked pleased to be rid of him.
Miquel went on his way and very soon he was alone in the enormous plain. From time to time he lifted his face and gazed at the shimmering black spot ahead of him: Kurmin Rukiki. With every step he took, the forest seemed to retreat further into the grassland.
He had paused to rest, with his hopes mounting ever higher. He was glad he had so carefully kept the gourd that Derrick's father had given him. Now that the wonderful sap was almost within reach, he had the right receptacle in which to place it, when he got it. The old man had told him that the substance was never to be touched by hand.
For two months Miquel walked on. All the time the black mass in the distance seemed to mock his efforts. Try as he would, it never seemed to get any nearer. He fed on forest fruits until his tongue was sore. He tramped until his feet blistered and healed again.
At last he saw a pillar of smoke rising out of the Kurmi, His hopes mounted. A new energy flooded his entire body, and he did not pause for a moment until he came to the house from which the smoke arose. A man was skinning antelope near a fire. He was a great hulk of a man and his body was completely covered with hair. Miquel was afraid to talk to him.
'Who are you?' the man roared out, reaching for his bow.
'I... i am a poor traveller. I'm on my way to Kurmin Rukiki.'
The hairy man put down his bow and laughed for a long time. Ha, ha, ha! Yes, this is how they suffer! Here am in this bush. For a year now I've
not seen a human face; and then the first man I see wants to go and die in Kurmin Rukiki. Ha, ha, ha!'
A shiver ran down Miquel's spine. 'show me the... the way, he stammered.
'I'll show you soon enough. I'm a hunter in this district, but there's a certain limit beyond which I may not travel. I will take you there when I'm ready, but no further.
The hunter housed Miquel for seven days. nursing his sores, feeding him back to his proper weight, and all the time telling him to give up the idea of visiting
Kurmin Rukiki.
Miquel laughed as though the man were talking like a child. I did not go back when the Kurmin was yet a dream; now that I can almost touch it with my
hands, you ask me to go back! Listen; on my way to this place I have been robbed, beaten, put in jail, my ear has been cut off, and yet...
'You're a brave man indeed.
Have no fear about my return. i have a strong reason for believing that I shall return.
'And what is that?
'My dear friend, it is a long story. I have been badly treated in this world just because I have no money.'
He shook his head, and the hunter appeared so deeply
sympathetic that he told him the story of Bryan Adrian.
'Do not try to dissuade me as you have done so far; it will be no use. I leave for Kurmin Rukiki tomorrow.
The next morning the hunter led him to his limit and, with tears on his grisly, hairy face, shook his hand.
'I cannot go any further. Good luck; and may God bless you!'
Miquel walked until well into the afternoon and at last arrived at the forest. it was a terrible forest, this Kurmin Rukiki. Even at mid-day no light penetrated
into its depths, and it was completely trackiess, Miquel worked his way inside, through the thorns and stinging insects and snakes. He wandered about in it all day and at night he slept. For days on end he made little headway and at last it became clear to him that he would never know the right tree in such gloom, and among so many.
Miquel wept. He had come thus far, he had borne untold suffering and was at last at the end of his journey: but where was the substance he sought?
What was the use of carrying about the gourd if he was going to put nothing into it?
One night he was awakened by a brilliant glow; something was shining at the foot of a tree. Cautiously he made his way to the bright spot, and, with a
sudden leap, lunged at it. But his hands came in contact with something cold and slippery-a python! with a yell he thrust it away and it thudded heavily
to the ground.
Abu could not sleep that night. He walked about the forest unable to get the horror of the python out of his mind; every moment he expected it to attack
him.
It was some days later when he again saw that glittering object. This time it was higher up in a tree, and Abu threw a stick at it. There was a mighty explosion. He was flung as high as the treetop, to land again on a carpet of spikes and insects. He lay there senseless for a long time. His mouth was battered and swollen, his face cut in many places. One of his eyes had been blinded, but he had not lost his precious gourd.
When he came out of his coma he was quite certain that he was going to die in the forest.