Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow [81]
and sat down with the examiner who had kept me waiting last night, the character whom Dahfu called the Bunam, and the wrinkled old black-leather fellow who had sent us into the ambush. The one who had arisen out of the white rocks like the man met by Joseph. Who sent Joseph over to Dothan. Then the brothers saw Joseph and said, "Behold, the dreamer cometh." Everybody should study the Bible. Believe me, I felt like a dreamer, and that's no lie. "Who is that man all wrinkled like a Greek olive?" I said. "Beg pardon?" said the king. "With the Bunam and your uncle." "Oh, of course. A senior priest. Diviner of a sort." "Yesterday we met him with a twisted stick," I was saying, when several squads of amazons lined up with muskets and started to aim at the sky. I could not see the.375 anywhere. These large women began to fire salutes, first in honor of the king and the king's late father, Gmilo, and for various others. Then, so the king told me, there was a salute for me. "For me? You're kidding, Your Highness," I said. But he was not, so I asked him, "Should I stand up?" "I think it would be widely appreciated," he said. And I got to my feet, and there were loud shrieks and screams. I thought, "The word has got around how I dealt with that corpse. They know I'm no Milquetoast but a person of strength and courage. Plenty of moxie." I was beginning to feel the spirit of the occasion--pervaded by barbaric emotions--the scratchiness in my bosom was greatly aggravated. I had no words to speak, no mortar or bazooka to fire, replying to the guns of the amazons. But I was impelled to make a sound, and therefore I uttered a roar like the great Assyrian bull. You know, to be the center of attention in a crowd always stirs and disturbs me. It had done so when the Arnewi wept and when they gathered near the cistern. Also when shaved in Italy near the stronghold of the ancient Guiscardos that time in Salerno. In a big gathering my father also had a tendency to become excited. He once lifted up the speaker's stand and threw it down into the orchestra pit. However, I roared. And the acclaim was magnificent. For I was heard. I was seen gripping my chest as I bellowed. The crowd went wild over this, and its yells were, I have to admit it, just like nourishment to me. I reflected, So this is what guys in public life get out of it? Well, well. I no longer wondered that this Dahfu had come back from civilization to be king of his tribe. Hell, who wouldn't be a king, even a small king? It was not a privilege to be missed. (The time of payment to a strong young fellow was remote; the wives couldn't invent enough attentions and expressions of gratitude; he was the darling of their hearts.) I stood as long as was feasible and luxuriated in this applause, laughing, and I sat down when I had to. Now, horrified, I saw a grinning face with a mouth like a big open loop and a forehead infinitely wrinkled. It was the sort of vision you might have in a shop window on Fifth Avenue, and, when you turned to see what fantastic apparition New York had thrown up behind you, there would be no one. This face, however, stood its ground and held steady while it grinned at the party in the king's box. Deep bloody cuts were being made meanwhile on the chest that belonged to this face. A green old knife--a cruel clutch. Oh, the man is being slashed and stabbed. Stop, stop! Holy God! Why, this is murder being committed, said I. Through my depths as in a tunnel went a shock like the ones big buildings get from trains which pass beneath. But the cutting wasn't deep, it was lateral and superficial, and despite the speed of the painted priest who wielded the knife it was done according to plan, and with skill. Ochre was rubbed into the wounds, which must have stung like frenzy, but the fellow grinned and the king said, "This proceeding is about semi-usual, Mr. Henderson. The worry is not necessary. He is thus advanced in his priesthood career and so is very pleased. As to the blood, that is supposed to induce the heavens also to flow, or prime the pumps of the firmament." "Ha,