Kitabı oku: «Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour», sayfa 11

We consulted together for a moment, and then unanimously decided to accept the kind invitation Kios had so generously offered us. We needed rest, we sought safety; and here we could obtain both, for a few days at least. We had already unbounded confidence in this open-hearted hunter, and felt that our safety was doubly assured through his bitter hatred of Perodii.

CHAPTER XV.
RIVALS MEET AGAIN

For three days we stayed with Kios and enjoyed his hospitality. He literally nursed us back to health and strength; making us savoury, nourishing dishes with a hunter's cunning, and giving us a preparation of medicinal herbs, which acted as a powerful tonic on our nerves, and braced us exceedingly. He gave up his bed to the Doctor, and in countless ways covered us with kindness. The day before we left his camp, we prevailed upon him to leave us, and go down the hills into Pamax to gain tidings of the soldiers who were in search of us. Whilst he was away we cleaned our firearms, repacked our knapsacks, and made all ready for starting at dawn on the following day.

Kios returned towards sunset; but eager as we were to learn his tidings, we would not question him until he had eaten; nor did he evince any desire to communicate them before.

"Now, good Kios, we would hear your news," said the Doctor, as we drew round the camp fire and lit our cigars.

"It is not altogether good, as I had hoped," he began. "The people can talk of nothing else but the men of Ramos, meaning yourselves. Their excitement hath increased; for some traders, who had journeyed to the lake of Kimeth, near which ye have told me ye camped, returned to Pamax yesternight, bringing with them scraps of strange food and other refuse ye must have left behind. The troops have started thither at dawn this morning; and what is worse, that villain Perodii is at their head. He will never rest until ye are all once more in his power, for he bears ye strange and deadly hatred."

"But, Kios, – " began the Doctor.

"Nay, hear me out, men of Ramos, for I have but few more words to say. It is fortunate for ye that the troops have gone on this fool's errand; for they may search far and wide up there, and the time they waste ye will profit by. Yet, when they return to Pamax, as return they surely will, Perodii's mood will not be pleasant; and ye may be assured that the journey to the borders of Chados will not tend to cool his wrath against ye. Men of Ramos, ye must not linger here; I cannot answer for your safety longer. These woods will be searched, and it may be at daybreak. Ye must start for Helmath to-night – nay, at once."

"But we are in ignorance of the way thither, and may lose ourselves in the darkness," said Temple.

"Trouble not yourselves; for I will guide ye a few hours' journey hence, and put ye in the path that leads thereto."

"I am afraid, worthy Kios, we shall never be able to repay you," said the Doctor.

"Ye saved my life; it is but well that I should seek to save yours in return. Besides, I aim Perodii a blow, through ye – and it is always sweet to strike one's enemies. Know ye, I was rich and noble once, with rank and dignity almost as high as he. Through his knavery and wickedness, I am degraded to the calling of a hunter to the palace, banished from my home in Edos, and owe what little I now possess – even my life itself – to the clemency of the King. Some day the truth may prevail, and I be restored to my rights. Had Perodii honour enough left to speak, he could accomplish this in few words; yet he remains silent; and I suffer, because I resented the great wrong he did me. But we waste time in needless words. Get ye ready, and let us hasten hence; for the path is heavy, and the way is long."

We reluctantly left our comfortable quarters, and started off with Kios through the darkness. The night was calm and beautifully fine – just one of those delicious evenings that make the tropics of Earth so sweet, when the broiling heat of the day is spent. Kios led us by a circuitous route down the wooded hillside; and we passed so near to Pamax, that the roar of its machinery sounded clearly in the night, and the glow from its thousands of furnaces shone against the sky like a mighty conflagration.

"The men of Pamax work late," remarked Temple, with a manufacturer's instinct, and thinking of his own noisy looms at home on Earth.

"The wheels of their machinery are never still," answered Kios. "The worker's lot is hard, but they are a cheerful community, if their greed of gain is great."

We soon passed Pamax, with its noise and fire, and reached the calm, quiet country again. At last the forest was left behind us, and we walked for an hour across a wide prairie, on which grew herbs of singular odour. Then we followed the banks of a wide river, and after passing through a dark and dangerous swampy jungle – something like the forest of reeds in which we first descended – Kios stopped and said:

"Men of Ramos, here I must leave ye. The night will be nearly spent ere I get back to the woods of Theloth, and there are those who must not see me return. Look ye at yonder group of stars," pointing, as he spoke, to a constellation something like Ursa Major, the Great Bear, in our own heavens. "Mark ye them well; keep them straight before ye; and in two hours' march ye will reach the sea. Strike north along the coast a short day's journey, until ye come to a rocky creek. Follow the stream that falls therein, skirting the base of a spent volcano; and in three days' more easy travelling, ye will sight the great observatory of Helmath, standing on a high hill on your right hand. Behind that hill is the city itself. Advance ye with caution; and hold no converse with the men of Gathma until ye reach Helmath; or swift and certain ruin will overtake ye. Now haste away, and fare ye well."

Without waiting to hear our words of thanks for all his kindness, Kios waved his hand to us in farewell, and walked away into the gloom. We travelled slower without his guidance, for the way was rough; and sometimes clouds obscured the stars, which were our beacon light, and we had oft to wait until they had drifted by. Instead, therefore, of reaching the coast in two hours, we were nearly six; and the day was breaking as the grey waters of the Gathma sea spread far and wide before us. We were both tired and hungry; and so amongst the rocks on the beach we made a fire, and had our breakfast. Then we sat and rested for two hours before beginning our march along the coast.

After crossing some four miles of level sand, we reached a dense forest, which extended from the margin of the water inland beyond the range of our vision. Here the curious vegetation was so dense that the sun failed to penetrate the canopy of foliage; but the ground was bare of brushwood, and walking was easy and pleasant. Some curious trees, shaped like a mighty fungus, or an open umbrella, excited our wonder. They bore no leaves, but threw out a thick, unbroken canopy, of the colour and texture of an aloe plant, which curved downwards nearly to the ground; and above this, from the centre of the stem, shot a spike of crimson flowers, a yard or more in length. Each tree formed an admirable tent; and many of them seemed to be of vast age; the canopy being furrowed as with the growth of centuries, the edges torn into dry and withered ribbons, and the stems of enormous girth. At first we really took them to be the habitations of human beings or beasts; and it was not until we had examined them closely that we ascertained they were really trees.

As we went farther into the forest these curious trees increased in number and in size; indeed, in some places they covered the ground so thickly, that it was difficult to walk amongst them; and we found it best and quickest to make a detour. In passing one of these groves of vegetable umbrellas, we were startled by a perfect tumult of chattering cries, and scores of strange beings hurried out from under them and surrounded us, skipping and hopping about, running to and fro like fiends in the dusky light of the forest. Had we not seen these singular beings with our own eyes, we should never have believed in their existence. They were fashioned much like ourselves from the feet to the shoulders, the arms, however, being proportionately much shorter – but there all outward resemblance ceased. Neck they had none, the shoulders gradually tapering away to the head, which was free from hair, and the face was intermediate in expression between that of a man, and the higher or Simian race of beasts. Their bodies were entirely naked, and of a chalky-brown colour, and they averaged perhaps five feet in height. So fierce and threatening did these curious creatures become that we fired our rifles off to frighten them, which had the desired effect, and they fled in chattering terror, grinning and grimacing into the trees, and we saw them no more. Whether they were gifted with greater than brute intelligence we know not; we were too startled and alarmed to make a closer acquaintance with them. Dr. Hermann himself was visibly disconcerted; and the rest of us were glad when they vanished from our sight, Sandy especially so – perhaps he dreaded the Doctor sending him in quest of one of these curious creatures. Even our dog refused to go near them, and lay down trembling with fright.

It seemed incredible that such a race of animals could exist, so near to so mighty and populous a town as Pamax; but we were in a world of surprises, and things that appeared unnatural to us, were rational enough, no doubt, to the dwellers on the land of Mars.

All day we passed through this wonderful forest, now catching a glimpse of broad daylight as the trees grew less closely together, then entering a world of shadows and steamy gloom as the canopy became denser once more. We saw trees that were nothing but bare poles, tapering to a point far up in the sky, without branch or leaf, except a little green cup at the summit; others were draped in curiously-curled foliage; others, yet again, decked in noble, fan-shaped leaves a dozen feet across. Some put us in mind of the earthly tropics; but the great majority were entirely new, both in growth and form. The vegetable wonders around us made us forget our fatigue, and even our hunger. We never once thought to halt and rest throughout the livelong day; and we continued walking on and on through the forest until we reached the creek which Kios had told us we should find at the end of our day's journey.

It was a wild, lonely spot, enclosed with tall cliffs on either side, and perhaps half a mile across. The forest continued on the other side at the top of the rocks, as it ceased on this. We had little trouble in finding a suitable camping-place by the side of a tiny stream which tumbled over the cliffs in a shower of spray into the creek below, and furnished us with fresh water, that of the sea being salt and bitter to the taste. Here we formed a rude hut of branches, made our fire, and cooked some of the dried meat that Kios had insisted we should take when we left his forest-home the previous evening. To-night we decided that one of us should keep watch while the others slept, in case of our retreat being discovered by enemies. But the night passed uneventfully away, nothing occurring to disturb our slumbers or to break our peace.

We were moving early, and off on our way by sunrise. For the first hour or so we followed the creek through the depths of the forest; but when we reached the river the aspect of the country changed considerably. It was now an undulating park-like land, with groves of scarlet-foliaged trees.

Far away on the horizon loomed the towering heights of the exhausted volcano, round whose base was the path we had to follow. The scenery was very beautiful, but somehow we had not the heart to admire it, for we felt like fugitives flying to a castle of refuge, through a land teeming with unknown perils and hidden enemies. We left the river, as the banks were too steep and uneven to follow, and gradually ascended the lower spurs of the mountain, that being by far the easiest route. By noon we halted under the towering crest of the dead volcano. The sides were steep and rocky, though covered with many kinds of vegetation, notably a large tree with leaves and flowers like a rhododendron. Here a deep hollow had become a small lake, fringed with curious rushes, over whose placid waters a large troop of white, legless birds, similar to those we saw before, were disporting themselves.

Here we made a fire, and cooked some food. As we were quietly eating our meal, we were startled by an exclamation from Graham.

"Look! look!" he cried in an excited tone. "The troops! the troops from Edos! We are discovered, surrounded!"

The peril of our position was only too true. Stealthily our pursuers had spread themselves in a wide semicircle from the river, extending their flanks round either side of the mountain; and, though still nearly a mile away, they were closing upon us with frightful haste.

"Leave all but the firearms and ammunition, and follow me," shouted the Doctor, leading the way up the hillside amongst the dense brushwood. Our movement was noticed at once by the approaching soldiers, and with a lusty shout they came on in hot pursuit. But the way was rough and steep, and we had the advantage of being much higher up the mountain slope than they. For quite two miles we struggled on, without losing ground or gaining it, until we reached a part of the mountain-side which was strewn with huge boulders of pumice. Here we lost sight of our pursuers, although we could hear their shouts and trumpet-calls below us, and sank down to rest a moment and get our breath. We had not tarried here for more than half a minute, when Sandy's practised eye caught sight of a hole in the ground, twenty paces lower down the hill. We went to examine it, and found that it was a crevice in the side of the volcano, just large enough at the entrance to squeeze our bodies through, but soon becoming much larger inside.

"Quick!" said the Doctor, "help me to roll this block of pumice to the entrance. We can hide in this hole; at any rate, it is a chance – our only chance. We will place the stone so that, once inside, we can roll it over the opening, and by this means conceal the hole from view, should the soldiers happen to pass over the spot."

The huge mass of pumice was exceedingly light, and we found no difficulty in doing what the Doctor had suggested. One after the other we scrambled into the hillside crevice, and then Graham, he being the strongest, managed to pull the stone over us, and we were immediately in darkness. Now, for the first time, we missed poor Rover; in our anxiety and excitement we had not noticed him near us for some time; nor did we ever see the faithful old dog again!

Here for half an hour we remained motionless, huddled together, and not daring to speak in voices higher than a whisper. We heard shout after shout from the troopers, and signal after signal from their loud-mouthed trumpets, and we knew our enemies were baffled, for we whom they sought so eagerly had utterly vanished! We heard them clambering over the boulders and dislodging the smaller stones as they wandered hither and thither round the place where we were concealed: and once a big warrior, panting for breath, actually came and leaned against the block of pumice that concealed our hiding-place, and then went his way! At last, all became still near at hand; we could hear our enemies in the distance, but the sound they made grew fainter and fainter, and then ceased altogether. They were gone, and for the present, at least, we were saved!

Meantime we had not been idle. As soon as we dared move without the possibility of the soldiers hearing us, we began to explore our refuge. The rift extended downwards and inwards towards the centre of the mountain, but the jagged rocks and the darkness made our progress most perilous, and at last we had to give up in despair. We struck a few wax-vestas Graham chanced to have in one of his pockets, but their feeble flame only served to render the surrounding darkness more hideous and profound. There was nothing for it but to return to the entrance, and there we waited and waited all the afternoon until sunset, fearful to go out until the night should cloak our movements from the view of any enemies still lurking near. As the short twilight was coming to an end, the Doctor said in a low tone:

"One of us must go back to the camp by the lake, for our knapsacks. We must have food, if by any possible good fortune these troops have left our things undisturbed. The rest must stay here; for I think we could not find safer quarters for a day or so, until our enemies have grown weary of the search, and depart to try elsewhere. I am ready – "

"No, Doctor," broke in Graham. "I will not hear of what you were about to propose. I volunteer the task of going back myself. You are far from strong yet, and the fatigue is too much for you."

"But I am willing to go," said Temple.

"Let me go, Doctor! I can be back in no time, I am more used to the hills than any o' ye," pleaded Sandy.

"Enough, comrades; the task, after all, is a trivial one. You remain here; I will go," Graham answered; and pushing the block aside as he spoke, he scrambled out into the evening gloom, and we heard his cautious footsteps sounding fainter and fainter as he went his way.

He picked a path down the steep hillside, and struggled through the thickets, every now and then stopping to listen. In half an hour he reached the lake; but, owing to the darkness, he had mistaken the path and gone nearly a mile to the east of the spot where our camp had been. Perhaps it was fortunate that he did so; for across the water he saw the blazing fires of a great encampment, and dusky figures passing to and fro before them. So the troops of Edos had not given up the search so readily; and Perodii, evidently, was determined on revenge. Cautiously Graham made a detour, and reached the big rock where we had eaten our last meal; and there to his joy he found our knapsacks by the side of the blackened ashes of the fire. Strong man as he was, he did not feel able to carry the four heavy packages. He therefore hid two under a heap of pumice stones, and trudged off back up the hill with the rest. He experienced great difficulty in getting back again, and even more in finding the block of stone that concealed our retreat. Indeed, it is doubtful if he ever would have found it at all, had we not heard him stumbling about the stones, and guided him to the cave by our signal whistles.

We were glad Graham had got back safely, and to see that he had brought so much of our belongings; but the news that he had seen the camp-fires of our enemies sank like cold despair into our hearts. We had a bitterly relentless foe to deal with, and our situation seemed growing more and more hopeless.

"I am very glad you brought my knapsack, Graham," said the Doctor, "as it contains my electric lamp. We will now go further into the cave, as it is important that we should know the extent of our resources when the hour of need comes."

By the light from wax tapers, burnt one after the other, we got the package undone, and soon had the lamp in working order. Its brilliant rays lit-up the cavity so well that we could see many yards before us. The Doctor led the way, lamp in hand, and following him, we climbed down deeper and deeper, and further and further, into the very bowels of the dead volcano. The cavern now began to reach an enormous size, and our light was powerless to pierce the great blackness around us, comparatively speaking, for any distance. At first the lamp illuminated the rugged walls of this ancient furnace, and the rocks, in every conceivable fantastic shape, looked grim and ghostly in the blue electric light; but as we went on and on these jagged cliffs, moulded by the molten fires of long-passed ages, gradually receded from the penetrating light, until at last the rough ground beneath us was all that was visible, and the vast immeasurable dome of the extinct crater loomed in dark weird mystery around us, our lamp but as a feeble star within its profound unknown depths. We must have travelled nearly a mile into the mountain, when we were surprised beyond measure to see the starry vault of heaven through a vast rent in the top of the cavern, thousands of feet above our heads. The crater, the entire mountain, was hollow, and the hole in the shell above us had been the vent for its now long-ago burnt-out fire! We were actually in the very core of a volcano. We proceeded but a few more steps, when the rays from our lamp revealed a vast yawning chasm before us, the light reflecting on a gulf of blackness, and not being powerful enough to illumine the furthermost edge of the pit. We shuddered as we looked at the awful abyss, and pictured to ourselves our ghastly fate if we had by some fatality walked over its terrible edge. An immense block of stone, that Graham and Sandy rolled down the steep declivity which led to the actual chasm, pitched into the blackness, and we heard it thundering down into the dizzy depths, first striking on one side, and then on the other, as it rebounded in its awful leaps like a mere pebble, the sounds echoing and re-echoing through the hollow dome around us. Then the blows sounded fainter and fainter to our ears, and finally died completely away, as if the boulder had leaped into another vaulted cavern still lower down, or been ground to dust by the force of its fall, and we heard no more!

Here under the very crest of the mountain, amongst the very roots of this rugged volcano, we lay down to rest; but not one of us could sleep. The grandeur of the surroundings kept us awake, even though we had put out our lamp, and the only ray of light in the pitchy darkness was the opening above us to the sky. All night we lay here watching the scintillating stars, like fiery gems, until one by one they became wan and indistinct with the coming dawn, and gradually the space around us was illumined as with a twilight brightness. The sun had risen, and the outer world was bathed in warmth; yet only a sickly reflection of the day penetrated into our magnificently grand, if cold and dismal refuge!

Anon the sun in his course across the sky shone down the mouth of the crater, and the light became stronger. We seated ourselves in the circle of his rays, and here we ate our cheerless meal – the remainder of the flesh we had had from Kios, and a few biscuits. Fortunately, our water supply was ample; the precious liquid dropped incessantly from far up in the rugged heights of the hollow mountain's roof; it trickled along the ground, and accumulated in little pools among the pumice stones at our feet. As we ate our meal, and tried to warm our chilled bodies in the faint sunshine, a great mass of rock came hurtling down from the very summit, and leaped with an awful rushing sound into the chasm, and for long we heard its terrific progress into the uttermost depths of the volcano. We looked up in terror and sprang to our feet, expecting each moment to be our last, and that the mountain itself was going to collapse and bury us like moles beneath its tottering ruins!

But even a worse fate than that threatened us, for boldly outlined against the sky, with helmets glinting in the sun, peering down into the gloomy depths were several of the troops from Edos, in the very act of hurling another piece of rock upon us. We started back in horror, and hurried out of the focus of that death-dealing aperture, burying ourselves from sight in the surrounding gloom.

"So our hiding-place is discovered, and we may expect no mercy from the bloodhounds," said Graham.

"We will fight for liberty this time," rejoined the Doctor, in a cool and resolute voice. "Fight, and die fighting," he continued, "rather than fall into the power of those merciless, cold-blooded people of Edos again."

Temple and Sandy were equally determined to fight to the last, and we began to prepare ourselves for the coming fray. We again turned on our electric lamp, and retreated into the darkest depths of the cavern in search of some spot where we might advantageously fight our foes. We discovered a small mound of broken rocks on the floor of the mountain, and on the summit of this we built up a rough rampart, behind which we might find some shelter when firing. Then, by the light of the lamp, we carefully examined our rifles and revolvers, and made ready our ammunition. We agreed that Graham and Sandy should fire, they being the best shots, and that the Doctor and Temple should load and hand the weapons. If we came to close quarters, each was to use his own revolver as best he could.

Before we had finished all our preparations, the great mountain vault began to echo with the steps of advancing troops. Clearly they knew of this wondrous cavern, and must have been aware of other and easier ways of entrance than the one we had chanced to discover. They were searching every nook and corner of the mountain as they came, and we could now form some idea of the vastness of the cavern by the length of the advancing line of troops. What astonished us most was their method of illuminating their path through the darkness. As seen from the distance of a mile, the movements of the coming troops were marked by a line of little fire-balls, irregularly dancing and bobbing to and fro; and as the soldiers came nearer we saw that each one had what appeared to be an incandescent lamp attached to his left ankle, which lit up the ground before him for a few yards! We held our breath in our great excitement, and curiously watched the foe. Then Sandy and Graham each took their trusty rifles and knelt behind the rough rampart, ready to fire the moment a good opportunity occurred. It was no use waiting until the troops advanced, because discovery was certain; their line of coming searchers were bound to cross the hill on which we were entrenched!

Our hiding-place was still undiscovered, and the troops were not more than two hundred yards away. We watched the line of lights break into two and circle round the yawning gulf; we saw a few troopers advance into the subdued light below the crater's mouth, and then disappear again into the darkness. Then Graham covered one of the dusky forms, and after taking careful aim, pulled the trigger and missed! The line was unbroken. A second afterwards, Sandy's piece went off with no better luck, the light being too uncertain for accurate aim. The awful echoes that our exploding rifles raised are beyond the powers of language to describe them. The vast vault seemed to be cracking in twain, and the reverberations appeared never going to subside. For a moment the troops were filled with panic; but we heard voices as of commanders cheering and encouraging their faltering men, and a moment after we were literally blinded by a vivid flood of brilliant light which gleamed out from behind us. Dazzled and blinded though we were, we saw at once that we were surrounded by enemies, another detachment having surprised us from the rear. We were now as exposed to view as if we had been in the open air, under the blazing sun of noonday, and before one of us could recover from his astonishment and fire a shot in defence, our position was stormed, our rifles and revolvers wrenched from our hands, and we were helpless as babes in the power of our enemies.

What the light really was, whence it came, or how it was produced, we knew not, but it continued burning until we and our captors reached the open air. The wild, savage scene of grandeur, revealed when the hollow mountain was made to disclose its hidden splendour by the penetrating light, can never fade from our memory. Though captives, and bowed down with hopeless despair, we were compelled to look, nay, even to admire! The misery of our position was forgotten in the glory of that cave, whose appearance bore eloquent and silent testimony to the stupendous forces of volcanic action. The brilliant light lit up even the very highest parts of the lofty mountain dome, showing hollows, and jagged points, and enormous icicle-shaped masses of gold and silver, and other richly-coloured but, to us, unknown metals, which had formed there as the molten interior of the volcano had suddenly cooled in rest. Some of the half-burnt rocks scintillated with unconsumable crystals; others were ground smooth as marble by the troubled action of a seething sea; and great masses formed of a dozen different metals were to be seen here and there, wedged in between the ruin of rocks. So rugged and loose was the roof in some places, that it looked as if the very echoes of our footsteps would dislodge acres of boulders and send them tumbling down in mad confusion. But we were marched as quickly as possible out of the mountain, and, in spite of our cruel fate, in our hearts we were thankful to leave this terrible chasm behind us, and once more to find ourselves under the canopy of heaven, in the full and blessed light of day.

We were immediately manacled, and conducted to the camp by the lake, where, in a spacious tent, Perodii sat in state. A gleam of intense hatred passed over his dark and savagely handsome face as we were marshalled into his presence. All Graham's courageous spirit seemed to return as he looked once more upon his rival and his enemy, and he returned Perodii's glances with a look of withering and defiant scorn.

"So, man of Ramos, with all thy cunning and with all thy magic arts thou hast fallen once more into my power," said Perodii in a sarcastic voice, addressing Graham alone, and seeming not to notice the rest of us at all. 'We shall meet again,' thou saidst at Remagaloth, and we have done so. And now thou shalt bitterly repent thy insolent behaviour, and to ME shalt thou cry aloud in thy woe for mercy. Thou shalt beg for death, yet shalt not die; thou shalt crave a speedy doom, yet shalt linger on and on in burning pain; but I will laugh at thy agony and scoff at thy prayers, thou low-born knave, thou seed of evil, who hath sought to steal the favours of the woman I desired."