Kitabı oku: «Guy in the Jungle: or, A Boy's Adventure in the Wilds of Africa», sayfa 12
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A TERRIBLE RIDE
Their first act showed the true character of these brave men.
"Let us thank God for our deliverance," said Guy solemnly, and kneeling on the wet sand – an example that was followed by all – he offered a simple and fervent prayer.
Renewed hope was visible on their faces when they rose to their feet in the dim light of the torch.
"We will put the raft together," said Guy, "and then have something to eat before we start."
It was but a short distance to the water's edge, and by all working industriously the logs were soon lying on the sandy beach, and Forbes was fastening them together as before.
Bildad, from the warmth of the rugs, watched these proceedings with a look of mute wonder on his dusky features.
As soon as the raft was ready the baggage was placed on it.
"Take the canoe along," said Forbes. "It is too badly shattered by the fall to use, but it will furnish us with torches and firewood."
There was room to spare, so the boat was placed on one end of the raft, and then sitting on the sand they made a hearty meal of crackers and figs.
"I don't admire the appearance of that river very much," remarked the colonel. "It comes through the cliff as though shot by a cannon. No wonder, though, when you think of the terrible pressure from above."
"We will make up for lost time by rapid traveling, then," said Forbes.
"Ah, you think so?" cried Sir Arthur. "Bless me, I hope we will. I have an engagement to dine with Lord Balsover at the Hotel Bombay at Aden on the 10th at six o'clock in the evening. He touches there on his way to India, and I can't disappoint him, you know."
"Drop him a few lines, Ashby, and postpone the engagement a couple of weeks," remarked the colonel dryly.
"Bless me! Can I do that?" ejaculated Sir Arthur.
The laugh that followed was cut short by Guy's short, decisive voice: "Get ready, it's time to start."
The raft lay partly in the water, and with a hearty shove from all it was pushed clear of the shore. Forbes and Canaris held it while it tossed up an down in the swirling eddies.
"Get on board," directed Guy, setting the example himself, and assisting Bildad.
Forbes remained on shore, holding the corner of the raft till all had passed on board. It trembled fiercely in his grasp, as though eager to be off on the journey.
Far overhead the abandoned torch was glowing dimly on the summit of the cliff, a patch of brightness that made the gloom round about all the blacker by contrast. For the first time a sudden realization of the unknown perils that lay before them flashed into the minds of the little party.
"Let go, Forbes," said Guy in a firm voice.
Melton sprang nimbly on board and grasped a paddle. The raft quivered a moment and then shot, swift as an arrow, toward the turbulent stretch of water beyond.
Then came a tremendous lurch, a riotous dash of spray that took away their breath, and with a dizzy speed that was simply indescribable the trembling craft was whirled down the torrent.
The first sensation was one of uncontrollable fear, and they hung with all their might to the logs, expecting every instant to be tossed into the water. Round and round spun the raft in dizzy revolutions, until their heads were dizzy and aching. Then the harsh roar subsided, and in a little while the raft became quiet and rested on the surface of the water with hardly a quiver.
And now they ventured to sit up. They appeared to be moving with the velocity of a railroad train.
On both sides, a few yards from the raft, smooth walls of rock were visible. Overhead was empty space.
"If this could continue," said Guy, "we should reach the end of the river in a few days."
"It won't last," said Forbes gloomily. "We'll soon run across some bad water."
His fears were shared by the rest, but as time passed on and they continued to speed smoothly between the rocky walls, they began to feel less apprehensive of danger.
"Bildad seems to be feeling quite chipper," said Guy. "Suppose you ask him how he tricked that serpent, Canaris."
"Well, I'll try him," was the reply.
The conversation commenced, and the harsh jabber which they carried on was very interesting to the rest of the party.
"Bless me; you'd think the Greek was talking in his own tongue," remarked Sir Arthur. "Reminds me of our old Greek professor at Balliol College, Oxford. He loved the language of the Athenians so much that he hated to use the English tongue at all. Worst of it was he expected all of us to be as fluent as himself. Made us all talk Greek in the class-room. I'll never forget how we got even with him. Lord Somebody or other – I can't recall the name now, but it was some celebrated man – visited the college. I don't suppose he knew Greek from Hottentot, but we made the professor believe it was a famous Greek scholar who was coming, one who had been making excavations on the site of old Troy during the past four years, and who, strangely enough, was then in England and expected on a visit to Oxford. The professor prepared an elaborate address in pure Greek, and when the visitor entered the class-room he delivered it in the most eloquent manner.
"'What's that fool talking about?' asked the visitor.
"'Oh,' says young Ormsby, who was sitting near me, 'he's lecturing the class on 'Political Economy in Ancient Athens.' He'll be through in a moment and able to receive you.'
"The visitor left the room highly insulted, and the professor, when he discovered the truth a day or two later, nearly took apoplexy."
As the laughter that greeted this little reminiscence of Sir Arthur's ceased, Canaris finished his conversation with Bildad.
"It is difficult to converse with him," he reported, "but from what I can learn he dived from the very embrace of the serpent, and succeeded in swimming to the other canoe, which he had turned adrift only a moment or two before. Without paddles or food he floated behind us into the lake."
"It's a miracle that he escaped the serpents," said the colonel, "floating about on the lake all the time."
"But how did he know anything about the entrance to the river?" exclaimed Guy. "Did you ask him that, Canaris?"
"Yes," said the Greek. "He says he discovered it himself a year or two ago just as the old Englishman must have done."
"Well, it's a lucky thing for Bildad that he ran across us," was Guy's comment; and Bildad, to judge from his contented expression, seemed thoroughly to appreciate this fact.
As the river continued swift and smooth, with no signs of danger ahead, all went to sleep except Canaris and the colonel, who were intrusted with the care of the raft. Several hours later they were relieved by Chutney and Forbes, and thus all secured a fair night's rest.
A scanty share of food was doled out for breakfast, as the supply was getting very low. Some time afterward a faint roar was heard in the distance, and almost before they could prepare for danger a violent cross current struck the raft, tossing it about most perilously, and they caught a glimpse of a furious body of water issuing from a narrow passageway.
"That was the other channel, the one we should have taken in the first place," exclaimed Guy. "We are now on the main river again."
"They travel separately for quite a distance," remarked the colonel. "The lake must be seventy or eighty miles in our rear. We are making splendid time."
Little did they imagine at that moment how great a change was close at hand. The river glided smoothly between its massive walls with scarce a murmur.
An hour later Forbes held up a warning finger. An ominous sound was heard far below that increased in volume with every second.
"Cling to the raft for your lives," shouted Chutney.
The first words were audible; the last were drowned in the mighty roar of the water, so sudden was its approach. By the torchlight they saw for an instant the billows of tossing spray. Then the raft plunged madly like a thing of life, a great wave broke over it with stunning force, and all was darkness.
None could remember clearly what happened after that. Plunging over the crests of enormous waves, whirling round and round in dizzy revolutions, drenched by icy showers of spray, grinding and crashing on countless rocks, the raft went on its way through that awful stretch of rapids, holding together by nothing short of a miracle. A full hour it lasted, though it must have seemed like days to the wretched voyagers.
Then the wild pitching and tossing subsided, the crash of the furious water grew fainter, and all was calm and peaceful as before.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
MORE MISERY
Perceiving that the danger was over, Guy ventured to sit up. His clothes were dripping wet, but fortunately he kept his matches in a tin box, and striking one cautiously, he lit a torch which had been lying partly under his body, and was not too damp to burn.
His companions were still sprawled out on the raft, holding to the logs with all their strength. When Guy assured them that all danger was past they sat up, looking very pale and dazed.
"That was awful," said the colonel. "It's a miracle the raft lived through such a ride."
"The canoe is gone," exclaimed Forbes. "Washed clear off the deck, and – Why, hello, what's the matter, Chutney?"
Guy was looking about the raft with a ghastly and fear-stricken countenance, holding the torch over his head.
"A terrible calamity has happened," he cried in a voice that was strangely unnatural. "I fear we are lost men. Where are the provisions? Where are our torches?"
"By gracious, they are gone!" declared the colonel. "Clean gone!"
It was truly a terrible situation in which they found themselves. The provisions and the torches had been washed off the raft. If they did not reach the open air in two or three days starvation was certain.
"No," cried the Greek suddenly, "all hope is not gone. Look! here is a bag that was lying partly under me. It is half full of crackers."
"And I have three torches in my pocket," added Sir Arthur. "Bless me if I know how they got there but here they are, anyhow."
"That scant supply of food may last us to the journey's end, if used in moderation," said Guy solemnly. "God grant us a speedy passage to the mouth of the river."
In spite of Chutney's brave attempts to cheer them up, the spirits of the party sank very low.
That meager bag of crackers must feed six mouths until they reached the end of the cavern. That event might be in a week, and it might be in a month. The uncertainty and the suspense were terribly trying.
It was some consolation to discover that the river was still flowing very rapidly. The possibility of encountering more rapids they now dreaded but little, for it was very improbable that worse places could exist than that which the raft had navigated so stanchly.
"We must travel night and day," said Guy, "and in darkness. We have four torches left. Only when we hear the sound of rapids dare we light one of them."
He emphasized his words by putting out the torch that was burning, and instantly they were plunged in total darkness.
This marked the commencement of a period in which all trace of time was lost. Huddled together on the few remaining rugs, they drifted on and on with the current, alternately asleep and awake.
At certain intervals a torch was lit for a few moments while they ate the pitiful scraps of food that Guy distributed with rigorous impartiality.
The short periods of light were taken advantage of by the colonel to record in his diary the brief incidents of the journey.
A few extracts from it, made with his permission, will make sufficiently clear to the reader in what gloomy monotony that part of their cruise was spent which began with the departure from the lake and terminated abruptly in a misfortune remarkable for the utter despair that followed on its track:
First stage.– This is the second day since leaving the lake. We received three crackers apiece. Twice a torch was lit to aid us in passing rapids. They proved to be insignificant.
Second stage.– We slept by turns. Had three crackers apiece. All complain of hunger. Bildad clamors for food. Current still good. Plenty of small rapids.
Third stage.– We now sleep most of the time. Chutney has cut down the rations to two crackers apiece. Bildad is ill. Drinks water incessantly and demands food. We are compelled to hide the bag.
Fourth stage.– Current not so rapid. All in low spirits. We are tortured by hunger. Sir Arthur dreams of banquets in his sleep. Harrows our feelings by his accounts of them. Bildad very ill. No longer wants food.
Fifth stage.– Alas! worse and worse! Bildad and Sir Arthur ill. Chutney is a hero. He tries to cheer us all. Gave half his share of food to Sir Arthur. Thinks I don't know. Bildad raving. Had to tie him to the raft.
Sixth stage.– Bildad and Sir Arthur very weak. Today a gleam of hope. Canaris, after many trials, caught a fish a foot long. We devoured it raw with the utmost greed. Our strength is fast leaving us.
Seventh stage.– Chutney still hopeful. Bildad and Sir Arthur in a bad way. Provisions for three days still remain. We must reach the mouth of the river by that time. Canaris fished, but caught nothing.
Eighth stage.– The outlook is dark. I fear none will ever read these pages. The river begins to run sluggishly. Bildad shrieks and raves continually. Sir Arthur is better. They are all asleep now. Forbes and I were put on guard, but Forbes has gone to sleep, and I am afraid I shall do the same without knowing it. A dizzy weakness is coming over me, and —
At this point the writer appears to have dropped his book and pencil and fallen asleep.
Just what space of time was covered by the above quoted entries from the colonel's book is uncertain. A week would probably be a fair guess. The misery of these unfortunate voyagers during that period can hardly be imagined. They suffered continually from the pangs of hunger. They traveled in utter darkness, and, to add to the horror of it all, two sick men had to be ministered to. Under these circumstances we again take up the thread of the story.
It is not to be wondered at that Forbes and the colonel were so derelict as to fall asleep at their post of duty. To remain awake in their condition was simply impossible. It was terribly unfortunate that it should be so, as what follows will prove.
The raft encountered no rapids during the time that all were sleeping, and as far as personal danger was concerned it mattered not whether any one was on guard or not.
Forbes and Chutney awoke about the same time. As was Guy's usual habit after sleeping, he lit a torch to see how the current was running. The light woke Canaris and the colonel almost immediately, while Sir Arthur turned on his rug and asked feebly for something to eat.
The very mention of food brought a hungry glare to their eyes, and Guy turned round to reach the bag. It was not in its accustomed place, and he staggered to his feet in astonishment.
"It's gone," he cried savagely. "The bag is gone. Who has taken it?"
They glared at each other with fierce mistrust.
"Ah, look! look!" shrieked Canaris suddenly. "The black wretch!" and springing across the raft he flung himself on Bildad and grasped him with both hands savagely by the throat.
Melton and Guy tore him away by main force and there beside the African lay the bag – empty.
Bildad's lips were full of crumbs, and half a cracker was still clutched in one grimy hand.
"Kill him. Throw him in the river!" shrieked the Greek, who was fairly beside himself with rage and hunger.
"He is out of his mind," said Guy gravely. "He took them in his delirium. Not one is left;" as he shook the bag in the air.
Sir Arthur made another piteous appeal for food, and Guy took the half cracker from Bildad's hand and gave it to him.
"None left!" repeated the colonel blankly. "What are we going to do? We'll starve in two days. I feel now as if I were on fire inside."
"All our rifles are gone, too," said Guy suddenly. "Bildad has thrown them overboard. The crafty scoundrel feared we would shoot him for stealing the crackers, and he threw away the guns on purpose. There was method in his madness, after all."
"The fiend!" hissed Canaris between his teeth. "And it was I who saved his life for this. If I only had known! If I only had left him to perish in the lake!"
"Hark! I hear rapids or something ahead," said Guy at that instant.
For the moment this diverted their attention from poor Bildad, who lay in a half stupor unconscious of all that was taking place.
The sound that Guy had heard was close at hand, and in a moment the raft was flung heavily upon a sand bar and remained there motionless.
The channel made a sudden, sharp turn, and the current, being too swift to round the sharp angle, dashed with a sullen splash against the shore.
Guy grasped the torch and staggered forward on the beach. It was the first time his feet had touched land for more than a week.
"Here is shore and rocks beyond it," he exclaimed. "I see a cavern, too, in the face of the cliff."
He continued to move forward with uplifted torch. Suddenly he paused and uttered a loud cry. A terrible roar echoed from the cavern a second later, and then with a single bound a great tawny beast sprang out of the shadows, and striking Guy to the earth with one blow of his mighty paw, threw himself furiously on the prostrate body.
CHAPTER XXXV.
BILDAD DRINKS NEW LIFE
The stricken man had no time to utter another cry. The lion – for such it proved to be – paused a moment, with uplifted head, snarling angrily. The torch had been flung back a yard or more toward the water, and was spluttering on the damp sand.
Guy's companions were helpless with fear and dread. Forbes alone had self-possession enough to remember that he had a revolver. It was not loaded, and he trembled so much that he could scarcely draw the shells from his pocket.
"Hurry! Hurry!" whispered the colonel. "The brute may tear him apart any moment."
Meanwhile Guy lay white and motionless in the grasp of the lion. Not a muscle quivered, and his eyes were closed.
Suddenly, as Forbes was nervously ramming the shells into the revolver, the beast turned on his prey with a vicious growl and seized Guy's arm loosely in his mighty jaws. In another instant Chutney would have been dragged off, but help was to come from an unlooked-for source.
With a single bound Bildad sprang out upon the sand, brandishing a huge spear that Canaris had brought with him from the lake.
Another leap carried him within a yard or two of the lion, and the amazed spectators had a brief vision of the enraged beast quivering for a spring at the audacious African.
Then the spear flashed in the torchlight, and as Bildad sprang to one side, the lion, with a mighty roar, toppled over on the sand – dead. The spear had pierced his heart.
For an instant no one realized what had happened. The lion in his fall had cleared his victim entirely, and before any one thought of moving forward Guy pulled himself to his feet and staggered feebly toward the raft. Melton ran forward just in time to catch him in his arms.
"Thank God," he exclaimed fervently. "You are not hurt, Chutney?"
"No, I think not," was Guy's response; "only stunned and bruised a little. It was a close call."
"Close! I should say it was. It's the first time I ever saw a lion killed in that way. Bildad saved your life, for Melton could never have killed the brute with that toy he has there."
A strange sound suddenly diverted their attention to Bildad.
The savage was ripping open the dead lion's throat with a spear, and throwing himself on his knees, he lapped up greedily the red blood as it flowed from the wound.
It was a horrible and fascinating sight. He drank long and deeply, and when at length he rose from his savage feast the ferocity of the lion seemed actually to have flowed into his own veins, so horrible and demon-like was the expression on his dusky face.
Shaking the blood-stained spear, he shouted two or three times in a frenzied manner, and then tottering to the raft, flung himself among the rugs.
"We are saved," cried Forbes with sudden inspiration. "There lies meat in plenty."
Melton's words caused a speedy revulsion of feeling. The colonel shouted for very joy, and Canaris sprang toward the dead lion with drawn knife.
"Cut off as much of the meat as you can," said Guy. "Here, give me my saber. Let me help."
He turned to reach it, but a sudden weakness came over him, and he was compelled to lie down on the rugs. The colonel, in deep alarm, made a hasty examination to see if he had sustained any injury, but with the exception of a severe bruising and a slight laceration of the left arm, caused by the lion's teeth, he appeared to be all right.
Melton and Canaris were just on the point of cutting into the dead lion with their sabers, the only weapons that remained to them, when a fierce roar echoed through the cavern, repeated two or three times in rapid succession, and in the gloom they could see a pair of shining eyes.
"Run for the raft," cried the Greek; and, as they reached the shore, a superb lioness bounded forward and stood by the body of her mate.
"See!" cried the colonel, pointing a trembling finger. "Two more lions coming out of the cavern. Push the raft into the water at once or we shall be devoured."
The danger was indeed imminent, and yet, in their starving condition, it was hard to leave all that meat behind. Forbes, impelled by some mad impulse, pointed his revolver at the angry lioness, but Guy grasped his arm before he could pull the trigger. Two more lions were now in plain view, stalking slowly out of the shadows.
"The pistol is useless," said Guy. "We dare not resist. We must get away as silently as possible."
The raft had been tossed but lightly upon the beach, and with but little effort it was pushed free of the shore and trembled on the water.
A loud roar close at hand caused them to fall on board in frantic haste, and as the swift current whirled them away the three lions trotted down to the water's edge and howled in concert.
"We may be thankful we got away with whole skins," said Chutney. "It was a great misfortune to have to abandon all that meat, but a delay or an attempt at resistance would have cost us our lives."
"It means starvation," said Melton bitterly. "Those lions came down from the open air to drink. That hole in the rocks led out of the cavern, I have no doubt, and we could have followed it up and perhaps found food, or we might even have abandoned the cavern entirely and finished our journey on top of ground. We must be close to the coast now."
This statement of what "might have been" sent their spirits down to the lowest ebb. They realized that Melton was undoubtedly right. Safety had actually been within their grasp, but the lions had driven them off, and now they were doomed to almost certain death by starvation. Even had they chosen to go back and risk the chances it was too late, for the current had taken them far from the spot, and the sandy shores had given way to perpendicular walls of rock.
The torch continued to burn brightly, a piece of extravagance that called forth no rebuke.
The journey continued amid unbroken silence. Sir Arthur and Bildad were both asleep, though it was no peaceful slumber, to judge from their restless tossings.
Sir Arthur's illness had now lasted a week. It was more of a nervous attack than anything else, but without food it was hopeless to look for recovery. He was extremely weak, and lay most of the time in a stupor.
The painful bruises Guy had sustained kept him awake much longer than the rest, but at last he too fell asleep.
Thus several hours passed away, and they awoke in utter darkness. The torch had burnt out during the night, but Guy recklessly lit another.
The river was flowing rapidly among scattered rocks, and as the raft approached a jagged ledge that cropped up from the water, a dark object was seen clinging to it.
"Why, it is our lost canoe," said Forbes as they drew near. "Help me catch it, Chutney. We will pass close to it."
The raft struck the edge of the rocks, and as it swung round with the current they grasped the end of the canoe and pulled it on board.
"It will do for firewood," said Guy. "We won't have to travel in the dark any more."
"Yes, yes; build a fire," said Sir Arthur feebly, sitting up among the rugs. "I'm cold, Chutney; icy cold. Have we come to the end of the cavern yet?"
"He seems a little better," whispered the colonel, coming close up to Guy. "Do you know, Chutney, I've been thinking for the last hour that we must surely be near the end of the river. Since first we entered this cavern we have traveled eight hundred miles. Calculate the rate of speed at which the current flows, and you must see that I am right. Moreover, we cannot be very far beneath the surface of the earth. Those lions do not dwell in the cavern. They only came down for water."
"I believe you are right," said Guy. "Two more days will tell. If we don't reach the open air in that time – well, it won't matter after that whether we reach it or not. I can hardly stand on my feet, and as for the torments of hunger, I need not speak of that. You know them yourself."
"Yes, I do indeed know what it is," said the colonel bitterly, "but we must endure it a while longer. For myself I do not care so much, but Sir Arthur is in a bad way, and as for Bildad, we may have to bind him hand and foot. He sleeps now, but no one can tell what he may do when he awakes."
"We will watch him closely," said Guy. "Canaris is splitting up the canoe for firewood, and it will no longer be necessary to travel in darkness."
"See!" cried the Greek, pausing with uplifted axe. "The shores have disappeared. Has the river become wide or is this another lake?"
"There is still a strong current," said Guy. "The channel has suddenly become broad. That is all."
A cheerful fire was soon blazing, and the ruddy reflection stained the water far and near, as the raft drifted on with the current. Sir Arthur fell asleep again, and Bildad lay among the rugs as one dead, glutted with his savage feast, and his lips and hands still red with clotted blood.
