CHAPTER XXII
A TERRIBLE NIGHT
We will return now to Mr. Hume, who was left supporting theunconscious form of Venning on the brink of the rushing river, withthe vast vault above him, and the roar of sharp explosions bellowingat intervals through the hollows. As he stooped over his youngcompanion, he caught a fluttering of the eyelids, and placing theboy on the ground with a pillow made by his rolled-up coat, heunfastened the little medicine-bag which each always carried, andgave him a strong restorative. Then he chafed the cold hands, tookoff the wet shoes, and did the same to the feet, which were likemarble. As the blood circulated under the friction, Venning regainedhis colour, and suddenly looked about him.
"I'm here, lad," said Mr. Home, cheerily. "You grew a little dizzy,but you're all right."
"What's that noise?" asked the boy, breathlessly. Mr. Hume pickedhim up, and carried him to the door of the vault.
"Magnificent, isn't it? Aren't you glad we came? One of the wondersof the world; and you've got the crow over Dick this time."
Venning sighed. "It's rather awful," he muttered. "It's grand, lad,grand! See how the water juts out like a column of steam with theroar of a big gun, and how the light falls upon it in a thousandhues, as the fine spray falls."
Venning's eyes opened wide as they looked up. "Like golden rain at adisplay of fireworks."
"The very thing, lad," answered the hunter, enthusiastically.
Venning's eyes ranged slowly down to the well of green water archingout from the black wall, and then to the snow-white flood where thefoam hissed in its giddy descent.
"Where is she?"
"She'll be back soon. But we cannot wait for her here---there is toomuch moisture. We'll get back to a drier place."
Still carrying the boy, he made his way back to the great chamber,lit up mysteriously by those pale cones and glistening columns. Herehe found a dry place in a comer, and after placing Venning on theground, he struck a match.
"Here's a find," he said, pouncing on a piece of driftwood.
With his Ghoorka knife he soon split it up, and in a short time afire was blazing, throwing a red reflection on the stalactites. Itwas an eerie place, echoing to the thunders of the explosions, withpitch-dark comers, and those ghost-like forms in the misty heights,but Mr. Hume would not allow his patient time to brood over thesurroundings. He shaved off fragments of biltong for him to eat,talking cheerfully all the time, and at last had the satisfaction ofseeing the overwrought nerves of the lad quieted in sleep. Then theanxiety that had filled him all the time appeared in the expressionof his face, and he stepped away a few yards to send a call for thewoman ringing up into the vault. The cry ran away mournfully in aseries of diminishing echoes, but no answer came, and he looked tohis weapons, built up the fire with other fragments of wood that hadbeen evidently borne in at times of flood, and explored the cave.There was no sign of the woman anywhere, but he found three exits.Relinquishing any idea of following them until Venning was fit towalk, he returned to the fire, and sat down with his back to therock waiting for the woman's return. If he felt doubt or fear, hefought against it, resolving that, come what would, his first carewas to save his companion, but that there was cause for doubt heknew very well from the remarks and bearing of the woman. Probably,he thought, the secret of the underground was hers only, and shemight well have a motive sufficiently strong to preserve thatsecret even at the sacrifice of their lives. Full of these thoughts,he began another examination of the cave, confining himself thistime to a search of the floor. Going down on hands and knees, andcarrying a lighted stick, he minutely inspected the thin layer ofdust which had settled since the last flood-waters had rushedthrough. Traversing slowly the width of the cave, he found his ownspoor and the spoor of the woman. Then working round with the objectof finding which of the three openings she had taken on leaving, hecame upon a calabash and a kaross made of goats'-skin. The calabash,from the smell, contained goats'-milk. Leaving the fire-stick tomark the spot to which he had carried his search, he went back toplace the kaross over the sleeping boy. Then taking another stickfrom the fire, he took up the spooring from the place he had leftoff, and crawled inch by inch, till he came to the first exit. Herehe saw his spoor entering together with the footprints of the woman,both very plain from the mud which had adhered to their feet. Thewoman, however, had not passed out. That, at any rate, was one pointsettled, and he went on with a feeling of distinct relief at thethought that there might be another way out than by the fearfultrack they had followed on entering. On nearing the second exit hepaused, startled by what seemed to him the sound of shrill voicesborne suddenly in a pause between the bellowing of the water-jetsin the neighbouring vault. When he listened he could, however,distinguish no sound in the mutterings and the boomings that washuman, and repressing a desire to cry out, he groped along up to thesecond exit. Here, however, there were no footprints. The surfacewas smooth rock, and he was passing on when something about the rockattracted his attention again. Leaving one of the sticks again toguide him on his return by its glowing end, he returned to the fire,rebuilt it, waited till it was fairly blazing, then with anotherglaring torch he ran to continue his search. He found what he hadhalf expected, that the rock had been polished by the passage ofmany feet, which had worn out quite a marked depression. He alsosatisfied himself that the woman had not passed out there, for asher feet had been wet she must have left some trace on the smoothsurface. There remained now the third and last exit, and as he edgedaway to the left, he saw that the beaten track also led in the samedirection. He rose and walked, feeling for the opening with hisright hand, and, coming to it, he was glad, but not surprised, tomake two discoveries, first, that the well-marked path entered theopening, and second, that the woman had also passed that way. Therewas the spoor of one foot clearly outlined in particles of moistdust.
"That's good," he muttered, standing up. "But I don't like the lookof that path. Means people. But what sort of people? And the karossand the goats'-milk. People again. No good taking risks."
He went back to the fire, drew the sticks away, thrust the burningends into crevices, and left the comer in darkness once more. Thenhe sat down by Venning with his rifle across his knees and waited.He had no thought of moving a foot from the cave until Venning wasfit to move; he would let him have his sleep out, and if he was nobetter, well, then, he would carry him. So he sat waiting andwatching, listening to the hoarse rumblings which all the timeascended from below, and to the tremendous reports, a little dulledby the intervening wall, made by the spurting water. He watched thecoming of the night, marked the gradual fading of the sheen on thestalactites, until softly the shadows sank and merged into thedarkness of the cave, leaving nothing visible but a faint gleamwhere the nearest sulphur cone stood.
Eerie it was in the dim light, eerier it was now in the dark, withthose hoarse mutterings from beneath, and those thunderousreverberations pealing at irregular intervals through the unknownspaces above. He had his pipe, but his habitual caution deterred himfrom seeking its comfort, and he was glad he had abstained, and gladat having extinguished the fire, when suddenly he heard the sound ofshrill laughter. A sullen roar from the water-hole beyond drownedthe sound, but he knew in every fibre that he had not been mistaken.There were others beside him and Venning in the vaults, but not fora moment was he pleased at the thought. Instinct or the associationof the place warned them of danger. For a long spell, however, hecould distinguish nothing human in the hurly-burly of sounds, andthen again, nearer and plainer, the shrill peal rang out exultant,with a note in it of some savage beast flinging back the news to thepack that the scent was hot.
Slowly he stooped his head to hear if Venning slept, for he dreadedwhat would happen if the boy awoke in the pitchy darkness and heardthat demoniac cry. The boy's breathing came at regular intervals,and with a muttered prayer that he would sleep on, the Hunter feltfor the trigger.
"Ngonyama!" From the height a voice calling to him dropped soft asthe flight of a bat, faint
as a whisper, yet clear as a bell in allthat turmoil.
He smiled grimly, but did not answer. This was some trick of thewoman. If she was friendly, why had she left them?
"Indhlovu! "--again it fell as from afar.
He ran his hand over the bandolier, loosened the cartridges, and lethis fingers curl round the trigger again.
A gust of wind blowing through some fissure shrieked amid theheights as if terrified at having wandered into such a prison, thenfor a long time the old sounds continued to make sport in the vaultsand tunnels without any interruption.
Then Venning suddenly woke, and Mr. Hume was in a fever to keep theboy's mind occupied, and to get him asleep again.
"Drink this," he said, picking up the calabash, "and go to sleepagain."
Venning took a long drink, "I dreamt I was by the sea, listening tothe waves. It was almost as good as being home again."
"That's right. It's the sound of water. Go to sleep again and dreamof old England, the best medicine you could have."
"I think I will," said Venning; and, with a sigh, he pulled thekaross over him, being too tired out to wonder how it came there.
"Sleep well, lad, sleep well;" and the big hand rested on the boy'sshoulder to comfort him with its touch, but the man's face wasturned with a straining expression towards the exit which he hadlast inspected, for it seemed to him that he had seen a streak oflight, such as would be thrown in advance by a torch.
To his relief. Venning dropped off once more into a deep slumber,and he bent forward, alert in every fibre. He was not mistaken.There was a light over in the dark, not a light that sparkled, but agreenish glow, not unlike the eye of an animal as seen at night inthe reflection of a bull's-eye lantern. It moved, too, like the eyeof an animal, and presently other lights gathered around and at theback, giving off no radiance, not bright enough to throw up intorelief the objects that produced them, but watchful, like the eyesof a pack of wild-dogs regarding their prey. The Hunter tried anexperiment. Feeling for his great knife, he struck a stone, andwatched to see if there was any movement of surprise which wouldindicate that there were living creatures aware of his presence.There was no such movement. Like bits of dull green glass with alight behind, these mysterious points remained as they had been,moving gently as if to the action of respiration. He raised hisrifle, tempted to fire under the feeling of nervous suspense thattried his iron nerves, but lowered it at once, with a glance down atthe dark form at his side. He would wait; and he sat watching thethings, whatever they were, that seemed to be watching him with suchcold and silent intentness. Then he made out that they were notanimals. The eyes of animals blink, and these did not. Moreover,any animal, however fierce, would turn its eyes away at times; butthese remained staring. What were they? He had seen fungus glow likethat in the forest, but never so many together. And then he strainedhis ears to gather from any sound an inkling of their nature, but,beyond the bellowings and the sullen roar, he could hear nothing.How long could he stand the suspense? Already he felt a strongimpulse to jump up, to shout, to break up that fixed regard, to cometo the death-grapple, if need be, rather than sit there in doubt.The minutes slipped by slowly; each slowly spun its time out, as ifevery minute were an hour, each hour a week, and the moisturegathered on his brow, when at last the tension was broken.
"Sisters, I smell smoke!"
"Thank God," was the man's thought, "they are living." The suspensefell from him. He pulled himself together, and was ready foranything.
"Smoke!" The voice reached him in sharp shrill accents that piercedthe continual growling of the waters. "Who is here?"
"Ngonyama!" was the reply uttered by several.
"He is terrible, sisters. Hear the thunder of his voice. Let us fly,lest he tear us." And the speaker laughed.
"That is not his voice! He is afraid; he crouches like the pantherin the trap, trembling. His strength has gone from him."
"I heard a lion was in the plains, and the cows ran together in acluster, for they were afraid."
A shrill laughter was the response, but the dull lights remainedwhere they were, and again there was a long spell of silence, as faras the voices were concerned. Then the lights went out. The Hunterstooped forward, listening, but he could hear no footfall. He putthe gun down, and grasped the knife in his right hand, for he coulduse it with better effect in a sudden assault.
"I smell meat!"
The voice came now from another quarter, and then the lights shoneout one after another.
"What meat is this, sister?"
"Indhlovu."
"Wow! There are fat pickings on the bones of the great one; but heis powerful. I hear his trumpeting."
"Haw! it is the voice of the unseen, mother. Indhlovu has falleninto the pit that was set for him. His power has gone."
Again the voices ceased, again the strange lights were dimmed; butthe Hunter was ready, for he knew now they were quartering the cavein search of him. He had no fear, only a feeling of intense disgust,coupled with a determination to scare the lives out of these ghouls,if they ventured on an attack. By-and-by he beard faint rustlings,and then breathings; but it was impossible to see, and he satperfectly still. Then the voices broke out again at another point.
"He is here, my sisters."
"Wow! We are hungry; let us eat. We are thirsty; let us drink."
"Sisters, terrible is the power in the arm of Indhlovu. He strikes,and lo! as a falling tree sweeps a passage through the forest, sowould he sweep us away. Let him weaken; let hunger fasten on hisvitals, and fear trouble his brain."
"We are wolves; we would tear him down in his strength, while hisblood is red."
"Terrible is the trunk of Indhlovu, and terrible is the arm ofNgonyama. In his hand is a broad knife, and with one stroke will hesplit a head. Let the darkness hold him."
"We hunger, and he will go. The wizard will claim him for his own;the dark waters will drag him down. Give him to us."
"He watches over his cub, and who so fierce as the lion who protectshis young? The cub will sicken. The sound of the waters will troublehis brain; his spirit will fly before the terror of the darkness.Wait, my sisters, till his cub be dead."
"Demons!" cried the Hunter, his patience gone in a storm of fury."Away!" He sprang forward with a roar, and his knife, whistlingthrough the air, fell upon the gleaming cone, and struck from itsparks of fire.
With cries of fear the women--if women they were--fled, their lightsshowing again from the second exit, where was the beaten footway,and then out of the dark tunnel came a peal of fiendish laughter.Then silence, or, rather, a relief from the mocking voices; butthere was a reminder of their presence in one of those pale greenishlights. He strode towards it, saw it had been dropped, picked it up,and found that it came from some substance held in a bag of opennetwork. With a short laugh he saw it was fungus, a discovery thattook all the mystery out of the recent performance, and since itappeared that the only thing formidable about his persecutors wastheir trickery in making the most of the terrors of the dark, heremade the fire, for there was no mistaking the chillness of theair. As he thought over the fantastic doings of the visitors, helaughed again, and presently feeling the warmth of the fire, heyawned and closed his eyes.
"Only a parcel of women," he muttered, and was asleep.
And as he slept, believing there was no danger, the shadows closedin as the fire dwindled--closed in, taking queer shapes. Across thesmooth, gleaming surface of the cone these shadows came, likestooping forms, with long lean arms. There were whisperings, too,"clicks" made by the tongue, and Venning, opening his eyes, suddenlyheard these sounds at once, notwithstanding the walls of the caverntrembled to the hollow thunder of the waters. His eyes fell uponsomething beyond-the fire. He did not move, or cry out, or wonderwhere he was; his mind was focussed like his wide-opened eyes onthat object. It was like a face, and yet he could not make outwhether it was the face of man, or bird, or beast, or reptile. Oneglance at the thing by any one else would have been more thanenough,
so terrible it was; but Venning's overpowering curiosity asa naturalist mercifully blotter-put the horror. He was trying toidentify it, and made mental notes such as these:--
"Forehead low, receding; brows contracted; eyes small, deep-set,venomous; lower part of face banded black, and undecipherable; necklong, skinny, vulture-like; rest of body not visible."
"Snake, or wild-cat," he said.
"Eh?" said Mr. Hume, waking at once.
There was a ring of metal, a sudden babel of fierce cries, the flashof a rifle-shot, and the clap of the report, followed by shrieks.
"It's all right, lad," shouted Mr. Hume, as Venning straggled torise; "keep down."
There was a sharp hissing. Something struck the rock above theHunter as he was stooping over Venning, and fell down into the fire.It was a barbed arrow. He fired again, scattered the fire with akick, and crouched over the boy. Several arrows rang viciouslyagainst the rock. He felt for Venning's carbine, swung it round withone hand, and emptied the magazine, firing at different points. Withyells of disappointment, rage, and fear, the creatures of the nightfled once more.
"Are you all right, my boy?"
"Yes; but what does it mean? What were they? I thought the thing wasa snake."
"What did you see?"
"Something staring out of the shadows. I could not make out what itwas, and as you awoke it seemed to jump forward and strike."
"Ay, the blow fell on my belt. Thank God, you warned me; but it wasmy fault. I should have kept awake. They're only women, lad. Don'tlet any fancies come into your head."
Venning sniffed. "Smell anything? Seems to me like sulphur."
"It's the gunpowder fumes, hanging low."
Venning sat up. "What is that booming noise?"
"The sound of falling water."
The boy was silent for some time, while the Hunter reloaded thecarbine and his Express.
"So---we are still down below."
"But I know the way out, and as soon as it is daylight we'll getback into the valley. Have no fears."
Venning's hand went out to feel for his companion. "I must havegiven you a lot of trouble. You've got your coat off."
"I didn't want it, and it came in handy as a pillow."
"Put it on," said Venning, "and give me my gun."
Mr. Hume laughed cheerily. "Feeling yourself again--eh? Well, that'sgood. And now we'll put an end to this nonsense."
"I certainly smell sulphur," said Venning; "and what is that bluestreak there?" He took a step towards the smooth cone. "It issulphur!" he cried. "See, it's burning."
Mr. Hume stepped to his side, and saw the unmistakable blue flamegiven off by burning sulphur, while a whiff of the fumes made himchoke.
"You're right; it's a mass of sulphur. The burning wad front thecartridge must have set it alight." He sliced off the burning patchwith his knife. "We don't want to be fumigated, or to die ofsuffocation. Now, if you feel strong enough, we'll explore thecave."
"Is it safe? I mean, are there any chasms?"
"Smooth as a floor. Keep close by me."
They examined the cavern carefully by means of the strange lanternfilled with fungus, and Mr. Hume halted by the second exit.
"This is where they enter," he said, "and I think our best plan willbe to build a fire in the mouth. We should then have the advantageover them, as we should see them once they came into thereflection."
They set about collecting wood, when Venning had a thought.
"Which way does the draught set in the tunnel--away from the cavernor into it?"
"Why?"
"Because, if the current of air blows away from us, we can easilykeep them out."
"It blows from the cave into the tunnel. I found that out before."
"Then we have got them, whoever they are. Make the fire in thepassage, pile up blocks of this sulphur on the inner side, and thewind will carry the fumes down into the tunnel."
"A splendid plan," said Mr. Hume; and very soon it was carded out, acouple of shots being fired into the dark passage as a warning tothe enemy to keep off. As the flames caught the sulphur, a thicksmoke rolled away. "That will stop them; and now we can wait inpeace till the morning."
The rest of the night passed for them in peace as far as theirassailants were concerned, but the chilling damp of the vaults gotinto their bones, and Venning was pinched and shivering when thefirst ray of sunshine struck slanting down through the mist-ladenatmosphere, bringing with it a message of hope from the bright outerworld.