CHAPTER X
I GO TREASURE-HUNTING
For a mile or so I kept the bush, which was open and easy to ridethrough, and then turned into the path. The moon was high, and theworld was all a dim dark green, with the track a golden ivory bandbefore me. I had looked at my watch before I started, and seen that itwas just after eight o'clock. I had a great horse under me, and lessthan thirty miles to cover. Midnight should see me at the cave. Withthe password I would gain admittance, and there would wait for Laputaand Henriques. Then, if my luck held, I should see the inner workingsof the mystery which had puzzled me ever since the Kirkcaple shore. Nodoubt I should be roughly treated, tied up prisoner, and carried withthe army when the march began. But till Inanda's Kraal my life wassafe, and before that came the ford of the Letaba. Colin would carrymy message to Arcoll, and at the Drift the tables would be turned onLaputa's men.
Looking back in cold blood, it seems the craziest chain of accidents tocount on for preservation. A dozen possibilities might have shatteredany link of it. The password might be wrong, or I might never get thelength of those who knew it. The men in the cave might butcher me outof hand, or Laputa might think my behaviour a sufficient warrant forthe breach of the solemnest vow. Colin might never get toBlaauwildebeestefontein, Laputa might change his route of march, orArcoll's men might fail to hold the Drift. Indeed, the other day atPortincross I was so overcome by the recollection of the perils I haddared and God's goodness towards me that I built a new hall for theparish kirk as a token of gratitude.
Fortunately for mankind the brain in a life of action turns more to thematter in hand than to conjuring up the chances of the future.Certainly it was in no discomfort of mind that I swung along themoonlit path to the north. Truth to tell, I was almost happy. Thefirst honours in the game had fallen to me. I knew more about Laputathan any man living save Henriques; I had my finger on the centralpulse of the rebellion. There was hid treasure ahead of me--a greatnecklace of rubies, Henriques had said. Nay, there must be more, Iargued. This cave of the Rooirand was the headquarters of the rising,and there must be stored their funds--diamonds, and the gold they hadbeen bartered for. I believe that every man has deep in his soul apassion for treasure-hunting, which will often drive a coward intoprodigies of valour. I lusted for that treasure of jewels and gold.Once I had been high-minded, and thought of my duty to my country, butin that night ride I fear that what I thought of was my duty to enrichDavid Crawfurd. One other purpose simmered in my head. I was devouredwith wrath against Henriques. Indeed, I think that was the strongestmotive for my escapade, for even before I heard Laputa tell of the vowsand the purification, I had it in my mind to go at all costs to thecave. I am a peaceable man at most times, but I think I would ratherhave had the Portugoose's throat in my hands than the collar of PresterJohn.
But behind my thoughts was one master-feeling, that Providence hadgiven me my chance and I must make the most of it. Perhaps theCalvinism of my father's preaching had unconsciously taken grip of mysoul. At any rate I was a fatalist in creed, believing that what waswilled would happen, and that man was but a puppet in the hands of hisMaker. I looked on the last months as a clear course which had beenmapped out for me. Not for nothing had I been given a clue to thestrange events which were coming. It was foreordained that I should goalone to Umvelos', and in the promptings of my own fallible heart Ibelieved I saw the workings of Omnipotence. Such is our moralarrogance, and yet without such a belief I think that mankind wouldhave ever been content to bide sluggishly at home.
I passed the spot where on my former journey I had met the horses, andknew that I had covered more than half the road. My ear had been alertfor the sound of pursuit, but the bush was quiet as the grave. The manwho rode my pony would find him a slow traveller, and I pitied the poorbeast bucketed along by an angry rider. Gradually a hazy wall ofpurple began to shimmer before me, apparently very far off. I knew theramparts of the Rooirand, and let my _schimmel_ feel my knees in hisribs. Within an hour I should be at the cliff's foot.
I had trusted for safety to the password, but as it turned out I owedmy life mainly to my horse. For, a mile or so from the cliffs, I cameto the fringes of a great army. The bush was teeming with men, and Isaw horses picketed in bunches, and a multitude of Cape-carts and lightwagons. It was like a colossal gathering for _naachtmaal_[1] at a Dutchdorp, but every man was black. I saw through a corner of my eye thatthey were armed with guns, though many carried in addition their spearsand shields. Their first impulse was to stop me. I saw guns fly toshoulders, and a rush towards the path. The boldest game was thesafest, so I dug my heels into the _schimmel_ and shouted for a passage.'Make way!' I cried in Kaffir. 'I bear a message from the Inkulu.[2]Clear out, you dogs!'
They recognized the horse, and fell back with a salute. Had I butknown it, the beast was famed from the Zambesi to the Cape. It wastheir king's own charger I rode, and who dared question such a warrant?I heard the word pass through the bush, and all down the road I got thesalute. In that moment I fervently thanked my stars that I had gotaway first, for there would have been no coming second for me.
At the cliff-foot I found a double line of warriors who had theappearance of a royal guard, for all were tall men with leopard-skincloaks. Their rifle-barrels glinted in the moon-light, and the sightsent a cold shiver down my back. Above them, among the scrub and alongthe lower slopes of the kranzes, I could see further lines with thesame gleaming weapons. The Place of the Snake was in strong hands thatnight.
I dismounted and called for a man to take my horse. Two of the guardsstepped forward in silence and took the bridle. This left the track tothe cave open, and with as stiff a back as I could command, but a sadlyfluttering heart, I marched through the ranks.
The path was lined with guards, all silent and rigid as graven images.As I stumbled over the stones I felt that my appearance scarcely fittedthe dignity of a royal messenger. Among those splendid men-at-arms Ishambled along in old breeches and leggings, hatless, with a dirtyface, dishevelled hair, and a torn flannel shirt. My mind was nobetter than my body, for now that I had arrived I found my couragegone. Had it been possible I would have turned tail and fled, but theboats were burned behind me, and I had no choice. I cursed my rashfolly, and wondered at my exhilaration of an hour ago. I was goinginto the black mysterious darkness, peopled by ten thousand cruel foes.My knees rubbed against each other, and I thought that no man had everbeen in more deadly danger.
At the entrance to the gorge the guards ceased and I went on alone.Here there was no moonlight, and I had to feel my way by the sides. Imoved very slowly, wondering how soon I should find the end my follydemanded. The heat of the ride had gone, and I remember feeling myshirt hang clammily on my shoulders.
Suddenly a hand was laid on my breast, and a voice demanded, 'The word?'
'Immanuel,' I said hoarsely.
Then unseen hands took both my arms, and I was led farther into thedarkness. My hopes revived for a second. The password had provedtrue, and at any rate I should enter the cave.
In the darkness I could see nothing, but I judged that we stoppedbefore the stone slab which, as I remembered, filled the extreme end ofthe gorge. My guide did something with the right-hand wall, and I feltmyself being drawn into a kind of passage. It was so narrow that twocould not go abreast, and so low that the creepers above scraped myhair. Something clicked behind me like the turnstile at the gate of ashow.
Then we began to ascend steps, still in utter darkness, and a greatbooming fell on my ear. It was the falling river which had scared meon my former visit, and I marvelled that I had not heard it sooner.Presently we came out into a gleam of moonlight, and I saw that we wereinside the gorge and far above the slab. We followed a narrow shelf onits left side (or 'true right', as mountaineers would call it) until wecould go no farther. Then we did a terrible thing. Across the gorge,which here was at its narrowest, stretched a slab of stone. Far, farbelow I caught the moonlight on
a mass of hurrying waters. This was ourbridge, and though I have a good head for crags, I confess I grew dizzyas we turned to cross it. Perhaps it was broader than it looked; atany rate my guides seemed to have no fear, and strode across it as ifit was a highway, while I followed in a sweat of fright. Once on theother side, I was handed over to a second pair of guides, who led medown a high passage running into the heart of the mountain.
The boom of the river sank and rose as the passage twined. Soon I saw agleam of light ahead which was not the moon. It grew larger, untilsuddenly the roof rose and I found myself in a gigantic chamber. Sohigh it was that I could not make out anything of the roof, though theplace was brightly lit with torches stuck round the wall, and a greatfire which burned at the farther end. But the wonder was on the leftside, where the floor ceased in a chasm. The left wall was one sheetof water, where the river fell from the heights into the infinitedepth, below. The torches and the fire made the sheer stream glow andsparkle like the battlements of the Heavenly City. I have never seenany sight so beautiful or so strange, and for a second my breathstopped in admiration.
There were two hundred men or more in the chamber, but so huge was theplace that they seemed only a little company. They sat on the ground ina circle, with their eyes fixed on the fire and on a figure which stoodbefore it. The glow revealed the old man I had seen on that morning amonth before moving towards the cave. He stood as if in a trance,straight as a tree, with his arms crossed on his breast. A robe ofsome shining white stuff fell from his shoulders, and was clasped roundhis middle by a broad circle of gold. His head was shaven, and on hisforehead was bound a disc of carved gold. I saw from his gaze that hisold eyes were blind.
'Who comes?' he asked as I entered.
'A messenger from the Inkulu,' I spoke up boldly. 'He follows soonwith the white man, Henriques.'
Then I sat down in the back row of the circle to await events. Inoticed that my neighbour was the fellow 'Mwanga whom I had kicked outof the store. Happily I was so dusty that he could scarcely recognizeme, but I kept my face turned away from him. What with the light andthe warmth, the drone of the water, the silence of the folk, and mymental and physical stress, I grew drowsy and all but slept.
[1] The Communion Sabbath.
[2] A title applied only to the greatest chiefs.