CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
BESIEGED.
Not a word was said then for some minutes, during which the glass waspassed from one to the other, and long, excited looks taken at thestrong body of bronze, half-nude warriors seated upon their ponies closeto the edge of the flat-topped range of cliffs, some four or fivehundred feet above the bottom of the depression.
The Indians were evidently looking down at something in front of theranges of openings which formed the old-world city, and it took nothinking, after the party were once confident that they were not seen,to decide what it was that took the attention of the roving tribe.
It was Chris who repeated Wilton's words.
"They're watching the mules and ponies," he said. "I saw one fellowpoint at them when I had the glass to my eyes."
"And that is as good as saying that they are watching us," said Nedsadly.
"Oh no," cried the doctor. "They can see some beasts grazing in thisverdant bottom; they can't tell at this distance that they are notwild."
"Why, father," said Chris, "they have been hunting us for long enough."
"My dear boy, do you suppose that there is only one roving band ofIndians in all these thousands of square miles of wild country?"
"I--I--don't know, father," was the reply.
"Then you may take it as highly probable that these are not the Indianswe saw before."
"But they know that the mules and ponies are tame."
"How, when they are nearly half-a-mile away? There is neither bridlenor saddle to be seen."
"Oh no, of course not," said Chris, brightening up. "Then, after havinga good look at them, the band will ride right away."
"That is doubtful," said the doctor gravely.
"Why, they can't get down there."
"No, but they can make a long _detour_ and get down to the gulch, andthen make their way into the depression and capture us all, men andboys, ponies and mules."
"Oh!" ejaculated Chris. Then quickly, "How long will it take them toget round?"
"I wish I knew, my boy," said the doctor sadly. "We ought to haveexplored the gulch and seen how it was connected with the tablelandyonder. But there, it is of no use to regret the past; we must thinkabout the present."
"Yes," grunted Griggs, and his voice roused the doctor into action.
"What do you say, Griggs?" he cried. "My idea is to wait till theenemy--I suppose we must look upon them as the enemy--have gone out ofsight, and that we then load up and retreat as fast as we can."
"Too late," said Griggs gruffly; "we may come right upon them."
"Yes, if they make their way to the mouth of the gulch. They may becontent with seeing that there is a herd of strange animals here, andthen ride away."
"Some folk might," said Griggs quietly, "but not Indians."
"Then what do you think will be best?"
"Drive the animals up to the other end of the place, and then takepossession of a couple of the rooms here in the face of the rocks, stopup the shaft, and keep the enemy at bay with our rifles."
The doctor frowned.
"It may be a false alarm," he said.
"Yes, may be," said Griggs; "but I don't believe it is, sir. Don't yougo and think that I want to fight. Nothing of the kind, but I'm afraidwe shall have to. Why, we could keep all that lot at bay for any lengthof time."
"But it would be desperate work."
"Yes, sir, they'd make us desperate; but it would be their own doing.We could bring up our provisions into the chamber nearest the water, andcommand it with our rifles so that they couldn't get to it. They'veonly got to leave us alone and there'd be no desperate work."
"But they may be friendly Indians."
"I never heard of any out in these wilds, sir," said Griggs grimly.
"But they might be friendly," said Bourne eagerly.
"So much the better, sir. Then there'd be no harm done. I'd trust theIndians up north so long as they were not on the warpath, but Ishouldn't like to trust any of these."
"Then you'd prepare for the worst?"
"That's the only way to deal with these people, sir," said the Americansternly. "If they see that we're weak they'll take our mules andponies, and perhaps our lives--at once. If they take our animals andleave us alone they've taken our lives all the same, for we could neverreach civilisation again without our beasts."
"No," said the doctor firmly. "I should have liked to retreat if wecould."
"We couldn't do it," said Wilton sharply, as he took his eyes from theglass. "There would not be time, and if we could get away they'd followour trail and take us at a disadvantage, for certain."
"Yes," said the doctor; "there is no other chance. As you suggest,Griggs, if they find us strong they will fear us. We must decide atonce which of the cells we will hold, and get our stores there asquickly as possible."
"That is already settled, sir," said the American coolly. "We must holdthe place where we can reach the water, and the lowest floor here is theone."
"You are confident, then, that they couldn't get at us from above?"
"Quite, sir. The attack, if it comes, will be from below, as it wasmade once before."
Chris and Ned exchanged glances as they recalled all that they had seenand the result to the defenders, and a blank look of despair settled intheir countenances.
As it happened the doctor was watching them keenly at the time, hisbreast full of anxiety for the lads about to be brought face to facewith such grave peril, and he spoke out cheerfully as if in answer tothe thoughts he had just read in their faces.
"Yes," he said, "but you forget. Those people had to defend themselveswith stones. We have the best of modern firearms, and can deal outdeath and destruction to our enemies from a distance while we aresheltered and quite beyond their reach. Well, Wilton, what do you makeout?"
"They are all gathered closely together, pretty well a hundred strong,"was the reply, "and one man--the chief, I suppose--is haranguing therest. He keeps on gesticulating and pointing down at the mules, andthen waving his hands in different directions as if to show which waythey ought to go."
"Well," said the doctor, "we must not stir until they move off. Theyevidently have not seen us, and they may after all believe the animalsto be wild."
"Yes, sir; and it's no use to show ourselves till we are obliged. We'lldrive the beasts right up the valley here as soon as the coast's clear,and then keep in hiding and try what a shot or two from where they don'tshow will act. If we bring down a man and a horse or two they may turnback in a state of superstitious panic. It's a good deal to hope for,but it might turn out so."
"At any rate it's the best plan," said the doctor. "So be ready to actas soon as the enemy disappears, and then we must pray for time."
Indian palavers are long and tedious, and the chief addressing the tribetalked for long enough, and was succeeded, so Wilton reported, byothers, during all which time the watchers kept carefully out of sightand waited in a state of suspense that was almost unbearable.
"At last!" cried the doctor, as the body of horsemen began to move off."Watch them carefully, Wilton, and see if you can make out how they arearmed."
"That's plain enough," said the member of the party addressed; "theynearly all have long spears."
"That means bows and arrows as well, I should say," cried Griggs."Indians who carry spears have not learned to use rifles, as a rule.Hah! There they go, riding straight back from the edge. I shouldn'twonder if they have a long distance to go, right back over a plain,before they can get round the mountains. They must come by the samegulch as we did, and perhaps they've got to find it first."
"Think so?" said Bourne, putting the question that was on Chris's lips."They may be thoroughly acquainted with all this place."
"It's just as likely that they've never looked down into it before,"said Griggs. "They belong to a roving band, and the country here isvery big."
"Ah, there goes the last of them," cried Wilton, closin
g and shutting upthe glasses.
"Give them a few minutes' law," cried the doctor, "just to make surethat they have gone. Then down to the camp as quickly as possible, loadup, and bring everything up to the foot of the slope, unload, and I'lldrive the poor brutes up to the other end while you folks get the storesunder cover."
"But suppose the enemy come while you are away doing the driving?" criedChris excitedly.
"We'll suppose nothing of the sort, my boy," said the doctor sternly.Then with a pleasant smile, "If they do come while I'm away you'll allhave to cover me with your rifles while I fight my way back. Now then,time's up. Down with you, and away."
As soon as they could get clear of the ruins there was a rush made forthe camp, the grazing animals being driven before them to where thestores were heaped, and going quietly enough, associating the sacks andbarrels with feeding-time, though fated to be neglected!
The stores once reached, hot and nervous work began, in which Chris hadno share, his duty being to mount his mustang and act the part of scout.
His instructions were very few; he knew what to do. That was to rideback to the gulch, and select a good spot, one which combined twoadvantages, commanding a far-reaching view down the wild approach, whileaffording good cover and concealment for him.
He started at once, riding off and giving two good long earnest looks atthe busy party placing their loads on the mules' backs.
Then a turn amongst the rocks hid him from sight, and the boy felt hisheart sink, in spite of the way in which he braced himself up for histask, for the gulch looked more and more dark and forbidding as he rodeon, the sides closed in closer, it seemed, than they had been when hecame, and as he strained his eyes forward along the trackless way, bushafter bush and rock after rock in the distance sent his heart, as itwere, with a bound to his throat, so nearly did his imagination makethese objects approach the aspect of savage Indians riding slowlytowards him.
But a second glance generally resolved them into what they were, fancypaintings, and he bit his lips fiercely with annoyance as he calledhimself coward and one quite unfit for such a task.
He had ridden onward for some time before he found a post that seemed inany way suitable, for the gulch turned and doubled and zigzagged hereand there in a way that gave him sadly shortened views, and he was atlast about to turn back to the best place he had passed, bad as it was,when he recognised a corner in front as being formed by a rock that heremembered seeing for long enough on their approach, one that neverseemed to get any nearer, and to his joy when he now reached it he foundeverything he desired--command of the gulch for quite a mile, plenty ofcover to hide him and his pony from the view of those who came along,and, what was very acceptable then, a tiny basin of pure cold water inwhich his mustang gladly plunged its muzzle for a long, deep drink.
Then with a sigh of relief the scout took up his position to watch forthe coming danger, knowing as he did that he had only to draw back a fewyards for the great elbow-like rock to cover his retreat so that hecould hurry away with the warning of danger and give all time to seekthe cells that they were to defend.
"They ought to have loaded up by now," he said to himself, "and all hasturned out splendidly, while perhaps after all the Indians may neverfind this deep, dark gulch. It was only by accident that we did."
Chris had just comforted himself with this notion when a horriblethought assailed him. It was this--
All the way he came he had been keeping up a good lookout in front forthe approaching danger, and had never once thought of looking up toright or left for some narrow side valley or gash by which the dangermight suddenly descend into the narrow way.
The thought was so terrible that he turned cold and looked back,half-expecting to see a group of the bronze warriors in his rear; andthen his too busy imagination pictured more, the whole band in factriding down by the gash in the rocks that he ought to have seen, andstealthily coming on to surprise those whom it had been his duty tosave.
For some minutes his fancy gained ground to such an extent that the boywas completely unnerved. And no wonder, for the gloom of the greatgulch with its perpendicular sides towering up to a vast height, thesolitary grandeur, the silence, and the oppression wrought by thetremendous nature of his task, began to be more than his young naturecould bear.
For some little time he sank into a state of despair. To use his ownwords, in which he thought of his brain power as something mechanicalthat had been wound up, his head seemed as if it would not "go."
In fact, to use a homely phrase, he was so prostrated by the thoughtthat, in spite of his care and the stern duties of the task that he hadbeen set to do, he had passed some side opening by which the Indiansmight come down and attack the unarmed camp, that he wanted "shaking up"to bring him to himself.
He had that very shaking up literally, for all at once his ponystretched out its neck, spread its legs widely, and gave itself aviolent shake, one which threatened to dislodge the saddle before thebeast subsided, and Chris settled himself again in his seat.
"It's all fancy," he said to himself; "I must have seen such a gorge orravine if there had been one. The Indians must come along here infront. Mounted men can't ride down precipitous slopes."
With this thought to comfort him the boy sat watching the open part infront from his cover, perfectly satisfied that the only portions of himvisible to a coming enemy were his face and hat, while to add to hisprotection, in case any of the Indians' advance-guard should suddenlyride into sight, Chris dismounted, cut a few tufts of heather-likebrush, and stuck them at random through the band of his soft feltcovering.
"There," he said in a satisfied way, as he replaced his hat, "that willlook at a distance as if it were growing. I've a good mind to rub myface with mud."
Whether he would have so disfigured himself is doubtful, but certainlyhe could not, for there was no mud, nothing but a little beautifullyclean sand in the bottom of the rock-pool into which the falling watersplashed.
So Chris sat there thinking and straining his eyes along the narrowgulch, seeing no Indians, but the bright light on the tops of the rockysides, while the gulch itself, always gloomy, now began to darken as ifit were being gradually filled up with a flood of black velvet in aliquid state.
The pony dropped its head more and more; not to browse, for the bit heldhim a prisoner from that, but because it was an easy position, and inthe silence Chris listened to the heavy breathing of the animal and feltthe action of its sides as they rose and sank.
"They ought to have got all the stores into the cells by this time,"thought Chris. "I wish I could have helped. It seems so lazy justsitting here. But of course it makes them feel safer. But what ahorrible nuisance it is for Indians to be coming to disturb us. I hopeit won't come to a fight. How horrible to have to shoot them!--Muchmore horrible for them to shoot us."
Chris's thoughts became less active, and then concentrated themselvesupon the extremity of his eye scope, where he believed that he saw amounted man standing where there was nothing before.
"Pooh! Only a rock," muttered the boy, after a long and carefulinspection. "But how fast it's getting dark. I shan't be able to seeany enemy soon, and what am I to do then, for I shan't be able to seeanything at all? Why, nothing was said about that," he thought, "not aword. I didn't think about being in such a position, and I'm surefather didn't, or he would have spoken. Now, what would he say to me, Iwonder? Something about using my own discretion and acting for thebest. Now, what would be the best?"
Chris set his teeth and thought hard so as to decide what would be theproper thing to do.
"Why, it's all simple enough," he said to himself at last. "I'm postedhere to give them warning when the Indians are coming. Well, if it'stoo dark for me to see them coming I can't give any notice, and if Ican't do what I'm sent here for I should be better back at the camp."
He looked along the gloomy gulch to see that the light was gone from thecrags that shut-in the narrow way, while the bot
tom of the gulch wasblack with shadow, so dark that any one approaching would have beenperfectly invisible.
"Yes," he said to himself, "it's of no use for me to stay here. I can'tsee anything, and if the savages rode up it would be too late to try togive warning. I'll go back."
But he did not stir, only sat thinking in a fresh groove.
"Father won't think me cowardly, will he?"
That was a horrible idea, one which made the boy's cheeks burn for aminute, until his common-sense told him that no such injustice couldfall to his lot.
"Of course not," he argued. "I was sent here to do my best. I've donemy best, and now I can do no more. I say, how black it is," he saidhalf-aloud, and then he felt blank, faced as he was by anotherdifficulty--how was he going to get back along the trackless pathencumbered with stones and with rifts and tufts of very thorny busheshere and there?
It was a poser.
There was a dull streak of sky overhead, in which a star here and therecould be seen blinking and looking pale.
"I can't see beyond the pony's head," thought Chris. "Why, it's madnessto try and ride along a place like this; but it's horrible to think ofsitting here all night, and one couldn't go to sleep. I'm so hungrytoo, and--Oh, I say, who'd ever have thought of this? What a mess I'min!"
There was nothing approaching despair in the boy's feelings then,neither was there anything akin to fear, unless it was a dread of beingsuddenly pounced upon by the Indians now.
This thought had quite a comic side to it, and he laughed softly.
"They'd be precious clever--ten times as clever as they're said to be,with their wonderful sight and hearing--if they did pounce upon me now.Why, look at that."
It was rather an absurd order which he gave himself, as he stretched outhis right-hand at the level of his eye, for to all intents and purposesthere was no hand to look at, while as to his pony's ears, he certainlyknew that they were somewhere in front, but that was all.
"Oh, I say," he sighed, "I am in a mess, and no mistake! If I'd had anygumption in this thick old head I should have slipped a damper cake inmy pocket. But who was going to think of eating at a time like that?Perhaps Ned would," he added, with a soft chuckle; and the idea was somirthful that he shook a little, but only to grow serious directly.
"There," he said, "I've done my duty, I'm sure, and though I'm in such ahobble things have turned out capitally, and they've had plenty of timeto get our cliff castle fortified and stored. That's splendid, and Iwon't fidget about the Indians, for they can't come till to-morrow, andperhaps they'll never come at all. But I say, this is coming to searchfor the old gold city! I believe I'd rather have stopped at theplantation killing blight and scratching the scale insects off thepeach-twigs. Here, I say, old chap!"
He addressed this to the pony, but there was no suggestion of hisaddress having been heard, so obeying a sudden impulse he dropped out ofthe saddle, readjusted the sling of his rifle, and then tightened thesaddle-girths before going to the pony's head, to feel the head-stallall over, and stroke and pat the little cob-like animal's neck, endingby passing its ears through his hand, and then passing the back againstthe velvety muzzle, with the result that his companion whinnied withsatisfaction.
"Now, old chap," he said, "we've got to get home, and I may as well behonest. I can't guide you, and I'll let you have your head all the way,and make you up a nice mash of meal in one of the buckets when we getthere for a reward. Think you can do it?"
"Yes," said the boy, after a pause; "silence gives consent, as I onceread somewhere. Now, which shall I do, ride or lead you? I shall ride,for if I lead you it will be all a sham, and I shall only be getting youinto difficulties. So there: I'll trust you. Take your time. Want anywater?"
The boy pulled the little animal's head towards where he believed thewater to be, but it did not stretch out its neck, so he mounted again.
"Now then," he said, "back to camp."
The pony started at once, but Chris drew rein.
"No, no; that won't do. That's right, turn round. We don't want to goany farther to-night. Now then, steady. Don't fall and pitch me overyour head. The way's right on, and you can't go off right or left._Ck_! That's right. When you feel in doubt about a stone or hole or abush, stop short and I'll get down and feel about for you.--Well done!"
This last was in admiration, for without the slightest hesitation thepony had set off, pacing steadily back along the way they had come, butwith its head very low-down, as Chris realised by the steady draw thathad been given at the reins.
"Talk about eyes," muttered Chris, "why, they're microscopes. I say,though, I mustn't go to sleep. I believe I could without falling off.It wouldn't be fair, though, for I ought to let him hear my voice nowand then."
All the same Chris was perfectly silent, and spent his time gazing hardupward at the long jagged ribbon of black purple, now gemmed withbrilliant stars, which spread along overhead. From time to time helooked forward to try and make out obstacles in front, but he could seenothing; there was naught to do but listen to the pony's footsteps andthink of what they were doing at camp and what they would be sayingabout his non-return.
"Father won't go to sleep to-night," said Chris, with a sigh ofsatisfaction caused by the idea. "He'll be awake and listening for mypony's steps, and--Oh, how far must it be?
"A good many yards less than it was a minute ago, and it's getting ashorter distance with every step my mustang takes."
And onward they went, cheerfully enough, through the black darkness atthe bottom of the gulch, the pony never failing, never setting hoof inhole nor stumbling over stone or bush. It stopped for a moment now andthen to turn aside or to make sure of some difficulty which needed anoutstretched neck, a touch with the muzzle, or a sigh; but otherwise ittravelled on slowly but surely through the earlier part of the night,while Chris thought till he could think no longer, and began to ridewith his shoulders up, his chin in his chest, and a tendency to bowright down upon his mount's neck. But he never did that once, onlyclung with a dreamy feeling of safety, with his knees against thesaddle-flaps and his feet fast in the stirrups.
"I must not go to sleep," he muttered once; but he did all the same,instinctively tightening his hold by means of his abnormally-strainedmuscles the while.