CHAPTER XLV.SEARCHING FOR BODIES.
One week had passed away since the fearful eruption, and our friends had convalesced rapidly under the care of the attendants, until now all were entirely recovered. The sun had shown brightly for a week, its light unobstructed by any further shower of ashes. The fire and smoke from the volcano had subsided, until now but a faint blue line was seen slowly ascending into the heavens from the summit of the mountain. All about the villa, as far as could be seen, was a bed of ashes, or not so much a bed of ashes now as it was a cinder soil. But the trees had been stripped of their verdure and no green thing was seen. If it were not so excessively hot, our friends could have easily believed that they were in some temperate zone and winter was on them.
But the cooling of the thick mass had made the air hot and humid, almost suffocating; still, notwithstanding this, the air had not seemed unhealthful, for our friends declared that they had never felt better in their lives, with the exception of the stiffness and the soreness, which was the direct outcome of the bruises and the burns. But if the eruption had lasted but a few hours, its consequences had been fearful.
The slaughter of human beings and beasts had been terrible. On that fateful morning, five thousand men, one hundred elephants and nearly as many zebras, had left the villa, strong in perfect health and vigor; buta few hours later, and but one elephant and five men were left to tell the fearful tale. Those who had not been killed in battle, had been slaughtered or had been buried beneath the hot shower of cinders and steam. And fully as many of the negroes had perished also, in all making a fearful total.
It had had an awful effect on the King for a few days. He had wandered about the villa like one demented, and had spoken to no one, keeping well to himself, his head bowed and face pale, and eyes sunken. One could hardly imagine that this was the great and powerful King of On. But Enola had been persevering in her efforts to draw his mind away from the saddening events, and he could not long remain insensible to her pleadings, to try and forget. She would tell him pleasing stories of the life in her own world; would relate strange tales of adventure and daring, which, for the time, would blot out the thought of his fearful loss. And when he would turn to Enola with words of love, she would no longer turn from him, but would encourage him in this. She had wanted to make him forget, knowing that if his mind brooded on these events, he would surely go mad, and then what would become of her and her friends?
Such fears had already taken possession of them, for they knew that such an occurrence as this would impress the Onians fearfully, and this impression might be as it had once been before, namely: that they were in some way the cause of the fearful event. If such a belief should become fully established in their minds, nothing could save them they knew, unless it would be the interference of the King, whose desires they held in high regard.
So Enola, although now determined never to marry the great King, would, to save her friends and herself, humor him in the belief that she loved him. It was a deception which was loathsome to her, but so much depended on it that she could not help herself.
It was one week ago to-day that the volcano had belched forth, and the few survivors were sitting at their morning meal.
“Well, shall we venture to the volcano, to-day?” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, we must go to-day, or give it up altogether,” replied the King, “for our provisions are fast giving out and we must get back to the country that has not been devastated by the eruption.”
“Yes, let us leave this horrible place as soon as possible,” added Mrs. Graham.
“I confess that I, myself, am desirous of leaving the place which has so nearly been the scene of our deaths,” rejoined Mr. Graham. “But Mr. Bruce thinks that we ought to look over the ground where so many of the Onians have fallen.”
“I will find no pleasure in thus going,” said Mr. Bruce, “but we should know the exact state of things here before returning to the city. The relatives and friends of all these buried thousands, will want to know if it will be possible to recover their bodies. And then it would be well to see the crevice. I think Onrai still holds the idea that this should be closed.”
“Yes, it will be one of my first duties, now,” said Onrai. “But what a task it will be for the men who do the work. The first unpleasant task they have ever had to perform.”
“The hole may have been closed somewhat bythe stream of lava which poured into it,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, I feel quite sure that it has,” said Mr. Graham, “for it poured into it in such a volume it could hardly be otherwise.”
“Yet there will be much to do,” said Mr. Bruce, “and it will mean a great deal of hard work before the break is made impassable.”
“Let us start,” said Onrai, “so as to be able to investigate as much as possible and return before nightfall. To-morrow we must start for the city in order to be there for the Day of Resis. It will be a sad return;” and again the King fell into that melancholy condition out of which Enola had tried so hard to draw him.
“True, Onrai,” said Enola, “but the only sadness which has ever darkened your life. It will cast a gloom over your life for awhile, but as time goes by and you see those about you again happy, and your life falls into the old routine, then will you also grow contented and happy once more. In our world we have so much sadness that we at last become accustomed to it, and expect it. But here you hardly know the meaning of the word. This experience has been fearful, I know, but it is better that you lose a few of your mighty men, than that all should lose country and, may be, life too, and even be sold into slavery. That must certainly have been the fate of your people, if they had fallen into the hands of the negroes. But that time has forever passed and out of this sad experience, which will cause so much grief, comes this grand assurance. The men who have been thus slain might have been spared until they had the wall on the way,and while in the country beyond the cliff, for they would have had to be there some of the time, they might have been overpowered by the natives, and the land been overspread with these hated negroes, before the majority of your people could have learned of their presence. In such a case your country would have been destroyed with all its villas and its beautiful city. But such a thing can never occur now. God has simply taken the work out of your hands, and in his own way has avenged your people and has also, by turning the lava into the crevice, helped to close to the outside world, the only means of ingress into your country. The present generation will die, and as it is forbidden your people to ever mention or talk of such things to those who will live beyond your reign, the thing will die from memory, the same as has all of the previous events of your history. This fearful occurrence has been ordained to come during your reign, but it casts no reflection upon you or your people, for it has been wholly the work of God.
“If He has chosen to take the men before their time, He has had a good purpose in it and I think that purpose has been shown. So don’t give up to despair in this moment, but be the brave, noble King which we have all learned to love. Be superior to the events which would crush most other men. Be strong, and set such an example before your people. They will look to you for strength and comfort, and you must be able to give them both.”
The King had listened quietly to the words of Enola, and seemed much impressed by her strong, clear-cut remarks and the sound advice which she had given. For the first time he realized that it would not do forhim to give way to his feelings, in this hour of trial, for, as Enola had said, his people would look to him for comfort and strength, and he must be able to give them both. Somehow or other he felt better after Enola had talked to him in this way, and he felt that he could meet the inquisitive looks of his people and answer their mute questions without flinching.
“But come, we must be off,” said Onrai.
So the men-folk went to the terrace, where the only four elephants, which had been left, were awaiting them. Gip had entirely recovered, and was now with the three which had been left in the stable on that fateful morning. The five men mounted, and were soon making good time over the smooth surface of the bad lands. This new covering was of better soil than the old, and would some day become very productive. The elephants, heavy as they were, hardly made an impression in this, so solid had it become. They jogged along for nearly an hour, when they came on the body of an elephant lying on its side, nearly covered with the new soil. Digging away some of the dirt from his back the body of an Onian was disclosed to view. He had been one of three who had leaped to the elephant’s back when the eruption first broke forth. Further on they came across all of the one hundred elephants and a few of the zebras. Only one or two Onians were found with any part of their bodies above the soil. They were buried almost completely. It was thought at first that they would take these bodies back to the villa, and cremate them as was the custom this land, but Mr. Bruce had dissuaded Onrai from this, saying that as all of their companions were lying here in one common grave, therealso might better be they. The King declared his intention of exhuming all of the many bodies which filled the immense graveyard, but his companions also made him change his mind in regard to this, saying that such an undertaking would take a great amount of time, and would be next to an impossibility.
At last the crevice was reached, but little of it remained. The hole in the ground was not even ten feet deep. It had been filled by the flowing lava up to that height. The party followed the crevice to the cliff, where a most unexpected scene met their astonished eyes. The crevice in the cliff was entirely filled, for the lava had run into the crevice until on a level with the surrounding country, after which it had still dropped its flinty substance into the hole and gradually cooled until the chasm had been entirely filled, when it had turned its stream into the country beyond, leaving the face of the cliff as straight and impregnable as it had been before the earthquake.
“It is more than I expected,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, it is the handiwork of God,” answered Onrai.
“You need have no further fears about your country being again invaded, Onrai,” said Mr. Graham.
“It is as Enola has said,” replied the King. “A blessed assurance that we are safe from those who would molest us.”
“Come, let us move on up to the cliff,” said Mr. Bruce. “I would like to see where the stream of lava has ended in the cavern.”
“I wonder how it has affected that part of the Hunting Reserve which the storm has covered,” said Mr. Graham.
“It must have driven the animals farther back intothe jungle,” said Onrai. “But there is plenty of room for them all. A few miles, as you would call it, cut off of this great tract, amounts to but little.”
“But the whole tract will again be fertilized now, I think,” said Mr. Graham. “Those ashes have a great deal of good loam mixed with them, and it will be very productive, I think.”
“Yes, the animals will find as good grazing here as in any other part of the Reserve, at some future day,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Look,” said Mr. Graham, “what is that black object away there in the distance? It is moving, is it not?”
They all looked and came to the conclusion that it must be some sort of animal, but what, they could not say. As they proceeded the black spot grew larger and larger, but they could now see that the animals, or whatever they might be, were not moving but standing still. They had now come to the hole in the side of the mountain and concluded to enter this first, and investigate the black spot later. Accordingly they entered the hole and lighting a torch turned to the right and moved toward the upper end of the cave. From where they were, they could see no change in the crevice, but there might be nearer the crater, for it was from this that the stream of lava was running. They hurried on for they had much to look after before returning, and already half of the day had passed. The end wall was at last reached and they turned to follow this until they had reached the small tunnel, through which had run the lava. Arriving at this they were not surprised to find it considerable wider than it had been before the lava had found its way through it. The lava had raised the floor of it to quite a height,but this new flooring was cool now and they decided to follow up the tunnel for some distance, and see what had taken place in the farther end.
As they advanced up the tunnel the air got somewhat warmer, but still not excessively so: The lava bed also grew thicker as they advanced until the floor had become so raised, they could extend their hands and touch the ceiling. They at last reached the end of the tunnel and were surprised to see that the crack had widened until it was nearly five feet broad.
“Shall we enter?” asked Mr. Bruce, as they all stood looking at the crack rather hesitatingly.
“Most assuredly, if there is no danger,” replied Mr. Graham.
“I cannot answer for the safety of it,” said Mr. Bruce, “but I can say that it would be interesting to look into it a ways.”
“Let us proceed then,” said the King, who was fast becoming as curious as his white companions.
The party then, headed by Mr. Bruce, stepped rather gingerly into the passage-way, and moved along slowly. The side-walls were still very hot and very soon the soles of their feet became almost burned with the hot flooring, for the hot lava had passed through there so recently, that it could hardly be expected to be very cool yet. They had gone some distance into the crack when Mr. Bruce suddenly stopped and said:
“Look ahead, can’t you see a ray of daylight?”
All heads were immediately screwed to one side and a glance thrown ahead.
“Yes, that is surely daylight,” said Mr. Graham, “but how in the world, or in this hole, does it get there?”
“Shall we go on and see?” asked Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, by all means,” answered the King.
So the party again pushed on, now at a little livelier gait, for they could no longer be mistaken that that was the light of day penetrating this dark crevice. Hurriedly now they advanced, so anxious had they grown to see what sort of hole it was that admitted the sunlight; and after a short walk further they burst out into the bright open light of day. They looked above them and there, sure enough, was the bright, blue sky.
“What do you make of it, Mr. Graham?” asked Mr. Bruce.
“Well,” replied Mr. Graham, “I should say that we are looking up out of one of the crevices which opened into the crater of the volcano.”
“That’s so,” replied Mr. Bruce, “I did not think of that. But I supposed these cracks must have opened far into the bowels of the earth, and were vents for the steam, ashes and lava.”
“Some of them undoubtedly are,” said Mr. Graham, “but this is surely not. This may have been caused by one of the earthquakes, and was later widened by the excessive heat. Whatever the cause, it is here at any rate.”
The tunnel at this point was very wide and fully two thousand feet deep.
“Can you notice any peculiarities in this crevice?” asked Mr. Bruce of Mr. Graham.
“None,” replied Mr. Graham, “unless it be its crookedness, but they are all crooked. But why do you ask?”
“I was just thinking,” said Mr. Bruce, “that we might have occasion to use this crevice some day.”
“I hope not,” replied Mr. Graham, “for if we had to trust to scaling these perpendicular walls, I am afraid we would perish here at the bottom.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Bruce, “but it is well to have several strings to your bow.”
“It might be possible,” said Mr. Graham, “to lower one’s self into this cavern, but I don’t believe it would be possible to hoist one’s self out of it.”
“We may have occasion some day to lower ourselves into it,” said Mr. Bruce. “At any rate, we have found another way to enter the Land of On.”
“But one never to be used as long as the other is open,” said Mr. Graham.
“As you like,” said Mr. Bruce. “Shall we return, Onrai?”
“If you are ready,” answered the King.
They accordingly turned and retraced their steps until again in the cavern. Instead of turning to the left and following the wall as they had done previously, they followed the lava bed which had gradually spread over a very wide area in the cavern, in one place being fully a mile wide. They followed this until opposite the hole, when they moved over to this and left the cavern.
The large black group again attracted their attention, and they determined to see what it was before returning to the villa. The sun was getting well down toward the western horizon, and they had a good fifteen miles to make, but they must see what it was that could make such a mark in the heart of this ash-covered plain. From as near as they could make out the animals were nearly two miles away. They hurried on, wishing to reach home before it grew very dark.When within a mile of the dark object, they saw that it was a herd of elephants, lying down. They drew up to these cautiously, so as not to be molested, if possible, but they saw that the elephants were undoubtedly very much exhausted, or else dead, for they paid but little or no attention to the approaching riders.
But just before they came up to them, one of the animals half raised his head, but that was all, they made no further sign. The riders now came up to them and saw their predicament. These animals had undoubtedly been overcome by the shower of ashes, and sinking down had been too weak to again rise, and now, after a week of suffering and fasting, they were nearly dead. There were fully a hundred of them and they had been perfectly wild, but were now as docile as so many lambs.
“If we can save them,” said Onrai, “they will take the place of the hundred we lost.”