CHAPTER XXXVI.CLEFT BY THE EARTHQUAKE.
Our friends pulled up just in time, or they would have gone tumbling into the black chasm. They moved back hurriedly, almost expecting to see the hole open still further and engulf them as it had the negroes, for they could make no other explanation of the negroes’ disappearance. The light from the volcano made most objects discernable about this point, and our friends could look into the great gulf for some distance, but then the further view was lost in the darkness.
“What shall we do now,” asked Onrai of Mr. Bruce. “We can no longer follow the negroes.”
“No, this hole has swallowed them up,” said Mr. Bruce, “but we cannot tell whether they have dropped to eternity, or have followed a path into its depth, of which they alone know. Has the chasm always been here?”
“I can remember no such crevice,” said Onrai, “nor have I ever heard any of my people speak of it. I think it is another of the mysteries which seem to abound now,” said Onrai, and his face seemed in the half-light to wear a very troubled look.
“These mysteries as you call them, Onrai, are only such to the uninitiated,” said Mr. Bruce. “They are all understood by those who are acquainted with the great principles of nature. This crevice is undoubtedly caused by the earthquake, as this very often occurs during a disturbance of this kind.”
“But these strange people,” said Onrai. “Can you explain their presence?”
“If you cannot understand it, Onrai,” said Mr. Bruce, “don’t worry yourself in trying to, but look on those negroes as I have before told you to, as wild beasts, and treat them as such if they should break down a portion of the retaining wall and intrude upon your inhabited country. These beings are human, of course, but they have never felt the quieting hand of civilization, and they are but little removed from the wild beasts which inhabit the forests.”
“Then we shall kill them all as we did those last night,” asked Onrai.
“Yes, as opportunity offers,” replied Mr. Bruce. “Listen; these people must never be allowed to gain a footing in your land, or the result might be your extermination. You must fight them from the first and never allow them to rest for a moment in your domain. You may lose many men in thus defending your country, but it is your only chance to retain it. So, imbue in your men the necessity of fighting with all their hearts, and souls, and might, and strength, for God and their country, and impress them with the fact that only in so doing can they ever expect to again enjoy those privileges and that great freedom which has always been theirs.”
“I will do this,” said Onrai, “but what shall we do now?”
“We must wait here,” said Mr. Bruce, “until daylight and see what we can make of the hole, and whether the negroes have been killed or have used it as a means of escape. We will also investigate the volcano while here. But you must send men back tothe villa immediately, to bury those dead negroes before the women see them; and tell this body of men to inform the women that we will return in a day or two; that we started early to look into the volcano or would have bade them good-bye. Don’t, by any means, let them know of the fight of last night. Impress upon your men the necessity of secrecy; it would only worry the women unnecessarily if they knew that the negroes were making trouble.”
The other men now laid down on the hard ground, making themselves as comfortable as possible, to rest until morning, when they could explore the hole and the volcano. They had tramped nearly twelve miles during the night and were now well up against the cliffs. The black cloud of smoke was still being blown to the north, however, and they were saved the extra misery of the falling ashes.
At last the east began to show signs of returning day, and long before the sun had crept into the heavens, our friends were up and looking down the great crevice. They were surprised to see the strange formation of this hole in the ground. It had undoubtedly been made by the earthquake, and was probably about ten feet broad at the top and narrowed in width as it went down, until it had reached a depth of two hundred feet, where it was only a narrow crack hardly six inches in width. But along one side had been left a natural foot path, about eighteen inches in width. This run up and down in a very irregular fashion and was narrower in some places than in others, but there was enough space at any point of it on which to walk, and it was this which had probably been followed by the negroes. They had known of this then, or theycould never have found it in the darkness of night. Mr. Bruce and Mr. Graham followed the crevice for some distance, and then had returned and taking the footpath, had determined to follow it until they had learned what had become of the negroes.
They were accompanied by Harry and several of the Onians, Onrai remaining behind with the others. The footpath would bring them very near the surface at times, and again it would carry them so deep into the crevice, they could almost touch the opposite side by stretching out their hands. Taken on the whole, the chasm ascended with the foothills of the cliffs, or in other words, it kept a mean depth throughout its length until reaching the face of the cliff, where it ascended very rapidly, and upon looking up, our friends were not surprised to see the great cliff a thousand feet high, cleft as clean as if cut by a monstrous knife. And this cut was at straight as a die, our friends being able to see through it in a direct line a great distance. Still the footpath continued as it had commenced, along one side of the crevice. When once inside of the cliff the explorers could look up through the cavern, far above their heads and see the stars, for the crevice here was narrow and of such a depth, the light of the sun could not penetrate it.
“I think it would be better to return,” said Mr. Bruce, “we can only follow this path through the mountain and that is too great a journey for to-day, especially when we have had no breakfast.”
“I think as you do,” said Mr. Graham. “These negroes must certainly have escaped by this route, and it will be an easy matter to keep them from again enteringthe Land of On, for ten men could guard this pass against an army.”
They turned and retraced their steps and were soon with their companions again. They now turned their attention to the volcano. As the morning advanced and the wind changed, the smoke was again driven over them, and the ashes fell in great sheets about them. They had to cross the crevice and tramp some distance to the north to reach the base of the cliff, over which towered the cloud of smoke. The question as to how they should cross the crevice was easily answered by their going to the end of it; which was a mile distant from where they now were. The whole party joined in this exploration tour, the attendants keeping their eyes open for any small game which might be induced, by some cause or other, to enter these bad lands. They were now in the Hunting Reserve, but the land here was so barren, and of such great extent, these animals would not come into it for any reason, unless it might be to cross it. Just at this time, too, it was made worse by a thick covering of ashes which had deluged everything. And the same shroud of ashes was now coming down in a blinding sheet, and was worse than it had been the night before, because of the heat which now went with them.
They were very near the belching crater now, and when the wind would change for a moment, blowing the cloud in a different direction, they could see the great black mass of smoke coming from the cliff, and bringing in its folds, very often, live coals of considerable size. The wind did not change very often, however, and most of the time our friends were engulfed in the awful dust and ashes, which at times were sothick, they were even hid from each other. But by perseverance, they reached the foot of the cliff right above which rose the volume of smoke. They stood here for a moment gazing up at the towering wall of rock, it being, at this point, fully two thousand feet high, and perpendicular, and wondered how they were going to scale its great height. They could not possibly do it; there was not even a foothold on the face of that rock wall, and our friends turned away disheartened.
They had hoped to find fissures or rents in the rock, caused by the earthquake, which might allow them to reach the summit; but their hopes in this direction were all shattered by that one glance up the palisade. It was now beyond noon and they had had nothing to eat that morning, and they were all beginning to feel desperately hungry. This, too, puzzled them, for they could not expect to find anything to eat here or anything to kill nearer than two miles, where the good lands began again. But something must be had, so three of the attendants were sent to the woods, two miles away, to procure, if possible, a deer or something light, which they might carry back with them, and which would be so palatable in their present condition of hunger.
They took up a position just at the base of the cliff, at a point where they were sheltered from the shower, and prepared to await the hunters.
“What do you think of our chances for reaching the summit of the cliff?” asked Mr. Graham of Mr. Bruce.
“Well, I should say they were bad,” answered Mr. Bruce.
“Bad,” said Harry, “well I should say so. Thereis no chance at all. That cliff rising above us is duplicated throughout the entire circumference of On.”
“So Onrai says, and it is true,” said Mr. Bruce.
“There is but little difference in the face of the cliffs,” said Onrai. “Those about here are seamed to a greater degree than those at other points, but one can just as easily scale those as any of the others.”
“That is not very encouraging,” said Mr. Bruce, “but I do not think you have taken into consideration the earthquake and the changes which it might have made. We have already found one place where the earthquake has split these mighty walls and I think we may find others. At any rate I will not give up trying to find a place where I can reach the summit.”
“I will follow the base of these cliffs for miles but what I find a place,” said Mr. Graham.
“You forget that the base of the cliffs lie, throughout their entire length, in the Hunting Reserve,” said Onrai, “and I do not think that they could be followed closely for ten miles, let alone their entire length.”
“True, I had forgotten that,” said Mr. Graham, and his face fell.
“It is only here,” continued Onrai, “that we can follow them at all, for the animals do not bother us here, and there is no underbrush to hamper us.”
The men talked on in this way until the hunters returned, two of them with a small deer, and the third with a bear cub. Their burdens were heavy and the trip had been quite long, but the prospect of the feast which would be theirs when they again reached their friends, buoyed them up and the party greeted them with cheers, and all fell to and cut the choicest parts of the deer and bear to roast; but one important thinghad been forgotten. They were in a barren waste and not a sprig of wood could be found with which to make a fire. They were looking at each other in blank amazement, when a huge boulder flew through the air and fell in their midst.