CHAPTER XX
THE SECRET WAY
But when day dawned the vice-chief was summoned to hear a messagefrom Muata, who had reported that Hassan had discovered the darkriver leading up to the tabooed pool, and was sending up a strongfleet of canoes, while still more canoes were gathering on the otherriver by which he had made his first attack. His orders were that abody of picked men were to join him to take part in an attack on thefirst body of the enemy. Mr. Hume was fully occupied in carrying outthese instructions, but on the chiefs mother suggesting that thechosen band should be accompanied by the Young Lion, he emphaticallydeclined to allow this.
"As you wish to keep us here," he said, "we will stay here; and,take notice, we have already seen what was in the mind of the chiefby taking steps to protect the entrance above the tabooed water."
The chiefs mother desisted, but she went up to interview the twoyoung chiefs.
"The great one," she said, "has very strong medicine?"
Compton nodded his head gravely.
"He was consulting with the spirits in the night when he sent forththose fire-devils?"
Another nod.
"Wow! And the spirits told him to build a wall across the entrance,and to make a fence across the river?"
"That was wisely done, as you see, mother."
"Haw! Tell me why the spirits told him to move the village to aplace which is further from this cave;" and she looked throughnarrowed eyes.
"Ohe!" said Venning, "that was also wise. The old village stood onlow ground, the new village is on high ground."
"And a tall man sees over the head of a small one," she answered,with a scornful laugh.
"Wait, mother of wisdom. If the enemy secured the gates and floodedthe valley, which would be safer--the village on low ground, or thevillage on a hill?"
"Yoh! It is strong medicine." She sat looking at them for some timein silence. "It is only the great one who can make medicine?"
Compton looked thoughtful.
"Come," she said, in a wheedling tone, touching him with a finger,"make medicine for one who carried food to the good white man."
"What would you like to know, mother?"
"Tell me, O son of him who taught us--tell me, O lion's cub--tell meif the chief will find his own kraal."
"That would need strong medicine--very strong."
"Only a little. Consider; it was these hands who carried the goodwhite man water and wood. Only a little word, his son."
"A little word, mother; but it requires much thought, and how can ason make medicine without his father's 'familiar'--the thing heconsulted, the thing you promised to bring to me?"
"I will fetch it," said the woman, rising. "In the morning youshall have it;" and she went in the direction of the gorge.
"Seems to me, Dick, the old lady is at the bottom of this mystery.You'd better be very careful how you deal with her."
"I want to get my father's book," said Compton.
"Of course you do; but you want to get back the Okapi as well, andif you offend her it may turn out more awkward for us."
"Well, then, suppose we follow her now?" and Compton, always readyto act, jumped up.
"What's the good? Remember how she spotted Mr. Hume the day he'blazed' the trees. Believe she's got eyes in the back of her head.No; but I learnt a trick from a keeper in dear old Surrey that willdo what we want."
In the dusk Venning put the trick into effect with the help of hiscompanions. It was simple enough. He drew fine linen threads from ahandkerchief, stained them black and stretched them across the trackdown the gorge at five different intervals, and at the height of afew inches from the ground.
In the morning, at sunrise, the chief's mother was at the cave.Seeing Mr. Hume, she promptly begged a pipe of tobacco, and sittingdown, expounded at great length the laws of the clan, together withthose which had been passed during the past few days.
"The chief's hut," she said, "will be ready at the round of themoon, and the people look forward to much feasting."
"They had better be preparing to meet Hassan and his wolves, lestthey themselves be food for the pot."
She snapped her fingers. "Hassan will die within the gates, and hiswolves will perish in the uttermost depths."
"What depths are they?"
She laughed, and, with a glance at Compton, went off down towardsthe village, bearing on her head a square-shaped package.
"Your book, Compton! Better follow her. Evidently she wants to speakto you alone, Keep her engaged while Venning and I go back on hertrail."
Compton overtook her below the ledge, where, as if expecting hiscoming, she was waiting; and while they were engaged, the otherswent off on the trail.
"Hurrah!" said Venning, pointing to the ground as they turned intothe gorge; "the first string is broken. She came out this way."
They went on, keen as hounds on the scent, and both pointed to thesnapped ends of the second string. Passing over the stone wall justbuilt which here crossed the defile, they came to the third cotton--broken also. The fourth was, however, intact, and so was the fifth.
"Thank goodness!" muttered Venning.
"Bad luck, you mean."
"No, sir; good luck. I was beginning to think that she had goneright on down to that dismal pool."
They went back to the broken strand, and Mr. Hume brought the brokenends together. "Just hold them in position." He climbed on the wall,and, with the gorge opening away between the enclosing cliffs, hetook his line from the spot where Venning kept his fingers on thebroken ends.
"Good," he said, returning. "The cotton was broken at a point two orthree yards out of the straight track. She must have gone towardsthe wall on our right."
Venning's eyes went to the cliff; but the Hunter examined theground, and expressed his satisfaction at what he saw in a lowchuckle.
"What do you see?" asked Venning, breathlessly, glancing quickly atMr. Hume's face, and back at the wall of rock.
"I should like Muata to be here. It is a good point."
"What, sir--what?"
"A woman's skirt on the dew, lad. See, a man would pass throughthose two rocks there and leave no mark; but a woman, with the swingof her skirt, wipes a spread of dew off on either side. You can seethe dark smudge in the glister of the dewdrops."
"I see," said Venning, starting forward towards two rocks with apassage between.
"Steady, lad. Follow me."
He went forward to the rocks, which were almost under the rightwall, and inch by inch examined the stony ground.
"The direction should be there," he said, pointing ahead; "butthere's nothing but a dead wall."
They ranged up and down in a fruitless attempt to pick up the lostspoor, and came back to the two rocks.
"Maybe she did not pass this way, sir."
"A sign is a sign, and a spoor a spoor. She passed between theserocks this morning."
"Then she must have come down the wall;" and Venning, steppingforward, placed his hand on the rock. He started back and stared upat the rock. Then he touched it again, with a curious look in hisface, and next placed his ear against it. "Come here, sir."
Mr. Home went forward, and, placing his hand on the rock, felt itvibrating. Then he placed his ear to the rock.
"What do you hear?" asked Venning.
"A noise like the roar of the sea."
"Or the rush of a great body of water."
"Seek ye the honey-bee, O Spider."
They whipped round at the mocking voice, and saw the Inkosikasestanding a few feet off, having come upon them with great quietness.
"Where is the young chief?" asked Mr. Hume at once.
"Be not afraid, great one. He sits over the 'familiar' of hisfather, learning wisdom and strong medicine. And is your medicine atfault, great one, that you should set snares in the path for awoman, as boys do for the coneys?"
She laughed, and the great one caught hold of his beard, as he eyedher, wondering whether the time had come to make her speak.
"Is it honey ye seek, O Spider, young chief who watches always?"
"It is honey, mother." Venning tapped the rock. "Ye may hear thebees humming within. We would enter the hive."
She laughed again. "Ohe! ye are too wise for me, ye two. If I didnot show you the way, I see ye would find it."
She stepped past them, walked a few paces, then, with one handupreaching to a knob of rock, and a naked toe in a notch, sheclimbed up the height of a man, stepped to a ledge, and held a handdown to Venning. A few steps along the ledge, when they stood by herside, brought them to a depression in the cliff. Removing a fewstones, she said with a look of sadness--
"Behold the depth that was my secret, and is now yours."
A gush of moist air came out of the dark opening, bringing with ifthe sound of hoarse mutterings. Now they had found the opening, theydid not know what to do, far; it was not inviting, and they stoodlooking at it warily:
"You would have me enter first," she said quietly. "Come, then, forit is not all dark within."
She disappeared, and Mr. Hume followed next, with a whisper toVenning that they must not let her get out of sight. A little waythey passed along a narrow passage, facing a rushing current ofmoist air, and then stepped out into a cavern dimly lit by a shaftof light that crept through the roof. The woman crossed the floor,and they followed her down another passage, into another cavernlarger than the first. This, too, was dimly lit, and as they stoodwith a feeling of mystery and uncertainty that comes to men whenthey quit the surface bathed in light fop the-dark underground, theyfelt the floor vibrate under their feet, and heard, as if the sourceof the uproar were near at hand, a great booming with a shrill noteat intervals.
"Would ye enter further?" asked the woman.
"Have ye entered further, mother?"
"Yebo, 'Ngonyama (lion)."
"Then lead on."
"Listen, Ngonyama; listen, Indhlovu (elephant). There is a path forthe lion in the veld, and another for the elephant in the forest;but this path is only for those who know it, and are welcome tothose who made it. The sun shines without. It were better ifNgonyama and the Spider blinked their eyes in the light Mid thewarmth."
"If ye have trodden the way, so will we. Lead on."
"Ye lose your wisdom, great one; but see, I go;" and she went fromthe cave into a vaulted passage, in which they encountered the blastladen with moisture, that made the walls slimy and the floor aseries of puddles.
The way was dark, and they splashed and stumbled in growingdiscomfort in the footsteps of the leader, who kept on at a quickwalk, showing a thorough familiarity with the passage. Sometimes, asthey could tell from the sound, the roof of the passage extended togreat heights; at others it closed in till they had to stoop theirheads. But their guide kept on without a pause, and presently, totheir great relief, they saw ahead a faint reflection of the lightupon a wet slab of rock. Hurrying on, they emerged from the passageinto a vast chamber, across which, though there was light enough todistinguish each other, they could not see. Mr. Hume took a stepforward, with his face turned up, in an effort to see the roofthrough the films of vapour that floated overhead.
"Stop, Ngonyama--see to your footing;" and the woman's handrestrained him.
He started back involuntarily, for at his feet there was a yawningabyss, out of which came the sound of rushing waters, and thecurling wraiths of vapours, but so deep and so dark that the eyecould detect no gleam of the flood beneath.
"Thanks, mother."
"Ohe! Ngonyama, remember I stood between you and death that time."
She moved away to the right, and they followed, going on a ledgewhich skirted the yawning abyss.
It was a perilous passage, and both of them would have been glad toturn back after they had gone a few steps, if the woman hadsuggested it. A feeling of vertigo seized them, so that they had tostop, leaning away from them for fear of falling over out of sheerdizziness. When they did move again, they groped for a footing witha complete feeling of helplessness, expecting every moment to slipon the slimy rock, and the further they advanced the worse theyfelt, for it would be as bad to turn back as go on. Looking back,Mr. Hume at one pause saw a little splatter of flame. Venning hadgroped for a match and struck a light; but before he could seeanything by its reflection, Mr. Hume blew it out, and placed hisheavy hand on the boy's shoulders to steady him.
"Worst thing you could do," he said.
"It's so dark," muttered the boy.
"Dark enough, but she's gone ahead safely enough."
They stood for some time, and seemed to gather comfort from thetouch of each other's hands.
"I am ready now," said Venning.
"That's good. Keep your eyes raised and your shoulder to the wall.Forward!"
They crept rather than walked round that fearful gallery, traversingthe unknown height with the roar of waters coming up from the unseendepth, and the silent wraiths of vapour making the darkness visibleas they curled upwards to disappear into the vast vault.
"If I can only get safe out of this," thought Venning at each step,"I will never try to leave the valley again by this way."
The valley was only a few hundred yards away, but it seemed to himthat he must have left it ages ago. Every second had been chargedwith a new sensation since he left the brightness outside, and eachslow, wary, suspicious movement he made had in it a whole sequenceof fears. Would he slip? "Would his foot fall on firm rock? Wouldsomething--he knew not what--grab him from out that awful pit? Wouldsome one or something--he was sure there was something creepingbehind--would it spring on him? Would that woman's hand suddenlyshoot out from some crevice and hurl the both of them headlong? Wasit never coming to an end? And the rock was shaking worse than ever!It would be easier to crawl! Of course it would. He went down on hishands and knees and laughed, because it was so easy. There wassomething on his back, something that jogged about and hit him onthe side of the head, that gripped him round the chest! What was it?He felt gingerly, and laughed again. His carbine! What was the useof a carbine there? No good, of course. What a joke to throw it downand hear the splash, or, better, to fire it off and hear the echoes!
"Venning!"
The boy chuckled as he sat on the ledge tugging at the buckle.
"Why, lad!"
The great hands closed on the boy, lifted him up, and bore himlightly as the man felt his way with his feet. He counted his steps,assuring himself that before he came to seventy-five they would beat the end.
"Ngonyama!" cried a voice, quite close.
"We are coming, mother."
"Ngonyama! Ngonyama! Ngonyama!" and the voice grew fainter.
"Wait--wait, O mother of chiefs, for the way is dark, and we moveslow."
"Slower fast, slower fast, Ngonyama, it matters not."
"It is far, mother! Are we near the end?"
"Near the end--very near! Is it the dead ye carry, Ngonyama?"
"Nay, mother; the boy is but sick. But where are you, that ye seeand are not seen, that your voice is near and yet far?"
The woman laughed. "So ye grow afraid, O great one? Said I not,Indhlovu, that this was not your path? Death is around."
Mr. Hume went forward steadily, counting his paces to keep his mindfrom wandering, and to his great joy he came suddenly on an openingin the wall which led towards welcome light, away from the horrorsof that unfathomable pit. The woman waited for him there, lookingvery tall against the light.
"The boy is sick, mother--a little water."
"It is water now. Outside it was the honey he asked for. Set himdown, Ngonyama--the child is weakly; set him down, and see toyourself."
"What words we these, woman?"
"Woman, yes; but master here, Ngonyama; and my words are easy tounderstand. Let the child be, and I will bring you out of this."
"Bring me water," he said sternly.
"There is plenty beyond. Carry him to the water if ye will, but thewater will have you both." She laughed shrilly.
Mr. Hume went on towar
ds the light, and found himself in anothercavern reaching far up to a roof, from which hung long stalactitesglistening white. There was light enough reflected from thesehanging pillars to see, and he looked anxiously into Venning's face.The boy's eyes were closed.
"Water," he said.
"Ohe! there is water beyond;" and she pointed ahead.
Again he went on without a thought about the marvels that disclosedthemselves in the cave in the shapes of crystals and cones ofsulphuric origin; but, as he advanced, he was aware of strange,intermittent sounds resembling explosions. Pushing on, he saw thewhite spray of falling water, then the gleam of wet rock, andstopped at the edge of a cataract, milk white from the churned foam.He soaked a handkerchief in the water and bathed the boy's face.
The woman was at his side. "Leave him; he belongs to the water.Leave him and follow, lest ye also go down."
"He Is only weak, mother. In a little time he will be ready tofollow."
He applied himself to the task of bringing the boy round, and whenhe looked up again the woman had gone. Then for the first time heglanced around him, and saw that he stood in a small cave openinginto a noble vault, lit up from top to bottom by a broad fan oflight that streamed through a fissure in the roof. Opposite to wherehe stood, and a little above, the river emerged from itssubterranean passage in a long green slide, to break into whitewhere it fell upon the rocks before its headlong rush at his feet.In the rock above the point where the river emerged there wereseveral round holes, and at intervals of a few seconds, columns ofwater spurted through these with loud reports. They shot far out,then broke into fine spray, on which the light produced wonderfulcolour effects. He could scarcely take his eyes off these blow-holes, so strange, so fascinating was the sight, and it was only thefaint sound of a sigh that called his attention to his patient.
In Search of the Okapi Page 20
