CHAPTER FIVE.
THE SECRET OF THE PASS.
The secret of the place, as revealed by the tell-tale photograph,existed simply in the perfect natural "blind" provided by the presenceof the road _through_ the pass, whilst the slaver's secret way wasdefined on the picture by a narrow wavy line, which absolutely wormedits way along the apparently unbroken face of the precipitous cliffitself, this way being primarily gained by climbing over the large,loose boulders which were freely strewed about just inside the entranceto the kloof. Gradually rising, and painfully zig-zagging up the giantwall of the rock, the narrow pathway could be clearly traced until itpierced the dark patch of brushwood which thickly crowned the summits ofthe towering cliffs, and was thenceforth lost to view. Deferring toLeigh's anxiety regarding his cousin, the pair left the camp as soon asthe moon rose that night, and found, to their surprise, that they couldeasily climb the slaver's rocky road, and that what looked like a merepathway for a goat, was in reality a well-worn track of a uniform widthof from two and a half to three feet, and this being positively hollowedout to the depth of nearly a yard, made travelling perfectly safe, ifnot very fast. Human hands, at least in Central Africa, could neverhave accomplished such a stupendous task as this, and it was quicklyevident to our friends that a small stream, running and zig-zagging downthe cliff through the ages of bygone years, had gradually worn foritself a deep channel in the soft sandstone rock, and the lynx-eyedslaver had doubtless seen the value of the position, and on winning hisway to the summit, in an abnormally dry season, had turned the streaminto some other, and possibly more useful channel.
Proceeding with the utmost caution, and expecting every instant toreceive the contents of a rifle through his ribs, Kenyon led the way upthis strange ascent and in about forty minutes' time the pair hadentered the dark and heavy patch of trees and brushwood which thicklycrowned the cliffs, and which served, in some degree, to mask their trueand enormous proportions. Arrived there, progress became of necessityslow, for it was only in places that the moonlight penetrated theinterlaced tropic foliage, and threw ghostly patches of light and shadeacross the path of the adventurers, who drew nearer together as thepainfully mysterious silence of the place impressed itself upon them.
It is not an altogether pleasant experience to find yourself alone atnight in an ordinary English coppice or plantation, a mile or two fromanywhere; but transplant that plantation into equatorial Africa, andstand there with the knowledge that you are hundreds of miles from eventhe nearest native village, people the wood with bloodthirsty foes,lurking, keen-eyed, in every brake and covert, armed with thetreacherous spear or the ready rifle, and you will understand why Leighand Kenyon, ordinarily bold enough in the open, could only creep forwardwith their hearts in their mouths, and felt an access of fear when agreat owl, disturbed by their cautious passage through the wood, rosefrom the trees above them, waking the hush of night with a weird,spirit-shaking hoot, and winged his way far off into the moonlight,which was everywhere flooding the outside world with its mellow glory.
Soon, however, our friends again escaped from the lonely wooded path,and emerged into the brilliantly-lighted open, with a magnificent rangeof vision in every direction, except where the cliffs on the other sideof the kloof shot upwards quite a hundred feet beyond the height ofthose now tenanted by themselves. This peculiarity, which the pair hadnot previously observed, of course effectually prevented them fromseeing anything at all in the southern board, but in front and on eachside of them the veldt could be seen sweeping clear away to the skyline,dotted here and there by clumps of bush and by moving herds of game.Behind them the mighty rocks frowned sternly down upon the adventurers,as if rebuking these weak creatures of an hour for disturbing with theirpuny presence the mist-beshrouded slumber of these mighty monarchs ofall time.
After a short conference our friends withdrew again into the shadow ofthe wood, and sat themselves down to wait patiently for the dawn,talking all the time in a busy undertone, Leigh urging one plan ofaction, whilst Kenyon was seemingly quite determined upon taking adiametrically opposite course. Leigh wished, in fact, to move on atonce towards the north, so as to remove their persons from the tell-taleheights before daybreak, whilst Kenyon was obstinately and aggressivelydesirous to know what lay behind the frowning wall of rock in theirimmediate rear, and as this meant re-descending the pass, and apparentlycrawling up the other side on their hands and knees, without any reallydefinite object in view, Leigh's arguments certainly seemed the better.
"Why, Kenyon," he concluded, "do you want to change your mind? Formerlyyou were anxious to penetrate the swamp from an altogether impossiblequarter in order to arrive at our present location, and now that youhave a good open down-hill road before you, you are keen to turn yourback upon it. At least, let me have your reason for this change offront."
"Simply this, Leigh," was the reply. "The pass itself, I now find, liessomewhat to the north of the equator, and I am positively certain thatthe man we seek will be found in some place which lies absolutely on theequatorial line, consequently behind us, and therefore away on the otherside of the kloof."
"But why, in the name of common-sense," persisted Leigh, "_should_ yourman live on the equator, or near it at all? That's what I can'tunderstand."
"See here, Leigh," was the cool answer; "that was my very first clue tothis affair. _He lives on latitude Number 0, otherwise Zero_. Basingmy whole theory and reasoning upon that, I have traced him to this spot,so I may fairly assume that my deductions are correct. However, sooneror later we shall have to investigate this side of the pass, so if youlike we'll toss up when daylight comes, and let the coin decide for us."
Still unconvinced, though admiring the shrewdness of his comrade infollowing up a mere piece of guess-work, and elaborating it into such astrikingly correct theory, Leigh continued to urge his view of thematter, and soon the dawn came gliding over the earth, waking all naturewith a kiss of peace, and preparing her for the advent of the gloriousorb of day.
Zero the Slaver: A Romance of Equatorial Africa Page 5
