CHAPTER SIX.
RICHARD GRENVILLE, HIS MARK.
The daylight, however, told our friends nothing very new, only Kenyonhinted to Leigh that where the rocks below them levelled down to, andimpinged upon, the veldt, everything was most suspiciously green andverdant, from which he inferred the presence of their old enemy, themarsh, in the immediate vicinity; then, turning round to examine theopposite cliff, his eye was caught by what seemed to be a curious kindof diagram engraved upon the face of the rock, perhaps two or threeyards from the upper edge of one of its platforms, and scarce fifty feetaway from them across the intervening chasm. The appearance itpresented was as undernoted, the characters being some eighteen totwenty inches in length, and cut deeply into the soft sandstone withsome apparently blunt instrument.
"Now," said Kenyon, calling his companion's attention to this, "what thedeuce does yonder curious hieroglyphic signify? I've no knowledge ofArabic, but I think I'm right in saying that those signs belong to thecalligraphy of no known language. To my professional eye they ratherresemble a rough gibbet with three bodies hanging from it."
It so happened that, as soon as daylight had satisfied the pair thattheir foes were not hanging about in the immediate vicinity, Leigh hadquietly laid himself down to enjoy a comfortable smoke, and was at themoment in question lying on the broad of his back, gazing at the widevista of country below him, and puffing away in perfect tranquillity,with the apex of his skull pointing towards the chasm. To save himselfthe trouble of rising, he lazily elevated his chin, and performed theinteresting occupation of looking, so to speak, over the top of his ownhead, and then electrified Kenyon by bounding to his feet with a wildhurrah, and shaking hands with him enthusiastically. "Found!" he fairlyyelled. "Found, as sure as there is a heaven above us!"
"Why, confound it, old fellow," said Kenyon, ruefully nursing hisbruised fingers, "whatever is the matter with you?"
"Matter!" was the reply. "Why, your hieroglyphic is as good as mycousin looking me in the face from yonder splendid rock. The solutionof your mystery is a simple matter to me--a man, hanging head-downwardsfrom yonder cliff, laboriously graved those curious characters, upsidedown, as we see them, upon the face of the rock, and the hand that wrotethem was the hand of Grenville."
"And the meaning?" queried the attentive Kenyon, without showing any ofhis customary signs of incredulity or dissent.
"The hieroglyphic which is such a stumbling-block to you, Kenyon,simplified, stands thus:--
"I. _v_. LIII,
"and the meaning is merely `Richard Grenville.' It was a secret signbetween my cousin and myself when we were mere schoolboys, and thesimile was drawn from the memorable sea-fight in the reign of good QueenBess, when Sir Richard Grenvil--God rest him for a gallantgentleman!--`with one small ship and his English few,' fought for a dayand a night with fifty-three Spanish galleons. As a boy, my cousin--though no descendant of the hero--was passionately devoted to this pageof history, and used to sign himself `1 _versus_ 53,' and so, by yondersign, I know he lives, and lives looking for me to find him, and to readthe hand he wrote, which to all others would, of course, be utterlyunintelligible." And Leigh again set to and fairly danced with joy andexcitement at this truly singular and fortunate discovery.
Whilst being thoroughly surprised, Kenyon could but congratulate himselfat seeing the hall-mark of absolute accuracy thus unexpectedly stampedupon every link in the chain of his pet theory, and both men were nowequally eager to descend the rocky pathway--the reason for the existenceof this last being, under the circumstances, a positive enigma to them--and recommence their search for the lost one on the other side of thekloof.
After a hasty breakfast, however, the pair decided that, as they werealready on the spot, it would be best to thoroughly satisfy themselvesregarding their own side of the chasm, more especially as, by the timethey had descended the rocky pathway and called at the camp, it wouldhave been too late to attempt the ascent of the cliffs, which were nowbelieved by them to provide a rampart for the enemy, and a prison fortheir friend.
The twain, therefore, scrambled down the rocks facing towards the north,and quickly found, as Kenyon had predicted, that the position on thatside was rendered altogether inaccessible by the presence of the swamp,which just here was very much in evidence. In every direction, as faras the eye could reach, it spread itself out brightly verdant andinviting in the sunshine, but utterly treacherous and unstable, and thenearer it approached to the rocks the more palpable did the fraudappear, as, at the point where the stony ground impinged upon the veldt,the swamp was little better than stagnant pools of slimy, evil-smellingwater, overgrown with reeds and rushes.
Re-ascending the rocks, Leigh and Kenyon sheltered themselves in thewoods from the rays of the vertical sun, utilising their time by makingthemselves, as they believed, thoroughly conversant with the place, andwhen the day began to grow towards evening, they left the bush-clothedheights, and again turned their faces towards the camp.
Just as the pair commenced the descent of the narrow rocky path Kenyonsuddenly paused, and drew in his breath with an angry hiss, andfollowing the direction of his eager gaze, Leigh looked towards theirtent, which was plainly in view, about a mile away as the crow flies.
From the height at which our friends stood, they had, of course, anunrestricted view of the plain stretched out before them, and everythingupon it, and there, some two hundred yards from the camp, and clearlyoutlined against the veldt upon which he lay stretched, was theunwelcome figure of an unmistakable spy, who, so far as he could be madeout at that distance, wore the garments of a white man.
When he had spent quite half-an-hour in this position, and no doubtthoroughly taken stock of his surroundings, the fellow was seen to turnand worm his way back, until he obtained the cover of a low clump ofbush about a quarter of a mile from the camp, and was thenceforwardhidden from sight.
After some little time had elapsed, and as our friends were debatingwhat steps they had best take, a fresh surprise was provided for them,as the pair distinctly saw a snow-white pigeon leave the bush inquestion, describe one or two airy circles round it, and then wing itsway directly towards the cliffs across the kloof, beyond which itquickly disappeared.
"A carrier pigeon, by Jove!" said Kenyon, "doubtless bearing a requestto Master Zero to come down and cut all our throats to-night. Allright, my friend, forewarned is forearmed, and you'll find it so thisevening, unless I am very much mistaken."
Carefully getting down to the exit of the pass, the twain commenced acautious stalk, and came in upon their quarry just at dusk, and greatwas the astonishment and consternation of the wretched spy when the twomen quietly rose from the long grass, and, covering him with theirrevolvers, peremptorily ordered him to lay down his arms; this hepromptly did in most abject fashion, and was in two minutes bound hardand fast with his own lasso, of which most objectionable instrument hisarmament consisted, backed up by a long American muzzle-loading rifleand a light axe or tomahawk.
The captive was apparently a Spaniard, as he protested volubly in thatlanguage--of which Kenyon had a smattering--against the gratuitousoutrage committed upon his unoffending person.
Suddenly, taking advantage of an instant when neither of his captors hadtheir eyes on him, the fellow darted to one side, and gave a kick atsome small object which our friends had passed unnoticed in the longgrass; this object, however, proved to be a little wicker basket, andfrom this receptacle--its prison doors thrown open by the intentionalviolence of its owner--there fluttered a large, black pigeon, whichcircled round the heads of the party and prepared to take its flight,just as its white predecessor had previously done. Fortunately, thebird was dazed and confused by the blow it had received, and hoveredround the spot an instant too long. Like a flash Leigh's rifle went tohis shoulder, and the next second the bird lay in a lifeless heap uponthe ground, whilst the spy ground out a bitter Spanish curse.
The shot was a very fine one, and but few men could have accomplishe
d itwith a repeating-rifle and a single bullet, but its success had, withouta doubt, prevented the spy from giving to his friends or followersinopportune notice of his capture and detention.
Quickly proceeding into camp, where the rifle-shot had set their menbuzzing about like bees, a hasty meal was partaken of, and then, leavingthe tent still standing, the whole party, upwards of twenty-five innumber, at once set out for the pass, as our friends believed that ifthey could once get their men up to the top of the rocky path, theywould easily be able to hold the wood and the steep and narrow wayagainst all comers. Finding it a matter of impossibility to get anyinformation out of the captive, they gagged him and walked him off withthem, Kenyon sternly telling him that if he tried to make any noise orattempted to escape, he would run a hunting-knife through his ribswithout further notice.
By the time the moon rose the party had stumbled out their way to themouth of the kloof, and soon had sufficient light to commence theascent. Having to go in front and lead the way, Kenyon put Leigh in therear to see that none of the bearers lost heart and turned back, givingthe captive into the charge of a gigantic Zanzibari, and warning himthat did he let the man go he should himself be shot like a dog. Allwent well until the party was quite two-thirds of the way up the zig-zagin the rock, when suddenly a commotion arose, and a cry went up that theprisoner was escaping. Turning angrily round, with his revolver halfraised, Kenyon saw the spy standing on the very edge of the parapet ofrock, with his hands at liberty, and in the act of drawing the gag fromhis mouth. On seeing Kenyon turn, the Zanzibari doubtless thought hewas himself about to be shot, and impelled by rage and fear, he sprangwildly upon the ledge of rock and seized the Spaniard by the throat.Forgetting the extreme danger of his position, the white man swayedbackwards to strike an effective blow at his sable assailant,overbalanced, and down they both went, with a horrid scream that rangout far into the stilly night, and awakened long-drawn, fearsome echoesin the dark and silent kloof.
One second more, and the horror-stricken band of listeners heard theunited bodies of the ill-fated pair strike with a sickening scrunch onthe rocks five hundred feet below. The whole affair was over in aninstant of time, and even the stem detective was deeply impressed bythis awful dual fatality, and could only beckon with his hand for theothers to follow him upwards quickly and in silence.
In a few moments more the adventurers emerged from the rocky path andgained the shelter of the bushes, where Leigh and Kenyon quicklybestowed the men in safe covers, and then posted themselves at a pointfrom which they could command the other side of the kloof, and sopossibly form an opinion as to how their enemies scaled its heights; forat a glance the ascent gave promise of providing them with an extremelydifficult, if not impossible, task, and if, in addition to negotiatingthis, they had to cope _en route_ with an armed and intrenched foe, theprospect of success would be extremely problematical.
Leigh had a theory that the slavers were provided with longrope-ladders, but arguing from the rapid disappearance of the slavecaravan, Kenyon declared that this suggestion would not hold water for amoment.
Scarcely had Leigh and Kenyon gained their covers than, to their utterastonishment, steps were heard approaching through the wood in theirrear, and whilst they were making themselves as small as possible, andbreathing a devout prayer that the black fellows might not lose theirheads and try to run away, a band of armed men passed swiftly by theirposition and emerged into the moonlight.
The new-comers were about thirty in number, all armed with axe, rifle,and lasso, and were, with but two or three exceptions, white men. Asthey reached the zig-zag pass, the party extended into single file andpromptly disappeared from view down the face of the rock. Until all hadvanished Kenyon scarcely breathed, then Leigh and he turned eagerly toone another, and hurriedly and anxiously discussed the situation.
Their examination that very day of the side of the kloof upon which theynow stood had been much too complete to admit of their believing thatthe men who had just passed them had been all the time lying hid, andthe inference naturally was that these strange people had some peculiarmethod of crossing the gorge at its upper edge. Such an apparentlypreposterous idea had, of course, not occurred to the pair whensearching the wood, but had the path been at all easy to find they wouldmost certainly have stumbled across it.
Moving quietly along the back track, the pair cautiously examined everylikely spot, and were about to enter a particularly black-looking clumpof bush, when they were suddenly brought to a standstill by the gruffchallenge of a colossal-looking sentry, who started out from the darkbackground of wood and threateningly raised his rifle.
"Halt! halt! and give the password!"
Leigh's hand stole towards his revolver; but men think rapidly inemergencies like this, and in a moment of inspiration, Kenyon coollyanswered, "_Zero_!"
"_Pass, Zero, and all's well_," grunted the gigantic sentinel, groundinghis arms with a clash, and then, in a theatrical whisper as the pairapproached him, "Mates, you haven't got a drink on you, have you? It'smain cold up here."
Quickly Leigh held out his flask, and as the other was in the very actof drinking, Kenyon flew at his throat like a cat, and choked him down,whilst Leigh knelt on his chest, and tried to bind him. Our friendswere both exceptionally powerful men, but this fellow was a regular bullof Bashan, and it was only after a low whistle had summoned one of theirnative guides that the trio got the sentry bound and gagged to theirsatisfaction. Next, sending the black fellow to keep watch at the topof the zig-zag, the pair set to to thoroughly explore the tangled pathwhich had been guarded by the sentry. A most unpleasant task this was,too, feeling their way about on the very verge of an immense precipice,thickly clothed with trees and bush, through which the rays of the mooncast at intervals a sickly glamour of feeble light and heavy shade.
At last a brief exclamation from Leigh announced a discovery, andstanding by his side, and looking directly across the chasm, Kenyon sawa curious, and in its way, a striking spectacle. From one side of thekloof to the other stretched the taut strands of a mighty double rope orhawser, and from this rope was suspended a small cage, capable ofcontaining two or three men, the occupants drawing themselves across bysmall guide-ropes, whilst the cage moved easily along the hawser uponwheeled blocks, the whole arrangement being entirely concealed from theview of anyone, either above or below, by the trees on either side ofthe chasm, which at this point blended and interlaced both their foliageand their branches.
So far good, but as the cage now swung in mid-air over the very centreof the chasm itself, and had, moreover, an occupant, it was difficult tosee what the next move was to be. It was, however, our friendsreflected, at all events consoling to know that a slash or two with asharp knife would effectually dispose of all possibility of their savagefoes attacking them in the rear.
Just at this moment a cautious whistle told Kenyon that danger was to beapprehended from the direction of the veldt, but at that very instantthe man in the cage, evidently thinking that the signal had been givenfor his benefit, commenced to haul upon the rope, and quickly gainingtheir side of the chasm, leaped out right into the ready arms of thepair, who very soon had him securely gagged and tied to a tree, at alittle distance from his fellow. Hurrying back as another low butearnest whistle reached their ears, our friends found that the slavershad been seen to surround the tent, and thoroughly explore it; then,evidently disliking the look of things, they had set out at speedtowards the pass, which they must now be in the very act of climbing.
Carrying off the whole frightened crowd, with the exception of one manwho had shown himself a tolerable marksman and something removed from anabject coward, Kenyon showed them how to cross the chasm safely andquietly, and bade them get over at once with all the ammunition.Persuasion and explanation was, however, of no use at all, and he had todrive the first batch into the strange vehicle at the muzzle of hisrevolver. Then, finding they were quite safe, the negroes promptlycommenced to chatter like so many monkeys, w
hereupon Kenyon threatenedto shoot them, if he heard another sound, and then returned with allexpedition to Leigh, who had posted himself so as to command thezig-zag, and had cleverly rolled a big rock into the very mouth of thechannel by which the foe was approaching.
All was now in readiness, and a dead silence reigned. The hush of atranquil tropical midnight was upon everything, and all nature waslooking her loveliest under the glamour of the shimmering moonlight.All at once the stillness was marred by a footfall, and then rent, as itwere, by a furious curse, as the leading slaver reached the top of thepass, and found the way blocked up. Climbing carefully over the stone,however, he safely reached terra firma, and was stooping down to removethe obstruction, when he was angrily hailed in nervous English byKenyon--"Here, you dog, leave that stone alone, and go back by the wayyou came. Quickly now, and drop that rifle--drop it, I say, or yourblood be on your own head!"
For answer, the fellow fired point-blank in the direction of the voice(for he could not see Kenyon, who was standing in the shadows of thewood), and then made for cover, but he never reached it; indeed, he hadhardly moved in his tracks, when down he went, as dead as a door-nail,being followed a moment later, along the same dark and fearsome road, bya comrade who persisted in obtruding over the rock rather more of hisperson than Leigh was disposed to permit, and ere the thundering echoesof the rifles had ceased to answer and to mock one another amongst thesurrounding rocks, the remainder of the slavers, having no more stomachfor such work, were in full retreat down the rock, and half an hourlater were seen steering wide out into the south-western veldt, thusputting entirely to rest any doubts which Kenyon still entertained ofthe feasibility of an attempt to scale the opposite cliffs.
Had there been any way of ascending on the other side of the kloof, itwas quite certain the slavers would have known about it, whereas theyhad clearly found it necessary to make a very wide circuit in order toget round the rocks, and thus make their way back to head-quarters.
Sending forward their sable supporters with instructions to get theprisoners across the chasm, Kenyon led his wondering comrade up thecliffs to the right, where they suddenly came upon a small lake,obviously fed by a neighbouring mountain stream.
"Now, old fellow," said he, "just lay down your rifle, and help me tobreak up this wall, and assist outraged nature to regain her ancientrights."
Leigh quickly saw that the water, which came sweeping rhythmically downfrom the further heights beyond the hill, had at this point beenartfully turned by a well-made wall, built of rock and broken stone, andapparently strengthened with mortar or cement, so that the stream,instead of exercising its own sweet will by zig-zagging down the rock,as it had done of yore, was wasted on the north-western veldt, where itsadvent had probably been largely responsible for the origination of themarsh, which had already given our friends such a world of trouble. Thewall of the dam, however, proved considerably stronger than Kenyon hadbargained for, so they finally bored a hole in it, and blew the wholeaffair up with a couple of flasks of powder taken from the fallenslavers.
When the smoke of the explosion cleared away, the released water couldbe seen bounding over the rocks, and shooting down the narrow channelwith a wild, sweeping rush, effectually closing this method of ascendingthe cliffs unless in abnormally dry seasons. A moment later and ourfriends could see the stream filtering along its old course across theveldt, looking like a mighty silver snake as it gleamed and twisted onits tortuous way, reflecting at every turn the brilliancy of the lovelycrescent moon.
Regaining the edge of the kloof, our friends stepped into the cage, andwere soon hauled across the chasm by one of their men, who was alreadyquite expert in this singular method of semi-aerial procedure.
On examining the prisoners Kenyon was disgusted to find that they wereboth stone dead, the cowardly blacks having killed them, bound as theywere, lest the slavers should get loose and do them an injury. This wasthe more aggravating, as Kenyon had fairly counted upon forcinginformation of some kind out of the men, and he was, besides, disposedto think well of the big sentry who had hailed them in English.However, the men were dead, and it was, therefore, useless regrettingthem, but Kenyon inwardly registered a vow to get even with the rascalwho had committed such a brace of infernally cold-blooded murders shouldhe ever find him out. Then sternly ordering the men to shoulder theirloads, the party set out under the waning moon, directing their stepsdownwards and towards the south-east.
Zero the Slaver: A Romance of Equatorial Africa Page 6
