Into the Unknown: A Romance of South Africa

by Lawrence Fletcher

  CHAPTER ELEVEN.

  THE DEATH-SHOT.

  Gradually the band approached, and at last joined forces with theguards, and, to Grenville's horror, he now saw that the whole of his ownparty were prisoners, with their hands bound behind them; and by theclear moonlight he could see that his cousin's head was bandaged, whilstWinfield's arm was in a sling. A second look, and he noticed that oneperson was missing, and that was Myzukulwa. Grenville could have swornhe had seen the Zulu an instant before, and glancing at his companion,he heard his low expressive "Ow!" and in another moment Myzukulwapresented himself before them with his hands tied. He was promptly cutloose and armed with a spear and one of Grenville's revolvers; but atthat moment his escape was discovered, and a tremendous commotion tookplace, Radford Custance commanding the guards to open the bridge again,so that the fugitive could not cross. He then walked up to the helplessLeigh, pointed that worthy's own rifle at his head, and threatened toblow his brains out unless he told where the Zulu had gone. Leighbriefly replied that he neither knew nor cared, upon which the otherbrutally struck him in the face with his fist. It was the cowardlybully's last act Grenville's rifle leaped to his shoulder, a stream offire divided the bushes, and the Mormon leader staggered back with thelife-blood spirting from a ragged hole in his breast.

  Then ensued a scene of horror and carnage. The Zulus uttered theirterrible war-cry, and dashed into the fight, followed by Grenville,after he had first picked off five more of the enemy. Amaxosa hadquickly freed Leigh, and put his revolver into his hands; and in lesstime than it takes to tell, Winfield was at liberty and hurrying thegirls into the bushes, whilst the others were fighting desperately.

  Here Grenville's old coolness stood him in good stead. He never gave asingle Mormon the chance to prime the pan of his musket; and havingemptied his own rifle, he flung it down, and betook himself to Leigh'sweapon. It was the old story--the cowardly Mormons, finding themselvesreduced to six, became demoralised, lost their heads, broke, and fled;but the Winchester effectually put a stop to that game, and in less thanten minutes from the commencement of the fight, the re-united friendswere in undisputed possession of the ground.

  A hasty explanation ensued, from which it appeared that the Mormons hadstolen upon their position in the grey dawn, while Winfield was onguard. The poor fellow fairly broke down when Grenville questioned himsharply, and said they seemed to have sprung from the earth, and that henever heard them till they actually had their hands on him. Heattempted to make a defence, and in the scuffle was shot through thewrist, whilst Leigh was knocked senseless with the butt of a rifle, andMyzukulwa overpowered by a dozen men, two of whom, however, he killedwith his war-club. The Mormons had kept up a forced march through theheat of the day, and the two girls were more dead than alive.Grenville, therefore, turned on the bridge again and got all across,telling the Zulus to bring along such arms as they could find, as wellas the case of rockets from the bridge, as he foresaw that when therunners who had gone on ahead found that the main body did not appear indue time, they would return to see what had happened.

  Three miles from the bridge a strong position was selected upon thehill-side, and hardly had the party settled down than Amaxosa, who hadleft them at the bridge, rejoined them with some choice cuts from a fineyoung deer which he had killed; and getting well amongst the rocks, afire was lighted, and all thoroughly enjoyed the first meal of freshmeat which had passed their lips for at least a month.

  And now, having refreshed the inner man, the girls went off to sleep ina little cave close by, whilst Leigh and Winfield, who were bothwounded, kept watch, and Grenville and the two Zulus made their way backto the bridge. Here Grenville coolly took up his post as if he were theguard, ordering the Zulus to lie down behind the timbers.

  His calculations had been nicely made, for in less than a quarter of anhour four Mormons came up at a run, and walked blindly into the trap,and, without a shot being fired, were all disposed of--two falling intothe chasm and the two others being accounted for by the Zulus. Rapidlyrejoining his party, Grenville awakened the women and insisted upontheir proceeding, which they did cautiously and with weary feet allnight long. Just before the dawn our friends reached a position ofwhich Amaxosa had told Grenville, and which the latter saw with delightwas simply impregnable, and was, according to the Zulu, in the heart ofthe very best centre of the game resorts of East Utah.

  To reach this desired spot the party had to ascend a steep narrow pathfor upwards of a hundred feet, and this brought them on to a grassyplateau some fifty yards square, the back of it being formed by therocks, which towered away thousands of feet above their heads, andseemed to soar into the very heavens. The base, however, was piercedwith several caves, in one of which was a tiny spring of water. Theplace was in fact like the huge grass-laid initial step of some giantstairway leading up the precipitous face of the mountain.

  Amaxosa led away the quagga and hid it in a safe locality, where hethought it improbable the beast would be found, where it had food andwater, and was walled in with a zareba of thorn-bushes--anyway, it musttake its chance with the rest of them.

  When the Zulu reappeared he brought a small deer on his shoulders, andindifferent now whether they were seen or not, the party cooked anexcellent breakfast, which was duly appreciated, and then all, with theexception of Grenville, lay down to sleep. Upon his iron constitutionthe effect of the night's work was simply nil, and as he had slept theprevious afternoon he was fortunately still comparatively fresh.

  Grenville now examined the new position of his party with increasedcare, and found that he could wholly approve of it. The place wasadmirably adapted for a sustained defence, so long as they had food; andas the game runs were, according to Amaxosa, less than three hundredyards away direct to a small stream, and as there was no scrub thatwould afford the enemy any cover against their rifles operating fromsuch a height, he could only repeat to himself that the plateau wasimpregnable. Here neither fire, water, nor gunpowder could touch them,and the Mormon Three would have to devise some further hellish andwonderful scheme before they got the little band into their power again.

  On inquiry it had turned out that someone at the cave near the stairwayhad incautiously knocked the tobacco ash out of his pipe into the littlestream, and that the fragrant weed, absolutely still smoking, had beencarried down the hill-side out on to the veldt, under the very noses ofthe astonished Mormon band, who, unknown to Leigh and his party, werecamping out below to watch the neighbourhood. The rest, of course, hadbeen a mere matter of careful advance and complete surprise.

  In this quiet spot the party remained unmolested and apparentlyundiscovered for a full week, in which they not only recruited theirhealth, but amply replenished their store of meat. On the eighth day,however, a change took place, for a small band of Mormons, evidently ona hunting expedition, espied our friends, gazed wildly at them for somelittle time, and then took to their heels in the direction of East Utah,whilst the party on the plateau prepared their arms.

  In about three hours' time the Mormon host appeared, sure enough, anddrew a semicircle round the position, keeping about six hundred yardsoff; then coolly set to to pitch a large tent, upon which their standardwas erected, and instantly replied to by the Saint George's ensign ofthe beleaguered party.

  Leigh was anxious to try his hand at the Mormon flag again, butGrenville would not permit it. "No, Alf," he said; "I've an idea thatthat tent is meant for the infernal Mormon Trinity; and if it is, we'llmake them wish they'd planted it elsewhere; the impudent beggarsevidently fancy they are clean out of range."

  Soon, however, a little diversion occurred; there happened to be onlyone spring available in this neighbourhood, and towards this water,which lay a shade over three hundred yards from the plateau, a Mormonnow took his way, carrying a large water-ewer. When he neared thespring Grenville fired a couple of shots across him and shouted to himto keep away; the man, however, was obstinate, and this resulted in hisgetting himself shot. The
n another pluckily tried the game, running asfast as he could, but was also knocked over. Lastly, the cowardlyMormons, relying on the gallantry of their foes, chased a wretched womanout to obtain the precious fluid. She filled the vessel, then, lookingat the rock and seeing Grenville's rifle raised, set down the water andfell on her knees, lifting her hands to the plateau in an agony ofentreaty. This was just what Grenville wanted, and the next instant hisbullet struck the water-vessel, which it shattered into fragments, andthe woman hastily rushed back to her people, who vented their anger inshouts, curses, and gesticulations.

  "They'll get water at night," said Leigh; "is it worth wasting powder onthem, Dick?"

  "I think so, Alf; for if we can only anger them into making an attackand coming into easy range, we'll treat them to another dose such as wegave them at the Table Rock."

  The Mormons, however, were not to be drawn, and when darkness came down,they had made no further hostile movement. The Zulus now begged leaveto slip down to the spring with their spears, and before they had beengone many minutes a fearful shriek was heard, announcing the death ofanother Mormon. A discharge of fire-arms followed, and by the flashesof the guns those on the plateau could see that a number of Mormons werequickly falling back to their own encampment, and upon these Grenvilleand Leigh opened fire with their Winchesters, doing considerableexecution.

  The Zulus were soon back again, bringing three more rifles andammunition, of which they had forcibly despoiled the late owners.

  Soon after this the moon rose, and the little party on the plateau foundthat the war was only about to begin according to the Mormoncalculations.

  The great tent was fully lighted up, and near to it the defenders of therock could see what looked like a stand of arms. On this head they werequickly undeceived, for all at once a rocket rose from its rest and camedirectly at their position, striking the wall above their heads andfalling upon the plateau, where it hissed about quite harmlessly, butalarmed the girls very much indeed.

  Grenville ordered them into the cave, and had all the ammunitioncarefully stored away, and before half-a-dozen of these fiery messengershad reached them, sent two or three of the Mormons' own bridge signalrockets into the very midst of the mob, the last one setting fire to thetent and causing several people--presumably the wondrous Holy Three andtheir iniquitous satellites--to scuttle about in a most undignifiedfashion.

  The little band then sent a few shell-bullets into the enemy's camp,where it was evident they caused fearful damage and confusion, the wholecrowd promptly rushing off until they were nearly a mile distant fromthe Rock.

  Our friends now lay down to rest again, as if nothing had happened,Grenville still keeping guard. The night passed away, however, withoutfurther disturbance, and when morning came, there was not a single enemyin sight.

  After breakfast Winfield elected to go hunting with Amaxosa; his wristwas now practically well, he said, and he felt as if a little exercisewould do him good. Grenville, whilst lazily smoking his pipe, waswatching the motions of the pair, who were endeavouring, a quarter of amile away, to stalk several head of game, when he sprang to his feetwith a hurried exclamation of fear, and seizing his rifle, pitched itforward, and apparently taking aim at Winfield, fired quickly. Even ashe did so a puff of white smoke shot up, apparently from the ground,within forty yards of Winfield's position, and throwing up his hands hefell prone upon his face. The Zulu promptly sprang forward, and liftingthe body in his arms commenced to carry it away, whilst two more shotsspirted out from the ground, both fortunately being wide of the mark.

  In another instant Leigh was down the rugged path and helping Amaxosa tocarry Winfield up to the plateau. Grenville anxiously came forward asthey reached their destination and laid down their ghastly burden. "Ishe dead?" he asked in broken tones.

  "Not quite, my father," replied the Zulu, "but he cannot live, the evilmen have shot him through the chest." Winfield, as Amaxosa said this,opened his eyes, coughed up some blood, then faintly asked for water;and after receiving this, spoke very feebly to Grenville.

  "Thank you for trying to save me, but you were a second too late thistime--you have saved my life so often, and I hoped to live to saveyours; and now let me say good-bye to Dora, for I am going, going fast;"and again he coughed up great streams of blood.

  Leigh broke the awful calamity as gently as possible to the poor girl,and a moment later she sat with her father's head upon her knee, withthe scalding tears running pitifully down her cheeks, and in her heartthe awful knowledge that in a few short minutes she would lose the onlyparent she had, and who was dear to her beyond anything else upon earth.

  The end was coming fast; poor Winfield could only whisper, "If you everget away from here, go home to England, my darling. Oh! how shall Ileave you in the hands of strangers. Gentlemen, God be with you as youare kind to my friendless little girl."

  "Not friendless, old fellow," said Leigh, kneeling beside him."Winfield, will you give Dora to me? I love her very dearly."

  The poor fellow gazed fixedly at Leigh, then at his daughter, who smiledthrough her tears at him who had so boldly claimed her without evenhaving asked her consent to the bargain. Leigh held out his hand.

  "Won't you say yes, darling?"

  "Oh! yes, yes," she sobbed, taking his hand for one brief instant.

  Winfield smiled feebly.

  "God bless you both, my children;" then with a wild choking cry, "Dora,my child, where are you? All grows dark with me, and I go--I go to herI love. Yes, my own sweet wife, I come--at last;" and choked by anotherawful rush of blood, poor Jack Winfield fell dead.

  Who can describe the anguish of the poor orphan girl? Her father hadfor years been all in all to her, and the love which had lately sprungup in her heart towards Alf Leigh was still too young to act as aconsolation to her; in this dread moment she felt as if the world forher was at an end.

  Gently and tenderly her lover led her away, whispering words of comfort,and handed her over to Rose, who was weeping mournfully in concert; thenleaving the girls sobbing in each other's arms, he returned to theothers, to find the body covered with the British ensign, and Grenvillesternly examining the locality from which the death-shot had been fired.

  "Alf," he said, "they have burrowed a hole in the ground, put up anearthwork overhead, and thrown three rifles into it. One is dead, andnow you shall see Jack Winfield avenged." As he spoke a rocket directedby Amaxosa was fired straight into the cover chosen by the enemy, whichin one second more was enveloped in a sheet of flame, the foolishMormons having built it amongst the dried grass. Unable to stand theheat and smoke, both marksmen made a dash for life, but were tumbledover by the cousins before they had run a dozen yards.