“See!” I exclaimed. “The cleft in the mountain side is still open. Beyond is your own country, Chaka.”
“Yes,” he replied, with an accent of sadness; “the hidden city is hidden no longer.”
CHAPTER 25
WE REPEL THE INVADERS
Allerton was soon himself again and assisted in rubbing the girl’s hands to restore their circulation, while Chaka, who had saved her life with such admirable courage, stood passively by, regarding the scene.
Presently Ama opened her eyes, and naturally the first thing they fell upon was Paul’s anxious face. She smiled at him, sighed, and stirred uneasily as the recollection of the fearful experience through which she had passed slowly dawned upon her. Then she sat up and struggled to her feet, gazing with horror at her ruined city and the vista of the Itzaex country that showed through the riven mountain.
“Come!” she said, and without heeding her own people, who flocked about her, she extended one hand to Chaka, the other to Paul, and supported between them staggered away to examine the extent of the damage.
One would expect wild excitement in the valley now; but the Tcha were a queer race. Those who had been saved from injury by assembling at the theatre sat down where they were and gazed in mute despair at the ruins of the splendid city they had known and loved so well. Even the priests were completely demoralized, and I saw our enemy Katalat, wrapped in his robe, standing silent and alone, his glassy eyes fixed on the ground at his feet, as if lost in thought.
After all there was little to blame in the demeanor of the Tcha. The race having existed in this favored spot for centuries upon centuries, the present inhabitants had had no thought of insecurity. So suddenly had the earthquakes and their attendant misfortunes come upon them that they were stunned for the time and incapable of action, or even logical thought.
Ama moaned and wept at every step of her progress through the city. There was hardly a building that had escaped damage; by far the majority were irretrievably demolished. The artisans’ quarters had suffered most, as their buildings were not as strongly built as the others, and hundreds of dead were buried under the walls of their home.
The poor girl could not bear the sad sights for long. Even with our assistance, which we earnestly volunteered, little could be done in this hour of disaster to relieve the stricken ones; so presently Ama turned toward her own palace.
Here was more desolation, but parts of the vast building still remained intact, and the rooms occupied by the High Priestess were yet habitable. Of the fifty attendant priestesses only about thirty had escaped death, the others having been swallowed up when the earth opened. The survivors were wailing dismally when we arrived, and there was no way to comfort them.
Ama withdrew to her rooms and shut herself up. We did not see her again for three days. Meantime we resumed our former quarters in the one-story wing of the priests’ palace, which was about all there was left of that building. Katalat and his followers took possession of the prison, which being low and solid had escaped damage, and for a time we heard nothing of them, either.
I proposed to our party that we collect such stores of food as we would find and a few more rubies and make our way back through the Itzaex country to the ship. Paul said we could go if we wished, but for his part he intended to stay until Ama was out of her trouble. Chaka declared he would stay also. There was no use in arguing with them, for they both loved the girl; so of course we all stayed. No one can desert a comrade at such a time.
On the evening of the third day a Tcha who had been put to guard the rift in the mountain came running to say that a great horde of Itzaex warriors was marching toward us and had encamped for the night but three hours’ distance from the city.
When this news reached Ama she sent for us at once, asking what could be done to protect her people.
“What are your future plans?” asked Paul, calmly. “Do you intend to rebuild the city?”
“To be sure,” she replied. “Already I have consulted with the Tribunal, with the High Priest Katalat and with my principal nobles, and we have determined to erect a new city upon these ruins. But it will take many years to do this and my people have not yet recovered from the shock of their misfortunes.”
“Now that the mountain side is split open and a path made into the valley,” said Allerton, “all the world will be coming here, and you cannot prevent it. Here are the Itzaex now, bent on conquering the remnants of the Tcha and plundering you of your treasures. They are merely the forerunners of others to come.”
She wrung her hands in abject despair.
“What shall I do?” she moaned. “Oh, what shall I do?”
“Fight!” said Chaka, suddenly. The Itzaex were his own people, too.
“We’ll help to drive them away,” declared Archie, enthusiastically.
Paul was thoughtful.
“How much of a fighting force can you command?” he asked.
“The Public Guardians have always been sufficient for our purposes,” said Ama. “They number one hundred and are commanded by the Waba Pagatka. But I think every man in the valley will willingly fight to protect us from our foes.”
“Who leads the miners?” was his next question.
“Their chief, a Tcha named Ampax.”
“Send for him, and also for Pagatka,” he requested.
She dispatched messengers at once.
Pagatka came first and saluted the High Priestess with his usual deference.
“Gather all your men,” said Ama, “and take them to the opening the earthquake has made in the mountain. You are to guard us against the Itzaex, who will attack us early in the morning.”
“I have but eighty men left alive,” he stated. “The Itzaex are thousands.”
“But you have possession of the pass,” said Paul, “and I and my comrades will be there to help you. At all hazards the Itzaex must be kept from entering the valley. If they succeed, they will kill without mercy every inhabitant.”
The Waba asserted he would do all in his power and retired to assemble his men. Like all the rest of his people he was completely discouraged and had no hope of making a successful resistance.
When the miner, Ampax, arrived he proved to be a fine big fellow with a bushy beard of fiery red and keen, steadfast eyes. He was asked to get together all the men of his caste that he could and raise a rampart of stones across the mouth of the pass. As this was nearly a hundred feet in width it seemed a herculean task; but Ampax promptly undertook to do all that was possible. We liked this fellow. In this crisis he was the most capable Tcha we had found.
All night the miners labored at the pass and many others of the Tcha, when they understood the matter, willingly assisted them. The ground was well littered with rocks and blocks of marble from ruined buildings, so material was close at hand. By daybreak a barrier had been erected nearly five feet in height entirely across the opening.
Waba Pagatka came with his men, fully armed with spears and battle-axes, and the soldiers were lined up behind the barrier. Ama had ordered our firearms and ammunition returned to us, and these, supplemented by our electrites, made our little party of nine more formidable than the eighty soldiers of Pagatka. But the Tcha were at last beginning to take a lively interest in their own welfare, and at daybreak volunteers began to join our ranks in fair numbers, among them several of the priesthood. They came armed very primitively with whatever weapons they could pick up. Axes, knives and heavy clubs were the chief of these, and there were a few bows and arrows brought out, but not many. Never in the lifetime of this generation had they been called upon to fight a battle; but they were a calm and determined lot, in spite of their inexperience, and we looked for them to render a good account of themselves.
Altogether we mustered that morning some four hundred men all told, and opposed to us were more than five thousand skilled Itzaex warriors, the bravest and fiercest fighters I have ever known. Really, our case seemed desperate.
The enemy broke camp at dayb
reak and marched up the mountain in good military order. At their head was borne aloft an open palanquin, upon which reclined a man who was doubtless their leader. Paul examined him through his field glasses and declared he was none other than our old enemy Datchapa. How the ancient uncle of the atkayma had managed to survive his tumble down the pyramid was a wonder; but he had, and of course he had soon recovered from the shock of the electrite.
The attack of the Itzaex was now fully explained. Chaka’s father, believing his son dead, had before his own demise confided the secret of the hidden city to Datchapa, who would become his successor. Doubtless he included in the tale a description of the beauty and riches of the city and valley. So when the earthquake came and the Itzaex saw the mountain rent asunder and a passage opened, old Datchapa had quickly decided to invade and conquer the stricken and helpless kingdom of the Tcha. That secluded race was certainly unprepared to oppose such an invasion, never having dreamed of trouble with their neighbors, the Itzaex, which proved how little they understood the savage nature of the tribe surrounding their retreat.
The sun had risen brilliantly when the attack began. The Itzaex were probably surprised at sight of the rampart which had sprung up in a single night, but they did not hesitate to advance upon it. Datchapa halted his palanquin to one side, but quite near the scene of action, and sat up, propped by his cushions, to direct the battle. I imagine his fall had broken some limbs that were slowly mending, but the old fellow’s energetic spirit urged him to lead his people on this momentous occasion in spite of his injuries.
Our party of nine was stationed close to the barrier, one every ten feet or so from the next, thus forming a line that controlled the entire space. All around us stood the defenders awaiting with composure the attack.
A shower of darts directed toward us did no harm at all, because we escaped them by simply ducking our heads. Arrows were likewise harmless. The Itzaex understood the situation and with savage cries swung their clubs and battle-axes and bounded forward to scale the rampart.
We used our repeating rifles, cutting into their front ranks with fearful effect; but the enemy came on undaunted. The Tcha now leaped to the top of the wall and from their point of vantage fought so desperately, yet coolly, that after some ten minutes of hand to hand conflict the Itzaex retreated to gain breath and reform their ranks. They left scores of dead and dying before the barrier, but our own forces had suffered severely, too. I was proud of the Tcha at that moment. They were fully as fearless as their enemies and made a capital defense when you consider they had never been trained for warfare.
The big miner Ampax touched Paul’s arm and pointed to a great cliff that far up on the mountain’s edge overhung the pass. The earthquake, in rending Aota’s side, had left this tremendous mass suspended by a small neck of rock. I had not noticed the thing before, as from inside the valley the slender connection was not clearly seen, and during the darkness of the night it had also escaped the notice of the miners. But Ampax had spied it in the nick of time, and as I gazed up at the thing now it looked mighty dangerous to those who stood below.
“If I can break off that mass,” said Ampax, “it will block the pass.”
Paul nodded.
“Try it,” he replied, and at once Ampax selected a dozen assistants who, laden with bars and mattocks of heavy bronze, began to climb the side of the cliff, using a path that a goat would have hesitated to attempt.
Allerton called me to him.
“Sam,” said he, “in our chest is a stick of dynamite. It is wrapped in foil and is kept in a padded box marked ‘XXD.’ Run and get it, my lad, and carry it to Ampax as quickly as you can. You know how to use it.”
“Will there be time?” I inquired, anxiously.
“I think so. With our electrites and the rifles we ought to be able to drive those savages back once or twice more.”
“All right, Paul; I’m off.”
Handing my firearms to Pagatka, who ought to do some good with them for he was an intelligent fellow, I sprinted as fast as I was able back to our quarters. The rift in the mountain was at the south end, nearly a quarter of a mile distant from the temple enclosure; but it took a little time to unlock the chest and secure the dynamite.
Taking the precious box under my arm I hastily started to return when I came upon Ama standing with a group of her women at a point where her eyes could command the pass.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
I pointed up the mountain toward the great mass of rock that overhung the opening, explaining that only a small neck of rock held it in place and Ampax was trying to break it away so as to block up the pass. I added that in the box was a powerful explosive that would assist the miner in his task, and that we must hurry or the Itzaex would have broken through the defense before we could accomplish our object.
“The climb is what I dread,” said I; “it’s a dizzy path, and I’m not sure I can make it.”
“I will guide you,” she suddenly exclaimed. “Follow me, Samsteele!”
Turning, she ran lightly back to the temple enclosure, and after a moment’s hesitation I decided to follow her. We were not heading for the pass at all, yet Ama ought to know her own mountain better than I did.
The girl proved a swift runner and I, being already short of breath, had no easy job to keep up with her. As we dashed into the gardens surrounding Ama’s ruined pavilion the battle cry of the fierce Itzaex again resounded in our ears and we realized that another attack upon the barrier had begun.
Ama entered the big cavern in the mountain, where I had never before been. We skirted a bathing pool, fed by springs that gushed from the rocks, and quite at the rear end of the place came to a small passage. It was black as ink, but Ama took my hand and drew me after her along the passage, scarcely abating her speed as she went.
The tunnel broadened after the entrance was passed, and inclined upward, making more than one turn. The floor was smooth, and although I could not discern even the girl’s form before me, we made good progress. On and up we went, and the unusual exertion was making me pretty short of breath when a ray of light appeared ahead. Ama made another run for the top and we emerged abruptly upon the very crest of the mountain, only a few hundred feet from the rift.
The ridge was not very wide and we could look down both sides of the mountain from where we stood. There was no time for admiring the view, however, for Ama hurried me along until we came to where Ampax and his men were laboring. They had already driven a hole into the big neck of rock connecting the fragment with the mountain — it looked much bigger here than from below — but I could see it would have taken them a long time to have done the job in their own way.
From below came the wild cries of the attacking savages, mingled with the sound of firearms as our boys bravely opposed them. The Tcha uttered no sounds as they fought, but they were none the less terrible for that.
Approaching Ampax I asked him to drive a deep hole with his bar in the hollow he had already made in the neck of rock. He had no idea what I proposed doing, but Ama ordered him to obey me, and he did. The poor fellow was sweating from every pore with his exertions.
I took the dynamite from the box and carefully lowered it into the hole, attaching a fuse I had found in the parcel. It was not a very long fuse, but it must answer our purpose.
Just then the Itzaex retired for the second time, being repulsed with great loss to both sides. Mounting the big fragment I leaned over the edge and called to Paul that all was ready. At once he withdrew all the Tcha and our own boys from the barrier, making them retreat to a safe distance. The scene of conflict, as I now viewed it, was a veritable slaughter-pen, the dead and dying lying heaped in every direction. It was surely time for a diversion.
I ordered Ampax and his men to run along the ridge, and told Ama to go with them. They were slow to understand me and I could not wait long for them to get out of the way because the Itzaex were already forming for another rush. So I lighted the fuse and ran from the pl
ace so fast myself that the miners took warning and hastened after me. Seizing Ama’s arm I dragged her along the ridge until the explosion knocked us all flat upon the rocks and sent three miners flying over the precipice.
The crash that followed the detonation shook the ridge again, and then a hearty cheer went up from the exhausted Tcha who stood below in the valley. I knew then that the pass was blocked and the battle over.
CHAPTER 26
WE HEAR STRANGE NEWS
Paul told me afterward that the advancing Itzaex had reached the barrier and, astonished at finding no opposition, were climbing upon it in a closely packed mass when the great rock fell. The slaughter must have been terrible, for not only did the fragment completely fill the vast space, but the rubble of loose rocks following it killed many on both sides. Among the victims were Datchapa and his palanquin bearers, and being now without a leader the superstitious terrors of the Itzaex, who had always feared this “sacred mountain,” influenced them to abandon further hostilities and return to their own city.
When she counted the cost of the defense, however, the brave High Priestess was in despair. Many of the noblest and best citizens had perished, and between war and earthquake the population of the valley was now reduced to a mere handful, and those mostly priests, women and children. There were enough men left, however, to cause the girl a still greater anxiety than she had yet endured, as we soon discovered.
The task of disposing of the dead was immediately undertaken by the artisans, miners and agriculturists, of whom more survived than of the higher castes. This was necessary in order to prevent a plague, and by Ama’s direction all the bodies were taken to a large cave at the north of the valley and therein deposited, after which the opening was hermetically sealed.
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 714
