The Peril Finders

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

  A WELCOME WORD.

  Chris's lips parted for a cry to escape, but his teeth remained fastset, and there was not a sound for the moment. He was conscious ofdropping rapidly down without the slightest change in his position, andthen there was a dull heavy shock, when the apparently solid piece ofledge, after being exposed to the atmosphere for ages, crumbled intodust and went on downward with a curious whispering rush along a steepslope instead of over a perpendicular wall. Choking with the dust whicharose, rolled over and over and half blinded, Chris was stunned by theconfusion of the rush, for how long he could not tell, and then therewas a sudden stoppage, and he lay half buried in the _debris_ of thelittle earthen avalanche.

  For a few moments the lad was too much stunned to attempt to move, andlay motionless, trying to pierce the thick dust which closed him in.Then the horror and dread of his position came upon him with terribleforce, and he began to struggle violently, increasing the dust, butgetting first one arm and then the other free. Then matters grew moreeasy; he dragged himself sidewise, and shovelfuls of the _debris_dropped from his hips, while he could feel that his legs were looser.Then another desperate struggle, and he was on the outside of thesloping heap, but only to set the surface in motion again and roll andglide down and down and over and over once more, till he was brought upshort in the narrowest part of a wedge-shaped mountain cleft, to beginstruggling again, trampling as if rapidly ascending stairs, to avoidbeing buried by the gliding rubbish still in motion and filling up thebottom of the rift.

  The dust was still forming a cloud, but it was floating away, leavingthe bare sides of the cleft clear enough for him to see far above himwhere the ledge ran horizontally along the side of the huge wall; andthe change in colour showed him where what seemed to be quite a smallportion had dropped away.

  Chris's next effort was to feel himself over and move his limbs, whichfelt sore, and ached; but he soon found that he was not hurt, and beganto try and realise his position.

  As far as he could make out he was in a rift of the valley; walls almostcompletely shut him in on three sides and nearly so on the fourth, buthere there was light--bright light--coming through a lightning-shaped,enormous crack which zigzagged downward from a great height, and whosedepth below he could not trace.

  The position would have been enough to confuse a man at any time, butnow after the fall it was tenfold more puzzling than it would have beento one trying to ascend the rock-face. But Chris soon came to thedetermination that the open valley must be out beyond the zigzag rift,and shaking himself clear of the rubbish which adhered to his garments,he felt that his weapons were all right, and then began to make his wayover the fallen stones and earth to the great crack.

  "I must be a long way down the cliff," thought the lad; "but it'swonderful that I'm not hurt--more," he added after a pause, for afeeling of stiffness and pain began to trouble him.

  With the pain the remembrance of the Indians began to come back fromwhere it had been driven, and instinctively drawing round his rifle, helooked upward; but the edge of the cliff was not visible from where hestood, and there was no fierce-looking warrior upon any ledge drawinghis bow to send an arrow whizzing through the air. But all the sameChris instinctively hastened his steps over the yielding _debris_,seeing as he did that once inside the zigzag rift he would be shelteredfrom any such danger as that.

  The next minute he had left the heaped-up earth and shale, to beginclimbing over blocks of hard stone which filled up the bottom of therift, finding the way difficult, even painful, with the light a veryshort distance in front, but with jagged masses hanging threateninglyoverhead and looking as if a touch would bring them thundering down.

  It was only fancy though, for they would be immovable until the waterthat the boy now heard trickling softly amongst the stones far beneathhis feet had gone on doing its insidious mining perhaps for ages, forthe zigzag rift was composed of massive stone.

  "Oh, if I could only get some of that water!" thought Chris, as he nowheard the soft musical trickle which roused within him a parchingfeeling of thirst.

  But it was far out of reach save to some burrowing animal which mighthave felt no compunction about making its way down through the crevicesof the fallen blocks over which Chris continued to stumble, till all atonce he dragged himself through a narrow opening between the two sidesof the rift, to find that he could look diagonally across the valley atthe openings and terraces far away, but evidently those which would bethe unexplored portions of the rock city, opposite the places they hadexamined.

  "Hurrah!" he cried, as the light seemed to flash into his spirit andgive him strength, for a shot rang out from somewhere to his right. Heknew it must come from there, for the echo came from beyond the openingon his left.

  Then there was another, and another, to awaken the echoes, followed bysilence, during which he waited for a fresh signal.

  It came at last, but very faint and distant, and though he shoutedseveral times over, there was no reply.

  "It's of no use to wait," muttered Chris; "they can't hear, and if theydid they couldn't help me. I must help myself."

  Feeling this strongly he climbed a little farther, to find that he wasat the edge of the zigzag rift, which, as far as he could make out,clove the face of the cliff from a great height up to far below him; andto damp his spirits the fact was clearly before him that he could go nofarther outward, for there was no fancy here--he was at the edge of agenuine precipice, and if there was any escape it must be by descending.

  He stepped back a little way and reached where the stones were piled-uproughly, partially filling up the rift, and by using care he was able todescend from block to block, with the water keeping up its musicaltinkle far below.

  "Why, it must be making its way out into the valley," he thought, "andif I can follow it I may be able to get out where it falls.

  "But we saw no falls," he said, after a few minutes' thought; "but thenwe never came quite to this end of the place, and only saw it from adistance. Let's see; water keeps going down and down, and if I can keepon close by it it's sure to lead one right into the valley, which lookedas if it was completely closed at the upper end.

  "So it is," Chris added, with a pitiful little laugh, "The Indianscouldn't get down--those who were shot did. And so did I; but onlyafter two awful tumbles. Why, it must be a wonder that I am alive. Butit killed my poor nag."

  Chris did not talk to himself, but his brain was very active, and hewondered a good deal why it was, as he kept on threading his way overand under stones, with the water acting as guide--why it was that heheard no more calls.

  "It must be," he thought, "that they are quite behind me, while I'mmaking my way across the end of the valley, so that I shall come outsomewhere near the opposite side--if I ever do get out, for the placegets narrower and darker the farther I go."

  Chris had good cause to complain, for from climbing over blocks of stonehe had to begin creeping under and between pieces so closely set thatthere were times when he was ready to give up in despair, and at lastthe end of his journey seemed to have arrived. For he was brought upshort at the mouth of a cavern-like place where the sound of tricklingwater grew louder and was accompanied by a peculiar whispering echosounding horribly strange and mysterious, coming as it did out of blackdarkness.

  It took a strong effort to enter the place, but the lad had growndesperate. He was conscious that whatever difficulty there was toencounter he must face it, so bending down and feeling his way by therough rocky wall, he stepped on very slowly and cautiously, for theflooring of the cavern-like place was of loose stones, beneath which hecould hear the water running faster as if nearing its exit, and he knewthat if he could not find the opening where the spring ran into thevalley, he could come back, for the hidden stream would still be hisguide.

  He had just comforted himself with this thought--a most welcome onewhere all was black--when it seemed to him that there was a dullsuggestion of light not far
ahead, and he took a few more cautious stepswith his hands telling him startling news, for he found that the roofwas rapidly getting lower, and a few yards farther he had to stoop.

  But it was lighter, and hence it was that a little farther on he did nothesitate to crawl, while before he had progressed many feet farther hehad to drag himself over the rough stones, which vibrated now from thewater flowing about their bases, and then as he dragged himself out intothe full light of day it was into the rocky channel of a stream wherethe water, that must at some time have rushed out as a heavy fall,smoothing the stones on either side, was now invisible, descending as itdid for about fifty feet into the valley amongst the rocks, andplunging, mole-like, deep down beneath the surface, as if shunning thelight of day.

  "Hah!" sighed the lad, as he stood upright and breathed deeply of thesoft pure air, for his difficulties seemed to be at an end, nothingremaining for him to do but lower himself down amongst the rocks fromthe rough ledge upon which he was perched, when his heart leaped at thesound of a familiar voice hailing him with a cheery "Ahoy!"