CHAPTER XII.
Charlie's Adventure.
"Well," said Brown, "which is it to be? South or west?"
"According to Columbus, Stuart was down with the southern tribe the last time they saw him, which is apparently many years ago."
"And he says that the road to the southern tribe is the easier to travel. I think we ought to go there first."
"Then tackle the western lot. We must thoroughly examine those caves he speaks of."
"Yes, the horses are in fine hard condition now; we will make a start as soon as Charlie comes back."
"We ought to go round by Hentig's grave and recover those papers."
"We have got our work cut out. Lucky we brought a good supply of rations."
The six niggers appeared to have settled down contentedly to await the return of Columbus. They were not at all intelligent, and both men failed in getting any further information from them.
"What's to become of these beggars when we leave?" said Brown. "We must take Columbus with us to show us the best road."
"There's plenty of game here, and up and down the water-course they will be able to earn an honest living," returned Morton. "There's not enough of them to resort to their cannibal practices again."
"I sha'n't be sorry when Charlie comes back; I am tired of doing nothing."
The time appointed for Charlie's return drew near without any sign of the three men. Morton watched the plain all day, finding it impossible to conceal his anxiety, and blaming himself for having allowed the boy to go.
At last, not long before sundown, a solitary figure was seen approaching. Morton eagerly snatched up the glasses.
"Columbus. And alone," said he, putting the glasses down with a sigh.
The two friends waited anxiously for the approach of the native. Instinctively they felt that some disaster must have happened.
As soon as Columbus was within hearing he commenced howling dismally, and the six others answered him, lamenting in a loud voice. This was kept up at intervals until Columbus reached the camp. Without waiting to be questioned, he held up two fingers and pointed down to the ground. Charlie and Billy were evidently in trouble somewhere underground. Brown indicated that they would go out there, which was evidently what Columbus wanted.
"We must take all the surcingles," said Brown; "they will bear Charlie's weight, I think, and will make a good long rope buckled together."
"Columbus has been evidently sent back to bring assistance; and the old beggar has travelled too, by the look of him. What do you say to taking two of the others with us?"
"I suppose they will not sack the camp while we are away?" returned Brown.
"No, they are not civilized enough for that. Now let us make all the haste we can."
Columbus was instructed to tell two of the blacks to accompany them, and to explain to these men what had happened. This he did in several rapid sentences, and in a few minutes they were ready for the road. Their equipment was but light, as they only took their revolvers, candles, the surcingles, and a little food and some brandy, a small supply of which they had with them; this with their water-bags would be all they required, they reckoned. They pushed on with scarcely a rest all night, and found the advantage of having the natives with them, for they could not have found their way amongst the boulders in the dark.
About an hour before daylight they stood once more on the edge of the hole in which the crater had sunk. There was a decided bad odour arising from it, distinctly noticeable at that time.
Morton leaned over the edge and shouted "Below there!" as loud as he could. There was silence for a second or two, and then "Below there!" came thundering back.
"Echo," said Brown.
Morton tried again with the same result.
Brown fired his pistol, but the thunder of the echoes was the only answer.
"They must be poisoned with foul air," said Morton, in tones of the deepest sorrow.
"Must we wait until daylight?" asked Brown.
"I am afraid so. We might come to grief ourselves, and then it would be all up indeed. However, I think I can get down to the edge of the fissure without much danger, if you and the two blacks can hang on to the surcingles."
The preparations were soon completed, and Morton carefully made his way down the sloping sides of the hole and amongst the mud-encrusted boulders, by the help of the surcingles, which Brown and the two natives held above. It was slow work, for the candle he had gave out only a feeble light, but at last he found himself at the edge of the rift at the bottom. He stood there listening for some time; presently, with an up-blast of cold air that nearly extinguished his candle, came a strange wail as though some giant was sighing, far underground.
"Hear anything up there, Brown?" he shouted.
"Not a sound. Are you on level ground, can we slack off?"
"Yes, slack off. But do you think you could trust the two blacks to hold it while you come down? I will come back and show you a light."
"I'll chance it at any rate," returned Brown, and presently he stood beside his friend.
Morton told him of the strange sound he had heard, and both stood by the edge of the hole and listened. Once more the blast of cold air came and with it the melancholy and mysterious noise.
"That's no human or animal noise," said Brown; "it seems more like water or air escaping."
"The atmosphere does not seem so bad now," said Morton. "I suppose it was the contrast with the pure air above."
"It was getting light to the eastward when I came down just now," returned Brown; "we had better wait for full daylight—half an hour cannot make much difference."
"It might make all the difference," replied Morton; "however, I suppose there is no help for it."
At that moment there was a sudden cry from above.
"Wonder what's up?" said Morton, scrambling back. "Hang it all!" he exclaimed as he laid hold of the surcingles and they came tumbling down, showing that the blacks above had let go of them.
Presently they were heard jabbering at the edge of the hole, and Morton shouted to them and threw a coil of the surcingles up. Apparently they understood what was wanted, for the line tautened once more and Morton scrambled up, and then assisted Brown. The dawn was rapidly breaking, and the blacks, pointing to the candle Morton still held in his hand and then towards the memorable cliffs, chattered volubly.
"They must mean that they saw a light in that direction," said Brown. "It's too light for us to see now."
"Shall we go over there or investigate this hole?"
"They must have seen something by the start they got; perhaps we had better go there first."
Accompanied by the two natives, who led the way by a path known to them, they made for the shattered cliff which they had hoped never to see again. As they approached it an awful odour, evidently stealing through the cracks from the bodies rotting beneath the collapsed roof, made itself disagreeably evident. The blacks kept on talking to one another, as though discussing what they now saw for the first time. Arrived at the place, the white men mounted on the piled-up debris, and both together shouted with the full strength of their lungs. To their delight a distinct answer was heard from beneath their feet, evidently no echo.
"It's Charlie's voice!" cried Morton delightedly. "Where are you?" he yelled.
"Here!" came the voice, right under their feet.
"In the old cave?" asked Morton.
"No, but close to it; there's a vile smell here."
"How did you get there?"
"Came underground. Do you think you can get us out here, or must we go back again to the crater?"
"The blacks saw your light, so there must be a big gap somewhere. Have a good look round, it's sunrise now."
There was a silence for a while, then Charlie's voice sounded a little further off.
"There's a big crack here, but too narrow for us to get through."
The men above went in the direction of the sound, and soon found the fissure.
"It would take dynamite to shift this one," said Brown, putting his hand on the huge boulder that formed one side of the rift.
Morton knelt down on the flat rock that formed the opposite side and put his hand into the crevice.
"Hurrah!" he shouted, "this is only a slab; the four of us can shift this, I think."
So it proved. The four, with one unanimous pull, managed to partly upraise the limestone slab, and Morton adroitly kicked a big stone underneath which kept it in position. Charlie was now able to crawl out, followed by Billy.
"Here, take a swig of this before you say anything," said Morton, mixing some brandy and water in his pannikin.
Charlie took some and handed the remainder to Billy, who looked particularly scared.
"How long have you been cruising about in the bowels of the earth?" asked Brown.
"Since the night before last, or early yesterday morning. I did not go down the deep hole when I first came here, because I had promised to be careful. I went down the first one, and then got some dead leaves from the old bottle-tree camp, lit them, and threw them down. By the light we could see that there were no sides to the hole—it seemed as though it had been punched in the roof of a tunnel. However, we found a place at last where some boulders were piled up, and I thought that, with Billy's help, I could get down on to them. I did so, and found that I could get from there on to the floor of the place without any trouble. I came back for Billy, and he was being helped down by Columbus, when suddenly there came a most awful sound, half a shriek and half a sigh, which so frightened Billy that he must have let go, for he came tumbling on top of me, and the two of us dislodged the boulder, which was not very firm to start with. Fortunately we were neither of us hurt, but Columbus must have thought we were killed, for he cleared out—"
"And came straight back to us, luckily," interrupted Morton.
"When I found that he was gone," went on Charlie, "I thought we could get back again by piling rocks up to stand upon; but there were no small ones, they were all too big for us to shift. We waited there, and shouted, and called, and every now and again we heard that sigh—"
"We heard it as well," said Morton.
"Billy shook with fright every time, and nearly made me as bad as himself. At last I made up my mind to explore the passage we were in; but I had a great job with Billy, for the passage led in the direction the sound came from, and Billy conjured up all manner of horrors. Luckily I had the packet of candles with me when I came down, so we had plenty of light."
"Was the air bad?" asked Morton.
"There was a funny damp smell, but the candles burnt well, and we felt no bad effects. The passage was smooth enough underfoot but not very high, so that we had to stoop; but we came to occasional places where we could straighten our backs. The noise kept getting louder, until at last Billy with his terror got to be such a nuisance, that when we got to where there was enough space I put my candle down and gave him a good punching."
Here Brown and Morton burst out laughing. The idea of Charlie, down in the blackness of a subterranean passage, thumping Billy to keep his own courage up, was too original.
"Presently we came to where the passage branched, and along one came the noise, now a regular bellow. Nothing could induce Billy to go along that one; he threw himself on the ground and let me kick him, but he wouldn't budge."
"Were you very anxious to go yourself, Charlie?" asked Brown.
"I had to keep up appearances," returned Charlie modestly. "We started along the other passage, and presently it began to ascend, and was littered and partly blocked with boulders; finally, after much trouble and squeezing, we got up to where you found us. It was dark when we got there, but I knew by the fresh air coming in that there were some cracks somewhere leading to the upper world, and I guessed by the smell that we must be in the neighbourhood of the old cave. We went back a bit and lay down to sleep, and when I woke up we came here again so as to be ready to try and get out at the first dawn."
"Thank goodness it's all over," said Morton; "for I've had a rare fright, and Brown and I have been travelling all night. However, we won't go back without investigating the mystery of the noise."
There was still some water lying about in the rock holes around the crater, so when they returned they set to work and got breakfast ready.
Charlie thought with them that the strange noise was made by an escape of water or air, both from the regularity of the sound and its peculiar nature.