Max looked up to the wide, burning sky. In that mad, headlong moment he offered up a prayer. The roar of the waters thundered in his ears. The canoe over-shot the crest of the cataract, as a swallow dips upon the wing. Max was conscious of a bursting in his head. There was a noise in his ears as if all chaos were rushing in upon him; it was as if he were an atom in the midst of an upheaval of the worlds. And then he remembered no more.
Now that the Hidden Valley has been explored, and is even shown upon some of the large scale maps that have recently been issued by the Royal Geographical Society, those whose pleasure it is to study such matters are well acquainted with the formation of the country.
The river finds its source in the unknown mountains to the south of Makanda; thence it flows due north towards the Kasai. South of the waterfall the basin consists of a hard, impervious rock. In the region of the jungle, this rock is covered by about ten feet of fertile subsoil: in some places a black, glutinous mud; in others, a red, loamy clay, containing a super-abundance of plant food. At the Long Ravine the rock rises to the surface, in what geologists call an "out-crop." North of the cataract lies a great plain of mud.
This phenomenon is merely what is found in every waterfall in the world. The river at the top of the falls flows over hard, impermeable rock; at the foot is found a softer stratum--such as chalk or clay--which is easily washed away. Originally, far back in the centuries, there was no waterfall at all. The river flowed on an even course from Makanda to the Kasai. Very soon, however, the current swept away vast tracts of mud to the north of the waterfall. This mud was carried by the Kasai to the Congo, and thence to the sea. In consequence, a tract of country, many square miles in area, gradually descended lower and lower. On the other hand, in the hard rock of the ravine, the river worked more slowly, so that, at last, the cataract was formed.
At the foot of the falls is a great pool in which the water is exceedingly deep, and round which the current spends its fury in many whirlpools, such as may be seen in a mill-pond when the flood-gates are opened to their full extent.
Having thus briefly explained the conformation of the country in the lower valley of the Hidden River, it is now necessary to return to Captain Crouch. The effort made by the little wizened sea-captain upon that eventful morning is worthy to rank with anything that was ever told by the poets of classic days. Had it not been for his indomitable will, he could never have accomplished a feat that was almost superhuman. Edward Harden had said that he believed that he was the only person whom Crouch cared for in the world. That might have been true at the time, but certain it is that the captain thought well of Max, else he had never accomplished what he did.
He was already wounded; even he himself had owned he was in pain. And yet, mile upon mile, he broke his way through the jungle, fighting onward amid the profusion of the forest, like one who was raving mad. Often he sank to his waist in marsh. His clothes were torn to shreds by thorns. His face and hands were red with blood which had mingled with the perspiration that streamed from every pore. When he came forth from the forest, at the head of the ravine, he looked hardly human--the most desperate being it were possible to picture.
For all that he dashed on, across the bare rocks, in the blazing heat of the sun. There was nothing now to impede him, and he raced upon his way, never pausing for breath. He was half-naked; he had left the greater part of his clothes upon the thorn-trees in the jungle. His pith helmet was askew, and battered and out of shape. He had used his Remington rifle as a club to beat his way through the thickets, had broken it off at the small of the butt, and now held the barrel in his hand. His legs were bare to the knee, like those of an urchin, and so clotted with blood that he looked like a savage who had dyed his skin. Sometimes he stumbled, and seemed in danger of falling; but each time he braced himself up, struck himself upon the chest, and went on even faster than before.
When he came to the end of the ravine he turned to the west, and there found a place where he could climb down to the low-lying flats. It was then approaching sunset. The heat of the day was past.