Beyond the Great South Wall: The Secret of the Antarctic

by Frank Savile

The priests of Cay, evidently fanatic to the last, had seen no chance of escape. They had stored away their golden vessels, swept and garnished their sanctuary, and then lain down in grim hopelessness to die at the feet of their god. Swiftly numbed by the overpowering cold, without provision or proper clothing, they had passed away in silent submission to the decrees of fate, and probably without much feeling or pain. Lessaution surmised that the lone corpse Parsons and I had stumbled upon in the other dwelling was the remains of some unfortunate wretch who had been longer fortified by food and raiment, and who had fought the cold with full knowledge of the ultimate issue. So in solitude and great fear he had met his death.

I pondered these ideas of the Professor’s while we collected together the vessels of the sanctuary. We roped them up in heaps, and transported them to the foot of the ice-hill. Then we signalled to Rafferty, whom we had left above in charge of half-a-dozen of the sailors, and had the pleasure of seeing our trove whizz up into the sunshine, to be bestowed finally in the lockers of the ship, there to await the possibilities of our ultimate rescue.

As the last sheaf of spits disappeared into the gloom of the roof, we turned for further explorations. Lessaution held—and we felt that there might be something in it—that by following the course of the ice-stream that tinkled into the channel at the extreme end of the cave, we might chance upon other remains of the Mayan village, or at any rate find more relics of their community. Not wishing to leave any chance untried of discovering all we could of this strange people’s habitation, we lit dips, took one apiece, and crawled into the mouth of the waterway.

It was low-roofed and narrow, and we groped and splashed along it like rats in a sewer. The light played and spangled on the ice walls, and the gurgle of the ripples and our splashings re-echoed hollow and gloomily. A draught sang back into our faces, making the candles sputter noisily. We thought that we must be approaching an outer entrance, though no light came through the ice. We wondered if by any chance we were in any communicating by-way of the cavern that Parsons and I had first explored.

Suddenly the ice faded from about us, and with the falling splash of a small cascade the rivulet ran into an opening in a rock wall which faced us.

This we took to be without doubt the overhanging side of the mountain which backed the basin in which lay our ship. We peered down the tunnel, and seeing the fall to be but a foot or two ventured in. For the first fifty yards the way was straight enough, but then began to turn and twist deviously, narrowing, though it grew higher. We easily understood that the water had worn a way through the granite by eating out a lode of softer mineral. We were enabled to walk erect, though I heard Lessaution grunt complainingly behind me as he squeezed through the narrows, where the sides reached out to one another sharply.

A couple of hundred yards more, and a turn—sharper than any we had yet passed—whipped us round almost in our tracks. Before I could realize it we were striding out into a great hall in the granite, and the stream was almost lost in the sandy floor.

With the disappearance of the reflecting walls the darkness seemed to swallow the thin light of our candles utterly. A heavy effluvia-like smell hung in the air. In the act of wheeling round to speak to my companions I tripped. I plunged forward, grasping the elusive sand, and ploughing a groove in it with my chin.

My candle went out as I struck the ground, but before its light snapped into nothingness I saw beside my face five long yellow objects spreading out ghastlily distinct upon the dark floor. Looking back I saw the obstruction over which I had stumbled begin to roll slowly from between me and the lights of my companions. It was silhouetted in irregular dents and jaggednesses against the dim illumination. I also saw the long yellow gleams move lingeringly from beside me in the twilight.

A yell went up from the others, and an odor still more pungent assailed my nostrils. I heard the slow, lurching sound of a heavy body churning the silt of the floor. But it needed not that to tell me in what plight I was. We had penetrated to the very lair of the Monster. I had fallen headlong across his tail as it stretched in my path. Beside me was his webbed foot; my face nearly touched his clammy nails.