They stood in a large cave some thirty yards square. The roof was fairly lofty, once they had passed the portal, and the wonderful illumination of the blue light, now held upwards by Mr. Blakeney, lit up every nook and cranny of the place. In the corner, huddled together as if for mutual encouragement and protection, was a troop of some score of baboons, big and little. All the creatures were alarmed and angry. The older and bigger beasts showed their teeth threateningly, and quah-quahed fiercely at the intruders. In the centre of the group the eyes of the onlookers were instantly fixed, on a figure which, as all could clearly see, differed somewhat from the rest of the apes. It had a black face, but it was human, and, undoubtedly, the baboon boy.
"Now, lads," said Mr. Blakeney, "you guard the entrance. Let all escape that will, but whatever happens seize the boy yonder. Shoot any of the brutes that go for you. I'll stir them up."
As he spoke these words the fury of the baboons seemed to be redoubled; they barked fiercely, their raucous voices resounding hoarsely through the cavern. Holding the blue light aloft in his left hand and a revolver in his right, Mr. Blakeney advanced upon the group. Poeskop kept pace with him. Two grim old men baboons suddenly quitted the group and ran at a shamble swiftly upon Mr. Blakeney. The first barrel of his revolver accounted for the leader at close quarters; before he could press the trigger again, the second, a huge baboon, leaped for his throat. Mr. Blakeney somehow managed to elbow the brute off, and its teeth met in the fleshy part of his shoulder. At the same moment a bullet from Poeskop's carbine, the barrel pressed against the baboon's ribs, pierced its body. It relaxed its grip and dropped dead.
A huge baboon leaped for his throat.
The commotion set up by these attacks and by the firing was indescribable. It seemed to the two lads guarding the entrance that they stood in some wild inferno. The hoarse barkings of the older beasts; the howls and shrieks of the young animals; the smoke drifting across the startling illumination of the blue light; the dark, rough, uncouth figures of the apes, now beginning to scatter for flight--all these things seemed like the strange semblance of some wild dream. Now the baboons were separating. They ran in two parties round the walls of the cavern. Eight of the biggest, snapping and feinting in savage affright, Guy and Tom allowed to pass and escape out at the cave mouth. Two or three half-grown beasts and some mother baboons, with some quite small animals, went next. Next came a huge old female, with the baboon boy running at her heels. Guy and Tom ran back for the entrance, and planted themselves there. The baboon, grunting savagely and showing her formidable teeth, ran at Tom, and was in the act of springing at his throat, when a terrific kick from the lad caught her fairly on the point of the jaw and stretched her on the sand. Guy fired his Mannlicher instantly at the creature's head, and the thin bullet at once stretched her dead. At this the dark figure behind her--the baboon boy--turned and fled, seeking the farthest corner of the cave. By this time there seemed little fight left in the small remnant of baboons. The boys came forward from the entrance once more, and the maddened creatures swept out and away into the night. Besides themselves, but one figure remained in the cavern--the baboon boy.
"Now, lads, back to the entrance again!" cried Mr. Blakeney, "and we'll soon finish the business."
Kindling another blue light, he and Poeskop advanced upon the dark figure crouching behind a big projection of rock. As they approached, the thing, with a strange inhuman, angry grunt, manifestly copied from the baboons, darted away and ran round the cave wall. Poeskop flung down his carbine and rushed in pursuit. The three Englishmen, the ludicrous side of the chase overmastering the element of horror in this weird scene, burst into laughter as the Bushman chased the preternaturally active baboon boy round and round the cavern. Twice as it passed the entrance one of the boys made a grab at the creature. It sheered off, however, and, as they hesitated to leave their post, ran on. But Poeskop, suddenly ceasing from his pursuit, now made a cut across. Mr. Blakeney barred the way to the fleeing figure, and the Bushman, throwing himself upon the naked, black-skinned thing, held it in a grip that never relaxed. The creature bit, fought, scratched, and struggled fiercely. It was all of no avail. In five minutes Poeskop and Mr. Blakeney had the wild thing fastened up securely. Between them they carried it moaning down the hill and through the valley, and presently got it to their camp fire. There, surrounded by their curious native servants, who had heard the tale from Poeskop, they examined their capture with an interest strangely sharpened by amazement.
Chapter XI.
THE BERG DAMARAS.