“Why,” he had asked, “have we seen no game, not a living creature of any kind, with the exception of a few birds, and yet you and the Inkoos Winfield talk of hunting?”
“Because of the great black gulf and the dark River of Death,” was the answer; and Grenville had been given to understand that this wonderful country was absolutely cut in two, from side to side, by a yawning abyss, forty to fifty feet across, through which, some three hundred feet below, flowed a sluggish and inky-looking stream of incalculable depth, thoroughly meriting the Stygian name bestowed upon it.
This awful chasm, which intersected the country for over eighty miles, was cleverly spanned in three places, equidistant about twenty miles, by stout but narrow wooden bridges; and these were jealously-guarded night and day, the nearest one to the present hiding-place of the party being also the bridge most adjacent to the Mormon stronghold, which went by the name of East Utah. It was one of these bridge guards that Amaxosa had slain in order to cross the gulf and, as he—poor fellow!—thought, regain his freedom.
On further consideration, and after an early breakfast, the party decided to change their quarters that very night, for, much to their surprise, it proved that Amaxosa had stowed away, in a cave close by, sufficient dried flesh to keep a small army going for months; this led to inquiry, and it came out that an enterprising Mormon had obtained the sanction of the Holy Three to conveying himself and his belongings across the bridge and into the veldt, where he expected to find excellent pasturage for his cattle, there being no animals of any kind on the outer side of the chasm. This herd the Zulu had looted most successfully, without the Mormon having an idea where a round dozen of his finest beasts had gone; and so disgusted was he thereat, that after a trial of one month he again betook himself to the inner lands, minus the pick of his herd. The meat thus feloniously obtained, Amaxosa had carefully dried and laid up—with most unusual forethought for one of his colour—against a rainy day.
Just before sunset, therefore, the whole party, bearing as much dried flesh as they could conveniently carry, took leave of their comfortable shelter, and cautiously retraced their steps to the glade where Levert had met his death, and where they found his body still lying, just as they had left it.
It being no part of Grenville’s new programme that the corpse should be discovered as yet, it was hastily concealed; and then, rapidly passing on, the party reached the open veldt just before sunset, rested there until the moon rose, and two hours later were safely entrenched in a spot which had previously impressed itself upon Grenville’s retentive memory as being singularly adapted for a sustained defence in the event of a protracted siege.
Their new shelter consisted of a curious-looking table-topped rock, quite fifty feet high and some thirty yards in length by about as many in breadth. From inside this rock flowed a small stream, which, as in the case of the cave they had just deserted, obtained exit through a rent about four feet wide in the massive wall of stone. In the interior of this rock, which was hollowed out into two separate caves of singularly angular and distorted appearance, the water welled up cool, fresh, and clear as crystal. The floor was of sandy gravel, and the rock, which was apparently of ironstone formation, had evidently been at one time struck by lightning, and was rent in every direction, in such a way as to leave most convenient loopholes for shooting through.
Altogether, it was a very strong place indeed, stood alone in a forest glade with six hundred yards of clear ground on every side of it, the only cover being low scrub; yet it was only one mile from the edge of the veldt, and perhaps twenty from the great stairway. Well provisioned, and with such weapons as theirs to defend it, and having regard to the fact that the place could only be entered by one man at a time, it might well be considered absolutely impregnable.
Here the party rested for the night, keeping guard by turns, and spending the whole of the next day in piling up firewood and timber joists, by which they could ascend twenty feet above the level of the outside ground, so as to scour the scrub, if needful, for any lurking foes; and also in putting up a sort of earthwork inside the rock, wherever the loopholes were too numerous to be required.
Night again put a welcome period to the labours of the party, and after breakfast on the following morning Grenville called all together, told them that the time for decided action had arrived, and unfolded his plan of operations, as follows.