“True,” said Harry, his face again falling, “but it is another chance and this makes two.”
This cheered them but little, however, and despair took possession of them completely a few moments later. They ought to have reached the wall hours before, yet there were no signs of it. Suddenly they were brought to a stand by the same cry, which had awakened Harry. There was no mistaking it now; it was human and right in front of them.
Our friends stopped. There was no mistaking the cry now; it was human and only a few feet ahead of them. They peered through the gloom but could see nothing; the man, whoever he was, could not be far away, so they moved forward and a moment later a dark mass was seen lying on the floor of the cave just ahead of them. As they hurried up to this, another cry went up from the heap. Our friends now came up to the object and found it to be a native. As they approached and stood over him, he raised his head and looked at them in a half-scared way and then tried to crawl away from them. Seeing them following him he raised to his feet and staggered along for a short distance but again fell. The party now saw that his left side from knee to shoulder was badly lacerated, but how had he come into this condition? Had he been wounded in a fight or in a blast and brought to this fearful place to die?
Although this man was probably one of their captors and would have helped to kill them if they had not turned the tables on them, still the man’s plight was so pitiful and his condition so helpless that their sympathy went out to him at once and coming up close to where he had fallen, Mr. Graham stooped and taking the bag of water from his back, poured its contents over the raw wounds of the native. He writhed under the momentary pain, but realizing that they wished to help him, he tried to facilitate their good acts by turning his side to them, exposing the wound. He kept looking at Onrai, as if the King had a fascination for him, which he could not resist and at last he raised his hand and motioned to Onrai to approach. Onrai came up to him and the native looked at him for fully a moment, then addressed him in the language of On.
Onrai started back completely surprised by hearing his own language spoken by this man. The native’s face fell, showing that he had built much on this disclosure to the King and the result had bitterly disappointed him.
“Speak to him, Onrai,” said Mr. Bruce.
Onrai again stepped up to the native and asked him how he had become acquainted with his language.
“The story is long and I am hurt,” answered the man, “but if you will carry me to the lake, where my companions were killed, and let me there wash my wounds, I will tell you all.”
“The lake,” said Mr. Graham, “why, my good man, that is many miles away.”
“No,” answered the man, “it is only a short distance from here.”