The Day of Resis

by Lillian Frances Mentor

“I will do this,” said Onrai, “but what shall we do now?”

“We must wait here,” said Mr. Bruce, “until daylight and see what we can make of the hole, and whether the negroes have been killed or have used it as a means of escape. We will also investigate the volcano while here. But you must send men back to the villa immediately, to bury those dead negroes before the women see them; and tell this body of men to inform the women that we will return in a day or two; that we started early to look into the volcano or would have bade them good-bye. Don’t, by any means, let them know of the fight of last night. Impress upon your men the necessity of secrecy; it would only worry the women unnecessarily if they knew that the negroes were making trouble.”

The other men now laid down on the hard ground, making themselves as comfortable as possible, to rest until morning, when they could explore the hole and the volcano. They had tramped nearly twelve miles during the night and were now well up against the cliffs. The black cloud of smoke was still being blown to the north, however, and they were saved the extra misery of the falling ashes.

At last the east began to show signs of returning day, and long before the sun had crept into the heavens, our friends were up and looking down the great crevice. They were surprised to see the strange formation of this hole in the ground. It had undoubtedly been made by the earthquake, and was probably about ten feet broad at the top and narrowed in width as it went down, until it had reached a depth of two hundred feet, where it was only a narrow crack hardly six inches in width. But along one side had been left a natural foot path, about eighteen inches in width. This run up and down in a very irregular fashion and was narrower in some places than in others, but there was enough space at any point of it on which to walk, and it was this which had probably been followed by the negroes. They had known of this then, or they could never have found it in the darkness of night. Mr. Bruce and Mr. Graham followed the crevice for some distance, and then had returned and taking the footpath, had determined to follow it until they had learned what had become of the negroes.

They were accompanied by Harry and several of the Onians, Onrai remaining behind with the others. The footpath would bring them very near the surface at times, and again it would carry them so deep into the crevice, they could almost touch the opposite side by stretching out their hands. Taken on the whole, the chasm ascended with the foothills of the cliffs, or in other words, it kept a mean depth throughout its length until reaching the face of the cliff, where it ascended very rapidly, and upon looking up, our friends were not surprised to see the great cliff a thousand feet high, cleft as clean as if cut by a monstrous knife. And this cut was at straight as a die, our friends being able to see through it in a direct line a great distance. Still the footpath continued as it had commenced, along one side of the crevice. When once inside of the cliff the explorers could look up through the cavern, far above their heads and see the stars, for the crevice here was narrow and of such a depth, the light of the sun could not penetrate it.

“I think it would be better to return,” said Mr. Bruce, “we can only follow this path through the mountain and that is too great a journey for to-day, especially when we have had no breakfast.”

“I think as you do,” said Mr. Graham. “These negroes must certainly have escaped by this route, and it will be an easy matter to keep them from again entering the Land of On, for ten men could guard this pass against an army.”

They turned and retraced their steps and were soon with their companions again. They now turned their attention to the volcano. As the morning advanced and the wind changed, the smoke was again driven over them, and the ashes fell in great sheets about them. They had to cross the crevice and tramp some distance to the north to reach the base of the cliff, over which towered the cloud of smoke. The question as to how they should cross the crevice was easily answered by their going to the end of it; which was a mile distant from where they now were. The whole party joined in this exploration tour, the attendants keeping their eyes open for any small game which might be induced, by some cause or other, to enter these bad lands. They were now in the Hunting Reserve, but the land here was so barren, and of such great extent, these animals would not come into it for any reason, unless it might be to cross it. Just at this time, too, it was made worse by a thick covering of ashes which had deluged everything. And the same shroud of ashes was now coming down in a blinding sheet, and was worse than it had been the night before, because of the heat which now went with them.

They were very near the belching crater now, and when the wind would change for a moment, blowing the cloud in a different direction, they could see the great black mass of smoke coming from the cliff, and bringing in its folds, very often, live coals of considerable size. The wind did not change very often, however, and most of the time our friends were engulfed in the awful dust and ashes, which at times were so thick, they were even hid from each other. But by perseverance, they reached the foot of the cliff right above which rose the volume of smoke. They stood here for a moment gazing up at the towering wall of rock, it being, at this point, fully two thousand feet high, and perpendicular, and wondered how they were going to scale its great height. They could not possibly do it; there was not even a foothold on the face of that rock wall, and our friends turned away disheartened.

They had hoped to find fissures or rents in the rock, caused by the earthquake, which might allow them to reach the summit; but their hopes in this direction were all shattered by that one glance up the palisade. It was now beyond noon and they had had nothing to eat that morning, and they were all beginning to feel desperately hungry. This, too, puzzled them, for they could not expect to find anything to eat here or anything to kill nearer than two miles, where the good lands began again. But something must be had, so three of the attendants were sent to the woods, two miles away, to procure, if possible, a deer or something light, which they might carry back with them, and which would be so palatable in their present condition of hunger.