“It is only here,” continued Onrai, “that we can follow them at all, for the animals do not bother us here, and there is no underbrush to hamper us.”
The men talked on in this way until the hunters returned, two of them with a small deer, and the third with a bear cub. Their burdens were heavy and the trip had been quite long, but the prospect of the feast which would be theirs when they again reached their friends, buoyed them up and the party greeted them with cheers, and all fell to and cut the choicest parts of the deer and bear to roast; but one important thing had been forgotten. They were in a barren waste and not a sprig of wood could be found with which to make a fire. They were looking at each other in blank amazement, when a huge boulder flew through the air and fell in their midst.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
IN THE CRATER.
They jumped back in affright, as the great rock rushed through the air and half buried itself in the soft earth before them. They looked from one to the other, as if seeking an explanation of this new surprise, but none could answer. They could not suppose for a moment that the rock had been broken from the great cliff, for the surface of these was so smooth, nothing could come from this source. They looked above them, but the air was so full of the ashes and dust, they could not penetrate it over a hundred feet. They hurriedly moved away from such a dangerous position, taking the bear and deer with them.
“Where could this rock have come from?” asked Harry.
It puzzled them to answer this question, and they kept their gaze fastened on the cliff above, hoping to see the wind change for a moment, and the cloud of smoke blown from them long enough to see the top. After waiting for some time, the cloudy atmosphere did break for a moment, and far up, so high that they looked like pigmies on top of the cliff, they saw a number of negroes, their bodies half hanging over the edge.
“Ah! the mystery is solved,” exclaimed Mr. Bruce. “They are probably the same band which we drove from here last night.”
“Yes, and now we can feel assured that there is a way to reach the summit. Look out!” said Harry, as he saw the negroes start another large stone from the summit.
Down it came dangerously near to the party, and they decided to go back to the old position of the morning, for there they would be out of the way of these falling stones, and they could also drive back any of the negroes if they again tried to return. Back they trudged, taking a part of the deer and bear meat with them, and upon reaching the old stand, and while looking around, they saw, not far away from them, a monstrous tree, which had probably been blown from the summit of the cliffs by the storm. A fire was soon built and the meat roasted and eaten, after which they laid down for a night’s sleep, their day having profited them little but experiences which might do them some good in the near future. They had learned that there was a way to the summit of the cliff, and the finding of this way was to be the work of the morrow. The night was passed as comfortably as could be, on the fearfully hard bed of stone and earth, and early in the morning they were astir again, and after a meal of the roasted venison, they all started for the small pathway in the crevice.
They soon reached this, and falling into single file, with Mr. Bruce in the lead, they kept up the march for a couple of hours, when they were well into the heart of the cliff. No other footpath had yet been reached by which they could gain the summit.