“Men of On,” said Onrai, in despair, “these devils will not only kill you and your companions, but they will kill your wives, sisters and brothers; they will throw down your houses, they will destroy the land. Brave men of On, who turn not from the lion, tiger or elephant, do not let these black beasts show themselves the greater. Turn on them, cut them, chop them, beat them, hammer their foul bodies into the earth, slash them until not a piece large enough is left to feed a jackal. On to them.”
Mr. Bruce had given Harry and Mr. Graham orders to close in with their battalions, as soon as Onrai could again encourage the men to advance, and show no mercy; to ride into the black ranks with the elephants, and crush them beneath their feet. Accordingly, when Onrai had ceased speaking, and had turned and had himself led the way into the black ranks, the men went with a rush, notwithstanding that hundreds of them dropped in the advance. Harry and Mr. Graham closed in on their flanks, and were slowly surrounding the now emboldened blacks.
Still they plied the frightful weapons, and scores of the Onians were dropping. It was a fearful advance, but the men were sticking to it bravely; but there were great chances against their ever overcoming this hellish tribe, with their fiendish weapons. The Onians were again losing ground, they could not withstand that awful massacre.
But what is this coming up in the rear? The earth trembles as with another earthquake, but there is no rumbling with it now. The men looked back. Ah, yes, it is Sedai mounted on Gip, and with a hundred immense elephants back of him, all being hurried on by their riders. Quickly the elephants come forward, their swinging gait turning their bodies from side to side, the earth trembling with each fall of their huge feet. Straight for the blacks they made the ranks of the Onians breaking away to allow them to pass. The blacks look and see the awful enemy coming straight for them, on which their murderous hatchets could have no effect. They hurled once more the hatchets at the Onians, and pulling these back, dropped them at their sides, and tried by flight to escape the crushing feet of the elephants. But the elephants rushed into their midst, not only killing with their fearful feet but using their trunks and tusks as well, slaying and crushing as they went. Now the Onians made a charge, and clutching their daggers in one hand and the hatchets in the other, done as Onrai had told them to do, and hacked and chopped, and cut and beat and pounded the enemy, their faces and arms being covered with the blood, but still showing no mercy; they were for the time merciless brutes. They had fallen on to the flanks of the negroes, and such was their fearful onslaught, and so fast were these hacked and mutilated bodies piled up, that it looked as if the awful carnage would not cease, until every black carcass was heaped up in one fearful mass of reeking and quivering flesh.
But a low, rumbling sound is heard, which grows louder and louder, and comes nearer and nearer. It is another earthquake. The Onians stop for a moment in their awful massacre, and in this one moment the remainder of the black horde turn and make for the crevice. The earth was shaking fearfully though and the men could hardly keep their feet. On they staggered, until the Onians, finally realizing that the blacks were escaping them, made a rush after them. But the earth still trembled and it was suddenly growing dark. What was wrong with the volcano? A huge mass of stones and smoke came forth in a rush in a greater volume than it had at any time before, and great showers of rock and ashes were pouring from its hellish mouth. On the negroes ran, and on the Onians sped after them. The negroes had now reached the crevice, and were fighting for a foothold on the ledge. Some of them were successful, but most of them were forced over the side, falling into the yawning abyss below. The Onians were about to dash after them, when a fearful, deafening report was heard, and looking up to the volcano, they saw a mighty mass of molten lava thrown far into the heavens, and then dropping back into the crater, overflow the wall of this, and fall in a great stream into the crevice. Our friends, spellbound, watched the sight, while the immense flow of lava rolled over the sides of the mountain, and into the crevice, filling up that great hole. It was running in a monstrous flow, easily five hundred feet wide, and twenty feet deep, as near as our friends could calculate. It came pouring through the crevice, well up toward the party, and they started back, in alarm; but it gained on them, and to make it worse, a terrible shower of hot ashes and water was pouring down on them. They were blinded and gasping for breath, turned toward the villa. They were being burned and scalded, their feet becoming blistered; they could not see, they could not breathe.
CHAPTER XLII.
BURIED ALIVE.
And so they stumbled blindly on, blindly, for they could not open their eyes because of the fearful dust and ashes. The thick cloud of dust and ashes came forth in a mighty avalanche, burying the land and filling the air with its death-dealing particles; making such a darkness as could be felt; a close, suffocating darkness more like the blackness of an unventilated dungeon than the open darkness of night; a darkness which was penetrated only by the mighty light of the belching volcano, the light varying with every phase of the eruption; now a lurid glare which gave the dust-covered earth the appearance of a blood-stained floor; again it would change to a blue which would almost equal the soft rays of the moon; then it would die away to a faint green, casting a death-like glow over all.
And the fearful rumbling continued and far down in the bowels of the earth, could be heard that great lake or river of molten rock and ore, rushing to the outlet which would free it; and the earth would tremble with the fearful fight of the mass as it surged and burned and crushed its way through its underground channels. Then again could be heard the hissing and blowing off of the steam as it escaped from the crevice in the crater.
About the fleeing army fell the hot ashes and steam. They had made a wild rush toward the villa when the first shower had struck them, and they were still hurrying as fast as their bleeding feet could carry them. They had covered miles, and this was wonderful when it was considered, that the ashes had fallen almost to the depth of a foot; and each step that they took they would sink into the hot, ragged substance which would burn and blister their feet, protected only by sandals. And their progress would be suddenly checked now and then, by great fragments of rock, having been hurled by the awful power of the volcano, falling directly in their path, perhaps crushing one of the poor Onians beneath its weight. Then in their blindness they would rush into each other, knocking each other down, and burnt and bleeding, and almost smothered by the fearful dust, they could hardly regain their feet. But hurry as they would their progress was growing slower each moment and they were not getting out of the fearful shower of dust and ashes. This seemed to grow worse as they advanced, and the survivors, who were still left to suffer on, were fast giving out.
It looked as if they could not possibly survive the terrible struggle, this unequal fight with the forces of the earth’s interior. The atmosphere would clear for a moment, and the lurid glare of the volcano would again light up the scene, giving a momentary hope which would be killed again by a heavier downpour of ashes and dust. Then the struggle would recommence; a silent struggle, for no sound was made by these helpless creatures, as they fought on, gasping for breath, reeling in their weakness, falling now; but putting forth another great effort and standing erect once more they would stumble ahead again and so on, until, strength exhausted, they would fall for the last time, the shower of ashes and dust soon choking their last breath, and burying the burned and bleeding bodies beneath their awful folds. But these Onians were more than ordinary men, they had more vital life in their bodies, they were strong to the last muscle; their every sinew was developed and health and exercise made them powerful, and so they kept up the struggle longer than would our friends had they been on foot. But they had been mounted on great elephants during the battle. They at first mounted them upon leaving the camp in the morning, expecting only to accompany the men to their scene of labor when they would return. So when the negroes were met, and they saw that a battle was inevitable, they remained mounted so as to better conduct the fight.