Then came Colin's turn to pass through the sheet of descending water. To a great extent the canopy overhead prevented him from a thorough soaking, although the spray invaded the open side of the litter.
It was an ordeal quickly over. For a brief instant, as the water poured unhindered upon the canopy, it seemed as if the covering would collapse under the pressure. The bearers staggered under the weight of the falling water, but quickly recovering themselves, they bore Colin inside the fall.
Here was a clear space of about three yards between the wall of rock that formed a barrier and the gulley and the curtain-like waterfall, and on the right of this space was a natural tunnel driven obliquely through the wall of the chasm.
This, then, was the secret gateway to Makoh'lenga Land.
CHAPTER XXX
TO WHAT END?
The tunnel was of large dimensions, averaging twenty-five feet in height, and—when once clear of the gulley—fifteen feet in width, the floor was remarkably even, with a stiff gradient. In remote ages the tunnel had evidently been the outlet for an enormous quantity of water—possibly a mountain lake—but the supply had long since diminished and had found a new outlet.
Just within the entrance to the tunnel a guard of warriors was drawn up in a recess, in one corner of which a fire was burning.
As the returning Makoh'lengas passed, every tenth man was given a lighted torch, in order to illuminate the otherwise dark approach, and soon the tunnel was brilliantly lit up, while the flambeaux gave off very little smoke and emitted pleasant odours.