rocks and boulders have been jammed sothickly in the narrow parts that the defile has been absolutelyimpassable; the following year, perhaps, the obstruction has been sweptaway, or to a certain extent levelled by the spaces between the rocksbeing filled up with small stones and sand. How it is this season, I donot know; up to the time we left I had heard of no trader having passedalong this way. I have spoken of it as a day's journey, but it is onlyunder the most favourable circumstances that it has ever beenaccomplished in that time, and sometimes traders have been three or fourdays in getting through."
Directly the caravan halted Blacking and Jumbo started to examine thedefile; it was already growing dusk, and they were only able to get twomiles up before it was so dark that they could make their way nofurther. They returned, saying that the first portion of the defile,which was usually one of the most difficult, was in a bad condition;that many enormous boulders were lying in the bottom; but that itappeared to be practicable, although in some places the waggons wouldhave to be unloaded.
At daybreak the oxen were inspanned, and in a quarter of an hour theleading waggon approached the entrance of the gorge; it seemed cutthrough a perpendicular cliff, 200 feet high, the gorge through whichthe river issued appearing a mere narrow crack rent by some convulsionof nature.
"It would be a fearful place to be attacked in," Dick said, "and a fewmen with rocks up above could destroy us."
"Yes," Mr Harvey said; "but you see up there?"
Dick looked up, and on one side of the passage saw some tiny figures.
"The three hunters and ten of our men with muskets are up there; theystarted three hours ago, as they would have to go, Jumbo said, fivemiles along the face of the cliff before they reached a point where theycould make an ascent so as to gain the edge of the ravine. They willkeep along parallel with us, and their fire would clear both sides; itis not usual to take any precaution of this sort, but after our attackof the other day, and the attitude of the chief and his people, wecannot be too cautious. After passing through the first three miles ofthe defile, the ravine widens into a valley a hundred yards wide; herethey will come down and join us. There are two other ravines, similarto the first, to be passed through, but the country there is so wild andbroken that it would be impossible for them to keep along on theheights, and I doubt whether even the natives could find a point fromwhich to attack us."
They had now fairly entered the ravine. For thirty or forty feet up thewalls were smooth and polished by the action of the winter torrents;above, jagged rocks overhung the path, and at some points the cliffsnearly met overhead. Although it was now almost broad daylight, in thedepths of this ravine the light was dim and obscure.
The boys at first were awestruck at the scene, but their attention wassoon called to the difficulties of the pass. The bed of the stream wascovered with rocks of all sizes; sometimes great boulders, as big as agood-sized cottage, almost entirely blocked the way, and would have doneso altogether had not the small boulders round them formed slopes oneither side. The depths of the ravine echoed and re-echoed, with anoise like thunder, the shout of the driver and the crack of the whip,as the oxen struggled on. The waggons bumped and lurched along over thestones; the natives and whites all worked their hardest, clearing awaythe blocks as far as possible from the track required for the waggons.Armed with long wooden levers four or six together prized away the heavyboulders, or, when these were too massive to be moved by their strength,and when no other path could be chosen, piled a number of smallerblocks, so as to make a sort of ascent up which the wheels could travel.The waggons moved but one at a time, the united efforts of the wholeparty being required to enable them to get along. When the leadingwaggon had moved forward a hundred yards, the next in succession wouldbe brought up, and so on until the six waggons were again in line; thenall hands would set to work ahead, and prepare the path for anotherhundred yards.
In two places, however, no efforts sufficed to clear the way; the blocksrose in such jagged masses that it was absolutely impossible for theoxen to pull across them,--indeed it was with the greatest difficultythat when unyoked they were one by one got over; then tackles werefastened from the top of the rock to the waggons below--ropes and blocksbeing generally carried by travellers for such emergencies,--the oxenfastened to the ends of the ropes, and with the purchase so obtained thewaggons were dragged bodily one by one over the obstacles.
It was not until late in the afternoon that the party passed safelythrough the defile and reached the valley beyond, men and animals wornout by the exertions they had undergone.
The day had not passed without excitement, for when they were engaged atthe most difficult point of the journey the crack of rifles was heardfar overhead, and for half an hour a steady fire was kept up there.Those below were of course wholly ignorant of what was passing there,and for some time they suffered considerable anxiety; for if their guardabove had been overpowered they must have been destroyed by rocks castdown by their foes.
At the end of half an hour the firing ceased; but it was not until theycamped for the night in the valley beyond the gorge that they learnedfrom the hunters, who joined them there, what had happened. There were,Jumbo explained, three or four hundred natives, but fortunately theseapproached from the opposite side of the gorge; consequently the littleparty of defenders was in no danger of attack. The enemy had beendisconcerted when they first opened fire, but had then pressed forwardto get to the edge of the ravine. The superior weapons of the defendershad, however, checked them, and finding that there was no possibility ofcoming to close quarters with the little band, they had, after losingseveral of their number, abandoned the attempt and fallen back.
Soon after nightfall they were startled by a heavy crashing sound, andgreat rocks came bounding down the sides of the valley. The cattle andwaggons were at once moved to the centre of the watercourse, and herethey were safe, for the bottom of the valley was so thickly strewn withgreat boulders that, tremendous as was the force with which the rocksloosened far above came bounding down, these were either arrested orshivered into fragments by the obstacles before they reached the centreof the valley.
No reply to this bombardment of the position was attempted. The enemywere invisible, and there was no clue to their position far up on thehill-side. So long as the rolling down of the rocks was continued, itwas certain that no attack at close quarters was intended; consequently,after posting four sentries to arouse them in case of need, the rest ofthe party, picking out the softest pieces of ground they could findbetween the stones, lay down to rest.
Before doing so, however, Mr Harvey had a consultation with thehunters. They said that the next narrow ravine was broken by severallateral defiles of similar character, which came down into it, and thatit would therefore be quite impossible to keep along the top; whetherthere were any points at which the enemy could take post and assail themfrom above, they knew not.
There was, then, nothing to do but to push steadily on, and early nextmorning they resumed their way. On the preceding day a slight shower ofrain had fallen, but this had been insufficient to increase notably thewaters of the streamlet which trickled down among the rocks, for themost part hidden from view. The hunters were of opinion that heavierstorms were at hand, and Mr Harvey agreed with them in the belief.
"We are in a very nasty position, boys," he said, "and I wish now that Ihad turned south, and made my way down to the Limpopo again, and keptalong its banks until past this mountain-range; it would have meant aloss of two months' time, and the country which we shall reach when weget through this defile is a very good one for trade. Still, I am sorrynow that I did not adopt that plan; for, what with the natives and thetorrent, our position is an extremely serious one; however, there isnothing for it but to push on now. We have passed one out of the threegorges, and even if the other two are in as bad a condition as the onewe came up yesterday, two more days' labour will see us through it."
As the caravan moved along the valley the yells of the natives, h
igh upon the slopes, rose loud and menacing. They must have been disgusted atseeing that the labour upon which they had been engaged the whole night,of loosening and setting in motion the rocks, had been entirely thrownaway, for they could see that the waggons and teams were whollyuninjured.
As the caravan reached the point where the valley narrowed again, a mileabove the halting-place, they began to descend the slopes, as if theymeditated an attack, and the rifles of the whites and the three huntersopened fire upon them and checked those on the bare sides of the hill.Many, however, went farther down, and descending into the valley creptup under the shelter of the stones and boulders, and as soon as theycame within range opened fire with their bows and arrows. By this time,however, the waggons were entering the ravine which, although at itsentrance less abrupt and perpendicular than that below, soon assumed aprecisely similar character.
Once well within its shelter Mr Harvey