CHAPTER XIX
THE END OF THE JOURNEY
An hour later the party began the ascent of the wall of rock, whichproved to be an even more difficult business than they had anticipated.There was no path, for those who lived beyond this natural barrier nevercame down it, and few of the dwellers in the plains had ever venturedto go up. It was possible, for Soa herself had descended here in bygoneyears, and this was all that could be said for it.
In default of a better road they followed the course of the river,which thundered down the face of the precipice in four great waterfalls,connected by as many sullen pools, whose cavities had been hollowed outin the course of centuries from the rock. The second of these ledgesproved so insurmountable that at one time Leonard thought that theywould be obliged to abandon their attempt, and follow the foot of thecliff till they found some easier route. But at last Otter, who couldclimb like a cat, succeeded in passing the most dangerous part at therisk of his life, bearing a rope with him by means of which the restof the party and the loads of goods were hauled up one by one. It wasevening before the height was scaled, and they proceeded to encamp uponits summit, making a scanty meal of some meat which they had broughtwith them.
That night they passed in great discomfort, for it was mid-winter andhere the climate proved to be very cold. Bitter winds swept across thevast plain before them and searched them through, all the clothing andblankets they had scarcely sufficing to keep them warm; indeed, theSettlement men and Francisco, who had been bred in a southern clime,suffered severely. Nor were matters improved when, on the breaking ofthe light, they woke from a troubled sleep to find the plain hidden ina dense mist. However, they rose, made a fire with reeds and dead woodwhich they gathered on the banks of the river, and ate, waiting for thefog to vanish.
But it did not vanish, so about nine o'clock they continued theirjourney under Soa's guidance, following the east bank of the rivernorthwards. The ground proved easy to travel over, for, with theexception of isolated water-worn boulders of granite, the plain wasperfectly smooth and covered with turf as fine as any that grows innorthern lands.
All that day they marched on, wandering like ghosts through the mist,and guided in their path by the murmuring sound of the river. They metno man, but once or twice great herds of hairy creatures thundered pastthem. Leonard fired into one of these herds with an express rifle, forthey wanted meat, and a prodigious snorting and bellowing told him thathis shot had taken effect. Running to the spot whence the sounds came,he found a huge white bull kicking in its death struggle. The animalwas covered with long white hair like that of the British breed of wildcattle, and measured at least seventeen hands in height. Round it stoodothers snorting with fear and wonder, that, when they saw Leonard, putdown their heads threateningly, tearing up the turf with their greathorns. He shouted aloud and fired another shot, whereon they turned anddisappeared into the mist.
This happened towards nightfall, so they determined to camp upon thespot; but while they were engaged in skinning the bull an incidentoccurred that did not tend to raise their spirits. At sunset the skycleared a little--at least the sinking sun showed red through the mistas it does in a London fog of the third density. Against this red ballof the sun, and some dozen yards away, suddenly there appeared thegigantic figure of a man, for, unless the fog deceived them, he musthave been between six and seven feet high and broad in proportion. Ofhis face they could see nothing, but he was clad in goat-skins, andarmed with a great spear and a bow slung upon his back.
Juanna was the first to see and point him out to Leonard with a start offear, as he stood watching them in solemn silence. Obeying the impulseof the moment, Leonard stepped forward towards the vision holding hisrifle ready, but before he reached the spot where it had stood thefigure vanished.
Then he walked back again to Juanna. "I think we have heard so much ofgiants that we begin to believe we see them," he said laughing.
As he spoke something clove the air between them and stuck in the earthbeyond. They went to it. It was a large arrow having a barbed point andflighted with red feathers.
"This is a very tangible fancy at any rate," Juanna answered, drawingthe shaft out of the ground. "We have had a narrow escape."
Leonard did not speak, but raising his rifle he fired it at a venture inthe direction whence the arrow had sped. Then he ran to put their littleband in a position of defence, Juanna following him. But, as it chanced,he might have spared himself the trouble, for nothing further happened;indeed, the net outward and visible result of this mysterious apparitionwas that they spent a miserable night, waiting in the fog and wet--forit had come on to rain, or rather drizzle--for an enemy who, to theirintense relief, never appeared.
But the inward and spiritual consequences were much greater, for nowthey knew that Soa spoke truth and that the legend of the bushmen as to"great men covered with hair" was no mere savage invention.
At length the morning came. It was damp and wretched, and they wereall half starved with cold and oppressed by fears. Indeed some ofthe Settlement men were so terrified that they openly lamentedhaving suffered their sense of shame and loyalty to overcome theirdetermination to retreat. Now they could not do so, for the malcontentsamong them did not dare to retrace their steps alone; moreover, Leonardspoke plainly on the matter, telling them that he would drive away thefirst man who attempted any insubordination.
Soaked through, shivering, and miserable, they pursued their marchacross the unknown plain, Soa, who seemed to grow hourly grimmer nowthat she was in her own country, stalking ahead of them as guide. Itwas warmer walking than sitting still, and in one respect their lot wasbettered, for a little wind stirring the mist from time to time revealedgleams of the watery sun. All that day they journeyed on, seeing nomore of the man who had shot the arrow, or his fellows, till at lengthdarkness drew near again.
Then they halted, and Leonard and Otter walked to and fro searchingfor a suitable place to make the camp and pitch their solitary tent.Presently Otter shouted aloud. Leonard ran towards him, and found himstaring into the mist at something that loomed largely about a hundredyards away.
"Look, Baas," he said, "there is a house, a house of stone with grassgrowing on the roof."
"Nonsense," said Leonard, "it must be some more boulders. However, wecan soon find out."
They crept cautiously towards the object, that, as soon became evident,was a house or a very good apology for one, built of huge undressedboulders, bedded in turf by way of mortar, and roofed with the trunksof small trees and a thick thatch of sods whereon the grass grew green.This building may have measured forty feet in length by twenty in depth,and seventeen from the ground-line to the wall-plate. Also it hada doorway of remarkable height and two window-places, but all theseopenings were unclosed, except by curtains of hide which hung beforethem. Leonard called Soa and asked her what the place was.
"Doubtless the house of a herdsman," she answered, "who is set here towatch the cattle of the king, or of the priests. It may chance that thisis the dwelling of that man who shot the arrow yesterday."
Having assured themselves that here was a human habitation, it remainedto be ascertained whether it was tenanted. After waiting awhile to seeif anyone passed in or out, Otter undertook this task. Going down on hishands and knees he crept up to the wall, then along it to the doorway,and after listening there awhile he lifted a corner of the hide curtainand peeped into the interior. Presently he rose, saying:
"All right, Baas, the place is empty."
Then they both entered and examined the dwelling with curiosity. Itwas rude enough. The walls were unplastered, and the damp streamed downthem; the floor was of trodden mud, and a hole in the roof served asa chimney; but, by way of compensation, the internal space was dividedinto two apartments, one of them a living room, and the other a sleepingchamber. It was evident that the place had not been long deserted, forfire still smouldered on the hearth, round which stood various earthencooking dishes, and in the sleeping-room was a rough be
dstead of woodwhereon lay wrappings made from the hides of cattle and goats. Whenthey had seen everything there was to be seen, they hurried back to theothers to report their discovery, and just then the rain set in moreheavily than before.
"A house!" said Juanna; "then for goodness' sake let us get into it. Weare all half dead with the cold and wet."
"Yes," answered Leonard, "I think we had better take possession, thoughit may be a little awkward if the rightful owners come back."
The best that can be said for the night which they spent in this stoneshanty, undisturbed by any visit from its lawful tenant, is that itpassed a shade more comfortably than it would have done outside. Theywere dry, though the place was damp, and they had a fire. Still, untilyou are used to it, it is trying to sit in the company of a score ofblack people and of many thousand fleas, enveloped with a cloud ofpungent smoke, according to the custom of our Norse ancestors.
Soon Juanna gave up the attempt and retired to the great bed in theinner chamber, wondering much who had occupied it last. A herdsman,she judged, as Soa had suggested, for in a corner of the room stood anox-goad hugely fashioned. But it was a bed, and she slept as soundly init as its numerous insect occupants would allow. The others were not sofortunate: they had the insects indeed, but no bed.
Again the morning came, wet, miserable, and misty, and through the mistand rain they pursued their course, whither they knew not. All day theywandered on by the banks of the river till night fell and theycamped, this time without shelter. Now they had reached the extreme ofwretchedness, for they had little or no food left, and could not findfuel to make a fire. Leonard took Soa aside and questioned her, for hesaw clearly that a couple more days of this suffering would put an endto all of them.
"You say these people of yours have a city, Soa?"
"They have a city, Deliverer," she answered, "but whether they willallow you to enter it, except as a victim for sacrifice, is anothermatter."
"None of us will enter it unless we find shelter soon," he answered."How far is the place away?"
"It should be a day's journey, Deliverer. Were the mist gone you couldsee it now. The city is built at the foot of great mountains, there arenone higher, but the fog hides everything. To-morrow, if it lifts, youwill see that I speak truth."
"Are there any houses near where we can shelter?" he asked again.
"How can I tell?" she answered. "It is forty years since I passedthis road, and here, where the land is barren, none dwell except theherdsmen. Perhaps there is a house at hand, or perhaps there is none formany miles. Who can say?"
Finding that Soa could give no further information, Leonard returned tothe others, and they huddled themselves together for warmth on thewet ground as best they might, and sat out the hours in silence, notattempting to sleep. The Settlement men were numb with cold, and Juannaalso was overcome for the first time, though she tried hard to becheerful. Francisco and Leonard heaped their own blankets on her,pretending that they had found spare ones, but the wraps were wringingwet, and gave her little comfort. Soa alone did not appear to suffer,perhaps because it was her native climate, and Otter kept his spirits,which neither heat, nor cold, nor hunger seemed to affect.
"While my heart is warm I am warm," he said cheerfully, when Leonardasked him how he fared. As for Leonard himself, he sat silent listeningto the moans of the Settlement men, and reflecting that twenty-fourhours more of this misery would bring the troubles of most of them to anend. Without food or shelter it was very certain that few of those aliveto-night would live to see a second dawn.
At last the light came and to their wonder and exceeding joy they foundthat the rain had ceased and the mist was melting.
Once more they beheld the face of the sun, and rejoiced in its warmthas only those can rejoice who for days and nights have lived insemi-darkness, wet to the skin and frozen to the marrow.
The worst of the mist was gone indeed, but it was not until they hadbreakfasted off a buck which Otter shot in the reeds by the river, thatthe lingering veils of vapour withdrew themselves from the more distantlandscape. At last they had vanished, and for the first time thewanderers saw the land through which they were travelling. They stoodupon a vast plain that sloped upwards gradually till it ended at thefoot of a mighty range of snow-capped mountains named, as they learnedin after-days, the Bina Mountains.
This range was shaped like a half-moon, or a bent bow, and the nearestpoint of the curve, formed by a soaring snowy peak, was exactly oppositeto them, and to all appearance not more than five-and-twenty miles away.On either side of this peak the unbroken line of mountains receded witha vast and majestic sweep till the eye could follow them no more. Theplain about them was barren and everywhere strewn with granite boulders,between which wandered herds of wild cattle, mixed with groups ofantelopes; but the lower slopes of the mountains were clothed with densejuniper forests, and among them were clearings, presumably of cultivatedland. Otter searched the scene with his eyes, that were as those of ahawk; then said quietly:
"Look yonder, Baas; the old hag has not lied to us. There is the city ofthe People of the Mist."
Following the line of the dwarf's outstretched hand, Leonard saw whathad at first escaped him, that standing back in a wide bend at the footof the great mountain in front of them were a multitude of houses, builtof grey stone and roofed with green turf. Indeed, had not his attentionbeen called to it, the town might well have missed observation untilhe was quite close to its walls, for the materials of which it wasconstructed resembled those of the boulders that lay about them inthousands, and the vivid green of its roofs gave it the appearance of adistant space of grassy land.
"Yes, there is the kraal of the Great People," said Otter again, "andit is a strong kraal. See, Baas, they know how to defend themselves. Themountain is behind them that none can climb, and all around their wallsthe river runs, joining itself together again on the plain beyond. Itwould go ill with the 'impi' which tried to take that kraal."
For a while they all stood still and stared amazed. It seemed strangethat they should have reached this fabled city; and now that theywere there, how would they be received within its walls? This was thequestion which each one of them was asking of himself. There was but oneway to find out--they must go and see; no retreat was now possible.Even the Settlement people felt this. "Better to die at the hands ofthe Great Men," said one of them aloud, "than to perish miserably in themist and cold."
"Be of good cheer," Leonard answered; "you are not yet dead. The sunshines once more. It is a happy omen."
When they had rested and dried their clothes they marched on witha certain sense of relief. There before them was the goal they hadtravelled so far to win; soon they would know the worst that couldbefall, and anything was better than this long suspense.
By midday they had covered about fifteen miles of ground, and could nowsee the city clearly. It was a great town, surrounded by a Cyclopeanwall of boulders, about which the river ran on every side, forming anatural moat. The buildings within the wall seemed to be arranged instreets, and to be build on a plan similar to that of the house inwhich they had slept two nights before, the vast conglomeration ofgrass-covered roofs giving the city the appearance of a broken field ofturf hillocks supported upon walls of stone.
For the rest the place was laid out upon a slope, and at its head,immediately beneath the sheer steps of the mountain side stood twoedifices very much larger in size than any of those below. One of theseresembled the other houses in construction, and was surrounded by aseparate enclosure; but the second, which was placed on higher ground,so far as they could judge at that distance, was roofless, and had allthe characteristics of a Roman amphitheatre. At the far end of thisamphitheatre stood a huge mass of polished rock, bearing a grotesqueresemblance to the figure of a man.
"What are those buildings, Soa?" asked Leonard.
"The lower one is the house of the king, White Man, and that above isthe Temple of Deep Waters, where the river rises from the bowels of themount
ain."
"And what is the black stone beyond the temple?"
"That, White Man, is the statue of the god who sits there for ever,watching over the city of his people."
"He must be a great god," said Leonard, alluding to the size of thestatue.
"He _is_ great," she answered, "and my heart is afraid at the sight ofhim."
After resting for two hours they marched on again, and soon it becameapparent that their movements were watched. The roadway which they werefollowing--if a track beaten flat by the feet of men and cattle could becalled a road--wound to and fro between boulders of rock, and here andthere standing upon the boulders were men clad in goat-skins, each ofthem carrying a spear, a bow and a horn. So soon as their party camewithin five or six hundred yards of one of these men, he would shootan arrow in their direction, which, when picked up, proved to be barbedwith iron, and flighted with red feathers like the first that they hadseen. Then the sentry would blow his horn, either as a signal or intoken of defiance, bound from the rock, and vanish. This did not lookencouraging, but there was worse to come. Presently, as they drew nearto the city, they descried large bodies of armed men crossing the riverthat surrounded it in boats and on rafts, and mustering on the hitherside. At length all of them were across, and the regiment, whichappeared to number more than a thousand men, formed up in a hollowsquare and advanced upon them at the double.
The crisis was at hand.