CHAPTER XXXVI
HOW OTTER CAME BACK
After he had rested awhile at the bottom of the glacier, Otter set towork to explore the cliff on the top of which he found himself, withthe view of descending it and hiding at its foot till nightfall, whenhe hoped to find means of re-entering the city and putting himself incommunication with Olfan. Very soon, however, he discovered that ifhe was to return at all, he must follow the same route by which he hadcome.
Evidently the tunnel sloped upwards very sharply, for he was standing onthe brow of a precipice cut into three steps, which, taken together, mayhave measured some three hundred feet in height, and, so far as he couldsee, it was utterly impossible to descend any of these cliffs withoutthe aid of ropes. Nor could he continue his investigations over a widearea, for about four hundred paces to the left of the opening to thesubterranean passage--whereof, by the way, he was very careful to notethe exact position--the mountain pushed out a snowy shoulder, withdeclivities so precipitous that he dared not trust himself on them.
Then he tried the right-hand side, but with no better luck, for herehe was stopped by a yawning rift in the rock. Now Otter sat down andconsidered the situation.
The day was still young, and he knew that it would be foolish to attemptescape from the pool before dark. In front of him the mountain rosesteeply till, so far as he could judge, it reached a pass which lay sometwo miles off, at the base of that main peak, on whose snows the priestshad watched the breaking of the dawn. Part of this declivity was coveredwith blocks of green ice, but here and there appeared patches of earth,on which grew stunted trees, shrubs, and even grass and flowers. Beingvery hungry, it occurred to Otter that he might find edible roots amongthis scanty vegetation.
With this hope he began to climb the slope, to be rewarded in due courseby the discovery of a vegetable that he recognised, for it was the samewhich had been offered to him on the occasion of his unlucky outbreakthat had resulted in the casting away of the rubies.
With this poor food the dwarf filled himself, and having found a boughthat made him an excellent staff, he continued his climb, desiring tosee what there might be on the other side of the neck.
Arriving there without any great difficulty, Otter stood astonished,although he was not much given to the study of scenery. Below him laythe City of the Mist, with its shining belt of rivers that, fed from theinexhaustible mountain snows, meandered across the vast plains--now nolonger hidden in mist--which they had trodden on their journey. Abovehis head the mighty peak towered thousands of feet into the air, till itended in a summit shaped like a human finger pointing eternally to theheavens. Before him the scene was even stranger, made up as it was ofsnowy fields broken by ridges of black rock, and laid one beneath theother like white sails drying upon the slopes of a sandhill.
Gradually, as the eye travelled downward, these snow-fields grew fewerand fewer, till at last they vanished altogether, and their place wastaken, first by stretches of grass-land, and finally, at the foot ofthe mountain, by what seemed to be a rich and level country interspersedwith clumps of bush and forest trees.
The first of these patches of snow lay within five furlongs of where thedwarf stood, but several hundred feet below him.
Between the neck of the pass and this snow stretched a mighty rift orchasm, with sides so sheer that no goat could have kept a footing onthem. Yet this gulf was not without its bridge, for a rock wall rosefrom the bottom of the chasm, forming the bed of a glacier which spannedit from side to side. In some places the wall was comparatively leveland in others it showed descents sharp as those of a waterfall. Thisremarkable bridge of ice--that varied from a hundred paces to afew yards in width--was bordered on either side by the most fearfulprecipices; while, just where its fall was sheerest and its widthnarrowest, it seemed to spring across a space of nothingness, like thearch of a bridge thrown from bank to bank of a river. Indeed, at thispoint its line became so attenuated that in the glittering sunlightOtter was doubtful whether it was not broken through for a distance ofsome yards.
Being of an inquiring mind, the dwarf decided to satisfy himself uponthe matter. All around him lay slabs of rock, some of which were wornperfectly smooth and to the thinness of a tombstone, by centuriesof polishing in the iron jaws of glaciers. Selecting one of these ofconvenient size, Otter approached the edge of the bridge, pushing thestone before him over the frozen snow. Here the ice was perfect, exceptfor a slight hoar-frost that covered it, for the action of the windprevented the snow from gathering on the bridge, and whenever the sunwas strong enough to melt its surface, it froze again at night, so thatno slide upon a parish pond could have been more slippery or free frominequalities.
Otter gave his stone a push, and away it went, sometimes swiftly andsometimes at a trifling speed, according to the nature of the angle downwhich it passed, leaving a bright green ribbon upon the ice in its wake,whence it swept the hoar-frost as it sped. Once or twice he thought thatit was going to stop, but it never did stop. At length it approached thesteepest and narrowest part of the descent, down which the stone rushedwith fearful velocity.
"Now I shall see whether the bridge is broken," thought Otter; and justthen the rock, travelling like an arrow, came to that portion ofthe glacier where, for a width difficult to estimate, it stretchedunsupported over space, and measured only some few feet across. On itflew, then seemed to leap into the air, and once more sped forwardtill it reached the further slope of snow, up which it travelled for adistance, and stopped, appearing, even to Otter's keen sight, no largerthan a midge upon a table-cloth.
"Now, if a man had been seated on that stone he might have passed thisbridge in safety," said Otter to himself; "yet it is one that few wouldcare to travel, unless sure death were behind them."
Then he determined on a second trial, and selecting another and somewhatlighter stone, he sent it upon its journey. It followed precisely thesame course as its predecessor, but when it came to the knife-blade ofthe bridge it vanished.
"I am sorry for that stone," thought Otter, "for doubtless it, that hasbeen whole for many years, is at this moment only little pieces."
A third time he repeated his experiment, choosing the heaviest rock thathe could move. This messenger also leaped into the air at the narrowestportion of the bridge, then passed on in safety to the slope of snowbeyond.
"A strange place," thought Otter; "and I pray that it may never be mylot to ride one of those stone horses."
Then he turned down the mountain again, for the afternoon was advancing.When he reached the entrance to the river-bed sunset was at hand. For awhile he sat watching the fading light and eating some more roots whichhe had gathered. Now he crawled into the passage and commenced hisdarksome journey towards the home of the dead Water Dweller, though whathe was to do when he got there he did not know. No accident befell him,and in due course he arrived safely in the den, his journey being muchfacilitated by the staff he bore, which enabled him to feel his way likea blind man.
Creeping to the edge of the pool he listened to its turmoil, for theshadows were gathering so fast that, with some ghostlike shapes of foamexcepted, he could not even see the surface of the water.
"If I go in there how can I get out again?" Otter thought sadly. "Afterall, perhaps I should have done better to return while it was stilllight, for then, by the help of my staff and the rope, I might have madeshift to climb the overhanging ledge of rock, but to try this now weremadness. I will go back and sit in the cave with the ghosts of the godand his dead till the morning comes again, though I do not crave theircompany."
So he retreated a few paces and sat in silence near the tail of the deadCrocodile. After a while loneliness took hold of him; he tried to sleepand could not, for it seemed to Otter that he saw eyes staring at himfrom the depths of the cave, and heard dead men whispering to each othertales of their dreadful ends. Moment by moment his fears grew uponhim, for Otter was very superstitious. Now he fancied that he coulddistinguish the head of the reptile limned in fire
and resting on theedge of the rock as he had seen it that morning.
"Doubtless," he thought, "this monster is a devil and has come to lifeagain to be revenged upon me. _Wow!_ I liked him better when he was inthe flesh than now that he has turned himself to fire." Then to comforthimself he began to talk aloud saying:
"Otter, unlucky that you are, why did you not die at once instead ofliving on to be tormented by ghosts? Perhaps your master, the Baas, whomalone you love, is dead already and waits for you to come to serve him.You are very tired; say now, Otter, would it not be well if you tookthat rope which is about your middle and hanged yourself? Thus you toowould become a ghost and be able to do battle with them in their ownfashion," and he groaned loudly.
Then of a sudden he grew fearful indeed, the short wool stood up uponhis head, his teeth chattered, and, as he said afterwards, his very noseseemed to grow cold with terror. For as he sat he heard, or seemed tohear, a voice speaking to him from the air, and that voice his master's.
"_Otter_, _Otter_," said the voice.
He made no answer, he was too frightened.
"Otter, is that you?" whispered the voice again.
Then he spoke. "Yes, Baas, it is I. I know that you are dead and callme. Give me one minute till I can undo my rope, and I will kill myselfand come to you."
"Thank you, Otter," said the voice with a ghastly attempt at a laugh,"but if it is all the same, I would much rather that you came alive."
"Yes, Baas, and I too would rather stop alive, but being alive how can Ijoin you who are dead?"
"You fool, I am not dead," said Leonard.
"Then, Baas, how is it that you speak out of the air? Come near to methat I may touch you and be comforted."
"I cannot, Otter; I am bound and in a prison above you. There is a holein the floor, and if you have a rope, as I heard you say, perhaps youcould climb up to me."
Now the dwarf began to understand. Rising, he stretched the long staffhe had brought with him high above his head, and found to his delightthat he could touch the roof of the cave. Presently the point of thestaff ceased to press upon the rock.
"Is the place here, Baas?" said Otter.
"It is here, but you must throw the stick up like a spear through thehole, for I am tied, and cannot put out my hand to take it."
"Stay awhile, Baas; first I must make the line fast to it."
"Good, but be swift, for I am in danger."
Hurriedly Otter undid the hide rope from about his middle, knotting itsecurely to the centre of the stick. Then some five feet below the stickhe made a loop large enough for a man to place his foot in, and havingascertained the exact situation of the opening in the roof of the cave,he hurled the staff upwards and jerked at the line.
"It is fixed," whispered Leonard from above. "Now come up if you can."
The dwarf required no second invitation. Seizing the rope as high ashe could reach above his head, he began to drag himself up hand overhand--no easy task, for the hide cord was thin, and cut his fingers andhis right leg, round which he had twisted it to get a better purchase.Presently, however, he succeeded in setting his foot in the loop he hadprepared, when he found that his head and shoulders were in the hole,and that by reaching upwards he could grasp the staff which lay acrossit. The rest was easy, and within half a minute he lay gasping at hismaster's side.
"Have you a knife, Otter?"
"Yes, Baas, my small one, the big ones are down there; I will tell youthat story by and by."
"Never mind the story now, Otter. My hands are tied behind my back. Feelfor the lashings and cut them, then give me the knife that I may free mylegs."
Otter obeyed, and presently Leonard rose and stretched himself with asigh of relief.
"Where is the Shepherdess, Baas?"
"There, in the next cell. They separated me from her, and since then Ihave been dangled by the legs over that hole bound and gagged, I thinkin order to persuade her to consent to something or other by the sightof my danger, for doubtless she was placed where she could see all. Thenthey left me, and I managed to spit out the gag, but I could not undothe cords. I expect that they will soon be back again."
"Then had we not better fly, Baas? I have found a passage that leads tothe mountains."
"How can we fly and leave the Shepherdess, Otter? Since I have been helddown the hole, only two men have visited me from time to time, for theythink me helpless. Let us seize these men when they come in and taketheir knives, for we are unarmed. Then we can think; also we shall havetheir keys."
"Yes, Baas, we may do that. You take the staff; it is stout."
"And what will you use?" asked Leonard.
"Fear not, Baas. Do these men bear lights?"
"Yes."
"Then in two minutes I will make me a weapon."
And, untying the hide rope from the stick, he began to fumble with itbusily.
"Now I am ready, Baas," he said presently. "Where shall we stand?"
"Here," answered Leonard, leading him to the door. "We will crouch inthe shadow, one on either side of this door, and when the priests haveentered and closed it, and begin to look round for me, then we canspring upon them. Only, Otter, there must be no bungling and no noise."
"I think that there will be none, Baas; they will be too frightened tocry at first, and after that they will become dumb."
"Otter," whispered Leonard, as they stood in the dark, "did you kill theWater-Dweller?"
"Yes, yes, Baas," he chuckled in answer. "I caught him with the hookthat I made ready. But he did not die easily, Baas, and if I had notbeen able to swim well he would have drowned me."
"I heard something of it from Nam," said Leonard. "You are a wonderfulfellow, Otter."
"Oh, Baas! it was no valour of mine; when I saw his eyes I was horriblyafraid, only I thought how gladly you would have attacked him had youbeen there, and what a coward you would hold me, could you have seenme shivering like a little girl before a big lizard, and these thoughtsgave me courage."
"Oh, that is all very well!" replied Leonard, and suddenly added, "Hush!be ready!"
As he spoke the door opened, and two great priests came through it, oneof them bearing a candle. He who bore the light turned to shut the door,for he suspected nothing. Then, at one and the same instant, Leonard,emerging from the shadow, dealt the first priest a blow upon the headwith his staff, which stunned if it did not kill him, for he felllike an ox beneath the pole-axe, while Otter, standing where he was,dexterously cast his hide rope about the throat of the second man, anddrew the noose tight with a jerk that brought him to the earth.
In twenty seconds it was all over. The men, who were the same that hadheld Leonard suspended in the oubliette, lay senseless or dead, andthe dwarf and his master were engaged in possessing themselves of theirknives and keys by the light of the candle, which, though it had fallento the ground, fortunately remained burning.
"That was well done, Otter," said Leonard, "and I am not ashamed to havedone it, for these devils kicked me when I was bound. Now we are armed,and have the keys. What next?"
Just then Otter sprang to his feet, crying, "Look out, Baas; here aremore."
Leonard glanced up to see, and behold! the second door in the cell wasopened, and through it came Juanna, Olfan, Nam, Soa, and three othermen.
For a moment there was silence; till one of the captains cried out,"See! Jal the god has come back, and already he claims his victims!" Andhe pointed to the two priests.
Then followed a scene of confusion, for even Olfan and Nam were amazedat what seemed to them little short of a miracle, while Leonard andJuanna had eyes for each other only, and the three captains stared atOtter like men who think they see a ghost.
But one person in that company kept her head, and that person was Soa.The captain who guarded her had loosed his hold; silently she slunk backinto the shadows, and, unseen of any, vanished through the doorway bywhich she had been led in. A minute passed, and Otter, thinking that heheard a noise without that door of the cell wh
ereby the two priests hadentered, which had been left ajar, went to it and tried to open it. Justthen, also, Olfan missed Soa.
"Where is the woman, Nam's daughter?" he cried.
"It seems that she has escaped and shut us in, King," answered Otter,calmly.
Followed by the others, Olfan sprang first to the door of the cell wherethey were, and then through the connecting passage to that of Juanna'sprison. It was true, both were closed.
"It matters nothing, here are the keys," said Leonard.
"They will not avail us, Deliverer," answered Olfan, "for these doorsare made fast without by bars of stone thicker than my arm. Now thiswoman has gone to rouse the college of the priests, who will presentlycome to kill us like caged rats."
"Quick!" said Leonard, "waste no time, we must break down the doors."
"Yes, Deliverer," said Nam mockingly; "batter them in with your fists,cut through the stone-work with your spears; surely they are as nothingto your strength!"