That same afternoon Shadrach, by mountain paths that were known to him,led a little company of people to the crest of the western precipice ofMur. Fifteen hundred feet or more beneath us lay the great plains uponwhich, some miles away, could be seen the city of Harmac. But the idolin the valley we could not see, because here the precipice bent over andhid it from our sight.
"What now, fellow," said Maqueda, who was clad in the rough sheepskinof a peasant woman, which somehow looked charming upon her. "Here is thecliff, there lies the plain; I see no road between the two, and my wiseuncle, the prince, tells me that he never heard of one."
"Lady," answered the man, "now I take command, and you must follow me.But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking."
Then he went round the company and numbered them. In all we weresixteen; Maqueda and Joshua, we three Englishmen, armed with repeatingrifles and revolvers, our guide Shadrach, and some picked Mountaineerschosen for their skill and courage. For even in Mur there were brave menleft, especially among the shepherds and huntsmen, whose homes were onthe cliffs. These sturdy guides were laden with ropes, lamps, and long,slender ladders that could be strapped together.
When everything had been checked and all the ladders and straps tested,Shadrach went to a clump of bushes which grew feebly on the wind-sweptcrest of the precipice. In the midst of these he found and removed alarge flat stone, revealing what evidently had been the head of a stair,although now its steps were much worn and crumbled by the water that inthe wet season followed this natural drain to the depths below.
"This is that road the ancients made for purposes of their own,"explained Shadrach, "which, as I have said, I chanced to discover whenI was a boy. But let none follow it who are afraid, for it is steep andrough."
Now Joshua, who was already weary with his long ride and walk up to thecrest of the precipice, implored Maqueda almost passionately to abandonthe idea of entering this horrid hole, while Oliver backed up hisentreaties with few words but many appealing glances, for on this point,though for different reasons, the prince and he were at one.
But she would not listen.
"My uncle," she said, "with you, the experienced mountaineer, why shouldI be afraid? If the Doctor here, who is old enough to be the father ofeither of us" (so far as Joshua was concerned this remark lacked truth),"is willing to go, surely I can go also? Moreover, if I remained behind,you would wish to stay to guard me, and never should I forgive myselfif I deprived you of such a great adventure. Also, like you, I loveclimbing. Come, let us waste no more time."
So we were roped up. First went Shadrach, with Quick next to him, aposition which the Sergeant insisted upon occupying as his custodian,and several of the Mountaineers, carrying ladders, lamps, oil, food andother things. Then in a second gang came two more of these men, Oliver,Maqueda, myself, and next to me, Joshua. The remaining mountaineersbrought up the rear, carrying spare stores, ladders, and so forth. Whenall was ready the lamps were lit, and we started upon a very strangejourney.
For the first two hundred feet or so the stairs, though worn and almostperpendicular, for the place was like the shaft of a mine, were notdifficult to descend, to any of us except Joshua, whom I heard puffingand groaning behind me. Then came a gallery running eastward at a steepslope for perhaps fifty paces, and at the end of it a second shaft ofabout the same depth as the first, but with the stairs much more worn,apparently by the washing of water, of which a good deal trickled out ofthe sides of the shaft. Another difficulty was that the air rushing upfrom below made it hard to keep the lamps alight.
Toward the bottom of this section there was scarcely any stair left, andthe climbing became very dangerous. Here, indeed, Joshua slipped, andwith a wail of terror slid down the shaft and landed with his legsacross my back in such a fashion that had I not happened to havegood hand and foot hold at the time, he would have propelled me on toMaqueda, and we must have all rolled down headlong, probably to ourdeaths.
As it was, this fat and terrified fellow cast his arms about my neck, towhich he clung, nearly choking me, until, just when I was about to faintbeneath his weight and pressure, the Mountaineers in the third partyarrived and dragged him off. When they had got him in charge, for Irefused to move another step while he was immediately behind me, wedescended by a ladder which the first party had set up, to the secondlevel, where began another long, eastward sloping passage that ended atthe mouth of a third pit.
Here arose the great question as to what was to be done with the PrinceJoshua, who vowed that he could go no farther, and demanded loudly to betaken back to the top of the cliff, although Shadrach assured him thatthenceforward the road was much easier. At length we were obliged torefer the matter to Maqueda, who settled it in very few words.
"My uncle," she said, "you tell us that you cannot come on, and itis certain that we cannot spare the time and men to send you back.Therefore, it seems that you must stop where you are until we return,and if we should not return, make the best of your own way up the shaft.Farewell, my uncle, this place is safe and comfortable, and if you arewise you will rest awhile."
"Heartless woman!" gobbled Joshua, who was shaking like a jelly withfear and rage. "Would you leave your affianced lord and lover alone inthis haunted hole while you scramble down rocks like a wild cat withstrangers? If I must stay, do you stay with me?"
"Certainly not," replied Maqueda with decision. "Shall it be said thatthe Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can travel?"
Well, the end of it was that Joshua came on in the centre of the thirdbody of Mountaineers, who were practically obliged to carry him.
Shadrach was right, since for some reason or other the stairsthenceforward remained more perfect. Only they seemed almost endless,and before we reached our goal I calculated that we must have descendedquite twelve hundred feet into the bowels of the rock. At length, when Iwas almost tired out and Maqueda was so breathless that she was obligedto lean on Oliver, dragging me behind her like a dog on a string, of asudden we saw a glimmer of daylight that crept into the tunnel through asmall hole. By the mouth of yet another pit or shaft, we found Shadrachand the others waiting for us. Saluting, he said that we must unrope,leave our lamps behind, and follow him. Oliver asked him whither thislast shaft led.
"To a still lower level, lord," he answered, "but one which you willscarcely care to explore, since it ends in the great pit where the Fungkeep their sacred lions."
"Indeed," said Oliver, much interested for reasons of his own, and heglanced at Quick, who nodded his head and whistled.
Then we all followed Shadrach to find ourselves presently upon a plateauabout the size of a racquet court which, either by nature or by the handof man, had been recessed into the face of that gigantic cliff. Goingto the edge of this plateau, whereon grew many tree-ferns and some thickgreen bushes that would have made us invisible from below even had therebeen any one to see us, we saw that the sheer precipice ran down beneathfor several hundred feet. Of these yawning depths, however, we did notat the moment make out much, partly because they were plunged in shadowand partly for another reason.
Rising out of the gulf below was what we took at first to be a roundedhill of black rock, oblong in shape, from which projected a giganticshaft of stone ending in a kind of fretted bush that alone was of thesize of a cottage. The point of this bush-like rock was exactly oppositethe little plateau on to which we had emerged and distant from it notmore than thirty, or at most, forty feet.
"What is that?" asked Maqueda, of Shadrach, pointing in front of her, asshe handed back to one of the Mountaineers a cup from which she had beendrinking water.
"That, O Walda Nagasta," he answered, "is nothing else than the backof the mighty idol of the Fung, which is shaped like a lion. The greatshaft of rock with the bush at the end of it is the tail of the lion.Doubtless this platform on which we stand is a place whence the oldpriests, when they owned Mur as well as the land of the Fung, used tohide themselves to watch whatever it was they wanted to see.
Look," andhe pointed to certain grooves in the face of the rock, "I think thathere there was once a bridge which could be let down at will on to thetail of the lion-god, though long ago it has rotted away. Yet ere now Ihave travelled this road without it."
We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heardMaqueda whisper to Oliver:
"Perhaps that is how he whom we call Cat escaped from the Fung; orperhaps that is how he communicates with them as a spy."
"Or perhaps he is a liar, my Lady," interrupted Quick, who had alsooverheard their talk, a solution which, I confess, commended itself tome.
"Why have you brought us here?" asked Maqueda presently.
"Did I not tell you in Mur, Lady--to rescue Black Windows? Listen, now,it is the custom of the Fung to allow those who are imprisoned withinthe idol to walk unguarded upon its back at dawn and sunset. At least,this is their custom with Black Windows--ask me not how I know it; thisis truth, I swear it on my life, which is at stake. Now this is my plan.We have with us a ladder which will reach from where we stand to thetail of the idol. Should the foreign lord appear upon the back of thegod, which, if he still lives, as I believe he does, he is almost sureto do at sundown, as a man who dwells in the dark all day will love thelight and air when he can get them, then some of us must cross and bringhim back with us. Perhaps it had best be you, my lord Orme, since ifI went alone, or even with these men, after what is past Black Windowsmight not altogether trust me."
"Fool," broke in Maqueda, "how can a man do such a thing?"
"O Lady, it is not so difficult as it looks. A few steps across thegulf, and then a hundred feet or so along the tail of the lion whichis flat on the top and so broad that one may run down it if careful tofollow the curves, that is on a still day--nothing more. But, of course,if the Lord Orme is afraid, which I did not think who have heard so muchof his courage----" and the rogue shrugged his shoulders and paused.
"Afraid, fellow," said Oliver, "well, I am not ashamed to be afraid ofsuch a journey. Yet if there is need I will make it, though not beforeI see my brother alone yonder on the rock, since all this may be buta trick of yours to deliver me to the Fung, among whom I know that youhave friends."
"It is madness; you shall not go," said Maqueda. "You will fall and bedashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go."
"Why should he not go, my niece?" interrupted Joshua. "Shadrach isright; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile. Now let us seehim do something."
She turned on the Prince like a tiger.
"Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him. Surely one of theancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a 'Gentile' dares."
On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear memoryof what he did or said in connection with the rest of that thrillingscene.
Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began totake off his boots.
"Why do you undress yourself, friend?" asked Maqueda nervously.
"Because, Lady," he answered, "if I have to walk yonder road it is saferto do so in my stockings. Have no fear," he added gently, "from boyhoodI have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served in my country'sarmy it was my pleasure to give instruction in them, although it is truethat this one surpasses all that ever I attempted."
"Still I do fear," she said.
Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off _his_ boots.
"What are you doing, Sergeant?" I asked.
"Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor."
"Nonsense," I said, "you are too old for the game, Sergeant. If any onegoes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there, but I can'ttry it, as I know my head would give out, and I should fall in a second,which would only upset everybody."
"Of course," broke in Oliver, who had overheard us, "I'm in commandhere, and my orders are that neither of you shall come. Remember,Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your business to takeover the stores and use them if necessary, which you alone can do. Nowgo and see to the preparations, and find out the plan of campaign, for Iwant to rest and keep quiet. I daresay the whole thing is humbug, and weshall see nothing of the Professor; still, one may as well be prepared."
So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the lightladders together and the securing of some planks which we had broughtwith us upon the top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy towalk on. I asked who would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme,and was told no one, as all were afraid. Ultimately, however, a mannamed Japhet, one of the Mountaineers, volunteered upon being promiseda grant of land from the Child of Kings herself, which grant sheproclaimed before them all was to be given to his relatives in the eventof his death.
At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of silence,for the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not seem ableto talk. It was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible roaring thatarose from the gulf beneath.
"It is the hour of the feeding of the sacred lions which the Fung keepin the pit about the base of the idol," explained Shadrach. Then headded, "Unless he should be rescued, I believe that Black Windowswill be given to the lions to-night, which is that of full moon and afestival of Harmac, though maybe he will be kept till the next full moonwhen all the Fung come up to worship."
This information did not tend to raise anyone's spirits, although Quick,who always tried to be cheerful, remarked that it was probably false.
The shadows began to gather in the Valley of Harmac, whereby we knewthat the sun was setting behind the mountains. Indeed, had it not beenfor a clear and curious glow reflected from the eastern sky, the gulfwould have plunged us in gloom. Presently, far away upon a rise of rockwhich we knew must be the sphinx head of the huge idol, a little figureappeared outlined against the sky, and there began to sing. The momentthat I heard the distant voice I went near to fainting, and indeedshould have fallen had not Quick caught me.
"What is it, Adams?" asked Oliver, looking up from where he and Maquedasat whispering to each other while the fat Joshua glowered at them inthe background. "Has Higgs appeared?"
"No," I answered, "but, thank God, my son still lives. That is hisvoice. Oh! if you can, save him, too."
Now there was much suppressed excitement, and some one thrust a pairof field-glasses into my hand, but either they were wrongly set or thestate of my nerves would not allow me to see through them. So Quick tookthem and reported.
"Tall, slim figure wearing a white robe, but at the distance in thislight can't make out the face. One might hail him, perhaps, only itwould give us away. Ah! the hymn is done and he's gone; seemed to jumpinto a hole in the rock, which shows that he's all right, anyway, orhe couldn't jump. So cheer up, Doctor, for you have much to be thankfulfor."
"Yes," I repeated after him, "much to be thankful for, but still I wouldthat I had more after all these years to search. To think that I shouldbe so close to him and he know nothing of it."
After the ceasing of the song and the departure of my son, thereappeared upon the back of the idol three Fung warriors, fine fellowsclad in long robes and armed with spears, and behind them a trumpeterwho carried a horn or hollowed elephant's tusk. These men marched up anddown the length of the platform from the rise of the neck to the root ofthe tail, apparently to make an inspection. Having found nothing, for,of course, they could not see us hidden behind the bushes on our littleplateau, of which no doubt they did not even know the existence, andmuch less that it was connected with the mountain plain of Mur, thetrumpeter blew a shrill blast upon his horn, and before the echoes of ithad died away, vanished with his companions.
"Sunset tour of inspection. Seen the same kind of thing as at Gib.,"said the Sergeant. "Oh! by Jingo! Pussy isn't lying after all--therehe is," and he pointed to a figure that rose suddenly out of the blackstone of the idol's back just as the guards had done.
It was Higgs, Higgs without a doubt; Higgs wearing his batteredsun-helmet and his d
ark spectacles; Higgs smoking his big meerschaumpipe, and engaged in making notes in a pocket-book as calmly as thoughhe sat before a new object in the British Museum.
I gasped with astonishment, for somehow I had never expected that weshould really see him, but Orme, rising very quietly from his seatbeside Maqueda, only said:
"Yes, that's the old fellow right enough. Well, now for it. You,Shadrach, run out your ladder and cross first that I may be sure youplay no trick."
"Nay," broke in Maqueda, "this dog shall not go, for never would hereturn from his friends the Fung. Man," she said, addressing Japhet, theMountaineer to whom she had promised land, "go you over first and holdthe end of the ladder while this lord crosses. If he returns safe yourreward is doubled."
Japhet saluted, the ladder was run out and its end set upon theroughnesses in the rock that represented the hair of the sphinx's tail.The Mountaineer paused a moment with hands and face uplifted; evidentlyhe was praying. Then bidding his companions hold the hither end of theladder, and having first tested it with his foot and found that it hungfirm, calmly he walked across, being a brave fellow, and presently wasseen seated on the opposing mass of rock.
Now came Oliver's turn. He nodded to Maqueda, who went white as a sheet,muttering some words to her that did not reach me. Then he turned andshook my hand.
"If you can, save my son also," I whispered.
"I'll do my best if I can get hold of him," he answered. "Sergeant, ifanything happens to me you know your duty."
"I'll try and follow your example, Captain, under all circumstances,though that will be hard," replied Quick in a rather shaky voice.
Oliver stepped out on the ladder. I reckoned that twelve or fourteenshort paces would take him across, and the first half of these heaccomplished with quiet certainty. When he was in the exact middle ofthe passage, however, the end of one of the uprights of the ladder atthe farther side slipped a little, notwithstanding the efforts of Japhetto keep it straight, with the result that the plank bound on the rungslost its level, sinking an inch or so to the right, and nearly causingOliver to fall from it into the gulf. He wavered like a wind-shakenreed, attempted to step forward, hesitated, stopped, and slowly sank onto his hands and knees.
"_Ah_!" panted Maqueda.
"The Gentile has lost his head," began Joshua in a voice full of thetriumph that he could not hide. "He--will----"
Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely withhis fist, saying in English:
"Stow your jaw if you don't want to follow him, you swine," whereonJoshua, who understood the gesture, if not the words, relapsed intosilence.
Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying:
"Have no fear, the ladder is safe."
For a moment Oliver remained in his crouching posture on the board,which was all that separated him from an awful death in the gulfbeneath. Next, while we watched, agonized, he rose to his feet again,and with perfect calmness walked across to its other end.
"Well done our side!" said Quick, addressing Joshua, "why don't yourRoyal Highness cheer? No, you leave that knife alone, or presentlythere'll be a hog the less in this world," and stooping down he relievedthe Prince of the weapon which he was fingering with his round eyesfixed upon the Sergeant.
Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered.
"My uncle," she said, "brave men are risking their lives yonder while wesit in safety. Be silent and cease from quarrelling, I pray you."
Next moment we had forgotten all about Joshua, being utterly absorbed inwatching the drama in progress upon the farther side of the gulf. Aftera slight pause to recover his nerve or breath, Orme rose, and precededby Japhet, climbed up the bush-like rock till he reached the shaftof the sphinx's tail. Here he turned and waved his hand to us,then following the Mountaineer, walked, apparently with the utmostconfidence, along the curves of the tail to where it sprang from thebody of the idol. At this spot there was a little difficulty in climbingover the smooth slope of rock on to the broad terrace-like back. Soon,however, they surmounted it, and vanishing for a few seconds intothe hollow of the loins, which, of course, was a good many feet deep,re-appeared moving toward the shoulders. Between these we could seeHiggs standing with his back toward us, utterly unconscious of all thatwas passing behind him.
Passing Japhet, Oliver walked up to the Professor and touched him onthe arm. Higgs turned, stared at the pair for a moment, and then, inhis astonishment, or so we guessed, sat down plump upon the rock. Theypulled him to his feet, Orme pointing to the cliff behind, and evidentlyexplaining the situation and what must be done. Then followed a shortand animated talk. Through the glasses we could even see Higgs shakinghis head. He told them something, they came to a determination, fornow he turned, stepped forward a pace or two, and vanished, as I learntafterwards, to fetch my son, without whom he would not try to escape.
A while went by; it seemed an age, but really was under a minute. Weheard the sound of shouts. Higgs's white helmet reappeared, and then hisbody, with two Fung guards clinging on to him. He yelled out in Englishand the words reached us faintly:
"Save yourself! I'll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool, run!"
Oliver hesitated, although the Mountaineer was pulling at him, till theheads of more Fung appeared. Then, with a gesture of despair, he turnedand fled. First ran Oliver, then Japhet, whom he had outpaced, and afterthem came a number of priests or guards, waving knives, while in thebackground Higgs rolled on the rock with his captors.
The rest was very short. Orme slid down the rump of the idol on to thetail, followed by the Mountaineer, and after them in single file camethree Fung, who apparently thought no more of the perilous nature oftheir foothold than do the sheiks of the Egyptian pyramids when theyswarm about those monuments like lizards. Nor, for the matter of that,did Oliver or Japhet, who doubled down the tail as though it were a racetrack. Oliver swung himself on to the ladder, and in a second washalf across it, we holding its other end, when suddenly he heard hiscompanion cry out. A Fung had got hold of Japhet by the leg and he layface downward on the board.
Oliver halted and slowly turned round, drawing his revolver as he didso. Then he aimed and fired, and the Fung, leaving go of Japhet's leg,threw up his arms and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath. The nextthing I remember is that they were both among us, and somebody shouted,"Pull in the ladder."
"No," said Quick, "wait a bit."
Vaguely I wondered why, till I perceived that three of those courageousFung were following across it, resting their hands upon each other'sshoulders, while their companions cheered them.
"Now, pull, brothers, pull!" shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did. PoorFung! they deserved a better fate.
"Always inflict loss upon the enemy when you get a chance," remarked theSergeant, as he opened fire with his repeating rifle upon other Fungwho by now were clustering upon the back of the idol. This position,however, they soon abandoned as untenable, except one or two of them whoremained there, dead or wounded.
A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to Joshuain his very worst Arabic:
"Now does your Royal Highness think that we Gentiles are cowards,although it is true those Fung are as good men as we any day?"
Joshua declined argument, and I turned to watch Oliver, who had coveredhis face with his hands, and seemed to be weeping.
"What is it, O friend, what is it?" I heard Maqueda say in her gentlevoice--a voice full of tears, tears of gratitude I think. "You have donea great deed; you have returned safe; all is well."
"Nay," he answered, forgetting her titles in his distress, "all is ill.I have failed, and to-night they throw my brother to the lions. He toldme so."
Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer,his companion in adventure, who kissed it.
"Japhet," she said, "I am proud of you; your reward is fourfold, andhenceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers."
"Tell us what happened," I said to Oliv
er.
"This," he answered: "I remembered about your son, and so did Higgs. Infact, he spoke of him first--they seem to have become friends. He saidhe would not escape without him, and could fetch him in a moment, ashe was only just below. Well, he went to do so, and must have found theguard instead, who, I suppose, had heard us talking. You know as muchabout the rest as I do. To-night, when the full moon is two hours high,there is to be a ceremony of sacrifice, and poor Higgs will be let downinto the den of lions. He was writing his will in a note-book when wesaw him, as Barung had promised to send it to us."
"Doctor," said the Sergeant, in a confidential voice, when he haddigested this information, "would you translate for me a bit, as I wantto have a talk with Cat there, and my Arabic don't run to it?"
I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach stoodapart, watching and listening.
"Now, Cat," said the Sergeant (I give his remarks in his own language,leaving out my rendering) "just listen to me, and understand that ifyou tell lies or play games either you or I don't reach the top of thiscliff again alive. Do you catch on?"
Shadrach replied that he caught on.
"Very well. You've told us that once you were a prisoner among theFung and thrown to these holy lions, but got out. Now just explain whathappened."
"This, O Quick. After ceremonies that do not matter, I was let down inthe food-basket into the feeding-den, and thrown out of the basket likeany other meat. Then the gates were lifted up by the chains, and thelions came in to devour me according to their custom."
"And what happened next, Shadrach?"
"What happened? Why, of course I hid myself in the shadow as much aspossible, right against the walls of the precipice, until a satan ofa she-lion snuffled me out and gave a stroke at me. Look, here are themarks of her claws," and he pointed to the scars upon his face. "Thoseclaws stung like scorpions; they made me mad. The terror which I hadlost when I saw their yellow eyes came back to me. I rushed at theprecipice as a cat that is hunted by a dog rushes at a wall. I clungto its smooth side with my nails, with my toes, with my teeth. A lionleaped up and tore the flesh of my leg, here, here," and he showed themarks, which we could scarcely see in that dim light. "He ran back foranother spring. Above me I saw a tiny ledge, big enough for a hawk tosit on--no more. I jumped, I caught it, drawing up my legs so that thelion missed me. I made the effort a man makes once in his life. SomehowI dragged myself to that ledge; I rested one thigh upon it and pressedagainst the rock to steady myself. Then the rock gave, and I tumbledbackward into the bottom of a tunnel. Afterwards I escaped to the topof the cliff in the dark, O God of Israel! in the dark, smelling my way,climbing like a baboon, risking death a thousand times. It took me twowhole days and nights, and the last of those nights I knew not what Idid. Yet I found my way, and that is why my people name me Cat."
"I understand," said Quick in a new and more respectful voice, "andhowever big a rascal you may be, you've got pluck. Now, say, rememberingwhat I told you," and he tapped the handle of his revolver, "is thatfeeding-den where it used to be?"
"I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed? The victims are letdown from the belly of the god, just there between his thighs where aredoors. The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this platform onwhich we stand is over it. None saw my escape, therefore none searchedfor the means of it, since they thought that the lions had devouredme, as they have devoured thousands. No one enters there, only when thebeasts have fed full they draw back to their sleeping-dens, and thosewho watch above let down the bars. Listen," and as he spoke we heard acrash and a rattle far below. "They fall now, the lions having eaten.When Black Windows and perhaps others are thrown to them, by and by,they will be drawn up again."
"Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?"
"Without doubt, though I have not been down to look."
"Then, my boy, you are going now," remarked Quick grimly.