CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
HOW WE PASSED THROUGH A GREAT PERIL.
It was quite evening when I woke, as I could see by the red glow amongstthe trees. I was rested but confused, and lay for some minutesthinking, and wondering what had taken place on the previous day.
It all came back at once, and I was just in the act of rising and goingto see how our poor friend was, when I felt a hand press me back, andturning I saw it was Jack Penny, who was pointing with the other towardsthe entrance of the cave.
"What is it?" I whispered; but I needed no telling, for I could seethat a group of the blacks were on the other side of the ravine,pointing in the direction of the bushes that overhung our refuge, andgesticulating and talking together loudly.
They know where we are then, I thought; and glancing from one to theother in the dim light I saw that my opinion was shared by the doctorand our black followers, who all seemed to be preparing for anencounter, taking up various places of vantage behind blocks of stone,where they could ply their bows and arrows and make good use of theirspears.
Just then the doctor crept towards me and placed his lips to my ear:
"They have evidently tracked us, my lad," he said; "and we must fightfor it. There is no chance beside without we escape by the back here,and give up the object of our search."
"We must fight, doctor!" I said, though I trembled as I spoke, andinvoluntarily glanced at Jack Penny, wondering even in those criticalmoments whether he too felt alarmed.
I think now it was very natural: I felt horribly ashamed of it then.
Whether it was the case, or that Jack Penny was only taking his tintfrom the greeny reflected light in the cavern, certainly he looked verycadaverous and strange.
He caught my eye and blew out his cheeks, and began to whistle softly ashe rubbed the barrel of his gun with his sleeve.
Turning rather jauntily towards the doctor he said softly:
"Suppose I am to shoot now, doctor?"
"When I give the order," said the latter coldly.
"There won't be any mistake this time?"
"No," said the doctor, quietly; "there will not be any mistake thistime!"
He stopped and gazed intently at the savages, who were cautiouslydescending towards the stream, not in a body but spread out in a line.
"Fire first with large shot," he said softly. "If we can frighten themwithout destroying life we will. Now creep each of you behind thatclump of stones and be firm. Mind it is by steadily helping one anotherin our trouble that we are strong."
I gave him a quick nod--it was no time for speaking--and crept softly tomy place, passing pretty close to where our friend lay wounded andquietly asleep.
The next minute both Jack Penny and I were crouched behind what servedas a breastwork, with our pieces ready, the doctor being on our left,and the blacks, including Jimmy, right in front, close to the mouth ofthe cave.
"We must mind and not hit the blacks!" whispered Jack. "I mean ourchaps. Lie down, Gyp!"
The dog was walking about in an impatient angry manner, uttering a lowsnarl now and then, and setting up the hair all about his neck till inthe dim light he looked like a hyena.
Gyp turned to his master almost a reproachful look, and then looked upat me, as if saying, "Am I to be quiet at a time like this?"
Directly after, though, he crouched down with his paws straight outbefore him and his muzzle directed towards the enemy, ready when thestruggle began to make his teeth meet in some one.
The savages were all the time coming steadily on lower and lower downthe bank, till suddenly one of them stopped short and uttered a low cry.
Several ran to his side at once, and we could see them stoop down andexamine something among the bushes, talking fiercely the while.
"They've found out where our friend was wounded, Jack Penny," I said.
"Think so?" he said slowly. "Well, I couldn't help it. I didn't meanto do it, I declare."
"Hist!" I whispered; and now my heart began to beat furiously, for theblacks, apparently satisfied, began to spread out again, descended tothe edge of the little stream, and then stopped short.
If I had not been so excited by the coming danger I should have enjoyedthe scene of this group of strongly-built naked savages, their jettyblack, shining skins bronzed by the reflections of orange and goldengreen as the sun flooded the gorge with warm light, making every actionof our enemies plain to see, while by contrast it threw us more and moreinto the shade.
They paused for a few moments at the edge of the stream, so close nowthat they could touch each other by simply stretching out a hand; and itwas evident by the way all watched a tall black in the centre of theline that they were waiting his orders to make a dash up into the cave.
Those were terrible minutes: we could see the opal of our enemies' eyesand the white line of their teeth as they slightly drew their lips apartin the excitement of waiting the order to advance. Every man was armedwith bow and arrows, and from their wrists hung by a thong a heavywaddy, a blow from which was sufficient to crush in any man's skull.
"They're coming now," I said in a low voice, the words escaping meinvoluntarily. And then I breathed again, for the tall savage,evidently the leader, said something to his men, who stood fast, whilehe walked boldly across the stream beneath the overhanging bushes, andone of these began to sway as the chief tried to draw himself up.
I glanced at the doctor, being sure that he would fire, when, just asthe chief was almost on a level with the floor of the cave, there was arushing, scratching noise, and the most hideous howling rose from justin front of where I crouched, while Gyp leaped up, with hair bristling,and answered it with a furious howl.
The savage dropped back into the water with a tremendous splash, andrushed up the slope after his people, not one of them stopping till theywere close to the top, when Jimmy raised his grinning face and lookedround at us.
"Um tink big bunyip in um hole, make um all run jus fas' away, away."
He had unmistakably scared the enemy, for they collected together inconsultation, but our hope that they might now go fell flat, for theyonce more began to descend, each one tearing off a dead branch orgathering a bunch of dry ferns as he came; and at the same moment theidea struck Jack Penny and me that they believed some fierce beast wasin the hole, and that they were coming to smoke it out.
The blacks came right down into the rivulet, and though the firstarmfuls of dry wood and growth they threw beneath the cave mouth wentinto the water, they served as a base for the rest, and in a very shorttime a great pile rose up, and this they fired.
For a few moments there was a great fume, which floated slowly up amongthe bushes, but very soon the form of the cavern caused it to draw rightin, the opening at the back acting as a chimney. First it burnedbriskly, then it began to roar, and then to our horror we found that theplace was beginning to fill with suffocating smoke and hot vapour,growing more dangerous moment by moment.
Fortunately the smoke and noise of the burning made our actions safefrom observation, and we were thus able to carry our wounded right tothe back, where the air was purer and it was easier to breathe.
It was a terrible position, for the blacks, encouraged by their success,piled on more and more brushwood and the great fronds of fern, whichgrew in abundance on the sides of the little ravine, and as the greenboughs and leaves were thrown on they hissed and spluttered and sentforth volumes of smoke, which choked and blinded us till the fuel beganto blaze, when it roared into the cave and brought with it a quantity ofhot but still breathable air.
"Keep a good heart, my lads," said the doctor. "No, no, Penny! Are youmad? Lie down! lie down! Don't you know that while the air high up issuffocating, that low down can be breathed?"
"No, I couldn't tell," said Jack Penny dolefully, as he first knelt downand then laid his head close to the ground. "I didn't know things weregoing to be so bad as this or I shouldn't have come. I don't want tohave my dog burned to death."
Gyp seemed to understand him, for he uttered a low whine and laid hisnose in his master's hand.
"Burned to death!" said the doctor in a tone full of angry excitement."Of course not. Nobody is going to be burned to death."
Through the dim choking mist I could see that there was a wild andanxious look in the doctor's countenance as he kept going near the mouthof the cave, and then hurrying back blinded and in agony.
We had all been in turn to the narrow rift at the end through which wehad been able to see the sky and the waving leaves of the trees, but nowall was dark with the smoke that rolled out. This had seemed to be ameans of escape, but the difficulty was to ascend the flat chimney-likeplace, and when the top was reached we feared that it would only be foreach one who climbed out to make himself a mark for the savages' arrows.
Hence, then, we had not made the slightest attempt to climb it. Now,however, our position was so desperate that Jimmy's proposal waslistened to with eagerness.
"Place too much big hot," he said. "Chokum-chokum like um wallaby. Goup."
He caught hold of the doctor's scarf of light network, a contrivancewhich did duty for bag, hammock, or rope in turn, and the wearer rapidlytwisted it from about his waist.
"Now, Mas' Jack Penny, tan' here," he cried; and Jack was placed justbeneath the hole.
Jack Penny understood what was required of him, and placing his handsagainst the edge of the rift he stood firm, while Jimmy took the end ofthe doctor's scarf in his teeth and proceeded to turn him into a ladder,by whose means he might get well into the chimney-like rift, climb up,and then lower down the scarf-rope to help the rest.
As I expected, the moment Jimmy caught Jack Penny's shoulders and placedone foot upon him my companion doubled up like a jointed rule, and Jimmyand he rolled upon the floor of the cave.
At any other time we should have roared with laughter at Jimmy's disgustand angry torrent of words, but it was no time for mirth, and the doctortook Jack Penny's place as the latter drawled out:
"I couldn't help it; my back's so weak. I begin to wish I hadn't come."
"Dat's fine," grunted Jimmy, who climbed rapidly up, standing on thedoctor's shoulders, making no scruple about planting a foot upon hishead, and then we knew by his grunting and choking sounds that he wasforcing his way up.
The moment he had ceased to be of use the doctor stood aside, and it wasas well, for first a few small stones fell, then there was a crash, andI felt that Jimmy had come down, but it only proved to be a mass ofloose stone, which was followed by two or three more pieces of earth androck.
Next came a tearing sound as of bushes being broken and dragged away,and to our delight the smoke seemed to rush up the rift with so great acurrent of air that fresh breath of life came to us from the mouth ofthe cave, and with it hope.
In those critical moments everything seemed dream-like and strange. Icould hardly see what took place for the smoke, my companions lookingdim and indistinct, and somehow the smoke seemed to be despair, and thefresh hot wind borne with the crackling flames that darted through thedense vapour so much hope.
"Ti-hi come 'long nextums," whispered Jimmy; and the black ran to theopening eagerly, but hesitated and paused, ending by seizing me andpushing me before him to go first.
"No, no," I said; "let's help the wounded man first."
"Don't waste time," said the doctor angrily. "Up, Joe, and you can helphaul."
I obeyed willingly and unwillingly, but I wasted no time. With the helpof the doctor and the scarf I had no difficulty in climbing up the rift,which afforded good foothold at the side, and in less than a minute Iwas beside Jimmy, breathing the fresh air and seeing the smoke rise upin a cloud from our feet.
"Pull!" said the doctor in a hoarse whisper that seemed to come out ofthe middle of the smoke.
Jimmy and I hauled, and somehow or another we got Jack Penny up, chokingand sneezing, so that he was obliged to lie down amongst the bushes, andI was afraid he would be heard, till I saw that we were separated fromthe savages by a huge mass of stony slope.
Two of the black bearers came next easily enough, and then the scarf hadto be lowered down to its utmost limits.
I knew why, and watched the proceedings with the greatest concern asJimmy and one of the blacks reached down into the smoky rift and heldthe rope at the full extent of their arms.
"Now!" said the doctor's voice, and the two hardy fellows began to drawthe scarf, with its weight coming so easily that I knew the doctor andone of the blacks must be lifting the wounded man below.
Poor fellow, he must have suffered the most intense agony, but he didnot utter a sigh. Weak as he was he was quite conscious of hisposition, and helped us by planting his feet wherever there was aprojection in the rift, and so we hauled him up and laid him on the sandamong the bushes, where he could breathe, but where he fainted away.
The rest easily followed, but not until the doctor had sent up everyweapon and package through the smoke. Then came his turn, but he madeno sign, and in an agony of horror I mastered my dread, and, seizing thescarf, lowered myself down into the heat and smoke.
It was as I feared; he had fainted, and was lying beneath the opening.
My hands trembled so that I could hardly tie a knot, but knowing, as Idid, how short the scarf was, I secured it tightly round one of hiswrists and called to them to haul just as Jimmy was coming down to myhelp.
He did not stop, but dropped down beside me, and together we lifted thefainting man, called to them to drag, and he was pulled up.
"Here, ketch hold," came from above the next moment in Jack Penny'svoice, and to my utter astonishment down came the end of the scarf atonce, long before they could have had time to untie it from the doctor'swrist.
"Up, Jimmy!" I cried, as I realised that it was the other end JackPenny had had the _nous_ to lower at once.
"No: sha'n't go, Mass Joe Carstairs."
"Go on, sir," I cried.
"No sha'n't! Debble--debble--debble!" he cried, pushing me to the hole.
To have gone on fighting would have meant death to both, for the savageswere yelling outside and piling on the bushes and fern fronds till theyroared.
I caught the scarf then, and was half-hauled half-scrambled up, to falldown blinded and suffocated almost, only able to point below.
I saw them lower the scarf again, and after what seemed a tremendoustime Jimmy's black figure appeared.
Almost at the same moment there were tongues of flame mingled with thesmoke, and Jimmy threw himself down and rolled over and over, sobbingand crying.
"Burn um hot um. Oh, burn um--burn um--burn um!"
There was a loud roar and a rush of flame and smoke out of the rift,followed by what seemed to be a downpour of the smoke that hung over uslike a canopy, just as if it was all being sucked back, and then thefire appeared to be smouldering, and up through the smoke that now roseslowly came the dank strange smell of exploded powder and the sounds ofvoices talking eagerly, but coming like a whisper to where we lay.