Into the Unknown: A Romance of South Africa

  CHAPTER TWO.

  AN ANXIOUS DAY.

  In the morning, after a meal of dried flesh and water--an appetisingrepast at which Leigh grumbled considerably--the trio lighted theirpipes and went into council.

  "Now then, Dick," said Alf Leigh, "as I, at all events, see no more ofthose objectionable rifle-barrels round here, I'll repeat my question ofyesterday--What do we do next?"

  "Ah! that's the point," responded Grenville. "Now doesn't it strike youas very odd, not to say significant, that we should be so murderouslyassaulted precisely on the spot where our mission is supposed tocommence? I am convinced that there is more in that attack than youfancy. However, here is the inscription which, as you know, we foundscratched with a pin-point on a slaty rock down the Pass yesterday--`_AnEnglishman and his daughter imprisoned in the Hell at the top of thisPass. Help us, for the love of Heaven_.' Well, as you also know, weresolved to carry help to the unfortunates who make this pitiful appealto our honour as countrymen, or die in the attempt; and, by Jove, if youask me anything, we came perilously near doing the latter yesterday. Toproceed, Myzukulwa here declares that there has been handed down forgenerations in his tribe, legends of a strange and mighty people, whofrequent this pass by night only, who, on being followed, vanish intothin air, and whose description answers accurately to the gentleman Isettled yesterday, with the one exception, easily accounted for, thatthese people were said to have black faces."

  "And a nice beginning we've made if, according to your idea, our friendof yesterday was one of them," grumbled Leigh.

  "Don't make any mistake, Alf," rejoined Grenville; "we shall gainnothing by palaver; whoever sees the inside of their territory willnever again, with their consent, re-enter the outside world to give themaway. This kingdom is an inscrutable mystery, enveloped in somethinglike a hundred miles of inaccessible rock and impassable mountain, andupon the very threshold of it I feel convinced that we have nowarrived."

  "Inkoos," said the great Zulu, "your words are wise, even as the wisdomof my father's father. For a thousand moons--ay, and for a thousandbefore that--has this place been haunted, and the traditions of mypeople ever warn us to beware of sleeping nigh to this falling water.Many have done so, and have never again visited their kraals; I,Myzukulwa, have alone done so and lived. More, Inkoos; as I watchedyesternight I heard strange sounds, as though the spooks (ghosts) weremourning over the dead one who lies below us."

  "Hah!" said Grenville, starting suddenly to his feet, "we'll haveanother look at that body," and, followed by his companions, he strodeaway down the Pass, but, when the party reached the scene of theprevious day's rencontre, the lifeless remains were nowhere to be seen;there was the hole, the rock crusted with coagulated blood, but not thefaintest trace of the body they had left behind them a dozen hoursbefore. Clearly no beast of prey had been responsible for itsdisappearance, for the man's gun and ammunition had also been removed.A lengthy and careful examination of the surroundings revealed nothing;all was barren rock, without a single sign of its having ever beenpressed by the foot of man, and, with most uncomfortable feelings, thetrio retraced their steps up the Pass, and reached the cave again, wearyand disheartened, as the sun went out with the rapidity peculiar to thelatitudes of Equatorial Africa, at once plunging everything intodarkness that might be felt.

  Grenville's active mind was, however, at work upon the incidents of theday, and he never rested until his party was safely housed in a cavesome hundred yards from the previous location. This night all keptwatch; and well was it for them that they were on the alert, for, justbefore the moon got up, the darkness of the Pass was suddenly cut, as ifby magic, with the flash of at least a score of rifles, fired so as tofairly sweep their old resting-place. Grenville and his companionscrouched down amongst the rocks, straining eyes and ears for sight orsound of their murderously-inclined foes; but all was as still as death,and at daybreak the Pass was again, to all appearance, utterly deserted,only their old cave was strewn with flattened bullets, which had beenfired with murderous precision.

  Grenville tried to get Myzukulwa's views upon the events of the night asthey smoked their pipes after breakfast, but the chief was unusuallyreticent. "Spooks," he said, "who shot as well as these did weredangerous; nothing but a spook could shoot like that in the dark."Leigh was for clearing out altogether; he was as plucky a fellow as everstepped, but this sort of thing was enough to shake any man's nerves.That day was spent in a rigid search which literally left no stoneunturned; but the keenest scrutiny revealed no place of concealment andno way into the mountain--over it none could go, for that towering wallof rock would have defied anything short of an eagle's wings--and acouple of hours before sunset the party set off again down the Pass.