"A Romance of Adventure and War in South Africa" (continued 4)

“So do I,” echoed Fred and Clarence, hoarsely.

“If we had missed that fellow, you would have seen nothing more in this world,” answered Cocoeni, deeply and sarcastically.

“Let us get on,” commanded Ned, shortly.

Then, taking up their loads, they resumed their upward course.

It was some hours before they could feel comfortable in their minds after that battue—that is, our heroes. The Kaffirs felt and showed no emotion whatever. Our heroes, however, walked silently and thoughtfully through the greater portion of that day, and when they camped that night, their prayers somehow did not give them the usual satisfaction. They felt as if they had assisted at a needless and cowardly massacre, and as if they merited punishment for committing an unworthy crime. They would have liked to have asked forgiveness for this action.

Yet these were merely beasts who must have disputed their passage, soulless monstrosities, for whom it seemed ridiculous to feel pity. The first and second they had killed in self-defence.

But the baby—ah, that was what lay so heavy on their consciences!

“I don’t mind the old man one bit,” murmured Ned, as he tossed about. “He was too much like President Kruger for me to let him live, when I saw my chance to wipe him off. He may have had some virtues—as Kruger may have. They both appear to be fond of their own, and willing to fight for them; but that wretched pup—I wish I could forget it.”

Events shortly banished this painful episode from the minds of these brave adventurers, and the jackals would soon remove the traces from the earth. Like the leaves of the forest, the lives of men and animals are trifles of no more consideration than the shadow that crosses a sundial and marks the hour.

Chapter Twenty Two.

The Thunderstorm.

Ned sternly put his veto on any more monkey-hunting, big or small, as a cruel and useless expenditure of ammunition. They were harmless if left alone, as they were not carnivorous, and totally unfitted for food, unless for starving men, which this party was not by any means.

Therefore, while passing through this baboon land, the company, after this one experience, avoided these open avenues as much as possible. When, however, they were forced to use any of the paths, they made plenty of noise, which warned these creatures of their coming, and frightened them away. It was small honour to the hunter, who possessed a sure eye, steady nerve, and a good rifle to destroy one of these missing links of man, who so bravely and foolishly stood still and made targets of themselves before they made the attack.

There were leopards and other beasts of prey to be encountered, whom to bring down caused no after reflections. These were treacherous and murderous, and, as they lived by violence, so they deserved their doom.

On the next forenoon after this adventure, they emerged from the forest—at least, they reached an altitude where the trees were wider apart and not so densely interlaced. Then they had glimpses of the blue sky and golden patches of sunlight across their path. This, with the fresher air, braced them all up wonderfully.

They were still ascending, and were now fully four thousand feet above the sea, so that the tsetse flies were left behind them.

About midday they arrived at the base of some lofty cliffs, which reared above the tree-tops some fifty or sixty feet. The torrent was still on their left, and had come to be looked upon as an old friend. It flowed through a chasm or split in these cliffs, and fell into another abyss far below their feet. They could see it dropping like a dark blue band between the branches, while their faces were bathed with the cool vapour which rose up from the pool into which it leapt. A couple of rainbows arched this blue ribbon as the sun-rays glistened prismatically amongst the vapour.

These cliffs in front of them rose into the most fantastic shapes and pinnacles. They were of all shapes and sizes, some exactly like ruins of castles, some like pyramids and obelisks. To our heroes, as they looked up, they appeared like a range of deserted keeps and fortifications set there to guard the borders of a strange domain.

Trees jutted out of each crevice, while gigantic creepers swung like rope-ladders over the front of these strangely heaped-up boulders. The long and twisted lines reached from the top to where they stood, some of them as thick as a man’s thigh and others no thicker than a finger.

It was not at all difficult to climb the cliffs with those tough tendrils to hang on by, and our adventurers, without a pause, began the ascent. At length they stood on the crest of one of these castle-like broken walls, and found that they were entirely the work of freakish nature. They were rewarded, however, for their exertions by the magnificent prospect that spread all round them.

Under them they could see the forest which they had traversed, sloping downwards and reaching away until it became a blur of blue haze in the distance. The fierce African sun was pouring down its rays and heat on this vast mass of vegetation, from which rose a film of unwholesome gas, that softened the tops of the trees until they seemed like a great ocean of blended tones. A mighty silence seemed to brood over this vast sea of quivering colours—the pulsing silence of sleeping life.

Above them stretched that wide vault of atmosphere, the glad sight of which they had so long been denied. One and all spread out their arms as if to embrace the welcome light and pure air. Like the sun-worshippers, they experienced a kind of adoration for the glowing orb which was so softly sinking towards the west.

In front of them extended a flat prairie land dotted here and there with mounds and kopjes and devoid of trees, excepting near the banks of the stream, which they could trace as it flowed across the plateau from a far-distant range of mountains. These mountains were so faintly outlined against the sky that they might almost be mistaken for a low-lying bank of clouds. Only their peaks showed them to be land and not vapour.

Not a sign of human life could they perceive, either on the plain or on the banks of the river. No kraals, no huts showed up even, although Ned looked most carefully through his field-glasses.

“Have we discovered a new tract of country, I wonder,” he said, “as yet uninhabited? I see not the slightest signs of cultivation, although it looks as good as Rhodesia or the Transvaal.”

“It appears like it,” answered Fred. “Only I wish we had our horses.”

“Yes, that would be fine, for this seems to be a happy hunting-ground. Look yonder at the peaceful herds of giraffes and zebras. I bet no white man has been here, this generation at least, with his gun,” cried Clarence, who had now quite recovered his spirits.

The Kaffirs leaned on their weapons, and looked round them with glittering eyes. Here, indeed, seemed a country worth trekking to.

“By George! I do verily believe we are the first discoverers. Let us christen it at once. What shall it be?” asked Ned, turning to his companions.

“Jameson Land, if anything,” cried Fred. “He risked his life to rescue us from prison. He deserves this at least from us.”

“So be it. Welcome to Jameson Land, boys; and let yonder range of hills be called the Cecil Mountains and this stream the Rhodes River.”

They pitched their camp where they were for the night, and soon afterwards were busy discussing tea, roasted antelopes, and fresh-made cake, which the Kaffirs baked from the flour they carried.

A young moon showed in the sky that night like a silver sickle, and the stars came out gloriously. As our heroes lay and looked at these sparkling worlds, they thought they had never seen anything more beautiful than that overarching spangled vault of heaven. God had been very good to them to guide them safely so far upon their way. Not a man had been lost. They were as they had started, all except the horses, which was, of course, a universal regret. Yet they were grateful, and did not forget to express it before they went to sleep.

From the cries that resounded over the prairie as well as in the forest beneath them, all through the earlier portion of the night, they knew that there was plenty of sport before them.

During the night a most tremendous thunderstorm burst over their heads with a perfect tornado of wind. Fortunately, they were protected from the full force by those granite cliffs that surrounded them like Titanic walls. They had chosen for their camp a grassy mound, round which those strange-shaped rocks upreared.

The tempest came on, with hardly any warning, just after the young moon had set. They could hear it sweeping over the forest before it reached up to them with a most terrific shrieking. They had only time to drag their loads under the waterproof tent and secure that more firmly, when all the three elements—fire, wind, and rain—were upon them in full force.

What a spectacle this was to those who cared to look! Our heroes crept to a split in the rocks, and looked out upon the fierce bombardment with feelings of awe and admiration.

Over the forest hung the electricity-charged cloud, like a great war-balloon that had been dropped from the bulging heavens. From this ruddy and smoke-tinted mass issued a perpetual discharge of forked lightning. These vivid streaks darted from all sides into that ocean of rank leafage. It was a magnificent display of fireworks. It needed but a moderate imagination to transform this driving cloud into a great demoniac air-vessel armed on all sides with Maxim and Gatling-like batteries of the deadly flame.

Without intermission the lurid flashes darted downwards and disappeared amongst the foliage, each shaft doubtless working havoc with those giant trunks. From the point our heroes looked, however, they could only watch the forked streaks of brightness disappear amongst that yielding blackness.

High above the rolling clouds reflected this vivid discharge with a ghostly pallor, while the avalanche of driving rain in the distance seemed a swirling curtain of blue and silver gauze.

Loud and quick thunderclaps resounded, one peal after another, like the rolling of a hundred batteries of artillery. For fully half an hour the flames and the loud rattle of thunder went on without a break.

They were above this aerial fire-ship, and could overlook its dark upper side from which no flashes came. Over it spread a mighty shadow, moving as it sailed like a black opening in the sky.

It was driving rapidly towards them, and looked as if it soon must strike against the cliffs. As yet no wind or rain had reached them; yet they could see the tempest coming, although there was perfect stillness around them. They held on to the rocks, and watched the approach of this death-dealing cloud with fascinated eyes.

All at once it took an upward sweep, as if drawn suddenly from above. As it did so, the firing seemed to slacken and become irregular. Now it was passing over their heads and driving along with the speed of an express train. At it flew by, it dropped a fire-ball into a large tree that grew a short distance from where they stood. Like a reed, the gigantic trunk bent over the edge, and disappeared with a sound like a shuddering sob. When the next flash came, they saw a great blank where the tree had stood, with a rift in the rocks as if a ton of dynamite had exploded there.

Now the rain and the wind were on them with terrific fury. The thunder-cloud was miles away, pouring desultory and wanton shots on to the plateau, as it raced towards the far-off mountains.

In an instant of time they were drenched, while the tornado shrieked through the rock-rifts like a thousand vengeful furies.

The Kaffirs pitched themselves face downwards, and clutched to the jutting stones, for nothing mortal could have stood upright before that blast in its first force. Our heroes crouched under the shelter of a buttress-like boulder and watched, still fascinated, that disappearing fire-cloud.

In a few minutes, from the little mound ran a hundred streams and tiny cascades into the hollows. These speedily became like filled moats, which swelled upwards until the mound became an island.

Then the wind and the rain left them as suddenly as they had come. The sky once more cleared and the stars burnt with increased lustre.

But their fire had been put out, and for that night, at least, could not be relighted.

Luckily, day was not far off, therefore they formed a square outside their packages, and stood at attention while they waited for the dawn.

Chapter Twenty Three.

On the Plateau.

Existence, for the next five days, was the most enjoyable that our heroes had ever experienced.

They were in a perfect hunter’s paradise; in fact, so plentiful and varied were the specimens they saw, that the prairie appeared like a well-stocked preserve. The game was so trusting and fearless also, that they had about as little trouble to bring it down as sportsmen at home have over pheasant-shooting.

It was glorious, but it seemed too good to last long. When a man gets everything his own way for a time, he is apt to begin foreboding evil to come. This is an instinct which is planted in man to warn him against improvidence. Life is made up of changes, and neither success nor misfortune can last for ever.

Our heroes had been trusting entirely to chance so far. What they killed they had partaken as much as they wanted for the day, leaving the remainder to be devoured by the beasts who came after them, and the morrow to provide for itself.

But now Ned began to think it wise to prepare a stock of food to carry with them, in case the present supply failed.

With this object in view, he made easy marches, and devoted a portion of each day to more deliberate hunting, turning into “biltong” what they did not at present require. These were pleasant occupations to the whole company, and they went along with cheerful hearts.

As far as they had proceeded the land appeared to be ownerless, or in the undisputed possession of the grass-feeding and flesh-devouring fauna. There were no pathways, no signs that any other human feet had ever trod over these plains prior to their own advent. This was encouraging, but it also made them wonder.

To reach it they had come through a pestilential belt, which might have hitherto deterred humanity on that side. But what prevented them from reaching it from other directions?

This made Ned and his companions thoughtful when they discussed and speculated upon the yet unknown problem. Was it surrounded by impassable forests, or worse?

This they were resolved to discover, but the surmise of what might be made them take every necessary precaution, so as to be prepared for whatever chanced.

Meantime they revelled in the gifts which were within their reach. They were possessed of everything that was needful to make adventurous men happy—excepting, perhaps, notepaper, and that luxury they had learnt by this time to get along very contentedly without. The weather was simply perfect. Hot sunshine during the day, with pretty nearly always a fair breeze. Cool dry nights, when they could enjoy their camp fires and their fur coverings.

They clung to the banks of the stream that still coursed along unfailingly.

It was of lesser volume now, however, as they had crossed several smaller tributaries that fed it, so that it was about half the width it had been in the forest. But it was still of passable size and depth, considering they were in the midst of the dry season. It flowed smoothly now, yet with considerable current, and with few windings.

At parts the banks widened out and became nearly level. In these parts it lost its depth, and was a series of swampy and shallow marshes with a narrow winding brook in the centre. These ponds, being thickly covered with rushes and jungle, were densely filled with feathered game: koorhaan, francolins, quail, and snipe, also flamingoes, storks, and ibis birds. Once or twice they started some Koro bustards, and dined sumptuously on the delicate dainty.

They could always tell when they were approaching one of these marshy stretches from the dwindled state of the stream; however, after these were passed the beds became fuller again, as it was constantly being fed by tributaries, and appeared to be one of the principal water-sheds. Round the base of kopjes it wound, rippling clear and unceasingly over its rocky and clay beds; growing smaller as they advanced, yet with pools deep enough to furnish their daily bath, and fringed with brushwood enough to feed their fires.

Every hour they got within range of large herds of African game of some description or other. Zebra, quagga, and giraffes crossed their path frequently; antelopes of every variety were met and shot constantly. Droves of eland, koodoo, hartebeest, reed-buck, and other kinds, evidently throve here, in spite of their natural enemies, that were also plentiful.

They had several encounters with lions during the day, and never a night passed without their presence being announced by their loud roaring. As the moon increased, they were able to see these majestic beasts prowling outside their camp, with their numerous hangers-on, the wolves, hyenas, and jackals, all helping to render night hideous. Several times, also, they roused a cheetah, and seldom failed to bring the tiger of Africa to book when seen.

As yet, however, they had not met either buffaloes or elephants on this plain.

Ned kept strictly to his programme, and led his company straight across the plateau, only turning a little out of the straight course when stalking down some special prey. He always returned, however, to his bee-line as soon as the sport was run to earth.

The distant mountains were his landmark. Each day they were getting nearer and more sharply outlined against the limpid sky. The stream trended directly towards them.

They had taken matters easy during these five days, seldom covering more than ten or twelve miles each day of straight travelling. Some days they had not covered half that distance. On Sundays they always rested; and as a Sunday had been spent on the plateau, they reckoned that they had put in about thirty-eight to forty miles since leaving the forest.

The mountains still lay, as nearly as they were able to calculate, about thirty miles away. These had been rising gradually on their view, until now they loomed a considerable height over the horizon.

As far as our heroes could judge of the ranges, they appeared sterile, rocky, and uninviting; rugged in outline, with upstarting and fantastic peaks, that broke against the sky like great tors.

When the sun shone upon them, the adventurers could see patches of tawny light, with serrated edges and ragged shadows of violet. There were also long zigzag lines of deeper purple, that looked like chasms and steep precipices. Nothing like vegetation appeared to line those bleak and rugged ridges.

“If we are in the land of plenty now, yonder appears to be the land of desolation,” observed Clarence.

“Yes; I fancy we shall see something different over there from what we have hitherto experienced,” answered Ned, cheerfully. “Fortunately, our friend ‘Rhodes River’ still is with us.”

“It is also growing, like the game, beautifully less as we advance,” remarked Fred.

It was true. The stream was only a rivulet now, hardly six feet wide, and not above the ankle in depth. The game they were leaving behind, and a wave of hot wind seemed to spread from those rocky mountains.

They made longer marches now, covering on the first day twenty miles, and bringing up at sundown to where they could see the details of the mountains very distinctly.

During that day they had seen, in the extreme distance, a herd of quaggas bounding away to their rear, and later on had been able to bring down four white-tailed gnus. These were enough for their supper, and they had plenty of dried meat.

They camped by the side of the brook, now less than a yard wide. They had crossed no feeders for the past two days.

The soil round them was more stony and bare than it had been, yet close to the stream the banks were fertile. Before them the ground spread like a desert.

The mountain range in front was forbidding in the extreme. The nearer lap rose abruptly from the plain like a rocky coast. Huge wall-like precipices, that looked impassable, except where great rents yawned darkly at places.

Ned examined these chasms long and silently. The others looked at him expectantly.

“Well, Ned, old fellow, what do you think of those gateways?” asked Clarence.

“Not much—except as gateways,” answered Ned, quietly.

“Then you mean to go on?”

“I should like to see where they lead to—yes, we must see where they lead to,” he added, in a more determined voice. “It would never do to go back and say we were checked by a few rocks. As long as the road lies open and our supplies last, I’ll go on, if you will back me up.”

“Right you are. We won’t leave you to go forward by yourself,” replied both Fred and Clarence, while Cocoeni and the Kaffirs nodded grimly their willingness to go also wherever they were led.

For the first time since leaving Rhodesia the sense of his responsibility pressed heavily upon Ned. As he lay that night and looked over towards the shadowy outlines of those barren rocks, he felt his resolution waver somewhat. He had many lives under his charge, men who were prepared to follow him wherever he chose to go. Where was he about to lead them now?

Death by thirst and want seemed to lurk within those desolate craigs, which revealed no speck of gnus upon their tawny and red breasts, and only the arid shelter of shadow within their stony flanks.

He curiously began to think what must have been the feelings of Moses when he looked at the naked peaks of Attika, after he had seen the pursuing hosts of Pharaoh overwhelmed. These rocks in front of him could not be more inhospitable than were the red mountains of Attika. Yet they had been the entrances to the promised land.

The rank forest had not appalled him as those stern, dry cliffs now did. Yet the forest held as many dangers—indeed, it hid more varied forms of horrors than these chasms could: death in the shape of fever, and submerging in loathsome and treacherous morasses; from venomous snake-bites, and crocodiles, lions, tigers, and the poisoned arrows of lurking savages. There was nearly every kind of peril to be encountered in the forest except one, and here it waited for them—at least, so it seemed to Ned and his companions—the peril of thirst, the most dreaded of dooms, next to fire, which humanity shrinks back from encountering. Would he go on with those dauntless fellows, and dare that terrible risk, or turn back before it was too late?

The half-moon silvered the ground with cool lustre. A little way off he saw several soft-footed, slouching forms prowling about, with swinging tails and luminous, emerald-green eyes, that betrayed them. While he watched their restless motions, and the rolling heave of their lean hips, he became conscious of the musical ripple of that ever-flowing, if diminished, brooklet.

“It comes from those sterile mountains,” he murmured. “And while it still flows, we are in no danger of perishing from thirst.”

Braced up with this comforting solace, his momentary timidity and irresolution passed away, and he felt once more cheerful. Moses and Aaron had faith. So had the other explorers, both in Africa and on the frightful waterless deserts of Australia, and many of these daring, purposeful heroes had endured all and returned to tell the tale. With manly pride he crushed out all recollections of those who had never returned, and dwelt only on the lives of those who had come back.

“Nothing venture, nothing win. If I bring down that nearest lion with the first shot, I’ll take that as a sign that we will be successful.”

The beast in question was squatting at that moment on its haunches, like a great dog, with its face full towards him, and its phosphorescent eyes shining like lamps.

It was less than thirty yards away, and seemed to be glaring full at him. Doubtless it was waiting and hoping that the dreaded camp fire would presently burn out, so that it might get one of those tempting figures which were stretched round it. About a dozen of its companions were sitting or moving about, inspired by the same idea that now engrossed its leonine fancy.

It was a splendid target, for it sat as motionless as if it had been one of the boulders that were scattered round. Ned smiled broadly as he brought his twelve-bore double Metford rifle to his shoulder, and took a careful aim at the dark space between those glowing lamps. It seemed trying for a sign with a pretty certain conclusion. Yet if he chanced to miss, then, indeed, he might well take this as a bad omen.

With a report that startled the sleepers, the rifle exploded, and made them all leap to their feet. But before the sound came, Ned had the satisfaction of beholding the lion bound into the air and roll over on its side, with those green lamps extinguished for ever.

“What’s up now, Ned?” cried Clarence and Fred, rubbing their eyes.

“Only a bit of an experiment I was trying,” answered Ned, laughing, as he watched the other prowlers scurrying off with their tails between their legs like frightened curs. “That old fellow was sitting a little bit too near my rifle for his health.”

“Was that your experiment?” asked the boys, as they looked sulkily at the dead lion. “You needn’t have woke the whole camp for that easy practice.”

“I wanted to see if I could possibly miss him, for I had made it the condition whether we should go on or turn back.”

“As if any one could miss such a mark! Your ordeal of signs is like what the testing of witches used to be—pretty safe to turn out as you wished it.”

“I might have missed, you know; aiming in the moonlight has always some degree of uncertainty about it,” said Ned, modestly.

“Some few of the reputed witches must also have escaped drowning, but precious few did so, I have read,” answered Clarence, sarcastically. “Then, I suppose, since you must have blown the brains out of that carcase, the sign is, ‘Go on and—risk it’?”

“Yes; that is the result,” replied Ned. “Go on and—succeed.”

“That is the consummation devoutly to be wished. Now, don’t waste any more bullets on signs in the shape of lions—until our watch below is over, at any rate. Be sure, Sir Oracle. We are off again to the arms of Morpheus.”

Chapter Twenty Four.

The Bashikonay.

It was not by any means a dull camp since the diaries and note-books were destroyed.

Before this fatal accident matters had been slightly monotonous for Cocoeni and the other young sporting Basuto and Matabele braves. Since that irreparable loss, however—to use Cocoeni’s slangy English—“things were humming, instead of being humdrum.”

They were merry boys, all of them, and could not have been more wisely assorted for such an uncertain enterprise. Regardless of danger and privation, and well-nigh impervious to fatigue, they took their troubles laughing.

They made sport of their work, and, unless silence was necessary, turned their daily march into a Christy Minstrel serenade. Repartee, song, and jest were the orders of the hours, and never had Ned seen a moody brow about him since Cocoeni brought the sorrowful tidings back from the rapids about the saurian and the valise.

Splendid-looking fellows the natives were, also; the flower and chivalry of their tribes. Deep brown eyes that could melt with emotion, flash with courage, and sparkle with fun; lips full, and ever on the ripple with appreciation of a joke; teeth even and white as the purest ivory could be; limbs muscular, shapely, and supple, with epidermis smooth, sleek, and sheeny as satin. Whether they were lying, standing, wrestling, or running, they were bronze models of grace and symmetry to draw the eye artistic upon them with admiration and delight.

Ned put them through their facings morning and evening for half an hour each time, before they commenced and after they had ended their day’s march. They took to this military exercise most congenially, and as they were quick to learn, very soon became splendidly drilled soldiers. He and his chums had cause to be proud of these glorious young warriors, as with lightning speed they obeyed orders, forming squares, scattering out into skirmishing order, marching steady as Romans, and pitching themselves flat on the ground to the word of command. With what they had learnt of British war tactics, added to their own native training, Ned had charge of as fine a body of men as captain or centurion could have desired.

Our heroes had not been so long from school to forget or forego the delights of outdoor games and athletic exercises, and these they taught their followers, much to their delight.

Cecil Rhodes, with that profound knowledge of men which has made him such a success, had not omitted cricket-bats, wickets, and balls, with the more necessary items of their equipment. These furnished them with constant amusement at such times as they might otherwise have felt wearied when game was not in their vicinity.

Football was an unfailing source of amusement with these stalwart dusky athletes. Ned was referee on these occasions, and Clarence and Fred the touch-judges. Rugby was their favourite game, and as it was played on those level veldts, it was a pretty and exhilarating game.

Cricket also they enjoyed hugely. They usually fixed Saturdays for their big matches, but some practised all the week. Cocoeni became a crack bowler, and much of the evenings were spent in discussing the qualities of the different players.

They had also racing contests and jumping matches. The steeplechases would have been eye-openers to some British experts, for these fellows could leap like kangaroos and run like racehorses.

They had wild tugs of war, and putting and throwing the weights; also wrestling, lifting, and club exercise. In all these feats the Matabeles contested with the Basutos, yet never lost their temper once.

It was the general good temper and fine control displayed by those hardy young warriors, as well as their expertness, quickness, obedience, and strength, that made them such valuable allies. Ned felt that his hundred and twenty-five trained heroes were equal to a thousand or more irresponsible savages, if they were forced to fight for their lives. With these at his back, he was hardly afraid of any odds now that they knew and could depend upon each other.

Our heroes were well-trained and religious young men, and while paying such strict attention to their physical exercises, you may depend upon it, did not neglect their spiritual devotions. On Sundays they conducted Church service twice regularly, each of them taking turns to deliver a discourse suitable to their audience and their own abilities. They explained the Scripture as they read it, and did their best to demonstrate how good and beautiful, as well as knightly, were the qualities of mercy, purity, truth, and faith.

They showed their heroic and simple listeners that fearlessness, endurance, courage, and strength were only the common attributes shared alike by beast and man; that where the man proved his heroism and superiority over the beast was in his generosity and chivalry towards his weaker or viler enemy, and also in his humility, trust, and obedience to the higher and Divine laws of God. When they told of that great and perfect Example and Sacrifice to humanity, those emotional Africans sobbed their sympathy for His sufferings for them. He was the true and perfect Knight who faced and endured ignominy and death that they might live eternally.

They pointed out the living example of King Khama, who had proved that a Christian could also be a brave and great warrior. They told about that other hero, Gordon of Khartoum, who did not lose his faith or courage even although so basely betrayed by those from whom he expected help. The Matabeles and Basutos quickly comprehended and appreciated these specimens of fidelity and heroism. They remembered, also, during the week what they had listened to on Sunday.

“You will be brave in the hour of danger, for that is your nature, I know,” said Ned on one of these occasions. “Be brave enough, also, to stay your hand in the hot moment of triumph, for that is the moment of greatest peril to the hero. You can endure privations, I have seen; you must also learn to resist temptations. The perfect warrior is temperate in all things, true to his brothers, and true also to his pledge even when given to a foe. His shield is meant to protect his own body, and his body is given to him to aid and protect the weak, raise the fallen, comfort the afflicted, and keep it holy and clean.”

These were boyish orations, but they went straight to the hearts of those child-like hearers. The ideals were those of uncontaminated youth appealing to unsophisticated and malleable Nature. Our heroes had no scoffers amongst their congregation, but only young men devoted to them, who were as easy to lead upwards or downwards as children. Ned and his two chums led them upwards as far as they could; and made them to see how much better virtue was than vice, how much happier faith made one than did doubt. Each had their departments to debate upon. Ned showed the greatness of the Creator by botanical illustrations. Fred brought in his chemistry, and filled them with wonder at the marvels he revealed. Clarence explained the stars, and entertained them with the fairy-like tales of astronomy. Thus their days and nights were fully occupied.

They began and ended each day with prayer. As they walked along they felt that they were environed with unseen protection. This inspired them constantly with renewed and lofty courage. So long as man can rely on prayer, he need fear no enemy, for his buckler is impregnable.

On the next morning after Ned had killed the lion, they started at daybreak towards the mountain.

They had not gone half the distance, however, when the sun, which had risen brightly, suddenly became overcast with what appeared to be a dense, dark cloud, which completely blotted out the light, and threw a dismal shadow over the landscape.

Our heroes looked at the dark cloud which was so swiftly rising out of the east and overspreading the blue sky. It was like nothing they had ever seen before, of a violet blackness, with copper-coloured upper edges that glistened metallically. A strange rustling sound came from it, growing louder as it advanced.

Myriads of birds circled above this cloud, diving in and darting out from it perpetually. As it came on with incredible rapidity, they could see it trailing along and covering the ground like a black pall.

The Kaffirs flung down their loads, and stood watching it with glittering eyes, while Cocoeni stretched out his arm and explained the startling phenomenon with one word, “Locusts!”

One of the plagues of Moses was coming. Even while Cocoeni still pointed, the swarming insects with their violet wings were upon them in countless hosts.

They filled miles of space with such a palpable mass that only a dim twilight prevailed. They covered the earth like a fall of snow six inches deep with no intervening space. All the air was reverberating with their loud chirping, the rustling of their crisp wings, and the shrieking cries of the birds who devoured them wholesale, yet without apparently diminishing their bulk.

Our heroes were appalled at this numberless host, and dazed with the darkness and noise. They staggered about trying vainly to shake the pests off, that dropped so thickly and incessantly upon them. They slid and squashed thousands under their feet; while they felt sick as they watched their followers greedily imitating the ravenous birds, and devouring handfuls of them, as fast as they could chew and swallow.

For an hour this went on, as the rustling, whistling, shrieking, and living cloud of darkness swept over them. Then gradually the air cleared, and the fierce sun poured down upon that glistening and writhing plain.

Not a blade of grass or leaf of herbage was left. Around them spread a barren desert; even the river-bed was choked up with a moving compact mass of blackness.

They resumed their march, watching the cloud as it swept westward, and slipping about as if treading amongst slushy ice, over the ankles. It was horrible. It was sickeningly disgusting.

The Kaffirs, however, showed no disgust. After gorging themselves, they filled their bags with these insects, and trudged along singing merrily.

“Are they good to eat, Cocoeni?” asked Ned.

“You bet they are, baas, bully fine. You eat one, and then you will find out.”

“No, thanks; I’ll take your word for it, old man. They ought to be good for something, since they have used up the country.”

“Oh, next rains will make that all right.”

“Meantime, I suppose there will be starvation amongst the game?”

“No; they will eat these as we do; after that they will move off to other parts.”

In another couple of hours the company arrived at the cliffs. The ground was still covered with locusts, which had been unable to rise, and the stream-bed was completely filled, so that no water could be seen.

In front of them yawned a chasm of about a hundred yards wide. Wall-like precipices rose on either side and stretched upward for five thousand feet with hardly a break. A few fissures and cracks were discernible here and there, but no ledge which could afford a foot or handgrip for even the most expert climber.

The ground was hard and stony, yet even here, as far as they could look into the cavity, it was overspread with locusts.

The stream penetrated this barren gully, and also continued as far as they could see. Eastward and west these same smooth precipices extended, like a coastline until merged in distance. Serrated on the ridges, at long intervals they presented similar openings to the one they now stood before. Possibly these were water-sheds in the rainy seasons, but at present there were no signs of streams flowing. After a careful survey east and westward, Ned decided that the Rhodes river opening was the most promising route to follow.

Without any more hesitation, he strode into the shadow of the cliffs and out of the sun glare, crushing his hundreds of locusts each step he took. The rest followed him obediently, still singing as they went along.

A crowd of aasvogels had come down from their lofty watching-posts, and were busy glutting themselves with the locusts. These vultures merely lifted their ugly bald heads and bare necks and looked at the invaders as they passed, and then continued their feasting, hardly budging out of the way.

After penetrating for about a mile of this shadow-land they crossed the belt of locusts, and found that the ground was ascending.

It was paved with water-worn smooth rocks between patches of yellow sand, and rose in a series of steppes. In the centre of this channel, the brook still ran purling and clear over its stony bed, with here and there small fringes of vegetation at its edges. All else, however, round and above them was sterile in the extreme. A deep silence brooded over this rocky valley, which, although at present in shadow, was intensely hot and airless. The sun glared on the upper half of one side, but the rocks in the bed still retained the heat where it had lately shone. As they walked, our heroes felt as if enclosed in a bakehouse.

They were winding round a corner, when suddenly Cocoeni and the other Kaffirs uttered cries of affright and rushed into the middle of the running stream, where they stood in a line, trembling. Ned and his chums at once promptly followed their example; then they asked—

“What is it, Cocoeni, that frightens you?”

“Look, baas, the bashikonay is coming!”

Chapter Twenty Five.

In the Defile.

“The bashikonay?” echoed Ned in astonishment. “What in the name of this wonderful country is that?”

“Ants,” replied Cocoeni, hoarsely, while he shivered with unmistakable fear. “The bashikonay ants eat up every living thing in their way, and yonder they come in force; they have smelt out the locusts.”

Our heroes looked when Cocoeni pointed with his trembling finger, and saw marching down the valley a vast army of ants, each insect about half an inch long.

They were in close order, and had divided themselves into two lines, one on each side of the stream. So dense were they that they completely filled the valley, until no ground could be seen under them. They also extended in a solid phalanx until the winding hid their tail. They were coming along in perfect soldier-like order, and running rapidly, with their officers and scouts directing their movements.

“Are they so very vicious, then?” asked Ned, as he watched their fine uniform motions with admiration.

“I tell you what, baas, if they see us they will eat us up in no time, and leave our bones clean picked. No man nor beast can meet them and live. They are terrible, and cannot be fought with.”

“Then are we quite safe here?”

“I think so—I hope so. They do not like to cross water; besides, the locusts are what they are after now, therefore, so that we don’t stand in their path, they may pass on. If the front rank passes on, the rest will follow.”

It was an anxious moment, for our heroes had no desire to test the eating qualities of those small monsters. It is not nice to think of being reduced to a skeleton so rapidly; besides, the agony of those myriad nippers at work in and outside every organ, disintegrating humanity, was frightful to contemplate.

Ned thought about the tortures of the iron boot with the boiling oil poured in, the rack, and red-hot pincers, etc.; but even the imagination of these failed to come up to the vague horror of being demolished in this infinitesimal fashion.

Ages seemed to drag by before the front ranks were on a line with where he stood. He watched the ruthless little monsters of fate, fascinated, and thought with horror on the myriads of ogreish, sharp eyes that might be watching these helpless victims in the tiny stream.

Onwards, however, they rushed past the human food, without turning to the right or left; down they wound their course towards the open plain.

For three and a half hours they filed along, until the sun had almost set.

Our heroes and their followers stood meanwhile with their feet in the water, and their eyes fixed anxiously on that moving mass that had hitherto left them alone.

Ned saw a large black snake drop from a crevice in the rock amongst them. They at once closed upon it, and passed over it. A ripple-like movement took place amongst the compact multitude where the snake had dropped. This motion only lasted for a few seconds, then it ceased, and the army scurried on with methodical and ruthless order.

At last they saw the end of this frightful army. Ned had attempted a futile joke about the Jubilee Procession, but no one had laughed. These little beasts were not suitable subjects to jest about—at least, not while they were on the war-path.

They had come in one straight valley-filling line in the van, and they terminated at the rear in the same rigid form, with no stragglers dragging up behind. As the last rank filed slowly past, all uttered a glad cry of relief.

Cocoeni pointed silently to the trail which this army had left, and our heroes no longer dared to doubt his assertion.

Where the black snake had been was a gleaming necklace of white vertebrae, and a flat grinning skull, and shining fangs. Scattered over the ground were specks of varied sizes and shades. These were the excavated and polished shells of insects and reptiles that had not been so prudent and lucky as were Ned and his followers. The devastating bashikonay had passed along that way, and, like the Grand Army of France, had cleaned out thoroughly their line of march.

It was some time after the last of these resistless conquerors had disappeared before any of Ned’s band dared to venture out of their sanctuary. These might only be the advance guard; the main body might be coming on behind.

Therefore, uncomfortable as it was to have to stand passive for hours in the centre of a stream of running water, this was infinitely to be preferred to being caught between two such formidable hosts.

At length, even Cocoeni appeared satisfied that there were no more of the bashikonay hosts coming down this particular glen on that occasion. He therefore suggested that they might once more venture on terra firma, and place some decent space between themselves and the common enemy.

This prudent advice they hastily acted upon. Each man grasped his load firmly, and set off as fast as he could travel up the gorge, without standing upon the order of his going.

Traces of these awful ants were seen at every turn of the way. Beautifully polished and bran-new skeletons, large and small, were scattered about in every contorted attitude of the most excruciating agony.

Serpents with the tail-ends of their vertebrae in their jaws firmly clenched; centipedes, scorpions, and other creeping and venomous things exquisitely manipulated and polished of every fragment of corruptible matter lay about, perfectly cleaned, yet undisturbed, and not a joint out of place. Splendid museum specimens these were, going to waste.

Ned, even in his haste, could not help stooping and picking up a few of these as he ran along. He was astonished at the deadly dexterity and skill of those voracious workers. Not the most minute fragment of flesh, marrow, or sinew remained on any of those highly burnished bones. It was amazing and blood curdling. They had done all this without disturbing the order of their march. Each insect had snatched his bit in the passing, masticating it as he rushed onwards, while those following after had finished the gruesome task. It was numbers, with a fixed unity of purpose, which made the work compatible with speed. This was, as Ned said, the biggest co-operative concern that he had ever seen or read about.

“I hope these insect fiends are cannibalistic also in their habits, and that the whole tribe have gone on this locust expedition. It is something decidedly unpleasant to think that we may have to encounter them on our return.”

Nothing that they had experienced in the forest had been at all equal to the horror of those half-inch adversaries. As they passed those numerous and ghastly tokens of this most terrible foe, Ned and his chums mentally vowed that it would be better to push ahead, rather than retreat down that way too quickly again.

No animal that lived seemed too formidable to be able to resist them.

Before night came upon them and forced them to stop, they passed a group of skeletons terribly suggestive. They were those of a lion, a lioness, and two cubs. They had evidently been overtaken while sleeping in a little cavity, and devoured before they could move far away from each other. They lay in a circle, with the gravel torn up round them, in their impotent and maddening agony. The skeleton of the lion was on his back, completely curled up, with his thigh bone in his mouth. The lioness was sprawling with legs far apart, and the cubs in different positions, each indicative of torture.

That night they had to do without any fire, as there was no fuel to be found. Scarcely one of them slept, so unnerved had these sights made them. However, the darkness passed without any disturbance. Indeed, the silence of that long night was weird, for it seemed the silence of a universal death. Nothing broke it. No sigh of wind, no chirp of insect, not even the rustle of a night adder—only a deep and awful stillness that kept them awake with horrified expectancy.

Morning at last arrived, and they went on following the stream and the whitened trail of those demon ants.

The gorge was gradually becoming narrower, yet without any diminishing of those stupendous sides. It was not more than half the width it had been, and as they looked up, the sky appeared like a ribbon of blue very far above their heads. They were closed in now with rocks on all sides, as the chasm was getting more abrupt in its windings.

All at once they came to the head of the stream, while beyond them appeared only a dry and stony bed. At this sight the hearts of all sank and felt like lumps of lead.

The stream rose and bubbled out of a little fountain, while round it spread a patch of bright green grass. It was a delicious little patch of moisture and verdure in the midst of this surrounding vastness of shadow and sterility. As they flung down their burdens and rested beside them, they felt as if bidding farewell to their only friend.

It had been a good and trusty friend to them for many days, becoming more dearly prized the frailer it grew. It had saved their lives even at its last stretch, and now it was all they had to depend upon in the most uncertain future.

Some brushwood was found on the banks, and with this they made a fire and cooked breakfast. Then they sat down to consider matters.

After a long silence, Ned spoke. “Boys, we must see the top of this defile, and carry what water we require with us for the rest of the way. I reckon that we are more than halfway through it, and we have water-bags enough to last us a fortnight with care, and provisions for double that time.”

“Yes,” answered Fred and Clarence, steadily.

“I don’t savy going back yet, with those precious bashikonay behind us,” added Fred.

“Then let us unpack our waterproof bags and fill them here. We can keep on for a few days, and if nothing promising turns up, we can easily come back.”

No one having any objection to offer, this order was obeyed. The water-bags were unpacked, filled, and the stoppers firmly screwed down. Then, after a refreshing wash and a big drink, they said good-bye to the crystal fount, and began their arid journey.

As the pass became narrower, it also became more steep and winding. Sometimes the cliffs overhung so much that they lost sight altogether of the sky, and seemed to be walking through a vast fiery tunnel.

It was hot and thirst-producing—this climbing over those parched rocks. The light never left them altogether by day, even within those closed-in portions. Sometimes they almost wished it had, to shut from their unwilling eyes some shuddering sights they at times beheld.

They disturbed ugly-looking and venomous snakes, scorpions, and yellow-spotted great spiders, with other strange specimens of the reptile and insect world.

It was, as Ned had remarked, a wonderful land, this Africa, with its strange curiosities of animal and insect life. They had seen already much more than they had anticipated seeing, in the forest and on the veldt.

Yet this long and weary passage through the mountains seemed to give them every hour some new experience of the weird and horrible. As they struggled on, their hearts beat with expectancy of what was next to be revealed.

The gorge was longer than they had expected; three days and nights had dragged along since they left the spring, and still they did not seem nearly at a termination. They were going in an undulating, yet on the whole pretty straight, course north-east, and they were ascending gradually.

Already they had risen to an altitude of over six thousand feet above the plain, yet the cliffs, instead of diminishing in height, seemed to tower more loftily above their heads.

It was an arduous climb, and felt prison-like and spirit-crushing in its narrow limits, yet, since it led them so straight, they could not but think it must soon end. They reckoned that these most lofty cliffs must be the centre peaks of the high inner mountains which they had seen from the distance.

When the sun was above their heads at noon for a short time, it poured its rays down pitilessly upon them, and heated the chasm almost to suffocation point. Then loathsome insects and reptiles crept from the crevices and frolicked in the furnace-like glow.

But at night, when the dew fell, it was piercingly cold and damp, even under their skin wraps and tent. Only once had they been able to find wood enough to raise a fire since leaving the fountain. Then the effect on the bulging and smooth cliffs had been like some of the Inferno conceptions of Gustave Doré.

“Two more days, lads,” said Ned to his dutiful and unquestioning followers. “If we see no way out of this lane by that time, I shall turn back.”

They were, however, lured on by the windings and the perceptible drawing-in of the gorge. At the rate it was narrowing it must terminate either in a cul-de-sac or an opening soon.

At last their hopes were realised, and they had palpable evidence that they must have reached the other slope of the range.

The ridges were getting lower, or rather they were rising to their level.

Daylight became stronger, while the chasm became once more a valley, and fresher air poured in upon them.

About midday they were hemmed in by only about fifty feet high of walls that dipped until they became level with the ground.

In front of them spread an almost flat ledge, and on it what looked to be the ruins of a citadel.

Chapter Twenty Six.

In the Deserted Citadel.

The crumbling walls and earthquake-rent towers which stood between them and the deeply blue sky attracted all eyes upwards.

Then an exclamation from Clarence, who had stumbled over something and fallen on his face, drew their looks once more down to the ground, and all stood still for some moments, transfixed with consternation. Between them and the buildings lay heaped a perfect Golgotha of human bones. It was like the valley in the vision of Ezekiel.

The ground took a slight dip at this juncture, then rose abruptly up for about seventy or eighty feet like an acutely slanting roof. Upon the crest of this slope were built the outer walls and watch-towers of these ancient ruins.

In this moat, or depression, were heaped and scattered mounds of grinning skulls, gaping ribs, detached arm and leg bones, shoulder-blades, and the smaller phalanges, which proved at the first glance that these dry frames were human remains. They were lying singly at places, in other parts heaped confusedly together in piles, just as they must have fallen. From the space they occupied there must have been thousands left here to rot, or to be devoured by birds, beasts, and insects.

It was an ominous and an awful sight, which might well have made the bravest shrink back from those grim and crumbling walls. A large and solitary vulture sat on one of the upper keeps, and seemed to be the only watcher left in this deserted fort. He perched motionless and sharply silhouetted against the rarefied space, like an embodiment of spent disaster.

Ned was the first to recover his presence of mind. Stooping down, he picked up a skull and looked at it critically. It was dry and powdery, with the combined effects of sun-bleaching and time. Holding it up in his hands, he said—

“The fellow who owned this, once upon a time, has forgotten his pains and troubles for many years—perhaps centuries. He must have been a big fellow when he carried it, with a solid brain-pan, although it has now grown thin and brittle as the finest porcelain.”

“A big fight has taken place here,” remarked Cocoeni, holding out the rusty head of a broken spear which he had picked up, and looking at its shape curiously.

The splintered shaft was like tinder, and crumbled between his finger and thumb like powder; the design of the iron was ancient and strange.

“That vulture appears to be the only resident at present inside the fort,” said Fred. “Suppose we have a shot at him, and try the effect, eh?”

“No,” replied Ned. “Keep your ammunition for worthier foes; we may need all our cartridges by-and-by. Meantime let us try to achieve what these fellows have evidently failed to do—get over the walls as quietly as possible, and discover what is behind. Keep your weapons ready for instant use, and your eyes and ears open, boys. Now, forward, in your best scaling order.”

They ran swiftly through the crunching bones, and up the steep sides of the cliffs. A rugged kind of hewn stairway led them up to a massive square-shaped portal, which was gateless and more than half demolished. The huge stones of the posts were bulging out, and the top bending over. As they dashed inside, the vulture rose with a hoarse scream and sailed lazily away.

Inside they discovered a large courtyard, heaped with fallen masonry. Great blocks of ten and twenty feet long lay in every direction, with gaps in the walls above them, from which they had been dislodged.

“By George, but they built for time here, when they were at it!” cried Clarence, looking round him with admiration.

“Yes,” replied Ned. “The builders of this place knew something about the pyramids.”

It was all of the massive, square, and Egyptian style of architecture: walls with heavy abutments at the bases; oblong narrow slits for windows and embrasures; wide spaces which had originally been covered with paintings, now only showing in undecipherable patches; massive upright slabs for pillars, with enormous flat lintels.

At intervals on the tops of the outer walls which enclosed this court were placed watch-towers, of forty and sixty feet in height. The thickness of the portal through which they had passed was twenty feet at the base and about ten at the top, as nearly as they were able to calculate from below.

An open gateway within the most massive of the buildings attracted their attention, but before venturing to explore its dark cavity, Ned formed his company into a close square; then, bidding them wait and watch, he ran over to the wall on the other side, and, climbing it by some steps, he stood on the esplanade with about five feet of wall in front of him.

Then as he looked over he uttered a cry that quickly brought Fred, Clarence, and Cocoeni to his side.

They were overlooking a vast desert that spread far as the eye could take in, as bare and tawny as the great Sahara.

This wall had been built upon a giddy precipice, without a break or a ledge. As they stretched over they could have dropped a stone without striking anything until it reached the bottom, four thousand feet at least from where they stood.

The air was bracing, and would have been cool, only for the intense waves of heat that were wafted up from the burning sands.

“Here terminates our journey, I expect, Ned?” said Fred, in mildly interrogative tones.

Ned had pulled out his field-glass, and was scanning the far-distant horizon through it, therefore he did not answer at once. It was a splendid instrument, and of exceptionally far-reaching power of lens.

“Tell me, Fred and Clarence, what you see over there?” he asked, handing the glass to his companions. “Look carefully before you speak, and let Cocoeni have a peep as well first, before you open your mouths.”

When Fred had looked through it for some moments he handed the glass to Clarence, who in his turn gave it to Cocoeni in silence. Then the three friends glanced at each other dubiously.

“Well, Cocoeni, you say first what you saw.”

“What white man calls mirage, and black man calls devil-land,” replied Cocoeni, grimly.

“Well, but describe this mirage.”

“I saw trees and water and big houses same as this here, all shimmering in the air.”

“Yes; but they were only in one part of the horizon—to east and west there was nothing but sand.”

“That is so, baas.”

“And what did you see, Clarence?”

“Oh, something the same as Cocoeni. There appeared to be a large lake in one part, with trees and houses on its margin.”

“And you, Fred?”

“Oh, I saw the lake, or sea, with the other deceptions,” replied Fred. “But I have seen the same sort of thing in Australia.”

“I bet you didn’t, Fred, see exactly the same sort of thing out there!” cried Ned, excitedly. “Now, you know, the nature of mirages is that they will show up on all sides when they show at all. Look again, and see if that lake has altered its position, or if it is repeated anywhere else than in the one direction.”

After another careful survey, the boys owned, somewhat regretfully, that their leader was right. The mirage—if it was a mirage—was stationary, and localised to one part only.

“It is no deceptive phenomenon,” said Ned, decidedly, as he replaced his glass in its case. “That is a real lake, and those are substantial buildings, and bona fide trees, or I am a Boer, which is about the last kind of beast I’d like to be.”

“Then, I suppose, that means you intend to risk the desert?” answered Clarence.

“Yes; if we can get down to it. I reckon we can cross that strip of sand in two or three days at most, and we have water enough to carry us over it.”

“But, supposing it is a real lake, that doesn’t say it is a fresh-water one,” replied Fred.

“The buildings and trees are vouchers for that. Now let us examine this present hill. Before we do so, however, we’ll climb one of those towers, and find out what is to be seen from there.”

Ned crossed the court, where his followers were still standing in square, and entered the doorway of the centre tower on the other wall.

The stairs were still standing, and firm underfoot; therefore they were soon on the upper platform or roof.

Here they could see down the pass which they had come, also two other approaches or chasms in the mountain. They had likewise glimpses of high bare centre peaks that reached above the lower ridges. It was a sterile prospect. Not a tree broke the hard outlines of the ruddy rocks. They lay baking and bald under the bright, hot rays of the tropical sun.

A large flat-roofed building filled out the centre of this fortification. It was smaller at the top than the bottom, for the sides sloped outwards as they descended; yet a broad parapet surmounted the top for several feet, projecting from its sides. The roof was completely covered over, while the walls were pierced with windows and loop-holes. On the farther side of this building they were able to see other walls and towers stretching along to a considerable distance.

“This has been a stronghold to keep invaders from the inhabitants of yonder lake-watered land; and as far as I can see, the necessity for keeping it garrisoned has passed away. That heap of bones we saw must be the remains of some demolished race of invaders. I think we may venture with all safety inside this building. There does not seem to be even a jackal about.”

Saying these words, Ned led the way down, and, marshalling his force in double line, he advanced with revolvers in his hands towards the portal.

The walls were of immense thickness, and made quite a long passage, through which they passed silently.

Before them opened an apartment, so spacious that the entire company, with their luggage, only occupied an isolated portion of it. It had accommodation space for at least five thousand people.

Above their heads the roof rose, misty and indistinct in the feeble light that pervaded this vast hall. The atmosphere felt cold after the heat outside, so that it chilled them and made them shiver. Lighted only by those narrow windows and slits, which were placed high up the thick walls, a mystic shadow, like the forest gloom, added to the vastness. They seemed within a mammoth cavern.

The floor was slabbed with stones, and destitute of furniture, while a thick layer of dust and fine sand deadened the sounds of their footsteps. For a time no one dare utter a word, so profoundly had that gloomy vastness and deathly silence impressed them.

At last Ned spoke, and at the hollow sound of his voice they all started; it seemed as if the words had been instantly carried away, to be repeated faintly in the roof.

“I wonder what they used this place for? Look at those figures on the walls.”

The walls, which they could now see more plainly than at first, were covered with strange designs of figures and animals—men, with the heads of birds and beasts; warriors in chariots, on horseback, and on foot; captives being driven along. All the pastimes and pursuits of the builders were here portrayed in colours, in which black, red, yellow, and blue predominated. These were faded with age, yet, with but few exceptions, in perfect condition as far as the outlines were concerned.

There were no openings along the entire sides, nor, with the exception of the passage by which they had entered, were there any other portals. But at the far end they could see daylight shining through a number of dislodged slabs, which partly blocked up what appeared to be a much longer passage than that behind them.

As they grew accustomed to the faint light they were able to make out two smaller doorways on each side of the centre passage. Ned strode boldly, followed by his comrades, to the aperture nearest him.

Inside they found a small chamber; at least, it looked so after the hall. Yet it was twenty feet wide by nearly thirty long.

It was lighted from the outer side, and at the end was a small doorway, on entering which they found themselves at the foot of a staircase, which led upwards, as they naturally supposed, to other chambers and to the roof. For the present they deferred the further investigation of this stair, and tried the other door of the hall.

A similar apartment waited them here, with a ceiling of the same height, namely, about eighteen feet.

But at the end they found themselves confronted by a flight of steps leading downwards. It was wide enough for four men to walk abreast, and in good condition. Also, although darker than the hall, yet it was fairly well lighted by slits in the wall.

“Ah, this is the road I want to take!” said Ned. “Come along with your traps, boys.”

They were very soon below the surface of the ground, and traversing broadly cut steps that led them at a downward angle straight towards the face of the precipice overlooking the desert.

They knew when they had reached within six feet from the rock front, from the turn they took, also by the increased light. This, with sufficient fresh air to keep the tunnel sweet, had been made by perforating loop-holes in the solid rocks.

Ninety-eight steps they counted, as they went downward, of a foot and a half each in depth. Then suddenly the stairs terminated, while the passage widened out until it formed another great hall underground, of about two-thirds the size of the apartment over their heads.

They stood and looked about them with increased astonishment.

Chapter Twenty Seven.

In the Palace of the Dead.

The labour of hewing this immense underground chamber from the solid rock must have been prodigious, unless originally the excavators had found natural caverns here.

But this was not what astonished our heroes, so much as the artistic ingenuity and care which had been expended here.

In the hall above, the severely plain walls had been frescoed by the painter’s art. Here the sculptor had displayed his mystic and religious skill with bold as well as intricate designs.

From floor to ceiling, all along, the walls were carved. There were also outstanding rose-tinted and white granite massive pillars of colossean and upright figures, with elaborate ornamental capitals on their heads, representing head-dresses of flowers, fruit, and grain, or coiled snakes. At the feet of these huge figures were other symbols to serve as bases. As these pillars were carved in almost full relief, they formed deep niches between each, which were shelved up from floor to ceiling with thick ledges, also cut from the rock.

The edges of these shelves were most intricate in their symbolic sculptures. The ceiling, likewise, was closely covered with designs of a sacred character in bold relief, while even the floor was a mass of smooth and polished carving.

The effect of all this subtle and bold work was extraordinarily rich in the subdued light that filtered in from the one side, making deep and rich shadows.

Never had our heroes looked upon anything so profusely beautiful and mysterious.

Yet it was not the carving only that made them gasp with admiring wonder. All over the sculptures gleamed sparkles of gold, chased and burnished. These glittered in all parts, sometimes in broad veins and clusters, in other places in star-like specks or thready lines. Going over to one of these clusters, Ned discovered that they had not been inlaid, as he at first supposed, but were natural veins of virgin ore, utilised as they occurred, by the cunning artificers.

They were in the centre of what was probably the richest gold quartz mine in the world. The excavators, satisfied with the wealth which had been already extracted, had carved this monument on the still-teeming mine, thinking to consecrate it probably in this fashion from covetous hands.

There were hundreds of shelves, and the greater number of them were occupied by sarcophagi, also carved elaborately.

Whatever the upper chamber had been used for, the meaning of this place was at once apparent to our heroes. They had not only discovered a gold-mine, but also a hall of the dead.

In front of them, in the upper end of the apartment, were placed, or rather cut out, like the column, two great statues in a sitting posture, and between them a broad table of polished quartz. One of these had the body of a woman, with the head covered. In her right hand was held a pair of scales. The other was shaped like a man, with the head of a bird, which was turned in her direction.

“This beats all I ever saw,” said Ned, in an awestruck whisper. “We must come here again. Meantime, we must try to find our way down further.”

None of them suggested food, although it had been hours since last they dined. They were too greatly excited over this strange discovery.

Round the chamber they paced, seeking for an outlet without success. The only opening they could see was the one down which they had come.

At length Clarence saw, at one side of the table, and close to the feet of the woman statue, a large bronze ring that had been covered over with dust.

“Hallo, boys, here seems something made to lift! Bear a hand, and see if we can hoist this particular slab.”

Several of the Kaffirs leapt forward and pulled at the ring individually without success.

Finding that not even the strongest among them could make the slightest impression, Ned ordered the rope used for the “tug-of-war” to be produced and inserted into the ring. This was done, and twenty-four of the men took each end of it—twelve to a side—and ranged themselves down the hall.

“Now, steady, lads, and all together—pull.”

This was effective at the second pull. Those watching had the satisfaction of seeing a large slab slowly lift up from the floor until it rose on end, and fell backward with a loud crash.

But their satisfaction was short-lived, for hardly had the echo of the crash ceased, than, with loud yells, the entire company were flying pell-mell towards the stairs in a panic. From the cavity emerged, with loud hisses and gaping jaws, a number of the largest pythons ever seen out of a drunkard’s delirium.

Gorgeous-tinted and shining, they reared out one after the other, trailing their long bodies over the carved floor, until there were at least fifty of them, twenty to fifty feet in length, and with girth enough to have swallowed a buffalo easily.

That they were hungry, and thought feeding-time had arrived, was evident from their motions. They were losing no time, after their preliminary stretch, in making for the staircase where Ned and his followers were crushing together.

Cocoeni and several of the Kaffirs recovered their presence of mind first. Instantly facing round, they discharged their weapons at those nearest, while the others followed suit, their courage returning at the sound of the shots.

Blatter went rifles and revolvers into that advancing mass, turning them into a wriggling confusion, and filling the hall with smoke and startling echoes.

It was a horrible and blood-curdling sight to see those monstrous serpents interlacing on the floor, and dyeing it with their loathsome gore, after some of the smoke cleared. The effluvium, also, which exhaled from them was most noxious and sickening. Many were slain, although their bodies still writhed and twisted about with horrible contortions. But more were issuing from that rashly opened aperture.

“That slab must be closed somehow, or we shall never be done with this beastly work,” shouted Ned. “All the pythons in Africa seem to have been preserved in that vault. Who is game to help me to shut down that trap?”

He made a desperate spring forward as he uttered the words, and ran, followed by the rest, right amongst the horrible mass.

Revolvers, spears, and axes did the rest of the battle.

They were not difficult to disable, although loathsome to feel and smell. And now that the men had got over their first surprised panic, they tackled the enemy with quick eyes and deft strokes.

Ned, Cocoeni, and two other Matabeles reached the stone, and managed to raise it and drop it once more into its place with a bang, cutting through the middle a couple of out-coming snakes. While they did so, the rest hewed, stabbed, and shot for all they were worth. In five more minutes the last of the sibilant hisses were silenced, and only the sound of lashing bodies could be heard.

Then, while they reloaded their weapons, they paused, waiting for the smoke to evaporate, while they cleared, with their rifle-butts and spears, the wriggling abominations from their vicinity.

Before this could be done, however, many a shiver passed over them as they felt a slimy tail convulsively grip round their legs. A slash with their knives relieved them of these unpleasant embraces, but the sensation was decidedly nauseous and creepy.

Slowly the gunpowder smoke grew thinner, as it escaped through the air-hole slits and up the staircase. It still, however, hung too closely around them to see the opposite walls.

All at once, as they listened for fresh hisses, a sound like coughing, outside their circle, struck upon their ears.

Snakes do not cough, although they can make a noise. Some human beings, with lungs less used to saltpetre fumes than theirs were, must be in the hall at the far end, as yet unseen. Strangers here meant probable enemies. Instantly and instinctively they drew together and formed a square, with their rifles up to their shoulders.

As they bent forward, peering into the sulphur-charged mist, those facing east and west beheld a mass of indistinct forms clustered before them. Those facing north and south saw hazy figures gliding from pillar to pillar.

Three more minutes, and the vapour had cleared sufficiently for them to grasp that they were surrounded completely, by a foe clothed in some kind of scaly armour. They waited in grim silence for the fumes to clear thoroughly, so that they might know what force they had to encounter.

At last they could see the four corners of the walls, also the open passages by which the crowd had entered so noiselessly.

Two of the pillars at each end had been rolled aside, leaving gaping cavities where they had stood.

Facing them, and leaning on their spears, stood a double row of upright figures, with metal helmets on their heads and chain armour on their bodies, arms, and legs. Round the waist of each was a short kilt of leopard-skin, which reached to the knees.

They were well-formed warriors, nearly all of them as tall as the Kaffirs. Their skins were of a warm copper tint, with dark eyes and long flowing tresses.

Not a beard was amongst them, while their features were fine and pronounced, with straight noses, full lips, and oval faces. They were determined-looking and fierce, yet unmistakably youthful and handsome.

Ned glanced from their faces to their breast-plates, and then he shouted—

“Boys, after the snakes we have a regiment of amazons to face. Oh, come, this is hard lines! We cannot fire on women, even though they are amazons. We must manage them in some softer way, or else capitulate with our best grace.”

His words broke the spell of silence that had been upon them. Clarence and Fred burst out laughing, while the Matabeles and Basutos grinned broadly and displayed their ivories.

They did not drop their weapons, however, for the amazons had advanced a step closer with their spears ready for charging, and they did not look at all amiable.

Still Ned thought he discerned upon their faces more of wonderment, blended with some admiration, than anger, as they scanned the splendid semi-nude figures of his men. He gave the order to ground arms and stand easy.

For himself, he handed his rifle to the one standing next to him, and, pushing his revolver back into his belt, he stepped from the ranks, and held out his open hands to show that he was unarmed. For a moment he paused there, the women watching his smiling face suspiciously; then, at a word, they lowered their spears.

He took another step away from his men. As he did this, a young and extremely handsome woman advanced towards him, also with open hands.

She was more richly armoured than the others, from which he concluded that she must be an officer.

She did not answer his smile, although she had laid aside her weapon, but came forward, with flashing eyes and curling lip, until she stood opposite him; then she scanned him over so critically until he flushed to the temples.

The other amazons stood watching, evidently with keen interest.

For what? Ned was thinking. Was she about to embrace him? It looked as if she were, for she began to crouch like a cat getting ready for a spring, her elbows close to her side, and her palm held upwards.

Then, just in time, her intention flashed upon him. She had taken his attitude as a challenge to a single duel of wrestling, and had accepted the invitation.

He had only time to utter an exclamation and step backwards, when she made the leap and closed in.

She was an adept at the game, as Ned could feel by the way she tried to slip her arms under his, but so was he. Quick as lightning he got one arm under, while she managed to do the same with him, and then the trial of strength and agility began.

They were equal as far as grip was concerned, but the chivalry of our hero placed him at a disadvantage. He could not forget her sex, and dreaded crushing her if he put out his full strength.

All the same, he wished she had been a man, for she was a most worthy adversary; also, if he spared her, she had no such feelings for him. He felt she was in deadly earnest, and was striving her utmost to break his back or neck. As he said afterwards, Pylea was a vicious cat at wrestling.

He might have thrown her, or tripped her up, had he liked, for he was as hard as iron, and had the advantage of weight, although she was no mean weight herself.

But he preferred the waiting and eluding game, so together they strode backwards and forwards for full five minutes without either of them losing their feet or grip.

Then gradually, as her hot and panting breath struck down his neck, he worked his hand down the links, until he had her round the small of the waist.

Next instant, by a quick jerk, she was off the ground and in his power. Had she been only a man, he would have thrown her without compunction over his back, but as it was, he placed her gently on the ground, and pinned down her arms.

It is sad to relate, yet as he did this with all the gentleness possible, under the circumstances, she showed her sex by making her white teeth meet in the fleshy part of his arm. She had wrestled fairly up to this moment of defeat, and Ned was too much of a man to resent that last touch of vanquished ire. He looked at her reproachfully as he rose to his feet. As he did this, the tears rushed into her eyes, while she covered her face with her hands, as if ashamed as well as beaten.

Chapter Twenty Eight.

The Amazons.

“Wrestling must be a favourite pastime with these warlike ladies,” murmured Ned, as he wiped his streaming face on his handkerchief. “Pouf! that was a hot bout, and no mistake.”

For a moment after he had released the amazon, silence reigned over the spectators, then a loud cry of admiration rose from the ranks to which the conquered one belonged. This proved at least that they might be fierce, but they were at least generous foes; also that they had witnessed what evidently was a novelty to them.

“What sort of men are raised in their nation, I wonder?” muttered Ned, looking anything but pleased at this demonstration. “The women are all right, and a little more so, like our gymnastic girls; but they are evidently not used to muscular men, or perhaps these are so big that they are astonished to see the like of me doing this slight trick.”

While he still mopped his face and his followers stood waiting on the next development, sixty of the women ran out of the ranks from different sides, unarmed, and with animated gestures and a torrent of scornful words, challenged the square to a similar contest.

The language sounded strange yet musical in their ears, but the bright flashing eyes, curling red lips, and defiant actions made their meaning clear.

With a burst of guttural laughter, Cocoeni and fifty more of his companions stripped themselves of all but their waist-bands, and stood forth to gratify the wrestling-loving viragoes.

“Deal softly with them, lads, yet beat them,” cried Ned, seeing what was about to take place.

He had an instinctive feeling that it was necessary for their future safety that these amazons should be taught a lesson, yet he did not wish any of them hurt, and these Kaffirs were mighty fellows.

“Never fear, baas,” answered Cocoeni, laughing softly. “We shall not lose our tempers, but we will show these girls that they have the arms of men round them.”

The challengers looked at the satin skins and muscular forms of those sable heroes with renewed cries of admiration, which mightily pleased their masculine vanity. There was no timidity or fear, however, in the regard of the amazons. They were evidently only delighted at meeting with such antagonists.

As the Matabeles and Basutos also examined the opponents opposite to them, their eyes began to sparkle with feelings more ardent than rivalry. Here stood women worth fighting with or for.

They had no longer any dread of treachery, for the others had laid down their weapons and shields, and were busy discarding all superfluous encumbrances, such as helmets, shoulder-coverings, and ornaments. They were also rolling and tying up their loose tresses. It was evident that they intended having a turn also after the present bout was over.

As far as numbers were concerned the amazons counted about two to one of Ned’s force, therefore he saw that he would be likely to have another engagement presently. Thinking on the possibility of this, he stripped himself of his jacket, hat, and bandolier, tightened his waist-belt, and began to roll up his shirt-sleeves. His example was followed by Fred and Clarence.

As he was thus engaged near the girl he had conquered, who still crouched at his feet with bent and covered face, one of the amazons came over to him with a spear in her hand. This weapon she held out to him, pointing at the same time to the prostrate figure, with a significant gesture, which said plainly—

“She is yours by right of conquest; kill her.”

Ned recoiled horrified at this savage suggestion. Refusing the spear, with a motion of disgust, he stooped and gently lifted the fallen one to her feet, patting her at the same time kindly on the shoulder. She appeared dazed for a moment at this unexpected clemency, then suddenly she seized his hand and kissed it passionately.

Ned laughed awkwardly and blushed scarlet; then, to cover his confusion, he turned to watch the combatants.

For the next two hours that richly carved hall of the dead was the field of as tough yet bloodless a contest as ever had been waged anywhere. All had observed the incident, and understood the meaning of that spear offer. These amazons were as brave and generous as chivalrous soldiers could be, but mercy to the vanquished was clearly not one of their virtues. They neither would spare nor expect to be spared.

This being the condition of defeat, every one exerted themselves to the utmost, and finished the conflict as quickly as possible.

The amazons were strong, lithe, and full of tricks, but the men acted warily, and gave them no advantage. The result was that sex conditions told, and the women, without exception, were put hors de combat.

By the time it was over, however, Ned and his followers felt that they had done hard enough work for that day at least. They were hot, hungry, furiously thirsty, and completely fagged out.

So were the women, but not so much as they were, since they had taken double turns. They flung themselves down on the cool stones, steaming and panting, while a number of the amazons who had rested left the chamber.

The mangled snakes still jerked about their severed links at the other end, for the conflict had been carried on at the lower end of the chamber.

While they sprawled about in all sorts of free and unstudied attitudes, the amazons, who had recovered their breath, watched the brawny proportions of their rivals with undisguised admiration and respect. Many of them had received heavy bruises and falls, but this they did not seem to care much for. They were considerably dishevelled also, but womanlike, they at once started tidying and redecorating themselves, while they watched with friendly eyes their rough conquerors.

Presently those who had left the chamber returned, accompanied by about a dozen of degraded-looking, ugly black dwarfs, who carried heavy jars and dishes laden with food. At the smell of the roasted meat and boiled pulse, our heroes and their followers at once sat up and prepared themselves for the welcome feast.

The girls now clustered round them, a couple to each man, and waited upon them assiduously, with the most hospitable smiles and gestures. The conquered were particular in selecting those who had mastered them to serve. They kneeled on each side, and while one proffered water in large cups of curiously shaped and carved metal, the other picked out the choicest pieces from the platters, and fed them from their fingers like young birds.

They were all friendly now, chattering away in that unknown liquid language with wonderful volubility, and showing their white teeth in the most bewitching smiles. They seemed to be delighted with their new masters, for they showed that they recognised them now as such. Ned and his followers also were more than satisfied with their present position.

Yet these amazons displayed by many signs that they had a purpose in view, and no desire to linger or leave their new friends in this sculptured hall. With a few words of stern and terse command, the leader, who was Ned’s first antagonist, pointed shudderingly to the mutilated snakes. At these orders the repulsive-looking dwarfs went over, and lifting up the quivering masses, removed them by the upper end, and afterwards brought sand and covered up the blood.

As soon also as our heroes had satisfied their hunger and thirst, they all rose, and dividing the packages amongst them, led the way towards the two apertures in the lower end. Ned and his men had no objection to these new attendants carrying the loads, since they were forced to trust them now. But they stuck tenaciously to their weapons and ammunition.

They entered a narrow passage outside the column, and after pacing along it towards the cliff face, they began once more to descend.

Fifty steps in one direction along the punctured inner side of the cliffs, brought them to a flight of steps at the opposite angle. When that other fifty was reached, another flight at the first angle met them, and so on, until they had descended three thousand of these steps.

It was a fatiguing journey after their heavy exertions, for the amazons hurried them along without a pause. They were either in great haste, or else did not wish any more investigations to be made of this underground region.

The light was growing fainter also, as it was nearing sunset, yet our heroes were able to see, at each turn of the stairs, passages leading into other chambers. From several of these, as they got near the bottom, they heard a clanking sound, as if miners were at work.

“I say, boys,” said Ned, “do you hear? They are still working this gold-mine. What about the mirage now?”

Since meeting these female warriors our heroes had no longer any thought of turning back. There seemed no danger of perishing from want or thirst. As for other dangers, they were quite ready to encounter these.

“This is an adventure and no mistake. I guess we are bound to see some strange things before long,” answered Fred, excitedly.

It was nearly dark before they crossed the last step and found themselves once more on level ground.

Before them spread a wide and long apartment with a huge fire burning in the centre. A strong menagerie-like perfume greeted their nostrils along with the more pleasant odours of cooking. As they entered, a wild chorus of savage yells echoed through the vault.

A number of slender and undersized figures moved about. Some were clad in white robes, others with only waist-bands round their waists.

From a square, wide, and high portal halfway down, and on the same side by which they had descended, the last orange glow from the setting sun fell in a long slanting line upon the sand floor. They had, at length, come down to the desert.

Ned and his followers looked round them curiously, while the friendly amazons placed their packages all together.

There were bold and somewhat rude carvings on some portions of the wall, but otherwise it was left rough hewn. It was, however, quite as roomy, although not so lofty, as the upper hall which they had first seen. There were rugs and skins flung down at different parts on the sands, with armour, weapons, and other articles of use. This was evidently the present barracks of these amazons.

The lower parts of the inner walls were lined with recesses strongly barred. In these were caged a number of leopards. These leopards were separated from each other by intervening partitions. Apparently it was their feeding-time, as these half-nude figures were moving about from cage to cage with huge junks of flesh, which they pushed into the cages.

The amazons went round the cages, inserting their hands between the bars and stroking the animals. As they did so, the wild roaring which had greeted their appearance sank into gratified and loud purrs.

Pointing to the spread skins, the women signed for the adventurers to rest. Gladly our tired heroes availed themselves of the permission. Here, stretched out at their ease, they could observe their surroundings. They saw the amazon leader, with a few of the others, go over to the white-robed figures, and then began an earnest conversation. A little explanation was evidently given to account for the presence of the strangers; but, as far as Ned could make out, the warriors were mistresses, and confined themselves mostly to giving orders, which the others listened to meekly, and bowed their heads obediently.

In a little while the half-naked figures approached the fire and lighted some torches at it, which they stuck into clamps round the wall. This threw more light on the scene.

The sun had now gone down, and darkness was beginning to hide the desert, which Ned could see through the open portal from where he lay. The semi-nude figures now approached, and, kneeling down, began to take off the boots of him and his comrades; after this they washed their feet and covered them again.

It was all most delightful and pleasant, and Ned was glad that the amazons did not attempt this task. They apparently were engaged making their own toilets during this time.

While allowing the slaves to manipulate, he looked at the white-robed forms. They were engaged in various departments of duty. Some were baking bread-cakes, others cooking various dishes, and several were hard at work plaiting and dressing the tresses of the amazons. They were meek visaged, and had their heads shaved, yet, somehow, although so small and spiritless, they seemed to belong to the male sex.