The conquest just achieved by M. Desrioux in the dominion of science,
had no effect on his pride. If he congratulated himself at all on his
success, it was simply because he had managed to overcome one of the
obstacles which, in his idea, separated him from Madame de Guéran. In
a word, it seemed impossible to him that behind this last curtain of
mountains, and in the vast and certainly inhabited plain stretching
out before him, he could fail to obtain some news of the European
caravan.
His heart beat high at the thought that down below him, at the edge
of a forest, on the bank of a river, or in some unknown village, he
might suddenly find himself face to face with Laura de Guéran. He
would not admit for a moment, even to himself, that instead of having
come southwards, she might have been obliged to return towards the
north, or that she might have fallen a victim either to the climate
or a savage attack. No; something told him that not in vain had he
undertaken so long a journey, surmounted so many obstacles, braved so
many dangers. If he were not near the longed-for end, would his heart
be beating as it did beat at that moment? Would his gaze be rivetted
so fondly on the sea of mountain and plain?
Whilst his thoughts were thus straying and his eyes seeking to
discover the land inhabited by Madame de Guéran, three of the men who
had accompanied him made their way back in the evening to M. de
Pommerelle, and handed him a note scribbled on a scrap of paper, and
in this note M. Desrioux informed the Count of the success of the
ascent, and begged him to attempt it, in his turn, on the following
day, together with all the soldiers and escort. It could no longer be
looked upon as dangerous, because the guides, whom he had sent to
him, had already accomplished it, and consequently would be able to
take the most direct road, and point out the dangerous places.
On the afternoon of the 5th of December the doctor, the Count de
Pommerelle, and fifty men of the escort were together on the summit
of the mountain, discovered and trodden for the first time by M.
Desrioux.
The rest of the day was devoted to rest, and the recovery of the
strength necessary for the long marches of the following days. But it
was unanimously resolved that a fresh start should be made at
daylight on the morrow, and that no further halt should be made
except when some natural obstruction should render it a matter of
necessity. As the caravan had with it only provisions enough to last
five or six days, it was bound to make every effort to reach an
inhabited district as soon as possible. The keen air prevailing on
the mountain tops, and the comparative cold felt by men accustomed to
an unvarying temperature of 30° or 40°, imparted to them unwonted
briskness and activity; they would be called upon for exertions which
they would certainly have been powerless to make in the plain.
The descent at first was easy enough. M. Desrioux had employed his
time, whilst waiting for the Count de Pommerelle, in making a careful
survey of the neighbourhood, and was therefore able to act as guide
in the earlier stages. But very soon, obstacles made their
appearance; they had scarcely made their way down a precipitous
incline than a fresh mountain obtruded its unwelcome presence and
closed their road almost vertically. They must either make a long
detour, or mark out a path for themselves above an abyss. The plain
seen on the previous day was lost to view as soon as ever they left
the plateau. The horizon now became contracted in the extreme,
precipices, rocks, gorges, and lofty peaks succeeding each other in
unbroken succession. It was like plunging into an inextricable
labyrinth, and without a compass they would have been lost for ever.
The Beluchs began to murmur, complaining of having been inveigled too
far away from the coast, and saying that they would never see their
own country any more. Sometimes they stopped and cried like children,
and a dozen times a day they had to be reasoned with, entreated, and
threatened by turns. On the 8th of December, at the first gleam of
dawn, just as they received the order to move on, they one and all
refused to budge an inch.
"As you please," said M. de Pommerelle, calmly, "I am going on with
my friend and will leave you here. You will not have anyone to guide
you, and in two days you will all be dead from starvation. Fools!
Don't yon see that to get back to the lake is ten times as far as to
reach the country we are in search of?"
MM. Desrioux and de Pommerelle suited the action to the word, and,
leaving the escort, slowly ascended a hill in front of them. As they
anticipated, half an hour had not passed away before all their men
rejoined them, begging them to continue their leadership.
"Very well," replied the doctor, "but at the first show of resistance
or sign of fear, we part and for ever. We shall leave you at night
when you are asleep, and you will never be able to find us. If, left
to yourselves, you manage to reach the coast, which is very doubtful,
all your trouble will have been thrown away, because the Consul will
refuse to pay you, and your Sultan, our friend, will have you
punished for deserting us."
This forcible manner of reasoning touched the escort, their murmurs
ceased and their courage revived.
On the 9th, they scaled another mountain, and the first soldiers who
reached the top uttered shouts of joy, for in the horizon appeared
the plain so long lost to view, an immense plain, surrounded by
wooded hills, with a black, confused mass in the midst of it, a
village no doubt. To reach this promised land a descent had to be
made into a valley, and a corresponding ascent accomplished on the
other side of it up a last mountain, comparatively speaking
insignificant, which now alone stood in the way of the caravan.
M. Desrioux, when he had come up to the leading men of the escort,
lost no time in scanning the horizon through his telescope, and he
made out that an important village was situated on one of the sides
of the plain. After a few moments he thought, also, that he could not
only distinguish habitations, but groups of human beings as well.
"See what you can make of it," said he, handing the telescope to M.
de Pommerelle.
"Yes," said the latter, "the black specks you point out to me appear
to move and change their places—for all the world like an army of
ants making an expedition around their dwelling place."
"Your army of ants," replied M. Desrioux, "is in all probability an
army of natives either fighting or making ready for battle. There is
nothing very wonderful in that, for these countries are invariably at
war."
The Beluchs were beside themselves with joy as soon as they heard
about the village. They embraced each other, danced, jumped about,
and, thinking that they had already reached their destination,
imprudently consumed their last provisions. Consequently, they made
no objection when ordered to resume their march; tired of slaking
their thirst, as they had been doing for a week past, at the mountain
streams, they were overjoyed at the prospect of indulging in banana
wine, beer, or some other fermented liquor. They did not halt until
seven o'clock in the evening, when night suddenly closed in.
On the following day, after a march of three hours, the expedition
found itself, unexpectedly, at the entrance of a gorge which divided
the mountain into two parts, each about three hundred feet high. The
space left free between the two ridges of these cliffs appeared very
practicable, and the party took this natural road, hollowed out in
the rock, without hesitation. As far as they could judge, seeing that
they were crossing this last mountain in its breadth, that is to say
from east to west, they were bound to emerge on to the plain
recognized by them on the previous evening. They might also find
themselves on the same level as this plain, for the pass they were in
had a very steep incline, was of considerable extent, and at its
entrance was not more than 1,500 feet high.
Everything, moreover, led to the supposition that the mouth of the
gorge would soon be reached. The passage, sixty feet wide at its
commencement, was now not more than fifteen feet at most, the
mountain tops overhanging it being so close to each other that they
almost touched; there was only one little bit of blue sky to be seen,
and the road was more like a subterranean passage than an open path.
Suddenly, the guides who marched at the head of the party came to an
abrupt halt, and shouted for their comrades. A general rush was made
to them, and their consternation was readily understood.
The way was barred by an immense rock. At the very moment when the
caravan seemed to be on the point of reaching its goal, a terrible
obstacle started up before it.
All the Beluchs, after having mingled their lamentations with those
of the guides, became silent and pressed round the Europeans,
recognizing that the white men alone could extricate them from this
fresh difficulty.
"What do you think of it, old fellow?" said M. de Pommerelle to the
doctor.
"I think," replied M. Desrioux, "that this rock is impracticable. I
have just been examining it attentively, and I cannot discover a
single crevice or fissure, or any of those natural steps which
sometimes enable one to climb up such a place as this. Our ropes,
moreover, would not reach the top, and, if they did, we have no
grappling hooks to fasten them there."
"At the same time you agree with me that this rock alone separates us
from the plain?"
"There can be no question about that. The two mountains, or, rather,
the two cliffs which shut us in come to an end here. Behind this rock
the sky and the horizon are once more spread out. We have evidently
been following the bed of an immense torrent, perhaps a cascade of
considerable size, now dried up, lost to view, perhaps, for centuries
past. This torrent, which in former times must have spread over the
plain, one day dragged along with it this block of granite. The rock
rolled on as long as the two cliffs would let it, and then it was
brought to a sudden stop between them, hemmed in by the two walls."
"I am quite ready to accept your version," said M. de Pommerelle,
"but it is not of much importance to us to know how the rock got
here. It stops the way for us—that is the essential, as well as the
mournful part of the business. A few yards of granite in length and
breadth imprison us. What are we to do? Shall we seek another route?"
"No. First of all, I have examined the mountain thoroughly, and I do
not believe that there is another exit. Secondly, our men, already
discouraged, would this time most assuredly decline to follow us."
"Are we then to go back by the way that we came, and find our way to
the lake again?"
"Never—not at any price. We must pass this way by hook or by crook."
"How?"
"By blowing up the rock."