ANOTHER NEW FACE
As the cook had gone, Mrs. Cliff and Miss Markham prepared breakfast, and
then they discovered how little water there was.
There was something mysterious about the successive losses of his men
which pressed heavily upon the soul of Captain Horn, but the want of
water pressed still more heavily. Ralph had just asked his permission to
go down to the beach and bathe in the sea, saying that as he could not
have all the water he wanted to drink, it might make him feel better to
take a swim in plenty of water. The boy was not allowed to go so far from
camp by himself, but the captain could not help thinking how this poor
fellow would probably feel the next day if help had not arrived, and of
the sufferings of the others, which, by that time, would have begun.
Still, as before, he spoke hopefully, and the two women, as brave as he,
kept up good spirits, and although they each thought of the waterless
morrow, they said nothing about it.
As for Ralph, he confidently expected the return of the men in the
course of the day, as he had done in the course of each preceding day,
and two or three times an hour he was at his post of observation, ready
to wave his flag.
Even had he supposed that it would be of any use to go to look for Maka,
a certain superstitious feeling would have prevented the captain from
doing so. If he should go out, and not return, there would be little hope
for those two women and the boy. But he could not help feeling that
beyond the rocky plateau which stretched out into the sea to the
southward, and which must be at least two miles away, there might be seen
some signs of habitation, and, consequently, of a stream. If anything of
the sort could be seen, it might become absolutely necessary for the
party to make their way toward it, either by land or sea, no matter how
great the fatigue or the danger, and without regard to the fate of those
who had left camp before them.
About half an hour afterwards, when the captain had mounted some rocks
near by, from which he thought he might get a view of the flat region to
the north on which he might discover the missing negro, Ralph, who was
looking seaward, gave a start, and then hurriedly called to his sister
and Mrs. Cliff, and pointed to the beach. There was the figure of a man
which might well be Maka, but, to their amazement and consternation, he
was running, followed, not far behind, by another man. The figures
rapidly approached, and it was soon seen that the first man was Maka, but
that the second figure was not one of the sailors who had left them.
Could he be pursuing Maka? What on earth did it mean?
For some moments Ralph stood dumfounded, and then ran in the direction
in which the captain had gone, and called to him.
At the sound of his voice the second figure stopped and turned as if he
were about to run, but Maka--they were sure it was Maka--seized him by
the arm and held him. Therefore this newcomer could not be pursuing their
man. As the two now came forward, Maka hurrying the other on, Ralph and
his two companions were amazed to see that this second man was also an
African, a negro very much like Maka, and as they drew nearer, the two
looked as if they might have been brothers.
The captain had wandered farther than he had intended, but after several
shouts from Ralph he came running back, and reached the camp-ground just
as the two negroes arrived.
At the sight of this tall man bounding toward him the strange negro
appeared to be seized with a wild terror. He broke away from Maka, and
ran first in this direction and then in that, and perceiving the cleft in
the face of the rock, he blindly rushed into it, as a rat would rush into
a hole. Instantly Maka was after him, and the two were lost to view.
When the captain had been told of the strange thing which had happened,
he stood without a word. Another African! This was a puzzle too great for
his brain.
"Are you sure it was not a native of these parts?" said he, directly.
"You know, they are very dark."
"No!" exclaimed Mrs. Cliff and her companions almost in the same breath,
"it was an African, exactly like Maka."
At this moment a wild yell was heard from the interior of the rocks,
then another and another. Without waiting to consider anything, or hear
any more, the captain dashed into the narrow passage, Ralph close behind
him. They ran into the room in which they had slept. They looked on all
sides, but saw nothing. Again, far away, they heard another yell, and
they ran out again into the passage.
This narrow entry, as the investigating Ralph had already discovered,
continued for a dozen yards past the doorway which led to the chambers,
but there it ended in a rocky wall about five feet high. Above this was
an aperture extending to the roof of the passage, but Ralph, having a
wholesome fear of snakes, had not cared to climb over the wall to see
what was beyond.
When the captain and Ralph had reached the end of the passage, they heard
another cry, and there could be no doubt that it came through the
aperture by which they stood. Instantly Ralph scrambled to the top of the
wall, pushed himself head foremost through the opening, and came down on
the other side, partly on his hands and partly on his feet. Had the
captain been first, he would not have made such a rash leap, but now he
did not hesitate a second. He instantly followed the boy, taking care,
however, to let himself down on his feet.
The passage on the other side of the dividing wall seemed to be the same
as that they had just left, although perhaps a little lighter. After
pushing on for a short distance, they found that the passage made a turn
to the right, and then in a few moments the captain and Ralph emerged
into open space. What sort of space it was they could not comprehend.
"It seemed to me," said Ralph, afterwards, "as if I had fallen into the
sky at night. I was afraid to move, for fear I should tumble into
astronomical distances."
The captain stared about him, apparently as much confounded by the
situation as was the boy. But his mind was quickly brought to the
consideration of things which he could understand. Almost at his feet was
Maka, lying on his face, his arms and head over the edge of what might be
a bank or a bottomless precipice, and yelling piteously. Making a step
toward him, the captain saw that he had hold of another man, several feet
below him, and that he could not pull him up.
"Hold on tight, Maka," he cried, and then, taking hold of the African's
shoulders, he gave one mighty heave, lifted both men, and set them on
their feet beside him.
Ralph would have willingly sacrificed the rest of his school-days to be
able to perform such a feat as that. But the Africans were small, and the
captain was wildly excited.
Well might he be excited. He was wet! The strange man whom he had pulled
up had stumbled against him, and he was dripping with water. Ralph was by
the captain, tightly gripping his arm, and, without speaking, they both
stood gazing before them and around them.
At their feet, stretching away in one direction, farther than they could
see, and what at first sight they had taken to be air, was a body of
water--a lake! Above them were rocks, and, as far as they could see to
the right, the water seemed to be overhung by a cavernous roof. But in
front of them, on the other side of the lake, which here did not seem to
be more than a hundred feet wide, there was a great upright opening in
the side of the cave, through which they could see the distant mountains
and a portion of the sky.
"Water!" said Ralph, in a low tone, as if he had been speaking in church,
and then, letting go of the captain's arm, he began to examine the ledge,
but five or six feet wide, on which they stood. At his feet the water was
at least a yard below them, but a little distance on he saw that the
ledge shelved down to the surface of the lake, and in a moment he had
reached this spot, and, throwing himself down on his breast, he plunged
his face into the water and began drinking like a thirsty horse.
Presently he rose to his knees with a great sigh of satisfaction.
"Oh, captain," he cried, "it is cold and delicious. I believe that in one
hour more I should have died of thirst."
But the captain did not answer, nor did he move from the spot where he
stood. His thoughts whirled around in his mind like chaff in a
winnowing-machine. Water! A lake in the bosom of the rocks! Half an hour
ago he must have been standing over it as he scrambled up the hillside.
Visions that he had had of the morrow, when all their eyes should be
standing out of their faces, like the eyes of shipwrecked sailors he had
seen in boats, came back to him, and other visions of his mate and his
men toiling southward for perhaps a hundred miles without reaching a port
or a landing, and then the long, long delay before a vessel could be
procured. And here was water!
Ralph stood beside him for an instant. "Captain," he cried, "I am
going to get a pail, and take some to Edna and Mrs. Cliff." And then
he was gone.
Recalled thus to the present, the captain stepped back. He must do
something--he must speak to some one. He must take some advantage of this
wonderful, this overpowering discovery. But before he could bring his
mind down to its practical workings, Maka had clutched him by the coat.
"Cap'n," he said, "I must tell you. I must speak it. I must tell you now,
quick. Wait! Don't go!"