A STRANGE DISCOVERY.
While I was trying to make a sketch of this Valley of Enchantment, as we
called it, Abraham was peering over the cliff, and looking about in
every direction in search of some ruin or relic of habitation. He was
not naturally of a romantic turn, but he had a keen eye for every thing
strange and out of the way, and an insatiable thirst for the discovery
of natural curiosities. Already his pockets were full of roots and
pieces of rock; and it was only by the utmost persuasion that I could
prevent him from carrying a lump of lava that must have weighed twenty
pounds. Without any cause, so far as I could see, he began stamping upon
the ground, and then, picking up a big stone, he rolled it over the edge
of the cliff, and eagerly peeped after it, holding both hands to his
ears as if to listen.
"What's that, Abraham?" said I; "you are certainly losing your wits."
"I knew it! I knew it!" he cried, greatly excited; "it's perfectly
hollow. There's a natural castle in it!"
"Where? in your head?"
"No, in the cliff here; it's all hollow--a regular old castle! Come on!
come on, Luff! We're bound to explore it. May be we'll rake up something
worth seeing yet!" Saying which, he bounded down a narrow ledge on the
left, and I, as a matter of course, followed. Our path was not the most
secure, winding as it did over an abyss some hundreds of feet in a
direct fall; but our previous experience enabled us to spring over the
rocks with wonderful agility, and work our way down the more difficult
passes in a manner that would have done credit to animals with four
legs. Portions of the earth formed a kind of narrow stairway, so
distinct and regular that we almost thought it must be of artificial
construction. In about ten minutes we reached a broad ledge underneath
the brow of the cliff. Turning our backs to the precipice, we saw a
spacious cavity in the rocks, shaped a good deal like an immense Gothic
doorway, all overhung with vines and wild fern.
"I knew it!" cried Abraham, enthusiastically. "A regular old castle, by
all that's wonderful! Crusoe's cave is nothing to it! Just see what a
splendid entrance; what ancient turrets; what glorious old walls of
solid rock!"
"Verily, it does look like a castle," said I. "We must call it the
Castle of Abraham, in honor of the discoverer."
"Yes, but it strikes me there may be another discoverer already. Look at
these marks on the rock!"
"True enough; goats never make marks like these!" Near the mouth or
entrance of the grotto, traced in black lines, evidently with a burnt
stick, we saw a number of curious designs, so defaced by the dripping of
water from above that we were unable for some time to make out that they
had any meaning. At length, by carefully following the darkest parts, we
got some clew to the principal objects intended to be represented, which
were very clumsily drawn, as if by an unskillful hand. There was a
figure of a man, lying upon a horizontal line, with his face turned
upward; the limbs were twisted and broken, and the expression of the
features was that of extreme agony; the eyes were closed, the back of
the head crushed in, the mouth partly open, and the tongue hanging out.
One hand grasped a jagged rock, the other a knife with a part of the
blade broken off. Close by, with its head upon his feet, was the
skeleton of a strange animal, so rudely sketched that we could hardly
tell whether it was intended for a goat or not. It had the horns of a
goat, but the eyes, turning upward in their sockets, looked like those
of a child that had died some horrible death. Waving lines were drawn
some distance off, as representing the sea in a storm; a large ship
under sail was standing off in the foam from a pile of rocks that rose
out of the sea like a desolate island. The body of a man could be seen
under the waves, struggling toward the ship; a shark was tearing the
flesh from his legs, and the hands were thrown up wildly over the water.
Underneath the whole were several rude sketches of human hearts, pierced
through with knives. A hand pointed upward at the figure first
described. It had a ring on the forefinger; the tendons of the wrist
hung down, as if wrenched from the arm by some instrument of torture.
Around these strange designs were numerous others, representing the
heads of eagles; a famished wolf, gnawing its own flesh; and the
corpses of two children, strangled with a rope; besides other rude
sketches of which we could make nothing; and, indeed, some of these
already mentioned were so indistinct, that we were forced to depend a
good deal on conjecture in order to come to any conclusion in regard to
what they were intended to represent; so that I have given but a vague
idea, at best, of the whole thing.
"There's something strange about this," said Abraham, trembling all
over; "something more than we may like to see. Let us go into the cave,
and try if we can solve the mystery."
"I don't think there's much mystery about it," said I; "evidently some
sailor who ran away from a ship has occupied this as a hiding-place;
these strange designs he has doubtless made in some idle hour, to
represent scenes in his own life. The fellow had a bad conscience--he
has left the mark of it here."
"He may have left more than that," said Abraham, seriously; "he may have
fallen from one of these rocks, and lain here for days, helpless and
dying: in the agonies of thirst, driven delirious by fever, he tried,
perhaps, to tell by these signs how he died. If I'm not mistaken, we'll
find some farther clew to this affair within there. Let us see, at all
events."
We then went into the cave, and looked around us as far as the light
reached. It was very lofty and spacious, and made a short turn at the
back part, so that all beyond was quite wrapt in darkness. Weeds hung in
crevices of the dank walls of rock; a few footprints of animals were
marked in the ground, some slimy tracks were made over the rocks by
snails, and these, together with a dull sound of the flapping of wings
made by a number of bats that hung overhead, had a very gloomy effect.
However, seeing nothing else in the front part of the cave, we groped
our way back into the dark passage at the end, and followed it up till
we reached a sort of natural stairway leading into an upper chamber. For
some time we hesitated about going up here, thinking there might be a
hole or break in the rocks through which by mischance we might fall, and
be cast down into some vault or fissure underneath. After a while our
eyes got a little used to the darkness, and we thought we could discern
the chamber a few steps above into which this stairway led; so we crept
up cautiously, feeling our way as we went, and as soon as we found that
the ground was level we stood upon our feet, and perceived, from the
height above us, and the vacancy all around, that we were in a spacious
apartment of the cavern. There still being some danger of falling
through, as we discerned by the hollow sound made by our feet, we only
went a short distance beyond the entrance, when we stopped still on
account of the darkness, which was now quite impenetrable.
"A queer place!" said Abraham; "very like one of the piratical retreats
you read about in novels."
"Very, indeed, and quite as unlike reality," said I; "it doesn't seem to
be inhabited by pirates now, though, or any thing else except bats. I
wish we had a torch, Abraham, for I vow I can't see an inch before me."
"That's not a bad idea," said Abraham; "I think I have a match in my
pocket, but it won't do to run the risk of missing fire here. Wait a
bit, Luff; I'll go back to the mouth of the cave, and rake up some
brush-wood. We'll have some light on the subject presently--if the match
don't miss fire."
Abraham then crept back the way we came, as I supposed, for I could see
nothing in any direction, and only heard a dull echo around the walls of
rock, growing fainter and fainter, till all I was sensible of was the
flitting of some bats by my head, and the breath passing through my
nostrils. To tell the honest truth, I felt some very queer sensations
steal over me upon finding myself all alone in this dark hole, unable to
see so much as my hand within an inch of my eyes, and not knowing but
the first thing I felt might be a snake or tarentula creeping up my
legs, or the bite of some monstrous bat. I waited with great
impatience, without daring to move, lest I should miss the way back and
fall through the earth; for in the confusion of my thoughts I had lost
all knowledge of the direction of the entrance, and this very thing,
perhaps, caused me to magnify the time as it elapsed. It seemed to me
that Abraham would never return, he staid away so long, and this brought
up some strange and startling thoughts. Suppose, in his search for the
brush-wood, he had slipped off the ledge in front of the cave? Suppose
he had lost his footing in the dark passage on the way out, and fallen
into some unfathomable depth below? Suppose a gang of wild dogs, driven
to desperation by hunger, had seized him, and were now, with all their
wolfish instincts, tearing him to pieces? The more I thought, the more
vague and terrible became my conjectures; till, no longer able to endure
the torture of suspense, I shouted his name with all my might. There was
no answer but the startling echoes of my own voice, which seemed to mock
me in a thousand different directions. I shouted again, and again there
was the same fearful reverberation of voices, growing fainter and
fainter till they seemed to die upon the air, like the passing away of
hope. I now began to peer through the darkness in all directions, with
the intention of retracing my steps should I discover any indication of
the entrance by which to direct my course. At first it appeared as if
the darkness was of the same density all round, but gradually, as I
strained my eyes, I thought I perceived a faint glimmer of light, and
thither I cautiously made my way, groping about with my hands as I
advanced.
In a few moments I felt, by a rush of air, that I was near an opening,
and the light growing stronger at the same time, I soon perceived that
it led downward in a slanting direction, in the same way as the passage
through which we had come up. I was now satisfied that there would be no
farther difficulty in getting out, and having no cause to imagine that
the place had changed, began to descend as rapidly as possible. All of
a sudden my feet slipped from under me, and I went flying down a sort of
_chute_, without any power to stop myself, and so terrible was the
sensation that I was perfectly speechless, though conscious all the
time. It was not long, however, this suspense, for I struck bottom
almost at the next moment, and went rolling over headlong into an open
space. As soon as I looked around me, I perceived a cleft in the rocks,
some fifteen feet above, through which there was a dim ray of light, and
this, as I took it, was what had misled me. My sight being rather
confused, I now began to grope around me, in order to ascertain if there
were any more holes near by, when I discovered that there was straw
scattered about over the ground. Instinctively I thought about the
strange marks on the rocks near the mouth of the cave. Now if there
should be a dead body here, or a skeleton! What a companion in this
lonely dungeon! A cold tremor ran through me, and I actually thought
that, should I accidentally touch the clammy flesh of a corpse in such a
place, it would drive me mad. For a while I scarcely dared to look
around, but the absolute necessity of finding some place of exit at last
overcame my apprehensions. The light from above was quite faint, as
before stated, but yet sufficient, upon getting used to it, to enable me
to perceive that I was in a sort of chamber about fifteen feet in
diameter, closed on every side except where I had so unexpectedly
entered; and I was greatly relieved to find that there was nothing on
the ground but a thin layer of straw scattered about here and there, and
a few pieces of wood partly burned. I lost no time in making my way into
the chute again, which I found but little difficulty in ascending, for
it was not so steep as I had supposed. Upon regaining the large
apartment from which I had wandered, I heard the muffled echoes of a
voice coming, as I thought, from the depths below. They soon grew
louder, and I noticed a reddish light faintly shining upon the dark
masses of rock. Could it be Abraham? Surely it must be, for I now heard
my name distinctly called.
"Halloo there, Luff! Where are you. Luff? Why don't you come on?"
"I'm coming," said I, making a rapid rush toward the light, "as fast as
I can."
"All right!" said Abraham; "come on quick!"
It was not long, as may be supposed, before I was scrambling down the
rough stairway of rocks by which we had originally entered the
mysterious chamber; and the next moment I was standing before Abraham in
the passage, which was now no longer dark, for it was lit up with a
tremendous torch of brush-wood, which he held in both hands.
"Why, where in the name of sense have you been?" cried he, rather
excited, as I thought; "what have you been doing all this time?"
"Doing?" said I; "only exploring the cave, Abraham--hunting up
curiosities for pastime."
"Nonsense! I've been calling at you for ten minutes. I didn't want to
leave the torch, or I'd have gone up after you; for I couldn't hold it
and use my hands at the same time, and I thought if it went out we
couldn't light it up again. Besides, I've found a treasure--a treasure,
Luff, beyond all price."
"What is it, Abraham--a lump of gold?"
"Pooh! gold couldn't buy it! A skull, sir--a human skull! That's what
I've found!"
"Only a skull? I came near finding the whole body," said I,
involuntarily shuddering as I thought of the gloomy chamber with the
straw in it; "I'm quite certain I'd have found the entire corpse if it
had been there."
"But this is a real skull, Luff. It's no subject for trifling. Some poor
fellow has left his bones here, as I suspected."
We then went out to the front of the cave. Not far from the entrance was
a hole somewhat larger than a man's body, which I had not noticed
before, and into which Abraham now crept with the torch, telling me to
follow. It was not long before we entered a cell or chamber large enough
to stand up in, the floor of which was littered with straw.
"I found it here, Luff; here in this straw--the upper part of a man's
skull. Look at it."
Here Abraham removed some of the straw, and there, indeed, lay the
frontal part of a skull.
[Illustration: THE SKULL.]
"I found it just as it lies. I put it back exactly in the same position.
I wanted you to see how the man died--poor fellow! a sad death he had of
it all alone here."
Upon this I took up the skull and examined it. The forehead was small
and low, and the whole formation of the upper part of the face somewhat
singular. There was not sufficient of the lower part left to tell
precisely whether it was the skull of a white man or of a negro. I
thought it must be that of a negro, from the size of the animal organs.
Abraham, however, considered it the skull of a white man, on account of
the whiteness of the bone.
The torch being now burned out, we bethought ourselves of starting
toward the valley of the huts, for we had no time to indulge in
melancholy reflection on what remained of the poor sailor, or follow up
the train of thought suggested by his unhappy fate. Abraham carefully
wrapped the skull in his handkerchief, and put it in a large pocket that
he had in his coat, declaring, as we set out on our return to the top of
the cliff, that a thousand dollars would not induce him to part with so
rare and valuable a curiosity.