WE REPEL THE INVADERS
Allerton was soon himself again and assisted in rubbing the girl’s hands
to restore their circulation, while Chaka, who had saved her life with
such admirable courage, stood passively by regarding the scene.
Presently Ama opened her eyes, and naturally the first thing they fell
upon was Paul’s anxious face. She smiled at him, sighed, and stirred
uneasily as the recollection of the fearful experience through which she
had passed slowly dawned upon her. Then she sat up and struggled to her
feet, gazing with horror at her ruined city and the vista of the Itzaex
country that showed through the riven mountain.
“Come!” she said, and without heeding her own people, who flocked about
her, she extended one hand to Chaka, the other to Paul, and supported
between them staggered away to examine the extent of the damage.
One would expect wild excitement in the valley now; but the Tcha were a
queer race. Those who had been saved from injury by assembling at the
theatre sat down where they were and gazed in mute despair at the ruins
of the splendid city they had known and loved so well. Even the priests
were completely demoralized and I saw our enemy Katalat, wrapped in his
robe, standing silent and alone, his glassy eyes fixed on the ground at
his feet, as if lost in thought.
After all there was little to blame in the demeanor of the Tcha. The
race having existed in this favored spot for centuries upon centuries,
the present inhabitants had had no thought of insecurity. So suddenly
had the earthquakes and their attendant misfortunes come upon them that
they were stunned for the time and incapable of action, or even logical
thought.
Ama moaned and wept at every step of her progress through the city.
There was hardly a building that had escaped damage; by far the majority
were irretrievably demolished. The artisans’ quarters had suffered most,
as their buildings were not as strongly built as the others, and
hundreds of dead were buried under the walls of their home.
The poor girl could not bear the sad sights for long. Even with our
assistance, which we earnestly volunteered, little could be done in this
hour of disaster to relieve the stricken ones; so presently Ama turned
toward her own palace.
Here was more desolation, but parts of the vast building still remained
intact and the rooms occupied by the High Priestess were yet habitable.
Of the fifty attendant priestesses only about thirty had escaped death,
the others having been swallowed up when the earth opened. The survivors
were wailing dismally when we arrived, and there was no way to comfort
them.
Ama withdrew to her rooms and shut herself up. We did not see her again
for three days. Meantime we resumed our former quarters in the one-story
wing of the priests’ palace, which was about all there was left of that
building. Katalat and his followers took possession of the prison, which
being low and solid had escaped damage, and for a time we heard nothing
of them, either.
I proposed to our party that we collect such stores of food as we would
find and a few more rubies and make our way back through the Itzaex
country to the ship. Paul said we could go if we wished, but for his
part he intended to stay until Ama was out of her trouble. Chaka
declared he would stay also. There was no use in arguing with them, for
they both loved the girl; so of course we all stayed. No one can desert
a comrade at such a time.
On the evening of the third day a Tcha who had been put to guard the
rift in the mountain came running to say that a great horde of Itzaex
warriors was marching toward us and had encamped for the night but three
hours’ distant from the city.
When this news reached Ama she sent for us at once, asking what could be
done to protect her people.
“What are your future plans?” asked Paul, calmly. “Do you intend to
rebuild the city?”
“To be sure,” she replied. “Already I have consulted with the Tribunal,
with the High Priest Katalat and with my principal nobles, and we have
determined to erect a new city upon these ruins. But it will take many
years to do this and my people have not yet recovered from the shock of
their misfortunes.”
“Now that the mountain side is split open and a path made into the
valley,” said Allerton, “all the world will be coming here, and you
cannot prevent it. Here are the Itzaex now, bent on conquering the
remnants of the Tcha and plundering you of your treasures. They are
merely the forerunners of others to come.”
She wrung her hands in abject despair.
“What shall I do?” she moaned. “Oh, what shall I do?”
“Fight!” said Chaka, suddenly. The Itzaex were his own people, too.
“We’ll help to drive them away,” declared Archie, enthusiastically.
Paul was thoughtful.
“How much of a fighting force can you command?” he asked.
“The Public Guardians have always been sufficient for our purposes,”
said Ama. “They number one hundred and are commanded by the Waba
Pagatka. But I think every man in the valley will willingly fight to
protect us from our foes.”
“Who leads the miners?” was his next question.
“Their chief, a Tcha named Ampax.”
“Send for him, and also for Pagatka,” he requested.
She dispatched messengers at once.
Pagatka came first and saluted the High Priestess with his usual
deference.
“Gather all your men,” said Ama, “and take them to the opening the
earthquake has made in the mountain. You are to guard us against the
Itzaex, who will attack us early in the morning.”
“I have but eighty men left alive,” he stated. “The Itzaex are
thousands.”
“But you have possession of the pass,” said Paul, “and I and my comrades
will be there to help you. At all hazards the Itzaex must be kept from
entering the valley. If they succeed they will kill without mercy every
inhabitant.”
The Waba asserted he would do all in his power, and retired to assemble
his men. Like all the rest of his people he was completely discouraged
and had no hope of making a successful resistance.
When the miner, Ampax, arrived he proved to be a fine big fellow with a
bushy beard of fiery red and keen, steadfast eyes. He was asked to get
together all the men of his caste that he could and raise a rampart of
stones across the mouth of the pass. As this was nearly a hundred feet
in width it seemed a herculean task; but Ampax promptly undertook to do
all that was possible. We liked this fellow. In this crisis he was the
most capable Tcha we had found.
All night the miners labored at the pass and many others of the Tcha,
when they understood the matter, willingly assisted them. The ground was
well littered with rocks and blocks of marble from ruined buildings, so
material was close at hand. By daybreak a barrier had been erected
nearly five feet in height entirely across the opening.
Waba Pagatka came with his men, fully armed with spears and battle-axes,
and the soldiers were lined up behind the barrier. Ama had ordered our
firearms and ammunition returned to us, and these, supplemented by our
electrites, made our little party of nine more formidable than the
eighty soldiers of Pagatka. But the Tcha were at last beginning to take
a lively interest in their own welfare and at daybreak volunteers began
to join our ranks in fair numbers, among them several of the priesthood.
They came armed very primitively with whatever weapons they could pick
up. Axes, knives and heavy clubs were the chief of these, and there were
a few bows and arrows brought out, but not many. Never in the lifetime
of this generation had they been called upon to fight a battle; but they
were a calm and determined lot, in spite of their inexperience, and we
looked for them to render a good account of themselves.
Altogether we mustered that morning some four hundred men all told, and
opposed to us were more than five thousand skilled Itzaex warriors, the
bravest and fiercest fighters I have ever known. Really, our case seemed
desperate.
The enemy broke camp at daybreak and marched up the mountain in good
military order. At their head was borne aloft an open palanquin, upon
which reclined a man who was doubtless their leader. Paul examined him
through his field glasses and declared he was none other than our old
enemy Datchapa. How the ancient uncle of the atkayma had managed to
survive his tumble down the pyramid was a wonder; but he had, and of
course he had soon recovered from the shock of the electrite.
The attack of the Itzaex was now fully explained. Chaka’s father,
believing his son dead, had before his own demise confided the secret of
the hidden city to Datchapa, who would become his successor. Doubtless
he included in the tale a description of the beauty and riches of the
city and valley. So when the earthquake came and the Itzaex saw the
mountain rent asunder and a passage opened, old Datchapa had quickly
decided to invade and conquer the stricken and helpless kingdom of the
Tcha. That secluded race was certainly unprepared to oppose such an
invasion, never having dreamed of trouble with their neighbors, the
Itzaex, which proved how little they understood the savage nature of the
tribe surrounding their retreat.
The sun had risen brilliantly when the attack began. The Itzaex were
probably surprised at sight of the rampart which had sprung up in a
single night, but they did not hesitate to advance upon it. Datchapa
halted his palanquin to one side, but quite near the scene of action,
and sat up, propped by his cushions, to direct the battle. I imagine his
fall had broken some limbs that were slowly mending, but the old
fellow’s energetic spirit urged him to lead his people on this momentous
occasion in spite of his injuries.
Our party of nine was stationed close to the barrier, one every ten feet
or so from the next, thus forming a line that controlled the entire
space. All around us stood the defenders awaiting with composure the
attack.
A shower of darts directed toward us did no harm at all, because we
escaped them by simply ducking our heads. Arrows were likewise harmless.
The Itzaex understood the situation and with savage cries swung their
clubs and battle-axes and bounded forward to scale the rampart.
We used our repeating rifles, cutting into their front ranks with
fearful effect; but the enemy came on undaunted. The Tcha now leaped to
the top of the wall and from their point of vantage fought so
desperately, yet coolly, that after some ten minutes of hand to hand
conflict the Itzaex retreated to gain breath and reform their ranks.
They left scores of dead and dying before the barrier, but our own
forces had suffered severely, too. I was proud of the Tcha at that
moment. They were fully as fearless as their enemies and made a capital
defense when you consider they had never been trained for warfare.
The big miner Ampax touched Paul’s arm and pointed to a great cliff that
far up on the mountain’s edge overhung the pass. The earthquake, in
rending Aota’s side, had left this tremendous mass suspended by a small
neck of rock. I had not noticed the thing before, as from inside the
valley the slender connection was not clearly seen, and during the
darkness of the night it had also escaped the notice of the miners. But
Ampax had spied it in the nick of time, and as I gazed up at the thing
now it looked mighty dangerous to those who stood below.
“If I can break off that mass,” said Ampax, “it will block the pass.”
Paul nodded.
“Try it,” he replied, and at once Ampax selected a dozen assistants who,
laden with bars and mattocks of heavy bronze, began to climb the side of
the cliff, using a path that a goat would have hesitated to attempt.
Allerton called me to him.
“Sam,” said he, “in our chest is a stick of dynamite. It is wrapped in
foil and is kept in a padded box marked ‘XXD’. Run and get it, my lad,
and carry it to Ampax as quickly as you can. You know how to use it.”
“Will there be time?” I inquired, anxiously.
“I think so. With our electrites and the rifles we ought to be able to
drive those savages back once or twice more.”
“All right, Paul; I’m off.”
Handing my firearms to Pagatka, who ought to do some good with them, for
he was an intelligent fellow, I sprinted as fast as I was able to back
to our quarters. The rift in the mountain was at the south end, nearly a
quarter of a mile distant from the temple enclosure; but it took a
little time to unlock the chest and secure the dynamite.
Taking the precious box under my arm I hastily started to return when I
came upon Ama standing with a group of her women at a point where her
eyes could command the pass.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
I pointed up the mountain toward the great mass of rock that overhung
the opening, explaining that only a small neck of rock held it in place
and Ampax was trying to break it away so as to block up the pass. I
added that in the box was a powerful explosive that would assist the
miner in his task, and that we must hurry or the Itzaex would have
broken through the defense before we could accomplish our object.
“The climb is what I dread,” said I; “it’s a dizzy path, and I’m not
sure I can make it.”
“I will guide you,” she suddenly exclaimed. “Follow me, Samsteele!”
Turning, she ran lightly back to the temple enclosure, and after a
moment’s hesitation I decided to follow her. We were not heading for the
pass at all, yet Ama ought to know her own mountain better than I did.
The girl proved a swift runner and I, being already short of breath, had
no easy job to keep up with her. As we dashed into the gardens
surrounding Ama’s ruined pavilion the battle cry of the fierce Itzaex
again resounded in our ears and we realized that another attack upon the
barrier had begun.
Ama entered the big cavern in the mountain, where I had never before
been. We skirted a bathing pool, fed by springs that gushed from the
rocks, and quite at the rear end of the place came to a small passage.
It was black as ink, but Ama took my hand and drew me after her along
the passage, scarcely abating her speed as she went.
The tunnel broadened after the entrance was passed, and inclined upward,
making more than one turn. The floor was smooth, and although I could
not discern even the girl’s form before me, we made good progress. On
and up we went, and the unusual exertion was making me pretty short of
breath when a ray of light appeared ahead. Ama made another run for the
top and we emerged abruptly upon the very crest of the mountain, only a
few hundred feet from the rift.
The ridge was not very wide and we could look down both sides of the
mountain from where we stood. There was no time for admiring the view,
however, for Ama hurried me along until we came to where Ampax and his
men were laboring. They had already driven a hole into the big neck of
rock connecting the fragment with the mountain—it looked much bigger
here than from below—but I could see it would have taken them a long
time to have done the job in their own way.
From below came the wild cries of the attacking savages, mingled with
the sound of firearms as our boys bravely opposed them. The Tcha uttered
no sounds as they fought, but they were none the less terrible for that.
Approaching Ampax I asked him to drive a deep hole with his bar in the
hollow he had already made in the neck of rock. He had no idea what I
proposed doing, but Ama ordered him to obey me, and he did. The poor
fellow was sweating from every pore with his exertions.
I took the dynamite from the box and carefully lowered it into the hole,
attaching a fuse I had found in the parcel. It was not a very long fuse,
but it must answer our purpose.
Just then the Itzaex retired for the second time, being repulsed with
great loss to both sides. Mounting the big fragment I leaned over the
edge and called to Paul that all was ready. At once he withdrew all the
Tcha and our own boys from the barrier, making them retreat to a safe
distance. The scene of conflict, as I now viewed it, was a veritable
slaughter-pen, the dead and dying lying heaped in every direction. It
was surely time for a diversion.
I ordered Ampax and his men to run along the ridge, and told Ama to go
with them. They were slow to understand me and I could not wait long for
them to get out of the way because the Itzaex were already forming for
another rush. So I lighted the fuse and ran from the place so fast
myself that the miners took warning and hastened after me. Seizing Ama’s
arm I dragged her along the ridge until the explosion knocked us all
flat upon the rocks and sent three miners flying over the precipice.
The crash that followed the detonation shook the ridge again, and then a
hearty cheer went up from the exhausted Tcha who stood below in the
valley. I knew then that the pass was blocked and the battle over.