"The forest grows more and more dense here for miles away to the river.
I propose now going on for another half-hour, to where there is a sudden
narrowing in of the valley to about thirty yards. If we do not meet the
enemy before this, I shall halt there, and keep that pass, waiting till
they are driven up to us. But we may have them upon us at any moment
now."
"They could not have got by us, sir?" I ventured to say.
Mr Raydon looked at me, and smiled.
"Impossible, my lad. Ready? Forward!"
Our advance now was slow, as we had to pass in and out among the
thickly-growing trees, and to be careful to keep in line as nearly as
was possible. Every man was eager and excited, and from time to time,
as I looked to right and left, I kept catching sight of one of our party
pressing forward with rifle ready, and waiting to fire at the first
sight of the enemy, this shot being the appointed signal for all to halt
and stand fast, waiting for further orders.
At last, after what in my excited state seemed to be hours, but which
afterwards proved not to have been one, Mr Raydon said in a whisper--
"There is the gate."
I stared, but could see nothing till we had gone a few yards further,
when I found that two huge shoulders of the mountain had fallen in, and
blocked the valley, which was narrowed here, as Mr Raydon said, to a
sharply-cut passage of about thirty yards wide. Here we halted, and
were disposed so that a dog could not pass through without being seen,
and for a full hour we remained in utter silence, watching, till, unable
to bear the inaction any longer, Mr Raydon said sharply--
"Forward! Open out! I am afraid there is something wrong below. They
ought to have been up here by this time."
We tramped on again now, still with the same precautions, but making as
much speed as we could after our rest, though our pace was slow on
account of the dense nature of the forest. I cannot tell how long we
had been going downward, but suddenly, just as I was growing weary of
the whole business, and thinking that the men were after all, perhaps,
not here, or that we had come down the wrong valley, my blood rose to
fever-heat again, for Mr Raydon whispered--
"Halt!" and the word ran along to right and left. "Be ready," he
whispered again. And now I heard a faint muttering in front of us,
similar to that which we had made in our progress; and at last, away
among the great tree-trunks dimly seen in the shade, I caught sight of a
man, then of another and another, and now Mr Raydon's voice rang out
hoarsely--
"Halt, or we fire!"
There was a low murmuring from before us, and a bit of a rush, as of men
collecting together, and then a voice roared from among the trees--
"Surrender there, or we will shoot you down to a man."
"Do you hear?" cried Mr Raydon. "Surrender! The game's up, you
scoundrels."
"Mr Raydon," I whispered, excitedly, for I had caught sight of the
advancing party, "don't fire; it's Mr Barker and his men."
"What? Hi! Barker! Is that you?"
"Ay--ay!" came back. "That you, Mr Raydon?"
"Yes, man, yes; where are the enemy?"
"Why, I thought you was them," cried Barker, advancing.
"We thought the same," said Mr Raydon, as he too stepped forward, and
we all stood face to face. "Then they were not here. Or have you
passed them?"
"I don't think--" began Barker.
"Why, I told you so," cried one of the men. "I felt sure I heard
something out to our left among the trees hours ago."
"What?" cried Mr Raydon; "did you not open out your men in line?"
"Far as we could," said Barker, gruffly. "It's so thick down below we
couldn't get along."
"Man!" cried Mr Raydon, "they've been too sharp for you, and let you
pass. Why--oh, good heavens! they must have known of our plans.
They'll have stolen out at the mouth of the valley, gone up, and taken
the Fort."
A dead silence reigned for a few minutes, as Mr Raydon stood thinking.
Then suddenly--
"We did not give them credit for being so sharp as they are," he
continued. "Here, forward all of you, back to the river. I hope my
fears are wrong."
"Hadn't we better go your way?" said Barker. "The forest is frightfully
thick below, and it will take us hours."
"The way we came will take twice as long," said Mr Raydon, sternly;
"and it is one fearful climb right up into the mountain. We must go
this way. Follow as quickly as possible. There will be no need to keep
a look-out now."
The men mustered up without a word, and with Mr Raydon and Barker
leading, we tramped on as fast as we could, but making very poor
progress during the next hour, for all were growing hot and exhausted,
and the labour was really terrible. But they pressed on in silence,
while Mr Raydon and Barker talked together rather bitterly about the
ill success of the expedition.