THE ESCAPE.
The ledge on which we rested was about forty feet square. Back of us
was a confused mass of boulders and chasms, across which I had come
when I first encircled the cavern and found Harry.
In front was the crevice, guarded by the two massive boulders. On the
right the ledge met the solid wall of the cavern, and on the left was
the lake itself, whose waters rippled gently at our very feet.
At sound of Harry's warning cry I ran to the water's edge and peered
round the side of the boulder. He was right; but what I saw was not
very alarming.
Two rafts had been launched from the enemy's camp. Each raft held
three Incas--more would have sunk them. Two were paddling, while the
third balanced himself in the center, brandishing a spear aloft.
Turning to Desiree, I called to her to move behind a projecting bit of
rock. Then, leaving Harry to guard the crevice in case of a double
attack, I took three of our four spears--one of which had made the
wound in my leg--and stood at the water's edge awaiting the approach of
the rafts.
They came slowly, and their appearance was certainly anything but
terrifying.
"Not much of a navy," I called to Harry; and he answered, with a laugh:
"Lucky for us! Look at our coast defense!"
One of the rafts was considerably ahead of the other, and in another
minute it had approached within fifty feet of the ledge. The Inca in
the center stood with legs spread apart and his spear poised above his
head; I made no movement, thinking that on such precarious footing he
would have difficulty to hurl the thing at all. Wherein I underrated
his skill, and it nearly cost me dear.
Suddenly, with hardly a movement of his body, his arm snapped forward.
I ducked to one side instinctively and heard the spear whistle past my
ear with the speed of a bullet, so close that the butt of the shaft
struck the side of my head a glancing blow and toppled me over.
I sprang quickly to my feet, and barely in time, for I saw the Inca
stoop over, pick up another spear from the raft, and draw it back above
his head. At the same moment the second raft drew up alongside, and as
I fell to the ground flat on my face I heard the two spears whistle
shrewdly over me.
At that game they were my masters; it would have been folly to have
tried conclusions with them with their own weapons. As the spears
clattered on the ground thirty feet away I sprang to my feet and ran to
the farther side of the ledge, where I had before noticed some loose
stones in a corner.
With two or three of these in my hands I ran back to the water's edge,
meeting two more of the spears that came twisting at me through the
air, one of which tore the skin from my left shoulder.
A quick glance at the crevice as I passed showed me Harry fighting at
its entrance; they were at us there, too. I heard Desiree shout
something at me, but didn't catch the words.
My first stone found its goal. The two rafts, side by side not forty
feet away, were a fair mark. The stone was nearly the size of a man's
head and very heavy; I had all I could do to get the distance.
It struck the raft on the right fairly; the thing turned turtle in a
flash, precipitating its occupants onto the other raft. The added
weight carried that, too, under the surface, and the six Incas were
floundering about in the water.
I expected to see them turn and swim for the landing opposite; but,
instead, they headed directly toward me!
The light from the urns was but faint, and it was not easy to
distinguish their black heads against the black water; still, I could
see their approach. Two of them held spears in their hands; I saw the
copper heads flash on high.
I stood at the edge of the lake, wondering at their folly as I waited;
they were now scarcely ten feet away. Another few strokes and the
foremost stretched out his hand to grasp the slippery ledge; my spear
came down crushingly on his head and he fell back into the water.
By that time another had crawled half onto the ledge, and another; a
blow and a quick thrust, and they, too, slipped back beneath the
surface, pawing in agony, not to rise again.
Just in time I saw that one of the remaining three had lifted himself
in the water not five feet away, with his spear aimed at my breast.
But the poor devil had no purchase for his feet and the thing went wide.
The next instant he had received a ten-pound stone full in the face and
went down with a gurgle. At that the remaining two, seeming to acquire
a glimmering of intelligence, turned and swam hastily away. I let them
go.
Turning to Harry, I saw that the crevice also was clear. He had left
his post and started toward me, but I waved him back.
"All right here, Hal: have they given it up?"
There was an expression of the most profound disgust on his face.
"Paul, it's rank butchery. I'm wading in blood. Will this thing never
stop?"
I looked at him and said merely: "Yes."
No need to ask when; he understood me; he sent me the glance of a man
who has become too familiar with death to fear it, and answered:
"Another hour of this, and--I'm ready."
I told him to keep an eye on both points of attack and went across to
where Desiree sat crouched on the ground. I hadn't many words.
"How is your foot?"
"Oh, it is better; well. But your leg--"
"Never mind that. Could you sleep?"
"Bon Dieu--no!"
"We have only raw fish. Can you eat?"
"I'll try," she answered, with a grimace.
I went to the edge of the ledge where we had the fish stowed away near
the water and took some of it both to her and Harry. We ate, but with
little relish. The stuff did not seem very fresh.
I remained on guard at the mouth of the crevice while Harry went to the
lake for a drink, having first helped Desiree to the water and back to
her seat. Her foot gave her a great deal of pain, but instead of a
sprain it appeared that there had been merely a straining of the
ligaments. After bathing it in the cold water she was considerably
relieved.
I remained on watch at the mouth of the crevice, from where I could
also obtain a pretty fair view of the lake, and commanded Harry to
rest. He demurred, but I insisted. Within two minutes he was sleeping
like a log, completely exhausted.
Several hundred of the Incas remained huddled together on the ledge
without, but they made no effort to attack us. I had been watching
perhaps three hours when they began to melt away into the passage.
Soon but a scant dozen or so remained. These squatted along the wall
just under the lighted urns, evidently in the capacity of sentinels.
Soon I became drowsy--intolerably so; I was scarcely able to stand. I
dozed off once or twice on my feet; and, realizing the danger, I called
Harry to take my place.
Desiree also had been asleep, lying on the raft which Harry and I had
concealed along with our fish. At sound of my voice she awoke and sat
up, rubbing her eyes; then, as I assured her that all was quiet, she
fell back again on her rude bed.
I have never understood the delay of the Incas at this juncture;
possibly they took time to consult the great Pachacamac and found his
advice difficult to understand. At the time I thought they had given
up the attack and intended to starve us out, but they were incapable of
a decision so sensible.
Many hours had passed, and we had alternated on four watches. We had
plenty of rest and were really quite fit. The gash on my leg had
proven a mere trifle; I was a little stiff, but there was no pain.
Desiree's foot was almost entirely well; she was able to walk with
ease, and had insisted on taking a turn at watch, making such a point
of it that we had humored her.
Something had to happen, and I suppose it was as well that the Incas
should start it. For we had met with a misfortune that made us see the
beginning of the end. Our fish was no longer fit to eat, and we had
been forced to throw the remainder of it in the lake.
Then we held a council of war. The words we uttered, standing together
at the mouth of the crevice, come to me now as in a dream; if my memory
of them were not so vivid I should doubt their reality. We discussed
death with a calmness that spoke eloquently of our experience.
Desiree's position may be given in a word--she was ready for the end,
and invited it.
I was but little behind her, but advised waiting for one more watch--a
sop to Harry. And there was one other circumstance that moved me to
delay--the hope for a sight of the Inca king and a chance at him.
Desiree had refused to tell us her experiences between the time of our
dive from the column and our rescue of her; but she had said enough to
cause me to guess at its nature. There was a suppressed but ever
present horror in her eyes that made me long to stand once more before
the Child of the Sun; then to go, but not alone.
Harry advised retreat. I have mentioned that when he and I had started
on our search for Desiree we had found two exits from the cavern--the
one which we had taken and another which led through the maze of
boulders and chasms back of us to a passage full of twists and turns
and choked with massive rocks, almost impassable.
Through this he advised making our way to whatever might await us
beyond.
The question was still undecided when our argument was brought to a
halt and the decision was taken away from us. Through the crevice I
saw a band of Incas emerge from the passage opposite and advance to the
water's edge. At their head was the Inca king.
Soon the landing was completely covered with them--probably three
hundred or more--and others could be seen in the mouth of the passage.
Each one carried a spear; their heads of copper, upraised in a
veritable forest, shone dully in the light of the urns on the wall
above.
Harry and Desiree stood close behind me, looking through at the
fantastic sight. I turned to him:
"This time they mean business."
He nodded.
"But what can they do? Except get knocked on the head, and I'm sick of
it. If we had only left an hour ago!"
"For my part," I retorted, "I'm glad we didn't. Desiree, I'm going to
put you in my debt, if fortune will only show me one last kindness and
let me get within reach of him."
I pointed to where the Inca king stood in the forefront, at the very
edge of the lake.
She shuddered and grew pale.
"He is a monster," she said in a voice so low that I scarcely heard,
"and--I thank you, Paul."
Harry seemed not to have heard.
"But what can they do?" he repeated.
They did not leave us long in doubt. As he spoke there was a sudden
sharp movement in the ranks of the Incas. Those in front leaped in the
water, and others after them, until, almost before we had time to
realize their purpose, hundreds of the hairy brutes were swimming with
long, powerful strokes directly toward the ledge on which we stood.
Between his teeth each man carried his spear.
I left Harry to guard the crevice, and ran to repel the attack at the
water. Desiree stood just behind me. I called to her to go back, but
she did not move. I grasped her by the arm and led her forcibly to a
break in the rock at our rear, and pointed out a narrow ascending lane
in the direction of the other exit.
When I returned to the ledge of the water the foremost of the Incas
were but a few feet away. But I looked in vain for the one face I
wanted to see and could recognize; the king was not among them. A
hasty glance across the landing opposite discovered him standing
motionless with folded arms.
The entire surface of the lake before me was one mass of heads and arms
and spears as far as I could see. There were hundreds of them. I saw
at once that the thing was hopeless, but I grasped my spear firmly and
stood ready.
The first two or three reached the ledge. At the same instant I heard
Harry call:
"They're coming through, Paul! It's you alone!"
I did not turn my head, for I was busy. My spear was whirling about my
head like a circle of flame. Black, dusky forms swam to the ledge and
grasped its slippery surface, but they got no farther. The shaft of
the spear bent in my hand; I picked up another, barely losing a second.
A wild and savage delight surged through me at the sight of those
struggling, writhing, slipping forms. I swung the spear in vicious
fury. Not one had found footing on the ledge.
Something suddenly struck me in the left arm and stuck there; I shook
it loose impatiently and it felt as though my arm went with it.
I did not care to glance up even for an instant; they were pressing me
closer and closer; but I knew that they had begun to hurl their spears
at me from the water, and that the game was up. Another struck me on
the leg; soon they were falling thick about me.
Calling to Harry to follow, I turned and ran for the opening in the
rock to which I had led Desiree. In an instant he had joined me.
By that time scores of the Incas had scrambled out of the water onto
the ledge and started toward us, and as many more came rushing through
the crevice, finding their way no longer contested.
Harry carried three spears. I had four. We sprang up a lane
encircling the rock to the rear and at its top found Desiree.
A projecting bit of rock gave us some protection from the spears that
were being hurled at us from below, but they came uncomfortably close,
and black forms began to appear in the lane through which we had come.
Harry shouted something which I didn't hear, and, taking Desiree in his
arms, sprang from the rock to another ledge some ten feet below.
I followed. At the bottom he stumbled and fell, but I helped him to
his feet and then turned barely in time to beat back three or four of
the Incas who had tumbled down almost on our very heads.
Immediately in front of us was a chasm several feet across. Harry
cried to Desiree, "Can you make it?" and she shook her head, pointing
to her injured foot.
"To me!" I shouted desperately; they were coming down from above
despite my efforts to hold them back.
Then, in answer to a call from Harry, I turned and leaped across the
chasm, throwing the spears ahead of me. Harry took Desiree in his arms
and swung her far out; I braced myself for the shock and caught her on
my feet.
I set her down unhurt, and a minute later Harry had joined us and we
were scrambling up the face of a boulder nearly perpendicular, while
the spears fell thick around us.
Desiree lost her footing and fell against Harry, who rolled to the
bottom, pawing for a hold. I turned, but he shouted: "Go on; I'll make
it!" Soon he was again at my side, and in another minute we had gained
the top of the boulder, quite flat and some twenty feet square. We
commanded Desiree to lie flat on the ground to avoid the spears from
below, and paused for a breath and a survey of the situation.
It can be described only with the word chaotic.
The light of the urns were now hidden from us, and we were in
comparative darkness, though we could see with a fair amount of
clearness. Nothing could be made of the mass of boulders, but we knew
that somewhere beyond them was the passage from the cavern which we
sought.
The Incas came leaping across the chasm to the foot of the rock.
Several of them scrambled up the steep surface, but with our spears we
pushed them back and they tumbled onto the heads of their fellows below.
But we were too exposed for a stand there, and I shouted to Harry to
take Desiree down the other side of the rock while I stayed behind to
hold them off. He left me, and in a moment later I heard his voice
crying to me to follow. I did so, sliding down the face of the rock
feet first.
Then began a wild and desperate scramble for safety, with the Incas
ever at our heels. Without Desiree we would have made our goal with
little difficulty, but half of the time we had to carry her.
Several times Harry hurled her bodily across a chasm or a crevice,
while I received her on the other side.
Often I covered the retreat, holding the Incas at bay while Harry
assisted Desiree up the steep face of a boulder or across a narrow
ledge. There was less danger now from their spears, protected as we
were by the maze of rocks, but I was already bleeding in a dozen places
on my legs and arms and body, and Harry was in no better case.
Suddenly I saw ahead of us an opening which I thought I recognized. I
pointed it out to Harry.
"The exit!" he cried out, and made for it with Desiree. But they were
brought to a halt by a cliff at their very feet, no less than twenty
feet high.
I started to join them, but hearing a clatter behind, turned just in
time to see a score of Incas rush at us from the left, through a narrow
lane that led to the edge of the cliff.
I sprang toward them, calling to Harry for assistance. He was at my
side in an instant, and together we held them back.
In five minutes the mouth of the lane was choked with their bodies;
some behind attempted to scramble over the pile to get at us, but we
made them sick of their job. I saw that Harry could hold it alone
then, and calling to him to stand firm till I called, I ran to Desiree.
I let myself over the edge of the cliff and hung by my hands, then
dropped to the ground below. It was even further than I had thought;
my legs doubled up under me and I toppled over, half fainting.
I gritted my teeth and struggled to my feet, calling to Desiree. She
was already hanging to the edge of the cliff, many feet above me. But
there was nothing else for it, and I shouted: "All right, come on!"
She came, and knocked me flat on my back. I had tried to catch her,
and did succeed in breaking her fall, at no little cost to myself. I
was one mass of bruises and wounds. But again I struggled to my feet
and shouted at the top of my voice:
"Harry! Come!"
He did not come alone. I suppose the instant he left the lane
unguarded the Incas poured in after him. They followed him over the
edge of the cliff, tumbling on top of each other in an
indistinguishable mass.
Some rose to their feet; their comrades, descending from above,
promptly knocked them flat on their backs.
Harry and Desiree and I were making for the exit, which was not but a
few feet away. As I have said, the thing was choked up till it was
almost impassable. We squeezed in between two rocks, with Desiree
between us. Harry was in front, and I brought up the rear.
Once through that lane and we might hold our own.
"In Heaven's name, come on!" Harry shouted suddenly; for I had turned
and halted, gazing back at the Incas tumbling over the cliff and
rushing toward the mouth of the exit.
But I did not heed him, for, standing on the top of the cliff, waving
his arms wildly at those below, I had seen the form of the Inca king.
He was less than thirty feet away.
With cries from Harry and Desiree ringing in my ears, I braced my feet
as firmly as possible on the uneven rock and poised my spear above my
head. The Incas saw my purpose and stopped short.
The king must also have seen me, but he stood absolutely motionless. I
lunged forward; the spear left my hand and flew straight for his breast.
But it failed to reach the mark. A shout of triumph was on my lips,
but was suddenly cut short when an Inca standing near the king sprang
forward and hurled himself in the path of the spear just as its point
was ready to take our revenge. The Inca fell to the foot of the cliff
with the spear buried deep in his side. The king stood as he had
before, without moving.
Then there was a wild rush into the mouth of the exit, and I turned to
follow Harry and Desiree. With extreme difficulty we scrambled forward
over the rocks and around them.
Desiree's breath was coming in painful gasps, and we had to support her
on either side. The Incas approached closer at our rear; I felt one of
them grasp me from behind, and in an excess of fury I shook him off and
dashed him backward against the rocks. We were able to make little
headway, or none; by taking to the exit we appeared to have set our own
death-trap.
Harry went on with Desiree, and I stayed behind in the attempt to check
the attack. They came at me from both sides. I was faint and
bleeding, and barely able to wield my spear--my last one. I gave way
by inches, retreating backward step by step, fighting with the very end
of my strength.
Suddenly Harry's voice came, shouting that they had reached the end of
the passage. I turned then and sprang desperately from rock to rock
after them, with the Incas crowding close after me.
I stumbled and nearly fell, but recovered my footing and staggered on.
And suddenly the mass of rocks ended abruptly, and I fell forward onto
flat, level ground by the side of Desiree and Harry.
"Your spear!" I gasped. "Quick--they are upon us!"
But they grasped my arms and dragged me away from the passage to one
side. I was half fainting from exhaustion and loss of blood, and
scarcely knew what they did. They laid me on the ground and bent over
me.
"The Incas!" I gasped.
"They are gone," Harry answered.
At that I struggled to rise and rested my body on my elbows, gazing at
the mouth of the passage. It was so; the Incas were not to be seen!
Not one had issued from the passage.
It was incomprehensible to us then; later we understood. And we had
not long to wait.
Harry and Desiree were bending over me, attempting to stop the flow of
blood from a cut on my shoulder.
"We must have water," said Desiree. Harry straightened up to look
about the cavern, which was so dark that we could barely see one
another's faces but a few feet away.
Suddenly an exclamation of wonder came from his lips.
Desiree and I followed the direction of his gaze, and saw the huge,
black, indistinct form of some animal suddenly detach itself from the
wall of the cavern and move slowly toward us through the darkness.