DAYLIGHT AT LAST
There were many expressions of relief on the part of our waiting friends
when again the forward movement was commenced, in the right-hand tunnel.
Those at the rear had become particularly anxious; the darkness was
evidently a source of much vague alarm.
The passage we were now in was inclined downward. It wound in a general
direction at right angles to the one which led to the cauldron of gold.
In places it became so low that we were obliged to creep on hands and
knees. This condition finally prevailed, so that I began to believe we
were wedging ourselves into a crack. If this were true, then the case
would be worse than hopeless—it would be most horrible. The death, one
by one, of all the Links, in such a place as this, would be appalling to
the last degree.
I went steadily on, my knees growing tender from contact with the rocks.
Presently Fatty and the chief, directly behind me, gave a low
exclamation of affright. I halted, but heard nothing. Perhaps they were
able to smell some enemy, for certainly their monosyllables gave a
warning, easy to interpret.
“What is it?” I said, as if they could understand and let me know.
“What’s the matter?”
Those behind made low sounds of worry. It made me desperate. If anything
confronted us now, it was too late to pause; there was no such thing as
turning back. I drew my knife and advanced, feeling cold creepers go
down my back. It might be the den of a tiger I thought, but surely such
a beast would prefer to run out rather than to face so weird a foe as we
would have seemed to be, proceeding through the cave, for we made a
strange sound, moving, breathing and expressing our various emotions.
Fatty was halting, whining, coming on and halting again in a most
disquieting manner. The chief seemed to realise that we might as well
die in one way as another, yet I noted a look of dread on his face, such
as one often sees in the eyes of a startled horse, when approaching
dangers which he feels by instinct. It occurred to me now that if
anything were in the cave, then the end must be near—an opening to the
outside world!
“Come on, you fellows,” I said at this, and holding my torch before me,
rounded a corner. Immediately a glimmer of light, through down-hanging
foliage and vines, revealed the exit we were seeking. Made careless for
the second, I was suddenly startled most loathsomely. I had placed my
hand on a cold, moving body—a snake which was crawling toward the light.
Electrified into galvanic action, I plunged my knife into the body of
the serpent half a dozen times, as fast as I could strike, feeling my
hair “crawling” as I did it. The head of the reptile came backward—a
great flat head with bulges of poison-glands making it hideous. I knew
he was deadly. The knife stabbed clean through his neck and ground on
the rocks beneath; his jaws stretched open fearfully; his lip receded
from the two great fangs, but he was killed, though the body writhed and
twisted belly upward in powerful muscular contractions.
“Ugh!” I had said, as I struck.
“Ugh!” repeated Fatty and the chief.
“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!” went echoing back through the cave, as the Links
repeated the utterance, in dread. I had stumbled on their word for
snake, or any reptile.
I thought we should encounter more of the snakes, but not until I had
come, most cautiously, to the growth which formed a door to the cavern,
did I see anything move. In the vines a few inches of tail were
intertwined, but before I could deliver a good stab, this serpent
escaped. I now slashed away tendrils and creepers in a sort of frenzy,
for the darkness and closeness of the cave had oppressed me with a
feeling which developed into horror. We in the lead were soon out, on a
small bluff, overlooking a dense wood; indeed there was jungle all
about. I heard not a few sounds of crashing branches, where heavy-weight
animals made away from the neighbourhood and sound of our voices.
What a strange sight it was to see the cave pouring forth that
collection of ape-like Links. Nearly all were chattering—not
talking—like so many monkeys, frightened to the point of being crazy. On
getting out into the light, not a few ran about as if they would leave
us altogether and hide in the trees. The fighters, however, huddled the
females and young ones together, and glanced about and at me, with their
round, restless eyes, as if to know what to do next. Left to themselves
they would doubtless have soon been self-reliant and capable of thinking
and acting for themselves, but having followed me blindly, through an
ordeal totally foreign to any previous experience, they were hopelessly
dependent upon me now. This I knew, for even the fawning creature was
humbled.
I knew also that our old “home” would have to be abandoned and a new one
made. I was likewise aware of the necessity of selecting a place which
could be more easily defended—a point of vantage. This base we must
secure as speedily as possible, for already the sun was nearly down.
Studying the faces of the calmer Links, as they looked about, I was not
encouraged to believe they knew where we were, with regard to the
abandoned camp. To get my bearings I went up the hill we were on, to the
edge of the jungle. From there I was able to see a portion of the lake
which I had seen from the volcanic peak. Above this water, on the summit
of a hill, was a clear space, discernible, with rock formations and
indications of springs. If it had fruit-bearing trees it would be nearly
right for our needs and purposes.
Fatty and several others, including the chief and his albino mate,
having followed me up the hill, I indicated the spot to which I desired
them to lead the way. They comprehended and conveyed the whole plan to
the tribe in about three separate monosyllables, whereupon we made a
start.