THE CITY OF ON.
But Enola had not lost consciousness entirely when she sank to the
floor. She had rested there only a moment, when she thought she felt
something pushing her. She half rose, and looking over her shoulder
thought she saw a ray of light. Could she be dreaming? Was this some
awful torturing vision come to torment her in her fearful suffering? No.
She could see the sun, the sky, and far away she caught a glimpse of a
beautiful city. She now realized it all; her weight upon this particular
part of the floor had set the door to moving. She must move through the
opening quickly. Her senses were roused to action by this revelation.
She knew the door would revolve and close again perhaps forever.
She had by some strange fatality accidentally found the means of opening
it, for which they had searched so vainly, but while in such a
semi-conscious state she might not be able to repeat the operation. She
knew where to find the spring on the other side, and as the opening
began to grow smaller, the door slowly swinging into its place again,
she gave one frantic leap and turned to find herself cut off from the
rest by the solid wall of rock.
From the ground she began to tear bits of grass and succulent weeds, and
partially allaying her thirst with these, she hurried to the point which
might be, she thought, the hiding place of the spring. Almost tearing
the flesh from her hands in pulling the underbrush away, she was
rewarded by seeing a loose piece of rock set into the solid cliff.
Removing this the lever was before her. It took nearly all the strength
she had left to move the lever, but she was rewarded at last by seeing
the door swing on its pivots again. Peering through the opening she saw
the light of a torch moving quickly toward the door, and she knew that
it was Sedai returning. Sedai had caught the glimpse of daylight, and
hastening his steps, he had moistened the lips of the sufferers, and
when the door again swung open he hurried through with Mrs. Graham, and
as often as Enola would lift the heavy lever he would carry out another
of the prostrated companions.
One by one, all were carried out, and Sedai returned for the arms and
accoutrements. Ladened with these he lacked the rapidity of motion
necessary, and the massive stone as it revolved, caught him squarely
between the shoulders. Slowly the grinding mass pressed closer, while
Enola, petrified with horror for the moment, pressed her hands to her
throbbing temples. Finally, realizing the fearful position that Sedai
was in, she seized one of the rifles, and using it as a lever, placed it
in the crack of the door and threw her whole weight against it. At the
same time Sedai, with a herculean effort of his mighty muscles, strained
every nerve, pushed himself through, and fell on the ground bruised and
bleeding. Enola, taking one of the water gourds which Sedai had tramped
so far to fill, placed it to the lips of the noble fellow, and then gave
the others a very little. Her strength now gave out again and she sank
down thoroughly worn out.
The few drops of water had partially roused the others, and Mr. Bruce
especially seemed to have regained complete consciousness. He looked
about him, but it had grown dark and he could see nothing; but he could
hear, and the cries of many beasts reached his ears. He tried hard to
remember how he had come here, and wondered where his companions were.
The cries of the wild beasts, however, brought him back to himself, and
he knew that a fire must be built or the beasts would be on him. He rose
and began looking for some dry twigs with which to build the fire; he
stumbled over something, and stooping, he found it to be one of his
companions. He felt about him and found a torch, and lighting this, he
saw the rest of the party lying about him. He started a fire, and not a
moment too soon, for the cries of the animals were growing dangerously
near; and a little while after he saw two bright eyes looking at him
from out the darkness; then all about him he could see those glaring
eyes. The number was growing, and Mr. Bruce becoming thoroughly alarmed,
roused the others, and all gathering near the fire, waited for further
developments. They were jackals, as nearly as the party could make out;
and occasionally one a little bolder than the rest, would come within
the circle of light; but a ball from one of the rifles would stop him,
when his bloodthirsty comrades would jump on the body and devour it in
an instant. They increased in numbers until those in the rear, crowding
forward, pushed the foremost nearer and nearer the fire, it became
necessary to use the rifles as clubs and beat them back.
The situation had become most alarming when the roar of a lion almost in
their midst struck terror to the hearts of the travelers, and made the
jackals scamper off into the jungle. A crashing of the underbrush was
followed by another mighty roar, and looking, our friends could just
see, in the outer edge of light, two tawny monsters about to engage in a
combat, evidently over the possession of a beautiful lioness which was
moving about urging the lions on. The two lions sprang at each other
simultaneously, and meeting in midair, down to the earth they fell,
fastened together by teeth and claws. Over and over they rolled, biting
and snarling, and striking murderous blows with their powerful paws. It
was a magnificent battle, and in spite of bleeding wounds, raged
furiously for a quarter of an hour, when, through loss of blood, the
blows became weaker, and the biting less fierce. The royal combat was
drawing to a close. Suddenly, as though determined to win or lose all in
one final struggle they separated and once more came together in savage
fury. A terrific blow from the paw of the one laid open the neck of the
other, but not soon enough to check the fearful crunch of the powerful
jaws upon the throat of his opponent, and in a moment the writhing mass
lay quiet on the ground, dead.
Our friends had stood gazing at the awful fight with a horrible
fascination, and it was some minutes before they could take their eyes
off the fallen foes. When they did, and looked at the east they saw that
dawn was breaking.
As the shadows faded before the rising sun the sounds from the forest
grew less and less, until nothing was heard but the songs of the
wakening birds. Slowly the dawn crept into the heavens. The gray turned
to pink, the pink to a rich red and then to a yellow, and the sun rose
in all its equatorial splendor. A mist hung over the landscape, but
gradually this was dissipated before the hot rays of the sun, and the
country and city of On lay before them.
They were standing on a small plateau on the eastern slope, a lofty
range of mountains or cliffs. As far as the eye could reach westward,
these mountains rose in perpendicular cliffs, thousands of feet into the
air. A few miles east of them the range turned in a northerly direction,
and extended on and on until the eye could follow it no farther. The
mountain descended about six hundred feet from where they were standing,
and ended in a beautiful valley.
In their immediate vicinity was a dense jungle, and to the north of a
magnificent forest. At the base of the mountain was a wide river, and on
the opposite bank of this was a stone wall fifty feet in height. Beyond
this wall stretched a beautiful valley, dotted with numerous groves and
small lakes. To the northwest of them a few miles rose the tall towers
of a vast and beautiful city, all glistening in the sunlight. The city
rose from the valley to the top of a high hill on the summit of which
was a grand structure, probably a temple.
The scene was ineffably grand, and our friends looked on it in wonder.
“Are you now convinced, Harry, that there are a few real things in
Africa?” asked Enola.
“The scene before me would hardly convince me of this,” said Harry, “for
everything seems too beautiful to be real.”
“Disabuse your mind of its being a dream?” said Enola. “It is a most
sublime reality, and a happy ending to the horrors and sufferings of the
cavern. But look, do you not see a body of horsemen yonder? Probably
they saw our fire last night and are coming to investigate.”
The horsemen were lost to view for a moment but again appeared to the
party as they came out on a clear stretch of road. In a short while the
men had arrived at the wall, and opening a gate in this which was at the
end of the bridge, they waited for our friends to approach. The
travelers moved slowly toward them, and as they came nearer the men
dismounted and made a respectful obeisance. These men were the
handsomest and most beautifully formed ever looked upon. They were fully
seven feet high, and their figures showed great strength and suppleness;
their heads were rather small but beautifully shaped; the skin was a
light bronze color, soft and healthful-looking; the face was covered
with a short beard of dark brown color; the eyes were large, dark, and
full of expression; the nose straight and well-proportioned.
Each wore a loose garment with large flowing sleeves; this tunic was
belted in at the waist by a girdle of gold; sandals were fastened to the
feet by golden lacings extending to the knee; a round helmet was worn on
the head, but as our party approached these helmets were removed
disclosing short curly heads of hair.
Their steeds were of the same species but much larger than the ordinary
zebra, standing at least eighteen hands high; they were beautiful
creatures, with small heads, arched necks and finely shaped bodies and
limbs; stripes encircled them from the tip of the nose to the tail; the
manes and tails nearly touched the ground.
The trappings of the animals were gorgeous; the bridle was of polished
gold wire with large ostrich plumes reaching up from the head-piece; the
reins and martingales were made of white leather heavily studded with
precious stones which glistened in the sunlight; the saddle was flat,
being nothing more than a pad made of cloth-of-gold and without
stirrups.
As our friends approached them, the men stood leaning against their
steeds, holding their helmets in their hands. The rest of the party
having halted, Mr. Graham went up quite close to the natives and by
signs made them understand that they were tired, and hungry, and wanted
food and shelter. One of the men showed by signs that he knew that which
Mr. Graham wished to convey, and that they would send to the city and
get other beasts to carry them there. Four men now left the band and
rode off toward the city, and about two hours later the adventurers were
surprised to see approaching them a body of at least one thousand
zebramen and in front six monstrous white elephants.
With the greatest care all were helped upon the backs of the royal
beasts, but Enola was given the largest, whitest and most richly
caparisoned. These elephants were partially covered with cloth-of-gold,
and on each of their backs was a comfortable howdah shaded by a canopy
of palm branches.
When all was in readiness they started with Enola’s elephant in the
lead. The cavalcade moved slowly over the beautiful highway on through
green fields, along the shores of miniature lakes, over low eminences,
past well-cultivated farms, under stately palms and eucalyptus trees
until the white city was seen but a short distance away. Here some of
the party left the cavalcade and rode on ahead.
Shortly after this the road widened into a wide well-paved boulevard,
lined on each side by lofty trees, and bordered by beautiful villas
built of an exquisite pinkish white stone which resembled Mexican onyx.
These villas were broad and deep, and moderately high; a wide flight of
steps led up to each entrance which was easily twenty-five feet high,
and which was sheltered by a portico, with immense pillars supporting
its roof. The surrounding grounds were large, delightfully shaded and
bright with flowers.
On the cavalcade moved, through the broad avenue, the houses becoming
larger and more magnificent as they approached the centre of the city.