THE CAVE DWELLER’S FUNERAL.
The howling mob came hurrying toward them; their faces distorted with
horrible grimaces, their arms flying in the air, brandishing spears like
the one found in the corridor. They came on howling, yelling and
shouting in a blood-curdling way.
“Fall back, slowly,” said Mr. Bruce, “but keep in this corridor.”
They retreated slowly, keeping their faces on the approaching mob.
“If they come too near discharge your pistols in their midst,” continued
Mr. Bruce.
The natives were gaining on them fast, but they were not moving as
quickly as they might, showing that they were undecided as to whether it
would be best to attack the strangers or not. There seemed to be about
two hundred of them, each bearing a torch in one hand and a spear in the
other.
As time went on and they saw the hostile movements on the part of the
strangers, they became bold and moved more rapidly. They were closing up
quickly when our friends heard a shout in the rear, and looking over
their shoulders saw another mob of the natives closing in on them from
that direction.
“Which shall it be?” said Mr. Bruce, “advance or retreat.”
“Advance,” said Harry, “and give those howling demons a taste of lead.”
On all the excursions our friends had carried their small arms but had
never used them; but they had these with them now and it was well that
they had taken this precaution, for nothing else would have had as much
effect on this barbarous race of underground dwellers, as the noise and
explosion of the pistols would. Our friends were still standing waiting
for the men to advance. The natives, seeing that they now had their game
safe, became wilder in their demonstrations and bolder in their
movements. The body in the rear also hurried forward and in a very short
time the strangers in this horrible place found themselves very sorely
pressed.
“Now,” said Mr. Bruce, “make a rush and fire as you go. Harry, you and I
will take the lead, for it is best to go in twos. When the chambers of
our revolvers are empty, we will drop behind and let Mr. Graham and
Onrai take the lead. If these beasts do not turn and run, charge right
into them, for it is our only chance. Now, forward, double quick.”
The men started on a run, discharging their revolvers as they went. At
each discharge, one of the natives would fall, for they were so tightly
wedged in the narrow passage, there was no chance of missing them. As
our friends started and the fearful noise of the pistols, as they were
discharged, rung through the cavern, the natives stopped and watched the
advance with open-mouthed wonder. Then they saw their companions
dropping one at a time as the weapons were discharged, they began to
grow uneasy, and then to move slowly backward and then, at last, as the
full force of the panic struck them, they turned and fled down the
corridor, each trying to outrun the other and trampling those under foot
who were unlucky enough to fall. On, on they flew over the hard surface
of the cave, occasionally throwing frightened glances over their
shoulders as they ran; then, seeing those strangers still after them,
they strove still harder to place a greater distance between themselves
and their pursuers.
Those in the rear of our friends had turned and ran in the opposite
direction from which they came, when they saw their companions retreat.
They saw too the work of those awful barking, smoke-belching weapons and
thinking that they might be turned on them in the same manner, probably
thought it best to get out of the way as quickly as possible. This took
a considerable load from off the minds of our friends, for they had
feared that these howling barbarians would attack them from the rear as
they ran. After the first three or four discharges of the pistols had
started their enemies, they had discontinued firing in order to save
their ammunition, but they kept up the pace and were close on the heels
of the devils. Suddenly the mob turned to the right and disappeared. As
our friends had thrown away the lighted torch, when first surprised by
the natives they were now left in total darkness again and when the
danger disappeared, they stopped to hold a consultation. Looking back
they saw that their former pursuers had also left the corridor and this
decided them to wait a few minutes for further developments.
“We must be careful now,” said Mr. Bruce, “for these natives may lay in
ambush and attack us, as we advance or retreat. They are cunning, as
they have shown by their smoking process, and we must be on our guard.”
“I think they are so badly scared they will not again bother us;” said
Harry.
“Perhaps so,” said Mr. Bruce, “but if they have a means of attacking us
without running any risk of personal injury to themselves, you may
remain assured they will do so.”
“They are a strange race of men,” said Onrai, “I thought, when I first
looked upon your people, that you were small in stature, but these are
very much smaller and are hideous. Do you think them human?”
“Human, yes,” said Mr. Bruce, “but of a very low order of humanity. The
race has so long inhabited these underground dwellings that they have
become wild and barbarous.”
“They must be,” said Onrai, “for they are so unlike your race. But do
you suppose that they have always lived here or have they come from
another world like yourselves? I cannot believe that they have been
here, right under our fair Land of On, for long, for if they had we
would have known it.”
“But how would you have known it, Onrai?” asked Mr. Graham. “You nor
yours have ever investigated nor have you ever cared to, and you might
have gone down to your graves and countless generations of those who
follow you have done the same, without ever knowing that these strange
people lived beneath your land, in the very bowels of the earth. And, we
have said so frequently, Onrai, your people have no curiosity and take
no heed of things which do not directly concern them.”
“It is better so, I think,” answered Onrai; “for surely you can find no
happiness in an undertaking like this, can you?”
“Well, yes, we can,” answered Mr. Bruce, “for in the first place it is a
pleasure to us to see and learn of new and strange things. That is where
one’s curiosity comes in, you see; and then we enjoy, in a way, the
excitement which such adventures always bring. But at the same time I
would not recommend any such questionable pleasures to those who have
never had any desire for them. But we are in a strange place and
predicament now to be discussing this question. We must decide on which
way we are going and how we are going to proceed.”
“What do you say, Mr. Graham?” asked Onrai.
“Well,” said Mr. Graham, “we have kept in one direction so far and I see
no reason for returning now. Our friends will not worry about us if we
do not return for two or three days and there are many things here which
I would like to find out before going back. We have proceeded so far and
it will be no more difficult for us to get back from a short distance
beyond here than it would be from this point. So let us go ahead.”
“Agreed,” said Harry, “and let us keep close together, for we may need
each other’s immediate help.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Bruce, “we must move cautiously and silently if possible
and may be we will pass the point where the natives turned off.”
With this they moved on, feeling their way by the walls of the corridor
and keeping close together. A braver lot of men it would have been hard
to find; in fact, not one of these men felt the least fear even after
their recent experience, unless it might have been Onrai, and it was not
a fear with him, but more that unexplained uncertainty. He had been led
to think, throughout his life, that his race was the only one inhabiting
this world and he had first been visited by a number of strange people,
even coming into his company in a strange way. He had accounted for
these by believing that they had come from another planet. This had not
worried him but only a few days before, while moving through his country
his men had found a woman and child, which had evidently belonged to
another race of people. This had set him to thinking and now, down here
in the bowels of the earth, living in caves hewn out of rock, he had
found still another race, a miserable half-dwarfed race, and Mr. Bruce
had assured him that these people had lived here for ages, probably
longer than had his people in the open country above. All these things
had upset the teachings and the beliefs of a lifetime and Onrai now was
in a doubt as to what to believe. But he felt no fear really, but only a
disgust, brought on by all this doubt.
The party calculated that they had now reached the point where the
natives had disappeared and the precautions were doubled. The floor of
the cavern at this point was strewn with spears, which had been dropped
by the frightened natives and it was hard work to walk over these in the
dark without making some noise, but no signs of natives were seen, as it
was supposed that they had hid themselves in some remote part of the
cave. After passing this point, the explorers moved faster but did not
attempt to light a torch.
“Do you think that we can be able to find the other corridor again, the
one by which we entered this place?” asked Onrai.
“That’s so,” said Mr. Bruce. “I had forgotten that we were now in
another corridor.”
“No,” said Harry, “and even if we look for it we would not know where to
find it. We may wander about here for weeks or months and never find our
way out.”
“Now, these are disagreeable things which we must not think of if we
would enjoy this adventure to the fullest,” said Mr. Graham. “I can
understand that to be lost in this hole would be fearful, but we are not
lost yet, for if we are, we are not aware of the fact; so let us not
think of that. We must try, however, to keep in this corridor or one
which leads off from it and to know at all times just how many turns we
make.”
“It would be well for us to notch these walls occasionally, or in some
other way leave marks by which we can find our way back,” said Mr.
Bruce.
“That is a grand idea,” said Harry, “and I will commence right here by
scratching the wall.”
The torch was lit and Harry, taking one of the spears, attempted to chip
the wall with this, but one stone was as hard as the other, seemingly,
and the spearhead would make no impression.
“We will have to find some other means than this,” said Harry. And
stooping, he looked over the floor of the cave, in hopes of finding
something which would cut the hard stone. But he was not successful, so
the notching was given up.
The corridor still stretched out straight ahead of them, and they
hurried along as fast as their tired limbs would allow their doing.
“What time is it, Mr. Bruce?” asked Harry.
“Why, it is nine o’clock,” answered Mr. Bruce; “and to tell the truth I
feel as though it were twelve. A little rest would not go amiss.”
“But I do not think it advisable to sleep here,” said Mr. Graham, “we
are not far enough away from that bloodthirsty mob.”
“No,” said Mr. Bruce, “we will hurry on for a while yet, and if no side
aisle leads off into which we can hide for a few hours, we will lie down
in this, leaving watchers.”
For another hour they trudged along, until thoroughly exhausted and
ready to drop, they decided upon taking a short rest. The first watch
fell to Harry, and he took his stand against the wall, being afraid that
if he sat down he would go to sleep. The others stretched themselves out
upon the hard floor of the corridor, and in a moment were fast asleep.
Harry put out the torch for fear of its attracting attention to them,
should any of the natives happen in the corridor.
The moments passed on leaden wings; his eyes grew heavy and he began
pacing the corridor to keep awake; his legs were too weary to longer
support his body and he squatted down upon the floor with his back
resting against the side wall. The scenes of the day passed through his
mind in a dreamy sort of way. In a short time he caught himself dozing;
then tired nature asserted itself and his eyes closed and refused to
open again; his head dropped to one side and he slept. How long he had
slept he did not know, but he was awakened by a humming noise, which
seemed far away and yet very close. Starting up and opening his eyes he
looked far up the corridor in the direction in which they were traveling
and there he saw a procession of torches coming toward him. He hastily
awakened his companions and telling them what was up they held a
consultation.
It seemed folly to longer go ahead, for these bodies of natives might be
met continually and to have to chase them every few hours would be
nonsense. Harry had walked up the corridor a ways, while the others were
talking, feeling his way by the wall when his hand, which went out to
touch this wall failed to come in contact with it; he tried again with
the same result and then moved his body in that direction thinking that
he might have wandered away from the wall. But there was no wall at this
point and after moving in this direction for a short distance, he struck
a match; he could not see very closely, but he understood that he was in
a side corridor or room of some kind. He at once called to his
companions and they having joined him, they lit a torch; the natives
still being a great distance up the corridor. This room was considerably
larger than the one in which they had been imprisoned and was evidently
a living chamber; for in one corner was a raised slab, on which were
dead coals and some fish offal. The room had evidently been used very
recently from the looks of the fish remains.
On the opposite side of the room was another door, leading into another
corridor, and upon examining this corridor it was found to extend only a
short distance and end against a solid rock. But if there was a secret
door in this rock, the explorers could not see and they had no time to
give it a thorough examination, because of having to extinguish the
torch, the natives now getting very close.
“What shall we do now?” asked Harry.
“I think,” said Mr. Bruce, “it will be well to hide behind the slab on
which are the coals and watch the procession as it passes. They cannot
certainly be after us, for they have not had time to get so far ahead of
us. It is probably another band on their way to this part of the cave
for some purpose or other.”
They took up their positions behind the slab, lying on their sides with
their heads just above the stone, looking for the natives. They could be
heard coming, chanting a dismal dirge; the glare of the torches already
lighting up the hall outside. “I would not care to be made a prisoner
again,” said Harry.
“They can’t catch us in the same way here,” said Mr. Bruce, “for these
arches have no sliding doors.”
“This may be some holiday celebration,” said Mr. Graham.
“It may be their Day of Resis,” said Onrai, “that is if they have a Day
of Resis.”
“I doubt their having such a day, Onrai, although we do not know what
the ceremonies of your Day of Resis are, but look they are opposite.”
The first one of the procession now came up and our friends lowered
their heads as they passed, but the natives were seemingly oblivious of
their presence, the explorers grew bolder and raising their heads well
above the slab watched the procession. First the men came, bearing
torches stuck on the ends of spears, then came a number of men bearing
spears alone; following these were a number of women each carrying a
peculiar-shaped fish—a sort of combination fish and lizard, as it had
four short legs and feet; there were a great number of these and it took
a long time for them to pass; after them came a great number of
children, ranging, as nearly as the explorers could guess, between the
ages of five and ten; each of these children bore a small piece of coal,
which brought to the minds of our friends thoughts of the great cave
which they had crossed in coming to the Land of On. Following the
children was another body of men and it was these men who were chanting.
The wailing tones of these men, as they came nearer, were fearful to
hear and our friends felt the cold chills running down their backs.
These men also carried torches, black torches, which looked as though
they were made of sharpened pieces of coal; they made a very bright
light and but little smoke. As the men came forward it could be seen
that they were bearing a very thin slab of stone on their shoulders and
on the slab lay the body of a native. It was a funeral procession.