A BLACK SURPRISE.
The party rose early the morning following the story of Mr. Bruce. All
were happy now that they were together again and all were eager to take
up the journey.
“What do you think about starting to-day?” said Mr. Bruce.
“I am perfectly willing, if the others are,” answered Onrai.
“We have been here now about eight days,” said Enola, “and the time has
seemed long without you all, and the place has become lonesome. Why not
start this morning?”
“Well, we will, if that is the way you look at it,” said Onrai.
“I would like to extend this journey much farther, if such a thing could
be possible,” said Mr. Bruce, as they rode along.
“But why?” asked Onrai.
“Well, because it has been so full of pleasant surprises and adventures.
It is these things which have made our stay in On a pleasant one, and we
have found many of them on this journey and elsewhere.”
“It has been fruitful of these things,” said Onrai, “but even these
might grow monotonous in time.”
“Yes, I suppose so, but I could not imagine so at this time,” said Mr.
Bruce.
“To us, of course,” said Onrai, “none of the things in On are new; but
the adventures under this land were of a very startling nature, and I
would not care to have many like it.”
“It is not at all likely that you will ever experience another such a
one,” said Mr. Graham.
“I cannot tell,” said Onrai. “There is still a mystery to solve which
worries me considerably.”
“And what is that?” asked Mr. Graham.
“Have you forgotten the black woman and child which you found lying in
the track of the storm?” asked Onrai.
“Oh,” exclaimed Mr. Graham, “I had forgotten it for the time.”
“It has puzzled me not a little, and I do not know now whether it be
woman or beast, but if it be woman, where did she come from?”
“The storm comes from the heavens,” said Mr. Bruce, “and could not the
woman have been brought with it from one of the distant worlds?”
“Yes,” said Onrai, “but why should she come to us dead?”
“The storm, in its great fury, killed her,” said Mr. Bruce.
“I cannot understand why it should,” said Onrai, “for it killed none in
our world.”
“No,” said Mr. Bruce, “but you forget that it nearly killed Enola.”
“No, I can never forget that,” said Onrai, and he looked up quickly at
Enola, as if afraid now, that she might not be with him.
“Hush, do not speak of unpleasant things to-day,” said Enola. “We can
put in our time to so much better advantage. See, is not the country
beautiful hereabouts?”
“It grows wilder as we go farther and the scenes change very frequently.
We can just see the great cliffs on the western side of On and they do
not look so far away, do they? And we can hardly believe in looking at
them that it would take ten days to reach them. And look, there is a
column of smoke arising from them. What causes that?”
The men looked at the strange sight, but could give no answer. There was
certainly a column of smoke ascending from what looked like the cliffs,
but this might have been at a point far this side of them. Still the
sight was very unusual, in fact, it was entirely unaccountable and it
puzzled all the natives as well as the strangers.
“It could not be some of your people burning the debris left by the
storm,” said Mr. Bruce to Onrai.
“No, that smoke comes from far away,” said Onrai, “but it would take a
tremendous fire to cause smoke which could be seen from here.”
“I should say,” said Mr. Graham, “that the smoke rose from the cliff and
not from any point this side.”
“Yes, but what would make such a smoke at the cliffs?” asked Onrai.
“I cannot answer that,” said Mr. Graham, “But I think that you will find
that I am right. Have you ever had any active volcanoes in your
country?”
“I do not understand you,” said Onrai.
“You do not know the meaning of the word?” asked Mr. Bruce.
“No,” answered Onrai.
“Well, volcanoes, in our world,” said Mr. Bruce, “are mountains, through
the sides of which great volumes of molten rocks and sand and earth come
rushing and pouring.”
Onrai looked in astonishment at this, never having heard of such a thing
before.
For the rest of the day nothing else was looked after or talked about
but the column of smoke in the far northwest. In the evening, after the
arrival at the villa in which the night was to be spent and after the
party had been somewhat separated into little groups, Mr. Bruce found
himself for the first time during the day, alone with Mr. Graham and
immediately the conversation reverted to the column of smoke.
“What do you think of it, anyway?” asked Mr. Bruce.
“I think there can be but one answer to that question,” said Mr. Graham,
“and that is that the column of smoke belongs to a volcano, that the
volcano was the outcome of the earthquake and the first cause of the
terrible storm.”
At this moment a song rose on the night air, which, for its brilliancy,
eclipsed anything yet heard by the strangers, and immediately after
Onrai came on to the terrace and stood with bowed head. Mr. Bruce and
Mr. Graham watched him for a moment and then going up to him Mr. Bruce
asked, “What is it, Onrai?”
“It is the song of joy,” answered Onrai, “of those who will participate
in the chiefest ceremonies of the coming Day of Resis.”
The party had now been out nine days on this last stage of the journey,
and to-morrow would bring them to the villa near the field of diamonds.
The column of smoke had grown in size, and was much blacker at this
point than when first seen. There was no longer any doubt about its
coming from the top of the cliffs, or else from a point directly back of
them, and there was scarcely any further doubt about its coming from a
volcano, for even at this distance, some thirty-five miles, as near as
Mr. Bruce could calculate, a regular storm of flying cinders began to
fall, covering them completely.
They watched the great volume of smoke anxiously, and as they came
nearer to it, and as it grew larger and blacker, and as they could see
no real cause for it, they began to regard it with superstitious awe.
Nothing else could be talked about. The great belching cliff stood
directly in their pathway, and the black smoke rose some thousands of
feet above it. A great shower of ashes came rolling down on them, giving
them all a grayish coat.
“If it is like this all the way it will be far from pleasant,” said
Enola.
“Yes,” said Mr. Bruce, “but think of the field of diamonds at the end of
our journey; we could undergo much worse trials at home than this, to
get to a field of diamonds, and think nothing of it.”
They were stumbling along now, almost blinded by the dust, and the
zebras were getting fractious. At times they would stop, refusing to go
further, and it would take all the persuasion the men could muster, to
get them started again. But they were nearing the villa where they were
to stop and still had hopes of reaching it. It lay very near to the
field of diamonds, and would also be near the volcano, which the men had
resolved to visit before returning.
It was awful work, though, this blindly stumbling along, only the solid
pavement of the avenue letting them know that they had not lost their
way. But a light loomed up in the darkness at last, and they decided
this must be the villa, where some of the men working in this part of
the country had taken refuge. They made for it as fast as possible, but
as they came nearer to it the light grew brighter, until a flame shot up
and they knew that it did not come from the villa. Slowly they
approached it, having left the avenue and taken their way through the
fields. They came closer, but suddenly all pulled up their steeds as of
one accord. Ahead of them was a camp-fire, and about it, dancing and
throwing their arms in the air, were a hundred naked black Africans.
The scene was a weird one, and the whole thing was such a complete
surprise to our friends, that they could do nothing but stare in
open-mouthed wonderment. The negroes were naked, with the exception of a
cloth about the loins. There were but few women among them and these
were seated about the fire, while the men clasped hands and danced in a
circle about them. The dance was wild and the yells, which broke from
the large mouths of the men, were terrible. Their black bodies had been
covered with oil of some kind and shone in the firelight like polished
ebony. They were of average height, probably five feet five or six
inches, and their bodies showed good feeding; they looked half
intelligent.
Each one carried, slung over the back, a shield, made of some kind of
hardened hide, and a spear with a long arrow-point made of bone; another
strange instrument of war, or for the hunt, was a sort of stone hatchet
with spear-point. This hatchet had a stone head or blade, with one side
sharpened, and the butt end or side, running to a sharp point; the
handle, which was about eighteen inches long, passed through the head
and extended beyond this about six inches, ending in a point of bone as
sharp as the point of a stiletto; to the other end of this handle was
fastened a long piece of leather string, which was now wrapped around
the handle.
All these things were taken in by our friends before the negroes seemed
to see them, for they had stopped well back among the trees, and the
negroes were making such a fearful noise with their hideous yells, they
could not hear the rather quiet approach of the cavalcade. But when they
caught sight of them at last, they stood as if paralyzed, and then moved
up a little nearer, as if to get a better look and satisfy themselves
that they were not mistaken. When they at last caught a good glimpse of
the huge elephants and great zebras, all beautifully trapped, and the
large men and women, they seemed suddenly overcome with fear, and
turning, ran off into the darkness. Our friends would have pursued them
but for Onrai, who said that such a move would be simply suicidal in
such dust-laden darkness. They accordingly started for the avenue again
and following this for a short distance further, saw another light, and
coming up to this, found that their dusty ride was at an end.
The inside of the villa was a pleasant change to them after the
dust-filled air of the outside, and the bath was first sought by all,
and then the meal-table. There was no great mirth at this meal to-night,
though, for the different scenes of the day and night, had had their
effect, and all were thinking. The last adventure of all had clapped the
climax. What could it mean? Where had the negroes come from, and how had
they entered the Land of On?
That night the party was attacked by the negroes, but they were on the
lookout and repelled them. About fifty of the negroes had been killed,
or mortally wounded by the forty Onians, as nearly as Mr. Bruce could
estimate, and there, were now about fifty of the black bodies fleeing
over the rock-covered plain. They had dropped their assagais and
hatchets in their fear, and their yells now was something pitiful. They
evidently supposed that they were being followed by a whole army of the
powerful men, which they had seen that evening. Fear lent them wings and
they actually flew over the hard flooring of the plain, and were
increasing the distance very perceptibly between themselves and their
pursuers. Still the Onians kept up the race determinedly, their feet now
being torn and bleeding with the tramp over the sharp pebbles of the
plain. The stone wall bordering the hunting ground was reached, and a
long hole was found in it, broken probably by the storm. The river was
crossed by a stone bridge at this point and still they hurried on.
The light was getting brighter as they neared the volcano and the
negroes could easily be seen away ahead of them. They were nearing the
great cliffs and they could now be seen looming up far into the heavens.
A little while longer and the negroes had disappeared. Our friends
hurrying forward nearly fell into a great gulf which opened at their
feet.