CLEFT BY THE EARTHQUAKE.
Our friends pulled up just in time, or they would have gone tumbling
into the black chasm. They moved back hurriedly, almost expecting to see
the hole open still further and engulf them as it had the negroes, for
they could make no other explanation of the negroes’ disappearance. The
light from the volcano made most objects discernable about this point,
and our friends could look into the great gulf for some distance, but
then the further view was lost in the darkness.
“What shall we do now,” asked Onrai of Mr. Bruce. “We can no longer
follow the negroes.”
“No, this hole has swallowed them up,” said Mr. Bruce, “but we cannot
tell whether they have dropped to eternity, or have followed a path into
its depth, of which they alone know. Has the chasm always been here?”
“I can remember no such crevice,” said Onrai, “nor have I ever heard any
of my people speak of it. I think it is another of the mysteries which
seem to abound now,” said Onrai, and his face seemed in the half-light
to wear a very troubled look.
“These mysteries as you call them, Onrai, are only such to the
uninitiated,” said Mr. Bruce. “They are all understood by those who are
acquainted with the great principles of nature. This crevice is
undoubtedly caused by the earthquake, as this very often occurs during a
disturbance of this kind.”
“But these strange people,” said Onrai. “Can you explain their
presence?”
“If you cannot understand it, Onrai,” said Mr. Bruce, “don’t worry
yourself in trying to, but look on those negroes as I have before told
you to, as wild beasts, and treat them as such if they should break down
a portion of the retaining wall and intrude upon your inhabited country.
These beings are human, of course, but they have never felt the quieting
hand of civilization, and they are but little removed from the wild
beasts which inhabit the forests.”
“Then we shall kill them all as we did those last night,” asked Onrai.
“Yes, as opportunity offers,” replied Mr. Bruce. “Listen; these people
must never be allowed to gain a footing in your land, or the result
might be your extermination. You must fight them from the first and
never allow them to rest for a moment in your domain. You may lose many
men in thus defending your country, but it is your only chance to retain
it. So, imbue in your men the necessity of fighting with all their
hearts, and souls, and might, and strength, for God and their country,
and impress them with the fact that only in so doing can they ever
expect to again enjoy those privileges and that great freedom which has
always been theirs.”
“I will do this,” said Onrai, “but what shall we do now?”
“We must wait here,” said Mr. Bruce, “until daylight and see what we can
make of the hole, and whether the negroes have been killed or have used
it as a means of escape. We will also investigate the volcano while
here. But you must send men back to the villa immediately, to bury those
dead negroes before the women see them; and tell this body of men to
inform the women that we will return in a day or two; that we started
early to look into the volcano or would have bade them good-bye. Don’t,
by any means, let them know of the fight of last night. Impress upon
your men the necessity of secrecy; it would only worry the women
unnecessarily if they knew that the negroes were making trouble.”
The other men now laid down on the hard ground, making themselves as
comfortable as possible, to rest until morning, when they could explore
the hole and the volcano. They had tramped nearly twelve miles during
the night and were now well up against the cliffs. The black cloud of
smoke was still being blown to the north, however, and they were saved
the extra misery of the falling ashes.
At last the east began to show signs of returning day, and long before
the sun had crept into the heavens, our friends were up and looking down
the great crevice. They were surprised to see the strange formation of
this hole in the ground. It had undoubtedly been made by the earthquake,
and was probably about ten feet broad at the top and narrowed in width
as it went down, until it had reached a depth of two hundred feet, where
it was only a narrow crack hardly six inches in width. But along one
side had been left a natural foot path, about eighteen inches in width.
This run up and down in a very irregular fashion and was narrower in
some places than in others, but there was enough space at any point of
it on which to walk, and it was this which had probably been followed by
the negroes. They had known of this then, or they could never have found
it in the darkness of night. Mr. Bruce and Mr. Graham followed the
crevice for some distance, and then had returned and taking the
footpath, had determined to follow it until they had learned what had
become of the negroes.
They were accompanied by Harry and several of the Onians, Onrai
remaining behind with the others. The footpath would bring them very
near the surface at times, and again it would carry them so deep into
the crevice, they could almost touch the opposite side by stretching out
their hands. Taken on the whole, the chasm ascended with the foothills
of the cliffs, or in other words, it kept a mean depth throughout its
length until reaching the face of the cliff, where it ascended very
rapidly, and upon looking up, our friends were not surprised to see the
great cliff a thousand feet high, cleft as clean as if cut by a
monstrous knife. And this cut was at straight as a die, our friends
being able to see through it in a direct line a great distance. Still
the footpath continued as it had commenced, along one side of the
crevice. When once inside of the cliff the explorers could look up
through the cavern, far above their heads and see the stars, for the
crevice here was narrow and of such a depth, the light of the sun could
not penetrate it.
“I think it would be better to return,” said Mr. Bruce, “we can only
follow this path through the mountain and that is too great a journey
for to-day, especially when we have had no breakfast.”
“I think as you do,” said Mr. Graham. “These negroes must certainly have
escaped by this route, and it will be an easy matter to keep them from
again entering the Land of On, for ten men could guard this pass against
an army.”
They turned and retraced their steps and were soon with their companions
again. They now turned their attention to the volcano. As the morning
advanced and the wind changed, the smoke was again driven over them, and
the ashes fell in great sheets about them. They had to cross the crevice
and tramp some distance to the north to reach the base of the cliff,
over which towered the cloud of smoke. The question as to how they
should cross the crevice was easily answered by their going to the end
of it; which was a mile distant from where they now were. The whole
party joined in this exploration tour, the attendants keeping their eyes
open for any small game which might be induced, by some cause or other,
to enter these bad lands. They were now in the Hunting Reserve, but the
land here was so barren, and of such great extent, these animals would
not come into it for any reason, unless it might be to cross it. Just at
this time, too, it was made worse by a thick covering of ashes which had
deluged everything. And the same shroud of ashes was now coming down in
a blinding sheet, and was worse than it had been the night before,
because of the heat which now went with them.
They were very near the belching crater now, and when the wind would
change for a moment, blowing the cloud in a different direction, they
could see the great black mass of smoke coming from the cliff, and
bringing in its folds, very often, live coals of considerable size. The
wind did not change very often, however, and most of the time our
friends were engulfed in the awful dust and ashes, which at times were
so thick, they were even hid from each other. But by perseverance, they
reached the foot of the cliff right above which rose the volume of
smoke. They stood here for a moment gazing up at the towering wall of
rock, it being, at this point, fully two thousand feet high, and
perpendicular, and wondered how they were going to scale its great
height. They could not possibly do it; there was not even a foothold on
the face of that rock wall, and our friends turned away disheartened.
They had hoped to find fissures or rents in the rock, caused by the
earthquake, which might allow them to reach the summit; but their hopes
in this direction were all shattered by that one glance up the palisade.
It was now beyond noon and they had had nothing to eat that morning, and
they were all beginning to feel desperately hungry. This, too, puzzled
them, for they could not expect to find anything to eat here or anything
to kill nearer than two miles, where the good lands began again. But
something must be had, so three of the attendants were sent to the
woods, two miles away, to procure, if possible, a deer or something
light, which they might carry back with them, and which would be so
palatable in their present condition of hunger.
They took up a position just at the base of the cliff, at a point where
they were sheltered from the shower, and prepared to await the hunters.
“What do you think of our chances for reaching the summit of the cliff?”
asked Mr. Graham of Mr. Bruce.
“Well, I should say they were bad,” answered Mr. Bruce.
“Bad,” said Harry, “well I should say so. There is no chance at all.
That cliff rising above us is duplicated throughout the entire
circumference of On.”
“So Onrai says, and it is true,” said Mr. Bruce.
“There is but little difference in the face of the cliffs,” said Onrai.
“Those about here are seamed to a greater degree than those at other
points, but one can just as easily scale those as any of the others.”
“That is not very encouraging,” said Mr. Bruce, “but I do not think you
have taken into consideration the earthquake and the changes which it
might have made. We have already found one place where the earthquake
has split these mighty walls and I think we may find others. At any rate
I will not give up trying to find a place where I can reach the summit.”
“I will follow the base of these cliffs for miles but what I find a
place,” said Mr. Graham.
“You forget that the base of the cliffs lie, throughout their entire
length, in the Hunting Reserve,” said Onrai, “and I do not think that
they could be followed closely for ten miles, let alone their entire
length.”
“True, I had forgotten that,” said Mr. Graham, and his face fell.
“It is only here,” continued Onrai, “that we can follow them at all, for
the animals do not bother us here, and there is no underbrush to hamper
us.”
The men talked on in this way until the hunters returned, two of them
with a small deer, and the third with a bear cub. Their burdens were
heavy and the trip had been quite long, but the prospect of the feast
which would be theirs when they again reached their friends, buoyed them
up and the party greeted them with cheers, and all fell to and cut the
choicest parts of the deer and bear to roast; but one important thing
had been forgotten. They were in a barren waste and not a sprig of wood
could be found with which to make a fire. They were looking at each
other in blank amazement, when a huge boulder flew through the air and
fell in their midst.