SEARCHING FOR BODIES.
One week had passed away since the fearful eruption, and our friends had
convalesced rapidly under the care of the attendants, until now all were
entirely recovered. The sun had shown brightly for a week, its light
unobstructed by any further shower of ashes. The fire and smoke from the
volcano had subsided, until now but a faint blue line was seen slowly
ascending into the heavens from the summit of the mountain. All about
the villa, as far as could be seen, was a bed of ashes, or not so much a
bed of ashes now as it was a cinder soil. But the trees had been
stripped of their verdure and no green thing was seen. If it were not so
excessively hot, our friends could have easily believed that they were
in some temperate zone and winter was on them.
But the cooling of the thick mass had made the air hot and humid, almost
suffocating; still, notwithstanding this, the air had not seemed
unhealthful, for our friends declared that they had never felt better in
their lives, with the exception of the stiffness and the soreness, which
was the direct outcome of the bruises and the burns. But if the eruption
had lasted but a few hours, its consequences had been fearful.
The slaughter of human beings and beasts had been terrible. On that
fateful morning, five thousand men, one hundred elephants and nearly as
many zebras, had left the villa, strong in perfect health and vigor; but
a few hours later, and but one elephant and five men were left to tell
the fearful tale. Those who had not been killed in battle, had been
slaughtered or had been buried beneath the hot shower of cinders and
steam. And fully as many of the negroes had perished also, in all making
a fearful total.
It had had an awful effect on the King for a few days. He had wandered
about the villa like one demented, and had spoken to no one, keeping
well to himself, his head bowed and face pale, and eyes sunken. One
could hardly imagine that this was the great and powerful King of On.
But Enola had been persevering in her efforts to draw his mind away from
the saddening events, and he could not long remain insensible to her
pleadings, to try and forget. She would tell him pleasing stories of the
life in her own world; would relate strange tales of adventure and
daring, which, for the time, would blot out the thought of his fearful
loss. And when he would turn to Enola with words of love, she would no
longer turn from him, but would encourage him in this. She had wanted to
make him forget, knowing that if his mind brooded on these events, he
would surely go mad, and then what would become of her and her friends?
Such fears had already taken possession of them, for they knew that such
an occurrence as this would impress the Onians fearfully, and this
impression might be as it had once been before, namely: that they were
in some way the cause of the fearful event. If such a belief should
become fully established in their minds, nothing could save them they
knew, unless it would be the interference of the King, whose desires
they held in high regard.
So Enola, although now determined never to marry the great King, would,
to save her friends and herself, humor him in the belief that she loved
him. It was a deception which was loathsome to her, but so much depended
on it that she could not help herself.
It was one week ago to-day that the volcano had belched forth, and the
few survivors were sitting at their morning meal.
“Well, shall we venture to the volcano, to-day?” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, we must go to-day, or give it up altogether,” replied the King,
“for our provisions are fast giving out and we must get back to the
country that has not been devastated by the eruption.”
“Yes, let us leave this horrible place as soon as possible,” added Mrs.
Graham.
“I confess that I, myself, am desirous of leaving the place which has so
nearly been the scene of our deaths,” rejoined Mr. Graham. “But Mr.
Bruce thinks that we ought to look over the ground where so many of the
Onians have fallen.”
“I will find no pleasure in thus going,” said Mr. Bruce, “but we should
know the exact state of things here before returning to the city. The
relatives and friends of all these buried thousands, will want to know
if it will be possible to recover their bodies. And then it would be
well to see the crevice. I think Onrai still holds the idea that this
should be closed.”
“Yes, it will be one of my first duties, now,” said Onrai. “But what a
task it will be for the men who do the work. The first unpleasant task
they have ever had to perform.”
“The hole may have been closed somewhat by the stream of lava which
poured into it,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, I feel quite sure that it has,” said Mr. Graham, “for it poured
into it in such a volume it could hardly be otherwise.”
“Yet there will be much to do,” said Mr. Bruce, “and it will mean a
great deal of hard work before the break is made impassable.”
“Let us start,” said Onrai, “so as to be able to investigate as much as
possible and return before nightfall. To-morrow we must start for the
city in order to be there for the Day of Resis. It will be a sad
return;” and again the King fell into that melancholy condition out of
which Enola had tried so hard to draw him.
“True, Onrai,” said Enola, “but the only sadness which has ever darkened
your life. It will cast a gloom over your life for awhile, but as time
goes by and you see those about you again happy, and your life falls
into the old routine, then will you also grow contented and happy once
more. In our world we have so much sadness that we at last become
accustomed to it, and expect it. But here you hardly know the meaning of
the word. This experience has been fearful, I know, but it is better
that you lose a few of your mighty men, than that all should lose
country and, may be, life too, and even be sold into slavery. That must
certainly have been the fate of your people, if they had fallen into the
hands of the negroes. But that time has forever passed and out of this
sad experience, which will cause so much grief, comes this grand
assurance. The men who have been thus slain might have been spared until
they had the wall on the way, and while in the country beyond the cliff,
for they would have had to be there some of the time, they might have
been overpowered by the natives, and the land been overspread with these
hated negroes, before the majority of your people could have learned of
their presence. In such a case your country would have been destroyed
with all its villas and its beautiful city. But such a thing can never
occur now. God has simply taken the work out of your hands, and in his
own way has avenged your people and has also, by turning the lava into
the crevice, helped to close to the outside world, the only means of
ingress into your country. The present generation will die, and as it is
forbidden your people to ever mention or talk of such things to those
who will live beyond your reign, the thing will die from memory, the
same as has all of the previous events of your history. This fearful
occurrence has been ordained to come during your reign, but it casts no
reflection upon you or your people, for it has been wholly the work of
God.
“If He has chosen to take the men before their time, He has had a good
purpose in it and I think that purpose has been shown. So don’t give up
to despair in this moment, but be the brave, noble King which we have
all learned to love. Be superior to the events which would crush most
other men. Be strong, and set such an example before your people. They
will look to you for strength and comfort, and you must be able to give
them both.”
The King had listened quietly to the words of Enola, and seemed much
impressed by her strong, clear-cut remarks and the sound advice which
she had given. For the first time he realized that it would not do for
him to give way to his feelings, in this hour of trial, for, as Enola
had said, his people would look to him for comfort and strength, and he
must be able to give them both. Somehow or other he felt better after
Enola had talked to him in this way, and he felt that he could meet the
inquisitive looks of his people and answer their mute questions without
flinching.
“But come, we must be off,” said Onrai.
So the men-folk went to the terrace, where the only four elephants,
which had been left, were awaiting them. Gip had entirely recovered, and
was now with the three which had been left in the stable on that fateful
morning. The five men mounted, and were soon making good time over the
smooth surface of the bad lands. This new covering was of better soil
than the old, and would some day become very productive. The elephants,
heavy as they were, hardly made an impression in this, so solid had it
become. They jogged along for nearly an hour, when they came on the body
of an elephant lying on its side, nearly covered with the new soil.
Digging away some of the dirt from his back the body of an Onian was
disclosed to view. He had been one of three who had leaped to the
elephant’s back when the eruption first broke forth. Further on they
came across all of the one hundred elephants and a few of the zebras.
Only one or two Onians were found with any part of their bodies above
the soil. They were buried almost completely. It was thought at first
that they would take these bodies back to the villa, and cremate them as
was the custom this land, but Mr. Bruce had dissuaded Onrai from this,
saying that as all of their companions were lying here in one common
grave, there also might better be they. The King declared his intention
of exhuming all of the many bodies which filled the immense graveyard,
but his companions also made him change his mind in regard to this,
saying that such an undertaking would take a great amount of time, and
would be next to an impossibility.
At last the crevice was reached, but little of it remained. The hole in
the ground was not even ten feet deep. It had been filled by the flowing
lava up to that height. The party followed the crevice to the cliff,
where a most unexpected scene met their astonished eyes. The crevice in
the cliff was entirely filled, for the lava had run into the crevice
until on a level with the surrounding country, after which it had still
dropped its flinty substance into the hole and gradually cooled until
the chasm had been entirely filled, when it had turned its stream into
the country beyond, leaving the face of the cliff as straight and
impregnable as it had been before the earthquake.
“It is more than I expected,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, it is the handiwork of God,” answered Onrai.
“You need have no further fears about your country being again invaded,
Onrai,” said Mr. Graham.
“It is as Enola has said,” replied the King. “A blessed assurance that
we are safe from those who would molest us.”
“Come, let us move on up to the cliff,” said Mr. Bruce. “I would like to
see where the stream of lava has ended in the cavern.”
“I wonder how it has affected that part of the Hunting Reserve which the
storm has covered,” said Mr. Graham.
“It must have driven the animals farther back into the jungle,” said
Onrai. “But there is plenty of room for them all. A few miles, as you
would call it, cut off of this great tract, amounts to but little.”
“But the whole tract will again be fertilized now, I think,” said Mr.
Graham. “Those ashes have a great deal of good loam mixed with them, and
it will be very productive, I think.”
“Yes, the animals will find as good grazing here as in any other part of
the Reserve, at some future day,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Look,” said Mr. Graham, “what is that black object away there in the
distance? It is moving, is it not?”
They all looked and came to the conclusion that it must be some sort of
animal, but what, they could not say. As they proceeded the black spot
grew larger and larger, but they could now see that the animals, or
whatever they might be, were not moving but standing still. They had now
come to the hole in the side of the mountain and concluded to enter this
first, and investigate the black spot later. Accordingly they entered
the hole and lighting a torch turned to the right and moved toward the
upper end of the cave. From where they were, they could see no change in
the crevice, but there might be nearer the crater, for it was from this
that the stream of lava was running. They hurried on for they had much
to look after before returning, and already half of the day had passed.
The end wall was at last reached and they turned to follow this until
they had reached the small tunnel, through which had run the lava.
Arriving at this they were not surprised to find it considerable wider
than it had been before the lava had found its way through it. The lava
had raised the floor of it to quite a height, but this new flooring was
cool now and they decided to follow up the tunnel for some distance, and
see what had taken place in the farther end.
As they advanced up the tunnel the air got somewhat warmer, but still
not excessively so: The lava bed also grew thicker as they advanced
until the floor had become so raised, they could extend their hands and
touch the ceiling. They at last reached the end of the tunnel and were
surprised to see that the crack had widened until it was nearly five
feet broad.
“Shall we enter?” asked Mr. Bruce, as they all stood looking at the
crack rather hesitatingly.
“Most assuredly, if there is no danger,” replied Mr. Graham.
“I cannot answer for the safety of it,” said Mr. Bruce, “but I can say
that it would be interesting to look into it a ways.”
“Let us proceed then,” said the King, who was fast becoming as curious
as his white companions.
The party then, headed by Mr. Bruce, stepped rather gingerly into the
passage-way, and moved along slowly. The side-walls were still very hot
and very soon the soles of their feet became almost burned with the hot
flooring, for the hot lava had passed through there so recently, that it
could hardly be expected to be very cool yet. They had gone some
distance into the crack when Mr. Bruce suddenly stopped and said:
“Look ahead, can’t you see a ray of daylight?”
All heads were immediately screwed to one side and a glance thrown
ahead.
“Yes, that is surely daylight,” said Mr. Graham, “but how in the world,
or in this hole, does it get there?”
“Shall we go on and see?” asked Mr. Bruce.
“Yes, by all means,” answered the King.
So the party again pushed on, now at a little livelier gait, for they
could no longer be mistaken that that was the light of day penetrating
this dark crevice. Hurriedly now they advanced, so anxious had they
grown to see what sort of hole it was that admitted the sunlight; and
after a short walk further they burst out into the bright open light of
day. They looked above them and there, sure enough, was the bright, blue
sky.
“What do you make of it, Mr. Graham?” asked Mr. Bruce.
“Well,” replied Mr. Graham, “I should say that we are looking up out of
one of the crevices which opened into the crater of the volcano.”
“That’s so,” replied Mr. Bruce, “I did not think of that. But I supposed
these cracks must have opened far into the bowels of the earth, and were
vents for the steam, ashes and lava.”
“Some of them undoubtedly are,” said Mr. Graham, “but this is surely
not. This may have been caused by one of the earthquakes, and was later
widened by the excessive heat. Whatever the cause, it is here at any
rate.”
The tunnel at this point was very wide and fully two thousand feet deep.
“Can you notice any peculiarities in this crevice?” asked Mr. Bruce of
Mr. Graham.
“None,” replied Mr. Graham, “unless it be its crookedness, but they are
all crooked. But why do you ask?”
“I was just thinking,” said Mr. Bruce, “that we might have occasion to
use this crevice some day.”
“I hope not,” replied Mr. Graham, “for if we had to trust to scaling
these perpendicular walls, I am afraid we would perish here at the
bottom.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Bruce, “but it is well to have several strings to your
bow.”
“It might be possible,” said Mr. Graham, “to lower one’s self into this
cavern, but I don’t believe it would be possible to hoist one’s self out
of it.”
“We may have occasion some day to lower ourselves into it,” said Mr.
Bruce. “At any rate, we have found another way to enter the Land of On.”
“But one never to be used as long as the other is open,” said Mr.
Graham.
“As you like,” said Mr. Bruce. “Shall we return, Onrai?”
“If you are ready,” answered the King.
They accordingly turned and retraced their steps until again in the
cavern. Instead of turning to the left and following the wall as they
had done previously, they followed the lava bed which had gradually
spread over a very wide area in the cavern, in one place being fully a
mile wide. They followed this until opposite the hole, when they moved
over to this and left the cavern.
The large black group again attracted their attention, and they
determined to see what it was before returning to the villa. The sun was
getting well down toward the western horizon, and they had a good
fifteen miles to make, but they must see what it was that could make
such a mark in the heart of this ash-covered plain. From as near as they
could make out the animals were nearly two miles away. They hurried on,
wishing to reach home before it grew very dark. When within a mile of
the dark object, they saw that it was a herd of elephants, lying down.
They drew up to these cautiously, so as not to be molested, if possible,
but they saw that the elephants were undoubtedly very much exhausted, or
else dead, for they paid but little or no attention to the approaching
riders.
But just before they came up to them, one of the animals half raised his
head, but that was all, they made no further sign. The riders now came
up to them and saw their predicament. These animals had undoubtedly been
overcome by the shower of ashes, and sinking down had been too weak to
again rise, and now, after a week of suffering and fasting, they were
nearly dead. There were fully a hundred of them and they had been
perfectly wild, but were now as docile as so many lambs.
“If we can save them,” said Onrai, “they will take the place of the
hundred we lost.”