Above, in the dimness, there moved again a grotesque, spectral shadow.
The savage was peering into the pit, but it occurred to me that he was
unable to distinguish us in that rayless obscurity.
He shouted in a hoarse voice, and I saw that in his hand he carried a
long spear. Neither of us replied or moved a muscle. We watched in
silence, waiting with drawn breath. Everything, except the hole above
where the unkempt head showed as a round, black projection, was
profoundly dark, and when I looked up again it had disappeared. A deep
stillness fell, broken only by the distant trumpeting of an elephant;
then suddenly we heard a noise like the breaking of sticks and the
tearing of foliage. With our eyes riveted upon the hole through which
we had fallen, we were, a few minutes later, startled by the appearance
of a curious glare, as if a fire had been lighted, and suddenly the
black denizen of the forest appeared at the hole, holding above his head
a roughly-made torch. Its fickle light shone down upon us, but at the
same time illumined the black, savage face of the man who held it.
Involuntarily I gave vent to a loud ejaculation of surprise. In an
instant I recognised the sable features. The man who had discovered us
was none other than Yakul, the fearless chief of the Avejeli, whom I had
rescued from death!
"Peace, O friend!" I cried excitedly in Arabic, remembering that
although he had been questioned by Ngalyema in the Monvu tongue, yet he
nevertheless understood the language of the Desert.
"See!" shouted the dwarf, in despair, unaware that I had released him
from his tortures. "See! It is the chieftain that the raiders
condemned to die. He will assuredly seek revenge upon us!"
I saw him, and even through the mask of my madness I knew him again, and
terror took hold of me. But our anxious apprehensions were in an
instant dispelled, for Yakul, recognising me, waved his torch, shouting
in very indifferent Arabic,--
"Nay, do not be surprised, O my rescuer! Truly am I thy friend. Be
patient, and ere long thou shalt both escape."
And as the weird, black figure uttered these reassuring words in a
shrill tone, he placed the torch upon the ground and left. Reappearing
in a few moments, he shouted, and commenced to lower a long wreath of
climbing plant that he had cut from a tree, and when he had secured the
end to a neighbouring trunk he bade us ascend with care.
Thankful for this sudden and unexpected deliverance, Tiamo clambered up
first, and I followed, finding myself a few minutes later standing
beside my pagan ally, expressing fervent thanks for our timely rescue.
"If thou hadst not severed my bonds, the scavengers of the forest would
long ago have cleaned my bones," the tall, keen-eyed savage answered,
leaning upon his spear. The fine goatskin he had worn as a mark of
chieftainship had been replaced by a strip of common bark-cloth, and he
no longer wore his curiously-shaped helmet, with its swaling plume. His
village had been burned by the fiendish brigands of Tippu-Tib, nearly
all his people had been murdered or enslaved, his treasure-stolen, and
he was now a homeless wanderer. Briefly I explained to him the accident
that had befallen us, at the same time expressing a fear that the
pigmies might discover us.
"Fear not that," he answered. "I have ever been an ally of the dwarfed
people of the Wambutti, and in my company not a hair of thine head shall
be injured."
"Art thou on thy way to them?" I inquired.
"Yea, and nay," he answered. "Since thou didst release me, I have
followed closely thy footprints."
"Followed me!" I echoed, remembering how many days he must have
journeyed.
"Since the raid of the destroyers I have been ever behind thee, and have
ofttimes watched thee and thy companion unnoticed."
"For what reason hast thou sought to thus keep observation upon me?" I
asked, puzzled. The small fire he had lit still threw a faint glow,
sufficient to reveal his dark and not unhandsome face, and Tiamo stood
by, speechless and wondering.
"I desired to ascertain that thou wert journeying along the right path,"
the chief replied, mysteriously.
"The right path? What meanest thou?"
"An Arab dareth not to journey with one slave through the Kivira, unless
he hath some definite object in view," he said, with a low, rather harsh
laugh. "At risk of thy life thou didst release me from a certain and
horrible death, and in return I have secretly watched thy progress
towards thy goal."
"My goal!" I cried. "What knowest thou of my goal?"
"Already have I told thee that, since my rescue, I have been as thy
shadow. I followed thee to Kalunga, and there overheard thy
conversation with the brutal headman Ngalyema, in which thou didst tell
him of thy search, and he, with consummate craftiness, offered to send
his armed men with thee. As I lay hidden, I heard thee tell him of
thine anxiety to reach the Rock of the Great Sin, because upon the
success of thy mission depended the happiness of the woman thou lovest.
My life was in thine hand; therefore I determined at once to assist
thee."
"To assist me!" I exclaimed, breathlessly. "Knowest thou where the
Rock of the Great Sin is situated?"
"I do, O my friend," he answered solemnly, still leaning upon his spear,
with the other hand resting upon his hip.
"And canst thou direct us thither?"
"In order to accompany thee unto the rock, I dogged thy footsteps,
determined not to make my presence known if thou couldst obtain from
others the information thou seekest. Until sunrise to-day thou didst
travel in the direction of the abode of evil, but after last night's
sleep thou didst turn off from the right track, and hence I found it
imperative to make my presence known and give thee warning, so that thou
mayest turn back and again strike the right path. In consequence, I
sped forward, expecting to find thee settling down for the night, but
instead I discovered thou hadst fallen headlong into a trap set for
elephants. Thou hast been, however, extricated--"
"Thanks to thee," I interrupted, laughing. But he continued,--
"Extricated by one whose life thou hast saved for no other reason than
because the condemnation was unjust," and he paused. Then, looking
round, he added, "Come, let us be seated at yon fire; let us eat and
sleep that we may be refreshed for to-morrow's journey."
All three of us walked to the fire, and seating ourselves, the pagan
chief produced some ripe bananas and some wild fruit, which we ate
ravenously while he chattered on unceasingly.
"Have thine eyes ever gazed upon the Rock of the Great Sin?" I asked
presently, when he had described how he had followed the men of
Tippu-Tib for many days at imminent risk of detection.
"Yes. Once, years ago, I gazed upon it from afar, but dared not to
approach it."
"Why?" I inquired.
"Of a verity the spot is sacred. He who endeavoureth to ascertain its
secret, will assuredly be smitten by a terrible pestilence--the hand of
the Evil One who dwelleth therein, will strike swiftly, and the
adventurous investigator will wither like a rootless flower beneath the
sun."
Tiamo, silent, with eyes opened wide, hugged his knees and drank in
every word Yakul uttered. My curiosity was also thoroughly aroused, and
I urged the chief to relate to me all he knew regarding the strange,
unexplored spot. Its mystery had been deepened by each superstition or
legend I had heard regarding it, yet it was curious that nearly every
popular belief asserted that some strange deity of good or evil dwelt
therein, or in its vicinity. But at length I had now discovered one who
had actually gazed upon it with his own eyes, and knew the way thither.
There was no longer doubt of its reality; it actually existed, rising
lonely and solitary from the dark waters of the Lake of the Accursed,
just as it had been mirrored in the heavens.
For the first time during our long and fatiguing search, sometimes
across great tracts of virgin forest wherein man had never before set
foot, we now at last heard it described minutely from the lips of an
eyewitness. Eager and elated, we both felt that we were on the point of
a discovery, and were prepared to risk the strange pestilence so dreaded
by the pagans and the touch of the unseen evil hand, in order to explore
the dark and gloomy crag, where it had been asserted by Azala the
Mystery of the Asps remained hidden.
Yakul, as he munched his bananas, told us how, eight years before, when
assisting the Iyuku and Indebeya peoples against the Manuyema, there had
been severe fighting, and with his warriors he had followed a host of
the invaders south through an unknown part of the Great Forest, until at
length he had driven the enemy into a natural trap, for, on account of
the Lake of the Accursed and the range of inaccessible mountains beyond,
they were unable to retreat further, and being compelled to again fight,
they were completely wiped out by the Avejeli.
During the battle in that little-known region he discovered they were
within actual sight of the Rock of the Great Sin, but of the whole of
his brave warriors not a man dared to venture nearer on account of the
declarations of their wise men, that if any attempted to approach the
forbidden spot a terrible pestilence and total destruction would
inevitably fall upon the tribe. In consequence of this he had stood
afar off and viewed the rock and the unknown and unapproachable land
beyond, fearing lest, by going nearer, he should invoke the wrath of his
pagan gods, or cause revolt among his warriors, who had become cowed and
terrified at discovering themselves in the shadow of the dark rock,
which was the seat of the dreaded Evil Spirit of the Kivira.
While within sight of the Rock of the Great Sin, they declared the air
was deadly. They began to suffer from joint aches, he told us; their
knees were stiff, and pains travelled through their bodies, causing them
to shiver and their teeth to chatter, after which their heads would burn
and the hot sweat would pour from them, so that they knew no rest.
During the two days they remained there life was but one continuous
ague, and they left the country declaring it to be bewitched.