THE VILLAGE ON THE MOUNTAIN
"Tom is wounded!" shouted Sam. He ran to his brother, to find the
blood flowing freely over Tom's shoulder. "Is it bad?" he asked.
"I--I guess not," answered Tom with a gasp of pain. Then, as
full of pluck as usual, Tom raised his pistol and fired, hitting
one of the Bumwos in the breast and sending him to the rear,
seriously wounded.
It was evident that Cujo had been mistaken and that there were far
more of their enemies around the mountain than they had
anticipated. From behind the Rover expedition a cry arose,
telling that more of the natives were coming from that direction.
"We are being hemmed in," said Dick Chester nervously. "Perhaps
we had better retreat."
"No, let us make a stand," came from Rand. "I think a concerted
volley from our pistols and guns will check their movements."
"Dat's de talk!" cried Aleck. "Give it to 'em hot!"
It was decided to await the closer approach of the Bumwos, and
each of the party improved the next minute in seeing to it that
his weapon was ready for use.
Suddenly a blood-curdling yell arose on the sultry air, and the
Bumwos were seen to be approaching from two directions, at right
angles to each other.
"Now then, stand firm!" cried Dick Rover, and began to fire at one
of the approaching forces.
The fight that followed was, however, short and full of
consternation to the Africans. One of the parties was led by King
Susko himself, and the chief had covered less than half the
distance to where the Americans stood when a bullet from Tom
Rover's pistol reached him, wounding him in the thigh and causing
him to pitch headlong on the grass.
The fall of the leader made the Africans set up a howl of dismay,
and instead of keeping up the fight they gathered around their
leader. Then, as the Americans continued to fire, they picked
King Susko up and ran off with him. A few spears were hurled at
our friends, but the whole battle, to use Sam's way of summing up
afterward, was a regular "two-for-a-cent affair." Soon the Bumwos
were out of sight down the mountain side.
The first work of our friends after they had made certain that the
Africans had really retreated, was to attend to Tom's wound and
the bruise Randolph Rover had received from the stone. Fortunately
neither man nor boy was seriously hurt, although Tom carries the
mark of the spear's thrust to this day.
"But I don't care," said Tom. "I hit old King Susko, and that was
worth a good deal, for it stopped the battle. If the fight had
kept on there is no telling how many of us might have been
killed."
While the party was deliberating about what to do next, Cujo
reappeared.
"I go deep into de cabe when foah Bumwos come on me from behind,"
he explained.
"Da fight an' fight an' knock me down an' tie me wid vines, an'
den run away. But I broke loose from de vines an' cum just as
quick as could run. Werry big cabe dat, an' strange waterfall in
de back."
"Let us explore the cave," said Dick. "Somebody can remain on
guard outside."
Some demurred to this, but the Rover boys could, not be held back,
and on they went, with Aleck with them. Soon Randolph Rover
hobbled after them, leaving Cujo and the college students to
remain on the watch.
The cave proved to be a large affair, running all of half a mile
under the mountain. There were numerous holes in the roof,
through which the sun shone down, making the use of torches
unnecessary. To one side was a deep and swiftly flowing stream,
coming from the waterfall Cujo had mentioned, and disappearing
under the rocks near the entrance to the cavern.
"Gold, true enough!" shouted Dick, as he gazed on the walls of the
cave. "Am I not right, Uncle Randolph?"
"You are, Dick; this is a regular cave of gold, and no mistake.
No wonder King Susko wanted to keep us away!"
Soon the waterfall was gained. It was a fascinating scene to
watch the sparkling sheet as it thundered downward a distance of
fully a hundred feet. At the bottom was a pool where the water
was lashed into a milky foam which went swirling round and round.
"Look! Look! The ghost!" suddenly cried Sam, and pointed into
the falling water. "Oh, Uncle Randolph, did you ever see anything
like it?" and he gave a shiver.
"There are no such things as ghosts, Sam," replied his uncle. "I
see nothing."
"Stand here and look," answered Sam, and his uncle did as
requested. Presently from out of the mist came the form of a man--the
likeness of Randolph Rover himself!
"It is nothing but an optical illusion, Sam, such as are produced
by some magicians on the theater stage. The sun comes down
through yonder hole and reflects your image on the wet rock, which
in turn reflects the form on the sheet of water."
"Gracious! And that must be the ghost the natives believe in,"
answered Sam. "I'm glad you explained it. I can tell you I was
startled."
"Here is a path leading up past the waterfall," said Dick, who had
been making an investigation. "Let us see what is beyond."
"Take care of where you go," warned Randolph Rover. "There may be
some nasty pitfall there."
"I'll keep my eyes open," responded Dick.
He ascended the rocks, followed by Sam, while the others brought
up in the rear. Up over the waterfall was another cave, long and
narrow. There was now but little light from overhead, but far in
the distance could be seen a long, narrow opening, as if the
mountain top had been, by some convulsion of nature, split in
half.
"We are coming into the outer world again!" cried Dick, and ran
forward. "Well, I never!" he ejaculated.
For beyond the opening was a small plain, covered with short grass
and surrounded on every side by jagged rocks which arose to the
height of fifty or sixty feet. In the center of the plain were a
number of native huts, of logs thatched with palm.