Being perfectly secure from Mormon interference--at all events, for the
moment--Grenville and the two Zulus proceeded somewhat leisurely on
their way to the rock, for, truth to tell, all three were suffering from
both hunger and fatigue, and their one single consolation consisted of a
good smoke.
And now, as they gradually knocked off the weary miles which lay between
the central river and the great rock, Grenville heard the details of the
Zulu expedition to the eastern bridge.
These active children of the veldt had made a very wide detour during
the first night, and safely reached the desired shelter of the timber
about an hour before dawn, and had watched and slept by turns all day,
having first satisfied themselves that no large force of the enemy was
near at hand. On the bridge they found two guards instead of one,
which, as they said, "made their hearts glad, as the fight would be a
fair one," for the astute Myzukulwa had determined that _at least three
rockets should go up_, by hook or by crook. Instead, therefore, of
alarming the sentinels by showing their persons at dusk, they came upon
the miserable men in the most approved Zulu fashion, and settled them
out of hand, without even giving them the chance of firing a shot.
The pair had then coolly sat down and talked, debating how many rockets
to fire, and had ultimately concluded that Amaxosa, who was quite _au
fait_ with the method of sending up these aerial messengers, should
despatch _five_, and thus cause the Mormons to believe that Winfield and
the escaped Zulu had joined themselves to the audacious invaders of
their secret kingdom.
No sooner was this operation satisfactorily performed than the brothers
prepared to set out for the central bridge, when they were all at once
assailed by five or six Mormons, who had sprung from somewhere close at
hand, and a desperate battle of course ensued. One of the attacking
party, in trying to shoot Myzukulwa, had kindly missed that worthy and
"potted" one of his own friends, and in less time than it takes to tell,
three of the enemy were dead and the others retreating at full speed;
but not knowing how many more might be lying hid, the Zulus for a wonder
concluded discretion to be the better part of valour, and after turning
off the bridge had come at a slinging trot all the way to Grenville's
position, which, as we have already seen, they reached just in the very
nick of time.
When the trio had put in nearly two hours' solid work, poor Grenville
grew faint with fatigue, exposure, and loss of blood. The grey ghostly
mists of dawn were now hanging over the party on every side; but, as far
as Amaxosa could judge, they were still an hour's journey from the rock,
and as the Mormons might have sent a fast detachment by the western
bridge, it behoved our friends to lose no time.
For some way the faithful Zulus, themselves nearly dead beat, half
supported, half carried Grenville, only to find, when they spoke to him,
that he was fast asleep on his feet; laying him gently down, the pair
looked at each other as if wondering what to do, when suddenly a
colossal figure seemed to burst out of the mist and dash right down upon
them at full speed; in one instant the Zulus sprang over their fallen
chief and raised their spears to meet the foe, but all at once Myzukulwa
lowered his weapon quietly. "Ow! Inkoos," he said. "Ow!"
The new arrival was Alf Leigh, riding the quagga, which had shortly
before carried the lovely Rose of Sharon. Seeing his cousin's
motionless and bloodstained body, he threw himself off the animal and
fell on his knees beside it. "Dick! Dick! my poor old Dick--dead!
dead! dead! Oh, God! oh, God! what shall I do? Would I had died for
thee, my dear old Dick!"
"Stay, Inkoos," said Amaxosa gently. "My father the lion-hearted chief
is not dead; he does but sleep the sleep of the wounded and the weary.
At yonder bridge, by the dark River of Death, did the sons of Undi find
their father, the mighty warrior, surrounded by heaps upon heaps of dead
and dying men, and also by men yet living who thirsted for his blood;
but his faithful war-dogs chased away these evil ones; even as the chaff
they flew before the fierce wind; but they were not, for the sons of
Undi slew them. And but now, as you came, had we laid the Inkoos our
father on the grass, for he sleeps a sleep of weariness, of cold, of
hunger, and of blood; and we, his weary children, are too worn to carry
him; yet if the Inkoos will take our father on the horse, we will aid
him gladly."
And so the noble fellows did; and Leigh, with fervent thanks to Heaven
for the miraculous escape of his beloved cousin, lifted him on to the
quagga, and held him there with Myzukulwa's help, whilst Amaxosa took
the animal's head, and led the way at a quiet pace--not, however, before
Leigh had first refreshed the Zulus with a strong nip of brandy.
At last they reached the rock, just as the sun rose, and laid the still
unconscious Grenville down to have his rest out, whilst the Zulus flung
their tired bodies down and were instantly asleep.
When our hero at last awoke, feeling stiff, sore, and very hungry, he
stared about him in sheer astonishment, and wondered whether he still
dreamed. He had no recollection of having reached the rock, yet he knew
he was inside it, and quickly realised that he must have been in some
way carried there.
To rest was soothing, but the pangs of hunger were gnawing his very
vitals, and heaving a weary sigh he made a movement to rise. At this
moment a small white hand was laid upon his shoulder, and a sweet voice,
which he at once recognised, said in tones of playful command, "Lie
still, sir; I can't afford to let you become an invalid."
"Ah! young lady," he said, "and how is the Rose of Sharon this morning,
and did her curious-looking pony bring her safely here?"
"Thank you, I am very well," replied the young girl, coming round to the
other side of the cavern and looking down upon him as he leaned lazily
on one elbow; "only it isn't morning, but four o'clock in the afternoon;
and don't you mock at my little horse--you would never have got here but
for him. There now, don't talk any more. Just lie down again and I'll
bring you some food, which Dora is getting ready;" but as Rose turned
away Miss Winfield herself entered with a big plateful of boiled fish,
the best food, she said, they could offer him at present.
Both girls looked fresh and hearty, and neat as new pins, much to
Grenville's surprise, for the storm of the night before was calculated
to have ruined every garment they possessed.
Whilst he ate greedily, the girls explained that the storm had hardly
touched them until near the rock itself, and by dint of making the poor
quagga carry double burden they had practically arrived in shelter
before any serious harm was done.
"Very hard on the animal, Mr Grenville, I can assure you," said Dora;
"two of Rose wouldn't have mattered so much, you know, but when I got on
his back I felt certain I could hear him groan. When the poor little
beastie got here he thought, I suppose, that he could rest, but the
moment the storm began to clear off Mr Leigh insisted on mounting him
and riding away to look for you. He found you lying so fast asleep that
he took you for dead, and the Zulus were at their wits' end, not knowing
what to do, so you were mounted and brought here in a state of
unconsciousness."
"Well done, Alf," said Grenville; "it was a risky thing to set out by
himself in this country so mounted and on such a night, but he always
was a plucky fellow. Where is everybody, Miss Winfield?"
"My father and the Zulus have gone to Amaxosa's cave to bring up the
rest of the dried meat at nightfall, and have taken the quagga with
them, and your cousin is here to look after Rose and myself."
"And a very good judge, too," said Grenville, noticing that the fair
girl blushed when she named his cousin; "but Miss Winfield--"
"Won't you call me Dora?" said the girl; "Mr Leigh does."
"With pleasure," said Grenville heartily, "provided you will play fairly
and call me Dick."
This was agreed upon, as also that Rose and himself should be equally
intimate for the future.
"You see," explained Miss Winfield, "we have been called Sister Rose and
Sister Dora so long, that surnames sound odd to us, and I really think
they are somewhat out of place in the African bush."
"Well, Dora, I was about to say," resumed Grenville, "that I have
enjoyed the fish very much, and am extremely glad to know that we can
procure such a valuable addition to our scanty bill of fare; but haven't
you been unwise to light a fire in the daytime? Believe me, these
Mormon bloodhounds are to be feared, and we are by no means out of the
wood yet."
Both girls laughed, and then quoth Rose: "You forget I am a Mormon
bloodhound, sir, and that this is my country; and let me tell you we own
many strange and wonderful things--amongst them, a boiling spring, which
bubbles up close to the rock, if you know where to find it, and therein
we have cooked all our food. Seriously, I must thank you very, very
much for helping me yesterday, and let me add that all the annals of our
race contain no instance of such determined bravery and devoted heroism
as you exhibited at the bridge last night. You saved me from death or
worse than death, at the hands of the detested Holy Three; and when the
time comes, remember that the Mormon queen will pay you life for life."
And with the tears starting from her fine eyes this strange girl swept
imperially away, followed almost immediately by Dora, after she had
first instructed Grenville to sleep again, which he did, dreaming
alternately of fair-haired and dark-browed maidens, and Mormons
thirsting for his blood.
All that night Grenville again slept soundly, and when he awoke in the
morning he was quite his own man again, much to the relief of all
concerned.
His first act was to make several necessary provisions for the comfort
of the young ladies, after which he again inspected the defences of the
rock with a dissatisfied air.
"What's the matter with the place, Dick?" said Leigh; "it's
impregnable."
"Not a bit of it, Alf," was the reply; "if they attack any night before
the moon rises, they can shoot us through our own loopholes like rats in
a cage."
"I never thought of that," said Leigh, pulling a long face; and having
called the rest of the fighting brigade into council, this serious
difficulty was discussed at considerable length, but the only, and to
Grenville unsatisfactory, conclusion arrived at was to lay on the ground
after nightfall a number of small fires made of resinous wood, and
connected with the rock by trains of powder. The Zulus were to patrol
the neighbourhood from dusk until moonrise, and give notice of any
hostile approach, when the trains would be fired and the beacons
lighted, to enable the besieged to shoot accurately. This scheme had
weak points about it which disturbed Grenville, who now knew the
fighting qualities of the Mormons. Still he could suggest nothing
better, and could only hope their enemies would altogether fail to
discover the present position of the devoted little band. Scouting
parties had several times been seen outlying on the adjacent veldt, but
it was only after the lapse of three full days that Myzukulwa found a
Mormon skulking in the woods, and clearly watching their movements: him
he slew, but it was evident that the man was only an advance guard, for
that very night, as soon as darkness set in, both scouts gave the danger
signal within a few moments of each other, and as soon as they had
regained the rock, Grenville lighted the fires, and sent his marksmen to
the loopholes.
This movement was only executed just in time, for about three score
Mormons were already half-way across the open glade. For another
hundred yards they advanced steadily, under a murderous fire, and then
gave way, and fled back to their covers, leaving upwards of a dozen men
on the ground, having failed in getting within range to fire a single
shot from their own guns.
"Alf," said Grenville, "this won't do at all: three of our shots were
thrown away, for on three several occasions we both took the same man;
you keep the left advance in hand and I'll take care of the right."
Winfield, who had loaded all the captured Mormon guns, was anxious to
join in the fray, but the enemy was of course quite out of his reach,
and the two Zulus were fairly itching to use their spears, where they
stood guarding the entrance to the cave.
Again the Mormons tried a rush, and again were driven back by the deadly
hail of bullets from the repeating rifles, and quickly retreating into
the woods, all grew still as death. And but for the corpses strewn
about the sward no one would have imagined that a fierce and bloody
fight was even now in progress.
Half an hour passed, and dashing the butt of his rifle on the ground,
Grenville swore roundly.
"Just what I expected; the cunning rascals are waiting till yonder
beacons are burnt out, and then they'll rush us."
"Can't we mend the fires?" anxiously suggested Leigh; "we've plenty of
fuel."
"No, old man, they've got a rifle hidden in the grass less than 100
yards from every fire. Just watch, and you'll see. Yonder scoundrel is
500 yards if he is an inch, but I'll see if I can't rouse the snake out
of that."
A careful sight preceded the report, and the concealed Mormon bounded
from his hiding-place, with a bullet through his shoulder, only to be
shot dead before he could move another yard.
A cry of astonishment broke from the forest--the range of the English
rifles exceeded all they had feared or believed.
And now fire after fire died out, and Grenville commanded his little
party to take up certain positions, where they would be more or less
screened, and also confided the two girls to a perfectly safe corner,
and then waited the result, straining his eyes through the darkness to
catch a glimpse of the foe, as he felt sure the Mormon crowd must now be
on their way across the open space and speeding towards the rock.
Just at this critical moment the beleaguered party was relieved, and at
the same time fairly astonished by an extraordinary occurrence.
Half-way between the rock and the fringe of forest the ashes of one fire
had been quietly smouldering for some moments, after all the other
beacons were clean burnt out; and now, as all listened intently,
expecting to hear the cautious tread of the approaching foe, a curious
rumbling sound was heard, and a single instant later a liquid column of
fire suddenly burst from the ground, shooting up to the height of thirty
or forty feet, where it uniformly hung like a gigantic fountain of
living flame, whose waves, as they reached the ground, scorched the
grass and rolled irresistibly towards the forest like a sea of blazing
boiling lava.
The fire had burnt through the earth's crust and ignited a vast
reservoir of petroleum, which now sprang heavenwards in a vivid pillar
of lurid light, plainly revealing every stick and stone for fully half a
mile around the rock.
All this Grenville realised as it were by instinct; but there was no
time to observe the extraordinary natural phenomenon, for the whole
Mormon army appeared to be rushing across the open glade within two
hundred and fifty yards of the rock.
The fire of the besieged was close and deadly; and though upwards of
twenty men fell to rise no more, whilst another score or two turned tail
and incontinently fled into cover, still some ten in number, braver than
their comrades, gained the rock and attempted to enter, only to fall a
useless sacrifice to the spears of the Zulus and the revolvers of Leigh
and Winfield.
Thus closed the Mormon attack on the rocky fortress of the little band.
Careful watch was kept all night, but at dawn not a living soul was to
be seen, and ascending the rock Grenville soon found that the entire
party had gone clean away, leaving only their dead and their shame.
He had at first feared that the molten stream of fire would ignite the
forest; this, however, was prevented by the river near the rock, into
which the boiling oil poured, and was carried harmlessly away,
incalculable wealth thus being wasted hourly before their very eyes.