THE DEVIL'S WELL.
Never did fishing party go a-fishing for stranger fish or with stranger
gear, than did we five men, who rode forth, in the chill of the desert
winter's morning, on the first stage of the journey to the Devil's Well.
At first, it had been proposed that we should go in foray strength,
accompanied by some fifty horsemen; but, later, it was thought best to
avoid the display which might arouse suspicion, if we should chance to
encounter anyone on the way; and, eventually, the party was restricted
to Faris, Sedjur, and myself, with Daud and the Aeniza who had
previously been his companion.
For three days we followed the route by which Daud had returned from the
well; then, turning east, we reached the Euphrates a few miles above
Ana. Crossing the river by swimming, we moved north again, and soon hit
off Daud's old track, after which all was plain sailing. We had reached
the Devil's Well--and no better name could have been bestowed on the
awesome spot. Even Faris acknowledged that the sight of the place froze
the very marrow in his bones.
We wasted no time, however, in discussing our feelings, but set to work
at once to discover a means of reaching the bottom. Daud had not
exaggerated matters; to clamber down the scarped sides was beyond the
powers of man. There was nothing for it but the rope; so we followed our
guide to the point of land from which, as he had told us, the Girdle
could be seen. Only one man at a time could lie down and look over into
the abyss, and we took it in turn to view our quarry. Faris gazed on it;
then Sedjur; and lastly I myself. Sedjur demanded to be lowered
forthwith by the rope, but each of us had his own views of the
situation, and each hoped to be the one to draw forth the prize.
It was almost noon before we had formed any definite plan of operations,
and the sun no longer lighted up the hollow--in fact, it was not easy to
see the Girdle lying below, until one's eyes became accustomed to the
gloom. Yet we decided, chiefly by my entreaty, to try the grappling
iron, and it was ultimately arranged that each man should be allowed
three attempts, after the hooks had been lowered down. Faris was to try
his luck first; Daud was to follow; then Sedjur, myself, and the Aeniza
in succession. When the others had failed, and my turn arrived, I took
my place at the rope end, feeling quite confident of success. With two
men sitting on my legs, I hung over the edge, and with both hands
grasped the rope. Barely a hundred feet separated me from the Girdle. I
could see its outline distinctly, and the grappling hooks within a foot
of it. Other snakes, besides the golden ones, I could see also--great,
grey, loathsome-looking beasts, and one of them, at the moment, was
actually crawling over the hooks and the Girdle. Little had I imagined
how difficult it would be to move the grappling iron, so heavy was the
great length of rope. My first attempt did no more than just turn the
iron, and I saw that all my strength would be needed to jerk the hooks
towards the Girdle. I drew in my breath, gave a frantic tug at the rope,
and succeeded in making the grapple turn bodily over. But it was farther
than ever from the desired object; and my third attempt had no better
result. I realised that it was hopeless, and, a sadder but a wiser man,
I rose from the ground. Neither did the Aeniza, who last of all
manipulated the rope, prove himself a more expert fisherman than the
rest of us.
"It is useless," said Faris, "to continue thus to play with the matter.
Let us get to business, so that we may have done with this place before
nightfall. Come, the sun is fast sinking; bring the rope."
Now arose a difficulty: each of us was eager to be the one to descend,
but Faris began to fasten the rope end to his own body. I remonstrated
with him, and maintained that the lightest man of the party should be
the one to be lowered down. This was, perhaps, selfishness on my part,
as I had every reason to believe that I myself weighed less than anyone
else. Sedjur willingly agreed to this, and, as the lightest, claimed the
right to the rope end, at which I became indignant, and demanded that
Faris should decide between us. Under other circumstances the friendly
contest between Sedjur and myself would have been intensely amusing.
Neither of us would yield; and at length Faris made us strip and stand
before him side by side, so that he might compare the size of our limbs
and the amount of flesh on them. Daud also was called in to give an
opinion, and in the end the matter was decided in my favour. My heart
gave a great bound when I knew that I, with my own hands, was to recover
the Golden Girdle, which had given me such an amount of trouble; and,
seizing the rope, I soon had it looped and knotted to my liking. I
considered myself more or less of an expert at cliff work, since I had
spent two nesting seasons with the fowlers at Flamborough Head, and I
knew that I had nothing to fear from dizziness.
I determined that, so far as I was concerned, there should be no chance
of failure. Securing the rope round my waist with a knot which I was
certain could not slip, I took the fathom or so that remained, and,
passing it down through my legs, knotted it into the waist rope in the
middle of my back. The end I then brought up over my shoulder, and
fastened off in the front of the waist rope. Thus, when suspended, my
arms and legs would be free, and the rope would not cut me unduly
anywhere. My friends, seeing that I was no novice with a rope, willingly
listened to the instructions that I proceeded to give them about
lowering me down and hauling me up again. Faris was to lie flat on the
projecting rock, watching me descend, and directing operations. Near the
edge of the point, I drove in a spear as firmly as the rocky ground
would permit, and, some little distance behind it, I planted another
spear. Passing the rope twice round each upright spear, I directed Daud,
Sedjur, and the other man to hold the standing part of the rope in both
hands, and pay it out gradually, as Faris should instruct them. Then,
when all was ready, I took the spear with the boat-hook head in both
hands, and was soon hanging in space.
Down, down, slowly but surely, I commenced to drop. As I descended, the
air grew cold and dank; pigeons, startled by my presence, flew out of
the fissures in the rocks, and occasionally a great bat made as if to
attack me. Owls, also, I could see blinking on the gnarled bushes, and
below, whenever I looked down, there were the snakes. It was not a
pleasant experience, and for a moment I almost wished that I had been a
heavier man than Sedjur. Faris's head was just visible over the edge of
the point, and I could see his hands guiding the rope, which passed over
a smooth rock close by the side of his head. As far as possible, I kept
my eyes fixed on Faris, signing to him at intervals to lower away, and
shouting to him cheerily, from time to time, to assure him that all was
going satisfactorily. I began to congratulate myself on the success of
my undertaking; I looked down to see how much farther I had to go;
another twenty feet, and the Girdle would be within reach of my hook. At
that moment, the rope suddenly ran out a yard or more with a rush, and
then stopped as suddenly with a jerk, causing me to swing backwards and
forwards in a most horrible manner. Instinctively I threw out my
boat-hook to the cliff-side nearest to me in order to steady myself,
and, to my dismay, I found that it had become fixed in a thick bush. I
shouted to Faris to hold fast to the rope, but getting no response,
glanced upwards. He had disappeared from his look-out post; and a
feeling of utter helplessness took possession of me.
I dared not let go my hold on the boat-hook spear, as without it I
should be able to do nothing. I was hanging from the rope in mid-air,
clasping the centre of the spear-shaft with both hands. Thus I remained
for, it may have been, two seconds--not longer, when I gave a sharp pull
at the rope to attract the attention of those above. What followed I
hardly know. I have a dim recollection of seeing a man come plunging
over the edge, mixed up with spears and ropes. I was loose. I clutched
the boat-hook in desperation, and felt myself suddenly swing towards the
side of the cliff. Then the shaft of the boat-hook dragged through my
hands, my body crashed down, and everything became black.
Of what happened after that I know nothing. Neither can I say for
certain, even now, whether I lay there unconscious for only a few hours,
or for more than twenty-four. On opening my eyes at last, I found that
it was night, and for some time I could not understand where I was. Then
the whole hideous truth dawned on me, and I recalled what I had last
seen--the loose rope, the spears, and the falling man. I was, then, down
in the well; and I shuddered as I remembered the snakes that I had seen
at the bottom. I was afraid to move, but feeling carefully with my
hands, I came to the conclusion that I was lying on a ledge, and had not
fallen the whole distance to the bottom. Still, the situation was
appalling, for unless my friends found some means to rescue me, I saw no
possibility of escape. Exhausted, yet fearing to fall asleep, I lay, and
prayed for daylight, not knowing whether the night had just begun, or
whether it was drawing to a close. I called loudly to Faris, to Sedjur,
and to Daud; but each time there came back only the echo of my own
voice, mingled with the shrill screams of countless owls. That the place
was haunted did not greatly trouble me, for I argued with myself that
all the afreets and jins in spirit-land could do no more than kill me,
which, perhaps, would be the best thing that could happen.
Thus I remained motionless, hoping for dawn, and thinking regretfully
over the events of my short life. It seemed pitiful to think that I
should have been so near the attainment of all my hopes, and should
suddenly have lost everything. Then I tried to find a reason for what
had occurred, and I became convinced that it was the result of my own
folly, that the rope had kinked up, that Faris had left his spot in
order to free it, and that my foolish jerk had pulled him off his feet
and hurled him into the depths of the well. His dead body, I thought,
must be lying somewhere near me; and I shuddered at the knowledge that I
had caused the death of the brave sheik, simply and solely because I had
been so obstinately determined to obtain the Golden Girdle. As many
another man had done before me, I cursed the thing, and remembered, with
bitterness, how Faris had warned me from the first that no good would
ever come from it.
In the course of time the sky began to show a faint glimmer of light,
and I knew that day was breaking. I could make out the shapes of the
rocks and the bushes, and I soon saw how everything lay. As I had
imagined, I was lying on a narrow ledge, on to which I must have been
cast, by the swing of the spear-shaft, as the rope gave way. I looked
above me, and there I saw the spear itself, with its boat-hook head
fixed in a dense bush, and the end of the shaft not two feet above my
face. When I sat up, I could almost reach it with my hands. I raised
myself carefully, grasped the spear, and endeavoured to disentangle its
hooked head. It resisted all my efforts for some time, but eventually a
small branch broke off, and the boat-hook was loose.
My next thought was to look for the sheik's body, and, craning over the
side of the ledge, I glanced down at the bottom of the well. The sun had
now risen, and was shining brightly on the wild scene. Not fifteen feet
beneath me glittered the Golden Girdle, and the sight of it caused me to
tremble violently. Close by it were one or two snakes, basking in the
morning sun. I hastily scanned the ledge whereon I was kneeling, to make
certain that other snakes were not there also. I could see none, and I
gave a sigh of relief. Again I sought the body of Faris, and presently
my eyes fell on a shapeless mass of clothing, lying among the debris of
rocks on the opposite side of the well. In my agony, my first impulse
was to fling myself on to the rocks below, and so end my miserable
existence. But I restrained myself, and involuntarily turned my eyes in
the direction of the gruesome corpse. A ray of hope suddenly burst in
upon me. The clothes were not those worn by Faris, nor by Sedjur, nor by
either of my other friends; they were not the clothes of a Bedouin, but
of an Arab townsman. Who or what he was I could not imagine.
Half dazed, I sat down and wondered what it all meant. Faris and the
others were alive after all; they would shortly come to my rescue; they
had probably gone off to obtain another rope. I felt happier. I still
lived, and I was certain that Faris, my blood-brother, was not the man
to leave me to die. Then a horrible fear came over me as I thought that,
perhaps, the sheik had imagined that I had been killed by the fall.
Possibly, while I was unconscious, he had called to me, and, receiving
no reply, had given me up as dead. If he thought me to be dead, then he
would certainly leave the Girdle at rest. These thoughts sent a thrill
of horror through me, but at the same time they impelled me to cast
about for a means of escape. I roused myself. I would not sit where I
was and await death. I would make a fight for life.
The resolution made, I became calm and collected--much to my own
astonishment. I looked around me. The rope was still secured to my
waist, the bulk of it lying at the bottom of the well. I hauled it up
and coiled it by my side on the ledge. With the rope and my long
boat-hook, I should be able to manage something--at least I hoped so.
With the aid of these two things, I could surely work my way upwards
from rock to rock, and from bush to bush. I could not endure another
night in this Inferno, and I formed my plans rapidly. I raised the
boat-hook, and with it grappled the bush above me. I could see that
there was another ledge there, and to reach it meant ten feet nearer
freedom; but I found that swarming up a smooth bamboo was more than I
could manage; so, drawing down the boat-hook, and poising the loose end
of the rope on its top, I raised it again, and, after several vain
attempts, succeeded in passing the rope round the stem of the bush.
Then, inch by inch, I jerked the rope forward until the end returned to
my hand, when, knotting it securely, and fixing the head of the
boat-hook in the bush, I clambered up the double rope, to reach the
narrow ledge in safety. I drew up the boat-hook and the rope, and now
that I had accomplished the first step, I no longer despaired.
Looking down, while resting after my exertion, I caught sight of the
fateful Girdle. It had a dreadful fascination for me. Should I leave it
there? Could I possibly obtain it? I shook with excitement at the very
idea; and I decided that I would drop down again to my former position
on the lower ledge, and see if I could in any way get nearer to the
bottom of the well. I hung the boat-hook in the bush, tied the rope to
the thickest bough, and slipped down. The situation I found was not by
any means hopeless; in fact, to reach a spot overhanging the Girdle, and
within spear's length of it, seemed to be perfectly simple. About eight
feet below me was a projecting rock, quite large enough to stand on, and
from it, I estimated, I could easily touch the golden serpents with my
hook.
I determined now to run no risk of losing either of the two things on
which my life depended. The rope, still looped round the bush above me,
I slackened out sufficiently to enable me to reach the rock below, and
drawing the long end through the loop that encircled my waist, I made it
fast, coiling the remainder round my body, and securing the end to the
shaft of the boat-hook. Thus equipped, I descended cautiously, and, in
less than a minute, was standing on the rock. Pulling at the portion of
the rope to which the boat-hook was fastened, I dragged the latter off
the ledge, and soon had it in my hands. My estimate proved correct; the
head of the boat-hook could touch the ground a foot or two over and
beyond the Golden Girdle.
As the iron hooks scraped on the ground, the live snakes hissed and
wriggled away among the fallen stones. Skilfully, I gauged the centre of
the belt, and passing the boat-hook beneath it, gently raised my hands.
But the belt slipped off, and I had to start afresh. The same thing
occurred time after time, until at length I balanced it exactly, and
slowly and steadily drew it up. As it came nearer and nearer, my knees
shook beneath me, and every moment I expected to see it slither to the
ground. Another foot and it would be safe. I thrust out one hand and
grasped it. In my frantic joy I shouted again and again. I defied the
whole host of jins and afreets; I cared not for Shaitan himself. I had
won the day. The Golden Girdle was mine!