We were safe yet, and I felt quite hopeful as I thought of what an
advantage we, as defenders, possessed in the darkness over an attacking
party advancing light in hand.
The sight, too, of the superstitious terror of the Indians was cheering,
and I again felt assured that should Garcia persevere in his
determination to search our part of the cave, he must seek other
companions or else come alone.
"Tom," I said then, gently, "we have been away some time now; creep back
to my uncle and tell him quietly that the Indians are in the cave, but
at present there is no danger to fear. Ask him, though, to put out the
light in case they should come this way."
Tom made no answer, but crept away directly, leaving me in that thick
darkness watching for the return of the enemy, and wondering whether we
should succeed in getting safely away.
My heart sank as I thought of our peril, with the cunning of the savage
and the European mingled to fight against us; while, as to our position,
we could set them, I was sure, at defiance here; but could we escape to
the river? I still hoped that they would not penetrate our part,
forcing us to take to the raft; and at times I began to wonder whether
it would not be better to resist their entrance for the sake of saving
the mules, unless we could compel these to swim after the raft.
My reverie was broken by the return of Tom.
"All right, Mas'r Harry," he said; "they're in the dark now; but I think
Miss Lilla was disappointed because you didn't go. I'll keep watch if
you'd like to go."
If I'd like to go! I fought down the desire, though, just as a distant
echoing murmur, ever increasing, fell upon our ears, and we knew that
the searchers were on their way back.
Another minute, and with their last torch burning dimly they were
scrambling down from the rift to the cavern chamber, and then hurrying
away as fast as the obscurity would allow.
The hours glided by, and at last it became manifest that there was to be
no further search that night, so, with Tom, I cautiously made my way to
the mouth of the cavern, to find that the enemy had made their bivouac
just by the barrier, a bright fire illumining the broad arch, and
ruddying the swarthy faces that clustered round, some standing, some
lying about upon the sand, while a couple were evidently sentries and
stood motionless a little farther in, gazing towards the interior of the
cave.
"No more visitors to-night," whispered Tom.
Together we crept back--no light task--through the densely black maze,
but at last we felt our way to where we had watched, when Tom,
undertaking to be the first guard, I continued my journey to where
Lilla, wearied out, was fast sleeping in her mother's arms.
I told my uncle how we were situated, and then, after partaking of the
refreshment he offered me, I lay down for a couple of hours' sleep; but
I'm afraid I far exceeded it before I awoke with a start to try and
recall where we were. Soon after, though, I was at Tom's side, to find
that he had twice been to the cave mouth to see the sentries still
posted, and the rest of the Indian party sleeping round the fire.
I should think that four hours must have elapsed, and then, at one and
the same moment, I heard Tom's whisper and saw the distant glimmer of
approaching lights.
"Look out, Mas'r Harry!"
The lights grew brighter moment by moment, and then we could see once
more the party of Indians coming slowly forward, headed by Garcia, upon
whose fierce face the torch he carried flashed again and again.
But it soon became evident that the Indians were advancing very
unwillingly; and more than once, when, alarmed by the light, one of the
great birds went flapping and screaming by, there was a suppressed yell,
and the men crowded together as if for mutual protection.
At last they stood together in the centre of the vault, and Garcia made
a hasty survey, pausing at last by the passage, where we watched him
hold up his light and peer down it, and then turn to his companions.
The conversation we could not understand, but it was evident that Garcia
was urging them to follow him, and that they refused.
"Say, Mas'r Harry," whispered Tom, "why, if we could be in the
bird-chamber and fire off both guns, how those niggers would cut and run
like a lot of schoolboys."
"Hist!" I said softly.
For Garcia was now evidently appealing most strongly to one who appeared
to be the leader of the Indians--a tall, bronzed giant of a fellow, who
pointed, waved his arms about, and made some long reply.
"I'd give something to understand all that, Mas'r Harry," whispered Tom.
"He says that if the senor's enemies and the searchers for the sacred
treasure are in this direction, the great spirit who dwells in this part
of the cave has flown with them down into the great hole that reaches
right through the world."
"Uncle!" I exclaimed, as he whispered these words close to our ears.
"I was uneasy about you, Harry," he replied. "But who is that--Garcia?
Ah! he will never get the Indians to come here. They dread this gloomy
place, and believe it is full of the departed souls of their tribe. I
have heard that they will never come beyond a certain point, and this
must be the point."
Standing where we did we could plainly see all that was taking place,
even to the working of the excited countenances. Garcia was evidently
furious with disappointment, and, as my uncle afterwards informed me,
spared neither taunt nor promise in his endeavours to get the Indians
forward, telling them that they risked far more from their gods by
leaving the treasure-takers unpunished than by going in there after
them. He told them that they must proceed now--that it was imperative,
and as he spoke in a low, deep voice, it gave us a hint as to our own
remarks, for the cavern was like some great whispering gallery, and his
words came plainly to us, though few of them were intelligible to my
ear.
All Garcia's efforts seemed to be in vain, and the Indians were
apparently about to return, when our enemy made a last appeal.
"No," said the Indian, who was certainly the leader; "we have done our
part. We have chased them to the home of the great god Illapa, and he
will punish them. They took away the great treasure, but have they not
brought it back? It would be offending him, and bringing down his wrath
upon us, if we did more. If the treasure-seekers should escape, then we
would seize them; but they will not, for yonder is the great void where
Illapa dwells; and those who in olden times once dared to go as far were
swallowed up in the great home of thunder."
The Indian spoke reverently and with a display of dignity, beside which
the rage and gesticulations of Garcia looked contemptible.
As a last resource it seemed to strike him that he would once more have
the bird-chamber searched, and, appealing to the Indians, they
unwillingly climbed up to the ledge for the second time, and disappeared
through the rift, leaving Garcia, torch in one hand and pistol in the
other, guarding the passage where we crouched; now walking to and fro,
now coming close up to enter a few yards, holding his light above his
head; but darkness and silence were all that greeted him. I trembled,
though, lest he should hear the whinnying of the mules, which, though
distant, might have reached to where he stood. At last, to our great
relief, he stepped back into the vault, and began to pace to and fro.
For full two hours Garcia walked impatiently up and down there by the
torch he had stuck in the sand at the mouth of the passage, and then
came the murmurs of the returning voices of the savages, accompanied by
shriek after shriek of the frightened birds, scared by the lights which
were intruding upon their domain.
As the searching party descended, Garcia hurried towards them, seeing
evidently at a glance that they had no tidings, but now using every art
he could command to persuade the chief to follow him. He pointed and
gesticulated, asserting apparently that he felt a certainty of our being
in the farther portion of the passage where his torch was stuck. But
always there was the same grave courtesy, mingled with a solemnity of
demeanour on the chief's part, as if the subject of the inner cavern was
not to be approached without awe.
"We are safe, Harry," my uncle breathed in my ear at last.
For it was plain that, satisfied that their work was done, the Indians
were about to depart, when, apparently half mad with rage and
disappointment, Garcia cocked the pistols he had in his belt, replaced
them, and then, gun in one hand and torch in the other, he strode
towards the passage, evidently with the intention of exploring it alone.
The next moment a wild and mournful cry arose from the savage party,
while their chief seemed staggered at Garcia's boldness, but recovering
himself, he dashed forward, caught the half-breed by the arm, and strove
to drag him back.