The Boy Slaves Part 6

Whether it was a genuine nightmare or no, it was accompanied by all the horrors of this phenomenon. As they afterwards declared, all four felt its influence, each in his own way dreaming of some fearful fascination from which he could make no effort to escape. Strange enough, their dreams were different. Harry Blount thought he was falling over a precipice; Colin that a gigantic ogre had got hold of and was going to eat him up; while the young Hibernian fancied himself in the midst of a conflagration, a dwelling-house on fire, from which he could not get out!

Old Bill's delusion was more in keeping with their situation, or at least with that out of which they had lately escaped. He simply supposed that he was submerged in the sea, and as he knew he could not swim, it was but natural for him to fancy that he was drowning.

Still, he could make no struggle; and, as he would have done this, whether able to swim or not, his dream did not exactly resemble the real thing.

The sailor was the first to escape from the uncomfortable incubus; though there was but an instant between the awakening of all. They were startled out of their sleep, one after another, in the order in which they lay, and inversely to that in which they had lain down.

Their awakening was as mysterious as the nightmare itself, and scarce relieved them from the horror which the latter had been occasioning.

All felt in turn, and in quick succession, a heavy crushing pressure, either on the limbs or body; which had the effect, not only to startle them from their sleep, but caused them considerable pain.

Twice was this pressure applied, almost exactly on the same spot; and with scarce a second's interval between the applications. It could not well have been repeated a third time with like exactness, even had such been the design of whatever creature was causing it, for, after a second squeeze, each had recovered sufficient consciousness to know he was in danger of being crushed, and make a desperate effort to withdraw himself.

The exclamations, proceeding from four sets of lips, told that all were still in the land of the living; but the confused questioning that followed did nothing towards elucidating the cause of that sudden and almost simultaneous uprising.

There was too much sneezing and coughing to permit of anything like clear or coherent speech. The _shumu_ was still blowing. There was sand in the mouths and nostrils of all four, and dust in their eyes.

Their talk more resembled the jabbering of apes, who had unwisely intruded into a snuff-shop, than the conversation of four rational beings.

It was some time before anyone of them could shape his speech so as to be understood by the others; and, after all had at length succeeded in making themselves intelligible, it was found that each had the same story to tell. Each had felt two pressures on some part of his person; and had seen, though very indistinctly, some huge creature pa.s.sing over him, apparently a quadruped, though what sort of quadruped none of them could tell. All they knew was that it was a gigantic, uncouth creature, with a narrow body and neck, and very long legs; and that it had feet there could be no doubt, since it was these that had pressed so heavily upon them.

But for the swirl of the sandstorm, and the dust already in their eyes, they might have been able to give a better description of the creature that had so unceremoniously stepped upon them. These impediments, however, had hindered them from obtaining a fair view of it; and some animal, grotesquely shaped, with a long neck, body, and legs, was the image which remained in the excited minds of the awakened sleepers.

Whatever it was, they were all sufficiently frightened to stand for some time trembling. Just awakening from such dreams, it was but natural they should surrender themselves to strange imaginings; and, instead of endeavouring to identify the odd-looking animal, if animal it was, they were rather inclined to set it down as some creature of a supernatural kind.

The three midshipmen were but boys; not so long from the nursery as to have altogether escaped from the weird influence which many a nursery tale had wrapped around them; and as for Old Bill, fifty years spent in "ploughing the ocean" had only confirmed him in the belief that the "black art" is not so mythical as philosophers would have us think.

So frightened were all four that, after the first ebullition of their surprise had subsided, they no longer gave utterance to speech but stood listening, and trembling as they listened. Perhaps, had they known the service which the intruder had done for them, they might have felt grat.i.tude towards it, instead of the suspicion and dread that for some moments kept them, as if spell-bound, in their places. It did not occur to any of the party that that strange summons from sleep, more effective than the half-whispered invitation of a _valet-de-chambre_, or the ringing of a breakfast-bell, had, in all probability, rescued them from a silent but certain death.

They stood, as I have said, listening. There were several distinct sounds that saluted their ears. There was the "sough" of the sea, as it came swelling up the gorge; the "whish" of the wind, as it impinged upon the crests of the ridges; and the "swish" of the sand as it settled round them.

All these were voices of inanimate objects, phenomena of nature, easily understood. But, rising above them, were heard sounds of a different character; which, though they might be equally natural, were not equally familiar to those who listened to them.

There was a sort of dull battering, as if some gigantic creature was performing a Terpsich.o.r.ean feat upon the sand-bank above them; but sharper sounds were heard at intervals, screams commingled with short snortings, both proclaiming something of the nature of a struggle.

Neither in the screams nor in the snortings was there anything that the listeners could identify as sounds they had ever heard before. They were alike perplexing to the ears of English, Irish, and Scotch. Even Old Bill, who had heard, some time or other, nearly every sound known in creation, could not cla.s.sify them.

"Divil take him!" whispered he to his companions; "I dinna know what to make av it. It be hawful to 'ear em!"

"Hark!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Harry Blount.

"Hish!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Terence.

"Wheesh!" muttered Colin. "It's coming nearer, whatever it may be.

Wheesh!"

There could be no doubt about the truth of this conjecture; for as the caution pa.s.sed from the lips of the young Scotchman, the dull hammering, the snorts, and the unearthly screams were evidently drawing nearer; though the creature that was causing them was unseen through the thick sand-mist still surrounding the listeners. These however heard enough to know that some heavy body was making a rapid descent down the sloping gorge, and with an impetuosity that rendered it prudent for them to get out of its way.

More by an instinct, than from any correct appreciation of the danger, all four fell back from the narrow trench in which they had been standing; each as he best could retreating up the declivity of the sand-hill.

Scarce were they able to obtain footing in their new position, when the sounds they had heard not only became louder and nearer, but the creature that had been causing them pa.s.sed close to their feet; so close that most of them could have touched it with their toes.

For all that, not one of the party could tell what it was; and after it had pa.s.sed, on its way down the ravine, and was once more lost to their view amid the swirling sand, they were not a bit further advanced in their knowledge of the strange creature that had come so near crushing out their existence with its ponderous weight!

All that they had been able to see was a conglomeration of dark objects, resembling the head, neck, body and limbs of some uncouth animal; while the sounds that proceeded from it were like utterances that might have come from some other world; for certainly they had but slight resemblance to anything the castaways had ever heard in this, either upon sea or land!

CHAPTER TWELVE.

THE MAHERRY.

For some length of time they stood conjecturing, the boys with clasped hands, Old Bill near, but apart.

During this time, at intervals, they continued to hear the sounds that had so astonished them, the stamping, the snorts and the screaming, though they no longer saw the creature that caused them.

The sand gully opened towards the sea in a diagonal direction. It could not be many yards to the spot where it debouched upon the level of the beach; and the creature that had caused them such a surprise, and was still continuing to occupy their thoughts, must have reached this level surface, though not to suspend its exertions. Every now and then could be heard the same repet.i.tion of dull noises, as if some animal was kicking itself to death, varied by trumpet-like snorts and agonising screams which could be likened to the cry of no animal upon earth.

But that the castaways knew they were on the coast of Africa, that continent renowned for strange existences, they might have been even more disposed to a supernatural belief in what was near them; but as the minutes pa.s.sed, and their senses began to return to them, they became more inclined to think what they had seen, heard, and felt, might be only some animal, a heavy quadruped, that had trampled over them in their sleep.

The chief difficulty in reconciling this belief with the actual occurrence was the odd behaviour of the animal. Why had it gone up the gorge, apparently _parenti pa.s.su_, to come tumbling down again in such a confused fashion? Why was it still kicking and stumbling about at the bottom of the ravine--for such did the sounds proclaim it to be doing?

No answer could be given to either of these questions; and none was given, until day dawned over the sand-hills. This was soon after; and along with the morning light had come the cessation of the simoom.

Then saw the castaways that creature that had so abruptly awakened them from their slumbers, and, by so doing, perhaps, saved their lives. They saw it rec.u.mbent at the bottom of the gorge, where they had so uneasily pa.s.sed the night.

It proved to be, what, from the slight glimpse they got of it, they were inclined to believe, an animal, and a quadruped; and if it had presented an uncouth appearance, as it stepped over them in the darkness, not less so did it appear as they now beheld it under the light of day.

It was an animal of very large size, in height far exceeding a horse, but of such a grotesque shape as to be easily recognisable by any one who had ever glanced into a picture book of quadrupeds. The long craning neck, with an almost earless head and gibbous profile; the great straggling limbs, callous at the knees, and ending in broad, wide-splitting hoofs; the slender hindquarters, and tiny tufted tail, both ludicrously disproportioned, the tumid, misshapen trunk; but, above all, the huge hunch rising above the shoulders, at once proclaimed the creature to be a dromedary.

"Och! it's only a kaymal!" cried Old Bill, as soon as the daylight enabled him to get a fair view of the animal. "What on hearth is it doin' ere?"

"Sure enough," suggested Terence, "it was this beast that stepped over us while we were asleep! It almost squeezed the breath out of me, for it set its hoof right upon the pit of my stomach."

"The same with me," said Colin. "It sunk me down nearly a foot into the sand. Oh, we have reason to be thankful there was that drift-sand over our bodies at the time. If not, the great brute might have crushed us to death."

There was some truth in Colin's observation; but for the covering of sand, which acted as a cushion, and also from that which formed their couch yielding underneath them, the foot of the great quadruped might have caused them serious injury. As it was, none of them had received any hurt, beyond the fright which the strange intruder had occasioned them.

The singular incident was yet only half explained. They saw it was a camel that had disturbed their slumbers; that the animal had been on its way up the ravine, perhaps seeking shelter from the sandstorm, but what had caused it to return so suddenly back down the slope? Above all, why had it made the downward journey in such a singular manner? Obscure as had been their view of it, they could see that it did not go on all-fours, but apparently tumbling and struggling, its long limbs kicking about in the air as if it was performing the descent by a series of somersaults.

All this had been mysterious enough; but it was soon explained to the satisfaction of the four castaways; who, as soon as they saw the camel by the bottom of the gorge, had rushed down and surrounded it.

The animal was in a rec.u.mbent position, not as if it had been lain down to rest, but in a constrained att.i.tude, with its long neck drawn in towards its fore-legs, and its head lying low and half buried in the sand.

As it was motionless when they first perceived it, they fancied it was dead; that something had wounded it above. This would have explained the fantastic fashion in which it had returned down the slope, as the somersaults observed might have been only a series of death struggles.

On getting around it, however, they perceived that it was not only still alive, but in perfect health; and its late mysterious movements were accounted for at a single glance. A strong hair halter, firmly noosed around its head, had got caught in the bifurcation of one of its fore-hoofs, where a knot upon the rope had hindered it from slipping through the deep split. This had first caused it to trip up, and tumble head over heels, inaugurating that series of struggles, which had ended in transporting it back to the bottom of the ravine, where it now lay with the trailing end of the long halter knotted inextricably around its legs.