Yussuf the Guide Part 28

It was a hindrance so soon after their starting; but Yussuf seemed to set so good an example of patience and forbearance that the professor followed it, and Mr Burne was compelled to accept the position.

"We shall have plenty of such drawbacks," Mr Preston said; "and we must recollect that we are not in the land of time-tables and express trains."

"We seem to be in the land of no tables at all, not even chairs,"

grumbled Mr Burne; "but there, I don't complain. Go on just as you please. I'll keep all my complaints till I get back, and then put them in a big book."

A week of steady slow travelling ensued, during which time they were continually journeying in and out among the mountains, following rough tracks, or roads as they were called, whose course had been suggested by that of the streams that wandered between the hills. Often enough the way was the dried-up bed of some torrent, amidst whose boulders the patient little Turkish horses picked their way in the most sure-footed manner.

It was along such a track as this that they were going in single file one day, for some particular reason that was apparently known only to the professor and Yussuf. They seemed to be deep down in the earth, for the rift along which they travelled was not above twenty feet wide, and on the one side the rock rose up nearly three thousand feet almost perpendicularly, while, on the other, where it was not perpendicular, it appeared to overhang.

Now and then it opened out a little more. Then it contracted, and seemed as if ere long the sides of the ravine would touch; but always when it came to this, it opened out directly after.

The heat was intense, for there was not a breath of wind. The gully was perfectly dry, and wherever there was a patch of greenery, it was fifty, a hundred, perhaps a thousand feet above their heads.

"How much farther is it to the village where we shall stop for the night?" said the old lawyer, pausing to mop his forehead.

"There is no village that we shall stop at, effendi," said Yussuf quietly. "We go on a little more, and then we shall have reached the remains that Mr Preston wishes to see."

"Bless my heart!" panted the old gentleman. "You are killing that boy."

"I am quite well," said Lawrence smiling, "only hot and thirsty. I want to see the ruins."

"Oh, go on," cried Mr Burne. "Don't stop for me."

Just then they were proceeding along a more open and sunny part when the professor's horse in front suddenly shied, swerved round, and darted back, throwing his rider pretty heavily.

"Mind, sir! Take care!" shouted Yussuf.

"What's the good of telling a man to take care when he is down?" cried Mr Burne angrily; and he tried to urge his horse forward, but it refused to stir, while Lawrence's had behaved in precisely the same manner, and stood shivering and snorting.

"Your gun, sir, quickly!" exclaimed Yussuf.

"What is it? Robbers?" cried Mr Burne excitedly as he handed the guide his double-barrelled fowling-piece.

"No, sir; one of the evil beasts which haunt these valleys and slopes.

Is the gun loaded, sir?"

"Loaded? No, man. Do you suppose I want to shoot somebody?"

"Quick, sir! The charges!" whispered Yussuf; and when, after much fumbling, Mr Burne had forced his hand into his cartridge-bag, Yussuf was closing the breech of the gun, having loaded it with a couple of cartridges handed by Lawrence, who had rapidly dismounted and drawn his sword.

It was evident that Mr Preston was stunned by the fall, for he lay motionless on one side of the ravine among the stones.

"No, no, stop!" cried Yussuf as Lawrence was making his way towards the professor.

The lad involuntarily obeyed, and waited breathless to see what would follow, as Yussuf advanced cautiously, gun in hand, his dark eyes rolling from side to side in search of the danger.

For some minutes he could see nothing. Then, all at once, they saw him raise the gun to his shoulder, take a quick aim and fire, when the horses started, and would have dashed off back, but for the fact that they were arrested by the way being blocked by the baggage animals and Mr Burne.

As the gun was fired its report was magnified a hundredfold, and went rolling along in a series of peals like thunder, while the faint blue smoke rose over where Yussuf stood leaning forward and gazing at some broken stones.

Then all at once he raised the gun again as if to fire, but lowered it with a smile, and walked forward to spurn something with his foot, and upon Lawrence reaching him it was to find him turning over a black-looking serpent of about six feet long, with a short thin tail, the body of the reptile being very thick in proportion to its length.

Upon turning it over the Muslim pointed out that it had a peculiar reddish throat, and he declared it to be of a very poisonous kind.

"How do you know it to be poisonous?" said Mr Preston, who had, unseen by them, risen from where he had been thrown.

"Oh, Mr Preston, are you much hurt?" cried Lawrence.

"I must say I am hurt," said the professor smiling. "A heavy man like me cannot fall from his horse and strike his head against the stones without suffering. But there, it is nothing serious. How do you know that is a poisonous snake, Yussuf?"

"I have been told of people being bitten by them, effendi, and some have died; but I should have said that it was dangerous as soon as I saw the horse shrink from it. Animals do not generally show such horror unless they know that there is danger."

"I don't think you are right about the horses," said the professor quietly, "for they are terrible cowards in their way; but I think you are right about the snake. Serpents that are formed like this, with the thick, sluggish-looking shape, and that peculiar short tail, are mostly venomous. Well, this one will do no more mischief, Burne."

"No. Nasty brute!" said the old lawyer, gazing down at the reptile after coaxing his horse forward. "What are you going to do, Yussuf?"

"Make sure that it will not bite any of the faithful," said the guide slowly; and drawing his knife he thrust the reptile into a convenient position, and, after cutting off its head, tossed the still writhing body to the side of the ravine.

This incident at an end, they all mounted again and rode on, Yussuf in the middle, and Lawrence and Mr Preston, who declared himself better, on either hand, till, at the end of about an hour, the latter said quickly:

"Do you think you are right, Yussuf? These ravines are so much alike.

Surely you must have made a mistake."

"If I am right," replied Yussuf, pointing forward, "there is a spring of clear water gushing out at the foot of that steep rock."

"And there is none, I think," said the professor, "or it would be running this way."

"If it did not run another, effendi," said Yussuf grimly. "Yes: I am right. There is the opening of the little valley down which the stream runs, and the ruined rock-dwellings are just beyond."

If there had been any doubt as to their guide's knowledge it would have been set aside by the horses, for Mr Burne suddenly uttered a warning shout, and, looking back, they saw the two baggage animals coming along at a sharp pace, which was immediately partic.i.p.ated in by the rest of the horses, all trotting forward as fast as the nature of the ground would allow to get to a patch of green that showed at the foot of a great rock; and upon reaching it, there, as Yussuf had said, was a copious stream, which came spouting out from a crevice in the rock, clear, cool, and delicious, for the refreshment of all.

The horses and baggage were left here in charge of the driver, and, following Yussuf, the little party were soon after at the foot of a very rugged precipice, the guide pointing upwards, and exclaiming:

"Behold, effendi, it is as I said."

For a few moments they all gazed upwards, seeing nothing but what appeared to be the rugged face of the cliff; but soon the eye began to make out a kind of order here and there, and that rugged ranges of stones had been built up on shelves of the rock, with windows and doors, but as far as could be made out these rock-dwellings had been roofless; and were more like fortifications than anything else, the professor said.

"Yes, effendi," said Yussuf gravely, "strongholds, but dwelling-places as well. People had to live in spots where they would be safe in those days. Are you going to climb up?"

"Certainly," was the reply.

"That is well, for up beyond there is a way to an old temple, and a number of caves where people must have been living."

"But where is the road up?" said Lawrence.

"Along that rough ledge," replied Yussuf. "I will go first. Would it not be better if the young effendi stayed below? The height is great, the road dangerous; and not only is it hot, but there are many serpents up among the ledges of the rock."

"What do you say, Lawrence?" said the professor.