Yussuf the Guide Part 43

Lawrence threw himself down, while Yussuf clung to the horses' bridles, as if to guard against a stampede, and the driver stood calmly in the att.i.tude of prayer.

Then again and again the whole of the mountain side shook and undulated, waving up and down till the sensation of sickness became intolerable, and all the while there was the dull roar of falling stones above, below, away to the left and right. Now some huge ma.s.s seemed to drop on to the earth with a dull thud, another fell upon other stones, and seemed to be broken to atoms, and again and again others seemed to slip from their foundations, and go rolling down like an avalanche, and once more all was still.

"Is it an earthquake?" said Lawrence at last in a low awe-stricken tone.

"Seems like a dozen earthquakes," said the old lawyer. "My goodness me!

What a place for a town!"

And as they all stood there trembling and expecting the next shock, not knowing but the earth might open a vast cavity into which the whole mountain would plunge, a huge cloud of dust arose, shutting out everything that was half a dozen yards away, and the heated air grew more and more suffocating.

It was plain enough to understand now why it was that in the course of time this beautiful city should have been destroyed. The first disaster might have been caused by war, but it was evident that this was a region where earth disturbance was a frequent occurrence, and as time rolled by, every shock would tear down more and more of the place.

Very little was said, for though no great shock came now, there were every few minutes little vibrations beneath their feet, as if the earth was trembling from the effect of the violent efforts it had made.

Now and then they held their breath as a stronger agitation came, and once this ended with what seemed to be a throb or a sound as if the earth had parted and then closed up again.

Then came a lapse, during which the travellers sat in the midst of the thick mist of dust waiting, waiting for the next great throb, feeling that perhaps these were only the preliminaries to some awful catastrophe.

No one spoke, and the silence was absolutely profound. They were surrounded by groves where the birds as a rule piped and sang loudly; but everything was hushed as if the thick dust-cloud had shut in all sound.

And what a cloud of dust! The dust of a buried city, of a people who had lived when the earth was a couple of thousand years or more younger, when western Europe was the home of barbarians. The dust of buildings that had been erected by the most civilised peoples then dwelling in the world, and this now rising in the thick dense cloud which seemed as if it would never pa.s.s.

An hour must have gone by, and they were conscious as they stood there in a group that the mist looked blacker, and by this they felt that the night must be coming on. For some time now there had not been the slightest quiver of the ground, and in place of the horses standing with their legs spread wide and heads low, staring wildly, and snorting with dread, they had gathered themselves together again, and were beginning to crop the herbage here and there, but blowing over it and letting it fall from their lips again as if in disgust.

And no wonder, for every blade and leaf was covered with a fine impalpable powder, while, as the perspiration dried upon the exposed parts of the travellers, their skins seemed to be stiff and caked with the dust.

"I think the earthquake is over, excellencies," said Yussuf calmly. "I could not be sure, but the look of the sky this evening was strange."

"I had read of earthquakes out here," said the professor, who was gaining confidence now; "but you do not often have such shocks as these?"

"Oh, yes, effendi; it is not an unusual thing. Much more terrible than this; whole towns are sometimes swallowed up. Hundreds of lives are lost, and hundreds left homeless."

"Then you call this a slight earthquake?" said Mr Burne.

"Certainly, excellency, here," was the reply. "It may have been very terrible elsewhere. Terrible to us if we had been standing beside those stones which fell. It would have been awful enough if all these ruins had been, as they once were, grandly built houses and temples."

"And I was grumbling about poor dear old sooty, foggy England," said Mr Burne. "Dear, dear, dear, what foolish things one says!"

"Is not the dust settling down?" said the professor just then.

"A little, your excellency; but it is so fine that unless we have a breeze it may be hours before it is gone."

"Then what do you propose to do?" asked Mr Burne.

"What can I do, excellency, but try to keep you out of danger?"

"Yes, but how?"

"We must stay here."

"Stay here? when that village is so near at hand?"

Yussuf paused for a few minutes and then said slowly, as if the question had just been asked:

"How do we know that the village is near at hand?"

"Ah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the professor, startled by the man's tone.

"It was not more than two of your English miles from here, excellency, when we left the place this morning, but with such a shock there may be only ruins from which the people who were spared have fled."

"How horrible!" exclaimed Lawrence.

"Let us hope that I am wrong, effendi," said Yussuf hastily. "I only speak."

"But we cannot stay here for the night," said Mr Burne impatiently.

"Excellency, we must stay here," said the Turk firmly. "I am your guide, and where I know the land I will lead you. I knew this country this morning, but how can I know it now? Great chasms may lie between us and the village--deep rifts, into which in the dust and darkness we may walk. You know what vast gorges and valleys lie between the hills."

"Yes," replied Mr Preston.

"Some of these have been worn down by the torrents and streams from the mountains, others have been made in a moment by such shocks as these. I would gladly say, 'come on; I will lead you back to the head-man's house,' but, excellencies, I do not dare."

"He is quite right, Burne," said the professor gravely.

"Oh, yes, confound him: he always is right," cried Mr Burne. "I wish sometimes he were not. Fancy camping out here for the night in this horrible dust and with the air growing cold. It will be icy here by and by."

"Yes, excellency, it will be cold. We are high up, and the snow mountains are not far away."

"We must make the best of it, Lawrence, my boy," said the professor cheerily. "Then I suppose the next thing is to select a camp. But, Yussuf, this is rather risky. What about the asps?"

"And the ants," cried Mr Burne with a groan. "I can't sleep with such bed-fellows as these."

"And the djins and evil spirits," cried Lawrence.

"Ah, I don't think they will hurt us much, my boy," said the professor.

"And there is one comfort," added Mr Burne; "we have left the cemetery behind. I do protest against camping there."

"A cemetery of two thousand years ago," said the professor quietly.

"Ah, Burne, we need not make that an objection. But come, what is to be done?"

Yussuf answered the question by calling Hamed to come and help unpack the horses, and all then set to work to prepare to pa.s.s the night in the midst of the ruins, and without much prospect of a fire being made.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

ALI BABA'S FEAT.