Zero the Slaver Part 3

This quivering, quaking mora.s.s was known to the natives by an awful name, the nearest English equivalent for which appeared to be "the Mouth of h.e.l.l itself;" and a truly awful tract of country it was, and of a certainty merited most thoroughly this infernal denomination.

These people knew nothing of any way through the marsh, and ridiculed the very notion of such a path existing, so that it was quite clear to our friends that many days of weary travel must elapse ere they could regain the eastern end of the kloof which they so eagerly sought to reach.

To add to the troubles of the little band, first Leigh and then the whole of their bearers, one after another, succ.u.mbed to swamp fever, and Kenyon, who entirely escaped its influence, had--as may well be imagined--his hands full for the next ten days. The American ascribed his own immunity from fever, to his having choked off the malarial microbes by almost incessant smoking, but if this view of the case were correct, Leigh should also have been let down very lightly, whereas the reverse obtained.

As soon as the men were sufficiently recovered to move, the whole party dragged their fevered forms a day's journey from the edge of the marsh, and again camping on high, firm ground, did simply nothing until they had in some measure regained both health and vigour, after which they more cheerfully resumed the road, and in another ten days were once again posted in their old location near the entrance to the pa.s.s, exercising the additional precaution, however, of walling in the camp with a particularly spiky and impenetrable zareba of thorn-bushes, and of placing a couple of men on guard at night.

The day following their arrival our friends decided to spend lazily in camp enjoying a thorough rest; and it was whilst Leigh was dozing and smoking by turns in the afternoon, that the ever active Kenyon stumbled, by the merest chance, upon an important discovery--no less, in fact, than the earnestly-desired key to the secret of the Black Pa.s.s. The matter fell out thus: Kenyon having nothing else to do, had, on the previous night developed several photographic negatives, and was now taking advantage of the sun to print off a number of pictures.

As each view came out of the printing frame, it was in turn examined and pa.s.sed quickly into the fixing bath; but as he was, however, about to slip into the bath a view of the pa.s.s, he suddenly paused spell-bound, and forgetting his unfixed picture, held it in his hands, his eyes keenly noting every detail of the place. The strong light, of course, quickly turned the picture black, and with an exclamation of impatience he resumed his cool manner, printed and fixed another positive, then stowed away all his paraphernalia, and lighting his pipe, sat quietly down and gave his whole attention to the photograph.

After carefully studying the picture for close upon an hour, throwing now and again a keen glance at the gloomy-looking entrance to the kloof, he gave a grunt of satisfaction, and put the view into Leigh's ready hand, saying as he did so, "Well, old fellow, I have often heard the remark that photography cannot lie, but never until now have I realised the full force of the axiom. To-morrow, at daybreak, thanks to my camera, we shall enter Master Zero's mysterious territory, and then it will be diamond cut diamond with a vengeance."

Leigh was instantly alive with excitement, and this Kenyon quickly relieved by his explanation, which, aided as it was by the little picture, was as simple as it was lucid.

CHAPTER FIVE.

THE SECRET OF THE Pa.s.s.

The secret of the place, as revealed by the tell-tale photograph, existed simply in the perfect natural "blind" provided by the presence of the road _through_ the pa.s.s, whilst the slaver's secret way was defined on the picture by a narrow wavy line, which absolutely wormed its way along the apparently unbroken face of the precipitous cliff itself, this way being primarily gained by climbing over the large, loose boulders which were freely strewed about just inside the entrance to the kloof. Gradually rising, and painfully zig-zagging up the giant wall of the rock, the narrow pathway could be clearly traced until it pierced the dark patch of brushwood which thickly crowned the summits of the towering cliffs, and was thenceforth lost to view. Deferring to Leigh's anxiety regarding his cousin, the pair left the camp as soon as the moon rose that night, and found, to their surprise, that they could easily climb the slaver's rocky road, and that what looked like a mere pathway for a goat, was in reality a well-worn track of a uniform width of from two and a half to three feet, and this being positively hollowed out to the depth of nearly a yard, made travelling perfectly safe, if not very fast. Human hands, at least in Central Africa, could never have accomplished such a stupendous task as this, and it was quickly evident to our friends that a small stream, running and zig-zagging down the cliff through the ages of bygone years, had gradually worn for itself a deep channel in the soft sandstone rock, and the lynx-eyed slaver had doubtless seen the value of the position, and on winning his way to the summit, in an abnormally dry season, had turned the stream into some other, and possibly more useful channel.

Proceeding with the utmost caution, and expecting every instant to receive the contents of a rifle through his ribs, Kenyon led the way up this strange ascent and in about forty minutes' time the pair had entered the dark and heavy patch of trees and brushwood which thickly crowned the cliffs, and which served, in some degree, to mask their true and enormous proportions. Arrived there, progress became of necessity slow, for it was only in places that the moonlight penetrated the interlaced tropic foliage, and threw ghostly patches of light and shade across the path of the adventurers, who drew nearer together as the painfully mysterious silence of the place impressed itself upon them.

It is not an altogether pleasant experience to find yourself alone at night in an ordinary English coppice or plantation, a mile or two from anywhere; but transplant that plantation into equatorial Africa, and stand there with the knowledge that you are hundreds of miles from even the nearest native village, people the wood with bloodthirsty foes, lurking, keen-eyed, in every brake and covert, armed with the treacherous spear or the ready rifle, and you will understand why Leigh and Kenyon, ordinarily bold enough in the open, could only creep forward with their hearts in their mouths, and felt an access of fear when a great owl, disturbed by their cautious pa.s.sage through the wood, rose from the trees above them, waking the hush of night with a weird, spirit-shaking hoot, and winged his way far off into the moonlight, which was everywhere flooding the outside world with its mellow glory.

Soon, however, our friends again escaped from the lonely wooded path, and emerged into the brilliantly-lighted open, with a magnificent range of vision in every direction, except where the cliffs on the other side of the kloof shot upwards quite a hundred feet beyond the height of those now tenanted by themselves. This peculiarity, which the pair had not previously observed, of course effectually prevented them from seeing anything at all in the southern board, but in front and on each side of them the veldt could be seen sweeping clear away to the skyline, dotted here and there by clumps of bush and by moving herds of game.

Behind them the mighty rocks frowned sternly down upon the adventurers, as if rebuking these weak creatures of an hour for disturbing with their puny presence the mist-beshrouded slumber of these mighty monarchs of all time.

After a short conference our friends withdrew again into the shadow of the wood, and sat themselves down to wait patiently for the dawn, talking all the time in a busy undertone, Leigh urging one plan of action, whilst Kenyon was seemingly quite determined upon taking a diametrically opposite course. Leigh wished, in fact, to move on at once towards the north, so as to remove their persons from the tell-tale heights before daybreak, whilst Kenyon was obstinately and aggressively desirous to know what lay behind the frowning wall of rock in their immediate rear, and as this meant re-descending the pa.s.s, and apparently crawling up the other side on their hands and knees, without any really definite object in view, Leigh's arguments certainly seemed the better.

"Why, Kenyon," he concluded, "do you want to change your mind? Formerly you were anxious to penetrate the swamp from an altogether impossible quarter in order to arrive at our present location, and now that you have a good open down-hill road before you, you are keen to turn your back upon it. At least, let me have your reason for this change of front."

"Simply this, Leigh," was the reply. "The pa.s.s itself, I now find, lies somewhat to the north of the equator, and I am positively certain that the man we seek will be found in some place which lies absolutely on the equatorial line, consequently behind us, and therefore away on the other side of the kloof."

"But why, in the name of common-sense," persisted Leigh, "_should_ your man live on the equator, or near it at all? That's what I can't understand."

"See here, Leigh," was the cool answer; "that was my very first clue to this affair. _He lives on lat.i.tude Number 0, otherwise Zero_. Basing my whole theory and reasoning upon that, I have traced him to this spot, so I may fairly a.s.sume that my deductions are correct. However, sooner or later we shall have to investigate this side of the pa.s.s, so if you like we'll toss up when daylight comes, and let the coin decide for us."

Still unconvinced, though admiring the shrewdness of his comrade in following up a mere piece of guess-work, and elaborating it into such a strikingly correct theory, Leigh continued to urge his view of the matter, and soon the dawn came gliding over the earth, waking all nature with a kiss of peace, and preparing her for the advent of the glorious...o...b..of day.

CHAPTER SIX.

RICHARD GRENVILLE, HIS MARK.

The daylight, however, told our friends nothing very new, only Kenyon hinted to Leigh that where the rocks below them levelled down to, and impinged upon, the veldt, everything was most suspiciously green and verdant, from which he inferred the presence of their old enemy, the marsh, in the immediate vicinity; then, turning round to examine the opposite cliff, his eye was caught by what seemed to be a curious kind of diagram engraved upon the face of the rock, perhaps two or three yards from the upper edge of one of its platforms, and scarce fifty feet away from them across the intervening chasm. The appearance it presented was as undernoted, the characters being some eighteen to twenty inches in length, and cut deeply into the soft sandstone with some apparently blunt instrument.

"Now," said Kenyon, calling his companion's attention to this, "what the deuce does yonder curious hieroglyphic signify? I've no knowledge of Arabic, but I think I'm right in saying that those signs belong to the calligraphy of no known language. To my professional eye they rather resemble a rough gibbet with three bodies hanging from it."

It so happened that, as soon as daylight had satisfied the pair that their foes were not hanging about in the immediate vicinity, Leigh had quietly laid himself down to enjoy a comfortable smoke, and was at the moment in question lying on the broad of his back, gazing at the wide vista of country below him, and puffing away in perfect tranquillity, with the apex of his skull pointing towards the chasm. To save himself the trouble of rising, he lazily elevated his chin, and performed the interesting occupation of looking, so to speak, over the top of his own head, and then electrified Kenyon by bounding to his feet with a wild hurrah, and shaking hands with him enthusiastically. "Found!" he fairly yelled. "Found, as sure as there is a heaven above us!"

"Why, confound it, old fellow," said Kenyon, ruefully nursing his bruised fingers, "whatever is the matter with you?"

"Matter!" was the reply. "Why, your hieroglyphic is as good as my cousin looking me in the face from yonder splendid rock. The solution of your mystery is a simple matter to me--a man, hanging head-downwards from yonder cliff, laboriously graved those curious characters, upside down, as we see them, upon the face of the rock, and the hand that wrote them was the hand of Grenville."

"And the meaning?" queried the attentive Kenyon, without showing any of his customary signs of incredulity or dissent.

"The hieroglyphic which is such a stumbling-block to you, Kenyon, simplified, stands thus:--

"I. _v_. LIII,

"and the meaning is merely 'Richard Grenville.' It was a secret sign between my cousin and myself when we were mere schoolboys, and the simile was drawn from the memorable sea-fight in the reign of good Queen Bess, when Sir Richard Grenvil--G.o.d rest him for a gallant gentleman!--'with one small ship and his English few,' fought for a day and a night with fifty-three Spanish galleons. As a boy, my cousin-- though no descendant of the hero--was pa.s.sionately devoted to this page of history, and used to sign himself '1 _versus_ 53,' and so, by yonder sign, I know he lives, and lives looking for me to find him, and to read the hand he wrote, which to all others would, of course, be utterly unintelligible." And Leigh again set to and fairly danced with joy and excitement at this truly singular and fortunate discovery.

Whilst being thoroughly surprised, Kenyon could but congratulate himself at seeing the hall-mark of absolute accuracy thus unexpectedly stamped upon every link in the chain of his pet theory, and both men were now equally eager to descend the rocky pathway--the reason for the existence of this last being, under the circ.u.mstances, a positive enigma to them-- and recommence their search for the lost one on the other side of the kloof.

After a hasty breakfast, however, the pair decided that, as they were already on the spot, it would be best to thoroughly satisfy themselves regarding their own side of the chasm, more especially as, by the time they had descended the rocky pathway and called at the camp, it would have been too late to attempt the ascent of the cliffs, which were now believed by them to provide a rampart for the enemy, and a prison for their friend.

The twain, therefore, scrambled down the rocks facing towards the north, and quickly found, as Kenyon had predicted, that the position on that side was rendered altogether inaccessible by the presence of the swamp, which just here was very much in evidence. In every direction, as far as the eye could reach, it spread itself out brightly verdant and inviting in the sunshine, but utterly treacherous and unstable, and the nearer it approached to the rocks the more palpable did the fraud appear, as, at the point where the stony ground impinged upon the veldt, the swamp was little better than stagnant pools of slimy, evil-smelling water, overgrown with reeds and rushes.

Re-ascending the rocks, Leigh and Kenyon sheltered themselves in the woods from the rays of the vertical sun, utilising their time by making themselves, as they believed, thoroughly conversant with the place, and when the day began to grow towards evening, they left the bush-clothed heights, and again turned their faces towards the camp.

Just as the pair commenced the descent of the narrow rocky path Kenyon suddenly paused, and drew in his breath with an angry hiss, and following the direction of his eager gaze, Leigh looked towards their tent, which was plainly in view, about a mile away as the crow flies.

From the height at which our friends stood, they had, of course, an unrestricted view of the plain stretched out before them, and everything upon it, and there, some two hundred yards from the camp, and clearly outlined against the veldt upon which he lay stretched, was the unwelcome figure of an unmistakable spy, who, so far as he could be made out at that distance, wore the garments of a white man.

When he had spent quite half-an-hour in this position, and no doubt thoroughly taken stock of his surroundings, the fellow was seen to turn and worm his way back, until he obtained the cover of a low clump of bush about a quarter of a mile from the camp, and was thenceforward hidden from sight.

After some little time had elapsed, and as our friends were debating what steps they had best take, a fresh surprise was provided for them, as the pair distinctly saw a snow-white pigeon leave the bush in question, describe one or two airy circles round it, and then wing its way directly towards the cliffs across the kloof, beyond which it quickly disappeared.

"A carrier pigeon, by Jove!" said Kenyon, "doubtless bearing a request to Master Zero to come down and cut all our throats to-night. All right, my friend, forewarned is forearmed, and you'll find it so this evening, unless I am very much mistaken."

Carefully getting down to the exit of the pa.s.s, the twain commenced a cautious stalk, and came in upon their quarry just at dusk, and great was the astonishment and consternation of the wretched spy when the two men quietly rose from the long gra.s.s, and, covering him with their revolvers, peremptorily ordered him to lay down his arms; this he promptly did in most abject fashion, and was in two minutes bound hard and fast with his own la.s.so, of which most objectionable instrument his armament consisted, backed up by a long American muzzle-loading rifle and a light axe or tomahawk.

The captive was apparently a Spaniard, as he protested volubly in that language--of which Kenyon had a smattering--against the gratuitous outrage committed upon his unoffending person.

Suddenly, taking advantage of an instant when neither of his captors had their eyes on him, the fellow darted to one side, and gave a kick at some small object which our friends had pa.s.sed unnoticed in the long gra.s.s; this object, however, proved to be a little wicker basket, and from this receptacle--its prison doors thrown open by the intentional violence of its owner--there fluttered a large, black pigeon, which circled round the heads of the party and prepared to take its flight, just as its white predecessor had previously done. Fortunately, the bird was dazed and confused by the blow it had received, and hovered round the spot an instant too long. Like a flash Leigh's rifle went to his shoulder, and the next second the bird lay in a lifeless heap upon the ground, whilst the spy ground out a bitter Spanish curse.

The shot was a very fine one, and but few men could have accomplished it with a repeating-rifle and a single bullet, but its success had, without a doubt, prevented the spy from giving to his friends or followers inopportune notice of his capture and detention.

Quickly proceeding into camp, where the rifle-shot had set their men buzzing about like bees, a hasty meal was partaken of, and then, leaving the tent still standing, the whole party, upwards of twenty-five in number, at once set out for the pa.s.s, as our friends believed that if they could once get their men up to the top of the rocky path, they would easily be able to hold the wood and the steep and narrow way against all comers. Finding it a matter of impossibility to get any information out of the captive, they gagged him and walked him off with them, Kenyon sternly telling him that if he tried to make any noise or attempted to escape, he would run a hunting-knife through his ribs without further notice.

By the time the moon rose the party had stumbled out their way to the mouth of the kloof, and soon had sufficient light to commence the ascent. Having to go in front and lead the way, Kenyon put Leigh in the rear to see that none of the bearers lost heart and turned back, giving the captive into the charge of a gigantic Zanzibari, and warning him that did he let the man go he should himself be shot like a dog. All went well until the party was quite two-thirds of the way up the zig-zag in the rock, when suddenly a commotion arose, and a cry went up that the prisoner was escaping. Turning angrily round, with his revolver half raised, Kenyon saw the spy standing on the very edge of the parapet of rock, with his hands at liberty, and in the act of drawing the gag from his mouth. On seeing Kenyon turn, the Zanzibari doubtless thought he was himself about to be shot, and impelled by rage and fear, he sprang wildly upon the ledge of rock and seized the Spaniard by the throat.

Forgetting the extreme danger of his position, the white man swayed backwards to strike an effective blow at his sable a.s.sailant, overbalanced, and down they both went, with a horrid scream that rang out far into the stilly night, and awakened long-drawn, fearsome echoes in the dark and silent kloof.

One second more, and the horror-stricken band of listeners heard the united bodies of the ill-fated pair strike with a sickening scrunch on the rocks five hundred feet below. The whole affair was over in an instant of time, and even the stem detective was deeply impressed by this awful dual fatality, and could only beckon with his hand for the others to follow him upwards quickly and in silence.