"A little further," said Hume, looking at the mountain; and they went on over a ridge and down into a rounded valley, where a small vlei shone like a jewel. They were leaving this sheet of water on their left, when Hume suddenly halted.
"What a sight!" he whispered. "Look there!"
Out of the centre of the vlei rose the clear-cut head of a lioness, with her eyes gleaming green as emeralds. She was lying there in the shallow water for coolness.
"She cannot see us," said Hume; "the sun is shining in her eyes. See how they glow like bits of gla.s.s."
They stood absorbed in the spectacle; but the lioness hearing, though she could not see, began to move her head, then sat up like a dog, with the water streaming from her yellow shoulders, and her eyes still sparkling with green fire. She thrust her head forward, then, detecting some taint in the air, gave a low growl, whereupon, from out the withered gra.s.s on the further side, rose a huge lion, who, being out of the direct rays of the sun, saw the silent group, and fetched a deep growl. Thereupon, the lioness walked towards him, and, after one long stare over her shoulder, she lay on the gra.s.s and rolled over like a big dog, and the lion crouched down with his s.h.a.ggy head on his outstretched paws.
With many a backward glance, the party moved on, glad that they had seen such a spectacle without being compelled to fire in defence. They rested at noon for lunch, then pushed on steadily, gradually edging along to the higher watershed, away for miles within easy view.
Presently there came to them a low, tremulous murmur, which grew as they advanced, until it sounded at last like the sweep of the outermost fringe of the waves swinging to and fro over loose sh.e.l.ls.
"It is the voice of the reeds swayed by the wind," said Hume; "and when we reach the ridge above we shall be above this leafy sea."
"Oh, how beautiful!" murmured Laura, a few minutes later, as they looked over a vast sea of feathered green; now shining with a silver reflection as the sun struck upon the leaves all bent in one direction by the wind; now with a ripple of dark shadows as the light tops sprang back together; now mottled all over with specks and splashes of black and white, and yellow. And all the time there rose the sweet, soft murmur and sibilant swishing, low and melancholy. As far as the eye could see stretched this moving ma.s.s, and it widened out to a dense fringe of bush on the right, beyond which, again, rose the b.u.t.tresses of the mountain, springing to where, in one straight ma.s.s of frowning granite, seamed and scarred into a thousand fissures, towered the precipitous sides of the mountain itself.
Resting on their weapons, they stood gazing from the restless level of green to the grim sentinel of rock, its brow among the clouds, and its front overlooking the lowlands; and as they looked it was borne in upon them by the melancholy in the voice of the reeds and by the impa.s.sive face of the mountain that there might well be some dark mystery of Nature hidden away in this desolate place, but there could be no hope, or joy, or sound of laughter. Here was Nature of vast unpeopled places, of voiceless rivers languishing through thirsty sands, of rock-strewn uplands, and arid flats--Nature gloomy, mournful, and yet majestic too.
They sat down and, while there was still light, studied once more the well-thumbed map, with its vague outlines, and no longer simple when compared with the tossed and broken zigzag of mountain kloof and gorge.
"It would seem easier," said Webster, "to flank the mountain from the spot where we now stand, rather than attempt to scale its front in search of that profile of a face, whose likeness may have appeared plain to your uncle, but which very likely will offer to us no resemblance."
"I think so also," said Laura, "for, see, when we get round the mountain through the forest here marked, we enter apparently a wide valley where we should have no difficulty in finding the ruins said to exist, and the rock bears to the north-west, distant about ten miles."
"I should prefer to follow the old hunter"s directions," said Hume; "but if we cannot find the face in the mountain, then we could adopt your suggestion."
"Very well," said Webster, "but it will be more difficult to scale that wall than to strike through the forest."
"Perhaps, but I have a desire to stand where he stood in the place of the eye at sunrise and see the flaming signal as he saw it, or fail to see, for now I have lost faith."
"No, my friend, you have not," said Laura; "for then you would have no wish to follow your uncle"s wanderings. He must have been a man of rare courage to have struggled alone as he did, and as we are five, if we have but a part of his determination we must succeed. How desolate, how melancholy, the place is, with scarce a sign of life, except for that eagle soaring there."
"Yet those reeds must shelter herds of buffalo, and sea-cow, and we know not what else."
"We are seen," broke in Sirayo"s deep tones.
"Seen! By whom?"
Sirayo pointed with an a.s.segai to the nearest peak, distant about two miles, and shading their eyes, for they stood in the light, while the slopes running towards them were in shadow, they looked anxiously up.
"I see nothing," said Laura.
"There is a man standing on a rock," said Klaas.
"It may be a bush or stone," muttered Webster.
"Neh, sieur, it is a man."
"They are right," said Hume; "look!" and he pointed to where a column of smoke rose straight into the air from a spur which ran to the forest behind them.
As they watched, another column shot into the air behind; then a third, from the summit of the mountain; then a fourth, faintly descried still more distant; and as they looked, the darkness swept over the scene, and in place of the smoke there gleamed out a spot of red on the peak.
"They speak to one another of our coming," said Sirayo.
"There you see Kaffir telegraphy, Miss Laura; in five minutes the villages within ten miles have warning. The way through the forest you suggested is guarded; we must seek the shelter of the reeds and push on under their cover. There must be no fires to-night. Forward!"
Slowly they picked their way over loose stones, through dongas deep and slippery, through thorns and bushes, until the reeds closed upon them.
Then, with their heavy hunting knives, they cut out an open s.p.a.ce, stacked the fallen reeds in a wall, made beds with the leaves of others, and pa.s.sed the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
A NIGHT IN THE REEDS.
The day"s long march had tired them, and wanting the sociable aid of a fire, they soon fell asleep, each one on his own bed of reeds, lulled by the continuous ripple and murmur of the waving ma.s.s. The two blacks slept with their blankets completely drawn over their heads, so that no sound disturbed them, but the other three in turn would start, and with lifted head peer vainly into the blackness round them, and twice Laura reached out a hand on either side to feel if her protectors were there, and each time the hand instinctively was grasped in a strong palm.
At a deep, low growl of some prowling animal, perchance the lion seen on the march, Hume sat up gently and cradled his gun on his knees, giving ear to the soft, mysterious creeping noises, as though a legion of elves were whispering in the reeds, and eyeing the stars for comfort. As he listened he heard the beast outside move off, uttering a deep-drawn sigh, and he was about to lie down again, when he fancied he heard the sound of another animal sniffing. The noise, however, was not repeated, or the heavy breathing of the sleepers prevented him from tracing it, but he was on his guard again, with every sense on the alert. He could feel that something was stealing in upon them, and the slight path they could not avoid making when they entered was no doubt being used. He had fixed his couch opposite the entrance, and held his rifle with the muzzle towards it; but if his suspicions were correct, and something was approaching, the movement was more stealthy than the advance of a footless serpent. Presently, however, raising his glance until he dimly outlined the waving heads of the reeds against the stars, he saw a reed bend slowly away, and then another, each one disappearing as though gently drawn down.
There could only be one solution to that mystery. The reeds must have been cut at their base, and then gently lowered, and whose work could this be but that of a human foe, patient and cunning? At once he c.o.c.ked the trigger, and the sharp click woke Webster with a start.
"Ssh!" Hume hissed, while still keeping his eyes fixed on the reed tops.
The click of the gun and the noise of the waking man had been heard, for the movement stopped. The moments went slowly by, and for the one who was in ignorance the suspense was keen.
"What is it?" whispered Webster at last.
Hume bent over to reply. "I think we have been tracked. Waken Sirayo."
Webster laid his hand on the chief"s blanket, and slowly drew it from his face.
He saw the gleam of the fierce eyes as the cold night air at once awakened the sleeper; then there was a deep-drawn sniff, and without a sound, the Zulu was sitting up.
Hume still kept his eyes fixed on the reeds, but noting no further movement, he rose gently to his feet, and slipping over the bundle of reeds, sank to the ground, and with his rifle held before him, with one hand crawled slowly to the edge without hint to anyone. On returning, however, he felt on either side, and found reeds carefully laid after being cut.
He had made noise enough, and on his return to the enclosure he found all the party astir.
"There is no doubt of it," he said; "we have been followed."
"Yes," said Sirayo; "there are people afoot."
"How do you know, chief, since you slept when this man stole in on us?
and how he came, and when he went, is to me a mystery. He cut the reeds as he advanced, and lowered each one to the ground. Before he came I heard the sigh of a lion."
"Mawoh!" exclaimed the Gaika.
"Well, Klaas, what is it?"