"Nay, the plan is mine; I will take the ledge, and if the bullet misses, the a.s.segai will not."
"No, chief; your a.s.segai is good against one or two, but this little gun holds six lives."
"Go, then," said Sirayo, with a grim chuckle; "but when your little gun has spoken let me try my a.s.segai."
Hume took off his boots, laid his rifle and cartridge-belt aside, and then, feeling his way with his hands, he crept out, inch by inch, several yards, until he was well out on the ledge.
Then he sat close against the wall of rock, with his revolver ready-- waiting. It was a dangerous position, and his life depended on the keenness of his hearing and steadiness of nerve. Before him were cunning foes stealthily advancing, and within a yard was the lip of the sheer precipice.
No sooner had he sat down than Sirayo, standing well out in the eye, fired, and the bullet, striking the side of the mountain, went humming into the darkness. A solitary shot replied; then another nearer, and a third still nearer; and immediately after the third report a shout rolled out, deep and fierce, thundering taunts.
"Look out!" hissed Sirayo, and fired again.
The shouting increased, and Hume"s grasp tightened on his revolver, while his breathing came quicker. What was that? The sound of metal touching the rock--just touching it--but the faint tinkle was enough.
There were men crawling up, then! That soft noise--it must be made by naked men creeping. His arm stiffened--his eyes were riveted--he now scarcely breathed. Was that a darker shadow before him?--almost within reach--his finger closed on the trigger. There was a groan--the rattle of a spear falling--the flash of a gun almost in his face, so that the burning powder scorched his eyes, and he emptied his remaining barrels before covering his eyes with his hand. As he did so he heard at his side the double report as Sirayo, advancing, fired; heard the terrible Zulu war-cry, the clash of blades, the fierce grunting of men in a death struggle. But he sat helpless, blinded, in an agony of pain and apprehension. The sound of the fighting retreated, grew more fitful, died away, and with trembling fingers he refilled the empty chambers of his pistol, and waited, with his hand over his throbbing eyeb.a.l.l.s. But the enemy did not come; instead he heard the voice of Sirayo calling:
"Eh, Hu-em--Inkose!"--calling surely in some strangely unfamiliar tone of fear.
"Hu-em, my friend, do not desert me."
"What is it, chief?"
"Come; I cling to the rock."
"Good G.o.d!" cried Hume; "wait," and painfully he groped his blind way along, grinding his teeth.
"Quick, my friend!" cried the chief hoa.r.s.ely.
"Yes, yes; oh, G.o.d, for one moment"s strength!"
"Frank, oh, Frank, where are you?"
He turned his head at the sound. "Laura!" he cried.
"Oh, thank Heaven!"
"Listen," he cried, steadying his voice by a supreme effort. "You will find a ledge on your right. Keep your right hand, to the rock and come on quickly, quickly, for G.o.d"s sake!"
There was a sobbing reply, but he heard her come.
"Where are you?"
"Here; but go on quickly to the chief. He is in danger."
"But you--you are hurt?"
"Go on," he cried fiercely; and he felt the touch of her dress and heard her voice go out in a quivering cry for Sirayo.
"Inkosikasi," came the faint reply.
She gave a shriek of terror as, guided by the heavy breathing of the chief, she felt his wrist, and slipping her hand over the straining muscles of the arm, found that he was hanging from the ledge.
"Your other hand," she said.
"Broken!" he growled. "Woman weak--where Hu-em?"
She stretched herself on the ledge, and, reaching over, grasped the shoulder-strap from which his bag was suspended.
"No good," he panted; then, in Zulu, he muttered: "It is a far drop, and every bone will be broken. To die like this. Inkosikasi!"
"Well!" she gasped.
"A gun is near. Find it and shoot! So Sirayo dies! Go--find."
"Hold on--help comes. If you fall you drag me. Frank!"
There was a movement by her side, fingers felt along her outstretched hands, then closed upon the warrior"s wrist in a grasp of iron, and Hume, shutting his teeth, put forth all his strength.
There was a scramble, a sob, the sound of deep panting breaths, and Sirayo was saved. Hume, with a cold sweat on his brow, fell back, almost swooning from the fierce throbbing of his eyes. Laura gave way to a fit of crying, and Sirayo, crawling along the ledge, lay at full length, breathing deeply.
If the enemy had come now, not one of them could have lifted a finger in defence.
CHAPTER THIRTY.
THE PLACE OF THE EYE.
Some minutes they remained helpless in that perilous position, then Laura aroused, but at the deep silence--significant of, perhaps, more disaster--she cried out, frightened.
Hume muttered some inarticulate reply.
"Oh, let us get away from here," she said, almost in a whisper. "The precipice so near seems to draw me to it, and in every breath of wind I hear a stealthy footstep."
"Yes, let us go," he said in a low voice, trying to keep his agony from her knowledge. "Keep your left hand against the rock, and tread firmly.
Sirayo!"
"My strength has returned," answered the chief, though he still breathed heavily. "Pa.s.s by, and I will follow," and there was a movement as he edged to the brink of the krantz.
"I will go first," said Hume; "follow me closely, Laura;" and setting his teeth so that no groan should escape, he groped his way along. She came fearfully behind, catching her breath now and again, and Sirayo followed.
Now that the excitement, which had supported them before, had died away, the return along that giddy height, with no other guide than the sense of touch, was full of terrors, and these increased in the slow and hesitating advance. If she had known that the one who led was blind, that at times he almost reeled through pain, she must inevitably have broken down; but Hume forced himself to the task with a desperate resolve.
At last he felt the ridge made by the eye, and climbing up, helped her to ascend, then asked her if she could go on to the cave; then, as she went on, he sat with his head bowed on his hands.
"What is it, friend?" asked Sirayo, as he, in his turn, reached the place.
"I am blind, chief, blind!" was the bitter reply.