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To The West, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 52. A New Enemy |
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_ CHAPTER FIFTY TWO. A NEW ENEMY We had not lost more than a quarter of an hour in this halt; but it was sufficient, as I found when I rose, to have cooled me down and made me feel fresh and ready for the arduous climb that we now had to make. Our path was along by the stream for a time, but more often right in it, for the valley grew narrower, and was frequently little more than a gigantic crack in the mountain-side; but so beautiful that I often longed to stop and gaze at the overhanging ferns and velvety moss by some foaming fall, where the water came down from above like so much fine misty rain. But there was no halting, and we kept on till the leader suddenly turned into a gloomy niche on our left, out of which another stream rushed; and here for some time we had to climb from rock to rock, and often drag ourselves on to some shelf by the overhanging roots of trees. The ascent was wonderfully steep, and sometimes so narrow that we were in a dim twilight with the sky far away above us, like a jagged line of light. As for the stream in whose bed we were, it was a succession of tiny falls now, and we were soon dripping from the waist downward. But no word was spoken, and the men worked together as if trained by long service to this kind of travelling. When some awkward rock had been climbed by the leader, he stopped and held down his hand to Mr Raydon, who sprang up and offered me the same assistance, while I, taking it as the proper thing to do, held my hand down to the next. For full two hours we struggled up this narrow rift before it became less deep, and the light nearer. Then the climbing was less difficult, and drier, and I could see that we were getting up more on to the open mountain-side, amid the bare rocks and piled-up stones. All at once the leader stopped short, and pointed up to where, quite half a mile away, I could see about a dozen sheep standing clearly defined against the sky, their heads with the great curled horns plainly visible. Some were feeding, but two stood above the rest as if on guard. Mr Raydon nodded, and the man said-- "I lost sight of my sheep just below where you see those, sir, and I think if we keep on along for a mile beyond we shall find the stream we want running down into the other valley." Mr Raydon stood shading his eyes for a few minutes. "Yes," he said, at last. "You are quite right. I can see the mountain I have been on before. Forward!" The way was less arduous now, and the fresh breeze into which we had climbed made it cooler; but still it was laborious enough to make me pant as I followed right in Mr Raydon's steps. Before we had gone on much further I saw the sheep take alarm, and go bounding up, diagonally, what looked like a vast wall of rock, and disappear; and when we had climbed just below where I had seen them bound, it seemed impossible that they could have found footing there. Another half-hour's toilsome ascent, for the most part among loose stones, and we stood gazing down into a narrow gully similar to that up which we had climbed, and at the bottom I saw a little rushing stream, which Mr Raydon said was the one we sought, and I knew that we had but to follow that to where it joined the big river, after a journey through the dense mass of forest with which the valley was filled. Here we halted for a few minutes in a stony solitude, where there was not the faintest sound to be heard; and then Mr Raydon's deep voice whispered "Forward!" and we began to descend cautiously, for the way down to the stream was so perilous that it was only by using the greatest care that we reached the bottom in safety, and began to follow the torrent downward. "No chance for them to escape by us this way," said Mr Raydon to me with a grim smile, looking back as we descended the chasm in single file, gradually going as it were into twilight, and then almost into darkness, with perpendicular walls of rock on either hand, and the moist air filled with the echoing roar and rush of water. Here Mr Raydon took the lead, the man who had been in advance letting us both pass him, and then following behind, me. "I have been up this stream to this point before," said Mr Raydon to me. "You never thought to see such places as this, Gordon," he continued, "when you left London." "No," I said eagerly, for it was pleasant to hear him make some advances towards me; but he said no more, relapsing into complete silence as he strode on or leaped from rock to rock, till by degrees, and repeating our morning's experience in the reverse way, we began to find the narrow gorge widen and grow less dark; then we came to places where the sunshine gleamed down, and there were ferns; then lower down to more light, and where bushes were plentiful, but still with the valley so narrow that we had to keep in single file. At last, the perpendicular walls were further back, the valley grew V-shaped, and patches of dwarf forest grew visible high up. Bigger trees appeared, and soon after the place became park-like, and a man stepped out to right and left, so that in front we were three abreast; and half an hour later we were amongst the thickly-growing pines--a line of eight men abreast with Mr Raydon in the middle, and I and the other behind. "Halt!" said Mr Raydon, in a whisper. "Join up." The men from right and left drew in, and he said in quite a whisper-- "The forest grows more and more dense here for miles away to the river. I propose now going on for another half-hour, to where there is a sudden narrowing in of the valley to about thirty yards. If we do not meet the enemy before this, I shall halt there, and keep that pass, waiting till they are driven up to us. But we may have them upon us at any moment now." "They could not have got by us, sir?" I ventured to say. Mr Raydon looked at me, and smiled. "Impossible, my lad. Ready? Forward!" Our advance now was slow, as we had to pass in and out among the thickly-growing trees, and to be careful to keep in line as nearly as was possible. Every man was eager and excited, and from time to time, as I looked to right and left, I kept catching sight of one of our party pressing forward with rifle ready, and waiting to fire at the first sight of the enemy, this shot being the appointed signal for all to halt and stand fast, waiting for further orders. At last, after what in my excited state seemed to be hours, but which afterwards proved not to have been one, Mr Raydon said in a whisper-- "There is the gate." I stared, but could see nothing till we had gone a few yards further, when I found that two huge shoulders of the mountain had fallen in, and blocked the valley, which was narrowed here, as Mr Raydon said, to a sharply-cut passage of about thirty yards wide. Here we halted, and were disposed so that a dog could not pass through without being seen, and for a full hour we remained in utter silence, watching, till, unable to bear the inaction any longer, Mr Raydon said sharply-- "Forward! Open out! I am afraid there is something wrong below. They ought to have been up here by this time." We tramped on again now, still with the same precautions, but making as much speed as we could after our rest, though our pace was slow on account of the dense nature of the forest. I cannot tell how long we had been going downward, but suddenly, just as I was growing weary of the whole business, and thinking that the men were after all, perhaps, not here, or that we had come down the wrong valley, my blood rose to fever-heat again, for Mr Raydon whispered-- "Halt!" and the word ran along to right and left. "Be ready," he whispered again. And now I heard a faint muttering in front of us, similar to that which we had made in our progress; and at last, away among the great tree-trunks dimly seen in the shade, I caught sight of a man, then of another and another, and now Mr Raydon's voice rang out hoarsely-- "Halt, or we fire!" There was a low murmuring from before us, and a bit of a rush, as of men collecting together, and then a voice roared from among the trees-- "Surrender there, or we will shoot you down to a man." "Do you hear?" cried Mr Raydon. "Surrender! The game's up, you scoundrels." "Mr Raydon," I whispered, excitedly, for I had caught sight of the advancing party, "don't fire; it's Mr Barker and his men." "What? Hi! Barker! Is that you?" "Ay--ay!" came back. "That you, Mr Raydon?" "Yes, man, yes; where are the enemy?" "Why, I thought you was them," cried Barker, advancing. "We thought the same," said Mr Raydon, as he too stepped forward, and we all stood face to face. "Then they were not here. Or have you passed them?" "I don't think--" began Barker. "Why, I told you so," cried one of the men. "I felt sure I heard something out to our left among the trees hours ago." "What?" cried Mr Raydon; "did you not open out your men in line?" "Far as we could," said Barker, gruffly. "It's so thick down below we couldn't get along." "Man!" cried Mr Raydon, "they've been too sharp for you, and let you pass. Why--oh, good heavens! they must have known of our plans. They'll have stolen out at the mouth of the valley, gone up, and taken the Fort." A dead silence reigned for a few minutes, as Mr Raydon stood thinking. Then suddenly-- "We did not give them credit for being so sharp as they are," he continued. "Here, forward all of you, back to the river. I hope my fears are wrong." "Hadn't we better go your way?" said Barker. "The forest is frightfully thick below, and it will take us hours." "The way we came will take twice as long," said Mr Raydon, sternly; "and it is one fearful climb right up into the mountain. We must go this way. Follow as quickly as possible. There will be no need to keep a look-out now." The men mustered up without a word, and with Mr Raydon and Barker leading, we tramped on as fast as we could, but making very poor progress during the next hour, for all were growing hot and exhausted, and the labour was really terrible. But they pressed on in silence, while Mr Raydon and Barker talked together rather bitterly about the ill success of the expedition. We must have been walking about two hours when-- "It will be night before we get to the Fort," I heard the former say; "and who knows what may have happened there!" "But your men will make a fight for it," said Barker. "My principal fellow, Grey, will fight to the death," said Mr Raydon; "but there are not enough to hold the place. It is ruin and destruction. I ought not to have come." "Hush!" I said, excitedly. "What's that?" Mr Raydon stopped short, and held up his hand, when a low, dull, roaring sound as of a flood of water rushing up the valley was heard increasing rapidly. "Great heavens!" cried Mr Raydon, excitedly; "they have fired the forest down below." And as he spoke there was a faint hot puff of air borne toward us, and with it the unmistakable odour of burning wood. A thrill of excitement ran through the men at the above words, and they looked at one another. The next moment they would have rushed back up the valley, but Mr Raydon cried sharply-- "No, no, my lads; the fire cannot be right across the valley; let's go on and try and pass it." They seemed to be ready to obey the first who gave them orders, and Mr Raydon led on again, but in less then ten minutes, during which the hot puffs of air and the roar had increased rapidly, we were face to face with the fact that the fire was coming up like some terrible tide, evidently stretching right across from side to side, and already above our heads there were clouds of pungent smoke; and the crackle, roar, and hiss of the burning wood was rapidly growing louder. "Halt!" roared Mr Raydon. "It is death to go on. Back at once." "But the sides," cried Barker; "can't we all climb up here?" "The fire would be on us before we were half-way up, even if we could climb, man," said Mr Raydon, "which I doubt. Back at once!" "Yes; quick! quick!" shouted one of the men. "Look, look!" It did not need his shouts, for we could see the flames rushing up the higher trees, which seemed to flash with light, as if they had been strewn with powder; the heat was growing unbearable, and already I felt faint and giddy. It was quite time we were in full retreat, for there above our heads was a pall of black smoke, dotted with flakes of flame, and a horrible panic now smote the men as they hurried on. "Keep close to me, Gordon," said Mr Raydon, glancing back. "Why, it is coming on like a hurricane of fire." It was too true, for the hot wind rushed up between the towering walls of the valley as if through a funnel, and before many minutes had passed we knew that the forest was on fire where we so lately stood, and that it was rapidly growing into a race between man's endurance and the wild rush of the flames. I looked back twice, to feel the hot glow of the fire on my face, and to see the lurid glare coming on with the black smoke-clouds wreathing up at terrific speed. Then as we tramped on with the roar behind us as of some vast furnace, there came explosions like the firing of guns; the crashes of small arms; and from time to time the fall of some tree sounded like thunder. The men needed no spurring to get on out of the dense labyrinth of trees, through which we toiled on hot to suffocation, breathless, and in mortal dread of being overtaken by the fearful enemy roaring in our rear. For, so rapid was the advance of the fire, that for a certainty a ten minutes' halt would have been enough to have brought the line of fire up to us. "Don't stop to look back," cried Mr Raydon. "Press on, men; press on. Keep together." I thought of the consequences of one of our party losing his way ever so little, and the men knew it only too well as they kept together in a little crowd which was constantly being broken up and separated by the trees round which they threaded their way. "Is there much more of this?" said Barker, suddenly appearing close to us. "Yes," replied Mr Raydon; "miles." "Shall we do it?" he panted. "With God's help," was Raydon's quiet reply; and I saw Barker set his teeth hard, and throw his gun further over his shoulder as he bent down to his task. The narrow gate of the valley at last; and as we filed through the opening I wondered whether it would tend to check the advance of the fire, and began to wonder whether the trees were much thinner on the higher side. But I felt that they were not, and that it would be long enough before we struggled on to a place where we could be in safety; while what seemed directly after, there was a deafening roar which I knew to be that of the flames closed up by the narrow way, and leaping after us now, as if in dread that we should escape. "Man down!" shouted a voice; and in the horrible selfishness of their fear the rest were passing on, but at a word from Mr Raydon four of his men seized the poor exhausted fellow, each taking an arm or leg, and bearing him on, while a few drops were trickled from a flask between his lips. "Man down!" was shouted again; and this time the retreating party seized the poor fellow, following the example of our men, and bore him on, while he was submitted to the same treatment. Ten minutes after the poor fellows were on their feet again, struggling on with the support of the arms of two of their fellows. A dozen times over I felt that all was over, and that we might as well accept our fate. For we could hardly breathe, and now the sparks and flakes of fire and burning twigs came showering down upon us, as if sent forward by the main body of the flame to check us till the advance came on. The latter part of that retreat before our merciless enemy became to me at last like a dream, during which I have some recollection of staggering along with my arm in Mr Raydon's, and the people about us tottering and blundering along as if drunk with horror and exhaustion. Every now and then men went down, but they struggled up again, and staggered on, a crew of wild, bloodshot-eyed creatures, whose lips were parched, and white with foam; and then something cool was being splashed on my face. "Coming round, sir?" said a familiar voice. "Yes; he'll be better soon. A terrible experience, Mr Barker." "Terrible isn't the word for it, sir. I gave up a dozen times or so, and thought the end had come. Why, it was almost like a horse galloping. I never saw anything like it." "Nor wish to see anything like it again," said Mr Raydon. By this time I was looking round, to find that we were seated by the stream, where the water came bubbling and splashing down, while far below us the smoke and flame went up whirling into the sky. "Better, my lad?" said Mr Raydon. "Yes, only giddy," I said; and after drinking heartily and washing my face in the fresh, cool water, I was ready to continue our journey. _ |
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