登陆注册
15451200000038

第38章 CHAPTER X I GO TREASURE-HUNTING(2)

They recognized the horse, and fell back with a salute. Had I but known it, the beast was famed from the Zambesi to the Cape. It was their king's own charger I rode, and who dared question such a warrant? I heard the word pass through the bush, and all down the road I got the salute. In that moment I fervently thanked my stars that I had got away first, for there would have been no coming second for me.

At the cliff-foot I found a double line of warriors who had the appearance of a royal guard, for all were tall men with leopard-skin cloaks. Their rifle-barrels glinted in the moon-light, and the sight sent a cold shiver down my back. Above them, among the scrub and along the lower slopes of the kranzes, I could see further lines with the same gleaming weapons. The Place of the Snake was in strong hands that night.

I dismounted and called for a man to take my horse. Two of the guards stepped forward in silence and took the bridle. This left the track to the cave open, and with as stiff a back as I could command, but a sadly fluttering heart, I marched through the ranks.

The path was lined with guards, all silent and rigid as graven images. As I stumbled over the stones I felt that my appearance scarcely fitted the dignity of a royal messenger. Among those splendid men-at-arms I shambled along in old breeches and leggings, hatless, with a dirty face, dishevelled hair, and a torn flannel shirt. My mind was no better than my body, for now that I had arrived I found my courage gone. Had it been possible I would have turned tail and fled, but the boats were burned behind me, and I had no choice. I cursed my rash folly, and wondered at my exhilaration of an hour ago. I was going into the black mysterious darkness, peopled by ten thousand cruel foes. My knees rubbed against each other, and I thought that no man had ever been in more deadly danger.

At the entrance to the gorge the guards ceased and I went on alone. Here there was no moonlight, and I had to feel my way by the sides. I moved very slowly, wondering how soon I should find the end my folly demanded. The heat of the ride had gone, and I remember feeling my shirt hang clammily on my shoulders.

Suddenly a hand was laid on my breast, and a voice demanded, 'The word?'

'Immanuel,' I said hoarsely.

Then unseen hands took both my arms, and I was led farther into the darkness. My hopes revived for a second. The password had proved true, and at any rate I should enter the cave.

In the darkness I could see nothing, but I judged that we stopped before the stone slab which, as I remembered, filled the extreme end of the gorge. My guide did something with the right-hand wall, and I felt myself being drawn into a kind of passage. It was so narrow that two could not go abreast, and so low that the creepers above scraped my hair. Something clicked behind me like the turnstile at the gate of a show.

Then we began to ascend steps, still in utter darkness, and a great booming fell on my ear. It was the falling river which had scared me on my former visit, and I marvelled that I had not heard it sooner. Presently we came out into a gleam of moonlight, and I saw that we were inside the gorge and far above the slab. We followed a narrow shelf on its left side (or 'true right', as mountaineers would call it) until we could go no farther. Then we did a terrible thing. Across the gorge, which here was at its narrowest, stretched a slab of stone. Far, far below I caught the moonlight on a mass of hurrying waters.

This was our bridge, and though I have a good head for crags, I confess I grew dizzy as we turned to cross it. Perhaps it was broader than it looked; at any rate my guides seemed to have no fear, and strode across it as if it was a highway, while I followed in a sweat of fright. Once on the other side, I was handed over to a second pair of guides, who led me down a high passage running into the heart of the mountain.

The boom of the river sank and rose as the passage twined.

Soon I saw a gleam of light ahead which was not the moon. It grew larger, until suddenly the roof rose and I found myself in a gigantic chamber. So high it was that I could not make out anything of the roof, though the place was brightly lit with torches stuck round the wall, and a great fire which burned at the farther end. But the wonder was on the left side, where the floor ceased in a chasm. The left wall was one sheet of water, where the river fell from the heights into the infinite depth, below. The torches and the fire made the sheer stream glow and sparkle like the battlements of the Heavenly City. I have never seen any sight so beautiful or so strange, and for a second my breath stopped in admiration.

There were two hundred men or more in the chamber, but so huge was the place that they seemed only a little company.

They sat on the ground in a circle, with their eyes fixed on the fire and on a figure which stood before it. The glow revealed the old man I had seen on that morning a month before moving towards the cave. He stood as if in a trance, straight as a tree, with his arms crossed on his breast. A robe of some shining white stuff fell from his shoulders, and was clasped round his middle by a broad circle of gold. His head was shaven, and on his forehead was bound a disc of carved gold. I saw from his gaze that his old eyes were blind.

'Who comes?'he asked as I entered.

'A messenger from the Inkulu,' I spoke up boldly. 'He follows soon with the white man, Henriques.'

Then I sat down in the back row of the circle to await events. I noticed that my neighbour was the fellow 'Mwanga whom I had kicked out of the store. Happily I was so dusty that he could scarcely recognize me, but I kept my face turned away from him. What with the light and the warmth, the drone of the water, the silence of the folk, and my mental and physical stress, I grew drowsy and all but slept.

同类推荐
  • 物不迁正量论

    物不迁正量论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 阮籍集

    阮籍集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 六壬经纬

    六壬经纬

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 一乘决疑论

    一乘决疑论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Criticism and Fiction

    Criticism and Fiction

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 武狂天下

    武狂天下

    蒙宇从小被家族遗弃,被人欺负,受尽耻辱。当他长大之时,他会选择什么样的道路?蒙宇的字典里没有对于错,只有让他活下来的法则,他的人生会是怎么样呢?他的生存法则是什么?答案就在书中,让我们伴随着蒙宇走下去吧。.......................魔鬼是一个喜欢看小说的作者,平时就喜欢看小说,但是看的时间长了,就有一种前篇一律的感觉,每天一看书就是升级练功,刚开始觉得新鲜,但是时间长了觉得反胃。所以想写本属于自己的小说。本书绝对不会有太监。本书作者群85518431。
  • 惊世妖娆,凰女千千岁

    惊世妖娆,凰女千千岁

    边境有女匪,不仅无恶不作,还公然抢夺了天朝供物八卦象!龙椅上,一双锐利黑瞳刹那抬起……她,21世纪超级女特工,竟穿越成沙漠女土匪!铤而走险,只为找寻一个惊天的秘密,却不料触怒天威!他,御天皇朝帝君,颜值逆天,智商惊人,率雄狮百万只为围剿那个女人……【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 教诫律仪

    教诫律仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 执手两端

    执手两端

    你说时光走太慢你说晚风吹意寒你说会有的彼岸独影阑珊你听那首南山南你听那熟悉的春蝉你过往在呼喊执手两端
  • 一世情缘一生情恋

    一世情缘一生情恋

    神马鬼?!本王好歹一届杀手之王,再不济也是一个也是一个大一的高材生,怎么就变成了一个小萝莉?!唉唉唉,谁能告诉我,神兽不是很傲娇吗?怎么本王一抓一大把?唉唉唉,那个呆萌腹黑的小正太,你是谁?什么?我是你娘?搞清楚,咱俩一样大!唉唉唉,那个骚包妖冶的男人是谁?哎呀,夫君大人,本王错了
  • 王俊凯之鸠酒

    王俊凯之鸠酒

    爱到最后才知所谓的爱是复仇的工具,却又无法自拔。
  • 圣辉系统

    圣辉系统

    穿越,已成无限;实力,已成巅峰;地位,已成霸主。但……纵使有这么多的光环围绕自己,我却依然感觉不到快乐,因为什么?
  • 仙元纪之全民修真

    仙元纪之全民修真

    白锋带着一条狗回到白城,从此以后,一切都变了……末法时代结束,从此全民修真……杀手丶忍者丶修真者丶狼人丶僵尸.....没时间解释了了,快上车........
  • 界乱苍穹

    界乱苍穹

    太古年间,有神秘陨石自星空飞来,分散落入十方大陆。万族观陨石,开灵智,悟大道,飞天遁地,摘星拿月……上古年间,陨石腾空而起,聚拢而撞,发出灭世之光。无数的强者陨落了,大陆破碎了……万年后,少年墨尘背负家族使命,手持圣剑,脚踏神龙,闯入了这个人与神与魔与邪,万族共舞的世界,开启了一段逆天强者的传说。
  • 花蕊盛开

    花蕊盛开

    花蕊只是一个平凡的女人,也和大多数人一样向往着拥有一段唯美的爱情故事,当爱情来临的时候,她小心翼翼,用心呵护。生怕她美丽的爱情沾染一丝瑕疵!可命运弄人,红颜弹指老,未老恩先断!面对缺憾的人生,唯有默默坚持!