CHAPTER XVII
The Flight from Croixilia
"Now, what's to be done?" asked Gerald. "We are prisoners to allintents and purposes."
"There are more ways than one of killing a cat," replied Reeves,tearing the letter into little bits and throwing them into the wide,open hearth. "We must take French leave, that's all. To-morrow I'llsee Sir John and have it out with him."
But Sir John would not see the man his word to whom he had broken. Hemerely replied that the strangers must remain within the limits hehad named until they gave the required promise. Reeves said somethingunder his breath, and went to call upon Garth, whose quarters were inthe same building.
The wounded Croixilian was visibly annoyed when he heard of theaction taken by the acting ruler of the State.
"Sorry I am to have to bid you farewell," he exclaimed, "but 'tis foryour wellbeing. Set by a store of such things as you can easilycarry. Meanwhile I will speak with Captain Raoul Gare, whom I knowintimately, and we will see what is to be done. Bring your two youngcomrades to see me before you make the attempt; and remember, if youget clear of the city, take heed of the plain of quicksands. Gorather by the wild country to the south. 'Twill take longer, but thetime will be well spent."
At length Reeves took his leave, promising to come again with hisyoung charges. He did not think it necessary to tell Garth that heknew the secret path over the treacherous plain. But one thing wasevident, Garth was a true comrade, and would do his uttermost toassist them in their attempt to leave the city.
The next morning Raoul Gare looked in on his rounds.
"Hola, comrades!" he exclaimed. "Want of exercise will stiffen yourjoints. There is nothing like skipping when your walks are limited."
Reeves deemed this a strange remark, till a thought suddenly struckhim.
"Aye," he replied, "'tis a good idea. A small piece of rope will notcome amiss."
That evening a soldier entered the Englishmen's quarters with a boxunder his arm, saying it was a present from Captain Gare. Directlythe man had gone, Reeves prised the box open. Inside was a coil ofthree-inch rope sufficient to reach thrice the height of thebattlements.
"That's half the battle!" he exclaimed, after he had explained to thelads the real reason for the captain's skipping rope. "They are finefellows, these Croixilians. It's a pity to have to sneak off, butthat brute, Sir John, has spoiled everything."
True to his word, Reeves took the lads to bid Garth farewell. It wasa sorrowful party, for each man realized that each had risked hislife in order to save the others', and they had been comrades in thefield of battle in more than one fiercely-contested fight.
"The guard at the great gorge will not hinder you," said Garth atparting. "Much as I wish to do my duty to my country, there are timesand places when tyrannical orders may be laxly carried out. When youleave the pass behind you, keep to the north, and ware thequicksands. Horses will be awaiting you. Show this ring to the menwith them, and all will be well."
The same night Reeves, bearing one end of the coil of rope, scaledthe chimney; three muskets, ammunition, and food were sent up afterhim, and soon Hugh and Gerald rejoined him on the flat roof. Beneaththem, on the battlements, they could see the outlines of thesentinels, but the men's backs were resolutely turned towards them. Adouble length of rope was dropped, the bight being held by themasonry between two of the apertures in the battlemented wall. Downthese lengths the lads swarmed, Reeves followed, and the rope waspulled clear, so as to serve for the purpose of descending the outerwall.
Five minutes later the wanderers had shaken the dust of Charletonfrom off their feet--for the last time, as they fondly hoped.
Their route lay betwixt the devastated cornfields, where no cover wasavailable; but since the gates of the city were closed at night, noone was likely to be met.
At length they gained the entrance to the formidable gap betwixt therocks, and here again, although lights shone in the guardhouse, nonechallenged them. In the gorge the darkness was intense, and therefugees had great difficulty in avoiding the stones that had fallenfrom above; but, maintaining perfect silence, they kept on their way,emerging from the sombre ravine as day was breaking.
"We may as well take proper precautions in case we are pursued whenour flight is discovered," said Reeves, and, bringing his musket tohis shoulder, he fired into the gorge they had just left behind them.The echoes of the report were drowned by a roar like thunder, as tonsof rock came hurtling from the heights above.
"That will take them some time to clear, I expect," he continued, ashe reloaded his clumsy weapon. "We've slammed the front door in ourhost's face. Now, we won't go south, but we'll try our luck with thequicksands."
The lads wondered why their companion had taken the trouble to carrythe heavy coil of rope with him, but their curiosity was set at restwhen Reeves proceeded to rope them together, leaving nearly thirtyfeet of "slack" between each.
This done, he began the perilous passage, walking backwards so as tobe sure of keeping the leading marks in line; while Hugh and Gerald,holding the intervening lengths of rope fairly taut, followed in hisfootsteps.
On and on Reeves went, till after covering nearly a mile he stopped."Here we turn," he exclaimed. "Now, mind how you go. Follow me verycarefully."
"Shall I take the lead?" asked Gerald. "You must be frightfullyfagged walking backwards all that way."
"I'd be glad if you would," replied Reeves gratefully. "My musclesare aching fearfully. There are the marks."
Once more the march was resumed, Gerald leading, Reeves in thecentre, and Hugh following in the rear, the line of route being nowat right angles to their former direction, and pointing almoststraight for the little fort by the ferry.
Presently Hugh, who was growing familiar with the dangerous path,stepped a few inches from the centre. Then, with appallingsuddenness, his feet slipped from beneath him. In his efforts torecover his balance his musket flew from his grasp and instantlydisappeared from view, and only the strain upon the rope preventedhim from sharing the fate of the weapon.
Fortunately Reeves preserved his presence of mind, and, instead ofinstantly running to the aid of his comrade, he kept the rope tautwhile he walked towards him. When about three feet off he stopped,and called to Gerald to come up as cautiously as he could.
Meanwhile Hugh was slowly sinking, in spite of the support of therope. The suction of the sands was terrific. It was impossible forhim to struggle. He could only keep as still as was possible, inspite of the agonizing torture of body and mind, trusting to thestrength of his friends to haul him out of the treacherous snare.
Bracing themselves for the effort, Reeves and Gerald pulled with alltheir might. Hugh yelled. It was as if his legs were being torn fromtheir sockets; but he remained anchored to the terrible quicksands.
"Mind you don't fall into the sands on the other side, Gerald, if heshould come up with a jerk," cautioned Reeves. "Now, together!"
With a united and mighty heave, Hugh was dragged from a horrible yetcertain death, while Gerald, in spite of the warning, wellnightumbled backwards when his chum, like a huge fish, was squirming uponthe hard ground. So great had been the suction that the leatherbuskins with which Hugh had been supplied during his stay inCroixilia were wrenched from his feet, while from his thighsdownwards the skin was inflamed and bruised in places as if he hadbeen scourged.
In a few minutes he was able to walk, although the pain was intense;and, having resumed their relative positions, the three adventurersproceeded to negotiate the remaining portion of that hazardouspathway.
"We've a choice of boats, I see," said Reeves, as they drew up at thelittle stone quay. Moored to the wall were three craft, one theferryboat in which they had crossed on their journey to Croixilia,the others being larger.
"There would be room for three horses quite easily," remarked Gerald,pointing to one of the bigger craft.
"There would be," assented Reeves. "It's almost a pity we didn't makesure of the horses; but it cannot
be helped. We could not returnwithout considerable risk, and I doubt whether we could lead horsesover that pathway. I wonder where the ferrymen are? We are in want offood. Perhaps Garth's ring will help us."
The correspondent stalked over to the fort, and began to hammer atthe door. It was unfastened, and flew open at the first blow. But theplace was untenanted.
"Come here, lads; we're in luck," shouted Reeves.
On a board were six large rye loaves, six thick rugs, a bag of flour,a jar of salt, a square of canvas that would form either a sail or anawning at will, and a broad-bladed axe. Pinned to the sack was apaper on which was written, in old-fashioned characters and in thequaint dialect of Croixilia: "If so be you have decided to go thisway, these are for your welfare".
"They evidently wish to show their good feeling, in spite of the factthat we sneaked out of the city," said Gerald.
"Yes; it's quite certain that without the aid of our unknown friendsour difficulties would be tenfold," replied Reeves. "However, we hadbetter get these things aboard without further loss of time."
When the last load was ready to be taken to the boat, Reeves foldedthe paper and put it in his pocket, while with a piece of charcoal hewrote the words "Many thanks!" upon the board.
"We cannot do more in that respect," he observed. "I might havewritten on the back of the paper, but we don't know into whose handsit might fall."
Reeves had already decided upon the boat that was to take themdownstream. He chose the smaller of the two large ones, this craftbeing of fairly shallow draught, apparently of more recentconstruction, and easier to handle. The provisions were storedamidships and two short masts placed in position, the canvas beingstretched tightly between them. As there was absolutely no wind, thislast was useless as a sail, but as an awning it provided goodprotection from the already powerful rays of the sun. There were fouroars on board--long, heavy ones, weighted at the haft with lead tocompensate for the disproportionate distance between the thole pinsand the blade.
"Here is another type of mediaevalism," said the correspondent,pointing to the oars. "Almost the same as were used by the galleyslaves of old. Oars on an African river seem out of place; paddleswould be preferable under ordinary circumstances."
"How would they?" asked Hugh, who was engaged in cooling his achinglimbs in the tepid water.
"In weed-encumbered water, such as we are likely to encounter. Here,as you see, the river expands, forming a fairly extensive lake, andvegetation is somewhat scarce; but I should not be at all surprisedif we have to literally cut our way through the reeds and waterlilies lower downstream."
Casting off the rope that held it to the quay, Reeves pushed the boatclear and dipped an oar, Gerald pulling at a second while Hughsteered. A few strokes sufficed to put a fair distance between theshore and the craft, and her bow was pointed downstream. In less thanhalf an hour the ghaut-like crags at the upper end of the lake werelost to view.
Captured at Tripoli: A Tale of Adventure Page 17