The Gilded Man: A Romance of the Andes

by Clifford Smyth

  XII

  A DEAD WALL

  Mrs. Quayle objected to being parted from Una. She objectedvigorously--vigorously, at least, as compared to her usual manner oftaking things. She complained that guarding the baggage in a strangecountry, where it was impossible to make even her simplest wantsintelligible, was not the sort of thing she was there for. But she couldnot turn Una from her purpose; nor was it any easier, once his consentwas given, to move Leighton to a reconsideration of the matter. Onlyone thing was left for her to do. If she wished to keep within reach ofUna she would have to accompany her on the expedition--"the picnic,"as Leighton grimly called it. She hated to do this, but, as solicitudefor Una was stronger than concern for her own safety, she had ended bytremblingly begging to be of the party.

  "Let her come," said Miranda derisively. "It will not be for long time."

  So Mrs. Quayle, much as she hated adventures, got what she wanted.

  Early next morning, mounted on mules and carrying their supply ofprovisions neatly packed in hampers, they reached Lake Guatavita.Judging by appearances, one would say that they were after nothingmore serious than a day's outing. The air was crisp and sparkling, ofthat crystal clearness peculiar to Andean altitudes. The lake laughedin the sunlight; whatever there was of gloomy legend connected with itslumbered beneath its silvery surface. Even the timorous felt the joyof the place and indulged in hopes of high adventure. Miranda was inthe best of humor; Leighton, although maintaining his reserve, relaxedsomething of his usual severity; while the rest of the party was in highspirits, showing scarcely anything of the mental and physical strain towhich they had been subjected during the last twenty-four hours. OnlyUna appeared anxious. Raoul Arthur, the more she saw of him, disquietedher. She disliked him intensely, she could not tell exactly why. He wasassiduous in his regard for her comfort, but, in spite of his outwardfriendliness, she was haunted by certain hints that had come to her fromDavid, hints that made of Raoul, in some inexplicable way, an activeenemy to the man she loved. She was suspicious of him. His presence onthe expedition that had David's rescue for its purpose made her twisteverything he did into something treacherous, of danger to all of them.Her uncle, apparently, did not share her feeling. On the contrary,he seemed to rely more and more on Raoul for advice and direction incarrying out the project upon which he was engaged, and thus there grewup between the two men a confidence that Una, had she tried, would havebeen unable to shake.

  Andrew, of course, still smarting from the experience of two daysbefore, could not be expected to make so speedy a return to the scene ofhis adventure without some trepidation. But whatever sensations thrilledhis susceptible heart, he put on a brave front and did not flinch fromthe part he was expected to take in the expedition. There was thatdreadful lake, there the wall of rock he had described, and there theinconspicuous opening to the tunnel from whose hidden dangers he hadbeen so mysteriously rescued--he faced it all and braced himself for theinevitable explanations. But his knowledge of the place was far lessthan Raoul's.

  "It was through this opening to Mr. Parmelee's tunnel that we enteredupon the excavation by which we hoped to drain the lake three yearsago," he remarked.

  From an engineering point of view the statement was mystifying becausethe opening of the tunnel was almost on a level with the surface ofthe lake. Thus, it was difficult to see what would have been gainedhad the waters of the latter been diverted into the tunnel. It wasexplained, however, that an intersecting tunnel at a very much lowerlevel furnished the desired outlet, and the miners had planned toconnect with this. As Leighton and the rest were not concerned in thesebygone matters, the abortive attempts of the mining company to use thissubterranean passage in the mountain was not traced out in detail. Timewas urgent; there was no telling how long they might be in the tunnel.If they wanted to avoid making a night of it they would have to hurry.

  Unloading the mules, therefore, of their provisions, and leaving thesemelancholy animals in the care of two peons who had come with them fromBogota, the picnickers equipped themselves for their adventure--thatis, they fastened the miners' lamps to their hats. In the case of themen this was not difficult. But Mrs. Quayle's extraordinary headgear,architecturally deceptive and insecure, proved so hopelessly difficultthat its estimable owner was forced to do without the adornment of tinand kerosene provided for her. The more stable bit of millinery worn byUna was tractable enough, and with her lamp attached firmly to her grayfelt hat she looked the part she expected to play.

  The opening to the tunnel was much as Andrew had described it, aninconspicuous, narrow rift at the base of a great wall of rock. Innine cases out of ten it would pass unnoticed; so small an aperture,concealed by bushes and trailing vines, was safe from the mostinquisitive travelers. That so timid a person as the schoolmaster haddiscovered (no one took seriously his tale of the togaed and sandaledstranger) and forced his way through this opening caused no end ofwonder. To accomplish the same feat drew forth many a groan from thecorpulent Leighton and Miranda. As for Mrs. Quayle, what with thesqueezing and tugging needed to gain an entrance into the region ofterrors beyond, and anxiety lest some of her jewelry might be lost insuch strenuous effort, that good lady came dangerously near a conditionof hopeless panic. Undoubtedly she would have abandoned the expeditionthen and there had it not been for the jeers of Miranda who assuredher she was developing symptoms that called for a generous dose of hisinfallible pills. Such a goad would electrify the stubbornest of mulesand a series of desperate struggles brought Mrs. Quayle victoriouslythrough the tunnel's entrance.

  This first step in their subterranean travels surmounted, the explorers,having lighted their lamps, found themselves in a spacious rockchamber, the walls of which rose above them to a majestic height.Andrew, especially, was amazed at what he saw, declaring that it was allquite different from his first experience in the same place. When it wasremembered, however, that on this former occasion the schoolmaster hadonly the feeble glimmer of light that found its way through the openingof the cave to show him where he was, the difference between his twoimpressions was not surprising. But it puzzled his companions to choosethe route they were to follow in their explorations. Here Andrew couldnot help them. Two passages were discovered leading from the chamberin which they stood. One went straight ahead, offering a fairly easy,unobstructed path to the explorer. The other, a branch from the maintunnel, was narrow, strewn with debris of fallen rock, and altogetherforbidding in the glimpse that could be had of the first few hundredfeet of its course. One feature, however, belonging to this smallertunnel gave it the preference. But before discovering this feature andmaking their choice the explorers thought it best to inform themselves,as well as they could, of the character of the cave itself. In thisLeighton naturally took the lead, and from his investigations it wasconcluded that, unlike other caves, the origin of the Guatavita cave wasprimarily volcanic and due only secondarily to the action of water.

  The implement employed by Nature in fashioning her undergroundcaverns is usually water. Some mighty spring, deep within the earth'sbosom, seeks an outlet for its accumulating current. It forces itsway through whatever porous layer of rock comes in its path, and bypersistent action, occupying ages of time, disintegrates and destroysit altogether. There is left, as a result of the subterranean stream'sactivity, a series of tunnels, widening out oftentimes into great rockchambers, and extending, in several well known instances, for manymiles. Wherever water is the sole architect the lines that it carves,the forms it molds, are smooth, well-rounded; there are no jagged edges,sharp angles in the fairy palaces and intricate labyrinths that itleaves as specimens of its artistic method. The walls of the Guatavitatunnel, however, were eloquent of a totally different force employed intheir making. The marks of an angry Titan were upon them; the Titan ofFire. They told of an elemental tragedy, swift and cataclysmic in itsaction. The deep scars in their surfaces, the rough crags and pinnaclesjutting from them, were the epic characters in which the monster'sstruggle for freedom were written d
own for all posterity to study andwonder at.

  Thus, Leighton did not hesitate to attribute an igneous origin tothe cave, and it was after a close examination of the earth andpebble-strewn floor that the smaller tunnel was chosen as the bestfor exploration. There were footprints in both tunnels, but in thisone they were more numerous than in the other, where they had beenmade, according to Raoul, at the time dynamite had been used in theexcavations. Comparing these footprints, those in the larger tunnelwere evidently from ordinary shoes, while in the smaller they bore theimpress of sandals.

  "Andrew's man in the toga is the one we want," remarked Leighton, adecision that added to Mrs. Quayle's agitation and did not appear toincrease the schoolmaster's desire for adventure. The discovery of theimprint of sandaled feet, however, changed Doctor Miranda's attitudetoward Andrew from banter almost to admiration.

  "It is true, what he say, this leetle fellow," he declared inastonishment. "He follow him here, the sandals--and he is alone. He isbrave man, this Parmelee!"

  Raoul remained silent and Herran shrugged his shoulders skeptically.After all, it was difficult to believe, on the strength of a merefootprint, that the singular being described by the schoolmasteractually existed and had disappeared, like some wraith, in the depths ofthe cave.

  "That will be a hard path to follow," said Raoul finally. "I triedit--once."

  "What did you find?"

  "Nothing--a dead wall."

  "Mercy!" ejaculated Mrs. Quayle, not catching his meaning.

  "There was no danger that I could see," continued Raoul; "but there washard traveling, and no result worth the effort."

  "Did you notice these footprints when you were here before?"

  "It was the footprints that led me on."

  "I don't see your footprints here. All these marks are from sandaledfeet," retorted Leighton.

  The discovery did not attract attention. It seemed of slightsignificance to the others; but the savant continued his examinationof the ground with redoubled interest. Raoul also showed astonishmentat the fact pointed out to him, and at first offered no explanation.Obviously, a footprint in a cave, not subject to effacement by wind orweather, should remain indefinitely, unless destroyed by man or animal.But, curiously enough, the sandal prints were not sufficiently numerousto stamp out all vestige of the prints that must have been made byRaoul in his coming and going through the tunnel--if Raoul had reallyever been in this tunnel. So Leighton argued, and the conclusion thatRaoul had not been there at all seemed logical. Had he deliberatelydeceived them--a supposition for which there appeared no motive--or washe himself mistaken in the course he had pursued in his exploration someyears ago?

  "Well, there it is," laughed Raoul. "Your reasoning is sound. Myfootprints ought to be here, but they aren't. I can't explain it."

  "It is not worth while," exclaimed Miranda impatiently, adding not overlucidly, "they take them away."

  "Perhaps Mr. Arthur wore sandals," suggested Andrew, illuminated by abrilliant idea.

  "Whatever happened, Uncle Harold," said Una, who had ventured into thetunnel some distance ahead of the others, "what difference does it makenow? We are losing time from our search--from your picnic, Mrs. Quayle!"

  "Picnic!" she shuddered. "How can we picnic with dead walls andmysterious footprints all around us?"

  "Good!" exclaimed Miranda in response to Una's appeal. "The womensalways are captains--the mens must follow!"

  There being no objection to this way of putting it, Leighton and Raoulgave up the puzzle of the footprints and set out seriously to explorethe tunnel.

  They soon found, as Raoul said, that traveling here had itsdifficulties. Huge boulders that took some little dexterity andsureness of foot to get over obstructed the narrow passage. For Una,who showed surprising agility, such impediments were not disconcerting;but Mrs. Quayle found them not at all to her liking. Progress withthat bewildered lady was necessarily slow and, in some unusually roughplaces, had to be made by a system of shoving from behind and haulingfrom above that kept her in a state of breathless agitation. This wasincreased by imaginary terrors, chief among which was the constant dreadof meeting the apparition described by Andrew, whose story had made adeep impression on her mind.

  As a matter of fact Andrew's man in the toga was not in evidence,except as the occasional imprint of a sandal on the floor of the cavesuggested him. But the explorers were too busy surmounting the obstacleswith which the tunnel was strewn to heed details that otherwise mighthave arrested their attention. The sharp edges of the rocky wall playedhavoc with their clothing, drawing from Miranda, incensed at his ownrotundity, a choice series of expletives--fortunately in Spanish--andarousing the wrath even of Mrs. Quayle. After the first five hundredyards, however, the passage widened sufficiently for them to look aboutand take account of the perils--if there were any--facing them.

  The endless vista of rock, hewn in every conceivable shape and lighteddimly by the rays from their lamps, was dispiriting, to say the least.With the passing of the tunnel, however, and its alarming sense ofpremature entombment, even Mrs. Quayle experienced a faint return ofconfidence, while the schoolmaster, her companion in misery, began tofeel a mild curiosity in the outcome of an adventure for the undertakingof which he had been the unwilling cause. He wondered vaguely to whatfurther depths of this hole in the mountain the more enterprisingspirits of the party would lead them.

  "I am sure I never came as far as this," he protested.

  "Well, what of that?" demanded Leighton.

  "He say he never come here!" crowed Miranda. "Very well, my leetlefellow, you are here now."

  "Yes, but--how far will we go?" he persisted.

  "You remember nothing of this?" asked Raoul.

  "I--I rather think I stopped in the beginning of the tunnel."

  "But here are the footprints," said Una eagerly.

  "They are made by sandals. I never wear sandals," said Andrew sadly.

  "Of course. They make by the other fellow."

  "By that man who wears a toga?" asked Mrs. Quayle anxiously. "It wouldbe awful to meet him in this place."

  "She is afraid, this old lady--she have nerves!" announced Miranda. "Shebetter go back."

  There being sound sense in the observation, the others stopped toconsider it.

  "I could never find my way alone through that tunnel," declared Mrs.Quayle.

  As this was quite obvious, something had to be done. No one wished todesert the unfortunate lady; at the same time all, with the exceptionof Andrew, were anxious to press on without delay. Miranda, in terseSpanish, explained the difficulty to General Herran, who shrugged hisshoulders disgustedly, expressing emphatic disapproval of women asexplorers.

  "We must do something before we go any further," said Raoul. "There maybe a long journey ahead of us."

  "Do you expect it?" asked Leighton.

  "I have no idea where we are."

  "That means----"

  "We have passed the dead wall."

  "Merciful heavens!" exclaimed Mrs. Quayle, "we are lost!"

  "Hardly that," said Una reassuringly. "It will be easy to go back theway we came. But this cave is too delightful to leave. I never breathedsuch air."

  There was ample warrant for Una's enthusiasm. From the stiflingatmosphere of the tunnel the explorers had entered a great rockchamber that widened as they advanced, opening up vistas of majesticspaciousness that contrasted strangely with the straitened path theyhad first followed. Overhead the outlines of a vast arching roof couldbe dimly made out by the flickering light from the lamps. At eitherside the dusky walls, with their flanking pinnacles and fantasticgargoyles, suggested the ornate escarpment of some Gothic cathedral.More noticeable even than these architectural features, was thedelightful atmosphere, mild, fragrant, invigorating, pervading the greatsilent spaces. Usually the air in the famous caves familiar to tourists,although pure enough, is chilly and damp, so much so that the exploreris forced to exercise in order to keep warm. Here, on the contrary,one enjoye
d the temperature of a perfect day in early summer--a factthat had called forth Una's praise, and was silently noted by HaroldLeighton as one of the novel features of the Guatavita cave.

  "Of course we must go on," Leighton decided impatiently. "If Mrs. Quayleis nervous, she had better wait for us outside."

  "Perhaps I will be only in the way here," said that lady contritely."But what will you do without me, Una?"

  "I will take her," interposed Miranda in a chivalric outburst. "Come!"he added, turning unceremoniously to retrace his steps to the opening ofthe tunnel, a point that could not be far away, although not near enoughto be revealed by the light thrown from their lamps.

  In spite of the extended area of the subterranean chamber in which theywere standing, it was easy to return to the tunnel by simply retracingthe path they were on. This path was marked by a depression in theuneven rocky floor across which it was laid. It was fairly smoothand overspread by a fine sand that bore the impress of many sandaledfeet. There was no danger of losing one's way, and the energeticdoctor, hurried along so as to spend the least possible time on hisself-appointed mission. He did not notice that the terrified Mrs.Quayle, convinced that his invitation concealed a plot to rob her ofher jewels, failed to accompany him. The others, amused at his abruptdeparture, patiently awaited his return, watching the speck of lightmade by his lamp bobbing about in the distance. Presently the lightdisappeared, and they concluded that Miranda had entered the tunnel. Butin this they were mistaken. In a few minutes they were startled by anexplosive "Caramba!" followed shortly by the apparition of the doctorrunning towards them, breathless from his exertions, and exploding withmingled wrath and consternation.

  "It has gone--lost! I cannot find him!" he shouted in an incoherenttorrent of Spanish and English.

  "What has gone?" demanded Leighton.

  "We are lost! We are lost! The tunnel has gone!"

  "Nonsense!"

  "It is true! I go there. I not lie. I find the tunnel where we come--andit has gone!"

  "Impossible! What did you find?"

  "I not find it. It is true! I find there what this fellow say," hereplied, turning savagely on Raoul. "It is--what you call?--one deadwall!"