CHAPTER III
A CHANGE OF LODGINGS
The great face stared down upon the little party gathered beneath it. Itschin was about eight feet above the ground, and its stony countenanceextended at least that distance up the cliff. Its features were in lowrelief, but clear and distinct, and a smoke-blackened patch beneath oneof its eyes gave it a sinister appearance. From its wide-stretching moutha bit of half-burnt vine hung, trembling in the heated air, and thiselement of motion produced the impression on several of the party thatthe creature was about to open its lips.
Mrs. Cliff gave a little scream,--she could not help it,--and Maka sankdown on his knees, his back to the rock, and covered his face with hishands. Ralph was the first to speak.
"There have been heathen around here," he said. "That's a regular idol."
"You are right," said the captain. "That is a bit of old-time work. Thatface was cut by the original natives."
The two ladies were so interested, and even excited, that they seizedeach other by the hands. Here before their faces was a piece of sculpturedoubtless done by the people of ancient Peru, that people who werediscovered by Pizarro; and this great idol, or whatever it was, hadperhaps never before been seen by civilized eyes. It was wonderful, andin the conjecture and exclamation of the next half-hour everything elsewas forgotten, even the three sailors.
Because the captain was the captain, it was natural that every oneshould look to him for some suggestion as to why this great stone faceshould have been carved here on this lonely and desolate rock. But heshook his head.
"I have no ideas about it," he said, "except that it must have beensome sort of a landmark. It looks out toward the sea, and perhaps theancient inhabitants put it there so that people in ships, coming nearenough to the coast, should know where they were. Perhaps it wasintended to act as a lighthouse to warn seamen off a dangerous coast.But I must say that I do not see how it could do that, for they wouldhave had to come pretty close to the shore to see it, unless they hadbetter glasses than we have."
The sun was now near the horizon, and Maka was lifted to his feet by thecaptain, and ordered to stop groaning in African, and go to work to getsupper on the glowing embers of the vines. He obeyed, of course, butnever did he turn his face upward to that gaunt countenance, whichgrinned and winked and frowned whenever a bit of twig blazed up, or thecoals were stirred by the trembling negro.
After supper and until the light had nearly faded from the western sky,the two ladies sat and watched that vast face upon the rocks, itsfeatures growing more and more solemn as the light decreased.
"I wish I had a long-handled broom," said Mrs. Cliff, "for if the dustand smoke and ashes of burnt leaves were brushed from off its nose andeyebrows, I believe it would have a rather gracious expression."
As for the captain, he went walking about on the outlying portion of theplateau, listening and watching. But it was not stone faces he wasthinking of. That night he did not sleep at all, but sat until day-break,with a loaded gun across his knees, and another one lying on the groundbeside him.
When Miss Markham emerged from the rude tent the next morning, and cameout into the bright light of day, the first thing she saw was herbrother Ralph, who looked as if he had been sweeping a chimney orcleaning out an ash-hole.
"What on earth has happened to you!" she cried. "How did you get yourselfso covered with dirt and ashes?"
"I got up ever so long ago," he replied, "and as the captain is asleepover there, and there was nobody to talk to, I thought I would go and tryto find the back of his head"--pointing to the stone face above them."But he hasn't any. He is a sham."
"What do you mean?" asked his sister.
"You see, Edna," said the boy, "I thought I would try if I could find anymore faces, and so I got a bit of stone, and scratched away some of theburnt vines that had not fallen, and there I found an open place in therock on this side of the face. Step this way, and you can see it. It'slike a narrow doorway. I went and looked into it, and saw that it ledback of the big face, and I went in to see what was there."
"You should never have done that, Ralph," cried his sister. "There mighthave been snakes in that place, or precipices, or nobody knows what.What could you expect to see in the dark?"
"It wasn't so dark as you might think," said he. "After my eyes got usedto the place I could see very well. But there was nothing to see--justwalls on each side. There was more of the passageway ahead of me, but Ibegan to think of snakes myself, and as I did not have a club or anythingto kill them with, I concluded I wouldn't go any farther. It isn't sovery dirty in there. Most of this I got on myself scraping down the burntvines. Here comes the captain. He doesn't generally oversleep himselflike this. If he will go with me, we will explore that crack."
When Captain Horn heard of the passage into the rock, he was much moreinterested than Ralph had expected him to be, and, without loss of time,he lighted a lantern and, with the boy behind him, set out to investigateit. But before entering the cleft, the captain stationed Maka at a placewhere he could view all the approaches to the plateau, and told him if hesaw any snakes or other dangerous things approaching, to run to theopening and call him. Now, snakes were among the few things that Maka wasnot afraid of, and so long as he thought these were the enemies to bewatched, he would make a most efficient sentinel.
When Captain Horn had cautiously advanced a couple of yards into theinterior of the rock, he stopped, raised his lantern, and looked abouthim. The passage was about two feet wide, the floor somewhat lower thanthe ground outside, and the roof but a few feet above his head. It wasplainly the work of man, and not a natural crevice in the rocks. Thenthe captain put the lantern behind him, and stared into the gloom aheadof them. As Ralph had said, it was not so dark as might have beenexpected. In fact, about twenty feet forward there was a dim light on theright-hand wall.
The captain, still followed by Ralph, now moved on until they came tothis lighted place, and found it was an open doorway. Both headstogether, they peeped in, and saw it was an opening like a doorway into achamber about fifteen feet square and with very high walls. They scarcelyneeded the lantern to examine it, for a jagged opening in the roof let ina good deal of light.
Passing into this chamber, keeping a good watch out for pitfalls as hemoved on, and forgetting, in his excitement, that he might go so far thathe could not hear Maka, should he call, the captain saw to the rightanother open doorway, on the other side of which was another chamber,about the size of the one they had first entered. One side of this was agood deal broken away, and through a fracture three or four feet wide thelight entered freely, as if from the open air. But when the two explorerspeered through the ragged aperture, they did not look into the open air,but into another chamber, very much larger than the others, with high,irregular walls, but with scarcely any roof, almost the whole of theupper part being open to the sky.
A mass of broken rocks on the floor of this apartment showed that theroof had fallen in. The captain entered it and carefully examined it. Aportion of the floor was level and unobstructed by rocks, and in thewalls there was not the slightest sign of a doorway, except the one bywhich he had entered from the adjoining chamber.
"Hurrah!" cried Ralph. "Here is a suite of rooms. Isn't this grand? Youand I can have that first one, Maka can sleep in the hall to keep outburglars, and Edna and Mrs. Cliff can have the middle room, and this openplace here can be their garden, where they can take tea and sew. Theserocks will make splendid tables and chairs."
The captain stood, breathing hard, a sense of relief coming over him likethe warmth of fire. He had thought of what Ralph had said before the boyhad spoken. Here was safety from wild beasts--here was immunity from theonly danger he could imagine to those under his charge. It might be daysyet before the mate returned,--he knew the probable difficulties ofobtaining a vessel, even when a port should be reached,--but they wouldbe safe here from the attacks of ferocious animals, principally to befeared in the night. They might well be thankful f
or such a good place asthis in which to await the arrival of succor, if succor came before theirwater gave out. There were biscuits, salt meat, tea, and other thingsenough to supply their wants for perhaps a week longer, provided thethree sailors did not return, but the supply of water, although they werevery economical of it, must give out in a day or two. "But," thought thecaptain, "Rynders may be back before that, and, on the other hand, afamily of jaguars might scent us out to-night."
"You are right, my boy," said he, speaking to Ralph. "Here is a suite ofrooms, and we will occupy them just as you have said. They are dry andairy, and it will be far better for us to sleep here than out of doors."
As they returned, Ralph was full of talk about the grand find. But thecaptain made no answers to his remarks--his mind was busy contriving somemeans of barricading the narrow entrance at night.
When breakfast was over, and the entrance to the rocks had been madecleaner and easier by the efforts of Maka and Ralph, the ladies wereconducted to the suite of rooms which Ralph had described in such glowingterms. Both were filled with curiosity to see these apartments,especially Miss Markham, who was fairly well read in the history of SouthAmerica, and who had already imagined that the vast mass of rock by whichthey had camped might be in reality a temple of the ancient Peruvians, towhich the stone face was a sacred sentinel. But when the three apartmentshad been thoroughly explored she was disappointed.
"There is not a sign or architectural adornment, or anything that seemsto have the least religious significance, or significance of any sort,"she said. "These are nothing but three stone rooms, with their roofs moreor less broken in. They do not even suggest dungeons."
As for Mrs. Cliff, she did not hesitate to say that she should prefer tosleep in the open air.
"It would be dreadful," she said, "to awaken in the night and think ofthose great stone walls about me."
Even Ralph remarked that, on second thought, he believed he would rathersleep out of doors, for he liked to look up and see the stars before hewent to sleep.
At first the captain was a little annoyed to find that this place ofsafety, the discovery of which had given him such satisfaction andrelief, was looked upon with such disfavor by those who needed it so verymuch, but then the thought came to him, "Why should they care about aplace of safety, when they have no idea of danger?" He did not nowhesitate to settle the matter in the most straightforward and honest way.Having a place of refuge to offer, the time had come to speak of thedanger. And so, standing in the larger apartment, and addressing hisparty, he told them of the fate he feared had overtaken the threesailors, and how anxious he had been lest the same fate should come uponsome one or all of them.
Now vanished every spark of opposition to the captain's profferedlodgings.
"If we should be here but one night longer," cried Mrs. Cliff, echoingthe captain's thought, "let us be safe."
In the course of the day the two rooms were made as comfortable ascircumstances would allow with the blankets, shawls, and canvas which hadbeen brought on shore, and that night they all slept in the rockchambers, the captain having made a barricade for the opening of thenarrow passage with the four oars, which he brought up from the boat.Even should these be broken down by some wild beast, Captain Horn feltthat, with his two guns at the end of the narrow passage, he might defendhis party from the attacks of any of the savage animals of the country.
The captain slept soundly that night, for he had had but a nap of anhour or two on the previous morning, and, with Maka stretched in thepassage outside the door of his room, he knew that he would have timelywarning of danger, should any come. But Mrs. Cliff did not sleep well,spending a large part of the night imagining the descent of activecarnivora down the lofty and perpendicular walls of the large adjoiningapartment.
The next day was passed rather wearily by most of the party in lookingout for signs of a vessel with the returning mate. Ralph had made a flagwhich he could wave from a high point near by, in case he should see asail, for it would be a great misfortune should Mr. Rynders pass themwithout knowing it.
To the captain, however, came a new and terrible anxiety. He had lookedinto the water-keg, and saw that it held but a few quarts. It had notlasted as long as he had expected, for this was a thirsty climate.
The next night Mrs. Cliff slept, having been convinced that not even acat could come down those walls. The captain woke very early, and when hewent out he found, to his amazement, that the barricade had been removed,and he could not see Maka. He thought at first that perhaps the negro hadgone down to the sea-shore to get some water for washing purposes, but anhour passed, and Maka did not return. The whole party went down to thebeach, for the captain insisted upon all keeping together. They shouted,they called, they did whatever they could to discover the lost African,but all without success.
They returned to camp, disheartened and depressed. This new loss hadsomething terrible in it. What it meant no one could conjecture. Therewas no reason why Maka should run away, for there was no place to run to,and it was impossible that any wild beast should have removed the oarsand carried off the negro.
The Adventures of Captain Horn Page 3