CHAPTER VIII
THE ALARM
It was still dark when the captain woke, and he struck a match to look athis watch. It was three o'clock.
"Is that you, captain?" said a voice from the next room. "Is it time foryou to begin watch again?"
"Yes," said the captain, "it is about time. How do you happen to beawake, Miss Markham? Ralph! I believe the boy is snoring."
"Of course he is," said Edna, speaking in a low voice. "We cannot expectsuch a boy to keep awake, and so I have been on watch. It was easy enoughfor me to keep my eyes open."
"It is too bad," said the captain, and then, listening for a moment, hesaid: "I truly believe that Maka is snoring, too, and as for that blackfellow over there, I suspect that he sleeps all the time. Miss Markham,you have been the only person awake."
"Why shouldn't I be?" said she. "I am sure that a woman is just as goodas a man for keeping watch."
"If they should come," thought the captain, as he again sat in the dark,"I must not try to fight them in the passage. That would have been mybest chance, but now some of them might pick me off from behind. No, Imust fight them in this chamber. I can put everybody else in the middleapartment. Perhaps before to-morrow night it might be well to bring someof those loose rocks here and build a barricade. I wish I had thought ofthat before."
The captain sat and listened and thought. His listening brought him noreturn, and his thinking brought him too much. The most mournful ideas ofwhat might happen if more than two or three of the desperadoes attackedthe place crowded into his mind. If they came, they came to rob, and theywere men who left behind them no living witnesses of their whereabouts ortheir crimes. And if two or three should come, and be repulsed, it wouldnot be long before the rest would arrive. In fact, the only real hopethey had was founded on the early return of Rynders--that is, if Ryndersand his men were living.
The captain waited and listened, but nothing came but daylight. Assoon as he was able to discern objects outside the opening on theplateau, he awoke Maka, and, leaving him on guard, he made his way tothe lake cavern.
Here the light was beginning to come freely through the chasm which facednearly east. Mok was sitting with his eyes open, and showed that he wasalive by a little grunt when the captain approached. If there were such athing here as a subterranean tide, it had not risen. There was no waterwhere the lake had been.
Gazing across the empty basin, the captain felt a strong desire to goover, climb up to the opening, and discover whether or not the cavernwas accessible on that side. It would be very important for him to knowthis, and it would not take long for him to make an investigation. Oneside of the rocky shelf which has been before mentioned sloped down tothe lake, and the captain was just about to descend this when he heard acry from the passage, and, at the same moment, a shout from Mok whichseemed to be in answer to it. Instantly the captain turned and dashedinto the passage, and, leaping over the barrier, found Maka standing nearthe entrance.
As soon as the negro saw him, he began to beckon wildly for him to comeon. But there was no need now of keeping quiet and beckoning. The firstshout had aroused everybody inside, and the two ladies and Ralph werealready in the passage. The captain, however, made them keep back, whilehe and Maka, on their hands and knees, crawled toward the outer opening.From this point one could see over the plateau, and the uneven groundbeyond, down to the beach and the sea; but there was still so littlelight upon this western slope that at first the captain could not seeanything noticeable in the direction in which Maka was pointing. But in afew moments his mariner eyes asserted themselves, and he saw some blackspots on the strip of beach, which seemed to move. Then he knew they weremoving, and moving toward him--coming up to the cave! They were men!
"Sit here," said the captain to Maka, and then, with his gun in his hand,he rushed back to the rest of the party.
"They seem to be coming," said he, speaking as calmly as he could, "butwe have discovered them in good time, and I shall have some shots atthem before they reach here. Let us hope that they will never get here atall. You two," said he to Mrs. Cliff and Ralph, "are to be under commandof Miss Markham. You must do exactly what she tells you to." Then,turning to Edna, he said, "You have your pistol ready?"
"Yes," said she, "I am ready."
Without another word, the captain took his other gun and all hisammunition, and went back into the passage. Here he found Mok, who hadcome to see what was the matter. Motioning the negro to go back to hispost, the captain, with his loaded guns, went again to the entrance.Looking out, he could now plainly see the men. There were four of them.It was lighter down toward the sea, for the rocks still threw a heavyshadow over the plateau. The sight sent a thrill of brave excitementthrough the captain.
"If they come in squads of four," thought he, "I may be a match for them.They can't see me, and I can see them. If I could trust Maka to load agun, I would have a better chance, but if I could pick off two, or evenone, that might stop the others and give me time to reload. Come on, youblack-hearted scoundrels," he muttered through his teeth, as he kneltoutside the cave, one gun partly raised, and the other on the groundbeside him. "If I could only know that none of your band could come in atthat hole in the back of the cave, I'd call the odds even."
The dawn grew brighter, and the four men drew nearer. They came slowly,one considerably ahead of the others. Two or three times they stopped andappeared to be consulting, and then again moved slowly forward straighttoward the plateau.
When the leading man was nearly within gunshot, the captain's face beganto burn, and his pulses to throb hard and fast.
"The sooner I pick off the head one," he thought, "the better chance Ihave at the others."
He brought his gun to his shoulder, and was slowly lowering the barrel tothe line of aim, when suddenly something like a great black beast rushedpast him, pushing up his arm and nearly toppling him over. It came fromthe cave, and in a second it was out on the plateau. Then it gave a leapupward, and rushed down toward the sea. Utterly astounded, the captainsteadied himself and turned to Maka.
"What was that?" he exclaimed.
The African was on his feet, his body bent forward, his eyes peering outinto the distance.
"Mok!" said he. "Look! Look!"
It was Mok who had rushed out of the cave. He was running toward the fourmen. He reached them, he threw up his arms, he sprang upon the first man.Then he left him, and jumped upon the others. Then Maka gave a little cryand sprang forward, but in the same instant the captain seized him.
"Stop!" he cried. "What is it?"
The African shouted: "Mok's people! Mok knowed them. Look!Look--see! Mok!"
The party was now near enough and the day was bright enough for thecaptain to see that on the lower ground beyond the plateau there werefive black men in a state of mad excitement. He could hear them jabberingaway at a great rate. So far as he could discover, they were allunarmed, and as they stood there gesticulating, the captain might haveshot them down in a bunch, if he had chosen.
"Go," said he to Maka, "go down there and see what it all means."
The captain now stepped back into the passage. He could see Miss Markhamand Ralph peering out of the doorway of the first compartment.
"There does not seem to be any danger so far," said he. "Some moreAfricans have turned up. Maka has gone to meet them. We shall find outabout them in a few minutes," and he turned back to the entrance.
He saw that the six black fellows were coming toward him, and, as he hadthought, they carried no guns.
The Adventures of Captain Horn Page 8