who, issuing fromtheir cave-dwellings, eyed me curiously with greatest caution. I hadnot removed my _litham_, and they undoubtedly were suspicious of astranger who veiled his face.
My captors, with much wild gesticulation, explained the circumstances inwhich they had discovered me, and presently, when I had been thoroughlyinspected by all, and my appearance commented upon, my veil wassurreptitiously snatched from my pallid face, and I was hurried into oneof the small cell-like caverns, and there secured to the rock by arudely constructed chain. Soon food was brought me, and the inhabitantsof the curious unknown country formed a ring near the river bank, andcommenced to execute a kind of wild dance, accompanied by fiendishyells, working themselves into a frenzy, like the dancers of the OuledNails. For a long time I watched their weird pantomimic gyrations, whenat length my eyes were startled at beholding, in the centre of thecircle, a tall man of much paler complexion than my own, dressed in afew dilapidated rags. Once or twice only I caught a glimpse of him, andthen I recognised that his face was that of an European, and his dressthe tattered remains of a French military uniform. His beard andmoustache seemed ashen grey, and upon his haggard countenance, as hestood motionless and statuesque amid the dancers, was a weary look ofblank despair. He also was a captive.
The strange-looking, yellow-skinned people of this riparian region atlength ceased dancing, and with one accord knelt around him inadoration, worshipping him as though he were an idol. The scene, asthey gabbled words in an unknown tongue, was weird and impressive. Myfellow-captive did not apparently notice me, therefore, fearing to rousethe ire of this hitherto undiscovered people by shouting, I possessedmyself in patience. The curious form of pagan worship at last ended;the unfortunate European was released and allowed to seek his abode, asmall hole in the rock close to mine, and the impish-looking mendispersed, leaving me to my own dismal thoughts. Ere long the shadowslengthened as the sun sank behind the high rocks, and dusk crept on.About the open space which served as street, men and women of thecurious tribe squatted, smoked, and chattered, while others, enteringtheir boats armed with fishing-spears, paddled off down the subterraneanstream in the direction I had come. Night fell, and at last thecave-dwellers slept.
Slumber, however, came not to my wearied eyes, and for many hours I satthinking over my strange position, my thoughts being suddenly disturbedby a noise as of some one moaning near me. It was the mysteriousEuropean.
With slow steps and bent head he passed by, when, in a low clear voice,I accosted him in French.
Startled, he halted, peering towards me; and when I had uttered a fewreassuring words, telling him that I was his fellow-captive, he cametowards me, looking half-suspiciously into my face, and enquired myname.
I told him who I was, then made a similar enquiry.
"My name is Flatters," he answered in Arabic. "Thou mayest, perhaps,have heard of me in thy wanderings through the Desert?"
"Flatters!" I cried. "Art thou Colonel Flatters, the lost explorerwhom the French have sought these three whole years?"
"The same," he answered, sighing deeply, his arms crossed over hisbreast. "For three years I have been held captive in this noisome Landof Sa."
His tall dark figure stood out against the starlight, his head bowed indejection. By this brave explorer's exploits the whole world had morethan once been thrilled. By his intrepidity and ability to withstandthe sudden extremes of heat and cold in our Great Desert, the French WarDepartment had been enabled to complete their map of the Saharan plains.It was he who explored all the hitherto unknown region around El Biodh;who discovered and published explanations of the wonderful ruins ofTikbaben; who found the Afeli source; who climbed the mountain ofIraouen, and penetrated the country of the Ennitra, into which even weof the Azjar feared to venture. Twice he traversed the stony Tingherttableland; but on the third occasion, while in the far south near LakeTsad, he suddenly disappeared, and although the French authorities hadoffered a reward of ten thousand francs to any one who could solve themystery of his death or capture, and had sent two formidable expeditionsacross the desert, with a view of obtaining some tidings of him, allefforts had been futile.
Yet he had been here, a prisoner in the hands of these uncanny dwellersbeneath the earth's surface!
"Hast thou made no attempt to escape?" I enquired, as he seated himselfwearily upon a ledge of rock near me.
"Yes," he answered despondently; "but my diaries and geologicalcollections have been lost. All egress from this place is closed. Yonrocks are too sheer and high to be scaled, and the black flood hathrisen so that there is neither entrance nor exit."
Briefly, I told him the manner in which I found myself in that darkcavern with its noisy torrent, and when I had finished he explained themanner in which he had disappeared.
"I set forth from Algiers with five European companions, and aftertravelling for nine months along unfrequented paths in the inhospitableAhaggar, found myself at Mount El Aghil alone, all my fellow-travellershaving died. Unable to return by the route I had come on account of thefierce hostility of the Kel-Rhela, whose vengeance I had narrowlyescaped, I was compelled to push on still southward through the Aircountry, reaching at last, close to the dried-up course of theIgharghar, a large and curious oasis, the earth of which was perfectlyblack and quite soft, contrasting strangely with the dull red sand ofthe surrounding desert. The vegetation was luxuriant, water-melons grewin rich profusion, and in exploring it I discovered, to my astonishment,a small but beautiful lake. About the oasis were large rocks, and inone of these I found an opening with curious signs rudely curved at theentrance. They appeared to be the hieroglyphics of some ancient race,and their strange character aroused my curiosity. Unlike any hithertodiscovered, they were of huge design, representing men, monstrosities,and animals of unknown species, yet only superficially outlined,apparently with the most inadequate tools. Not only were they at theentrance, but on lighting a torch I found the interior of the caverncompletely covered by these grotesque drawings; and it was while engagedin these interesting investigations that I suddenly stumbled into anarrow chasm that had evidently been hidden by dried branches to form apitfall for the unwary. When I recovered consciousness I, like thyself,found myself captive in the hands of these fierce primitive barbariansof the nether world."
"But who are they?" I enquired. "I have never heard mention of thembefore."
"Nor I," he answered. "To our world they are as absolutely unknown asthis mighty subterranean flood. During my captivity I have managed tolearn some words of their tongue. Their gloomy, mysterious region isknown to them as Sa."
"But the river itself amazes me," I observed.
"True. Our accidental discoveries have proved an important geographicalfact hitherto undreamed-of, namely, that the reason the mighty Ighargharno longer flows to irrigate the desert is because it has found asubterranean channel, and for ages has been still roaring on beneath itsancient bed towards the sea."
"Whence, in your opinion, cometh this mysterious river?" I enquired.
"From Lake Tsad, undoubtedly. The fish in its waters, although grey andsightless, because of the perpetual darkness in which they live, are ofthe same species as those I found in the lake. The strangest part of myadventure is that these people, never having before seen a white man,believe me to be some supernatural visitant, and worship me as Sa, theirprincipal god."
Then, while he listened attentively, I told him of the cavern where theriver apparently rushed out into the open air, and suggested that, as adesperate and last resource, we might endeavour to escape by plunginginto the chilly stream and allowing ourselves to be carried forth intothe unknown. On due consideration, however, we agreed that this projectwas not feasible, on account of the swollen state of the dark flood, andas an alternative resolved to steal one of the canoes and explore theupper reaches of the mysterious underground stream. This decision wefollowed by immediate action. The explorer, obtaining a roughlyfashioned hammer of stone from his own little cave, quic
kly severed myfetters, and together we crept out across the small deserted grass-plainto where the boats were moored. In one of them we found paddles,torches and spears, and, stepping in, pushed off and shot silently outinto the darkness. Ere we had done so, however, we heard a loud ringingshout close to the bank. Our flight had been discovered.
We each seized a paddle and pulled away with all our might against thestream. Quickly we entered the cavern opposite that through which I hadbeen conveyed. The blackness was complete, but we strained every musclein our efforts to propel forward our frail craft. Soon behind us weheard the wild, fierce yells of our pursuers, and knowing that theireyes, accustomed to that appalling gloom, could discern objects where weof the outer world could detect nothing, we feared lest we might beovertaken. Their angry voices echoed weirdly along the rocky roof, andwe could hear the
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