Latitude 19 degree Part 52

"We shall have some breakfast, at all events," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Smith, "for I see even now the smoke of their fire."

"Down this way," said I; but even as I spoke I knew my disaster. We ran down the slope toward the open s.p.a.ce that we had cleared with our eager hands, but a hotter, swifter hand had come to undo our work. I stood riveted to the spot.

"Is that your house?" asked the Smith, with pity in his voice.

"It was," said I. I fell back against a near tree, sick at heart and soul. The home which we had toiled so hard to make was gone. Our house was in ashes. The place was desolate.

CHAPTER XVIII.

WE FIND A NEW ABODE, AND ZALEE DEPARTS TO SEEK SUCCOUR.

The place was indeed desolate! I could not believe the evidence of my eyes. The uprights of our pleasant home were still charred and smoking; the palm board floor was red and glowing, and in some places it had fallen through. There was no sign of any of the utensils, no sign of the hammocks or the articles that we had fas.h.i.+oned to make life supportable in this tropic desert. A strange combination of words, but home is where the heart is. Where my heart was at that moment I did not know, but I knew that the place where it was not, was a desert to me.

Imagine if you can the feelings to which I became at once a prey! My imagination ran riot. I thought of Cynthia, fallen, perhaps, into hostile hands, carried away by some terrible barbarians, forced because of her beauty to become a priestess; put to death if she refused. I did not forget the little dagger that I had given her, and I hoped that she would not forget it if the time should come. _If the time should come!_ I turned sick at the thought. I must have shown my feelings in my face.

"Oh, it may not be so bad," said the Smith. "While there's life there's hope, you know."

"Do you call _that_ life?" I answered; pointing to the smoking ruins.

I threw myself upon the ground. I seemed to have lost my senses. I had no thought for my own safety. The same hostile hand which burned the house might have made us prisoners again, but that thought never came to me until the Smith suggested it. Even then I cared little. If Cynthia was lost to me, it mattered not what became of me.

"The only place for us," said the Smith, "is the cave."

"That cave again! I can not go there! Do not ask it," I exclaimed.

"We must," said the Smith, "until we find out something about your friends, and whether they are really mur----"

"Oh, do not----" I said, putting my hands before my eyes.

"Well, better come with me," said the Smith. I arose, and he led me like a blind man down the path toward the cave. We went through the pa.s.sage as of old and reached the lattice chamber. Here we found traces of late occupancy. There was some food placed in an accessible spot, and I also found upon the floor a little handkerchief of Cynthia's. This I seized like a frantic man, and pressed to my heart and devoured with kisses.

The Smith smiled, but I cared nothing.

"Just fancy me kissin' the missis's handkerchief!" said he. "Wouldn't she laugh!"

Possibly Cynthia would have laughed, too, but I was so miserable that just to press her handkerchief to my lips gave me a little spark of comfort.

We were famished, and we ate some of the food and left some for another time. At least, the Smith did so. I took what he gave me, and he put the rest on a jutting ledge of rock. We were both tired with the excitement and long and wakeful night, and, following the Smith's example, I lay down and soon forgot my misery in dreams--heavy sleep, rather, for I was too tired to dream. We slept the sleep of exhaustion. I judged it to be about six o'clock in the evening when I turned over. The Smith was still breathing heavily. As I turned back to rest my tired head again, something bright caught my eye. I put out my hand to grasp the tiny thing. I could not really believe that I was awake. "I am dreaming,"

said I to myself, and pinched my arm to awake myself. But no! I was awake, and there in my hand lay the little gold locket, half open, and my own face peeped through the opening. I sat and thought. What could this mean? Had some one found the locket down there in the stream? Yes, undoubtedly some one had found it. Who could that some one be? My heart told me at once. I had found Cynthia's handkerchief in that very spot.

She had, perhaps, laid down there to sleep. At all events, she had been there not long before. She it must have been who had dropped them. She it was who at some moment, unknown to the rest of the camp, had stolen away and had fished my phiz out of the little stream. The thought gave me courage. I drank some water from one of our pails standing near and lay down to sleep again, the locket held close to my cheek. I awoke to find some one standing in the room. The bright moonlight streamed in through the lattice of leaves, and I recognised the tall slight form of the Hatien, Zalee.

He bowed to me respectfully, and then went and laid his finger on the shoulder of the Smith. The Smith, who had slept certainly for the best part of fourteen hours, rolled over and stood at once upon his feet.

"Now bring on your cannibals!" said he. "I feel like a fighting c.o.c.k."

Zalee looked anxiously around upon the floor. I thought that I knew what he was searching for, but I did not help him out. Perhaps she had discovered her loss, and had sent him for the locket. The Hatien shook his head with a look as if much disappointed. Then he took up the pail, beckoned to me to come, and together the Smith and I left the cave, following in Zalee's footsteps. I noticed that Zalee did not seem at all surprised at the presence of the Smith. Then I argued that he had undoubtedly seen him before, at the time when he was unseen by us, and was to us a weird and ghostly personality.

We followed docilely in the footsteps of Zalee. He guided us up the hill and along the path that led to the ruins of the house. He stopped a moment by the remains of our home and shook his head, then stepped briskly onward.

Zalee walked very quickly. We could hardly keep pace with him. I argued that he wished to be far from the place before morning. There was little of incident in our trip. The same sweet odours filled the air, but as we got farther away from the coast we felt the breeze less, and finally there was none. Now a gentle rain began to fall, and the wood was thick with a warm steam, which filled our eyes and nostrils and almost blinded us. The shadows in the wood were dark, and the great trees seen through the mist seemed like giants standing here and there to bar the way. We were all the time ascending, which made the journey a tiresome one.

Finally we came out upon a plateau, and here it was bare of trees. We could look over the lower hills and the treetops where our house had been. We marked its situation by the column of smoke which rose steadily upward straight into the air. The rain had stopped as suddenly as it came, the mist gradually cleared away, the moon had a chance to s.h.i.+ne out, and we stood for a moment looking downward across the waters of the indentation that we called the bay and out to sea. Then Zalee led us back to a thick fringe of trees which skirted the lower hill. As we turned to face it I saw the great citadel of Christophe, the grim and ghastly La Ferriere, loom out upon its mountain prominence, and I shuddered as I looked, for we were at least six miles nearer than we had been at the cave. Off to the left there was a steep precipice, and over this, in the uncertain light, I saw that many large birds hovered and swept downward.

I looked inquiringly at the Smith.

"The precipice of the Grand Boucan," said he.

I had heard of this place. So that was where King Henry of the North flung his prisoners and servants when they did not succeed in pleasing him! I almost fancied that at that very moment I could see some poor wretch being hurled into the abyss which led to eternity. It was like a dreadful nightmare, and I turned away.

"I pray that we shall never get any nearer to that black brute!" said I.

Zalee put his finger on his lip and beckoned us to follow him. We again took up our march. As we were nearing the next steep rise, suddenly he put his hand on my shoulder and forced me down among the weeds and underbrush. The Smith did as he saw us do. In a few minutes there pa.s.sed by us three tall men, griffe in shade. They carried enormous clubs, the most deadly bludgeons that I had ever seen. They were dressed in some light cloth, tied across their shoulders, and otherwise but for a clout were quite naked. They had large gold hoops in their ears, and upon the hand of each there glittered a thick silver ring.

"The body guard of the King," whispered the Smith. "I once saw one as a captive. I remember the dress."

The men plunged down the hill with great strides. They carried their clubs with ease, and swung them in their hands as they walked. They moved with light step and fast, and were soon lost among the lower trees.

I thanked Heaven that we had managed to lie hid without being seen. On looking back, I saw that we had come past well-tilled fields, and that there were some native huts in the distance, and I wondered again why we had never seen any one until the night of the vaudoux dance. I supposed that what the Smith said must be true, and that the natives were afraid of the cave, and so did not approach the vicinity of it. I had not noticed the cultivated land as we pa.s.sed it by, because of the fog which had been so thick. Also I was in such a state of nervous tension that I could think of nothing but when we should reach our little party.

I almost dreaded the arrival, for I had become so inured to disappointments that I feared what each day and hour might have in store for us.

And now I saw that we were approaching a steeper slope than any which had preceded it. In fact, we were confronted by a wall of rock, upon whose summit grew some trees, and at whose base a fringe of foliage dimly showed itself. As we approached these lower trees I saw that they were of stupendous size, and spread their enormous roots to a great distance. It was like a forest of giants, and one had to be careful in walking that he did not stumble over the great ridges which were made by the roots, and seriously hurt himself.

We pa.s.sed over a short sort of stubble, following Zalee as he skirted round among the trees. At last he approached near to the face of the rock, where grew an enormous mahogany. To all appearance its bark was close to the wall, but as we drew nearer I saw him slip behind it. The moonlight was very bright, but I thought for a moment that we had lost him. I, too, slipped behind the tree, however, motioning the Smith to follow me close, and there I found, facing me, a cavity in the rock. I involuntarily drew back.

"Another cave!" exclaimed I. Again Zalee's cold fingers closed on mine as in the old days when first we landed. I took the Smith's hand in mine, and together we walked in a line through a black interior. I felt that we were ascending still, but I could see nothing. All that I could do was to trust to Zalee. Up, up, up, we went, until I felt that I could not drag one weary foot after the other; then we mounted a few natural steps and came out upon a level. I felt that we were taking a sharp turn to the left. The night breezes blew upon my face, and I began to see the stars overhead as we emerged from the pa.s.sage upon an open plateau. It was a broad terrace of stone, half of it covered as with a roof by an overhanging rock, the rest bare of root or shrub.

A wonderful view met my eye, and I drank it in with appreciative sighs, while wondering if Cynthia were near me. I walked to the edge of the plateau and looked downward. There was a sheer precipice below me of perhaps five hundred feet. The plateau stood out from the rock behind it, whose sides were also precipitous, rising at the back a lofty wall of stone to the height of a thousand feet or more. Nature had planted a great cube in front of the cliff, and we were upon the top of it. There was, apparently, no way of access or of egress except by the route over which we had come. I stood looking out over the distant water bathed in the moonlight, taking in the bird's-eye view, and wondering just where our cave and camp had stood. I walked to the right a distance perhaps of two hundred feet, and there I saw again those birds of evil swooping downward, and low in the valley beneath them and me I noticed some white specks glistening in the moonlight. The bones of Christophe's victims! I gazed upward and caught sight of a corner of the wall of the great citadel, and I turned away my eyes with the dreadful apprehension that we might be forced some day to make its nearer acquaintance.

It was a remarkable platform, this upon which I stood. I could see that there was no way of scaling the rock from below, as I had noticed that the precipice was undercut slightly at the base--a characteristic of many of the rocks of the island--thus giving no vantage ground for the foot. The rock above us sloped outward in the same manner over our heads. To climb it would be an impossibility, and I felt that I stood upon a pillar of rock isolated from the world. While I was musing thus, Zalee touched me upon the arm. He beckoned also the Smith, and we followed. We returned through the short pa.s.sage. As we went he breathed an occasional "Hist!" and stooped and laid his ear to the ground. I saw him so when once I struck a light. Hearing nothing, he arose and proceeded, we following. Suddenly we heard the sound of feet, and I felt his hand draw me suddenly downward. I fell to the ground, whispering a caution to the Smith as I did so. There was a faint flicker as of the light of a torch. And as I lay there I heard footsteps pa.s.sing the end of the pa.s.sage, and voices busily talking. Why the men did not turn into the pa.s.sage where we were in hiding could only be accounted for by supposing that there were many such pa.s.sages leading out of the grand one, and that the secret of the plateau was not known to others beside the Hatien.

As soon as the sound of the footsteps had died away in the distance, Zalee arose and went into the outer tunnel. There he listened intently.

When satisfied that no one was coming, and that the strangers were gone, he returned to our first pa.s.sage and struck a light.

I then saw lying upon the ground a tall, thin stone, which he motioned to the Smith and me to help him raise. This we did without much trouble, and we found that it fitted the opening into the pa.s.sage almost perfectly--at all events, so well as not to be considered different from the other irregularities that I had noticed all along the walls. The Hatien then turned us about. He now lighted a small torch, and, Zalee preceding us, we were soon upon the terrace again. I tried to ask for Cynthia, but Zalee only shook his head, laid it upon his hand as if sleepy, and advised us to rest, as the morning would soon break. This he did by pointing to the east and then to the moon, which was disappearing behind the Grand Boucan. I saw that argument was useless, especially as we could communicate only by signs, so we retreated to the wall far back under the overhanging rock, and were soon asleep. I awoke to find the sun streaming into my eyes and to hear a voice saying anxiously:

"Where is Uncle, Mr. Jones?"

I sat up and opened my eyes, to see Cynthia standing before me. She was in the old blue dungaree dress, and stood silhouetted against the red sun of the morning like a young G.o.ddess.

I shook my head sadly.

"I do not know," said I.

I thought that this would make trouble, and it did.

"Do you mean to say that you have left that old man alone down there?"