Guy in the Jungle: or, A Boy's Adventure in the Wilds of Africa

Chutney and the colonel stretched themselves on the rugs and Melton paddled slowly forward, while Canaris held the torch from the stern.

Hours passed, and still they continued to follow the rocky shore amid silence, broken only by the swish of the paddle, for neither Forbes nor Canaris cared to converse.

Wrapped in their own gloomy reflections they crouched in the stern, keeping silent vigil over their sleeping companions.

An intense desire for sleep now laid hold on Melton, and with great reluctance he woke Guy and the colonel. It required a dash of cold water to bring them to their senses.

"Are we still on this horrible lake?" exclaimed Chutney. "How long have we been asleep?"

"Several hours at least," replied Melton.

"Several hours? Whew! What a lake this is! We must surely be near the outlet now. But you are sleepy and worn out, Melton, and so is Canaris. Look, he can hardly keep his eyes open. Go lie down, both of you. The colonel and I will see to the canoe, and you will wake up twenty miles down the river."

Melton handed over his paddle to Guy, and the colonel relieved the Greek of the torch.

Canaris was asleep almost instantly, and Melton was just arranging the rugs to make himself a comfortable spot, when Chutney cried gladly, "I can hear water running. I'm sure of it. Do you hear it, too, colonel?"

"Yes," said the colonel, after a pause. "I do hear something, that's a fact. We are approaching the outlet of the lake, no doubt of it."

Melton's drowsiness vanished, and he sprang up.

"It would be advisable to waken Canaris and Sir Arthur," suggested the colonel. "No one ought to sleep at a time like this. All hands may be needed."

A slight touch woke the Greek, but it required a severe shaking to rouse Sir Arthur.

"Waiter, a deviled kidney and a pint of Pommery Sec," he cried drowsily, as Chutney pulled him to a sitting position. And then opening his eyes he groaned dismally, "Bless me, I thought I was dining at Gatti's. Why didn't you let me sleep?"

CHAPTER XXVII.

ALL HOPE VANISHES

"We are approaching the outlet of the lake, Sir Arthur," said Guy. "It is better that all should be awake in case we encounter bad water."

"Yes, yes; very true. You want me to hold the torch, I suppose. Gad! what a dream I had! I was dining with Lord Balsover. I'd give my title and fortune to be back in London this minute."

"Hold your torch straight," said the colonel dryly, and then under the regular strokes of four paddles the canoe moved swiftly toward the distant sound of running water.

Every instant it grew louder and more distinct, and soon their voices were almost drowned in the roar.

It was a period of terrible anxiety. That it was the outlet of the lake they were approaching no one for an instant doubted. Their chief concern was for a safe passage into the river beyond, for the angry splash of the water told plainly its turbulent and dangerous nature.

"Keep a little off from the shore," cried Guy. "It won't do to make too sharp a curve or we shall upset. We must strike the current fairly in the center and keep the canoe straight as an arrow. Whatever happens, don't drop the torch," he added warningly.

Close as they now were to the outlet, no signs of any current were yet visible. The colonel called attention to this strange fact, but Guy explained it by remarking that the current probably passed directly through the center of the lake and that dead water continued to the very edge.

"I can see a white gleam ahead," he cried suddenly; "now paddle off from shore a little more and head the canoe as I tell you."

His orders were obeyed in silence. Straight out from the shore the canoe shot deftly. A couple of quick strokes forward and backward and its bow faced the angry waters that raged and foamed thirty yards distant.

The radius of the torch cast a faint gleam on the very edge of the glistening spray. It seemed to beckon them onward.

"Now give way," cried Guy. Four paddles dipped and rose as one, the shining drops rolled from their blades like so many diamonds in the torch-glare, and then Guy sprang to his feet with a loud cry.

The paddles wavered in mid-air. "Go ahead," he shouted fiercely. "Paddle with all your strength."

Once more they dipped the water, the canoe moved slowly – with an effort, and as the paddles a second time paused in air, the canoe shot swiftly – not forward to the embrace of the angry waters, but back —back at dizzy speed into the dark and dismal recesses of the lake.

Even then the awful, unspeakable horror of the situation never flashed upon them, Guy alone perhaps excepted.

"We've blundered again," cried the colonel in hollow tones. "We have returned to the starting point. In some manner we have missed the outlet, and now all must be done over again."

"Could the canoe have been turned completely about during our journey?" exclaimed Forbes.

"Impossible," said the colonel. "I can prove it instantly. When we started away from the spot where the river enters on our trip around the lake, the shore was on our right. When we arrived here just now it was still on our right, whereas, had we unconsciously turned the canoe about and reversed our course, the shore would be on our left. We have circumnavigated the lake and returned to our starting point, and in some way missed the outlet."

"No," cried Chutney in tones that chilled his hearers with horror. "We did not miss the outlet."

"What do you mean?" cried the colonel.

"I say we did not miss the outlet," continued Guy, "because there was no outlet to miss. No exit from the lake exists. We are entombed forever and ever. None of us will ever see the light of day again. We shall die here in the bowels of the earth, and the serpents will mangle us as they mangled those poor unfortunates yonder on the island. Better to know the truth now than later. It is useless to hope. I tell you we are doomed men and – " Here Guy's voice faltered, and sinking down into the canoe, he covered his face with his hands.

Sir Arthur uttered a heartrending cry and fell back in a faint. He lay unnoticed. The torch dropped from the Greek's nerveless hands and expired with a hiss. In darkness and silence they floated on and on until the roar of the inflowing water became fainter and fainter. Then it died out entirely and all was intensely quiet.

The darkness was grateful to their stricken hearts. They wanted time to realize the awful misfortune that had fallen so suddenly and heavily upon them.

It was impossible to grasp the truth in a moment, especially when that truth meant utter hopelessness and a terrible death. So they drifted in silence under the great vault of the cavern, living-dead in a living tomb.

Long afterward – it might have been an hour and it might have been a day, for all passage of time was lost – Chutney rose to a sitting posture.

His brain was dizzy and reeling. The aching misery lay heavy on his heart, and yet one faint spark of hope lingered amid the black despair, the natural buoyancy of his nature that refused even to submit to the decrees of the inevitable.

It was he who had first spoken the words of doom to his companions, and now he told himself he would show them the way to safety. He fumbled in his clothes for a match, and striking it deliberately, lit a fresh torch.

The pale, haggard faces that looked into each other as the bright light shone over the water were ghastly and unnatural. Abject misery and hopelessness were stamped on each one.

The colonel and Forbes faced Guy calmly. Canaris looked up with a shudder and then dropped his head again. Sir Arthur lay among the rugs as though asleep.

At that instant the canoe struck some obstacle with a slight tremor and stopped.

The colonel with a slight gesture pointed to the right, and there before them lay the Isle of Skeletons. A strange fatality had drifted them a second time to this awful spot.

Guy shuddered, but the colonel rose, and brushing past him stepped on shore.

Forbes followed him in silence, and then Canaris staggered blindly past.

After a brief hesitation Guy stepped out, and dragged the canoe half way up the sand. Sir Arthur never moved. He was sleeping and no one dared disturb him. They sat down in a row on the sand.

"It's as good a place as any to die," said Forbes hoarsely. "The bones will soon have company."

He paused, frightened at his own voice, and no one replied. For a while they sat in silence.

Guy stuck the torch in the sand and it blazed away with a merry light. Somehow or other the ray of hope that had animated him a little while before had vanished, leaving only a dull despair, a reluctance to face the horror of the situation.

"Is there no – no chance – for us?" he ventured to say timidly.

"Absolutely none," replied the colonel, in a firm voice. "You told us a while ago, Chutney, that our doom was sealed. I have faced the situation as calmly and clearly as possible from every conceivable aspect, and I now tell you on my own responsibility that we will never leave this cavern. The fatal error was made when we took the right-hand channel of the two, or rather when the current led us to the right. That was not our blunder, of course. We were in the hands of destiny. We are now, as you know, on the bosom of a vast lake. Water of an unknown depth is beneath us. Overhead is a vaulted dome of great height, probably the hollowed interior of a mountain; on all sides are massive and perpendicular walls of rock, impregnable and insurmountable.

"The lake is undoubtedly ten miles or more in circumference, and, as you know well, there is no surface outlet. There is an entrance, but we can no more force our way back through that entrance than we could swim up through the Falls of Niagara or ride the Nile Cataracts in a Rob Roy canoe. As long as our provisions last we shall live. When we no longer have anything to eat we shall die, and the next explorer who enters this lake will find our bones mingled with those lying behind us."

"And what will he do?" asked Guy.

"Perish like those before him," said the colonel. "This death trap caught many a victim and will catch many more. The light of day will never pierce this gloom."

The colonel spoke as though he were demonstrating a problem in Euclid or laying down plans for a campaign.

"I don't call myself a philosopher," he went on, "nor am I a fatalist, but I think that most men can face the inevitable with a certain calmness that is only born of absolute despair. Did you ever see a man hanged? I did once. He walked to the gallows as coolly and deliberately as though he were going to breakfast. A week before he had been defiant, blustering, terror-stricken. When he realized that he had absolutely no loophole of escape, he faced the inevitable with steady nerves. When you realize your position fully, you will be like that man. You will accept your fate."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A DESPERATE FIGHT

The colonel rose, and going down to the canoe helped himself to a handful of crackers and some figs. He came back to his seat and began to munch them very contentedly.

"The most merciful thing we could do would be to cast our provisions into the lake," he said finally. "It would cut short the agony of waiting, but I don't suppose you would look at it in that way."

"No, no; don't do that," cried Chutney. "Who knows what may happen yet?"

"Ah! there you are again," said the colonel; "still clinging to hope of life; still unable to realize the truth. You are only making it so much the harder for yourself."

"But there is surely some outlet to this vast body of water?" said Melton.

"Yes," was the colonel's reply. "Undoubtedly, but it must be at the bottom of the lake; it certainly is not on the surface. Do you suppose those poor savages would have perished here if an outlet had existed? They, too, must have been carried by accident into the wrong channel, and no doubt they circumnavigated the lake, as we have done. Realizing that they were lost, they either slew themselves to end their sufferings or they fell victims to the serpents without much resistance."

While Melton and the colonel were carrying on this conversation, Guy rose and went down to the water, with the intention of gathering some food, for he, too, was hungry.

The canoe was pulled partly on shore, and as it leaked a little the water had all collected in the stern, where Sir Arthur still lay in merciful sleep, thus wetting the rugs.

Guy noticed this, and with a view to making the sleeper more comfortable, he slid the canoe down until it lay flat in the water. It still retained a slight hold of an inch or two on the sand.

A sudden cry from the Greek brought him back in a hurry to the top of the island.

His companions were staring out on the lake, and Canaris was pointing with a trembling hand at some unseen object.

"What is the matter?" cried Guy. "What do you see?"

"Hush," said the colonel, holding up a warning finger. "Something is moving out on the lake. Do you hear it splashing in the water?"

As yet nothing could be seen, but the noise was very plain and distinct, a steady swish! swish! not unlike the beating of a little steamer.

A chilling fear grew on them as they listened to this strange, mysterious sound.

"Whatever it is, it is moving in a circle round the island," said Guy, "and keeping an equal distance from the shore."

"You are right, Chutney," said the colonel, after a pause. "The sound was on our left a moment ago. Now it is on our right."

The Greek was correct. The surface of the lake was violently agitated, though not a breath of air was stirring, and a steady flow of ripples was breaking on the sandy beach like tiny ocean waves.

The unknown navigator, whatever it was, had nearly completed the circuit of the island now, and was very near the spot where they had first heard it.

"It must be a serpent," cried Guy. "Heaven grant that it doesn't approach the island."

He hurriedly picked up the torch and ran with it to the shore. The radius of light thus thrown over the water illumined a space twenty yards ahead, and revealed a long, dark object moving in graceful undulations over the surface. It was beyond doubt a huge serpent, and, as though angered by the light, the monster suddenly changed its course, and with a terrific splash headed directly for the shore. The huge head was in plain view, and the eyes flashed back fire from the reflected glare of the torch.

For an instant all seemed paralyzed with horror, and no one moved.

Chutney was the first to recover himself.

"We must kill him before he reaches the island," he cried, staggering back a pace or two. "Get the guns. Quick! quick! or it will be too late!"

He turned to flee across the island toward the canoe, but as he gained the ridge a cry of horror broke from his lips, and as his companions hurriedly reached the spot a single glance showed them what was the matter.

The canoe was no longer on the shore. The swell caused by the approach of the serpent had washed it from its slight support, and now it was twenty yards distant, and drifting farther and farther away with every second.

"The guns! The guns!" shrieked Chutney. "They are all in the boat. We are left at the mercy of the serpent. Sir Arthur! Sir Arthur!" he shouted with all his might, but no response came from the sleeping man, and the canoe continued to recede into the gloom.

At this terrible moment it was Forbes who brought a ray of hope into their despair.

Springing forward he snatched up an armful of the native weapons, spears, and axes, and distributed them to his companions.

"We must fight the monster with these," he cried; "and while we are keeping him off, you, Canaris, run to the shore and keep on shouting to Sir Arthur. He may wake and get here in time to save us yet."

"He must be in a faint," exclaimed the colonel, "or the noise would surely have wakened him. Come on, Chutney, the serpent is halfway to the shore. We may keep him off with these arms."

The torch was hastily placed in the sand near the water's edge, and, grasping their weapons firmly, they prepared to check the advance of the monster. Fortunately the spears and axes were of hard iron and fitted with strong handles which the long storage in the cavern seemed to have toughened.

Meanwhile the air echoed with the Greek's loud cries, but at that moment none thought of Sir Arthur or of the canoe, for the serpent was within half a dozen yards of the island and his great body was undulating through the water for thirty feet behind him.

"Keep cool," said Chutney. "Aim well for the head and make every stroke tell."

The sight of the glaring eyes and the blood-red fangs was enough to appall the stoutest heart. They shrank back in uncontrollable fear, as the long neck rose four feet in air and the body sank under the water.

The monster uttered an angry hiss, but before he could spring Forbes cast a spear with all his might and the sharp point pierced the serpent's body a foot below the head.

"Back for your lives," he cried, and as they darted up the island the monster uttered a fearful sound, part hiss, part bellow, and flung half his length in contortions on the sand.

Guy sprang forward and launched another spear that entered the slimy body near the center, but neither wound was mortal and the great serpent came on unchecked.

In one respect they had the advantage of him, as Guy accidentally discovered, for the wicked eyes blinked in the torchlight and the monster's actions showed that his powers of sight were limited to darkness.

He was wonderfully quick and agile, however, for a sudden convulsive leap carried him almost to the feet of his antagonists, and again they scattered in alarm.

The serpent's whole body was now on shore, with the exception of the tail, which was lashing the water to a milky foam.

Seizing another spear Guy circled to one side, and boldly approaching the trembling coils, with one terrific blow he planted his weapon into the serpent's body so deeply that the spear pinned the monster firmly to the ground.

A cry of horror burst from his companions as the huge head swung round with awful quickness, but it missed Guy by barely an inch as he sprang aside.

The serpent's contortions were now frightful to see, as he squirmed and twisted to tear loose from the weapon. "Now let him have it," cried Guy; and in an instant the remaining spears, half a dozen in number, were driven deeply into the venomous coils.

The struggle was now at its crisis. With axes in hand they were dodging about the writhing monster, seeking a chance to reach the head, when an awful shriek echoed through the cavern, apparently from some distance out on the lake, and then the Greek's voice was raised in a loud and urgent appeal for help. What new disaster threatened?

CHAPTER XXIX.

GUY SAVES SIR ARTHUR

This new alarm, coming just at the uncertain period of their struggle, was quite enough to strike despair to the hearts of all.

"That was Sir Arthur's voice we heard first," exclaimed Forbes. "And it is Canaris who is shouting for help. What are we going to do about it?"

"Tell him to hold out for a moment," cried Guy. "I'll wind up this affair pretty quick."

Raising the axe, he made a sudden dart forward and buried the blade deep in the serpent's head. It was a clever stroke and so forcible that the axe was jerked from his hand.

The colonel dragged him hastily back, but the danger was over. The monster was thrashing the blood-stained sand in his death agonies, powerless to do further harm.

Canaris was still calling for help, and, leaving their dying antagonist, the others plunged across the island. The Greek was running up and down the strip of sand, and far out on the lake the canoe was visible in the radius of light, with Sir Arthur standing erect in the bow.

"He won't take the paddle!" exclaimed Canaris. "He says there is something splashing in the lake beyond him. He's a dead man if he doesn't get back to the island."

"Sir Arthur," shouted the colonel, "come back; paddle for your life. Do you hear me?"

The only response was a cry of fright. Sir Arthur was plainly too dazed to be capable of action. He had just wakened, and the horror of his situation was too much for him.

"Save me! Save me!" he cried. "The serpent is coming; I can hear it splashing the water."

"Take the paddle," shouted Guy, "and steer for the island. If you don't you are lost."

This seemed to arouse the imperiled man to action. He snatched up a paddle and, dropping to his knees, drove the canoe forward with frantic strokes.

His companions encouraged him with cheering words as he came nearer. The island was barely twenty yards distant when the paddle slipped from his grasp. He turned round, apparently to pick up another, and then threw himself with a dismal cry to the bottom of the canoe.

The cause of his new and sudden fright was readily seen. On the edge of the gloom, not many yards beyond the canoe, a violent agitation of the water was visible. There undoubtedly was another large serpent in pursuit, and at that moment it looked very much as though Sir Arthur was doomed.

In spite of all the frantic shouts and directions of his friends he continued to utter piteous appeals for help from the bottom of the canoe. When at length he did recover enough self-control to take hold of another paddle, a serpent's head and body were actually in sight, approaching at a rapid speed.

Not only was Sir Arthur's life now at stake, but, in addition, guns, canoe, and all would be lost, thus leaving the rest of the party unarmed on the island, at the mercy of the ravenous serpents who appeared to swarm in the lake.

One of those sudden impulses common to his nature now flashed into Guy's mind, and, without giving himself a second for deliberation, he flung off jacket and shoes, and before anyone could raise a hand to restrain him, dived headforemost into the lake.

He came to the surface within ten yards of the canoe, which was making but feeble progress under Sir Arthur's erratic strokes.

Swimming hand over hand, Guy reached the bow and quickly drew himself over the side, just as the pursuing serpent came within seven or eight yards of the stern of the canoe.

His original intention to paddle for the island was instantly abandoned. Bidding Sir Arthur work lustily, he snatched up his rifle and took a careful aim at the approaching monster, who was snorting and hissing in a truly frightful manner.

The sharp report came at once, producing a thousand echoes through the hollow vault of the cavern, and under cover of the drifting smoke, which for the moment concealed the result of the shot, Guy sprang to Sir Arthur's aid with another paddle.

Half a dozen of his powerful strokes brought the canoe within a yard of the shore. A terrific splashing in his rear, as well as the loud shouts of his friends, warned Guy of the imminence of danger.

Fairly pushing Sir Arthur out of the canoe into the water, waist deep, he tossed the provisions far out on the island, caught up the guns, and made a frantic leap. He landed on the edge of the sand, and was instantly caught by eager arms, and pulled far up the beach. He turned, to realize with a shudder the narrowness of his escape.

Made furious by the bullet hole which Guy had put in his spotted skin, the monster threw himself on the abandoned canoe, which they had been unable to save, and with a sickening crunch it was shivered to a shapeless mass of fragments, under the pressure of the mighty coils. Then, as the serpent flung himself on shore, they realized that it was time to act. A blazing torch in the Greek's hand lit up the scene as Guy cocked his rifle and awaited an opportunity for a shot.

It was not slow in coming. As the long neck and head darted forward, Guy fired, and the bullet tore its way through the reptile's throat.

There was no necessity for a second shot. The death-agony began right there, and in its convulsive throes the serpent flung himself back into the water, and with a final quiver disappeared in the depths of the lake, leaving a trail of blood on the silvery white sand.

With expressions of gratitude for their escape, all hurried down to the broken canoe.

"A hundred men could never put this together again," said Guy, as he pulled a couple of floating fragments from the water.