Across the Cameroons: A Story of War and Adventure

Before the last word was from the man's lips, Fernando had lifted his rifle and fired. The bullet flattened itself against a pillar not three inches from the Arab's head. The Black Dog glanced up at the gallery and then dashed out of the entrance, so swift and agile in his movements that it would have been sheer folly to fire again.

"You hit him?" cried Harry.

"No," cried the man, with a sullen oath. "I missed. It was too dark to see."

"Too dark to see!" repeated Harry. "But he is gone! Make haste, or he'll escape!"

CHAPTER XXVIII-A Race for Life

Fernando stood motionless, his rifle in his hand. He had been within an ace of fulfilling his oath, and sending the Arab to the shades.

"I would have hit him," he complained, "had the lamp not been taken away."

Meanwhile Cortes dashed down the steps, and crossed the central aisle to the body of the murdered man.

The madman lay quite still. A life of fasting, of penance and privation, had closed in the heroic fulfilment of his duty. With his last breath he had demanded of von Hardenberg to deliver up the Sunstone; and there he was-a huddled, formless object, lying at the foot of the altar.

The first impulse of Harry Urquhart was to follow in pursuit of the sheikh. With this intention he hastened to the terrace, whence he could see nothing. The Black Dog had vanished into the white mists that wrapped the mountain-side. By now he was no doubt at the bottom of the great flight of steps on each side of which stood the strange, fantastic statues.

Harry, rifle in hand, was about to take up the chase, when he remembered that somewhere beyond that impenetrable granite rock was von Hardenberg-alone in the midst of the treasure.

He returned to the cave, and went to the rock and listened. He could hear nothing. Beyond, all was silent as the grave.

"What can we do?" reiterated the boy, looking about him in bewilderment.

Jim Braid went to the nine wheels and turned them at random, hoping that by chance the vault would open. In a little while he desisted and returned to Harry.

"We must follow the sheikh," said he. "We must endeavour to recover the Sunstone at every cost."

"And leave him here?" said Harry, with a motion of the hand towards the granite rock.

"We can do nothing," said Fernando.

"I bear the rascal no goodwill," said Harry. "He deserves but little pity. But this is terrible!" he added, and repeated the word again and again.

"Come," said Cortes, "we waste time in talking."

As he spoke, he led the way from the cave, followed by the others.

As they passed down the great flight of steps, Harry Urquhart turned and looked back. The entrance to the caves was no longer visible. A great cloud lay upon the mountain like a mantle. Near at hand, the strange beasts carved in stone were quite conspicuous and plain, but gradually, as they mounted one behind the other towards the terrace, they became lost in the mist. They resembled an army of quaint, primeval animals that were filing down from the clouds to inhabit the abodes of men.

The elder guide, shading his eyes with a hand, scanned the mountains to the north. Presently he let out a cry-a cry of exultation.

"There!" he cried, pointing across the valley.

Sure enough, far in the distance was a white speck that was moving rapidly upon the mountainside, disappearing for a moment to appear again, always bearing in the same direction-towards the north.

Cortes turned to the others.

"I can run," said he. "I was a tracker once by trade. I undertake to keep upon his trail. Do you follow as quickly as you can."

Fernando laid a hand upon his brother's shoulder.

"You will not kill him?" he said.

"No. The man's life is yours."

With these words Cortes sped upon his way, springing from boulder to boulder, supple in figure, agile despite his wound. He had spent much of his life hunting wild game in the midst of unexplored, inhospitable hills. He was quick of eye and sure of foot.

Outrunning his companions, he went rapidly upon his way, and was soon lost to sight. All that afternoon they followed in his tracks, and towards evening they heard a shot, high up in the mountains, many miles to the north.

A grim smile passed across the face of the elder guide, who calmly turned to Harry.

"Yonder," said he, "is the sheikh."

"It was he who fired?" asked Harry.

Fernando shook his head.

"That shot was fired by my brother," he answered. "I know the sound of my brother's rifle."

"Where are we going?" asked Jim.

The half-caste shrugged his shoulders.

"The Black Dog chooses the way," said he.

"He goes to his home?" asked Harry.

"His home!" repeated Fernando. "Has the wild dog a home? Does the hare burrow in the ground? The Black Dog sleeps where he finds himself. All the world is his home. He may go into Nigeria; he may cut back to the coast; he may pass through the mountains to the great Sahara Desert. But, wherever he goes, Cortes will follow him; he will be followed to the ends of the earth. And now and again Cortes will fire his rifle to guide us on our way, to let us know that he still holds the Black Dog in view."

Throughout the days that followed, the mountains witnessed the almost superhuman efforts of two men: Sheikh Bayram, the Black Dog of the Cameroons, and Cortes, the half-caste Spaniard of the Coast.

The one fled from justice, clutching the Sunstone in his hand, and the other followed, until miles grew into leagues, until they reached the rolling grasslands to the west of Lake Chad, where cattle grazed in herds.

It was a struggle of Titans, a race for life or death between men who were well versed in the craft of the hunter, who knew each bridle-path and mountain-spring and solitary oasis between the bend of the Congo and the Atlas Mountains.

Day and night they raced onward, under the march of the southern stars. And Cortes clung to the heels of Black Dog like a leech. As often as the sheikh halted, he was obliged to push on again in greater haste.

At nightfall, every evening, Cortes fired his rifle, and this enabled his brother and the two boys to keep upon his track. The route taken by the sheikh was not a straight one: the course he followed was in the shape of the letter S. Harry and his party were often able to take short cuts, completing one side of a triangle when the Arab and his pursuer had accomplished the other two. Thus it was that upon the twentieth day they came to the place where the younger guide was encamped.

"He is close ahead?" asked Fernando.

Cortes pointed to the west.

"He is in the valley yonder," said he. "To-night he sleeps in the jungle that lies on the edge of the plateau."

They were now in a part of the globe of which little is known. They had left the cattle far behind them. This country is uninhabited except by wild animals, and is visited only by the caravans that come south-east from Timbuctoo.

The Black Dog, with the Sunstone in his possession, still held his course towards the north, setting forth across the illimitable, barren waste. He journeyed for two days without halting. Then he crossed a river, and, passing over a plateau, descended into the true desert, where the sun blazed like a furnace.

CHAPTER XXIX-The Temple

On the skirting of the desert lay a small Arab village-a place of a few dilapidated huts, accommodating not more than a score of inhabitants. For the most part these were people sunk to the lowest depths of poverty, living in a state of dirt unimaginable to those who are not acquainted with the Arab.

To this village came Harry and Braid and the elder guide. The headman of the village came forward on their approach, followed by a few children.

Fernando, who had an intimate knowledge of Arabic, was able to act as interpreter. The headman said the village had been rich in the possession of two camels; but, late on the previous evening, an Arab had come from the plateau who had purchased one of these camels. Early that morning had come another man, a white man-as he said-who, having purchased the other, had set forward without delay in the same direction as the Arab.

"Did the second man leave no message?" asked the guide.

The villager replied that the "white man" had left word that those who followed him were to wait in the village until he returned. He expected to be back that night with news of great importance.

Accordingly they halted for the afternoon, and, giving the villagers a wide berth, camped upon the sand, lighting a fire, upon which they cooked a meal.

"And all this time," said Harry, "von Hardenberg lies buried alive, starving to death in the Caves of Zoroaster."

Fernando shook his head.

"He cannot starve," said he. "I noticed he wore a haversack well filled with provisions. And I have heard it said that inside the vault is water; a small spring bubbles up in a great basin, forming a little fountain."

"You have seen it?" asked Harry.

"No," said the man; "but I know what I say is true. And, even were there no water in the cave, the Prussian carried a water-bottle."

Harry Urquhart sighed.

"All this is like a dream," he exclaimed.

"The scoundrel deserves no better fate," said the guide, hard of heart and pitiless where his enemies were concerned.

At nightfall they lay down to sleep, Jim Braid remaining on sentry for the earlier part of the night. They had small reason to trust the people of the village, who were not incapable of murdering them in the night for the sake of their possessions.

At about ten o'clock Jim was alarmed by a peculiar grating sound quite near to their camp. The moon had not yet risen, and, though he strained his eyes in the direction from which the sound had come, he was able to distinguish nothing. At last he rose to his feet and walked some little distance from the fire. There he discovered a camel lying down upon the ground, engaged in chewing a bundle of coarse hay. The camel had appeared as if by magic.

Jim returned to the fire, and there to his amazement found Cortes sitting before the embers.

"You have returned?" said he.

"Yes, I have returned."

"With news?"

"Of the Black Dog. Yonder in the desert is an ancient temple or mosque. It stands in an oasis where there are palm-trees, and around which melons grow. For many years it has been deserted. The sheikh himself is there."

"We must awaken the others," said Braid.

"There is plenty of time," said the man. "He will not move before daybreak. The night is yet young. We will surround the oasis at sunrise and take him alive. Fernando must fulfil the oath he has made to the saints."

Jim Braid had not such patience. With this news upon his mind he could not stay idle while Harry and Fernando were asleep. Despite the advice of Cortes, he awoke them both, and told them what had happened.

"We must start at once!" cried Harry.

"There is no haste," said Fernando, with a shrug of his shoulders. "But, if you wish it, we will go."

They packed up their camp equipment and provisions, and their reserve ammunition, and these they loaded upon the camel. Then they set forward on their way, following a caravan route, whilst a full moon, red as blood, crept over the horizon and illumined the wasteland like a lantern.

In three hours they came to a place where a stone building, surrounded by a dozen trees, stood forth against the moonlight. Near by a hyena howled.

"The sheikh is within," said Cortes.

Drawing a little distance away, the four held consultation together. As far as they could make out, there was but one entrance to the temple, which was half in ruins. For all that, they thought it best to surround the place, and it was finally agreed that Harry Urquhart should enter the building, revolver in hand, whilst the other three guarded the walls to prevent the Arab's escape, should they have overlooked some other means of exit.

Leaving his rifle behind, with his revolver ready loaded in his hand, Harry passed on tiptoe through the entrance and found himself in a shallow, darkened chamber.

Though there was no roof to the building, the adjacent palm-trees shut out the light of the moon, and some seconds elapsed before the boy's eyes grew accustomed to the semi-darkness.

As far as he could make out, he was surrounded by high walls. Scattered here and there about the floor, upon which the sand of the desert lay like a thick, luxurious carpet, were great cylindrical boulders, which, in former times, had evidently composed the pillars that supported the roof. In the shadow of these boulders it was quite dark, and each shadow was large enough to conceal the form of a man.

The boy decided to act with caution. With such an opponent as the sheikh he knew he would be called upon to exercise not only promptitude but cunning. It had not been without difficulty that he had managed to persuade the guides to allow him to enter the temple. Fernando, who was filled with a strong desire for vengeance, had wished for the honour for himself. But Harry, as the leader of the expedition, would not give way, agreeing that the moment he fired the elder guide should hasten to his assistance.

Ready to fire at a moment's notice, Harry set about a systematic search of the ruined temple. Starting from the entrance, he worked his way around the walls, holding as much as possible to the shadows. He looked behind each boulder, he searched each crevice that appeared large enough to admit the body of a man. In the end he returned to the entrance. The place was evidently deserted.

His first thought was to leave the building, to tell Cortes that he had been mistaken, that the sheikh was not there; but then he remembered how seldom the judgment of either of the guides had been at fault, and, assuring himself that he had overlooked some hiding-place, he began his search anew.

He came to a place where a clump of cactus was growing against the wall, and here he discovered what he had not noticed before. Under the cactus plant was a little archway, a kind of tunnel, large enough to admit a man crawling on hands and knees.

The boy was in two minds what to do. It was one thing to search from boulder to boulder, ready to fire at a moment's notice; it was another to go head foremost on all-fours into what might prove to be a trap. If the Arab was hiding on the other side of the wall, beyond the cactus-bush-a stroke of the knife, and the matter would be ended. The boy had need of all the courage he possessed. To go back to Jim and the two guides would be to confess himself afraid.

Taking a deep breath, like a man about to dive, he lay flat upon his face, and as silently as possible worked his way forward through the sand, which was still warm from the rays of the sun of the preceding day.

If there were many holes in the wall such as this, it was well three of them had remained on guard without. Had all four entered the temple at once, the sheikh, if he lay anywhere in hiding, had a sure way of escape. Harry had no means of knowing whether the hole led to the desert or to an inner room.

On the other side of the wall it was quite dark. The boy looked overhead, and was able to see that he was sheltered by a roof-a roof in which there were great holes, through which he could see the stars. He could do nothing as yet, until his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness.

For some moments he lay still, his heart thumping against his ribs, straining his ears to catch the slightest sound. From somewhere quite near at hand, at first almost imperceptible but gradually growing louder, came a low, soft, vibrating noise that seemed to proceed from somewhere under the ground.

Harry thought he had heard something like it before; he could not remember where. It was like the droning of a monster bee, or the noise of a kettle on the point of boiling over, or else the purring of a cat.

How long the sound continued he was never able to say. It seemed to him that he lay for an eternity, breathless, waiting for something to happen, with the sound continuously in his ears. And then he became aware of two great, yellow eyes, staring in the darkness, immobile, like flaming lamps.

CHAPTER XXX-The Blood Spoor

On the spur of the moment he snatched his revolver, levelled it, and fired.

There was a prolonged, piercing shriek, as a dark mass, blacker than the shadows, sprang high into the air.

Harry lay quite still; fear at last possessed him. The loud report of his revolver was still singing in his ears; and, before silence reigned again, it was as if the whole place, even the very walls, were possessed of life.

Dark shadows were moving everywhere. All about the boy were yellow, staring eyes, that dilated and grew smaller in the darkness. And then Harry became conscious of a fierce, growling sound.

As far as he was able to make out, this proceeded from the largest pair of eyes, immediately before him. And it was this that gave him the first inkling as to the solution of the mystery: he had crept into a den of savage beasts.

The largest pair of eyes drew nearer, and suddenly dropped lower, almost to the level of the ground. The brute was about to spring.

There was a snarl. As quick as lightning Harry sprang aside.

The great beast collided with the wall with such force that the roof-or as much of it as remained-came down with a crash upon the ground, and Harry found himself buried in a mass of debris and dust.

He tried to move, but found he was unable to do so. A heavy beam lay across his chest. With the exception of his head and shoulders he was buried in the wreckage.

As the dust cleared, the place became illumined by the moonshine. On the sudden disappearance of the roof, the light from without had been admitted to the darkened chamber. At once Harry was able to see quite distinctly, and the sight that he beheld was sufficiently alarming to shake the nerves of even the strongest man.

Pinned to the ground, unable to move, he found himself in the midst of a family of leopards. Quite near to him, also half buried in the wreckage, lay the beast that he had shot-evidently the father of the family. Six cubs, half-grown, growled and snarled on the other side of the chamber, and in front of them, her white fangs gleaming in the moonlight, was the mother leopard, fiercely guarding her young.

It was she who had hurled herself at the wall, who had brought down the roof, and who now snarled repeatedly at the boy. It was apparent that the sudden collapse of the building had given the animal a fright. Twice she made as if she would advance, and twice drew back towards her young.

Harry was not able to fire again. The hand which held his revolver was pinned down beneath the fallen beam. He could not move his eyes from the leopard. At the same time, the brute feared to advance.

A sharp jet of fire-it seemed not two paces from the boy's face-a loud report, and the leopard rose upon its hind legs, rampant, terrible and glorious, fighting the air with its fore feet as if in the throes of a struggle with an invisible, all-powerful foe.

Then the brute came down and lay quite still, shot through the brain by a bullet from Jim Braid's rifle.

Quick upon Jim's heels, through the narrow opening in the wall, came the two guides, Cortes leading the way.

"Are you hurt?" asked Jim.

"No," said Harry. "I am not hurt. But get me out of this; I can't move."

With quick hands they lifted the beams and rafters that pinned the boy to the ground, and, a moment after, Harry was on his feet.

The young leopards gathered together in a corner of the chamber. Then, one after the other, they sprang over the ruined wall like cats, and disappeared into the night.

"The sheikh!" cried Fernando. "Where is he?"

"I have not seen him," answered Harry.

"He came here to-day," said Cortes, "and pitched his camp. Look here, what's that?"

He pointed to the ground, where lay something that was white as snow. It was a bone.

The two boys drew back in horror. Fernando was undismayed. He calmly picked up the bone and examined it in the moonlight.

"This is the shin-bone of a camel," said he. "Moreover, of a camel that was killed to-day. As my brother says, the Black Dog was here."

"See this!" cried Cortes. "The ground is charred. It was here he lit his fire."

All four searched the chamber. Besides the shin-bone, they found other evidence that could not be disputed: four hoofs and a piece of the Arab's white flowing robe.

"Has the man been killed?" cried Jim.

"It seems that that is so."

"But the Sunstone!" Harry exclaimed.

"This evidence," said Fernando, "is indisputable. The Black Dog came here by day, pitched his camp, and lit his fire. When his fire burned out he fell asleep. He had had no sleep for forty-eight hours, and must have been exhausted. It was whilst he was asleep that the leopards entered. It seems I have been robbed of my revenge."

Harry looked at the man.

"So you think," said he, "that the sheikh is dead?"

Fernando pointed to the strip of the Arab's clothes, and shrugged his shoulders. "At all events," said he, "the camel he purchased in the village fell a prey to the leopards."

"But," exclaimed Harry, "how could the camel have got here. We were obliged to crawl in on hand and knees."

Fernando laughed.

"The leopards slew the camel outside," said he. "They tore it to pieces, which they dragged in here to play with. Have you never watched a cat?"

"Then," cried Harry, "the Sunstone has been lost!"

"Have patience," said Fernando. "We may find it yet. We will get out of this place and wait for dawn. When the daylight comes we will search the ruins. There is no need as yet to despair."

This advice was good. They went out together, leaving by way of the little archway half-hidden by the cactus plant. On the sand of the desert they lay down side by side, and, whilst one acted as sentry, the others slept.

As soon as the sun began to rise in the east, Fernando rose to his feet.

"Come," said he, "we will search."

They looked everywhere. Under the palm-trees, the sand was all disturbed where the eight leopards had flung themselves upon the camel. Around the trunk of one of the trees was a rope which had been gnawed in half. In the inner chamber of the temple no further evidence was forthcoming, and this was in part due to the fact that the ground was covered with the wreckage of the roof. It was the younger guide who discovered in the outer chamber a drop of blood upon the stones.

The man evidently considered that he had found a clue of great importance; but to the two boys it seemed quite obvious that this was the blood of the camel that had been dragged piecemeal through the narrow opening.

"No," said Cortes, shaking his head. "These are small drops of blood. It is possible the Black Dog is still alive."

At that he turned upon his heel and set off at a jog-trot across the plain. When he was a long way off, they saw him waving his arms frantically, in the highest state of excitement.

They ran to the place where he was, and found him pointing to the ground.

"Look there!" he cried. "I was right. The sheikh has escaped!"

Sure enough, upon the soft sand was a line of footmarks, leading in the direction of the plateau. Every now and again the trail was marked by a small drop of blood.

Harry asked for an explanation.

"It is very simple," answered Cortes. "The leopards first attacked the camel, which was tethered to a palm-tree outside the temple. The Black Dog was awakened from his sleep and endeavoured to escape. As he fled from the entrance he must have encountered a leopard. His cloak was torn, but he escaped, bearing the marks of the leopard's teeth or claws, probably in his thigh. Wounded, he has gone back to the hills, knowing that there lies his only chance of safety."

The man was certain of his facts. Moreover, the evidence of the foot-marks and the blood spoor was too strong to be denied.

"Come!" cried Fernando. "He is as good as ours, unless he is only slightly hurt."

CHAPTER XXXI-The Fox in View

Before the heat of the day had arisen, Harry, Jim Braid, and the two guides had covered many miles across the desert, leaving the Arab village to their left. All this time it was easy to follow the track of the sheikh. The Black Dog evidently suffered pain, and progressed only with the greatest difficulty; for, as they went on, his footsteps became more irregular, as though he staggered when he walked.