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The Peril Finders, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 32. Petra The Second |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. PETRA THE SECOND Daybreak came all too soon for Chris, who sprang up rubbing his eyes and yawning, in response to a summons from Griggs, who stood over the boy like a black figure cut out of cardboard showing against a ruddy glow. "Why--oh bother! It can't be time," cried the boy. "Yes, it is, and we're late." "So we are. You said daylight, and the sun's rising." "Is it?" said Griggs. "Then it's before its time. There, unbutton your eyelids and look again. The sun doesn't crackle and spit when it gets over the world's edge." "Humph!" grunted Chris, as he realised the truth that a roaring fire of pinewood was burning in a sheltered spot. "Have you woke Ned?" "Yes, and he's growling for his breakfast. Going to have a sluice first? You'll just have time." Griggs went back to see after the breakfast, and Chris turned to where Ned had lain down on a fragrant pine-bough couch. "Here, look sharp," he said. "I suppose we must have a dose of cold water." Ned grunted and seemed as ill-humoured as his companion at being awakened from sleep, and the pair hurried through the gloom to the side of the gully, where there was a soft, splashing roar caused by water falling like so much foam from a ledge about a hundred feet above their heads into a rock-pool at their feet. The boys' preparations did not take long, neither did the application of their bath. Chris stepped into the rock-pool, took a couple of paces, and stood right in the middle of the descending broken water, uttered a gasp or two, stepped out, and began to apply a rough home-made towel with tremendous energy. "Is it cold?" said Ned, with a preliminary shiver. "Ugh! Horrid!" was the smothered reply. The words seemed to check Ned, but the shock had to be suffered, and he too stepped into the natural shower-bath, and sprang out again, to follow his companion's example. "Feel sleepy now?" cried Chris, with a laugh, and in quite a different tone of voice. "Sleepy? Who could?" was the reply, punctuated with gasps. "My! Isn't it icy this morning!" "Yes. Washed all the snarl out of you, old chap," cried Chris merrily. "I say, you did sound disagreeable." "Oh, I like that!" said Ned. "Why, a bear with a sore head was nothing to you." "Humph!" grunted Chris, feeling too guilty to defend himself. "I say, feel cold now?" "No; burning hot," was the reply. "I say, what a pity there are not falls like this all over the salt desert." "There'd be no salt desert if there were," said Chris, who was now dressing rapidly in the increasing light. "They'd soon wash all the salt away. Look sharp: old Griggs will be shouting directly." The word "Breakfast!" came almost as he spoke, and as the boys hurried towards the fire, fully alert now and ready for anything, they saw that the mules were all laden but the one which carried the kitchen, as they called it, and this beast was feasting in company with the ponies. "Oh, I say, father, it isn't fair," cried Chris, in response to the morning greeting. "You know I like to help load." "Yes, my boy, but we woke earlier than usual, and I wanted you two to have a good rest, for we shall have a long day." Ned was making a similar protest to his father, who responded by telling him that he would be tired enough before night. The words proved to be quite true, for they had a long, long journey through rugged valley, up steep mountain side, down precipitous gulch, and across many a roaring torrent, one of which necessitated the use of knotted-together ropes to ensure that the mules with their loads were not swept away. For in spite of the descents they were gradually ascending into a higher mountainous region which grew more and more grand, while, notwithstanding the fierce heat of the sun, fatigue seemed non-existent, as the party drank in the strong, invigorating air. The ideas that had been suggested about this part of the country being island-like, rising out of a vast sea of salt desert, were proved to be correct, for during quite a fortnight's journeyings here and there they obtained glimpses in the far distance of the glistening plains over which hung the cloud-like haze of heat. But whenever after scaling some height their approach towards the boundaries of the island was revealed, the doctor called a halt, and after a discussion with Griggs they struck off in a fresh direction through what proved to be a perfect wonderland of mountain gorge and forest, the home of wild animals and birds, every valley and plain furnishing supplies, while the want of water was never once felt. "Why, we must have pretty well explored this part of the country," said Wilton, one evening, as they sat resting and watching the sun-glow dying out amongst the peaks. "A little bit of it, sir," said Griggs dryly; "just to show us how we might spend a year or two." "What!" cried Wilton with a mocking laugh. "If we started west to-morrow in a couple of good marches we should be right out on the salt plains again." "Perhaps so; but this Amurrica's a bigger place than you think for, sir. We're going south-west to-morrow, aren't we, doctor, so as to get a lookout from that double-topped mountain where the tongue of desert came right in?" "Yes; that is what I proposed," said the doctor. "He is quite right, Wilton. We have seen only a little of one of the grandest parts of the country I have been in." "Like some of the Rockies, sir," cried Griggs enthusiastically. "I guess that Mr Wilton will alter his opinion as we go on." "Perhaps," said Wilton good-humouredly. "I don't mind. It is, as you folks say, very grand." "Grander than you think, sir," said Griggs. "I went higher than the doctor yesterday, and I think we're going to have a surprise to-morrow." The surprise did not come that next day as Griggs had prophesied, but two days later, when after an arduous struggle through a wild ravine, with the perpendicular cliffs rising to such a height on either side that the bottom was in twilight at mid-day, they took advantage of a fall of water to halt and refresh their ponies and mules, letting them drink their fill and then begin cropping the rich grass growing near, while wallets were opened and the tired party lay about partaking with excellent appetite of the provisions they had brought with them. "This is about the wildest place we've been in yet, father," said Chris, as he looked up at the mighty cliffs by which they were enclosed. The doctor nodded, but Wilton, who heard the remark, made reply. "Yes," he said; "I shouldn't care about being here in a storm. I should expect to have the rocks loosened by every peal of thunder, and come tumbling down upon our heads." "A frightful gorge," said Bourne; "but we seem to have come to the end. It closes in yonder. A regular blind lead." "Just the sort of place where we ought to search for minerals," said the doctor. "Why don't you come and lie down for a rest, Griggs?" cried Ned, for the American, after hurrying through his lunch, had gone forward a hundred yards or so to begin climbing up from ledge to ledge, pausing to look round from time to time. He heard Ned's question, which came to his ears like a strange whisper, and then again louder as if it was reflected from the rock-face on his left; but he only waved his hand by way of reply and went on climbing higher. "If he were not as active as a goat," said the doctor, "I should feel nervous and expect to see him fall." "Yes, it is very risky," said Bourne thoughtfully, "and, though we have you with us, a broken limb would not add to the comfort of our journey." "Oh, Griggs won't fall," said Chris decisively. "He's going up there to see where the spring comes from." "No," said the doctor. "He is climbing up beside the fall because the water has worn the gully into rough steps and formed a staircase by which we might get out of this gorge and perhaps find ourselves in another perhaps wilder valley. What's he doing now?" "Chipping at the stones by the water-side to see if there's any gold," said Ned, who was watching their companion attentively. "But he hasn't found any, for he's going on." This was the case, and at last they saw him come to a stand as if unwilling, or unable, to go any farther. "Quite a blind lead there," said the doctor. "You wouldn't attempt to take the mules up there, would you," said Wilton, "even if he said it was passable?" "No, it would be folly; too much risk. We'll go back soon, and try some other way." "Here he comes back," said Chris, as he saw the American turn and begin to descend by another way, leaving the rushing torrent above him and following the sharp descent into the bottom of the gorge, along which he made his way till he was level with and joined them. "Find the door locked?" said Wilton, laughing. "No," was the reply, as the American stretched himself on the grass. "No? You couldn't have got along that way any further, could you?" said the doctor. "Oh yes; the place seems to come to a blank end from here, but from up yonder you can see that it doubles back round a sharp corner to the left." "But the mules couldn't get by?" "Oh yes; it looks narrow, but not so strait as that. We can ride along." "Indeed?" cried Bourne, while the boys listened eagerly. "I half thought we should have to go back, but it's all right. This place only zigzags a bit, and we can get through into the next valley when the beasts have had their feed. It's much better to go forward than journey back." "Did you find anything when you were chipping up there?" said Ned. "Yes," replied the American coolly; "there's gold in the rock up yonder by the water, and I found this in one little hole." He took a scrap of yellow metal from his pocket, and held it out to the doctor. "A nugget of gold," said that gentleman, "very much worn by the water." "And the stones," said Griggs sharply; "and no wonder, for it was being swept round and round. One minute I could see it, the next it was gone; but it was washed right into my hand at last. I dare say we might wash a good deal here." "But you do not propose to stop?" "No, sir; I've an idea that this is the most likely part we've come to yet. Let's get on. We could come back then if we found nothing better." Griggs' remarks roused the interest of all present, and at the end of half-an-hour, spent by the boys in washing the sand in a pool lower down, where they found a few scales of the rich metal, the journey was continued, Griggs leading, to where all further progress seemed impossible, for they were compelled to halt by the apparent closing-in of the gorge, which presented, in fact, an unclimbable precipice. A few steps farther there was a narrow rift extending from their feet to the top of the cliff a couple of thousand feet above their heads, and literally doubling back into this, they threaded their way along a passage not twenty feet in width, which zigzagged here and there for about a quarter of a mile deeper and deeper into the mountains, growing more and more gloomy, and then all at once displaying the bright glow of sunshine right in front, as if it came round an elbow of the way. A few minutes later Griggs led the party into a vast amphitheatre walled in by towering walls that were on the whole perpendicular, but seamed with rifts running up to natural terraces or breaks in the strata of which the vast walls were composed. The change from the gloom of the zigzag ravine along which they had made their way, to the sunlit amphitheatre, was almost painful, and the party stood in a group shading their eyes, gazing about in silence, till Chris suddenly snatched off his hat, waved it in the air, and with a shout startled the mules into the beginning of a stampede. But this was nipped in the bud, and as soon as the animals were calmed down, the boy cried excitedly-- "I didn't mean to do that. But, I say, we've found the old city at last." "Nay," cried Griggs, shaking his head. "This don't go on all fours with our map." "But it's a city," cried Ned eagerly. "It's precious old; but look all along there, and up yonder, and down that bit--everywhere, there are houses with doorways and windows. Why, there's quite one side of a street along at the back of that shelf." "Yes, boys; it's a city, sure enough," said the doctor almost as excitedly as the lads. "Why, Griggs, this must be one of the old pueblas that the Spaniards talked about." "Yes, sir, that's it, sure enough; a city cut out of the rock-faces of this great shut-in place. Why, it must have been a regular stronghold where thousands of people lived, and we've hit upon the way in. I shouldn't wonder if there's no way out." "Oh, there may be at the end yonder. How far is it to where that great rock-wall closes in?" "Mile and a quarter, I should say," replied the American. "Then at the widest part yonder it must be nearly half-a-mile across," cried Bourne. "Hardly, sir; say quarter, and here and there not half that." "But the cliffs seem about the same height," cried Chris, "just as if they had been cut level." "Nature cut them then," cried Griggs, laughing. "Seems to me that it's just one great fault in a bit of tableland." "But how could it come so regular?" said Wilton thoughtfully. "Who knows, sir? Earthquake perhaps, or shrinking. Anyhow, here it is, regular rock city such as we've read about; and the old folks made it by cutting away. Chopped it out of the stone and by filling up and securing the openings." "But look at the terraces one above the other. They must have built those." "Nay, squire; those regular lines are just how the rocks form in ledges and cracks. I s'pose, doctor, we shan't go any further to-day?" _ |
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