<h2><SPAN name="chap12"></SPAN>CHAPTER XII.<br/> THE DEN OF LIONS</h2>
<p>We returned to the others and told them everything that we had learned from
Shadrach.</p>
<p>“What’s your plan, Sergeant?” asked Oliver when he had heard.
“Tell me, for I have none; my head is muddled.”</p>
<p>“This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I should go down through the
hole that Cat here speaks of, and get into the den. Then when they let down the
Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates, that I should keep back the lions
with my rifle while he bolts to the ladder which is ready for him, and I follow
if I can.”</p>
<p>“Capital,” said Orme, “but you can’t go alone.
I’ll come too.”</p>
<p>“And I also,” I said.</p>
<p>“What schemes do you make?” asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course,
she could not understand our talk.</p>
<p>We explained.</p>
<p>“What, my friend,” she said to Oliver reproachfully, “would
you risk your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of
God.”</p>
<p>“It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my friend
to be eaten by lions, Lady,” he answered.</p>
<p>Then followed much discussion. In the end it was agreed that we should descend
to the level of the den, if this were possible; that Oliver and Quick should go
down into the den with Japhet, who instantly volunteered to accompany them, and
that I, with some of the Mountaineers, should stop in the mouth of the hole as
a reserve to cover their retreat from the lions. I pleaded to be allowed to
take a more active part, but of this they would not hear, saying with some
truth, that I was by far the best shot of the three, and could do much more to
help them from above, if, as was hoped, the moon should shine brightly.</p>
<p>But I knew they really meant that I was too old to be of service in such an
adventure as this. Also they desired to keep me out of risk.</p>
<p>Then came the question as to who should descend the last tunnel to the place of
operations. Oliver wished Maqueda to return to the top of the cliff and wait
there, but she said at once that she could not think of attempting the ascent
without our aid; also that she was determined to see the end of the matter.
Even Joshua would not go; I think, that being an unpopular character among
them, he distrusted the Mountaineers, whose duty it would have been to escort
him.</p>
<p>It was suggested that he should remain where he was until we returned, if we
did return, but this idea commended itself to him still less than the other.
Indeed he pointed out with much truth what we had overlooked, namely, that now
the Fung knew of the passage and were quite capable of playing our own game,
that is, of throwing a bridge across from the sphinx’s tail and
attempting the storm of Mur.</p>
<p>“And then what should I do if they found me here alone?” he added
pathetically.</p>
<p>Maqueda answered that she was sure she did not know, but that meanwhile it
might be wise to block the mouth of the tunnel by which we had reached the
plateau in such a fashion that it could not easily be forced.</p>
<p>“Yes,” answered Oliver, “and if we ever get out of this, to
blow the shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used.”</p>
<p>“That shaft might be useful, Captain,” said Quick doubtfully.</p>
<p>“There is a better way, Sergeant, if we want to mine under the sphinx; I
mean through the Tomb of Kings. I took the levels roughly, and the end of it
can’t be far off. Anyhow, this shaft is of no more use to us now that the
Fung have found it out.”</p>
<p>Then we set to work to fill in the mouth of the passage with such loose stones
as we could find. It was a difficult business, but in the end the Mountaineers
made a very fair job of it under our direction, piling the rocks in such a
fashion that they could scarcely be cleared away in any short time without the
aid of explosives.</p>
<p>While this work was going on, Japhet, Shadrach, and the Sergeant in charge of
him, undertook to explore the last shaft which led down to the level of the
den. To our relief, just as we had finished building up the hole, they returned
with the news that now after they had removed a fallen stone or two it was
quite practicable with the aid of ropes and ladders.</p>
<p>So, in the same order as before, we commenced its passage, and in about
half-an-hour, for it was under three hundred feet in depth, arrived safely at
the foot. Here we found a bat-haunted place like a room that evidently had been
hollowed out by man. As Shadrach had said, at its eastern extremity was a
large, oblong boulder, so balanced that if even one person pushed on either of
its ends it swung around, leaving on each side a passage large enough to allow
a man to walk through in a crouching attitude.</p>
<p>Very silently we propped open this primæval door and looked out. Now the full
moon was up, and her brilliant light had begun to flood the gulf. By it we saw
a dense shadow, that reached from the ground to three hundred feet or so above
us. This we knew to be that thrown by the flanks of the gigantic sphinx which
projected beyond the mountain of stone whereon it rested, those flanks whence,
according to Shadrach, Higgs would be lowered in a food-basket. In this shadow
and on either side of it, covering a space of quite a hundred yards square, lay
the feeding-den, whence arose a sickly and horrible odour such as is common to
any place frequented by cats, mingled with the more pungent smell of decaying
flesh.</p>
<p>This darksome den was surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on the
fourth, that toward the east, enclosed by a wall or barrier of rock pierced
with several gates made of bars of metal, or so we judged by the light that
flowed through them.</p>
<p>From beyond this eastern wall came dreadful sounds of roars, snarls, and
whimperings. Evidently there the sacred lions had their home.</p>
<p>Only one more thing need be mentioned. On the rock floor almost immediately
beneath us lay remains which, from their torn clothes and hair, we knew must be
human. As somebody explained, I think it was Shadrach, they were those of the
man whom Orme had shot upon the tail of the sphinx, and of his companions who
had been tilted off the ladder.</p>
<p>For awhile we gazed at this horrible hole in silence. Then Oliver took out his
watch, which was a repeater, and struck it.</p>
<p>“Higgs told me,” he said, “that he was to be thrown to the
lions two hours after moonrise, which is within fifteen minutes or so.
Sergeant, I think we had better be getting ready.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Captain,” answered Quick; “but everything is quite
ready, including those brutes, to judge by the noise they make, excepting
perhaps Samuel Quick, who never felt less ready for anything in his life. Now
then, Pussy, run out that ladder. Here’s your rifle, Captain, and six
reload clips of cartridges, five hollow-nosed bullets in each. You’ll
never want more than that, and it’s no use carrying extra weight. In your
right-hand pocket, Captain, don’t forget. I’ve the same in mine.
Doctor, here’s a pile for you; laid upon that stone. If you lie there,
you’ll have a good light and rest for your elbow, and at this range ought
to make very pretty shooting, even in the moonlight. Best keep your pistol on
the safe, Captain; at least, I’m doing so, as we might get a fall, and
these new-fangled weapons are very hair-triggered. Here’s Japhet ready,
too, so give us your marching orders, sir, and we will go to business; the
Doctor will translate to Japhet.”</p>
<p>“We descend the ladder,” said Orme, “and advance about fifty
paces into the shadow, where we can see without being seen; where also,
according to Shadrach, the food-basket is let down. There we shall stand and
await the arrival of this basket. If it contains the Professor, he whom the
Fung and the Abati know as Black Windows, Japhet, you are to seize him and
lead, or if necessary carry, him to the ladder, up which some of the
mountaineers must be ready to help him. Your duty, Sergeant, and mine, also
that of the Doctor firing from above, will be to keep off the lions as best we
can, should any lions appear, retreating as we fire. If the brutes get one of
us he must be left, since it is foolish that both lives should be sacrificed
needlessly. For the rest, you, Sergeant, and you, Japhet, must be guided by
circumstances and act upon your own discretion. Do not wait for special orders
from me which I may not be able to give. Now, come on. If we do not return,
Adams, you will see the Child of Kings safely up the shafts and conduct her to
Mur. Good-bye, Lady.”</p>
<p>“Good-bye,” answered Maqueda in a brave voice; I could not see her
face in the darkness. “Presently, I am sure, you will return with your
brother.”</p>
<p>Just then Joshua broke in:</p>
<p>“I will not be outdone in courage by these Gentiles,” he said.
“Lacking their terrible weapons, I cannot advance into the den, but I
will descend and guard the foot of the ladder.”</p>
<p>“Very well, sir,” answered Orme in an astonished voice, “glad
to have your company, I am sure. Only remember that you must be quick in going
up it again, since hungry lions are active, and let all take notice that we are
not responsible for anything that may happen to you.”</p>
<p>“Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle,” remarked
Maqueda.</p>
<p>“To be mocked by you for ever after, my niece. No, I go to face the
lions,” and very slowly he crept through the hole and began to descend
the ladder. Indeed, when Quick followed after an interval he found him only
half-way down, and had to hurry his movements by accidentally treading on his
fingers.</p>
<p>A minute or two later, peeping over the edge, I saw that they were all in the
den, that is, except Joshua, who had reascended the ladder to the height of
about six feet, and stood on it face outward, holding to the rock on either
side with his hands as though he had been crucified. Fearing lest he should be
seen there, even in the shadow, I suggested to Maqueda that she should order
him either to go down, or to return, which she did vigorously, but without
effect. So in the end we left him alone.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the three had vanished into the shadow of the sphinx, and we could
see nothing of them. The great round moon rose higher and higher, flooding the
rest of the charnel-house with light, and, save for an occasional roar or
whimper from the lions beyond the wall, the silence was intense. Now I could
make out the metal gates in this wall, and even dark and stealthy forms which
passed and repassed beyond their bars. Then I made out something else also, the
figures of men gathering on the top of the wall, though whence they came I knew
not. By degrees their number increased till there were hundreds of them, for
the wall was broad as a roadway.</p>
<p>Evidently these were spectators, come to witness the ceremony of sacrifice.</p>
<p>“Prince,” I whispered to Joshua, “you must get down off the
ladder or you will betray us all. Nay, it is too late to come up here again,
for already the moonlight strikes just above your head. Go down, or we will
cast the ladder loose and let you fall.”</p>
<p>So he went down and hid himself among some ferns and bushes where we saw no
more of him for a while, and, to tell the truth, forgot his existence.</p>
<p>Far, far above us, from the back of the idol I suppose, came a faint sound of
solemn chanting. It sank, and we heard shouts. Then suddenly it swelled again.
Now Maqueda, who knelt near me, touched my arm and pointed to the shadow which
gradually was becoming infiltrated with the moonlight flowing into it from
either side. I looked, and high in the air, perhaps two hundred feet from the
ground, saw something dark descending slowly. Doubtless it was the basket
containing Higgs, and whether by coincidence or no, at this moment the lions on
the farther side of the wall burst into peal upon peal of terrific roaring.
Perhaps their sentries watching at the gate saw or smelt the familiar basket,
and communicated the intelligence to their fellows.</p>
<p>Slowly, slowly it descended, till it was within a few feet of the ground, when
it began to sway backward and forward like a pendulum, at each swing covering a
wider arc. Presently, when it hung over the edge of the shadow that was nearest
to us, it was let down with a run and overset, and out of it, looking very
small in those vast surroundings and that mysterious light, rolled the figure
of a man. Although at that distance we could see little of him, accident
assured us of his identity, for as he rolled the hat he wore fell from him, and
I knew it at once for Higgs’s sun-helmet. He rose from the ground, limped
very slowly and painfully after the helmet, picked it up, and proceeded to use
it to dust his knees. At this moment there was a clanking sound.</p>
<p>“Oh! they lift the gates!” murmured Maqueda.</p>
<p>Then followed more sounds, this time of wild beasts raging for their prey, and
of other human beasts shrieking with excitement on the wall above. The
Professor turned and saw. For a moment he seemed about to run, then changed his
mind, clapped the helmet on his head, folded his arms and stood still,
reminding me in some curious way, perhaps, because of the shortness of his
thick figure, of a picture I had seen of the great Napoleon contemplating a
disaster.</p>
<p>To describe what followed is extremely difficult, for we watched not one but
several simultaneous scenes. For instance, there were the lions, which did not
behave as might have been expected. I thought that they would rush through the
doors and bound upon the victim, but whether it was because they had already
been fed that afternoon or because they thought that a single human being was
not worth the trouble, they acted differently.</p>
<p>Through the open gates they came, in two indolent yellow lines, male lions,
female lions, half-grown lions, cub lions that cuffed each other in play, in
all perhaps fifty or sixty of them. Of these only two or three looked towards
the Professor, for none of them ran or galloped, while the rest spread over the
den, some of them vanishing into the shadow at the edge of the surrounding
cliff where the moonlight could not reach.</p>
<p>Here one of them, at any rate, must have travelled fast enough, for it seemed
only a few seconds later that we heard a terrific yell beneath us, and craning
over the rock I saw the Prince Joshua running up the ladder more swiftly than
ever did any London lamplighter when I was a boy.</p>
<p>But quickly as he came, the long, thin, sinuous thing beneath came quicker. It
reared itself on its hind legs, it stretched up a great paw—I can see the
gleaming claws in it now—and struck or hooked at poor Joshua. The paw
caught him in the small of the back, and seemed to pin him against the ladder.
Then it was drawn slowly downward, and heaven! how Joshua howled. Up came the
other paw to repeat the operation, when, stretching myself outward and
downward, with an Abati holding me by the ankles, I managed to shoot the beast
through the head so that it fell all of a heap, taking with it a large portion
of Joshua’s nether garments.</p>
<p>A few seconds later he was among us, and tumbled groaning into a corner, where
he lay in charge of some of the mountaineers, for I had no time to attend to
him just then.</p>
<p>When the smoke cleared at length, I saw that Japhet had reached Higgs, and was
gesticulating to him to run, while two lions, a male and a female, stood at a
little distance, regarding the pair in an interested fashion. Higgs, after some
brief words of explanation, pointed to his knee. Evidently he was lamed and
could not run. Japhet, rising to the occasion, pointed to his back, and bent
down. Higgs flung himself upon it, and was hitched up like a sack of flour. The
pair began to advance toward the ladder, Japhet carrying Higgs as one schoolboy
carries another.</p>
<p>The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding with mild
interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity, followed sniffing at
Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off his battered helmet, he threw
it at the beast, hitting her on the head. She growled, then seized the helmet,
playing with it for a moment as a kitten does with a ball of wool, and next
instant, finding it unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward,
and crouched to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a bullet
that would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs.</p>
<p>But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in the shadow
and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon the indolent male
lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men, but at the wounded lioness,
and a hellish fight ensued, of which the details and end were lost in a mist of
dust and flying hair.</p>
<p>The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began to scream
in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to the less savage
beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran about, keeping for the most
part to the shadows, while Japhet and his burden made slow but steady progress
toward the ladder.</p>
<p>Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a sound of
rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the moonlight, followed
by a number of angry lions that advanced in short rushes. Evidently the pair
had kept their heads, and were acting on a plan.</p>
<p>One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other ran back
a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he went. Then he began
to fire, and his companion in turn retreated behind him. In this way they
knocked over a number of lions, for the range was too short for them to miss
often, and the expanding bullets did their work very well, paralyzing even when
they did not kill. I also opened fire over their heads, and, although in that
uncertain light the majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of
several animals which I saw were becoming dangerous.</p>
<p>So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon his back, and
Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder, although separated from
each other by perhaps half the length of a cricket pitch. We thought that they
were safe, and shouted in our joy, while the hundreds of spectators on the wall
who fortunately dared not descend into the den because of the lions, which are
undiscriminating beasts, yelled with rage at the imminent rescue of the
sacrifice.</p>
<p>Then of a sudden the position changed. From every quarter fresh lions seemed to
arrive, ringing the men round and clearly bent on slaughter, although the
shouting and the sound of firearms, which they had never heard before,
frightened them and made them cautious.</p>
<p>A half-grown cub rushed in and knocked over Japhet and Higgs. I fired and hit
it in the flank. It bit savagely at its wound, then sprang on to the prostrate
pair, and stood over them growling, but in such pain that it forgot to kill
them. The ring of beasts closed in—we could see their yellow eyes glowing
in the gloom. Orme and Quick might have got through by the help of their
rifles, but they could not leave the others. The dreadful climax seemed at hand.</p>
<p>“Follow me,” said Maqueda, who all this while had watched panting
at my side, and rose to run to the ladder. I thrust her back.</p>
<p>“Nay,” I shouted. “Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead
you?”</p>
<p>Of how I descended that ladder I have no recollection, nor do I in the least
know how the Mountaineers came after me, but I think that the most of them
rolled and scrambled down the thirty feet of rock. At least, to their honour be
it said, they did come, yelling like demons and waving long knives in their
hands.</p>
<p>The effect of our sudden arrival from above was extraordinary. Scared by the
rush and the noise, the lions gave way, then bolted in every direction, the
wounded cub, which could not, or would not move, being stabbed to death where
it stood over Higgs and Japhet.</p>
<p>Five minutes more and all of us were safe in the mouth of the tunnel.</p>
<p>That was how we rescued Higgs from the den of the sacred lions which guarded
the idol of the Fung.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />