The Old Man of the Mountain

us, Sher Jang?"

servant," the ma

you,

his eyes, shot a savage glance at the shikari, then said in a vo

man. One volunteer is wo

d Forrester. "Just put up enough food for two days; we'll carry it somehow among us.

e more grub?"

l, so it's useless overloading ourselves. We risk lo

nsils, plates, knives and forks, and other articles; Sher Jang shouldered some blankets, in which he had wrapped a quantity

e beyond. It had been arranged before they started that the white men should follow at some little distance, so that the natives, in cas

had spoken were a little way down-stream; the larger falls lay a much greater distance in the other direction. Some minutes were occupied in forming the balks of timber into a raft. When this was done half the party of natives swa

ream; but it was not long before the white men, walking about half a mile behind their

cried Jackson. "We

arked. "Small falls make a sort of crash--this is mor

ed!" said Mackenz

t ab

the philosophers call parity of reasoning, the Eye is lightning. Well, lightning can take off a man's arm, and strike him daft

son. "But you won't reason it out, Mac; yo

Give me facts, and I'll

e," said Forrester. "It's time we caught sig

e errand were overborne by excitement as they looked eagerly ahead for the mass of falling water. At last the belt of forest land came to an abrupt end, and they gazed forth over a wide rocky plain, in the

e snowy range in the remote distance. The three men halted involuntarily, struck both

rand!" Macke

t?" Forrester b

obscured the lower foothills, though the heights beyond heaved their grey masses in clear undulations miles above. As t

ere," said Jackson, a

Forrester c

at never loses its interest and wonder. Then Macken

t's the

water, mingled with spray thrown up hundreds of feet from the unseen bottom. They watched it in silent awe. The villagers had described it as falling from the clouds into the depths of the earth. Their words appeared to be literally true. An eighth of a mile in width, the torrent poured over

ed. The delay gave them an opportunity of taking a meal. As they ate they amused themselves by guessing at the height of the fall. Forrester suggested that it was as hi

nt that they had nearly two miles to go before they came level with it. Then they were struck dumb by the full magnificence of the scene. The spray itself, rising like steam from a gigantic cauldron, attained

more," he said, and his friends laughed at the inc

t appeared to be almost perpendicular, though away to the left it became more broken. On t

s the raft of timber was moored. Evidently it was part of the plan for maintaining the secrecy of the hill community that purchasers and vendors should come into contact as seldom as possible; or perhaps the woodcut

precipice towards the fall, which appeared to be about half a mile distant. After a brief consultation they decided to make their way along this road.

hemselves in a dim twilight, the glassy sea-green surface of the watery arch reflecting a pallid hue upon their faces. They were perfectly dry, except for some flecks of spray dashed upon them from the base of the fall. A

that his employers were pressing forward he pulled himself together, and hurried on close at Mackenzie's heels. The width of the path had diminished to a bare three feet, and as the party crept along it they instinctively clung

de, and within a short space the party found themselves once more almost on a level with the lake. Then the path came to an abrupt end, disappearing into the water that w

ook off his boots, rolled up his putties, and started to wade. In a few seconds he turned and beckoned to his companions. They followed his example, and on joining him found that he had come to a sharp corner of the precipice, which was cut at this point by an extraordinary rift. At the entrance it was perhaps forty feet wide. The sides were straighter and even nearer to the perpendicular than the face

verything; and he surmised that the rift was the result of some Titanic disruption of the earth in an age long past. It was as though the ma

ssible. The water still came right up to the face of the cliff, and the pathway--if it was a pathway--which they were treading sank ever deeper beneath the surface. There was nothing for it but

had believed. A sharp bend brought them upon a sight that caused them to halt, peer nervously upward and in front, and tighten their grasp upon their rifles. Three canoes lay tandem against the right-hand side of the rift--harmless objects in themselves, but rather perturbing as indications that men wer

them now only as a dull rumble; but when they spoke it was in whispers. Apart from the risk of being heard b

e to do?" a

des are so smooth and straight that no one could perch anywhere to

grow; there doesn't even appear to be moss on

!" said Mackenzie.

s, always ascended, more and more steeply as they advanced. Strangely enough, the higher they went the stuffier the air became, and the deeper their sense o

ured, "but it may be carbonic acid.

flame burned brightly for a second

ave seen the light; and if there are men abo

I'd got a grip of the terminals

n! What's that?" he added, in a startled whisper, clutching Forr

of them stood Sher Jang, impassive as ever, though he held his rifle with both hands, and his muscles were as taut a

haped like a man in tourist costume: a tall frame, the bones standing out in black relief from the midst of a faint penumbra. Behind this trotted the skeleton forms of a number of almost naked dwarfs, no more than four feet in height, each bearing a spear upon his shoulder. At the rear came a second full-sized figure, taking long strides, like a schoolmaster at the tail of a line of boys. The shadowy surround of his skeleton widened towards the bottom like an academic gown. The watchers held their breath, amazed at the weirdness

ange people had observed the group of onlookers, they had paid no heed to them. At last, Mackenzie hurried forward to search for the steps and the s

d--the cliff was as smooth as polished granite. They looked upwards, to the right along the rift; they passed their hands over the face of the rock, struck it here and there, prob

ed a word. When Forrester

shadows?"

between the walls. Far above, the sunlight illumined their summits, a

king himself. "We cannot get to

nexplained. But they braced themselves at Mackenzie's words. Whatever the explanation of the procession might be, it argued the presence of beings other than themselves in the cleft or its neighbourhood; and the remembrance of their errand nerved them to go on. If Captain Red

his sensation was to their robust Western minds. Almost unconsciously they kept closer together, holding their rifles ready in one hand, and unbuttoning their revolvers with the other. On

d again, and the light improved. Then, with startling suddenness, the silence behind them was broken by a harsh sound that caused them to jump round in a tingle of apprehension. It was like th

fell with resounding crash on the ground. The others hurried close on Mackenzie's heels. He reached the narrow passage recently left, and here, in the greater obscurity, he came full tilt against an

The upper part of the shutter was attached to two heavy chain cables, one on each side of the rift. These cables seemed to disappear into the walls another twenty feet or so above; but from the position of the trapped party, with the poor aid of match-light, it was impossible to see beyond the points at which the chains appeared to enter the rock. Lighting several matches together, however, Mackenzie held them high above his head, and the flame glinted for a m

from over the shutter. It was visible only for an instant, but the