The Kopje Garrison Part 37

"I'm all attention, sir."

"If you can't do as I say I must send for another rope."

"No, no, it would be horrible to leave the poor fellow; he'd slip off the rock."

"Then you must stay with him."

"Very well, sir," said Lennox after a short pause.

"Ha! I think I can do it now I've found room to kneel."

"Bravo!" shouted d.i.c.kenson.

"Will you be silent, Mr d.i.c.kenson?" cried the captain.-"Now, Lennox, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get this knot undone, sir; it's so tight." At the end of a minute he cried, "I can't move the knot. I'm going to pa.s.s it over my head, and then make a noose and slip it round the corporal."

"Can you do that?"

"Yes, sir, I think so. Now slacken away all you can, but keep a tight hold in case I have to s.n.a.t.c.h at it again."

"Oh yes, they'll keep a tight hold.-Do you hear, Sergeant James?"

"Oh yes, sir, I hear," growled the sergeant, whose face glistened with the perspiration that streamed down from the gathering-place-his brow.

"How are you getting on?" cried the captain.

"Don't talk to me, please," panted Lennox. "I'm doing my best." There was a pause, and then, "I've got it off, and I'm going to pa.s.s it over his neck and shoulders now. It will compress his chest, but I can't help it."

"Don't study that; only get it fast. Ready?" continued the captain after another pause.

"Not quite yet. It is hard to get the loop over. I have to bend down to reach with one hand, and hold on with the other."

"Go on," said the captain.

A strange rustling sound came up, and then it seemed as if the rope was being flapped against the rock.

"Can't you do it?" shouted the captain.

"Not yet. I'm obliged to rest a minute."

"Oh dear! oh dear me!" panted Captain Roby in a tone of voice that seemed to suggest other words which indicated his idea that the young subaltern was very awkward.

"Got it at last!" came up. "I think so. Yes, I have him tight-right past his arms; he can't slip. Now, haul!"

"Haul!" echoed Captain Roby. "Quick!"

But Sergeant James knew better than that. The rope had to pa.s.s through his cautious hands, and he raised it gently.

"All right, sir?" he asked.

"Yes; haul," cried Lennox. "You have him now. Right; you're lifting him right off. I'll hold on to the rock. Be sharp, for it's a very awkward-"

The young subaltern's words were cut short at that moment by a most horrible, unearthly-sounding yell; for the tightening of the rope about the unfortunate corporal, and the steady strain as he was lifted from where he had lain so long, had the effect of arousing his dormant energies. Not realising that he was being helped, he had no sooner uttered his cry of horror than, as if suddenly galvanised into life, he began to struggle violently, tearing, kicking, and catching at something to hold on to for dear life.

Unfortunately, and consequent upon the slow way in which the rope was being drawn up, the first thing his right hand came in contact with was one of Lennox's arms, round which his fingers fastened as if they were of steel. The next moment his right hand was joined by his left and he clung desperately, dragging the young officer from the slippery edge of rock, and before Lennox could raise a hand to help himself and hold on in turn, and cling desperately in the hope that after all perhaps the rope might bear them both, the corporal's spasmodic clasp ended as quickly as it came. Those at the top felt the strain on the rope less, and those who were gazing down unoccupied saw the light suddenly extinguished, heard a terrible, echoing splash, followed by suckings and whisperings that seemed as if they would have no end.

For Lennox did not rise again, the rush of water bearing him rapidly down into the very bowels of the cavernous ma.s.s of rock.

Chapter Eighteen.

The Corporal Relates.

The party at the head of the cavern stood for a few moments perfectly motionless, listening to the dying away of the strange gurglings and whispering echoes which followed the heavy splash, and then d.i.c.kenson uttered a wild cry of horror and despair.

"Pull!" he shouted. "Pull up!" and, spurred into action by his order, Sergeant James and the two men behind him who helped with the rope hauled away rapidly, till the rigid-looking form of the corporal rose out of the darkness into the light shed by the lanterns, to be seized by the sergeant and dragged into safety.

"Is he dead?" said Captain Roby hoa.r.s.ely. "I dunno, sir," growled the sergeant, loosening the noose around the rigid sufferer, and then with a few quick drags unfastening the knot which had troubled Lennox in his helpless state.

"Silence a moment," cried the captain, "while I hail!" and he made the place echo with his repet.i.tions of the subaltern's name.

There were answers enough, but given only by the mocking echoes; otherwise all below was still save the weird, rus.h.i.+ng sound of the water.

"Here, what are you doing, d.i.c.kenson?" cried the captain, who suddenly became aware of the fact that the young lieutenant had seized the sergeant and was hindering him from securing the end of the rope about his chest.

"He's not going down: I am," cried d.i.c.kenson hoa.r.s.ely.

"You?"

"Yes; I think I'm going to leave my friend in a hole like this?"

"Hole indeed!" thought the captain. Then aloud: "Let him go down, sergeant. Here, two lanterns this time;" and as the sergeant obeyed and began securing the rope about d.i.c.kenson, Roby seized and began unbuckling the young officer's belt, and himself pa.s.sed the stiff leather through the ring-handles of a couple of lanterns, and rebuckled the belt, adjusting it so that d.i.c.kenson had a light on either side.

"Ready, sergeant?" said the young officer sharply.

"All right, sir; that'll hold you safe."

"What are you going to do, d.i.c.kenson?" said Roby, in a voice that did not sound like his own.

"I don't know," cried the young officer, with a curious hysterical ring in his voice. "Go down.-See when I get below.-Now then, quick!-Lower away.-Fast!"

He began gliding down the sharp slope directly after.

"Faster!" shouted d.i.c.kenson before he was half-way down; and the sergeant let the rope pa.s.s through his hands as quickly as he could with safety let it go, while the lanterns lit up the glistening sides with weirdly-strange, flickering rays, till the rope was nearly all out and d.i.c.kenson stopped with a sudden jerk.