Adventure, June 1911 — page 121: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Prester John Na, THE result of these cogitations was AQ) that I decided to prospect the right wall of the cave close to the water- fall. But first I went rummaging in the back part to see if I could find anything to assist me. In one corner there was a rude cupboard with some stone and metal ves- sels. Here, too, were the few domestic utensils of the dead Keeper. In another were several locked coffers on which I could make no impression. There were the treas- ure-chests, too, but they held nothing save treasure, and gold and diamonds were no manner of use tome. Other odds and ends I found—spears, a few skins, and a broken and notched ax. I took the ax in case there might be cutting to do. Then at the back of a bin my hand struck something that brought the blood to my face. It was a rope, an old one, but still in fair condition and forty or fifty feet long. I dragged it out into the light and straight- ened out its kinks. With this something could be done, assuming I could cut my way to the level of the roof. SS I began to climb in my bare feet, and at the beginning it was very bad. Except on the very edge of the abyss there was scarcely a handhold. Possibly in floods the waters may have swept the wall in a curve, smoothing down the inner part and leaving the outer to its natural roughness. ‘There was one place where I had to hang on. by a very narrow crack, while I scraped with the ax a hollow for my right foot. And then about twelve feet from the ground I struck the first of the iron pegs. To this day I can not think what these pegs were for. They were-old square- headed things which had seen the wear of centuries. They can not have been meant to assist a climber, for the dwellers of the cave had clearly never contemplated this means of egress. Perhaps they had been used for some kind of ceremonial curtain in a dim past. They were rusty and frail, and one of them came away in my hand, but for all that they marvelously assisted my ascent. I had been climbing slowly, doggedly and carefully, my mind wholly occupied with the task; and, almost before I knew, I found my head close under the roof of the cave. It was necessary now to move towards the river and the task seemed impossible. I could see no footholds, save two frail pegs, and in the corner between the wall and the — 307 roof was a rough arch too wide for a body to jam itself in. Just below the level of the roof—say -two feet—I saw the submerged spike of rock. The waters raged around it and could not have been more than an inch deep on the.top. If I could only get my foot on that, I believed I could avoid being swept down and stand up and reach for the well above.the cave. But how to get to it? It was no good delaying, for my frail holds might give at any moment. In any case I would have the moral security of the rope, so I passed it through a fairly stanch pin close to the roof, which had an upward tilt that almost made a ring of it. One end of the rope was round my body, the other was loose in my hand, and I paid it out as I moved. Moral sup- port is something. Very gingerly I crawled like a fly along the wall, my fingers now clutching at a tiny knob, now clawing at a crack which did little more than hold my nails. It was all hopeless insanity, and yet somehow I did it. The rope and the near- ness of the roof gave me confidence and balance. Then the holds ceased altogether a couple of yards from the water. I saw my spike of rock a trifle below me. There was nothing for it but to risk allona jump. I drew the rope out of the hitch, twined the slack round my waist, and leaped for the spike. CHAPTER XXX THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF jee WAS like throwing oneself on a line of spears. The solid wall of water hurled me back and down, but as I fell my arms closed on the spike. There I hung while my feet were towed outwards by the volume of the stream-as if they had been dead leaves. I was half stunned by the shock of the drip on my head, but I kept my wits and presently got my face outside the falling sheet and breathed. To get to my feet and stand on the spike while all that fury of water was plucking at me was the hardest physical effort I have ever made. It had to be done very cir- cumspectly, for a slip would send me into the abyss. If I moved an arm or a leg an inch too near the terrible dropping wail I knew I should be plucked from my hold. I got my knees on the outer face of the spike, so that all my body was removed as far as Go JOO ANIC SHoCO)