Part 20 (1/2)

”Thou wilt find handles, wherewith to steady thyself,” he cried to me.

”Have a care that thou art not thrown off.”

I groped with my companions, and we found the handles of which he had spoken. Then, when all was ready, the grave-faced sage raised some lever or another, and we shot away down, down, down into s.p.a.ce with such fearful velocity that the wind whistled about our ears, our white robes fluttered, and our breath seemed taken away.

The sensation was awful. In utter darkness we were whirled along we knew not whither, until suddenly the car whereon we travelled gave an unexpected lurch, as a corner was turned, nearly precipitating all of us into the darkness beneath, and then continued its downward course with increased speed, until sparks flew from beneath us like flecks of fire from a blacksmith's forge, and in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s was a tightness that became more painful every moment.

It seemed as though we were descending to some deep, airless region, for I could not breathe; the atmosphere felt damp and warm, and the velocity with which we travelled was becoming greater the deeper into the heart of the earth we went.

”What is this place?” I heard Omar ask. ”I know it not.”

”Be patient, O Prince, and thou shalt witness that which must astound thee,” old Goliba shouted, his squeaky voice being just audible above the loud hissing as our car flew along the twisted strands of steel.

Suddenly, above the hiss of our rapid progress, there could be heard strange noises, as if a hundred war-drums were being beaten, and at the same instant our curious conveyance gave another sudden lurch in rounding a corner. At that moment Goliba, in turning to speak with Omar, had unfortunately loosened his hold of one of the handles, and the sudden jolt at such a high speed was so violent that our faithful guide and friend was shot off backwards, and ere Omar could clutch him he had disappeared with a shriek of despair into the cavernous darkness.

A thrill of horror ran through us when we realised this terrible mishap.

Yet nothing could arrest our swift headlong descent, and feeling convinced that Goliba, our host and adviser, had met with a terrible death, we sat staring, motionless, wondering whither we were bound, and how, now we had lost our guide, we should be able to reach the surface again. At the moment Goliba had been flung off we remembered that the iron frame had jolted and grated, and there seemed no room for doubt that the generous sage had been mangled into a shapeless ma.s.s. The thought was horrible.

At last, however, we felt the air becoming fresher, and the strange contraction in our b.r.e.a.s.t.s was gradually relieved as our pace became less rapid, and distant lights showed before us. Then suddenly we emerged from the curious shaft down which we had travelled to such enormous depth, gliding slowly out into a place of immeasurable extent, where a most extraordinary and amazing scene met our gaze.

Truly, poor Goliba had spoken the truth when he had promised that what we should witness would astound us.

CHAPTER XXIII.

UNDER THE VAMPIRE'S WING.

WHEN our dazzled gaze grew accustomed to the garish blaze of lights we found ourselves standing in an enormous cavern.

Around us were glowing fires and s.h.i.+ning torches innumerable; the smoke from them half choked us, while above there seemed an immensity of darkness, for the roof of the natural chamber was so high that it could not be discerned.

Upon one object, weird and horrible, our startled gaze became rivetted.

Straight before us, at some little distance, there rose a great black rock to a height of, as far as I could judge, a thousand feet. Nearly half way up was a great wide ledge or platform larger than any of the market-places in the City in the Clouds, and upon this there had been fas.h.i.+oned from the solid rock a colossal representation of the vampire-bat, the device borne upon the banners of Mo. Its enormous wings, each fully five hundred feet from the body to tip, outstretched on either side and supported by gigantic pillars of rock carved to represent various grotesque and hideous figures of men and animals, formed great temples on either side of the body. The latter, however, attracted our attention more than did the wonderful wings, for as we stood aghast and amazed we discerned that the vast body of the colossus did not represent that of a bat, but the gigantic jaws were those of a crocodile.

”Zomara!” gasped Omar. ”See! It is the great G.o.d with the wings of a bat and the tail of a lion!”

I looked and saw that far behind rose the tufted tail of the king of the forest. From the two great eyes of the gigantic reptile shone dazzling streams of white light, like the rays of a mariner's beacon, and everywhere twinkling yellow lights were moving about the face of the great rock, across the platform whereon the colossal figure rested, even to the distant summit.

Suddenly, as we stood gazing open-mouthed in wonder, the roar of a hundred war-drums beaten somewhere in the vicinity of the enormous representation of the terrible deity of Mo rolled and echoed to the innermost recesses of the subterranean vault, and just as they had ceased we distinctly saw the giant jaws of the crocodile slowly open.

From them belched forth great tongues of flame and thick stifling smoke that, beaten down by a draught from above, curled its poisonous fumes around us, causing us to cough violently. For fully a minute the great mouth remained open, when to our horror we saw a small knot of human figures approaching it. One loud piercing shriek reached us and at that instant we saw the figure of a man or woman--we were not close enough to discern which--flung by the others headlong into the open flaming mouth.

Again the drums rolled, and the next second the jaws of Zomara closed with a loud crash that sent a shudder through us.

”The sacrifice!” gasped Omar. ”This, then, is one of the horrible customs that Goliba told us had been introduced by my mother, the Great White Queen!”

”Horrible!” I exclaimed. ”That fearful cry will haunt me to my dying day.”

”Let us return,” said Kona. ”We have witnessed enough, O Master.”