Part 8 (2/2)
A DECEPTIVE COAST--WHAT IS IT?--OUR DISAPPOINTMENT--A STRANGE APPARITION.
An attempt to cross an unknown expanse of water, such as seemed the lagoon stretching out before us, was a hazardous experiment. Still, the water was calm, and we concluded that it was shallow, so that we hoped by perseverance to gain the dry land at last. There was no time to be lost, however, as the tide might soon rise again, and make the undertaking more difficult. I felt like a person in a dream as we waded on, surrounded on all sides by water, over which hung a peculiar silvery mist, curiously deceiving the senses,--though perhaps I was not aware of it at the time. The appearance of the sh.o.r.e even seemed changed. It looked altogether very different from what we expected to find it.
Instead of a low sandy beach, with here and there hillocks of sand, it appeared to rise to a considerable height, with hills and intervening valleys, and lofty rocks springing directly out of the water. ”We must have been further to the south than we supposed,” I observed to Boxall.
”Surely we must be near the French settlements. The sh.o.r.e before us cannot be on the border of the great Desert of Sahara.”
”I cannot make it out,” he answered. ”Still I am pretty certain as to our lat.i.tude. The country, however, is but little known, and we may have been thrown on a more fertile region than was supposed to exist.”
”I hope, then, that we shall be able to find some food,” said Halliday; ”I am terribly hungry and thirsty. Don't you think that we may by chance have got to the mouth of a river, and so may soon find fresh water?”
”This, at all events, is salt enough,” said Boxall, lifting a handful to his lips. ”No; it is merely a lagoon filled by the ocean.”
We waded on and on, but the sh.o.r.e appeared no nearer.
”We may have a fearfully long way to swim, should the water grow deeper,” observed Halliday.
”If it does, we can easily return to the rock and wait till the low tide during daylight, when we shall be better able to judge what course to take,” I observed.
As I said this I turned round to look at the rock, and to see how far we were from it, when what was my astonishment to be unable to distinguish it! Behind us the lagoon appeared to stretch out to an illimitable distance, without a single object rising above the surface. To attempt to return would have been madness, as we should certainly have lost our way; we therefore could do nothing else than push boldly forward. The sand below our feet was smooth and even, but walking in water almost up to our middle was fatiguing work, and we made but slow progress. Still on and on we went, when suddenly we saw before us a high conical hill, and directly afterwards a bright light appeared beyond it. Presently the upper circle of the full moon rose behind the hill, though it seemed six times the size of any moon I ever saw; indeed, I could scarcely believe that it was the moon.
”I suppose that the African moons are much larger than those of any other part of the world. At all events, that is a whopper,” exclaimed Halliday, without considering what he was saying.
”It will give us light to see our way,” observed Boxall, ”and we should be thankful for it. We had better keep to our right, however, where the sh.o.r.e seems somewhat lower.”
He was turning aside, and I was about to follow him, when Halliday exclaimed--
”Look! look! what can that terrific creature be?”
We turned our eyes towards the summit of the hill, and to our horror saw an enormous animal with arched back and glaring eyes--so we pictured it--gazing down upon us, seemingly prepared to make a terrific leap right down on our heads. Such a creature I had never even read of; for it looked far larger than any ordinary elephant, and might have swallowed us all at a gulp.
”What is to be done?” cried Halliday. ”If we run, it will certainly be after us.”
”We cannot run, at all events,” said Boxall with less anxiety in his tone than I should have supposed possible, though I knew him to be a dauntless fellow. ”We will keep to our right, as I proposed, and perhaps the monster won't follow us after all. It is not likely to come into the water to get at us.”
We kept away to our right, and found the water growing shallower and shallower. It was now but a little above our knees. I confess that I turned my head very frequently, to see whether the monster was coming after us. There it stood, however, in the same att.i.tude as before-- which was some comfort, as it thus showed no inclination to act as we had dreaded.
”What can it be?” I asked of Boxall.
”A wild beast, certainly,” he answered. ”I might have supposed it a part of the rock, or some gigantic figure hewn out of it, but it is too much like a real creature for that; and I begin to think that the mist which hangs over the water must have given it its supernatural magnitude. I would have said, from its shape, that it was a hyena or jackal, but neither the one nor the other approaches to anything like it in size.”
”Whatever it was or is, it has disappeared,” I exclaimed; for on looking round once more, the monster was no longer to be seen on the top of the hill. The water was now but a very little way above our knees, while the ascent was much steeper than it had been.
”I only hope we shan't see the creature again on sh.o.r.e,” said Halliday.
”We have not much further to go to reach it,” observed Boxall. The last few yards we had taken we had rapidly shoaled the water. ”Thank Heaven, we are ash.o.r.e at last!” he added, as the light surf which rolled up slowly went hissing back and left our feet uncovered. A few paces more, and we were standing on dry sand.
”Halloa! what has become of the mountains?” exclaimed Halliday. ”I thought we were going to land on a rocky country, but I see nothing but sand-hills around us.”
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