"I cannot, Otter; I am bound and in a prison above you. There is a hole in the floor, and if you have a rope, as I heard you say, perhaps you could climb up to me."
Now the dwarf began to understand. Rising, he stretched the long staff he had brought with him high above his head, and found to his delight that he could touch the roof of the cave. Presently the point of the staff ceased to press upon the rock.
"Is the place here, Baas?" said Otter.
"It is here, but you must throw the stick up like a spear through the hole, for I am tied, and cannot put out my hand to take it."
"Stay awhile, Baas; first I must make the line fast to it."
"Good, but be swift, for I am in danger."
Hurriedly Otter undid the hide rope from about his middle, knotting it securely to the centre of the stick. Then some five feet below the stick he made a loop large enough for a man to place his foot in, and having ascertained the exact situation of the opening in the roof of the cave, he hurled the staff upwards and jerked at the line.
"It is fixed," whispered Leonard from above. "Now come up if you can."
The dwarf required no second invitation. Seizing the rope as high as he could reach above his head, he began to drag himself up hand over hand—no easy task, for the hide cord was thin, and cut his fingers and his right leg, round which he had twisted it to get a better purchase. Presently, however, he succeeded in setting his foot in the loop he had prepared, when he found that his head and shoulders were in the hole, and that by reaching upwards he could grasp the staff which lay across it. The rest was easy, and within half a minute he lay gasping at his master's side.
"Have you a knife, Otter?"
"Yes, Baas, my small one, the big ones are down there; I will tell you that story by and by."
"Never mind the story now, Otter. My hands are tied behind my back. Feel for the lashings and cut them, then give me the knife that I may free my legs."
Otter obeyed, and presently Leonard rose and stretched himself with a sigh of relief.
"Where is the Shepherdess, Baas?"
"There, in the next cell. They separated me from her, and since then I have been dangled by the legs over that hole bound and gagged, I think in order to persuade her to consent to something or other by the sight of my danger, for doubtless she was placed where she could see all. Then they left me, and I managed to spit out the gag, but I could not undo the cords. I expect that they will soon be back again."
"Then had we not better fly, Baas? I have found a passage that leads to the mountains."
"How can we fly and leave the Shepherdess, Otter? Since I have been held down the hole, only two men have visited me from time to time, for they think me helpless. Let us seize these men when they come in and take their knives, for we are unarmed. Then we can think; also we shall have their keys."
"Yes, Baas, we may do that. You take the staff; it is stout."
"And what will you use?" asked Leonard.
"Fear not, Baas. Do these men bear lights?"
"Yes."
"Then in two minutes I will make me a weapon."
And, untying the hide rope from the stick, he began to fumble with it busily.
"Now I am ready, Baas," he said presently. "Where shall we stand?"
"Here," answered Leonard, leading him to the door. "We will crouch in the shadow, one on either side of this door, and when the priests have entered and closed it, and begin to look round for me, then we can spring upon them. Only, Otter, there must be no bungling and no noise."
"I think that there will be none, Baas; they will be too frightened to cry at first, and after that they will become dumb."
"Otter," whispered Leonard, as they stood in the dark, "did you kill the Water–Dweller?"
"Yes, yes, Baas," he chuckled in answer. "I caught him with the hook that I made ready. But he did not die easily, Baas, and if I had not been able to swim well he would have drowned me."
"I heard something of it from Nam," said Leonard. "You are a wonderful fellow, Otter."
"Oh, Baas! it was no valour of mine; when I saw his eyes I was horribly afraid, only I thought how gladly you would have attacked him had you been there, and what a coward you would hold me, could you have seen me shivering like a little girl before a big lizard, and these thoughts gave me courage."
"Oh, that is all very well!" replied Leonard, and suddenly added, "Hush! be ready!"
As he spoke the door opened, and two great priests came through it, one of them bearing a candle. He who bore the light turned to shut the door, for he suspected nothing. Then, at one and the same instant, Leonard, emerging from the shadow, dealt the first priest a blow upon the head with his staff, which stunned if it did not kill him, for he fell like an ox beneath the pole–axe, while Otter, standing where he was, dexterously cast his hide rope about the throat of the second man, and drew the noose tight with a jerk that brought him to the earth.
In twenty seconds it was all over. The men, who were the same that had held Leonard suspended in the oubliette, lay senseless or dead, and the dwarf and his master were engaged in possessing themselves of their knives and keys by the light of the candle, which, though it had fallen to the ground, fortunately remained burning.
"That was well done, Otter," said Leonard, "and I am not ashamed to have done it, for these devils kicked me when I was bound. Now we are armed, and have the keys. What next?"
Just then Otter sprang to his feet, crying, "Look out, Baas; here are more."
Leonard glanced up to see, and behold! the second door in the cell was opened, and through it came Juanna, Olfan, Nam, Soa, and three other men.
For a moment there was silence; till one of the captains cried out, "See! Jal the god has come back, and already he claims his victims!" And he pointed to the two priests.
Then followed a scene of confusion, for even Olfan and Nam were amazed at what seemed to them little short of a miracle, while Leonard and Juanna had eyes for each other only, and the three captains stared at Otter like men who think they see a ghost.
But one person in that company kept her head, and that person was Soa. The captain who guarded her had loosed his hold; silently she slunk back into the shadows, and, unseen of any, vanished through the doorway by which she had been led in. A minute passed, and Otter, thinking that he heard a noise without that door of the cell whereby the two priests had entered, which had been left ajar, went to it and tried to open it. Just then, also, Olfan missed Soa.
"Where is the woman, Nam's daughter?" he cried.
"It seems that she has escaped and shut us in, King," answered Otter, calmly.
Followed by the others, Olfan sprang first to the door of the cell where they were, and then through the connecting passage to that of Juanna's prison. It was true, both were closed.
"It matters nothing, here are the keys," said Leonard.
"They will not avail us, Deliverer," answered Olfan, "for these doors are made fast without by bars of stone thicker than my arm. Now this woman has gone to rouse the college of the priests, who will presently come to kill us like caged rats."
"Quick!" said Leonard, "waste no time, we must break down the doors."
"Yes, Deliverer," said Nam mockingly; "batter them in with your fists, cut through the stone–work with your spears; surely they are as nothing to your strength!"
Chapter XXXVII
"I Am Repaid, Queen"
Their position was terrible. Soa had escaped, and Soa knew everything. Moreover, she was mad with hatred and longing for revenge on Leonard, Otter, and in a less degree on Olfan the king. Had they succeeded in revealing themselves to the people, all might have gone well, for Otter and Juanna would certainly have been accepted as true gods, who had passed and repassed the gates of death scatheless. But now the affair was different. Soa would tell the truth to the priests, who, even if they were inclined to desert her father in his extremity, must strike for their own sakes and for that of their order, which was the most powerful among the People of the Mist, and had no desire to be placed under the yoke of secular authority.