“I understand,” said Quick in a new and
more respectful voice, “and however big a rascal
you may be, you’ve got pluck. Now, say,
remembering what I told you,” and he tapped
the handle of his revolver, “is that feeding-den
where it used to be?”
“I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed?
The victims are let down from the belly of the god,
just there between his thighs where are doors.
The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this
platform on which we stand is over it. None saw
my escape, therefore none searched for the means of
it, since they thought that the lions had devoured
me, as they have devoured thousands. No one enters
there, only when the beasts have fed full they draw
back to their sleeping-dens, and those who watch above
let down the bars. Listen,” and as he spoke
we heard a crash and a rattle far below. “They
fall now, the lions having eaten. When Black
Windows and perhaps others are thrown to them, by and
by, they will be drawn up again.”
“Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?”
“Without doubt, though I have not been down
to look.”
“Then, my boy, you are going now,” remarked
Quick grimly.
THE DEN OF LIONS
We returned to the others and told them everything
that we had learned from Shadrach.
“What’s your plan, Sergeant?” asked
Oliver when he had heard. “Tell me, for
I have none; my head is muddled.”
“This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I
should go down through the hole that Cat here speaks
of, and get into the den. Then when they let
down the Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates,
that I should keep back the lions with my rifle while
he bolts to the ladder which is ready for him, and
I follow if I can.”
“Capital,” said Orme, “but you can’t
go alone. I’ll come too.”
“And I also,” I said.
“What schemes do you make?” asked Maqueda
eagerly, for, of course, she could not understand
our talk.
We explained.
“What, my friend,” she said to Oliver
reproachfully, “would you risk your life again
to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of
God.”
“It would be tempting the goodness of God much
more if I left my friend to be eaten by lions, Lady,”
he answered.
Then followed much discussions. In the end it
was agreed that we should descend to the level of
the den, if this were possible; that Oliver and Quick
should go down into the den with Japhet, who instantly
volunteered to accompany them, and that I, with some
of the Mountaineers, should stop in the mouth of the
hole as a reserve to cover their retreat from the
lions. I pleaded to be allowed to take a more
active part, but of this they would not hear, saying
with some truth, that I was by far the best shot of
the three, and could do much more to help them from
above, if, as was hoped, the moon should shine brightly.
