the
cave two men were diligently performing this interesting occupation, and
instantly went down with revolver bullets through them. In a couple of
minutes the Mormons were all disposed of, the only casualties being a
pistol bullet through Myzukulwa's shoulder, which had fortunately not
injured the bone, and a nasty slash from a cutlass which Leigh had
received on his left arm. Quickly the whole party passed up the
cavernous road, again taking the precaution to carry away all the
torches, and congratulating themselves upon the complete and unexpected
success of their plan; for Winfield, with the help of Rose--to whom the
beast was sincerely attached--had actually got the quagga up the
staircase, when suddenly Grenville called a halt, listened carefully,
and then turned to the others with the horror of a living death
imprinted upon every line of his face.

"Back!" he said, and his voice sounded but a hoarse, dreadful whisper;
"back, all of you, quick; _the lake has broken out on both sides of the
mountain, and the water is racing down, our road, and will be here
directly_!" With a cry of agony, Winfield seized his daughter by one
hand, Leigh grasped the other, and all ran for the stairway, which
fortunately was not far off; and having once seen the women safely down,
and directed them to hurry on towards the Eastern Mountains with Leigh
and Winfield, Grenville and the Zulus, after infinite trouble, succeeded
in pushing and pulling master quagga on to _terra firma_ once more, and
they then put their best foot foremost, and rejoined their companions.

Soon gaining the shelter of the forest and the rising land, they watched
carefully, and could see across the veldt a Mormon host speeding forward
to the stairway, in answer to the rocket's message, and not far behind
them was a dull, angry line, which Winfield pronounced to be the
advancing water. The band, which numbered some twenty men, was
evidently uneasy at its near approach, and anxious to gain the stairway,
and now, even as they reached their desired haven, an awful thing
happened, and the wicked certainly did fall hopelessly into his own net
for once--there was a rushing, roaring sound, and then, with a
thundering boom, the torrent came sweeping through the mouth of the
cavern in hundreds of tons of water at one awful burst, hung for a short
second, as it seemed, in mid air, and then plunged down in one mighty,
irresistible volume right upon the luckless Mormons,