who were instantly
lost to human ken, and in less time than it takes to tell, the two
forces of water had combined, and the veldt far and near was blotted out
in one vast rolling, tumbling sea of agitated foam, upon which nothing
could be seen save here and there a corpse bobbing up and down as it
took its gradual and apparently unwilling course towards the River of
Death.

After searching for some little time our friends discovered a cave about
a mile from the great stairway, into which they thankfully entered; and
after setting a watch, though the precaution seemed a useless one, lay
down to sleep. The rest of the night passed uneventfully; and when the
sun again shone out, the eye rested only upon what was seemingly a vast
and wandering waste of waters, for a thick steaming mist, which was
already rising from the surface of this suddenly-created inland sea,
caused one's range of vision to be limited to a few miles.

One thing, however, our friends did notice, which filled them with
dismay. Grenville had calculated that as soon as the volume of water
was quite exhausted in the natural reservoir on the mountains, their way
through the subterranean road would be clear, and they would have a long
start and be able to get clean through the River Pass before ever their
enemies had a chance of moving from their own side of the chasm. Now
all hope of escape seemed to be cut off, for the mighty rush of water
falling from the subterranean road had entirely demolished the great
stairway, not a single step of which they could now see, and it was
obviously impossible for them to ascend several hundred feet of a
precipitous wall of solid rock, which was what they would now have to do
in order to regain the rood.

After two days had been spent hopelessly and aimlessly in the cavern,
the water was observed to abate as fast as it had risen, and on the
third day the veldt could again be seen in every direction, steaming in
a most unpleasant manner under the rays of a vertical sun. Our friends
were, however, well situated at some height above the plain, and Amaxosa
spent that day in prospecting for a safer hiding-place, which he found
about three miles off, along the mountain-side, and which consisted of a
three-roomed cave, quite two hundred feet above the veldt, in a
commanding position, approached only by narrow paths, a wall of solid
rock behind, and blessed with an ample supply of water. Grenville
unhesitatingly approved