THE CHEST OF SECRETS
All that night, Curlie Carson plodded doggedly on before his three
burros. Had he known of his pal's safety, he must surely have camped
beside the trail and slept. As it was he did not pause for rest.
As the black horde on Curlie's trail traveled light, with no donkeys to
be urged forward, they made hourly gains on the lone plodder. In the
beginning Curlie had a start of ten miles. Two hours had not passed
before this lead was cut to eight miles. Midnight found them but four
miles behind. As dawn broke, had the trail been straight and broad
instead of crooked and narrow, they must surely have caught sight of
Curlie's lagging donkeys. And then--
But fate was with the lone traveler. They did not see; they could not
know how near they were to the one on whom they hoped to wreak vengeance.
And as the sun came out hot on the jungle trail, they began, animal-like,
to drop beside the trail to rest.
At last with half his force missing, the revengeful leader angrily called
a halt and made rude camp for the day. In this he missed his opportunity,
for Curlie, after a brief pause to allow his donkeys to browse on the
tree leaves and wiry grass, pressed tirelessly on through the long hot
day. Only as evening fell did he tether his beasts and lie him down to
close his weary eyes in sleep.
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile Doris and Dot were not without their exciting hours.
"Look! There! There he is!" It was Doris who spoke. She danced up and
down in wild excitement.
"Where? Where?" Dot asked in great bewilderment. Night had passed.
Morning had dawned with vivid clearness over the ruins of the ancient
castle. Breakfast was over and the girls for three hours past had been
exploring the ruins. On tiptoes they had ascended the massive moss-grown
stairs that in the distant past had led to stately halls. They had come
upon great heaps of stone and brick mantled by clinging bush and creeping
vine.
"It is as if nature would hide it all." Doris had said, a touch of
sadness in her tone.
"Yes," said Dot. "And why not? The man who built the castle turned
tyrant. He sold his splendid birthright for power and gold. Had he proven
a kind and just ruler his castle might have been standing to this day."
They were wandering still among the ruins when the great moment had
arrived. Doris did not answer her companion's excited questions. She only
pointed at the top of a jagged pile of rock and Dot saw for herself.
"The monkey!" exclaimed Dot.
"The jeweled monkey," Doris answered.
"And see!" she said, gripping at her heart to still its wild beating.
"There are now three rings on his arm!"
It was true. From the small creature's arm there gleamed three jewels,
two white stones and a red one.
"Two diamonds and a ruby," whispered Dot. "If only we can get them."
"If only we can find the hiding place from which they come," said Doris.
Dot was thinking hard. Of all the exciting moments in her young life,
this was the wildest, yet she knew that few things were accomplished in
moments of wild excitement.
"We must be calm," she said.
She closed her eyes for a moment that her wild spirits might be stilled.
Doris too was thinking and as she thought she put her hand to her
bracelets. She wondered, as she did so, whether her finely laid plan
would work.
Moving one step nearer to the motionless monkey she squatted down in the
identical posture he had assumed, then having removed one bracelet from
her wrist she placed it on the rock before her. This done she removed
another and yet another until the five bracelets lay on the rocks before
her.
She then replaced all the bracelets upon her wrist; waited a moment only
to repeat the operation. When she had removed the bracelets six times,
she left them lying on the rock to turn her back and walk away motioning
her companion to follow her.
"Why! What in the world?" Dot whispered as they hid behind a clump of
bushes.
Doris held up a hand for silence. It was indeed a bold game she was
playing. She prized her bracelets because they came from very dear
friends. And if she lost Dot's? She dared not think of it.
That the monkey would do one of two things she felt quite certain. "If he
should take a fancy to the bracelets," she drew in a quick breath at the
thought.
But no! As they peered through the bushes they saw that the monkey was
acting true to form. He was imitating the girl's action. Having removed
the three rings from his arm he placed them on a flat rock. This done he
placed them again on his arm.
"But will he go away and leave them?" Doris asked herself.
Three tense moments followed, moments in which the monkey followed out
the girl's pantomime to the last detail.
Then to Doris' intense delight, he went scampering away.
Twenty seconds later Doris' hand was closing over the three precious
stones.
"It is a shame to do it," she said. "But these stones will do us much
more good than they could possibly do any monkey."
"Let me see them," said Dot eagerly stretching out a hand.
She took one of the white stone rings from her open palm. Then having
taken a small mirror from her pocket, she drew the corner of the stone
across it.
"Hurrah!" she shouted. "It's real. It cuts glass. It's a diamond."
"Be still!" said Doris gripping her arm. "You'll frighten the monkey
away. I'm afraid that we have killed the goose that lays the golden egg."
"Killed what?" Dot stared at her in surprise.
"Don't you see," said Doris, "what we might have done? If our monkey
friend has found two rings in the last few days, who can say how many
more treasures there are hidden where these rings were found?"
"Who indeed?"
"If only we could have followed him to the source of his treasure."
"We can! We can!" exclaimed Dot, springing up. "There he goes now!"
The next instant they were following on the trail of the fleet-footed
monkey. In no time at all Dot, surer of foot and more accustomed to rough
travel in the tropics, was far in the lead of her cousin.
"We--we'll lose him!" she panted.
"But look," said Doris, trying her best to keep up. "He is leaving the
ruins and taking to the forest." Her tone showed her disappointment.
"He's not going to his treasure-house. He's trying to escape us."
"You never can tell," said Dot. "Anyway we must follow him."
So once more in the stifling heat of a Haitian day they took up the wild
race that led on to victory or defeat, to treasure or disappointment.
A half hour of exciting struggle through brush, bush and tangled vines
and then, just as hope was waning, they came to an open space to discover
there a heap of broken masonry. And atop the pile, Oh, joy of joys! was
the jeweled monkey.
One moment he blinked at them, the next he disappeared into the ruins.
"Oh, Dot!" said Doris. "What if this should prove to be the place of the
queen's treasure!"
"That," said Dot, after a moment of rest and thought, "is what we are
about to find out."
Together, hand in hand, feeling like Twin Alices in Wonderland, they
marched to the ruins.
"This," said Dot, "is the ruins of the black emperor's hunting lodge. I
have heard of it, but no one I know has ever seen it. Look," she said as
she mounted the pile. "The monkey went down through that small hole to
the cavity beneath that large rock."
"We must roll the stone away," said Doris excitedly. "There must be a
chest down there, a huge copper chest filled with jewels and gold."
Instantly all save the treasure was forgotten. The heat, approaching
night, the trouble and labor that had been theirs, all was forgotten in
their one desire to roll away the stone.
For a time all went well. A dozen smaller stones were sent tumbling down
the sloping pile. The monkey, who had left his retreat, chattered
encouragement from a nearby treetop. When at last they came to the key
stone they found, to their consternation, that their combined strength
could not move it. Three times they attempted it. Then panting and
perspiring, with sore hands and heavy hearts, they sat down to think.
"If only we had brought old Pompee with us," said Dot.
"I am so hungry I could eat anything," said Doris.
"Tell you what," said Dot, who was a hard loser. "We'll have one more try
at that big stone. There's a stout lignumvitae pole over there. It's
dreadfully heavy, heaviest wood in the world, but we can handle it. We'll
get one end under the stone, then use it as a pry."
Wearily the girls climbed down to tug away at the pole. Up it went and
into place. Then presto! Down it came and up came the stone.
"Grand!" said Dot. "Now you sit on the end of the pole and I'll have a
look."
"Hurrah!" she shouted a moment later. "Here is a hole, a regular grotto,
and I see something shining down there. We've found the chest of gold.
You just sit tight where you are on the pole and I'll go down. Don't move
though or you might drop the stone on me."
Down she went. The place she entered was not over three feet across. It
had jagged edges and led down to what had once been a solid floor, some
eight feet below.
"Fine! I'm down!" Doris heard her say. "And here's a chest of secrets!"
The chest she spoke of was a rather small affair; little more than a
lady's jewel box.
The earthquake which had wrecked the walls of the ancient lodge had
crushed the chest as well. One hinge was gone, the lock was broken, and
it lay half on its side with its contents spilled over the rocks.
That the objects the box had contained were of considerable value Dot
knew. She set herself to the task of gathering them together. Darting her
flashlight about she discovered here a diamond brooch, there a ruby set
shoe buckle and here its mate, here a curious ring set with a more
curious stone and there a belt buckle set with a spray of small diamonds.
She had righted the box, had replaced the contents and was darting her
light about for a last look when, of a sudden, a terrible thing happened.
No one knew just how it came about. To sit on a smooth pole for a
considerable length of time is a trying and difficult task. When one is
weary it is worse. Perhaps Doris moved a trifle to ease a benumbed
muscle. Perhaps she fell half asleep and moved unconsciously. Whatever it
might be, the pole suddenly swung to the right, there came a sickening
grind and the great rock fell into place, sealing Dot up beneath the rock
as effectively as if it had been a tomb.
Could anything be worse? Their treasure hunt had ended in disaster. Doris
sat down upon the ruins to cover her aching eyes with her hands and to
try to think calmly.
Night was coming on. Already the shadows were falling. There was an
ominous muttering from off in the east.
"It may rain. She may be drowned in that horrible well of a place." For
the first time she found herself hating the jeweled monkey. To make
matters worse the graceful creature sat on a low hanging limb and
chuckled as in high glee.
"It's all right," Doris called to Dot at last in the most cheerful tone
she could command. "I will go to our camp for Mona. The two of us can
roll the stone away."
"The camp," Dot answered, "is miles away. Besides, Mona is old. She has
no strength. You two could not roll the stone away."
"Then," said Doris, "I must go for someone else. You can't remain there
forever."
"No, I can't. You'd better go."
"All right. I'm going." Something akin to a sob followed Doris' words
"Good bye."
"Good bye."
She was gone. Night settled down swiftly as nights will in the tropics.
Dot was left to herself and the ancient treasure that had in its day
witnessed so much of glory and honor, so much of baseness and defeat. As
she sat there in the little dark hole it seemed to her that the long-lost
jewels spoke to her telling her how all that is bright, rich and glorious
must fade and pass away.
"If ever I get out of this alive," she told herself, "my share of jewels
shall be used in a way that will make a few people in this old world
happier and better."
Strangely enough, this resolve brought to her a peace she had not known
before. It was as if some great spirit, kinder and more noble than she
could ever hope to be, had whispered a solemn "Amen."