THE DOWRY
Both Maseden and Nina looked and felt like tongued-tied children, and
Sturgess was not slow to note their confusion.
"Gee, if there was an orchard anywhere around, I'd think you two had
been stealing apples," he cried. "Sorry, Nina, if I've butted in on a
heart-to-heart talk, but it's not often I can josh our wise Alec, so I'm
bound to take the few chances that come along."
He little knew evidently how closely their talk had concerned him, and
the fact that he had not overheard anything which would supply a clue to
the topic under discussion was, in itself, a great relief.
"Nina appeared when I was about to call you," said Maseden quietly. "She
demanded her share of the watch, and as I was not inclined for sleep I
remained on duty. Of course that is no excuse for an inattentive sentry.
I propose that you shoot me straight off and imprison Nina for the
remainder of her natural life."
"I sentence the pair of you to rest until breakfast is ready. There's
no appeal from the court. About, turn! Quick, march!"
Nina hurried away. Maseden, thinking he would not be able to close an
eye, followed her slowly, lay down, and was soon asleep.
The boat's stores had revealed neither soap nor towels, so the early
morning wash remained a primitive affair. A pool in the stream was set
apart for the girls, while the men scrubbed among the rocks. Sturgess
aroused Maseden a few minutes before breakfast was ready.
"Come this way," he said, nodding in the direction of the boat. "I want
to show you something."
Maseden noticed that the other man's hands and moccasins were soiled
with the whitish-brown deposit through which a channel for the boat had
been delved. Then he saw that no small part of the said channel was
blocked by the debris of a fresh excavation.
Now, among the treasures on the boat were a couple of axes. Given an ax,
some spice of ingenuity and a fair stock of patience, and any man can
fashion an astonishing variety of useful articles. Singularly enough,
Sturgess, who was gifted with the artist's sense of proportion, could
hew a spade out of a plank more skillfully than Maseden, and he was
inordinately proud of the achievement.
"What the deuce have you been up to?" demanded Maseden at sight of so
much misdirected industry.
"You wouldn't guess in a week," was the complacent answer. "This morning
I was standing around doing nothing, when, as the tide fell, I spotted a
bulge in the right bank of our canal. I wondered what had caused it,
after our trouble in lining the walls with stakes, so I nosed around
with a shovel. Then I got all fussed up, and didn't care where I threw
the dirt.... See what _I've_ found, old scout!"
By this time they were in the trench, from which the tide had only
recently receded. Sturgess's zeal had cleared away some two cubic yards
of silt, and Maseden saw at once that a part of the hull of a small
vessel of some sort had been laid bare. Moreover, a few blows with an ax
had removed sufficient of the rotting timbers to give access to the
hulk's interior.
It was a most interesting find. An old-time craft had been brought to
her last resting-place within a few feet of the spot where the _Southern
Cross's_ life-boat was embedded. Evidently in the course of years she
had sunk in the soft deposit, and probably formed a nucleus for a new
sand-bank. At any rate, she was completely covered, and lay there keel
uppermost.
"Have you been inside?" said Maseden, eyeing the doorway broken by the
ax.
"You bet your life," said Sturgess.
"Was the air foul?"
"Fine. I guess the lime hereabouts attended to that. Anyhow, I carried
in a blazing stick, and it burned all right."
"Skeletons on board?"
"Not a bone that I could see."
"What are you keeping back, then? You can't humbug me, C. K. There's
something on your chest. Get it off!"
Sturgess craned his neck over the edge of the channel to make sure that
neither of the girls was near.
"From hints I've picked up now and then, when Madge felt she must either
talk or bust, I've come to the conclusion that old man Gray's death
means poverty to that small bunch," he said. "Now, _I'm_ pretty well
fixed, and I guess _you'll_ never be hard pushed to buy a food ticket,
so I want your brainy assistance to arrange things for the girls'
benefit. See? It should--kind of--make matters easy--when it comes to a
show-down."
"What have you come across? Spanish treasure?"
Maseden peered into the dimly lighted interior of the wreck. Apparently
the inverted deck was about four feet below the level of the opening,
and Sturgess had broken into the after part of the hull.
"Let me go ahead and pass out the boodle," said Sturgess. "I found it
in a wooden box, which is clamped with iron, but it has nearly fallen to
pieces."
He lowered himself to what had been the ceiling of a cabin, and moved
cautiously among a litter of rotting wood, evidently the furniture which
had once rendered the tiny apartment habitable. He came back with laden
hands, and passed out a curiously shaped jug, or flagon.
Maseden examined it critically.
"By Jove!" he cried; "this is Aztec work, and hammered out of solid
gold!"
"There's five more of the same sort," said Sturgess, in a voice cracked
with excitement. "And _this_ strikes me as something worth while."
He produced a crudely modeled figure of a puma, the body in silver and
the head, feet, and tail in gold. The eyes and claws were of polished
quartz, and were bright as when the ornament left the hands of the
Mexican lapidary who fashioned it. The metals, of course, were
tarnished, the silver being black with age, but both men realized that
they were gazing at a splendid specimen of a long-forgotten art.
"How much of this sort of stuff is there?" said Maseden, his imagination
running riot as to the possible history of this unrecorded argosy.
"Twelve pieces altogether," chuckled Sturgess. "Six gold pitchers, four
animals and two carved dishes, each of gold. I've rummaged around
carefully, and that's the lot. For'ard of this section is a hold, and,
from what I can make out, it was loaded with furs and cloth, but the
cargo is all mussed up with salt and lime."
"Show me one of the dishes."
Sturgess brought forth an oval-shaped dish, made, like the vessels, of
solid gold. On its broad rim were chased twelve weird-looking creatures
which reminded Maseden of the signs of the Zodiac; in the sunken center
appeared a very elaborate design consisting of four trees, a bird
perched on the topmost branches of each. Long afterwards he learned that
this cartoon represented, in Aztec picture-writing, the four famous
chiefs who founded the Aztec dynasty.
At any rate, he knew at the time that the hoard which Sturgess had
discovered was of great archaeological interest, apart from the intrinsic
value of the precious metals, itself no small sum.
"We ought to devote the necessary time to a thorough survey of the
wreck," he said thoughtfully. "Meanwhile what have you at the back of
your head about Nina and Madge? What did you mean by saying it would
make matters easier?"
"Well, suppose you and I agree to give 'em the proceeds of the sale,"
and Sturgess handled one of the jugs lovingly. "There's sixty ounces of
pure specie in this pretty thing alone, I'll bet. Then, if it dates away
back, the price goes up like a rocket."
Maseden knew that the really important part of his question had been
avoided.
"We must think it over," he said.
"Think _what_ over?"
Sturgess, whose face was on a level with Maseden's knees, scowled up at
his friend with such an air of indignant surprise that the other man
laughed.
"I am not planning a daylight robbery of two fatherless orphans,"
explained Maseden. "Our difficulty will be to persuade these two to
accept their legitimate half share, let alone the whole of the plunder.
Shan't we give them a hail, and let them see the pirate's _cache_ before
breakfast? Because that is what it is. These things were stolen from
some Aztec shrine."
"Why Aztec?"
"Why not?"
"Peru is a far more likely place."
"Yes, if these utensils were not of Mexican origin. The signs on the
dishes are the animal-names used in the Aztec calendar."
"Crushed again!" said Sturgess, clambering out of the wreck. "But say,
professor, how did you ever manage to stow away those odds and ends of
information? I'm your age, and not exactly a fool, but I never had time
to read."
"You never made time, you mean. If you had lived seven years on a
solitary ranch you would be forced to buy books and read them. My
inclination turned naturally to the records of the country I lived in.
The stories of the Spanish invaders in Mexico to the north and Peru to
the south were more romantic than any novel. You've heard of Captain
Kidd, the buccaneer, of course, but I suppose you know nothing of the
Welshman Henry Morgan, and his exploits on the Spanish Main?"
"Not as much as would go on a dime in big type."
"Well, Morgan would have made Kidd shine his boots if they had ever
met."
"Gee whiz! Hennery must have been _some_ Thug.... Hi, Madge. Where's
Nina?"
"You two ought to have been washed quarter of an hour ago," came Madge's
wrathful cry. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Breakfast will be
spoiled!"
"Madge is quite right," said Maseden. "Breakfast is more important than
loot. Eat first, and discuss the pile afterwards."
This sound advice availed him or Sturgess little afterwards. Both girls
were vexed that the discovery was kept from them even during that short
space of half an hour. They were placated, however, by being allowed to
share in the labor of clearing a sufficient area around and above the
wreck to permit of its exact size being ascertained. It was only a small
craft, the keel measuring some fifty feet in length, yet, as Maseden was
careful to point out, the early navigators deemed such vessels large
enough to cross the mighty Atlantic.
When the tide rose, and the wreck was flooded again, it floated. This
was foreseen, and the expectant watchers had a number of stout poles in
readiness, with which they under-pinned the hull on one side. Thus it
was rendered much easier of access later.
Beyond a couple of beautifully carved and chased rapiers, the blades of
which were largely protected by leather scabbards hardened by salt
water, and a number of copper cooking utensils, they found nothing more
of value. The cargo, which appeared to have been furs and mats of
painted reeds, was wholly destroyed. The vessel had carried two masts,
whose stumps, broken off short near the deck, seemed to indicate the
mischance which had befallen her in the Pacific. There were no cannon or
other arms of any sort in or under the wreck, but as she had surely come
there by way of Providence Beach and Hell Gate, she had probably rolled
over countless times during the journey.
She was built of oak. The bluff bows and high-pitched forecastle and
poop dated her as a product of the early seventeenth century. No trace
of a name was discernible, but the bulwarks had been torn off. The
absence of an elaborate figurehead was significant. She was a strongly
constructed, but not highly finished little ship.
As to her history or nationality, the only reliable tokens were the
swords, which were Spanish, with Toledo blades. The copper cooking-pots
were Mexican. In a word, she was ostensibly a trader, and Maseden
believed that the iron-clamped box containing the treasure had been
hidden beneath the floor of the cabin, because the planks were broken
where the heavy package had apparently fallen through.
One thing was certain. The similarity of the six flagons, the two dishes
and the four animal figures showed that they came from an Aztec
_teocalli_, or temple, of great wealth and importance. It was highly
improbable that any town on the west coast of Mexico contained any such
fame. If, therefore, they had been looted from the interior of the
country, a reasonable assumption was that some band of Spanish
adventurers, finding the way hopelessly blocked to the east, fought
their way westward, and actually built the vessel which should convey
them to far-off Cadiz.
It was a strange hap that laid bare their plunder to the eyes of four
descendants of the race which was destined to sweep them and their
barbarous methods off the high seas.
After a day of hard work and many thrills, Maseden was moved to accept
the discovery as a good omen.
"I had in my mind to suggest that we should renew our voyage by
to-morrow's first tide," he said, as they sat near the camp-fire after
the evening meal. "Just as the Romans consulted the oracle before
starting on any great undertaking, so have we been given a happy augury
by having thrust into our hands, so to speak, a notable treasure.
Friends, I propose that we accept the decision of the gods, and weigh
anchor in the morning."
For no assignable reason, the suddenness of this resolve seemed to
startle the others.
"Have you made up your mind, then, that the channel is practicable?"
inquired Sturgess after a marked pause.
"The only channel we know is practicable," said Maseden.
"Do you mean that we should return the way we came?" put in Nina in an
awed tone.
"It offers our only means of escape," was the grave answer. "To my mind,
if we attempt the southern exit we go to certain death. We have a roomy
boat, a sail, and oars. By putting off slightly before high water we can
reach the mouth of the gorge just on the turn of the tide. I think we
can get through without any real difficulty, and even beach our boat in
the open and shallow channel of Hanover Island which we were making for
when the raft was swept out of its course. We have discussed the tides
many times, and we all believe that we shall find ourselves in the main
tidal stream again on the other side of that island opposite," and he
pointed to the mass of black hills outlined against the eastern sky. "It
is only the 'lesser of two evils,' I admit, but it yields a possibility;
whereas I regard any attempt to navigate the southern avenue as
absolutely fatal."
"Why the rush for the morning tide?" queried Sturgess.
Then Maseden laughed.
"You have fallen a victim to the prospecting mania," he said cheerfully.
"Having made a good strike, you want to follow it up. I don't blame you.
I believe this beach would pay well for digging. Before you were through
with the search you would have a fine collection of odds and ends. But
I'm minded to be superstitious for once. That puma with the glistening
eyes has seemed to wink at me all day and say 'Get me and yourself out
of this quick!' I don't want to impose my wishes on you others, but my
advice is: Start to-morrow!"
Madge, listening intently, nodded.
"You are always right," she said emphatically. "'Whither thou goest, I
will go; and where thou lodgest--'"
She hesitated, as though conscious that her tongue was running away with
her. The quotation, though apt, was peculiarly infelicitous. It did not
please Sturgess; it reminded Maseden of an extraordinary relationship
which he had tried in vain to ignore; it jarred on Nina Forbes's
sensitiveness, because it recalled the promise she had made at dawn but
had not had any opportunity of fulfilling.
She it was who broke up the conclave abruptly by springing to her feet.
"If we're going sailing the angry seas to-morrow, it's high time we were
trying to sleep," she said. "Come, Madge.... By the way, is there to be
any more guard-mounting to-night?"
"Yes, and you have no concern therein," said Maseden firmly.
"Who's keeping guard?" inquired Madge. "This is the first I've heard of
it."
"Alec has had an attack of the fidgets ever since he saw that empty
coracle," said Nina. "But I'm the worst sort of sentry, anyhow, and you
would be no better, dear, so let us snooze selfishly, and be ready to
help the men in to-morrow's hard work."
"I've never before known a verse from the Bible break up a meeting like
that," commented Sturgess thoughtfully when the girls had gone.
"Somebody might have heaved a tin of kerosene into the fire, the way
Nina jumped up."
"The words may have evoked distressing memories," said Maseden
incautiously.
"As how?"
Sturgess's alert brain was very wide awake at that moment, but Maseden
contrived to extricate himself.
"That famous phrase of Ruth's contains the essence of an otherwise
uninteresting Biblical story," he said. "If Ruth had not been so
faithful to her mother-in-law we might never have heard of her."
"Was Naomi her mother-in-law?"
"Yes. Ruth, herself a widow, married Boaz."
"I guess I was sort of mixed up about it."
"Lots of people are," said Maseden dryly, and the subject dropped.
* * * * *
They were astir early and, when the tide served, put off with as little
ceremony as though they were going on a river picnic.
The boat, of course, was far more easily managed than the raft. By
keeping in the slack water inshore they contrived to reach the mouth of
the gorge about the beginning of the ebb, and their calculations were
completely verified by the smoothness and safety of their subsequent
passage.
Maseden stood in the bows with an oar in readiness to sheer away from
any obstruction in mid-stream. The two girls each took an oar, and
Sturgess steered, also with an oar, as the broad-bladed rudder ran a
foot deeper than the keel, being intended to act as a center-board when
the sail was in use.
So preoccupied were they with their task that they hardly noticed the
spot where the cliff had fallen away soon after they had passed beneath.
Even the canopied rock on which they found sanctuary after the loss of
the raft merely attracted a momentary glance. Madge, eyeing the fissure
which had so terrified her, was about to say something when a warning
shout from Maseden caused her to pull a few vigorous strokes.
They sheered past a flat boulder. A couple of vultures, scared by the
unwonted apparition of a boat, flapped aloft, and they all saw,
stretched on the rock, some portions of a human skeleton which most
certainly had not been there when they came that way little more than a
fortnight earlier.
The uncanny sight vanished as swiftly as it came. None spoke. The pace
of the stream was quickening, and each had to be in instant readiness to
obey orders.
At this stage Maseden asked the girls to reverse their positions and
pull steadily. In consequence they were backing water, and thus checking
the boat's way appreciably. By this means they rounded an awkward corner
without any trouble, and again their eyes dwelt on the towering hills
and wooded slopes of Hanover Island.
Maseden and Sturgess now began to press laterally towards the eastern
channel. Two possible openings were abandoned because of the ugly reefs
sighted only a couple of hundred yards away. At last, when practically
in the center of a two-mile-wide passage between the three islands,
Maseden saw a long stretch of open water.
Shipping a pair of oars, and leaving the steering and general look-out
to Sturgess, he called on the girls to pull in the orthodox way. The
three bent to the task. After ten minutes of really strenuous effort
they were sensible of a greatly diminished drag in the current. Five
minutes later they were in slack water, and speedily thereafter the boat
ran aground.
"Hooray!" yelled Sturgess, who alone had any breath left to celebrate
their victory. Somehow, little as they had gained in actual distance,
since Providence Beach was only three miles away, they all felt that
their chief enemy was conquered. They had profited by the initial
mistake of keeping in mid-channel; they had learned a great deal about
the tricks and changes of the Pacific tides; they had secured a
first-rate boat, and, lodged in skins as a portion of the ballast, was a
treasure of no mean proportions.
Small wonder that they were elated, or that Maseden's strong face
softened into a smile of satisfaction as he drove the boat's anchor
securely into a crevice in the rocky beach.
But he neither forgot the skeleton on the rock in Hell Gate nor failed
to interpret correctly its sinister message, so it was his careful
scrutiny that first revealed a figure lying on the shore at high-water
mark about a quarter of a mile to the east. He surveyed it steadily for
a while until the others, too, saw it. Then he made up his mind as to
the only practicable course of action. He unhooked the anchor.
"All hands overboard," he said quietly. "We must get the boat afloat."
They obeyed instantly. The girls returned on board, their task being to
steady the boat with the oars. Maseden took a cudgel, which he preferred
to a sword, and hurried towards the prone figure. Sturgess followed,
some fifty yards behind, with the rifle, his mission being to cover the
retreat, if need be.
Neither Nina nor Madge uttered a word. They were becoming hardened to
danger. They knew full well that, for some unimaginable reason, a
territory hitherto closed to Indians was now open to them, and Maseden
had left his companions under no delusions as to the characteristics of
the wretched tribes which infest the lower coast and islands of Chile.
But the particular business of the women at the moment was to keep the
boat in such a position that the men could jump in and shove off into
deep water without delay, and they attended to that and nothing else.
War makes soldiers, and the struggle for life had assuredly made these
two girls brave women.