_A Place of Peril.--The Descent of the Darkness.--Dreadful
Expectation.--The Sound from the nether Abyss.--The rising
Waters.--Higher and higher.--A Gleam of Hope.--The Beams
intermixed.--Borne upward on the Waters.--The last Chance.--A final
Struggle.--Pat up to the Surface.--Dropping a Line to a
Friend.--The midnight Sky, and the moonlit Sea.--The lone Hut.--The
Explorers.--Despondency.--A last Resort.--Sleepers awake.--Wild and
frantic Joy.--The Voice of the Landlord.--The Joint Stock Company, and
the Steam Engine._
THE coming of darkness gave a new horror to those which already
surrounded Bart and Pat far down in the pit. This made them perceive how
long they had already been down, and threw a new difficulty in the
way of escape. But that way of escape seemed already to be effectually
closed when Pat brought back his terrible intelligence from the bottom
of the pit. They had formed a new plan, which had given them hope; but
now the only way of carrying out that plan into execution was snatched
from them by the advance of the waters. There was nothing for them to
do. To climb up the log casing was impossible, and to dig through the
clay was equally so without some strong, sharp instrument, like the
pickaxe.
Nothing was visible down below, and up above it grew steadily darker.
Whether the water below was rising higher in the pit or not they were
unable to find out from actual sight, but they had a full conviction
that it was steadily advancing higher and higher towards them, and that
with its advance it was also unsettling or sapping away altogether the
sides of the pit. Awful were the moments, and terrible the forebodings.
The darkness intensified every fear, and made the actual dangers by
which they were surrounded still more formidable.
Overhead they could see the shadowy form of the broken beam still
hanging, and still threatening to fall at any moment. The rope fastened
to it had broken below the point where they were seated, and was within
reach of their hands; but it was of no use. Had the beam above been
strong, they could have easily saved themselves in this way; but the
beam being broken, they dared not touch the rope. The terror of the
broken beam was, however, lost sight of in the presence of that greater
terror advancing from below, minute by minute--the terror of that water
into whose mysterious sources they had penetrated; whose secret fountain
they had broken up, and which now, like some formidable monster too
rashly challenged, was advancing step by step, in irresistible power,
to take vengeance upon these reckless intruders. That soil beneath had
shown its looseness by tumbling down in the removal of the lower logs;
the tenacious upper clay did not exist there; and it seemed to them that
the rising water, by permeating all the soil, might at any moment cause
all the pit to fail together in one heap of undistinguishable ruin. In
that case, they would be overwhelmed beyond the possibility of escape,
and snatched from the world to destruction, without leaving behind them
the faintest vestige, or the slightest token of their awful fate.
At such a moment nothing was said. Nothing could be said. They sat there
then in silence, listening with sharpened senses for any sound that
might tell of the approach of the water. For a long time, however, they
heard nothing except the quick throbbing of their own hearts, until, at
last, there gradually came up a dull sound, which slowly resolved itself
into something like thumping and grinding.
They listened now with intense excitement and agitation to these sounds.
What were they?
There was only one meaning which they were able to give to them. It
seemed as if these sounds must indicate the breaking up of the lower
casing of logs that lined the pit--the first notice sent them of that
break-up which was inevitable. Every sound seemed to tell of some new
log severed from its place by the pressure of the surrounding soil,
which, now saturated with water, and transformed to a sort of ooze,
streamed through the crannies, and destroyed the staying of the pit. At
this thought the expectation of the end grew stronger, their awful doom
seemed more immediate, and every nerve tingled, and every fibre of their
being thrilled with a sense of horror.
They sat with their legs hanging over, and their hands grasping the log
beneath as firmly as they could. It was while they were in this position
that Bart felt something strike his foot. At that touch his first
impulse made him shrink back in terror, and jerk both feet into the air.
The same moment Pat felt the same, and evinced the same repugnance by a
similar gesture. A moment’s thought, however, served to show Bart what
it might be; so, reaching his feet down as far as he could in order to
test it, he found that his suspicions were correct, and that the water
had risen to that point. What had touched his foot was a log that had
floated on the top of the rising water.
But there were more than one log, and this was the discovery that Bart
made; and these logs were a dense mass that filled the pit, and were
carried up by the water in this way. They had loosened many logs at the
bottom, and had stood the long ones upright, while the shorter ones lay
lengthwise. It was in about this same position that the mass of logs now
floated up, and reached the place where they could be touched.
In a moment a joyful cry escaped Bart.
“What’s the matter?” cried Pat.
“Were safe! we’re safe!” cried Bart.
These were the first words that had been spoken since Pat first
announced the entrance of the water.
“Safe, is it?” said Pat. “I’d like to know how, so I would.”
“Why, these logs; only feel with your feet, Pat. They’re all floating
up. I never thought of that. Only feel how compact and solid they are.
They’ll bear our weight, and we can float up with them.” Pat for a
moment made no remark, but reached out his feet, and felt as far as he
could. Then a cry of joy burst from him.
“Huroo!” he cried. “By the powers! but it’s safe we are. Sure it’s as
solid as a flure, so it is. It’s a raft that we have, and it’ll float us
as high as it goes.”
“Yes, if it don’t cave in first.”
“Cave in, is it? O, sure but it won’t be likely to cave in up here at
all at all.”
“We’d better lie along at full length.”
“An what’ll we do that for?”
“O, so as to get the advantage of the floating power of all the logs. If
we stand on one or two they’ll sink down at once.”
“Sure an that’s so. It’s right you are, so it is. We’ll lie down at full
lingth; an O, don’t I wish we could take a bit of a nap!”
“No, don’t think of that, Pat; we’ve got lots to do yet.”
“Nappin? me nappin? Sure it’s only funnin I wor.”
“At any rate, we need only to float up to the plank casing. Then we’ll
be all right. And it seems to be coming up pretty fast. It’s risen a
foot already, since we first felt it.”
“So it has, sure.”
“We’d better be getting ready. I’ll drop off first, and roll over to
the other side, and hold on to as many as I can, and then you come along
after me.”
“Wait a bit, sure, till it gits a few inches higher. It’ll be up fast
enough, sure.”
“O, yes, of course.”
The boys now waited in silence for a little while longer. The water
rose steadily, bearing up the mass of logs on their surface. At length,
slowly and cautiously, Bart allowed himself to pass upon the logs, and
to his immense delight, found that they supported his weight.
“Hurrah, Pat!” said he. “They’re as solid as a rock. Come along.”
In a few moments Pat was by his side.
“I had no idea,” said Bart, “that they would be so solid.”
“Nor me ayther,” said Pat.
“I tell you what it is. The logs were stood upright, and as they floated
up from the ground, they were turned in all directions, and got so mixed
up, that each one supported the other, and the short logs have got mixed
up with the long ones; and so it’s just like a regular raft, and they
bear us as well as if they’d all been laid crosswise on purpose.”
“Thrue for you,” said Pat; “an if it’s so solid, I don’t see why we
mightn’t stand up.”
“O, we’d better not. This is the safest way. We might jar them, or shake
them by putting too much weight on one spot.”
“Well, it’s best not to be in too big a hurry,” said Pat, “an let well
enough alone.”
The boys now relapsed into silence, and watched anxiously their
progress. By feeling the logs on the sides of the pit, they could
perceive that they were rising at a rate that was very satisfactory.
Inch after inch slipped away from their fingers; log after log on the
sides was covered by the rising water. And at intervals, as they looked
up to measure their distance from the top, they could see that it was
steadily diminishing.
Yet the hope which had arisen within them did not blind them to the
danger that still surrounded them. Still there was the danger of the
broken log. The rope hung down, and never ceased to remind them, as they
rose, that there was this above them, for the rope coiled itself over
them, and they feared to make the slightest movement, lest they might
give it a pull. Another danger was the chance that the pit might cave
in, from having its foundations more and more sapped by the water.
This danger had been delayed for long, but the longer the time was, the
greater the danger grew. But most of all they feared lest the supply of
water might cease before they reached the plank casing. If these waters
came from the level of the sea, they would not rise in the pit higher
than that level; and whether that would bring them as high as the plank
casing, they could not tell. Their chief hope arose from the landlord’s
statement that the island was not more than thirty feet above the water,
and if this was so, they knew that they might get to within thirty feet
of the top. And the plank casing came down about as far as that.
And so, full of hope and fear, which thus alternated, they floated up,
rising higher and higher every minute, and feeling most carefully all
the while in order to note the progress which they made. At length the
progress grew somewhat slower, and hope began to grow faint; still, as
it did actually continue, they struggled against despondency, and looked
upward.
Their progress now grew slower. It seemed as though the force which
pressed the waters on was being gradually exhausted. Was this because
that water came from some internal reservoir, or because they had now
reached a point almost at the level of the sea? They were not high
enough yet, and they were not rising fast enough for their impatience.
Bart now stood up and felt. They were near to the lowest part of the
plank casing, yet not near enough. Would they ever get nearer? At the
rate at which they were now rising, they could scarcely hope to rise
more than one other foot at the farthest. And the plank casing was four
feet, at least, above his head--quite out of his reach. What then? Must
they lie down here and perish almost within reach of safety? For a few
moments it seemed so.
But it was only for a few moments. Suddenly the problem was solved.
“Pat,” cried Bart, “I’ll stand here. You climb up till you get your feet
on my shoulders. You can reach the planking then.”
“But how’ll you git up yourself?” asked Pat, anxiously.
“Why, when you git up, you can throw me that rope, of course,” said
Bart.
“Sure enough. Och, but it’s the fool I am, sure, not to think of that.”
No more words were spoken. Pat did as Bart told him, climbing till his
feet rested on Bart’s shoulders. The lowest line of planks was within
reach. Here he found a place to grasp with his hands, the logs below
affording sufficient foothold. He found no difficulty. It was almost
like going up a ladder now, and in a few moments he was at the top.
But all danger was not yet over. He dared not touch the broken log, and
could not detach the rope without doing so. As the log was, it seemed to
be hanging by a few fibres, and the slightest touch might send it down.
But there were plenty of ropes at the hut, and he at once hurried away
to procure one. He brought back one which was quite new, and therefore
strong enough; and also a crowbar. Driving the crowbar into the ground,
he bound the rope to it, and flung the end down to Bart, who had been
waiting patiently in the mean time. Pat now held the crowbar to steady
it, and Bart, seizing the rope, raised himself up. A slight effort was
sufficient to bring him up to within reach of the plank casing, and for
the rest of the way it was easy enough.
At last! There they stood, those two, who had of late been in such deep
and dark despair. They stood there, drawing deep breaths of that glad
upper air, and looked around. The moon shone from on high, throwing its
lustre over the scene, and pouring upon the sea a silver flood. Joy and
gratitude overwhelmed them, and with one common impulse they fell upon
their kne’es, and gave thanks to that Merciful One who had drawn them up
“out of a horrible pit,” and restored them to the light of life.
But their excitement and their labor had utterly exhausted them in
mind and body. They were terribly fatigued. To row back to Chester was
impossible. They therefore went off at once to the little hut, and
here, flinging themselves upon the floor, they soon sank into a profound
slumber.
Meanwhile the boys, with the landlord, and Roach, had searched about the
island, until the minds of all were, filled with the deepest anxiety.
The hut still remained, and into this, not expecting to find anything,
yet still anxious to search everywhere, they all went. There was an
outer room full of ropes and tools, passing through which they came to
an inner room.
Out of a profound slumber Bart and Pat were abruptly roused, and opened
their eyes to find themselves surrounded by their four companions,
perfectly frantic with excitement and joy, together with two strangers,
the landlord and the man who had shown them the way, which two exhibited
a most profound emotion. After their first bewilderment, Bart and Pat
found it easy to guess at the meaning of this scene, and the memories
which they had of their terrible adventure fully justified in their eyes
the wild joy of their friends. It was a comfort to them to perceive that
they had thus been promptly followed, for they saw that had they not
been able to get out of the hole, they would have been rescued by these
loving hands before all was lost.
Long explanations were deferred for the present. Bart and Pat were in a
state of starvation, and their friends had forgotten to bring any food.
But Chester was not far away. The wind was fair, and before very long
they were all seated at the inn table, where the two lost ones satisfied
their ravenous appetites, and the other boys made a second breakfast,
which was more satisfactory than the first had been.
After which Bart and Pat told the whole story minutely, answering every
question.
The wonder, the anxiety, and the horror that were manifested by the
hearers during this narrative need not be described here. Roach insisted
that it was all the doings of Kidd, and maintained that life must yet be
sacrificed, before the malign spirits would be appeased, and surrender
the treasure. The landlord, on the contrary, rightly viewed it as utter
recklessness on the part of the boys. The previous diggers had several
times broken into what he called the “drain,” and the boys had done the
same thing, and so he declared all would do, till they should organize
the new company, and set up a steam engine.
And here it may be as well to state that the new joint stock company was
afterwards organized, and the steam engine set up, and a regular series
of engineering experiments carried out. Coffer dams were constructed on
the shore, and ever so many new pits were dug in many different places.
In spite of all, however, the new company was a total failure; the
waters of the sea proved stronger than their puny arms; and the place
known as the original money-hole was never reached. Scientific men
laughed at the theory of Kidd’s treasure, and the drain, as all
moonshine, and said that the company might as well try to dig pits in a
quicksand; but the stockholders clung to their faith even after they had
failed, and to this day talk about the “treasure,” the “money-hole,”
the “chest,” and the “drain,” as though they were all solid and
well-established facts.