DOINGS ON THE LITTLE ISLE AGAIN
"Hurrah!" echoed Ray, with teasing, mock enthusiasm. "Hurrah!"
But we hadn't taken two more steps forward, now, when there broke out
ahead of us the voice of Hawkins again, singing:
_"She died of the fever, no doctor could save her."_
Smash! went our enthusiasm, and we turned tail and skedaddled back on
the path. We pulled up a moment at the edge of the open bit, and we
heard:
_"She was a fish monger, and where is the wonder--"_
We hopped across the clearing, and still the song followed:
_"For they all wheeled wheel-barrows through streets wide and narrow,"_
_"Crying--'Cockles! and mussels! alive, alive, O!'"_
"That blooming idiot!" broke out Norris, when we came to a stand in the
brush. "What business had he coming back so soon!"
"He just couldn't wait to sing us that song," said Ray. "'Cockles! and
muscles!' But say--Hurrah for the gold mine!"
"Perhaps the black boy smelled a mouse," I offered.
We hadn't long to wait till Hawkins came pushing through the brush.
"I tell you wot, fellahs," he explained, "that nigger suddent got
stubborn, an' wouldn't go no farther. 'Ee was just afraid, I guess, as
'ow the boss 'ud raise _ructions_ if we 'adn't got enough work done when
'ee gets back. This last trip, the boss sure 'as got a big 'urry on;
'ee'd 'ave us workin' night an' day, if 'ee 'ad the light."
"How much, now, do you suppose he has got out of the diggings?"
questioned Norris.
"Hit's a 'eap more nor I can guess," answered Hawkins. "Hit's a 'eap o'
pounds we 'ave got out the two years I 'ave been 'ere. An' now, 'ee's a
cartin' of it awye from some 'ole back in the rocks where 'ee's been
keepin' it, 'ee don't let the nigger nor me go near the plyce. 'Ee says
'ee 'as got a trap there; an' 'ee'll shoot us if we foller 'im anywhere
'ee goes."
Norris had many queries to put the little cockney contortionist, but I
soon pressed him to go, lest the black boy should come seeking him. And
so he went, having exacted a promise that we would not go away from the
region without him. In return, he contracted to play into our hands in
circumventing Duran. "And Hi'm slick," he declared. "He cawn't fool
Handy 'Awkins."
"And now--" began Norris.
"Now we'll get back to our little camp," I said.
"It's hard to go without a sight of the gold diggings," said Norris,
half in earnest, half playing the youngster.
"The diggings will keep till the time's ripe," I said, assuming the
paternalism forced on me.
"Hurrah for the gold mine!" teased Ray, keeping a wary eye on Grant
Norris.
We were soon in the path, and presently scaled the cliff on Duran's
contraption. We coiled the halliard under the brush on the cliff-top, as
Duran had left it, and picked our way to the cavern entry-hall. A flash
from my electric lamp revealed that all the gold-laden bamboo cylinders
were gone from that niche, where we had seen them.
"I hope to Heaven our fellows saw what he did with that stuff," prayed
Norris, when we had crawled out through the curtain of water into that
outer world again.
"Trust Bob for that," I assured him. "He'll have the place spotted if
he's had half a chance."
Everything was ship-shape in the camp-place amongst the brush. There was
food in plenty, and though it was late, I was glad to round out my
breakfast with some fruit and a nibble of cheese. We had nothing to do
but to rest until the return of our comrades. And that event we were not
to expect until some time between sunset and morning, for we had already
seen that it was by night, by preference, that Duran traveled to and
from that secret vale behind the cliffs.
It was a long and irksome time of waiting that day and night, for a good
share of the night had passed ere they had come. Even now, so long since
that time, I yawn to think of it. And I am thinking that I can do no
better, to cover that space, than tell how our friends employed the
time, while they were gone down Crow Bay.
* * * * *
It was soon after nightfall, Carlos--on the lookout--had heard Duran
splashing in the creek, below the cascade, and he made out the
ill-defined form of him as he moved away down the path in the murk.
Carlos hurried over to the nook in the brush and made his report.
Duran's coming, of course, was expected--though he seemed a trifle
early--and the plan of procedure had already been outlined. Grant Norris
set off at once to again achieve that passage through the grotto and
join Ray, who lingered at the cliff-top, where he had witnessed Duran's
passage. Captain Jean Marat, Robert, and Carlos prepared to follow on
Duran's trail.
But there was a circumstance troubled Carlos, and he had a word to say.
"Duran, he walk ver' light, an' it seem' he keep ver' straight," he
began. "I think he do not carry anything."
"Let's go see!" said Robert.
And he and Carlos hastened into the cavern, where Robert threw his
flashlight on the scene. There was that stack of gold-filled sections of
bamboo, quite of the same size as they had seen it hardly more than two
hours before. And more--on the floor of the cavern lay a canvas pack,
with its leather straps.
"He hasn't taken a thing!" broke out Robert.
And the two hurried out to where Marat stood waiting on the stream's
bank.
Robert gave him the news.
"Ah!" said Marat. "He go for help to carry thee big load away."
But Robert's mind was full of another idea, and he said, "Captain Marat,
suppose you and Carlos go and see if you can see anything of him out in
the bay. I'll stay here. And if you see him going off in the canoe, send
Carlos after me. If you don't see him, wait for me."
"Ver' well," said Marat.
And the two set off in the murk. They moved rapidly, alternately
trotting and walking, intent on covering as much of the space between
them and Duran as might be. And as they went, Marat--and Carlos as
well--began to have an inkling of the thought that was in Robert's mind.
When they got to the water they quickly satisfied themselves that
Duran's sturdy little canoe was gone from its place. Soon they were in
the skiff and out on the bay. Swiftly they moved down the shore, looking
over their shoulders now and again, for the sight of some dark object on
the quiet surface of the water. They had hardly gone a mile when they
rested on their oars, and took one good long look down the bay. Nothing
showed.
Robert, in the meantime, squatted on the bank of the creek, and waited
patiently for perhaps two hours. A tree-toad trilled out, now and then,
to mingle his song with the music of the nearby cascade. The tree-tops
hung over the stream with never a rustle, for the night breeze had not
yet risen.
At last Robert became conscious of a new sound, seeming to come from
some point way down the creek. In another minute it had grown more
distinct, and he knew it for the gentle and regular dip of a paddle. And
presently, a black mass showed between the banks. And then a canoe poked
its nose to shore, not forty feet from where Robert crouched by the tree
trunk.
The canoeist secured the painter to a root in the bank, and forthwith
moved to the cascade. In five minutes that figure appeared again, and
Robert saw him stoop over the edge of the canoe and distribute something
on its bottom. When he went back a second trip, Robert made a hurried
visit to the canoe and satisfied himself that it was the gold-laden
bamboo that found placement there. Four trips that figure made, all
told, and then loosed the painter and re-embarked, moving quietly down
the stream in the dark.
Now, Robert took to the path and sped on down the way the others had
gone. He found them awaiting him in the skiff.
"He's got all the gold in the canoe," Robert explained. "And he's on the
way."
"Thad w'at I been thinking," said Captain Marat. "He go roun' by one
lagoon an' fin' thee creek. I think I have see where thad lagoon, it go
in. We go there an' see."
So the three set the skiff in motion, skirting the marsh-grass, till
they came to where a narrow channel opened inland.
"Another one leedle more down," said Jean Marat; "maybe he come out thad
one."
They had got the boat to within view of the opening of that next
channel, when an object shot out from behind the grass.
"Down--queek!" spoke Marat, in a hurried whisper.
All ducked their heads and lay quiet for some minutes. Then they
ventured to peer over the gunwale, and saw the canoe as a dark mass,
moving steadily away down the bay.
"He didn't see us," observed Robert.
"No," agreed Marat, "fortunate' he did not look round."
There was little doubt as to Duran's destination, so the three made the
passage leisurely down over the same route they had rowed that other
night. And they turned the skiff up that same creek of the mainland.
This time they were determined on a bolder move than before. They meant
to risk discovery, and land with the boat on that little island, though
under cover of night. Carlos and Robert--who, like myself, still
retained his black-stained face and hands--were to remain in hiding
throughout the coming day, and observe, if possible, how Duran should
dispose of that gold he had taken from Carlos' mine. The while, Captain
Marat would hold the skiff over at the mainland, ready to pick them up
the following night, when Duran shall have departed from the island
again.
They waited till midnight, and then rowed to the isle where Robert and
Carlos disembarked.
"Two flashes will be the signal," said Robert in a whisper.
"All right," returned Marat. And he rowed away.
The two crawled into the shelter of the brush. In time, they had gained
the clearing in which stood the little hut. No gleam of light shone
there. Creeping close, they could hear the snoring of one, and the heavy
breathing of another sleeper within. This was enough. They got to the
shore again, and found where the skiff of the isle was lying on the
beach.
"Well, Carlos," said Robert, "suppose we have a snooze. There won't be
anything going on till daylight."
"Yes," agreed Carlos.
And they crawled into a close piece of underbrush.
Carlos was the first abroad when day had come. Robert missed him when he
opened his eyes; but he had hardly finished rubbing the sleep from them
when Carlos appeared, to say that the negro was already setting off in
the skiff for a trip to mainland.
"That Duran is sending him off on an errand again," observed Robert, "so
he will be alone to bury the gold."
"Yes," said Carlos. "I heard Duran say to him that he must not forget to
bring the drug. He say something about someone who do not work anything
without he have the drug."
Robert puzzled a moment over this intelligence, and then, seeming to
give up the problem, he said, "well, let's have a bite and then see what
Duran's up to."
Presently they got themselves behind a shelter, whence they could look
out into the little clearing. Duran was nowhere in view. They waited
patiently some minutes, and were rewarded with the spectacle of Duran
coming into the clearing from a point to their left, and bearing on his
back a heavy pack. He passed the cabin and moved to its north side. In
ten minutes he returned without his burden, going back the way from
which he had brought his load.
Now, when Duran had gone out of view again, they scurried round to a
point of vantage situate to the northeast of the hut. So when Duran
appeared with his next load, they followed him with their eyes till he
disappeared in a thicket that debouched from the wood on the north into
the clearing.
In a little, Duran again appeared. And he had no sooner vanished to the
south for a third freight of the gold, than Robert and Carlos were
startled with the spectacle of a naked, lithe, black body springing from
the ground, as it seemed, and who stole snake-like to the edge of the
thicket where Duran had gone in and out.
Our two looked at one another in their astonishment. It was evident
there was at least one other than themselves spying upon Duran and his
doings.
On an impulse, Robert took up a cudgel and threw it hard to the place
that naked black had gone into. He immediately followed it with another
missile. That black body suddenly appeared, like a rabbit flushed out of
his brush, and sped for the shelter of the wood.
When Robert and Carlos came to the wood's edge, by the north shore, they
saw the black head of a swimmer making haste across the bay.
"I wonder where he came from?" queried Robert.
"I don' know," said Carlos. "Maybe from the _Orion_."
"Well, we gave him a scare," said Robert. "He won't come back."
They got to their point of vantage again, and watched till Duran had
taken into the thicket a fourth, and last burden. This time they had
above an hour's wait for sight of him again. And now he bore a shovel,
with which implement he disappeared into the cabin.
"I guess he's through with his job," observed Robert. And such was the
case, for no more was seen of Duran for some hours; and then he
appeared, but to go down to the south shore, apparently to look for the
return of his black. That portly individual indeed showed up, down the
bay, his oars rising and dipping leisurely. Robert and Carlos watched
the landing of the skiff. For cargo, there was a coffee-sack, holding
some parcels of stores. And the desired drug the black brought, too, for
Carlos heard him report as much to Duran.
It was already past the middle of the afternoon when those two
disappeared again in the cabin with the coffee-sack. From then till
dark, neither showed a face except the once, when--near dark--the fat
black came out for an armful of wood. And then the coming murk
encouraged our two to creep closer, and they had their appetites set on
edge by the smell of fresh-made coffee. They peeked through the window
to see those within having their snack.
Duran rose from the table at last. Robert and Carlos were down by the
shore when the canoe was pushed into the water, and Duran began his
return voyage up Crow Bay.
The flash of Robert's light brought Marat over; and it was an
interesting report Robert had to make to him as they propelled the skiff
again on Duran's track.
"Ah, thad ver' good," said Captain Marat. "We find where he hide it now
without much pain."
Duran's canoe was in its place near the bay end of that path; and within
the hour the three were received by their comrades in the camp.