I was now, it was apparent, in such a situation that my life was of
little worth. Without doubt, Amos did believe that I was capable of
guiding our little column to the place where the Greater Treasure was
hidden.
He thought, perhaps, that I had looked at the fragment of the map I had
snatched from his hand, or else that John Bannister had told me the full
story.
As a matter of fact, I knew nothing. When flying for my very life from
Amos, I had had other things to think of than to gratify a very natural
curiosity, and had never so much as cast a glance at the map. And as
for Bannister, I have said already this was the one subject upon which
he could never or seldom be induced to talk.
Amos, however, held a contrary opinion. Somehow, he must have learned
that for several months John Bannister had been a good friend to me, and
in his own mind had never questioned that I knew all there was to know.
In either case, it was all the same to him; for my life was worth
nothing if I could not help him in the furtherance of his purpose, and I
was but a fifth mouth to feed in a wild, tropic region where food was
difficult to find.
That day I had a stormy scene with Amos, who was supported by Mr.
Forsyth, whose questions I found even more difficult to answer; whilst
Joshua Trust stood by, tugging at his red beard, which had now become
more untidy and unkempt than ever. As for Vasco, he sat at a little
distance, cross-legged, looking in a puzzled manner from Amos Baverstock
to me.
I swore on my oath to them that Bannister had told me nothing; but they
would not believe me. Then, for the first time, I was shown the map
which Amos had brought with him all the way from Sussex; and at once I
observed a singular coincidence.
For the parchment had been rent across the very place where was marked
the great ruined building even then before us; and all Amos had of it
was the following inscription: THE ANCIENT TEMPLE OF C---- and then came
the torn edge, where I had held the parchment tightly between my thumb
and forefinger.
But this information, slight as it was, had been enough for Amos, who
knew well the story of Cahazaxa, the Peruvian prince, of whom I will
tell in the proper place. Both Bannister and Amos had heard often of
Cahazaxa's Temple, which might be regarded as a kind of half-way house
upon our treasure hunt. And upon the other portion of the map, which I
had hidden in a rabbit-hole, were the letters "AHAZAXA," plain enough to
any one who had ever heard of the temple, and thence the route marked
plainly to the secret place where the Greater Treasure lay.
Had Bannister ever shown me the map, I should in all probability have
remembered the names of some of the places marked thereon; but he had
never done so--which, after all, saved me a world of trouble at one of
the most critical moments in my life.
For, had I known, I trust I would never have confessed to these unholy
scoundrels. I like to think that my courage would not have failed me at
the eleventh hour. As it was, being wholly ignorant, I had nothing to
tell, and boldly declared as much, though both the hunchback and Mr.
Forsyth thought me to be lying.
The former worked himself into a kind of frenzied passion. Gripping me
by a wrist, he jerked me first in one direction, then in another,
sometimes so violently that my head flew backward and forward like a
weather-cock in the wind.
"We'll have the truth from you!" he shouted. "I'll have it, though I
must tear it from you with red-hot irons."
"I know nothing," I persisted.
"You'll speak or die," he answered. "And I'll see to it that death does
not come easy!"
All that day, they badgered me and persecuted me with questions. And in
the end, when the sun was setting, they gave it up, and decided to put
me to death.
Mine was a strange fate, in very truth; and now, when I look back upon
that hour, I marvel that I took it all so calmly. For it was my destiny
to sit by the camp-fire, whilst our evening meal of maize and manioc was
cooking, and hear them discuss among themselves how I should be done to
death.
Trust was all for rough-and-ready methods, in keeping with the blunt
character of the man; Amos, for cold, deliberate torture; whereas
Forsyth would bind me to a tree and leave me in the midst of that great
wilderness to starve.
It was Mr. Forsyth's vote that was carried; and now that I knew the
manner of my death, I was filled with cold fear, though till then I had
borne my ordeal with a fortitude that surprised even myself.
And bound I was, then and there, to a stout palm-tree that stood by
itself a little distance from the margin of the forest. For rope they
used a kind of creeper that was common in the woods, and not only was
this as strong as a ship's hawser, but so hard and tied so tightly that
it cut into my legs and arms like bands of steel.
[Illustration: "AND BOUND I WAS, THEN AND THERE, TO A STOUT PALM TREE, A
LITTLE DISTANCE FROM THE MARGIN OF THE FOREST."]
In such a manner was I doomed. For an hour or so I watched those three
dread men, all so different, alike in nothing but their devilry, sitting
together around the fire, talking in low voices, even pleasantly, as if
to do murder were an every-day affair.
Then they lay down to sleep, and both Trust and Amos were soon snoring;
whereas I was left, already athirst and hungry, to await the approach of
a terrible and lingering death.
That night and those which followed will live always in my memory. I
watched the moon rise, wondrous round and white and large, behind the
rounded hill upon which stood Cahazaxa's Temple. The stars, which had
been shining in their millions, faded in the moonshine, all save one
bright planet in the sky above me. And there arose a mist, in which I
thought there was something ghostly, upon the plain where the long grass
stood like corn ready for the cutting. And behind me, as if striving to
enfold me in an overpowering, stifling embrace, was the dark, deadly
forest that cut me off from all and everything I loved.
Long before dawn, Amos Baverstock was stirring. I watched him kindle
the embers of the camp-fire into a blaze, and, sitting with his crooked
back, he looked just like a monkey. I noticed that even at that hour he
was chewing one of his foul, black cigars, his stock of which was
running low. Presently, he awakened Trust and Forsyth. They ate their
breakfast in silence; never a word was said. And then they packed their
knapsacks and set forward upon the march, in the gloaming, with never a
word or a glance at me.
They marched in a bee-line upon the ruins of the ancient temple, and
were soon lost both to sound and sight, for the plain lay even yet in
the shadow of the night.
The dawn--the great heat at midday--the majesty and grandeur of the
wilderness in the heart of which I was doomed and lost for ever--and,
above all else, the grave-like silence of that place--it were better I
made no attempt to describe these things than fail in the endeavour. I
know no more than that my loneliness was overpowering. It was as if I
was the only living atom, save the insects and the butterflies that
fluttered round about me, in all that world of gorgeous vegetation.
I could not move a fraction of an inch. I would gaze by the hour at the
great stones of the ruins before me, small in the distance and yet plain
to see in that clear atmosphere, and wonder what manner of men had lived
there in bygone days--what had been their hopes, their interests, their
mode of life. And then my thirst would consume me; my tongue would
cleave to the roof of my mouth, and I would suck my lips to find them
dry as bones.
One day of it had been more than I could bear; and that second night, I
prayed that death might come speedily, for I saw that in death only
would I find release from all my sufferings. But I lived on, like the
Ancient Mariner himself; and on the third day, as on that tragic ship,
there came a rain--a blessed rain from Heaven itself for me. Clouds
appeared as if by magic, a dark canopy cast across the forest like a
curtain; and the skies on a sudden opened and the rain came down in
torrents.
I was wetted in an instant to the skin, but I cared nothing for that. I
threw back my head with opened mouth, and the water streaming down my
face was life and strength and hope to me.
And that night I no longer prayed for death; I prayed to the great God
of Right and Justice for deliverance. And yet, how weak is human
nature, how little is our faith! For before morning I was struggling
like a madman to free myself from my bonds.
The more violently I fought for liberty, the greater pain I suffered;
for the hard fibre cut into my flesh until I gave it up, and, overcome
by sheer exhaustion, I fell asleep, held upright by my bonds.
I awoke to behold the half-light of approaching day. The plain of grass
before me was lost in the mist which, in that weird place, came always
at sunset and at dawn.
I looked about me as if I yet were dreaming. The giant forest trees had
taken upon themselves the shape of ugly spectres. The tall grass swayed
in the wind of the dawn with a soft, rustling sound that reminded me of
my mother's silken dresses. I watched a lizard, the length of a
foot-rule, run swiftly down the trunk of a tree and make off into the
grass.
I endeavoured in vain to trace its passage, wondering whither the little
creature was going so swiftly; and when I looked up I beheld to my
astonishment--a man!