BARNEY’S AND POMP’S ADVENTURES.
“Phwere the divil do yez suppose that goes to?” cried Barney, glancing
somewhat timorously down into the place.
“Golly! I cudn’t guess so hard a one as dat, I’sh.”
“Be me sowl, I belave there’s a big treasure hid away down there! Who
knows but that murtherin’ ould spalpeen, Captain Kidd, left his gould in
this spot?”
Pomp’s eyes glistened.
“We ain’t gwine to find out unless we tries it,” he said.
“Yez are roight, naygur. Jist climb down there an’ take a look about
whoile I load up me pistol.”
“Yo’ go yo’sef!” sniffed the darky. “Yo’ am de leadah. Kain’t play no
tricks on dis chile!”
“Begorra, I’m not afther thryin’ to do that,” cried Barney, indignantly.
“Go an wid yez fer a big coward. Shure, it’s afraid yez are!”
“I ain’ afraid.”
“Yez are!”
“Youse ’fraid yo’sef!”
This was enough for Barney. He gave the darky a look of withering
contempt, and then ventured down into the place.
Down the steps he blundered and soon found himself at the bottom of
them. A dim light showed him the way through a long corridor.
This was paved and extended far beyond the range of his vision. The Celt
halted a moment.
“Be me sowl, we kin do moighty little widout a lanthern, naygur. Wud yez
go back and get one?”
“A’right,” agreed the darky.
So back to the Scorcher went Pomp. He soon returned with a lantern.
This aided the two explorers very materially. They were able to easily
see their way now.
Along the passage they proceeded and came to another flight of steps. As
they descended these ’Barney remarked: “Shure, they seem to be a bit
shaky, naygur. Luk out fer thet lower one.”
“A’right, I’sh!”
In fact, it did not look to be a difficult thing to tumble the whole
pile of masonry down. However, the two explorers now entered another
passage.
Suddenly they came to a curious niche in the wall of stone. Barney
scanned it a moment carefully in the light of the lantern.
Then he said:
“On my honor, naygur, this is a big dure in the wall.”
“A door, yo’ say?” asked the darky.
“Yis.”
“A stone door? I don’t see it.”
“Begorra, yez will!”
Barney put his hand in the niche and began to pull upon a metal bar
which he saw there. It was consumed with rust, and crumbled in his
grasp.
But the pressure was sufficient to cause a huge slab of stone several
feet square to move out of place, leaving an aperture.
This was large enough to admit the body of a man. Barney flashed his
lantern rays into it.
The sight which he beheld gave him a chill.
A small apartment hewed out of the solid rock was seen. Its walls were
damp and moldy, but what transfixed the two explorers with horror was
the fact that the place was a literal charnel house.
There, exposed to their view, were four human skeletons. They were in
various positions against the crumbling wall.
For an instant Barney thought that the apartment might be a tomb.
But second thought told him better than this. The position of the
skeletons disproved the theory.
“Mither presarve us!” gasped the Celt in horror. “Phwat do yez say to
that?”
“Golly fo’ glory!” echoed Pomp, “dey shut dem po’ chaps in dar to die!”
“Be me sowl, that was a hard fate fer thim!” cried Barney. “An’ Hiven
rist their sowls! Shure, whoiver do yez suppose they cud av been?”
“Huh! I done fink dat dis was a big prison, I’sh, an’ dat dese were some
ob de prisoners.”
“Av coorse, yez blockhead! But who may the poor divils be? Howld the
lanthern, an’ I’ll be afther takin’ a bit av a look at thim.”
With which Barney crawled into the place.
All raiment which the dead men might have worn had fallen to decay.
There seemed nothing left but the bones.
But of a sudden Barney’s keen eye caught some lines in the black surface
of the stone wall. They were scratched quite deep with some sharp
instrument.
To the Celt’s surprise they were in legible English, and thus he read
them;
* * * * *
“July 10th. 18—.
“Heaven have mercy upon our souls, and should this ever meet the gaze of
civilized beings, pity us.
“We sailed from Montevideo in January, after Southern seals. Nipped in
an ice-patch, our good ship, the Hester, went to the bottom. For months
we wandered about the accursed ice country, until finally we discovered
this Polar land, free from ice and snow. But we were surrounded by the
Polar people, whose traditions forbade the coming among them of any
being beyond the ice belt.
“So we were condemned to imprisonment and death by starvation. We are
confined in this awful hole to die. There is no hope of rescue, no
chance for life. We must die. Already the awful shadow of the eternal is
descending upon us. Our names are:
“John Fenton, Shipmaster.
“Alec Smythe, Mate.
“Jed Manson, Seaman.
“Pierre Martin, seaman apprentice.
“I, John Fenton, scrawl these lines. This is all we can leave behind us.
Heaven rest our souls, for we are buried alive; lost forever! Farewell
to earth and friends. Requiescat in pace.
“JOHN FENTON. Salem. Mass.”
* * * * *
Barney read all this aloud, and then he and Pomp shivered as they
regarded the skeletons.
“Golly!” gasped the coon. “Dat am do mos’ orful fing I eber heern tell
oh! Come out oh dar, I’sh! Lot’s get out ob dis place!”
“Divil a bit until I’ve found out if there are any more av the same
koind here.” declared the Celt.
And he went on down the passage. His quest was not unrewarded. There
were other cells, and in some of them were skeletons.
But in no other place did he find a record. Also, the conformation of
the skulls satisfied him that these victims were doubtless criminals of
the Polar nation, and not civilized men.
These vaults were doubtless part of a great prison. They extended a long
distance underground.
But the two explorers soon tired of the quest, and decided to get out of
the grewsome place as quickly as possible.
“Golly, I’se seen nuff ob dis place,” declared Pomp. “I’se ready fo’ to
get a breaf ob fresh air.”
“Cum on, then,” said Barney, “shure, we’ll have something to tell
Misther Frank, anyway!”
“Dat am right!”
So they set out along the corridor. But when they reached the foot of
the shaky, stone staircase they were confronted with a horrible
discovery.
It had caved in, and a section of the wall also yielding, the entire
passage was closed.
They were shut off from the outside world by a depth of earth and rocks
which they could not easily calculate. It was a stunning reflection.
They might never escape!
For a moment neither could speak.
“Gor’ a’mighty!” finally ejaculated Pomp. “We’se in fo’ it now!”
“Be me sowl, it looks loike it!”
“Shuah’s you’se bo’n, we’se buried alibe ’long wif de res’ ob dese
people!”
Barney had turned a grayish pallor.
“Bejabers, Misther Frank will be afther gettin’ us out,” he declared.
“Marse Frank neber fin’ out whar we gwine ter; we’se in de soup, yo’ kin
bet!”
Trembling and faint, the two jokers sank down onto the damp pavement.
Both were plucky, keen-witted fellows, and they tried to think.
Finally Barney rose.
“Wha’ am yo’ gwine to do, I’sh?”
“Begorra, I’m goin’ ter thry an’ dig me way out av this,” declared the
Celt.
“Dig?”
“Yis.”
“A’right; I’se wif yo’.”
They had no spade or pick; but they had strong hands, and soon got to
work. Their efforts were not without avail.
The earth was coarse and gravelly, and much easier displaced than as if
it had been solid dirt.
In a very short time they had cleared quite a space in the heap of
debris. Then they came upon two large slabs of rock, a part of the stone
staircase.
However, beneath their most intense exertions these rocks were moved
aside and they fell to digging again.
It seemed as if they had been in the place for an eternity, and they
were getting exhausted without seeming to be any nearer the outer
passage than ever, when Barney suddenly stopped work and began to
listen.
Pomp looked up in surprise.
“Wha’ am de mattah, I’sh?” he asked.
“Bejabers, I belave there’s some wan digging beyant us,” he declared.
“Yo’ does?”
“Yes, I do.”
Then they fell to listening.
* * * * *
When Frank and Randall and the sailor reached the Scorcher and were
unable to find any trace of Barney and Pomp, they were not a little
alarmed.
They shouted and fired their pistols, but no answer came.
“That is very odd!” exclaimed Frank. “Where the deuce can they be?”
“Can anything have befallen them?” asked Randall.
“That I am unable to answer. I certainly hope not.”
“With due respect, sir,” said Wendel, “perhaps they have gone off on a
little cruise of their own and missed their course.”
“I believe you have the right of it,” agreed Frank. “We must look them
up, or track them if we can.”
“Could we follow their trail in this hard soil?” asked Randall.
“We will try.”
With this the quest began. As good fortune had it, Randall found his way
quite accurately to the staircase in the demolished prison.
In the dust on the steps were the mark of footprints.
“We have found them, Frank!” he cried. “Here are the footprints!”
In a moment the young inventor was on the spot and closely examining the
marks. He was at once satisfied that the trail was found.