As the fire-balls flashed upon many velvet-lined trays displayed by the
lifting of the lid, all the colors of the rainbow seemed to combine in
the dazzling surface--the white glitter of diamonds, the violet-purple
of amethysts, the blue of the sapphire, the crimson of the ruby, the
deep rich green of the emerald, the changing tints of the opal--a very
pool of gems shimmering under the eager gaze of the three boys.
“Carry me out of fairyland,” was Billy’s break of the silence that
followed the first look into the chest.
Reddy was all eyes and no tongue, but Henri had to say something in his
rôle of showman:
“Some rare stones there, eh? Many years’ gathering, too. This,” picking
up a gold-threaded bracelet of diamonds and amethysts, “is said to
have been a later gift to the house from the royal gentleman that beat
us to the bed upstairs. Whole lot of history here,” lifting a handful
of jewels and letting them fall again into their glittering bed, “but
we’ll keep all that for the campfire, if we ever get back to it.
“Here’s some hard cash, by the way,” moving a jewel tray and pulling
out a buckskin bag. “I am afraid,” added Henri regretfully, “that we
can’t carry a whole lot of this in a single trip where we have to
travel light.”
“We can make a noble try at it,” stoutly maintained Billy, who did not
relish the idea of leaving anything in the chest.
Henri jerked loose the cord that closed the mouth of the bag and let
the gold coins fall in a shining heap on the floor--a mixed collection
of franc pieces of various values, of French minting; English
sovereigns and the German mark.
This shower could have been repeated many times, for under the trays
were long rows of the same kind of buckskin bags, with contents alike.
“Wish we had a tray.”
Billy realized that they had found more than they could carry.
“We will load first with the stones from the trays,” proposed Henri.
“And then add all the cash we can.”
The boys proceeded to empty their knapsacks of the remains of the
rations they carried, and by way of proper economy seated themselves
on the stone floor for the purpose of stowing all the food they could
inside them.
“I won’t be hungry again for a week, I’m sure,” asserted Billy, shaking
the crumbs from his blouse.
“Then let’s to business,” briskly remarked Henri, as he engaged in the
pleasing pastime of stuffing diamond ornaments into his knapsack. Billy
and Reddy followed the leader in the jewel harvest, and all three of
the knapsacks were soon filled to capacity and the straps carefully
buckled.
That left only pockets, jacket lining and such space as could be used
between clothing and skin for the coins.
“Remember, fellows,” advised Henri, “that we mustn’t anchor ourselves,
for there is some lively effort ahead of us.”
Billy was compelled to acknowledge that he was loaded to the limit
at that very moment, and Reddy certainly carried more weight in his
clothes than he ever had before or ever did afterward.
Shutting down the lid of the chest with a bang, covering again the
considerable amount of gold that the boys were compelled to leave,
Henri was about to announce departure. An afterthought, however,
induced him to lift the lid a second time. He removed the key of the
padlock from the hoop and tossed the rest of the keys into the chest.
Again closing the lid, he snapped the padlock in place and slipped the
key into the band of his cap.
“Now we’re off.”
“S-sh!”
Billy turned the dark slide in his lantern. Henri and Reddy followed
the cue.
Somebody or something was moving in the passage on the other side of
the wall.
That somebody or something suffered a bump of some sort or other--a
sound like the overturning of a chair.
Then a muttered oath in French. The somebody or something was human,
and French.
The boys backed up into the darkest corner of the treasure house.
The grated window cast only a dim light into the room, but that line
streaked straight across into the opening in the wall directly opposite.
The head and shoulders of a man appeared in the opening!
Even in the half-light Henri recognized the soldier who had lost the
flagon and the suspicious tapper on the oak around the fireplace in
the dining-hall.
From that panel in the dining-hall to the treasure house Henri, in his
haste, had neglected to close the other slides, and even the plate over
the stairway behind him.
He had carried a light chair from one of the upper chambers so that he
could get back into the treasure house without a boost. It was over
this that the trailing chasseur had stumbled, and which also gave the
red-trousered sleuth the very clew he needed as to the whereabouts of
the mysterious party who had taken the flagon from under his very heels.
Here was a pretty howdy-do for the boys. A soldier, and no doubt an
armed soldier, between them and the carrying out of their cherished
project.
There was only one way out of the sealed chamber, and that soldier was
in it.
Could Reddy, the fox of the woods, suggest a trick that would win here?