*CHAPTER V*
*TREACHERY!*
For several days I was under the impression that, for some reason or
other, the rest of Mr. Clutterbuck's potential heirs had left me to
"walk over." Probably, I thought, they intended to allow me to find the
treasure unchallenged, and would contest the will and my right to
inherit after I should have saved them the trouble of unearthing the
money. This, I felt, was foolish of them, because my position,
according to Steggins, was unassailable. It could easily be proved that
I had not, and could not possibly have, exerted any undue influence upon
the old man. They might contest as much as they pleased, but no British
jury would listen to their nonsense, and I should remain in blessed
possession! I should, moreover, have all the fun of this "big travel,"
as Henderson called it, and the excitement of the treasure hunt thrown
in! Poor-spirited creatures these nephews of old Clutterbuck; the old
man had not been a bit too hard upon them in the postscript to his will!
But about the fifth day out I was almost sure that I caught sight of one
of my rivals--the man called James Strong, who had made certain
unpleasant innuendoes as to my good faith after the reading of the will.
The fellow stood, half hidden, behind a donkey-engine on the deck used
by second-class passengers, well wrapped to the chin in a waterproof or
some kind of long cloak. I suppose I must have betrayed the fact that I
had recognised, or half recognised, him, though I did my best to conceal
it; for the next time that I came in sight of the spot which he had
occupied he had disappeared, and I did not see him again.
Anxious to discover whether the fellow really had been James Strong, or
merely some second-class passenger whose appearance bore an accidental
resemblance to that individual, I made friends with the steward of the
second-class mess, and begged from him a sight of the list of passengers
under his charge; but in his list there was no person bearing the name I
sought, neither was there a Clutterbuck nor an Ellis.
"They may be on board under assumed names!" suggested Jack Henderson,
but I scouted the idea.
"Why should they?" I said. "They would gain nothing by that sort of
game, for we should be sure to see them at landing, if not before; and,
besides, what if we didn't see them?"
"Why, then we should conclude that we had the hunt to ourselves, don't
you understand," explained Jack, "and that would suit them very well."
"Why so?" continued dense I.
"Because in that case we would not hurry up-country, but allow them to
get a start of us and have first dig for the treasure."
"That's true, by George!" I assented reflectively; "you are a sharper
customer than I thought, Jack!" and from this moment until we reached
the Canaries, where we were delayed a couple of days on account of
something going wrong with our screw, I kept a very sharp lookout for my
co-heirs among both second-class and steerage passengers.
Once I was almost certain that I saw both James Strong and his brother;
and once, too, I thought I recognised the other nephew, Clutterbuck; but
in each case I was unable to determine the matter with certainty,
because the suspected individual disappeared as soon as observed.
Under the circumstances, both Henderson and I thought that it would be
wise to waste no time at all at Cape Town. We would buy horses and
spades, and be off without delay, taking the train as far as it would
carry us in the required direction, and acting generally as though my
suspicions as to the identity of the second-class passengers were
actually verified.
But all our good intentions to frustrate the guile of those who thought
to get the better of us by superior cunning were nipped in the bud by an
unforeseen and very unfortunate occurrence.
Our propeller went wrong, and it was found necessary to put into port at
the Canary Islands in order to repair the damage, which the captain
hoped would be effected in a day, but which actually occupied two days.
A strong south-east wind happened to be blowing, and this rendered the
harbour at Las Palmas unsafe; we were therefore obliged to lie in the
protected waterway between the islands Graciosa and Lanzarote, a very
fine anchorage of one mile in width, the former of these islands being
uninhabited (excepting by seagulls and other fowl), while Lanzarote can
boast of a small population.
Jack Henderson and I, together with many of the other passengers, landed
on the second day to stretch our legs, some visiting Lanzarote, while we
and a few others chose Graciosa. Captain Eversley impressed upon all
who went ashore that it was absolutely necessary to be on board by seven
in the evening, as at that hour the _Chepstow Castle_ must sail, whether
all were aboard or not. Since we had not the slightest intention of
remaining ashore so long as this, however, we allowed the captain's
warning to be adopted and digested by those to whose intended
proceedings it might be applicable. As for ourselves, we started with
our shot guns for a walk along the rocky beach.
It was a fine day, and the walk was pleasant enough after the protracted
confinement aboard ship, and Jack and I felt buoyant and happy as we
trudged along the sand and shingle at the foot of some fine cliffs that
frowned down upon us from the shore side, banging our guns off at every
winged creature that would give us a chance at anything like shooting
distance, and laughing and singing after the fashion of schoolboys let
loose. The head steward had provided us with sandwiches, and these we
consumed as we lay sprawling in the sunshine on the sand, having walked
and scrambled a mile or two over very rough "going," and intending after
lunch and a rest to turn and go back to our ship.
We had heard a few shots now and again from the top of the cliff, and
had agreed that the same idea must have occurred to others of the
passengers besides ourselves--namely, to employ some of their spare time
and work off some of their energy in banging at the sea-birds that
circled and flitted about the rocks in hundreds; but beyond
congratulating ourselves upon the fact that we were well below the line
of fire, and not likely to be hit by a stray shot, we had not paid much
attention to the cannonading of our neighbours. I believe I had fallen
asleep. It was warm, sleepy weather, and the sand couch we lay upon,
with our backs to a rock, was very comfortable. Suddenly Jack seized my
arm and shook me.
"Good Heavens, Godfrey!" he said, "look out, old man; did you hear that
last shot? It was ball, I'm certain, and the bullet struck this
rock--there's the mark, see! Somebody had a shot at us. Slip behind,
quick!"
Wide awake now, I slipped behind the rock in a moment, Jack doing the
same; and we were only just in time, it appeared, for at the same
instant a second shot was fired and a splinter flew from the rock close
to the spot which we had occupied.
"Shout out at them that there are people here!" I said. "They must be
firing at a mark!"
"Firing at a grandmother!" laughed Jack; "_we_ were the mark, man. Wait
a bit, look here, I'll show you!"
Jack adopted an old device: he took his cap, and placing it at the end
of the muzzle of his gun, held it up over the top of the rock behind
which we cowered, as though someone had popped out his head to look
abroad. Instantly a third shot whizzed past our sanctuary.
"There," said Henderson; "that's James Strong, or his brother, or the
other rascal!"
"Oh, impossible!" I said. "No fellow could be so base as to attempt to
murder us in cold blood. Besides, we are not even certain whether they
were on board."
"Well, you may take it from this moment that they _were_!" said Jack,
laughing; "they have sent in their cards. Now let's think what's best
to be done. We can't go back along the sands because we shall be within
shot pretty nearly all the way. We must make a bolt for the cliff, get
under its shelter, and either storm their position or hide there until
they are gone."
"What! and miss the steamer?" I said, "we can't afford to do that,
Jack!"
"Can we better afford to get ourselves knocked down like cocoanuts at a
fair?" asked Henderson pertinently. "We shall have to make a bolt for
the cliffs; when there we'll try to climb the rocks so stealthily that
we surprise the enemy and fall upon him unawares."
This seemed the only feasible course, under the circumstances, and we
decided to take it.
*CHAPTER VI*
*RATS IN A TRAP*
It is not the pleasantest thing in the world to be obliged to bolt like
a rabbit across the open, even for twenty yards or so, under a hot fire.
"We must hope they are poor shots!" said Jack, smiling grimly. "If they
couldn't hit us lying quietly on the sand they are not likely to bowl us
over running."
"Count the shots they fire," I said; "then we shall know how many of
them are in it."
"Now," whispered Jack, "we'll draw their fire with the cap once more;
and the instant you hear the shot run for all you're worth to the base
of the cliff. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head. I was horribly frightened, I confess. I do not think
I am a coward when I can hit back if assailed, but I always lose heart
when helpless. To cut and run for other fellows to shoot at you is, to
a reflective mind, one of the most unpleasant things a man can be called
upon to do.
However, there was nothing else to be done. Jack held up the cap; two
shots were fired at it, and away we ran.
Three more reports rang out as we raced across the open, and, to my
horror and despair, Jack fell. All my terror vanished at the sight, and
only rage remained. I seized Jack's feet with an exclamation--it may
have been an oath and it may have been a prayer--and dragged him along
on his back in a manner which must have been dreadfully trying to a
wounded man. One more shot was fired, but it flew over our heads; I
heard the whistle of it distinctly. I deposited my burden at the foot
of the cliffs,--the whole affair did not last four seconds,--and to my
astonishment and intense relief the victim rose to his feet and laughed
consumedly, though not noisily.
"I'm awfully sorry I frightened you, old man," he said, "but it was part
of the game; I only invented it on the spot, or I would have warned
you."
"Aren't you wounded?" I gasped.
"Not a bit of it!" said Jack. "I shammed on purpose. I'm hoping
they'll come down now they imagine there's only one to deal with. If
they do, there'll be 'ructions'!"
I cordially agreed with Jack on this point. I would not mind all three
nephews, and would gladly throw in the cousin as well, at close quarters
and in equal fight. Any fool can frighten me if he shoots at me from an
ambush.
But though we waited in silence for some little while the enemy made no
sign, and we came to the conclusion that the risk of being seen and
recognised weighed more with them than the desire to wipe me off the
face of the earth at any hazard.
"They've got to deny all knowledge of this little affair when we meet on
board ship, you see," explained Jack.
"But they are sure to have another shot at us before they leave us," I
rejoined. "Even if we creep along under the lee of the cliffs they'll
find some place where they can sight us, confound them!" I looked up
and around uncomfortably. I hated the position.
"We won't let them 'draw a bead' on us if we can help it," said Jack.
"What say you to creeping quietly along for half a mile, and then trying
to scale the cliffs? I'd give something to surprise the rogues, and
have a shy at them at close quarters as they come along!"
This very distinctly met my views, and we started at once, creeping over
rocks, springing quickly over level stretches of sand, wading here and
there,--getting rapidly over the ground one way or another,--and all so
close to the steep cliffs that unless a man lay on his waistcoat at the
top and looked over the edge he could not have seen us. But we came to
no place where the rocks looked climbable or anything like it; and we
reached, instead, a spot where the sea had advanced to the foot of the
rocks, and was breaking against them at a depth of a few inches.
"By George! how the tide has come up!" said Jack, looking serious; "we
must dash through this, and hope that it will be all right beyond."
But though we plunged and waded for a couple of hundred yards beyond the
corner, we found that the water became deeper rather than shallower, and
that unless we returned at once we should have to swim back to the dry
beach. There was no disguising the fact--we were cut off by the tide!
I am afraid we both used strong language when, after wading back to the
beach, we realised what this misfortune meant for us. It meant, of
course, that in all probability we should be left behind by the
_Chepstow Castle_, for it was now past five o'clock, and likely enough
the tide was still coming in. It was too excruciatingly cruel for
anything excepting naughty words, and we must be forgiven if one or two
of these slipped out in a moment of bitter disappointment.
There was, however, no actual danger in our position. As we could see
by the mark of high water on the cliffs, we should not, in any case, get
much more than a foot-bath if we remained where we now stood. That was
a comfort, so far as it went, and something to be thankful for. But to
think that those rascals--the Strongs, and the rest of them--would gain
a week's start in the race for Bechuanaland! It was too bitter to speak
of, and for the first hour or two we dared not trust ourselves to
mention the grievance, lest the fires that smouldered within should
burst forth and consume us.
We employed our time in making frantic efforts to scale the cliffs, and
we succeeded in getting ourselves, each in turn, into positions of
unique and unparalleled peril, out of which each had to be rescued by
the other; but as for climbing the cliff, we never reached anywhere
within hail of the top, and if we had persevered from that day to this
we should never have succeeded in attaining thereunto.
Sorrowfully we came to the conclusion, at last, that there was nothing
for it but to wait for the fall of the tide with all the patience and
philosophic calm we could command; and these, I fear, were qualities
which no known instrument could measure, for there was scarcely a
microscopical trace of either in the pair of us.
At seven o'clock by my watch, punctually, we heard the booming signal of
the _Chepstow Castle_, and we knew what that meant only too well. It
meant that the steamer was leaving the anchorage, having on board my
rival competitors, as well as our rifles and ammunition and revolvers,
and everything we possessed, and that for a week or so after reaching
Cape Town these men would be adding every hour and every minute to the
odds against me in the race for old Clutterbuck's treasure.
"We shall meet them coming home with the money-box," said I presently,
following the train of my own thoughts, "about half-way to Vryburg; and
we can't well scrag them at sight, for we have no absolute evidence that
it was they who shot at us."
"If we had," Jack assented, "we could relieve them of the money-box, and
all would be well. However, they may not have found it by the time we
reach the spot. We don't stand to win, I confess, but we won't quit the
field till we are beaten hopelessly out of it."
"We shall have to keep our eyes open in the veldt as we go," I said,
"for evidently the fellows are not particular."
"They wouldn't dare murder us there," rejoined Jack. "There was not
much risk here, you see. Oh, what wouldn't I give to have the rascals
just exactly here now, where my fist reaches!"
I agreed that this would be sweetly consoling. One might spend a quarter
of an hour, I said, very happily in pummelling Messrs. Strong and
Clutterbuck; but obviously there were few things less likely than that
we should see either or any of them again this side of Vryburg, so that
there was not much use in hoping for it.
It was nine in the evening before we found ourselves able to return to
the spot at which we had landed, and when we reached it we learned from
an Englishman who was about to return in his boat to Las Palmas, whence
he had come during the day on sport intent, that we were too late.
The _Chepstow Castle_ had sailed, as Captain Eversley had declared he
would, at seven o'clock.
*CHAPTER VII*
*GHOSTS*
Our new friend professed the utmost sympathy when we somewhat
shamefacedly explained that we had been caught by the tide, and
concealed a smile; but he proved a good fellow by offering to put us up
for a few nights until the arrival of the next steamer going Capewards,
an offer which we gladly and gratefully accepted. This good fellow
informed us that he had seen the last boatful of passengers taken on
board at about six o'clock or half-past, and in reply to my inquiry
added that the last to arrive had been a party of three with guns; they
had a few seagulls with them, he said, and had declared that no one else
remained on shore so far as they were aware.
"And when are we likely to get on from here?" asked Jack; to which our
host replied that it might be a fortnight and might be a week, and
possibly a steamer might arrive this very night. There was a cargo
steamer overdue now that was to touch here on her way south.
In the morning there was a joyful surprise awaiting us; for when we
awoke and looked out upon the bright waters of the Las Palmas harbour,
there--black and ugly in the morning sunshine, but of all sights the
most beautiful in our eyes to-day--floated a big English cargo-steamer,
already busily engaged in discharging that portion of her cargo which
had been consigned to Las Palmas. Needless to say, we lost no time in
going on board, and as little in settling with the captain to take us on
to Cape Town, for a consideration. We would have paid ten times the
price with pleasure if he had asked it.
The _Panther_, our new vessel, was to sail by sunset that very evening,
so that--by a happy turn of Fortune's wheel--we should, after all, have
waited but twenty-four hours in this place. The _Panther_ would travel
considerably slower than the _Chepstow Castle_, however, so that we must
still lose another day or two in time before Cape Town should be
reached; but, under the circumstances, things might have been so very
much worse that we were inclined to be perfectly contented for the
moment, though we suffered many an hour of mental torture before
arriving at the great southern city.
For the trusty ship _Panther_ bore us at a uniform rate of about twelve
knots per hour, and we realised as we neared Cape Town that the
_Chepstow Castle_ must be several days ahead of us: we had hoped and
expected to travel faster than this. Nevertheless the unforeseen
occasionally happens, and a pleasant surprise was in store for us on our
arrival; for when Jack and I sought out the local offices of the company
to which the last-named steamer belonged, in order to claim our goods
and be off northwards as quickly as possible, we were informed, to our
huge delight, that the _Chepstow Castle_ had not yet arrived. She had
had trouble with her propeller, the clerk informed us, and had been
delayed, first at Las Palmas and afterwards at Walfisch Bay.
Then that clerk nearly had a fit, because Jack and I manifested the
wildest delight and roared with laughter; I am not sure that we did not
execute a step or two of an improvised skirt dance. The clerk smilingly
observed presently that if we were in hopes that somebody we expected in
the _Chepstow Castle_ was going down to the bottom, or anything of that
sort, it was his duty to disappoint us, because the steamer was all
right and perfectly safe, and would arrive this evening.
"Oh no," said Jack very heartlessly; "our rich uncles and aunts are not
on board!"
"I thought they must be," said the clerk, "as you seemed so pleased to
hear of the ship's accident." He eyed us as though doubts as to our
sanity had begun to dawn in his mind.
"Why, man," said Jack, "we are passengers ourselves--that's the joke of
it!"
"Passengers on board what ship?" asked the clerk.
"The _Chepstow Castle_" exclaimed Jack.
Then the doubts as to our sanity which had dawned in that clerk's mind
ripened into certainty, and he began to look about for a safe place; he
also grasped his ruler in case of emergency, resolved, no doubt, to sell
his life dearly.
"We got out at Las Palmas," I explained. I made the remark in
sympathetic sorrow for that clerk's agony of mind. But my explanation
did not reassure him much.
"You can't be in two places at once," he said. "If you got out at Las
Palmas, you are there still. Besides, if you got out you surely knew
enough to get in again?"
"We'd have got in again if we could," I said, "but we missed the boat
and had to come on by the _Panther_, which arrived this morning. Here
are our tickets--they will prove that we started by the _Chepstow
Castle_."
The clerk examined our tickets and wiped his forehead; then he looked us
over, laughed almost as loud as we did, and said it was rather funny
that we should have turned up first after all. If he had known what a
poor joke it was for some others on board the _Chepstow Castle_, I
daresay he would have laughed still more. As it was, he entered so
heartily into the spirit of the thing that he obtained permission for us
to board the steamer in the company's tug so soon as the ship should
arrive in sight, a permission which we were right glad to have, because
we were somewhat anxious as to our property on board, in case certain
persons should have found means during our absence to possess themselves
of that which was not theirs.
There was also another reason for our desire to go on board in the
darkness and unexpected. We desired to do a little spiritualism in real
life, and to appear before our friends the Strongs in the morning as
though we had never left the ship.
"Nothing like playing the ghost for getting at the truth of things,"
said Jack, as we left the office. "We shall see by the rascals' faces,
when they catch sight of us, whether it was really they who fired the
shots at us!"
That shipping clerk was of the greatest service to us in another way,
for he gave us much excellent advice as to how best to proceed in our
journey up-country, what natives to engage, how many oxen to purchase,
and the best kind of waggon, together with a quantity of other useful
information as to roads and the chances of sport to be obtained. It was
dusk by the time the _Chepstow Castle_ arrived in the offing, and we
boarded her during the dinner-hour, when of passengers there were none
on deck. Captain Eversley was on duty, however, and our ghostly
reappearance began propitiously with that cordial officer, who first
stared at us in a bewildered manner and afterwards burst into laughter.
"Well, you are nice sort of young fellows," he said; "you ought to be
still vegetating at the Grand Canary if you had your deserts! What
became of you?--lose yourselves?"
"Caught by tide," Jack explained, "and brought on by a freighter."
"Come for your things, I suppose?" said the captain. "All right; I had
them removed from your cabin because two second-class passengers asked
to be allowed to pay the difference and come in when there was room.
The steward has your property. They're all at dinner below; you'd
better join them--they'll take you for ghosts."
"Who are the fellows in our cabin?" I inquired.
"Brothers, I believe, called Smith," said Eversley. "They have a friend
among the second-classers; they have not been popular among the
state-room people. We have wished you back more than once."
We thanked the captain and retired, as he had suggested, below. Here
our sudden appearance caused first a dead silence of amazement, followed
by the uproar of a dozen or two tongues speaking at once; and then, to
add to the dramatic interest of the situation, one of the passengers
rose from his seat at the lower end of the table as though to leave the
room, uttered a kind of groan, and fainted. I saw him and recognised
him in a moment--it was Charles Strong. His brother, seated beside him,
quickly dragged his unconscious relative away.
A word or two of explanation soon convinced our late fellow-travellers
that we were not ghosts, and in order to reassure them more fully as to
our substantiality we both sat down and made a remarkably good dinner.
I am sorry to say that it was the unanimous opinion of all present that,
had we been still looking out for a sail at Las Palmas instead of
comfortably dining almost within the harbour of Cape Town, we should
have had nothing but our own foolishness to thank for it.
As for the Strongs, or Smiths, no one had a good word to say for them.
They never spoke, we were told, at meals, and they spent all their time
conspiring and whispering together over maps and papers on the
second-class deck, where they had a fellow-mystery. They were set down
by universal consent as miners or gold-diggers who had received a "tip"
as to some rich spot, which they intended to find and exploit.
Universal consent had not made such a very bad guess, as it turned out.
*CHAPTER VIII*
*NECK AND NECK FOR THE FIRST LAP*
When we went to claim our property afterwards from the steward's
pantry--which we did in some anxiety, seeing who our successors in the
cabin had been (for we naturally concluded that the Strongs would not
have paid money for the pleasure of occupying our berths unless they had
had designs upon something we might have left there), we missed my small
handbag.
"Were these new fellows in the cabin before our things were removed?" we
asked of the steward.
"Oh no, sir," said that functionary; "one of them looked in to see if it
would suit, but he wasn't there five minutes; you wouldn't surely
suspect the gentleman of"--
"Oh dear, no!" I said, "certainly not, steward; probably my little bag
escaped your notice and his too. Go and ask for it, like a good man; it
was under the sofa when we were in the cabin, and it's probably there
now."
The steward went off on his mission somewhat flustered; for it was a
reflection upon his carefulness that the bag had been left behind. When
I said that it might have escaped Strong's notice as well as his own, I
really meant what I said, though the sceptical Jack grinned at my
"innocence," as he called it. The bag contained, as Jack knew, a few
exceedingly important articles--namely, my slender stock of ready money
(about thirty-five pounds), a copy of the all-important map and
instructions for finding Clutterbuck's treasure, my revolver, and a few
other things of less importance.
Nevertheless, when the steward brought the bag to me a few minutes later
with "Mr. Smith's" apology, and declared that the latter gentleman said
that neither he nor his brother had seen or touched it, I believed him.
I was the more disposed to acquit the Strongs when I opened the bag and
found money, map, revolver, and everything else still within it just as
I had left them; but subsequent events proved that Jack's scepticism was
in the right after all, though we did not discover this until later.
We saw no more of the Strongs that evening, and when--very early in the
morning--we went on deck to see the ship moored in dock, we found that
our friends had already departed.
"We can afford to make a good breakfast and give them that much start,"
said Jack; "for they will probably have a lot to buy and to arrange
before they can start, while most of our preliminary arrangements were
made yesterday." Therefore we made a good breakfast.
The train, we found, would take us as far as Vryburg, after which we
should have to purchase horses and push along over the Chartered
Company's road towards Bulawayo. Our destination was several days'
journey short of that town, however, and lay some way to the east of the
pioneer waggon-road used by the company during the first Matabele
campaign. At Vryburg we encountered the Strongs and Clutterbuck at a
horse-dealer's yard. They, like ourselves, had come to buy horseflesh,
and we surprised them in the midst of their bargaining.
There was no particular reason for pretending that I did not recognise
them, for it was likely enough that we should be near neighbours when it
came to digging, and we were all encamped upon a couple of acres of
land. I therefore addressed them, and bade them good-morning, by name.
They growled an unwilling greeting in return.
"We're all here, I see, excepting Mr. Ellis," I continued. "I suppose
he is to follow later?"
"I know no more about him than you," said James Strong surlily. "Who's
this, may I ask, with you, and what right has he to come digging for our
treasure?"
"Is he digging for our treasure?" I asked.
"That's what he's here for, you bet," said Strong; "if he finds it, let
me tell you, your claim won't stand, remember that."
"My good man," said Henderson exasperatingly, "do wait until you have
caught me at it! As my friend suggests, I am not thinking of digging; I
am here to keep him company, and to act as a kind of bodyguard."
"Can't the poor fellow take care of himself?" said Strong, laughing
rudely; "what's he afraid of? We are all respectable people here!"
"You see," said Jack, with exasperating coolness, "in some countries the
bullets fly very promiscuously; people have been known to shoot at
seagulls and to hit men. Now only the other day, at an island called
Graciosa"--at this point the second Strong dragged his brother away to
look at a horse, and as the proprietor of the establishment beckoned us
mysteriously aside at the same moment, we saw no more of our friends at
this time; when we returned to the yard they had taken their departure.
The horse-dealer's object in beckoning us aside was, it appeared, to
inform us that--if we liked to pay for them--he had a horse or two which
would be likely to suit gentlemen like ourselves much better than this
rubbish.
We were quite ready to pay for a good article--delighted; at least Jack
was, and I was quite glad that he should. After all, if the fellow
mounted us better than the Strongs & Co., the privilege would be well
worth paying for.
We certainly paid for it, at anyrate; but whether our horses were really
much, or any, better than the "rubbish" that fell to Strong's lot is a
question. Possibly Strong squared the horse-dealer before we came; if
so, he was no fool, and perfectly within his rights.
We had bought our waggon and oxen, seasoned or "salted" animals chosen
without regard to expense, and had engaged a Kaffir driver and a native
of Bechuana or Somali land to act as huntsman, in case we should find
the treasure and have time upon our hands for some big-game hunting
afterwards.
All these matters had been arranged before we left Cape Town, and our
party were even now trekking slowly northwards towards the appointed
rendezvous on the Bulawayo road, at the point, in fact, where--as per
map--our side route branched off from the main road.
We had left the heavy rifles and most of our ammunition to be brought on
after us by the waggon, and we hoped that by the time the question of
the treasure had been decided we should find our property waiting for us
at the rendezvous. Jack said we should "do a bit of sporting" whether we
dug up the treasure or no.
So that we had not much in the way of impedimenta actually with us.
Each carried a light spade, a blanket, a waterproof coat, a light rifle,
a revolver, cartridge-belt and case, saddle-bags with tinned food and
biscuits, a bottle of brandy as medicine, and little else besides. Thus
equipped, however, we both felt that we could easily and comfortably
spend a week or two without any more of the comforts of civilisation
than we carried about us, and we set out upon our hundred-mile ride in
the highest possible spirits, even though we were well aware that "the
enemy" were on the road before us.
"I don't want to kill anybody if I can help it, you know, Peter," Jack
had said (he always called me Peter, though my name is Godfrey; I was
called Peter at school, for some inscrutable schoolboy reason!), "but
I'm hanged if I am going to let these fellows have any more shots at me
gratis. If any fellow lets fly at me again and misses, he's a dead man
if I can make him one!"
I quite agreed with Jack that we would not again play at being targets
without taking our turns at the shooting afterwards. I do not relish
the idea of shedding human blood any more than Jack, but one must draw
the line somewhere, and we were going to draw it at those who took shots
at us from an ambush; for such we would have no pity.
On the evening of the first day we came up with our friends the Strongs.
They were encamping on the banks of a river over which there was a ford.
Our horses were not tired, we had not ridden very hard, and we agreed
that this would be a good opportunity to push on and obtain a good start
of the Strongs. The complacency with which these men had settled down
in this place and were, apparently, prepared to see us pass them in the
race, perplexed and puzzled us not a little. We were suspiciously
inclined towards them, and it appeared to us that they would not allow
us to get ahead so easily without a good reason. However, it was
unlikely that we should learn their reason by asking for it, and we did
not desire more of their society than was absolutely necessary; we
therefore agreed to push on--to play our game and allow them to play
theirs. We could take care of ourselves, though they were three to two.
So we proceeded to ford the river, the Strongs watching us intently,
though they pretended to be taking little notice of us. Jack's horse
led the way, and was wading in the water considerably over his knees,
when something floating in mid-stream caught my eye, and I invited Jack
to stop a moment and look at the object. Jack pulled up at once and
stared with me at the dark-looking thing floating slowly with the
current.
"I should say it was a log of wood if I did not happen to know that
crocodiles abound here," he said.
"If it's a log of wood it's a nimble one," I rejoined; "for see, Jack,
it is coming this way, partly against current."
For reply, Jack wheeled his horse round and plunged madly for the land.
"Back to the shore, Peter, quick!" he shouted, "for your life!"
*CHAPTER IX*
*MORE TREACHERY*
When we reached the bank and looked round, the dark object had
disappeared, but almost immediately it reappeared within five yards of
us. We could see it plainly now--a huge, scaly head, half out of the
water, and a wicked little eye looking straight at us as though gloating
over the feast it had just lost by a hair's-breadth. It was horrible.
"Oh, the cruel-looking, bloodthirsty, gaol-bird brute!" muttered Jack,
raising his rifle. "Thank Heaven we were not a quarter of a minute
later, Peter! Now watch--this is for his eye-socket."
As the little rifle sent out its message with a light, ping-like report,
there was a strange upward lift of the great head, a vast commotion for
a moment of the water, then the tail went up and the head went down;
there was a little reddening of the mudded stream, the crocodile
disappeared, and the tragedy was over.
To my surprise, Jack immediately turned and made for the group of
men--the two Strongs and Clutterbuck--sitting by their camp fire and
watching us; he still held his rifle in his hand--his little
double-barrelled sporting weapon. I took my revolver and followed him,
for I did not know what he meant to do. Henderson strode right up to
the group and addressed them without any kind of preface.
"If I were certain you fellows were aware that the crocodile held the
ford," he said, "I'm hanged if I wouldn't chuck you in after him, one by
one."
"Words don't cost much," said James Strong; "we are three to your two.
It is foolish to boast of what you would do if you were strong enough."
"You are right; words are cheap," said Jack; "but for want of something
trustier I must ask you to give yours that you knew nothing of that
crocodile. If you cannot give me an assurance on this point I shall do
as I threaten. I know you are three to two, but we need not fear a set
of cowards who shoot at helpless persons from an ambush."
James Strong flushed and glanced at his companions, who reddened also.
Nevertheless, he maintained a bold front, and replied readily enough--
"We have not come into the interior of Africa to guess riddles. I know
nothing about any crocodiles; but if one had eaten your friend there as
he crossed the ford we should not have gone into mourning. It might
have had you too, without many tears from us. As to shooting from an
ambush, you may explain what you mean if you please, or do the other
thing if you prefer it. There's no law against riddles and lunatics that
I know of, in these parts."
"Very well, then; so be it," said Jack. "At the same time let me tell
you this: Prevaricate as you will, we know well enough what we know; you
shot at us from the cliffs at Graciosa--good. Luckily you are very bad
shots, all of you. Now I am a dead shot. I have twice been in the
Queen's Hundred at Wimbledon and Bisley, and my friend here is not far
behind me at a mark. What you are to understand is this--that if any of
you fellows at any time fire at us, either of us, and miss, we shall
shoot back, and we shall not miss; if we can't get a shot at you at once
(for you are likely to be behind an ambush), we shall let fly at our
next meeting. Bear this in mind for your good."
"Come, chuck the sermon," said James Strong, who was the spokesman of
the party, and a very rude one at that.
"Very well," said Jack, "words are thrown away upon fools; next time I
shall shoot."
And with this crude repartee we left these worthies and crossed the
ford, and gained a good ten miles upon them by nightfall.
Now that my tale is taking us rapidly towards the spot in which,
according to our maps, old Clutterbuck's treasure lay buried, it would
be as well to present for the reader's assistance a copy of the map and
instructions as we each received them from Steggins the lawyer on the
day of the reading of the will.
Here is the copy, which I present to the reader with apologies for its
shortcomings as an artistic production. I could have made it more
presentable and accurate, but it is better to reproduce it as I received
it.
[Illustration: Explanation of Map.]
"Take the road to Bulawayo from Vryburg.
"Ride about one hundred miles to a village called Ngami; there turn
aside eastward into the veldt. Head straight for a conical hill fifteen
miles distant from the road and visible from Ngami. At the foot of the
mountain is a sandy plain covered with rocks and occasional thorn
bushes. Between the highest thorn bush and the slope of the hill is an
open space of sandy soil about two acres in extent, and covered with
scrubby grass. Within this area I have planted four posts. The
treasure is buried at a spot within the space defined by these four
posts."
Jack Henderson and I rejoiced greatly when we off-saddled that night ten
miles ahead of the others. This would give us a good start of them,
and, unless we had our own lack of energy to blame, we should never
allow them to make up the difference. We were to have first dig, after
all! We drank a little hot brandy and water in memory of our crocodile;
for to him, we agreed, we owed the advantage we had now gained. But for
his good offices our friends would certainly have pushed on farther.
"Perhaps," I suggested, "it was all a trick--their camping there, I
mean--and they are even now at our heels and coming up hand over hand!"
"By Jove! you may be right, Peter," said Jack. "I had not thought of
it. I'll tell you what, man; it won't do for both of us to sleep at the
same time. We must take watches--at all events just now, while we are
in the neighbourhood of these bad characters!"
We were to discover before very long that we could not afford to camp
out in these African forests without setting a watch, even when far away
from bad characters of the biped persuasion! There are some very shady
characters in Bechuanaland that walk on four feet, and perform all
manner of wickedness under the cover of night! We had not realised this
fact as yet, but we were to realise it pretty soon. Nevertheless, in
compliment to the poor opinion we held of the Strongs and their ways, we
agreed to divide our night into two parts, and that one of us should
sleep while the other watched, and _vice versa_ at "half time."
I was not sleepy, and undertook the first watch, and a right creepy
function I found it. Those who have never slept out of their own beds
would scarcely believe in how many unexpected and unrecognisable voices
old Mother Night can speak. In the heart of an African forest she has
tongues innumerable, and, moreover, all of them weird and startling,
while some are absolutely terrifying.
We had built up a good fire, and had taken the precaution to pile up an
ample supply of fuel almost at hands' reach from the spot at which I lay
with my toes to the blaze. But when it became necessary to rise from my
place and walk two yards to the pile of firewood in order to add fuel, I
must confess with shame that I was so thoroughly cowed and frightened by
a feeling of supernatural awe, brought on by the thousand weird and
startling noises to which I had lain and listened for two hours or more,
that I could scarcely summon sufficient nerve to assume an erect
attitude, but lay trembling on the ground endeavouring to gather the
courage which had left me, a prey to unworthy feelings of horror.
"However," I reflected, "if I do not keep the fire up, all these awful
beasts that are now prowling about in the darkness and dare not come
near will become bolder, and"-- This thought settled it, and I arose,
sweating with foolish terror, and piled a mass of dry material upon the
languishing flames at my feet.
*CHAPTER X*
*A SERIOUS CHECK*
As I did so there was a scuffle and a yelp a few yards away, by a bush,
and in the light that the fire shot suddenly around I distinctly caught
sight of a brute which I believe was a hyena.
After this I lay with my revolver in my hand, determined that if any
savage brute became bold enough again to venture within sight of me I
would let fly at him, at the risk of frightening poor slumbering Jack
out of his wits. Better that than to have a loathsome hyena or jackal
come nibbling at one's leg while one lay asleep. A single shot would
probably ensure quiet for the rest of the night.
Before my watch was over I did catch sight of another beast, or rather,
I suppose, of the same one. I raised my revolver and pulled the trigger.
The weapon misfired.
The "click" of the hammer was sufficient to scare my friend away for the
time being; but it was not pleasant to think that our ammunition was not
to be relied upon, and I determined to overhaul the stock in the
morning. Meanwhile, I changed the cartridges in my revolver, for the
little weapon had been loaded ever since leaving England, and it was
possible that these were damp.
What if some brute had really attacked us, or--which was at least as
likely--if the Strongs had crept up and fallen upon us, and our safety
had depended upon this cartridge which had misfired? Ugh! I lay a while
and reviled, in thought, revolver, gunner who made it, cartridge filler,
and everyone remotely connected with the matter, including myself for
neglecting to change the charge. Then I had a better thought, and
offered up thanks for being saved twice this night from disaster: from
the crocodile first, and afterwards from all kinds of unknown horrors
lurking around us in the darkness.
After all, I reflected, whether we are at home in bed or in the midst of
an African forest, we are in God's hands, to save or to kill. How
pitifully helpless is every human being that lies and sleeps
unconscious, and how entirely at the mercy of a Providence which one has
probably angered times unreckoned! Misfortune might as easily assail us
at home in bed as here in the veldt, if it were so willed! Disaster,
after all, can no more befall me here than there unless the Almighty
decrees it.
This reflection was of much comfort to me subsequently, throughout many
a weird and creepy night--in hours of real danger, compared with which
the mostly imagined perils of that first night out were as the merest
child's play.
Jack was made of sterner stuff than I, and even the unseen perils of the
darkness and of the ambush scarcely affected his nerves.
His watch passed off, it may be assumed, without much trial of his
courage, and when I awoke at high daylight one of the first things my
eyes beheld was the carcass of our friend the hyena, which Jack had shot
with his revolver. The report had not disturbed me, which may be taken
as evidence that it must have been fairly "bedtime" when the end of my
watch opened for me the door of slumberland.
We covered thirty good miles that day, and though we continually looked
out for them, we saw nothing of "our friends the enemy." The night
passed without adventure, and--though I cannot honestly say that I was
absolutely free from those feelings of dread which had so unmanned me on
the previous night--I am justified in declaring that I was not nearly so
frightened at this second experience.
On the third day, towards evening, we came to a village, and here I was
for turning aside into the veldt eastwards.
"Westwards," corrected Jack.
"No," I said, "eastwards, surely!"
"I bet you sixpence your map says westwards!" said Jack. "I was looking
at it yesterday, and noticed it particularly!"
Now I could have taken the most solemn oath that I had read "eastwards"
in the instructions at the foot of the map, and the route shown, as I
remember, was to the right of the road, which would be eastwards.
Yet now, when I looked at our plan, the route was undoubtedly shown as
lying to the left of the road--westwards--just as Jack said.
So to the left we went, and rode for an hour towards a hill whose
outline we could just make out in the dim distance. Then the darkness
came on, and we off-saddled for the night, full of spirits; for
to-morrow, we thought, we should be on the very spot, and at work within
a few yards of the treasure itself, and with a good start of our rivals
into the bargain.
We were up and away with the first rays of light in the morning, and
rode fast and joyously forward, merry as two schoolboys out for a
jollification.
"It's a longish fifteen miles to _that_ hill, I know," said Jack when we
had ridden ten miles. "The map says fifteen miles; but we rode an hour
last night and have ridden another to-day, and I'm hanged if we are any
nearer than we were before."
This seemed true enough.
"It doesn't look what I should call 'conical,' either," I added. "I
should call it a flat-topped thing if I were asked."
"So should I," said Jack; and we rode on.
"I wonder if there can be any mistake," I said, when we had ridden
another ten miles and had stopped for a long rest.
"What kind of a mistake?" asked Jack.
"Why, about the map. That hill positively looks as far off as ever."
"It really does," Jack assented. "It must be a good fifty from the
road."
"Perhaps the old boy wrote fifty and not fifteen, as we both seem to
remember it," I said, fishing in my saddle-bag for the case which
contained my map.
"I'm sure it's fifteen there," said Jack, "for I took the precaution of
making a copy of both plan and instructions at Cape Town, in case those
rascally friends of yours should get hold of our map and leave us to dig
up all Africa for our treasure. I remember the wording quite well--it
was 'westwards,' and fifteen miles to a conical hill, over a sandy
plain."
These words of Jack's made me think--not those which referred to his
taking of a copy of the map; I had done the same myself while on board
the _Chepstow Castle_, and had my copy in my pocket at this moment. The
words which struck me were those which referred to my "rascally
friends," and suggested the possibility of the stealing of our map by
them. The idea reminded me that my black bag with the map in it had
been at their mercy in the cabin of the _Chepstow Castle_ for a week or
more; though, it must be remembered, my money was apparently left
untouched, as well as my revolver and the other things. Could they have
tricked us by altering the map?
Flushed and excited at the very idea of such a thing, I communicated my
idea to Jack.
"Good Heavens, man!" said he. "I never thought of it; yet it's the most
likely thing in the world. Let's have a look at the map!"
*CHAPTER XI*
*STALKING A MAN*
We scanned that map over and over, but could find no trace of
alterations. Jack suggested that it might be altogether new--a bogus
copy, in fact; almost exactly like the real one, in case we should
remember the original, but incorrect enough to lead us astray at the
critical moment.
"What a pity my copy was done _after_ these rascals had had their chance
of doctoring it," said Jack; "otherwise we should soon see whether this
one has been got at."
"But I have a copy done _before_ we were left at Las Palmas!" I cried.
"We can compare it with that, which _must_ be right!"
"Peter, you are a trump!" said Jack, banging me on the back. "You're a
glorious fellow! Produce it at once! Ha! ha! When in doubt, play
Peter!"
I produced my copy, a rough thing, but accurately copied in the most
essential portion, which was that which supplied instructions as to this
very place. We compared my copy with the original, as we had supposed
it to be, and found that it was as we suspected. We had been duped. The
rascals had substituted for my original map a production of their own,
made so like the former in the matter of handwriting and style, and even
paper, that it would easily pass, if unsuspected, as the real article.
Furious with rage, we turned and retraced our way towards the road. We
had come nearly thirty miles westward instead of turning, as we ought to
have done, to the east, and had wasted a day and a half--it was
intolerable! If we had met the Strongs at this time there would have
been a battle; we were blood-hot, and should not have spared them. They
had tricked us, and had, in all probability, unearthed the treasure by
this time, and departed with it. I could not trust myself to speak as
we rode swiftly back, in grim silence, upon our own tracks. Jack said
nothing either.
That night, as we lay by our fire, it suddenly occurred to me to look at
my revolver. It, after all, had been in my small black bag as well as
the map. Probably they had tampered with it; for, otherwise, why should
my weapon have missed fire and Jack's not? They had soused my
cartridges--that much was pretty certain; but perhaps they had done the
revolver some injury besides.
I examined it carefully. The lock worked all right; the drum revolved
perfectly. I looked down the barrel; looked straight down it at the
firelight, and saw nothing.
"Well?" said Jack.
I handed him the revolver. Jack looked down the barrel as I had; then
he took a thin stick and poked at it.
"The demons!" he said; "they've choked it with lead or something. Curse
them! it would have burst in your hand if you had fired it! We'll pay
them out for this, Peter, if we have to chase them half round the world
for it!"
Thirty miles back to the waggon road, twenty miles farther northwards,
and then at last we were at the spot where, according to the original
map, we should have turned off at the village called Ngami. Our bogus
map gave no name to the village, which showed, as Jack said, the
fiendish cunning of the Strongs; for if they had called it Ngami, we
should have gone on until we had reached a village of that name, and
from it we should have plainly seen, as we now saw, the conical hill on
our right. As it was, we had gone sixty miles out of our way, and might
have gone six hundred, or, indeed, never have struck the right road at
all, but for my happy idea on board ship to take a copy of the map in
case of accidents.
It was dusk when we arrived, riding with exceeding caution, within a
mile or so of the conical hill. Here we dismounted by Jack's orders;
for he, by the most natural process in the world--namely, the simple
slipping into his proper place, as nature intends that people like Jack
should do--had assumed the leadership of our party of two. It was quite
right and proper that he should lead, for Jack had twice the resource
and the readiness that I had been furnished withal; his wits were
quicker workers than mine, and his judgment far more acute and correct.
Jack decreed, then, that we should dismount and wait, and listen. If
they had not yet found the treasure, he said, they would, of course,
still be upon the ground; and if there, they would certainly light a
fire when darkness fell.
"Then will come our chance!" added Jack.
"Of doing what?" I asked. "You don't think of shooting them asleep,
Jack, surely!"
Jack laughed gently. "That's what they deserve, the blackguards!" he
said. "Why do you suppose they spiked your revolver? I'll tell you.
So that when they attacked you, as they fully intended to do, and would
do now if we gave them the chance, you should be harmless and unable to
hit them back."
It certainly did seem pretty mean, viewed in this light--a cold-blooded,
premeditated, murderous kind of thing to do. The idea made me very
angry. It gave me that almost intolerable longing one sometimes
feels--which, at anyrate, I feel--to punch some offender's head; it is a
feeling which generally assails one at helpless moments, as, for
instance, when a schoolmaster (whose head cannot be punched with
propriety) takes advantage of his position to bombard some wretched
victim, who can utter no protest, with scathing remarks.
"What are we going to do, then?" I continued. "Of course we are not
going to murder them in cold blood; but can't we punch their heads?"
Jack laughed. "Oh, it may come to that, likely enough," he said; "but
what we must go for first is to disarm them. It is perfectly impossible
to live near these men in any sort of comfort or security unless we
first deprive them of their rifles and revolvers. That's what I want to
do to-night. One or two of them will be asleep, the other watching. We
must stalk them at about midnight, cover them with our revolvers, and
make them 'hands up!'"
"No good covering them with my revolver," I said. "I'd better cover a
pair with my rifle, and you the other fellow with your pistol. They
know mine won't go off, well enough!"
"That's true," said Jack. "All right, your rifle then. We must shiver
here till about midnight; you won't mind that for once."
And shiver we did for several hours, as much with excitement as with the
cold of the night; for at about nine o'clock we saw the glow of a fire a
mile or so away, which gave us the welcome assurance that our friends
had not, at anyrate, found the treasure and departed.
I entreated Jack several times to let us be up and at them; but Jack was
inexorable, and would not budge until our watches told us that midnight
had come. Then Jack arose and stretched himself.
"Are you ready?" he said.
"Rather!" said I; "come on!"
"No hurry," continued my friend exasperatingly. "Change your cartridges
first; so. Now take a drop of brandy neat, to correct the chill of the
night--not too much. We may have to shoot a man; are you up to doing
it?"
"If necessary," I said; "but I'd rather not."
"Of course not, nor would I; but if there is any hitch, or if either of
the men show signs of being about to put in a quick shot, yours or mine
must be in first; do you understand? Am I to command, or would you
prefer to? It is better that one should take the lead."
"You, of course!" I said.
"Then do just as I tell you when we are among them. Now, are you ready?
Then come along!"
Cautiously and softly we crept towards the place where the fire twinkled
and glowed in the distance. As we came nearer, we could see that it had
been built up close to a mimosa bush which lay between us and the circle
of light shed by the burning brushwood. This was favourable to our
purpose, for we were enabled to creep along without the danger of being
seen, as we might have been even in the dark, had we been obliged to
cross one of the wide open spaces which checked the plain.
No thieving jackal or designing lion could have stalked that party more
patiently and noiselessly than we did; foot by foot, and yard by yard,
we drew nearer to our prey, and at last we had reached the mimosa bush
and were watching them as they lay, the rays of their fire all but
shining upon us as we crouched, but falling just short. Jack placed his
hand upon my arm, and whispered--
"James Strong watching, very sleepy," he breathed, scarcely audibly;
"the others fast asleep. I take James, and you the other two. Are you
ready? Follow me and stand at my side, but keep your rifle at your
shoulder from now on, and never lower it for an instant. Are you
ready?"
"Ready!" I managed to whisper, but my lips were so dry that hardly any
sound came from them. Then Jack instantly rose and stepped out into the
firelight--I following him.
*CHAPTER XII*
*SCOTCHING A SNAKE*
James Strong was lying half waking and half sleeping, his rifle at his
side; he saw us instantly, however, as we stepped into the firelight,
and was on his feet in a moment, dragging his rifle up with him.
"Drop the gun, James Strong," said Henderson, "and put up your hands. I
am covering you, you see, and this is not the revolver you choked. Drop
it at once, or I fire. I will count three. One--two"--Strong let the
rifle fall. Neither the thud of this nor the sound of Jack's voice
awoke the other two, who still slept, I covering them with my rifle.
"Pick that thing up, Peter," said Jack. "I'll see to the covering." I
did as my captain bade me.
"Chuck it on the fire," he continued. "I shall pay you for it, Mr.
Strong, but I am afraid you are scarcely to be trusted with a rifle just
at present."
I heard Strong grind his teeth as I picked up his gun, took the
cartridges out, and threw the weapon on the fire.
"Sit down, Mr. Strong, and empty your pockets," continued Jack, and his
victim obeyed, because he could do nothing else.
"Take those other rifles, Peter, and do the same by them," pursued Jack;
"then wake those fellows, and see if they sport revolvers. Have you
none, Mr. Strong? Come, produce it if you have. Feel his pockets,
Peter, and his saddle-bags. What, has he none? Well, you shall give
him yours, Peter, one day; perhaps he will know how to get the lead out
since he put it in!"
Strong's face through all this was not a pleasant study.
I obeyed Jack's decrees to the letter. I collected all the
weapons--three rifles and one revolver--and threw them on the fire; I
awoke the two sleepers, who swore frightful oaths when they realised the
position of affairs, and cleared their pockets and wallets and
saddle-bags of cartridges, all of which I confiscated.
"Good-night, gentlemen," said Jack, when my work was finished. "I shall
repay you for all that has been taken from you to-night. Your zeal, you
will understand, has been a little too great; you have given yourselves
away. But for your premature attempt to rid yourselves of us on the
island, and for one or two foolish matters since then, we might never
have been aroused to our danger, and you would certainly have enjoyed
many opportunities of shooting us at your leisure--in the back, of
course. Now, you see, we have the whip hand of you."
"And you will use it, curse you," said James Strong, "to prevent us
taking our legal share in the search for my uncle's property. I know
you!"
"Nothing of the kind, my good man," said Jack cordially. "Dig away, by
all means; you shall see that neither of us will interfere."
"Yes, and if we find the treasure, you will shoot us down; I know you, I
say!" replied Strong. We made allowance for his temper, which was
shocking to-day; but then his provocation had really been considerable.
"If you find the treasure you shall take it away with you in peace, so
far as my friend and myself are concerned," said Jack. "We shall not
shoot you, and you can't very well shoot _us_ without rifles, can you?
Good-night all; come, Peter."
We could see our good friends frenziedly poking among the embers for
their burning weapons the moment we had departed; but, as Jack remarked,
they were welcome to the barrels, and since he had taken care to keep up
the conversation long enough to allow the woodwork to burn away, that
would be all they would get.
Returning to our camp, we made up a fire for ourselves and tossed up for
first sleep, for we must keep a stricter watch than ever now, or these
desperate fellows would steal our weapons and turn the tables upon us.
So we slept and watched by turns until morning, and it was on this night
that I heard for the first time in my life the roar of a lion. It was
not very near at hand, but, far away as it was, it sounded terrible
enough to the inexperienced ear, and I thought over all I had read of
the ways of lions in the works of Mr. Selous and other African
sportsmen, and recalled an awkward propensity some of them have of
coolly coming into camp and foraging among the waggons even in the glare
of the firelight. If this brute were to come now and help itself to
Jack Henderson before I could interfere, what a truly terrible thing it
would be! The idea impressed me so deeply that I awoke Henderson and
told him there was a lion roaring somewhere within hearing.
Jack was very sleepy, and my watch was only half over, which made him
ridiculously angry to have been awaked.
"Well, what then?" he said. "Let him roar and be hanged! if he didn't
wake me, why should you?"
"Why, he might come and bag you while you slept," I said; "travellers
say they do that kind of thing."
"Well, what are you there for, man?" said Jack angrily, settling himself
to sleep again. "You are there to shoot James Strong, or lions, or
she-bears, or anything else that comes and plays the fool around here.
For goodness' sake don't wake a fellow to talk about the habits of
lions--shoot him if he comes, that's all you have to do!"
I suppose the lion had other engagements for that night, for his roars
receded farther away and were lost, presently, in the distance.
We were up in the morning at the first glint of light, for we were
naturally anxious to see the ground upon which our labours were to be
lavished until the envious soil should reveal to us or the others the
secret of old Clutterbuck. There it was, the open space of sandy
hummocky soil, and there were the posts, three of them at least; we
could not see the fourth. And there, too, was the upturned earth over a
considerable area, representing the day's work, or the day and a half's
work, of the Strongs, who had evidently toiled for all they were worth
in order to make the most of the start they had gained upon us. The
result of this haste on their part was to be seen in the shallowness of
their digging, which appeared to have nowhere extended to a greater
depth than six to nine inches. As we stood and surveyed the ground, our
three friends came with their spades and set to work at once. They
scowled at us ferociously, but made no reply to Jack's polite
"Good-morning."
"I daresay they _are_ rather annoyed with us," said Jack. "Now, Peter,
don't be lazy, but begin to dig at once. I'm your bodyguard, remember,
and shall do no work except thinking."
"Aren't you going to dig?" I said.
"Certainly not," said Jack; "I'm not one of the authorised. If I dug
and found the treasure, there might be a legal point. Now dig up, man,
and don't argue; you're wasting your time. Think of the nuggets and
diamonds only awaiting the magic touch of your spade! George! if I had
a legal position, wouldn't I dig!"
I did dig. I dug that morning until the sweat poured from my face and
head like drops of rain. I dug till my arms and back ached so that I
almost cried with the pain, while Jack sat or lay and watched, keeping
an eye on the Strong party and entertaining me with light conversation.
By the evening I was perfectly exhausted, and the greater part of the
space of about two acres had been dug over, though not to any great
depth, by one or other of the four workers, yet nothing had been
discovered.