THE BUCCANEER'S CAVE.
"The three peaks are in line, but no trace of the 'ruby glow' the cipher
speaks of."
The speaker was Rob Blake. He and Merritt, in the red canoe, were in
advance of the other craft. The first level rays of the early sun were
slanting down over the precipitous hills surrounding the lake and gilding
the placid sheet of water with a glittering effulgence. The canoes seemed
to hang on the clear water as if suspended.
Right ahead of the adventurers, the three jagged peaks seen the previous
evening had gradually swung into line, until the first and nearest one
veiled the other two.
"Let's run the canoe ashore. May be we shall come across something to
make the meaning of the cipher plainer," suggested Merritt.
Presently the bow of the canoe grazed the beach, and the two active young
uniformed figures sprang out. For an instant they looked about them. Then
suddenly Merritt gripped Rob's arm with such a tight pressure that it
actually pained.
"Look!" he cried, "look!"
Rob followed the direction of Merritt's gaze and was tempted to echo his
cry. Through the trees a rectangular mound of rock, with a dome-like
summit, had just caught the rays of the sun.
In the early morning light it glittered as redly as if bathed in blood.
"The ruby glow!" breathed Rob poetically, gazing at the wonderful sight.
"Must be some sort of mica or crystal in the rock that catches the
sunlight," said the practical Merritt; "good thing we didn't come here on
a dull, cloudy day."
"I guess so," rejoined Rob; "we might easily have missed it."
"Let's get the others!" exclaimed Merritt. "See, the ruby glow is masking
the Three Brothers."
"That's so," agreed Rob, "this is the place, beyond a doubt."
By this time the other canoes had been beached and their occupants were
presently gazing in wrapt wonder at the spectacle. As the sun rose higher
they could see the glow diminishing.
"Your ancestor chose his hiding place well," said the professor to Major
Dangerfield, "only at sunrise and at sunset can the glow be visible. At
any other hour of the day there would be nothing unusual about that rock
but its shape."
Suddenly Tubby broke into song. He caught at the others' hands. In a
jiffy the Boy Scouts were dancing round in a joyous circle, singing at
the top of their lungs:
"Ruby glow! ruby glow!
We have sought you long, you know!
Now you're found we won't let go
Till we get the treasure--ruby glow!"
"Rather anticipating, aren't you, boys?" asked the major, "there is still
quite a lot to be done before we discover the cavern where the treasure
is supposed to be buried."
But despite his calm words they could see that the major was quite as
much excited as themselves at the idea of being on the threshold of great
discoveries.
"Suppose we press forward," suggested the professor presently; "I think
that the base of the ruby mound is the place to start from."
The canoes were hauled up on the beach and concealed in a high growth of
tangled water plants. They did not wish to risk having them stolen for a
second time. Then they struck forward into the gloom of the woods lying
between the ruby mound and the lake. As they went the Boy Scouts hummed
Tubby's little song. Even Jumbo seemed to have cast off his gloom. His
great eyes rolled with anticipation as they pressed on, ambition to find
the treasure cavern lending wings to their feet.
Before long they were at the base of the ruby mound. It was quite bare,
and rose up almost as if it had been artificially formed. The professor
declared it to have been of glacial origin. Certain markings on it he
interpreted as being Indian in design.
"They seem to indicate that at one time the Indians, who formerly roamed
these mountains, used this mound as a watch tower," he said. "It must
have made a good one, too."
"Too high colored for me," said Tubby in an undertone.
But by this time the glow had fled from the conical-shaped top of the
mound. It was a dull gray color now, and, except for its shape and
barrenness, looked just like any other rock pile.
"There's the dead pine!" cried Hiram suddenly.
"So it is!" exclaimed the major, as his gaze fell on an immense blasted
trunk soaring above the rest of the trees, "boys, we are hot on the
trail."
"Looks so," agreed Rob.
"Now, then," exclaimed the professor, as they stood at the base of the
pine, which appeared to have been blasted by lightning at some remote
period, "now then, one of you boys pace off four hundred feet to the
west."
Rob drew out his pocket compass and speedily paced off the distance. This
brought them into a sort of clearing. It was small, and circular in
shape, and dense growth hedged it in on all sides. By this time the boys
were fairly quivering with excitement, and their elders were not much
behind them in eager anticipation.
"Now, three hundred to the north," ordered the major.
"We'll have to plunge right into the brush," said Rob.
"All right. Go ahead. In a few minutes now we shall know if we're on a
fool's errand or not."
The former army officer's voice was vibrant with emotion.
Followed by the others, Rob pushed into the brush, pacing off the
required three hundred feet as accurately as he could. All at once he
came to a halt.
"Three hundred," he announced.
As they looked about them a feeling of keen disappointment set in. Tall
brush was hemming them in on all sides. No trace of a stone man, or
anything else but the close-growing vegetation, could be seen.
"Fooled again!" was the exclamation that was forcing itself to Tubby's
irrepressible lips when he stopped short, struck by the look of keen
disappointment on the major's face.
"It looks as if we had had all our trouble for nothing, boys," he began,
when Rob interrupted.
"What's that off there, major, through the bushes yonder. You can see it
best from here."
The major hastened to the young leader's side.
"It's a sort of cliff or precipice," he cried.
"Maybe the man of stone is located there," suggested Rob; "it's worth
trying, don't you think so, sir?"
"By all means. This growth may have sprung up since the treasure was
hidden away, and so have concealed the place."
Once more the party moved on. A few paces through the undergrowth brought
them to the foot of a steepish cliff of rough, gray stone. It appeared to
be about thirty feet or more in height. Above it towered the rugged peak
of the first of the Three Brothers.
"Now, where's the man of stone?" asked the professor in a puzzled tone,
gazing about him.
"There's certainly no indication of a man of that material or any other,"
opined the major, likewise peering in every direction.
"What's that mass of rock on the cliff top?" asked Merritt suddenly; "it
looks something like a human figure."
They all gazed up. A big mass of rock was poised at the summit of the
cliff. There was a large rock with a smaller one perched on the top of
it. To a vivid imagination it might have suggested a body and a head.
"It's worth investigating, anyway," decided the major; "we'll look at the
face of the cliff directly beneath it. Maybe there is an opening there."
But this decision was more easily arrived at than carried out. Thorny
brush and thick, tall weeds shrouded the base of the cliff for a height
of eight or ten feet. But the Boy Scouts had their field axes with them,
and before long the blows of the steel were resounding. In a few minutes
they had cleared away a lot of the brush directly beneath the two poised
stones.
The major and the professor, with Jumbo looking rather awe-stricken at
the major's side, stood watching.
"These balanced stones prove my theory that all this is of glacial
origin," the professor was saying. "Some antediluvian water course must
have left them there. Why, it wouldn't take much of a push to shove them
over."
"That is true," agreed the major; "in that case, supposing that an
entrance does exist at this spot, they would block it effectually."
"Very much so," agreed the professor dryly; "in fact----"
"Hoo-r-a-y!"
The shout rang gladly through the silent woods. The boys had thrown down
their axes and stood with flushed, triumphant faces turned toward the
elder members of the party. The major was quick to guess the cause of
their excitement.
"They've found it!" he cried, springing forward.
The professor and Jumbo followed. As they came up Rob was pointing to an
opening at the base of the cliff which the cleared brush had revealed.
"The entrance to the cavern of Ruby Glow!" he exclaimed dramatically,
while the rest of the Boy Scouts swung off into Tubby's extemporized song
of triumph.