Knowing that there was work enough to occupy the party on the islet for
probably the next two days, I did not consider it necessary to keep a
watch upon their labours, but left them with Forbes in charge, and
joined the Desmond party in a ramble over the island. This, by
following the ravines, the bottoms of which were comparatively free from
undergrowth, we found less difficult of accomplishment than we had
anticipated; and although the toil of clambering up the steep
acclivities, and over the smooth boulders that in many places encumbered
the way, proved rather trying to our unaccustomed limbs, we nevertheless
managed to make our way to the summit of "the Nose," as we called it,
from whence we obtained a superb panoramic view of the entire island.
That the place was uninhabited we could now no longer doubt; for
although from our lofty standpoint we had the whole surface of the
island spread out like a map beneath us, there was nowhere any break
whatever in the dense vegetation which flourished so luxuriantly on the
rich soil; nothing whatever to indicate the existence of cleared and
cultivated patches, as there certainly would have been, had the island
been inhabited. Nor did we observe any sign or trace whatever of
animals of any sort; birds seemed to be the only living creatures
inhabiting this lovely spot, and they appeared to swarm in thousands
wherever we happened to come upon a comparatively open space. Fruits of
several kinds abounded on the island, among the most abundant being
bananas, mangoes, breadfruit, and cocoa-nuts. We were also fortunate
enough to come upon several granadilla vines, the product of which was
just ripe, and we accordingly loaded ourselves with as many of these
delicious fruits as we could carry.
Our return journey was effected by a somewhat shorter route than that
which we had followed on our outward way, and eventually we hit upon a
ravine down which brawled a small stream of deliciously sweet
crystal-clear water, following which we came out upon the margin of the
basin at the point where Rogers and his party were working. Despite the
intense heat and a perfect plague of mosquitoes the fellows were toiling
as if for life, and had already succeeded in clearing a line of fully a
hundred feet in length. I critically examined their work, pronounced it
all right, and we then went on to the islet, Sir Edgar and I discussing
by the way the distracting question of how the crew were to be dealt
with in the event of our finding the treasure. The question seemed to
resolve itself into this--that the men must either be taken away in the
ship, or left on the island; and if the former, they would certainly
have to be taken as prisoners, since, if free, they would assuredly
seize the ship, even if they had to murder me in order to accomplish
their purpose. As prisoners, however, they would be worse than useless;
they would be a continual menace and source of anxiety. Sir Edgar
consequently agreed with me that I should be fully justified in leaving
them--or, at all events, the worst of them--behind; and this I at length
determined to do; watching my opportunity to divide them up into small
parties, upon some pretext, and making prisoners of them in detail; thus
minimising the risk of a fight and its too probable accompaniment, loss
of life. There would be no likelihood whatever of the rascals starving
in such a land of plenty as the island had proved to be; they could not
possibly suffer any very serious discomfort in so genial a climate; and,
the treasure once secured, it would be no difficult matter to arrange
for their speedy rescue. This matter settled, I felt somewhat easier in
my mind, and now only required an opportunity to discuss and arrange the
details with Forbes and Joe.
On reaching the islet we found that here, too, wonderful progress had
been made, the party under Forbes having already cleared a line through
the scrub of very nearly four hundred feet in length. This was due to
the fact that they had hitherto encountered no trees in the actual line
of their work, though several had been very narrowly missed. It was
apparent, however, that on the morrow they would be less fortunate; for
which I was by no means sorry, as it would lengthen the duration of the
work, and afford me a better opportunity for completing my plans. That
same evening, after dinner, Forbes, Sir Edgar, and I discussed the
matter in detail, and finally completed certain arrangements that
appeared to us to promise a fairly satisfactory solution of the whole
difficulty. On the following day I found an opportunity to communicate
to Joe the pith of these arrangements--which were to be put into
operation as soon as ever the treasure, if found, should be safely
placed on board the barque--and he cheerfully undertook to maintain a
constant watch for my signals, and to be ready for action whenever I
should make them.
The next three days passed uneventfully away, the men working perhaps
not quite so hard as they had at the outset, but still making fairly
good progress. The party on the islet had reached to within eighty feet
of their goal when they knocked off that night; and now, for the first
time, I think, I began to fully realise the momentous character of the
issues that were probably to be decided within the next twenty-four
hours. Would the treasure be found? Hitherto it had never occurred to
me to seriously reflect that there might possibly be an unfavourable
reply to this question; but now that only a few short hours lay between
me and certainty, I suddenly began to comprehend how much depended upon
whether that reply should prove to be Yea or Nay; and an almost
uncontrollable impatience to have the matter definitely decided took
possession of me, rendering sleep that night an impossibility. But,
even with the impatient, though time may lag upon leaden wings, he
passes at last; and the morning at length dawned upon me with my nerves
quieted and steadied by exhaustion and the reaction from the night's
intolerable excitement.
As it was confidently expected that, if the treasure really existed, and
still reposed in its alleged hiding-place, it would that day be found,
the ladies determined to go on shore to witness its disinterment, taking
the nursemaids and children with them in order that the latter might
enjoy what would probably prove to be their last opportunity for a
ramble on the lovely island. Accordingly, the party being a large one,
both gigs were manned, and all hands of us, even to the cook and
steward, went ashore, leaving the ship to take care of herself; the wind
being a gentle breeze from the eastward, or somewhat off the land, with
a fine, settled look about the weather. Rogers and his party resumed
their usual work at the head of the basin; and Forbes, with his gang,
vigorously attacked the narrow belt of scrub that still interposed
between them and their goal.
It happened, however, that this bit of scrub was more thickly dotted
with trees than any other portion that they had yet met with, so that it
was four o'clock in the afternoon before a very careful final
measurement assured us that the most laborious part of our task had come
to an end. The ground, however, was still covered with _debris_, which
had to be cleared away before the actual digging operations could be
commenced, and this occupied fully another hour. By this time the
evening shadows had begun to climb up the hillsides; nevertheless the
men seized their picks and shovels, and, with renewed energy, began to
turn up the ground.
They toiled thus for an hour, by which time they had excavated a hole
some three feet deep in the centre, and I had actually, with great
reluctance, given the word to knock off, when Barr, driving his pick
deep into the ground, where he intended to leave it that night, struck
upon something harder than soil.
"Hurrah, boys," he exclaimed, "here's something at last! Stick to it,
and let's see what it is before we leave it."
At it again they accordingly went, with such desperate vigour that the
perspiration literally poured _off_ their arms and down their necks, and
in a few minutes they succeeded in laying bare the top of a solid timber
chest, strongly bound with iron. They were very anxious to get this
chest out of the ground, there and then; but on attempting to clear the
earth away from round about it, it was found that the chest was only one
of several others all packed closely together, so that it would be
necessary to reach one of the outer chests before any of them could be
conveniently moved. We were consequently compelled to content ourselves
that night with the knowledge that we had found _something_, and to wait
until the next morning to ascertain the value of our discovery.
The following sunrise found us once more _en route_ for the shore, this
time provided with a couple of spare studding-sail booms to act as
sheers for the more convenient hoisting out of the chests, together with
such rope, blocks, etcetera, as we should require for the purpose. The
size of the chests, however, was such as would probably tax the strength
of the entire party to handle them, and I was therefore reluctantly
compelled to call in the assistance of Rogers and his party.
Even thus reinforced, it soon became apparent that a heavy task lay
before us, and it was not until the boatswain was piping to breakfast
that the first chest was successfully broken out and raised to the
surface.
Breakfast was soon over that morning, and then the question arose, how
were such ponderous chests to be conveyed to the ship? They measured,
roughly, about two and a half feet square, and were so heavy that eight
men--all who could conveniently get round one of them--could not raise
the weight from the ground, much less carry it along a narrow path
cumbered with stumps and prostrate trunks of trees. Greatly as I
disliked such a proceeding, it seemed that there was no alternative but
to break open each chest, and convey its contents piecemeal to the
boats; and this course was therefore perforce adopted.
The task of merely breaking open the chests proved to be one of no
ordinary difficulty; for they were constructed of solid oak, nearly
three inches thick, so well made, and so strongly bound with iron, that
I could not help surmising that they must have been the chests in which
the Spaniards had originally stowed the treasure, and specially made for
the purpose. They were black with age; but the timber was perfectly
sound, while the iron bands, though more than half eaten away with rust,
were still stout enough to give us an immense amount of trouble.
At length, however, the first chest was broken open, and was found to
contain sixty-four bricks or ingots of solid silver! They were arranged
in four tiers of sixteen bricks each, exactly fitting the chest, and
each brick weighed about a quarter of a hundredweight. Each chest,
therefore, if all contained the same precious metal, would represent the
value of sixteen hundredweight of silver. How many chests there were we
did not yet know; but it was evident that there were several. Some said
there were eight or nine, but I thought there must be more, judging by
the way in which they were arranged in the ground.
The men were now divided into two working parties, one of which, under
my supervision, carried the silver to one of the boats, while the other,
under Forbes, proceeded to break out and open another chest. The
contents of one chest I considered a sufficient load for the gig, and
accordingly, as soon as this amount had been placed in her, we shoved
off for the ship; my crew consisting of Joe, the Norwegian, the negro,
and an American named Barr. On arriving alongside the silver was simply
passed up the side and pitched down the after-hatchway upon the ballast,
for the present.
The ladies, who had elected to remain on board this day on account of
the heat, were so filled with excitement and delight at the sight of the
silver and the news of our find, that they could no longer remain
quietly where they were; they must needs go ashore once more and see all
this wealth brought out of the ground; and accordingly, upon our return
passage, they went with us, taking the maids and children with them.
On our arrival at the islet we found the second gig awaiting us, with
her cargo in her, which the other party had just finished loading; so we
left the one boat, and took the other, treating this cargo as we had the
last; and so the work went merrily on until the men's dinner-time, by
which time we had raised and transported eight boxes of silver. And it
had by this time been ascertained that there were eight more still to be
dealt with!
A hurried meal was snatched, and the work was resumed, three more of the
chests being disposed of by three o'clock in the afternoon. Then
another surprise met us. The next chest contained _gold_ instead of
silver; the ingots being only nine in number, somewhat larger than the
silver ingots, and weighing, as nearly as we could estimate, about one
hundredweight each. Each of these gold ingots was neatly wrapped and
sewn into a covering of hide. On our return from the ship, after
conveying this precious cargo on board, we were met with the news that
two other chests, since opened, also contained gold; and, not to detain
the reader necessarily, it eventually proved that the remaining cases,
two in number, likewise contained the same precious metal. The total
find thus consisted of eleven chests containing seven hundred and four
ingots of silver, and five chests containing one hundred and thirty-five
ingots of gold.
All through the long, hot afternoon the work went on with unremitting
energy, for it soon became apparent that darkness would be upon us
before the last of the treasure could be moved. I was just completing
the transfer of the third chest of gold to the ship when the sun sank in
a perfect blaze of splendour below the horizon, and a few of the
brighter stars were already twinkling in the zenith when we ranged up
alongside the other boat at the landing-place upon the islet.
As I stepped out of the light boat into the loaded one, and directed my
crew to follow, one of the men--an Irishman, named O'Connor--touched his
forehead in the approved shell-back style, and observed--
"Av ye plaise, sor, Misther Forbes was sayin' would ye be so kind as to
sthep along to the houle afore ye makes your next thrip to the ship?
He's afther wantin' to shpake to ye."
"Oh, very good," said I; and, stepping ashore, I directed Joe to go
across to the other side of the basin to fetch the ladies and children,
who had crossed earlier in the afternoon, and now stood waiting to be
conveyed back to the ship, and then went groping my way along the dark,
uneven path toward the hole. The man O'Connor and somebody else--who it
was I could not distinguish in the gloom--were stumbling along in front
of me, and making very poor headway, I thought, for I quickly overtook
them. They were in my way, working along as they were, two abreast, for
the path was very narrow; so I said to them--"Here, let me pass, you
two; I am in a hurry!" They stepped aside without a word, one to one
side of the pathway and one to the other; and as I passed between them
one of them cried, "Now!" and, before I could even so much as think,
they both flung themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, one of
them springing upon me from behind, with his arms round my neck and his
knee into the small of my back, while the other dashed himself upon his
knees on my chest, and gripped me by the throat by one hand, as he
pressed the cold muzzle of a revolver to my temple with the other.
"A single worrud or a movement, and I'll pull the thrigger on ye, as
sure as death!" ejaculated O'Connor, between his set teeth, as he
tightened his grip upon my throat. "Now, Bill, feel ov his pockets and
take his barkers away, av he has anny, while I hould him. Now, listen
to what I'm tellin' ye. The others--that's Misther Forbes and the
gintleman--is already tuk, so ye needn't be expectin' any help from
thim; and as we've got such a hape of goold and silver out ov this
houle, we're goin' to be contint wid it, and intind to take the
thriflin' liberty of borryin' the ship to carry it away wid us; you can
have the rest yourselves, and much good may it do ye. Ah, that's right,
Bill," as the latter extracted a brace of loaded revolvers from my
jacket pocket; "just feel, while ye're about it, av he has a knife, and
take that from him, too. Now, are ye sure that's all?" as the other
man--who now proved to be Rogers--took my knife away also. "Very well.
Now, captin dear, ye may get upon your feet; but--understand me--av ye
attimpts to lay hands upon either ov us, the other'll shoot ye through
the head widout waitin' to say, `By your lave.' Arrah, now, it's kilt
he is, I do belave!" as the fellow rose from my prostrate body and saw
that I made no movement--for all this time he had kept so tight a hold
upon my throat that he fairly strangled me, and, though I still, in a
dreamy way, heard him speaking, my strength had entirely left me, and I
was scarcely conscious of my surroundings.
"I'll fire a shot to let the others know that it's all right, and then
we'll have to carry him as far as the boats," remarked Rogers. "Perhaps
a dip in the water may bring him round."
Such extreme measures, however, proved unnecessary; for, my throat once
released, my senses began to come back to me, and by the time that we
had reached the shore of the islet I was once more able to stand.
Arrived here, I was compelled to enter the empty gig, and was carried
across to the opposite shore of the creek, where the ladies still
remained; my order to bring them across having been countermanded in a
whisper by one of the men, the moment that I had turned my back. On
reaching the other side I was ordered out of the boat, a loaded revolver
being exhibited as a hint to me to hasten my movements; but, as I
stumbled forward over the thwarts, Joe offered me the support of his
arm, murmuring in my ear, as I stepped out on the sand--
"Cheer up, cap'n! This here's a most unexpected move, and no mistake;
but the ship ain't gone yet; and, from what I heard passin' among the
others, just now, afore you come up, I ain't by no means sure as they'll
leave to-night. Some of 'em is that greedy that they wants to stop and
have a shy at the other treasure; and if they does, there's no knowin'
what may happen betwixt now and then. And if they makes up their minds
to go, _I_ don't go with 'em. I'll slip overboard, and swim ashore, if
there's no other way of joinin' you."
I had only time to murmur a word of thanks for this expression of
sympathy, when he left me and returned to the boat, which immediately
shoved off for the islet.
The ladies--who, with the nursemaids and children, still stood waiting
to be conveyed to the ship--saw, by the actions of the men, that there
was something amiss, and now approached me, inquiring anxiously what was
the matter. Of course, I had no alternative but to explain to them that
the men had risen in mutiny, and had seized the ship; and, although I
made as light of it as I could, it was a sorry tale at best that I had
to tell them. I was still in the midst of my story when the
phosphorescent flash of oars became visible in the black shadow of the
islet, and presently the outline of the boat, telling dark upon the
starlit surface of the still water, was seen approaching. As she drew
near, the voice of Rogers came pealing across the water--
"Shore ahoy! just walk a bit farther back from the water's edge, there,
or we shall be obliged to fire. We're about to land Sir Edgar; and if
there's any sign of a rush at the boat, we shall shoot to kill. So if
you don't want to be hurt, you'd better stand well back."
"Hold on there a moment," I answered back, disregarding the threat.
"Surely, men, you do not intend to abandon us here, unarmed; without a
shelter from the weather, and with only the clothes we stand up in?"
"Oh, you'll do well enough, I don't doubt," replied Rogers, brutally.
"You don't want arms, because there's nobody nor nothing here that'll
hurt you; you don't need clothes, because the climate's so warm that you
can do without 'em; and, as to a shelter, why, we've left all the axes
and shovels ashore; you're welcome to them, and if you can't build a
house with such tools as that, you deserves to go without. There's
plenty of fruit, and plenty of good water, so you won't starve; and,
lastly, there's a chance for you to get all the treasure that's in that
other hole--if we decides that we don't want it ourselves."
"What?" I exclaimed, indignantly, "after stealing my ship and my
treasure from me, will you not go to the small trouble of passing the
ladies' and children's clothing into a boat, and sending it--"
"Well, if you _won't_ stand back, take that!" interrupted Rogers; and as
the word left his lips there was a flash, a sharp report, and a bullet
went singing close past my ear.
At the same moment I felt my arm seized by a white figure that
unexpectedly appeared at my side, and Miss Merrivale's voice, rendered
almost inarticulate by scorn and anger, exclaimed--
"Leave the cowardly brutes alone. You _shall not_ humiliate yourself
further by stooping to ask a favour from them, even on our behalf; nor
shall you wantonly expose yourself to the risk of being murdered in cold
blood. I will not have it!"
With which, she dragged me unresistingly to the spot where her sister
and the children stood, and then, without a word of warning, flung
herself prone upon the sand and burst into a perfect passion of tears.
"Nay, do not give way thus, I pray you," I said, as I knelt beside her
and raised her prostrate form in my arms. "Our plight is bad enough, I
grant you, though not so bad that it might not easily be very much
worse. And if you will only try to be brave and patient we will soon
arrange matters so that you shall not be altogether destitute of comfort
and--"
"Do you think I care for my own comfort?" she interrupted me,
passionately. "No! as that wretch said, we are not likely to starve;
and I suppose you and Edgar will be able to build such a shelter as will
suffice to protect us from the sun and rain. It is not that; it is--oh,
the base, ungrateful, contemptible creatures, to treat you like this! I
am _sure_ they will be punished for it."
"Ay, that they will!" exclaimed Sir Edgar, cheerily, as he joined the
group. "Well, Emmie darling--and you, chicks--will it be a very
dreadful hardship for you all to sleep on this beautiful, soft, white
sand to-night? To-morrow we shall have light enough to work by, and I
have no doubt that before the end of the day Saint Leger and I will have
contrived to stick up a hut or something to cover you. Why, children,
this is a regular genuine picnic, in which we shall have everything to
do for ourselves, and you will be able to help, too. It will be
glorious fun for you, will it not?"
And so on. Never in all my life before had I seen a man take a heavy,
bitter blow so bravely as this gallant gentleman did. He knew--for he
had already had time to fully realise it--all that so cruel an
abandonment meant to him and his; yet his courage never faltered for a
moment; not the faintest glimpse did he allow to appear of the anguish
that must have at that moment been wringing his heart. No; his voice,
his manner, and his whole bearing were inflexibly dominated by the
determination to cheer and encourage the dear ones who were now
absolutely dependent upon him, and him alone, for support and
encouragement to meet and face this sudden, dreadful reverse of fortune.
As I looked at and listened to him in astonishment and admiration I
felt ashamed at my own despondency--at the condition--temporary only
though I believed it to be--of complete helplessness to which the blow
had reduced me; and in contemplating such indomitable courage I not only
learned a lesson that I trust has benefited and toned my whole life
since then, but I also gathered fresh courage and resolution to face the
responsibilities and demands of the immediate present.