That was a dizzy and nerve-racking elevator. At the end of the
rising rope Jack swung about like a pendulum. At last the edge of
the summit was almost reached.
“Steady on,” called down Jack, “I’ll climb the rest of the way,” for
he had noticed that it was not a hard scramble, from the point he
had reached, to the top.
After a short struggle, he clambered and writhed himself to safety.
Then he lay flat on his face for a moment on the flat top of the
table mountain, regaining his breath and collecting his faculties.
After a while he rose. He looked over the brink and waved his cap to
those below. The sound of a faint cheer was wafted up to him. Jack
shouted back.
Then he turned his face upon the surface of the summit of Cedar
Mountain. It was not perfectly flat as he had imagined from below.
Rocky mounds covered it in every direction. Some struggling bushes
and stunted trees also grew there.
From his point of vantage, Jack had an excellent view of the island
and the sea for miles.
At almost his first glance about him, he detected the schooner lying
in a small bay on the opposite side of the island to the cove. On
the beach he spied what appeared to be a camp. A boat was plying
between the schooner and the shore.
“I wonder if they have found out yet that the treasure, if it’s here
at all, is ungettable,” murmured Jack.
He used caution in going about the top of the mountain after that,
crouching behind rocky mounds to avoid being seen from the schooner
or Terrill’s camp.
The “island in the air,” as it might have been fittingly called, was
filled with deep crannies, in some of which snow still lay. To have
fallen down one of them would have meant a miserable, lingering
death, without possibility of rescue.
“Well, this is a unique adventure,” thought Jack. “Even if there is
no stone chest, it will have been well worth the experience.”
He made for the great dead cedar by a circuitous route. His heart
beat a little faster as, at its foot, he saw there had been erected
a rough stone cairn.
“That makes part of the story true at any rate,” he reflected, “but
I see no sign of the chest.”
The boy did not feel much disappointment. He had distrusted the
story right along. So that he was not downcast to find that he had
drawn a blank. There was no trace of a stone chest, or anything even
remotely resembling it anywhere.
“Euchred!” murmured the boy, “poor Uncle Toby!”
There came a sudden shout from below. The lad rushed to the edge of
the cliff and looked over. What he saw gave him an unpleasant shock.
Unperceived by him, three canoes had landed on the east end of the
island.
Their occupants, wild looking Esquimaux, had stolen up unobserved on
the party below. From his post of vantage, Jack saw Carson snatch
out a pistol and fire point-blank into the onrush of natives, who
brandished spears and clubs. Sherry and Merryweather, too, covered
the retreat of the rest with their service revolvers which they had
brought from the revenue cutter.
Three of the Esquimaux fell. The rest faltered. They had no
firearms. Jack saw Carson, Sherry and Merryweather fire above the
natives’ heads to scare them. The ruse succeeded. Picking up two of
the wounded, they made a wild dash for the canoes. The white men
picked up the third wounded man and Jack saw them giving him some
sort of stimulants and examining his injury. It was not serious, for
the man was soon on his feet and apparently imploring the white men
not to kill him. The canoes of the others were already putting as
great a distance between the island and themselves as possible.
Jack hailed the party below and was soon lowered. His news was a
distinct blow to them all. But Uncle Toby took it apathetically.
Nothing appeared to disturb him now. Jack asked him for the map, and
laid it out on a stone to examine it. It was crudely drawn with a
rough picture of the stone chest in one corner.
The Esquimaux, who, it appeared, had not been wounded at all but was
merely scared into falling flat on the ground, began jabbering
wildly as he saw it. Jack noted that the man’s complexion, though
dirty, was fairer than he had imagined an Esquimaux’s skin would be
and then, too, the man’s hair was distinctly yellowish in color. He
was without doubt one of the famous blonde Esquimaux, the tribe of
mystery.
Carson, who could speak the dialect, began putting quick, sharp
questions. The man answered, pointing upward at the cedar tree.
Carson seemed strangely excited. He turned to Jack.
“You and I and this Esquimaux are going up there to the top of Cedar
Mountain,” he said.
“Why, does he know anything about the stone chest?” asked Jack, his
heart giving a bound.
“He says he does, but he may be lying. We’ll give him a chance to
prove what he says.”
Carson was pulled up first, and then weighted the loop in the rope
with a heavy rock and sent it down. Then came the Esquimaux’s turn.
He was badly frightened but seemed to be under the impression that
he would be killed if he didn’t go, so consented to be hauled up.
Jack went last.
At length they all stood on the summit. The Esquimaux began talking
rapidly. He drew a stone hatchet from his skin-clad body and
advanced swiftly to the tree. He inserted his hatchet in a crack in
the thickest part of the trunk.
[Illustration: Within the trunk Jack caught a glimpse of a large,
square box.]
A door was disclosed.
“Great guns! The beggar wasn’t lying!” breathed Carson tensely.
Jack peered into the hollow of the trunk. The Esquimaux gave a
guttural grunt and pointed. Within the trunk Jack caught a glimpse
of a large, square box of some sort. It had metal hinges. The
Esquimaux pried it open with his hatchet.
A dull gleam of gold shone from it.
“Uncle Toby was right after all!” cried Jack.
* * * * *
It was the next morning. All the adventurers were bending over a
great heap of golden cups, bowls, breastplates, and other articles,
beaten by some unknown and long-vanished race from virgin gold. What
the pile of precious metal was worth none of them could estimate,
for besides the contents of the stone chest, many other valuable
articles had been found in the trunk of the tree.
But what gladdened Jack’s heart more than the finding of the
treasure, was the fact that, Uncle Toby, with its discovery, had
been restored to his senses. The golden articles were carefully
counted and inventoried. Then the Esquimaux was given his liberty in
one of the boats, a present which delighted him, and was also
presented with a number of knick-knacks with which he told Carson he
could buy the richest wife of his tribe.
The pile of gold was carefully covered up with canvas and, curiously
enough, it was not till that had been done and an inventory checked
up that any of them thought of the momentous question of how they
were going to get back to civilization. After a long discussion, it
was decided that that night they would take the boat and reconnoiter
the schooner. If it was possible to retake her they would, and thus
be in a position to dictate terms to Terrill and Company.
During the afternoon Jack set up the wireless apparatus, stringing
his aërials from a stout bush far up the cliff side. Then he began
to send messages. He was in the midst of this work when there was a
sudden stir in the camp. Three newcomers were approaching down the
gulch.
They were Terrill, Jarrow and another of the crew. Terrill looked
crestfallen. Jarrow carried a handkerchief tied to a stick as a
token of truce.
He noticed the hostile looks cast at him and held up one of his
bony-fingered hands deprecatingly.
“I have come in peace,” he said in a sanctimonious voice.
“You precious rascal, I’d like to see you go away in pieces,” roared
Uncle Toby, who was with difficulty restrained from rushing at the
oily rascal.
“We all of us make mistakes,” muttered Jarrow, rolling his squinting
eye horribly. “I’m thinking we all made a big mistake in ever coming
here.”
“Yes, Captain Ready,” said Terrill, “there is no chance of ever
reaching the top of that cedar plateau. The treasure is secure from
us both. We will reach an amicable agreement. You give me notes to
pay half the expenses of this cruise, and we will sail for home
to-day.”
Uncle Toby burst into a loud laugh.
“Fer a slick feller, Terrill, you’ve got yourself inter as nice a
corner as ever a man did,” he chuckled, “so now, after trying your
best to cheat us and leaving us here to starve fer all you know, you
try to get me to sign notes for half of a business venture that you
went into with your foxy eyes wide open and intendin’ to swindle me?
I’ll see you rot on this island first.”
“Confound you!” shrieked Terrill, “it’s you that are the swindler.
You landed me in this out of the way place. If the treasure is
there, it’s impossible to get it without an aeroplane.”
“You’ll go up in ther air yerself in a minute if yer don’t watch
out,” grinned Noddy.
There came a shout from Jack at the wireless.
“I’ve got the _Thespis_. Hurray!” he cried.
They all, even Terrill and his companions, gazed at the boy in
silent concentration.
“They found fragments of the tender and thought we were all lost,”
he continued. “Captain Simms congratulates us all. He will make full
speed for this island at once.”
A deep-throated cheer greeted this announcement. All took part in it
but Terrill and Carson. Terrill was staring at the seal poacher,
whom he had just recognized, as if he had seen a ghost. Carson was
the first to find his voice.
“So you know me, Mr. Terrill, eh?” he grated out. “Well, when that
United States vessel reaches here, I’m going to tell all I know
about that insurance swindle of yours that drove me to be an
outlaw.”
“Don’t dare to threaten me,” shrieked Terrill, “you yourself are
being sought for as a seal-poacher. The revenue men will be glad to
get you.”
Carson made a rush for Terrill, who shrank back terrified, but
Sherry and Merryweather held back the maddened sailor with their
stout arms.
“I--er--that is, we must be going,” stammered Terrill. “Come,
Jarrow. Captain Ready, since there is no treasure to be got and we
are in the possession of the schooner with a much stronger force for
me than you, I hope you will come to terms before to-night.”
“Consarn you, I’d die on this desarted island afore I’d come to
terms with a rascal of your stripe,” shouted Uncle Toby. “There’ll
be some of Uncle Sam’s boys here afore long and they can deal with
you.”
Terrill turned fairly green at this. Without another word he walked
off up the cove, followed by Jarrow and the other man. Three hours
later our party of adventurers saw the schooner rounding the point
and heading southward.
Terrill had carried out his threat, which they were powerless to
check, for they were much the smaller party and the schooner carried
guns and rifles. But as the sailing craft wore toward the horizon, a
sudden cloud of smoke appeared. Jack sprang to the wireless. In a
few seconds he was able to tell them that the smoke heralded the
approach of the _Thespis_.
A moment later the _Thespis_ was in possession of the facts
concerning the larceny of the schooner and was steaming to intercept
her. Terrill, of course, did not dare to fight a revenue cutter, and
the schooner was turned back to the island. Both craft anchored off
the cove about sun down.
There was a joyous reunion between Jack and his officers and the
crew, with whom he was a general favorite; Sherry and Merryweather
came in for their share of interest and commendation.
They sat up late in Captain Simms’ cabin telling their stories, and
the gold and plate were transferred to the specie room of the
revenue craft.
The news was broken to Terrill the next day by Uncle Toby. For a
time it appeared as if the rapacious rascal would go mad. When he
had quieted down, Uncle Toby agreed to pay him for the entire
expenses of the expedition.
“The rest of the debt I reckon you wiped out yerself,” chuckled the
old mariner.
“I’ll sue you,” shrieked Terrill.
“Go ahead. I’ve got nothing to fear in a court of law. I guess your
case is different,” replied Uncle Toby imperturbably.
Escorted by the _Thespis_, which had been relieved from iceberg
patrol duty for that year, the _Morning Star_, with Terrill a
practical prisoner on board, made a quick run back to St. Johns, N.
S., the nearest port. Both Terrill and Jarrow vanished soon after
landing, and a few days later there was a vacant suite of offices in
the building where Terrill & Co. had once hatched their shady
schemes.
The gold plate and relics turned out to be immensely valuable and
all concerned in the expedition shared Uncle Toby’s generosity,
including Noddy Nipper and Pompey. Noddy set up a news stand, which
is making good money and Pompey started a colored restaurant where
the chocolate-colored élite of New York gather. He never tires of
telling them of his adventures, nor do they suffer in the telling.
Captain Carson was “set on his feet” by Uncle Toby, having escaped
punishment through the mercy of the authorities. He is now part
owner of a fine schooner trading between Boston and the West Indies.
Captain Toby was urged by his friends to purchase a conventional
residence on his accession to fortune, but he still lives on board
the old _Venus_. He says he would not feel at home anywhere else.
As for Jack and Raynor, after a fine time ashore, with plenty of
money to spend after their good luck in the Arctic, they soon began
to pine again for active life. To Jack, existence ashore, even with
the society of pretty Helen Dennis, began to pall, after the many
adventures he had encountered.
But how he gained another step upward toward his ambition in life,
and what further experiences lay before him must be saved for the
telling in another volume. And here let us leave them, satisfied
that in the future all will be well with Uncle Toby’s companions in
the search for the stone chest, and the hardy members of the Iceberg
Patrol.
THE END.