We were all speechless, and could see nothing as we scrambled to our
feet in the darkness, for the cave was now filled with a thick dust,
that nearly suffocated us as well as blinded us--filling our eyes, and
mouths, and nostrils.
Presently, the dust settled down; and, then, we found that the cavern
was no longer dark, for the crash which had so startled us at first was
occasioned by a portion of the roof breaking away, which let in the
daylight from above, right immediately over the big rock in the centre
that Tom had called "the pulpit."
The rock, however, had disappeared, and this was, doubtless, the
mysterious body that had rushed by us through the mouth of the cave, so
frightening Sam.
But something more surprising still had happened.
The earthquake, in rending the rock, had upheaved all the earth around
it, and there, beneath, in a large cavity, was a collection of old oaken
chests, bound round, apparently, with heavy clamps of iron, similar to
those used by our forefathers a couple of centuries ago for the storage
of their goods and chattels--boxes that could defy alike the ravages of
age and the ordinary wear and tear of time, the carpenters and builders
of bygone days making things to last, and not merely to sell, as in
modern years!
"Hooray!" cried Hiram, springing towards one of the chests, which had
been crushed open by a piece of detached rock from the roof of the cave,
thus disclosing to view a lot of glittering ingots of gold, with a
crucifix and some little images of the same precious metal, like the
Madonna figure we had first discovered. "Hyar's the boocaneer treesor,
I guess, at last!"
"I vas mooch sorry," said Jan Steenbock, shaking his head solemnly, as
we gathered round the hole and eagerly inspected its contents, noticing
that there were seven or eight of the large chests within the cavity,
besides the broken one and a number of smaller ones, along with pieces
of armour and a collection of old guns and pistols, all heaped up
together. "I vas mooch sorry. It vas bringt us bat look, like it did
to ze schgooners, and Cap'en Shackzon, and all ze crew of zo sheep I vas
zail in befores!"
"Why, old hoss," asked Hiram, all excitement, "I guess we air all
friends hyar, an' 'll go share an' share alike; so thaar's no fear on a
muss happenin' atween us, like thaar wer with ye an' them durned
cut-throat Spaniards. Why shu'd it bring us bad luck, hey?"
"I vas avraid of ze curse," replied the other. "It vas hoonted mit
bloot, and vas bringt harm to every ones! I vill not touch it
meinselfs--no, nevaire!"
"Guess I will, though," retorted Hiram. "I ain't afeard o' no nigger ez
was buried two hundred year ago; no, nor on his ghostess neither. What
say ye, Sam, consarnin' this brother darkey o' yourn?"
"Golly, Massa Hiram!" said Sam, grinning from ear to ear at the sight of
the gold. "I'se tink I'se hab claim to de lot, if it am belong to de
nigger family. Ho-ho-ho!"
With that we all laughed; whereupon the skipper, whom we had forgotten
for the moment, made a movement where he still lay on the floor of the
cave by the entrance, opening his eyes and trying to get up, which, of
course, he was unable to do, from our having tied his legs together.
"Hillo!" he called out. "Whaar am I?"
His voice now seemed quite rational, and on Tom going up to him, he
found that the delirium had left him, and that he was quite sober and in
his senses again, so he unloosed him, helping him on to his feet.
Strange to say, Captain Snaggs did not utter a word about finding
himself tied, nor did he seem in any way surprised at being there
amongst us. He was not angry either a bit now!
He simply walked up to where we stood and, looking down at the hole with
the chests piled up in it, as if following out a concentrated train of
thought which had been simmering in his brain before his fit,
exclaimed--
"Thaar it air, jest ez I told ye, an' ez the buccaneer cap'n told me.
Thaar it air all right, I reckon; an' now we must see about gettin' it
down to the shep."
This staggered us somewhat; but Tom Bullover thought it best to humour
him.
"How would you like it took down to the shore, cap'en?" he asked,
deferentially. "Shall I go and fetch some of the hands, sir?"
"Yes, I guess thet'll be the best plan," replied Captain Snaggs, as easy
as you please, and as if only talking about some ordinary thing, and he
were giving his usual orders. "Wait a minnit, though. I guess I'll
come with ye ez soon as I've toted up the hull lot, fur thaar ain't no
fear of any coon walkin' off with the plunder while we're away, an' I
want to see how the shep's gettin' on. I reckon she ought to be pretty
near afloat by now."
There seemed a method in his madness, even if he were yet mad, for he
carefully jotted down the number of chests in his pocket-book; and then,
turning away as composedly as possible, he made his way down to the
beach by our old path, just as if he had been in the habit of going that
way every day of his life and it was quite familiar to him.
"Come on, men!" cried he. "Follow me!"
So, down we all tramped after him in single file to the shore, where we
found a stranger thing had happened since our long absence, which, long
as it seemed from the series of occurrences that had happened, the one
succeeding the other in rapid succession, was not long in reality.
However, it appeared months since we had left the ship; for, in the
short space of time, comparatively speaking, that we had been away, all
around her had been altered, and she more than anything.
Instead of her being high and dry ashore, with her bows up in the air
between the two hillocks where they had been wedged, there she was now
afloat, placidly riding on the smooth waters of the harbour by her
anchors, which had been laid out, it may be remembered, the morning
after she stranded.
This was a far more providential circumstance than our finding the
treasure; for even Mr Steenbock, sanguine as he had been at first when
he suggested digging the dock under her, had begun to have fears of our
eventually getting her off again into her native element--the operation
taking longer than he had expected, for the water at the last had
penetrated through the coffer-dam, thus preventing the men from digging
out the after part of the trench under the keel piece, between the main
and mizzen-chains.
Now, through the effects of the earthquake, we were fortunately saved
all farther trouble on this score.
The skipper did not appear the least surprised at what had happened,
displaying the same nonchalance as he did when gazing down into the
cavity where the buccaneers' gold was stowed--as if he had dreamt it all
beforehand and everything was turning out exactly according to the
sequence of his dream!
As we got nearer, we saw that a number of the men were grouped about the
shore, collecting a lot of stray gear, which they were taking off to the
ship in the jolly-boat; so, calling to these, Captain Snaggs asked where
Mr Flinders was.
"He's gone aboard bad," said one of the hands, with a snigger, whereat
they all laughed. "He don't feel all right this arternoon, sir, an' he
went into his cabin afore the ship floated."
"I guess, then, we'd better go aboard, too," replied the skipper, quite
quiet like. "It's gettin' late now, an' we'll break off work till
to-morrow. We'll then set about gettin' the sticks up on her agen, my
men, as well as hoist the stores aboard; fur, I means to sail out of
this hyar harbour afore the end of the week!"
The hands gave a hearty hurrah at this, as if the idea pleased them, for
they must have been quite sick of the place by this time; and the
skipper therefore ordered Jan Steenbock and Tom, with Hiram, Sam, and I,
to come off with him in the boat, telling us when we presently got
aboard not to mention about the treasure to any one yet, as it might
prevent the men working and rigging the ship, getting her ready for sea.
This we promised to do, keeping our word easily enough, as we did not
find it difficult to hold our tongues in the matter, considering the lot
there was for all hands to talk about concerning Sam's restoration to
life, after being supposed dead so long. Several of the hands, though,
persisted that they knew of the deception all along, and had not been
taken in by the ghost business; but this was all brag on their part, for
I am sure they thoroughly believed in it at the time, just the same as
Morris Jones and Hiram and I did--only Tom being in the secret from
first to last!
In the course of the next four days, all the hands working with a will,
even more energetically than they had done when dismantling her, the
_Denver City_ had her rigging up all ataunto again, while her graceful
yards were crossed, and most of her cargo got aboard, all ready to sail.
During this time, the skipper had said not a word about the treasure,
nor did he speak of sending up any one to fetch it; and so, as none of
us had been back to the cave since quitting it with the captain, after
the earthquake and our discovery of the hoard, Hiram and Tom, with Sam
and I, stole away late on the afternoon of the fourth day to see whether
the boxes were all right--Jan Steenbock being the only one of the
original party present when it was found who did not accompany us; but
he said he knew it would be unlucky, for him, at all events, and so he
preferred stopping away.
So it was that only we four went, though Jan came with us part of the
way from the ship, sitting down by the spring which had been the haunt
of the doves, to await our return.
Jan did not have to remain there long alone.
No sooner had we got to the cave than we found that the treacherous
skipper had anticipated and out-reached us; for, from the hurried look
we took, we could see that every single chest and box had been removed,
and that all were now probably stored in the captain's own cabin. No
doubt, too, by-and-by, he would swear that we had no hand in finding
them, whence, of course, it must follow from his reasoning, we were not
entitled to any share in the proceeds from the treasure!
This was a pretty state of things, each and all of us thought; and,
boiling with indignation, we rushed back to Jan to tell him the news.
But, we met with but sorry sympathy from him.
"You vas mooch bettaire off," he said stolidly--"mooch bettaire off
mitout ze accursed stoof! It vas bringt harm to Cap'en Shackzon, and ze
crew of ze schgooners dat I vas in; and, markt mine vorts, it vas bringt
harms to Cap'en Schnaggs, as zertain as I vas here and dere!"
"I'm durned, though, if I don't make him suffer fur it, if he don't
shell out!" cried Hiram hotly, as we all resumed the path back to the
shore, much more quickly than we had gone up to the cave. "I'll give
him goss!"
"He vill meet his vate vrom elsevere," said Jan Steenbock solemnly,
hurrying after us, for Hiram and Tom seemed all eagerness to tackle the
skipper at once, and I trotted close after them. "Ze sbirrit ob ze
dreazure vill hoont him, and poonish him in ze end!"
And, incredible as my story may seem, quite unwittingly, Jan became a
true prophet, as what occurred subsequently will show.
When we got to the shore, we found that the ship had her boats hoisted
in, and her anchor weighed; while the topsails were cast loose, showing
that she was ready to sail at a moment's notice.
What concerned us most, though, was that we could see no means for
getting on board; for the dinghy by which we had landed was towing
astern by its painter, and thus all communication was cut off with the
shore.
"_Denver City_, ahoy!" shouted out Hiram, putting his hands to his mouth
as an improvised speaking trumpet. "Send a boat to take us off!"
Captain Snaggs at once jumped up on the taffrail on our hailing her.
"Not one o' ye durned cusses comes aboard my shep agen, if I knows it!"
he yelled back loudly. "Ye went ashore o' yer own accord, an' thaar ye
shell stop, by thunder!"
"Ye durned thief!" cried Hiram, mad with rage at the villain for thus
cheating us, and abandoning us to our fate there on that lone desert
isle. "Whaar's our treesor?"
"Guess ye're ravin', man," bawled Captain Snaggs; and then, as if this
ended the colloquy, he sang out to the hands forward to "Hoist away!"
We then noticed a slight commotion on board, as if some of our shipmates
rebelled at the idea of leaving us behind, while they sailed homeward;
but this intervention on our behalf was futile, for the skipper
brandished his revolver, as we could easily see from the top of the
cliff, to which we had now climbed, in order to make our voices better
heard on board, and after a momentary pause the sails were let drop and
hauled out, and the vessel began to make her way out of the bay.
The captain then called out to us, as if in bragging malice, "I've got
every durned chest aboard! D'ye haar? Flinders an' I brought 'em down
to the beach last night when ye wer all caulkin'; an' I guess ye air
pretty well chiselled at last!--Thet's quits fur the nigger's ghost, an'
yer mutiny, an' all! I reckon I've paid ye all out in full, ye durned
skellywags!"
Those were the last words, in all human probability, that Captain Snaggs
ever uttered in this mortal life.
There had been slight rumblings underground all the morning of that day,
as if nature were warning us of further volcanic disturbance throughout
the Galapagian archipelago; and now, of a sudden, an immense tidal wave,
that seemed sixty feet high at the least, rolled into the little harbour
like a huge wall, filling up the opening between the cliffs on either
hand up to the very tops of these, as it came sweeping inward from the
outside sea.
The next instant, the _Denver City_, with all on board her, disappeared,
the wave sweeping back outwards with its prey, leaving the bottom of the
harbour bare for over a mile, where all previously had been deep water.
The sea came back once more, though the tidal wave was not so high as
before.
And still once again--ebb and flow, ebb and flow.
It was awful!