For quite a quarter of an hour we remained motionless--the watcher and
the watched--Tom and I both well armed, and involuntarily our guns were
pointed at the eyes; but the position was not one which justified
firing. The ravine was as free to the owner of those eyes as to
ourselves, and, after all, we had no proof that this was an enemy.
I was in doubt as to our next proceeding, and had just come to the
conclusion that our most sensible plan would be to turn back without
going near the cavern at all, and so try to throw the enemy off the
scent, for I felt certain that whether I discovered a treasure or no, I
was on the right track, when Tom whispered eagerly to me:
"Let's show him that we know how to use our guns, Mas'r Harry. We won't
shoot him, but only give him a start. Look at that: there's a
poll-parrot--two of 'em--settled in the tree above him! It's a long
shot, but I think I could bring one down; so here goes!"
Tom levelled his piece and the next instant would have fired, when the
parroquets began chattering, screaming, and fighting together,
fluttering down towards the bushes which concealed our watcher. Then
there was a rush, a crashing of the undergrowth, and the owner of the
eyes--a good-sized deer--bounded into sight for an instant, and then
disappeared in a series of spring leaps, which soon took it out of sight
in the dense growth.
"I _am_, blessed!" exclaimed Tom, in accents of the most profound
disgust. "If I'd known, wouldn't I have fired, that's all! Had some
venison to take back, Mas'r Harry."
"I'm very glad you did not, Tom," I said.
For I felt how the report of a gun would have published our whereabouts,
if there really were any lurkers near--a thing that I must say I now
thought very probable, since the fact of there being a treasure in the
cave, held sacred by the Indians, would, as a matter of course, render
them very jealous of intruders.
"Where for now, Mas'r Harry?" said Tom.
"The cavern, Tom," I said.
Finishing our descent we were not long in reaching the rocky barrier,
evidently piled by Nature at the entrance of the vast frowning arch.
We stopped and looked around suspiciously; but the gorge was silent as
the grave--not a leaf stirred; there was neither the hum of insect nor
the note of bird. Heat--glowing heat--reflected from the rocks, already
not to be touched without pain--and silence.
"Going in, Mas'r Harry?" said Tom.
"Of course," I replied.
"Very good, Mas'r Harry; if you will, you will. But if we get lost, and
then find ourselves right away down in no-man's land, don't you go and
say it's my fault."
I was in no mood to reply, and clambering up the hot rocks, with little
glancing lizards and beetles rushing away at every step, we soon stood
gazing in at the gloomy chamber, our eyes, unaccustomed to the gloom,
penetrating but a few yards at a time, so that had there been a host of
enemies within, they would have been unseen.
"Now, Tom!" I said excitedly, as together we climbed down into the
shade, to feel the cool and pleasant change from broiling heat to what
was, comparatively, a very low temperature. "Now, Tom, we are going to
explore one of the wonders of the world!"
"Humph!" ejaculated Tom, who did not look at all pleased; "it's very
big, and large, and cool. But say, Mas'r Harry," he exclaimed,
brightening up, "it wouldn't make half a bad place for keeping tallers!
Yah! what's that?"
"Only a bird," I said, as with a rush a couple of large birds had flown
close by us, evidently alarmed at our visit to their home. "That's a
good sign, Tom, and shows that you need not fancy there's an enemy
behind every block of stone. If anyone was within those birds would not
be there."
Tom grunted, and then, as if to show his unbelief, cocked both barrels
of his gun, as, with eyes each moment growing more familiar with the
gloom, we walked slowly forward into the darkness ahead--slowly, for the
floor was rugged in places with fragments from the roof, and stalagmite.
The roof was about fifty feet above our heads, and the span of the low
corrugated arch, I should say, a hundred more than that. The stream was
rippling noisily along, threading its way amongst the massive blocks of
stone, murmuring musically over pebbles and sand. Now our way was wet
and slimy, and then again rugged and dry, till, having penetrated some
little distance with every precaution, we turned round to look back at
the entrance, to see as pretty a picture as ever I gazed upon in my
life. We could now see plainly the nature of the roof, hung with
beautiful stalactites of many graceful forms, giving to the great arch
the appearance of some grand specimen of Gothic tracery, through which
we looked upon the ravine lit up by the outer sunshine, with its green,
and gold, and blushing floral hues. It was a scene to be remembered for
ever; but the gold in my thoughts seemed more glorious, and I turned
from it without a sigh.
Another dozen yards and a curve in the cave hid the entrance from sight;
we were in gloomy shades, where a light was necessary; and before going
farther I paused to think.
If the treasure had been hidden there, where would it be?
Reason said directly, in the most distant and inaccessible recesses of
the vast cavern.
And where was that? How far from the light of day?
That was the problem I had set myself to solve, and, in spite of a
feeling of awe with which the place inspired me, I prepared for the
solution. It was no light task, and I have no shame in owning that I
felt a strange reluctance to proceed along a rugged path wherein might
at any time be yawning some fearful bottomless chasm, ready to swallow
up the adventurer; but I would not show my dread, and if Tom felt any he
was too obstinate to show his.
By means of string we tied each a candle to our pistol barrels, and then
set forward, walking slowly, now with the floor of the cavern ascending,
now with it sloping down with a steep and rugged gradient, but always
with the little river gurgling in darkness by our side, sometimes almost
on a level with our feet, at others, where the path rose, running in a
deep chasm whose black darkness made one shudder.
We must have penetrated, I should say, the greater part of a mile when
the narrow rocky shelf upon which we were walking came to a sudden end,
and holding down our candles, we tried to penetrate the depth before us,
but in vain; we could only see a vast black abyss, over which we were
standing upon a tongue of rock, while to right, to left, it was
precisely the same--an awful falling away of all that was palpable--and
we knew that a slip would have sent us to a horrible death.
"This is a fearsome, unked place, Mas'r Harry," whispered Tom; but his
words went floating around as if taken up by a chorus of mocking voices,
and a strange shudder crept through me.
It was indeed awful, that vast obscurity, with death threatening us if
we took another step; and I could not help thinking how easy it was for
a people of a low order of intellect, blindly superstitious, to make
this solemn hall the home of their poor idol. It was a place that took
no little courage to explore, and often I felt my heart fail me ere I
recalled the errand upon which I had come.
Was it likely that, sooner than it should fall into the hands of the
Spaniards, gold almost invaluable had been cast into this awful gulf?
It was probable; but, as far as I could see, recovery would have been
impossible, unless, after all, it was not so profound as the darkness
made it appear. But then, how to descend? To swing by a rope over the
fearful chasm would have unnerved the stoutest of heart, and I felt that
I hardly could have dared such an adventure.
This, then, must be the extent of the cavern--or rather of our power to
explore it in this direction--for, as I have before said, we stood right
out upon a projecting piece of rock from which descent was absolutely
impossible, and there was nothing for it but to turn back.
"Think it's deep, Mas'r Harry?" whispered Tom loudly.
"Deep--deep--deep--deep--deep--deep!" came whispering back from all
sides, making Tom shiver; but he recovered himself directly, and taking
a piece of greasy newspaper from his pocket he loosely crumpled it
together, knelt down close to the brink of the abyss, lit the paper, and
then threw it from him to blaze out brightly, and fall down--down
rapidly--as it burned lower, and lower, and lower, till at a vast depth
it burned out, but without illuminating anything. We saw no reflection
from rocky point or gleaming water, and our feeling of awe was
increased.
"I'll have another try, anyhow," said Tom. "Ears will sometimes tell us
what eyes won't. Just lend a hand here, Mas'r Harry."
For a moment or two I shrank from assisting him, on seeing his object,
but directly after applied one hand to a rough block of stone that lay
at our side, weighing, I should think, a hundred pounds.
We had about a couple of yards to move it, and then it rested upon the
very brink, a shrinking sensation coming over me as I saw Tom stand,
candle in hand, with one foot resting upon the rock ready to thrust it
over.
"Now, then, Mas'r Harry," he said, "this'll find the bottom if anything
will. We shall soon know now. Say when!"
I did not speak, for I was wondering whether that rough block was going
down where that I coveted had been cast, and for a moment I was about to
restrain Tom; but I thought that the fall of that stone would teach me
whether the bottom was at an attainable depth or no, and I signed to Tom
to thrust the fragment off.
"Over, Mas'r Harry?"
"Over!" I said in a whisper; and the next moment there was a grating
noise and the stone had been thrust off to fall--fall--fall in silence,
while with awe-stricken countenances we leaned over the gulf and
listened, second after second, without avail, for no sound came up.
"It's gone bang through to the other side of the world, Mas'r Harry!"
whispered Tom. "There ain't no end to this place, for if it had been
ever so deep you must have heard it touch bottom some time. Ain't it
awful!"
It was awful, and a hand seemed clutching my heart as I thought of
falling, ever falling like that, or of some enemy dashing me over into
the fearful gulf. There seemed to be indeed no bottom within ordinary
range, and the idea of descending by rope in search there of treasure
was absurd.
How long the stone had been falling I cannot say; but just as we had
given up all thought of hearing of it more there came from the depths
below a faint whisper of a splash, or of some pebble falling in water,
but only for that whisper to be echoed and re-echoed from distant parts
till it increased to a fearful roar that was some seconds in dying away.
It was impossible to help a shudder upon hearing those horrible
reverberations, each one telling of the awful profundity of the place--
one which, without extensive mining apparatus, I felt that any fathoming
for search was out of the question.