The time glided on, and I saw no more of Garcia; but, all the same, I
could not help feeling that this calm might portend a storm.
My uncle was evidently very uneasy; but he said no more, merely
proceeding with his business as usual, while with Tom I took trips here
and there, making myself certainly now no burden, for we returned each
evening loaded with game of some description--deer, fowl, or fish.
The first two days I saw at different times that we were followed; but
afterwards it seemed that the spies, self-constituted or not, had given
up their task, and that we were free to roam the forest as we pleased.
I grew hopeful upon making this discovery, and longingly looked forward
for the night of our great adventure.
It seemed as if that night would never come, but it came at last.
Instead of going to my bed-room I stole out directly I had seen my uncle
take his last cigar; and knowing that my absence would not be noticed, I
made my way to the appointed place.
It was excessively dark--a favourable omen, I thought; and on reaching
the little wood there was Tom smoking his pipe, with the bowl inside his
jacket, though, had the ruddy glow been seen at a distance, it might
easily have been taken for the lanthorn of a fire-fly.
"Seen any one, Tom?" I whispered.
"Not a soul, sir."
"Have you got all we want?"
"I believe you, Mas'r Harry. Two spades, two mules, plenty to eat and
drink, plenty of powder and lead, and coffee-bags enough--brand-new ones
of your uncle's--to put in all the treasure we shall find."
I could not see Tom's face, but I felt sure that he was indulging in a
good grin. However, I said nothing; but enjoining caution, we each took
the bridle of a mule and began to thread our way cautiously amongst the
trees, taking the precaution of setting off in an opposite direction to
that we intended afterwards to pursue.
It was a strange and a weird journey, but we went on hour after hour,
and nothing molested us. About midnight we halted to let the beasts
graze for half an hour in a grassy vale, while we did what Tom called
the same; our pasture being cake, and our drink spirit and water.
Refreshed by our short halt, we again journeyed, and from time to time,
after giving Tom the bridle of my mule, I stayed back to listen and try
to discover whether we were followed; but, save the cry of some beast,
there was nothing to be heard.
About two hours after midnight we struck the little stream, and soon
after were well in the ravine, when, for the purpose of exercising
greater caution, and, as Tom said, running the risk of being stung, we
each took the bridle of our mule over one arm and went down on all
fours, crawling forward; and so slow was our progress that, were we
watched and a glimpse of us obtained, I felt certain that we must be
taken for a little herd slowly grazing towards the mouth of the great
cavern.
We reached the rocky pass at last, and then, muffling the feet of the
mules with the coffee-bags, we took them cautiously on--the intelligent
beasts clambering carefully and with hardly a sound--when we led them
right in for some distance, gave them the maize we had brought, and then
sat down in the darkness listening to their crunching of the grain and
the loud cries of the guacharo birds as they flew in and out, fortifying
ourselves the while with a hearty meal--Tom foregoing his pipe for
reasons of cautious tendency.
According to my calculations the day would break in about an hour's
time; and during that hour, but always on the alert, we stretched
ourselves upon the sand to rest, listening to every sound; for there was
the possibility, we knew, of there being enemies, biped or quadruped,
within a few yards of where we rested.
Towards daybreak it turned intensely cold--colder than I could have
imagined possible in a tropic land; but we were prepared to bear cold as
well as danger, for a fire would, of course, have been inviting
observation.
Day at last; with a glorious flush of light reaching down the valley,
and making the stalactites on the roof to glisten. But our ideas now
were bent on the object we had in view, and nature's magnificence was
unnoticed.
As soon as the light had penetrated sufficiently, we led the mules
farther in, and secured them in the broad passage, so that they could
reach the water of the stream; our next step being to creep cautiously
to the rocky barrier, and, well sheltering ourselves, to watch long and
carefully for some sign of spies.
We did so for a full hour, but the silence of the place was even awful.
Then the grey dawn brightened into the sweet fresh morning, with the
heavy dew glistening in the sunshine as it dripped from the great tropic
leaves--otherwise all was still; and convinced at length that those who
had hitherto dogged our steps had for this time been eluded, I made a
sign to Tom; and going in about fifty yards, we seized our spades and
began to throw the light soil and sand into the bed of the little
stream, shovelful after shovelful, so as to form a dam, which was at
first washed down nearly as fast as we piled it up; but at last our
efforts were successful, and the dammed-up water began to flow aside,
cutting for itself a new channel through the sand, and making its exit a
few feet nearer the rocky barrier, but taking up its former course on
the other side.
We rested then for a few minutes, faint and hot; but the excitement of
the quest took from us the sense of fatigue, for the water had all
drained away from the bed of the stream, and the little pool close under
the rocky barrier now presented the appearance of a depression whose
bottom was covered with a beautifully clean sand.
I had come provided this time with a longer rod, and, taking it in my
trembling hands, I stood for a few moments upon the sand, anxious, but
dreading to force it down lest it should be to prove that I had been
deceived by my over-sanguine nature.
Then, rousing myself, I thrust the rod down, when, at the depth of four
feet, it came in contact with some obstacle.
Drawing it up I tried again and again, Tom eagerly watching the while,
as I proved to a certainty that there was something buried in the sand,
extending over a space of about three feet by two, while elsewhere I
could force the rod down to the depth of over five feet without let or
hindrance.
"Try yourself, Tom," I said hoarsely, as I passed to him the rod, which
he seized eagerly, and thrust down; while trembling with excitement I
cautiously climbed the barrier, beneath which lay the hole, and peered
over the rocks into the valley.
Not a leaf moving--all hot and still in the morning sun; and I returned
to Tom.
"Well?" I said eagerly.
"Well," echoed Tom; "I should think it is well! There _is_ something
buried here, Mas'r Harry, and it ain't rocks, nor stones, nor wood. I
fancy it's a lead coffin, for it feels like it with the point of the
rod."
"Nonsense!" I said impatiently. "There would be no lead coffins here,
Tom."
"We'll see, anyhow, Mas'r Harry," he exclaimed. And seizing a spade he
began to hurl the sand out furiously. "There's a something down here,
that's certain," he panted out between the spadefuls, "but what it is
goodness knows. All I can say is that it's a something."
"Let me come too, Tom," I cried excitedly.
"No, I shan't, Mas'r Harry!" he exclaimed. "There ain't room for both
of us to work at once, and we shall only be tripping one another up.
Let me work a spell, and then you can take a turn."
Tom dug away at a tremendous rate, the wet sand cutting out firmly and
easily, and soon the hole grew deep and wide, when, suddenly resting,
Tom looked up at me.
"Say, Mas'r Harry," he said, just as I leaped down into the hole, "go
and see if there's anybody coming."
"No," I said, looking at him suspiciously; "go you."
"Course I will, Mas'r Harry!" he exclaimed. "But say, what a s'picious
sort of a fellow you do get."
Then, jumping out, he took his turn at inspecting the ravine, peering
cautiously through the creepers that covered the rocks, while I toiled
hard at the spade, throwing up the wet sand.
"Don't throw no more this side, Mas'r Harry," said Tom on his return.
"Pitch it the other way. It's been falling into the water and making it
thick, so as it will go running down and telling everybody as we're at
work in here."
Tom's words made me leap out of the hole.
"Gracious, Tom!" I exclaimed, "what a fool I am!"
"Well, Mas'r Harry," said Tom bluntly, "I did think as you was just now,
over that s'picion o' yourn; but as to throwing the sand into the water,
why, one can't foresee everything. I don't think there's any harm done,
though."
"I beg your pardon, Tom," I exclaimed, holding out my hand, "it was
ungenerous."
"All right, Mas'r Harry," he said, taking my hand awkwardly, as if I had
given him something to look at, and then he seemed to give it to me back
again, when, once more turning to our task, we threw out the sand close
under the rocky barrier, and it was well we did so, as will be seen in
the end.
"There's something here. I can feel it with my spade, Mas'r Harry,"
exclaimed Tom suddenly.
And then, moved by the same tremulous nervous feeling as myself, he
leapt out, and together we once more searched the vale with our eyes, to
see nothing, though, but the same flagging leaves and the quivering
motion of the bright transparent air. But as we descended once more, a
snorting, whinnying noise from the mules came from within, and in our
excitement and alarm we were about to thrust in the sand again to bury
our treasure, only reason told us of the folly of the act.
Spade in hand we ran into the gloom, and followed the winding of the
track to where the mules were tethered, to find them uneasy and
straining at their halters, as if something had alarmed them.