As soon as my uncle had recovered from his astonishment he took out and
loaded a couple of brace of pistols, laying one pair ready to hand and
placing the others in his pockets.
"Harry, my lad," he then said seriously, "we have entered upon something
that will take all our wits to compass. We have cunning people to deal
with; but Englishmen have brains of their own, and perhaps we can
circumvent those who are against us. I wonder whether Garcia will get
safe home with his share."
I was too much put out to think or care much about Garcia just then.
Certainly I did think it a good thing that he had been paid off, and the
principal current of my thoughts just then tended to a congratulatory
point as I thought of how much more serious the loss might have been.
That I had done right in concealing the treasure was evident; and there
it must lie, I thought, until I could bear it at once away out of the
country.
My musings were interrupted by my uncle.
"Harry," he said, "I'd give something if the women were away from here.
I hope I am magnifying the trouble; but I fear that we are going to be
between two fires; and, at present I hardly know what course to pursue.
I'm afraid of your gold, my lad, but a prince's fortune must not be
slighted; and my conscience does not much upbraid me with respect to
helping you to secure it. But we must not pass over this robbery in
silence. That was done by no one here, I am sure. We must try and put
an end to eavesdropping so close at hand, or more strange things may
happen. Now, take my advice: both you and Tom go well armed, don't stir
many yards from the plantation; and now come with me and let us
carefully search the place inside and out. Nearly a hundred ounces of
gold taken within the last few minutes, and part even from under our
eyes. It won't do, Harry--it won't do!"
Tom was called in, armed, and then the place was thoroughly searched
inside and out, but without avail; not a trace could be seen, till,
after a few minutes' thought, my uncle made a sign to me, placed Tom in
one position, me in another, and then disappeared into the house.
Five minutes after there was a loud cry, the sharp crack of a pistol,
and what seemed like some beast of prey leaped from one of the upper
windows full twelve feet to the ground, about half-way between Tom and
myself.
With a rush we made for the falling object, grasping it as it fell to
the earth; but the next instant I was sent staggering back, as the
Indian--for such it was--bounded up, striking me in the chest with his
hand; while, when I gathered myself together again, Tom was standing
alone, and my uncle came running out holding a handkerchief to his face,
which had recommenced bleeding.
"Did you stop him?" he said.
"Stop!" cried Tom. "It was like trying to stop a thing made of
quicksilver. But," he continued with a grin, "I've got his skin; he
left that in my hands, and I say, Mas'r Harry, if he wasn't made of
quicksilver he was of gold."
For at that moment, as Tom shook the dark native cloth garment left in
his hands by the fleeing Indian, the sixteen ingots fell to the ground,
to be instantly secured.
"Harry," said my uncle, "I told you we had to deal with a cunning enemy.
That fellow was in the space between the ceiling and roof of my
bed-room. How he got there I can't tell; but," he added with a shudder,
"I fear if he had not been dislodged some of us would not have seen the
morning's light."
"But pursuit, Uncle," I cried. "Let us try and overtake him."
"No--no," he said uneasily. "We should only be led into a trap in the
forest, and we are too weak for that. I'm afraid, Harry, that this
affair is going to assume dimensions greater than we think for. It is
evident that the Indians suspected you of having been at their sacred
treasure, and despatched a spy to watch if their suspicions were
correct. I tried to bring him down, but I had only a momentary glance
and I must have missed him. No, Harry, there must be no pursuit but
plenty of scheming for defence, if we wish to hold that which we have
got. As I said before, there is no knowing where this will end. Which
way did he go?"
"Right away towards the forest, sir," said Tom.
"Perhaps only to slip back and watch by some other path," muttered my
uncle. "Give me the bars, Harry, and I'll take them in, while you and
Tom walk cautiously round before coming to me. Go one each way, right
round, so as to meet again here, and then come in and we will talk
matters over a little. But stay--tell me--did you see anything of the
Indians, do you say, as you came back?"
I repeated the incident of being surrounded, and the way in which Tom
presented a stalactite to the principal man.
My uncle smiled grimly.
"Tom," he said, "you must look out, or that stalactite will come back
with interest. I'm afraid that we English do not give the Indians
credit for all the brain they possess. They may have once been a
simple, childlike race, but long oppression has roused something more in
their breasts. You must look out, lads--look out."
My uncle left us, and Tom started one way, I the other, to look
watchfully and carefully round for danger; although, to my way of
thinking, it was decidedly a work of supererogation there in broad
daylight, with the sun pouring down his intensely bright beams. There
was the creeper-overhung verandah on one side, which, at a glance, I
could see was untenanted; there, on the other side, was the garden-like
plantation, with its gorgeous blossoms and flitting birds. The rows
could be easily scanned, and I looked down between them; but it was
evident that there was no danger to apprehend nearer than the forest;
and I reached one corner of the verandah just as a parrot gave one of
its peculiar calls, to be answered by another behind me.
This was followed by a regular chorus from the woods, every parrot
within hearing setting up a series of its ear-piercing shrieks, which in
turn started birds of other kinds; the toucans hopping about from branch
to branch uttering their singular barking cries, as they raised high
their huge bills, which looked as if they would overbalance their
bodies, but were as light as if made of paper and as thin.
It did not seem a time to notice such things, but somehow they impressed
themselves upon my mind, and I could not help letting my eyes rest upon
a pair of the most magnificent trogons I had ever seen. They were in
the full beauty of their gorgeous golden-green plumage, which contrasted
strongly with their brilliant scarlet breasts. Where they were perched
there was an opening among the trees and the full blaze of the sun came
down upon their backs, crests, and yard-long tail-feathers which
glistened and sparkled at every movement as if formed of burnished
metal.
This set me thinking of the golden treasure, and a sort of childish
fancy came upon me as to whether these birds might be inhabited by the
spirits of some of the old gold-loving Incas, who were watching over
their treasure and waiting about to see what steps I should take next to
steal that store away.
I walked on, met, and passed Tom, who remarked upon the improbability of
the copperskin showing up again; and then I continued my patrol slowly
round the house, past the court-yard, where all was still, and at last
found Tom where we had parted from my uncle.
"Seen anything, Tom?" I said.
"Lizard cutting up the verandy, Mas'r Harry, and a bee-bird buzzing
about over the flowers: nothing else."
I led the way into the room, and Tom followed, to stand at the door,
picking his cap, and waiting to be told to come in.
"Don't stand there, Tom," I said; "come in and sit down. You are to be
one of the privy-councillors."
"All right, Mas'r Harry," said Tom, seating himself close to the door.
My uncle not being in the room, I supposed that he had gone to secure
the gold, and walked across to where lay my cut and destroyed leather
valise, which I was turning over when I heard what had never thrilled
through the rooms of my uncle's house since I had been there--namely, a
light, heart-stirring, silvery-like song, and for a few moments I stood
listening, as it came nearer and nearer, till Lilla tripped into the
dark room, to start, stop short, and then colour up upon finding the
place occupied.
The next moment I was by her side restraining her, for she would have
darted away, and as I looked in her eyes I could read the story of the
happy little heart rejoicing at being freed from a hateful bondage.
I must give Tom the credit of being a most discreet companion, for he
suddenly found that it would be possible to repair my valise, and for
the next quarter of an hour he was busily cutting and unpicking the
great coarse stitches.
I was startled from my dreams back to the realities of life, for during
that quarter of an hour existence had been bright and golden enough for
me, without thinking of anything else; and the gold, the Indians, my
uncle--everything had been forgotten, when Mrs Landell entered the
room.
"Have you seen your uncle?" she said to me, rather anxiously.
"Not during the last quarter of an hour or so," I replied. "He left us
to come indoors. Go and see if he is in the yard," I said to Tom.
Tom went, to return in about five minutes with the news that my uncle
had not been there for some time.
"Are you sure he came in?" said my aunt.
"Well, no--not sure," I replied; "he left us to come in. But, by the
way, Aunt, where would my uncle put plate or money that he wanted to
keep in safety?"
"Oh, in the strong chest in his little office here," said my aunt,
leading the way to a small cupboard of a room just large enough for his
desk, a stool, and an old sea-chest in which he kept his books, and, it
seemed, such money as he had not in use.
But my uncle had evidently not been there, for the door was closed, and,
after a moment's thought, Mrs Landell remembered that her husband had
not asked her for the key, which was in her pocket.
We waited ten minutes, after which both Tom and I went out to make fresh
inquiries, but without avail; then, pausing in the doorway, Tom said to
me in a low tone:
"Mas'r Harry, you always laughed at me, and said I was making bugbears;
but we've been watched and dodged ten times as much as you think for."
"Perhaps so, Tom," I said moodily.
"And I don't want to make no more bugbears now," continued Tom; "but I'm
sure as if some one told me, or as if I saw it all myself, that your
uncle has been dropped on, and they've got him and the gold too this
time, Mas'r Harry."
"Absurd, Tom! Why, he had not half-a-dozen yards to go."
"Then they was half-a-dozen yards too many," said Tom sullenly. "We
didn't ought to have left him, Mas'r Harry."
"But you don't for a moment think--"
"No, Mas'r Harry, I don't; but I feel quite sure as they've burked him,
and got him away with them bars of gold. You see if they haven't now!"
It seemed so improbable that I was disposed to laugh; but I felt the
next instant that it could be no laughing matter, and with a feeling of
anxiety at my heart that would not be driven away, I turned to enter the
house just as there was a noise and confusion in the yard, and, to my
surprise, old Senor Xeres, the notary and banker, was assisted into the
hacienda, closely followed by his attendant, both bleeding freely.
Tom looked meaningly at me, and the next minute we were helping to bear
the old Spaniard to a couch, when, his wounds being roughly bound up,
and a stimulant given, he told us in tolerable English that about three
miles from the hacienda, while on his way to the nearest town, he had
been set upon suddenly, and in spite of the resistance offered by
himself and servant, they had been roughly treated, and the gold
intrusted to him by Pablo Garcia had been taken away.
Again Tom gave me a meaning look, and I wondered whether the thoughts
which suggested those looks could be correct.
"Was Senor Garcia with you?" I said at last.
"No," said the notary; "he left us within ten minutes of our quitting
this house, or he might have helped us to beat the scoundrels off. Only
think, senor--two hundred and five ounces of pure gold!"
"For which you are answerable?" I said, inquiringly.
"No, no," said the notary. "I would not take it to be answerable, only
at the Senor Don Garcia's risk."
"But why does not your uncle come back, Harry?" said my aunt uneasily.
"He would not be out of the way now unless there was something very
particular to keep him."
"We'll go and have another look, Aunt," I said. "We may find him
somewhere in the plantation."
Signing to Tom to follow, I walked out to stand beneath the verandah
till Tom joined me.
"They've got it all back again, Mas'r Harry, safe," said Tom gloomily,
as soon as he stood facing me.