Part 31 (1/2)

As my search had not led me any further forward, I shut the matter out of my mind for the present and turned to the less engrossing though certainly more pressing task of burying the bodies that remained. The spot I chose for the grave seemed rather familiar to me, but for the moment I could not say just what it brought to my mind. I pegged away with the spade, and had already dug a fair-sized hole when, unexpectedly, the further side of the grave caved in. I swore under my breath at this brilliant result of my efforts, and, with the intention of clearing away the rubble, thrust my spade deep into the loose earth.

It met with a solid obstruction, something that seemed to me like the root of a tree, or----At that I stopped dead. Could it be possible that I had struck the foundation of the hut?

The morning we entered the valley Moira had tripped over one of the loose logs that had once been part of the building, and at the time I had attached peculiar significance to the discovery; but now it appeared that I had actually gone one better. Without more ado I made the dirt fly, and in less time than it takes to tell I had shot away the covering earth and brought to light the object that had at first drawn my attention. I saw then, with a gasp of relief, that it was indeed the eastern foundation of the hut that I had unearthed. Whoever had built the place had built well, for the thick cross-piece still remained tightly nailed to the stout posts that had supported the foundation. The fire that had swept the neighbourhood had somehow failed to consume it, though subsequent developments had buried it under piles of bracken and dead brushwood. It was an amazing discovery, and under the circ.u.mstances the luckiest one imaginable. At the very least it enabled me to place one of the fixed points that were vital to the discovery of the plunder.

At the same time it showed me how I might be able, with a little extra luck, to locate the sight of the burnt tree.

I went on with my digging.

Half an hour later I finished my self-imposed task, swung the spade over my shoulder, and prepared to return to the cave. I could see Moira in the distance moving towards me, and I guessed that my prolonged absence had made her feel somewhat uneasy.

”Where have you been all the time, Jim?” was her greeting. ”I was just beginning to fear that something had happened to you.”

”Something has,” I answered, ”but not in the way you mean. I've located the exact position of the hut. That piece of wood you tripped over must have been only a log that escaped being fully consumed. We're well on the way towards finding the treasure now.”

She eyed me keenly before she spoke again, and I knew what she was going to ask me almost before she put her thoughts into words.

”Was that all you went to do?” she asked.

”No,” I said, ”I came out mainly to bury the dead.”

She gave a little shudder at that, but her voice was steady enough as she said, ”And you did? All of them?”

I shook my head. ”Not him,” I said ungrammatically.

”Why?” she demanded, with Heaven knows what idea at the back of the question.

”Because,” I said distinctly, ”because he wasn't there.”

”Jim, whatever do you mean?” she cried.

”I can't say any more than I've just said,” I told her. ”When I went to look I found he wasn't where I'd left him last night, and, though I searched the valley from end to end, I couldn't find sign or sight of him.”

”It's impossible,” she a.s.serted. ”You can't make a dead man fade into thin air like that. If he's not in the valley, he's been taken out of it.”

”And who's taken him out?” I countered. ”There's only two ways out.

n.o.body's pa.s.sed us during the night, and anyone that went out through the wattles would leave a trail like an elephant.”

”That's true enough,” she admitted crestfallenly. And then she turned on me swiftly. ”Jim,” she cried, ”it's possible.... He might....”

The idea jumped into my mind at almost the same moment, but it seemed too preposterous for belief.

”No,” I interrupted. ”It isn't. He couldn't. Moira, I tell you he was as dead as a door-nail when I reached him.”

She made a little gesture of despair as she realised to the full the bitter futility of attempting to solve the puzzle, yet I had a feeling that she had not quite given up hope. She did not make any further remark on the way back to the cave, and she certainly wasn't as much thrilled by my discovery of the ruins of the hut as I had expected her to be. I let her be; it's never safe to divert the current of a woman's thoughts.

I stepped into the cave ahead of her, and no sooner had I pa.s.sed from the light outside into the interior darkness than a crisp voice snapped at me.

”Hands up!” it said tersely.

I shot my hands into the air more as a measure of precaution than anything else, for I recognised the voice--the voice that I thought had been silenced for ever.