Part 5 (1/2)

The soil was everywhere grass-clad, the grass seeh, while dotted about pretty thickly all over the plains were clumps of palmetto, palms, trees of various kinds--some of which would probably be the fruit-trees that had restored Barber to life--and big clumps of ba those clumps of scrub that we should eventually find the treasure hulk, if indeed the craft actually existed and was not the figination; and I also foresaw that our search for the hulk ht easily be a very much more arduous and protracted affair than I had anticipated, for it appeared to h to conceal the hull of a five-hundred-ton hulk ought to be exain our search quite at once, for ere only entering the estuary, whereas, according to Barber's account, the hulk lay soht miles from the entrance This assuuide, and I therefore determined to take the shi+p up the inlet about five radually working our way upward Meanwhile, the wind had co the southern shore as closely as we pleased; consequently although the breeze was light we ress, and within an hour had reached a point at which, I decided, our quest in We therefore anchored, furled all canvas, hoisted out the jolly-boat, and, ners, Enderby, and an our hunt for a craft in the existence of which I had little or no belief

Our chief difficulty was that we had no bearings to guide us I concluded that at the time of Barber's visit he was destitute of all means to make notes or records of any kind, for his story was set down entirely froularly barren of all inforeneral character; there were no little illu details to tell us whether ere or were not nearing our goal The one solitary fact from which I could draw a useful deduction was that, at the time of Barber's arrival in the estuary, he was very ill and weak, yet despite his feeble condition he was able to reach certain trees, the fruit of which restored him to health Now, from that fact I deduced the inference that the particular fruit-trees to which Barber owed his restoration reat distance froth to reach them; hence, to find the spot at or near which Barber landed, wewithin, say, two or three hundred yards of the water's edge There was just one such clump abreast the spot where we had anchored, apart fro like so near the beach for a distance of fully a mile to the eastward

I confess that I entered upon this treasure-hunt ha of doubt Of course I had ocular evidence of the existence of such a place as Barber had described as that where the treasure was to be found, for there it was, visibly before me I was also prepared to lend credence to the story of the stranded hulk, strange as that story e of even stranger happenings than that; but it was the existence of the treasure itself--those steel-bound chests packed with gold, silver, and ge to Barber's own story he was crazy when he drifted into the estuary, and, although he may not have known it, he perhaps remained crazy all the time he was there; and if it was indeed true that he had stumbled upon a stranded ancient hulk, that very fact may have so excited his disordered brain as to cause hi back at the episode now, after the lapse of years, that, it appears to ard to it; yet, , I was determined to leave no stone unturned to test Barber's story to the uttermost; consequently when, late in the afternoon of the following day, we actually ca was one of surprise

There was nothing whatever of an exciting or dramatic character in the circumstances connected with our discovery; it was all absolutely commonplace; ere not even n frohly searched, without result, the entire area of the flat country for a space of eight or nine square antine was first anchored, we got under way again and, under fore-and-aft canvas only, moved the shi+p so the country on our starboard hand, h the shi+p's telescope, on the look-out for any object suggestive of a stranded hulk overgroith creepers And it was in this way that we found her, the telescope enabling us to identify her at a distance of fully a ain anchored the brigantine, and the same search-party, under ht to the hulk

She lay high and dry, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the beach, a dismasted craft of some seven hundred tons burden, built on the lines of the old Spanish galleon, with a lo and forecastle and a lofty stern and after-castle; the great flat stern eallery, and sur poop lanterns No doubt she had once presented a very gallant picture of paintwork and gilding, traces of which were discoverable about her here and there, but, apart from these, her whole exterior had been reduced by sun and rain to a uniforus had taken hold of her

We boarded her without difficulty; but no sooner had we arrived below than we found ample confirmation of Barber's statement as to her rottenness, for, ith dry-rot and white ants, her deck planking and bea freely in places to the pressure of a ht, so that, in order to avoid accidents, we had to move about aboard her with the utmost circumspection

What was very much more to the point, however, was that we found not only the shi+p but also the eight big chests of treasure, exactly as described by Barber in the yarn given in the late skipper's diary They had all been broken open; but their contents appeared to be intact, and as I very carefully examined them I arrived at the conclusion that they had never been touched since Barber hio in search of the assistance he needed in order to secure possession of their contents

The discovery of the chests and, still ht of their contents was naturally productive of the utmost excitereed that was latent in our natures So far as Enderby and I were concerned ere quite able to control ourselves; but no sooner did the four Dagoes set eyes upon the gold coins hich one of the chests was filled than they threw theht throw themselves upon a carcass, and proceeded to stuff their pockets with coin This, of course, could not possibly be per our revolvers, compelled the quartette to replace in the chest every coin they had snatched; but they yielded only under cos, and muttered menaces which were only silenced by my threat to n of a disposition to give further trouble

The transfer of those eight heavy steel-bound chests with their contents was a trying job, but nothing would induce the le one of the allowed to stick to their task until it was completed; and, by dint of such strenuous effort as probably none of them had ever before exerted, the task was co upon which I caused the whole to be securely fastened up and struck down into the lazarette The forenoon of the next day was spent ashore gathering an abundant stock of such fruits as the place afforded; and immediately after dinner the jolly-boat was hoisted in, the anchor hove up, and the _Yorkshi+re Lass_ stood out to sea

CHAPTER SIX

CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON

Those who have never enjoyed the experience of suddenly co upon a treasure of enormous value, a substantial share of which one knoill one day be one's oill naturally suppose that the crew of the _Yorkshi+re Lass_ would be one of the happiest and most contented little coht to have been, in so far at least as the prospective possession of great wealth can confer happiness; for, little as any of us knew of the actual value of the treasure we had so easily obtained, we knew enough to feel assured that, when the tih to be independent, for the rest of our lives, of any need to work for a living But, on the contrary, as a ave rise to a condition of restiveness and discontent that caused reatly surprised Froantine's rail fronised that the presence of the four Dagoes in the shi+p's company was likely to breed discord, but it was not until I witnessed thethe coin, and proceeded to help thehts of us others, that I actually began to scent real, serious trouble; for I then foresaw that, having once glimpsed the treasure, those men would never more be content until it was actually theirs to squander in the debauchery that they called pleasure

The trouble which I anticipated developed within twenty-four hours of our departure fro the form of a demand, on the part of the six seamen in the forecastle, that the division of the treasure should be effected forthwith; and when I pointed out that, owing to the iold and silver candlesticks, salvers, bowls, cups, caskets, jewelled crosses, articles of jewellery and gems, such a division as they desired was out of the question, they insisted that the shi+p should forthwith be taken to the nearest civilised port, in order that the treasure ht be turned into money, and the division effected To this I replied that only in London would it be possible to obtain anything approaching fair value for so enormous a treasure as ours, therefore to London I intended to take it; whereupon the Dagoes became so violently insubordinate that forcible ht ensued between them on the one hand, and the boatswain, carpenter, andthe quartette in irons and du them down upon the ballast in the main hold, where, I informed thens of having come to their senses Such resolute action, coupled with the fact that during their confinement their food consisted solely of coarse shi+p biscuit and water, soon brought the insubordinate ones to their bearings, a ht from them to ood behaviour in the future if I would release them and permit the to accept the olive branch thus held out, for the absence from duty of four able seamen out of our little company left the shi+p perilously undermanned, and would have involved us in serious difficulties, ht indeed have imperilled the safety of the shi+p, had we fallen in with bad weather Fortunately, however, the weather, for the first week after our departure fro, consisting as it did of light, baffling contrary airs, interspersed with spells of calners proved of no disadvantage to us, although I was heartily glad to have theain Nevertheless it soon became apparent that their reformation was, like beauty, only skin-deep, and that at heart they were as ready as ever to give trouble

The exceptionally fine weather, to which I have just referred, continued for nearly aat tacks, sheets, and braces, we contrived to jockey the brigantine fairly into the Pacific, where I intended to hunt up a cargo of copra, sandalwood, and shell on the way ho spell of fine weather as we had been experiencing was bound to break, sooner or later, and the break ca the afternoon of our twenty-seventh day out The baro well above thirty inches, gave us the first warning of the coe by an ominously rapid decline of theof the sky, the clear, rich blue of which gradually changed to a unifor athe earlier part of the day had been fanning us along at a scant three knots, died away, leaving the surface of the sea oil-srew so hot that we literally felt the heat of it in our nostrils with every breath we drew The _quality_ of the air see it difficult to breathe, so that we found ourselves gasping for breath at frequent intervals, while perspiration poured fro down our bodies and li were the conditions that none of us cared to htest unnecessarythat I dared not ignore Accordingly, at eight bells in the afternoon watch, when Enderby took charge of the deck, I showed him the barometer, expressed the conviction that ere in for a typhoon, and instructed hi the shi+p to a close-reefed topsail, reefed fore topmast-staysail, and close-reefed ave the necessary orders, the men received them, as I had quite expected, with black looks, ht of Chips ando halliards, clewing up and hauling down; and perhaps, e that no man could misinterpret, caused them somewhat to modify their attitude, and by four bells the shi+p was as nearly ready for what ht come as we could make her

But our preparations were completed not a ht is unknown, and with the disappearance of the sun below the horizon there closed down upon us a darkness that ht literally be felt, for any attempt to move about the decks, well as we believed ourselves to be acquainted with them, resulted in constant collisions with unexpected obstacles

This bewildering state of affairs continued until shortly after five bells in the first watch, e becaradually suffused with ruddy light, coradual that it was ian, but within half an hour of our first perception of it the light had grown so strong that not only e able toaft by the useless wheel and looking forward, every detail of the shi+p's hull, spars, sails, and rigging stood out clearly and sharply, like a silhouette cut out of black paper, against a background of shi+ning oil- s cloud-shapes all reflecting the weird,phenoestive of the supernatural, and frolances that were directed aft from the forecastle it was not difficult to sur like it

Neither had we of the afterguard, for that matter, and I have no doubt that I should have been very much more seriously alarmed than I was at the spectacle, had I not read somewhere the description of a hurricane that had been similarly heralded As it was, I was by no means happy at the prospect of as in store for us, asking myself uneasily whether quite all had been done that it was possible to do to prepare the shi+p for the i I could think of, and that was to order all the scuttles to be securely closed, and this was at once done, although it rendered the cabins insupportably hot and close Of course I should have liked to send down the royal and topgallant yards, and to have housed the fore topgallant mast and main topmast, and I would have atte crew; but I doubted whether the Dagoes would have undertaken the job, except under coe in a tussle with a crowd of insubordinates with a hurricane threatening to burst upon us at any moment

Naturally, under the circu in; nor did any of the others, for thatlance for'ard showed that even the forecastle bunch, jealous as they were of their ”rights”, preferred for once in a way to spend their watch below on deck Shortly afterthat the crisis was approaching I accordingly sent the boy Billy below, secured the co this to be one of the shi+p's ht expect when the gale should burst upon us, and thereafter there was nothing more to be done but to abide events

It was about half an hour later, and the light had al to ”stand by” It came in the form of a sudden scurry of wind, apparently fro, over the shi+p, causing the canvas to flap violently--and then it was gone This occurred perhaps half a dozen ti perceptibly stronger than the one which preceded it, s the canvas with such violence that I quite expected to see it fly out of the bolt- ropes, while the brigantine, being only in ballast, rocked and staggered like a drunken h to enable us to trace the direction from which those tornadoes came With their help, therefore, Chips and I, who at once sprang to the wheel, et the shi+p's head round before the hurricane itself struck us, Enderby going for'ard to stand by on the forecastle

It announced its approach by a loeird, unearthlyco wind and the hiss of the tehastly, heaped-up, phosphorescent foaht down upon the shi+p The spectacle of that unbridled outburst of ele beyond the power of words to describe, but it was terrifying too, as was evidenced by Chips' re over toward me as we stood on opposite sides of the wheel, he yelled:

”Good-bye, sir! This is the finish The shi+p ain't built that could weather such an outfly as this!”