Part 21 (1/2)
On their return to the camp they found, as Stephen expected, that Jacopo was absent, and at once set out along the edge of the cliff until they reached the point at which they obtained a view into the bay. The wreck lay apparently deserted.
”Let us sit down and watch,” Stephen said, ”he may not have reached it yet. No, there he is.” As he spoke, a figure came out from the door of the p.o.o.p. ”Just as I thought, captain. He has gone down to see if the gold is there. Look at him.” Jacopo was evidently furious; they could see him waving his arms and stamping angrily on the deck, and then he went to the side and shook his fist in the direction of the tent.
”That fellow is dangerous, captain,” Stephen said gravely.
The captain nodded.
”The safest plan will be to shoot him at once.”
”No, we cannot do that; we had better tell him frankly tonight that we have moved the gold and buried it, lest the vessel should go to pieces in a storm, that we intend to give it up to any Spanish or Chilian s.h.i.+p that may come here; but that if it is a long time before we are rescued we shall then divide the gold between us, and that he will get a fair share of it.”
”It would be better to shoot him,” the captain said. ”You were right, it is evident that he has been thinking over that money, and that as likely as not he has determined to possess the whole of it. However, we shall see how he behaves. I may as well tell him as soon as he arrives; when he sees that we mean fair by him he may possibly be content, at any rate for a time, especially as he must know as well as we do how small is the chance of a s.h.i.+p coming along. We are altogether out of the line of traffic.
s.h.i.+ps going round the Horn keep far south of this on their way to China, while those for Peru and Chili keep up the coast; and there is no traffic at all from Peru or Chili to China or India.”
”Now that we have everything we want here, captain, and know that we can hold on for a long time, we ought to begin to think over our plans for the future. If we had tools we could certainly build a craft that would carry us to Chili; but it would be a terrible business to build one with nothing but our swords to cut down trees, hew out the timbers, and shape planks.
Still, if there is nothing else to be done we must do that. It is only a matter of time and patience, and we shall find that the hours hang very heavy on our hands when all our necessary work is done here. I should think that we ought to be able to build a craft of twenty tons in a couple of years at the outside; at any rate, I can think of no other plan for getting away.”
”I have been thinking that we might steal a canoe when the natives come here,” the Peruvian said.
”I daresay we might, captain; but if, as is probable, they come in large canoes, three of us would make but very little speed with one of them, and we should be pursued and overtaken in no time. You may be sure that they don't spend the night up on the hill, and probably when they go up they will leave some of their number on the beach to look after the canoes, and cook. But even if we did get away we could do nothing with such a canoe.”
”I don't know,” the captain said; ”we might land with her on some small island, fit a deep keel on to her, and get up a couple of masts and lug-sails, which, of course, we should make beforehand.”
”Yes, we might do that,” Stephen agreed; ”but the difficulty of carrying off the boat would be immense. And besides, she would have to be victualled; we should have to take food and water for a long journey. And to get our barrels filled with fresh water on board would be a long task, and utterly impossible to carry out in the short time that we should have to spare, even if the beach was entirely deserted.”
”Yes, I see it is very difficult,” the captain agreed; ”but I would not mind running the risk rather than undertake two years' hard labour.”
”I would not mind running the risk either, captain, if I saw any probability of success, but I own that this seems an impossibility.
However, it may be that sometimes a small party comes alone, and that we could get possession of a canoe of manageable size. At any rate, we may as well prepare for such a chance before setting to work to build. We have plenty of canvas from the fore-topgallant sail and head-sails of the brig, and can make a couple of lug-sails fit for a large canoe and a couple for a smaller one, and get the spars ready; that would not take us a great deal of time, and if a bit of luck does fall in our way we should be ready to avail ourselves of it. That fellow has swam ash.o.r.e now, so we had better be going back to the hut.”
A quarter of an hour after they reached it Jacopo appeared. He stopped in surprise when he saw them.
”So you have been off to the wreck, Jacopo,” the captain said. ”We found as much fruit as we could carry, and have brought it straight back again; and finding that you had gone we went along the cliff and saw you on the deck. I suppose you went off to see if the gold was all safe. We have seen to that; we did not like to leave it there, for the s.h.i.+p will break up in the first gale, and the boxes might be swept into the deep water and be lost, so we carried it ash.o.r.e. The gold, you know, is not ours, it is the property either of the Spanish or the Chilian government, and we shall hand it over to the first s.h.i.+p of either of these nations that may come along. If, however, as is likely enough, no s.h.i.+p comes near the island for years, and the Spanish, as may well be, have by that time lost their possessions on the west coast altogether, we may then consider it to be ours, and if we get away we propose to divide it into three equal shares.
As officers we have a right to a larger share than you; but we have agreed that if you do your work here with us willingly and cheerfully we shall not stand on our rights, but shall give you an equal portion of it with ourselves. At present the gold is of no more value to any of us than so much sand, beyond the fact that if we build a craft, as the senor and I have been talking of doing, the boxes will be found excellent ballast, otherwise it is not worth a thought either way.”
”You are very good, senor,” Jacopo said humbly, ”and I can promise that you shall have no reason to complain of me;” and without another word he turned, cut off a portion of the pig that was hanging from a bough near, and proceeded to prepare a meal.
”I hope that that has made the matter all right,” the Peruvian said in a low voice to Stephen; ”but we must watch him closely for a short time and see how he goes on. If he looks at the matter sensibly he must see that, as I said, the gold is of no value to any of us at present.”
”He spoke too humbly altogether in my opinion,” said Stephen; ”but as it is evident that so long as we are here our interests are all alike, and that the three of us will have a better chance of escape than one would alone, he may give up all thought of the gold until the time approaches for us to make a start.”
The next day they went down, unlaced the fore-topgallant sail from its yard where it lay on the beach, upon which it had been washed up after they had stripped the mast, and proceeded to cut from it two lug-sails, so as to save themselves the trouble of carrying the entire canvas up to the tent.
CHAPTER XII.
DEATH OF THE CAPTAIN.
The work of making up the sails occupied the next three days. Some of the canvas was unravelled for use as twine, and holes were made with long sharp thorns. Jacopo, when not engaged in cooking, worked diligently, seldom joining in the conversation between the captain and Stephen, a conversation which turned princ.i.p.ally upon the best method of building and launching the proposed boat. Stephen's proposal was that they should, if possible, first get up the deck planks, which could be done by driving wedges between them and the beams, and after one was taken up, the work of the wedges could be aided by poles used as levers. When all the planks had been taken up as far forward as the water would permit them to work, he proposed to blow up the after-part of the s.h.i.+p, by which means they would obtain a large amount of beams and timbers that could be utilized for the boat, at much less cost of labour than would be entailed by the cutting down of trees. He proposed that the explosion should take place at night, as the roar and flash would be supposed by the natives of the islands near, to be something supernatural connected with the spot evidently held in such veneration.
”Even were they to row across to see if anything had taken place,” he said, ”which is about the last thing that they would be likely to do, they would no doubt make for their usual landing-place; and as the greater portion of the s.h.i.+p above water would have disappeared, anything that remained would not be likely to catch their eye.”