Part 17 (2/2)
At length, however, the first chest was broken open, and was found to contain sixty-four bricks or ingots of solid silver! They were arranged in four tiers of sixteen bricks each, exactly fitting the chest, and each brick weighed about a quarter of a hundredweight. Each chest, therefore, if all contained the same precious metal, would represent the value of sixteen hundredweight of silver. How many chests there were we did not yet know; but it was evident that there were several. Some said there were eight or nine, but I thought there must be more, judging by the way in which they were arranged in the ground.
The men were now divided into two working parties, one of which, under my supervision, carried the silver to one of the boats, while the other, under Forbes, proceeded to break out and open another chest. The contents of one chest I considered a sufficient load for the gig, and accordingly, as soon as this amount had been placed in her, we shoved off for the s.h.i.+p; my crew consisting of Joe, the Norwegian, the negro, and an American named Barr. On arriving alongside the silver was simply pa.s.sed up the side and pitched down the after-hatchway upon the ballast, for the present.
The ladies, who had elected to remain on board this day on account of the heat, were so filled with excitement and delight at the sight of the silver and the news of our find, that they could no longer remain quietly where they were; they must needs go ash.o.r.e once more and see all this wealth brought out of the ground; and accordingly, upon our return pa.s.sage, they went with us, taking the maids and children with them.
On our arrival at the islet we found the second gig awaiting us, with her cargo in her, which the other party had just finished loading; so we left the one boat, and took the other, treating this cargo as we had the last; and so the work went merrily on until the men's dinner-time, by which time we had raised and transported eight boxes of silver. And it had by this time been ascertained that there were eight more still to be dealt with!
A hurried meal was s.n.a.t.c.hed, and the work was resumed, three more of the chests being disposed of by three o'clock in the afternoon. Then another surprise met us. The next chest contained _gold_ instead of silver; the ingots being only nine in number, somewhat larger than the silver ingots, and weighing, as nearly as we could estimate, about one hundredweight each. Each of these gold ingots was neatly wrapped and sewn into a covering of hide. On our return from the s.h.i.+p, after conveying this precious cargo on board, we were met with the news that two other chests, since opened, also contained gold; and, not to detain the reader necessarily, it eventually proved that the remaining cases, two in number, likewise contained the same precious metal. The total find thus consisted of eleven chests containing seven hundred and four ingots of silver, and five chests containing one hundred and thirty-five ingots of gold.
All through the long, hot afternoon the work went on with unremitting energy, for it soon became apparent that darkness would be upon us before the last of the treasure could be moved. I was just completing the transfer of the third chest of gold to the s.h.i.+p when the sun sank in a perfect blaze of splendour below the horizon, and a few of the brighter stars were already twinkling in the zenith when we ranged up alongside the other boat at the landing-place upon the islet.
As I stepped out of the light boat into the loaded one, and directed my crew to follow, one of the men--an Irishman, named O'Connor--touched his forehead in the approved sh.e.l.l-back style, and observed--
”Av ye plaise, sor, Misther Forbes was sayin' would ye be so kind as to sthep along to the houle afore ye makes your next thrip to the s.h.i.+p?
He's afther wantin' to shpake to ye.”
”Oh, very good,” said I; and, stepping ash.o.r.e, I directed Joe to go across to the other side of the basin to fetch the ladies and children, who had crossed earlier in the afternoon, and now stood waiting to be conveyed back to the s.h.i.+p, and then went groping my way along the dark, uneven path toward the hole. The man O'Connor and somebody else--who it was I could not distinguish in the gloom--were stumbling along in front of me, and making very poor headway, I thought, for I quickly overtook them. They were in my way, working along as they were, two abreast, for the path was very narrow; so I said to them--”Here, let me pa.s.s, you two; I am in a hurry!” They stepped aside without a word, one to one side of the pathway and one to the other; and as I pa.s.sed between them one of them cried, ”Now!” and, before I could even so much as think, they both flung themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, one of them springing upon me from behind, with his arms round my neck and his knee into the small of my back, while the other dashed himself upon his knees on my chest, and gripped me by the throat by one hand, as he pressed the cold muzzle of a revolver to my temple with the other.
”A single worrud or a movement, and I'll pull the thrigger on ye, as sure as death!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed O'Connor, between his set teeth, as he tightened his grip upon my throat. ”Now, Bill, feel ov his pockets and take his barkers away, av he has anny, while I hould him. Now, listen to what I'm tellin' ye. The others--that's Misther Forbes and the gintleman--is already tuk, so ye needn't be expectin' any help from thim; and as we've got such a hape of goold and silver out ov this houle, we're goin' to be contint wid it, and intind to take the thriflin' liberty of borryin' the s.h.i.+p to carry it away wid us; you can have the rest yourselves, and much good may it do ye. Ah, that's right, Bill,” as the latter extracted a brace of loaded revolvers from my jacket pocket; ”just feel, while ye're about it, av he has a knife, and take that from him, too. Now, are ye sure that's all?” as the other man--who now proved to be Rogers--took my knife away also. ”Very well.
Now, captin dear, ye may get upon your feet; but--understand me--av ye attimpts to lay hands upon either ov us, the other'll shoot ye through the head widout waitin' to say, 'By your lave.' Arrah, now, it's kilt he is, I do belave!” as the fellow rose from my prostrate body and saw that I made no movement--for all this time he had kept so tight a hold upon my throat that he fairly strangled me, and, though I still, in a dreamy way, heard him speaking, my strength had entirely left me, and I was scarcely conscious of my surroundings.
”I'll fire a shot to let the others know that it's all right, and then we'll have to carry him as far as the boats,” remarked Rogers. ”Perhaps a dip in the water may bring him round.”
Such extreme measures, however, proved unnecessary; for, my throat once released, my senses began to come back to me, and by the time that we had reached the sh.o.r.e of the islet I was once more able to stand.
Arrived here, I was compelled to enter the empty gig, and was carried across to the opposite sh.o.r.e of the creek, where the ladies still remained; my order to bring them across having been countermanded in a whisper by one of the men, the moment that I had turned my back. On reaching the other side I was ordered out of the boat, a loaded revolver being exhibited as a hint to me to hasten my movements; but, as I stumbled forward over the thwarts, Joe offered me the support of his arm, murmuring in my ear, as I stepped out on the sand--
”Cheer up, cap'n! This here's a most unexpected move, and no mistake; but the s.h.i.+p ain't gone yet; and, from what I heard pa.s.sin' among the others, just now, afore you come up, I ain't by no means sure as they'll leave to-night. Some of 'em is that greedy that they wants to stop and have a shy at the other treasure; and if they does, there's no knowin'
what may happen betwixt now and then. And if they makes up their minds to go, _I_ don't go with 'em. I'll slip overboard, and swim ash.o.r.e, if there's no other way of joinin' you.”
I had only time to murmur a word of thanks for this expression of sympathy, when he left me and returned to the boat, which immediately shoved off for the islet.
The ladies--who, with the nursemaids and children, still stood waiting to be conveyed to the s.h.i.+p--saw, by the actions of the men, that there was something amiss, and now approached me, inquiring anxiously what was the matter. Of course, I had no alternative but to explain to them that the men had risen in mutiny, and had seized the s.h.i.+p; and, although I made as light of it as I could, it was a sorry tale at best that I had to tell them. I was still in the midst of my story when the phosph.o.r.escent flash of oars became visible in the black shadow of the islet, and presently the outline of the boat, telling dark upon the starlit surface of the still water, was seen approaching. As she drew near, the voice of Rogers came pealing across the water--
”Sh.o.r.e ahoy! just walk a bit farther back from the water's edge, there, or we shall be obliged to fire. We're about to land Sir Edgar; and if there's any sign of a rush at the boat, we shall shoot to kill. So if you don't want to be hurt, you'd better stand well back.”
”Hold on there a moment,” I answered back, disregarding the threat.
”Surely, men, you do not intend to abandon us here, unarmed; without a shelter from the weather, and with only the clothes we stand up in?”
”Oh, you'll do well enough, I don't doubt,” replied Rogers, brutally.
”You don't want arms, because there's n.o.body nor nothing here that'll hurt you; you don't need clothes, because the climate's so warm that you can do without 'em; and, as to a shelter, why, we've left all the axes and shovels ash.o.r.e; you're welcome to them, and if you can't build a house with such tools as that, you deserves to go without. There's plenty of fruit, and plenty of good water, so you won't starve; and, lastly, there's a chance for you to get all the treasure that's in that other hole--if we decides that we don't want it ourselves.”
”What?” I exclaimed, indignantly, ”after stealing my s.h.i.+p and my treasure from me, will you not go to the small trouble of pa.s.sing the ladies' and children's clothing into a boat, and sending it--”
”Well, if you _won't_ stand back, take that!” interrupted Rogers; and as the word left his lips there was a flash, a sharp report, and a bullet went singing close past my ear.
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