Dead Man's Land Part 54

"Well, sir, I should like to have little Dan."

"Yes, he'd be a capital companion; but--but--but--"

"Yes, sir; that's it. Them buts are a t'r'ble bother sometimes. I know he couldn't be spared, so I made up my mind for Bob Bacon. He's a very good sort of chap, and one you can trust. I'd go to sleep if it was him," and the man looked very fixedly at Mark and meaningly closed one eye. "He wouldn't go to sleep and let the fire out, sir."

Mark said nothing, but he returned Buck's fixed look and did not close one eye.

"I say, Buck," he said, "it will be a case of spade and shovel and billhook to-morrow."

"Eh? Will it, sir?"

"Yes; the doctor says he won't keep you men clearing up any more for the present, for he wants to begin digging in one of the likely places he had marked down, to see what we can find."

"That's right, sir. I am ready, and I know the others are, for we all talk about it a good deal, and as Dan says, seeing what thousands of people must have lived here they couldn't help leaving something behind."

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

AMONG THE OLD STONES.

In the clearing away of the abundant growth and selecting a position for their camp, a great stretch of wall was laid bare, one portion of which displayed the chequered pattern and another the herring-bone ornamentation adopted by the ancient people in building up what seemed to be the remains of a great structure which might have been temple, fort, or store.

"It is impossible to say what it was until we have cleared away all this crumbled down stone and rubbish that has fallen from the top," said the doctor. "You see, this is one side of the building; there's the end; and those two mounds will, I think, prove to be the missing side and end."

And it was here by the chequered wall that the next morning, directly after a very early meal, the first researches were made. The bullocks and ponies had been taken down to the river to drink and driven back into the ruins where they could be under the eye of Dunn Brown and the blacks, and so not likely to stray.

Sir James had charge of the rifles, which the boys helped him to carry up to a convenient spot at the top of the enormously wide wall, where he could perform the duty of sentry, his position commanding a wide view of the country round, where he could note the approach of any of the wandering herds and seize an opportunity for adding to the supply of provisions, while at the same time keeping an eye upon the Hottentot and the foreloper and seeing that they did not neglect their task, while, best of all, as he said to the boys, "I can see what you find, and," he added laughingly, "put all the gold you discover in one of my pockets."

The doctor, full of eagerness, set out what was to be done, appointing each man his duty, digging, cutting away undergrowth, and basketing off the loose, stony rubbish that was turned over, a couple of stout, strong creels having been made by the two keepers. And very soon, and long before the sun was peering down over the wall, to fully light up the great interior where excavating had commenced, the two boys were busy under the doctor's instructions turning over and examining the rubbish that was carried away to form the commencement of a convenient heap.

As this was begun Mak, who had stopped back for a little while to make another addition to his breakfast, came up with the pigmy, when they both selected the spot where they could squat upon the big wall and look down, very serious of aspect, at what was being done.

"We ought to make some discoveries here," said the doctor, rubbing his hands. "This wall is very, very old."

"Think so?" said Sir James.

"I am sure so, sir. You see, no cement has been used."

"So I see," said Sir James, "but I shouldn't attach anything to that.

Why, we have plenty of walls built up of loose stones at home. Don't you remember those in Wales, boys?"

"Yes, uncle, and in Cornwall too," said Dean.

"Not such a wall as this," said the doctor, with a satisfied smile. "I feel perfectly sure that this goes back to a very early period of civilisation. Now, my lads, we are pretty clear so far as the trees and bushes go. Keep your shovels at work."

"Ay, ay, sir," cried Dan. "Here, I'll have first go, messmate. I'll fill the basket, you'll carry out." Buck nodded, and directly after the two men were hard at work, while whenever the sailor's spade, which he dubbed shovel, came in contact with a big loose stone, one or other of the keepers pounced upon it and bore it to the heap of earth and rubbish that began to grow where Buck emptied his basket.

"Farther away; farther away," said the doctor. "What for, sir?" asked Dean.

"Go on, Dean," cried Mark. "Can't you see that if they make a big heap close to, it may come crumbling down again and Dan will get covered in?"

The sailor chuckled, and threw a shovelful of rubbish, purposely missing the basket and depositing the well aimed beginnings of the hole he was digging upon Dean's feet.

"Oh, I beg your pardon, sir!" he cried apologetically. "Here, you, Buck Denham, what made you put the basket there? You ought to have known it was out of reach. More this way, messmate."

"All right," said Dean. "I shan't forget this, Master Dan.--Bother!"

And he stepped on one side, seated himself at the foot of the wall, and occupied himself with untying the laces of one shoe and taking out the little bits of grit which refused to be kicked off.

"Now, no larking," said the doctor sharply. "Wait till we have done work."

"Ay, ay, sir!" cried Dan; and digging away with all his might, he very soon after shouted, "Full up, messmate!" Then Buck stooped down, lifted the heavy basket, and bore it away, leaving the empty one in its place.

"Stones, lads!" cried the sailor, raising first one and then another with his spade ready for the keepers; and the work went on, with the doctor stepping down into the hole that was soon formed to examine some of the loose earth and rubbish that the sailor dug out ready for the baskets which were kept going to and fro.

"We don't seem to find much, sir," said Mark, after a time.

"No, my lad," replied the doctor. "All rubbish so far; and most of these pieces of stone have no doubt crumbled down from the wall."

"Eh? Think so, sir?" cried Dan, looking up sharply from where he was now standing nearly up to his middle in the hole.

"Oh, yes, there's no doubt about that," cried the doctor.

"Beg pardon, sir," said the digger to Dean, "but you might keep a heye on the wall and call out `below!' if you see any more crumbs a-coming, just to give a fellow time to hop out, because, you know Mr Mark says I might be buried, shovel and all."

"Oh, I will keep a sharp look out," said Dean.

"Full up again, mate," cried Dan; "and look here, Buck; when I get down a bit deeper you had better come and take my place; you're 'bout twice as long as I am. Stones again, lads!" And he handed up first one and then another on the flat of his spade.

"Both square ones, Dean," cried Mark. "Think they have been chiselled into shape, doctor?"

"No, no; selected," said the doctor, as he carefully examined the block which the boy held. "You see, that's the under part where it lay in the wall, not weathered a bit. The other side has crumbled away, while the under part is comparatively fresh, and would show chisel marks if it had been chipped."

The work went on for nearly an hour, the sailor having dug away in the most vigorous manner and cleared out a fairly wide, squarish hole, three of whose sides were cut down through earth, the fourth, near the foot of the wall, being bedded together loose stones and rubbish and pretty well open.

Almost every spadeful had been carefully examined for traces of the olden occupation, the doctor during the first portion of the time having been constantly stepping down into the hole and out again to examine some suggestive looking piece of rubbish, until Mark's attention was drawn to Dan, who kept on trying to catch his eye and giving him nods and winks and jerks of the elbow, pointing too again and again at the doctor's back, but all in vain.

"What does he mean by all that?" thought the boy. "Oh, bother your dumb motions! Why don't you speak?"

"Pst!" whispered Dan. "Can't you see? You tell him. He keeps on a-hindering me, hopping up and down like a cat on hot bricks. You tell him to stop up there and turn over every basketful as they chucks upon the heap."

A delicate hint was given to the doctor, and from that time forward he left the little digger room to work.

All at once, just as Buck was depositing his empty basket within Dan's reach, and the boys were standing at the edge looking on at where the sailor had begun to sc.r.a.pe away some of the loose crumbs, as he called them, from the side of the bottom of the hole, there was a faint rustling sound and the man dropped his spade, stepped back and bounded out of the excavation as actively as a cat.

"What's the matter, mate?" cried Buck, "a arn't given you a nip?"

"Wall's not crumbling, is it?" cried Mark excitedly.