Dead Man's Land Part 58

"Don't you see," said the doctor, "that we are standing in the interior of some old building? It must have had some form of paving for the bottom, and what we are clearing away is the rubbish that has fallen in.

Go on Denham. We shall find something before long."

The doctor was right, for before many minutes had elapsed the big driver, who drove the spade in energetically and with all his strength, suddenly shouted, "Bottom!" and stood tapping the spade down upon something hard.

"Only another stone, messmate," cried Dan.

"Nay; smooth, hard bottom," said Buck. "Look here;" and after lifting out several spadefuls of the loose stuff he sc.r.a.ped the tool backwards and forwards over what seemed to be a perfectly level surface.

"You are quite right, Denham," said the doctor excitedly, "and you have proved my words. Now then, Dance; jump down with that shovel and help Denham clear out the loose stuff."

This took some little time, but at last the two men stood up in the square hole, which was thoroughly cleared out, and exposed the level flooring of the old building beneath one of whose walls they had been at work.

"What?" cried the doctor, in answer to a question. "How far does it go?

It is impossible to say without clearing out the whole extent of the place. What is the bottom, Denham--slabs of stone or bricks?"

"Neither, sir. As far as I can make out it's a kind of cement."

"Then that proves that the building can't be as old as we thought," said Sir James.

"Oh, no," said the doctor. "Cement in some form or another is very ancient;" and he paused for a few minutes while the last baskets of rubbish which had been thrown out were carefully examined.

"Nothing here," said the doctor. "Now, Denham, I want that iron bar that you use to make the holes for the tent pegs."

"Hop pitcher? Here, Bob, mate, run to the waggon and fetch it."

The interval of time taken by the younger keeper to fetch the big pointed crowbar was utilised for further search, during which the two blacks came back and stood a little aloof, watching curiously the acts of their white companions.

"That's right, mate," replied Denham.--"Oh, well, if you like; jump down, then. The boss wants a hole picked, I suppose, for you to break up a bit of the floor here to see what it's like."

The keeper was handy enough with the fresh tool, and after picking out a good many small pieces of what proved to be powdered granite, consolidated probably by lime, or perhaps only by time itself, he called for one of the stones that had been thrown out, laid it by the side of the hole he had picked, and then thrusting down the iron bar and using the stone as a fulcrum, he levered out a good-sized piece of the hard cement.

"Throw it up here," cried the doctor, who caught it deftly and held it in the sunshine, examining it carefully. "No," he said, in rather a disappointed tone.

"Here's a bigger bit here, sir," said Bob, "as seems loose. Yes, out you come!" And pressing his lever down hard, he brought up a great flake of the flooring, nearly a foot long and some inches wide. This he handed to Buck, who examined it casually as he bore it to the side of the hole and handed it to the doctor.

"It's broken up granite, sir, for certain," he said, "and this other side sparkles just like--"

He was going to say something, but the doctor excitedly, so to speak, s.n.a.t.c.hed the word from his lips.

"Yes," he cried--"gold!"

The two boys started forward excitedly.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

AN EXPLOSION.

"Yes," said the doctor, as he scanned some little specks of the pale yellow glistening metal, and the two blacks crept silently closer, "this is gold, sure enough."

"I don't know much about these things," said Sir James, examining the big flake carefully, "but I didn't think that it was possible to find gold in cement. If it had been quartz rock, doctor--"

"Ah, you are thinking of gold ore, Sir James," said the doctor, taking out his knife and opening it. "These are sc.r.a.ps of manufactured gold."

"Why, who could have manufactured them," said Mark sharply.

"We must go to history for that," replied the doctor, "and the only people I can suggest would be the Phoenicians; but I may be quite wrong, for gold has been searched for and used by most ancient people.--Allow me, Sir James;" and he took back the piece of cement and with the point of his knife picked out a little rivet, which he tried with a sharp blade. "Yes," he said; "pure gold. You see it's quite soft. Why, I can cut it almost as easily as a piece of lead. Here's another little rivet. I should say this has been a piece cut off a length of gold wire."

"But what would they want such little bits as that for?" asked Dean.

"For the purpose I name, as rivets, to fasten down gold plates. There are more and more of them here--and look at this corner where the cement has broken. Here's a sc.r.a.p of thin hammered plate of gold. Why, boys, we have come to the place where our little friend yonder must have obtained his gold wire ornaments."

"But it isn't likely," said Mark, "that we should come by chance and dig down in the right place."

"No, I don't think this can be the right place, but I do think that we have come to the ruins where this precious metal is found."

"But that means," said Mark, now speaking excitedly, "that we have come to a place where there must be quant.i.ties of such things."

"I think so too," said the doctor. "We have certainly made a very curious discovery--one which may help us to find out who the people were who raised these walls. What do you say, Sir James? Should we be satisfied with what we have found, or leave it all for to-day?"

"I will go by what the boys say," said Sir James. "What do you think, boys?"

"Oh, go on!" cried the lads together, and as they spoke Mark caught sight of the pigmy leaning forward as if to draw his big companion's attention to what was going on.

"Go on, then, doctor," cried Sir James.

"Well, then," said the doctor, "what I should like to do now would be to bore right through this cement--tamp it, as the mining people call it-- then ram in the contents of a couple or three cartridges and fire them with a fuse."

"You mean and blow the floor to pieces?"

"Exactly," said the doctor. "It will save a great deal of time and labour, and show us whether it is worth while continuing our researches here."

"Oh, go on, then," cried Mark.

Bob Bacon set to work the next minute tamping a hole diagonally down from where the large piece of cement had been taken out.

The doctor had been under the expectation that they were nearly through the cement floor, but the iron bar was driven down lower and lower, re-pounding the granite into dust, which was fished out by means of a cleaning rod, till the hole was about eighteen inches deep, measuring from the surface of the floor. Then gunpowder was put in and rammed down pretty hard, and the question arose, What was to be done for a fuse?

"Here, I can soon manage that, gentlemen," said Dan the handy. "I want a drop of water."

"I have some in my flask," said the doctor.

"Bit of string," continued Dan; and he fished out a piece directly from his trousers' pocket, and after the doctor had poured a little water into the cup of his flask the little sailor thrust in a piece of string, let it soak for a few minutes, and then drew it through his fingers to squeeze out as much of the water as he could and send it well through the partly untwisted fibres.

"Now, Mr Mark, sir, got a blank cartridge?"

"No, but I can soon take the ball out of one."