Doubloons-and the Girl Part 43

The map had not lied! The paper had not lied! That old pirate, Ramon Alvarez, who had probably told a thousand lies, had told the truth at last in his ardent desire for the shriving of Holy Church. The treasure lay before them!

And how wonderfully the chest had been revealed to them! Not by their own exertions had the pirate h.o.a.rd been uncovered!

A moment more and they were on their feet, Tyke panting:

"Now, if I was superst.i.tious----"

They would have plenty of time for resting later on. Now a fierce impatience consumed them. They must see the contents of the box!

The chest was about five feet long, two feet wide and three feet deep.

It was made of thick oak, and was bound by heavy bands of iron. A huge padlock held it closed.

The box had originally been of enormous strength, but time and nature and the earthquake had done their work. The wood was swollen and warped, the iron bands were eaten with rust. But the lock resisted their efforts when they sought to lift the cover.

"Stand clear!" cried Captain Hamilton, raising his spade.

He struck the padlock a smashing blow. Then he stooped and lifted the cover, which yielded groaningly.

A cry burst simultaneously from the treasure seekers.

"Gold!"

"Doubloons!"

"Jewels!"

"Riches!"

Priceless treasures heaped in careless profusion, glinting, glowing, coruscating, scintillating threw back in splendor the rays of the tropic sun.

None of them could remember afterward quite how they acted in those first few minutes of unchained emotion. But they laughed and sang, cheered and shouted, and it was a long time before the rioting of their blood ceased and they regained a measure of self-control.

There was no attempt made to measure the value of the treasure trove.

There would be time for that later on. What they did know beyond the shadow of a doubt was that wealth enough lay before them to make them all rich for the rest of their lives.

Gold there was, both coined and melted into bars; Spanish doubloons, Indian rupees, French louis, English guineas; cups and candelabra; chains and watches; jewels too, in whose depths flashed rainbow hues, amethysts, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, strings upon strings of shimmering pearls.

The discoverers bathed their hands in the golden store, running the coins in sparkling streams through their fingers, all the time feeling that they were moving in a dream from which at any moment they must be rudely awakened.

At last the captain's voice, a bit husky from emotion, brought them back to practical realities.

"Well, the first log of our voyage is written up," he said. "But now let's get down to the question of what we're to do next. How are we to get this stuff aboard?"

All sobered a little as they faced the problem.

"We can take the chest just as it is," said Tyke. "A four-man load, though."

"What will the crew think?" Drew asked somewhat anxiously.

"Let 'em think and be hanged to 'em!" replied Captain Hamilton. "Yet,"

he added a moment later, "with things in the shaky condition they are and that rascal, Ditty, planning mischief, we don't want to take too many chances."

"Couldn't we make a number of trips back and forth and take some of the treasure with us each time until we got it all on board?" suggested Ruth. "We could carry a lot in our clothes and we could wrap some up to look like the bundles we brought ash.o.r.e."

"Take too long," objected her father.

"How would this do?" was Drew's contribution. "As has already been said, the men would be surprised to see us bring a box aboard if they hadn't first seen us take it ash.o.r.e. Now, suppose we take one of the ship's chests, load it with some worthless junk that would make it as heavy as this box, and bring it ash.o.r.e. We could bring it up here, throw away the contents, put the treasure in it, and then call on the men to take it back to the ship. They'd recognize it as the same one they'd brought over, and their thinking would stop right there."

"By Jove, I believe you've hit it, Allen!" exclaimed the captain.

"That sounds sensible," conceded Tyke. "I guess it's the only way."

"Well, now that that's settled," went on the captain, "what are we going to do with the treasure in the meanwhile? It's getting late now.

We can't get it aboard to-day. We'll want eight men besides Rogers.

Then, there's all this hardware," and he indicated the firearms.

"Couldn't we leave it just where it is until we come back to-morrow?"

ventured Ruth. "There isn't a soul on the island, and we'll be here the first thing in the morning."

"A little too risky, I'm afraid," said Tyke. "It's dollars to doughnuts that there's no one on the island but ourselves and the boat's crew; yet we'd go 'round kicking ourselves for the rest of our lives if we found to-morrow that some one had been here an' helped himself."

"Let's pile some of these loose lava blocks on top of the chest," said Drew. "Make a regular mound. It will look as though the earthquake had done it."

That plan seemed the best, and they acted on it. They closed the cover after one more lingering, delighted look at the chest's gleaming contents, then they built the cairn.

"One sure thing," observed Tyke. "There isn't anybody going to come up here for jest a little pleasure jog--not much! That volcano's likely to spit again 'most any time."

The party started for the lagoon with their hearts bounding with exultation. But as they entered the forest path they were startled by the sight of Rogers and his men hastening toward them.

The captain was about to utter a rebuke, but when he saw the pale and frightened faces of the men he checked his tongue.

"Well, Mr. Rogers, what is it?" he asked. "Got a pretty good scare, I suppose, like the rest of us. I guess the quake's all over now."

"I hope so, sir," replied the second officer. "I thought sure it was all over with the lot of us. But it isn't that, sir, that I came back for. The boat's gone."

"Gone!" exclaimed the captain, staring.

"Yes, sir. It must have pushed away from the sh.o.r.e when the earth shook so. Just down here below a bit is a place where you can see the lagoon, and I caught sight of the boat about half-way between the sh.o.r.e and the ship."

"Oh well, if that's all, there isn't any great harm done. Mr. Ditty will send out and pick up the boat."

"But there's something else, sir," went on the seaman hoa.r.s.ely. "As I looked out, it seemed to me, sir, as if the reef had closed up behind the schooner."

"What?" roared the captain.

"It's gospel truth sir," persisted the second officer. "I thought at first I must be dreaming. But I looked carefully, sir, and you can call me a swab if it isn't so! I couldn't see any sign at all of the pa.s.sage where we came in, sir."

The captain's bronzed face paled, as the full significance of the news burst upon him.