The Web of the Golden Spider Part 31

"No--she did not believe."

Wilson did not dare tell him of the crystal gazing for fear that the Priest might jump to the conclusion that it was this power Sorez was using and so would a.s.sociate the girl too closely with the treasure hunt. Yet he wished to tell him enough to protect the girl from any scheme of vengeance this man might be planning against Sorez himself.

"She is very immature," explained Wilson, "and so believed the older man easily."

"And you?"

"We have come in search of her--to take her back."

"But does she wish to return?"

"If I can make her see----"

"It is difficult to make a woman see sometimes. It is possible that she was led to come to Bogova in search of her father--but that would not bring her over the mountains. There are other things--like all women she is fond of gold and jewels?"

"That may be," answered Wilson, with heat. "But if you knew her, you would understand that no such motive would lead her to venture so much and endure so much. Nothing could blind her eyes to common sense but such a motive as this which drove her on."

The Priest smiled; he detected the underlying incentive in Wilson's own hazard, but there was still Stubbs and his relation to Danbury. He suspected treachery of some sort.

Wilson grew impatient.

"Night is coming on and we ought to be on our way. I suppose you are in authority over these people. Without your consent we cannot proceed."

"No--but it is far from my intention to interfere with so worthy a mission as yours. I might even a.s.sist you. I am always glad to do anything that will help strangers to leave. Sometimes this is done in one way and--sometimes in another. I expected this Sorez to leave by to-morrow."

"To-morrow? Why, he can't have more than reached the lake."

"No, but strangers do not remain long by the lake."

For the last few moments the Priest had seemed more normal, but now the uncanny, fanatical look returned to his eyes. Stubbs nudged Wilson to rise.

The three moved towards the door.

"I shall not interfere with you--at present," said the Priest. "But--a word of advice--work quickly. As far as the girl is concerned I think she will be ready to return by to-morrow."

"You have seen her?"

"Not myself, but I have a thousand eyes seeing for me in these mountains. They have seen the girl and they tell me she is well,--so much for your comfort."

But there was a smile still about the corners of the mouth which Wilson did not like.

The Priest shifted his eyes to the caravan itself. He made a note of the picks and shovels.

"You have the implements," he remarked, "for grave digging. I trust you will not need to use them. _Adios_, my friends."

He watched them until they disappeared into the woods with a sinister, self-confident smile like a spider watching a fly take the path into his web; a smile that gave him an expression strangely like that of the image itself. Before he turned into the hut again he gave several orders. Three of the brown men melted into the shadows after the caravan.

CHAPTER XX

_In the Footsteps of Quesada_

Once out of hearing, Stubbs, who had not spoken a word, broke out.

"If there ever was a devil treading the earth, it's that man. I've tol' Danbury so from the first. Ye can't trust that sort. My fingers jus' itched along the b.u.t.t of my weapin' all the while ye was talkin'.

Seems though a man oughter have a right to plug sech as him an' be done with it."

"You're prejudiced, Stubbs. I'll admit the man is queer, but, after all, he is protecting his own beliefs and his own people. I don't know as I would trust him any further than you, but--he is something of a pathetic figure, too, Stubbs."

"Huh?"

"Looks to me almost like an exile. I've got more to hate him for than you have, but I don't very long at a time."

"Ye've got more t' like him for, too; he's doin' his best to git rid of Sorez fer you. But I says, 'Watch him. Watch him day an'

night--mos' particlarly at night.'"

"But what did he mean by to-morrow? I don't know but what we ought to let the treasure go and find Sorez first."

"Find Sorez and ye has ter help him; help him and the Priest fixes us immejiate. Then where's yer girl? No, th' thing for us ter do is ter git th' treasure first and get it quick. Then we has somethin' ter work with."

"And if the treasure isn't there?"

"Get the girl an' make a run for home. The Priest won't touch her so long as he thinks she is jus' bein' fooled. If we joins th' band, he won't think so an' will kill us all."

"I don't know but what you're right," answered Wilson.

They pushed their tired animals on to the foot of the mountain and, pausing here just long enough to catch their breath, began the long ascent. It was no child's play from the first. The path was narrow, rocky, and steep, blocked by undergrowth and huge boulders, many of which at a touch became loosened and plunged with a crashing roar down the slope behind them. With any lesser incentive than that which drove them on, they would have stopped a dozen times.

Ahead of them loomed the broken crater edge with just below it a fringe of stubby trees which broke off abruptly where the barren lava began. The cone was like a huge sugar loaf with the upper third cut off unevenly. The edges were sharp and made a wild jumble of crags which were broken by many deep fissures. Here and there the mountain was split into a yawning chasm. But the growth extended to within about an eighth of a mile of the top. Here it stopped and the path became nothing but a dizzy climb up a slope as steep and smooth as a house roof.

They tethered their animals on the edge of the green growth and here Stubbs set about making a camping place for the night.

"I don't want the dark comin' down on me," he growled as Wilson suggested leaving their things and pushing on to the top, "not until I finds a solid place fer my back where nothin' can come up behin'. You go on if ye wants to, an' I'll git things settled."

Wilson hesitated, but in the end he was drawn on. She lay beyond, somewhere upon the sh.o.r.es of the lake. It was a scramble almost upon hands and knees. It looked as though it were an impossibility for men heavily laden ever to make their way to the top. He turned once to look back, and saw behind him the green sweep of the beautiful valley of Jaula--then mile upon mile of heavy timber which extended to where the l.u.s.ty mountains began once more. He attacked the trail anew and at the end of twenty minutes reached the top, bruised, cut, and exhausted. He looked down within the cone--not upon death and desolation, not upon ashes and tumbled rock, but upon the blue waters of the lake of Guadiva. It lay nestled within the bosom of this cone at a depth of just where, on the outside, the green began. The sun had set early upon it and it now lay a grayish-blue surface surrounded by a luxuriant tangle of growing things. In a circle about it stood the dark b.u.t.tress of the lava sides. It was like a turquoise set in stone. The contrast to its surroundings was as startling as a living eye of faultless blue in a grinning skull.

He did not have long to look at it--not long to search its borders for some sign of the living. The dark came swiftly. As he was about to turn back, he thought he caught a glimpse of a spiral of smoke upon the farther side, but as he stared at this, it faded until he was not sure it had been at all. He took it for a good-night message from her.

Then gold and jewels, though they might be within arm's reach, became as nothing before the deep desire which almost dragged his heart from his body--which almost sent him scrambling down the steep sides within the cone to make a wild dash to reach her side that night.

When he returned, he found Stubbs anxiously waiting for him with supper ready and a shelter for the night picked out beneath two large rocks which effectively guarded their rear.

The next morning, as soon as the sun tipped with pink the snow-capped tops of the Andes, Stubbs was up and studying the map again. The air during the night had been sharp, but snugly wrapped in their blankets both men had secured a sound sleep. Towards the early morning, however, Wilson had begun to toss a little with thoughts of Jo. It was of her he first spoke. Stubbs interrupted him sharply.

"See here, m' son," he said with some irritation, "we ain't got but a darned short time in which to work. So th' only way is to mark out a course now and stick to it. While you've been dreamin' of yer lady-love--which is right an' proper--I've been thinkin' on how we can git her an' the other thing too. Here's the pint I hed reached when you interrupted me: first and foremost, ye can't git th' girl until ye gits suthin' to git her with. Sorez ain't a-goin' to listen to you until ye can show him he's wrong. He ain't goneter b'lieve he's wrong until ye can show him th' treasure. Secondly, the Priest gent ain't goneter sleep till he finds out what fer we are wanderin' 'round here.

Thirdly, when he does find out, it ain't goneter be comfortable, as ye might say, to be seen in this here harbor. Fourthly, it ain't goneter be easy to git away with what we does find with a couple of hundred natives at our heels, which they will be mighty soon. So, says I, we'd better quit dreamin' an' begin fishin' right erway."