A Boy Crusoe; or, The Golden Treasure of the Virgin Islands
Page 19
*CHAPTER XIX.*
_*An Ancient Ruin; A Wonderful Discovery*_*.*
The edges of the opening, around the stone, were crumbled and cracked,and after scraping away the accumulation of moss and mold we found thatwe were able to remove a large piece of rock which left a space ofsufficient depth to receive a lever. We hastened to the edge of theforest, where we selected a small tree of hard wood, which we felled;and from it we made a lever about fifteen feet in length. The largerend was flattened a little with the axe, in order that it should fitclosely against the stone in prying it up.
We next moved a large stone from the wall, which we placed about threefeet from the aperture which was to receive the lever, to act as afulcrum. Then we lifted the great lever, placed the flattened end intothe aperture, let it rest against the stone fulcrum, and reaching up asnear the elevated end of the lever as possible, brought our combinedweight to bear upon it.
The flat stone moved slowly upward, and Marjorie, who stood near, in hereagerness, bent over the opening. Almost at the same moment she startedviolently back, gasping for breath. The foul air, which rushed from theopening, had nearly suffocated her.
Working together nearer the upper end of the lever, the stone was lifteda little higher and Mr. Harborough was able to hold it while I placed arock under the stone, which prevented it from falling back when thelever was released.
We now gathered around the opening which was not yet wide enough toenable us to see far below; but to our great astonishment we saw that aflight of stone steps led downward. Below all was dark. Foul air stillcame from the opening.
"We must wait for the air to purify before entering," I said; "and,meanwhile, we will procure lights."
"Why in the world did we not remove the cabin lamps from the vessel?"exclaimed Mr. Harborough, "If we only had them now."
"Come to the house," I said, "and I will show you how we will procure alight."
Hastening to the house I opened my knapsack and held up the two binnaclelamps for the inspection of my companions, much to their amazement.
Both were filled with oil, very little of which had escaped, as I hadwrapped strips of sailcloth tightly around them.
In answer to their inquiring looks, I reminded them that I had, for along time, believed that some such discovery as the present one might bemade, and that I had, unknown to them, packed the binnacle lamps whichhad proved to be a fortunate act on my part.
Taking them, with plenty of matches, we returned to the ruin. Lightinga wisp of dry grass, I threw it into the opening. It fell to thebottom, where it continued to burn brightly, showing that the air wasnow pure. In the momentary glare of the burning grass, we saw that theopening was about eight feet deep.
We now procured another stone from the wall, which we placed under thelever, increasing the height of the fulcrum so that we were able to liftthe stone still further; and by pushing the lever around toward one sidewe quickly swung the stone from the opening until it rested at one side.
Lighting the lamps, we cautiously descended the stone stairs. They werecovered with what seemed to be finely pulverized mould which had workeddown from above; but the dampness, incident to an underground chamberrendered the steps somewhat slippery, so we had to descend carefully.There were ten steps. Reaching the bottom, Mr. Harborough and myselfleading and Marjorie bringing up the rear, we found ourselves standingupon a solid floor, deeply covered with fine mould, but quite dry. Thefloor of the chamber was evidently composed of stone, laid very closely,without mortar. The roof was made of great flat stones, supported by tworows of pillars made of square blocks of stone, extending the length ofthe chamber. The walls, roof, pillars and floor were all thicklycovered with dust. Searching along the walls, we discovered, at thefurther end, four niches sunk into the wall about five feet, and intothe rear wall of each niche, there was fixed a massive iron staple, towhich was fastened an iron chain of crude workmanship. At the end ofeach chain there was a rough iron collar which was evidently designed tobe fastened with a rivet. Stepping into one of the niches, wediscovered that the floor of it was thickly studded with sharp ironspikes which we found, on clearing away the dust, to be about two inchesin height. The purpose of the niches was apparent; they wereunquestionably designed as places of torture. Well must they haveserved their purpose; for the wretched victim who, on account of theshort chain fastened to his neck, could not lie down, was compelled tostand constantly upon the sharp pointed spikes which would pierce andcruelly lacerate the feet.
To what period of the New World's history this dungeon belonged we couldnot even conjecture; but, judging from the style of architecture and thecunningly devised method of torture, Mr. Harborough, who had seen theruined forts along the Spanish Main, had no doubt that this chamber wasconnected, in some way, with the old Castilian days in this part of theworld.
The west wall seemed to be perfectly smooth and unbroken; but on theeast side of the chamber we found a square stone, measuring somethinglike two feet each way, being almost a perfect cube, protruding half wayfrom the wall. This was easily removed, and thrusting in one of thelamps, we saw what appeared to be a square chest. Brushing away thedust which covered the end of the chest next to us, we saw that it wasof wood, bound with bands of iron, the whole being thickly studded withnails.
"A treasure chest," exclaimed Marjorie; "oh, it seems like the storiesof the buccaneers."
An iron ring was fastened to the chest, but when we took hold of it andtried to draw the chest toward us, we found it to be so heavy that wewere unable to stir it. So I went to procure a lever which I cut from asmall tree near the wall, and returned with it to the chamber. One endof the lever was inserted, upward through the ring of the chest and welifted with our combined strength.
The chest was raised slightly, and then the iron bands, eaten by yearsof rust, broke, and the chest, rotten with age, fell apart.
Marjorie was holding one of the lamps so as to illuminate the chest,and, as it broke open, she almost dropped it, while Mr. Harborough and Idropped the lever and gazed at the broken chest and at each other inspeechless astonishment; for the aperture seemed to be full of goldcoins.
We had discovered a treasure chest, indeed. The coins were of severalsizes, and all were covered with a brownish dust. But gold they were,and there were thousands and thousands of them.
We examined many of the coins, on which the legends were plainlylegible. Each one bore a male head on one side, with dates ranging from1517 to 1540; and on the reverse, this superscription:--"Carlos I.,Espana: Rex"--Charles I., King of Spain. We concluded that we haddiscovered a favorite trysting place of sea-rovers who sailed thesewaters carrying death and desolation afloat and ashore under theprotection of royal authority, with the understanding that the Spanishtreasury should be enriched thereby.
Here, before us, with no one else to claim it, was wealth beyond ourpower to estimate.
"It is utterly useless to us here," said Mr. Harborough, as we discussedthe importance of our discovery.
"True," I replied, "but as we have no intention of always remaining onthis island, it may prove to be of great service to us. To this end wemust consider what immediate disposal we will make of all this wealth."
"And," I continued, as we replaced the stone in the aperture andwithdrew from the chamber, "it seems to me that the first step towardensuring to ourselves the future enjoyment of all this wealth, should beto transport it to the cove and store it in our house."
This proposition of mine was the beginning of much discussion andconsideration for several days thereafter, during which it wasdefinitely decided that the gold must be transported to our house at thecove; and we began to consider how this task, not a trifling one, couldbe accomplished.
Clearly there was but one sure and safe way, and that, to carry it thereourselves.