The Voodoo Gold Trail

by Walter Walden

  CHAPTER XXI

  WE SEEK IN VAIN FOR A LOST TRAIL AND DISCOVER A LONE MONKEY

  The sun's rays were coming down almost perpendicularly through theinterstices in that green canopy over my head, when Robert and Carlosappeared, wading in the stream.

  "Did you get the boat over?" I asked.

  "Yes," said Robert, "and it's hid in the high grass not far from thatcanoe."

  "And you left a note on the top of the hill?"

  "Yes," he answered. "I told them to wait for us."

  I explained the situation to Robert, showing him where we had lost thetrail of Duran. And while we made a meal on food brought by the two, wediscussed our situation and determined our movements.

  "Well, then, Bob," I concluded, "if you'll stay here and watch, Carlosand I will have a look down stream, and then, maybe, along the cliff."

  We two had soon got to the other bank, and in a few minutes had passed apoint opposite the spot where the path entered the water. We kept to thewater as we scrutinized the soft dirt banks. The brook soon widened, andit became more shallow, till finally--some mile or more toward thebay--it emerged from the forest and spread out to diffuse itself into anumber of bayous, taking slow movement among the grasses and reeds.

  Nowhere along that course were there any signs of anyone having climbedout over the banks. So now Carlos and I retraced our steps, and pickedour way through the forest till we came to the foot of those highcliffs. For above two miles we searched for a break in that great wall,and the forest continuing all that way. Then we went back to whereRobert kept watch by the stream. We stopped to report our failure, andagain set off, this time skirting the cliffs to the west.

  We must have covered three miles this way, when the cliffs melted intomore sloping ground, till finally we came to where it should be possibleto climb to the heights. But nowhere did we see any path, or any mark toshow that others had trod the region before us. The afternoon now wasnearly gone, and I turned to Carlos.

  "Well, Carlos," I said, "the only thing left for us is to camp backthere where we lost Duran's trail and wait for the _Pearl_."

  "Yes," returned Carlos. "Duran he sure to come back sometime--maybe oneweek--maybe little more."

  Night was nearly on us when we had joined Robert again.

  "Isn't it about time for the _Pearl_?" asked Robert.

  "The moon will be up about half-past-two," I answered. "Then two of usmight go and have a lookout for her."

  Taking two-hour watches turn about, we slept till morning. Then Robertand I started, leaving Carlos to keep the watch for Duran. Crossing thewest end of Crow Bay, we made landing at the end of the trail that ledfrom the sea side, and by half-past-four of the morning came to TwinHills.

  On the peak of that hill which stood nearest the beach, we came upon afigure stretched on the ground, sleeping peacefully. It was Ray Reid. Itwas good to see the dear lad.

  I shook him gently.

  "Don't, Wayne," he said. "You'll shake the gas out of the balloon. We'vegot to make the other side of the mountain--that's where the gold mineis."

  He was either dreaming or pretending. I lifted him by the shoulders."Ray! We're here," I said.

  "Not yet," he returned. "It's not--" And then he opened his eyes.

  "What the Sam--" he began. And he gazed on Robert and myself,wonderingly.

  "Say!" he continued. "You spoiled the most scrumptious dream I ever had.I was sailing through the clouds--that soft and nice--on the way to thegold mine. But I suppose you kids have got your pockets full of gold;let's see the color of it; what have you done with Duran and the rest ofthose voodoos? Do you know I came up on top of this hill so's to get agood running start if that polecat (as Norris calls him) got after me;well, what have you been up to--why don't you say something?"

  "Say something!" I mocked. I guess my smile nettled him.

  "Say," he began again, "if I talked as much as you don't, Wayne, mytongue would soon grow callouses on it. But back to business," hecontinued. "What have you done with that Duran? I haven't seen him for acoon's age. I've got so I'm not happy if I don't see him around."

  "Take us to the _Pearl_," I answered, "and I'll tell you all there is totell."

  We descended the hill, and Ray led us to that bay, a mile and a halfwest, even past the spot where Robert, Carlos, and I had first pulled upour little boat. A half mile more, and we came upon the _Pearl_, lookingpretty in the moonlight, resting just within a deep water inlet, andhidden behind the tall cocoanut palms. A low whistle brought the smallboat to shore for us.

  It was again a happy reunion, and there came the exchange of tales. Thatof the _Pearl's_ adventures was simple; they had mended thoseaugur-bored leaks with little difficulty. But they were delayedthirty-odd hours, waiting for a spring tide, enough to float them off.The voyage round the upper end of the island had been without unusualhappenings. Captain Marat had seen fit to pass the city after dark; andhis chart had guided him to the present berth of the _Pearl_, themarkings on the map showing water a plenty; and it seemed a likelyhiding place, one Duran and his voodoos were not apt to visit, ifCarlos' account of their usual practice had any value.

  "I mightily would like to have a look at that place where you lost thatskunk's trail," observed Norris. "That gold mine can't be very far awayfrom there, and we'll find it whether or no."

  "And where did they go with the _Orion_, do you think?" asked Julian.

  "They sail her on down thee coast, to draw us away from here, w'en wecome," said Captain Marat.

  "It's a wonder they didn't go into Crow Bay," said Norris. "It's a finehiding place, according to the chart."

  "And yet Duran might have considered it too near the place he's wantingto hide from us," I offered.

  "Well, now, when are we going to get up there where Carlos is?" saidNorris, impatient to be doing.

  "Say, Wayne," said Ray. "Norris has pretty nigh worn out the deck,tramping up and down; and over there on shore his clod-hoppers haveflattened out all the grass for a mile around. For heaven's sake sickhim after that 'polecat' before he starts an earthquake."

  Julian volunteered to remain behind with Rufe and the sailors to guardthe schooner. Captain Marat, Norris, Ray, Robert, and myself, set off torejoin Carlos. The little boat was well laden with the five of us inher, but it was quiet water we moved on.

  It was broad day, which suited us illy, since we did not wish to be seenin the region by anyone who might get the news to Duran. But in thecrossing of Crow Bay, only Robert and I showed our faces above thegunwale; and the visible portions of our skins, it will be remembered,were stained black.

  We concealed the rowboat again among the reeds, not far from where laythat canoe of Duran's, and it was not long till we had joined Carlos.

  "Duran--no one--come," reported Carlos.

  "Well, it's up to us to find out where he's gone," said Grant Norris.

  "Well, here's the chance you've been steaming for," said Ray. "Here'sthe end of the trail, where it goes into the water; only I'll bet hetook to a balloon right here. You know, too, I dreamed of a balloon lastnight, and if Wayne hadn't waked me just when he did, I'd be at thatgold mine right now."

  "Yes," returned Norris, "and you'd have to go to sleep to dream yourselfback again."

  "Well," shot back Ray, "why not? Maybe the gold mine is all a dream,after all."

  "Ah, no," declared Carlos, "it no dream. I see the gold--my father showme."

  We made up three parties for the search. Norris and Carlos went east;Captain Jean Marat and I west; Robert and Ray remained to watch by thestream.

  Captain Marat and I picked our way through the forest to the west forthe three miles, to the place where the sloping ground permitted anascent to the heights backing the cliffs.

  The climb was a stiff one, and there was no path or way cleared of thebrush, and so were our difficulties increased. When we had gained asufficient height we moved toward the east, intending to explore theregion that looked down on the stream where were Robert an
d Ray. But weencountered cliffs again, above those other cliffs, that kept us offsome miles to the back of that region we hoped to penetrate.

  After a short stop at noon, for a bite of food out of our pockets, wecontinued moving eastward through the cedars that ornamented this newline of cliffs, towering so many hundreds of feet above those lyingbetween us and Crow Bay. Now and then we got unobstructed views of thatregion below, all forest-clad, and there seemed to be pits and basinsthere; but nowhere a slope permitting a descent. We got a view of thelittle bay where the _Pearl_ lay, but the distance (some seven or eightmiles) was too great to permit us to distinguish the masts among thepalms, even with the glasses that Captain Marat carried.

  The afternoon was not far gone when we met Grant Norris and Carlos, who,by their report, had encountered practically the same conditions as we.Except only that they had come upon a brook that disappeared into thehillside, a thing that Carlos declared was common enough in thesemountains. But the direction of the stream was such as to suggest thatit was the same rivulet that made its exit from the rocks right whereRay and Robert kept watch. Norris and Carlos had ascended this mountainbrook above a mile, on the chance that it might bring them to some trailto the haunt of Duran. But they had met with no signs, and had at lasttaken to the heights.

  "Now, I'll tell you, fellows," observed Norris, "I propose to follow upthat creek some miles farther, tomorrow. I've been in more than one goldcountry, and that creek looks darned likely to me. I dug down at theedge with my hand, in a couple of places, and found black sand. If thereisn't gold somewhere up that stream I miss my guess."

  "Well, the sun soon be getting low," said Captain Marat. "It is time wego back."

  The way Norris and Carlos had come was considered the shorter way back,so we took up the march, moving eastward. I was ahead with Carlos, andwe hadn't taken many steps on our way, when I was startled by the sightof some furry object scampering up a cedar just below. Norris saw ittoo, and raised his rifle. It was then I got another view of the being,and reached out to stop Norris whose finger was on the trigger.

  "Wait!" I cried. "It's a monkey."

  Carlos, too, was surprised at the spectacle. He declared that he hadnever heard of monkeys inhabiting the island.

  "It must be tame monkey," he said.

  The animal swung from a branch of the tree to that of the next, and soondisappeared over the edge of the cliff.

  "Well then," declared Norris, "if he's tame, he's either got loose intown and wandered a long way off, or there are other people besideourselves about here."

  No one had anything to add to Norris' observations, and we continued ourreturn journey, little thinking that we were destined to see that monkeyagain.

  We presently came to where descent was possible; and when the brookfinally came in our way, I found much interest in the spot where thewaters flowed into the hole in the rocks.

  "It seems a queer freak," I told Norris, "that it should make its waythrough the hill like that."

  "It isn't the first time I have seen nature doing such stunts," hereturned. "I guess volcanic action has had most to do with it."