But it was no easy matter to get back to the shore, and an hour later found them in a tangle of undergrowth. Aleck was ahead, accompanied by Fred and Songbird.
“Hark! I heah something!” cried the colored man, presently.
“Somebody is calling!” cried Songbird.
“Maybe it’s Dick and the others!” added Fred.
They called in return and then they fired off a pistol. There was a brief silence and then came the call once more.
“Come on, dis way!” yelled Aleck, and plunged through the underbrush with the boys following.
He continued to call and at last made out the voices of Dick, Tom and Sam quite plainly.
“I’se found de boys!” cried the colored man in delight. “I’se found de boys!” And he plunged on again until he gained the clearing where the three lads were tied to the trees. With his pocketknife he cut their bonds.
“Good for you, Aleck!” cried Dick. “I am more than glad to see you!”
“And so am I,” added Sam and Tom in a breath.
Then the others came up, and the Rover boys had to tell their story, to which the members of the second party listened with the keenest of interest.
CHAPTER XXV
THE TRAIL THROUGH THE JUNGLE
“Sid Merrick is certainly in deadly earnest,” was Mr. Rover’s comment, after the boys had finished their tale. “He means to get hold of that treasure by hook or by crook, and he will stop at nothing to gain his end.”
“We want to go after him and his gang,” said Dick. “We ought not to lose a minute doing it.”
“Can you walk, Dick?”
“I guess so, although being tied up made me rather stiff.”
“I see your wrist is bleeding.”
“Yes, and I tried pretty hard to free myself.”
“And I tried, too,” added Sam. “But I couldn’t budge a single knot.”
“We could not unknot the knots,” added Tom, who was bound to have his joke.
It was now morning, for which all were thankful. The lights were put out, and the whole party partook of some of the provisions on hand.
“I believe Merrick would have left us to starve,” said Sam. “He is the greatest rascal I ever knew!”
The Rover boys pointed out the direction Sid Merrick and his party had taken. Bahama Bill said that trail was new to him, and if it led to the treasure cave he did not know it.
“But I’ll know the cave as soon as I see it—if it is still there,” he added.
“Well, you won’t see it if it isn’t there,” said Dick, grimly. “That earthquake may have changed the whole face of that portion of the isle.”
The trail appeared to make a wide sweep to the westward, and led them over ground that was unusually rough. The trailing vines were everywhere and they had to brush away innumerable spider webs as they progressed. Once Songbird came upon some spiders larger than any he had yet seen and two crawled on his shoulder, causing him to yell in fright.
“What’s the matter?” asked Dick.
“Spiders! Two were just going to bite me, but I got rid of ’em!”
“Don’t be afraid, Songbird,” came from Tom. “Why don’t you study them and write a poem about them?”
“A poem about spiders! Ugh!” And Songbird’s face showed his disgust.
“Der spider vos a pusy little animal,” observed Hans. “He sphins his veb und attends strictly to business. I dink I make up some boetry apout him,” and the German boy began:
“Der vos von lettle sphider Vot lifed owid in der voot, He made himself a leetle veb Und said dot it vos goot.”
“Hurrah, for Hans!” cried Tom. “He’s the true poet of spiderdom!” and then he added: “Hans, we’ll crown you poet laureate if you say so.”
“I ton’t von no crown,” answered Hans, complacently. “I chust so vell vear mine cap alretty.”
As the party progressed the way become more uncertain, and at last they reached the edge of a swamp, beyond which was some kind of a canebrake. They saw numerous footprints in the soft soil, and these led further still to the westward.
“Listen!” said Dick, presently, and held up his hand.
All did as requested and from a distance heard somebody calling to somebody else. Then came a reply in Sid Merrick’s voice.
“Merrick is talking to Shelley,” said Dick. “They have lost the right trail, too.”
“Hang the luck!” they heard Shelley say.
“No path at all?”
“None,” answered Sid Merrick.
“There is no path here either—it’s a regular jungle,” came from Cuffer, who was not far off.
“I’m all stuck up with the thorns,” put in Tad Sobber. “I think we were foolish to come to such a spot as this.”
“You can go back if you want to,” answered his uncle, who was evidently out of patience. “Nobody is keeping you.”
“I am not going back alone—I couldn’t find the way,” answered Tad.
“Then don’t growl.”
“I reckon we’ll all have to go back and wait till that Spaniard can show us the way,” said Shelley.
“That’s well enough to say, Shelley. But supposing those Rovers come here in the meantime?”
“Those boys?”
“Yes, and their father, and the others on that steam yacht,” went on Sid Merrick earnestly.
“They can’t find the cave any quicker than we can—if Wingate did as he promised.”
“But if he didn’t? He’s a good deal of a coward and perhaps he didn’t have the nerve to dose Bahama Bill.”
More talk followed, but as the men were now moving in another direction the Rovers and their companions made out little more of the conversation.
“What shall we do, confront them?” asked Sam of his parent.
“Not if they are going back to their ship,” answered Mr. Rover. “We can watch them and see what they do.”
At the end of half an hour they saw that the Merrick party had started for the north side of the isle. They waited in silence until all were well out of hearing.
“I am glad we are rid of them—at least for the time being,” said Anderson Rover. “Now we can continue the treasure hunt in peace.”
“But dem fellers will be suah to come back,” interposed Aleck.
“I know that, Aleck, but they won’t come back right away. Evidently they are returning to their vessel to get that Spaniard, Doranez.”
“I’d like to have punched Merrick’s head for tying me up,” growled Tom.
“It will be punishment enough for him if we get the treasure,” answered Mr. Rover.
“If we do.”
“You are not ready to give up yet, are you, Tom?”
“Oh, no. But finding that treasure isn’t going to be as easy as I thought.”
“We ought to be able to find some trace of the cave pretty soon—the isle is so small. If the isle was large it would be a different matter.”
They decided to advance, some of the party skirting the swamp in one direction and some in another. It was difficult work and they did not wonder that Merrick and his party had given up in disgust. Occasionally they had to wade in water up to their ankles and then climb through brushwood that was all but impassible. They tore their clothing more than once, and scratches were numerous.
The sun had been shining brightly, but now, as if to add to their misery, it went under some heavy clouds, casting a deep gloom over the jungle.
“We are goin’ to have a storm,” said Bahama Bill. “An’ when it comes I reckon it will be a lively one. I remember onct, when I was on the island o’ Cuby, we got a hurricane that come Putty nigh to sweepin’ everything off the place. It took one tree up jest whar I was standin’ an’ carried it ’bout half a mile out into the ocean. Thet tree struck the
foremast o’ a brig at anchor an’ cut it off clean as a whistle. Some o’ the sailors thought the end o’ the world was comin’.”
“They certainly do have some heavy hurricanes down here,” remarked Anderson Rover. “But let us hope we’ll escape all such, even though we get a wetting,” he added, as he felt a few drops of rain.
Soon it was raining steadily, and when they reached a spot clear of trees they got soaked to the skin. But as it was very warm they did not mind this.
“It’s like taking a bath without troubling about undressing,” said Tom, and this remark caused a smile.
They were now in a bunch once more, with Bahama Bill leading them. The old tar was looking sharply ahead and soon he gave a grunt of satisfaction.
“What is it?” asked Anderson Rover eagerly. “I know where I am now,” was the reply.
“And unless that earthquake knocked it skyhigh thet cave ought to be right ahead o’ us!”
CHAPTER XXVI
A DISMAYING DISCOVERY
The announcement that the treasure cave must be just ahead of them filled the entire party with renewed energy, and regardless of the rain, which was now coming down heavily, they pushed on behind Bahama Bill in a close bunch, each eager to be the first to behold the sought for spot.
There was no longer any trail, and they had to pick their way over rough rocks and through brushwood and vines which were thick regardless of the fact that they had little or no rooting places.
“I guess we’ve got to earn that treasure if we get it,” said Sam, as he paused to get his breath.
“It certainly looks that way,” answered Dick, as he wiped the rain and perspiration from his face. “I wonder how much further we have to go?”
That question was answered almost immediately, for Bahama Bill, turning the corner of several extra large rocks, came to a halt with a grunt of dissatisfaction.
“Well, what now?” questioned Anderson Rover.
“It’s gone!”
“What, the cave?” asked several.
“Yes—she’s gone, swallowed up, busted!” answered the old tar. “Thet air earthquake done it an’ no error,” he went on. “It jest shook thet pile o’ rock wot made the cave into a heap, and there’s the heap.”
Bahama Bill pointed in front of him, where a large quantity of rocks lay in a scattered mass, many of them ten and twenty tons in weight. At one point was what he said had been the entrance to the cave, but this was completely blocked by the stones.
“Vot’s der madder, can’t ve get in?” queried Hans, with a look of real concern on his honest face.
“That doesn’t look like it,” answered Fred. “Too bad, and after coming so far for this treasure, too!”
“We must get in there somehow!” cried Dick.
“Why can’t we blow up the rocks with dynamite,” suggested Tom.
“We can—but it will take time,” said his father. He turned to Bahama Bill. “About how far into the cave was the treasure placed?”
“Oh, at least a hundred feet maybe two hundred.”
Anderson Rover heaved a deep sigh, which was echoed by his sons. To get down into that mass of rocks a distance of from one to two hundred feet would surely be a herculean task, if not an impossible one. And then, too, there was a question whether or not the treasure had not dropped down through some hole in the bottom of the cave after the earthquake.
“I’ll have to think this over,” said Anderson Rover, after an examination of the rocks. “We’ll have to try to locate the treasure and then see if we can raise enough dynamite to blow the rocks away. More than likely, if we undertake the task, it will take a long time—perhaps weeks and months.”
“What, as long as that?” cried Sam, in dismay.
“Well, if the treasure is as valuable as reported it will be worth it,” answered Dick.
“But in the meantime, what of Sid Merrick and his gang?” asked Tom. “More than likely they will make us seven kinds of trouble and do their best to get the treasure away from us.”
“We shall have to protect ourselves as well at we can,” said Mr. Rover.
After that it rained so hard they were forced to seek shelter under a thick bunch of palms. The rain continued for half an hour longer and then the sun came out strongly, and the jungle became steaming hot.
With Bahama Bill to guide them, they walked around what had been the top of the treasure cave. From some landmarks which had not been totally destroyed by the earthquake the old tar felt certain that there could be no mistake and that the treasure must be buried beneath them.
“But how far down you’ll have to go to reach it I can’t tell,” he added. “It’s like them ile well diggers—sometimes they strike ile near the top o’ the ground, an’ then ag’in they have to bore putty deep down. It’s my hope ye won’t have to roll away more’n two or three rocks to git into the hole an’ put your hands on the boxes with the gold and jewels.”
“If we only had to roll away two or three rocks I’d be for doing the rolling right now!” cried Tom.
“I’d like to see you roll a rock weighing ten or fifteen tons,” observed Songbird. “You’d want about twenty horses to even start it.”
Now that the first disappointment was over, the Rovers began to consider getting down into the cave from a purely practical point. They looked over all the big rocks with care, making a note of such as ought to be blasted away and of others that could be removed with the aid of a rope and pulleys.
“Let us see if we cannot gain the shore of the bay in a straight line from here,” said Mr. Rover, after the examination of the ground had come to an end. “If we can it will make it so much easier to go back and forth from the steam yacht.”
They had a compass with them, and leaving the vicinity of the shattered cave, struck out in a direct line for Horseshoe Bay. Much to their surprise they found an easy path, and came out on the sandy beach almost before they knew it.
“Well, I never!” cried Dick. “If we had known of this before, what a lot of trouble we might have saved ourselves.”
“Well, we know it now,” answered Tom. “And as we marked the path it will be an easy matter in the future to go back and forth from the cave to the bay.”
It took them some time to get their boat, and it was almost nightfall before they reached the steam yacht. It can readily be imagined that the Stanhopes and Lanings awaited their coming with interest.
“What success, Dick?” cried Dora eagerly.
“Not so very much as yet,” he answered, soberly, for he hated to disappoint the girl who was so dear to him. And then he told her of all that had happened. She shuddered when she found he had been a prisoner of Sid Merrick and his followers.
“Oh, Dick, I am so thankful you escaped,” she cried, with tears in her eyes. “You must not get into such a situation again! Why, the whole treasure isn’t worth it.”
“But I want to get that money and the jewels for you, Dora.”
“Yes, but I don’t want money and jewels if—if you are—are going to get hurt,” she answered, and her deep eyes looked him through and through.
“I’ll be careful after this—but we are going to get the treasure, sure thing,” he added, stoutly.
“I was afraid an earthquake might have played pranks with that cave,” was Captain Barforth’s comment. “An earthquake can shake down the top of a cave quicker than it can shake down anything else. It doesn’t take much to do it.”
The captain said he had a fair quantity of powder on board, to be used in the cannon for saluting and signalling. If they wanted dynamite, however, he’d have to run over to one of the big islands for it.
“And then we may have trouble getting it,” he added. “We’d probably have to buy up the supply of some contractor who happened to have it on hand.”
“I don’t like to think of leaving the isla
nd while Merrick and his crowd are around,” answered Anderson Rover.
On the following morning Mr. Rover and Captain Barforth went ashore, taking Dick, Tom and Sam along. The steam yacht was left in charge of Asa Carey, and the mate was told to remain close to the mouth of the reef and to send some of the others ashore armed if there came a signal of distress.
“We have enemies on this isle,” said Captain Barforth. “And they may try to do us harm.”
“I’ll watch out,” answered the mate, shortly. And then he turned away with a thoughtful look on his sour countenance. That there was something on his mind was evident.
The small boat was brought ashore at the point where the path led directly to the sunken cave. Although there was a lively breeze blowing, those landing did so without mishap. They had with them some tools for digging, and also a rock drill and some powder.
“It will do no harm to blast one or two of the rocks and see what is underneath,” said Anderson Rover. “We may possibly be lucky enough to find some entrance into the cave, although I must confess I doubt it.”
When they got to the vicinity of the shattered cave they found everything as they had left it. Even a pick Tom had forgotten remained undisturbed.
“Evidently the Merrick crowd has not yet found its way here,” said Dick.
“We shall have to be on our guard when we go to blasting,” answered his parent. “For the noise may bring that rascal and his gang here in a hurry.”
And then all set to work with vigor to see if by some means they could not get down under the rocks and to the spot where the precious treasure had been deposited so many years before.
CHAPTER XXVII
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE STEAM YACHT
About an hour after the Rovers and Captain Barforth had left the steam yacht Dora came from the forward deck looking much disturbed.
“What is the trouble?” asked her mother.
“Oh, not very much,” she answered, for she did not wish to worry her parent. “Where is Fred?”
“I think he is at the stern, fishing with Hans and John.”
“I want to see them,” continued Dora, and hurried off.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 198