Adventure, November 1915 — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

i i ee een» eo se, — a ign re ae . The Gold Lust was upthrust sharply. Addams walked over to it curiously. “Tt’s wood!” he cried. Jim and Peggy!”’ A new note of hope rang in his voice as they joined him. “Tt’s the stem of a vessel about thesize of the Wavecrest,” he said, ““deep-buried and left here long ago. See how smooth and sharp it’s worn. That’s Fellowes’ schooner, or all that’s left of it; enough for a sign-post to tell us he was here sixty odd years ago.”’ It looked as if his conjecture were a true one and their despondency lifted. ‘Vou see,”’ said Addams, ‘‘the beach has been piling up here for all those years. The keel is probably fifteen feet below us, cov- ered with sand—so are the original floors of the caves. You remember what Fellowes said about there being carvings on the floors? All we’ve seen is sand. We’ve got to dig down!” They raced back to the original cave, the third from seaward, and probed into the hard sand with the long iron rods. Some ten feet down they struck the hard rock. “The gold was probably buried close to the wall,”’ said Addams. “The question is, which? We'll have to trust to luck again; we haven’t got too much time. Let’s start a trench at the right. Peggy, will you re- polish the glass of those torch batteries?” They went at it with a will, pick and shovel, to expose the wall to bed-rock. It was hard work. The sand was firmly packed and beaten by the tides and they were soon soaked in perspiration. The dis- placed sand piled up behind them as they toiled, and they had to break shifts to take it out to the beach every now and then and make room for their efforts. As they neared the rock Peggy got down into the trench and brushed away the sand that still clung to the rough surface, search- ing with a torch for the signs that marked the treasure. Carvings were disclosed as they dug, grouping more thickly the nearer they got to the original floor of the cave. “Here’s my fish!’’ cried the girl triumph- antly at last. ‘‘And here are the five men! Archer! Jim! It’s true! Oh dig—dig— dig! Give me a spade, one of you!” They swiftly uncovered the inscription, “Come over here, _ finding it complete, with the canoe and the circle, and cleared on down to solid rock. Addam’s pick broke through an opening in the cave wall and he thrust an arm pr eg ee ee en a a Or ee nF RON GS rem Ng te de tS a ee er es = Ps age > = 6S : _ er += ~~ = al rf a7 as . € 61 through the sand and reached an inner chamber, back of an overhanging curtain of stone that formed the false wall of the cave. He groped about, full-length at the bot- tom of the trench, while the others, sand- spattered and wet, anxiously watched him. “ve found something,” he said, with- drawing his hand and forearm. ‘Give me that torch, Peggy.” He dug furiously at the hole with the blade of the sheath-knife he carried in his belt, scooping out the sand. His full arm disappeared in the cavity. aay “HERE it is,” he announced. “It’s i Sa hard—yes, it’s wood, and here’s “=! a hoop about it. We’ve found it!”’ He climbed out of the trench and slipped out to look at the tide while Winton and the Chinamen dug furiously and Peggy, perched on a pile of sand, a torch in either hand, illumined their efforts. Outside, Addams found the moon sailing high, obscured now and then by cloud-drift through which the stars peered, still bright; though he sensed the vague trembling of the sky-curtain that, in the tropics, presages the swift uprush of dawn. The tide was still ebbing, guarding se- curely the entrance to the reef, as one by one the stout wooden boxes, stained and rusty of iron bands, yet still resisting damp ~ and rot, were brought from the cave and set down on the beach. Winton seated himself on one of them, mopping his forehead. “Fellowes said they weighed two hundred pounds apiece, didn’t he,” he asked. “TI don’t believe it! Don’t believe they weigh a quarter of that, and half an hour ago I thought I was just about fagged out. Funny how light gold is when you own it.”’ ‘“‘We don’t own it yet, fim,” said Addams. “Here comes the dawn. We’ve got to get back to the schooner.” The eastern sky was swiftly stained with red. The glittering star-points turned to ash, then disappeared, and the wan moon faded to the semblance of a lifeless gray wafer. Selim called from the ridge— “Ship, he come now!” “All right,” said Addams, looking swiftly about him. ‘‘We’ve got an hour to hide this stuff where they’ll never think of it.”’ “Hide it?” said Peggy. “We can’t get clear with it now,” an- swered Addams. “If that crowd saw us - a =~ 2 ~ heb - Eomichdooks (F@ im