The Castaways

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER TWELVE.

  FINDING THE TREASURE.

  O'Gorman and his entire train of satellites being now upon the islet,ready to dig until they had reached the buried treasure, I thought theopportunity a good one to afford Miss Onslow a run ashore; so, takingpossession of the boat that O'Gorman had graciously intimated I mightuse--the same craft that had done us such good service ere we fell inwith the _Governor Smeaton_--I paddled alongside the brig, and suggestedto the young lady that we should devote the remainder of the day to anexploration of the island proper. To this my companion acceded withalacrity and evident delight; so, packing a small basket with everythingrequired for a substantial luncheon, I stepped the boat's mast, set hercanvas, and we got under way, working out through the loch into the biglagoon formed by the barrier reef, and then coasting alongshore until wereached a promising-looking landing-place. Here we ran the boat up onthe beach, secured her, and, stepping ashore, decided to lunch beforeproceeding farther, since it was by this time drawing well on towardmidday. Then, having made a hearty meal, we plunged into the jungle,with the idea of reaching the summit of the hill if we could hit upon apracticable path. Viewed from the sea, the island had the appearance ofbeing as completely and thickly overgrown with jungle as had been theislet where O'Gorman and his gang were hunting for treasure, but uponentering the forest we found that it was not so, and that, by keepingour eyes about us, we might manage with very little difficulty to workour way through the comparatively open spaces that occurred at frequentintervals. And we had not proceeded very far when we were fortunateenough to fall athwart a tiny stream, with just the merest trickle ofwater in it now, but which was evidently, in the rainy season, aroaring, raging torrent. The bed of this stream was full of smallboulders, that served very well as stepping-stones, and as we knew wecould not go astray if we followed the course of the stream, and as weknew, moreover, that by so doing we should be constantly rising, and as,further, we should thus avoid being impeded by the necessity to wind ourway through the jungle, we decided to adopt this course, with the happyresult that in about an hour's time we found ourselves close to thesummit, and above the line of vegetation. There still remained about ahundred feet of climbing to be done, however, ere we could attain thesummit; and this climbing had to be accomplished on a slope of somesixty degrees, composed of fine, loose scoria, that gave way and sliddownward as soon as stepped upon. I did not like to be beaten, however,but soon found that, without poles to assist us, we should never makeany progress; so we contented ourselves with a walk round the peak--which I now felt convinced was the crater of a quiescent if not extinctvolcano--and a leisurely survey of the magnificent panorama that layspread out beneath us. By the simple process of walking round the peakwe obtained a view of the entire island, with its lagoon and barrierreef; and so clear and pure was the atmosphere that we could not onlysee but also identify every member of the working-party. They werestill digging vigorously; but even as we watched them there arose asudden commotion and an excited rushing together among them, and asecond or two later the sound of their voices reached us; but althoughit was perfectly evident that the speakers were powerfully excited, wewere too far distant from them to distinguish what was said; andpresently work was resumed for about ten minutes, at the expiration ofwhich several men leaped down into the excavation, and a minute or twolater we saw a not very bulky object lifted out of the hole and laid onthe surface of the ground, amid the frantic cheers of the entire party.

  "The treasure!" I exclaimed. "They have found it, by Jove! And theyhave not been very long about it, either. Well, I am sincerely glad andthankful, for now we may hope soon to be homeward-bound, or at leastbound to some spot from which it will be possible for us to securepassage to Calcutta."

  I spoke with some enthusiasm; but my companion did not respond; sheremained silent, gazing dreamily into the far distance; and when Ilooked at her, awaiting some answering remark, I saw that she was quitepale, that she was biting her under-lip in a fruitless endeavour to stayits quivering, and that there were undoubtedly tears in her eyes. Sheaverted her face quickly, but I was confident that I was not mistaken asto those indications of emotion. Presently she spoke.

  "I am glad," said she, "that you find cause for rejoicing in thediscovery that those wretches appear to have just made; and at firstsight it would almost seem as though your troubles should now be nearlyover. But I cannot forget that those men have been guilty of two veryserious offences--first in seizing the brig from you and compelling youto navigate her to this lonely spot, and next in their act of piracy inconnection with the _Marie Renaud_; and I fear--oh, I fear terribly--that by and by, when we are nearing the end of our journey, they willtake some desperate step to effectually prevent your ever bearingwitness against them. Have you ever thought of that as a possibledanger to which you may be exposed?"

  "Well, yes," said I; "I must confess that such a contingency hassuggested itself to me; but they will require my help to get their bootyhome and landed; and I will make it my business to discuss this matterwith O'Gorman in such a manner as to convince him that he cannot dowithout me. And meanwhile I must see if I cannot forestall any possibleaction on their part by devising some plan which will enable us toeffect our escape in one of the boats when within easy distance ofland."

  "Do you think such a thing possible?" she demanded, in much moreanimated tones than those she had shortly before used.

  "Why, yes," answered I. "That is to say, we must _make_ it possible; wemust endeavour to devise some definite scheme, to be carried out at thevery first favourable opportunity, and we must then devote all ourenergies to so arranging matters that when the moment arrives everythingwill be in readiness."

  We discussed this topic at some length, with no very definite result,however; and finally, as it appeared to be exercising a distinctlydepressing effect upon Miss Onslow's spirits, I changed the subject, andwe made our way down to the boat again, and so aboard the brig.

  But as we entered the inner lagoon we found that all hands had knockedoff work and had crossed to their camp; and presently O'Gorman made hisappearance at the entrance of one of the tents, beckoning us toapproach. I waved my hand in assent, but made as though to put MissOnslow aboard the brig first, whereupon O'Gorman hailed that he wantedus both to land and look at what had been found. So I put a bold faceupon it, and ran the boat in upon the beach, from which we walkedtogether up to O'Gorman's tent.

  As we entered, the first thing that met my gaze was a rusty andearth-grimed iron chest, measuring about two feet square by perhapssixteen inches deep, on either side of which sat a man with a brace ofcocked pistols in his belt, evidently on guard. The chest had beenfastened by two heavy padlocks of distinctly antiquated design, butthese had both been smashed, and the lid prised open, not withoutinflicting some damage to the hinges. I noticed, almost at once, thatO'Gorman and his companions wore a decidedly perplexed and slightlychagrined air, and the reason therefor soon became apparent.

  "So," said I, in a congratulatory tone, "you soon found your treasure,then. I hope it proves to be worth all the trouble you have taken tosecure it?"

  "Begorra, thin, it's mesilf that'd be glad to be able to say `yis' tothat," answered the Irishman. "But I'm puzzled; I can't make it out,"he continued. "_This_ is what we've found,"--giving the chest a kickthat betrayed a certain amount of temper--"but beyant a gallon or so ofpearls there's nothin' in it but pebbles; and I'd like ye to say whetheryou think them pebbles is worth annything or not."

  So saying, O'Gorman raised the heavy lid of the chest, disclosing aninterior subdivided into four compartments by thin hardwood partitionsrunning diagonally from corner to corner. One compartment was packed asfull as it would hold of pearls, nearly all of which--if one might judgeby the top layer--were of very fair size, while a few, scattered hereand there, were exceptionally fine; and their exquisite satiny sheenseemed to indicate that they were all of the first water. Miss Onslowcould not suppress a cry of admiration and
delight as she gazed uponthem--which tribute to their beauty--and consequent value--seemed toafford considerable satisfaction to the finders.

  "May I touch them?" asked I of O'Gorman.

  "Oh yes," he answered, "I suppose there's no harm in y'r touchin' 'em,if ye wants to."

  I plunged my hand down into the heart of the compartment, turning overthe pearls, and bringing others to the surface; and it appeared thatthey were all of pretty much the same quality and value. "Why," said I,"here is a respectable fortune for each of you in these pearls alone,even if the `pebbles' turn out to be valueless, which is scarcely likelyto be the case, or they would not have been so carefully stowed away inthis chest. Now, these, for example," I continued, turning to acontiguous compartment more than half full of crystals that looked likesplintered fragments of rather dull glass, "are uncut diamonds. Yes,"as I felt two or three of them between my finger and thumb, "there is nodoubt about it: they have the true soapy feel; they are diamonds, and,taken in bulk, of very great value. And here, again," as I turned tothe next compartment, about as full as that containing the diamonds,"these are rubies, unless I am very greatly mistaken; while, as tothese," turning to the last compartment, "they are emeralds--and thereare some beauties among them, too, apparently," as I fished up one ortwo remarkably fine ones. "Why, O'Gorman," I exclaimed, "you are richmen--every mother's son of you--there are sixteen handsome fortunes inthis chest, fortunes big enough to set you all up as gentry, or to ruinyou in double-quick time, according to the use that you make of yourwealth."

  "Begorra, sorr, that's the plisintest thing I iver heard ye say!"exclaimed the Irishman, in high glee at my verdict as to the value ofthe "pebbles," while the beaming countenances of the twain on guardbetrayed that their delight was fully as great as that of their leader.

  There were further sounds of revelry ashore, that night, intermingled,more than once, with other sounds suggestive of altercation and quarrel;and just at sunrise, while I was taking a matutinal swim round the ship,I saw all hands march out, in somewhat formal order, along the gladeupon which their camp was pitched, and disappear across the sand-spitthat formed one side of the loch entrance. Ten minutes later, while Iwas towelling myself on the fore deck, in the seclusion afforded by theposition of the galley, I was startled by what sounded like a distantvolley of pistol-shots; and about half an hour afterwards I saw thecrowd returning to camp by the way that they had gone. As I watchedthem shambling along over the somewhat uneven ground I was struck bysomething rather unusual in their appearance; and presently I discoveredwhat it was: there seemed to be not quite so many of them. By the timethat I had slipped into my clothes the party had arrived pretty nearlyabreast of the brig, and were close enough, to enable me not only tocount but to identify them. _They were now only fourteen in number; andthe two absent ones were the men whom I had seen guarding the treasureon the previous night_! Somehow, the absence of these two men instantlybecame associated in my mind with the volley of pistol-shots that I hadheard while overboard; and I began to wonder, gloomily, whether theunearthed treasure had already brought a tragedy in its train. I wasfull of this idea as I sat down to breakfast; but as Miss Onslow did notmake any remark or inquiry concerning the pistol volley, I concludedthat she had not heard it, and was careful to say nothing whatever toher about my suspicions.

  O'Gorman and his companions remained in the seclusion of their tents allthe morning, not one of them, excepting the cook, showing themselvesuntil after dinner. Then the Irishman and two hands appeared; andpresently they jumped into a boat and headed for the brig. I went tothe gangway to receive them--so that we might be out of ear-shot of MissOnslow, who was sitting in the after-end of her sleeping-tent, reading--and, even before the boat got alongside, I could see, by the sober facesof those in her, that something serious was the matter.

  O'Gorman boarded the brig alone, leaving his two companions in the boatalongside. I led him for'ard, and not until we had reached the foredeck did either of us open our mouths. Then the Irishman, turning to mewith a very serious face, said:

  "Misther Conyers, we want y'r help again, son."

  "Very well," said I; "I shall be pleased to help you in any waypossible. What is it that you wish me to do?"

  "We wish ye to divide up the threasure aiqually into fourteen parts, andto give to aich man his own share, so that he may take care of it forhimself. As things are now, wid all the gims lumped together in theiron chist, the timptation and the opporchunity to shteal is too great,and we've already lost two of our number through it."

  "Lost two of your number? Good Heavens, O'Gorman, what do you mean?" Idemanded, my thoughts instantly reverting to the suspicious proceedingsof the morning.

  "Why," explained O'Gorman, "it's loike this, ye see. Whin we dug upthat chist yesterday, and got it over here, we could none of us besatisfied until we'd broke it open and found out what it contained.Then, as we couldn't fasten it up again, we decided to mount guard overit, two men at a time, so that nobody should rob the others by sneakin'away and helpin' himself unbeknownst. But whin the first two guards wasrelieved, last night, the cook took it into his head that they ought tobe searched; and whin this was done, by the Powers! we found that aichof 'em had helped himself to a handful of the stones, and had 'em stowedaway in their pockets. We thried 'em there and thin, found 'em guilty,and sintenced 'em to be shot! Which was done this morning."

  "So!" I exclaimed in horror, "this is the first result of yourso-called good fortune, is it? A theft; and two of your number slain!Man! do you know that the fourteen of you have committed _murder_!"

  "Murder, is it? Sorra a bit!" exclaimed the Irishman indignantly. "Wethried the two of 'em, and found 'em guilty, all in regular, properordher."

  "But," said I, "you have no authority or legal right to try men,sentence them to death, and execute them. Whatever _you_ may considerit, you will find that the law will regard it as wilful murder."

  "The law?" ejaculated O'Gorman, with a contemptuous sniff. "Oh,begorra, we'll take our chance of that! But we don't want any moreexecutions, Misther Conyers, so will ye help us to make a fair divisionof our prize, that aich man may have his own and not be tempted toshteal from another?"

  "Are you making this request on your own account, or on behalf of therest as well?" demanded I. "Perhaps the others may be unwilling totrust to my fairness."

  "Oh, but they will," answered O'Gorman. "The proposal was mine, butiverybody agreed to it."

  "Very well, then," said I. "I am willing to undertake the job, and willdo my best to make the division an equitable one."

  So saying, I went aft and explained to Miss Onslow that I was goingashore for an hour or two with O'Gorman, to afford him the benefit of myadvice in a certain matter, dived below to my cabin for some sheets ofwriting-paper, which I rolled up and put in my pocket, and then,returning to the deck, descended the side and entered the boat.

  On reaching the shore, O'Gorman led me at once to the largest tent,where I found the entire remainder of the party seated in a circle onthe ground, with the chest of treasure-trove in the centre; they hadevidently so little faith in each other that each had deemed itnecessary to individually watch the chest in his own interest. Theincident would have been amusing but for the terrible element of tragedythat had been imparted to it by the proceedings of the morning.

  My first act, on entering the tent, was to provide, from my little stockof writing-paper, fourteen pieces of exactly equal size and shape, whichI numbered from one to fourteen; afterwards folding the piecesidentically, so that the numbers written upon them were concealed, andit became impossible to distinguish one piece from another. Thesepapers I put on the ground in one of the men's caps, mixing andshuffling them all together; and next I called for a square of canvas.They brought me a boat's lug sail, which I caused to be spread flat andsmooth upon the ground; and then I had the chest lifted on to the middleof the sail, seating myself beside it. Then, starting with the pearls,I picked out fourteen of pract
ically equal value, and laid them, singlyand well apart, on the canvas before me, explaining my intentions as Idid so. Then to these I similarly added fourteen more, and so on, untileach heap contained the same number of pearls, and was, as nearly as Icould judge, of the same value. There were five pearls left over, andthese I reserved as possible make-weights, so to speak, in the furtherdivision of the gems. Then I proceeded with the diamonds in the sameway, following on with the rubies, and finishing off with the emeralds,until the entire treasure was subdivided into fourteen parts ofpractically equal value. This done, I inquired whether they were all ofopinion that the _division_ had been evenly made; and upon receiving areply to the effect that "they supposed so," I gave the tickets in thesailor's cap a vigorous, final shaking up, and then passed the cap roundin succession, requesting each man to take one paper. Then, when allhad been drawn, I requested them to open their papers and look at thenumbers written thereon. And, finally, the man who held number one wasallowed first choice from the fourteen heaps, number two the secondchoice, and so on, until only one heap was left, which fell to the manholding ticket number fourteen. It was interesting to note thedifference in the behaviour of the men in choosing their heaps; somehung fire and seemed quite unable to make up their minds for as much asten minutes or a quarter of an hour--and they would probably have beenlonger but for the impatient remonstrances of their fellows--whileothers simply laid their caps alongside the nearest heap and swept thelatter into the former with as little emotion as though they had beenpurchasing a penn'orth of gooseberries at a street-barrow.

  This process of subdivision of the treasure had run away with aconsiderable amount of time, with the result that when I returned to thebrig the usual hour of "supper"--as the evening meal is generally termedat sea--was long past; and, what was of far greater consequence, I foundthat during my prolonged absence Miss Onslow had worked herself into aperfect fever of apprehension as to my safety; which was not at allsurprising when one came to reflect upon what her situation would havebeen--alone among all those ruffians--had anything perchance happened tome. But she quickly recovered her spirits when I informed her as to howI had been occupied; and it was a great relief to me to discover, as Idid in the course of the evening, by means of sundry subtle questionsand remarks, that the poor girl entertained no suspicion whatever of themorning's tragedy. Such being the case, I resolved to keep the newsfrom her as long as possible; and, with a view thereto, I strenuouslyimpressed upon the steward that he was not, under any circumstanceswhatever, to make the most distant reference to it.

  During the fortnight that now ensued, the weather remaining gloriouslyfine, I took Miss Onslow away in the boat daily, and together weexplored the island until we had become perfectly acquainted with everyinch of it, and knew exactly where to find its many beauty-spots. Onthe first two or three days of these excursions we frequentlyencountered members of O'Gorman's gang wandering about the island in amore or less apparently aimless fashion--most of them carrying canvasbundles in their hands, which they invariably endeavoured unsuccessfullyto conceal from our view. At first I was at a loss to understand whatall this meant; but on the third day it happened that, on emerging froma jungle-path that we had made for ourselves, we came upon a kneelingman busily engaged in digging a hole with a stick at the foot of a tree.So intent was he upon his occupation that he did not hear us until wewere close upon him, and then he sprang to his feet and faced us with anexpression of mingled consternation and defiance, that changed to one ofconfusion as he recognised us. It was the young Cockney whom I havealready had occasion to mention once or twice; and he had graduallyimpressed me as being about the most harmless and well-meaning of thewhole gang.

  "Hillo, Harry!" I exclaimed, "what are you after? seeking for moretreasure?"

  "Why, no, sir," answered he, fingering the peak of his cap as he metMiss Onslow's gaze. He hesitated a few seconds, considering, and thenproceeded:

  "The fact is, Mr Conyers, I was thinkin' of hidin' my little whack."

  "Well," said I, "in that case I am exceedingly sorry that we disturbedyou, for now I fear that you will have to hunt for anotherhiding-place."

  "What for, sir?" demanded he.

  "Why, because this lady and I have discovered your secret, don't yousee?"

  "Oh, that be blowed!" exclaimed the young fellow. "That don't make nomatter; I ain't afraid of you or the lidy stealin' the stuff; I wasn'thidin' it from either of you."

  "No?" queried I. "From whom, then, were you hiding it?"

  "Why, from the rest of 'em, of course. We're _all_ hidin' our stufffrom one another. We don't _tell_ each other so; but we're doin' it allthe same."

  "I see," said I. "You are unable to trust each other. Well, that is apity. One would have thought that there was not a man among you whowould not have felt abundantly satisfied with what he has secured."

  "Maybe we are; but maybe we ain't," answered the fellow. "Anyhow, whenI sees the rest all distrustin' one another, I thinks it's time for meto distrust them. So I spent all day yesterday huntin' for a good spot,and comed along this way, and thought I couldn't do better than stow thestuff at the foot of this big tree."

  "Well," said I, "if I were you I should choose some other place. Howare you to know that one of the men you distrust is not even nowwatching you--and guessing your occupation--from some place ofconcealment among the bushes? Choose a spot that you can easily findagain somewhere in the heart of the bush, and bury it there, wherenobody can see what you are about."

  "Thank'ee sir; I will. I think I know a good place not far off," saidthe fellow; and therewith, giving a sea-scrape with his foot, he turnedaway and left us. As for us, we resumed our walk, and were very carefulnot to turn round or otherwise behave in such a manner as to lead theman to suppose we desired to watch him.

  During the period to which I am now referring, O'Gorman and his men didno work whatever, but--after each had succeeded in satisfactorilyconcealing his own share of treasure--spent their time in strollingaimlessly--sometimes alone, and sometimes in parties of two or threetogether--about the island, hunting for fruit, or climbing the cocoa-nuttrees to get at the nuts. Then--I think it was about the sixteenth dayafter the unearthing of the treasure--without any previous warning ornotice whatever to me--I saw them striking tents ashore, immediatelyafter breakfast; and by noon everything had been brought off to the brigagain, and the men had once more taken up their quarters in herforecastle. The remainder of that day was devoted to the task ofrebending the canvas; but it was not until noon of the next day that thebrig was again in a condition to go to sea. That afternoon, and thegreater part of the following day, was devoted to the task ofreplenishing the brig's stock of fresh water, collecting an abundantsupply of fruit, and--presumably--recovering possession of their hiddentreasure; and after breakfast next morning the crew went leisurely towork to get under way. It took us until noon to work our way out tosea; and as soon as we were fairly clear of the barrier reef, everybodywent to dinner.