by Jacob Nelson
Even the water is crystal clear, teeming with fish with over 270 species and in the wintertime the waters are frequented by humpback whales, usually several at a time with their young. Year-round sea turtles, dolphins and marlins frequent the coast. With so many available food sources, sharks abound there as well.
From the sandy beach begins a coastal forest which changes into a highland forest as the plateau rises. Finally on the plateau base it turns into low scrub trees and cacti.
Outside of the sandy shoreline, the native mammals of Mona Island are two species of bats; one of which feeds on fish. It is presumed that in the past their population was greater than the present due to the great amounts of guano (odorless excrement that is used as a fertilizer or gunpowder ingredient due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen) which was regularly mined throughout the centuries.
Throughout, the terrain is rough and the ground is sharp-edged and pockmarked with sinkholes both small and large. The pockmarked landscape is largely due to constant corrosion of the surface, called karstification, the result of acidic water acting on soluble limestone creating dolomite rock: a solid crystallized form of limestone. Yet, while it is difficult for humans to walk on karst, the native iguanas, and less native feral goats and pigs are surefooted upon the island. The latter two having been introduced by Spaniards to reproduce and supply food for seafarers.
It was the goats that first noticed the boat landing as the six strong men hauled their gear up the beach in search of a late-night campsite.
Two days later the captain returned with the man and the woman. The man largely altogether ignored him but the woman was another story. She was quite the good looker and though he tried to talk small talk with her during their 3 hour tour, she seemed more inclined to ignore him unless she wanted information. To that end he was more than willing to talk. He knew all about the island, its history, its plant and animal life and its many natural wonders. The man found it easy to talk, prodded on by her questioning.
As the pair was arriving at the island, the Phantom prepared to leave Boquerón, Puerto Rico. The man he commissioned to take him across the channel seemed all too fine with the midnight excursion explaining that he preferred being safe than dead. A few hours later he was well on his way to the island.
“When we get there, where would you like to land?” asked the owner of the small craft. “There are two landing sites that are considered the best,” he added. “There’s that of Pájaros, which in the southwest… or Sardinera in the west, which is closer to the management office.”
“Where are the oldest ruins on the island?” countered Kit, his fedora whipping in the wind.
“Ah! You’re talking about the old remains from the Taìno village visited by both Columbus and Ponce de León. That’s Sardinera. Yes, they are still to be found.” The man settled in as he spoke of the place, “Among those remains you will find what appear to be Taìno inscriptions, some pictographs and petroglyphs. There are even some old skeletons.”
“Skeletons?” repeated Kit.
“Yes, skeletons, and other relics.”
“What about old forts, or stone buildings?” inquired Kit.
“Well, along with the ruins you can find stone walls, graves, and old trails. Even some old forts.”
“What about caves?”
“Caves? Well there are more than 700 caves on that island. Two right near where you’re going. Cueva Negra and Cueva del Aqua.”
“Sounds perfect,” replied the Phantom
“Yes. You could say that... You are into the old stuff, eh?”
“Yes.”
“Well then the Taìno village it is! And not too far away, and due east as the crow flies, are the ruins of an old Taìno ball court. Now, you’re in for a treat, but I see you didn’t pack much of anything. There isn’t much water out there and I have plenty here in the boat.”
“I see. And what does this water cost?”
“Not too much. I run a fair operation here…”
The trio arrived a bit after midnight local time. The captain of the small boat knew where he had dropped off the last group and upon arrival found them camped out not far from that spot.
“Well, I hope you enjoyed the ride. If you would be so kind as to pay an old man for his efforts.” He had already been paid by the first group but there was never a moment lost on the old captain to try to double his money. As he watched the younger man fish inside his coat, the captain thought to himself that maybe it wasn’t so unlucky to have a woman in the boat. Then Les whipped out his gun.
“Wh…What is this?” he stammered.
“Payment,” Les simply stated. The old man didn’t even have time to respond as the first bullet collapsed his lung and the second entered his heart.
Stripes woke to the sound of the pistol firing and hurried over to join them at the edge of the beach. He walked over to the body of the captain, and after a moment, kicked some sand on top of it with his foot. “Les, Lady Heloise, its good to see you,” he said with his perpetual sneer.
Les returned, “Not so much on my part, Stripes. I think you played your last role a bit too well, back there in Costa Rica. And you killed John.”
“I hated John.”
“I don’t care. And if I ever catch you grabbing my wife’s butt again…”
“Oh did that bother you? I understood you wanted it to look real?”
“I will…” began Les.
“Stop bickering boys,” interjected the Black Widow, ignoring Stripes’ use of her real name as she stripped down to her bikini top and a sarong. “I’m tired and need some sleep. Where are our hammocks?”
As they approached their hammocks which Stripes had suspended in Sea Grape trees along the beach they were astonished to run across their first denizen of the place; a large, hissing, 4 foot long iguana.
“Look at that thing!” Les whispered in awe at the size of the beast as Les pulled out his own pistol.
“Put that away,” commanded the Black Widow. “The old chap said they were harmless.”
As the trio stopped, the iguana moved on, looking for a better place to dig a hole and nest for the night.
“Well, there’s been too much excitement for this girl. I can’t wait to get some sleep,” said the Black Widow, while stifling a yawn.
“Good luck at that,” replied Stripes. “From what I have heard, these noisy birds and frogs sing 24/7.”
“I don’t hear anything,” countered Les.
“Just wait until we stop talking. They come out in full song then. Well, good night,” Stripes sarcastically wished them. Then added, “And good luck getting any sleep.”
As the small craft passed the airstrip just east of Punta Toro, the guide pointed out the light of the fire of the pirate crew. “Looks like you aren’t alone on this island, my friend. This isn’t part of your group?”
The Phantom shook his head. “I’m alone this trip,” he replied.
“Well, you’ll surely run across them at some point. There are sometimes up to 50 different individuals here at one time… whether or not in groups.”
The Phantom looked on with hidden apprehension. He suspected he knew who was camping there. “Are we close to the village?” he asked.
“Very close. We’re passing Punta Toro now and in a few moments we will be passing Punta Oeste and then we’ll land at Playa Sardinera.”
The Phantom nodded and let his eyes watch the campfire as it slowly disappeared from view.
Chapter 40
As the pirates slept, the Phantom removed his Kit attire and uncovered the less cumbersome Phantom attire. Stowing the clothes under the first loose stones of the south wall near the Taìno village, he pulled out his flashlight. The lens cap on it was red, casting a glow that was difficult to see from a distance, but provided ample light to the sharp eyes of the Phantom.
Quickly he made his way to where the pirates were sleeping. There he counted their number, eight in all, and memorized every face he could see.
Only when he came across Les did he register any surprise. Suddenly it all became very clear.
‘A fine piece of manipulation,’ he thought to himself.
Having assured himself that he went unnoticed, he retreated to a safe distance and considered his surroundings. ‘If there were treasure hidden somewhere on this island, it would make the most sense to keep it close to the shore. Preferably where one could simply row right up to the cave. Additionally,’ he continued his reasoning, ‘it should remain hidden from view… so perhaps in a cave that could only be accessed at low tide. Although with so many caves to choose from, I doubt that it would make much of a difference. Still, its worth checking out the low tide cave system first.’
As low tide was still several hours away, the Phantom moved on and scouted the immediate area around him. To the south he came across an old abandoned well, and near to it an old unused airstrip. Along the way, he found himself a place to sleep, well hidden from the pirates that lay so close to where he landed.
Moving his water into his new lair, he took one last look at his cavernous surroundings and promptly fell asleep.
The morning light brought movement into the pirate camp. The Black Widow woke with a full agenda for everyone. Immediately following breakfast she turned her men loose to work in pairs across the island.
Two headed off in the direction of the lighthouse on the far southeastern side of the island starting at Punta los Ingleses while another two headed for the Taìno ball courts: the one near the center of the island, la Bajura, and the one far to the east called el Corral. Stripes and Patches opted to head north along the west coast towards Cueva el Gato.
Finally it was down to Les and Lady Heloise, otherwise known as the Black Widow.
“Les, let’s stroll over to the old Taìno village and see what can be seen. “From the map, I rather suspect the treasure will be buried on this side of the island, rather than the other side, but I’ll let Stripes have his fun. If he wants to send his men scurrying all over the island for a day, so be it,” she said placing the blame on Stripes rather than herself.
“Normally I wouldn’t agree with anything Stripes plans, but for once I agree. It is nice to just be alone with you.”
“Why do you hate him so, dear?”
“I just do… and mark my words, once we find the treasure, Stripes is finished.”
“Oh don’t be so dramatic darling. Now, where shall we start?”
“How about in the shade…”
Many hours later the men returned. The first pair found a cave with a 60 step stone staircase. Long before, a narrow gauge track was laid leading along the beach and up into a cave which had once been used for guano mining. An opening had been cut through the roof of the cave to the plateau. Later it was used as a more direct means to haul pieces of the framework from which the lighthouse was constructed.
The second pair found near Cueva de Aleman the foundation of a ranch, and nearby, just east of the ranch, a hollowed out boulder. Though promising, they discovered no symbols nearby and much less treasure.
Stripes and Patches passed the old Taìno village and explored Cueva el Capitan. The trail they followed had them pass through the outskirts of an old mahogany plantation. They continued north until they reached Cabo Barrionuevo and then headed back having found nothing.
As the day wound down, so did the pirates, having spent way too much time in the heat and sun.
The Phantom enjoyed a long sound sleep throughout the heat of the day.
His dreams took him back to when he was but a child and his father showed him the way to the Jungle Patrol headquarters. The Phantom held several titles around the world, and one of them was the Unknown Commander in charge of the greatest military minds of the planet: the Jungle Patrol.
The Jungle Patrol was formed in 1664 by the 6th Phantom. A paramilitary operation whose formation took part after the 6th Phantom had defeated the pirate leader Redbeard and his three lieutenants, Black Bart, Salla, and Crusher in their pirate city, Sanloi. After his victory over Redbeard, the Phantom became the leader of all pirates of Sanloi. With Redbeard as his right hand man, he ordered the same to pick out 100 loyal men, to help him imprison the other pirates. With the 100 men in place, the plan succeeded, and thus the Jungle Patrol was formed. Throughout the years, the Patrol expanded, always with the Phantom at its head. The pirates eventually were replaced with the best military men the world had to offer and slowly the original band of pirates succumbed to an elite patrol whose name was virtually unknown.
When the Patrol was infiltrated by a Singh Pirate and killed the 14th Phantom, the 15th decided that the Patrol’s commander could operate incognito. As a result, the Phantom took over the guise of the Unknown Commander, the head of the greatest military group the planet had ever seen. No longer did it just encompass the shores and jungles of Africa and India, but it covered the world.
Still, its headquarters and training area remains in the Bangallan outskirts, near a condemned old well.
There Kit and his father had traveled at night, hiding from the very people that they commanded, escaping detection from the most prolific of men. The purpose for the excursion was to deliver a final note. Leaving young Kit behind with the horse, the Unknown Commander had climbed down into the dark abandoned well. Anxiously Kit awaited his father, who just as quickly as he disappeared, reappeared, smiling; note delivered, tension gone.
As the shadows lengthened he woke and realized that he was no longer in the dream. The Phantom began to get ready for his nightly excursion.
The tides were already turning but he wasn’t too concerned about it. For the dream had given him a thought; and whether it came to him as divine intervention through his forefathers or whether it was just an undigested bit of chicken, he decided to give it some merit.
Working quietly but quickly he retraced his steps to the old abandoned well. There he examined the outer edge for that key that would prove his hunch was correct. He especially took care as the well was not all that far from where the pirates had camped. Playing his red light over the outer lip he shortly found the symbol of the two crossed swords.
Grunting assent to himself, he quickly surveyed the scene, and having assured himself he was unseen, he vaulted over the lip. It was a rather tight fit but just big enough to be used as a walled staircase to one trained to climb such. So down he climbed, finding a toe hold here and a finger hold there, his small light held clamped in his mouth between his teeth.
A full sixteen feet underground he found it, the second good symbol of the Phantom: the crossed sabers. He stopped and stared at it. ‘Who had left this here? The Second?’
The Phantom looked closer at the wall and saw that it was roughly filled in with stone, in the outline of a door. Working his way to the slight protruding lip of the entranceway, he pushed on the symbol. Immediately the stone wall gave way, sliding inward with a slight groan that he hoped was not heard above.
As the stone moved, it revealed an open passageway; one that started out man-made and ended up part of the natural cave system. Quickly he scoured the path with his light and having assured himself that there were not any traps he cautiously moved into it.
As he scanned the passageway, he found himself in what could only be described as an extensive underground fortress; part man-made and part natural. The passageway came out into a natural underground amphitheatre. Though a bit small, the circular room held five doorways beyond the passageway in which he stood; all of which were open.
Four of them led into large connecting chambers while the last doorway opened into a natural cavern that was set well below the rest of the others.
The other chambers he left to be explored at a later time and focused his attention on the fifth one instead.
The chamber itself was a bit of a peculiarity in that it appeared to be a natural sinkhole, with near vertical sides that seemed to extend to the very crust of earth above it. From the door, a long stone staircase angled down and ended well below
the natural waterline of the tide flow. It was currently high tide outside, and though the water was stayed, a former high tide mark could be seen some seventeen feet above the island, just below the height of the doorway. But what really caught the Phantom’s attention was on a small island in the middle of the well. There on the island at the base of the cavern sat a pile of wealth that seemed immeasurable,
A common man might have rushed forward but the Phantom was more cautious. Looking up the Phantom searched the doorframe for a simple symbol. Shortly he found it. The Phantom’s own death’s head.
With the death’s head symbol found, the Phantom decided it was worth his time to come back another time… perhaps in the daylight, as he suspected that the noise of the well door might have awoken some of the pirates. Additionally he felt that the chamber held more than it appeared at first glance. With perhaps even a means in from the side through a low tide cave system that might be visible in the light of day. Hence, leaving the treasure behind, he made his way back up the passageway to the top of the old abandoned well.
The climb was not an arduous one and shortly he pulled himself over the final stonework.
As he did so, a pistol pointed at his face.
Chapter 41
The yellow-crowned night heron had kept still as the men approached the old well. As they neared its roosting spot, it flew off in a flutter of wings, crying out as it sought escape from the unknown danger it assumed the men possessed. It assumed correctly.
Gathering around the top of the well, hidden from sight from the Phantom below, the men waited impatiently for the Phantom to return. Ever since Les discovered his clothing hidden in the old wall by the Taìno village he knew it was just a matter of time before they would find the man. So he arranged to have the men sleep as normal, posting himself and Stripes as lookout on the assumption the Phantom would materialize. Stripes had grumbled about the lack of sleep as Les had hoped, but in the end, Les’ assumption paid off.
