by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XX THE CHEST OF SECRETS
All that night, Curlie Carson plodded doggedly on before his threeburros. Had he known of his pal's safety, he must surely have campedbeside the trail and slept. As it was he did not pause for rest.
As the black horde on Curlie's trail traveled light, with no donkeys tobe urged forward, they made hourly gains on the lone plodder. In thebeginning Curlie had a start of ten miles. Two hours had not passedbefore this lead was cut to eight miles. Midnight found them but fourmiles behind. As dawn broke, had the trail been straight and broadinstead of crooked and narrow, they must surely have caught sight ofCurlie's lagging donkeys. And then--
But fate was with the lone traveler. They did not see; they could notknow how near they were to the one on whom they hoped to wreak vengeance.And as the sun came out hot on the jungle trail, they began, animal-like,to drop beside the trail to rest.
At last with half his force missing, the revengeful leader angrily calleda halt and made rude camp for the day. In this he missed his opportunity,for Curlie, after a brief pause to allow his donkeys to browse on thetree leaves and wiry grass, pressed tirelessly on through the long hotday. Only as evening fell did he tether his beasts and lie him down toclose his weary eyes in sleep.
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile Doris and Dot were not without their exciting hours.
"Look! There! There he is!" It was Doris who spoke. She danced up anddown in wild excitement.
"Where? Where?" Dot asked in great bewilderment. Night had passed.Morning had dawned with vivid clearness over the ruins of the ancientcastle. Breakfast was over and the girls for three hours past had beenexploring the ruins. On tiptoes they had ascended the massive moss-grownstairs that in the distant past had led to stately halls. They had comeupon great heaps of stone and brick mantled by clinging bush and creepingvine.
"It is as if nature would hide it all." Doris had said, a touch ofsadness in her tone.
"Yes," said Dot. "And why not? The man who built the castle turnedtyrant. He sold his splendid birthright for power and gold. Had he provena kind and just ruler his castle might have been standing to this day."
They were wandering still among the ruins when the great moment hadarrived. Doris did not answer her companion's excited questions. She onlypointed at the top of a jagged pile of rock and Dot saw for herself.
"The monkey!" exclaimed Dot.
"The jeweled monkey," Doris answered.
"And see!" she said, gripping at her heart to still its wild beating."There are now three rings on his arm!"
It was true. From the small creature's arm there gleamed three jewels,two white stones and a red one.
"Two diamonds and a ruby," whispered Dot. "If only we can get them."
"If only we can find the hiding place from which they come," said Doris.
Dot was thinking hard. Of all the exciting moments in her young life,this was the wildest, yet she knew that few things were accomplished inmoments of wild excitement.
"We must be calm," she said.
She closed her eyes for a moment that her wild spirits might be stilled.
Doris too was thinking and as she thought she put her hand to herbracelets. She wondered, as she did so, whether her finely laid planwould work.
Moving one step nearer to the motionless monkey she squatted down in theidentical posture he had assumed, then having removed one bracelet fromher wrist she placed it on the rock before her. This done she removedanother and yet another until the five bracelets lay on the rocks beforeher.
She then replaced all the bracelets upon her wrist; waited a moment onlyto repeat the operation. When she had removed the bracelets six times,she left them lying on the rock to turn her back and walk away motioningher companion to follow her.
"Why! What in the world?" Dot whispered as they hid behind a clump ofbushes.
Doris held up a hand for silence. It was indeed a bold game she wasplaying. She prized her bracelets because they came from very dearfriends. And if she lost Dot's? She dared not think of it.
That the monkey would do one of two things she felt quite certain. "If heshould take a fancy to the bracelets," she drew in a quick breath at thethought.
But no! As they peered through the bushes they saw that the monkey wasacting true to form. He was imitating the girl's action. Having removedthe three rings from his arm he placed them on a flat rock. This done heplaced them again on his arm.
"But will he go away and leave them?" Doris asked herself.
Three tense moments followed, moments in which the monkey followed outthe girl's pantomime to the last detail.
Then to Doris' intense delight, he went scampering away.
Twenty seconds later Doris' hand was closing over the three preciousstones.
"It is a shame to do it," she said. "But these stones will do us muchmore good than they could possibly do any monkey."
"Let me see them," said Dot eagerly stretching out a hand.
She took one of the white stone rings from her open palm. Then havingtaken a small mirror from her pocket, she drew the corner of the stoneacross it.
"Hurrah!" she shouted. "It's real. It cuts glass. It's a diamond."
"Be still!" said Doris gripping her arm. "You'll frighten the monkeyaway. I'm afraid that we have killed the goose that lays the golden egg."
"Killed what?" Dot stared at her in surprise.
"Don't you see," said Doris, "what we might have done? If our monkeyfriend has found two rings in the last few days, who can say how manymore treasures there are hidden where these rings were found?"
"Who indeed?"
"If only we could have followed him to the source of his treasure."
"We can! We can!" exclaimed Dot, springing up. "There he goes now!"
The next instant they were following on the trail of the fleet-footedmonkey. In no time at all Dot, surer of foot and more accustomed to roughtravel in the tropics, was far in the lead of her cousin.
"We--we'll lose him!" she panted.
"But look," said Doris, trying her best to keep up. "He is leaving theruins and taking to the forest." Her tone showed her disappointment."He's not going to his treasure-house. He's trying to escape us."
"You never can tell," said Dot. "Anyway we must follow him."
So once more in the stifling heat of a Haitian day they took up the wildrace that led on to victory or defeat, to treasure or disappointment.
A half hour of exciting struggle through brush, bush and tangled vinesand then, just as hope was waning, they came to an open space to discoverthere a heap of broken masonry. And atop the pile, Oh, joy of joys! wasthe jeweled monkey.
One moment he blinked at them, the next he disappeared into the ruins.
"Oh, Dot!" said Doris. "What if this should prove to be the place of thequeen's treasure!"
"That," said Dot, after a moment of rest and thought, "is what we areabout to find out."
Together, hand in hand, feeling like Twin Alices in Wonderland, theymarched to the ruins.
"This," said Dot, "is the ruins of the black emperor's hunting lodge. Ihave heard of it, but no one I know has ever seen it. Look," she said asshe mounted the pile. "The monkey went down through that small hole tothe cavity beneath that large rock."
"We must roll the stone away," said Doris excitedly. "There must be achest down there, a huge copper chest filled with jewels and gold."
Instantly all save the treasure was forgotten. The heat, approachingnight, the trouble and labor that had been theirs, all was forgotten intheir one desire to roll away the stone.
For a time all went well. A dozen smaller stones were sent tumbling downthe sloping pile. The monkey, who had left his retreat, chatteredencouragement from a nearby treetop. When at last they came to the keystone they found, to their consternation, that their combined strengthcould not move it. Three times they attempted it. Then panting andperspiring, with sore hands and heav
y hearts, they sat down to think.
"If only we had brought old Pompee with us," said Dot.
"I am so hungry I could eat anything," said Doris.
"Tell you what," said Dot, who was a hard loser. "We'll have one more tryat that big stone. There's a stout lignumvitae pole over there. It'sdreadfully heavy, heaviest wood in the world, but we can handle it. We'llget one end under the stone, then use it as a pry."
Wearily the girls climbed down to tug away at the pole. Up it went andinto place. Then presto! Down it came and up came the stone.
"Grand!" said Dot. "Now you sit on the end of the pole and I'll have alook."
"Hurrah!" she shouted a moment later. "Here is a hole, a regular grotto,and I see something shining down there. We've found the chest of gold.You just sit tight where you are on the pole and I'll go down. Don't movethough or you might drop the stone on me."
Down she went. The place she entered was not over three feet across. Ithad jagged edges and led down to what had once been a solid floor, someeight feet below.
"Fine! I'm down!" Doris heard her say. "And here's a chest of secrets!"
The chest she spoke of was a rather small affair; little more than alady's jewel box.
The earthquake which had wrecked the walls of the ancient lodge hadcrushed the chest as well. One hinge was gone, the lock was broken, andit lay half on its side with its contents spilled over the rocks.
That the objects the box had contained were of considerable value Dotknew. She set herself to the task of gathering them together. Darting herflashlight about she discovered here a diamond brooch, there a ruby setshoe buckle and here its mate, here a curious ring set with a morecurious stone and there a belt buckle set with a spray of small diamonds.
She had righted the box, had replaced the contents and was darting herlight about for a last look when, of a sudden, a terrible thing happened.
No one knew just how it came about. To sit on a smooth pole for aconsiderable length of time is a trying and difficult task. When one isweary it is worse. Perhaps Doris moved a trifle to ease a benumbedmuscle. Perhaps she fell half asleep and moved unconsciously. Whatever itmight be, the pole suddenly swung to the right, there came a sickeninggrind and the great rock fell into place, sealing Dot up beneath the rockas effectively as if it had been a tomb.
Could anything be worse? Their treasure hunt had ended in disaster. Dorissat down upon the ruins to cover her aching eyes with her hands and totry to think calmly.
Night was coming on. Already the shadows were falling. There was anominous muttering from off in the east.
"It may rain. She may be drowned in that horrible well of a place." Forthe first time she found herself hating the jeweled monkey. To makematters worse the graceful creature sat on a low hanging limb andchuckled as in high glee.
"It's all right," Doris called to Dot at last in the most cheerful toneshe could command. "I will go to our camp for Mona. The two of us canroll the stone away."
"The camp," Dot answered, "is miles away. Besides, Mona is old. She hasno strength. You two could not roll the stone away."
"Then," said Doris, "I must go for someone else. You can't remain thereforever."
"No, I can't. You'd better go."
"All right. I'm going." Something akin to a sob followed Doris' words"Good bye."
"Good bye."
She was gone. Night settled down swiftly as nights will in the tropics.Dot was left to herself and the ancient treasure that had in its daywitnessed so much of glory and honor, so much of baseness and defeat. Asshe sat there in the little dark hole it seemed to her that the long-lostjewels spoke to her telling her how all that is bright, rich and gloriousmust fade and pass away.
"If ever I get out of this alive," she told herself, "my share of jewelsshall be used in a way that will make a few people in this old worldhappier and better."
Strangely enough, this resolve brought to her a peace she had not knownbefore. It was as if some great spirit, kinder and more noble than shecould ever hope to be, had whispered a solemn "Amen."
