by Louis Tracy
CHAPTER XVI
THE DOWRY
Both Maseden and Nina looked and felt like tongued-tied children, andSturgess was not slow to note their confusion.
"Gee, if there was an orchard anywhere around, I'd think you two hadbeen stealing apples," he cried. "Sorry, Nina, if I've butted in on aheart-to-heart talk, but it's not often I can josh our wise Alec, so I'mbound to take the few chances that come along."
He little knew evidently how closely their talk had concerned him, andthe fact that he had not overheard anything which would supply a clue tothe topic under discussion was, in itself, a great relief.
"Nina appeared when I was about to call you," said Maseden quietly. "Shedemanded her share of the watch, and as I was not inclined for sleep Iremained on duty. Of course that is no excuse for an inattentive sentry.I propose that you shoot me straight off and imprison Nina for theremainder of her natural life."
"I sentence the pair of you to rest until breakfast is ready. There'sno appeal from the court. About, turn! Quick, march!"
Nina hurried away. Maseden, thinking he would not be able to close aneye, followed her slowly, lay down, and was soon asleep.
The boat's stores had revealed neither soap nor towels, so the earlymorning wash remained a primitive affair. A pool in the stream was setapart for the girls, while the men scrubbed among the rocks. Sturgessaroused Maseden a few minutes before breakfast was ready.
"Come this way," he said, nodding in the direction of the boat. "I wantto show you something."
Maseden noticed that the other man's hands and moccasins were soiledwith the whitish-brown deposit through which a channel for the boat hadbeen delved. Then he saw that no small part of the said channel wasblocked by the debris of a fresh excavation.
Now, among the treasures on the boat were a couple of axes. Given an ax,some spice of ingenuity and a fair stock of patience, and any man canfashion an astonishing variety of useful articles. Singularly enough,Sturgess, who was gifted with the artist's sense of proportion, couldhew a spade out of a plank more skillfully than Maseden, and he wasinordinately proud of the achievement.
"What the deuce have you been up to?" demanded Maseden at sight of somuch misdirected industry.
"You wouldn't guess in a week," was the complacent answer. "This morningI was standing around doing nothing, when, as the tide fell, I spotted abulge in the right bank of our canal. I wondered what had caused it,after our trouble in lining the walls with stakes, so I nosed aroundwith a shovel. Then I got all fussed up, and didn't care where I threwthe dirt.... See what _I've_ found, old scout!"
By this time they were in the trench, from which the tide had onlyrecently receded. Sturgess's zeal had cleared away some two cubic yardsof silt, and Maseden saw at once that a part of the hull of a smallvessel of some sort had been laid bare. Moreover, a few blows with an axhad removed sufficient of the rotting timbers to give access to thehulk's interior.
It was a most interesting find. An old-time craft had been brought toher last resting-place within a few feet of the spot where the _SouthernCross's_ life-boat was embedded. Evidently in the course of years shehad sunk in the soft deposit, and probably formed a nucleus for a newsand-bank. At any rate, she was completely covered, and lay there keeluppermost.
"Have you been inside?" said Maseden, eyeing the doorway broken by theax.
"You bet your life," said Sturgess.
"Was the air foul?"
"Fine. I guess the lime hereabouts attended to that. Anyhow, I carriedin a blazing stick, and it burned all right."
"Skeletons on board?"
"Not a bone that I could see."
"What are you keeping back, then? You can't humbug me, C. K. There'ssomething on your chest. Get it off!"
Sturgess craned his neck over the edge of the channel to make sure thatneither of the girls was near.
"From hints I've picked up now and then, when Madge felt she must eithertalk or bust, I've come to the conclusion that old man Gray's deathmeans poverty to that small bunch," he said. "Now, _I'm_ pretty wellfixed, and I guess _you'll_ never be hard pushed to buy a food ticket,so I want your brainy assistance to arrange things for the girls'benefit. See? It should--kind of--make matters easy--when it comes to ashow-down."
"What have you come across? Spanish treasure?"
Maseden peered into the dimly lighted interior of the wreck. Apparentlythe inverted deck was about four feet below the level of the opening,and Sturgess had broken into the after part of the hull.
"Let me go ahead and pass out the boodle," said Sturgess. "I found itin a wooden box, which is clamped with iron, but it has nearly fallen topieces."
He lowered himself to what had been the ceiling of a cabin, and movedcautiously among a litter of rotting wood, evidently the furniture whichhad once rendered the tiny apartment habitable. He came back with ladenhands, and passed out a curiously shaped jug, or flagon.
Maseden examined it critically.
"By Jove!" he cried; "this is Aztec work, and hammered out of solidgold!"
"There's five more of the same sort," said Sturgess, in a voice crackedwith excitement. "And _this_ strikes me as something worth while."
He produced a crudely modeled figure of a puma, the body in silver andthe head, feet, and tail in gold. The eyes and claws were of polishedquartz, and were bright as when the ornament left the hands of theMexican lapidary who fashioned it. The metals, of course, weretarnished, the silver being black with age, but both men realized thatthey were gazing at a splendid specimen of a long-forgotten art.
"How much of this sort of stuff is there?" said Maseden, his imaginationrunning riot as to the possible history of this unrecorded argosy.
"Twelve pieces altogether," chuckled Sturgess. "Six gold pitchers, fouranimals and two carved dishes, each of gold. I've rummaged aroundcarefully, and that's the lot. For'ard of this section is a hold, and,from what I can make out, it was loaded with furs and cloth, but thecargo is all mussed up with salt and lime."
"Show me one of the dishes."
Sturgess brought forth an oval-shaped dish, made, like the vessels, ofsolid gold. On its broad rim were chased twelve weird-looking creatureswhich reminded Maseden of the signs of the Zodiac; in the sunken centerappeared a very elaborate design consisting of four trees, a birdperched on the topmost branches of each. Long afterwards he learned thatthis cartoon represented, in Aztec picture-writing, the four famouschiefs who founded the Aztec dynasty.
At any rate, he knew at the time that the hoard which Sturgess haddiscovered was of great archaeological interest, apart from the intrinsicvalue of the precious metals, itself no small sum.
"We ought to devote the necessary time to a thorough survey of thewreck," he said thoughtfully. "Meanwhile what have you at the back ofyour head about Nina and Madge? What did you mean by saying it wouldmake matters easier?"
"Well, suppose you and I agree to give 'em the proceeds of the sale,"and Sturgess handled one of the jugs lovingly. "There's sixty ounces ofpure specie in this pretty thing alone, I'll bet. Then, if it dates awayback, the price goes up like a rocket."
Maseden knew that the really important part of his question had beenavoided.
"We must think it over," he said.
"Think _what_ over?"
Sturgess, whose face was on a level with Maseden's knees, scowled up athis friend with such an air of indignant surprise that the other manlaughed.
"I am not planning a daylight robbery of two fatherless orphans,"explained Maseden. "Our difficulty will be to persuade these two toaccept their legitimate half share, let alone the whole of the plunder.Shan't we give them a hail, and let them see the pirate's _cache_ beforebreakfast? Because that is what it is. These things were stolen fromsome Aztec shrine."
"Why Aztec?"
"Why not?"
"Peru is a far more likely place."
"Yes, if these utensils were not of Mexican origin. The signs on thedishes are the animal-names used in the Aztec calendar."
"Crushe
d again!" said Sturgess, clambering out of the wreck. "But say,professor, how did you ever manage to stow away those odds and ends ofinformation? I'm your age, and not exactly a fool, but I never had timeto read."
"You never made time, you mean. If you had lived seven years on asolitary ranch you would be forced to buy books and read them. Myinclination turned naturally to the records of the country I lived in.The stories of the Spanish invaders in Mexico to the north and Peru tothe south were more romantic than any novel. You've heard of CaptainKidd, the buccaneer, of course, but I suppose you know nothing of theWelshman Henry Morgan, and his exploits on the Spanish Main?"
"Not as much as would go on a dime in big type."
"Well, Morgan would have made Kidd shine his boots if they had evermet."
"Gee whiz! Hennery must have been _some_ Thug.... Hi, Madge. Where'sNina?"
"You two ought to have been washed quarter of an hour ago," came Madge'swrathful cry. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Breakfast will bespoiled!"
"Madge is quite right," said Maseden. "Breakfast is more important thanloot. Eat first, and discuss the pile afterwards."
This sound advice availed him or Sturgess little afterwards. Both girlswere vexed that the discovery was kept from them even during that shortspace of half an hour. They were placated, however, by being allowed toshare in the labor of clearing a sufficient area around and above thewreck to permit of its exact size being ascertained. It was only a smallcraft, the keel measuring some fifty feet in length, yet, as Maseden wascareful to point out, the early navigators deemed such vessels largeenough to cross the mighty Atlantic.
When the tide rose, and the wreck was flooded again, it floated. Thiswas foreseen, and the expectant watchers had a number of stout poles inreadiness, with which they under-pinned the hull on one side. Thus itwas rendered much easier of access later.
Beyond a couple of beautifully carved and chased rapiers, the blades ofwhich were largely protected by leather scabbards hardened by saltwater, and a number of copper cooking utensils, they found nothing moreof value. The cargo, which appeared to have been furs and mats ofpainted reeds, was wholly destroyed. The vessel had carried two masts,whose stumps, broken off short near the deck, seemed to indicate themischance which had befallen her in the Pacific. There were no cannon orother arms of any sort in or under the wreck, but as she had surely comethere by way of Providence Beach and Hell Gate, she had probably rolledover countless times during the journey.
She was built of oak. The bluff bows and high-pitched forecastle andpoop dated her as a product of the early seventeenth century. No traceof a name was discernible, but the bulwarks had been torn off. Theabsence of an elaborate figurehead was significant. She was a stronglyconstructed, but not highly finished little ship.
As to her history or nationality, the only reliable tokens were theswords, which were Spanish, with Toledo blades. The copper cooking-potswere Mexican. In a word, she was ostensibly a trader, and Masedenbelieved that the iron-clamped box containing the treasure had beenhidden beneath the floor of the cabin, because the planks were brokenwhere the heavy package had apparently fallen through.
One thing was certain. The similarity of the six flagons, the two dishesand the four animal figures showed that they came from an Aztec_teocalli_, or temple, of great wealth and importance. It was highlyimprobable that any town on the west coast of Mexico contained any suchfame. If, therefore, they had been looted from the interior of thecountry, a reasonable assumption was that some band of Spanishadventurers, finding the way hopelessly blocked to the east, foughttheir way westward, and actually built the vessel which should conveythem to far-off Cadiz.
It was a strange hap that laid bare their plunder to the eyes of fourdescendants of the race which was destined to sweep them and theirbarbarous methods off the high seas.
After a day of hard work and many thrills, Maseden was moved to acceptthe discovery as a good omen.
"I had in my mind to suggest that we should renew our voyage byto-morrow's first tide," he said, as they sat near the camp-fire afterthe evening meal. "Just as the Romans consulted the oracle beforestarting on any great undertaking, so have we been given a happy auguryby having thrust into our hands, so to speak, a notable treasure.Friends, I propose that we accept the decision of the gods, and weighanchor in the morning."
For no assignable reason, the suddenness of this resolve seemed tostartle the others.
"Have you made up your mind, then, that the channel is practicable?"inquired Sturgess after a marked pause.
"The only channel we know is practicable," said Maseden.
"Do you mean that we should return the way we came?" put in Nina in anawed tone.
"It offers our only means of escape," was the grave answer. "To my mind,if we attempt the southern exit we go to certain death. We have a roomyboat, a sail, and oars. By putting off slightly before high water we canreach the mouth of the gorge just on the turn of the tide. I think wecan get through without any real difficulty, and even beach our boat inthe open and shallow channel of Hanover Island which we were making forwhen the raft was swept out of its course. We have discussed the tidesmany times, and we all believe that we shall find ourselves in the maintidal stream again on the other side of that island opposite," and hepointed to the mass of black hills outlined against the eastern sky. "Itis only the 'lesser of two evils,' I admit, but it yields a possibility;whereas I regard any attempt to navigate the southern avenue asabsolutely fatal."
"Why the rush for the morning tide?" queried Sturgess.
Then Maseden laughed.
"You have fallen a victim to the prospecting mania," he said cheerfully."Having made a good strike, you want to follow it up. I don't blame you.I believe this beach would pay well for digging. Before you were throughwith the search you would have a fine collection of odds and ends. ButI'm minded to be superstitious for once. That puma with the glisteningeyes has seemed to wink at me all day and say 'Get me and yourself outof this quick!' I don't want to impose my wishes on you others, but myadvice is: Start to-morrow!"
Madge, listening intently, nodded.
"You are always right," she said emphatically. "'Whither thou goest, Iwill go; and where thou lodgest--'"
She hesitated, as though conscious that her tongue was running away withher. The quotation, though apt, was peculiarly infelicitous. It did notplease Sturgess; it reminded Maseden of an extraordinary relationshipwhich he had tried in vain to ignore; it jarred on Nina Forbes'ssensitiveness, because it recalled the promise she had made at dawn buthad not had any opportunity of fulfilling.
She it was who broke up the conclave abruptly by springing to her feet.
"If we're going sailing the angry seas to-morrow, it's high time we weretrying to sleep," she said. "Come, Madge.... By the way, is there to beany more guard-mounting to-night?"
"Yes, and you have no concern therein," said Maseden firmly.
"Who's keeping guard?" inquired Madge. "This is the first I've heard ofit."
"Alec has had an attack of the fidgets ever since he saw that emptycoracle," said Nina. "But I'm the worst sort of sentry, anyhow, and youwould be no better, dear, so let us snooze selfishly, and be ready tohelp the men in to-morrow's hard work."
"I've never before known a verse from the Bible break up a meeting likethat," commented Sturgess thoughtfully when the girls had gone."Somebody might have heaved a tin of kerosene into the fire, the wayNina jumped up."
"The words may have evoked distressing memories," said Masedenincautiously.
"As how?"
Sturgess's alert brain was very wide awake at that moment, but Masedencontrived to extricate himself.
"That famous phrase of Ruth's contains the essence of an otherwiseuninteresting Biblical story," he said. "If Ruth had not been sofaithful to her mother-in-law we might never have heard of her."
"Was Naomi her mother-in-law?"
"Yes. Ruth, herself a widow, married Boaz."
"I guess I was sort of mixed up about it
."
"Lots of people are," said Maseden dryly, and the subject dropped.
* * * * *
They were astir early and, when the tide served, put off with as littleceremony as though they were going on a river picnic.
The boat, of course, was far more easily managed than the raft. Bykeeping in the slack water inshore they contrived to reach the mouth ofthe gorge about the beginning of the ebb, and their calculations werecompletely verified by the smoothness and safety of their subsequentpassage.
Maseden stood in the bows with an oar in readiness to sheer away fromany obstruction in mid-stream. The two girls each took an oar, andSturgess steered, also with an oar, as the broad-bladed rudder ran afoot deeper than the keel, being intended to act as a center-board whenthe sail was in use.
So preoccupied were they with their task that they hardly noticed thespot where the cliff had fallen away soon after they had passed beneath.Even the canopied rock on which they found sanctuary after the loss ofthe raft merely attracted a momentary glance. Madge, eyeing the fissurewhich had so terrified her, was about to say something when a warningshout from Maseden caused her to pull a few vigorous strokes.
They sheered past a flat boulder. A couple of vultures, scared by theunwonted apparition of a boat, flapped aloft, and they all saw,stretched on the rock, some portions of a human skeleton which mostcertainly had not been there when they came that way little more than afortnight earlier.
The uncanny sight vanished as swiftly as it came. None spoke. The paceof the stream was quickening, and each had to be in instant readiness toobey orders.
At this stage Maseden asked the girls to reverse their positions andpull steadily. In consequence they were backing water, and thus checkingthe boat's way appreciably. By this means they rounded an awkward cornerwithout any trouble, and again their eyes dwelt on the towering hillsand wooded slopes of Hanover Island.
Maseden and Sturgess now began to press laterally towards the easternchannel. Two possible openings were abandoned because of the ugly reefssighted only a couple of hundred yards away. At last, when practicallyin the center of a two-mile-wide passage between the three islands,Maseden saw a long stretch of open water.
Shipping a pair of oars, and leaving the steering and general look-outto Sturgess, he called on the girls to pull in the orthodox way. Thethree bent to the task. After ten minutes of really strenuous effortthey were sensible of a greatly diminished drag in the current. Fiveminutes later they were in slack water, and speedily thereafter the boatran aground.
"Hooray!" yelled Sturgess, who alone had any breath left to celebratetheir victory. Somehow, little as they had gained in actual distance,since Providence Beach was only three miles away, they all felt thattheir chief enemy was conquered. They had profited by the initialmistake of keeping in mid-channel; they had learned a great deal aboutthe tricks and changes of the Pacific tides; they had secured afirst-rate boat, and, lodged in skins as a portion of the ballast, was atreasure of no mean proportions.
Small wonder that they were elated, or that Maseden's strong facesoftened into a smile of satisfaction as he drove the boat's anchorsecurely into a crevice in the rocky beach.
But he neither forgot the skeleton on the rock in Hell Gate nor failedto interpret correctly its sinister message, so it was his carefulscrutiny that first revealed a figure lying on the shore at high-watermark about a quarter of a mile to the east. He surveyed it steadily fora while until the others, too, saw it. Then he made up his mind as tothe only practicable course of action. He unhooked the anchor.
"All hands overboard," he said quietly. "We must get the boat afloat."
They obeyed instantly. The girls returned on board, their task being tosteady the boat with the oars. Maseden took a cudgel, which he preferredto a sword, and hurried towards the prone figure. Sturgess followed,some fifty yards behind, with the rifle, his mission being to cover theretreat, if need be.
Neither Nina nor Madge uttered a word. They were becoming hardened todanger. They knew full well that, for some unimaginable reason, aterritory hitherto closed to Indians was now open to them, and Masedenhad left his companions under no delusions as to the characteristics ofthe wretched tribes which infest the lower coast and islands of Chile.
But the particular business of the women at the moment was to keep theboat in such a position that the men could jump in and shove off intodeep water without delay, and they attended to that and nothing else.
War makes soldiers, and the struggle for life had assuredly made thesetwo girls brave women.
