CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
COMPLETION AND LAUNCH OF THE CUTTER.
On the day that followed the occurrence of the above exciting events,Nicholls and Simpson being still too weak to be fit for the somewhatlaborious work of the dockyard, Leslie determined to pay a visit to histreasure-cave, being anxious to ascertain whether the earthquake hadmaterially interfered with the configuration of the country in thatdirection, and, if so, to what extent. Upon learning his determinationFlora announced her decision to accompany him; and accordingly, havingpacked a luncheon-basket, the pair set off together soon afterbreakfast, leaving Nicholls and the boatswain in charge of the camp.
The day was magnificently fine, but the temperature was somewhat higherthan usual, the trade wind having softened down to a quite moderatebreeze; so Dick and his companion proceeded on their way in a veryleisurely manner, intending to take the whole day for their task ofexploration. No very marked or important changes in the aspect of thelandscape were noticeable until they reached the ridge or spur of themountain that terminated in the headland that Dick had named Cape Flora;but as soon as this ridge, was crossed they saw that, for someunexplainable reason, the earthquake action had been much more violenton the northerly than on the southward side of it; so great indeed werethe changes wrought that in many places the features of the landscapewere scarcely recognisable, and Leslie had the utmost difficulty infinding his way.
At length, however, they arrived in the neighbourhood of the spot wherethey believed the cave to be situated, and here the changes had been sogreat that for some time Leslie was utterly at a loss. The surface wasso twisted and torn, so utterly disfigured by landslides and upheavalsof rock, that they might have been in another island altogether, so faras recognition of the original features was concerned. This was farworse than the worst Dick had anticipated, and for a time he was in astate of utter despair, fearing that his treasure had been swallowed upbeyond recovery. Still, he felt convinced that he was in the immediateneighbourhood of the spot where the cave had been, and, bidding Flora tosit down and rest while he further investigated, he began to grope abouthere and there among the confused mass of rocks, studying them intentlyas he did so. For upwards of two hours Leslie searched and toiled invain; but at length he came upon a piece of rock face that seemedfamiliar to him, and upon removing a number of blocks of splintered rockhe disclosed a small hole, creeping into which he found himself oncemore, to his infinite joy, in the treasure-cave, with the treasure safewithin it. He stayed but long enough to satisfy himself that everythingwas as he had left it, and then, emerging once more into the opendaylight, he carefully masked the entrance again by placing the blocksvery much as he had found them.
Pretty thoroughly fatigued by this time, he made his way to the spotwhere Flora was seated, and acquainted her with his success, while sheunpacked the luncheon and spread it out invitingly upon the surface ofthe rock. This rock upon which they were seated occupied a somewhatcommanding position, from the summit of which a fairly extended view ofthe surrounding country was to be obtained; and it was while the pairwere leisurely eating their midday meal that Dick's eye suddenly caughtthe glint of water at no great distance. Now, he knew that when he waslast on the spot there was no water anywhere nearer than the open ocean;yet this, as he saw it through the interlacing boughs and trunks of thetrees, flickered with the suggestion of a surface agitated by anincoming swell. As soon, therefore, as they had finished their lunch,the pair made their way in the direction of this appearance of water;and after about ten minutes of easy walking found themselves standingupon the brink of a kind of "sink" or basin about a quarter of a mile indiameter, having a narrow opening communicating with the open sea. Itwas a strange-looking place, presenting an appearance suggestive of avast hollow under the coast-line having fallen in and swallowed up acircular piece of the island, leaving two rocky headlands standing, thesouthern headland slightly overlapping the northern one and thuscompletely masking the basin or cove from the sea. The surroundingcliffs were about a hundred feet high, composed entirely of rock, andpresenting an almost vertical face; but so rough and broken was thisface, and so numerous were the projections, that not only Dick but Floraalso found it perfectly safe and easy to descend by means of them rightdown to the water's edge, into which the cliffs dropped sheer, with adepth of water alongside so great that Dick could not discern thebottom, although the water was crystal-clear. And so narrow was theopening that what small amount of swell found its way into the cove waspractically dissipated ere it reached the rocky walls, alongside whichthe water rose and fell so gently that its movement was scarcelyperceptible. It was, in fact, an ideal harbour for such a craft as thecutter, and Dick at once determined to bring her round to this spot assoon as she was ready, in order to ship the treasure on board her.
Upon their return to camp that evening Dick found that Nicholls andSimpson were making such rapid strides toward recovery that they werenot only able to walk about with something like an approach to theirformer strength, but that they also expressed their conviction that theywould be perfectly able to begin work on the morrow. It appeared thatthey had been amusing themselves by prowling about the camp andinvestigating the condition of affairs generally. It was only naturalthat their chief interest should centre in the cutter, and the probableamount of work that lay before them all ere she would be completed andready for sea. As has already been mentioned, her condition at thistime was that of a completed skeleton, her keel, stem, and stern-postshaving been joined up, the whole of her frames erected in position andproperly connected to the keel, and all her wales and stringersbolted-to; she was therefore so far advanced that the next thing inorder was to lay her planking. This planking, it may be mentioned, wasof oak throughout, arranged to be laid on in two thicknesses, each plankof the outer skin overlaying a joint between two planks in the skinbeneath it; and every plank had already been roughly cut to shape andcarefully marked. All, therefore, that was now required was to completethe trimming of each plank and fix it in position. The inner layer ofplanking was much the thicker of the two, the intention of the designerevidently being that this inner skin should be attached to the steelframes by steel screws not quite long enough to completely penetrate theplank, the outer skin being attached to the inner by gun-metal screwscarefully spaced in such a manner that there was always a distance of atleast six inches between the steel and gun-metal screws, thus avoidingall possibility of even the smallest approach to galvanic action beingset up between the two. And it was, of course, to the outer skin thatthe copper sheathing was to be attached.
Now the planking--even the comparatively thin outer skin--was much toostout and tough to be got into position without steaming; and this facthad occurred to Simpson while prowling about the dockyard that day. Hehad mentioned the matter to Nicholls, and the pair had at once lookedabout them to see whether Leslie had made any provision for the steamingof the planks; and, finding none, they had profitably amused themselvesby sorting out, from the deck and other planking brought ashore from thebrig, a sufficient quantity of stuff suitable for the construction of asteaming-trunk, and laying it aside ready for Leslie's inspection uponhis return. They had not quite completed their self-imposed task whenDick got back to the camp, and, seeing them apparently busy, sauntereddown to the spot where they were at work.
"Well, lads," said he, with a smile, "so you are getting yourselves intotraining, eh? I am glad to see that you are making such rapid advancestoward recovery."
"Thank you, sir; yes, we're pulling round again all right," repliedNicholls. "We've been amusing ourselves to-day by taking a general lookround, and so far as we can see, your cutter--a most remarkable finelittle boat she is going to be--is just about ready to startplanking-up. But we see no signs of a steaming-trunk anywhere about,Mr Leslie; so Bob and I have been putting in our time on the job ofsorting out from among that raffle, there, enough stuff to make a trunkout of; and here it is, sir, if you don't happen to want it for anythingelse."
"No," said Leslie, "I do not require it for anything in particular; andas we shall certainly require a trunk we may as well work it up intoone. That, I think, will have to be our next job."
"Yes, sir," agreed Nicholls; "it looks like it. But what about aboiler, sir, in which to generate the steam? I don't see anythingknocking about ashore, here, that'll do for one."
"No," said Leslie; "and I am rather afraid we may have a hard job tofind one. There is only one thing that I can think of, and that is oneof the brig's water tanks. I had intended to bring one ashore for thatespecial purpose; but now that those rascally savages have burnt thecraft we may find that her tanks have been destroyed by the fire."
"I should think not, sir," dissented Nicholls. "They will have beenstowed right down in the bottom of her, perhaps; and if that's the casethe fire won't have had a chance to get at 'em."
"I really do not know whether they were stowed in her bottom or not,"answered Leslie; "but we will go off to-morrow, and have a look at thewreck. One thing is quite certain: we _must_ have a boiler of somesort, or we shall never be able to get those planks into position--especially those about the head of the stern-post--without splittingthem. And I would take a good deal of trouble to avoid such amisfortune as that."
The following day found Nicholls and Simpson so far recovered that theyboth declared themselves quite strong enough to turn-to, and accordinglyLeslie--who, since the raid of the savages, was more feverishly eagerthan ever to get away from the island--took the catamaran; and the threemen went off together to the wreck of the brig.
They found her burnt practically down to the water's edge, andeverything not of metal that was in her also consumed down to thatlevel. Below the surface, however, everything was of course untouched.But all the gear--sheer-legs, tackles, and the rest of it--that had beenof such immense value to Dick in getting the various matters out of thebrig, had been destroyed with her; and if any very serious amount ofturning over of the cargo under water should prove to be necessary, hewould be obliged to provide and rig up a complete fresh set ofapparatus. Moreover, there was no longer the convenient platform of thedeck to work from, instead of which they had to wade about on a confusedmass of cargo beneath the surface of the water, affording them a mostawkward and irregular platform with, in some spots, only a few inches ofwater over it, while elsewhere there was a depth of as many feet. Acareful examination of the whole of the visible cargo failed to revealthe whereabouts of the water tanks, or of anything else that would servethe purpose of a boiler; and at length they were reluctantly driven tothe conclusion that before the search could be further prosecuted itwould be necessary to procure and rig up another set of sheer-legs, andto replace the lost gear with such blocks, etcetera, as they could findamong the heterogeneous collection of stuff already salved from thebrig.
To be obliged to expend so much time and labour all over again wasdecidedly disheartening; but, as Leslie said, it was quite useless toworry over it; it _had_ to be done, and the sooner they set about it thebetter. So they returned to the shore, and while Nicholls and Simpson,armed with axes, went off into the woods in search of a couple of sparssuitable for sheers, Dick proceeded to overhaul the mass of rafflebrought ashore from the brig, and at length secured enough blocks andrope to furnish a fairly effective set of tackle wherewith to equipthem. There was a tremendous amount of long-splicing to be done inorder to work up the various odds and ends of rope into suitable lengthsfor the several tackles required; but four days of assiduous labourfound the vexatious task completed and everything ready for theresumption of work. Then ensued an arduous and wearisome turning overof cargo--much of it consisting of heavy castings and other parts ofmachinery; but at length they got down to one of the tanks, which theyhoisted out, emptied, and floated ashore.
Then came the building of the steam-trunk, which they erected closealongside the cutter and right down at the water's edge, for conveniencein supplying the boiler with water; and this done, they were at lengthable to turn-to upon the important task of planking-up the hull of theirlittle ship. And now it was that Leslie was able for the first time toappreciate the inestimable value of the carefully prepared and figureddiagram of the planking that the builders had so thoughtfully includedamong the various matters appertaining to the construction of thecutter. For with it in his hand, all that was necessary was for Leslieto go over the pile of planking, noting the letters and numbers on eachplank, and stack the whole in such a manner that the planks firstrequired should be found on top of the stack, while those last wantedwould lie at the bottom. And now, too, he found how great an advantagethe possession of two able and intelligent workers was to him; for notonly were the three men able to do thrice the amount of work possible toone man in a given time, but they were able to do considerably more whenit came to such matters as lifting heavy weights, twisting refractoryplanks into position, and other matters of a similar kind where merebrute strength was required. Moreover, their steaming apparatus actedto perfection; and after the first two days--during which they wereacquiring the knack of working together, and generally "getting the hangof things," as Nicholls expressed it--everything went like clock-work.They averaged six complete strakes of planking--three on either side ofthe hull--sawn, trimmed, steamed, and fixed, per diem; and as therehappened to be thirty strakes up to the covering-board it cost them justten days of strenuous labour to get the inner skin laid; and the layingof the outer skin consumed a similar period. Then there was thecaulking and paying of the seams in the inner and outer skins--which wasa task that needed the most careful doing and was not to be hurried--aswell as the protection of the inner skin by a coat of good thickwhite-lead laid on immediately under each plank of the outer skin andapplied the last thing before screwing each plank down; all this ranaway with time; so that it took them a full month to complete theplanking-up and advance the craft to the stage at which she would beready for the laying of the decks. But before this was undertaken theypainted her three coats of zinc white, and, as soon as this was dry,laid on her copper sheathing and hung her rudder.
The laying, caulking, and paying of the cutter's deck kept them busy fora fortnight; and she was then in condition for the fitting up of herinterior. This, according to the original design, was divided up into aforecastle with accommodation for four men, abaft of which came a smallgalley on the port side, and an equally small steward's pantry on thestarboard side. Then, abaft these again, came a tiny saloon, andfinally, abaft this again, two little state rooms on one side, with alittle bathroom, lavatory, and sail-room on the other. The saloon wasentered by way of a short companion ladder leading from a smallself-emptying cockpit, some five feet wide by six feet long, thiscockpit being the only open space in the boat, the rest of her hullbeing completely decked over. The saloon was lighted by a smallskylight and six scuttles--three of a side--fixed in the planking of thelittle craft. The staterooms, although very small, were stillsufficient in size to enable an adult to sleep in them comfortably, andtheir interior arrangement was a perfect marvel of ingenuity, each beingfitted with a small chest of drawers under the bunk, and a foldingwashstand and dressing-table. This was the arrangement set out in theplans and provided for in the materials for her construction; and as ithappened to suit Leslie's requirements exceedingly well, he very wiselydetermined not to alter it. The work of putting together the bulkheads,lining the saloon, fitting up the staterooms, and generally completingher interior arrangements, was not laborious, but there was a great dealof it, and some of it came very awkwardly to their hands, due, no doubt,to a great extent, to the unaccustomed character of the work in thefirst place, and, in the second, to the confined spaces in which much ofit was necessarily to be done; but at length there came a day when,after a most careful inspection of the craft, inside and out, Dickpronounced her hull complete and ready for launching. But at the lastmoment he decided that it would be more convenient to step herlower-mast ere she left the stocks; and, one thing leading naturally toanother, an additi
onal day was devoted to the job of stepping thisimportant spar, getting the bowsprit into position, setting up all therigging connected with these two spars, and getting the main-boom andgaff into their places. Then, with the remainder of her spars and allher sails aboard, they knocked off work for the night, with theunderstanding that the little craft was to be consigned to "her nativeelement" on the morrow.
The dawn of that morrow promised as fair a day as heart could wish forso important a ceremony; and the three men were early astir and busyupon the final preparations. The most important of these was thegreasing of the launching ways; and as Dick had foreseen this necessityfrom the very outset, he had not only adopted the precaution of bringingashore from the brig every ounce of tallow and grease of everydescription that he had been able to find aboard her, but had rigorouslysaved every morsel that had resulted from their cooking during the wholeperiod of their sojourn upon the island. Thus it happened that, when itcame to the point, he found that he had what, with judicious and stricteconomy, might prove sufficient for the purpose. But he intended thatthere should be no room for doubt in so important a matter as this, andhe therefore ruthlessly sacrificed almost the whole of a big case oftoilet soap, with which he and the other two men went diligently overthe ways, rubbing the soap on dry until a film of it covered the waysthroughout their whole length. Then, upon the top of this, theyplastered on their tallow and other grease until it was all expended; atwhich stage of the proceedings Dick declared himself satisfied, andmarched off to rid himself of the traces of his somewhat dirty work.
And by this time breakfast was ready. Then, upon the conclusion of themeal, all hands adjourned once more to the yard, Flora being attired forthe occasion in a complete suit of dainty white, topped off with abroad-brimmed flower-bedecked hat that, under other circumstances, woulddoubtless have graced some Valparaiso belle. Dick carried two bottlesof champagne--the last of their scanty stock--in his hand, one of thembeing devoted to the christening ceremony, while the other was to beconsumed in drinking success to the little boat.
Arrived alongside, Nicholls nipped up the ladder that gave access to thelittle craft's deck, and attached the bottle of champagne to thestem-head by a line long enough to reach down to within about six inchesof her keel. Then he went aft and lashed the tiller amidships, whichdone, he announced that all was ready. Upon hearing this Dick placedthe bottle of wine in Flora's hand, and, telling her when to act andwhat to say, stationed himself, with a heavy sledge-hammer in his hand,at one of the spur-shores, Simpson, similarly provided, going to theother. Then--
"Are you all ready?" shouted Dick.
"Ay, ay, sir, all ready!" answered Simpson, swaying up the heavy hammerover his shoulder.
"Then _strike_!" yelled Dick; and crash fell the two hammerssimultaneously; down dropped the spur-shores, and a tremor appeared tothrill the little craft throughout her entire fabric.
For a single moment she seemed to hang--to Dick's unmitigatedconsternation, but the next second he saw her begin to move with analmost imperceptible gliding motion toward the water. Flora saw it too,and raising the bottle of wine in her hand, dashed it against the littlecraft's bows, shattering the glass to pieces and causing the wine tocream over the brightly burnished copper as she cried--
"God bless the _Flora_ and grant her success!"
The speed of the handsome little clipper rapidly increased, andpresently she entered the water with a headlong rush, curtseying asgracefully as though she had learned the trick from her namesake, ereshe recovered herself and floated lightly as a soap-bubble on the water.(For although Dick had found an entire outfit of lead ballast for her,already cast to the shape of her hull, he had only put part of it aboardher, leaving out about six tons, in place of which he intended to stowthe gold from the treasure-cave.) The little craft held her way forquite an extraordinary distance--showing thereby in the most practicalof all ways the excellence and beauty of her lines--and when at lengthshe came to rest Nicholls let go her anchor and waved his hand by way ofa signal that all was well. Whereupon Dick and Simpson jumped into thecanoe and paddled off to fetch him ashore.
The moment had now arrived when it became necessary for Leslie to cometo some definite conclusion as to how far he would take these two meninto his confidence. He had watched them both with the utmost keennessfrom the first moment of his connection with them, and everything thathe had seen in their speech and behaviour had led him to the convictionthat they were absolutely honest, loyal, and trustworthy. On the otherhand, he had heard of cases wherein men even as trustworthy as hebelieved these two to be had succumbed to the influence of some sudden,over-powering temptation; and there could be no question that a treasureof such enormous value as that lying hidden in the cave constituted atemptation sufficient to strain to its utmost limit the honesty of anybut the most thoroughly conscientious man. He therefore finally settledthe matter with himself by determining upon a compromise; he would takeNicholls and Simpson into his confidence just so far as was absolutelynecessary, and no farther.
Therefore, when they all landed on the beach, after taking Nicholls offthe cutter, Leslie invited the two men to accompany him to the tent,there to empty their last bottle of champagne in drinking to the successof the new craft. And when this ceremony had been duly performed,Leslie turned to the two men, and said--
"And now, lads, the cutter having been successfully got into the water,I find myself in the position of being able to make to you both acertain proposal and offer that has long been in my mind. When I tookyou two men off your raft, and brought you ashore here in a dyingcondition, that tiny craft that floats so jauntily out there on thesmooth waters of the lagoon was only in frame--a mere skeleton. But yousaw of what that skeleton was composed; you saw that it was made oftough steel firmly and substantially put together with stout bolts andrivets. And since then you have assisted me to bring forward the littlecraft from what she then was to what she is to-day; you have seen andhandled the materials that have been worked into her, and nobody knowsbetter than yourselves what careful and faithful labour and workmanshiphas been bestowed upon the putting of her together. Now, I want you togive me your honest opinion, as sailors, of that little craft. You knowthat she was built for the sole purpose of carrying us all away fromthis island--which, I may tell you, lies well in the heart of thePacific; I want you, as sailors of experience, to say whether you willfeel any hesitation in trusting your lives to her."
Nicholls laughed heartily at the question; and Simpson grinnedcorroboratively.
"Why," exclaimed the former, "men have gone more than halfway round theworld in craft that aren't to be mentioned on the same day as that dandylittle packet! The last time that I was in Sydney--which was lastyear--there was a Yankee chap there that had made the voyage fromAmerica in a dug-out canoe that he had decked over and rigged as athree-masted schooner--he and another chap--and they intended to go onand complete the trip round the world. I don't mind saying that Ishouldn't have altogether cared about making such a voyage myself insuch a craft; but yonder little beauty's quite a different story. I'dbe as willing to ship in her as in anything else--provided that it wasmade worth my while. What say you, bo'sun?"
"Same here," answered Simpson, the man of brevities.
"You really mean it? You are both speaking in serious earnest?"demanded Leslie.
"_I_ am, most certainly," answered Nicholls; "in proof of which I intendto sail with you when you leave the island--if you'll take me, MrLeslie; and I don't think you are the man to refuse two poor castaways apassage, especially as you've got plenty of room aboard there for usboth, and we can make ourselves useful enough to pay for our passages."
"Very well, then," said Leslie. "Now, this is the proposal that I haveto make to you both. I have here, on this island, snugly stowed away ina cave, certain valuables that I am most anxious to personally convey toEngland; and for certain reasons with which I need not trouble you, I amequally anxious to get them home without bringing them under th
e noticeof the authorities, and the only way in which this can be done is totake them home _in the cutter_. My plan is to make my way in the firstinstance to Australia, where Miss Trevor will leave the _Flora_. AtMelbourne I shall revictual, and thence proceed to Capetown, where Ishall do the like, sailing thence to England, with a call, perhaps, atsome of the Canaries, if necessary. Now, if you have no fancy for sucha long trip as that which I have sketched out, in so small a craft asthe _Flora_, you will of course be perfectly free to leave her upon ourarrival at Melbourne. But if, on the other hand, you are willing toship with me for the whole voyage, I think I can make it quite worthyour while, for I shall require at least two men whom I can absolutelytrust, and I believe you two to be those men. Now, what amount wouldyou consider to be adequate remuneration for the run home from here?"
"How long do you reckon the trip is going to take, sir?" inquiredNicholls.
"Um, let me see," considered Leslie, making a mental calculation. "Weought to do it comfortably in about one hundred and eighty days--sixmonths; call it seven months, if you like."
Nicholls considered for a few minutes, and then looked up and said--
"Would sixty pounds be too much to ask, Mr Leslie, taking everythinginto consideration?"
"What do _you_ say, Simpson?" asked Leslie, with a smile.
"Sixty pounds 'd satisfy _me_," answered the boatswain.
"Very well," said Dick. "Now, this is what I will do with you both. Itwill be worth a thousand pounds to me to get these valuables of minesafely home, as I said, without attracting attention. If, therefore,you will ship for the run home with me, rendering me all the assistancenecessary to take the _Flora_ and her cargo safely to some port, to behereafter decided upon, in the English Channel, I will give you mywritten bond to pay each of you five hundred pounds sterling within onecalendar month of the date of our arrival. How will that suit you?"
"It will suit me better than any job I've ever yet dropped upon, and Isay `done with you, sir, and many thanks,'" answered Nicholls, withenthusiasm.
"And you, Simpson?" demanded Dick.
"Good enough!" answered the boatswain, with his usual brevity.
"Very well, then; that is settled," said Leslie. "I will draw up anagreement in triplicate at once, which we can all sign, each retaining acopy; and that will put the whole matter upon a thoroughly ship-shapeand satisfactory basis all round."
Dick prepared the agreement there and then, and having read over to thetwo seamen the first draft, and obtained their unqualified approval ofit, he at once proceeded to make the two additional copies. All threewere then duly signed, Flora also attaching her signature as a witness,and the transaction was thereupon completed.
"Now," said Dick, "that bit of business being arranged, I should like totake the cutter round to a little cove at no great distance from thecave where my valuables are concealed, and get them aboard her at once,before her decks are hampered up with gear and what not; we willtherefore get the catamaran under way, and tow her round. We can leavethe catamaran in the cove also, and walk back by way of change.Moreover, it will afford us the opportunity to stretch our legs a bit;we shall not get very much more walking exercise now until we arrive inEngland."
As the three men were wending their way down to the beach, Leslie's eyeshappened to fall upon the case of rifle and revolver ammunition fromwhich he had been drawing his supplies. It was the only case ofammunition that he possessed; and now, with a sudden fear that in thehurry of departure it might be forgotten, he said to Nicholls--
"See here, Nicholls, we might just as well be carrying something with usas go down to the catamaran empty-handed. If you and Simpson will layhold of that case of ammunition, I will bring along half a dozen rifles,and we shall then be quite as well armed as there will be any need forus to be. We may not want them, but, on the other hand, we _may_, andif we should happen to want them at all, we shall probably want themvery badly."
Upon taking the cutter in tow it was found that she towed very lightly,offering only a trifling resistance to the catamaran after both hadfairly got way upon them; and in little more than half an hour bothcraft were off the entrance to the cove. Yet so cunningly had Natureconcealed it that though Leslie knew almost to an inch where to look forit, he had the utmost difficulty in finding it, and had he not possesseda personal knowledge of its existence, and therefore persisted in hissearch, he would never have found it. But, after passing the opening noless than four times without being able to find it, he managed to hit itoff at his fifth attempt, and, ten minutes later, both craft were insideand snugly moored to the rocky side of the basin, the catamaran beingplaced innermost to protect the dainty, freshly painted sides of thecutter from chafe against the rock.
Nicholls and Simpson betrayed the profoundest astonishment andadmiration at the singularly perfect adaptation of the cove to thepurposes of a harbour for small craft, and could scarcely be persuadedto drag themselves away from the water's edge. But when at length theyhad been induced to climb up the almost vertical face of the cliffs andfound themselves at the mouth of the treasure-cave, their wonder at whatthey saw was greater than ever. They uttered loud exclamations ofastonishment when they were invited to lift one of the hide-bound goldbricks, and felt the unexpected weight of it; but neither of themappeared to have the remotest suspicion of the real nature of the stuffthey were handling, Nicholls merely commenting upon its excellence asballast, and lauding Leslie's wisdom in having decided to so use itinstead of those portions of the lead castings that he had rejected.Indeed, both men appeared to regard the queer little black leather--bound blocks as merely something especially suitable for ballast, andtaken by Dick for that purpose and reason alone; it was the massive,ancient-looking, carved chests, with their elaborate binding of rustymetal-work that they appeared to regard as the receptacles of the"valuables" about the safety of which Leslie was so anxious.
They managed to get sixty of the gold bricks down aboard the cutter andstowed under her cabin floor that same afternoon, and by the time thatthey had accomplished this, the level rays of the declining sun warnedthem that the moment had arrived when they ought to be starting upontheir march across country toward their camp.
The broken character of the country claimed a larger share of Leslie'sattention upon this occasion than when he had last visited the cave.Perhaps it was because his mind was now more at rest than it had thenbeen--for the cutter that was at the former period merely a possibility,was now an actuality; and, more than that, already carried a veryrespectable little fortune snugly stowed away in her interior; or,possibly--who can tell?--there may have been some vague, unsuspectedmental prevision that ere long an intimate knowledge of every detail ofthose curiously shapeless earthquake upheavals would be of pricelessvalue to him. Be that as it may, he now looked about him with the eyesof the warrior rather than the explorer, noting with astonishment thewonderful way in which the earthquake had split and piled up the rocksinto the form of a natural impregnable fortress, including both thecavern and the basin. There was one point, and one only, at which thisnatural fortress could be entered, and upon his previous visit he hadpassed through it twice without noting this fact; now, however, he notonly took notice of it, but saw also that a small rampart, composed of adozen or so of stones, that could be arranged in five minutes, wouldenable a single man to hold the place against an army, or, at allevents, so long as his ammunition held out. So strongly did this ideaimpress itself upon him that he could not resist the temptation toactually construct this small rampart then and there.
"Stop a moment, you two," he cried; "I have a fancy for trying a littleexperiment. Just bring me along a few of the heaviest pieces of rockthat you can conveniently handle."
And, seizing a block himself, he carried it to a certain point, andthrew it on the ground. Then on and about this he piled the others thatwere brought to him until, within ten minutes, he had constructed abreastwork of dimensions sufficient to efficiently screen one man fromthe fire of an ene
my, while it enabled him, through a small loophole, toeffectually enfilade the one only spot at which that enemy couldpossibly enter. He flung himself down behind the barricade and peepedthrough the loophole. The defence was now complete.
"There," he exclaimed, in tones of perfect satisfaction, "if anybodyshould ever come here in the future, and require a citadel upon which toretreat against overwhelming odds, this is the place. And so long as hecan command the nerve to remain behind this barricade and maintain asteady rifle-fire upon that narrow gap--through which, as you may see,only one man can pass at a time--he will be absolutely safe. Well,thank God, _we_ are not likely to need its protection, for we ought tobe at sea on the third evening from now."
The following day was devoted by the three men to the task of puttingthe remainder of the gold bricks on board the cutter; and this theysucceeded in accomplishing before knocking-off work for the day; but itmeant that they had to work hard and late to do it. Meanwhile Flora wasequally busily engaged upon the work of getting together, from theheterogeneous assortment of clothing that had formed part of the_Mermaid's_ cargo, a sufficient stock to see her through her two months'voyage to the other side of the Pacific. Knowing that she was thusengaged, and would doubtless be fatigued by the time that she hadarrived at the end of her day's work, Leslie was considerably surprisedwhen, having traversed about half the distance between the cove and thecamp, he encountered her; she having evidently walked out from the campto meet him. Moreover he saw at once that this encounter was not merelythe result of a natural desire on the part of a girl to meet her lover,it was something more momentous than that, for there was an excited lookin her eyes that there was no mistaking. So, doffing his cap to her asshe joined his little party, he said, with a smile--
"Well, dear, what is it? You have news of some kind for us, I see; butnot bad news, I hope."
"Oh no," she replied; "it is not bad news at all--at least I shouldthink not. It is simply that there is a ship approaching the island,and as I thought you would be glad to know it as soon as possible, Idecided to come on and tell you at once."
"Thanks, very much," replied Dick. "This is indeed interesting news.Whereabouts is she, and how far off?"
"She is over there, in that direction," replied Flora, pointing to thenorth-westward. "It was by the merest accident that I happened to seeher. I took the fancy to go up toward Mermaid Head to gather a bouquetof those lovely orchids that grow in that direction, thinking thatprobably it would be my last opportunity to get any of them, and it waswhile I was gathering them that I saw her. She is still a good distanceaway; and I might have thought that she was merely passing the island,for when I first saw her she was sailing in that direction,"--sweepingher hand from west to east; "but while I was still watching her sheturned round, and now is coming nearly straight for the island."
"Ah," remarked Leslie, thoughtfully, "this is certainly interesting, andI am much obliged to you for coming out to tell us. Let us be gettingon toward the camp; there may still be time for me to run up to thepoint and have a look at her ere nightfall." Then, following up his owntrain of thought, he added, "If she be as far off as you describe, shewill hardly be near enough to hit off the entrance channel and comeinside before dark--that is to say, if she really means to pay us avisit."
Nothing more was said upon the subject just then; but as soon as Lesliereached the camp he procured the telescope, and, hurrying away to thenearest point from which it would be possible to obtain a view of thestranger, subjected her to as careful a scrutiny as the circumstancespermitted.
After all, however, there was not very much to be learned about her, forshe was about twelve miles distant, dead to leeward of the island, andas the sun was already dipping below the horizon, the time available forobservation was but short. He could distinguish, however, that she wasbarque-rigged, and apparently a very smart little vessel of about threehundred tons or thereabout. That she was beating up to fetch the islandwas obvious; for whereas when Leslie first sighted her she was on theport tack, heading south, she shortly afterwards tacked to the eastward,thus--in conjunction with what Flora had already observed--clearlyindicating that her purpose was at least to pass the island as closelyas possible, if not to actually touch at it. And that the latter washer intention Leslie had no manner of doubt; for if she had intendedmerely to pass it closely by, there would have been no need for her tohave made that last board to the eastward; by standing on to thesouthward she would have slid down under the lee of the island quiteclosely enough to have made the most detailed observations that hercommander might have deemed necessary. There was one peculiarityconnected with her that for some inexplicable reason took hold uponLeslie's mind with a persistence that was positively worrying to him,yet it was a peculiarity of apparently the most trivial and unimportantcharacter; it was simply that when she tacked he noticed--with thatkeenness of observation that is so peculiarly the attribute of thehighly trained naval officer--that her yards were swung very slowly, andone after the other, as though she were very short-handed, even for amerchant vessel.
As Leslie closed the telescope and thoughtfully wended his way backtoward the camp, he found himself perplexed by the presence within hismind of two strangely conflicting trains of thought. On the one hand,here was a ship approaching the island, and either intending to make acall at it, or to approach it so closely that it would be the simplestmatter in the world for him to go out on the catamaran and intercepther. By acting thus he would be able, without any difficulty, to securefor his companions and himself transport to some civilised port fromwhich it would be easy for them to obtain a passage to England, eventhough the barque herself should not be homeward-bound. And thattransport would be at least of as safe a character as that afforded bythe cutter, while it would be infinitely more comfortable, at all eventsfor Flora, should they happen to encounter bad weather. Following thistrain of thought, it seemed to Leslie that the obvious commonsensecourse for him to pursue was to take the catamaran, go out to thebarque, and, acquainting the skipper with all the circumstances relatingto the presence of the little party upon the island, pilot her into thelagoon, with the view of coming to some arrangement for the shipping ofhimself and his companions on board her on the morrow.
But against this plan there was the thought of the treasure. What wasto be done with it? Would it be prudent or advisable to entrust aproperty of such enormous value to a crew of absolute strangers, ofwhose characters he would have no time or opportunity to judge? Uponthis point he had no doubt whatever; the answer to this question was amost emphatic negative. But if--so ran his thoughts--he was notprepared to ship the treasure aboard this unknown barque, and entrust itto her unknown crew, what was he to do with it? Was he to leave itconcealed in the cavern that had already been its hiding-place for somany years, and return to fetch it away at some more convenient season?His recent experience of the great physical changes that may be wroughtby an earthquake shock had already impressed upon him a strongconviction of the possibility that a second shock might at any momentbury the treasure irrecoverably; and this conviction was as strong anargument against the adoption of the alternative course as a man needwish for. No; he felt that it would be equally unwise for him to shipit aboard the stranger, and to leave it on the island until he couldreturn to fetch it. If he desired to make sure of it--as he mostcertainly did--his proper course was to carry it away in the cutter, ashe had always intended. And as to Nicholls and Simpson, he felt that,despite the appearance of this mysterious barque upon the scene, hisliberal offer to them would quite suffice to hold them to their bargainwith him. The ground thus cleared, there remained only Flora to beconsidered; and Dick very quickly arrived at the conclusion that she,and she only, was the one who could decide whether she would leave theisland in the barque or accompany him in the cutter. But he had notmuch doubt as to what her decision would be.