CHAPTER XXII
BURIED ALIVE
Ruth pointed out to Drew exactly where the figure that had so startledher had stood. It was down the slope of the hill to the westward, anddirectly between two lava boulders at the edge of the jungle.
The figure--man, apparition, what or whoever it was--had lingered insight but a moment.
Before returning to work in his excavation, Drew went down to the spotRuth had pointed out. There was not a sign of anybody having beenthere. The earth between the huge lumps of lava seemed not to havebeen disturbed. He could find no broken twigs or torn vines at theedge of the jungle.
"She dreamed it--that's all," muttered Drew. "Poor Parmalee!"
He thought of the man whose tragic end was so linked with his ownexistence--of the body buffeted by the waves somewhere in the blueexpanse that stretched easterly from this little island.
Of what use would the pirate treasure, if they found it, be to AllenDrew? This bitter query obsessed him. He would gladly give every coinand jewel Ramon Alvarez had buried here, were it his to give, to seeParmalee, leaning on his cane, walk out of the jungle.
He was so lost in these gloomy musings that he started when he felt alight touch on his arm.
He looked up to find Ruth standing beside him.
"Did you find any trace of him, Allen?" she asked, in a voice fromwhich the tremor had not entirely gone.
"Not the slightest sign," he answered. "The man or thing, whatever itwas, seems to have vanished into thin air."
"It must have been mere fancy," she murmured, though without conviction.
"Our nerves play strange tricks sometimes," Drew rejoined lightly. "Weare all of us in such an excited state just now that anything mayhappen."
"I've always felt that nerves had been left out of my composition,"said Ruth, smiling faintly. "But when it comes to the pinch, I supposeI'm just as liable to them as any one else."
"No, you're not," denied Allen Drew warmly. "You're the most perfectthoroughbred of any woman I ever knew."
"Perhaps your experience has been limited," she suggested, with a flashof her old mischief.
"I'm perfectly willing it should be limited from this time on to justone woman," he was on the point of saying, but bit his lip just in time.
"It is strange that this apparition, for want of a better name, shouldhave taken the form of Parmalee," he continued, his jealousy in spiteof himself taking possession of him. "Perhaps you were thinking ofhim, just then," he hazarded.
"Not at all," returned Ruth frankly. "Just at that moment I'm afraidmy mind was fixed on nothing else but the hunt for the pirate'streasure."
Drew felt somewhat reassured by this, and they had turned to retracetheir steps when he suddenly stood stock still.
"What is it?" asked Ruth in some alarm.
"I thought I saw an opening in the side of the mountain over there," hereplied. "Perhaps the ghost, or whatever it was, is hiding in that,"he added jestingly. "At any rate I'm going to take a minute and seewhat it is."
He made a step in the direction he had indicated. Ruth sought torestrain him.
"Don't you think you had better call my father and Mr. Grimshaw beforeyou venture in there?" she asked. "You don't know what may be lurkingthere."
"Nonsense," laughed the man lightly. "They'd only be vexed at beinginterrupted in their digging. At any rate they're within easy call--ifthere should be any need of them."
Ruth was silenced though only half convinced. Together they went overto a gaping rent in the side of the hill.
As a matter of precaution, Drew had taken his revolver from his beltand held it ready in his hand. He had really no expectation of meetinganything hostile in human shape and he did not believe that any animalthat would be at all formidable ranged the island.
"If it's a ghost, I don't suppose this revolver would do any good," hejoked, more to relieve Ruth's uneasiness than any that he felt himself."At the very least I'd have to have a silver bullet or one that hadbeen dipped in the river Jordan."
The opening before which they stood was irregular in shape and seemedto have been made by one of the convulsions of nature that apparentlywere so common to the island. It was, roughly speaking, about fourfeet wide and nine high, and from the glimpse they got into its depthsseemed to widen out in the interior. There was nothing about it tospeak of human occupancy and the ground leading to it bore no marks offootprints. Nor were there any bones scattered about that mightindicate that it was the lair of wild beasts.
Drew cupped his hands to his mouth and sent forth a ringing call.
"Hello, in there!" he shouted.
There was no answer, but the reverberations of his own voice that cameback to him seemed to show that the cave extended inward to aconsiderable depth.
"Hello!" he shouted again. "If there's any one in there, come out!We're friends and won't hurt you."
Again there was no answer.
"Doesn't seem to be sociably inclined," muttered Allen grimly.
"I guess there's nobody there," said Ruth. "Let's go back to theothers, Allen. We've spent too much time already on this foolishnotion of mine."
"It wasn't foolish at all," protested Drew. "As a matter of fact itmay prove to be of the greatest importance. We ought to sift thematter to the bottom. If there's anybody on this island we don't knowabout, it ought to be our first business to find out. I think I'lltake a peep into this mysterious cave."
He made a step forward, but Ruth's hand tightened on his arm and hestopped.
"Do you think you'd better risk it, Allen?" she asked. "How do youknow what may be in there. Suppose--suppose----"
"Suppose what?" he asked with a whimsical smile.
"Suppose anything should happen to you?" she half whispered.
"Nothing will happen to me," he rejoined. "Not that it matters muchanyway," he added bitterly, as the thought swept over him of the blackcloud of suspicion that hung above him.
"Just give me a minute, Ruth," he pleaded, hating himself for hisreckless words as he saw the pained look in her eyes. "I won't go infor more than twenty or thirty feet, just to see if there's anythingabout this place that we really ought to know. You stay here and I'llbe back before you fairly know I've gone."
She reluctantly loosened her grasp of his arm and he plunged forwardinto the darkness.
For the first ten feet or so, the going was rendered rather difficultby projecting bits of rock that caught at his clothes and impeded hisprogress. But then the passage widened out steadily until he could notfeel the sides even when his arms were stretched to their utmost limit.
The light that had followed him from the small entrance finallyvanished, and he went forward with the utmost caution, carefullyplanting each foot for the next step. At any moment, for all he knew,he might find himself on the brink of a precipice.
"Black as Egypt in here," he muttered to himself, as he felt for thematches he carried in an oilskin bag in the pocket of his coat. "Iguess I'd better strike a----"
But he never finished the sentence.
A deafening roar resounded through the cavern and he was thrownviolently forward on his hands and knees. Again came that dizzy,sickening shaking of the earth, that nauseating sense of being liftedto a height and suddenly let fall, that squirming of the ground beneathhim as though it were a gigantic reptile.
His earlier experience in the open air had been bad enough, but thereat least he had had the sense of space and sunlight and companionship.Here in the darkness and confinement the horrors of the earthquake weremultiplied.
For more than a minute, which seemed to him an hour, the convulsions ofthe earth continued. Then they gradually subsided, though it was someminutes later before the quivering finally ceased.
Dazed and bewildered, Allen Drew scrambled to his feet. His hands werescraped and bleeding, though he thought little of this in his mentalperturbation.
His thought turned instantly to Ruth. What might have happened to he
rwhile he was away from her? The trees were thick near the mouth of thecave. Suppose one had fallen and caught her before she could escape?
He started to rush back to the entrance, but to his astonishment, couldsee no trace of the light that had marked the place where the openinghad been.
He stopped short, puzzled and alarmed.
"That's queer," he muttered. "I guess that jar I got has turned mearound. It must be in the other direction."
He hastily retraced his steps. But as the cave grew wider and he foundno sign of the narrow passage by which he had entered, he knew that hewas wrong.
"Must have had it right the first time," he thought, "but it's strangethat I didn't see any light. Perhaps there was a bend in the passagethat I hadn't noticed."
Again he went back, feeling his way. The path narrowed and hisoutstretched hand came in contact with a shred of cloth that had beentorn from his coat when he had entered. This was proof positive thathe was on the right track. But where then was the light?
The answer came to him with startling suddenness when he plungedviolently into a mass of earth and rock that barred his way.
_The entrance to the cave had vanished!_
In its place was a vast mass of earth, a slice of the mountain sidethat had been torn loose by that last mighty writhing of torturednature and that now held him as securely a prisoner as though he werein the center of the earth.