CHAPTER XXII. THE BUCCANEER'S CAVE.
"The three peaks are in line, but no trace of the 'ruby glow' the cipherspeaks of."
The speaker was Rob Blake. He and Merritt, in the red canoe, were inadvance of the other craft. The first level rays of the early sun wereslanting down over the precipitous hills surrounding the lake and gildingthe placid sheet of water with a glittering effulgence. The canoes seemedto hang on the clear water as if suspended.
Right ahead of the adventurers, the three jagged peaks seen the previousevening had gradually swung into line, until the first and nearest oneveiled the other two.
"Let's run the canoe ashore. May be we shall come across something tomake the meaning of the cipher plainer," suggested Merritt.
Presently the bow of the canoe grazed the beach, and the two active younguniformed figures sprang out. For an instant they looked about them. Thensuddenly Merritt gripped Rob's arm with such a tight pressure that itactually pained.
"Look!" he cried, "look!"
Rob followed the direction of Merritt's gaze and was tempted to echo hiscry. Through the trees a rectangular mound of rock, with a dome-likesummit, had just caught the rays of the sun.
In the early morning light it glittered as redly as if bathed in blood.
"The ruby glow!" breathed Rob poetically, gazing at the wonderful sight.
"Must be some sort of mica or crystal in the rock that catches thesunlight," said the practical Merritt; "good thing we didn't come here ona dull, cloudy day."
"I guess so," rejoined Rob; "we might easily have missed it."
"Let's get the others!" exclaimed Merritt. "See, the ruby glow is maskingthe Three Brothers."
"That's so," agreed Rob, "this is the place, beyond a doubt."
By this time the other canoes had been beached and their occupants werepresently gazing in wrapt wonder at the spectacle. As the sun rose higherthey could see the glow diminishing.
"Your ancestor chose his hiding place well," said the professor to MajorDangerfield, "only at sunrise and at sunset can the glow be visible. Atany other hour of the day there would be nothing unusual about that rockbut its shape."
Suddenly Tubby broke into song. He caught at the others' hands. In ajiffy the Boy Scouts were dancing round in a joyous circle, singing atthe top of their lungs:
"Ruby glow! ruby glow! We have sought you long, you know! Now you're found we won't let go Till we get the treasure--ruby glow!"
"Rather anticipating, aren't you, boys?" asked the major, "there is stillquite a lot to be done before we discover the cavern where the treasureis supposed to be buried."
But despite his calm words they could see that the major was quite asmuch excited as themselves at the idea of being on the threshold of greatdiscoveries.
"Suppose we press forward," suggested the professor presently; "I thinkthat the base of the ruby mound is the place to start from."
The canoes were hauled up on the beach and concealed in a high growth oftangled water plants. They did not wish to risk having them stolen for asecond time. Then they struck forward into the gloom of the woods lyingbetween the ruby mound and the lake. As they went the Boy Scouts hummedTubby's little song. Even Jumbo seemed to have cast off his gloom. Hisgreat eyes rolled with anticipation as they pressed on, ambition to findthe treasure cavern lending wings to their feet.
Before long they were at the base of the ruby mound. It was quite bare,and rose up almost as if it had been artificially formed. The professordeclared it to have been of glacial origin. Certain markings on it heinterpreted as being Indian in design.
"They seem to indicate that at one time the Indians, who formerly roamedthese mountains, used this mound as a watch tower," he said. "It musthave made a good one, too."
"Too high colored for me," said Tubby in an undertone.
But by this time the glow had fled from the conical-shaped top of themound. It was a dull gray color now, and, except for its shape andbarrenness, looked just like any other rock pile.
"There's the dead pine!" cried Hiram suddenly.
"So it is!" exclaimed the major, as his gaze fell on an immense blastedtrunk soaring above the rest of the trees, "boys, we are hot on thetrail."
"Looks so," agreed Rob.
"Now, then," exclaimed the professor, as they stood at the base of thepine, which appeared to have been blasted by lightning at some remoteperiod, "now then, one of you boys pace off four hundred feet to thewest."
Rob drew out his pocket compass and speedily paced off the distance. Thisbrought them into a sort of clearing. It was small, and circular inshape, and dense growth hedged it in on all sides. By this time the boyswere fairly quivering with excitement, and their elders were not muchbehind them in eager anticipation.
"Now, three hundred to the north," ordered the major.
"We'll have to plunge right into the brush," said Rob.
"All right. Go ahead. In a few minutes now we shall know if we're on afool's errand or not."
The former army officer's voice was vibrant with emotion.
Followed by the others, Rob pushed into the brush, pacing off therequired three hundred feet as accurately as he could. All at once hecame to a halt.
"Three hundred," he announced.
As they looked about them a feeling of keen disappointment set in. Tallbrush was hemming them in on all sides. No trace of a stone man, oranything else but the close-growing vegetation, could be seen.
"Fooled again!" was the exclamation that was forcing itself to Tubby'sirrepressible lips when he stopped short, struck by the look of keendisappointment on the major's face.
"It looks as if we had had all our trouble for nothing, boys," he began,when Rob interrupted.
"What's that off there, major, through the bushes yonder. You can see itbest from here."
The major hastened to the young leader's side.
"It's a sort of cliff or precipice," he cried.
"Maybe the man of stone is located there," suggested Rob; "it's worthtrying, don't you think so, sir?"
"By all means. This growth may have sprung up since the treasure washidden away, and so have concealed the place."
Once more the party moved on. A few paces through the undergrowth broughtthem to the foot of a steepish cliff of rough, gray stone. It appeared tobe about thirty feet or more in height. Above it towered the rugged peakof the first of the Three Brothers.
"Now, where's the man of stone?" asked the professor in a puzzled tone,gazing about him.
"There's certainly no indication of a man of that material or any other,"opined the major, likewise peering in every direction.
"What's that mass of rock on the cliff top?" asked Merritt suddenly; "itlooks something like a human figure."
They all gazed up. A big mass of rock was poised at the summit of thecliff. There was a large rock with a smaller one perched on the top ofit. To a vivid imagination it might have suggested a body and a head.
"It's worth investigating, anyway," decided the major; "we'll look at theface of the cliff directly beneath it. Maybe there is an opening there."
But this decision was more easily arrived at than carried out. Thornybrush and thick, tall weeds shrouded the base of the cliff for a heightof eight or ten feet. But the Boy Scouts had their field axes with them,and before long the blows of the steel were resounding. In a few minutesthey had cleared away a lot of the brush directly beneath the two poisedstones.
The major and the professor, with Jumbo looking rather awe-stricken atthe major's side, stood watching.
"These balanced stones prove my theory that all this is of glacialorigin," the professor was saying. "Some antediluvian water course musthave left them there. Why, it wouldn't take much of a push to shove themover."
"That is true," agreed the major; "in that case, supposing that anentrance does exist at this spot, they would block it effectually."
"Very much so," agreed the professor dryly; "in fact----"
"Hoo-r-a-y!"
The shout rang gladly through the silent woods. The boys had thrown downtheir axes and stood with flushed, triumphant faces turned toward theelder members of the party. The major was quick to guess the cause oftheir excitement.
"They've found it!" he cried, springing forward.
The professor and Jumbo followed. As they came up Rob was pointing to anopening at the base of the cliff which the cleared brush had revealed.
"The entrance to the cavern of Ruby Glow!" he exclaimed dramatically,while the rest of the Boy Scouts swung off into Tubby's extemporized songof triumph.