Thinking over the matter, I decided to return at once to the cave. The thieves would doubtless be occupied in the forest until sundown, and such a chance as this to secure possession of the gold might never occur again. For if Daggett or his men chanced to see our footprints in the sand, or suspected they were being spied upon, they would be liable to leave a guard in the cave thereafter. So we softly crept from the forest and made our way back by the same route we had come, taking care to tread in the trail made by the robbers, so that our footprints could be less easily distinguished. We did not feel entirely safe from observation until we had regained the column of rock which towered into the air beside the precipitous cliff; but once our feet were on the narrow ledge both I and my faithful Sulu breathed easier, and with more deliberation accomplished the ascent to the cave.
“Now,” said I, “we must work carefully, so that no spot of sand can escape us; for the thieves have taken care to disturb the surface everywhere, in order to throw any chance visitor to this hiding-place off the track. But we know the gold is buried in this cave, Nux, so it ought not to be a very hard job to find it.”
Nux nodded, with his usual complaisance.
“We begin in back,” he suggested, “and work front.”
This seemed sensible, so I followed the black to the far end of the cavern, and falling upon our knees we immediately began digging with our hands into the soft sand.
For nearly an hour we steadily worked, finding nothing at all. Then, as I stopped to rest, I cast a careless glance along the rocky sides of the cave and thought that I saw a white mark upon the wall, a few feet toward the front. Springing to my feet I approached this point and discovered that a small cross had been made with a piece of chalk or a bit of white limestone.
“Here we are, Nux!” I cried, joyfully and at once began digging in the sand beneath the mark. A few minutes work proved that my sudden suspicion was correct; for Nux, who had straightway joined me, dragged one of the sacks to light, while I discovered another just beside it.
It was part of the stolen gold, sure enough, and my heart beat fast with excitement as I realized that the precious hoard was once more in my possession.
Only a part had been hidden in this place, we found; but now we had an unmistakeable clew to guide us, so that we had little difficulty in finding a second secret mark that resulted in the discovery of the balance of the treasure, as well as the sacks of provisions.
When all had been unearthed Nux asked:
“What we do now, Mars Sam?”
“Why, carry it away, of course,” I answered, joyous and elate.
“Where?” enquired the black, simply.
I looked at him in surprise, and then realizing the meaning of the question, grew thoughtful again.
“You’re right, Nux,” said I. “It’s going to be a harder task than I thought. We can’t pass by the forest with it, that’s certain; for Daggett and his followers would be sure to see us. On the other side, the cliff rises straight out of the sea, and there’s no way to escape around it. All we can do, then, is to carry the gold to the top of this rock.”
“Hm!” grunted the Sulu. “Dat no good, Mars Sam.”
“Why not?”
“No way to get off top of rock.”
“True; but we can hide there, ’till the thieves go away to the ship. It isn’t likely they’ll climb up there again, for this cave is a better place to sleep in.”
Nux seemed unconvinced, and I had none too much confidence in my own assertion.
“Tonight,” said the black, in a dismal tone, “dey hunt for de gold. All gone. Robber very mad. Dey look ev’rywhere; den dey find us on rock. Den dey kill us.”
“That’s a pretty tough prophecy, Nux,” I returned, as cheerfully as I could. “And it sounds likely enough, I confess. We’ve got the gold again, to be sure; but the robbers have got us; so we’re worse off than we were before.”
Nux took a lump of bread from a provision sack and begun to munch it leisurely. Noticing the action, and remembering that I also was hungry, I proceeded to follow the black’s example.
While we ate, however, my Sulu was busily thinking, and so was I. As a result I presently gave my leg a delighted slap and began to laugh.
Nux looked at me with a grin of sympathy upon his black features.
“What’s matter, Mars Sam?”
“Nux,” said I, checking my amusement and trying to look grave and impressive, “there’s an old saying that ‘there’s never a lock so strong but there’s a key to fit it’. In other words, while there’s life there’s hope; never give up the ship; every sky has a silver lining!”
Nux looked puzzled.
“That’s a lovely pair of trousers you’re wearing, Nux,” I continued, in a jocular strain. “They’re made of the stoutest cloth Uncle Naboth could find in San Francisco, and I gave them to you out of the ship’s stores only three or four days ago, because your old ones were so ragged.”
Nux glanced at his wide-legged blue trousers and nodded.
“Now, old man,” said I, “you’ve often told me you used to go bare-legged and bare-backed in your own island, so I’m going to ask you to go bare-legged a little while now, and lend me those trousers.”
“Wha’ for, Mars Sam?”
“To put the gold grains in, of course. The robbers may look for the sacks of gold, when they come back, but they’re pretty sure not to open them. Therefore, my friend we’ll fix it so that they’ll think their gold is all safe.”
“How, Mars Sam?”
“By filling the sacks with sand, and burying them again where we found them.”
Nux looked at me admiringly, and grinned until his mouth stretched from ear to ear and displayed everyone of his white teeth.
“Good, Mars Sam!” he cried, and at once stripped the trousers from his legs.
I now hunted in the pockets of my jacket and brought out several small bits of cord, which I knotted firmly together. Then I tied the legs of Nux’s trousers tightly at the bottoms, thus transforming them into a double sack of great capacity.
It did not take us long to transfer the gold dust from the canvas bags to the trouser-legs, and as soon as this task was accomplished we refilled the bags with sand and tied up as before. I was obliged to tear away a part of my own shir............