CHAPTER XXIX
IN THE CIRCLE OF THIRTEEN ROCKS
“Fred’s gone!”
“Push the scow back! Otherwise he’ll be smashed!”
Such were the excited exclamations as the youngest Rover boy disappeared over the front end of the clumsy scow which was now being turned sideways by the force of the waves.
All expected the boy to reappear, and they waited anxiously for several seconds. Then, as he failed to show himself, their anxiety turned to alarm.
“Where is he? Where did he go?” gasped Jack, peering down from the opening above.
“I don’t know,” answered Andy. “He was pushing on the boathook and it slipped and he and the pole went down into the water.”
“What do you suppose is keeping him down?” questioned Randy, who was also peering anxiously from the opening above.
“Don’t ask me,” answered his twin. “Gee, this is fierce!”
“He was sucked under!” spluttered Ira Small, excitedly. “Sucked under! There must be some kind of a hole under them rocks!”
“If he’s in a hole, we’ve got to get him out,” returned Jack, and regardless of the danger, he leaped down into the water beside the scow and then climbed on board.
Randy quickly followed him. Then the searchlight was played upon the water where the youngest of the Rover boys had so mysteriously disappeared.
“I see the hole in the rocks!” cried Jack, an instant later. “It’s less than two feet under water. Here! Give me that rope. You fellows pull in when I give a jerk. I’ll try to find him.”
In a twinkling the young major fastened one end of the rope he had indicated around his body under his arms. Then, without further ado, he leaped into the ocean. Another wave was coming in, and this swept him down under the rocks exactly as it had swept Fred. The young major felt himself hurled forward, and then, of a sudden, his feet struck some sloping sand. He pushed his way onward and presently found himself standing up in water less than a foot deep and in almost total darkness.
“Fred! Fred!” he called out, as soon as he could speak.
“Who is that?” was the quick response, and the next moment his cousin stood beside him. He was panting for breath.
“I’ve found the opening,” spluttered the youngest Rover. “But I didn’t do it in the way I supposed.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Not in the least, Jack. But I don’t know how I’m going to get back—or how you’re going to get back, either,” went on Fred. And just then another wave came rushing in on the pair, coming up to their waists and then receding.
“I’m fast to a rope. You catch hold of me and we’ll both get out, I think, without a great deal of trouble.”
“This must be the passageway, Jack.”
“Perhaps. But just now we’d better return to the scow. The others are all afraid you were drowned.”
With Fred holding to the rope, they waited until another wave was coming in and then jerked upon the line. Then, as the wave receded, they rushed along with it, protecting themselves as much as possible from such rocks as might be over their heads. They felt the line tighten, and in a few seconds more came out into the daylight and were hauled close to the scow.
“Fred!”
“Gee, but I’m glad you’re all right!”
Such were the cries from Andy and Randy as the youngest Rover boy and the young major crawled aboard the scow. They were somewhat winded, and it was half a minute before they recovered sufficiently to tell of what they had seen.
“That must be the passageway!” cried Ira Small excitedly. “Mebby you kin git in it with a rowboat when the tide is low. Anyway, I think we ought to investigate.”
The boys thought so, too, and they calculated that the water would be at its lowest about three hours later.
“It will be dark by that time,” was Andy’s comment.
“I don’t care,” answered Jack. “I’m going to see what sort of place that is before I leave this island.”
“I think we can get in and out of that hole without a rope,” said Fred. “I mean while the water covers it. Just the same, it might be a good thing to fasten a line out here on the rocks and then carry it inside. Then a fellow could haul himself out if he had to.”
This suggestion was thought a good one, and in the end a heavy hawser was fastened on the rocks and then carried by Jack and Fred through the opening under water. Then, while the water was gradually going down, the others fastened the scow as best they could, and also entered the watery passageway under the cliff.
It was not such a hazardous thing to do, nor so terrifying, when they understood just how the opening was located. All reached the sandy beach under the cliff without mishap. They carried the searchlight, which was of the water-tight variety, and with the aid of this soon made their way under the base of the cliff to where there was a fair-sized opening on the inner side.
“Here we are!” exclaimed Jack, in delight. “That must be the passageway, beyond a doubt!”
Once in the open, they saw that the irregular bowl encircled by the thirteen pointed rocks was just ahead of them. The path was rough, but well defined, and they had little trouble in following it.
“Gee! what a desolate place this is,” remarked Andy, as they pushed along.
He had good reason for making that remark. On every side of them were the bare rocks, lying in all sorts of fantastic shapes. Here and there were a few stunted bushes and trailing vines. There was nothing in the way of a jungle; not a tree showed itself; nor were there any indications of water.
“This is what I call stony lonely and no mistake,” was the way Fred expressed himself.
At last they reached a point almost at the bottom of the rocky bowl. Now they could gaze around them and see the thirteen rocky points quite plainly.
“It’s them thirteen rocks, and no mistake!” said Ira Small, with satisfaction. “An’ we found the triangle, too! So that pirates’ gold must be somewheres close at hand.”
“Unless some one else has been here before us and taken it away,” answered Jack. “Don’t be too much disappointed if we find it gone. These pirate treasures have been hunted for years by thousands of treasure seekers.”
“Well, I’m goin’ to make certain if it’s here or not before I leave this island!” answered the lanky sailor, determinedly.
It was now growing dark, the setting sun casting long and grotesque shadows across the hollow where they were traveling. Soon night came on, just at a time when they were trying to decide where the center of the jagged bowl might be.
“We’ll probably have to stay here all night,” said Jack. “I don’t believe we can do much in the darkness.”
“Oh, come on! Let’s do what we can,” cried Andy, eagerly. He was so excited that for the time being he had almost forgotten his hurt ankle.
The other boys were equally interested, and it must be confessed that the lanky sailor was as wild as any of them. He, too, had forgotten all about his injured leg, and he strode on over the rocks, looking in every direction for some sign that might indicate where the pirates’ gold was hidden.
It was now so dark that they had only the searchlight to guide them, and this seemed to be growing dimmer.
“I suppose the battery is giving out,” said Jack, and then the thought occurred to each of them: What would they do if the flashlight failed? They would then be left in utter darkness, and even though they carried matches in a waterproof box there was nothing at hand with which to build a fire.
They stumbled along for a hundred feet or more over the rough rocks, and then Fred gave a sudden cry:
“Look there! Can that be the place?”
All gazed at the spot pointed out, at the same time centering the rays from the fast-fading flashlight on the place. They saw a curious mound of stones, evidently built up by hand. The stones averaged the size of bricks, and arose in a pyramid to the height of several feet.
“That’s it! That’s it!” yelled Ira Small, excitedly. “That’s the place! I remember one of them sailors said there was stones heaped on the flat rock like the pyramids of Egypt, only, o’ course, not so high!”
“Well, that heap was certainly placed there by hand and not by nature,” answered Jack. “Come on, let’s throw the stones aside and see what is under the pile!”
All set to work, including the lanky sailor, and it may well be believed that the stones composing the pyramid were quickly scattered in all directions. At the bottom, they came upon a flat rock resting upon four other rocks which evidently had an opening between them.
“Some rock!” said Jack, as he surveyed it. “We’ll have our own trouble moving it, I’m afraid.”
The searchlight was placed a few feet away, and the boys and the sailor set to work to move the heavy flat stone which rested on the four others. At first they could not budge the stone, but finally they brought it up on one edge and let it fall over on the other side. Underneath, in a square hollow, they saw more small stones, evidently packed in by hand and tamped down. They had a job removing two or three of these, but then the others came up easily.
“Hello! Here’s a handle of some sort!” exclaimed Randy, feverishly. “I believe it’s the handle of a box!”
All saw the handle, which was about five inches long and so rusted and mildewed they could not make out of what material it was composed. Jack and Randy, aided by the old tar, pulled upon it with might and main and presently brought to light a small chest evidently of iron, brass, or some hard wood—what, they could not determine for at that instant the rays of the flashlight died away, leaving them in total darkness.
“It’s a chest!”
“I wonder if the pirates’ gold is in it!”
“Oh, gee! why did that light have to go out just now?” grumbled Andy, impatiently.
“Make a light, somebody. We’ve got to find out what this thing is!” said Fred.
Jack was already bringing forth the waterproof match-box, and now he struck one of the matches and held it over the chest. It was so covered with mildew and other evidences of age that he could hardly make out which was the front and which the back of the receptacle.
“Oh, if we only had a torch or something to make a fire with!” moaned Andy.
“Wait! I’ve got something!” exclaimed Ira Small, suddenly, and, diving down into a pocket of his jacket, he brought forth a bit of candle not over two inches in length.
“Picked it up on the yacht,” he explained. “Thought it might come in handy some time.”
The bit of candle was lit, and then all looked down the hole to see if anything further might be there. But only the solid rock met their gaze.
“Smash it open, boys! Smash it open!” went on the lanky sailor, still as excited as ever. “We want to see what the box contains before that candle is burnt up—an’ it won’t last very long.”
They found a small lock on the box, much rusted and without a key. With rocks they finally succeeded in smashing the lock. Then they pried back the lid of the box. A sheet of what had once evidently been perfectly good leather met their gaze. The sailor thrust this aside and then dove both hands into the box, bringing up a mass of old and much tarnished coins.
“Pirates’ gold!” he exclaimed, excitedly. “Doubloons! Hundreds of them! We’ve got the pirates’ gold at last!”