"In which case," came eagerly from Jack"s lips, "all that treasure belongs to us! Boys, it is a wonderful stroke of fortune! We have made enough to take the whole of us through Yale, and----"
"If we ever get back to Yale, old fellow! This unfortunate fellow perished here, and our fate may be similar."
"Boo!" shivered Browning. "That"s pleasant to think about!"
"More than that," Frank went on, "the treasure does not belong to us if we can find the real owner or his heirs."
The excitement and interest of the boys was great. They were eager to examine the decorations of the mysterious skeleton.
"We"ll stack our wheels, and then one of us can climb up and make an inspection," said Frank.
So they proceeded to stack their wheels, Toots observing:
"Yo" can fool wif dat skillerton if yo" wants to, chilluns, but dis n.i.g.g.e.r"s gwan teh keep right away from it. Bet fo" dollars it will jest reach out dem arms and grab de firs" one dat gits near it. Wo-oh!
Land ob wartermillions! it meks me have de fevah an" chillins jes" to fink ob it!"
"We"ll draw lots to see who goes up," said Frank, winking at the others. "You will have to go if it falls to you, Toots."
"Oh, mah goodness!" gasped the frightened darky. "I ain"t gwan teh draw no lots, Ma.r.s.er Frank--no, sar! I"s got a po"erful bad case ob heart trouble, an" mah doctah hab reckermended dat I don"t fool roun"
no skillertons. He said it might result distrus if I boddered wif skillertons."
"What"s that?" cried Frank, sternly. "Would you drink your share of water when water is so precious and not take even chances with the rest of us in any danger?"
"Now, Ma.r.s.er Frank!" cried the darky, appealingly; "don" go fo" to be too hard on a po" n.i.g.g.e.r! De trubble wif me is dat I"m jes" a nacheral bo"n coward, an" I can"t git over hit nohow. Dat"s what meks mah heart turn flip-flops ebry time dar"s any dangar, sar."
"But think of the treasure up there that we have found. If it should fall to you to investigate, and you were to bring down that treasure, of course you would receive your share, the same as the rest of us."
"Lawd bress yeh, honey! I don" want no treasure if I"ve goter go an"
fotch hit down. I"d a heap sight rudder nebber hab no treasure dan git wifin reachin" distance of dat skillerton--yes, sar!"
"Don"t fool with him, Merry," said Diamond, impatiently. "Of course you don"t expect to send him up, and you won"t think of giving him any part of the treasure."
Frank flashed a look at the Virginian, and saw that Jack was in earnest.
"You are mistaken, old man," he said. "I do not expect Toots to go up there, but, if there is a real treasure and it is divided, you may be sure he will receive his share."
"Oh, well!" cried Jack, somewhat taken aback; "of course I don"t care what you do about that, but I thought you were in earnest about what you were saying."
"The trouble with you," muttered Rattleton, speaking so low that Jack could not hear him, "is that you never see through a joke."
"Come," spoke Browning, "if we"ve got to take chances to see who goes up and makes the examination, come on. I hope to get out of it myself, but if I must, I must."
"We need not take chances," said Frank, promptly. "I will go."
"It will not be difficult, for it is no climb at all," said Jack. "Two of us can swing ourselves up there in a moment, and I will go with you, Merry."
Then it was that Rattleton suddenly gave a great cry of stupefied amazement.
"What"s the matter?" asked Merriwell.
"Look! Look!" gasped Harry, pointing toward the niche in the rocks.
"The skeleton--it has disappeared!"
They looked, and, dumb for the time with amazement and dismay, they saw Rattleton spoke the truth.
The mysterious skeleton had vanished!
CHAPTER IV.
"INDIANS!"
"Gone!" cried Jack.
"Sure!" nodded Frank.
"Lordy ma.s.sy sakes teh goose-grease!" gasped Toots, again shivering with terror. "Didn"t I done tole yeh, chilluns! If yo" know when yo"
am well off, yeh"ll git erway from heah jes" as quick as yeh can trabbel! Oh, mah goodness!"
Shaking in every limb, the colored boy tried to get his bicycle out from the others, lost his balance, fell over, and sent the entire stack of wheels crashing to the ground.
"Well, this seems to be a regular sleight-of-hand performance," coolly commented Browning. "Now you see it, and now you don"t; guess where it"s gone. It drives me to a cigarette."
But he discovered that his cigarettes were gone, which seemed to concern him far more than the vanishing of the skeleton. He declared he had lost a whole package, and seemed to feel quite as bad about it as if they were solid gold.
Rattleton was excited.
"What sort of pocus-hocus--no, hocus-pocus is this, anyway?" he spluttered. "Where"s it gone? Who wayed the old thing a took. I mean who took the old thing away?"
"It couldn"t have gone away of its own accord," said Frank, "so some one must have removed it."
"Don" yeh fool yo"se"f dat way, Ma.r.s.er Frank!" cried Toots, sitting up amid the fallen wheels. "Dat skillerton am de berry ol" scratch hisse"f! De next thing some ob dis crowd will be disumpearin" dat way.
Gwan ter git kerried off, chilluns, if yo" don" git out ob dis in a hurry."
"Oh, shut up!" snapped Diamond. "You make me tired with your chatter!"
"Mistah Dimund," said the colored boy, with attempted dignity, "if yo"ll let dat debbil kerry yo" off yo"ll nebber be missed--no, sar."
Jack pretended he did not hear those words.
"Here goes to see what has become of the thing!" cried Frank, as he scrambled up to the niche where the skeleton had sat.
"I am with you!" cried Diamond, as he followed Frank closely.
Reaching the nook in the face of the cliff, they looked about for some sign of the skeleton that had been there a short time before, but not a sign of it could they see. The ghastly thing was gone, and the glittering ornaments had vanished with it. The block of stone on which the object had sat was still there.