He arrested his footsteps just at the spot where the tussock-gra.s.s ladder had formerly trailed down, enabling them to reach their valley, without all the bother of toiling round the coast as they had to do now.
"Don"t you think this spot here has altered greatly?" said the sailor lad to Fritz.
"No, I can"t say I do," returned the other. "The gra.s.s has only been burnt away; that, of course, makes it look bare."
"Well, I think differently," replied Eric, jumping down into the crevice. "This place wasn"t half so wide before."
"Indeed?"
"No, it wasn"t I couldn"t have squeezed myself in here when I last came up the plateau."
"Why, that was all on account of the s.p.a.ce the tussock-gra.s.s took up."
Eric did not reply to this; but, a moment after, he shouted out in a tone of great surprise, "Hullo, there"s a cave here, with something glittering on the floor!"
"Really?"
"Yes, and it looks like gold!"
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
"SAIL HO!"
"Gold!" exclaimed Fritz in astonishment.
"Yes, gold," repeated the other, excitedly. "There are a lot of coins here each bigger than an eight-gulden piece."
"Nonsense?"
"Yes, there is, really. Come down here and see for yourself. There"s plenty of room for both you and me."
Trembling with excitement, Fritz jumped down beside his brother, who, stooping down in the crevice of the gully, had discovered a cavity in the rock further in the face of the cliff. This the fringe of the now destroyed tussock-gra.s.s had previously hidden from view as they ascended and descended the ladder-way; else they must have noticed the place the very first time they came up to the tableland from the valley below. It was exactly facing the ledge from whence they climbed on to the plateau; so, had it not been then covered over, they could not have failed to see it.
The cavity, which had been probably worn away by the water trickling down, was like a little grotto; and there, piled on the bare rock, were hundreds of coins!
These were quite bright, strange to say, although this circ.u.mstance was most likely owing to the action of the fire that had burnt the tussock- gra.s.s; for, some heavy iron clamps and hinges, that had evidently belonged to the box which contained the coins originally and had been consumed at the same time, lay on either side of the golden treasure. A number of the coins, too, if any further proof was needed, were fused together in a solid lump.
With eyes dilated with joy, the brothers gazed at the mine of wealth, hardly daring to believe that what they saw was real.
Then, Fritz put out his hands and touched the heap.
"It is there--I feel it!" he exclaimed. "We are not dreaming?"
"I"m sure I"m not," said Eric, laughing with delight. "Why, it is a regular fortune--it will beat all that we have earned by our sealing!"
Fritz took up one of the coins and examined it carefully. He had some knowledge of numismatics from his mercantile education in Herr Grosschnapper"s office, that worthy merchant trading to all parts of the globe and having considerable dealings with foreign monies.
"It is a doubloon," he explained to his brother after studying it a bit.
"The treasure consists of old Spanish coins that must have lain here for years."
"I wonder who put them in this little hole?" said Eric.
Fritz did not answer this query for the moment; but, almost at the same instant, there flashed across his recollection a curious story which an old man at Tristan d"Acunha had told him--at the time when he and Eric were inspecting the settlement on that island, before coming over to their own little colony--concerning an old pirate who had buried a lot of treasure either there or on Inaccessible Island.
After the brothers had gazed to their hearts" fill at the precious h.o.a.rd which had so suddenly been, revealed to them, the next thought was how to remove it to their hut below.
"We"ll roll up the lot in a blanket," said Eric, who as usual was always to the fore when anything had to be planned out. "Tie up the gold securely; and then chuck the bundle containing it down below, along with the poor pigs we have slaughtered! There"s no fear of anybody making off with our doubloons before we accomplish the swim round the headland back home."
"Yes, that will be the wisest course," acquiesced Fritz; "but, talking of swimming round the headland, the sooner we"re off the better. Those clouds look very threatening."
"Only rain, I think," replied Eric, looking up at the sky.
"Good, that will not make us very wet when we are in the water, with our bare skins," said Fritz quizzingly.
"No," replied Eric, laughing. "But, the sooner we are now off the better, as you say; for, even if the weather holds up, there are a lot of things for us to do when we get home. We have the pigs to skin, as well as cut up and salt; and, besides, there"s all our money to count over."
"We can do that now, as we roll it up in the blanket," replied Fritz, proceeding to suit the action to the word.
To their high delight, they found that there were nearly two thousand separate gold coins, apart from the solid lump fused together, the whole being probably worth some three thousand pounds, or thereabouts.
"Why, it"s a perfect fortune!" exclaimed Eric. "You and Madaleine will now be able to marry and settle down, and mother be comfortably provided for, and everything!"
"But, how about your share?" said Fritz, looking at the unselfish lad with glistening eyes. "Your share, indeed, why it"s all yours!"
"Nonsense," replied Eric; "we are partners, are we not? Besides, I don"t want any money. When we leave here, you know, I"m going to sea again with Captain Brown, in the _Pilot"s Bride_; and a sailor, unlike you poor land folk, carries his home with him. He does not continually want cash for housekeeping expanses!"
"Very well, we"ll see about that bye-and-bye," said Fritz, putting all the coins into the blanket, which Eric then tied up securely, lashing it round with a cord in seaman fashion. After that, they pitched the bundle down below, when the c.h.i.n.k of the coins at the bottom of the gully sounded like pleasant music in their ears!
The barrel of the needle-gun was then unscrewed from the stock, Fritz having kept the weapon ready for use as long as they remained on the plateau, thinking that as Fortune had so strangely endowed them with the pirate"s treasure, perhaps some outlandish bird might equally suddenly make its appearance for him to add to their spoil. However, as nothing new in the feathered line came in sight, the albatross having taken their departure with the penguins, and not even an "island hen" being to be seen, the two now clambered down to the west beach once more.
Here, packing up their cask again with the various impedimenta they still had, they proceeded also to put in their clothing.
Then, fastening up the cask and lashing the tarpaulin round it again with the fastenings and beckets, which had been taken off in order the easier to unpack it, they entered the sea for their return swim round the headland--starting off in the best of spirits on their way back home once more.
This time, the swim back was far more fatiguing, the wind and a slight swell being against them; but, the good living they enjoyed while on the plateau had nerved them up to any amount of exertion, so the journey, if more wearying, was performed in almost the same time they had taken to go to the western coast.
Besides, as soon as they neared the headland, the currents there, which had been against them, were now all in their favour, the waves bearing them and their oil cask, once they had turned the point, buoyantly up to their own beach in the little bay, without the trouble almost of swimming a stroke!
It was now well on towards the latter end of July, in the second year of the island life; and, the next week or two, they were busy enough salting down their pigs and attending to their garden, some cabbages from which with their newly acquired pork making them many a good meal.
Then, came the return of the penguins to their breeding-place in August; so, there was now no further fear of their suffering from a scarcity of food, for, in case they tired of pork, they had plenty of fresh eggs for a change, as well as an occasional roast of one of the inhabitants of the rookery, whose fleshy b.r.e.a.s.t.s tasted somewhat, Eric said, like goose--albeit Fritz called him a goose for saying so!
September was ushered in by a strong north-easterly gale, similar to that in which the brig had been wrecked.
This alarmed the brothers, who began to fear, when the gale had lasted over the middle of the month, that the stormy weather might possibly prevent the _Pilot"s Bride_ from venturing near the island, Captain Brown having said that it would have been more than madness while the wind prevailed from that quarter for any vessel to approach the coast.
However, towards the third week in the month, the north-east wind shifting round, a gentle breeze sprang up from the south-west. A like change had very similarly occurred at the time of their own landing on the island; so, the brothers" hearts beat high with hope.