"Now we"re off, I guess," said Hiram, when he had crossed over a plank that served for a bridge over the trench alongside, which was getting pretty deep by now. "Let us go straight fur thet buccaneers" tree-sor, shepmates!"
"And here"s for the black man"s ghost as the second-mate spoke on,"
replied Tom Bullover, with a grin. "I specs we"ll as soon find one as t"other!"
"Durned ef I kear," said Hiram defiantly; "ghostess or no ghostess, I"m bound fur thet pile, I am, if we ken sorter light on it!"
"I only hope we will, I"m sure," I chimed in, as the three of us made our way across the beach and then traversed the sterile lava plain, shaping a course for the cl.u.s.ter of trees between the hills, on the right of the bay, which I had first investigated.
The doves we found as tame as ever, coo-coo-cooing away with great unction on our approach, and beside the borders of the pool were a lot of tortoises crawling about; but, there was no cave near, concealed in the brushwood, although we searched through it all carefully--so we resumed our way up the hills.
As we ascended, the scenery became wilder and wilder, the trees increasing so greatly in size that some of the trunks of them, which apparently belonged to the oak species, were over four feet in diameter, growing, too, to a great height.
Nor was the scenery only wild.
About half a mile up a steep ravine, a drove of wild hogs rushed by us, nearly knocking Hiram down, he being in advance of the exploring party.
"Jehosophat, mate!" he exclaimed to Tom, laughing as he stumbled over him; "thaar"s y"r black man"s ghost, I guess."
"Carry on," replied Tom grinning; "we ain"t come to him yet. You just wait and see!"
Further up, we came to a beautiful plain of some extent between the hills, which had been at some former time planted for cultivation, for bananas, sweet potatoes, yucca palms, and many other sorts of tropical fruits were growing about in the wildest profusion.
There were the remains, too, of old buildings and broken mill machinery, such as used in the West Indies for crushing the sugar cane, a lot of which was planted in the vicinity; but these were of giant proportions from not having been cut possibly for years, for, stump sprang up on top of stump, until the root cl.u.s.ters covered many square yards--the canes themselves being over twenty-five feet in height and more than fifteen inches in circ.u.mference, of a size that would have made a sugar-planter"s mouth water.
"Guess some cuss hez ben a-cultivatin" hyar," observed Hiram, looking critically round. "When I wer to hum down Chicopee way--"
"Stow that, bo," said Tom Bullover, interrupting him, being always afraid of letting the other sail off on the tack of his home recollections, as he was doomed ever to hear the same old yarn, so that he was sick of its repet.i.tion. "I don"t think you"ll find your cave here; them old buccaneers wouldn"t be sich fools to lug all their booty up this long way, when they could bury it more comf"able near the sh.o.r.e, and likewise come upon it the easier again when they wanted it."
"Specs ye air about right, bo," answered Hiram, taking the interruption kindly, and no ways hurt at having his Chicopee remembrances once more nipped in the bud. "What shall we dew?"
"Why, go down again," replied Tom. "Here"s a fresh track down to the beach on this side which leads to another bay, I fancy. Let"s make for it and see where it leads to."
"Fire away; I"m arter ye, bo," said the other, the two now changing places, and Tom Bullover showing the way. ""Foller my leader"--thet"s the game, I reckon!"
All of us laughed at this, stepping gingerly in single file after Tom, who found some difficulty at first in pushing through the branches of the trees, which were thickly interwoven overhead and across the path; but the latter was distinctly marked out, being well trodden as if it had been a regular pathway of communication at some previous time.
The bay below, to which this road led, was on the other side of the point of land that stretched past the ship; and as we descended the hill we could see the blue sea peeping through the trees.
Half-way down, the pathway abruptly terminated in front of what seemed a mound of earth, although this was now overgrown with trees, covered with orchilla weed, that enveloped their trunks and gave them quite a venerable aspect.
"Hillo!" cried Hiram, "hyar"s enuff o" thet orchilla weed thet they vall"ys so in "Frisco to make airy a nan"s fortin" ez could carry it thaar, I guess!"
"Is that the orchilla?" I asked. "I was wondering what Mr Steenbock meant when he spoke of it."
"Aye," replied Hiram, dragging off a great bunch of it from what looked like the decayed trunk of one of the oak trees, hollowed out by age and exposure to the heavy tropical rains of the region, "thet"s what they calls the orchilla weed, I guess. Hillo! though, what"s this?"
"What?" exclaimed Tom Bullover and I, pressing up to where he was stooping, sc.r.a.ping away at the timber; "what is it?"
"I"m durned ef it air a tree at all," said Hiram, all excitement, and his voice thick with emotion and eager exultation. "It"s a door o" some sort or t"other."
"Really," I said, as eager as he, helping him to pull away the fungus growth from the now partly-exposed woodwork which, certainly, looked like a door, as he said, "do you think so?"
"Aye, Cholly. I"m jiggered if we ain"t found the cave at last!"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
RIVAL APPARITIONS.
"By Jingo!" said Tom, with a deep breath, bending down and helping Hiram to clear away the weeds and debris from the rotten old door, now clearly disclosed to view. "Jest fancy our lighting on it like this!"
"Perhaps it isn"t a cave at all," said I, likewise breathless with excitement, but not wishing to place my hopes too high, lest I should be disappointed; "it"s too far from the sea, I think."
"Nary a bit," retorted Hiram, doggedly. "I"ll bet my bottom dollar it"s the place sure enuff. Hyar goes, anyhow, fur a try."
So saying, rising from his stooping posture, he administered a thumping kick with his heavy seamen"s boot against the rotten woodwork.
This instantly gave way, a thick cloud of dust rolling up; and then, a hollow dark cavity appeared right in the centre of the mound, which we could now see was heaped up over the wooden framework, so as to conceal it from the notice of any one pa.s.sing by.
"Hooray!" shouted Tom Bullover, waving his hat and jumping up in the air to further express his emotion. "We"ve found the buccaneers" blessed treasure. Look out for the ghost, Hiram!"
"Durn the ghost!" retorted the other; "not twenty on "em wu"d kep me back now, I guess!"
At the same moment, he made a dive to enter the opening, but Tom put his hand on his shoulder and half pulled him back.
"Stop, bo," he said. "There might be foul air in it, "cause of its being so long closed up. Let"s wait and see."
"How ken ye tell thet?" asked Hiram; "guess it don"t matter a red cent if ther air."
"You just wait," insisted Tom. "I"ll find out in a jiffey; and then, if it"s safe, we can venture in. The cave ain"t a-goin" to run away from us, and you know the old saying, "more haste less speed!" We"re going to do things in proper shipshape fashion, bo, so none o your rushing matters; it"ll all come right in time!"
With these words, Tom, who was a sensible, matter-of-fact fellow, with his head screwed on straight and all his wits about him, took out a box of matches from the inside lining of his hat, where he always kept his pipe and tobacco and such things that he did not wish to get wet; and, lighting one of the matches, he proceeded to hold it within the dark cavity.
The flame flickered and then suddenly went out, although there wasn"t a breath of air stirring, the trees around preventing the sea-breeze from reaching the spot where we stood--a sort of little hollow between the hills.
"There you are, bo," said Tom; "see that?"
"Guess I don"t underconstubble," answered Hiram, staring at him in perplexity. "What d"ye mean, hey?"
"Didn"t you watch the match go out?" returned Tom. "Lord, I never did see such a feller!"
"Wa-al, what ef the durned match did fiz out?"
"Don"t yer know what it means?"
"Guess not."