Casting off the rope from around his waist, Andy followed his father into the tunnel-like cavern, stooping as he did so, for its mouth was barely five feet in height.
At ten paces from its mouth the pa.s.sage turned almost at right angles to its former direction, and expanded into a broad and lofty chamber.
Almost covering the width of the four sides was a range of arm-racks filled with old-time weapons. The candle-light flashed upon the bright barrels of musket and pistol, and glittered on the steel of bayonet, cutla.s.s, sword, and pike, for so dry was the atmosphere that a couple of centuries had not left any appreciable trace on the metal.
"Great Scott! How did these get here?" asked Andy, after he had recovered from his astonishment.
"It"s the armoury of some long-forgotten buccaneer," replied his father. "I"ve had plenty of time to look round since you first sent me the lantern, and none of these weapons are later than the earlier part of the eighteenth century, or the last part of the seventeenth. See, these muskets have Vauban locks, a combination of flint and matchlock.
These kinds of muskets were used at the battles of Steenkirke and Landen. You can also see that all these bayonets are the plug variety, that is to say they were plugged into the barrel of the musket, thus temporarily converting it from a firearm to a pike. These are evidently the original bayonets used in the reign of James II., so that we can fix the period at which they were stored here to within a few years, since the socket type were introduced early in the reign of William III."
In this strain Mr. McKay continued, forgetful of time and place, till Ellerton"s voice was heard shouting to know of anything was amiss.
"We had better retrace our footsteps," observed Mr. McKay, "or the others will be getting alarmed. When we"ve found an easier way of descending into this pit--for I do not want another fall like that, I can a.s.sure you--we"ll make a thorough exploration of the place."
Accordingly father and son made their way back towards the shaft, but as they turned the bend of the pa.s.sage they found themselves confronted by Terence and Ellerton, each of whom carried a lantern.
"Hullo! How did you descend?" asked Andy, who was very astonished at seeing his friends down there.
"I lowered Terence, and then let myself down," replied Ellerton.
"Then, how in the name of goodness, do you expect to get back?"
demanded Andy. "Quexo cannot haul us up."
"By the same means as I came down," replied the young sailor calmly.
"It"s easy enough with a bos"un"s chair."
"Then all I can say is that I hope you lashed the pulley on securely,"
rejoined Andy with evident concern. "If that goes wrong, we"re trapped."
"Don"t worry," replied Ellerton, somewhat ruffled at the slur cast upon his work.
"Come, come," observed Mr. McKay good-humouredly. "Don"t quarrel. Now we are here we might as well continue our exploration."
Once more the armoury was inspected, the lads showing the greatest interest in the weapons, snapping the flints in order to see the sparks fly from the steel.
"Be careful, some of these muskets may be loaded," cautioned Mr. McKay.
"Always make it a practice to point a weapon away from anybody when fooling about like that."
Hardly had he spoken, when a tremendous explosion shook the cave, the noise being intensified by the confined s.p.a.ce, and Terence sat on the floor rubbing his shoulder, while a smoking musket lay by his side.
"You"re a young a.s.s," observed Andy. "Are you hurt?"
"Didn"t know it was loaded," replied the youth, still clapping his hand to his shoulder.
"That"s what they all say after an accident has occurred," said Mr.
McKay. "By some means or the other the musket was stored without the charge being drawn. However, thank goodness it"s no worse, though the concussion might have brought the roof down on our heads."
Presently Ellerton, who had wandered behind one of the arms-racks that stood about three feet from the wall, exclaimed:
"Here"s another pa.s.sage."
"Hold on, then," cautioned Mr. McKay. "Wait till I come. There might be a pitfall."
Carefully examining the floor of the tunnel, the explorers advanced about ten yards, when further progress was prevented by a door covered with flat iron bars.
"H"m!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr. McKay. "What have we here?"
Terence was dispatched to bring a dagger and a pike from the armoury, but on further thoughts Mr. McKay forbade the lads to tamper with the door.
"Then we are done for the time being," remarked Andy. "Shall we go back for our axes?"
"A crowbar would be the thing," replied Ellerton. "But we want the two we brought."
"Probably it"s as well we haven"t got them," added Mr. McKay. "To tell the truth, I have my suspicions of that door, so we"ll defer the opening of it till a more convenient time."
Reluctantly the lads retraced their steps to the open chasm, where Blight"s body lay.
"We must bury him as soon as possible," said Mr. McKay. "There"s no place here, so we must haul the body to the surface, and dig a grave in the soft earth."
"There"s no soil nearer than the edge of the palm-forest," observed Andy.
"I know, but it cannot be helped."
"Isn"t there a rift or a hole in the floor where we could bury him?"
asked Ellerton. "After all, where does it matter, so long as he receives Christian burial?"
"We may as well look," a.s.sented Mr. McKay, and taking one of the lanterns he commenced to explore that side of the chasm which lay opposite to the tunnel leading to the buccaneers" armoury.
The first ten or twelve paces were knee deep in the pumice dust, but on approaching the wall of the abyss the floor was fairly hard, being protected from falling dirt and sand by the overhang of the shaft.
On reaching the stone face of the rift the explorers followed its general direction without discovering any crack or crevice likely to suit their purpose, till they stumbled upon another tunnel-like shaft, similar and almost opposite to the one they had already traversed.
This tunnel was about six feet in height and four in width, and ran in a slightly upward direction. Evidently it was at one time a continuation of the other pa.s.sage.
"Let"s see where this leads to," exclaimed Ellerton, full of curiosity and enthusiasm. "I believe it leads to the open air."
"I think not," replied Mr. McKay, pointing to the smooth, even steps in the floor of the tunnel. "See, the floor is as dry as a bone, and covered with a thick deposit of dust. If this tunnel is open, the tropical rains would have washed the dust away."
"Then where does it lead to?" continued Ellerton. "Those arms must have been brought in by some means."
"We"ll carry on and see who"s right."
It was a long walk. Up and up ran the tunnel, turning slightly to the right, yet maintaining a uniform height and breadth throughout its entire length.
"This pa.s.sage has been hewn out," announced Mr. McKay.
"Hasn"t the other?" asked Andy.
"Only in parts. The armoury is a natural cave. Perhaps there was a smaller tunnel here before, and the people who discovered it enlarged it. It"s about time we came to the end."