CHAPTER XX
IN WHICH A ROCK MOVES, A DISCOVERY IS MADE AND MORE THAN ONE AVENUE IS OPENED
In the light of Betty's fire Jim hastily poured forth the contents ofhis bag and never did a child's eyes at Christmas time shine likeBetty's. She had hungered until she was weak and trembling and nowsuch articles as Jim displayed were amply sufficient to elicit from herthat little cry of delight. Tortillas and beans, meat and coffee andsugar and milk--it was a banquet fit for a king and a queen!
"The only thing," cautioned Kendric, "is to go slow. It's a coursedinner, Miss Betty. And first comes a bit of milk."
He ripped open a can with his pocket knife, poured out half of thethick contents into the silk-water bag and diluted the remainder withwater. Thereafter he watched Betty while she forced herself, at hisbidding, to eat and drink sparingly. And he noted that during hisabsence she had been busy working on her wardrobe. Using both the redgarment and the cloak, employing in her task the obsidian knife andstrips of green fiber, she had made for herself a garment which itwould have been hard to classify and yet which was astonishinglybecoming. As much as anything Kendric had ever seen it resembled astylish and therefore outlandish riding habit. She wore Zoraida'sshoes and stockings.
"I washed them with sand and water first," said Betty around a cornerof her sandwich. "And I let them air all day."
"No visitors?" said Kendric. "No sign of anyone on our trail?"
Betty assured him that she had been unmolested, that the terriblestillness of the mountain had been unbroken. And she sought to tellhim how long the day had been.
"I know," he said. "It was long enough for me, and I was out in theopen and stirring. It must have been a slice of torment for you herealone all day, not even knowing if I'd ever get back or have any foodwhen I came."
"I knew you'd come," said Betty. "But it was lonesome and shivery."
He told her of his day and finally of the man he had seen across thecanon. Further, of his suspicion that it was Ruiz Rios. Bettyshuddered.
"He is a terrible creature," she said. "I'd rather it was anyone else.Do you think he has an idea we're here?"
He stretched out by the fire, helped himself to a bit of the dried beefand told her his thoughts.
"I know just about how Rios would reason things out. And, oddlyenough, it strikes me that though he began with a false premise he hascome pretty close to reaching the right conclusion. You see, he knowsthat I came down here with Barlow looking for treasure. He knewCaptain Escobar was ahead of him on the same trail and when he couldget nothing further out of Escobar he killed him. But he did know in ageneral way where we expected to find the stuff. So, when you and Iskip out and don't head straight back to the gulf, he's pretty sure I'mstill making a stab at getting the treasure. And it has happened thatyou and I, blundering along in the dark, have hit on this spot which isnot far from the place where the treasure is supposed to be. So Rioshides in the brush with a pair of glasses and keeps his eye peeled forus. I think that's the whole explanation of his being out yonder. AndI think that's all he knows."
"It's enough." Betty shook her head dubiously.
"Of course," he admitted, "this is just a guess on my part. He mayknow more than I think.--During the day," he added, "and just now whileI lay out yonder waiting for dark, I've had a lot of time to thinkthings out. First, it strikes me as best to hide out here one more dayand then, tomorrow night, to make a break for the outside. Personally,I don't know that I'd be fit for much tonight; it's a good stiff hiketo where we left the _Half Moon_ and I won't be able to keep awake muchlonger. Then by tomorrow night, even if Zoraida is as keen as ever toget us back, I doubt if her men's enthusiasm for vigilance will havelasted at the first heat. There'll be a better chance for us to slipthrough."
Here, again, the responsibility in Betty's way of thinking was his andshe accepted his plan without challenge.
"Another thing I've been thinking of," he went on, "is that queer,smooth hole in that boulder; where we've our water stored. What haveyou made of it?"
"A reservoir," she answered lightly, her spirits risen swiftly with hiscoming and a taste of food. "What else?"
"Rios is hard set in his belief that there's ancient treasure nearby.So is Barlow. So, evidently, was Escobar. If so, what more likelyplace than where we are? That hole didn't make itself after thatregular fashion. I don't see just what it has to do with the case,I'll admit. But somebody made it a long time ago and didn't do it justfor the fun of the job. I've a notion that it has its bearing on thething. Somehow."
"It isn't big enough to hold much treasure," said Betty. "Maybe theydidn't finish it?"
But from this they went to other matters. Kendric merely decided thatwhile they spent a long tomorrow of inaction he would look into thematter. There was no great temptation to tarry for treasure and theincentive to be on the way, traveling light, was sufficientlyemphasized. But there was a quiet day to be put in tomorrow, if allwent right, and he was not the man to forget what had brought himsouthward.
"We'll both go to sleep," he said presently, "and not do any worryingabout what the other fellow may be doing. With our fire out and a lotof dead limbs scattered about the entrance to crack under a man's foot,they'll not surprise us tonight, even if they should know where we are.Tomorrow we'll keep a watch over the ravine. And tomorrow night I hopewe'll be on the trail toward the gulf. Now do you want to slip outwith me for a goodnight drink of water? Or would you rather wait herefor me?"
Betty was on her feet in a flash.
"I've done enough waiting today to last me the rest of my life!" shecried emphatically. "I'll go with you."
So again, and as cautious as they had been last night, they made theirway down the steep slope and drank in the starlight. They tarried alittle by the trickle of water, heeding the silence, breathing deep ofthe soft night, lifting their eyes to the stars. The world seemedyoung and sweet about them, clean and tender, a place of infinite peaceand kindness rather than of a pursuing hate. They stood closetogether; their shoulders brushed companionably. Together theyhearkened to a tiny voice thrilling through the emptiness, themonotonous vibrating cadences of some happy insect. The heat of theday had passed with the day, the perfect hour had come. It was one ofthose moments which Jim Kendric found to his liking. Many such stillhours had he known under many skies and out of the night had alwayscome something vague and mighty to speak to something no less mightywhich lay within his soul. But always before, when he drank the fillof a time like this, he had been alone. He had thought that a man mustbe alone to know the ineffable content of the solitudes. Tonight hewas not alone. And yet more perfect than those other hours in otherlands was this hour slipping by now as the tiny voice out yonderslipped through the silence without shattering it. Certain words ofhis own little song crept into his mind.
"Where it's only you And the mountainside."
That "you" had always been just Jim Kendric. After this, if ever againhe sang it, the "you" would be Betty.
"Shall we go back?" he asked quietly.
He saw Betty start. Her eyes came back from the stars and sought his.He could see them only dimly in the shadow of her hair, but he knewthey were shining with the gush of her own night-thoughts. Theyscooped up their water then and went back up the mountain. Their firewas almost down and they did not replenish it. They went to their bedsof boughs and lay down in silence. Presently Jim said "Good night."And Betty, the hush of the outside in her voice as she answered, saidsoftly "Good night."
They were astir before dawn. Fresh water must be brought beforedaylight brightened in the canons. This time Jim went alone to thecreek and when he got back Betty had their fire blazing. Betty madethe breakfast, insisting on having her free unhampered way with it.
"There are some things I can do," said Betty, "and a great many Ican't. It happens that I know what things are beyond me and those thatare within the scope of my powers. One thing that I can do is co
ok.And I have camped before now, if you please."
So, when Jim had brought her firewood and had placed the variousarticles of their larder handy for her and had offered his serviceswith jack-knife to open a can or hack through a bit of beef, he stoodback and fully enjoyed the sight of Betty making breakfast. He enjoyedthe prettiness of her in her odd costume of blouse, scarlet sash andknickerbockers, silk stockings and high heeled slippers; the atmosphereof intimacy which hovered over them, distilled in a measure from themagic of a camp fire, certainly aided and abetted by the homeyarrangement of Betty's brown hair; the aroma of coffee beginning tobubble in a milk tin; the fragrance of an inviting stew in the othertin wherein were mingled _frijoles_ and "jerky." Ruiz Rios might lurkaround the next spur of the mountain; Zoraida might be inciting herhirelings to fresh endeavor; much danger might be watching by the trailwhich in time they would have to follow--but here and now, for the fewminutes at least, there was more of quiet enjoyment in their retreatthan of discomfort or of fear of the future.
"Let's go camping some time," said Jim abruptly. "Just you and me.We'll take a pack horse; we'll load him to the guards with the propersort of rations; we'll strike out into the heart of the Californiasierra--where there are fine forests and little lakes and lonely trailsand peace over all of it."
Betty looked at him curiously, then away swiftly.
"Breakfast is ready," she announced.
He sipped at his coffee absently; his eyes, looking past Betty, sawinto a hidden, cliff-rimmed valley in those other, fresher mountainsfurther north, glimpsed vistas down narrow trails between tall pinesand cedars and firs, fancied a lodge made of boughs on the shore of alittle blue lake. He'd like to show Betty this camping spot; he'd liketo bring in for her a string of gleaming trout; he'd like to lie on hisside under the cliffs and just watch her. He had whittled two sticksfor spoons; he ate his stew with his and forgot to talk.
And Betty, watching him covertly, wondered astutely if over the firstmeal she had cooked for him Jim Kendric wasn't readjusting his ancientideas of woman. For some hidden reason, or for no reason at all, hersilence was as deep as his.
After breakfast, however, it was Betty who started talk. They soughtto plan definitely for tonight. Kendric told her of the way he andBarlow had come, of the _Half Moon_ awaiting his and Barlow's return,of his determination to make use of the schooner if they could come toit. Barlow's plans were not at Kendric's disposal; the sailor might becounting on the vessel and he might not. At any rate he and Bettycould slip down the gulf in it and either take ship at La Paz, sendingit back up the gulf then, or steer on to San Diego. Of course he wouldseek to get in touch with Barlow; he could send a message of some sort.But after all Barlow had taken the game into his own hands and had saidthat it was now each man for himself.
"We can make the trip during the night, if we can make the get-away,"he told her. "We'll have to take a roundabout way at first, edging thevalley along the foothills on this side until we're well past the ranchhouse, then cut across the shortest way and pick up the trail on theother side. We can take enough water in our milk tins to last us,especially since we're traveling in the cool."
"And if," suggested Betty, "the _Half Moon_ isn't there? Or if Zoraidahas set some of her men to watch for us there?"
Naturally he had thought of that. If they came to the gulf and a newproblem of this sort offered itself, then it would be time to considerit.
"We'll just hope for the best," he answered, "and try to be ready forwhat comes."
Carefully they conserved each tiny fragment of food, using the floursack for cupboard. They went cautiously to the entrance of theirhiding place and for a long time crouched behind the bushes, watchingthe canon sides, seeking for a sign of Rios as they fancied Rios wasseeking them. And during the quiet hours they explored the place inwhich they were.
First they considered the odd hole in the big boulder, seeking to findsome logical reason for its being, asking themselves if it could haveany connection whatever with the ancient hidden treasure. Clearly itwas the result of human labor. Therefore it appeared to have itsrelation to an older order of civilization since it was not conceivablethat a modern man had taken such a task upon himself. But its meaningbaffled.
"It could be a sign, like a blazed tree or a cross scratched on a blockof stone," said Kendric. "But it could mean anything. Or nothing," hewas forced to admit.
It was only in the late afternoon, after a long period of inactivityand silence, that an inspiration came to Kendric. Meantime they hadpoked into every crack and cranny, they had scraped at any loose dirton the ground, they had gone back and forth and up and down over everysquare inch of the place repeatedly. And Kendric thought that he hadgiven up when the last idea came to him. He went quickly back to theboulder. Betty watched him interestedly.
"I thought we'd given that up," she said.
He had both hands on the boulder, his fingers gripping the edge of thebaffling hole, and was seeking to shake the big block of rock. Bettycame to his side.
"You think that it was made as a hand-hole? That you can turn the rockover?"
"It does move--just a little," he said. He put all of his strengthinto a fresh attack. The boulder trembled slightly--that was all.
"I'll bet you my half of the loot that I've got the hang of it, MissBetty," he announced triumphantly.
"Wait and see."
He began looking about him for something.
"If I only dared slip outside for a minute," he said. Then his eyefell on the rifle. "We'll have to make this do. I run a risk ofjamming the front sight but I guess we can fix that."
He protected the sight as well as he could by wrapping his handkerchiefabout it. The muzzle of the gun he thrust down into the hole in therock.
"Get it now?" he asked. "If that hole wasn't made to allow a lever tobe inserted, then tell me what it _was_ made for. And here's even theplace to stand while a man uses it! I'll double the bet!"
That excitement which always gets into any man's blood when he believesthat he is on the threshold of a golden discovery, already shone in hiseyes. He stepped to a sort of shelf in the cavern wall close to theboulder, so that now his feet were on a level with the top of the rockhe meant to move. So he could just reach out and grasp the butt of therifle. Betty stood by, watching with an eagerness no less than hisown. Gradually he set his force at work on his lever, trying this wayand that. And then--
"It's moving!" cried Betty. "The rock is turning!"
And now it turned readily, his leverage being ample to the task.
"Look under the rock as it tips back," he told Betty. "See if thereisn't a hole under it. Big enough for a man to go through!"
"Yes!" answered Betty after a breathless fashion. "Yes. A littlemore. Oh, come see. It looks almost like steps going down!"
"I'll have to force it back a little farther," he returned. "Maybe itwill balance there. If not we'll have to get loose stones and wedgeunder it."
He pried it further and further until at last it would not budgeanother inch. He loosened his grip a trifle on the rifle-lever and therock began to settle back into its former place. But Betty had seenand already was bringing fragments of stone to block under the edges.
"Now," she called. "Come see."
He jumped down; the boulder, wedged securely, lay on its side. He wentto Betty and from what they saw before them they looked into eachother's eyes wonderingly.
"The tale was true," he said with conviction. "You and I have foundthe way to the treasure."
In the floor was an opening a couple of feet square. Very rude, unevensteps led down, vanishing in a forbidding black dark. Kendric lay flatand looked down. Little by little he could penetrate a bit further,but in the end there lay a region of impenetrable darkness into whichthe steps merged.
"You're going down _there_!" gasped Betty.
"_Am_ I?" he laughed. "You wouldn't want us to skip out tonightwithout even having looked into it,
would you?"
"N-o." But she hesitated and even shuddered as she too lay down andpeered into the forbidding place.
"We'll not take any chances we don't have to." He got up and beganimmediately to make his few preparations. "Here's the rifle; I'llleave it handy for you in case our friend Rios should surprise us.I'll take a handful of stuff with me to burn for a torch. And we'llhave another look out into the canon to begin with."
He drew out the rifle and gave it to Betty. He placed other stoneswith the ones she had slipped under the edges of the boulders. Andfinally he went to look out into the canon.
"No one in sight," he reported. "And now, here goes."
He sat down at the edge of the opening in the floor, set a match to hiscrude torch, grinned comfortingly up at Betty and wriggled over and sethis foot to the first step. As he did so there came to him anunpleasant memory of the fashion in which Zoraida had guarded her ownsecret places with rattlesnakes; he wondered if any of the ugly bruteslived down here? As it happened the thought had its influence insaving him from mishap later. For, though he came upon no snakes, hewent warily and thus avoided another danger.
His torch burnt vilely and smoked copiously. But what faint light itafforded was sufficient. Step by step he went down until feet and legsand then entire body were lost to Betty above; she had set the rifleaside and was kneeling, her hands clasped in her excitement. Now shecould see only his head and the torch held high; he looked up andsmiled at her and waved the faggot. Then she saw only the dimlyburning fire and the hand clutching it. And dimmer and dimmer grew hislight until she strained her eyes to catch a glint of it and could nottell if it were being extinguished for want of dean air or if he werevery, very far below her.
"Jim!" she called.
"All right," his voice floated back to her.
He had reached the bottom of the stone stairway; his feet shifting backand forth informed him that he was on a rock floor that was full ofinequalities and that pitched steeply ahead of him. His fire wasalmost out, deteriorating into a mere smudge curling up from dyingembers. The air was bad, thick and heavy; breathing was difficult. Helooked up and made out the dim square by which Betty knelt. He couldgo a little further without danger, since if the air grew worse hecould still turn and run back up the steps? The floor seemed to bepitching still more steeply. Fearful of a precipice or a pit and afall, he went down on his hands and knees and crept on. Thus he heldhis poor torch before him and thus he made a first discovery. Thesmoke was drifting steadily into his face. And that meant a current ofair.
Still crawling, he pressed forward eagerly, sniffing the air. But herelaxed none of his caution; the floor underneath still pitched steeplyand, it seemed to him, grew steeper. Then his light began to brighten;the embers glowed and when he blew on them, broke again into flame. Helooked up; he could not see the square of light above now. Evidentlyhe was passing into some sort of wide tunnel or lengthy chamber. Dimlyhe could descry walls on either side of him. Ahead was only blackemptiness; underfoot the uneven floor seeming to grow smoother and toslant still more abruptly downward.
"I'd better go easy," he told himself grimly. "If a man startedsliding here I wonder where he'd land!"
Decidedly the air was better. He filled his lungs and stopped where hewas, moving his torch above his head, lowering it, peering about him onall sides. At last he made out that a dozen steps further on there wasa level space about which the walls were squared so as to give theeffect of a small room. He drew nearer step by step and again wasforced to kneel and then feel his way forward with his hands for thefloor under him grew steadily steeper so that it was difficult to keepfrom sliding down the incline. When he saw his way sufficientlyclearly he did slide the last three or four feet. And now, as againhis torch flared and the air freshened in his nostrils, he saw thatwhich put an eager excitement in his blood. The small room had everyappearance of an ancient storeroom. He saw objects piled on the floor,objects of strange designs, cups and pitchers and vessels of variousshapes. He caught one up and it was heavy. He clanked two togetherand the mellow, bell-like sound had the golden note.
"Solid gold," he muttered. And as something upon one of thevessels--it was a drinking goblet of ornate design--caught the lightand shone back at him like imprisoned fire, "Encrusted with preciousstones!"
He put the things down and looked further. There was a big chest. Ashis foot struck it it burst asunder and tumbled its contents to thefloor. From the disordered heap there shone forth from countlessplaces the colorful glow of jewels. He passed to another chest, asmaller one placed as in a position of honor upon a square tablet ofrock. He held his torch close and looked in; he thrust in his hand andwithdrew it filled with pearls. Even he, no connoisseur like Barlow,would have staked his life on their genuineness. They were of manysizes but more large ones among them than small; their soft, richloveliness dimmed even those of Zoraida's wearing.
"A man could carry a million dollars out of here in his hands!"
He went on. But what he held in his hand he thrust into his pocket ashe went. The remembrance of Zoraida's rattlesnakes came to himabruptly. Thus he moved with renewed caution and thus he was savedfrom a misadventure. For even so he almost stepped to a fall. Betweentwo heaps of tumbled articles was a square hole, sheer and black,several feet across. He stooped over it. The air came up with a rush.At first he could see only a little way. Then he made out that theshaft went straight down only a few feet and then slanted away in agreat chute like the floor down which he had already come, only so muchsteeper that he knew had he fallen there would have been no returnpossible for him. To what eventual landing place would he haveplunged? For a moment or so his eyes strained in vain into the gloom.Slowly faint and then growing detail rewarded him. It was but a smallsection offered him because of the angling of the tunnel. But before awatch could have ticked ten times he knew into what place he would havefallen, into what regions his glance had penetrated. The light was dimdown yonder but he knew that he was looking down into the gardens ofthe golden king of Tezcuco.
"Another way into the hidden place, and one that Zoraida herself knowsnothing of," he thought. "If a man took this drop and then the slide,he'd land with the breath jolted out of him but there is shrubbery tofall on and it wouldn't kill him. But in there he'd stay! There wouldbe no climbing back up the slippery chute."
He withdrew and looked about him again. Expecting pitfalls, he took nosingle step without making sure first. He crossed the chamber and uponthe further side he came to a second pit and a second tunnel. Thislike the first was steep and smooth; this also gave him a glint oflight at the further end. The light was dim; he made out that thedistant mouth of the tunnel was obscured by a tangle of brush and scrubtrees.
"Another underground garden?" he wondered. "Or the outside world?"
He filled his lungs with the air flowing upward. He fancied that ithad a fresher, sweeter smell, that there was the wholesomeness ofsunlight in it.
"It would be a joke," was his quick thought, "if there were a way outfor us here while Rios watches the canon above!"
It was then that there came to him, faint from far above, Betty'sscream. He whirled and ran. Again he heard her screams, echoingwildly. As he stumbled on there came to him the muffled sound of arifle-shot.