CHAPTER XXII
REGARDING A NECKLACE OF PEARLS AND CERTAIN PLANS OF TWO WHO WERE MEANT TO BE ONE
From afar, reaching them only faintly, came the sounds of men's voices,Zoraida's men clamoring above, mystified and with ample cause.
"It may be our chance is now, not tonight," said Kendric. "Althoughit's but a little way from the house some of them, if not all, willhave ridden; their horses will be down in the canon. If we can slipout this way and come to the horses while they're looking for us upthere----"
"This way?" Betty for an instant wondered if he meant to follow Zoraidaand Rios.
"There is another way," he told her. "Come.--But first, we'll not goempty handed."
He began a quick rummaging among the ancient chests.
"Hurry," pleaded the girl. "What do we want with treasure? They mayfind us at any second. Oh, hurry!"
"Coming," he answered. "But here are wings to fly with." She saw himputting a number of small objects into his pockets. He moved toanother point and she could not see what he was doing, could only guessthat still he was stuffing something into the provision bag and furthercramming his pockets. Just then there was in Betty's soul no thirstfor wealth, just the mighty yearning for the open country and flightand the peace of safety afar.
"Here I am." Jim was again at her side. He caught her arm. "This way."
He led her to that other pit giving entrance to the second tunnel. Atanother time Betty might have hesitated to slip down into it; now shewas eager for anything that gave the vaguest hope of flight. For thefaint far voices still clamored and she feared that the hounds thathunted in Zoraida's wake might find the secret of the boulder and rollit back with many hands and rush down upon them.
But Kendric held her back while he first went down. He gripped theedges of the pit with his hands and lowered himself to the length ofhis arms and dropped. It was but a short fall and he landed safely andsteadied himself and managed to save himself from going down the slideby clutching at the rock wall. Betty handed down the rifle and bag,then lowered herself and he caught her in his arms. And then, in nolittle uncertainty and not without grave dread of what dangers theymight encounter, they went on.
The slide was steep and yet by going very guardedly, lying face down attimes and inching down cautiously, they made a slow descent. Thetunnel grew steadily smaller as they progressed; their bodies shut offthe light. The terrible thought presented itself to Kendric that whenthey came to the outlet it might be too small for them to pass through;and that to return up the tunnel was a task which would present itsdifficulties. So, when they came to a place where Betty could cling onand keep from slipping, he called to her to wait while he went on.
The time had come when his rifle was an encumbrance; he needed bothhands to keep from slipping. He had had the forethought to turn themuzzle downward, since Betty was above him. Now he craned his neck andsought to peer down along his body. Far away, somewhere, was a glintof sunlight, small but full of promise. He saw, as he had seen before,a tangle of brush. He wondered if it were a clump of bushes on alittle flat? Or if they were shrubs clinging to some steep face ofcliff? When at last he came to the mouth of this chute--if it werewide enough for a man's body to pass through--would the man havereached safety or would he be precipitated through space and down afifty foot fall of rock?
"The bushes ought to stop the rifle," he decided. "At any rate thetime has come when I need both hands." And he let it slide past himand sought to watch it as it clattered along the incline. But he sawnothing of it in the dim passage until it struck the fringe of bushes.Then it crashed through and was gone--without telling him how andwhere! The bag, a knot tied in it, he sent down after the gun.
His misgivings were considerable but he went on. He called out toBetty: "It looks all right. Hold on till I call," and began inchingdownward again. With his feet he sought to judge the slope below him.It seemed to be growing steeper. Still he went on and down. He caughtat any unevenness in the rock he could lay hand upon, lowering himselfto the length of his arm, groping for handhold and foothold everywhere.Then a handhold to which he had entrusted his weight betrayed him, thetiny sliver of stone scaled off and he began to slip. He clutchedwildly but his body gained fresh momentum. He heard Betty shriek abovehim. He had a vision of himself plunging down the cliffs. Then heknew that he had struck the bushes, had broken through, was rollingdown a steep slope, rolling and rolling.
The breath jolted out of him, he was brought up with a jerk in anotherclump of bushes, wild sage in a little level space. He hastily jumpedup and began to scramble back up toward the tunnel's mouth. He couldnot see it from below, he could see only the patch of brush which,since it was directly above him, must conceal it. He saw his riflewhere it stood on end, the muzzle jammed between two rocks. He wantedto call to Betty but did not dare, not knowing how close some ofZoraida's men might be. Betty could not hold on there forever; shewould slip as he had done or, frightened terribly, by now she might beseeking frenziedly to make her way back to the treasure chamber.
But as it happened Betty was to make the descent with less violencethan Kendric's. She had thought that surely Jim had been snatched awayfrom her to a broken death below; she had gone dizzy with sick fear;she had struggled for a securer grip--and she, too, had slipped. Downshe sped, half fainting. But somewhere her wide sash caught and heldbriefly, letting her slip again before her fingers could find a hold,but breaking the momentum of her progress. So, when she was shot outinto the open, a few yards above Kendric, the brush all but stoppedher. And then, as she was slipping by him, Kendric caught her and heldher.
Betty sat up and stared at him incredulously. Then there came into hereyes such a light as Jim Kendric had never seen in eyes of man or woman.
"I thought you were dead," said Betty simply. "And I did not want tolive."
He helped her to her feet and they hurried down the slope. He caughtup his rifle, merely grunted at the discovery of a sight knocked off,found near it the bag of food and treasure, and led the way down intothe canon. A glance upward showed him no sign of Zoraida's men.
"There are the horses," whispered Betty.
Down in the bed of the ravine were a dozen or more saddled ponies.They stood where their riders had left them, their reins over theirheads and dragging on the ground.
"Run!" said Kendric. "If we can get into saddle before they see uswe're as good as at home!"
Hand in hand they ran, stumbling along the slope, crashing through thebrush. But as they drew nearer and the ponies pricked up their earsthey forced themselves to go slowly. Kendric caught the nearest horse,tarrying for no picking and choosing, and helped Betty up into thesaddle. The next moment he, too, was mounted. He looked again up themountainside. Still no sign of Zoraida's men. A broad grin of highsatisfaction testified that Jim Kendric found this new arrangement ofmundane affairs highly to his liking.
"We'll drive these other ponies on ahead of us," he suggested. "Untilthey're a good five miles off. And then we'll see how fast a cowponycan run!"
So, herding a lot of saddled horses ahead of them, reins flying andsoon putting panic into the animals, Jim and Betty rode down into thevalley. They looked down to the big adobe house and saw no one; theplace slept tranquilly in the late afternoon sun. They passed thecorrals and still saw no one. If any of her men had not followedZoraida, they were lounging under cover. The maids would be about theevening meal and table setting, in the _patio_ or in the house.
Straight across the valley they drove the ponies and there, in thefirst foothills scattered and left them. Then they settled down tohard riding, both praying mutely that when they came to the gulf andthe beach they would find the _Half Moon_ awaiting them.
The stars were out when they came to the beach where only a few daysago Kendric and Barlow had landed. And there, at anchor, rode the_Half Moon_. They saw her lights and they made out the hulk of her.Kendric shouted and fired his rifle. Almost im
mediately came ananswering hail, the melodious voice of Nigger Ben. They saw a lanterngo down over the side, they watched it bob and dance and made outpresently that it was coming toward them. They heard Nigger Ben'svoice, chanting monotonously, as he pulled at the oars of the smallboat.
"Howdy, Cap'n, howdy!" cried Ben joyously. He took in the small figurewhich had dismounted at Kendric's side and ducked his head and includedher in his greetings with a "Howdy, Miss." And then, looking in vainfor another member of the party: "Where's Cap'n Barlow?"
"Let's get on board, Ben," answered Kendric. "I'll tell you there."
So they stepped into the dingey and pushed off and rowed back to the_Half Moon_.
"There's a gent here says he's a frien' of your'n, Cap," said Ben. "Ahdunno. Anyhows, he's been here all day an' we're watchin' he don'tmake no mischief."
They went up over the side and Kendric showed Betty straightway to thecabin that was to be hers. Then he turned wonderingly to Ben. Hecould only think of Bruce, since it wasn't Barlow----
And Bruce it was. The boy came forth from the shadows, standing beforeKendric looking at once dejected and defiant and shamefaced.
"I was a damn' fool, Jim," he said bluntly. "Forget it, if you can,and take a passenger back to the States with you. Or tell me to go tohell--and I guess I'll tuck my tail between my legs and go."
Kendric's hand went out impulsively and he cried with great heartiness:
"Forget it, boy.--What about Barlow?"
"Barlow's like a crazy man," said Bruce. He spoke quickly as thougheager to get through with what he had to say. "After that cursed gameof cards he got the same sort of a message I got; we were to wait, eachin his own room, for--for her." He hesitated; Kendric understood thatit hurt him even to refer to Zoraida. "We waited a long time. Thensomething happened which I know little about; I guess you know all ofit. At any rate, when she burst in on us--we had gotten tired waitingand were in the _patio_--she, too, was like one gone mad. We had heardthe shooting outside but when we started to run out some of her menthrew guns on us and held us back. She came running in, terriblyexcited. When I tried to speak she cursed me, called me a fool, toldme that she had never loved any but one man and that that man was--wasyou. Then she swore that she was going to see you dead and BettyGordon dead with you. I guess I came to my senses a little at that."
"And Barlow?" insisted Kendric. Bruce had paused, was staring off intothe night, seemed to have forgotten to go on.
"I had two words with Barlow when she left us. He looked ready formurder and just snapped out that he was going to stay until he linedhis pockets. Rios came in. He told us you were on the run, trying tomake it down here. He offered to get me and Barlow clear; he seemedanxious to have us both gone. He promised us we'd be dead intwenty-four hours if we stayed; he tipped his hand enough to say thatthere was loot to be had and he meant to have his half and didn't carewhat happened to us so long as we got out of the way. I came, hopingthat you'd break through and get here. I told Barlow I was coming. Hejust shrugged his shoulders at that and said he'd stay; if we couldsquare for the rent of the _Half Moon_ in San Diego we could have her.Otherwise, for God's sake to sink her in the ocean and let the old manknow. And off he went, looking for--for her."
"You've had a hard deal, Bruce." Kendric put a kindly hand on theboy's shoulder. "But you'll come alive yet. I've made a haul today;just how big I won't know until we get home. But enough, I'll gambleto stake you to a new start. Now, let's get going. And good luck topoor old Barlow. It's his game to play his way."
They slipped out into the gulf, Nigger Ben and Philippine Charliecontent to accept the explanation Kendric gave them of Barlow'sabsence. Bruce, taciturn and moody, went to the stern and stoodlooking back toward the black line of the receding coast until longafter darkness blotted it out. Kendric went to Betty's cabin andrapped.
"Will you come for a moment to the main cabin?" he asked.
When she came he had a lamp on the table. He shut the door and lockedit. Then, without a word between them, he began emptying his pockets.She saw him pile up a great number of little square bars that clankedmusically.
"Solid gold," he said gravely.
Then he poured forth the pearls. There was strings and loops,necklaces and broad bands made of many strings laced together. Theyshone softly, gloriously there in the swaying cabin of the _Half Moon_.The finest of them all fashioned into a superb necklace he threw with asudden gesture about Betty's throat.
"And on top of all that--we're headed for home!" said Kendric.
"Home!" Betty's eyes shone more gloriously than the pearls.
"And thus ends our little camping trip. Tell me, Betty, haven't youany desire for a real camping trip in our own mountains? That placethat I know, where the little hidden valley is and the lake----"
"Tell me about it," said Betty.
Pearls and gold heaped on the table, pearls about Betty's throat, andthey talked of pack and trail and a little green lodge to be made offir boughs.
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends