Courage, True Hearts: Sailing in Search of Fortune

  CHAPTER VII.--THE MYSTERIOUS STONE.

  For the first time since their arrival Goo-Goo paid the boys a visit ofceremony, on the day after the battle.

  Carrambo had apprised them of the honour they were about to be therecipients of, and they stayed at home in consequence.

  Goo-Goo was very pompous--and precious little else.

  He was elated with his victory, but did not hesitate to admit thatDuncan and his comrades had contributed a little to the turn of the tideof battle.

  Goo-Goo was even boastful

  Goo-Goo was also very thirsty.

  So Duncan invited him to come inside.

  He refused. Not even a whole bottle of his favourite sherry would havetempted him to cross the threshold of the fort, because--as he explainedthrough Carrambo--"plenty much debbil lib (live) in one hole below defloor".

  But he made very small work of a nut-shell of goo-goo that Duncanpresented to him with his own hand.

  Then he explained why he had come. It was to offer to our heroes thetwo tame elephants that had been captured in battle.

  Duncan nodded to his fellows, and the gift was accepted unconditionally,and that very day the great wise beasts were taken over.

  A huge compound was erected for them in a bit of jungle not far off; theking's men building it with their own hands.

  Moreover, two men were told off to feed and care for the noble brutes,who soon became very great pets indeed, with all hands.

  The larger of the two might well have been called immense or colossal.He seemed especially fond of Frank, and there wasn't a titbit Frankcould think of that he did not bring to Ju-ju of a morning.

  Ju-ju was certainly grateful. He had one very curious method of showinghis gratitude, namely, by encircling the boy with his trunk and swayinghim up and down, and to and fro.

  "Gently, Ju-ju," Frank would say sometimes; "gently, Ju, old man."

  Then Ju would set him quietly down and trumpet with delight.

  ----

  But as soon as it was dark, all was generally peaceful enough about thefort, for after a residence of some months in king Goo-Goo's countrythey had got quite used to the cry of wild beasts, and even the roar oflions did not disturb their slumbers.

  But the nugget and the diamond--oh! these indeed. Duncan's eyes used tosparkle with delight as they were placed upon the table of an evening.

  What possibilities did they not point to! What joy for the futureseemed to scintillate from the diamond! One night something that theking had said during his visit to the fort suddenly flashed acrossFrank's memory.

  He almost startled both Conal and Duncan by the eagerness with which healmost shouted:

  "Cousins!" he cried, "I have the happiest thought that ever I had. Doyou not remember that the king refused to come into the fort becausedevils dwelt in a hole beneath the floor!"

  "Yes, yes, he did say so."

  "Duncan, those devils are diamonds, and, it may be, gold nuggets aswell."

  His comrades were thunder-struck apparently, but they admitted that inall likelihood Frank's surmise was correct.

  "Then, boys," said Frank, "we shall open a devil hole right here wherewe sit."

  This proposal was agreed to, and the work would have commenced the verynext day had not a strange adventure happened to Frank.

  It may be observed that mostly all the terrible adventures did happen toFrank. Some people are born unlucky, you know.

  But next forenoon Duncan and he had gone towards the forest for thepurpose of shooting hyenas, no great or very exalted sport, it is true,but they had become numerous and bold of late, and needed scattering.

  Duncan had followed a wounded monster some distance for the sake ofgiving him his _conge_, when he came back---- lo! Frank was gone.

  For hours and hours Duncan searched all that portion of the forest thathe dared to enter, but in vain.

  But he found his comrade's gun, and at some little distance his cap.

  So he went sorrowfully home.

  Further search was made next day, some of the bravest of Goo-Goo'snative soldiers assisting.

  But no more trace of the lost Frank could be found.

  A whole fortnight went past, and he was mourned for as one dead, andeven Carrambo gave up hopes.

  Frank, he told them, must have been throttled by the gorillas and hungup in a tree.

  But lo! and behold, one forenoon who should appear again _in propriapersona_, but the laughing little Cockney boy himself.

  By the hand he led a little long-armed hairy gorilla, that clung to himin terror when Viking began to growl.

  Jeannie, as she was called, sprang trembling into Frank's arms, but hegently soothed her, and after having a cup of coffee he told hismarvellous story.[2] It was briefly as follows:--

  [1] This is no sailor's yarn, but founded on fact.

  He had been captured by the awful gorillas, having been first stunned bya blow from a club. Then carried deep into the forest and up into avery high tree. There he found a shelter, quite a hut in fact, and farfrom being unkind to him, the gorillas fed and tended him every day,only guarding him at night.

  "And this is my little pupil," he added. "Jeannie was given me toeducate, I suppose; but early this morning the gorillas went off to dobattle with some neighbouring tribe, and Jeannie and I slipped down thetree and ran for it.

  "So here I am!"

  "Heaven be praised!" cried Duncan with tears in his eyes. "You come tous as one risen from the dead."

  "And what are you going to do with Jeannie?" asked Conal.

  "Oh!" said Frank, "Jeannie is a sweet child. She shall go with uswherever we go."

  "I hope," said Conal, "her parents won't come for her. It might berather inconvenient."

  ----

  Two long months passed away, and our heroes were almost weary of thislonesome and wild land.

  But they had not been idle all the time of their sojourn here. On thecontrary, they had commenced to dig in the fort itself for buriedtreasure.

  There was plenty of excitement about this, but for many a weary week noluck attended their excavations.

  The excitement, however, was somewhat like that of gambling, and oncebegun they felt they could not give it up until they came to something.

  So they dug and dug.

  But all in vain.

  They still spent much of their time in fishing and shooting, however.These were necessary sports. Food they must have.

  A rather gloomy time arrived later on, when they had finally abandonedall hopes of finding any buried treasure. Tremendously heavy banks ofclouds had rolled up from the horizon and overspread the heavens.

  Then with terrible thundering and vivid lightning a short rainy seasonwas ushered in. The stream became flooded, so that fishing was now outof the question.

  But Conal's little Lilywhite visited the fort every day, and--though Icannot say where she found them--never came without a fish, while justas often as not she brought the boys a present of delightful fruit.

  The rain-clouds were scattered at last, and soon the country all aroundwas greener and more lovely than ever the wanderers had seen it, whilethe most gorgeous of flowers seemed to spring into existence in theshort space of twenty-four hours.

  Sport began again once more.

  They still paid visits to the king, but these were not so welcome now tohis sable majesty, for the goo-goo was all finished, and he cared forlittle else--with, of course, the exception of human flesh.

  Conal was exceedingly well developed, and under certain conditions hewould not have objected being reminded of this.

  But when the king one day felt his arm and said something which Carrambotranslated: "Ah, num-num! you plenty good to eat," Conal hardly relishedthe verdict.

  But the great elephants became a source of much pleasure to everyone.They were so perfectly tractable and manageable that the boys often wentacross country with them.

/>   This was practice, and Duncan had a meaning for it.

  Well, one day as Frank was entering the living-room of the fort, hiseyes fell upon a curious mark upon a stone, which proved to be an arrowbent partly upwards. He followed its direction with his eye and onanother stone found another arrow, then two or three more, and finallythere was a square stone above the window with a cross over it, thus(cross symbol).

  There were no more arrows.

  Frank rushed out half frantic with joy.

  "Duncan! Conal!" he shouted.

  They were coming quietly up the hill.

  "Come quick, boys, I've made a discovery!"

  Then he led them in and pointed the arrows, and the stone marked withthe (cross symbol).

  "The diamonds are there," he said excitedly.

  ----

  The stone, however, was so firmly cemented in that it defied anyordinary methods to get it out.

  So they determined to dine first, and go to work on it afterwards.

  But no one could think or speak of anything else except their hopes offinding the treasure.

  The boys had made cocoa-nut-oil lamps, and by the little flicker oflight these gave, they now set about attacking the flint-hard cement inearnest. They chipped it out bit by bit, and hard, tedious work theyfound it.

  But they succeeded at last, and stood silent and with a kind of awesomedelight. For there before them was the glad sparkle of diamonds--asparkle that seemed to dim the light of their poor oil lamp.

  "Boys," cried Duncan, "our fortune is made!"

  The diamonds, however, were but few--eight in all--but of great size,and apparently of high value, although the boys were no judges.

  The hole where they had lain was carefully cemented all round, andbesides the diamonds they found here two or three nuggets of gold, and atiny brick of cement about six inches by four by three.

  Just one word was engraved thereon.

  That word was evidently Spanish, though partly obliterated--ABRIR--

  They hoped to find diamonds inside.

  They did not, however; only a piece of parchment, on which many wordswere written which they could not understand.

  They were just putting in the stone again, after carefully storing awaythe diamonds and parchment, when Viking sprang up fiercely barking, andwith his hair erect all along his spine.

  At the same moment they perceived a terrible face at the open window.

  It was that of a savage in his war-paint--the lips were painted red,great red rings were around each eye, and cheeks and brow were daubedwith spots of white.

  "Idle curiosity, I suppose," said Duncan, "or a trick to frighten us.For now that the goo-goo is all exhausted, I believe the king would liketo see the very last of us."

  When Carrambo came next day they told him about the terrible face at thewindow.

  Carrambo considered for a moment, then shook his head.

  "Dat no good," he said. "You close all de debbil pit?"

  "Yes," said Duncan.

  "Dat bad sabage see somefing, sah! He go tell de king. King makebobbery soon. Plaps cut all you troats, like he kill pore leetleLilywhite to-mollow."

  "What!" cried Conal, "kill Lilywhite! If he dares, I'll put a bulletthrough his fat and ugly phiz."

  "Poh Lilywhite!" continued Carrambo, as if speaking to himself. "But,"he added, "s'pose you come to-night, I take you to de hut. Lily comeback heah; den not die."

  Conal at once agreed, and Carrambo came for him some hours after sunset.

  The butchering hut was at a considerable distance from the main village,and, strange to say, unguarded. But they crept in and found Lily boundhand and foot.

  She was speedily rescued, and in an hour's time they were all back atthe fort.

  But Conal had seen something that night which seriously alarmed both himand his companions.

  The savages were squatted out-of-doors around fires, and all inwar-paint.

  They looked fierce and terrible.

  Very busy, too, were they, sharpening horrid knives and spears.

  This was fearful intelligence to bring back, and Carrambo, being askedwhat it all meant, did not hesitate a moment in replying.

  "It mean dis," he said; "dey tink dat you open de debbil hole again.To-mollow dey come plenty twick and cut all you troats, foh shuah."

  "Carrambo," said Duncan after a pause, "can you guide us towards Lamoo?"

  "Ees, sah, I guide you foh tlue!"

  "Without having to go through that gorilla-haunted forest?"

  "Ees, sah, ees," was the quick reply. "I myse'f not go t'loo defolast."

  "Well, Carrambo, send for the men who attend to the elephants, and weshall start this very night."

  The two elephant attendants were very sincere, and when Duncan promisedthem clothes and beads and many fine gifts, they readily consented to gowith them to the coast.

  So packing was commenced without a moment's delay.

  And none too soon, as things turned out.