CHAPTER XV.
THE TREASURE.
Townsend was babbling Shakespeare as Dick grabbed him and hauled himout to the room at the top of the stairway. There, seated on thelanding, with the cool night air fanning his face and clearing hisbrain of the deadly influence of the odor, he slowly regained his poise.
Matt and Carl dragged Jurgens, Whistler and the other man out of thefatal room, and Carl, the last to leave, shut the door tightly.
A few minutes in the night air served to revive Carl, Matt and Dick.Then, quite naturally the others wanted to know what had happened tothe Dutch boy, and where he had been.
Carl related his experiences in the house of Rigolette, holding hislisteners spellbound with his recital.
"Afder I dumpled ofer," he went on, "I ditn't know nodding ondil Iseemed to vake oop und foundt meinseluf in a shdreed. I don' know dershdreed, und I vas losdt. Vat I vanted vas to findt my vay to der tock,und der air ship, for I got der notion dot you vould be dere, Matt, undDick, too. I vanted to dell you vat a mess Tick und me made oof it pyhafing anyt'ing to do mit dot Pangs feller.
"Veil, I feel kindt oof hazy yet mit meinseluf, und I vander aroundtondil id pegins to ged tark. I know vere I vant to go, aber I don'dseem to haf der sense to ask somepody vich vay it iss. Den, pympy, Isee dot Jurgens feller comin' along der shdreet. He has der headt underhis arm, und he iss valking fasdt, baying no addention to any vone. Ifollow him, und he comes py dis blace. Oop der shdairs I come afderhim, und he valks indo dot front room. I vould haf valked in dere, too,only I see dot Whistler und anodder mans, so I packs oudt.
"You see, my mindt vas gedding clearer und clearer, und I know a leedlehow to dake care oof meinseluf. I ged indo der pack room und vait, undt'ink vat I shall do; und vile I vait und t'ink, I keep vishing undvishing dot Matt und Tick vas somevere aroundt.
"Vell, pympy, pooty soon, along comes dot nigger feller vat took Pangsund me und der chest py dot house vere ve vent. He comes droo der roomvere I vas und goes in der odder, und I hear him yell. I shday avay,und greep town der shdairs, t'inkin' I vas pedder off oudt oof derhouse as in id. Den I t'ink meppy I go pack, but I vait some more forder nigger feller comes down der shdairs so kevick as anyt'ing und runsavay.
"All der time I vait in der air, oof course my headt vas geddingclearer mit itseluf. In a liddle vile it geds so clear dot I haf dernerf to come oop der shdairs some more. Den vat a surbrises! I look inder front room und I see Whistler, und Jurgens, und der odder feller onder floor, und Matt, und Tick, und Downsent shdanding oop, und Downsentlooking at der itol's headt. Den I rush in so fast as bossiple, snatchdot teufelish t'ing avay, und--und--vell you know der resdt.
"It's der headt vat has der otor dot makes peobles grazy! Und oof derheadt shdays long enough py a feller, it vill make him as deadt as somemackerels. Yah, so helup me!"
Silence followed Carl's talk.
"Rigolette's monkey got the idol's head, Carl," said Matt. "The animalmust have crawled in through the window that gave way under yourweight, picked up the head and scampered off with it."
"Hooray for der monkey!" said Carl. "If it hatn't peen for him youvouldn't have a Dutch bard some more, Matt und Jurgens und Pangs vouldhave peen some goners, too."
"It seemed," said Townsend, with his usual gravity, "as though I wassomewhat affected by that head."
"Sink me if you weren't, Townsend," answered Dick. "You were spoutingShakespeare and using words a fathom long."
"I have no remembrance of that--only a hazy recollection that I didn'tknow what I was doing. I presume the idol was carved out of some kindof wood that has that deadly odor, and that the mahogany sawdust in theiron chest helped the head to retain the baneful influence. But whyshould the Man from Cape Town pack the deadly thing in the chest andthen ask me to open the chest in the presence of his daughter? Thereare features of this case which it is difficult to reconcile with thefacts."
Matt started up suddenly.
"Did you break that idol's head, Carl, when you smashed it against thewall?" he asked.
"Vell, I bed you!" answered Carl. "I made oop my mindt dot I vouldpreak him indo a t'ousant bieces. Dot von't shtop der shmell oof dervood, aber it vill shpoil der headt, all righdt."
"We'll have to go back there," said Matt.
"Nod on your life!" cried Carl.
"We can't leave the fragments, for one thing," insisted Matt, "becausethey would be a source of peril to whoever found them and did notunderstand their power; then, for another thing, I have just thought ofsomething."
"Of course we'll go back," said Townsend. "There can't be any danger ingoing into the room for a few minutes."
"Den," said Carl, "der fairst t'ing vat ve do vill be to put der biecesoof der headt in my coat und tie dem oop tight; und der next t'ingafder dot vill be to go to der rifer und shake out der bieces indo dervater. Dot vill be der lasdt oof Obboney."
"Good idea, Carl," approved Townsend. "Pull off your coat and come on."
Dick had left the candle in the room where Jurgens, Whistler and theother man were lying. The three men were lying just as when Townsendand the boys had left them, a short time before, but it was plain thattheir breathing was becoming easier by slow degrees.
Matt picked up the candle and preceded his companions into the frontroom.
The head of Obboney was not in a thousand pieces, but it had beensmashed utterly beyond repair. Carl sprang forward, his coat in hishand, to pick up the pieces and wrap them in the garment. Before he gotnear the wall, however, he started back with a shout of surprise.
"Look!" he cried; "see dere, vonce! Vot you call dose t'ings?"
Matt held the candle nearer the floor, and the light fell over littlescattered objects that gleamed like dewdrops. There were severalhandfuls of them, and in two or three places they were heaped up inirridescent piles.
"By Jove!" gasped Townsend, starting forward and dropping to his knees.
He picked up several of the glimmering objects and examined them underthe flame of the candle; then he turned to the boys with an odd,exultant look and spoke but one word:
"Diamonds!"
"Tiamonts?" echoed Carl.
"Strike me lucky!" muttered Dick.
"Do you mean to say those are diamonds, Townsend?" queried Motor Matt.
"Yes, and of the first water. They're South African stones. Therewas quite a little method in the madness of the Man from Cape Town,after all. Get the pieces of the head in your coat, Carl, and put up awindow, Dick. We can't take any chances with these stones while thosefellows are in the next room."
Carl hurried to spread out his coat and pile the fragments of thehead upon it. While he was engaged in that, Dick hoisted a window andallowed the outdoor air to purify the noxious atmosphere of the room.After that, Matt, Townsend, Dick and Carl spread their handkerchiefsupon the floor and gathered up all the scattered stones.
"You had an idea that idol's head was hollow and that there wassomething in it, hadn't you, Matt?" queried Townsend, as they huntedthe floor over for diamonds.
"Yes," was the answer. "I dug it out of the first paragraph written onthat piece of parchment. 'Read and give heed, for the head of Obboneycontains many things, perilous and otherwise.' I got to thinking thatthose words might be read in two ways."
"It was a great scheme that," observed Townsend, "hiding a treasure ofdiamonds in the head of an idol which gives off a deadly odor. I wishwe knew more about the Man from Cape Town and where he got the stones;but he is dead, and the mystery will no doubt always remain unsolved."
"Unless his daughter can tell us something about her father," said Matt.
"That is possible, of course. There must be fully two hundred of thesestones, and they are all of the very finest. A fortune, my lads! Partof it comes to me, and out of my part we shall share and share alike."
The boys, with the exception of Carl, began to protest, but Townsendsilenced them with a word.
"It is only right," he averred. "You have borne many dangers on accoun
tof that iron chest, and mere justice calls upon you to have your dueshare of the treasure. I shall make it my business to see that you getit."
When the last stone was gathered off the floor, and the handkerchiefswere all carefully tied up, the little bundles of stones were turnedover to Townsend. He stowed them carefully away in his pockets.
"The question now arises," said he, "as to what we shall do withJurgens, Whistler, Bangs and the unknown? No doubt we could make themsmart for what they have done, not only here in New Orleans, but alsofor Jurgens' and Whistler's criminal work in stealing the _Grampus_.But will it pay to bother with them?"
"Not to-night," returned Matt, promptly. "The thing for you to do,Townsend, is to get safely aboard the _Grampus_ as quick as you can.You have the price of a king's ransom about your clothes and it wouldbe foolish to take any chances with it."
"Like alvays," chirped Carl, "Modor Matt has hit der nail righdt on derhead. Vat he says goes mit me, und it ought to go mit eferypody else."
"It does," asserted Townsend. "I have lain a prisoner in that old bankvault for two days, and the inconvenience and discomfort I have beenput to I shall not soon forget; but Jurgens and Whistler have beenbeaten at their own game. Besides, my lads, it was, on the whole,a good thing that Bangs worked his little game successfully. If hehadn't, I should have opened that iron chest in the home of a lady onSt. Charles Avenue, and who knows what the consequences would havebeen? Jurgens and Bangs first tested the deadly effluvia of the idol'shead, and we were able to profit by their experience. Yes, it is bestto leave them here and allow them to recover and go their ways. Theknowledge that they are beaten will be punishment enough for them."
Having settled the matter in this way, Townsend and the boys passed theprostrate forms in the other room, gained the apartment at the head ofthe stairs, blew out the candle and went away.
Fifteen minutes later they were on the levee; and ten minutes afterthat they were boarding the _Grampus_ and slipping down under her decksthrough the top of the conning tower.