CHAPTER XX.
THE HIDDEN VOICE.
FOR a few minutes Charley was almost a prey to vague, suspicious fears,which lie hidden deep in most of mankind. The suddenness of his chum'sdisappearance, the ages-old stockade, the ancient fort, with itsgrewsome occupants, all gave force to weird imaginings; but, with aneffort, the practical lad shook off his gloomy thoughts with the simplelogic that age is no more mysterious than youth, and that dead men areless to be feared than live ones. But, in spite of his sound reasoning,the worried lad could not imagine what had become of his chum. He wasnot in the stockade; he was not in either clearing; he was not amongthe orange trees; he was not back with the ponies, yet he had passedout of the fort not five minutes ahead of himself, but at this point inhis reasoning Charley gave a start. He had found the flaw in his ownlogic. He had no proof that Walter had passed out of the fort. Affectedas the lad had been by the grewsome sights, he might have faintedbefore reaching the open air and he might well have passed him by inthe dim light without noticing him.
Hastily gathering some dry sticks, Charley held them in one hand andfired the ends. As soon as his torch was blazing good, he entered thefort, and, holding it aloft, inspected the lower chamber. Near themiddle of the chamber he found Walter's rifle lying on the stone floor,but a close search showed no other trace of the missing lad. Puzzled,he ascended to the upper chamber, but here he found everything as hehad left it, and he descended again to the lower chamber, convincedthat in it must lie the key to the mystery, for he was certain Walterwould not have left the fort without taking his gun with him.
Walking around the stone chamber, Charley held his torch aloft andinspected the solid floor and walls, in the vain hope of discoveringsome clew to his chum's mysterious disappearance.
Suddenly he gave a frightened cry, and flung out his arms to savehimself, for something had given way beneath his feet, and he felthimself sinking downward. Fortunately, his instinctive action had beenso quick that his extended arms caught on the stone floor and savedhim from sinking into the gaping black hole beneath him. Summoning upall his strength, the lad drew himself up out of the trap into whichhe had partly fallen, and, seizing the torch he had dropped, surveyedthe spot. A large stone slab was slowly lifting back into place. In aflash, the lad grasped the situation. The slab had been so cunninglycontrived as to appear part of the solid floor, but, when a personstepped on one end the slab would tilt down, sending the victim down tothe depths below, and, when his weight was removed, the slab would tiltback into place again.
Charley was quick to act. Sitting down on the floor, he placed hisfeet against the end of the slab and pressed downward. The end of thestone immediately tipped downward, exposing the dark hole beneath, andthe lad shoved his rifle across the opening to prevent the slab fromlifting back into place. From below him came a call that sent his heartbounding with joy: "Is that you, Charley?" it said.
"Yes. Are you hurt, Walt?" replied the delighted lad.
"Not much; some bruises, and a bump on my head, that's all. But, forgoodness sake, hurry and get me out of here. The air is so foul it ismaking me feel faint. Get the ropes off the ponies, and fasten themtogether. I do not believe this hole is more than fifteen feet deep.But hurry, hurry!"
Charley was off like a shot and back in a few minutes with the haltersfrom the two ponies. Hastily knotting them together, he fastened oneend to a projecting stone in the wall, and let the other end down tohis chum, who, white-faced and shaken, crawled up it, hand over hand.
Pausing only to secure their rifles and the ropes, the two lads hurriedout into the open air.
"Gee!" said Walter, drawing long breaths of the sweet, pure air, "Ithought I was a goner that time. I kept calling and calling after Ifell, but when you did not answer I knew that you could not hear me.When I was sure that my voice did not penetrate outside of the hole Igave up hope, for I was positive that you would not find out the secretof that slab unless you stepped upon it, and, if you did that, therewould be two of us buried alive, instead of one. Ugh!" he concluded,with a shudder, "I know now what fear is--genuine, blind, unreasoningfear."
The boys stopped at the orange trees only long enough to fill theirgame bags with the golden fruit, and hastened on to their ponies,fearful that, with no halters on, they might have turned back forIndiantown, but, much to their relief, they found the two animalsbrowsing contentedly by the roadside. Each slung a turkey from one sideof his saddle and a loaded game bag from the other, and, mounting,they rode on for their goal, the great lake. About four o'clock theyrode out from a heavy growth of timber into full view of the broad,shining blue waters, and a few minutes later reined in their mounts ona high, grass-covered bank, shaded by big live oaks. Here they stakedout their ponies to browse upon the sweet, tender grass, and, after aplunge in the cool waters of the lake, began their preparations for thenight. Walter gathered great bunches of moss, and made soft beds atthe base of a huge live-oak tree. Charley lit a big fire of live oakand pine, and, while it was burning down into a bed of glowing coals,he dressed and cut up the two turkeys, and soon had them frying andstewing in the pan and kettle they had brought with them. While Charleytended to the cooking, Walter gathered armfuls of dry wood and placedthem in a circle around the oak, where he had made the beds. Beforenight fell everything was ready, and the boys sat down to a deliciousmeal of fried and stewed turkey and the eatables they had brought withthem. They had eaten nothing since morning, and, when the meal wasover, they were full enough and tired enough to be content to lie uponthe grassy bank and simply gaze out at the glories of the sunset on thewaters of the lake. When at last the light began to fail they wateredtheir ponies and staked them in a fresh place, close to where they weregoing to sleep. This done, they started up the circle of fires aroundthe tree and stretched out on their soft moss bed with a pleasantfeeling of security, knowing that the slow-burning live-oak wood wouldkeep the fires burning all night and protect them from all snakes andwild animals.
"I have been wondering why that hole was made in that old fort," saidWalter, as they lay on their backs gazing up at the stars. "It isn'tdeep enough for a well or a dungeon."
"Maybe it was a hiding place for their treasures," suggested Charley,idly.
"By Jove, I believe you've hit it," Walter exclaimed. "And that remindsme that I picked up something for a souvenir of my adventure before Iclimbed out. I couldn't see what it was, for the hole was dark and Ihad no matches. It was something hard, round and heavy. I have got itin my game bag now."
"Get it out and let's see what it is," said Charley, interested.
Walter rummaged in his game bag and brought out a round object, about afoot long and ten inches in circumference.
"Looks like a piece of petrified wood," he said, as he handed it overfor his chum's inspection.
Charley took it, and, drawing near the fire, examined it closely. "Tooheavy for petrified wood," he commented, as he took out his knife andscraped away at the green encrusted object. "By Jove! Look here," heexclaimed a moment later.
Walter bent over and looked at the place where his chum had beenscraping. A reddish-brown color appeared where the green crust hadbeen removed.
"Is it gold?" he asked, excitedly.
"No," Charley replied. "It's copper. Let's scrape the balance of thisverdigris off, and see if we can get an idea what it was intended for."
Laying the cylinder on the ground between them, both boys set toscraping away the green crust, and in a short time they had it allremoved, leaving exposed the bright metal beneath it.
"Looks like there was a crack running around it near that end," Walterobserved, as Charley held the cylinder down by the fire for closerexamination.
"There is," agreed his chum, excitedly. "I believe the thing is hollow.That this end is nothing but a close fitting cap. Shall I see if I canknock it off?"
"Sure," agreed Walter, and Charley hammered against the end with hishunting knife. Suddenly the end gave way and out on the ground beforethe boys fell a showe
r of gold coins and jewelry.
Charley picked up one of the coins and held it to the light. "It's aSpanish doubloon," he announced breathlessly. "Let's count them and putthem back in the cylinder. This is almost too good to be true."
The gold coins were gathered up from the ground and counted. Thereproved to be a thousand dollars' worth altogether. Besides the coins,there were some twenty gold rings set with gems, but these the boyswere too inexperienced to tell the full value of. They, as well as thegold coins, were put back into the cylinder, and it was replaced in thegame bag.
"I expect there are more where those came from," Walter remarked.
"I doubt it," said his chum, thoughtfully. "Even what we have foundwould have been considered a big amount in the days of those Spaniards.We can look when we go back to-morrow. Meanwhile, I am going to get mea good night's sleep. To-morrow is going to be another hard day."