CHAPTER XVIII THE MAGIC TELESCOPE
There was in Curlie Carson something of the primitive man. Like theAmerican Indian or the Eskimo, if he hunted or prowled half the night, heslept half the next day. The tropical sun was high when he awoke. Theparticular sound that disturbed his slumbers was the barking of adog--Dorn's dog. The dog barked for joy. His young master had returned.With Dorn was Pompee.
They had returned, Curlie heard them tell Dot, because there was no usekeeping camp at the Citadel. Nothing ever happened there. Nothing ofimportance was discovered and the two young adventurers who had inducedthem to take up camp there were forever getting themselves lost. Just atthe present moment they were both lost.
"Curlie Carson is here," said Dot. "He came upon us in the dark lastnight. And how glad I am that he did! We--we destroyed the supply ship ofthe revolutionists. The revolution is over. The bad white man is dead.
"But Dorn," Curlie heard her catch a long hard breath, "Pluto, the badblack man, is still alive. He saw us last night after it was all over andhe understood. I know he did. And now what will happen? Who can tell?"
Curlie had heard enough. His good friend Johnny was lost once more. Inthe light of the previous night's events that seemed serious.
"They may have known of our camp," he told himself. "Going there towaylay me they may have come upon Johnny and taken him instead. Thatsettles it." There was an air of finality in his tone. "The whistles mustdo. The drums would have been more dramatic, but there is no time tolose."
After a hasty toilet and a more hasty meal, he bade good-bye to Dot andDoris, Dorn and Pompee, then went hurrying away over the trail to theCitadel.
Arriving at the grim old fortress just at nightfall, he went at once tohis laboratory. From this place, after a half hour of banging andbumping, he emerged laden with packages. Having caught up with his burroshe began loading them. After six trips to the laboratory he at last leftit with the door ajar which told plainer than words that whatever ofvalue had been there was now safely packed in hampers on the burros'backs.
Being a good trail hunter he was not long in picking up a fresh scentthat, to his great surprise, he found led in the same direction as thattaken by the natives who had before spirited Johnny away.
Had he known the full truth, he must have been much more surprised for itwas not alone the same trail that Johnny had been taken over but the samegroup of natives had taken him, and, at the very moment when Curlie foundthe trail, the same natives were breaking camp on the identical spot atwhich Johnny, with the aid of a ferocious wild boar, had made good hisescape only a few days previous.
It is said that lightning never strikes twice in the same place.Something very like lightning had struck Johnny twice. A second time ashe walked on the Citadel wall a group of bronze natives had silentlyformed about him and had spirited him away.
"This time," he had told himself, as he recalled the strange words of theshort, broad man, "I will see the thing through."
And well he might say this for now he was caught quite helpless andunarmed. And no wild boar had as yet come to his aid.
As before, the group of bronze natives taking Johnny with them from theCitadel had traveled all night without the aid of a light. As morningdawned, they had sought out a secluded spot and had breakfasted, withoutbuilding a fire, on fruits, nuts and cold cooked meats. With one memberof the band detailed to watch, they had sprawled out among the ferns andhad fallen asleep. Not one of them slept better than Johnny, for havingonce committed himself to a course of action, he never allowed thestrangeness of the course nor the wildness of the land about him to robhim of his rest.
As night fell they resumed their journey. The general direction of theircourse was not changed. Once more they plodded steadily onward over thenarrow trail that now rose at an abrupt angle, now ran on the level andnow dipped a trifle downward, as a mountain trail will, but in the mainbore steadily upward.
"It's the strangest thing I ever heard of," Johnny told himself. "I amnot treated as a prisoner. Yet they take me with them, nor do they asmuch as say, 'By your leave.'"
Once more the old resolve surged through his being; he would see thething through, come what might.
What he saw and heard after three hours of steady plodding caused him tostart and wonder. Having rounded a dark clump of southern pines, theycame quite suddenly upon a low burning camp fire. And seated crossleggedbefore the fire, smiling like some elfin king, was the short, broad manwho had already played so considerable a part in the boy's life.
"So you came?" he exclaimed in quite a genial tone.
"Yes," said Johnny rather slowly, "I--I came."
"I hoped you would. Knew you too were trying to help the natives ofHaiti. Thought I might help you. Sit down by the fire."
As Johnny's eyes became accustomed to the dim firelight, he noted that alarge brass tube lay across the mysterious man's knee.
"That," said the stranger as he saw Johnny's eyes resting upon it, "isthe Magic Telescope of the old Emperor Christophe."
"That! It--it can't be!"
"There's not the least doubt about it."
"But it must be more than a hundred years old."
"Quite a little more. Look closely and you will see the date's stillthere."
He held up a blazing ember. Johnny, looking close, read there: "Paris,France, 1797."
"It is." His tone was filled with awe.
At once, as he settled back in his place his mind was filled with strangestories that had been told of Christophe and this telescope and its magicproperties.
"But, of course," he said to the little man, "the magic part was allmyth?"
"Nevertheless," said the other without answering his question, "it's astrangely powerful instrument. I'll demonstrate. Come with me."
He led the way to a cleared spot above a rocky ledge that was like anobservation post.
"If you will follow the direction the telescope points," said thestranger, "you will be able to locate the Citadel. The rising moon bringsit out in rather strong relief."
"Ah," Johnny was astonished at its apparent nearness.
"You followed an irregular trail in coming here," the other offered. "Forall that it's some distance away. Now try this." He placed the pricelessrelic of other days in Johnny's hands.
For a time as he lifted the telescope to his eyes, his trembling handsdefeated his purpose, but at last the parapets of the ancient fortressstood out in startling clearness.
"It--why, it's marvelous!" he said in a low whisper as if afraid theghosts of other days might overhear. "It is as if--"
"As if one were right there," put in the short broad man. "Exactly so.And it might interest you to know," he said as he dropped to a seat on afallen tree trunk well back from the edge of the precipice, "that theCitadel has been watched from this point, through this very glass, everyday for more than a hundred years--since the death of Christophe, infact. You have heard the story of the telescope?" He asked quitesuddenly.
"Yes," said Johnny. "But after the Emperor's death, how did it comehere?"
"The brown boy, carrier of the telescope during Christophe's reign, was anative of this very mountain," said the little man. "He and his tribewere loyal to the Emperor. After his death they remained loyal still.They took an oath to watch the Citadel and to defend it from vandals.That is why the watch has been kept."
"And that explains--"
"It explains many things. There is a rumor that the bearer of thetelescope knew the secret of the Emperor's treasure and that is why theyguard the Citadel so very carefully."
"If they know that," said Johnny, suddenly springing to his feet, "thenthey know the hiding place of the 'Rope of Gold'."
"The rumor has never been confirmed," said the little man, rising andturning away from the ledge. "It is probably one of those myths thatspring up from time to time.
"But as to the 'Rope of Gold'," he added as an apparent after-thought,"whether the
rumor were true or not will not make the least difference.The 'Rope of Gold' is not in the Citadel and never was. Come, let's go."He struck back over the trail at a stride quite astonishing for one soshort of stature.
"He knows where the 'Rope of Gold' has been." The boy's heart throbbed."Perhaps he knows where it is to-day."
For some time they tramped along in silence. They were, Johnnydiscovered, not going to the camp spot they had left.
"These people," said the short, broad man after a time, "are not blackmen. They are Indians, almost pure stock, the kind of men Columbus foundwhen first he landed here. They do not build houses as the blacks do.They live in groves and caves. We will soon come to one of their caves.Whatever you see or hear, have no fear. They have known me for more thantwenty years. So long as I am with you, you are safe."