THE TREASURE IN THE FOREST
The canoe was now approaching the land. The bay opened out, and a gapin the white surf of the reef marked where the little river ran out tothe sea; the thicker and deeper green of the virgin forest showed itscourse down the distant hill slope. The forest here came close tothe beach. Far beyond, dim and almost cloudlike in texture, rose themountains, like suddenly frozen waves. The sea was still save for analmost imperceptible swell. The sky blazed.
The man with the carved paddle stopped. "It should be somewhere here,"he said. He shipped the paddle and held his arms out straight beforehim.
The other man had been in the fore part of the canoe, closelyscrutinising the land. He had a sheet of yellow paper on his knee.
"Come and look at this, Evans," he said.
Both men spoke in low tones, and their lips were hard and dry.
The man called Evans came swaying along the canoe until he could lookover his companion's shoulder.
The paper had the appearance of a rough map. By much folding it wascreased and worn to the pitch of separation, and the second man heldthe discoloured fragments together where they had parted. On it onecould dimly make out, in almost obliterated pencil, the outline of thebay.
"Here," said Evans, "is the reef and here is the gap." He ran histhumb-nail over the chart.
"This curved and twisting line is the river--I could do with a drinknow!--and this star is the place."
"You see this dotted line," said the man with the map; "it is astraight line, and runs from the opening of the reef to a clump ofpalm-trees. The star comes just where it cuts the river. We must markthe place as we go into the lagoon."
"It's queer," said Evans, after a pause, "what these little marks downhere are for. It looks like the plan of a house or something; but whatall these little dashes, pointing this way and that, may mean I can'tget a notion. And what's the writing?"
"Chinese," said the man with the map.
"Of course! _He_ was a Chinee," said Evans.
"They all were," said the man with the map.
They both sat for some minutes staring at the land, while the canoedrifted slowly. Then Evans looked towards the paddle.
"Your turn with the paddle now, Hooker," said he.
And his companion quietly folded up his map, put it in his pocket,passed Evans carefully, and began to paddle. His movements werelanguid, like those of a man whose strength was nearly exhausted.Evans sat with his eyes half closed, watching the frothy breakwater ofthe coral creep nearer and nearer. The sky was like a furnace now, forthe sun was near the zenith. Though they were so near the Treasure hedid not feel the exaltation he had anticipated. The intense excitementof the struggle for the plan, and the long night voyage from themainland in the unprovisioned canoe had, to use his own expression,"taken it out of him." He tried to arouse himself by directing hismind to the ingots the Chinamen had spoken of, but it would not restthere; it came back headlong to the thought of sweet water ripplingin the river, and to the almost unendurable dryness of his lips andthroat. The rhythmic wash of the sea upon the reef was becomingaudible now, and it had a pleasant sound in his ears; the water washedalong the side of the canoe, and the paddle dripped between eachstroke. Presently he began to doze.
He was still dimly conscious of the island, but a queer dream textureinterwove with his sensations. Once again it was the night when he andHooker had hit upon the Chinamen's secret; he saw the moonlittrees, the little fire burning, and the black figures of the threeChinamen--silvered on one side by moonlight, and on the otherglowing from the firelight--and heard them talking together inpigeon-English--for they came from different provinces. Hooker hadcaught the drift of their talk first, and had motioned to him tolisten. Fragments of the conversation were inaudible and fragmentsincomprehensible. A Spanish galleon from the Philippines hopelesslyaground, and its treasure buried against the day of return, lay inthe background of the story; a shipwrecked crew thinned by disease,a quarrel or so, and the needs of discipline, and at last taking totheir boats never to be heard of again. Then Chang-hi, only a yearsince, wandering ashore, had happened upon the ingots hidden for twohundred years, had deserted his junk, and reburied them with infinitetoil, single-handed but very safe. He laid great stress on thesafety--it was a secret of his. Now he wanted help to return andexhume them. Presently the little map fluttered and the voices sank.A fine story for two stranded British wastrels to hear! Evans' dreamshifted to the moment when he had Chang-hi's pigtail in his hand. Thelife of a Chinaman is scarcely sacred like a European's. The cunninglittle face of Chang-hi, first keen and furious like a startled snake,and then fearful, treacherous and pitiful, became overwhelminglyprominent in the dream. At the end Chang-hi had grinned, a mostincomprehensible and startling grin. Abruptly things became veryunpleasant, as they will do at times in dreams. Chang-hi gibbered andthreatened him. He saw in his dream heaps and heaps of gold, andChang-hi intervening and struggling to hold him back from it. He tookChang-hi by the pigtail--how big the yellow brute was, and how hestruggled and grinned! He kept growing bigger, too. Then the brightheaps of gold turned to a roaring furnace, and a vast devil,surprisingly like Chang-hi, but with a huge black tail, began to feedhim with coals. They burnt his mouth horribly. Another devil wasshouting his name: "Evans, Evans, you sleepy fool!"--or was it Hooker?
He woke up. They were in the mouth of the lagoon.
"There are the three palm-trees. It must be in a line with that clumpof bushes," said his companion. "Mark that. If we go to those bushesand then strike into the bush in a straight line from here, we shallcome to it when we come to the stream."
They could see now where the mouth of the stream opened out. At thesight of it Evans revived. "Hurry up, man," he said, "Or by heaven Ishall have to drink sea water!" He gnawed his hand and stared at thegleam of silver among the rocks and green tangle.
Presently he turned almost fiercely upon Hooker. "Give _me_ thepaddle," he said.
So they reached the river mouth. A little way up Hooker took somewater in the hollow of his hand, tasted it, and spat it out. A littlefurther he tried again. "This will do," he said, and they begandrinking eagerly.
"Curse this!" said Evans, suddenly. "It's too slow." And, leaningdangerously over the fore part of the canoe, he began to suck up thewater with his lips.
Presently they made an end of drinking, and, running the canoe into alittle creek, were about to land among the thick growth that overhungthe water.
"We shall have to scramble through this to the beach to find ourbushes and get the line to the place," said Evans.
"We had better paddle round," said Hooker.
So they pushed out again into the river and paddled back down it tothe sea, and along the shore to the place where the clump of bushesgrew. Here they landed, pulled the light canoe far up the beach, andthen went up towards the edge of the jungle until they could see theopening of the reef and the bushes in a straight line. Evans hadtaken a native implement out of the canoe. It was L-shaped, and thetransverse piece was armed with polished stone. Hooker carried thepaddle. "It is straight now in this direction," said he; "we must pushthrough this till we strike the stream. Then we must prospect."
They pushed through a close tangle of reeds, broad fronds, and youngtrees, and at first it was toilsome going, but very speedily the treesbecame larger and the ground beneath them opened out. The blaze of thesunlight was replaced by insensible degrees by cool shadow. The treesbecame at last vast pillars that rose up to a canopy of greenery faroverhead. Dim white flowers hung from their stems, and ropy creepersswung from tree to tree. The shadow deepened. On the ground, blotchedfungi and a red-brown incrustation became frequent.
Evans shivered. "It seems almost cold here after the blaze outside."
"I hope we are keeping to the straight," said Hooker.
Presently they saw, far ahead, a gap in the sombre darkness wherewhite shafts of hot sunlight smote into the forest. There also wasbrilliant green undergrowth, and coloured flowers. Th
en they heard therush of water.
"Here is the river. We should be close to it now," said Hooker.
The vegetation was thick by the river bank. Great plants, as yetunnamed, grew among the roots of the big trees, and spread rosettes ofhuge green fans towards the strip of sky. Many flowers and a creeperwith shiny foliage clung to the exposed stems. On the water of thebroad, quiet pool which the treasure seekers now overlooked therefloated big oval leaves and a waxen, pinkish-white flower not unlikea water-lily. Further, as the river bent away from them, the watersuddenly frothed and became noisy in a rapid.
"Well?" said Evans.
"We have swerved a little from the straight," said Hooker. "That wasto be expected."
He turned and looked into the dim cool shadows of the silent forestbehind them. "If we beat a little way up and down the stream we shouldcome to something."
"You said--" began Evans.
"_He_ said there was a heap of stones," said Hooker.
The two men looked at each other for a moment.
"Let us try a little down-stream first," said Evans.
They advanced slowly, looking curiously about them. Suddenly Evansstopped. "What the devil's that?" he said.
Hooker followed his finger. "Something blue," he said. It had comeinto view as they topped a gentle swell of the ground. Then he beganto distinguish what it was.
He advanced suddenly with hasty steps, until the body that belonged tothe limp hand and arm had become visible. His grip tightened on theimplement he carried. The thing was the figure of a Chinaman lying onhis face. The _abandon_ of the pose was unmistakable.
The two men drew closer together, and stood staring silently at thisominous dead body. It lay in a clear space among the trees. Near bywas a spade after the Chinese pattern, and further off lay a scatteredheap of stones, close to a freshly dug hole.
"Somebody has been here before," said Hooker, clearing his throat.
Then suddenly Evans began to swear and rave, and stamp upon theground.
Hooker turned white but said nothing. He advanced towards theprostrate body. He saw the neck was puffed and purple, and the handsand ankles swollen. "Pah!" he said, and suddenly turned away and wenttowards the excavation. He gave a cry of surprise. He shouted toEvans, who was following him slowly.
"You fool! It's all right It's here still." Then he turned again andlooked at the dead Chinaman, and then again at the hole.
Evans hurried to the hole. Already half exposed by the ill-fatedwretch beside them lay a number of dull yellow bars. He bent down inthe hole, and, clearing off the soil with his bare hands, hastilypulled one of the heavy masses out. As he did so a little thornpricked his hand. He pulled the delicate spike out with his fingersand lifted the ingot.
"Only gold or lead could weigh like this," he said exultantly.
Hooker was still looking at the dead Chinaman. He was puzzled.
"He stole a march on his friends," he said at last. "He came herealone, and some poisonous snake has killed him ... I wonder how hefound the place."
Evans stood with the ingot in his hands. What did a dead Chinamansignify? "We shall have to take this stuff to the mainland piecemeal,and bury it there for a while. How shall we get it to the canoe?"
He took his jacket off and spread it on the ground, and flung two orthree ingots into it. Presently he found that another little thorn hadpunctured his skin.
"This is as much as we can carry," said he. Then suddenly, with aqueer rush of irritation, "What are you staring at?"
Hooker turned to him. "I can't stand ... him." He nodded towards thecorpse. "It's so like--"
"Rubbish!" said Evans. "All Chinamen are alike."
Hooker looked into his face. "I'm going to bury _that_, anyhow, beforeI lend a hand with this stuff."
"Don't be a fool, Hooker," said Evans. "Let that mass of corruptionbide."
Hooker hesitated, and then his eye went carefully over the brown soilabout them. "It scares me somehow," he said.
"The thing is," said Evans, "what to do with these ingots. Shall were-bury them over here, or take them across the strait in the canoe?"
Hooker thought. His puzzled gaze wandered among the tall tree-trunks,and up into the remote sunlit greenery overhead. He shivered againas his eye rested upon the blue figure of the Chinaman. He staredsearchingly among the grey depths between the trees.
"What's come to you, Hooker?" said Evans. "Have you lost your wits?"
"Let's get the gold out of this place, anyhow," said Hooker.
He took the ends of the collar of the coat in his hands, and Evanstook the opposite corners, and they lifted the mass. "Which way?" saidEvans. "To the canoe?"
"It's queer," said Evans, when they had advanced only a few steps,"but my arms ache still with that paddling."
"Curse it!" he said. "But they ache! I must rest."
They let the coat down. Evans' face was white, and little drops ofsweat stood out upon his forehead. "It's stuffy, somehow, in thisforest."
Then with an abrupt transition to unreasonable anger: "What is thegood of waiting here all the day? Lend a hand, I say! You have donenothing but moon since we saw the dead Chinaman."
Hooker was looking steadfastly at his companion's face. He helpedraise the coat bearing the ingots, and they went forward perhaps ahundred yards in silence. Evans began to breathe heavily. "Can't youspeak?" he said.
"What's the matter with you?" said Hooker.
Evans stumbled, and then with a sudden curse flung the coat fromhim. He stood for a moment staring at Hooker, and then with a groanclutched at his own throat.
"Don't come near me," he said, and went and leant against a tree. Thenin a steadier voice, "I'll be better in a minute."
Presently his grip upon the trunk loosened, and he slipped slowly downthe stem of the tree until he was a crumpled heap at its foot. Hishands were clenched convulsively. His face became distorted with pain.Hooker approached him.
"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" said Evans in a stifled voice. "Putthe gold back on the coat."
"Can't I do anything for you?" said Hooker.
"Put the gold back on the coat."
As Hooker handled the ingots he felt a little prick on the ball ofhis thumb. He looked at his hand and saw a slender thorn, perhaps twoinches in length.
Evans gave an inarticulate cry and rolled over.
Hooker's jaw dropped. He stared at the thorn for a moment with dilatedeyes. Then he looked at Evans, who was now crumpled together on theground, his back bending and straitening spasmodically. Then he lookedthrough the pillars of the trees and net-work of creeper stems, towhere in the dim grey shadow the blue-clad body of the Chinaman wasstill indistinctly visible. He thought of the little dashes in thecorner of the plan, and in a moment he understood.
"God help me!" he said. For the thorns were similar to those theDyaks poison and use in their blowing-tubes. He understood nowwhat Chang-hi's assurance of the safety of his treasure meant. Heunderstood that grin now.
"Evans!" he cried.
But Evans was silent and motionless now, save for a horrible spasmodictwitching of his limbs. A profound silence brooded over the forest.
Then Hooker began to suck furiously at the little pink spot on theball of his thumb--sucking for dear life. Presently he felt a strangeaching pain in his arms and shoulders, and his fingers seemeddifficult to bend. Then he knew that sucking was no good.
Abruptly he stopped, and sitting down by the pile of ingots, andresting his chin upon his hands and his elbows upon his knees, staredat the distorted but still stirring body of his companion. Chang-hi'sgrin came in his mind again. The dull pain spread towards his throatand grew slowly in intensity. Far above him a faint breeze stirred thegreenery, and the white petals of some unknown flower came floatingdown through the gloom.
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