Show S PATI T no NS by CAMILLA KENYON copyright dobbs bobba monal marril company CHAPTER XI continued 14 and now I 1 have to think about moving tile the gold first of all I 1 must tet get the che chest st itself aboard the island queen gueco tills this means that I 1 shall have to I empty it and leave the gold cold in the cave while I 1 get the chest out by sea lea when the chest Is safely in the cabin of the sleep where it IV wont t leave much room for benjy an and 1 I ills master im afraid I 1 will take ill the e fags of coin out by the land entrance I 1 cant think of risking my precious loub loona in the voyage around the point of course I 1 should have hae liked to let et to the task today but after the first mad thrill of the great event wits was oer dyer I 1 found mi myself self as weak and unnerved as a woman so by a great effort I 1 came away and left my florl dus aus golden hoard now I 1 adreain and gloat playing with the idea that tomorrow I 1 shall find it all a fantasy rile I 1 he pleasure of this Is of couri course c that ill 11 the while I 1 know till this wildest of kil ill arabian entry tales to be as real its as tho most drab and sober tact fact of my hitherto colorless colo iless life after all on the way back from the cave benjy brought brou glit down own a pig so bo lie he Is as well pleased with the day its as I 1 am now I 1 cm am sitting in the doorway of df my cabin writing up my illy journal jo and trying to calm down enough to go to bed if it were not for the swift tiding failing ot of daylight I 1 would go back to the cave for another peep into tile chest kut but nil fill round lound the island tile the sea Is moaning with that peculiarly melancholy note that comes with the railing falling of 0 night the sea birds have risen front from the cove and coile wheel ing olt off in troops to their nests on oil the cliffs somehow Some liow a curious dislike almost fear of this wild sea girt soli soil tary place has come over tile me I 1 long for the alie sound of human voices tile alie touch of human hands I 1 think of the lead dead roan man lying there at the door of the caw cave its silent guardian for so long I 1 suppose he brooded blooded once on the hie thought of the gold as I 1 do perhaps he has been brooding so these ninety years I 1 I 1 wonder if he Is pleased that 1 I a stronger stranger have hae come into possession of ills secret hoard at last bastl oh helen turn your heavenly face on me bo be my refuge front from these ashud dering unwholesome thoughts though I 1 TI I 1 he got gold Is for you for you I 1 surely that must cleanse it of its stains must loose tile the clutch of the dena dead bands that strive to hold itt february 11 this morning I 1 w was as early tit nt the cave yes there it wits was the sanie same wonder chest that I 1 had dreamed of oe all night long it was absurd how the tightness ilmy in my breast relaxed 1 I began nt at once the work of removing the bogs bags from the chest find and stacking thein in the corner comer of the cave it was a fatiguing job I 1 had to stoop so 1 I spent so much time thue unloading the chest that before I 1 was ready to go for my iny boat the tide win was up find and pounding on the rocks locks below the cave I 1 find that only tit at certain stages of the tide Is the cave approachable by sea bea at the turn after high water r for or instance there Is such ruch a terrific linder undertow tow that it sets up a small maelstrom among the reefs lying 4 ing oil off the island at low law title tide Is tile the time to come february 12 oot got the chest out of he live cave though it was a difficult job luckily there was no sea anti and I 1 had it II smooth passage around the point I 1 laughed rather ruefully its I 1 passed the cave of tile the two arches to think of the toll I 1 wasted there I 1 I 1 wish benjy had encountered the fateful pig a little sooner got the chest aboard the island queen arid and stowed in the cabin not room coom left to swing a kitten kitte ii lit in the alie afternoon began moving the gold its the deuce of a job february 15 ileen been hard at it for three breo days most of the gold moved have alave to thlik too 0 of provisions and gatei for the trip 16 on board the island queen have moved my traps from the hut but and am sleeping on the sloop wont to be near the tha gold tomorrow I 1 have only to bring the last of the gold aboard a wiling trifling matter mattei and then go out with the ebb I 1 would have got nil all the bags on oil board today hut but I 1 noticed a worn vorn stretch lit in the cable holding the sloop and stopped to repair it I 1 cant have the sloop lug g on oil the roch i in case basea a blow comes up tai tonight I 1 ight there are only about n load and a half of bags left in tile the cave A queer notion seized me today about the crucifix when I 1 was bring h bi il if it front from tho cave it seemed to hoot hoat into my braan I 1 fant say from what quarter that I 1 ila imd better leave the crucifix tor for bill it more lhnn lie had it a right to really and there is iio no virtue lit in a crossbones cross bones to it man sleep well or of course I 1 put the absurd idea from we tile and brought the crucifix aboard alotis aloi with the rest of the gold I 1 dball lie be glad when I 1 know that the ama have again covered that lonely looking irh freestone from I 1 cant hilp help feel triB my y ow glor glorious louf good toi for tune to be somehow sit nn affront to poor unlucky tomorrow one last trip to the cave and aad then hey for home and helen 1 the diary ended here ilc lobed the book and stared with unseeing ayes es into the green shadows 4 of the encompassing what bapp happened ened to the writer of the diary 0 on t i that last trip to the cave for lie he li had ad never left the island crusoe was here bere to prove it as well as the wreck of tile island queen and in fill all human in probability under the sand which choked the cabin of the derelict was tb tin V long sought chest of spanish doubloons doub loons but azat hat was the mysterious fate of peter had ho he fallen overboard from tile the sloop and been drowned had lie he returned to tile the cave find and was lie he there still it was all a tery but a mystery which I 1 burnetto burned to sive of course I 1 might have solved it very ery quickly merely by ing the extraordinary knowledge which v alch had tome coxie to me to my companions but for the present at least I 1 meant to keep this astounding secret for my I 1 began at once the work of removing the bags own somehow or other by guile or lucky circumstance I 1 must bring it t about that the document i I 1 had sighed at miss aless brownies Brow nea behest was canceled was I 1 who all lind had discovered or as good as discovered the tha vainly sought for treasure to disclose its whereabouts to those who would deny me the smallest claim upon its con contents tents was I 1 to see till nil those fair shining gulden golden coins parceled out between browne find and 1 mr ir tubbs and captain magnus agnus the three who loomed large lit in my indignant thoughts and not possess a single one mi self or perhaps accept a little stingy present of a few I 1 really very covetous about the money taken just as money but considered as buried bulled treasure it made my mouth water n and then there was dugald show who had saied my life find who seemed to have forgotten it and that I 1 had ever lind had my arms about hla his neck and who was vas poor and brave yes decidedly I 1 should keep my illy secret yet set a 0 while till I 1 saw how lio the cards were voie going to tall fall CHAPTER XII I 1 bring to light a clue my farst and nil all but overpowering impulse was ft as to possess myself of a spade and dash for the wreck of the island queen sober seronil thought restrained we me to dig through the damp close packed sand of the cabin would be no trifling hiding task for I 1 should lie be hampered by b the need of throwing out the excavated sund sand behind me through the narrow 0 I 1 could achieve my end no doubt by patient burrowing but it would require much more time than I 1 hod had at my IV command cOlu mand before the noon noonday day sounding of cookies gong I 1 must not be seen departing or returning with a spade but make inake ON oft with the implement lit in a stealthy and burglarious mann r above aboe all I 1 must not risk betraying my secret through tin am patience nut but there was nothing to forbid an immediate pilgrimage to the much sought ought grave stone with its sinister cimbol the account in peters peter diary of ills adventure with the pig placed i the grille with such exacts exactness ess that I 1 lind no doubt of 0 finding it en earll silly that done I 1 would know very ery nearly cibere to look for the cave ae tind and lit in order to bid de defiance flance to a certain chill sense of reluctance which beset me tit nt the of the lie cave I 1 started out nt at once skirting the clearing with much circumspection for it seemed to me file that even the sight of 0 my illy I 1 ing back must shout of 0 f mystery to cookie C tit honing hymns among lih 1119 pots anil id pans lians clustie Cr of course coi irie came with alth nip me happily unconscious of ills his own on strange relation to our quest somewhere Some lit in the lie angle between the lie ragged margin of the lie cliffs and the abrupt cihi pt riso of the craggy ci aggy mountainside according to peters journal alny fly the grave I 1 began systematically to poke with a stick I 1 carried into every low growing glowing mass of hiie vines i or bushes bashes quite suddenly I 1 found it my prod dings had ft a matted mass of ground creeper beneath looking raw and naked without its leafy covering I 1 was tho the curiously regular little mitch dutch of ground outlined tit intervals bilth small stories at tile the hend lie a d of 0 ehg grave I 1 lay a y a large smoothly rounded tone stone I 1 knelt and brushed away any some obstinate vine tendrils and the liters halters n B II 11 revealed ended themselves cut deeply and irregularly into tile sloping face of the tha stone below ivas ns the liala interligi ble symbol of the crossed bones there was something lit in the u utter ater loneliness of the place that caught my breath sharply fehar ply at onto once I 1 had tho alio feeling teellar of a marauder here slept the alie guardian of tile treasure anil and yet in de defiance flance of hin I 1 meant to love it so too lind find peter ieter and I 1 know yet what amt he had managed to do to peter with nil an impatient shiver I 1 got up quickly from my knees I 1 whistled to crusoe who was trotting busily about on oil mysterious intelligence conveyed to him film by ills nose ile he ran to me ine joyfully and I 1 stooped and patted his warm vigorous lg orous body let bill walk crusoe I 1 remarked let lilium libat I 1 llis ile be a dog in tile the manger about the treasure anyhow now came the moment which I 1 had bad been trying to ing not to think about I 1 had to rind find the entrance to the cave and then into it or with own esteem forever fo reer I 1 went mid and peered peeled over oer the lie cliff the ledge was there not on nn dinv inv inviting biting ledge nor one on will bilth c it the he inclined would love any impulse to saunter but n perfectly good ledge on which I 1 had not the slightest excuse tor for declining to venture len ture there was truly nothing dangerous about the ledge it way was nearly three feet wide and had tin nn easy downward trend yet you sou heard the hungry roar of the surf below and try as you ou wu would d not lot to caught glimpses of tile the WIT white te swirl of it I 1 moved cautiously keeping close to the face of the cliff crusoe to my annoyance sprong sprang down dmn the ledge after tile me 1 I lint 11 feeling that hint lie he must certainly trip me as I 1 picked iny in way gingerly an angle in fit the rock lock a low dark entranceway entrance way it was as all as peter had described it I 1 peered in iii nothing but I 1 took a ties hesitating step the passage veered sharply shai as tile diary had recorded once around tile the corner cornel there would be nothing but darkness anywhere suddenly portentous and overwhelm ovon helming there rose be beffie fore tile me tile unan question of what had become of peter on oil that last visit to the cave unanswered and unanswerable ex capt in one way by going coins in to see whereas I 1 had so tar far thought prid or of lie now to think with intensity ot of peter ieter what ironic stroke of fate litto jut cut him down in 1 n ille alie very moment montien i of ht his triumph had lie ever readied reached the cave to bring away file the fast last 0 0 f tile the doubloons doub loons were they still waiting halting there unclaimed 1 und had a storm come coine up tip on flint last night and the weakened cable parted find and the island queen gone on the r boits 0 achs drowning peter in the cabin with ills gold then how had crusoe got away crusoe who feared the waves unes so and would bark tit ft then them and then turn tall and run speaking of crusoe where was hel bel I 1 realized idealized that a moment ago lie he had bad plunged into the passage I 1 heard the th patter of oc ills his feet a pause A queer dismal little whine echoed along the hit passage I 1 heard crusoe returning but before ills hla nose ap appeared around the angle of the tunnel its his mistress had reached ren elied the top of the cliff at a bound and was vanishing at a brisk pice pace into tile the woods with vilh bitterness hs as I 1 pursued my way vay to caknip I 1 realized leall zed that I 1 was not a heroine here was it a mystery it was the business of a to solve it now kow that I 1 was safely away aay front from tile the cave i I 1 began to feel the itch of a torturing curiosity how with out going into tile the terrifying place lone alone should I 1 find out what was there should I 1 pretend to have accidentally ci discovered the grave grae lend lead the baity party to it find and then again accidentally discover the tunnel 1 tills till plan had its merits but I 1 discarded it for fear that something would be found in the cave to direct attention to the alie island queen then I 1 reflected that very likely the explorers would work round the I 1 island for far enough to find the sea mouth of the cave tills would take matters roat teis entirely out of my hands I 1 should perhaps be enlightened as to the fate of peter and the last remaining bugs bags of 0 doubloons doubloon doub loons ii but might also have to share the secret of the derelict with w I 1 th the rest anti and then nil all my dreams ol 01 playing fairy godmother and add showering down on oil certain heads like coals of lie fire torrents ton cuts of beautiful golden doubloons doub loons would lie ile over on tile whole I 1 could not tell whether I 1 burned with impatience to have the cave discovered or was cold with the fear of it and then so vigorous Is the instinct to bee ones self belt in beaole postures I 1 found I 1 wits was trying to chealit myself ith the pretense that I 1 meant RIPS antly to abstract aunt janes electric torch and returning to the tun gunnil nil mouth plunge in dauntlessly TO 10 BG BE CONTINUED |