Show S OF 0 F T EIGHT in I 1 IT G tf T T T BEINO BEING THE AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE OF A TREASURE discovered IN THE BAHAMA ISLANDS IN THE YEAR 1903 NOW FIRST GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC by RICHARD LE GALLIENNE copyright by Doil DouIle doubleday lely day A company i CHAPTER VII VI I 1 continued 14 but alast they did not begin till r koino six foot feet above my head und and the way was sheer how was I 1 to reach the lowest rung ulie hie rock was too eilicer fo for roc me to cut steps in na its I 1 had done further farther buck back I 1 looked about me again the luck was with me in one of the caves I 1 had noticed some broken pieces of fallen rock reel they were ter rubly heavy but despair lint lent tile me strength lip nna anil after an hour or twos work I 1 had managed to roll several of then them to the lie foot of lie file ladder and on an effort of which I 1 would not have believed myself calin ble biad been able to build them one on top of another iother Hi against tile the wall so I 1 foi found lid ply myself self able to grasp tho the lowest owe at rung with my lands hands then tile the lantern round my nerk neck with my necktie I 1 prepared to mount tito climb was not difficult one once I 1 lind managed to get my feet 0 on tile the llast rung of tile the ladder but tile was mi always tho the chance that one oae of tit tho rungs might have rusted loose wilh walli time in which case of course it would havo have given way in my grasp anti I 1 should have been precipitated backward below J Ilo however wever the roan man who had mortised morti sed them hem had done an honest piece of and they proved as firm as on oil the he day they were placed there up and up I 1 went till I 1 must have been forty feet above the floor and then ns as I 1 neared the foot instead of coming to a trap door as I 1 had conjectured I 1 found that the ladder came to nn an end tit at the edge of a narrow ledge running along the ceiling much as it clerestory runs near tha root roof of somo some old churches on to this I 1 managed to climb it was mas barely a yord wide anti and the impending root roof lid did not permit of ones standing erect it was a dizzy situation and it seemed safest to crawl along on all tours fears holding the It lantern intern tn fit front of me presently it brought me up sharp in 16 a narrow recess ithai come to an end besl but Imil imagine gine my joyl it had come to an end at a low archway rudely cut in the rock deep set et in ili the archway was a stout wooden door my first thought wits was that I 1 was trapped again but to my infinite surprise s ar and gratitude it proved plowed ty to bo be slightly ajar and n vigorous push sent it grinding back on its hinges what next I 1 wondered at till nil events I 1 was no longer lost in tile the bombela ofa of th the L earth step by step I 1 was coming nearer to the frontiers of humanity lium aBUy but I 1 was certainly not prepared for what next met my eyes as I 1 pushed through the low doorway with my lantern mid and looked around yes I 1 indeed man had certainly been here man too very pu purposeful and businesslike nes nos I 1 was in a sort of low narrow gallery some forty feet long to Z I 1 A N 61 V I 1 was in a sort of lowi low narrow gallery some forty feet long which the arching rock rondo made a crypt like ceiling at my first glance I 1 paw that acie there was another door at tho the far end similar to the ono no I 1 had entered by anti on oil the left side of the gnile gallery ry built of rough stones from tho the low ceiling to tile floor door was a series of compartments nali with locked wooden woodell door they were strong and grim looking and might have been taken for prison cells or family vaults or possibly wine bins the massive locan wore were red with rust and there wai wa plainly no possibility of opening them on the he other ode of the gl gallery illery there here was a litter of old it chains and sonic some boards probably left over from tile he doors yes and there were two old guns and several cut hu liibs ses es roll KI eaten away with rust also t rough senn seamans ians chest opol and fall pig to pieces at the sight of that a thought flasted through my lay brain aroln what if good coill what if this wits was john teaches treasury behind those hose grim doors I 1 threw myself with till nil my force against one and then the he other for lie ho moment I 1 forgot that my pnra paramount mount business was to es capp but I 1 might na as well have hurled myself the solid rock and lit at that moment I 1 noticed that the place was darker dailar than it tin hail been my lantern wits way going out in a moment or two I 1 should he be in the pitch dark tind and I 1 had discovered that hat tho the door at the end of the gallery was as solid us as the others ot liers I 1 wits was to be trapped after nil all and I 1 pictured myself slowly dying there of hunger the pangs of which I 1 wits was already beginning to feel feci and some one years hence fl finding noling me there a ring skeleton somo one who would break open those doors uncover those gleaming hoards and moralize on oil the alie irony of oc my end condemned to tile dlo there of starvation with the treasure I 1 ind so long sought on the 0 alier side of those unyielding doors old toms words suddenly hashed flashed over me 1110 find and I 1 could feel my hair literally beginning to rise there never wits was a burled buried treasure yet that claim its victim great god I 1 and I 1 was to be 10 tile lie ghost and keep guard lit in tills this terrible tomb till the next dead man came along to relieve belleve roe me of my sentry duty butyl I 1 Frant frantically leany I 1 turned fumed up the wick of my lantern at the thought but it was no use it wits was plainly going out I 1 examined roy my match box I 1 had still a dozen or to so matches left and then my eye fell on that shattered chest there ali ere were those boards too at nil all events I 1 could build a alre and make tore torches fies of slivers silvers of wood so long as tile tho wood lasted and then I 1 had an idea why not make the fire against the door at the end of the gallery and nn so burn roy my way through gli bravo I 1 my spirits rose at the thought and I 1 set to at once splitting some small kindling with my knife in a few minutes I 1 had quite a sprightly little fire going at tile the bottom of tho the door but I 1 saw that I 1 should have to be extravagant with my woodit the fire was to be effective Ilo however wever it was neck or nothing so I 1 plied piled on beams and boards till roy my fira roared like a furnace and presently I 1 I 1 hud d th the le J joy 07 0 of f seeing it begin to talo I 1 hy 1 I of the door which after I 1 n 1 hort ame tile began to crackle and splutter in a very cho cheering cring fashion whatever lay beyond it was evident that I 1 should soon be able to break my way through tile the obstacle ind indeed so it proved for presently I 1 used one of the boards as a buttering ram and to my inexpressible joy it went crashing through with n shower of sparks and it was but the work vork of a few more minutes before the he whole door fell fl flaming arning down and I 1 was able to leap through gli the doorway into In the darkness on the other side As I 1 stood there sicre peering alicade and holding aloft a burning stick which proved however it a poor substitute for my lantern a wonderful sound smote roy my ears cars I 1 could not believe it and my knees shook beneath roe me it was the lie sound of tho the sen yes it was no illusion it was tile sound that tile tho sea makes singing rind echoing through hollow caves the sound I 1 heard that night us as I 1 stood tit nt the hie moonlit door of calypsos cavern and saw that vision which my heart nearly broko broke to remember calypso I 1 oh calypso I 1 where was she nt at tills this moment pray iray god that site she was indeed safe as her father biad sald but I 1 ind to will vill her from my mind to keep from going mad and my poor torch ind gone out having however given roe me light enough to see that tile the door which I 1 load had just burnt through let out onto it a narrow platform im on chri nide of a rock reel that went slanting down into a of blackness the through ough which as in ili r great shell boomed that murmuring of the sea it had n perilous ugly look find and it was plain that it would lie ile foolhardy to attempt it at the moment without a light ond and my fire alre was dying down besides I 1 wits was beginning tv t feel light lightheaded headed beaded and worn out partly from lack of food no doubt doub t As there hero was no food to bo be had I 1 recalled the old french proverb lie ile eats cats who sleeps or something thing to that effect and I 1 determined to bus band my strength once more with a brief rest Ilo however wever as I 1 turned to throw some settle more wood on my fire preparing to indulge myself with a little campfire cheerfulness as I 1 dozed doze ott off my eyes fell once more on that grim line of locked doors anti and my curiosity and an idea made TOO me wakeful again I 1 lind had burned down one door why not another why allot not indeed so I 1 raked over my air fire to the family vault nearest to me and presently had it roaring and licking against tile stout stoia door it was apparently not so BO solid as the gallery door lind had been at nit all events it kindled more easily and it was not long before I 1 had tile tho satisfaction ef c battering that down too As I 1 did so I 1 caught sight of sora something in the interior that made me laugh aloud and behave generally like n nin madman dulan of course I 1 believe my eyes but they persisted in de clarenc clarl nc nevertheless that there in front of roe me was a great ironbound iron bound chest to begin with it might not of course contain an anything kiat hut hones bones but it might I 1 the thing was vi ais too absurd I 1 must have fallen asleep must le be already dreaming 1 hut no 1 I 1 was laboring with nil all my strength to open it with one of those rusty cut lassos laes it was it tough job but my strength was its as the old strength of ten for the old treasure limiting hunting lust vi upon tile me and I 1 had forgotten everything else in the world for the time at laatt art with a great wooden groan gioan ns though its ita heart were breaking at 11 having to give ill its secret at last lastly I 1 lp crushed open I 1 fell on my knees its is though I 1 ind been struck by lighting for it was literally brimming over with silver and gold pieces doubloons doub loons anil and pieces of eight english duglish an and french colas coins too guineas and louls fouls dori dor all as tobias manuscript had said all good money for D v willie while I 1 knelt over it dazed and lost then I 1 slowly phin plunged geI ray my hands into lt it and let tile the pieces pour and pour through them thein lite ridly bathing them in gold and silver as 1 hat and read of misers doing then suddenly I 1 brolie broke out into an irish jig alg never having had tiny notion of doing such it a tiling thing before lit in fact I 1 behaved its is I 1 have rend read of men doing whom a sudden fortune ilias hns bereft of reason for the time tit lit till all events I 1 was a gibbering mad madman nian certainly there was to be no steep for 1110 that night I 1 nut lint in the full tide of my frenzy I 1 suddenly noticed something flint brought me up sharp out beyond tile doorway it was growing light it was only a dim tremulous suffusion Burtu slon of it indeed but it was real daylight oozing in fit from somewhere or othar the blessed blessed daylight I 1 god goa bo be pral praised I 1 CHAPTER vill VIII in which I 1 understand the feelings of a ghost so I 1 surmised I 1 had been underground a whole day and two nights nod this was the morning of the see onil olid day after calypsos disappearance what had been happening to lier s qa tills this time I 1 my flesh crept A till thought and with that day dayyat t steal ing in ithe a living arese prese 1 1 1 1 I thi sund and breath of the 4 awl f toy 3 y asb gursh returned a hundredfold As I 1 stood on the little rocky plat form outside the thol door through which I 1 had burned my way and looked down into the glimmering chasm chasin beneath and heard bieard the lie fresh voice of the he sea huskily rumbling and reverberating rever berating about hidden grottoes and nil that calypso was to me come came back with the keenness of a sword through my illy heart ali ah I 1 there was my treasure as I 1 had known when my eyes cyca list first behold beheld her coni compared pared with which that gold and silver in ili there whose gleam ind made tile me momentarily distraught was but so much dust tin and ashes ardently us as I 1 had sought it what was it colli compared pared to one glance of her ter eyes what if la ili the same hour I 1 had lost my true treasure he ire asuro asure and found tile lie false at the thought that glittering licali became to tile me and without looking hack back I 1 sought for some way liy by which I 1 could descend As my eyes grew accustomed to the illin ilin light I 1 saw that there here were some shallow peps cut diagonally in tile the yock rock and iowa down chete I 1 lind soon nindo made my way to ind find i in it i roomy corridor so much like that lit in which I 1 had seen calypso calipso standing in tile moonlight that for it a moment I 1 dren nied it ans tile HIP same and started to run iowa down it thinking indeed that my iny troubles were over that in another moment I 1 would emerge through hint that enchanted door and face tile son pen lint hut alas I 1 instead of a broad shining doorway do onay and open arms of freo freedom doin widespread for mo me to leap into I 1 anine tit at last to a more long narrow slit silt through illch I 1 could gaze gae its as a man gazes through a prison window nt at the sky I 1 the entrance ranco ind biad once been wide aldo and free but a mass of rock find failed fram above and blocked it up leaving only a long loing crack through which tile the I 1 tides ides passed to and fro I 1 was waa still lit in my trap rap tt it seemed more terrible than ever now that 1 I could see BOO freedom so close her ter very voice calling to me singing alio morning song of the sea but in the caverns behind me I 1 heard another mocking song pong and ami I 1 felt it cold breath on iny cheek check for death stood by my agrin a grin tito the trea treasure surel I 1 lie he whispered 1 I need you to guard that hat the treasure you have risked nil all to win the trea treasure for which you hava fost ost your treasure I 1 you cannot escape go bar bark k ani count your gold it la Is nil all good money 11 I 1 lial bal it Is nil all good money I 1 the illusion deemed so real to me ino flint I 1 cried aloud 1 I will not lie die I 1 I 1 will not adlei die I 1 cried cr it so loud that anyone in a passing boat beat might linic hao henra heard me and shuddered wondering what poor ghost it wits walling ahmoi e tile rocks I 1 but tile the fright had done roe me good and I 1 nerved myself for another effort if only I 1 could wriggle past that contraction in tho the middle I 1 should be safe and ana it I 1 stuck fast midway 1 but the lie more I 1 men measured the ho width anth with my c co the loss less tile the ii t to bo be to bo be so bo slightly perceptible it donld hardly ile be enough to annice much terence caution whispered that it it might bo be ellough to nuiko ille differ enu between life and death hut but already m my choice of those two august was ns so limited ns na hardly to ho bo called a choice on oil tho the one liand I 1 could worm my way back though th ough nigh the tin ps ana tunnels through h I 1 lind passed tind try my luck eliglo it n nt tt tho other end with halt half a dozen matel matches leal F 8 fiKri leered td it voice olce that sounded like to hi is precisely reel set y and tho the horn r of it was mils than him I 1 dared face i 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