The Rope of Gold, Page 6

  CHAPTER VI A STARTLING DISCOVERY

  Night was fast approaching when Curlie Carson, weary from a long day'stramping, threw himself down at the foot of a tamarind tree that shadoweda narrow dried-up stream. He needed rest and time to think. That day hehad spent in following the trail of Johnny and the band of natives. Twohours before he had lost the trail. Now he was far, far away from thecamp at the Citadel and from his improvised laboratory in the heart ofthe crumbling old fortress.

  Thoughts of his laboratory there all unguarded disturbed him. "He'salmost finished," he grumbled to himself. "Be a pity if some nativeswould get in and wreck him.

  "Poor old Mike," he sighed. "All alone in that gloomy old dungeon. But Iguess it's safe enough for all that." He chuckled. He was thinking of thefright he had given that native on the rope ladder.

  "Same natives that spirited Johnny away." A frown formed on his brow."Wonder what they've done to him by now? Why couldn't I have followedthat trail? Why--"

  He broke short off to stare down at the sandy bed of the dried up stream.Did he see the print of a bare foot there! He bent over to look moreclosely.

  "Yes," he told himself, at once alive with fresh hope. "It is afootprint. And there's another, and yet another. They came this way.Hurray! I am on the trail again!"

  His joy was short lived. He had not followed the bed of the stream thathad been used as a trail a dozen yards before he made a startlingdiscovery. Johnny was no longer with the group of natives. That this wasthe same group of natives, he did not doubt. Two of these men hadpeculiar feet, one was nearly clubfooted, the other had lost a big toe.Their footprints in a damp spot registered these peculiarities quiteperfectly.

  "Can't be mistaken," he told himself. "Question is, what have they donewith Johnny?"

  To this question he could form no satisfactory answer. One fact stood outplainly: since he had come in search of his friend Johnny Thompson, andsince he no longer traveled with this band, there was no longer anyreason for following this trail.

  "Back track is better," he told himself. "May find some trace of Johnny.At any rate it will lead me back to the Citadel, to camp and mylaboratory."

  He wondered in a vague sort of way what Dorn and old Pompee would thinkof his prolonged absence. Would they start out in search of him? He hopednot. Yet one never could tell. He had been gone since early morning. Ithad been agreed that he should take up the search for Johnny while Dornand Pompee guarded camp and waited for much needed supplies that Dorn'sfather had promised to send.

  Rising and turning his back on the native trail, he began making his wayback down the stream.

  He had not gone a quarter of a mile before the trail left the bed of thestream to go branching away up the slope of a wooded hill.

  Shadows were falling fast. It would soon be quite dark. As the boyhastened on, a breeze sweeping in from the sea fanned his cheek. Itfanned something else; an all but burned out camp fire gleamed out anew.

  This sudden flash of red caught the boy's eye. Turning sharply to theright, he took a dozen steps, then paused in sudden astonishment.

  As he stood there before the mildly glowing camp fire he fancied himselfRobinson Crusoe. On the sands of the beach had he come upon an abandonedcannibal camp?

  "And they do say that these Haitian natives, some of them, descended fromcannibals and are not too sure to be free from cannibalism," he toldhimself.

  A cold chill ran up his spine. All about him were the evidences of arecently completed feast. Bones and scraps of half roasted flesh wereeverywhere. He thought of his missing friend and shuddered afresh.

  A cloud obscured the setting sun. The world went dark. The boy foundhimself paralyzed with overpowering fear.

  "Nonsense," he managed to stammer. "It--it's no use being foolish.Got--got to get a grip on myself."

  With that he gave the camp fire such a kick as sent sparks flying andmomentarily lighted up the scene.

  Enheartened by this he seized a handful of dry palm leaves to hurl themon the glowing coals. In a moment's time he had a bright fire blazingcheerily.

  * * * * * * * *

  In the meantime there was consternation at the camp by the Citadel. Itwas bad enough, Dorn thought, with Johnny Thompson missing. Curlie'scontinued absence doubled his anxiety. He was for plunging at once intothe jungle in search of his lost companions. To this plan Pompee wouldnot agree. "We are but an old man and a boy," he argued. "I am strong,but being old I have not the endurance of youth. The jungle would claimme as its own. And you are too young to care for yourself in so vast awilderness."

  Truth was that Pompee, being black, was very superstitious. The vision hehad seen on the Citadel had seemed to him a warning. He would much ratherhave left the place and gone back to his cabin. But loyalty to his youngmaster forbade this. One thing he could do--he could refuse to lead Dorninto further peril and this he did with all his heart.

  To Dorn, held as he was to enforced idleness under the most tryingcircumstances, the tinkling of a bell that sounded far down the trail wasa godsend. He sprang down that trail expecting anything and everything.What he found was a very droll looking donkey, named Midas. Midas wasladen with all manner of good things to eat, brought straight from Dorn'sown kitchen.

  With Midas came Dorn's flaxen-haired cousin Doris. Doris was from theStates. She was of French descent but her people had lived so long inAmerica that they had become truly American. Dorn liked Doris; in facteveryone liked her. She had a round, smiling face and laughing blue eyes.A friend never came within hailing distance of her but they heard hercheery "Whoo hoo!" and saw her arm swung high in greeting.

  Doris was now in Haiti for a rather long visit, while her father was awayin Europe on business, but she had entered so thoroughly into the life ofthe island that to her friends and relatives she already seemed a part ofit.

  Both Doris and her dark-eyed cousin Dot, Dorn's sister, had wished toaccompany Dorn and his friends on their exploring trip to the Citadel.This, Dot's father would not permit. The best he would allow was anover-night visit when they brought the supplies. It happened that whenthe day came for leading the drowsy Midas up the mountain with his loadedhampers Dot was much needed in her father's office. So Doris and a nativegirl, Nieta, had come in her stead. This had brought bitterdisappointment to Dot. She had, however, found some comfort in thethought that on the night of Doris' absence she could carry out a secretexperiment which she had for a long time contemplated making.

  So here was Doris and the dark Nieta. And here too was Midas with hisfull hampers. And here as well was the marvelous, mysterious Citadelwhich must be shown to the girls. Dorn had a full day of it with littleenough time to think of his missing friends.