Beyond the southern
archway spread the limitless heaving plain of the Pacific. Near at
hand bare black rocks rose from the surges, like skeletons of the
land that the sea had devoured. And after a while these walls that
supported the cavern roof would be nibbled away, and the roof would
fall, and the waves roar victorious over the ruins.
I wished I could visit the place in darkness. It would be thrice
as mysterious, filled with its hollow whispering echoes, as in the
day. I dreamed of it as it might have been when a boat from the
_Bonny Lass_ crept in, and the faint winking eye of a lantern
struck a gleam from the dark waters and showed nothing all around
but blackness, and more blackness.
From the ledge far above my head led off those narrow, teasing
crevices in which the three explorers did their unrewarded
burrowing. I could see the strands of a rope ladder lying coiled
at the edge of the shelf, where it was secured by spikes. The men
dragged down the ladder with a boat-hook when they wanted to
ascend. I looked about with a hope that perhaps they had left the
boat-hook somewhere.
I found no boat-hook but instead a spade, which had been driven
deep into the sand and left, too firmly imbedded for the tide to
bear away. At once a burning hope that I, alone and unassisted,
might bring to light the treasure of the Bonny Lass seethed in my
veins.
Pages:
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115