The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island by Cyril Burleigh

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"Nonsense! You are full of Captain Kidd's treasure, and so are half the
boys. You won't find anything down there, and you will have your trouble
for your pains."

"I'm going to look just for the fun of it, anyhow," said Dick, "although
it would be very convenient to have a light as J.W. suggests. Another time
we can bring one."

The sun shone more strongly into the hole, and Dick began to descend,
using a stout stick, which he had broken from a tree near at hand, to
assist him in going down.

The smaller boy looked rather wistfully into the hole as Dick went down,
and Jack, breaking another stout stick, asked:

"Do you want to go down there, young fellow, and follow Dick Percival on a
fool's errand?"

"It might not be that," said the other, "and I would like to go."

"All right, then, come along. Here is a staff for you. I can do without
one, I think. Keep close to me. Can you walk upright, Dick?"

"Yes, generally," came back the answer in a muffled voice. "My! but the
place is filled with echoes, Jack. It goes down quite a distance I should
say. The light is a big help. Funny, but there seems to be a light down
here, although where it comes from I can't say."

The boys kept going down and at length Jack said, pausing and trying to
pierce the darkness, the light that Percival had spoken of not being
visible at that moment:

"I think we would better get a light, Dick. We don't know where we are
going, and it is dark. It is never safe to go anywhere in the dark unless
one is familiar with his surroundings."

"That's true enough, Jack. Have you any matches? The next time we come
this way, if we do, we had better take a flashlight along."

"I have matches," said Jack, and in a moment a tiny blaze shot up,
increasing till it enabled them to see to some extent where they were.

They were still descending, but in a short time were on more level ground
or rock, whatever it was, proceeding till the match went out, and a few
steps farther when Dick suddenly brought up against something and
exclaimed in surprise:

"Hello! we cannot go any farther, Jack. Strike another match, and let us
see where we are."

Jack lighted two or three matches at once, and held them just above his
head so as to obtain a good view of his surroundings.

"Hello! what is this?" exclaimed Percival. "A cave, or what?"

Just before them was a jagged opening into some region beyond, but whether
it was a cave or not puzzled them.

Jack went closer, and held his light in the jagged opening.

"It's a hole in the side of a vessel, Dick!" he cried in amazement.

CHAPTER VI

A WALK UNDER WATER

"That's what it is, Jack," said Dick, after the first sensation of
astonishment had passed. "It is more in the bow than on the side, however.
You can see how she narrows a little farther on. This hole is pretty well
forward. I tell you what! This is the vessel we saw under water, or the
one that stump of a mast belongs to, at any rate."

"I believe it is, Dick. Probably she drove in here, had a hole smashed in
her bow, and then sank. The earth has settled in between the masses of
rock above and around her, and hidden her, but there is still the fissure
down which we have just come."

"This is as good as finding Captain Kidd's treasure, isn't it?" exclaimed
young Smith. "We never expected to find anything. Shall we go in and see
what more there is, Jack?"

"We may find ourselves in the water before we know it," murmured Jack.
"No, I think we would better stay where we are. It is the safest plan by
long odds. It looks like taking too many chances to go into a place like
that. Better wait till another time."

"Give me a match or two, Jack," said Percival. "I'll promise not to take
too great a risk."

Jack handed him the matches, and he struck them, and advanced a step or
two into the opening.

"It is plenty wide enough," Percival said. "Yes, these are ship's timbers,
all right. She must have struck hard to make such a gash. We are on a
level with the lower deck. I can't see much cargo around, but there is a
way aft. This must be a sort of steerage, and the lower hold where the
cargo is stored is below us. I believe we could walk right ahead to the
after bulkhead, and if there happens to be a door in it, as is often the
case, straight into the after cabin."

"If there were anything to make a torch of, Dick, I'd go with you," said
Jack, "for I am as much interested as you are in this strange find, but we
don't know what we might stumble against or into what hole we might fall.
Wait, Dick. We shall not probably leave the island for some time, and
there will be opportunities to find out more about it."

"Yes, I suppose so, but I would like to find them out now. However, you
have the right of it, and it is just as well to be cautious."

"Besides, I have only a few more matches left, and we must get back to
where we started. If you and I were alone----"

"Yes, quite right," and Dick came out, as his matches were extinguished,
and they started back.

A match or two gave them all the light they wanted till they began to
ascend, the way up being more difficult than coming down, and both older
boys being obliged to assist the younger one.

However, they reached the top at last, the light seeming to be almost
dazzling after they had been used to the darkness for even the short time
they were down in the strange place.

"I never knew the sun to be so bright," said Jesse W. "It's like what men
say coming up out of a deep well is."

"We'll go there again," said Percival. "I want to know more about the
place. Better not say anything to the other fellows. We'll have them
swarming over the place if we do, and then there is more or less danger in
going down there."

"I believe you want to keep the discovery all to yourself in case we did
find treasure there," said Jack. "Probably there is nothing more than a
lot of spoiled beef and some old clothes."

"Oh, after we have seen all there is to be seen I don't care, but I do
want to have it to ourselves until we have had a chance to see all there
is to be seen. Think of going into a vessel through a hole in the side.
Very few people can say they have done that."

"There'll be no getting the vessel out of that now," said young Smith. "I
wonder how old it is!"

"It cannot be so very old," replied Jack. "If she were, the moss and slime
on that stump of a mast would be thicker, and there would not be so much
of the stump. Probably she is filled with water in any event."

"There was none in the part we saw."

"No, as that was above water, but the lower part undoubtedly is. I do not
believe we could go all the way through as Dick suggests."

They went back to the place where they had left the boat, made their way
down and rowed back to the yacht, where they went on board, and saw some
of the boys, telling them of visiting the reefs, but saying nothing of the
strange discovery of the vessel among the rocks.

There was a very high tide that night, but Captain Storms decided that it
would be very unwise to try to pass beyond the reefs, none of the openings
being wide enough and the surf very heavy.

"There is no use, young gentlemen," he said to Jack and Dick and a few
others. "We will have to stay here for a time until I can get in
connection with the outside world. Then, perhaps, some one may know about
this place, and a way out of it. One vessel has gone down here, and I
don't care to be the next, and leave my mainmast sticking up out of the
water to show folks the way to destruction."

"We saw that stump ourselves," said Jack. "Was that wreck long ago, do you
think?"

"Not so many years, twenty, perhaps, or maybe less. The rocks would hold
her tight, but I don't believe there's much left of her. Nothing worth
taking away, I guess."

Jack gave Dick a peculiar look, and neither of the boys told what they had
seen.

The boys had lessons and a lecture that afternoon, and again the next
morning and in the afternoon were free to go about as they pleased,
explore the island or go out on the water with some of the sailors.

"I want to take another look at that old vessel," said Percival to Jack
after dinner. "I have borrowed a stout rope and an axe, and I have my
pocket light with me. Will you go along, Jack? I suppose we should take
J.W. with us, but he is a little fellow, and there might be danger."

"If we find anything whatever we can take him another time," said Jack. "I
don't want anything to happen to the young fellow. Some of the boys may be
saying that I took him to a dangerous place just to have the name of
rescuing him again."

"You don't mind what such fellows as Herring and some of the rest say, I
hope?" sputtered Percival.

"Not altogether, but it is annoying all the same."

"What those fellows need is a good thrashing."

"Well, I don't like this constant wrangling, and I keep away from them as
much as possible and don't give any cause for talk."

"Which is the cheapest kind of goods dealt in. Never mind them, but come
along and make another investigation of the wreck. I believe we may find
something in it."

"Spoiled beef and rotten clothes," laughed Jack. "However, I will go with
you, Dick."

They took the boat and rowed to the woody point where they made fast, and
climbed to the top as before, having much less trouble on account of not
having the younger boy to assist.

They made their rope fast to a tree near the edge of the hole among the
rocks, and by its help descended to the bottom, then lighting their way to
the hole in the side of the vessel.

With the axe Percival cut away the jagged edges of the timbers at the
opening, and then he and Jack pushed forward, using the axe now and again
as rubbish of various kinds came in their way.

They could see boxes and bales and casks on either side as they went on,
there being a passage-way between the tiers of the cargo, and here and
there a post or stanchion had half fallen and impeded their progress,
obliging them to cut it.

As Percival had predicted, there was a door at the end of the bulkhead,
dividing the hold from the cabin, but this was fast.

"It is not very thick," said Percival. "I believe I can break it in with a
blow of the axe."

"Wait a moment, Dick," said Jack cautiously. "Listen! It strikes me I hear
the sound of water. We don't want to let a flood in on us. It is likely
that the after hold and cabin are full of water, and we don't want to be
swamped."

Percival put his ear to the door, and then flashed his light through the
keyhole.

"There's nothing there, Jack," he said. "If there were water it would come
through here. We have gone so far, and I'd like to go the rest of the way
and get to the cabin. I believe we can. There is probably a passage on one
side of the companion leading to the after cabin."

"Yes, and the companion is open, and the place full of water."

"There is none here, at any rate, and it will be time enough to look for
trouble when it comes," returned Percival impatiently. "Stand aside, old
man, and throw the light on the door so that I can give a good blow."

Jack did as requested, and Percival raised the axe and dealt the door a
sturdy blow, which took it off its hinges and sent it crashing into a
narrow passage beyond.

"There is no water there!" he exclaimed in triumph. "Come on, Jack."

The two boys went into the passage, stepping over the fallen door, Jack
showing the way with the pocket electric light, which was great use to
them in the strange place.

The passage was narrow, not wide enough for the two boys to walk side by
side, and was about two fathoms in length, leading to another door which
was fast like the first.

In many vessels there is a passage like this leading from the after cabin
to the steerage, where the entire hold is not open from the hatches to the
keel, as in big ships, which the captain may use in reaching certain
portions of the cargo with less trouble than in the case of its being
stored in a solid bulk.

"Here is another door, Jack," said Percival. "I don't see any sign of a
companionway from the deck."

"No," said Jack, putting his ear to the door and listening intently. "I
can hear the swash of water just the same, Dick. We had better be a bit
careful."

"We would hear it here, anyhow, Jack. There is water outside, and I don't
suppose there is much depth here. You would be very likely to hear it the
same as you hear water dashing against the side of a vessel when you are
in the hold. It doesn't follow that the water is beyond there."

"No, I guess not. Well, give it a smash, and be ready to run in case there
is water there."

Percival took as much room as he could in the narrow passage, swung the
axe, and sent the door crashing into the space beyond.

Instead of a flood of water breaking in upon the boys, as Jack more than
half expected, there was considerably more light while the sound of water
was more distinguishable than before.

"Well! I declare!" exclaimed Percival, pressing forward.

The boys found themselves in the after cabin of a vessel, which was as dry
as if she had been in her dock, a soft light from overhead showing them
the details of the place perfectly, even without the light of the torch.

"We are under water, Jack!" cried Percival.

"So it seems."

"That light comes from the bull's-eye overhead. The water over it softens
the light. Otherwise, the sun would pour right into the place."

"That would be better than having the water pouring in on us, Dick. The
flashings of that skylight are tighter than most of them, however, or the
water would have gotten in here long before now."

"It is just possible that the glass has been covered with sand which has
been lately washed away. That would fill all the cracks around the
flashings and make them tight. Very likely the wave that sent us in here
has uncovered the skylight, and that is how it is light in here. It is
dry, too, Jack. Why, this is like being in one of the submarines we have
read of."

"Where you slide back a panel and look at the fishes in procession,
through a plate-glass port," laughed Jack. "That always seemed absurd to
me, but there are lots of things that Verne wrote about which have been
more than realized."

"I should say so! Why, his balloons and his submersibles would not be a
patch upon what are actually in use these days."

"Well, now that we know it is safe here, and the water is not going to
pour in upon us, let us have a look at the place," said Jack.

CHAPTER VII

A REMARKABLE FIND

The cabin where the boys now found themselves, so strangely lighted and so
marvelously discovered, was not of any great size and was evidently the
stateroom of the late commander of the vessel, which itself was not of any
great size so far as the boys could determine.

It was furnished with a standing bed fixed against the side, a table and
two chairs, all fixed to keep them from moving about when there was any
commotion outside.

The skylight was just above the table, which could be used in writing or
to have a meal served upon, there being evidences of its having been used
for both purposes at the time of the wreck, for there were papers and
writing materials scattered about, and a plate and a wine glass just under
it, having fallen off during the commotion of the wreck.

There were lockers along the floor under the bed, and along the sides of
the cabin, and in one corner a heavy chest such as seamen often use to
contain their valuables, this being brassbound and padlocked.

There was a small door forward and another aft, but the boys did not
attempt to see what was beyond either of them, being satisfied with what
they saw, and not knowing what dangers they might bring upon themselves by
doing so.

"It's a bit uncanny, Jack," murmured Percival, "having the water so near
to us and not knowing at what moment it may come in upon us. One of those
doors probably leads to the companionway going on deck, and the other to
the cockpit, but I don't think it would be wise to open either."

"No," said Jack, picking up a bit of writing from the floor.

"There may be, and probably is, another door beyond this after one leading
into the cockpit," pursued Percival, "but we don't know if we would let
the water in upon us, and it is just as well to leave it alone for the
present. The other doubtless leads to the companionway, and there may be
another one beyond at the top or perhaps at the bottom. I don't see how
the water has not made its way in here, but----"

"Both doors are of iron," said Jack. "Probably the skipper wanted privacy,
and--do you read Spanish, Dick! You know a number of modern languages,
more or less."

"No, not very well, but what made you ask me?" replied Percival in some
surprise. "What have you got there, Jack?"

"A letter addressed to some official in Mexico, but whether of the
provisional or rebel government I cannot make out."

"H'm! you are always picking up strange letters."

"Yes, it seems so. You are thinking of the one I found in the flying
machine. We never settled whether that was really genuine or not, Dick,
but this seems to be so. As far as I can make out it refers to a shipment
of some sort, arms or gold or--why, Dick, this wreck cannot be so old,
after all. The date of this is only that of last year and late at that."

"Then that knocks the Captain Kidd idea silly!"

"Never mind Captain Kidd. Let us see if we can open this chest. Do you
know, I am a bit nervous about staying down here too long. You said it was
uncanny, and so it is. I'll save these letters," picking up another from
the floor. "Suppose we try the chest, Dick."

"The only reason that the water did not come in through that hole forward
is that it was probably made by the rocks when she struck and this after
part is much lower. She was caught fast and could not fall back. Well,
what about the chest, can you open it?" for Jack was kneeling before it,
and trying the fastenings.

"I don't know. The lock is closed, but it is only an ordinary iron one,
and perhaps you might break it with the axe. There is no other lock that I
can see. Try breaking it open, Dick."

Percival struck the padlock a terrific blow with the axe, and broke it in
half, it being just a cast-iron affair and easily broken.

"It seems funny to put a lock like that upon a chest supposed to contain
something worth while," remarked Jack, as he removed the pieces of the
lock, pulled aside the hasp and opened the chest. "That is the way some
persons do, however."

Throwing back the lid of the chest he found a tray containing some papers,
a pair of pistols and a knife, a few odd trinkets of very little value,
some loose cigarettes, two or three dozen in number, a cheap photograph,
and a purse made of silver mesh containing a few gold coins.

"Whose picture is that, Dick?" he asked, handing the photograph to
Percival, who took it and examined it carefully.

"Why, that's Villa or some of those rebel Mexicans," Dick answered. "I
have seen it in the papers often. What's in the body of the chest?"

Jack removed the tray and set it on the floor, opening his eyes with
astonishment, and giving vent to a startled exclamation at the same time.

"Well, it is not Captain Kidd, Dick," he cried, "but it is money, just the
same, bags of it, and gold," untying the cord around one of the bags, and
showing it to be full of gold pieces.

"Not pieces of eight, Jack?" asked Percival with a broad grin.

"No, American twenties and tens, and a few English sovereigns," said Jack,
taking out a handful of the coins. "Why, there's more than a hundred
dollars right in my fist."

"And a lot of bags, too, Jack," and Percival bent over and looked into the
chest. "There must be thousands of dollars there, Jack."

"Yes, if they all contain gold. Take care of this one, Dick, while----"

At that moment there was a sudden heavy sound outside, and both boys
started up in surprise.

"What's that, Dick?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it."

"There is no water coming in?"

"Not that I can see."

The sound was repeated, louder than before, and Percival said nervously,
while his cheek was noticed to have perceptibly paled:

"Let us get out of here, Jack. I am frightened, I admit. If anything
should happen to you I would never forgive myself."

He closed the lid of the chest with his foot, caught Jack by the arm, and
said as he hurried away:

"I don't know what it is, but I am not taking any risks."

They hurried along the passage by which they had entered the cabin,
reached the hole in the bow by which they had entered and then, as
Percival turned on his flashlight, which he had extinguished after
entering the cabin aft, they hurried forward toward the hole in the rocks.

"There is no water here, Dick, at any rate," said Jack.

"No, there is not, but I can't think what made--hello!"

"What's the matter, Dick?"

"Where is the way up? I can't find it. The passage was not a wide one, was
it? We cannot have gone astray?"

"No, I don't see how we could," muttered Jack, as he looked around him,
the place being well lighted by Dick's flash. "Hello! I see what the
trouble is, and now I know what the noise was."

"Well?" asked Percival.

"Some of the rocks have fallen in, Dick. That was what made the noise.
Here is our rope. We are in the right place, therefore. The way up is
closed, however. Or, at any rate, it is closed here, but I don't
believe----"

"The rocks were not loose, were they, Jack?"

"I did not notice that they were, and there has been no rain to send them
down. They must have been loose, however. How else could they have tumbled
in?"

"I don't know, unless some one took a bar or a pole, and sent them down
that way."

"Nonsense, Dick! Who would do that?"

"I know plenty who would do it. Who pushed you into the ravine, back at
Hilltop at the risk of your life?"

"Yes, but there is no one around, and no one knew where we were going. You
don't suspect little Jesse W., do you?"

"No, indeed," said Percival, with a hearty laugh, "but some one has seen
us go down here, and they have thrown down the rocks to make it harder for
us to get out."

"It does not seem likely, Dick," said Jack in a doubting tone. "There was
no one about, and we are the only ones who know the place. We said nothing
about it, and young Smith will keep quiet. Come, that is hardly worth
thinking of. Let us see how we can get out. There must be some way."

Dick turned his light this way and that, and Jack lighted a match, saying
with a significant chuckle:

"That is all very well, but this is better for our purpose. Watch!"

The flame presently began to flicker, and indicated the presence of a
draught of air, Jack noticing the direction whence it came, said:

"Try this way, Dick. There is a draught which makes the flame flicker. Try
the axe on the rocks and see if you can loosen them, or, better yet, see
if there isn't a fissure somewhere."

"Yes, there is," said Percival, climbing a mass of rock somewhat to one
side of where the others had fallen. "Yes, I see it, Jack."

Between them, working with the axe and their hands, the boys opened up a
passage between the rocks wide enough for them to crawl through, and in a
few minutes were on the top of the wooded point only a few yards from
where they had entered the strange place.

"The boat's gone, Jack!" exclaimed Percival.

CHAPTER VIII

DISCUSSING THE FIND

The boys could see the water and the bank from where they stood, and Dick
had been the first to notice that the boat was not where they had left it
before going down into the buried wreck.

"I suppose it might have drifted away," said Jack. "The warp could have
become loosened."

"Yes, it could have done so," sputtered Percival, "but it did not do so
without help. The same fellows who tumbled the rocks into the hole took
away the boat. I have an idea who they were. I spoke pretty sharp to
Herring the other day, and he has probably been nursing his wrath ever
since."

"You are too suspicious, Dick, and--hello! did you bring that bag with
you?" for the first time noticing that Percival had the bag of coin which
he himself had handed to his friend.

"Yes, you told me to take care of it, and I did," and Percival put the bag
in the outside pocket of his jacket. "Well have to hail the yacht, old
chap. We can make our way in that direction along the top of the bank. It
is not such bad going, and then we have the axe if it is necessary to cut
our way through the undergrowth."

They set out along the top of the bank, keeping a lookout for the vessel,
now and then having to cut their way on account of the thickness of the
growth, which was often as high as their waists.

"The rocks could not have fallen in by themselves, and the boat gotten
adrift at the same time," muttered Percival as they went on. "Both of
these things were done by some one who wished to annoy us. Watch and see
how some of the fellows look when we get back."

"Very well, I will, but I don't see why any one should have done it,
perhaps both of these things were accidents."

"Either one of them might have been, but is it likely that both were, and
that they happened at the same time? Of course not. You will find that
Herring or Merritt, or perhaps both, have had a hand in it. They don't
like you, and do everything to hurt you, and they don't care any more for
me than they do for you. Bother this tangle! It keeps you busy every
moment. I believe things grow up here in a night. There will be bare rocks
one day and a regular forest on them the next. It beats all how things do
grow in these tropical islands!"

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