The Old Tobacco Shop

"Never mind," said Aunt Amanda, "my orders as captain is, to say nothing and wait and see what will happen."

The raft turned a corner to the right, and slipped on silently in that direction for a long distance, probably for more than a mile. Then the raft turned again, this time to the left; and after about ten minutes longer Toby suddenly said, "S-sh! What's that?" They all listened, and heard afar off a sound as of rushing water, very faint, but unmistakable.

"Er – excuse me," said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg. "Do you think – ahem! – there is any – er —danger?"

"I don't like it," said Aunt Amanda. "I don't think it's safe in here."

"I think we are lower in the water," said Freddie.

"So we are," said Toby. "The water's coming up over the top now, and if we don't get on dry land soon, we'll all be sitting in a puddle."

In spite of its being water-logged and lower in the water, the raft was beginning to go faster, for the current had suddenly become swifter. The wind blew stronger; it swept through the narrow passage-way so briskly that Toby put his hat over the candle; but he was too late; the light wavered and went out. A groan went up from the company.

"I can hear that rushing sound plainer," said Aunt Amanda.

"Hit's wery like a water-fall," said Mr. Punch.

"I wish it understood," said the Sly Old Fox, "distinctly understood, that I am here under protest. If I had ever for one moment imagined – "

"O-o-oh!" screamed Aunt Amanda. "We're going – faster – o-o-oh!"

She threw her arm around Freddie and held him tight. The current suddenly became swifter; the raft, almost under water, was leaping forward at a frightful speed. Directly ahead of them, growing louder and louder, was the roar of rushing water.

"Hold – on – tight, Freddie!" cried Aunt Amanda.

"We'll all be done for," shouted Toby, "in another – minute, I reckon, – hold – on – tight!"

As Toby said this, the raft almost galloped. The roar of falling water burst on them from close ahead. The raft seemed to rise up and then to sink down. Its nose slanted downward. The roar of falling water was all about them. Aunt Amanda screamed, but no one could hear her. The raft paused and teetered for an instant; then it pointed downward, almost straight, and the whole party, the raft, and the fish under the raft, plunged downward through the darkness on a cascade of tumbling water; down, down, down; the raft shot from under and the passengers shot off; in a twinkling they were going down the water-fall on their backs. Would they never reach the bottom? There did not seem to be any bottom; but —

In another moment, there were Aunt Amanda and Freddie (her arm still about him) standing on their feet in about twenty-four inches of quiet water on a solid bottom. Dark forms appeared, one after another, beside them, and almost at once all the party were standing together in a group, in about two feet of quiet water, on a solid bottom.

"I fear," said the voice of the Sly Old Codger, "that I have lost my hat."

They could see that they were in a great chamber, whose walls they could make out dimly on each side. They could not see the top of the water-fall, but they could see its lower part very plainly. Through the tumbling water of the fall, near the bottom, sunlight was shining. Behind the water was an opening some six feet high, and as the water fell across this opening the sunlight from without shone through it, making it glow with green and sparkle with white. The water-fall hung over this opening like a curtain.

"Well," said Aunt Amanda, "I'm pretty near drowned, and my clothes are a sight to behold. But I'm the captain of this expedition, and my orders is, that we go ashore."

The water proved to be shallow all about them, and they waded to a strip of dry ground beside the wall which rose at their left as they faced the fall. Aunt Amanda, whose cane was gone, was assisted by Mr. Toby and Mr. Punch.

"Blamed if my hat ain't gone too," said Toby. "She was a good hat, I'll have to say that for her."

The party walked along the edge of the water, and came to the end wall of the chamber, opposite the fall. There lay the wreck of the raft, with the tail of the great fish sticking out from beneath.

"I fear," said the Sly Old Codger, "that the faithful creature has departed this life."

"He's dead as a doornail," said Toby.

"Poor thing," said Aunt Amanda. "Anyway, my orders is to explore this cavern, and see what we can find."

At this end of the cavern the water was slipping away under the wall, and this outlet explained why the water inside remained so shallow. The party commented on it, and then walked along the side wall towards the other end where the fall was. When they were midway along this wall, a cry from Toby, who had left Aunt Amanda to the care of Mr. Punch, startled the others.

"What's this?" he cried. "Look here!"

He was stooping over something, and as the others gathered round, they saw that he was stooping over a pile of small square boxes, standing in several long rows along the wall.

Mr. Hanlon lifted one of the boxes, with a great effort, and shook it. A jingling sound came from within.

"Aha!" said the Sly Old Fox. "That beautiful music! It is the sound, dear friends, the sound of – of Money!"

"Bless my soul!" cried Aunt Amanda. "Is it?"

"My opinion is," said the Churchwarden, "that there is gold in that box."

"Then open it!" said Aunt Amanda.

Mr. Hanlon shook his head. The box was locked tight, and it was bound with iron bands. All the boxes were locked, and they were all bound with iron bands.

"Come along this way," said Toby. "There's something more here."

Further along the wall, leaning against it, was a row of large coffee-sacks, each bound around the mouth by strong twine. One of these sacks Mr. Hanlon quickly opened. He tilted it over and poured out its contents on the ground. The party of onlookers gasped with astonishment.

From the mouth of the bag fell pearl necklaces; diamond rings; ruby rings; emerald rings; all kinds of rings; gold bracelets and chains; silver forks and spoons; gold toothpicks; gold cups; silver vases; and a great variety of other things of the same sort.

It was a moment or two before anyone spoke. Then the Churchwarden said, "It's my opinion that this is pirates' treasure."

"Mercy on us!" said Aunt Amanda. "And they may be in here on us any minute!"

Mr. Hanlon opened others of the bags. Each was filled with rare and costly articles of gold, silver, and precious stones.

"Do you think it's really pirates?" said Freddie, in an awed whisper.

"Not a doubt of it!" said Toby, in a voice much lower than before. "Look at this!"

He pointed to a placard on the wall above the sacks. The light was almost too dim for reading, but the writing on the placard was very large, and Toby, by standing on one of the bags, was able to make it out. He read it aloud.

"Beware! Hands Off! Whoever Shall Touch it He Shall Die by the Hand of Lingo!

With a Knife in the Throat! Long Live

King James and the Jolly Roger!"

"There a skull and cross-bones under it," said Toby. "Pirates, as sure as you're born."

"We'd better be getting away from here," said Aunt Amanda.

"Better not speak so loud," said Toby. "How are we to – ?"

"S-sh!" said the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, in a frightened whisper. "Excuse me – look – I saw something under the water-fall. What's that?"

"Stand close back against the wall," whispered Toby, "and don't speak a word."

They crowded back against the wall, alongside of the treasure, and looked towards the water-fall.

A dark object was rising from the shallow water at the foot of the fall. As they watched, another dark object appeared to come through from under the fall and apparently from behind it; and this object rose also from the shallow water near the foot of the fall, and took its place beside the other. One after another, five more of these dark objects came from under the fall and apparently from behind it, and stood upright in the shallow water.

There were now seven in all. They moved in a group towards the shore. Each of them had two legs, and each was muffled from top to toe in a single loose garment with baggy legs; they walked somewhat like a company of bears. They stood on the dry ground, and one of them proceeded to take off the loose garment with which he was muffled, while the others assisted him with evident deference.

First came off a close hood which covered his head, cheeks, and neck. As the watchers by the wall saw his head, they held their breath in terror, and Aunt Amanda clutched Freddie's arm. Around the head was a tight-fitting kerchief, knotted behind; in his ears were great round ear-rings; and gripped between his teeth was a long pointed knife.

Aunt Amanda gave a sign as if she was about to scream, but Toby quickly put his hand over her mouth.

As the man with the ear-rings got himself out of the legs of his loose garment, the party by the wall saw that he was a short and burly man, of a ferocious aspect. In a sash which he wore was stuck on one side a cutlass, and on the other a long pistol. He wore no coat, and his shirt was open at the throat. His arms showed from the elbows down, and they were thick with muscles. His trousers were knee breeches, buckled just below the knee, and he was very bow-legged; his calves were big and knotted.

When his outer covering had been removed, it was plain that he was perfectly dry from head to foot, except for water on his face and hands; and while the others were taking off their coverings, he withdrew with one hand the knife from between his teeth, and with the other hand wiped the water from his eyes and face. He then stuck the knife in his sash, waved his hands somewhat daintily in the air as if to dry them, took from his breeches pocket a large white handkerchief, completed with this handkerchief the drying of his face and hands, examined his finger-nails carefully, blew on them, and proceeded to polish them delicately with his pocket-handkerchief, at the same time swearing two dreadful oaths, in a low tone of voice, at the six men who were struggling with their coverings. When these had been removed, the six appeared in much the same style of dress as the first, and each bore a cutlass and a pistol; but their clothing was much ruder than his, and they had no ear-rings; instead of sashes they wore leather belts.

"Kerchoo!" rang out a sneeze as sharp as a pistol-shot, from the party by the wall.

"Dear me," said the Sly Old Codger, out loud, "I do believe I'm catching cold."

At the sudden discharge of the sneeze, the seven men jumped as if they had in fact been shot. Each one snatched out his cutlass with his right hand and his pistol with his left, and faced in the direction of the sneeze.

"Confound your cold," whispered Toby fiercely to the Sly Old Codger, "now we're done for."

The seven men with their cutlasses and pistols, with the ear-ringed man in the lead, tiptoed stealthily in the direction of the sneeze.

As they came closer to the party who were crouched against the wall, Aunt Amanda slipped down quietly to the ground at Toby's feet. The captain of the expedition had fainted.

CHAPTER XVI

CAPTAIN LINGO AND A FINE PIECE OF HEAD-WORK

The man with the ear-rings muttered something in a fierce undertone to his six followers. They spread out behind him in a wide line. With a stealthy step they came forward noiselessly. The party by the wall held their breath in terror. Nearer and nearer came the seven men, still in perfect silence. They reached the cowering company by the wall, leveled their pistols at their breasts, held up their cutlasses ready to strike, and looked at their leader for the command to kill.

At this moment the man with the ear-rings observed the form of Aunt Amanda on the ground. He stooped down and examined her, and stood up again. Then he eyed the company of travellers with a hard cold eye, and spoke deliberately and in a low voice. His manner of speech was somewhat stilted and precise, and scarcely what might have been expected of a pirate.

"The ceremony," said he, "will be deferred for the moment. I commend you meanwhile to perfect quietness; one movement, and the consequences may be fatal. A hint is sufficient. I perceive here a lady in distress. 'Tis a monstrous pity, indeed. I regret that we were unaware of the presence of a lady; had we known, we should certainly have taken our measures more fittingly. I crave your pardon. No one has yet accused Captain Lingo of rudeness to a lady. Ketch, put up thy cutlass and go straightway to the pool and wet this pocket-handkerchief. Be brisk, thou muddle-pated son of a sea-cook! Haste!"

The man called Ketch jumped as though he had been stung, and took from Captain Lingo's hand a fine white cambric handkerchief which the captain had produced from his breeches pocket, and running to the water moistened it and returned in great haste.

While this was going on, the poor captives were able to examine their chief captor more carefully. They remarked with surprise the fine quality of the handkerchief which he had handed to his man, and they were even more surprised to note the whiteness and fineness of the linen of his shirt. His breeches were of blue velvet, and his sash and the kerchief which bound his head were of crimson silk. On the fingers of each hand he wore three or four diamond rings, which sparkled brilliantly in the half-darkness. His stockings were plainly of silk, and the buckles at his knees and on his shoes were of polished silver, outlined in diamonds. His face was hard and cruel, but its unpleasantness may have been due to a long scar which crossed his mouth from his right cheek to his chin. When he smiled, as he did in referring to the lady in distress, the scar gave to his face a singularly evil expression.

Taking the wet handkerchief from Ketch's hand, he knelt beside Aunt Amanda and bathed her face and wrists, slapping her cheeks and temples smartly now and then with the handkerchief, and changing her position so that her head lay lower than her body. After he had worked over her with much care for a few moments, Aunt Amanda opened her eyes. She was staring at the frightful crooked smile of a strange man with rings in his ears and a kerchief on his head. She started up, bewildered.

"Where's Toby? Where am I? Who are you?"

"Captain Lingo, ma'am," said the strange man, "at your service."

"Let me up," said Aunt Amanda. She struggled to her feet, rejecting the assistance offered by the ear-ring'd man, and stood facing him, her bedraggled bonnet very much over her right ear. "Who are you?" she said again.

"Your humble servant, ma'am," said the strange man, smiling his crooked smile. "Captain Lingo, by name. A gentleman adventurer of the high seas. Owner of the treasure which you have discovered here in our little retreat. Known here on the Spanish Main as the Scourge of Ships, and loyal servant of his blessed Majesty King James, whom the saints defend. Your obedient humble servant to command." He made the lady a very courtly bow.

Toby whispered into Freddie's ear. "He can't be so terrible bad, not with all that polite way of talking. Don't be afraid. We'll be all right with this pirate. Who on earth is King James?"

Aunt Amanda was also much relieved by the pirate's polite address.

"As long as you are my obedient servant," said she, "I'll thank you to help us to get out of here as soon as possible. We didn't want to come in the first place, and we are in a hurry to get out."

Captain Lingo laughed heartily. "They are in a hurry to get out, lads," he said to his companions; and at this they all laughed uproariously.

"I don't see anything to laugh at," said Aunt Amanda. "If we don't get out of here soon, we'll catch our death of cold."

This made Captain Lingo laugh more heartily than before. "Ha! ha! ha! Their death of cold! That would be a rare fine thing, but a bit too slow, lads, eh?" And the other six laughed again, so that the walls of the chamber echoed with their mirth.

"What do you mean by too slow?" said Aunt Amanda.

"Madam," said Captain Lingo, "we are a little pressed for time. We really could not wait for you to die of colds."

"What?" said Aunt Amanda faintly, her feeling of confidence beginning to ooze away. "Do you mean to say – ?"

"Madam," said the pirate, seriously, "I will put it to you plainly. Our treasure, which you have discovered, has taken a great deal of hard work to accumulate. We really couldn't bear to lose it. The people of this island, and a great many other people besides, have been trying for many years to find it. You have not only found it, but you have even gone so far as to open certain of our bags, in spite of the warning posted above your heads. Now picture to yourselves, dear madam and gentlemen, what consequences would certainly ensue if you were to leave – here – ahem! – alive."

"Oh!" gasped Aunt Amanda. "Leave – here – alive!"

"All the fruits of our industry would be lost, and our own safety would be imperilled. You will readily see that, of course. 'Tis a pity so many will have to die at once, for it will mess up the place very badly, and I always endeavor to be neat. But why, why did so many of you come at once? Couldn't you have come, say two at a time? It would have made so much less trouble."

"Ho!" said Mr. Punch. "Hif we 'ad only stopped at 'ome, hall of us!"

"However, I do not wish you to feel too keenly the trouble you are putting us to; my brave lads will cheerfully put up with the inconvenience, though I must confess the amount of blood will be quite unusual, and so many bodies will be troublesome to bury. I wish it were possible to have you walk the plank. However, pray do not bother too much on our account."

"We weren't thinking about you at all," said Toby. "We were thinking about ourselves."

"Oh," said Captain Lingo, in a tone of disappointment. "I beg your pardon; I misunderstood. At any rate, we will now prepare for our little ceremony. If there are any trifling articles of jewelry and the like, I will be pleased to – "

"But this boy!" cried Toby. "And this lady! You don't mean to – you can't mean – "

"Not for worlds," said Captain Lingo, "would I be rude to a lady. I trust you will find my conduct towards the lady beyond reproach. There shall be no rudeness of any kind. Merely a quick stroke, and all will be over. No violence, no roughness of any kind; not a word to offend the most sensitive ears. A single stroke, and the affair is done. And let me tell you, I have here with me a Practitioner who is very expert in this sort of business: our friend Ketch, in fact, who was so kind as to wet the handkerchief for the lady. I assure you that you are in great luck to fall into the hands of such a Practitioner; he will make it as pleasant for you as possible; one stroke only, I promise you. With one stroke of a cutlass, he is able to slice off a head as neatly as you could do it with a broadaxe; there are very few who can do it with a cutlass, let me tell you that. Many men have become famous by being operated on by Ketch. I remember a case – However," he said, looking about him as if considering something, and speaking rather to himself than to the others, "it would be difficult to bury the bodies here, and the light is not very good. I think, yes, I think it had better be done outside. You are already wet, and I trust that another immersion will not inconvenience you too much. Lads," he said to his six men, "put on the rubber suits, and help our friends under the fall. Look alive, now."

The six men immediately ran to their rubber suits and began to put them on. While they were doing this, Toby put one arm about Freddie and the other about Aunt Amanda. She lowered her head to his shoulder for a moment, but she soon raised it, and standing very erect she said, "Very well, if it must be, it must. It's easy to see that this bloodthirsty villain means every word he says; but I ain't going to whimper; I'm the captain, and I order that everybody keep up his courage, and wait and see what will happen."

"Ay, ay, ma'am," said the Churchwarden.

"Do you know," whispered the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg, "I believe that we are in a good deal of – er – danger."

Freddie put his hand in Toby's, and held it tight. "You keep close to me if you can," said Toby, squeezing his hand. "We may be rescued at the last minute; you never can tell. Don't lose your nerve."

Freddie was trembling with fear, and the hand which held Toby's was as cold as ice; but he said nothing; the others were being brave, and he resolved that he would be as brave as the rest, up to the very last. He began to think of his mother and his father, and to wonder what would become of them if he should be – but he forced himself not to think of that; he pressed his lips tight together, and commanded himself to be brave.

The six pirates returned, clad in their baggy rubber suits, and looking very much like bears walking on their hind legs. They brought with them Captain Lingo's suit, and helped him to get into it. When he was encased like the others, with only his hands and face showing, he said:

"Now, madam, I will assist you to the fall."

"We'll attend to that," put in Toby, quickly. "Come on, Mr. Punch."

Aunt Amanda's cane having been lost, she found more difficulty in walking than formerly, but Toby and Mr. Punch supported her to such good effect that she kept up with the others very well on their march into the water towards the fall. All, except the pirates, shivered as the cold water came again around their knees, and they looked with fear upon the tumbling cataract which they were required to go under. There was no help for it, however; the seven pirates surrounded them and persuaded them to go on. They stood in a forlorn group in the quiet water near the foot of the fall.

"Now, madam," said Captain Lingo, "I will help you under."

Toby and Mr. Punch, feeling that the pirate knew the way better than they did, resigned Aunt Amanda to his care, not without some fear that the villain might deliberately drown her on the way through. He made her kneel in the water, and then lie flat; and with a strong arm he pulled her under the water-fall and out of sight.

"You're next," said a deep voice to Freddie, and Ketch the Practitioner seized him and plunged with him under the water; and in an instant they had disappeared beyond the fall.

One after another the miserable, shivering victims were assisted by the pirates under the water, and one by one disappeared. The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg was the last, and one of the pirates returned for him. When he had followed the others, the great half-dark chamber remained as it had been before, in its empty solitude and gloom, without an ear to hear the steady rush of water pouring incessantly down its fall.

On the outer side of that rushing fall was a scene very different indeed. The pirates and their captives stood under a blazing sun, looking across a wide and beautiful landscape. Behind them, in the side of a high hill overgrown with bushes, was the hole by which they had come forth, and across the inside of this hole was the curtain of falling water. Freddie wondered how anyone had ever had the courage to plunge for the first time through that curtain into the unknown dark. The heat of the sun was very grateful, and the clothing of the soaked travellers began to dry perceptibly at once. The pirates took off their rubber suits.

Beneath the observers the ground sloped down into a broad valley, chequered with grass meadows and dotted with trees. To their left, as they gazed out across the landscape, the ground rose from the valley by easy stages to a great height, no doubt forming the landward side of the black cliff which bordered the ocean.

To the right, the country rolled gently away from the valley in a vast unbroken forest, a shimmering green ocean of tree-tops as far as the eye could see. Far, far off where the forest rose in a kind of mound, Freddie thought he could see what looked like the top of a round tower, just emerging above the haze of trees.

The pirates and their captives were standing on a little grassy plateau, on which were great boulders here and there, and a few wide leafy trees. Two or three fallen logs were lying near the edge of the plateau, where it began to slope downward.