AT THE cottage that same night, Margaret made an excuse of fatigue, and withdrew to her chamber immediately when dinner was done, to the discomfiture of Saxe. May Thurston, too, vanished—perhaps because Roy was absent, and she preferred solitude in order that she might think of him without interruption. Presently Mrs. West said good night, and the three friends were left alone in the music-room. It was then that Saxe proposed to give to Billy Walker some information he had received from Margaret during their return trip in the canoe. “I’ve found out who was in this room when you fell through the ceiling,” Saxe said to the sage.
“Oh, that!” Billy retorted contemptuously. “It was of no importance. I didn’t bother to tell you.”
“Do you mean,” Saxe demanded, in astonishment, “that you know already?”
“Certainly,” was the crisp answer. “It[289] was Chris.”
“But how——”
“Elimination. There was no problem of interest.”
“But——”
“Only a kindergarten form of ratiocination required,” the sage went on, with an air of extreme boredom. “Cause—family devotion. Aged and faithful servitor didn’t mean to let you deprive daughter of his mistress of her share of the money—meant to beat you to it, like Masters, but from a different motive, merely to keep it away from you until the time limit should expire. Then, he observed symptoms between you and the said daughter that convinced him of error in his plans—made him realize that keeping the money away from you would end in depriving her of half the gold while giving her a half. Being emotional and devoted, he confessed to the girl. The girl felt it her duty to confess to you. It is probable that Chris was the one to discover the secret vault in the wall there, whom Roy, without due reasoning, took to be Masters. Was it Chris?”
[290]“Yes,” Saxe admitted. He was greatly disconcerted by his failure to add anything to the seer’s knowledge.
“Bully for Chris!” David exclaimed. “Crafty old critter, too, to dig into that safe. Huh! I’ve heard about that sort of devotion on the part of old family servants, but it’s the first instance I’ve struck in my own experience. Don’t have ’em in Wyoming.”
“Awful nuisance,” Billy Walker grumbled, “aged family retainers—doddering remnants, always butting in!” He gaped shamelessly, with a great noise.
Saxe, outraged by the sage’s flippant reference to sacred things of his heart, felt himself indisposed for the further companionship of his friends just then. It was this mood, rather than any anxiety concerning the treasure, that led him to devise an excuse for separation.
“Let’s get to bed,” he said, “and then make an early start for the island in the morning.”
Billy Walker, whose lids were weighted by the day’s activities, grinned contentedly at the first phrase, and scowled portentously at the second.
[291]“That’s the idea,” David agreed. “We’ll be off as soon as it gets to be light. I’ll tell Jake to call us, and Mrs. Dustin to have our breakfast ready.” He bustled out of the room, eager for the mission.
Billy Walker groaned.
“Dave is too precipitate,” he growled; “too precipitate by far.” He rose and started for his room. “If we’re to arise at some ghastly hour,” he explained to Saxe, “I musn’t lose an instant in getting to bed. Brain-workers require ten hours of sleep. It’s different with you others.” His feelings somewhat soothed by this gibe, he departed.
In consequence of David’s alertness, they were routed out of bed the following morning while yet there was only the most pallid hint of gray in the east to foretell the dawn. When Billy Walker found that he required a lamp to direct the process of his toilet, he was in a state of revolt. He was thoroughly disgusted when he discovered artificial light a necessity at the breakfast-table. He made it plain to all and sundry that nocturnal ramblings were not to his mind. But he sank into wordless grief when the party set[292] forth in the launch, for darkness still prevailed, and he heard Jake announce that there would be a full hour before the rising of the sun.
David, for his part, was all eagerness to be at work. Saxe, too, now that he was in the open, gave over for a time his dreams of the one woman, and was filled with zeal toward this final struggle for the attainment of fortune. He believed that the day would determine success or failure in the quest for Abernethey’s gold. He had seen to it that the equipment contained whatever might be necessary for thorough exploration of the cavern. In the launch were lanterns, ropes, pickaxes, shovels, and a miscellany of things, selected by himself, David and Jake in council. There was, too, a big hamper of food, so that they would not need to return to the cottage for luncheon.
On the arrival of the party at the island, they made their way at once to the cavern, carrying only the lanterns. The other things were left in the launch, to be got as occasion should require after the preliminary search. None of them suspected that aught might[293] have befallen Roy in the cave. Although they had come to know something of the desperate nature of Masters, they were confident that Roy’s presence on watch would have sufficed to keep the engineer at a distance. So they were all in the best of spirits, even to Billy Walker who was at last fully awake, when, after lighting each a lantern, they pushed aside the bushes that hid the break in the cliff, and made their way through the rift into the great chamber. As they stepped within it, they lifted their voices in joyous greeting to their comrade. To their surprise, no answer came to the hail—only innumerable echoes flung back from the recesses.
“He’s off, exploring on his own,” David remarked.
Billy Walker, who had been lurching clumsily here and there with inquisitive eyes, examining the unfamiliar surroundings by the light of his lantern, after the fashion of a modern Diogenes, now turned to Jake with a question.
“How many lanterns did Mr. Morton have?” he demanded.
[294]“Why,” drawled Jake, astonished at the interrogation, “he had jest one, o’ course. What about it, Mr. Walker?”
“Simply, the fact is sufficient evidence to the effect that Roy is not absent on an exploring expedition by himself, which was David’s suggestion. Here is his lantern.” He stooped, with a groan in response to the physical strain involved, picked up the lantern, which he had observed at his feet where it stood beside the blankets, and held it out for the others to see. “It’s quite cold,” he added. “It hasn’t been lighted for some time.”
The others stared in silence for a little. Even yet, they were far from suspecting any evil. It was Jake who spoke at last:
“I opine, he must have gone outside some’rs, to kind o’ stretch ’imself-like. Got too sleepy, maybe.”
But now, David shook his head decisively.
“No,” he declared. “Roy’s ears are mighty sharp, and we talked loudly enough in the launch to be heard a mile—specially Billy. If Roy had been anywhere on the island, top of the ground, he’d have heard us then, and have come a-running.” David’s expression[295] changed to one of perplexity, in which alarm mingled. There was a new note of anxiety in his voice as he concluded: “And, if he was anywhere about this place, he’d have heard us, too, and have come a-running. And the lantern here—” David’s big eyes, shining weirdly through the lenses, went from one to another of the three men before him, as if seeking help against the trouble growing within him.
“There’s some mystery here,” Saxe exclaimed. Anxiety sounded in his voice. “We must se............