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If I live to be a hundred I shall never forget that rush up the hill. In and
out of trees and bushes, scratching ourselves and tearing our clothes, we
dashed; conscious only of the necessity for speed. Before we were halfway down
the other side Phyllis's strength was quite exhausted, so I took her in my
arms and carried her the remainder of the distance. At last we reached the
boats and jumped on board. The rest of the party were already there, and the
word being given we prepared to row out to the yacht. But before we could push
off a painful surprise was in store for us. The Marquis, who had been counting
the party, cried:
"Where is Mr Wetherell?"
We looked round upon each other, and surely enough the old gentleman was
missing. Discovering this, Phyllis nearly gave way and implored us to go back
at once to find him. But having rescued her with so much difficulty I did not
wish to run any risk of letting her fall into her enemies' hands again; so
selecting four volunteers from the party, I bade the rest pull the boat out to
the yacht and give Miss Wetherell into the captain's charge, while the balance
accompanied me ashore again in search of her father. Having done this the boat
was to return and wait for us.
Quickly we splashed our way back to the beach, and then, plunging into the
undergrowth, began our search for the missing man. As we did not know where to
search, it was like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay, but presently one
of the hands remembered having seen him descending the hill, so we devoted our
attentions to that side. For nearly two hours we toiled up and down, but
without success. Not a sign of the old gentleman was to be seen. Could he have
mistaken his way and be even now searching for us on another beach? To make
sure of this we set off and thoroughly searched the two bays in the direction
he would most likely have taken. But still without success. Perhaps he had
been captured and carried back to the huts? In that case we had better proceed
thither and try to rescue him. This, however, was a much more serious
undertaking, and you may imagine it was with considerable care that we
approached the plateau agam.
A BID FOR FORTUNE OR DR. NIKOLA'S VENDETTA
A BID FOR FORTUNE OR DR. NIKOLA'S VENDETTA
141
When we reached it the huts were as quiet as when I had first made their
acquaintance. Not a sound came up to the top of the little precipice save the
rustling of the wind in the palms at its foot. It seemed difficult to believe
that there had been such a tumult on the spot so short a time before.
Again with infinite care we crept down to the buildings, this time, however,
without encountering a soul. The first was empty, so was the second, and so
was the third. This result was quite unexpected, and rendered the situation
even more mysterious than before.
By the time we had thoroughly explored the plateau and its surroundings it was
nearly daylight, and still we had discovered no trace of the missing man. Just
as the sun rose above the sea line we descended the hill again and commenced a
second search along the beach, with no better luck, however, than on the
previous occasion. Wetherell and our assailants seemed to have completely
disappeared from the island.
About six o'clock, thoroughly worn out, we returned to the spot where the boat
was waiting for us. What was to be done? We could not for obvious reasons
leave the island and abandon the old gentleman to his fate, and yet it seemed
useless to remain there looking for him, when he might have been spirited away
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elsewhere.
Suddenly one of the crew, who had been loitering behind, came into view waving
something in his hand. As he approached we could see that it was a sheet of
paper, and when he gave it into my hands I read as follows:
If you cross the island to the north beach you will find a small cliff in
which is a large cave, a little above highwater mark. There you will discover
the man for whom you are searching.
There was no signature to this epistle, and the writing was quite unfamiliar
to me, but I had no reason to doubt its authenticity.
"Where did you discover this?" I enquired of the man who had brought it.
"Fastened to one of them prickly bushes up on the beach there, sir," he
answered.
"Well, the only thing for us to do now is to set of to the north shore and
hunt for the cave. Two of you had better take the boat back to the yacht and
ask the captain to follow us round."
As soon as the boat was under weigh we picked up our rifles and set off for
the north beach. It was swelteringly hot by this time, and, as may be
imagined, we were all dead tired after our long night's work.
However, the men knew they would be amply rewarded if we could effect the
rescue of the man for whom we had been searching, so they pushed on.
At last we turned the cape and entered the bay which constituted the north end
of the island. It was not a large beach on this side, but it had, at its
western end, a curious line of small cliffs, in the centre of which a small
black spot could be discerned looking remarkably like the entrance to a cave. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]