Bisbee daily review., 1913-10-07

lhere was none to say us nay now. was to mount the stairs. cross the wall cnd look for that cave. We had neither chart nor record left, we had but our memories to trust to. but we were both agreed that the cave lay fin the inner wall and that the parchment said it was the central one of three adjacent openings which gave entrance to the treasure chamber. And we could get a bearing on it from the central hiIl.
 Now l had noticed that the coral wall both on the outer and inner sides was honeycombed with openings. rifts. Assures and caves which. by the way. were more frequent and deeper on the inside face. why l know not We should have been compelled painfulI7 and laboriously to search the whole face of the clif in it's extent of fifteen miles or so. but for the further diree- ton of the parchment I was thank ful that. sailor like. old Sir Philip had given us the bearing. How did his words run? Something like this. my memory told me.
 Toe fynde ye mouthe of ye tresnr cave take ye bearings alonge ye Southe Of ye three Goddes on ye Altar of Skulls on ye middeI hille Wh. ye line strykes .ye bigge knicke in ye walle with ye talle palmme. his tree. bee three hoales. Climbe ye stones Enter ye centre. It is th,re."
 Plainly our first duty vas to descend into the inclosed valley and explore the hillock in the center. 1 made no doubt but that we should find some sort of an altar and more of those curi- Ous stone images there. If they still remained the rest of our task would be comparatively easy.
 With this determination. therefore. we set out. As l did not know how long our exploration would require and as rather thought We should have to make day of it. we started betimes Indeed. as we Invariably retired short ly after sunset we naturally rose at break of day. took along food enough for the day. knowing that we could get water from the brooks and certain fruits which I judged would be good for us from the trees
 We went directly tO the stairs and mounted them. Delaying but little on the crest. we crossed 1t rapidly and finally entered the valley. IL was witt s feeling of awe that we stood for the first time within the vast cup at the foot Of the inner stairs. completely shut out from the world by the great towering rampant Of rock which eu- tireiy inclosed us. I had never felt so far removed from the world as then. Outside. of course. the limitless ocean rsn beyond the barrier reef, but one could follow 1t unto the dim. faroh distance with his vision. Within the cup the glance fell upon the rocky wall on every hand. It was almost Ike being in prison for all its tropic loreliness.
 Beneath the trees and quite invisible from above, a paved road or path. barely wide enough for four to walk abreast upon, extended straight across the island to the hillock in the middle, while smaller paths semed to follow the course Of the walls on either side The ground was gently rolling, and the road, though overgrown in places and badly broken. was in much better con dition than the broader path on the top of the wah. i suppose the fact that it was sheltered protected it. We passed along it for a mile and a half without much difficulty.
 Finally We landed at the foot of the hillock. As I had observed from the wall 1t was grass grown and tree clad. Indeed. we should have been hard put to it to have ascended it, so dense was the vegetation. had 1t not been for the fact that the path was continued around the hIll constantly mounting Where it ran the somewhat shallow earth had been cut away on the hill side and the rock surface laid bare. Of course this path was frightfully over grown.
 We ascended with the utmost care. I finally drew my little mistress, her face bedewed as well as my own. up the last step ascent and stood upon the crest.
 We could now see why the top of the hill had seemed level when we first looked at it from the wall. h. deed, the coral rock rose In 0 sharp escarDment eight or ten feet above the highest treetops. making a sort of ta- bleland or platform. This level, proba- bly, artificial. had been paved with the huge, dark gray rock of the stairs and