The St. Johns herald., 1922-05-04
CHAPTER xI.-continued.)


 moving the gold. First of all must get the chest itself aboard the Island Queen. This means that I shall have to empty 1t and leave the gold in the cave, while l get the chest out by sea. When the chest is safely in the cabin of the slOOp-where it won't leave much room for Benjy and his master, I'm afraid-I will take the bags of coin out by the land entrance. l can't think of risking my precious doubloons in the voyage around the point.
 of course l should have liked to get to the task today, but after the first mad thrill of the great event was over, l found myself as weak and un- nerved as a woman. So by a great effort came away and left my glori- Ous golden hoard. Now I dream and gloat, playing with the idea that to- morrow I shall find it all a fantasy. The pleasure of this is, of course, that all the while know this widest of all Arabian fairy tales to be as real as the most drab and sober fact of my hitherto colorless life.
 After all. on the way back from the cave Benjy brought down a pig. So he is as well pleased with the day as l am. Now l am sitting in the doorway of my cabin, writing up my journal, and trying to calm down enough to go to bed. If 1t were not for the swift fading of daylight, would go back to the cave for another peep into the chest. But all round the island the sea is moaning with that peculiarly melancholy note that comes with the falling of night. The sea-birds have risen from the cove and gone wheel ing off in troops to their nests on the cliffs Somehow a curious dislike, almost fear, of this wild, sea-girt, soli- tary place has come over me. long for the sound of human voices, the touch of human hands. I think of the dead man lying there at the door of the cave, its silent guardian for so long. I suppose he brooded once on the thought of the gold as I do-per- haps he has been9 breeding so these ninety years I wonder If he is pleased that 1, stranger, have come into possession of his secret hoard at Iastl
 'Oh, Helen, turn your heavenly face on me-be my refuge from these shud- dering unwholesome thoughts The gold is for you-fOr youI Surely that must cleanse it of its stains, must loose the clutch of the dead hands that strive to hold 1t
 "February Il. This morning 1 was early at the cave. Yes, there 1t was, the same wonder-chest that I had dreamed of all night long. It was ab- surd how the tightness in my breast relaxed.
 "I began at once the work of re- moving the bags from the chest and stacking them in the corner of the cave. It was a fatiguing job, I had to stoOp so.
 "I spent so much time unloading the chest that before I was ready to go for my boat the tide was up and pounding on the rocks below the cave.
 find that only at certain stages of the tide is the cave approachable by sea. At the turn after high water, for instance, there is such a terrific undertow that it sets up a small mael- strOm among the reefs lying off the island. At low tide is he time to come.
 "February 12. Got the chest out of the cave, though it was a difficult job. Luckily there was no sea, and l had a smooth passage around the point. l laughed rather ruefully as I passed the Cave of the Two Arches. To think of the toll 1 wasted thereI I wish Benjy had encountered the fate fuI pig a little sooner.
 Got the chest aboard the Island Queen and slowed in the cabin. Not room left to swing a kitten.
 In the afternoon began moving the gold. It's the deuce of a job.
 February 15. Been hard at it for three days. Most of the gold moved. Have to think, too, of provisions and water for the trip.
 "February Is. On board the Island Queen. Have moved my traps from the hut and am sleeping on the sIoop. Want to be near the gold. Tomorrow I have only to bring the last of the gold aboard-a trifling matter-and Ehen go out with the ebb. I would have got all the bags on board today,