CHAPTER XXXII: CEDAR ISLAND AT LAST.
But in the excitement of the approach to Cedar Island, which was every moment taking on clearer and clearer outlines as the schooner neared it, Jack forgot everything else. A smart “topsail� breeze was blowing, and under it the schooner swiftly bore down on the island.
The boys saw rough, jagged cliffs shooting up from a sea of the deepest azure blue. The cliffs bunched as they rose, and the island appeared to rise in a sort of cone in the center. It looked gloomy and inhospitable. Even at a distance they could see the white spray as the waves broke against the steep cliffs.
“Look,� cried Jack suddenly, “there’s what gives the island its name, I guess.�
At the summit of the highest point of the island could now be seen a lone tree. It looked as if it were dead and stretched out its naked branches against the sky.
Cap’n Toby was fairly dancing with excitement.
“It’s the place, the place,� he kept shouting, “there’s the lone tree, there are the cliffs, everything is just as Cap’n Walters said it was.�
“It’s a mournful-looking place,� commented Jack.
“What difference, lad,� was Uncle Toby’s retort, “all we’ve got to do is to land, get the stone chest and then yo, ho! for home and riches.�
“I hope your schemes won’t turn out to be false hopes,� said Jack.
“Confound it, lad, you seem to think the stone chest isn’t there.�
“I am pretty skeptical. Any one of a thousand things might have happened to it since Captain Walters left.�
In an hour’s time the schooner had been brought as close in to the island as they dared, for those unknown waters might be filled with saw-toothed reefs and rocky shoals. Snow lay in the abysses between the steeply sloping rocky hills that made up the interior of the island. Scanty shrubs with dark foliage found a precarious growth in patches. Sea birds rose in clouds as the schooner’s anchor roared down, and flew screaming in anger or astonishment about the invader of their solitude.
“Come on, boys,� cried Uncle Toby, “who’s for the honor of being the first ashore.�
Of course there was a scramble. Raynor sought and obtained permission for Noddy Nipper to be one of the party. It would have broken the Bowery boy’s heart to have been left behind. Mr. Terrill, however, to their astonishment, did not appear inclined to go ashore. He said he had a bad headache and would lie down.
“Very well, we’ll do the prospecting for you, eh, boys?� said Uncle Toby heartily; but Jack flashed a suspicious look at Terrill as he turned and went below. Then some instinct prompted him to whisper to Raynor. The boys also sought the cabin. When they came back, their arms were full of bundles.
“What are those for,� inquired Cap’n Toby.
“Oh, just by way of setting up housekeeping ashore,� returned Jack with a laugh.
“I can’t spare any of my men right now to row you ashore,� said Jarrow, the squint-eyed mate, “but you can take along Merryweather and Sherry.�
The two revenue cutter men, who had been doing odd jobs with the crew since their rescue, were only too glad to go along. Soon the boat was lowered and everything ready for the landing.
“There’s something suspicious about all this to me,� whispered Jack to Raynor as they cast off.
“What’s the trouble?�
“Why, haven’t you noticed that there are none of the regular crew with us, and that Terrill made an excuse not to go ashore. There’s something queer at the bottom of it.�
But no more was said just then, for Cap’n Toby, in high good humor, was pointing out the course they must lay to the oarsmen. His aged but keen eyes had spied a little cove that would make a good landing place. The boat was headed for this.
Before long they were ashore. The cove ran up inland between frowning walls of black cliff. But there appeared to be an exit to the interior of the island at the other end of it.
Pulling the boat up on the beach, the adventurers set off over the sand and were soon clambering among precipitous rocks, Jack and Raynor helping Uncle Toby over the worst places. The old captain’s map gave the hiding place of the stone chest as a cairn under the dead branches of the cedar.
Soon they were in full view of the tree and the heights on which it stood when they emerged from the abyss, and found themselves on a rocky plateau. From this plateau there rose what may be compared to a mesa on the western plains. It was a miniature table mountain with a flat top. On the summit was the cedar tree and, if Uncle Toby’s hopes were not doomed to be dashed, the stone cairn and the treasure chest.
“That cedar tree never grew there,� declared Jack, looking up the sheer cliffs at the mournful bare branches of the lone tree.
“No, Cap’n Walters always reckoned it was set up there by the people who had the treasure. They said it was a guide, he figgered,� said Uncle Toby.
“What is supposed to be the origin of the treasure?� asked Raynor.
“Cap’n Walters allowed that hundreds of years ago the old Vikings from Norseland came over here and found some sort of gold diggings. At any rate, the treasure consists, in a large measure, of beaten gold bracelets and breastplates and so forth. You know scientists say that there wasn’t always as much ice up here as there is to-day. They say the world’s axis has shifted a bit.�
“I’ve heard that,� said Jack, “but these blonde esquimaux, did the captain figure that they descended from the old Norsemen?�
“He didn’t know nothing about that,� was Cap’n Toby’s reply, “but it sounds reasonable when you come ter think of it.�
“What’s puzzling me is how we are to get to the top of that plateau,� said Jack, after a few minutes.
Uncle Toby drew out his map. He studied it for a minute. Then his face cleared.
“That stuck me, too, for a minute,� he said. “Nothing but a fly could scale those cliffs. But see here, the map shows that on the other side there is a sort of natural rock bridge connecting Cedar Mountain, as we might call it, with the rest of the island.�
“That’s so,� said Jack, “well, let’s go round and take a look.�
It was a tortuous path they had to follow, avoiding big boulders and huge rocks that were strewn about as though titans had been playing marbles with them. But at last they worked round to the other side of Cedar Mountain, as Uncle Toby had christened it.
Then a simultaneous cry of dismay broke from the lips of the entire party.
The rock bridge was gone!
The jagged edges where it had once spanned a deep gulch could be seen, but either the disintegration of the rock or some convulsion of nature had destroyed it. Cedar Mountain, with its steeply sloping, unsurmountable sides, was cut off from the rest of the island. It was, in fact, an unattainable island within an island.
“Stumped!� grunted Uncle Toby.
In his bitter disappointment he could find no more to say. The rest of the party exchanged blank looks.
“I guess the treasure is safe for all time from intruding hands,� said Jack softly. “I’m sorry, Uncle Toby.�
But the old man now began to bemoan his fate. He stumped his wooden leg. He swore, something Jack had never heard him do before. He shook his fists at the sky. For the time being he was a madman.
When he quieted down a little they began the wearisome trip back to the cove where they had left the boat. It seemed an endless trip, but at length they reached it.
“Now to get back to the schooner and break the news,â€� said Jack. “Won’t Terrill be mad—Jee-hosh—a—phat, where is the schooner?â€�
Where, indeed? The anchorage where she had lain when they last saw her was empty. No vessel was in sight. Suddenly Merryweather broke into a shout.
“There! Look there yonder off that bight of land!� he cried.
Their eyes followed the direction in which he pointed. Angry exclamations broke from them ally
“The traitors! The sneaks!� exclaimed Jack chokingly.
Off a rocky point the Morning Star was tacking clearly with the intention of rounding it.
“They are making for the other side of the island,� continued Jack. “Terrill’s plot to seize the treasure with the help of that rascal crew has come to a head. But he’ll be nicely fooled. No human being can ever scale Cedar Mountain.�