A Boy Crusoe; or, The Golden Treasure of the Virgin Islands

by Allan Eric

The nights, at this elevation, and during the rain, were cold, but the cave was quite comfortable, and I built a small fire just inside the door each night, to drive out the dampness; having, from time to time before the rain became too constant, filled all the available space in the cave with dry wood, only reserving enough room to lie down to sleep.

The weeks passed, rather tediously after I could think of but little to do, but the rain was not so steady and, almost every day, there were several hours when it entirely ceased to fall. There being only short grass around the top of the mountain, I utilized these intervals of the cessation of rain by exploring the mountain to the line of the bush, all around. There was nothing but rocks, with occasionally a few small shrubs. But one day I made an interesting discovery. Nearly down to the line of the bush on the opposite side from my camp, I came across a similar over-hanging rock; but on going under it, I perceived a large crevice, which, on close examination, I found extended into the mountain for some distance. I had my tinder and flint with me and, gathering a few dry leaves and sticks that lay around near the opening, I made a fire at the entrance. By its light I could see that I had found the entrance to a cavern, but I could see only a few feet from the mouth. The walls were dark and the top of the cavern was not more than four feet from the floor. I determined to still further explore it with a torch.

For a week I did not again go near the cavern, but made daily trips to the beacon for the purpose of taking observations, but all the time I was trying to invent a torch. Nothing suitable for the purpose, which would burn for any length of time, suggested itself to me, until, one morning, while at the ruins for yams and fruit, I saw some ripe cocoanuts on the ground.

"Why not use the oily kernel of the nut?"

I at once proceeded to act upon this suggestion. Taking a couple of nuts to the camp, I split them in halves, fastening one into a split stick, making a sort of ladle. Hastening to the cavern on the other side of the mountain, I made a little fire at the end of the stick, and had the satisfaction of soon seeing the oily meat of the nut blaze up in a steady, yellowish flame. Watching it for a moment, I saw that the meat charred very slowly, while the oil was tried out by the heat to feed the flame.

Taking the torch and the spare nuts with which to replenish the torch, I entered the mouth of the cavern. I was both surprised and disappointed, for it was neither beautiful nor grand. The roof was low, and the walls were dirty and grimy. The cavern was not more than six feet wide and four feet high, and I was obliged to stoop as I moved along. The cave took me straight into the mountain for a few rods, when I came to what appeared at first to be the end; but I soon discovered a small opening a little to my right, through which, after hesitating a little, I crawled on my hands and knees. I went but a few feet before I emerged into a chamber of considerable size, where I could stand erect; and here I was greeted by a cloud of bats that flitted about as though bewildered by the light, their wings making a curious, uncanny fluttering sound. I could see the roof plainly, and clinging to it, with their heads downward, were thousands of bats. There were, depending from the ceiling, a few small stalactites, but they were dark and grimy. I examined the floor of the cavern, which revealed to me its true nature. I was in a guano cave, the floor of which was thickly covered with the guano of the bats, the accumulation of centuries, probably.

"What a fortune there is here," I thought, "if all this guano could be cheaply conveyed to the coast and loaded into vessels."

Although the air in the cave seemed to be pure, it was not a pleasant place, and most unattractive; so, after discovering a small passage, like the one I had just crawled through, leading further into the mountain, I retreated toward the entrance and was soon in daylight, feeling no desire to further explore a cavern devoid of all the beauties usually attributed to such natural phenomena.

The days dragged now, as I waited for the weather to clear, with nothing to break the monotony but occasional trips to the ruins for yams, oranges, plantains, bananas and sugar cane; and sometimes I would stalk pigeons, when my bow-gun proved very effective, especially as I every day became more skillful in using it, while the birds suffered in consequence.

Several times each day I went to the beacon to scan the horizon; but I saw no sign of a vessel. I reasoned that my island must be out of the regular track of vessels going to the Windward or Leeward Islands, as I knew it to be, of ships bound to the South American coast, Central America or any of the large West India Islands. But the far distant mountains still showed plainly against the horizon.