Not a sound could be heard to betoken that the enemy were in pursuit, and the mate was on the point of whispering to the sailors to pass up the rope, when Gil said:
“Here it is, made fast to the tree as when we left.”
“And they were so crazy about the treasure that it wasn’t thought worth while to look out for safety. It would have been a nice mess, if those imps had come here ahead of us, an’ taken a notion to find the meaning of such a ladder.”
“Never mind that now,” Gil said, soothingly, as he saw that the mate was likely to linger too long over this neglect of duty. “Let’s get below first, and talk about what should have been done afterward.”
“Go down; I’ll wait until you are at the bottom, so’s to make sure the black villains haven’t yet discovered our hiding-place.”
Gil swung himself over the edge, and allowed the rope to slip slowly through his hands until he reached the bottom.
Neither of the two men came to ask the result of the foray, and he thought with surprise that they must be sleeping.
It was necessary every member of the party should be on the alert, and he went into the tunnel to awaken them, feeling around with his hands.
Nothing could be found. It was as if the place had been abandoned. Pressing farther in he continued the blind search, but without success, and finally the truth of the matter flashed upon him. Running to the shaft, arriving there just as Jenkins descended, the others having reached the bottom in safety, he said, excitedly:
“The sailors have gone to help us, and now I suppose we ought to start out to find them, though it seems like advertising our whereabouts to the enemy.”