While it was impossible to distinguish anything distinctly, he was able to satisfy himself that there was no one between the two caves, and he rose to his feet as he whispered:
“I’m bound to have some idea of what them chaps are doing, whether I get any more wood or not. Stay here, and I’ll be back in five minutes.”
“We had rather go with you,” Gil replied, as he approached the mate.
“It wouldn’t be safe. If they should happen to see me, and kick up a row, the passage is so small that the three of us would get all tangled up. You can watch from here, and have some idea of what I am doing.”
He started as the last word was spoken, and the boys could see his form outlined against the faint light until he reached the entrance to this second chamber, when he apparently disappeared in the gloom.
“Where has he gone now?” Nelse asked, in a whisper.
“I reckon he’s simply leaning against the side, out of the range of the fire, watching those who are inside.”
Gil’s surmise was correct. Jenkins was standing where he could get a fairly good view of the interior, and that which he saw caused him mingled feelings of surprise, bewilderment and fear.
In the cave, which was circular, and about twenty feet in diameter, were seventeen negroes, seated back against the wall of earth, thus leaving the greater portion of the floor space free. Four small fires were burning, as if to designate the points of the compass, and between these stood the most repulsive-looking old negro the mate had ever seen. His wool was gray, and hung in matted locks nearly to his shoulders. His toothless mouth appeared to be the focus of a mass of wrinkles so deep as to destroy all semblance of a face, and gave his head the appearance of a bag with one end puckered by a drawing-string.
The skin of some animal served as a sort of petticoat for the old fellow, and around his neck was wound an odd sort of necklace, seemingly composed of small bones, the ends of which reached nearly to the ground. His feet were bare, as was the upper portion of his body, and in each hand he held a long knife, the blade dripping with blood.