When I opened my eyes it was broad daylight, and at first I could not remember where I was. But as I sat up I saw before me Nux and Bryonia, seated calmly side by side, with the wilderness all around me and the distant voices of the robbers echoing faintly in my ears. The sun was up, for I could see it glinting through the trees; so, as a recollection of my surroundings came back to me, I asked Bry what was going on.
He said the men were breaking camp, having slept late, and that presently they were going to travel still further into the interior. I could not imagine what they had in view, or where they expected to hide from the vengeance of the men they had plundered; but Bry declared we could follow them without ourselves being seen, so I decided not to give up until we had tracked them to their hiding place—if, indeed, they had one.
Presently we could see them tramping away to the southward, carrying the gold and provisions they had tied up in the blankets. There must have been two or three hundredweight of the gold, so the packages were heavy, and they had to take turns carrying them. But men seldom feel overburdened by the weight of gold, so we heard no complaints from the bearers.
Bry went on alone, hiding behind rocks and trees but keeping the men well in sight. After him trailed Nux, keeping Bry in sight; and then, as far away as I dared, I followed Nux, trying to imitate the example of the blacks and to hide myself as well as possible.
Before noon I grew hungry, for we had brought no provisions of any sort with us. The robbers paused to lunch, and then went on; but although I searched carefully, I could not find a morsel of food that they had cast aside. Of water there was plenty, for we crossed several small streams; but food began to be more precious than gold to me, and I vaguely wondered if I should die of starvation before I got back to camp.
At evening the men made camp again, this time in a little clearing strewn with fallen logs; and when Bry rejoined me in a clump of trees where Nux and I had halted, I told him frankly that I was faint with hunger, and that unless I could find something to eat I could not go on. I have no doubt the blacks were hungry, too; but they were more inured to hardship, and could bear it better.
But Bry volunteered to try to secure some food, and as soon as darkness had fallen he crept toward the camp, managing to approach to within five yards of the camp fire, around which the robbers sat smoking and talking. He was concealed by a huge log, behind which he hid, listening carefully to the conversation, which he afterward retailed to me.
“So far,” Larkin was saying, “we couldn’t have done better. By this time I guess we’re pretty safe from pursuit.”
“No one could find their way here in a year,” boasted Daggett, his lean face grinning with delight. “I’m the only man on the island as knows the trails.”
“Are you sure you can lead us to that queer rock you tell of?” asked Judson, a little uneasily.