“It’s as easy as can be,” said the voice, which I recognized as that of Larkin. “We’ll let the fools work until the raft is finished, and then we’ll put our knives in their hearts, and have the gold for ourselves.”
“How about Bry?” asked Judson, hoarsely whispering to his murderous comrade.
“Oh, he won’t interfere any,” was the reply. “And we need the nigger to help us work the ship.”
“Can three of us manage the vessel?”
“Of course, with good weather. We’ll have to take our chances of a storm, but the fewer there are to divide up, the bigger our fortunes will be. We won’t give the nigger a cent, but go halves on the whole thing. Perhaps we can sell the ship, too, for a good sum.”
“All right; I’m with you!” declared Judson, with an oath; and then the two conspirators crept away and rejoined the others, unconscious that their diabolical plot had been overheard.
CHAPTER XII.
WE RECOVER THE GOLD.
Thinking over the matter, I decided to return at once to the cave. The thieves would doubtless be occupied in the forest until sundown, and such a chance as this to secure possession of the gold might never occur again. For if Daggett or his men chanced to see our footprints in the sand, or suspected they were being spied upon, they would be liable to leave a guard in the cave thereafter.
So we softly crept from the forest and made our way back by the same route we had come, taking care to tread in the trail made by the robbers, so that our footprints could be less easily distinguished. We did not feel entirely safe from observation until we had regained the column of rock which towered into the air beside the precipitous cliff; but once our feet were on the narrow ledge both I and my faithful Sulu breathed easier, and with more deliberation accomplished the ascent to the cave.
“Now,” said I, “we must work carefully, so that no spot of sand can escape us; for the thieves have taken care to disturb the surface everywhere, in order to throw any chance visitor to this hiding-place off the track. But we know the gold is buried in this cave, Nux, so it ought not to be a very hard job to find it.”