Nux looked at me admiringly, and grinned until his mouth stretched from ear to ear and displayed everyone of his white teeth.
“Good, Mars Sam!” he cried, and at once stripped the trousers from his legs.
I now hunted in the pockets of my jacket and brought out several small bits of cord, which I knotted firmly together. Then I tied the legs of Nux’s trousers tightly at the bottoms, thus transforming them into a double sack of great capacity.
It did not take us long to transfer the gold dust from the canvas bags to the trouser-legs, and as soon as this task was accomplished we refilled the bags with sand and tied up as before. I was obliged to tear away a part of my own shirt to get material with which to tie the upper part of the trousers, for I did not wish to deprive poor Nux of his entire apparel. The Sulu looked funny enough, dressed only in his shoes and shirt, with his black legs between them, and more than once I was obliged to pause and laugh heartily at my comrade’s appearance. But Nux didn’t seem to mind, and soon the seriousness of our position and the necessity to hasten caused me to forget the queer costume of my follower.
We abstracted but a slender supply of provisions from the sacks, for we did not wish to arouse suspicion by taking too much. The next task was to bury the sacks of sand and the provisions exactly as they had been before, and to smooth over the surface of the sand and trample it down just as we had found it when we first entered the cave.
This being accomplished to our complete satisfaction, Nux lifted the heavy gold over his shoulder, one leg hanging behind his back and one in front, and started to mount the narrow ledge of rock with his burden, while I followed close behind to render any assistance I could.
The Sulu was a wonderfully strong man; but his task was a difficult one, although I tried to relieve him in the worst places by lifting a part of the heavy load.
Our progress was slow, for poor Nux had to stop frequently to put down his load and rest, and it was while we were on the outer surface of the rock, which faced the sea, that we were suddenly startled by hearing sounds that assured us the robbers were returning from the forest. Much time had been consumed in the cave, searching for the treasure and securing it, and now I began to fear we had delayed too long.
Just at this time the men could not see us; but as soon as they mounted the ledge and began to wind around the tower of rock, they would be sure to catch sight of our forms, and then our fate would be sealed.
“Nux,” I whispered, “pick up the gold and be ready to start. As soon as the thieves get back to the ledge we must go on, and keep the rock always between us and them, or we shall be lost.”