Toby Sam took advantage of this to worm along several yards farther; but again he lay still when Black John returned to the mouth of the cave. Then Black John discovered that the bag of emeralds was gone.
It was so unbelievable a thing that at first he felt in his other pockets, thinking he must have misplaced it. Then a great but subdued oath ripped from his lips. He ran to the mouth of the cave, and peered in.
Worn out, the girl was asleep, close by the entrance.
Black John stooped down, plucked her by the hair, and, with a jerk that awoke her and brought from her a scream of pain and fright, he pulled her to her feet.
Toby Sam was sliding away with eellike silence and speed.
“Hand over them emeralds!” Black John demanded of the terrified girl, as he pulled her out of the cave, ignoring, in his rage, the danger which would come from the screams that she uttered. He threw her down on the ground and kicked her.
“Hand over them emeralds!” he cried, standing above her. “Hand ’em over!”
She screamed again, and put up her hands.
“You thought you’d play a cute trick on me, eh? Thought you’d sneak ’em out o’ my pocket, and then maybe, hide ’em, and pretend to be asleep when I looked in on ye? Hand ’em over!”
“I haven’t got them; I don’t know——”