“Then,” said Doris, “I must go for someone else. You can’t remain there forever.”
“No, I can’t. You’d better go.”
“All right. I’m going.” Something akin to a sob followed Doris’ words “Good bye.”
“Good bye.”
She was gone. Night settled down swiftly as nights will in the tropics. Dot was left to herself and the ancient treasure that had in its day witnessed so much of glory and honor, so much of baseness and defeat. As she sat there in the little dark hole it seemed to her that the long-lost jewels spoke to her telling her how all that is bright, rich and glorious must fade and pass away.
“If ever I get out of this alive,” she told herself, “my share of jewels shall be used in a way that will make a few people in this old world happier and better.”
Strangely enough, this resolve brought to her a peace she had not known before. It was as if some great spirit, kinder and more noble than she could ever hope to be, had whispered a solemn “Amen.”
CHAPTER XXI
JOHNNY’S MISSION
In his cave near the top of the mountain, Johnny slept soundly. But the first faint streak of dawn found him wide awake and staring up at the stone that formed the roof of the cave. He had been engaged in this rather fruitless occupation for a full ten minutes, when, with a suddenness that might have been startling to an observer, he sat bolt upright to stare with all his eyes at some object far back in the cave.
Well he might stare, for there, but half revealed by the dim light, apparently suspended from the roof of the cave, was what appeared to be a mammoth dull yellow and green snake.