“It’s a pity we shouldn’t have more of these,” he said to himself. “I don’t agree with Bill in that matter. If he does not care about them for himself, I do for him, and he shall have half.”
As he said this he emptied his pockets into one of the chests.
“I shall want a lantern by-the-bye,” he said; and springing below, he secured one with a fresh candle in it.
Having done this, he forthwith lowered himself, as Bill had done, down on the sand, and quickly made his way to the cavern.
He had left the basket with the tinder-box, and the remnant of their provisions at their camp, which he soon reached.
His desire to obtain the gold overcame the fears he had before entertained of ghosts and spirits.
Having lighted his lantern he took up the basket, which had a cloth in it, and pushed forward. The pale light from his lantern, so different from that of a couple of blazing torches, made the objects around look strange and weird. He began not at all to like the appearance of things, and fancied at last that he must have got into a different part, of the cavern; still he thought, “I must have the gold. It would be so foolish to go away without it. It belongs to us as much as to anybody else, seeing that the owners are dead. Their ghosts won’t come to look for it, I hope. I wish I hadn’t thought of that. I must be going right. It would have been much pleasanter if Bill had been with me. Why didn’t I try to persuade him to stop?”
Such were the thoughts which passed through Jack’s mind; but he was a bold fellow, and did not like giving up what he had once determined on.
He saw no harm in what he was doing; on the contrary, he was serving his friend Bill as well as himself, or rather his mother, for he wanted the gold for her. In the meantime, Bill was hurrying on towards the Turgots’ cottage. He should astonish them, he knew, by waking them up in the middle of the night, or rather so early in the morning; but they would appreciate his desire to wish them good-bye, and would be very much obliged to him for telling them of the treasure in the cavern.
It would make their fortunes, and Jeannette would be the richest heiress in the neighbourhood; for, of course, he would bargain that she should have a good share. There might be some difficulty in getting the goods away without being discovered, which would be a pity, as they were of as much value as the boxes of gold. However, he was doing what was right in giving them the opportunity of possessing themselves of the treasure, though he considered that he could not take it himself.