Breathless with delight, they again fitted up their apparatus. Again they essayed to test the wonders of that strange and silent pool, but they got no farther than the brink of the water.
All at once, the parchment record stated, a loud commanding voice rang out across its misty expanse, and an Englishman suddenly appeared in the twilight in front of them in a magnificent boat rowed from stem to stern by Indians.
“Begone! begone!” he cried; “all this water is mine. I have bought it. I will let none of you touch it—no, not one!”
And before the Jesuits could utter a word in answer they found themselves suddenly surrounded by Indians, who had crept up to them unawares, and they were dragged rapidly into the depths of a dark, and seemingly impenetrable, network of caves some distance off.
And that was the last they saw of the lake of submerged treasure.
Chapter Twenty Three.
In which Further Facts are Deciphered.
Mr Cooper-Nassington was the first to realise the importance of this climax to the adventures of the four Jesuits.