"We haven't anything in the way of tin large enough to go around a lamp, but here is a round piece, about three inches in diameter."

"That will answer; punch that as full of holes as possible, and be sure they are very small."

"What shall we use for a lamp?"

John was already looking around, and soon spied a tree in the distance that looked like a small pine, and beneath that he found some cones, a dozen of which were picked up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig 14. How John made the Lamp._ _A. Perforated Disk_ _B. Frame of Sticks_ _C. Cloth Covering_ _D. Base Plate._]

"That is a pine tree, isn't it?"

"Yes; these cones will burn for some time."

"But they will not make much of a light."

"No; but we are not after a light, but they will do for testing purposes."

The accompanying sketches show how it was made. A plate was used for a base, on which the burning cone was placed. A half dozen twigs were then provided, and these were bent U-shaped, after being secured together at their middle portions, and the lower ends held by a cord, and this was then inverted, and a piece of thin cotton goods, of a single thickness, only was wound around the little frame, leaving an opening at the top, which was covered by the perforated tin disk.

"There, now we have an article which provides for the admission of air, through the cotton goods, and the product of combustion can escape through the perforated opening at the top."

The boys danced around with joy, when the cone was ignited, and a bale, which was simply a string, attached, so it could be carried conveniently.

This time they went on, far beyond the place where the poor dogs lay.

Occasionally John would lower the device, and when it descended too far, the knot would begin to smoke, and this was explained by the statement that as it went into the carbon gas, less and less air was supplied, which caused the flame to die down.

The cave was similar to the others, being white from the lime deposits, but in all their wanderings they had never seen anything to compare with the beautiful hangings noted in the interior, particularly in the chambers, which they pa.s.sed, one after the other, four of which were especially admired.

Ephraim was intensely interested. He never had taken the trouble to visit any of these caverns, and was not disposed to take much stock in the many tales that had been related about the weird interiors.

"I can now understand," he said, "why the natives possessed such a fear of them. I have faced many perilous conditions, during my life here, but I confess if I had any faith in the superst.i.tions about these places, they would have paralyzed me, now that I have seen their ghostly appearance."

They suddenly emerged into a s.p.a.cious chamber, so large that their voices seemed to reverberate. The flash lights were directed to all sides and to the immense vaulted and icicle-covered ceiling. John stood the lamp on the ground. It was free from the dangerous gas. The floor was fairly level, but it was covered with the broken hangings from the ceiling.

"I see an outlet, directly opposite the one we came by," exclaimed George.

The party hastened across the intervening s.p.a.ce. They were traveling along the greatest length of the chamber. Midway between the two openings were two other side openings, and John stopped and exclaimed: "It is true! We have found it!"

The boys had never seen John so agitated before. They pressed around and requested an explanation, but he fumbled in his pocket, and soon drew forth a carefully wrapped piece of brown paper.

"This is parchment. It contains the sketch of the cave that has been the object of my search. I believe we are the only white people who have ever been privileged to enter it since the chart was made three centuries ago."

Ephraim, as well as the boys, glanced about them. What was there to excite him? Other caves had the same sort of formation, the chambers and the openings: and while they wondered John drew a compa.s.s from his pocket, and after holding it for a while, continued:

"This chamber runs north and south as you see. We entered on the south side. It had two other outlets, one to the east, the other to the west."

"Then it is the cross-shaped cave!" almost shouted George.

"Yes," answered John, as he fixed his eyes on the boys. "In the year 1620, a Spanish navigator found a cave, of which this is a description, and within it were found the remains of hundreds of people."

CHAPTER XIII

THE CHART AND THE CAVES

John pored over the map, without going any further. Evidently something was pa.s.sing in his mind, for occasionally his eyes left the paper and he looked about, as though undecided.

"Do you know any more about what they found?"

"Yes; there are many incomplete portions belonging to the history, but it may be summed up by the statement, that they also found an immense amount of treasure, much of it in the form of solid gold. The adventurers were wild with joy at the discovery, and took steps to remove it.

"Before proceeding far they found carvings and inscriptions, the latter of which were unintelligible to them, but they were very curious, judging from the few sketches which were made. But like many men of their cla.s.s they began to quarrel over the treasure, and fought each other to the death."

"That was just like the fellows who lived in the cave at the Cataract,"

suggested Harry.

"No doubt that was over the treasure, too, there, as well as here. Four of the men escaped, only to be chased by savages, and after finally reaching their vessel were almost wrecked because they did not have enough properly to man the ship.

"After reaching civilization, they engaged a number of men, and returned. Some went in, among them two of the original discoverers. They did not return for some days, and another party went in, but they did not return.

"Only one of the four remained, and when their companions did not return, the others took fright and returned to the vessel. Juan Guiterez was the name of the sole survivor of the first expedition. The adventurers who accompanied him declared that he and his company had lured them to the strange isle, in order to destroy them, and on the return to the first Spanish port, he was cast into prison, and remained a prisoner for nearly twenty years.

"This chart, or what remains of it, or from which this copy was made was written by him while in prison, but the singular thing is, that while he was explicit in many things, he did not leave a clue as to the location of the island. Many of the things on it, as you see, are very faint."

The boys now examined the chart for the first time. Harry started back in surprise, as he pointed to the chart, and looked up at John. "Why, there are the same marks we found on the skull at Wonder Island!" he exclaimed in great excitement.

"Quite true! and do you now wonder why I have been so much interested to find the location? Chance has thrown this opportunity our way. It is true we might be mistaken, but the description fits."

It would require pages to tell about what they found in the recesses of the cavern. Hundreds and hundreds of skeletons were discovered, and the most curious tablets and carvings in hieroglyphics were scattered in the adjoining chamber.

Peculiarly-formed tools, implements of warfare, also of metal, small slabs of uniform size, and with characters on both sides, which might have been the historical books of the singular people who lived here ages ago, were in profusion not only in the large chamber, but in the most unexpected places.

To John it was a vast storehouse of archeological wealth. To the boys it was much more. There were still some things that John did not explain, and which they wanted to know.

"Do you believe that the different parties went in and never came back again?" asked George.

"I have no doubt but the account was true."

"What became of them?"

"They probably met the fate that almost overtook us when we first went in," was the answer.

The parchment was correct in the main details, as to the records within the cave, but there were no treasure, nor could any trace be found of them. They spent several days in the search, but to no avail. The boys were not much disappointed, it may be said, but they were gratified to know that John had accomplished the one desire of his life, and they knew, also, that it would be a source of great joy to the Professor.

It was found that the cave entrance at the opposite side of the hill was the northern outlet to the same set of caverns, and Ephraim did not know of any others that existed in the northern part, so that they did not feel it to be desirable to take up more time in this direction.