L. Frank Baum

“ Nux could not answer this problem, but after a few moments it solved itself, for the robbers and Bry appeared upon the sandy shore, close to the water, and walked briskly along the narrow strip of beach between the lapping waves and the grim precipice of the mainland. It was not long before a bend in the coast hid them completely, and then we sat up and looked at one another inquiringly.
“What we do now?” asked the black.
“Let’s go down the rock,” I suggested, assuming to be braver than I really was. “They’ve left the gold behind them, that’s sure; and the gold is what we’re after, Nux. ”

“ While listening to the conversation I have recorded, the black had stealthily reached up his hand and managed to extract from the bundle a tin of corned beef and a handful of ship’s biscuits. Then he wriggled carefully away, and in a few minutes had rejoined Nux and me, where we hid among the trees.
I think no food has ever tasted quite so delicious to me as did that tinned beef and stale biscuit. When divided amongst three there was little enough in each share, but it sufficed to allay our hunger and give us fresh strength and courage. ”

“ Before I had been on the ship a week both Nux and Bry were my faithful friends and devoted followers, and in the days that were to come their friendship and faithfulness stood me in good stead.
A very interesting person to me was big Bill Acker, the mate, called by courtesy “Doc.” He seemed far above his mates in the matter of intelligence, and was evidently a well bred man in his youth. A shelf above his bunk bore a well-thumbed row of volumes on the world’s great religions, together with a Talmud, a Koran, a Bible, the works of Confucius and Max Müller’s translation of the Vedas. ”

“ His height was enormous—at least six feet and three inches—and his chest was broad and deep as that of ancient Hercules. He was bearded like a gorilla with fiery red hair, which extended even to his great chest, disclosed through the open grey flannel shirt. There was no hat upon his head, and he wore no coat; but high boots were upon his feet and around his waist a leathern belt stuck full of knives and revolvers.
No stage pirate, no bandit of Southern Europe, was ever half so formidable in appearance as this terrible personage. ”

“ When twilight fell I arose and with some difficulty rolled the trousers to a place nearer the center of the rock, where there was a small natural hollow; and then Nux and I sat beside it and ate again sparingly of the food we had brought.
It was while we were thus occupied that an incident occurred that filled us with sudden panic. For before our faces a man’s head appeared above the edge of rock, and two dark eyes glared fixedly into our own. ”

“ After luncheon we hired a small boat, and Ned Britton undertook to row us aboard the “Flipper,” which had been hidden from our view by a point of land. I own that after my uncle’s glowing descriptions of her I expected to see a most beautiful schooner, with lines even nobler than those of the grand old “Saracen,” which had been my father’s pride for so many years. So my disappointment may be imagined when we drew up to a grimy looking vessel of some six hundred tons, with discolored sails, weather-worn rigging and a glaring need of fresh paint. ”

“ Cap’n Steele, how dare you harbor sich varmints? Drive ’em out, this instant, or I’ll go myself. This house can’t hold Sam Steele, the robber, and me at the same time!”
Captain Steele looked toward me gravely as I stood regarding the woman with unmistakable amazement. Then he turned to Naboth Perkins, to find the little man doubled up in his chair and shaking with silent laughter. A moment later he began to gasp and choke and cough, until, just as he appeared to be on the verge of convulsions, he suddenly straightened up and wiped the tears from his eyes. ”

“ Nux roused me from my reflections by asking:
“What we do now, Mars Sam?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, despairingly. “If we can’t escape from this rock we are little better off than those poor fellows below us. See! the stone, as it fell, tore away the ledge completely.”
“No climb down, any way at all,” said Bry, squatting upon the rock and clasping his knees with his hands.
“We haven’t any rope, or enough clothing to make one,” I continued, striving to be calm and to force myself to think clearly. “But if we remain up here it won’t take us long to die of thirst or starvation. ”

“ Nux was nearly spent when at last he threw the laden trousers upon the flat top and tried to draw his tired body after them; but I gave him a hearty boost from behind, and then scrambled to the top unaided, nerved by the excitement of the moment.
For several minutes neither of us spoke. The black man lay panting for breath, with the perspiration streaming from every pore of his body, and I, filled with gratitude at our escape and the successful accomplishment of our plan, sat beside my faithful friend and fanned him with my straw hat. ”

“ As soon as the thieves get back to the ledge we must go on, and keep the rock always between us and them, or we shall be lost.”
Nux nodded, and obeyed without a word. It was often hard to tell, by the sound of their voices, just how far up the ledge the men had progressed; but fortune favored us, and only once did we lag behind enough for the first of the robber band to espy us. But that first person, by good luck, proved to be Bryonia, and the clever black at once pretended to stumble and fall, and so held the men that followed him in check until Nux and I had escaped around the crag. ”

“ But soon he conceived an idea that these golden sands were deposited from some point in the mountains of the interior of the island, where solid gold abounded in enormous quantities. So he quit washing, and began a search for the imaginary “mountain of gold,” cutting a secret path through the thicket to the more open interior, and passing day after day in his eager quest. At first he urged some of his comrades to join him, but they only laughed at his idea, being well content to obtain the coveted gold in an easy way, where it lay plainly before their eyes. ”

“ Only fly can climb rock now.”
“I believe you’re right, Bry!” I cried, startled at this dreadful assertion; “and, if so, we’re prisoners here. Let us see what it looks like.”
I crawled rather stiffly down the inclined surface to the edge overlooking the sea, and one glance showed me that it would now be impossible for anyone to walk along the narrow ledge.
While I looked a sharp cry of horror from Nux reached my ears, and swiftly turning I hastened with Bry toward the place where the black was leaning over the gulf that separated the peak from the mainland. ”

“ In appearance he was short, thick-set, and of middle age. His round face was lined in every direction by deep wrinkles, and the scant hair that showed upon his temples was thin and grey. He wore a blue flannel shirt, with a black kerchief knotted at the throat; but, aside from this, his dress was that of an ordinary civilian; so that at first I was unable to decide whether he was a sailor or a landsman.
The chief attraction in the stranger was the expression of his face, which was remarkably humorous. ”

“ But the lust for gold has made my fellows desperate, and with immense fortunes within their grasp they will stick at nothing to protect themselves and their treasure.”
“That’s only natural,” growled Uncle Naboth.
“I’m glad to find you so reasonable,” said the Major. “Having discovered this field ourselves, we do not intend to share the gold with anyone; but we will make you a reasonable proposition. We will pay each one of you two dollars a day, in grains of gold, for your labor, and you must buckle to and help us to get out the gold. ”

“ By the advice of his shrewder brother-in-law my father converted all his accumulated treasures into money, which was safely invested in Government bonds that were deposited in a Boston bank.
“Whatever happens now,” observed Uncle Naboth, “nobody can’t rob you again; and if our business ventures proves unsuccessful, and Sam and I go bankrupt, you’ve always got something to fall back on in your old age.”
But success seemed to follow in the wake of the new firm, and the “Cleopatra,” as our ship is named, has made voyage after voyage with unvarying good fortune. ”

“ One or two, to be sure, grumbled that the provisions from the “Flipper” had been purchased at too high a price, or that too much of the gold was set aside to pay for the passage back to San Francisco; but not one objected when the Major set aside three heavy bags of gold to reward Captain Gay for his clever feat in turning the mountain stream.
When Uncle Naboth and I, in the seclusion of my hut, had figured out our share of the profits, the old man was hugely delighted.
“My partner!” he exclaimed, slapping his thigh with enthusiasm, “it’s paid us better than three trips to Alaska! ”

“ Then, one day, a schooner carried me to Plymouth, and the Captain, who was a kindly man, loaned me enough money to bring me to Batteraft where I thought I’d find my savings; enough to buy a new ship and start business again. But Mrs. Ranck met me with the news that my son had stripped the house of all my valuables and run away with a man that was known to be a pirate. My room was quite bare, I found, and Mrs. Ranck claimed she had hardly enough left of her savings to buy food with. ”

“ The huge rocking-stone, weighing thousands of tons, which for ages had remained delicately balanced upon the edge of the chasm, had been struck by a bolt of lightning and torn from its base. Crashing into the gulf, a point of the great, wedge-shaped boulder had entered the mouth of the cave where the desperadoes sought shelter, and, crowded forward by its own weight, it had sealed up the robbers in a living grave, from whence no power of man could ever rescue them. ”

“ Sometimes, in the heat of the afternoon, he would strike work and come into my hut, where he threatened and bullied me and cast longing glances at the sacks of gold I had accumulated. Uncle Naboth, who, by the way, labored doggedly day after day, as he was commanded, often warned me against Larkin, but I had no fears, being assured the Major would protect me from the villain’s hatred. ”

“ Before I could reply, Uncle Naboth, who had witnessed the incident, strolled up to us and said:
“Nux is right, my lad. You never find a sailor sitting on the rail; they know too well how onreliable the motion of a ship is. If anybody drops overboard the chances o’ bein’ picked up alive is mighty slim, I tell you. Only fools put ’emselves into unnecessary danger, Sam. Take it on them orful railroad cars, for instance. Old travellers always wait ’till the train stops afore they gets on or off the cars. Them as don’t know the danger is the ones that gets hurt. ”

“ We can’t pass by the forest with it, that’s certain; for Daggett and his followers would be sure to see us. On the other side, the cliff rises straight out of the sea, and there’s no way to escape around it. All we can do, then, is to carry the gold to the top of this rock.”
“Hm!” grunted the Sulu. “Dat no good, Mars Sam.”
“Why not?”
“No way to get off top of rock.”
“True; but we can hide there, ’till the thieves go away to the ship. It isn’t likely they’ll climb up there again, for this cave is a better place to sleep in.” ”

“ The result has been that the first discoverers seldom profit to any extent, while the horde they draw around them get the lion’s share. That has been our experience time and time again, for every member of our band is an experienced miner. We’ve been crowded from Colorado to Idaho, from Idaho to California, from California to the Black Hills, and back again. Finally we got word of a rich find of gold in Alaska; so, banding together, we chartered an old ship and started for the Yukon. On the way we encountered a gale that blew us to this island. ”

“ We will also pay you, in gold, for whatever provisions you have on your ship, or other supplies we may need. And when we have enough to satisfy ourselves, and are ready to sail back to civilization, we will pay you a reasonable price for passage in your ship. That seems to me to be fair and square. What do you say?”
“Why,” answered Uncle Naboth, with a gasp, “that’s all we could look for if we got to Alaska. We’re traders, sir, an’ expect to make our money in trade. The only thing we object to is workin’ like dogs to wash gold for somebody else.” ”

“ But it appears that you were merely the victims of the elements, and like ourselves were driven to this shore in a gale. So the only danger to be feared from you is your getting away before we’re ready to go with you. That was why we hesitated between murdering you and using your services to enable us to accomplish our task sooner than we otherwise could. We are not cut-throats, believe me, nor do we care to be responsible for the death of so many decent men. ”

“ We’ve got the small boats.”
“They can make a raft, or even swim out to the ship,” returned Uncle Naboth, shrewdly. “I tell you, Major, you’re wasting time. Why don’t you do something?”
The Major glanced at him as if undecided whether to be angry with him or not. But Mr. Perkins was undoubtedly right, and the miners were gathering outside the door with curses and threats against the men who had robbed them, for the news had quickly spread throughout the camp.
So their leader sent six men, heavily armed, in the ship’s longboat to board the “Flipper” and protect the vessel from being captured. ”