Young Hunters in Porto Rico: or, The Search for a Lost Treasure

They moved on more slowly than ever. The foul air was now left behind and they gained a chamber where there was a steady current of cold air which made one and another shiver.

"What's that?" said Don, of a sudden.

He had heard a strange sound, and now they all noticed it.

"Is it somebody moaning?" gasped Leander.

"It certainly sounds like it," said old Jacob.

"Perhaps it is Farvel in trouble," suggested Bob.

The moaning rose and fell, as if a person was in great pain and unable to cry out loudly.

"Where does it come from?" was Dick's question.

No one was able to answer, and they stood in a mute crowd, looking at each other. Danny gave a shiver.

"I don't like dat nohow," he whispered.

"No more do I like it," muttered Leander. "It sounds like a ghost!"

"Don't say dat, or I'll be fer runnin' away!" cried the Irish lad.

Dash put up his nose and added a long whine.

"Where is it, Dash?" said Dick. "Show it to us, old boy!"

The dog started forward, then stood stock still and showed his teeth.

There was another moan and then a hiss, and out of the gloom ahead shone two fiery eyes, moving slowly from side to side.

"Some beast!" shouted Robert Menden. "Have your pistols ready!"

He had scarcely uttered the words when a big cat shot past him and landed on Leander's left shoulder.

The creature was of the domestic specie, but evidently gone wild from hunger and loneliness.

"Help! take it off!" cried the boy, and tried to clear himself. But the cat hung the closer. Then it opened its mouth as if to bury its teeth in his arm.

A report rang out. Robert Menden had taken careful aim and fired. At once the cat gave a screech and tumbled to the ground, where it lay writhing and moaning. Another shot put it out of its misery forever.

The attack had taken Leander's nerve away from him, and the boy sank down on a rock and shivered, while turning as white as a sheet.

"It was terrible!" he murmured. "Say, I'm for getting out of this!"

"Oh, don't talk that way, Len!" cried Bob. "The cat's dead now, you know."

"But there may be more of them."

"I think not. She probably got in here by accident."

"And then that dead body, too!"

"I don't believe there are any more of those either."

"To be sure, it was very unpleasant," put in Robert Menden. "But it will have to be something far worse to turn me back."

"And me," added Dick. "I am going to stick to the hunt to the end."

And five minutes later the whole party went forward once more. But Leander kept close to old Jacob, and carried his pistol where it could be brought into instant use if required.

CHAPTER XXV

THE TABLET OF STONE

By consulting a watch they found that it was after six o'clock; but they had brought supper along and ate this in preference to making their way out of the cave to their camp on the mountainside.

"Farvel must not be allowed to get ahead of us in this search," declared Robert Menden. "If he once got the treasure in his possession, the jig would be up, so far as we are concerned."

"It's queer we haven't seen anything of him to-day," said Dick. "He must be in the cave somewhere."

"There are so many branches we can easily keep apart," said Don. "It is like the branches of a great tree lying flat underground."

"And we are like ants looking for the right branch," laughed Bob.

"I feel it in my bones that we have the right branch here," put in Robert Menden.

"An' I feel thet way myself," added old Jacob. "I think we'll have thet treasure in forty-eight hours, or sooner."

Both torches had burnt low, and now they lit fresh ones, which threw a brighter light on all sides. They were moving along in a row when the Englishman called a sudden halt.

"There is a wide crack in the rocks ahead," he declared. "Look out that somebody doesn't tumble into it."

"Does it lead to the lower caves?" asked Dick.

"I'm sure I don't know, Dick. We can throw down a stone and see."

Robert Menden was about to look around for a suitable stone, when a cry from Bob caught his ears.

"The tablet!" yelled the boy. "Look! look!"

All rushed to his side and gazed in the direction that he pointed out. Sure enough, there on the very brink of the crack Menden had located, was a long, flat stone. At one end of the stone they saw that a rude cross had been carved. At the other end were the much sought-after initials, M. M. M.

"Hurrah! the treasure at last!" cried Dick, and felt like dancing a jig for joy.

"Where is the cedar box? I'm crazy to see how much it has in it!" put in Don.

"I guess we're all crazy for that," laughed Leander, his scare having been forgotten.