Chapter 12 Solomon's Treasure House

' Now, Gagool,' I said in a low voice,' lead us to the treasure room.'

' My lords are not afraid ?' she said, looking up into my face.

'We are not.'

'Very good, my lords.' She went round to the back of great Death.' Here is the room.'

She put her lamp on the floor and placed her hands against the side of the cave. I took a match and lit the lamp and then looked for the doorway. There was nothing in front of us except the wall of rock.

Gagool laughed.' Look!' she said, and she pointed at the rock.

A large piece of stone was moving slowly up from the floor and disappearing into the rock above.Very slowly and gently the great stone lifted itself, until at last there was a dark hole in the place where it had been.

Our excitement was great. Was old da Silvestra right? Were there diamonds in that dark place, diamonds which would make us the richest men in the whole world ?

'Enter, white men from the stars,' said Gagool, 'but first listen. The bright stones were taken from the hole where the Silent Ones sit. They were put here by someone — I do not know who. Only one person has entered this place since that time. Long ago a white man reached this country from over the mountains and was welcomed by that king.' She pointed to the fifth king at the Table of the Dead.' A woman of this country had, by chance, learnt the secret of the door. The white man entered with this woman. He found the stones, and filled a bag with them. Then he took one more stone, a large one, and held it in his hand.' She paused.

' Well ?' I asked.' What happened to da Silvestra ?'

The old woman seemed surprised.' How do you know the dead man's name?' she asked quickly. Then without waiting for an answer, she continued: 'For some reason the white man became frightened. He threw down the bag, and ran out with that stone in his hand. And the king took the stone, the stone which Ignosi now wears.'

' Has nobody entered here since ?' I asked.

' Nobody, my lords. Every king has opened it, but he has not entered. Death will come in one month to anyone who enters. Ha! Ha! Enter, my lords. If my words are true, the bag with the stones will lie on the floor. You will soon learn if it is true that death always follows. Ha! ha! ha!'

She went through the doorway, taking the lamp with her. We followed.

Just inside the door, Foulata said that she could not continue. She waited there. The rest of us followed Gagool. About fifty feet beyond the entrance we came to a painted wooden door. It was standing open. The last person there had not found the time, or had forgotten, to shut it.

In this doorway lay a bag that appeared to be full of stones.

' Hee! hee!' laughed Gagool, as the light from her lamp fell on it.' I told you that the white man left quickly and dropped the bag. That is it!'

Good bent down and lifted it.' I believe it is full of diamonds,' he whispered.

' Let's go in,' said Sir Henry.' Here, give me the lamp.' He took it from Gagool's hand and stepped through the doorway.

We followed, and found ourselves in Solomon's treasure room. It was a room cut out of the rock, not more than ten feet square.

'My lords, look over there where it is darkest,' said Gagool. 'There are three stone boxes.Two are shut and one is open.'

We hurried across the room. There were three stone boxes against the wall. Sir Henry held the lamp over the open box. It was almost full of uncut diamonds. We stood and gazed at them.

' Hee! hee! hee!' laughed old Gagool behind us.' There are the bright stones that you love. Take them in your fingers. Eat them, hee! hee! Drink them, ha! ha!'

We opened the other two boxes. The first of them was full to the top. The other was only about a quarter full, but these were the best stones. Some were as large as eggs.

We did not see the terrible look of hate on old Gagool's face as she crept out of the treasure-room towards the great door of rock.

Suddenly Foulata shouted.' Oh, come quickly! Help! Help! The rock is falling.'

We started running. The light from the lamp showed us that the door of rock was closing slowly. It was less than a few feet from the floor. Near it, Gagool and Foulata were fighting. Foulata's blood was on the floor, but still she held the old witch. Then Gagool got free and threw herself on the ground to get under the closing stone. But the door caught her and she shouted in terrible pain. Down, down it came, the whole weight of it. We had never heard such horrible screams, and then the door was shut.

We turned to Foulata. She was badly hurt and I saw that she could not live for long. She looked up at Good, who was holding her in his arms. I heard her say that she loved him. Then she was silent.

' She is dead — she is dead!' said Good, and tears ran down his face.

'Well, we will soon join her, old fellow,' said Sir Henry. 'The door is shut, and this is where we will all die.'

For a few minutes we stood there. All our strength had gone. This idea of our slow and terrible end silenced us. We understood now that the witch Gagool had planned this for us. Now I understood the meaning of her words about eating and drinking the diamonds. Perhaps someone had tried to do the same thing to poor old da Silvestra. That was why he had left in such a hurry, without his bag of jewels.

' We must do something,' said Sir Henry.' The lamp will soon go out. Where is the handle that moves the rock?'

We began to feel up and down the door and the rock at the sides. But we could discover nothing.

' I am sure,' I said,' that it cannot be opened from the inside. Gagool rushed to get underneath the stone.'

' We can do nothing with the door,' said Sir Henry.' Let's go back to the treasure room.'

We sat down with our backs against the three stone boxes of diamonds. We had brought a basket of food and some water with us. There was enough food and water for about two days.

We ate and drank and felt a little better. Then we got up and began to examine the walls and floor of our prison. There was no way out. It was unlikely that there would be a second entrance to a treasure room.

' Quatermain,' said Sir Henry,' what is the time ?'

I looked to see. It was six o'clock. We had entered the cave at eleven.

' Infadoos will miss us,' I said.' If we do not return tonight, he will search for us in the morning.'

' He does not know the secret of the door,' replied Sir Henry. ' He does not even know where it is. And if he found the door, he could not break it down. There are several feet of rock.'

The flame of the lamp became smaller. Then it burned bright for a moment and showed the whole scene: the soft shine of the diamonds, and the white faces of the three men who were waiting for death.

Suddenly, the flame went out.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 610