it was about six weeks after the mary bartlett had sailed away from that desolate spot on the coast of peru from which she had taken the shipwrecked party, that the great stone face might have seen, if its wide-open eyes had been capable of vision, a small schooner beating in toward shore. this vessel, which was manned by a chilian captain, a mate, and four men, and was a somewhat dirty and altogether disagreeable craft, carried captain horn, his four negroes, and three hundred and thirty bags of guano.
in good truth the captain was coming back to get the gold, or as much of it as he could take away with him. but his apparent purpose was to establish on this desert coast a depot for which he would have nothing to pay for rent and storage, and where he would be able to deposit, from time to time, such guano as he had been able to purchase at a bargain at two of the guano islands, until he should have enough to make it worth while for a large vessel, trading with the united states or mexico, to touch here and take on board his accumulated stock of odorous merchandise.
it would be difficult—in fact, almost impossible—to land a cargo at the point near the caves where the captain and his party first ran their boats ashore, nor did the captain in the least desire to establish his depot at a point so dangerously near the golden object of his undertaking. but the little bay which had been the harbor of the rackbirds exactly suited his purpose, and here it was that he intended to land his bags of guano. he had brought with him on the vessel suitable timber with which to build a small pier, and he carried also a lighter, or a big scow, in which the cargo would be conveyed from the anchored schooner to the pier.
it seemed quite evident that the captain intended to establish himself in a somewhat permanent manner as a trader in guano. he had a small tent and a good stock of provisions, and, from the way he went to work and set his men to work, it was easy to see that he had thoroughly planned and arranged all the details of his enterprise.
it was nearly dark when the schooner dropped her anchor, and early the next morning all available hands were set to work to build the pier, and, when it was finished, the landing of the cargo was immediately begun. some of the sailors wandered about a little, when they had odd moments to spare, but they had seen such dreary coasts before, and would rather rest than ramble. but wherever they did happen to go, not one of them ever got away from the eye of captain horn.
the negroes evinced no desire to visit the cave, and maka had been ordered by the captain to say nothing about it to the sailors. there was no difficulty in obeying this order, for these rough fellows, as much landsmen as mariners, had a great contempt for the black men, and had little to do with them. as captain horn informed maka, he had heard from his friends, who had arrived in safety at acapulco; therefore there was no need for wasting time in visiting their old habitation.
in that dry and rainless region a roof to cover the captain's stock in trade was not necessary, and the bags were placed upon a level spot on the sands, in long double rows, each bag on end, gently leaning against its opposite neighbor, and between the double rows there was room to walk.
the chilian captain was greatly pleased with this arrangement. "i see well," said he, in bad spanish, "that this business is not new to you. a ship's crew can land and carry away these bags without tumbling over each other. it is a grand thing to have a storehouse with a floor as wide as many acres."
a portion of the bags, however, were arranged in a different manner. they were placed in a circle two bags deep, inclosing a space about ten feet in diameter. this, captain horn explained, he intended as a sort of little fort, in which the man left in charge could defend himself and the property, in case marauders should land upon the coast.
"you don't intend," exclaimed the chilian captain, "that you will leave a guard here! nobody would have cause to come near the spot from either land or sea, and you might well leave your guano here for a year or more, and come back and find it."
"no," said captain horn, "i can't trust to that. a coasting-vessel might put in here for water. some of them may know that there is a stream here, and with this convenient pier, and a cargo ready to their hands, my guano would be in danger. no, sir. i intend to send you off to-morrow, if the wind is favorable, for the second cargo for which we have contracted, and i shall stay here and guard my warehouse."
"what!" exclaimed the chilian, "alone?"
"why not?" said captain horn. "our force is small, and we can only spare one man. in loading the schooner on this trip, i would be the least useful man on board, and, besides, do you think there is any one among you who would volunteer to stay here instead of me?"
the chilian laughed and shook his head. "but what can one man do," said he, "to defend all this, if there should be need?"
"oh, i don't intend to defend it," said the other. "the point is to have somebody here to claim it in case a coaster should touch here. i don't expect to be murdered for the sake of a lot of guano. but i shall keep my two rifles and other arms inside that little fort, and if i should see any signs of rascality i shall jump inside and talk over the guano-bags, and i am a good shot."
the chilian shrugged his shoulders. "if i stayed here alone," said he, "i should be afraid of nothing but the devil, and i am sure he would come to me, with all his angels. but you are different from me."
"yes," said captain horn, "i don't mind the devil. i have often camped out by myself, and i have not seen him yet."
when maka heard that the captain intended staying alone, he was greatly disturbed. if the captain had not built the little fort with the guano-bags, he would have begged to be allowed to remain with him, but those defensive works had greatly alarmed him, for they made him believe that the captain feared that some of the rackbirds might come back. he had had a great deal of talk with the other negroes about those bandits, and he was fully impressed with their capacity for atrocity. it grieved his soul to think that the captain would stay here alone, but the captain was a man who could defend himself against half a dozen rackbirds, while he knew very well that he would not be a match for half a one. with tears in his eyes, he begged captain horn not to stay, for rackbirds would not steal guano, even if any of them should return.
but his entreaties were of no avail. captain horn explained the matter to him, and tried to make him understand that it was as a claimant, more than as a defender of his property, that he remained, and that there was not the smallest reason to suspect any rackbirds or other source of danger. the negro saw that the captain had made up his mind, and mournfully joined his fellows. in half an hour, however, he came back to the captain and offered to stay with him until the schooner should return. if captain horn had known the terrible mental struggle which had preceded this offer, he would have been more grateful to maka than he had ever yet been to any human being, but he did not know it, and declined the proposition pleasantly but firmly.
"you are wanted on the schooner," said he, "for none of the rest can cook, and you are not wanted here, so you must go with the others; and when you come back with the second load of guano, it will not be long before the ship which i have engaged to take away the guano will touch here, and then we will all go north together."
maka smiled, and tried to be satisfied. he and the other negroes had been greatly grieved that the captain had not seen fit to go north from callao, and take them with him. their one desire was to get away from this region, so full of horrors to them, as soon as possible. but they had come to the conclusion that, as the captain had lost his ship, he must be poor, and that it was necessary for him to make a little money before he returned to the land of his home.
fortune was on the captain's side the next day, for the wind was favorable, and the captain of the schooner was very willing to start. if that crew, with nothing to do, had been compelled by adverse weather to remain in that little cove for a day or more, it might have been very difficult indeed for captain horn to prevent them from wandering into the surrounding country, and what might have happened had they chanced to wander into the cave made the captain shudder to conjecture.
he had carefully considered this danger, and on the voyage he had made several plans by which he could keep the men at work, in case they were obliged to remain in the cove after the cargo had been landed. happily, however, none of these schemes was necessary, and the next day, with a western wind, and at the beginning of the ebb-tide, the schooner sailed away for another island where captain horn had purchased guano, leaving him alone upon the sandy beach, apparently as calm and cool as usual, but actually filled with turbulent delight at seeing them depart.
