"What could be better?" he cried. "The man's spirit is evil
enough to frighten people away and we will drop stones upon him,
so that he can learn the taste of his own medicine. It suits me
exactly to think of Colonel Cobo standing on his head in a hole in
the ground for the rest of eternity!"
O'Reilly was by this time suffering the full reaction from the
events of the past half-hour and he was nearer exhaustion than he
dreamed, but, conquering his repugnance for his unescapable task,
he lowered himself once more into the well. His arms were weak,
however, and his fingers numb, so he fell rather than slid the
length of the rope. He managed to open the door of the treasure-
chamber, then entered and loaded his pockets with gold. He sent up
the jewel-box at the end of the rope, dragged the body of Cobo
into the cave, then wedged the barricade back into place. It
required the combined strength of Rosa and Jacket to help him the
last few feet of his climb.
"Now fetch stones, rubbish, anything--and throw it in there," he
gasped.
The boy and the girl fell to with a will, and after a time Johnnie
joined them. Slowly, laboriously, the three of them carried debris
from the edge of the quarry and bricks from the ruined house; they
scraped up armfuls of leaves and trash--anything, in fact, which
would serve to raise the bottom of the shaft and conceal the
entrance to their enemy's resting-place.
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