he coast, while the natives we encountered
were hostile and warlike. Armed with spears and slings, they attacked
us, and were only driven off after many had been slain.

Pedro de Castro did not accompany us. He had pleaded a disinclination
to leave his mother so soon after their long separation. At the time we
thought his conduct strange, but in return for the assistance that
Queen Barreto had given us, we promised him a share of any gold
obtained.

At length, after a day's journey, we came to the entrance to the caves,
a gloomy portal to a tunnel which ran into a high rocky cliff from
which issued a sluggish stream over a bed of water-worn pebbles. At the
entrance to this dark recess, upon the face of a flat rock, appeared
painted hands, some with six fingers, some with four, and others with
only two. They were painted with a dark brown pigment, and were easily
discernible. It was the sight of these hands, and the assertion that
they had reference to the measures of gold obtained, as set forth on
the paper found by Hartog in the locker of the "Santa Isabel", that
decided us to explore farther into the heart of the caves, and, having
procured torches, Hartog and I, accompanied by Janstins and a lad named
Bruno, a Mulatto, entered the tunnel, and made our way along the left
bank of the stream.

As we advanced the caves increased in size, until at length we stood in
a great apartment, formed of colossal fluted pillars, and roofed high
above our heads with depending stalactites which glistened in the light
of our torches. Everywhere in this huge cavern the same mineral
formation was to be seen, so that we seemed to be standing in a palace
composed of glittering gems.

The stream here was wide, moving sluggishly over a bed of black sand.
Presently a cry from Janstins brought us to where he was standing
beside a heap of what, at first sight, looked like yellow clay, but
which, upon closer inspection, proved to be a quantity of gold dust,
interspersed with small nuggets. Here, then, was the treasure collected
by the fishermen from Lamakera, and abandoned by them in 1467, almost
two hundred years before the date of our coming. But the cause of the
great trepidation which had come upon them, so that they had been
unable to carry the gold away, we had yet to learn.

We had become so intent upon our gold discovery that we had failed to
notice a peculiar humming sound, which became louder as it drew nearer,
and suddenly we o