Chapter 19
Escape
THE OLD PRIEST died during the night. Some movement from his couch disturbed them. By the time they reached it the life had passed from him.
They had slept again, being wearied, when the light of dawn beat into the cave. At about the same time that I, standing on a height far above, discovered the disappearance of the Seaflower, a shout from Harkness woke the other two. Ho was standing at the mouth of the cave staring down into the water below.
The object of his astonishment was a raft floating on the water and piled high with goat-skin bags. It was a huge cumbersome affair, made of long logs of wood fastened together with native fibre and decked with rough slabs of board hewn solidly from trees.
"The poor old priest evidently had a hunger for the treasure, he wanted
