When the morning came, the pirates all left with the exception of the captain, who remained, he said, for the purpose of making further investigations, but quite as much for the purpose of endeavoring to find out whether or not, Lightfoot had anything to do with the production of the strange noises. But here again, he was fated to disappointment. The Indian could not, or would not, give any satisfactory explanation. The noises she contended were made by the braves of her nation who had gone to the spirit world, and who were angry because their sacred cavern had been profaned by the presence of the hated palefaces. Had he consulted Hellena, or Black Bill, his investigations would probably have taken a different turn. The figure of the Indian having been seen by both Hellena and the black, would have excited his curiosity if not his fears, and led him to look upon it as a more serious matter than he had heretofore supposed. But he did not consult either of them, probably supposing them to be a couple of silly individuals whose opinions were not worth having. If any doubt had remained in the minds of the men in regard to the supernatural character of the noises which had startled them in the cave, they existed no longer. Even the Parson although generally ridiculing the idea of all sorts of ghosts and hobgoblins, admitted that there was something in this affair that staggered him, and he joined with the others in thinking that the sooner they shifted their quarters, the better. "Don't you think that squaw had a hand in it?" asked one of the men: "didn't you notice how cool she took it all the while?" "That's a fact," said the Parson; "it's strange I didn't think of that before. I shouldn't wonder if it wasn't after all, a plot contrived by her and some of her red-skinned brethren to frighten us out of the cave, and get hold of the plunder we've got stowed away there." Some of the men now fell in with this opinion, and were for putting it to the proof by torturing Lightfoot until she confessed her guilt. The majority of the men, however, adhered to the original opinion that the whole thing was supernatural, and that the more they meddled with it, the deeper they'd get themselves into trouble. "My opinion is," said Old Ropes, "that there's treasure buried there, and the whole thing's under a charm, cave, mountain, and all." "If there's treasure buried there," said the Parson, "I'm for having a share of it." "The only way to get treasure that's under charm," said Old Ropes, "is to break the charm that binds it, by a stronger charm." "It would take some blasting to get at treasure buried in that solid rock," said Jones Bradley. "If we could only break the charm that holds the treasure, just as like as not that solid rock would all turn into quicksand," replied Old Ropes. "Did you ever see the thing tried?" asked the Parson. "No; but I've seen them as has," replied Old Ropes.