The animals quickly got into position at the assigned guard posts. Timothy ran back to his hut and followed Ringsend's directions of staying nearby but, not in the hut itself. Again, following Ringsend's instructions. The wise animal had told Timothy to make a pot of soup and some vegetables, hang the pots in obvious places over the fire and set the table for one.
The turtle also indicated that Timothy should take the least valuable jewel out of the chest, (which was hidden in a small cave under the copse with the badgers), and lay it on his cupboard near the drinking vessels.
In addition, the turtle told Timothy to make up his bed in a particularly extravagant manner, with all the winter coverlets laid out. The young man did as he was told. Then, the turtle slipped back into the sea and followed the row boat as far as the shore. This was the time when the group broke up and went to the individual "stations". As it was night, the bear slipped away to the hut and hid behind a small hedge.
The men got out of the boat and pulled it ashore. Roger spoke first. "I don't see any signs of life on this island. And, it is so dark. Ralph, do you have the lanterns?" Ralph lit two lanterns and handed one to Roger, who led the way towards the center. "Why do we have to walk at night? We have been rowing for over an hour and I am tired." Hugh complained, and the others answered as usual. Roger became angry and raised his voice, "Be quiet. If there is someone here, we can take them by surprise." Hywel remained silent, but was thinking of treasure. Then, he saw smoke in the distance, from Timothy's small hearth. "A fire, and I can smell food." The men walked quickly towards the center of the island. They did not notice the rabbits silently on the edges of the small paths.
Suddenly, several rabbits ran and leaped across the path in front of Roger. "Blast it, rabbits. Where is my gun?"
Hywel said, "Lower your voice and do not shoot rabbits. We do not know how many people are here."
Hugh noted that the hut, now seen in the moonlight, seemed tiny. "I doubt if more than one person could live there. Look." And, he pointed to the small hut. Another pair of rabbits dashed out in front of the men. Roger could hardly restrain his anger at the animals. Ralph laughed.
"Come on, " he said quietly. "And, let us split up and stand on each side of the hut and look in. There seems to be two windows and a door."
The four evil men crept up to the hut. Suddenly, several foxes ran down the path and ran into the legs of Roger and Hywel. Roger almost fell and the words from his mouth cannot be repeated here.
The men surrounded the hut. Timothy had left a fire on and also a candle. The men could see the pot of soup, the table for one and the bed. They decided to go in.
"Only one bed and a setting for one," remarked Ralph. "And, these jackets and hats belong to a man."
Hywel was already scooping soup into the one bowl. "What are you doing," shouted Ralph. "Why do you always have to eat?" Hugh was already laying down on the great warm coverlets, and in a moment, he was asleep. "Some landing party you all are, " muttered Roger. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Hywel with a bowl of soup in his hand, saw the jewel on the shelf. He put the bowl on the table and rushed over, but just before he grabbed the jewel, Roger pulled out his sword and stepped between the shelves and Hywel.
"What do you think you are doing?" He yelled. "We agreed to share."
Hywel replied, "I was just going to look at the jewel, Roger, not keep it." Roger turned to the shelf and grabbed the jewel. It was a small blue sapphire encased in gold. "Well, the rest of the treasure cannot be far away."
Hywel sat down and began eating. Ralph was looking around the hut and then went to the door to look outside. Just then, Ralph heard a beautiful woman's voice. "Who are you, young man?" Ralph became intrigued. He forgot about the other three men and stepped outside towards the hedge. The female voice continued, "I am over here. The lady of the island..." Ralph walked towards the hedge. His head was full of imaginations and his heart pounded. He did not think he would find a woman on the island.
The female voice came, of course, from Belsay. The wolf was the lady of the island, as there were no other females of her stature. The wolf silently walked further into the forest in front of the hut. Then, from behind the hedge, the great bear stood up and grabbed Ralph. In a moment, Ralph lay on the ground, dead from fright. The bear quietly retreated into the forest and joined Timothy by the secret hiding place. The bear did not speak, but Timothy could hear the men shouting.
"Ralph, where are you? Ralph?" Then, Hugh woke up and came outside. Just then, Roger stumbled over Ralph's body. He felt a sudden chill. "Is this place haunted? Look, one dead already." He took out his gun and looked around. He could see no one.
Just then, he realized that he had left the one jewel on the table, next to where Hywel was eating soup. "Where is the jewel? You have taken it." Hywel looked surprised. "No, I have not. You have it. I am eating. I could care less about one mediocre jewel. We came for a treasure, and...." He did not finish his sentence, for Hugh was walking into the house looking as it he had seen a ghost. "I just saw something strange. I thought I saw a troop of foxes, and they looked like they were talking with some rabbits."
Roger could not stand the idiocy of this statement. He flew into a rage. "Ralph is laying on the ground dead and you are imagining animals talking. Are you all so stupid?"
Then, he saw through the window, the jewel out on the pathway. While the men were talking, one of the night birds had taken the jewel and dropped it in sight of the men outside.
"What is going on here, " cried Roger. Then he yelled, "Ralph was taking the jewel and look, he must have thrown it outside when he died."
Hugh looked out the window. Roger ordered him to go out and get it. "No, I am not going out. There is something strange going on and I am feeling that this entire island is creepy... the animals on the pathway and now the jewel just flying out the door onto the pathway. Something witchy here."
Hywel could not be patient. He stood up. "Are we going to look for treasure or what?" Ralph answered. "We can't leave Ralph on the ground and I do not want to bring a dead man into the hut, but we need to sleep, as we cannot face unknown powers here."
Hugh suggested that they put a blanket over Ralph and lock the windows and doors. This they did, and then Hugh laid down in the bed. Ralph instantly became angry. "Get out, I am sleeping there."
Hywel decided to just sleep in a small chair in the corner. Hugh laid next to the fire, and they all fell asleep.
But, when everyone seemed to be sleeping, Hywel got up and retrieved the jewel from the pathway. Then, he saw another jewel. Timothy had placed jewels on the pathway going towards the copse and the badgers. Hywel's greedy heart could not refrain from picking up that stone, and then another, and another, until he was at the copse with five jewels in his hands. One of the badgers crept out of the copse and ran as fast as a badger can to the hut, the door was still open and the badger immediately went to the bed and pulled one of Ralph's legs out of the covers. Ralph woke up and saw the giant badger, then he noticed the Hywel was gone and that the door was open. He pushed the badger aside with his gun and ran outside down the path to the copse. There, Hywel was counting the jewels and trying to decide where to hide these, when Roger came up and said, "Drop those!" Hywel replied, "I found these and I am sure there are more. We can share when we find the treasure. " Roger said coldly, "Sharing starts now." He pulled out his gun just as a huge badger came out of the copse and knocked over Hywel. Hywel fell to the ground, but the badger moved on and also knocked over Roger. The gun turned in his hand and as the shot left the gun, it hit Roger, not Hywel. Hywel stared at the badger running away down the path. He stared at Roger, who was dead. Hywel got up and brushed himself off. He still had the jewels in his hands.
For a moment, Hywel did not know what to do. Ralph was dead and Roger was dead. The only one left besides himself was the lazy Hugh. "But, I need him to row the boat with me," thought Hywel.
The man walked past Roger and slowly made his way back to the hut. He had to pass Ralph and he did not want to do so, but when he got to the front of the hut, the body was not there. "Maybe he was faking, " thought Hywel. He went in and locked the door. Hugh was in the bed sleeping.
As Hywel sat back in the chair to sleep for the last few hours of the night, he began to think of the strange happenings.
Rabbits on the path; an animal supposedly scaring Ralph to death; badgers coming out of the copse and now, Roger obviously dead. Hywel wondered if the island was bewitched and that only animals lived here. But, he had five jewels in his hands. Then, he started, as if from a bad dream. "All this is planned-these jewels were dropped on purpose. There is intelligence behind this and it must be that of a man."
Hywel decided to sleep as well. Nothing could be done in the dark.
Morning dawned in a few hours. The badgers had found the bear, the wolves and Timothy. Timothy was grieving over the death of men, but the bear explained something to him. "The wages of sin is death, Timothy."
Timothy had heard that same phrase from Ringsend. He was beginning to understand evil.
In the morning, when Hugh was still sleeping, Hywel decided to look outside again. The body of Ralph was gone and Hywel, out of curiosity, kept walking towards the copse. Roger's body was not there, either.
"Perhaps, they are both faking it and hiding. I cannot trust anyone."
Hywel went back to the hut not quite sure what to do. The value of the jewels he found would merely cover the expenses of the trip back to the other side of the country. He decided to eat. But, all the food was gone.
Disturbed, and not sure how many other strange animals he would encounter, Hywel decided to walk back to the row boat and use the fishing tackle to fish. He began to walk in that direction. The jewels were in his pocket.
But, when Hywel got to the place on the beach where he thought the row boat had been dragged up onto the sand, the boat was gone. The markings in the sand showed him that, indeed, the boat had been there, but it was now gone.
Hywel plopped down on the grass near the beach. He was beginning to doubt he would ever leave this island.
To be continued....
