A new plan, though rather a dangerous one, was now put into operation.  The brig was brought around opposite the plateau which led to the caves, and anchored just outside the line of surf, where bottom was found at a moderate depth.  Then the bags were carried in the boats to the vessel.  A line connected each boat with the ship, and the negroes were half the time in the water, assisting the boats backward and forward through the surf.  Now work went on very much more rapidly.  The men had all become accustomed to carrying the heavy bags, and could run with them down the plateau.  The boats were hauled to and from the vessel, and the bags were hoisted on board by means of blocks and tackle and a big basket.  Once the side of the basket gave way, and several bags went down to the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again.  But there was no use in crying over spilt gold, and this was the only accident.

The winds were generally from the south and east, and, therefore, there was no high surf; and this new method of working was so satisfactory that they all regretted they had not adopted it from the first, notwithstanding the risk.  But the captain had had no idea that it would take so long for five men to carry that treasure a distance of two miles, taking forty pounds at a time.

At night everybody went on board the brig, and she lay to some distance from the shore, so as to be able to run out to sea in case of bad weather, but no such weather came.

It was two months since the brig had dropped anchor in the Rackbirds’ cove when the contents of the mound got so low that the captain could not hand up the bags without the assistance of a ladder, which he made from some stuff on board the brig.  By rough measurement, he found that he should now be near the level of the outside floor of the cave, and he worked with great caution, for the idea, first broached by Ralph, that this mass of gold might cover something more valuable than itself, had never left him.

But as he worked steadily, filling bag after bag, he found that, although he had reached at the outer edge of the floor of the mound what seemed to be a pavement of stone, there was still a considerable depth of gold in the centre of the floor.  Now he worked faster, telling Shirley, who was outside, that he would not come out until he had reached the floor of the mound, which was evidently depressed in the centre after the fashion of a saucer.  Working with feverish haste, the captain handed up bag after bag, until every little bar of gold had been removed from the mound.

The bottom of the floor was covered with a fine dust, which had sifted down in the course of ages from the inside coating of the mound, but it was not deep enough to conceal a bar of gold, and, with his lantern and his foot, the captain made himself sure that not a piece was left.  Then his whole soul and body thrilled with a wild purpose, and, moving the ladder from the centre of the floor, he stooped to brush away the dust.  If there should be a movable stone there!  If this stone should cover a smaller cavity beneath the great one, what might he not discover within it?  His mind whirled before the ideas which now cast themselves at him, when suddenly he stood up and set his teeth hard together.