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“Yeah, you knew everythin’, yet you didn’t know about the pirate chest of jewels?” Clem said, laughing sarcastically. “Tiny, your brains don’t match your mouth. I’m probably dumb as hell comin’ back in these parts with you after high-tailin’ it outta here after our disagreement. I’m not eager to have a rope slipped around my neck.”
“And you won’t have no rope around your neck,” Tiny scoffed, stopping to wipe beads of sweat from his brow. “Just let’s get this damn cave open and get the jewels. We’ll then go back to Saint Louis and live the good ol’ life. I already know how I’m goin’ to spend my money. And you? What’s your plans?”
“Just stayin’ alive,” Clem grumbled, finally seeing some space between the rocks. “I hope there ain’t no Injun hocus-pocus connected with this cave. The smoke is mysterious as hell. Where do you think it comes from?”
“You idiot,” Tiny said, casting Clem an annoyed stare as he tossed another rock aside. “There are hot springs beneath the ground. The steam is what creates the smoke. Now hurry up. I’ve got a strange sort of crawling at the back of my neck. That usually indicates that trouble is near. If it’s Indians, I want to be far away before they come and see what’s happened here at the cave.”
“Tiny, I never thought to ask before, but what happened to the gentleman who told you about the pirate chest hidden inside this cave?” Clem asked, pausing to brush hair back from his eyes. “You just told me that he had told you about it, as he was recrutin’ men to come with him. When you told me about it, you didn’t tell me anythin’ about anyone else knowin’ about it.”
“That’s because no one else does,” Tiny said, laughing ruthlessly. “It’s only you and me now, Clem. Only you and me.”
Clem paled. “Are you sayin’ what I think you’re saying?” he said guardedly.
“Exactly,” Tiny snarled back at him, his eyes squinting with a look of dark, deep evil.
“God, Tiny, you killed him?” Clem said, taking an awkward step away from him.
“His neck snapped as easy as a rotted twig,” Tiny said, taking a step closer to Clem. He glanced at the cave, seeing the opening. His heart beat soundly at the thought of being so near to the actual pirate’s treasure chest. He needed no more help. The rest was a breeze.
He yanked his knife from its sheath with the speed of a lightning’s flash. In one lunge he had the knife imbedded deeply within Clem’s chest.
Clutching at his chest, blood spurting between his fingers, Clem gave Tiny a look of disbelief, then he slumped forward, his last breath taken after a brief spasmodic gasp.
“Now I’ve got it all to myself,” Tiny said, yanking the bloody knife from Clem’s chest. He wiped the blood on Clem’s breeches. He kicked Clem aside as he slipped the knife back inside his sheath.
Tiny shoved the last of the rocks aside. Reaching for a kerosene lantern that he had brought purposely to take with him inside the cave, he lit the wick. His hands trembling, his eyes wide, Tiny took slow, careful steps into the cave.
He ducked and gasped when a bat fluttered quickly past his head, and then another and another and another.
“Damn bats,” he whispered, his face hot with excitement as he spied the treasure chest up ahead, only a few footsteps away.
“I can’t believe my eyes,” he said, too stunned by the sight to move. “An . . . actual . . . pirate’s chest.”
He cocked an eyebrow when he noticed that the lid was somewhat ajar.
Then he gasped and teetered with a sudden fear when he saw several skulls and bones lying near the chest on all sides.
“I’m . . . not . . . the first . . .” he uttered.
Then he smiled. “But there ain’t no reason why I can’t be the last,” he said, taking sure steps forward now. “There ain’t no one here to stop me.”
Tiny knelt down on his knees before the chest. He set his lantern to the side on a tall rock, so that the minute he got the chest opened, he would see the jewels shining back at him.
“There just ain’t been no one as clever as me before to come for the stash,” Tiny whispered to himself, laughing in a crazed cackle. “Come to me, Mama. Come to me and let’s have some fun.”
The lid now almost open, Tiny’s eyes feasting on the shine of the jewels already, he could hardly contain his excitement.
Then he jumped with a start and let out a loud scream as the lid fell back, and a rattlesnake suddenly appeared and lashed out at Tiny.
The sting of the bite on Tiny’s left wrist sent him sprawling to the floor of the cave. He gripped at the wrist, moaning. He yelped and hollered.
He rolled on the floor away from the snake as it uncoiled from inside the chest and came slithering toward Tiny.
“Get away from me, you damn varmint!” Tiny cried, his eyes wide.
The snake kept approaching.
Tiny grabbed his pistol from his holster. He aimed, fired, and laughed when the snake’s head was severed from his body by the gun blast, and flew through the air.
