FROM JOY TO DISMAY.
It was nearly sunset, and Jim's feast had been ready for the table fully
an hour when Bob and Joe came out of the thicket and launched the boat
once more.
The boys, who were on deck watching for their return, could see that
both the men were nearly exhausted. They rowed as if it was a great
exertion even to lift the oars, and on reaching the steamer sat in the
yawl some time before coming aboard.
"You'd better hurry!" Jim said warningly. "I've had a swell dinner ready
so long that it must be pretty nigh dried up by this time, an' if you
fool 'round much more everything will taste like chips!"
"I couldn't hurry, lad, if a month's grub rolled together was waitin' for
me," Bob said as he mopped his sun-burned face with his shirt-sleeve.
"That last job was a tough one, an' I feel as though all the marrow in
my bones was toasted brown. This 'ere's the only shady place with any
air stirrin' we've found since mornin', an' I mean to scoop in all the
comfort I can for the next half-hour."
Joe was equally as unwilling to move from the side of the tug, where
slight but cooling draughts of air afforded the long-needed relief from
intense heat, and Jim's feast was but little more than a cold lunch when
the weary ones were ready to sit at the table in the stuffy cabin.
Bob exerted himself but once more that night after the meal was
finished, and then he went below to make sure the treasure had been
stowed according to his directions.
It was yet light when the tired crew stretched themselves on the
mattresses which had been spread under the awning aft, and although
there was such a fruitful topic, but little conversation was indulged
in, because slumber came so quickly.
But however tired Jim was, he could not refrain from speaking of the
treasure they had so unexpectedly found.
"What are you fellers goin' to do with your share of the gold?" he asked
in a low tone, to avoid being overheard by Joe or Bob.
"Give it to father, I suppose," Harry replied, displaying but little
enthusiasm because of his weariness.
"You can bet I'll keep what comes to me right in my own
trousers-pocket!" Master Libby replied very decidedly. "I'm goin' to buy
a vessel like the Mary Walker, an' make a voyage fishin' all by myself!"
"But you'll have to take a crew," Walter suggested with a yawn.
"Of course I'll have somebody to do the work an' stand watch; but I'll
be the boss, an' won't so much as go on deck when it rains! I'll have a
heavin'-line in my pocket, so's to whale the cook if the grub ain't
first-class! I tell you the crew'll have to jump 'round when I'm aboard,
or there'll be fun!"
"I should think you had enough of that kind of work when those men were
aboard," Harry said after a pause.
"Well, you see I want to take my turn at floggin' once in a while, so's
to know what it's like. I haven't had a chance yet; but I will when we
get this money home."
Neither Harry nor Walter made any reply to this rather cruel project,
and in the silence which followed they soon fell asleep, leaving Jim his
choice of indulging in more air-castles or that of benefiting by their
example.
The first rays of the rising sun failed to awaken them next morning, and
all hands might have slept a good portion of the forenoon if Jim had not
been aroused by a sensation of numbness in his arm, caused by the fact
that Harry had unconsciously used it as a pillow.
"It's early yet, an' I reckon I'd better take one more nap instead of
callin' the other fellers," he muttered to himself as he sat bolt
upright an instant for the purpose of restoring the circulation of blood
to his misused limb.
As he did this, however, mechanically glancing seaward, he saw that
which drove from his eyelids all desire for sleep.
A boat had just come into view from around the northern point of the
cove, and was heading directly toward the steamer, rowed by two men who
looked strangely familiar, although for a moment he could not clearly
distinguish their features.
"Bob! Bob!" he cried in a low tone as he shook the unconscious sailor.
"There's a yawl comin' in here, an' I believe----"
He did not finish the sentence, for Joe was on his feet by this time,
and cried, before Jim could speak another word:
"I'm a Dutchman if that red-nosed villain an' the Mexican haven't come
back! What deviltry are they up to, I wonder?"
Now the remainder of the crew were awake and peering out over the rail
at the rapidly-approaching boat, the occupants of which could be clearly
distinguished as two of the party for whom those on the schooner from
Nassau were in search.
"What are we to do?" Joe asked in a whisper. "They mustn't be allowed to
come on board or we may have trouble in getting rid of them; and,
besides, I don't fancy being shipmates with murderers."
"Of course they can't come over the rail," Bob replied angrily. "Bring
anything on deck that will serve in the place of weapons, an' we'll keep
them at a distance. It's only two against two--without countin' the
boys--an' I reckon we can hold our own!"
Just as Joe disappeared inside the engine-room the new-comers, having
arrived within thirty or forty yards of the steamer, ceased rowing, as
he with the red nose shouted:
"Ahoy, on the tug!"
"What do you want?" Bob asked gruffly.
"We've come to make a trade! The brig is aground on the shoal to the
nor'ard of here, an' things shall be made fair an' square if you'll help
us float her. I'll come aboard, where we can talk comfortable-like."
"That's exactly what you won't do while I've got strength enough to
break your head!"
"Now don't get grumpy over the little trick we played," the man said, in
a wheedling tone.
"Do you call it nothin' but a trick to steal a vessel an' leave five of
us on a disabled tug, after we'd done what we could to keep you from
starvin'?" Bob shouted fiercely.
"We knew there was plenty of grub aboard; you couldn't 'a' handled both
crafts, so what we did was only dividin' things up. The Bonita is
stranded now, an' will go to pieces in the first gale if you can't fix
the tug to tow her off. We'll----"
"The steamer couldn't be repaired in a month; but if she was in workin'
order we wouldn't raise a hand toward savin' the brig while you were on
board!"
As Bob ceased speaking Joe came on deck with four lengths of iron pipe,
each about three feet long, and the old sailor seized one of these with
a look of exultation as he said to his companions:
"I reckon they won't get over the rail while we can swing sich a handy
club as this!"
"They may have fire-arms," Joe suggested.
"That ain't very likely, or they'd 'a' set us ashore ten minutes after
we took 'em off the key."
During this short conversation the two men were whispering together, and
as the old sailor ceased speaking, he with the red nose cried, in a
threatening tone:
"You sea-lawyers want to be mighty careful with your tongues, or
there'll be trouble. I've come here to make a fair trade, an' you'd
better listen to it. We'll help repair the tug, an' give up an equal
share of the brig if you'll turn to with us an' get her off the shoal."
"We wouldn't lift a finger if she was sinking with all three of you on
board!" Joe shouted, unable to remain silent any longer. "There's been a
schooner up here from Nassau since that _trick_, as you call it, was
played on us, and if her crew ever get hold of your crowd it won't make
any difference whether the Bonita goes to pieces or floats!"
For an instant the two men sat motionless and silent, staring at the
engineer as if stupefied by the information; and then the one with the
red nose cried hoarsely, as he shook his fist in impotent rage:
"We was willin' to give you a fair show, an' do our share toward
repairin' the steamer; but if that can't be done, look out for squalls.
We'll pull the brig off the shoals; and, what's more, it will be done
with that steamer!"
"Come an' take her!" Bob cried derisively. "You've got to get rid of us
first, then repair the machinery, an' afterwards learn to run it. By
that time I reckon there'll be more gray hairs in your heads than there
are now!"
The angry man looked at the old sailor an instant as if about to make
another threat, and then, evidently changing his mind, he spoke a few
words to his companion, after which the two began to row leisurely
toward the shore.
The crew of the Sea Bird watched them in silence until the boat's bow
grated on the sand, and as the men left her to go into the woods, Joe
said:
"If we worked lively it might be possible to tow that yawl out here
before they knew what was being done. Then those two would be harmless,
an' the one they've left on the brig wouldn't be able to do much
mischief alone."
"It could be done, I s'pose," Bob replied, thoughtfully; "but I'd rather
let 'em go away than stay so near."
"But we shall have to be on guard all the time, for no one knows when
they'll make an attempt to steal this steamer."
"I can't see that we should be as well off to coop 'em up on the island.
We've got to take in a supply of water from there before it'll be safe
to leave the harbor, an' they'd interfere with sich a job mightily."
This was a view of the case which Joe had entirely overlooked, and it
was sufficient to show the folly of his hastily-formed plan.
"They may try to stave our boat when they come back," Jim suggested.
"It could be done before we'd have a chance to stop 'em."
"There's some truth in that, lad," Bob replied, quickly. "It won't do
any harm to take her out of the water, so jump in an hook on the falls."
When the yawl was hoisted inboard all hands seemed to realize that an
encounter was extremely probable, even though the murderers could gain
but little advantage in getting possession of a disabled steamer, and
they gathered around Bob to learn what measures for defence he had to
propose.
"It's certain they won't try any game until the other man is here," he
said after a long pause, during which he scrutinized the shore closely,
"an' we'd better get ready for a fight. Jim, you an' Harry cook
breakfast. Walter is to go on watch, and Joe an' I'll set about the
work. Now that there is so much treasure aboard we must push the repairs
for all we're worth."
When the two cooks went below and the sentry took up his position in the
pilot-house, Bob began making such preparations for defence as were
possible with the limited means at his command. The pieces of iron pipe
were laid near the rail aft, where they could be most conveniently
reached; the boat-hook and oars were taken from the yawl that they might
be ready for use, and then the old sailor brought on deck the largest
rocks he could find among the ballast.
"There's about a dozen below that'll weigh ten or fifteen pounds
apiece," he said grimly in reply to Joe's question of what he intended
to do with such primitive weapons. "One of 'em would make some
disturbance if it struck a boat's plankin' below the rail inside, an' I
reckon we can pitch 'em pretty true if the villains should be foolish
enough to make an attack."
By the time the steamer had been put in a state of defence Jim announced
that breakfast was ready, and the two men went below while the cook and
Walter stood guard to give an alarm at the first appearance of the
enemy.