A MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE
"Pull off the hood over the engines," cried Jack to Harry who was
quickly down the companion-way, "and see if the wires from the magneto
are disconnected. I made a new clip while we were at Mobile and maybe it
has broken and cut off the current."
"Phew!" ejaculated Tom who was preparing to follow Harry below. "I'll
bet something's broke loose all right. Smell it?"
"Sure enough I smell gasoline strong!" declared Jack.
"Some odoriferous, whatever that means!" cried Arnold. "Smells like the
gas house up near Goose Island in the North Branch of the Chicago
River," he added holding his nose.
"Switch on the electric lights and see where the gasoline pipe has
broken loose," suggested Jack. "It seems to me the feed pipe must have
become broken. That's an awful smell!"
"I'll venture there are gallons of gasoline in the bilge right now!"
averred Harry. "Better open the windows a bit and let it air out in
here. Suppose you get the bilge pump to work, Tom, and I'll try to find
the leak."
"Sure, I'll pump the bilge," assented Tom. "Just look here at the stuff
slopping up through the floor boards," he continued. "It surely looks as
if we'd lost some fuel."
"That's funny," declared Jack. "I wonder how it could have happened. The
pipes were all right when we fitted out and nothing we have done since
could have injured them."
A shout from Harry announced a discovery. He was backing out of the
compartment under the pilot house floor and just forward of the engines.
As he appeared his face was the picture of rage.
"What's it?" queried Tom. "Don't hold your breath that way, you're apt
to choke if you do," he laughed.
"Where is the fellow that opened that drain cock?" shouted Harry shaking
his fist in the air. "Someone deliberately drained our gasoline into the
bilge. I found the drain cock wide open!"
"Nobody opened it," asserted Jack. "We were all in the pilot house since
dinner watching the fog and we couldn't reach the pipe."
"I hate to say it, Jack, but we were not all in the pilot house,"
answered Tom. "Maybe it isn't fair to the chap, but that fellow we
nearly run over doesn't look good to me. I rather suspect him."
"Hush, my lad," Jack warned. "A good Boy Scout doesn't accuse anyone
until he has proof, and we have no proof yet of his guilt."
"All right, Jack," unwillingly replied Tom, "but I can't help feel the
way I feel, can I? He didn't impress me very favorably."
"And then, look at Rowdy!" put in Harry. "He spotted the fellow when he
was still hanging on the cable and he tried to get back into the cabin
all the time to eat up his visitor."
"Well, let's go back and wake him up and see what he knows," suggested
Jack. "Maybe he can put up a good story that will satisfy even you
chaps. I can hardly believe anyone would do a thing like that. He has no
motive for attempting to cripple us like this."
The boys moved with one accord toward the after cabin. The Fortuna
rolled viciously in the trough of the choppy sea, making their footing
extremely unsteady. Jack swung open the door.
Starting back in amazement he bumped into Tom who was following closely.
Harry was at their heels peering over their shoulders.
"Where is he?" gasped Jack wonderingly. "Where did he go?"
"The bird has flown!" declared Tom in a tragic tone.
"Bag and baggage!" asserted Harry.
True enough, not a sign of the stranger remained except the pile of
water soaked garments in which he had been clothed when first brought
into the cabin. These lay in a heap on the floor.
"Maybe he's out on the after deck," ventured Jack still hopeful.
"Let's see," answered Tom. "If he is there, I'll cook and wash dishes
and scrub decks for a week on end!"
The after deck was empty. The visitor was nowhere in sight.
"Well, it looks as if he had come up out of the sea like a modern
Neptune and like Old Neptune has gone back into it again," Jack said,
his voice shaking. You don't suppose the fright he had turned his head
and made him commit suicide, do you?"
"Suicide your tintype!" stoutly scorned Tom. "Do you think that fellow
would commit suicide in a rowboat?"
"What do you mean?" questioned Jack wonderingly.
"I mean that our young pirate friend got one perfectly good square meal
of food, one entire new outfit of clothes and one rowboat from this
bunch of kindergartners. Then he opened the drip cock in our fuel tank
and sneaked out the back door and is gone."
"Good night," vociferated Harry. "It's as clear as mud! Look at what
that young villain has done! Why, he's a thief!"
"Easy now," admonished Jack. "We mustn't call him names. Maybe things
look black for him, but it may come out all right."
"Yea-ah!" scorned Tom. "When I can see the back of my neck it will. That
guy's crooked! That's what I believe."
"Me, too!" declared Harry. "I vote with Rowdy. He's usually pretty near
right when it comes to reading character!"
"Well, anyhow, this won't get us anywhere, and the Fortuna is rolling
like a loon. Let's see if Arnold can find bottom in the bilges yet and
then we'll connect up the spare tank and start out."
"Second the motion," declared Tom. "We ought to get going."
Suiting the action to the word the boys returned to the cabin to find
Arnold replacing the pump. The air was still heavy with the odor of
gasoline but Jack deemed it safe to operate the engine, since the
windows were to be left open giving a plentiful supply of air, thus
preventing danger of an explosion.
Tom was about to replace the hood over the engines after they had been
started when his eye caught sight of a piece of paper lying on the
floor. Hastily he kicked it aside and was about to pass to the pilot
house when Harry called his attention to the paper.
"Nice housekeeper you'd make," he taunted, "kick the dirt back under the
couch and let the sweepers get it! Why don't you pick it up?"
"Guess I will," replied Tom shamefacedly. "I was in a hurry."
"What is it?" asked Harry. "Let me see it."
"Sure, read it," Tom answered. "Read it aloud and we'll all hear."
"What's this?" gasped Harry. "Listen, you fellows! Here's the secret of
the whole thing! Hear this!"
"Well, read it," impatiently cried Arnold. "I'm dying to hear."
"Get the Fortuna and crew!" read Harry. "They know about the Spanish
Chest. They're after it. Sink them if you have to."
As he finished reading he glanced at each of his chums in amazement.
Their faces were pictures of dismay and amazement.
"What does that mean?" Arnold cried in tones of wonder. "What does it
mean when it says, 'Get the Fortuna and crew?'"
"The last part explains that," answered Jack. "It means that some one or
more people are after us and will sink the Fortuna if they have to in
order to 'get' us. It listens like desperate characters were following
us all right. We must remember our motto, boys, and 'Be Prepared.' We
know they're after us."
"Yes, 'Be Prepared' for what?" questioned Tom. "Who're after us and why?
What does that mean about the Spanish Chest?"
"I see it's time to let you fellows in on the whole thing," declared
Jack. "I had hoped it would not be necessary to say anything for a long
while yet for the moon isn't full until nearly a week from now, but this
has precipitated matters. Now, listen!
"You all know Lawyer Geyer of Chicago. His offices are in the Masonic
Temple. He and my father are very close friends--in fact they were
schoolmates. Lawyer Geyer offered me a commission for him and fitted out
this vessel and is paying our expenses. He also offered us half the
reward if we were successful."
"What reward?" interrupted Arnold. "Why don't you hurry?"
"Keep still, rattle-head!" admonished Tom. "He's hurrying."
"Well," continued Jack, "it is said that years and years ago the
Spaniards had a fortress built on what is known as Biloxi Bay. It seems
they wanted to fortify this section of country and built a fine place
there. As time went on and the country became settled, this fort was
quite a refuge for settlers in times of trouble. It is said that once a
commander of the fort was wicked enough to turn against his own people
and that he incited the Indians to rise against the settlers. After they
had taken refuge in the fort he got them to put all their gold and
jewelry into his strong box which was a stout oak chest, and then he
planned to get away with it."
"The piker!" cried Tom. "I think he should have been shot."
"He was," continued Jack, "or so the story goes. Some say he was shot by
his own people who discovered his treachery and some say he fell
defending the fort and incidentally the gold against an attack by
Indians. But whichever way it happened, report says that the gold was
buried in the fort by the survivors and has never been unearthed since.
Many people have tried to get it, but it is reported that a curse hangs
over this wealth and that no human being will be permitted to recover
it, unless related to the officer."
"Is that why Lawyer Geyer sent us after it?" asked Harry.
"I don't quite get your meaning," Jack said.
"Well, you said no human being would be permitted to get the coin and
then you said Lawyer Geyer sent us after it and--"
"I move we throw him overboard--he's a scoffer!" declared Tom.
"Second the motion," replied Jack laughing. "Sit still a while and
listen to me. The worst is yet to come."
"Go on, Jack!" breathlessly urged Arnold. "Tell the rest."
"Well here's the curious part of the story," Jack continued. "It is said
that only at certain stages of the moon and tide can one hope to find
this chest of treasure. Also it is reported that only one who is of
Spanish descent can hope to find it."
"Well, that lets us in," stoutly averred Harry. "Tom, here, is Spanish
and so am I. How about you, Rowdy?" he went on addressing the white
bulldog to whom he gave a friendly slap.
Rowdy responded with an affectionate attempt to "kiss" Harry's face and
then endeavored to distribute his favors to the others.
"Seriously," Jack continued, "I have little faith in the project. Lawyer
Geyer seems to half believe the story, however. He was down in this
country a while ago on some real estate business and while here got the
tale from some source that he considered fairly reliable. So he fitted
out the expedition and is willing to take half the proceeds, whatever it
may be, for his share."
"But it looks as if we are being opposed from the very start," objected
Tom. "Look at this visitor and the note he left. That must indicate that
there is a gang working against us. I'm a peaceful, orderly citizen and
not at all inclined to start anything."
"Yes, he is!" laughed Arnold. "Look at the way he put the rollers under
the gang of thugs at our camp at Mackinac Island!"
"Now, boys," continued Jack, beckoning Arnold to silence, "if any one of
you wants to go back, he can have the chance. We're going to Pascagoula
and also to Biloxi. At either place one can get the Louisville &
Nashville railroad for home. Think it over. If you want to try for the
Spanish Treasure Chest, stick. If not, you are at liberty to go home at
any time we make a port."
At that instant the lads were startled to hear the hail:
"Launch ahoy! Keep off!"
"Port your helm," commanded Jack to Arnold who was at the wheel.
Dimly the boys made out the bulk of a schooner on their port bow, her
sails slatting and rigging flying as she came up into the wind. As the
Fortuna fell off they looked at the schooner and saw the main boom
swinging across the deck, strike a man standing near the rail.
"Man overboard. Give me a line," cried Arnold, springing over the rail
without stopping to divest himself of his clothing.