THE FAIRY GODMOTHER'S WISH COMES TRUE
Captain Jules decided to wait until another day before taking Phyllis
Alden on the journey from which he and Madge had just returned. The old
sailor was too deeply thankful to see his first charge safe on land. Poor
Miss Jenny Ann could do nothing but lean over Madge and cry; the nervous
strain of waiting while the girl was under the water had been too great.
Indeed, even the people who, Madge knew, were not in the least interested
in her, appeared dreadfully upset. Philip Holt's face was very pale and
his eyes shifted uneasily from Phyllis's to Madge's face.
Phyllis was the most self-possessed of the four girls. She was greatly
disappointed at the captain's determination to put off the time for her
diving expedition until a later date. But Phyllis was always unselfish.
She realized that her chaperon and her friends had had about as much
anxiety as they could endure in one day. Madge had been under the water,
and she could not dream of what the others had suffered above, while
awaiting her return.
Mrs. Curtis put her arms about the little captain and embraced her with
an affection she had not shown her during the summer.
"My dear," she murmured, "will you ever stop being the most reckless girl
in the world? What possible good could that wretched diving feat of yours
do anybody on earth? If my hair weren't already white I am sure it would
have turned so in the last half-hour. Look at poor Philip Holt. He seems
as nervous as though you were his own sister."
Madge and Captain Jules had both taken off their heavy diving suits and
were soon shaking hands with every one on the pier. Even Roy Dennis and
Mabel Farrar, much as they disliked Madge, could not conceal the fact
that they thought her extremely plucky.
Captain Jules had laid the iron chest on the ground and for the moment
they had forgotten it.
It was little Tania who danced up to it and tried to lift it.
"Show us the pearls you found, Madge," Eleanor begged her cousin at this
instant, her brown eyes twinkling.
The little captain looked crestfallen. "I am afraid we didn't find
anything of value," she said, trying to pretend that she was not
disappointed. "I have only some pretty shells and stones that I gathered
on the bottom of the bay for Tania."
She pulled her sea treasures out of her netted diving bag. Sure enough,
the water had dried on them and the shells and stones appeared quite dull
and ugly. There were almost as pretty shells and pebbles to be picked up
at any place along the Cape May beach.
"Why, Madge!" exclaimed Lillian, before she realized what she was saying,
"surely, you didn't waste your time in bringing up such silly trifles as
these?"
Madge shook her head humbly. "We didn't find anything else but this old
iron chest. Captain Jules, may I take it back to the houseboat with me as
a souvenir, or do you wish it? Tania, child, you can't lift it, it is too
heavy."
Tom Curtis brought the chest to Captain Jules. Some of the crowd had
moved away, now that the diving was over. But a dozen or more strangers
pressed about the girls and their friends.
"There is something in this little chest, Captain," declared Tom Curtis
quietly, as he set it down before the captain and Madge. "I could feel
something roll around in the box as I lifted it."
Captain Jules shook the heavy safe. Something certainly rattled on the
inside.
There were bits of moss and tiny shells and stones encrusted on the upper
lid of the box. Deliberately Captain Jules scraped them off with a stick.
The houseboat party and Tom were beginning to grow impatient. What made
Captain Jules so slow? Philip Holt, who was standing by Mrs. Curtis's
side, gazed sneeringly at the operations. He was glad, indeed, that he
had not risked his life in descending to the bottom of the bay in search
for pearls, only to bring up a rusty chest.
"The box is fastened tightly; it will have to be broken open," remarked
Madge indifferently. She was feeling tired, now that the excitement of
her diving trip was over. She wished to go home to the houseboat. She did
not wish Captain Jules to guess for an instant how disappointed she was
that they had found nothing of value on their diving adventure. If only
the captain had not dropped the shells in which there might have been a
chance of finding pearls!
Captain Jules had hold of the iron hammer that he used when diving.
Click! click! click! he struck three times on the lock of the iron safe.
Like the magic tinder-box, the lid flew open. Tania's long-drawn
childish, "Oh!" was the only sound that broke the tense and breathless
stillness that pervaded the group.
A single pearl! The scorned iron chest almost full of shining coins and
precious stones! There were coins of gold and silver--strange coins that
no one in the watching crowd had ever seen before. Some of them bore
dates and inscriptions of English mintings of the early part of the
eighteenth century.
Of course, it was incredible! No one believed his eyes. A treasure-chest
unearthed after more than two hundred years? It was impossible!
Yet instantly each one of the girls remembered that the pirates had sunk
many vessels in Delaware Bay in the latter part of the seventeenth and
the beginning of the eighteenth century. In those days many wealthy
English families came over with their servants and their treasure to
settle in the new country of America.
Phil's book on the history of piracy had recalled this information to the
girls only ten days before. It was then, when Madge lay with her head
resting in her hands, looking dreamily out over the waters, that she had
wondered how anything so remote from her as the story of the early
American battles with pirate ships could help her to solve her present
troubles? Yet here, like a miracle before her eyes, lay the answer!
The little captain was the last of the onlookers to know what had
happened. She was too dazed, perhaps, from her stay under the water.
It was only when Tania flung her eager, thin arms about her beloved Fairy
Godmother's neck that Madge actually woke up.
"The fairies who live under the water have given you these wonderful
things," whispered Tania. "I prayed that they would come to see you,
bringing you all the good gifts that they had."
Captain Jules reached over and set the priceless box before Madge. She
was encircled by Miss Jenny Ann and her beloved houseboat chums.
"It is all yours, Madge," asserted Captain Jules solemnly. "You found it,
child. I should never have discovered it but for you."
Madge shook her red-brown head. "Captain Jules, that chest is far more
yours than it is mine. I should never have gone down under the water but
for you. If Phil had only dived first, instead of me, she would have
found it, I won't have any of the money or the jewelry unless I can share
it with the rest of you."
Then, to Madge's own surprise, she began to cry.
"There, there, little mate, it will be all right," Captain Jules assured
her quietly. "You've had a bit too much for one day. We don't know the
value of what we have found just yet, but the old jewelry will make
pretty trinkets for you girls. We'll see about the rest later on."
Miss Jenny Ann put her arm about Madge on one side. Phil was on the other
side of her chum.
"We will go home now, dear," said Miss Jenny Ann to Madge. "You are worn
out from all this excitement."
"I'll look after the girls, Captain," promised Tom Curtis quietly, "then
I will come back to you." A flash of understanding passed between Captain
Jules and Tom Curtis. They had both guessed that Madge's iron box of old
jewelry and coins represented more money than the girls could comprehend,
and that it was better for the news of the discovery to be kept as quiet
as possible for the time being.
"You will walk home with me, won't you, Philip?" Mrs. Curtis asked her
guest. "I am rather tired from the excitement of this most unusual
morning."
But Philip Holt had forgotten that he wished to keep on the good side of
his wealthy hostess. His eyes were staring eagerly and greedily at the
closed iron box which old Captain Jules was guarding. He took a step
forward, stopped and looked at the little crowd standing near.
"No; I can't go back with you now, Mrs. Curtis," he answered abruptly, "I
have some important business to transact."
Mrs. Curtis walked away deeply offended. Philip Holt, however, was too
fully occupied with his own disappointment to note this. A sudden daring
idea had taken possession of him. Perhaps Madge Morton was not so lucky
after all. Finding a treasure did not necessarily mean keeping it.