MR. SEATON UNBURDENS HIMSELF
"Really, I see no reason why I shouldn't tell you," went on the
charter-man of the "Restless." "When I first engaged you youngsters
and your boat for this month I had little more in mind than using your
boat for pleasure cruising about here. Yet the fact that you had a
wireless equipment aboard the 'Restless' _did_ influence me not a
little, for I had at least a suspicion that big affairs might come to
pass, and that telegraphing from ship to ship might be wonderfully
convenient.
"At the same time, I was careful to look up the references that you
gave me, Captain Halstead. Those references were so wholly
satisfactory that I know I can trust you to serve me as bravely and
loyally as you have, in the past, been called upon to serve others.
And now, just for the reason that you may be called upon to take some
big fighting chances for me, I'm going to tell you what lies back of
the curtain of mystery that you've been staring at."
As his voice died out Powell Seaton arose, locked the door and glanced
out through the windows. Then he returned to the table, motioning to
the boys to incline their heads close to his.
"Probably," began their host, "you've regarded me as a wealthy man,
and, until the last two or three days, as one of leisure. I am
reasonably well-to-do in this world's goods, but most of my life,
since I was twenty, has been passed in storm and stress.
"It is not necessary to tell you all about the life that I have led.
It will be enough to tell you that, three years ago, not satisfied
that my fortune was large enough, I went to Brazil in order to learn
what chance there might be of picking up money fast in that country.
"In Brazil there are many ways of making a fortune, though perhaps not
as many as right here at home. However, there are fewer
fortune-seekers there. In coffee, rubber and in many other staples
fortunes may be made in Brazil, but the biggest, wildest, most
desperate and scrambling gamble of all is found in the diamond-digging
fields.
"Most of the diamond fields have, perhaps, been discovered, and their
working has become systematized to a regular, dividend-paying basis.
There are still, however, some fields not yet located. It was a small
field, but one which I believe may be worth millions, that I located
somewhat more than a year ago. See here!"
From an inner pocket Powell Seaton drew forth an ordinary wallet.
Opening it, he dropped out on the table six diamonds. Though none was
of great size, all of the stones were of such purity and such flashing
brilliancy that the motor boat boys gazed at them in fascination.
"They must be worth a fortune," declared Hank Butts, in an awed,
subdued tone.
"Not exactly," smiled Mr. Seaton. "These stones have been appraised, I
believe, at about twelve thousand dollars."
After passing the gems from hand to hand, the owner of the bungalow
replaced them in the wallet, returning the latter to the same pocket
before he resumed:
"This new diamond field, a patent to which has not yet been filed with
the Brazilian Government, is in the state of Vahia. There is no harm
in telling anyone that, as Vahia is a state of great area. It is in a
section little likely to be suspected as a diamond field, and the
chance that someone else will accidentally discover and locate it is
not large."
"Yet you know the exact location--can go right to it?" breathed Tom
Halstead, his eyes turned squarely on Mr. Seaton's.
"Yes, but I don't dare go to it," came the smiling answer.
"Oh! May I ask why not, sir?"
"The Government of Brazil is, in the main, an honest one," replied
Powell Seaton. "The President of that country is an exactly just and
honorable man. Yet not quite as much can be said for the governments
of _some_ of the states of that country. The governor of Vahia,
Terrero, by name, is probably one of the worst little despots in South
America.
"Now, as it happened, before I came to know anything about this new
diamond field I had the bad fortune to make an enemy of Governor
Terrero. Some American friends were being shamefully treated by this
rascally governor, and I felt called upon to become mixed up in the
affair. I even went so far that I incurred the deadly hatred of
Terrero. It was right after this that I came upon my diamond field.
But Terrero's enmity was pressing upon me, and I had to flee from
Brazil."
"Why?" asked Tom, wonderingly.
"Do you know how things are done in South America?" demanded Powell
Seaton, impressively. "If a man like Terrero hates you, he has only
to inspire someone to prefer a serious charge against you. The charge
may be wholly false, of course, but officers and soldiers are sent, in
the dead of the night, to arrest you. These wretches, when they serve
wicked enough officials, shoot you down in cold blood. Then they lay
beside your body a revolver in which are two or three discharged
cartridges. They report, officially, that you resisted arrest and did
your best to kill the members of the arresting party. This infamous
lie all becomes a matter of official record. Then what can the United
States Government do about it? And the governor, or other rascally
official, has triumphed over you, and the matter is closed. Though an
honest man, Halstead, you are officially a desperate character who
_had_ to be killed by the law's servants. It was such a fate that
Terrero was preparing for me, but I escaped his wicked designs."
"That must be a nice country!" murmured Hank Butts.
"Yet you say the President of Brazil is an honorable man?" asked
Halstead. "Can't he remove such a governor?"
"The President would, in a moment, if he could be supplied with
proofs," rejoined Powell Seaton, with emphasis. "Governor Terrero is a
wily, smooth scoundrel who is well served by men of his own choice
stamp. Terrero is wealthy, and backed by many other wealthy men who
have been growing rich in the diamond fields. In fact, though they are
wonderfully smooth about it, the Terrero gang are terrors to all
honest diamond men in that one part of Brazil."
"So, then," hinted Captain Tom, "you know where to find one of the
rich diamond mines of the world, but you don't dare go to it?"
"I'd dare," retorted Mr. Seaton, his eyes flashing. "But what would be
the use of daring? I am almost certain to be killed if I ever show my
face in Vahia while Terrero is alive. So, then, this is what I have
done: Since my return to this country I have been arranging, ever so
quietly, with moneyed men who have faith in me and in my honesty.
After much dickering we have arranged a syndicate that is backed by
millions of dollars, if need be. And we may need to spend a good deal
of money before we get through. We may even have to try to turn
Terrero's most trusted lieutenants against him. We won't, if we can
help it, but we may have to. The stake is a big one!
"Through turning this business over to the syndicate I am bound to
lose the greater portion of the fortune that might have been mine from
this great enterprise. Yet, even as it is, I stand to reap rich
returns if ever the syndicate can locate and secure the patent to the
diamond fields that I discovered.
"At this moment three members of our syndicate are in Rio Janeiro.
They are big, solid American men of moneyed affairs. As far as they
permit to be known, they are in Brazil only as a matter of vacation
and pleasure. In truth, they are awaiting the arrival of Albert Clodis
on the 'Constant.' When he had arrived, with the papers from me
showing where and how to locate the diamond field, they were to have
moved quickly, spending plenty of money, and filing a patent to the
fields. Under the law the Brazilian Government would be entitled to a
large share of the find in precious stones, but even at that our share
would have been enormous. Once the patent to the diamond field was
filed, the President and the whole National Government of that country
could be depended upon to protect the owner's rights, even against the
greed and treachery of Terrero. So all that appeared to be left to do
was to get to my friends of the syndicate the two sets of papers that
would enable them to locate the unknown diamond field. Neither set of
papers is worth anything by itself, but with the two sets the field
can be promptly located.
"My first thought was to send the two sets of papers by two different
men. Yet, strange as it may appear to you boys, I could not decide
upon two men whom I felt I could fully trust under all circumstances.
You have no idea how I have been watched, the last year, by agents of
Terrero. Dalton, though an American, is one of the worst of these
secret agents of the governor of Vahia. _I_ knew how thoroughly I was
being watched, and I, in turn, have had others watching Anson Dalton
as effectively as it could be done in a free country like the United
States.
"Well, to make this long story short, when I had all else in readiness
I decided upon Bert Clodis as the one man I could fully trust to
deliver the two sets of papers to the members of the syndicate at Rio
Janeiro. I believed, too, at the time, though I could not be sure,
that my relations with Bert Clodis were unknown to Anson Dalton.
"Yet, not for a moment did I trust too thoroughly to that belief. I
had Dalton watched. If he engaged passage aboard the 'Constant,' my
suspicions would be at once aroused. We now know that he secured
passage, by mail, under the name of Arthur Hilton. Beyond the
slightest doubt Dalton, that infernal spy, had succeeded in
discovering that I was sending Clodis with the papers. Yet Dalton, or
Hilton, as he chose to call himself, did not go aboard the 'Constant'
openly at New York. I can only guess that he boarded from the tug that
took off the pilot when the liner had reached open sea.
"I had impressed upon Bert Clodis the importance of keeping the two
sets of papers apart, and had advised him that it might not be safe to
deposit either in the purser's safe, from which they might be taken
through the means of a deep-sea burglary.
"So the probability is that Bert Clodis had one set of papers
concealed on his person. The other set of papers--the one I now have
safe--he seems to have put away in his trunk, believing that no one
seeking to rob him would think him simple enough to leave valuable
papers in a trunk that could be rather easily entered in the hold of a
liner.
"As I have already told you, I had the ship watched at New York, and
received a message, after her sailing, which told me that no one
answering Dalton's description had boarded the 'Constant' at her
pier.
"As the liner entered this latitude Bert Clodis was to send off a
wireless message which, though apparently rather blind, would be
enough to advise me that no one answering to Dalton's description had
appeared among the passengers or crew of the 'Constant.' This news I
awaited at the wireless station at Beaufort, and you can imagine my
anxiety."
"That was why, then," broke in Joe, suddenly, "when I received that
message about the injury to Mr. Clodis, you were able to break in so
quickly?"
"Yes," nodded Mr. Seaton. "I was waiting, and was on tenterhooks. I
would have joined you, and would have gone out in haste to receive
Bert Clodis myself, but I realized that, if I delayed you, the big
liner would get past us, and Bert Clodis must most likely die on the
way to Brazil."
"Why weren't you out here, sir, at this bungalow, where you could have
received the message as well, and then have gone out with us on the
'Restless'?" inquired Tom Halstead, with deepest interest in this
strange narration.
"I was at Beaufort," responded Mr. Seaton, "because I felt it very
necessary to be where I could use a private wire to New York that I
had reserved. I was, at that time, waiting for word from New York of
any possible discovery that could be made concerning the movements of
the infamous Dalton, whom I did not then know, or believe, to be on
board the 'Constant.'"
There was silence for a few moments, but Powell Seaton at last went
on, thoughtfully:
"We now know that Bert Clodis did _not_ deposit any papers with the
purser of the ship. One set of the papers, therefore, must have been
tucked away in his clothing. Dalton, after assaulting Bert Clodis, or
having it done, must have rifled his pockets and found one set. He
even had time to look through them and discover that that set was
incomplete. Then, on seeing Clodis's trunk go aboard the 'Restless'
with the injured man, Dalton guessed that the remaining papers might
be in the trunk. That was why Dalton decided to leave the 'Constant.'
But your flat refusal to let him go down into the cabin, where the
baggage had been taken, foiled the fellow at that point. Then, fearing
that he would run into me, and that I might even resort to violence,
Dalton hailed that schooner, the 'Black Betty,' and made his momentary
escape."
"No doubt," interposed Halstead, "Dalton has had plenty of chance to
put _his_ set of the stolen papers in safe hiding. But isn't it barely
likely that he had already engaged Captain Dave Lemly to be hanging
about in these waters with that little black schooner?"
"Wholly likely," nodded Mr. Seaton, thoughtfully. "However, boys, I
have trusted you with as much as my very life is worth in telling you
all this. I would rather lose my life than see my friends, as well as
myself, beaten in this great diamond game. As the matter now stands,
Dalton has won the first step, but he hasn't enough knowledge to
enable his employer, Terrero, to locate my precious find. I can
duplicate the missing papers, and the other set, which I have here
secure, I must also send to Rio Janeiro by some other most trusted
messenger, should Clodis, poor fellow, die, or prove unfit to make
another attempt."
"And do you think, sir, that there's only one honest man on earth?"
asked Tom Halstead, in considerable surprise.
"There are several men that I _believe_ to be honest," returned the
owner of the bungalow, "yet only one that I know to be _honest_, and
who possesses at the same time the judgment to undertake a mission
like the one I have been telling you about."
"Then it won't really do Dalton any good to start for Brazil unless he
can get hold of the contents of the other set of papers?" Halstead
asked, after a pause of a few moments.
"Not until the fellow can get his clutches on the papers that I have
secretly locked in that closet over there," confirmed Mr. Seaton. "And
I have told none but you trustworthy youngsters that the other set
_is_ hidden in such an easy place to get at."
Then, as though struck by a thought, Powell Seaton crossed the room,
drawing his key-ring from a pocket. He fitted the right key to the
door, and swung the latter open. An instant more, and there came from
Mr. Seaton's lips a cry much like the frightened howl of a wild
beast.
"The second set of papers is gone--stolen from here!"
There was an almost simultaneous gasp of consternation from the three
Motor Boat Club boys as they rushed forward. But they had no need to
search. Seaton had done that thoroughly, and now he turned to eye
them. As he stared--or glared--a new thought came into Seaton's mind,
reflecting itself in his eyes. The boys could see him fighting against
his own new suspicion.
"Halstead," cried Powell Seaton, clutching at the side of the doorway,
"I told you all about this hiding place. I trusted you!"
It was Tom Halstead's turn to go deathly white and stagger.
"Do you mean, sir, that YOU SUSPECT ME?" demanded the young skipper,
in a voice choked with horror.