AFLOAT ON THE OCEAN.
“Is everything ready, Nick?”
It was Captain Eccles who spoke. In the room were many evidences that
preparations for departure had been under way.
“Yes,” the boy answered; “I guess we’ve got everything packed.”
“Good.”
It was two days after Nick’s escape from the vault and the clutches of
Loucks and the broker. Nick, Captain Eccles, Frank, and Will were now
occupants of an apartment in a boarding house not far from the North
River.
The captain’s sudden appearance in Vail’s office had come about in this
way: After receiving Nick’s letter at Parkdale, he had got into action
at once. He took the first train to the city, and, arrived there, went
straight to the former home of Admiral Semmes. There he found Frank
and Will. The boys were much alarmed because Nick had not been there
the night before, and when they had told the captain, he, too, became
anxious. So he went off without delay to the office of Vail, with the
startling result known.
From the restaurant where Jack Benson had followed him, he made his way
to the dismantled old house, and, as he expected, found Nick there,
anxiously waiting for him.
Then the friends held a council of war. It was decided, first of all,
that before undertaking to block the schemes of Vail and Loucks they
must find a comfortable place to live. This the captain looked after.
He insisted that the boys accompany him to a boarding house over by the
river--a comfortable enough place patronized mostly by seafaring folk.
He knew the woman who kept it, and she placed a roomy apartment at the
disposal of the little party.
Then Captain Eccles went out in search of his friend, the skipper of
the _Vista_, to arrange for carrying out a plan he had formed. Eccles,
of course, had no idea that the _Vista_ was a ship over which Vail had
any control. But such was the case. The vessel had come into the part
ownership of the broker as the result of some financial transaction,
and it had been leased now and then to firms in the carrying trade
between this country and the West Indies.
Eccles saw his friend, the captain, talked over matters with him, and
came away satisfied, although he didn’t like the looks of the ship any
too well. Arrived at the boarding house, he took Nick aside and made
known his plan.
“I have decided to act at once,” he said.
“How, sir?”
“By starting for the treasure island just as quickly as we can get
away.”
“That sounds good to me,” said Nick; “but how about Admiral Semmes?”
“I have visited him,” the other replied.
“At the hospital?”
“Yes. I managed after a good deal of trouble to find the place.”
“How is he?” asked Nick eagerly.
“Well,” the captain answered, shaking his head gravely, “the admiral is
certainly raving crazy now; but the attendants said that it was a kind
of temporary fever.”
“Then there is hope for him?”
“Yes. The hospital people thought he would be all right in a few weeks.”
“Bully!” cried Nick.
“I made every precaution for his comfort,” Eccles went on, “and I left
a letter for him telling him that his friends were busy blocking the
schemes of his enemies, and were on the sure track of the treasure.”
“By gracious, I hope you are right, captain!” exclaimed Nick.
“I think I am. Anyway, that letter the admiral will get when he is
himself again. It will be a comfort to him until we return.”
“What about Vail and Loucks?”
“We will cook their bacon when we get back and the admiral is well
again.”
“What will you do?”
“With your help, Nick, I’ll see that the law deals with them. No use to
do it now. It would only mean delay for our big undertaking. Vail and
Loucks, you may be sure, would fight prosecution to the last ditch.”
“They have a copy of the treasure clue, captain.”
“What of that?”
“They may sail for the island first.”
“Let them!” cried Eccles. “We’ll outwit them, my boy. Don’t bother your
head about those fellows.”
“But so much depends upon our getting ahead of them, captain.”
“I know it, Nick. And if we attend closely to business we’ll do it. I
am determined to protect the admiral’s interests. I am going to sail in
search of the treasure.”
“Won’t it take a lot of money?”
“Yes, and we have it. The five thousand dollars is really the admiral’s
money, but if he were able to decide the matter, I am sure he would
say, Use it to find the treasure. I shall do that very thing, Nick, for
I am certain it is his wish.”
“I’ve no doubt you are right, captain.”
“It is a sure thing. I had a talk with an old friend to-day--captain of
a West Indian merchantman called the _Vista_. His ship touches at the
Isthmus of Panama on its southern course. She sails to-morrow morning.
Will you go?”
“Will I go?” exclaimed Nick. “Captain, you know that I’d give anything
to go to sea.”
“How about your friends?”
“Frank and Will?”
“Yes. I don’t know just what to do about them.”
“Oh, they’ll go, too; never fear.”
“That’s just it. I know they’ll want to go, and you want to have them.
But it’s a serious thing carrying them away from home and, possibly,
into all kinds of hardship.”
“But they haven’t any home, and they say they’ll go to sea, anyway.”
After thinking a moment, the captain said:
“Well, let them come.”
Thus it fell out that Nick and the captain put in a busy day buying the
things they needed for their expedition and packing them up.
“I made a very lucky discovery yesterday,” said Eccles. “It gives us a
great start over Vail if he, too, goes after the treasure.”
“What’s that?”
“We shan’t go round the Horn at all.”
“Why not?”
“The _Vista_ will drop us at the Isthmus.”
“Yes; you told me that. And from the Isthmus how do we go?”
“Overland to the Pacific coast. There we can find a steamer or a
sailing vessel to make the voyage south.”
“And after that?”
“At Buenaventura or some Peruvian port we shall find a ship in the
coast trade called the _Regent_.”
“Then what?” asked Nick, his eyes glowing at the prospect of all this
voyaging.
“Then, Nick, for the island and the treasure.”
“Hooray! You know the captain of the _Regent_?”
“Oh, yes--an old friend. His name is Dartmoor. He’d do almost anything
for me. I see by the papers that he makes trips along the coast only,
so that we can soon get hold of him.”
“How long will it all take?”
“Well, let me see. If we meet with no accidents, we ought to be well
on the track of the treasure before Vail rounds the Horn.”
You may be sure that it was a trio of very happy boys who the next day
went aboard the _Vista_, and at noon they found themselves watching the
skyscrapers and shipping of New York fade from view as the vessel moved
out of the harbor.
Captain Dare, skipper of the _Vista_, had greeted the boys in a
friendly manner, and they soon felt at home aboard the ship.
Nick found the _Vista_ to be a strange sort of craft. She was half
steamer, half sailing vessel. The patched-up, built-over boat did
not look very trim or staunch. Once on free water, however, she made
very good speed; and, as she forged ahead, seemed to lose much of her
clumsiness.
For hours the boys were delighted watching the working of the ship.
They were interested in everything that was done by the crew. Just
before daylight faded the sky became clouded, and the _Vista_ passed
out of sight of land.
It was about an hour after dusk, and only a faint moonlight relieved
the darkness, when something fell overboard, and a boat was sent out
to pick it up. The sailors on their return received a hasty call to
supper, and neglected to hoist the boat again to the davits, and it
floated astern.
Nick was alone on the aft deck, and, venturesome and bold, he thought
he would enjoy the novelty of a ride in the yawl as it was drawn
rapidly in the _Vista’s_ wake.
It was but the effort of a moment for Nick to climb over the rail,
grasp the rope, slide its length, and drop into the yawl. He clung to
the side, but the motion of the small boat was far from a pleasant one,
and he found that it wasn’t any fun at all. The rapid progress of the
ship dragged the bow of the yawl fairly out of the water, and this made
Nick’s head dizzy. He decided to get back on the ship.
But just as he came to this decision he was aware that the small boat
was moving through the water more slowly; and the next instant he
realized the terrible truth.
The rope that had held it had been cut or cast off, and the yawl was
drifting, while the _Vista_ steamed on, leaving the boy tossing in her
wake!
“Help! Help! Man overboard!” Nick cried wildly.
But there was no one near to hear him; at least, no one willing to give
him a helping hand. There was some one standing at the rail and looking
down at him, and, it seemed to Nick, in the dim light, that this some
one had an evil grin on his face.
It was a boy. Just at the moment that distance effaced his features,
and left them only a blur in the moonlight, Nick recognized him.
The boy at the rail was Jack Benson!