“You’ll have to pay for that boat, Captain Shooks!” said the officer;
for the boys had seen some time before that the man in the stern of the
cedar motor-boat was dressed in some sort of blue uniform, and wore
a cap with gold braid, though this latter had been lost when he went
overboard at the time of the crash.
The skipper of the submersible laughed good-naturedly.
“Oh! my company will be only too glad to settle your bill, Mr. Anstey,”
he said. “I remember you now, and also that once on a time we were both
working for the Hecla people. I was sorry to have to smash into you
like that, but it was unavoidable. When two old filibusters like Badger
and me get to swapping blows, it’s going to be a case of ‘dog eat dog.’
You had it in for me, and I played you a trick worth two of yours,
that’s all.”
“But it’s a nice situation of affairs,” blustered the other, as though
trying to make the most of a bad situation, “when a peaceable man
can’t travel on the high seas, and minding his own business at that,
without having a reckless pirate run him down, and nearly drown his
crew.”
“Oh! tell that to the marines, Mr. Anstey,” laughed the skipper. “You
were minding some other people’s business all the time you hid there on
that Key, and watched what we were doing. And you meant to carry the
news to Badger, sure you did, only my young friends here happened to go
ashore, and saw you starting off. So since it would ruin some little
plans of ours if you ever got back to Badger, I made up my mind you’d
stay with me as my guests until we’d sucked the orange dry.”
“Then you have found something, have you?” asked the other quickly.
“Take it out in guessing,” he was drily advised by Captain Shooks, who
saw no reason for telling all he knew.
“And you’re going to keep us aboard your old tub, are you?” continued
the other, as he glanced at the homely looking undersea boat, which,
when compared with the jaunty steam yacht on which he served, might be
compared to a canal-boat.
“Tub or not,” said the skipper grimly, “it’s built for the sort of work
we’re doing right now. And what’s best of all, when we don’t want any
spies to take a look in on us we just give a kick, and go down fifty or
a hundred feet below, to stay there as snug as you please for hours and
hours.”
“Well, you’ve got us, all right, and I suppose we’ll have to make the
best of a bad bargain, Captain Shooks. But I give you fair warning that
I mean to escape the first chance I get.”
“Thank you for telling me,” laughed the other; “I’ll make sure that
your chance doesn’t arrive until we’re all through here. I reckon now
your craft is hiding over behind yon Key to the northeast of us?”
“You wouldn’t expect me to tell you that, Captain,” replied the other,
shutting his lips together resolutely.
“And it also seems,” continued Shooks, “that you suspected pretty
strong like that Coco Key was going to be our first stop; so Badger ran
down here ahead of us, sent three men ashore in that mosquito craft,
which could be hidden among the reeds and mangroves, and then made for
the shelter of that other Key to wait for news; is that right, Mr.
Anstey?”
“Nothing to say,” the other snapped.
“Well, I’ll give orders to have a place fixed for you down below,”
continued the captain, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “There
you’ll have to stay, and eat your three meals a day, until we’re ready
to pull out of here, when mebbe I’ll put you ashore with some grub, and
maroon you there. But you’ll not be given a chance to spy on us or get
away, make up your minds to that.”
“Better than we could have looked for, under the circumstances,”
admitted the officer, doubtless knowing how much more severely his
commander would likely have acted under similar conditions, for Badger
was known as a cruel as well as daring adventurer.
They were now well on the way back to the island, around which their
course would take them, until once more the float made of empty oil
barrels and planks had been regained.
Since the spies had already watched them making this, and knew
everything excepting the very last discovery, there was no need to
hurry them below. Captain Shooks, however, was not the man to take
chances. He understood that Anstey was likely to attempt any sort of
sudden, desperate move if by so doing he thought he could cripple their
industry, and give his commander a better opportunity to win out.
“We’ll just tie your hands behind your backs, my friends,” he told
the trio, “for I wouldn’t like to tempt you to get in worse trouble.
You can sit here a little while, and I’ll see that the cargo hold
is arranged for your accommodation. You’ll have to get used to the
darkness, for I’ll give you no light except a hand torch to use when
you are being fed. That goes, you understand?”
None of the three made any attempt to rebuff the sailor who brought
stout cord and fastened their wrists behind their backs. They
understood that any foolishness on their part would only arouse the
tiger in the skipper, causing a frown to take the place of that smile.
Meanwhile, those on the float were working industriously away. One of
the divers had gone down again, and the other was sitting there with
his helmet removed, taking in great draughts of fresh air, and looking
to the time when he might be called on to once again go down.
While the captain was still below with a couple of his crew,
superintending the arrangements in the hold that had contained the
barrels and planks, it happened that the diver, who was down, gave a
signal, and those on the float commenced hauling at a rope.
“Hello! something’s coming up!” exclaimed Ballyhoo; and with that all
of them crowded to the side of the little deck to watch, the three
prisoners as well as Oscar and his chums.
The men had no trouble as long as the bag was in the water, but as soon
as they attempted to raise it to the float it became necessary for both
to exert themselves to the utmost.
Then the stout sack was turned inside-out, and three of those
dull-looking, brick-shaped bars came tumbling out. Oscar instantly
glanced at the face of Anstey. He saw the other stare as though he
could hardly believe his eyes, for, of course, a man of his varied
experience knew without being told what those singular looking objects
must be.
“By thunder! you _did_ hit the cache, didn’t you?” he exclaimed, his
eyes fairly sparkling with avarice, as he fixed them upon those three
dull-looking bricks that he knew would mean a nice little fortune for
any one lucky enough to get them in his possession.
Just then the captain appeared, coming up from below. He frowned when
he saw how accident had revealed more than he wanted the prisoners to
know. However, it could not be helped now, since the “cat was out of
the bag.” And if his plans carried as he expected, this information
would never reach Badger until it was too late to profit him, since he
must only find a plundered hulk left behind, as the treasure hunters
sailed for their next destination.
So the three men were ordered to follow him below, their hands being
once more freed from the bonds. Captain Shooks watched their every
movement, and made no bones of showing a pistol he carried.
Later on he came up again, and looked satisfied that he had gotten rid
of a nuisance.
“They’ll not be able to break out of the cargo hold, I’m thinking,”
he told the boys, who, by their demeanor, were expecting some sort of
explanation from him, which the obliging skipper was only too willing
to give.
“How long do you think we will be able to work here without being
bothered by that old piratical cutthroat, Badger?” asked Ballyhoo, who
did not seem at all particular how he called names.
“Well, that’s impossible to say,” he was told by Captain Shooks. “They
evidently mean to lie low, and trust to these chaps to let ’em know if
anything interesting happens. We’ll work like troopers to complete our
job. I’ll take my turn at it, too. And all the while we’ll have some
one on guard to let us know if any craft shows up. If it looks bad,
and we still feel there are things to be got at down below, we’ll
dismantle the float and take a dive before they get here. At the worst
we can run for it, and fight if hard pushed.”
Apparently, Captain Shooks had the situation well in hand. He did not
intend to yield a single point to the enemy if he could help it. And
the more Ballyhoo saw of the skipper of the _Argonaut_ the better he
liked him.
“If that slick article of a Badger is any improvement on our captain,”
he told the others, as they sat there watching Shooks getting ready
to equip himself in the armor of the diver who had just come to the
surface after an exhausting time of it below, “he must be a holy
terror, that’s what; because the skipper of our boat seems to be right
there with the goods, every time. Oscar, didn’t I hear you saying you’d
like mighty much to go down in one of those suits, and see what the old
hulk looks like at close quarters?”
“Yes, and later on this afternoon, if the skipper is willing, I’m
meaning to try one little trip. I may not be as good in the water as
you, Ballyhoo, but I’m tall and strong, and think I could stand my turn
playing diver.”
“But Oscar, you did go down once before, you remember,” said Jack.
“Yes, when that diver came up from the city to discover what had
happened to the outlet of the lake by the big dam. The water was thirty
feet deep, too. I made good friends with the man, and he let me put
on his suit, and creep down the long ladder. So I stood there at the
bottom, and saw what he was doing to fix things. Ever since then I’ve
had a longing to make another try; and when we agreed to join this
expedition I told myself I’d do the same at the first chance.”
The diver who had just come up had not managed to run across any
further prizes. He said he had covered quite some territory inside
the hulk; but it was dark even in spite of his electric torch, made
especially for underwater work, slippery and very hard to get around
even to an old hand.
Captain Shooks went over the side, and was lowered by means of a rope,
though a stout ladder extended part way down, to give the diver a fair
start. After reaching the foot of this he must swing free, and depend
on those above to keep lowering him until the ground was gained.
The time passed away. It was long after the middle of the short
afternoon, when again Captain Shooks appeared. Apparently he had not
been successful in his laborious search, for he sat down at once, and
allowed them to unfasten his helmet.