The setting sun told them that evening was near at hand. Captain Shooks
had determined to work through the whole night, using shifts so as to
make the labor continuous; and he himself promised to share this duty
with the two divers.
The sooner they exhausted the chances of finding more of the treasure
the better. With the _Dauntless_ so close at hand their operations
might be brought to an abrupt termination at any time. Should Captain
Badger become alarmed at not having received a report from his spies,
and start out to investigate, of course the result would be the
discovery of the float, and a windup of the work.
Jack, for one, was not sorry. He fancied that he had made about all the
pictures possible in that particular field, but believed there were
other submarine depths waiting to be explored, and made to live in
motion pictures, for the education and enjoyment of untold millions of
patrons of the “movies.”
This being the case, Jack, as a true artist, eagerly awaited the time
when they should start out to seek those new fields of adventure.
With him the finding of the long lost treasures of the sea took
second place; of far more importance was the discovery of those rare
curiosities that had, ever since the world began, been hidden from the
eyes of mortal man, but were now about to be revealed in all their
startling grandeur.
Oscar and the skipper talked matters over late into the night, when
the others had retired to their bunks. The work was still going on,
lanterns being used on the float to show the men how to carry on their
operations. By the dim light of these the diver was sent down below,
and the pump kept laboring steadily so as to give him a plentiful
supply of air.
It made a weird scene, and one Oscar would never forget. Indeed so
fascinating had it become to the boy that it was midnight before he
could tear himself away from the society of the captain, and seek his
own bunk. There he dreamed of untold treasures coming up from ocean
depths, accompanied by all manner of terrible monsters fashioned
after the manner of Chinese dragons, and those gigantic lizards of
prehistoric days, such as we see now and then fancifully sketched in
publications, or discover arranged in museums of fossil remains.
It had been arranged upon the conclusion of their work in this
particular spot at Coco Key, to seek still another Caribbean Sea
island, where their map told of a more modern sinking of a vessel
believed to carry much specie in its safe. After that they could take
their choice of numerous contemplated enterprises, even passing through
the Panama Canal, and continuing their search in the blue waters of the
Pacific Ocean.
Jack had been a strenuous backer of this last suggestion. Of course he
wanted to have a chance to capture a series of pictures dealing with
the famous waterway connecting the two oceans, and which would add more
or less spice and variety to his work.
So far as that was concerned both Ballyhoo and Oscar were quite as
enthusiastic as Jack about the project of passing through the canal.
They had heard and read so much about those wonderful locks, and
the strategical value the canal added to the defense of Uncle Sam’s
dominions, that it was only natural all of them should wish to see the
same with their own eyes.
When Ballyhoo, chancing to awaken, heard the steady sound of the pump
going outside, and turning on the electric current close to his hand
found that it was past seven, he gave a shout that aroused both his
mates.
“Time we showed a leg, I’m telling you, fellows!” was the burden of his
call. “I c’n smell breakfast in the air, to boot, and it must be broad
daylight out there.”
“The pump is still wheezing,” remarked Jack, “which tells that they’ve
kept it up steady all night long. They’ll be about played out by now,
and must have a rest.”
“There, it’s stopped working now. I wonder how many more of those jolly
bricks they’ve hauled up,” observed the Jones boy, as he hurriedly
proceeded to get his clothes on. “From the fact of their keeping busy
while we slept I reckon they must have been meeting with some good
luck. I hope they don’t weight the old tub down with the stuff so
there’ll be danger of her foundering. Sometimes a fellow can get too
much of a good thing; I’ve been in that fix myself when they had a
party at our house, and ice cream left over.”
“Don’t worry about that,” laughed Oscar. “If it comes to it the captain
can jettison heaps of stuff to make room for the ingots. Those barrels
and planks took up a lot of space, you remember. And if necessary some
of us could go back on a regular steamer.”
“Of course you’re only joshing me when you say that, Oscar,”
remonstrated Ballyhoo reproachfully. “There will be plenty more queer
things to be seen in this under-the-sea hunt, and we started out to get
all there are.”
Soon afterwards they climbed to the upper deck, to find Captain Shooks
just coming over from the raft. One of the divers had been hauled to
the surface, and the men manning the air pump had quit work.
“Looks like we had about come to the end of our rope here, lads,”
remarked the skipper pleasantly, though he did look tired to death from
being on duty so long, not to mention the several times he had donned
a diver’s suit and gone below.
“Cleaned out, do you mean, Captain?” demanded Ballyhoo.
“Well, we haven’t found anything since three o’clock this morning, when
the last pair of bricks came up,” replied the other, yawning wearily,
“and I rather reckon all the balance of the stuff must be buried under
fathoms of sand outside the hulk.”
“That means no living being will ever see it again, doesn’t it?” asked
Jack.
“Well, if the day ever comes when they get an excavating machine that
can work a hundred or two feet under the surface of the sea,” replied
the skipper humorously, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d root out
heaps of gold that’s been buried for centuries. But till that time
comes it’s going to stay hidden.”
“Well, the chef told me to say breakfast was ready, Captain,” Oscar
reported.
“And I’ll be mighty glad to get some strong coffee, for I’m played
out,” the other admitted.
“But you mean to do some more looking about, don’t you, while we have
the apparatus rigged?” Ballyhoo wanted to know.
“I reckon we’ll make a few more tries, lad, before we pull up stakes
and clear out,” he was informed. “I’m hoping that something will fetch
that old filibuster over this way before we quit. I’d like to leave him
the bag to hold.”
All through the night one of the men had been stationed near the end
of the Key, seated in the small boat. His duty was to keep a vigilant
lookout for any sign of a moving light; for Captain Shooks had been a
little fearful lest the enemy steal on them unawares, and catch them
either napping or at work.
This man was recalled by a signal, and another sent off in his place.
Then breakfast occupied their attention, nor were any of the boys sorry
to find such a bountiful spread put before them.
After that work was resumed at the old stand. One of the divers,
who had had several hours’ sleep, was sent down, the other resting
meanwhile. Captain Shooks also announced his intention of giving it one
more try personally, not being quite satisfied that the “pocket” had
been wholly exhausted.
Ballyhoo was wondering whether it would be worth his while to try and
see what it was like, but his fear of sharks finally forced him to
decide against anything of the sort.
The early hours of the morning wore away. When the diver came up he
brought nothing with him, though he had explored diligently in several
fresh places.
“I reckon we’ve cleaned the old hulk out,” Captain Shooks had said on
hearing his report; “but since I’ve made up my mind to have one last
look, here goes.”
Accordingly, he went over the side of the float, and vanished from
their sight. The boys were “spelling” the tired men at the air pump.
It gave them something to do, and at the same time relieved the
sailors who had been keeping this sort of thing up for many hours.
“I hope now,” Ballyhoo remarked, as he labored manfully, “that nothing
happens in the way of an accident, just when we expect to pull out of
here shortly. That would be too tough for anything, and we’d miss the
skipper dreadfully, too, you know.”
“You old croaker, whatever puts such things in your head?” said Jack
scathingly. “He’ll be up again in half an hour or so, if there’s
nothing doing; and then we expect to get a move on. As for me I’m crazy
to start for that next stand, because there’ll be a chance for a new
kind of film business.”
When the captain did appear later on he told them, just as soon as
his helmet was removed, that there was no use of any further efforts.
The treasure lode had been worked to the bone, and no matter how they
continued to search, small chance remained for finding another one of
the precious Spanish ingots.
Hardly had he spoken than Ballyhoo made a discovery.
“Hey! what do I see coming this way like fun? A man in our little
collapsible, and paddling for all that’s out in the bargain. Guess he’s
fetching some news, Captain. There, see him wave his hand; that settles
it. He’s sighted a vessel heading this way. Now see us get a move on,
will you.”
The man increased his efforts, and soon reached the float where the
little group awaited his arrival, the skipper hastily discarding his
diver’s suit. Just as the boys had suspected, there was a vessel in
sight. Seen through the glasses this boat bore all the marks of the
black hulled _Dauntless_.
Immediately the skipper gave orders for making ready to clear out.
“It’s too bad that we’ll have to abandon all these barrels, and the
lumber,” he went on to say, “but the time is too short to take the
float to pieces and stow the stuff away. Besides, we can easily run
in at some port and get a fresh supply. Fetch those three men up from
below; we can leave them here on the float to wait for their fellow
pirates to come along and rescue ’em.”
The officer and his two men looked curiously about when they came up
out of the hatch, and blinking their eyes in the bright sunlight saw
the hasty preparations for departure. However, they did not attempt any
resistance when ordered on to the raft.
“Your boat is heading this way, and they’ll pick you up in good time,”
Captain Shooks told them, at which the officer allowed a sardonic
smile to creep over his face, doubtless under the belief that possibly
they would be lucky enough to also secure a few of these heavy ingots
of gold, such as he had seen brought up from the hulk of the sunken
Spanish ship.
There was nothing else to do now. The skipper had carefully gone
over everything, and even had the collapsible boat taken aboard, to
be stowed away below. Then the order was given, and the submarine,
with anchor raised, commenced to leave the float behind. The three men
continued to stand there watching the departing treasure seeking craft,
and evidently still anxious as to their own ultimate fate.