Despite his keen chagrin, the skipper was not at all discouraged.
“We would have won out easy enough,” he protested stoutly, as he
watched the men dismantling the float, since there was no use of
loitering longer at that place, because the prize had already been
taken; “yes, we could have guzzled all that stuff ourselves if only
some enterprising chap hadn’t stepped in before us.”
“Which goes to show,” said Ballyhoo, “that of all the agencies so far
invented, and tried out, intended for finding treasures lost in the
deep sea, the diving boat takes the cake. There’s no place within
reason where you can’t go to look around, and locate missing wrecks.
But let’s hope we’ll strike better luck next time.”
“Oh! one shot out of two is going some, you must remember,” Jack told
him; “and, besides, think of all the thrilling pictures I’ve been able
to pick up. Why, from the standpoint of art alone, this expedition
ought to be considered a booming success. And then those nice,
dull-looking bricks will each pan out something like ten thousand
dollars.”
“Please don’t think I’m complaining, Jack!” exclaimed the Jones boy,
with a grin. “Fact is, I’d call this well worth while just to see what
we’ve already done. Some of the things that have happened to us, or
under our watchful eyes, will never fade from our minds. I know I’ll
shiver when any one mentions the word sharks. I’m seeing things in my
dreams these nights, and you needn’t be surprised to hear me let out
a shriek any old time. If an ant bit me I’d imagine my leg had been
snapped off between those terrible sharks’ teeth.”
By the time the barrels and the planks had all been safely stowed
away, and the undersea boat turned her prow in the direction of the
great canal entrance, black smoke discovered in the east told of
an approaching vessel. When Captain Shooks learned this he laughed
heartily, apparently under the belief that it might be the _Dauntless_.
“Late to the feast, as usual,” he observed merrily. “I wonder now if
Badger, when he hears about that empty safe in the captain’s room
below, will take it for granted we cleared it out. I hope he does, for
I’d like to rub it into him good and hearty. It’ll take a heap to wipe
out the debt I owe Cap. Badger.”
When Ballyhoo noticed the tender way in which the skipper caressed
his cheek as he made this remark, he had an illuminating thought.
Afterwards when he and his two comrades found themselves alone,
Ballyhoo spoke of this fact.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised, fellows,” he said, in a low tone, “if
that scar Captain Shooks carries on his left cheek had something to
do with this same tough old adventurer, Josephus Badger. My opinion
is they’ve had a scrap at some time or other, and our skipper bears
the marks of his rival’s knife to this day. It must have been a pretty
lively affair, I guess.”
“Some of these fine days,” Oscar mused, “those old war-dogs are going
to come to grips again, and wind up this feud. They seem to hate each
other like those two cats of Kilkenny, each of which thought there was
one cat too many; so they fought and they bit, they scratched and they
fit, till, save the ends of their nails and the tips of their tails of
those two cats of Kilkenny, there wasn’t any. I don’t know whether I’ve
got it just right, but that’s the idea.”
“Where do you suppose we’re going to head for next?” inquired Ballyhoo.
“Well, there are several other likely spots around the Caribbean that
it might pay us to visit,” replied Oscar, to whom the question had
really been put.
“But how about that one over there in the Pacific, down off the coast
of Peru?” the Jones boy wanted to know. “From what the skipper said, I
should think that’d be our best call.”
“He didn’t tell me positively,” continued the other, “but from certain
things I heard him saying later on I more than half believe we’ll head
that way now.”
“Meaning the canal, Oscar?” chirped Ballyhoo, eagerly, his eyes
betraying the tremendous interest he felt in the subject.
“Yes. It happens to be open now, after that last landslide that kept it
closed ever so long; so we can get through without much trouble.”
“Course the mere fact that this is a submarine vessel needn’t prevent
us from a passage through?” asked Ballyhoo.
“Why should it?” Oscar replied. “We are bent on peaceable pursuits,
and this is a commercial vessel just as much as one of those
American-Hawaiian steamships that carry the products of our insular
possessions through the canal.”
“Well, I should say they couldn’t hold us back,” laughed Jack. “Why,
right now we’re engaged in proving to the world that Americans can
build just as reliable undersea boats as Germany, or any other country.
See the voyage we’ve undertaken without any accident; and remember
the clever work we’re carrying on. Folks will soon know that all our
submarines are not in the same class with that one that sunk, and
stayed on the bottom, its crew caught like rats in a trap.”
There was considerable patriotism about those three Motion Picture
Comrades, and it frequently burst its bonds. Jack echoed the sentiments
of his two chums; but in saying what he did he was not boasting, simply
stating facts.
It was learned a little later on that Captain Shooks did not mean to
head directly for the canal. He had sent a duplicate part of machinery,
likely to be needed at some time in the near future, to a certain port
of call, and it was now necessary for them to go considerably out
of their way in order to secure this. Once they had passed into the
Pacific and no one could say when they would be coming back again,
or if it would be by the same route; so the wise skipper believed in
“making hay while the sun shone.”
Two days later they approached the coast of Panama, intending to enter
the canal with as little delay as possible, and cross over the isthmus.
Jack, of course, had made all his preparations for taking a wonderful
series of pictures, showing the route from end to end, including the
famous dam, and the great locks that are the marvel of the age in their
massive efficiency.
They met with a certain amount of delay on the way across, but nothing
beyond reason, and when night came on congratulated themselves on
having made such good progress.
“We’re going to enter the lock right away,” announced Ballyhoo, who
had been, as he termed it, “cruising around,” picking up information.
“It’s true night has fallen, and we may have to lie here until morning
comes; but think of being able to say we actually slept in the locks of
the Panama Canal. How few people can ever boast of such a feat as that,
tell me?”
Both the other boys were, of course, interested. Jack had stowed away
his camera, since with the coming of dusk he had no use for the
instrument. In the morning he anticipated catching the strange little
submarine craft being towed through the canal with the aid of those
powerful electric engines on the massive cement walls, as well as a
number of other interesting features connected with the situation.
They stood there on the “hurricane deck” watching all that took place.
Not a single move was made but that their vigilant eyes detected it,
and many were the comments made, as well as good-natured arguments
advanced.
“Seems like there’s another vessel going to come along after us, and
be locked in at the same time,” announced Ballyhoo, as he heard much
“tooting” from the quarter whence they themselves had just come.
“Well, two’s company, three’s none,” laughed Jack; “so long as they
don’t crowd us, what do we care? It’s little sleep we can expect to get
to-night at the best. We’ll have to be on deck to see everything that
goes on.”
The submarine had attracted considerable attention, and a number of
people even had the audacity to drop down on the lower deck to take
a look around. Captain Shooks good-naturedly did not order them off,
though, of course, he would not think of allowing any intruder to see
the inside of the undersea boat. The comments of these people amused
the boys, even as they watched the dim, shadowy shape of the other boat
drawing closer in the electric light.
“Great Scott!” Ballyhoo was suddenly heard to exclaim, as though he
had received a great shock; “what’s this I see, fellows? Take a good
look at that boat, and tell me if you’ve even glimpsed the same before;
because, as sure as you live it’s no other than our old friend, the
_Dauntless_!”