GETTING DOWN TO "BRASS TACKS"
In a moment the chart was taken down from its hook and spread out on
Tyke's big desk. With shaking fingers the old man found the line of
longitude indicated on the pirate's map, and followed it down till he
came to the thirteenth degree of latitude.
"Thirteen-ten; sixty-seven-three," he muttered. "Thirteen degrees, ten
minutes latitude; sixty-seven degrees, three minutes longitude. There
it is!" and he made a mark with his pencil on the chart. "Right down
there in the Caribbean, west of Martinique. Glory Hallelujah!"
The old man was as frisky as a colt, and under the stimulus of
excitement the years seemed to drop away from him.
Captain Hamilton was quite as delighted, though he did not give so free
a rein to his emotions.
"Splendid!" he beamed. "When we can actually get down to figures, it
begins to look like business. Of course, there are innumerable small
islands down that way. But it won't take much cruising around to try
them all."
Once more he studied the shape and the size of the island, and his
brows knitted almost to a scowl, so close was his concentration.
"That elevation in the middle looks something like a whale's hump,"
remarked Drew.
Captain Hamilton jumped as though he had been shot.
"That's it!" he cried. "By Jove! I know that island! I remember
thinking that very thing about it one day some years ago when I was
coming up from Maracaibo. My mate was standing by me at the time. It
was just as sunset, and the island stood out plain against the sky. I
remember saying to him that it looked to me just like the hump of a
whale. Now we've located it sure. I'll recognize it the minute my
eyes fall on it whether it's charted or not. My boy, you're a wonder.
You've helped us out at every turn in this business."
"That he has," declared Tyke enthusiastically. "Neither the paper nor
the map would have been any good without Allen to translate 'em. I'm
proud of you, Allen."
The young man flushed with pleasure and murmured deprecatingly that it
was just a bit of luck that he happened to know Spanish.
"Luck! 'Tisn't luck that makes a man dig out a foreign lingo," said
Tyke. "An', anyway, you've been smart at every point with your
suggestions, an' helped us out as we went along. You started things
with your eagerness to look into Manuel's box an' you put the cap sheaf
on when you jest now gave Cap'n Rufe that last pointer.
"An' now," Tyke went on, when they had sobered down a little, "let's
get down to brass tacks. There's jest one thing that remains to be
done, but it's a mighty big thing. We feel pretty sure that there is a
treasure, an' we think we know where that treasure is. Now the
question is, how are we going to git it?"
Drew experienced a feeling of dismay. He had been so engrossed with
the preliminary work that he had hardly given a thought to the
practical problem involved. He had taken it for granted that it would
be easy enough to get a ship to go after the pirate's hoard.
Now with Tyke's bald statement confronting him, a host of perplexities
sprang up to torment him. Where were they to get the right kind of
ship? How could they escape telling the captain of that ship just
where they were going and what they were going for?
But if the matter puzzled Tyke and his chief clerk, it bothered Captain
Hamilton not at all. He lighted a fresh cigar, crossed his legs and
smiled broadly.
"That's an easy one," he remarked. "Give me something hard."
Tyke looked at him in some surprise and Drew's face reflected his
bewilderment.
"Seems to me it's hard enough," grumbled Tyke.
"What do you mean?" asked Drew quickly.
"I mean," said the captain complacently, "that we'll make this voyage
in my schooner."
The two others jumped to their feet.
"Splendid!" cried Drew.
"Glory be!" ejaculated Tyke.
"The plan seems to suit you," smiled the captain.
"Suit us!" shouted Tyke. "Why, it's jest made to order. But how're
you going to git the owner's permission? How do you know he'll be
willing to have the ship chartered for such a cruise? An' how are we
going to keep the secret from him?"
"As I happen to be the chief owner, as well as the captain, I guess we
won't have any trouble on that score."
"Owner!" exclaimed Tyke, in astonishment. "I hadn't any idee that you
had any int'rest in her outside of your berth as captain. You've been
pretty forehanded to have got so far ahead as to own a craft like that."
"I haven't done so badly in the last few years," said the captain
modestly; "and as fast as I saved money I kept buying more stock in the
old girl. Mr. Parmalee encouraged that idea in his captains. He knew
human nature, and knew that when a man's own money was invested in the
deck under him he was going to be mighty careful of the ship's safety
and would have a personal interest in seeing that she was a money
maker. The old man's dead now, but his son has inherited a third
interest in the _Bertha Hamilton_, while I hold the other two-thirds.
I renamed her when I got control of the bonny craft. I hope some day
to buy out Parmalee's share and become the sole owner."
"You're a lucky man," congratulated Tyke warmly. "It must be great
when you tread the plank to feel that you're not only boss for the time
being, but that you actually own her. What is she like? How big is
she? And how much of a crew do you ship?"
"She's three stick, schooner rigged," replied the captain. "A hundred
and fifty feet over all and carries a crew of about thirty. Oh! she's
a sailing craft, Tyke. She's not afoul with steam winches and the
like. And she's a beauty," he added, his eyes kindling with pride.
"There are mighty few ships on this coast that she can't show a pair of
heels to, and she's a sweet sailer in any weather. She stands right up
into the wind's eye as steady as a church and when it comes to reaching
or running free, I'd back her against anything that carries sails."
"But how about your other engagements?" suggested Grimshaw. "Is she
chartered for a voyage anywhere soon?"
"That's another rare bit of luck," returned the captain. "I had an
engagement to-day with Hollings & Company, who were thinking of having
me take a cargo for Galveston. If I hadn't run plump into this
treasure business as I did, there isn't any doubt but I would have
closed with them to-day. But now it's all off. I'll see them this
afternoon and tell them they'll have to get somebody else."
Tyke sat down heavily in his chair and wagged his grizzled head
solemnly.
"It's beyond me," he said. "It must be meant. Here we might be weeks
or months before we could git a ship that suited us, if we got it at
all; but along comes Cap'n Rufe here with the very thing we want. If I
was superstitious,"--before his stony stare they sat unwinking--"I'd
think for sure there was something in this more'n natural. It can't
be, after all this, that we're going on a wild goose chase."
"Well," replied Captain Hamilton cautiously, "it may be that after all.
Things certainly have worked to a charm so far, but that doesn't prove
anything. 'There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip,' and this
may be one of them. When all is said and done, it's a gamble. For all
we know, the doubloons may have been taken away a hundred years ago,
and all we'll find after we get there may be an empty hole in the
ground. But 'nothing venture, nothing have'; and with all the evidence
we have, I'm willing to take a chance."
"So am I!" cried Tyke heartily. "Of course, we stand to lose a tidy
little sum if it should turn out to be a fluke. There's the outfitting
to be done, the crew's wages to be paid, an' a lot of other expenses
that'll mount up into money. But it's worth a chance, and if we lose
I'm willing to stand the gaff without whining."
It goes without saying that Drew heartily echoed these sentiments in
his mind, but he felt some delicacy about expressing them. After all,
it was Captain Hamilton and his employer who would have to provide the
funds for the expedition and stand the loss if there were any. He
himself would be called on to risk nothing.
And with this thought came another with the suddenness of a stab. On
what was he building his hopes for a share in the profits of the
adventure? After all, he was only Tyke's employee. The very time he
was spending in unraveling this mystery belonged to Tyke and was paid
for by him. He felt again the weight of his chains, and the air castle
he had built for Ruth's occupancy suddenly took on the iridescent
colors of a bubble.
"Well, now that we've got down to brass tacks as you say, Tyke, let's
get along to the next point," said the captain briskly. "I don't
suppose you could come along with me?"
"You don't!" snorted Tyke. "Well then, you're due for another guess.
You bet your binoculars I'm coming along. I'd like to see anything
that would stop me!"
Drew's heart sank. If Tyke were going, that would mean that he would
have to stay behind to look after the interests of the chandlery shop.
"But your business?" objected the captain.
"Business be hanged!" roared Tyke. "It can go to Davy Jones, for all I
care. Anyway, I can leave it in good hands. But I'm going to have one
more sight of blue water before I turn up my toes for good, no matter
what happens. An' I'm going to take Allen along with me!"
Drew was struck dumb for the moment and could only stare at the excited
old man.
"Yes!" repeated Tyke, "he's going to have his fling along with the rest
of us. We ought to be back in a couple of months, if we have any kind
of luck. Winters is a bright boy, and he can keep things going for a
while."
"That'll be fine," said the captain with enthusiasm. "I'd like nothing
better than to have the two of you for messmates."
"But say!" broke in Tyke, as a thought suddenly occurred to him, "what
about that feller--Parmalee--who has a third int'rest in your craft?
Of course, he'll want to know, an' he'll have a right to know, why you
don't take this Galveston cargo an' why you're going on this cruise of
ours. How are you going to git around that?"
"That is something of a problem," the captain replied slowly, "and
especially as he thought of going with me to Galveston for the sake of
his health. He's lame and delicate, and the doctor told him that a sea
voyage was just what he needed to build him up.
"Of course," he went on, "I'm the principal owner of the ship, and what
I say, goes. I could do this against his will, if I wished, although
of course in that case I'd be bound to see that he got as much profit
as he would have done if I'd taken the Galveston job."
"What kind of feller is this Parmalee?" asked Grimshaw cautiously.
"As fine a lad as you'd care to meet," answered the captain heartily.
"Friendly and good-hearted and white all through. He's sickly in body,
but his head's all right. And just because he is that kind, I don't
want to do anything that would hurt or offend him.
"But that's a matter that can wait," he continued. "In any event it
won't affect our plans. Either I'll fix the matter up with him
satisfactorily in a money way, or, if you think best, we'll let him
into the secret and take him along."
"Would that be safe?" inquired Tyke dubiously.
"Absolutely," affirmed the captain. "He's a man of honor, and if he
promised to keep our secret, wild horses couldn't drag it from him.
I'd trust him as I would myself. Maybe he'd like to come along with
us. He's too rich to care anything about the doubloons, but he's
romantic, and he might like the fun of hunting for it."
"Well," said Tyke, "we'll have to leave that matter to you to settle as
you think best. Any one you vouch for will be good enough for me."
"And now," said Captain Hamilton, "there's one thing more that we
haven't touched on yet. I suppose we understand, Tyke, that you and I
put up the expenses of this expedition, fifty-fifty?"
"Sure thing," agreed Tyke.
"And if nothing comes of it, we simply charge it up to profit and
loss----'
"An' let it go at that," finished Tyke. "We'll have had a run for our
money, anyhow."
"On the other hand," the captain continued, "if we find the treasure,
and it proves to be of any size, we'll first deduct the cost of the
trip, lay aside enough for Parmalee to make things right with him--he
may not want it, but we'll make him take it--and then divide what's
left into three equal shares?"
"Three!" Drew uttered the ejaculation, and the blood drummed in his
temples.
"That's right," assented Tyke placidly. "One for you, one for me, and
the third for Allen."