THE CHART.
"Indeed! Then you had better investigate your hiding place and see if
your chart is secure."
Jo acted immediately upon the suggestion, and went below. Closing the
door of his room, he pressed the spring that should open the adjoining
panel. It did not respond readily to the pressure of his hand. Evidently
it had been tampered with. With feverish haste he tried again and again,
and finally his efforts were rewarded with success. The door flew open.
The box was raised, but the chart was not within.
Jo had so long been detained that the others had meantime descended to
the cabin.
"The chart is gone," cried Jo.
Unobserved by all but Jim, the steward had entered the cabin from the
aft companionway. There were exclamations of astonishment, but the
steward gave not the slightest heed, going about his duties without
apparent interest.
The captain now noticed his presence, and questioned him closely, but
with no result. Meantime, Jim took the professor aside, and together
they went to the deck above, and then climbed quite away up into the
ship's rigging.
When they were absolutely alone, Jim said, "Whom do you suspect,
professor?"
"I can think of only one person," was the answer. "Beside you boys and
myself, only four people have access to the cabin. I do not suspect the
captain or the steward. Berwick you have confidence in. May it not be
the mate?"
"I know who it was that took the chart," said Jim, "and I called you up
here where no one could possibly overhear, to tell you."
"Then it is not lost beyond recovery?"
"On the contrary, it is safe, and you and I will be the only ones
knowing where it is."
"I am all anxiety."
"It is here in my pocket."
"You certainly surprise me. What prompted this move on your part?"
"I felt that someone was after the chart, and I thought of a way to
mislead them."
"Go on. I am all interest."
"I made a copy of your chart and substituted it for the original, then
I put the copy in the hiding place."
"And the copy was stolen?" the professor inquired ruefully. "What about
that? Won't it disclose our secret?"
"The copy, if you may call it such, that I made," laughed Jim, "had the
descriptions and instructions altered so that it will be misleading
rather than helpful."
"Good!" said the professor. "You are an assistant after my own heart.
Our chances of searching undisturbed are greatly improved."
"If we keep this secret to ourselves," continued Jim, "the others will
be constantly on the lookout, and we may yet run down the one guilty of
the theft."
"Yes, even if they only get a fictitious chart, we would like to know
who it is and for what purpose it was taken."
Their conference over they returned now to the deck.
The day passed without event worthy of record, and it was growing dark
when the captain again joined the others.
"Going to have a blow," he said, looking to the west where a mass of
dark clouds were piling up. "The barometer is falling. It is just the
time to try a little experiment."
"What is that?" asked Tom.
"I am going to try and give our friends the slip," replied the captain.
"There are no other ships in sight," sweeping the horizon with his
glass.
"How are you going to do it?" asked Tom.
"Wait and see," replied the captain.
In the west it was growing darker. The storm brewing clouds, as they
piled up blotted out the stars. There was scarcely a breath of air. The
sea rose and fell in long, slow undulations. Away in the distance the
roar of the storm was audible.
"Double reef the sails," the captain commanded at the same time changing
the course so as to steer directly toward the approaching storm.
The party at the captain's suggestion had donned their oilskins and were
now crouched in the shelter of the cabin top watching with fascinated
interest the coming of the storm.
"Better get a good strong hold," advised Tom, "It's going to blow great
guns."
Higher and higher rose the clouds until all of the west was of inky
blackness through which there ran, now and again, a streak of light that
was blinding in its intensity. The storm broke now with a flash as if
the whole firmament was aflame, and with a roar that drowned the thunder
a solid wall of blackness enveloped them, blotting out everything except
the ship's lights, and there came down apparently a deluge of water.
"Put out the lights," commanded the captain, in the first lull of the
storm. The vessel was still rolling and pitching, and the wind was
howling through the shrouds.
In total darkness, now, the ship plunged forward through the angry waves
that crashed against her bow with a force that shook her from stem to
stern, while the wind played weird tunes overhead.
"We will keep her on the course she is running a half hour," determined
the captain. By that time the storm had about blown out, and when the
command was turned over to the mate the ship's regular course was
resumed.
"I think," began the captain, the next morning when the boys came on
deck, "that we have seen the last of the Marjorie."
"I hope so," replied the professor, who was scanning the horizon with a
glass. "It is almost too good to be true, but they do not seem to be in
sight."
It was a beautifully clear day after the storm. The wind had blown all
the clouds away, and the sky was a deep transparent blue. The air was
crisp, and for the latitude, cool, and the sea rose and fell in long
broken swells through which the yacht was racing at the rate of a dozen
knots. They were alone on the vast expanse of water; no other vessel was
in sight, although way to the southwest a faint trail-like smoke showed
on the horizon against the deep blue of the sky.
"Is that the Marjorie off there, do you think?" asked Tom.
"Cannot say, I'm sure," replied the captain. "But we will just hold to
our course and see if she raises. I doubt if they see us, and the
Marjorie will have a hunt to pick us up again."
"I can't see anything of them," said the captain, an hour later,
sweeping the horizon with his glass. "We can lay over course direct for
the island of Bohoola."
Relieved of the shadow of impending trouble which the persistent
trailing of the yacht by the mysterious vessel had cast over them, the
spirits of all rose perceptibly and as nothing was seen of her for the
next two or three days some began to think that it was only a coincident
of their sailing upon the same course, and that their fears had been
unfounded.
Several days of steady progress under full spread of sail carried the
voyager on beyond the equator. No incident worthy of note transpired.
There was, of course, a constantly augmented desire for the sight of
land and for the varieties and delicacies of food denied them. Hard tack
and salt fish become very monotonous if too long persisted in.
Hopes of an early termination of the journey were beginning to run high
when, as the captain determined that they had arrived at a point
estimated to be less than three days from their destination. The other
boys were now told the story of the chart then in Jim's possession, and
one day together with the professor, a careful study of the descriptions
and instructions were gone over. They were careful to see that no one
was near either cabin door, but they did not observe that both the mate
and the steward, who were much in each other's company, were seated on
the cabin roof.
The instructions contained in the chart were meagre in the extreme. The
location of the island was fairly well given, but after that much seemed
to be left to chance. The main and essential feature which all impressed
on their memory was "an opening to a cave high up and difficult of
access." A blue stone marked in some way the entrance.
The next morning the sun rose hot almost beyond endurance to greet an
atmosphere of perfect calm. Not a ripple stirred the surface of the
great southern sea. The Storm King, master in a turmoil, was conquered
and helpless when denied a breeze, and lay with drooping canvas,
motionless.
So passed that day and the next with discomfort to the voyagers and
without progress.
"There is only one thing to do," determined the professor. "Mr. Berwick,
will you start up the engine, and we will end our trip under steam?"
Everything being in readiness, the fires were lit and the generation of
steam gotten under way. At a signal the engine's mechanism responded to
the movement of a lever. Almost immediately there was a crash that shook
the ship from stem to stern. It was at once apparent to all on board
that something serious had happened. Everyone was at the moment on
deck, except those engaged in the engine room, and to that spot all ran
to investigate.
Berwick was found with a wounded hand, resulting from his efforts to
stop the machinery. Juarez had accomplished this, but to the gaze of all
there was offered a badly wrecked mechanism. Berwick was livid with rage
and more concerned by the mishap to the engine than by the pain in his
injured hand.
Someone, it was found, had tampered with the machinery. Who was the
culprit?
"How serious is the injury?" inquired the professor.
Berwick shook his head and looked at his injured member, about which Jim
was skilfully applying a bandage.
"I fear it will be several days," was the gloomy response. "But we will
get right at it."
Even Berwick, however, was disappointed with the progress he could make
toward repairing the distorted machinery, although he had the helpful
aid of all the boys. There were exasperating delays. Essential parts of
the machinery were not to be found and substitutes had to be made.
The unvarying calm and sultry heat persisted.