FACING A JAGUAR
Dave was surprised. He had not dreamed that Lemuel Hankers would
carry his highhandedness so openly.
"I cannot come over," he said.
"And why not?"
"I cannot leap the distance."
"Then swim across."
"The current is too strong. Besides, I have no more wish for your
company than for the company of that snake which just disappeared."
"Boy, you are a--a young scamp!" burst from Lemuel Hankers' lips.
"Thanks, but I don't wish any of your backhanded compliments, Lemuel
Hankers. I am not half as much of a scamp as you are a villain."
"A villain?"
"That's what I said."
"Don't you dare to call my dad names," put in Bart, shaking his fist
across the stream.
"I overheard your plot," went on Dave, ignoring Bart. "It's a pretty
piece of business for a gentleman to propose."
At this Lemuel Hankers grew red and then pale.
"You--you know too much, boy," he faltered. "Come over here, I say.
Or shall I bring you?"
"I don't see how you are going to bring me. You can't get over the
stream any better than I can."
"It's running very strong, dad," announced Bart, who had been testing
the current with some chips. "I don't believe anybody can get across
without a long plank. He must have gotten into the cave from the
other end."
"Then we can get in that way, too," put in Pete Rackley. "We ought
to make him a prisoner," he added, in a low voice.
"I don't think you will get in," thought Dave. "If you do, the
chances are you won't come out alive."
A short talk followed, which Dave could not hear.
Then Pete Rackley left the cave on a run, to reappear a few minutes
later with a good-sized tree limb which the storm of a few days
before had brought down.
"Now we'll get him!" cried Rackley, and threw the limb over the
stream.
Dave was much startled. He knew not what to do, for to retreat was
impossible.
Soon Rackley was over the underground stream, and Lemuel Hankers and
his son followed.
All three ran after the young diver, who retreated to the extreme
rear of the cavern.
Here Rackley caught him by the arm.
"You had better submit quietly," said Rackley. "If you don't, it
will be the worse for you."
Dave saw at once that resistance was out of the question.
They were three to one, and all armed, while he was unarmed, and
still weak from his tumble and what had followed.
"You have no right to make me a prisoner," he remarked, for the want
of something better to say.
"We'll take the right," said Rackley, with a wicked grin. "Didn't
expect to see me here, after our little affair in the Washington
hotel, did you?" he added.
"Perhaps you'll get left now, as you did then," retorted Dave.
Rackley produced a rope which he had brought in with the tree limb,
and soon Dave's hands were bound behind him.
"I have an idea," said Lemuel Hankers. "Why can't we leave him in
this cave until both ships have sailed?"
"Just my notion," answered Rackley.
"You can feed him until the _Raven_ gets back, and he will be kind of
company for you."
"I'll feed him if he behaves himself," growled Pete Rackley.
All three of the others tried their best to "pump" Dave, but could
get nothing out of the young diver regarding his father's plans or
those of Captain Broadbeam.
"You must find out yourself," he answered.
He was made to march to the extreme right of the cave, and here
Rackley fastened him to a sharp rock which jutted from one of the
walls.
"There, I reckon he won't get loose from that in a hurry," said the
rascal, after his job was finished.
Then the three evildoers withdrew to the mouth of the cave, stopping
at the underground stream just long enough to remove the tree limb so
that Dave could not cross the stream even if he did get free.
A quarter of an hour later the others went away from the cave, and
all became as silent as a tomb.
If the young diver had been disheartened before, he was now utterly
cast down.
He was a prisoner of the enemy, and he felt almost certain that Pete
Rackley would desert him and leave him to starve.
No food had been left with him excepting that which was in the
water-soaked pouch that he carried.
And this he could not get at, for his hands were still bound tightly
behind him.
An hour went by, and to him it seemed an age.
His thoughts wandered back to the _Swallow_. How was his stricken
father getting along, and what did he think of his disappearance?
And what had become of poor Bob Vilett, who had accompanied him on
this ill-fated expedition after game?
"Captain Broadbeam will most likely send out an expedition in search
of us," he reasoned, "but I don't think any of them will come in
here."
But then his hopes brightened a little.
Perhaps if the captain sent out somebody to look for himself and Bob,
that person might discover the _Raven_ in that port.
"If the _Raven_ is discovered, father will feel sure Lemuel Hankers
has had a hand in my disappearance, and he'll take the rascal to task
for it."
Dave did not know that Lemuel Hankers had given strict orders to
Captain Nesik, of the _Raven_, to keep out of sight of the _Swallow_,
and that the _Raven_ was now well hidden in a little cove thickly
surrounded by palms and tropical vines.
In less than two hours after leaving Dave, Lemuel Hankers and his son
rejoined the _Raven_.
"What has become of Pete Rackley?" questioned Captain Nesik.
"He went off by himself," answered Lemuel Hankers. "To my mind, he
isn't just right in his head."
"Why, what do you mean?"
"He ran around like a crazy man, and broke out into the wildest kind
of singing. Said he was done with living on a ship, and was going to
become a hermit."
This story was told for the benefit of the crew of the _Raven_.
In private, Lemuel Hankers told Captain Nesik the truth, and before
nightfall the captain went ashore, pretending to look for Rackley.
When he came back he announced that Rackley must be dead, for he had
found his hat at the top of a high cliff overlooking the ocean, and a
part of his jacket on the jagged rocks below.
That night the _Raven_ pulled up anchor and left the vicinity of the
island. Before morning she was crowding on all steam, steering
straight for the spot where the sunken treasure ship had gone down.
On board of the _Swallow_ there was much anxiety when Dave and the
engineer did not return.
Captain Broadbeam did not deem it advisable to acquaint Amos Fearless
with the true state of affairs at once.
When the old diver asked where Dave was, he was told that his son and
Bob Vilett had determined to stay out until the next day.
In the meantime poor Dave remained a prisoner in the cave. His wet
clothing gave him something of a chill during the night, and morning
found him sick and hungry, and almost ready to give up in despair.
It was scarcely daylight when Dave heard odd-sounding footsteps
approaching from the outer entrance of the cave.
He strained his eyes and at last made out a large wild animal.
It was a savage-looking jaguar, and had tracked the footsteps of
those who had come to the cave the day before.
Presently the jaguar came to the underground stream.
Here it paused for a moment, then leaped to the other side.
It was now less than fifty yards from where Dave stood, a prisoner.
Suddenly the wild beast lifted its head, stared into the darkness,
and gave a growl of rage.
It had discovered the helpless boy!