TREASURE-SEEKING.
Not until they were in the tent cowering among the bedclothes as if
fearing they might have been pursued by specters did either of the party
realize how foolishly he was acting.
Ned was the first to rise to his feet and step outside the camp.
“See here, fellows,” he said after gazing toward the place where such a
terrible sight had been seen, and noted the fact that the fragments of
the boat were drifting past the island, “we mustn’t allow ourselves to
be such fools. It was the swirl of the water that made those bodies swim
around in that fashion.”
“Of course it was; but how horrible they looked!” Roy replied.
“That’s a fact; but we’ve got to brace up and get them out of the way.
Most likely they’ll stay inside the reef until a storm throws them
ashore, unless we do something.”
“What do you mean?”
“We are bound to bury them.”
“I wouldn’t go within fifty yards of where they are,” Vance said
tremblingly. “It seemed as if they were trying to catch us.”
“Now you are talking nonsense. We have got to stay here, that’s certain,
and it won’t do to have a place that we’re afraid of. It would be mighty
disagreeable to see those corpses every time we were forced to pass
there, and our only course is to get them under the sand as soon as
possible. It won’t be so bad if we do the work now as if we waited and
imagined all sorts of horrible things.”
“Ned is right,” Roy said as he stepped to the door of the tent, trying
unsuccessfully to appear brave. “It will be a disagreeable job, and
therefore should be finished at once.”
“And we’ve got to have their graves where we must look at them every
day? It is horrible!” and again Vance covered his face to shut out the
pictures conjured up by imagination.
“We’ll drag them to the other side of the island where I was landed, if
that will make the matter any better,” Ned replied. “It’ll be a long,
hard job, but ’way ahead of feeling that we could never go near the spot
again, for now they are in plain sight from where the yacht lies.”
“How will you haul them across?” Roy asked.
“Pull them on to a piece of canvas; roll it up and tie it securely,
leaving an end to which a drag-rope can be fastened. It will take the
greater portion of the day, and we’d better get about it at once.”
Roy forced himself to put from his mind all that was hideous in the
matter and treat it as a necessary, though disagreeable, task which must
be accomplished.
He and Ned selected from their stores one of the steamer’s jibs, cut it
into such sized pieces as was thought sufficiently large for the
purpose, and marched resolutely out to the spot where the boat had been
shattered.
Vance was ashamed to remain idle while they were working and after a
brief delay joined them.
It devolved upon Ned to secure the bodies, which he did by wading into
the surf and passing a noose under and around them.
Then he also was forced to roll them in the canvas shrouds; but after
this had been done, and the ghastly freight presented the appearance of
merchandise rather than human forms, Vance was ready to assist in the
task of dragging them across the island.
“We shall need a couple of shovels,” Ned said when everything was in
readiness for the journey. “Vance shall carry them, and he can spell one
of us when we’re tired.”
This was a division of labor at which no one could complain, and the
fatiguing journey was begun, the heavy weight causing the most severe
labor necessary in order to pull them through the sand.
It was a great undertaking to convey the bodies so far, but all three of
the boys believed they were fully warranted in such an expenditure of
strength and energy, because of the relief of mind which would be theirs
when the corpses were so far from the camp that even the burial-place
could not be seen.
It was considerably past noon when they arrived at the opposite shore,
and then it was necessary to dig the grave.
Owing to the fact that the deposit of sand on the coral foundation of
the island was shallow, this was not a long nor a difficult task, and
the boys felt a decided sense of relief when the canvas shrouds were
hidden from view.
Both murderers, and both murdered, they shared a common grave where
their bones might at any time be disturbed by the action of the waves,
and there was little doubt but that during the next severe storm the
bodies would be disinterred.
There was nothing the boys could do to prevent this unless they had been
willing to bury them in the center of the island overlooking their camp,
which would be in the highest degree disagreeable.
The spot selected was where Ned had been landed, and there was a certain
poetic justice in thus leaving the two where they had left the boy who
had been so unfortunate as to have heard their guilty secret.
“It’s lucky for me they concluded that I must be marooned,” Ned said as
they retraced their steps over the hot, shimmering sand. “If they hadn’t
done that most likely I’d been taken in the boat with them to prevent my
telling the men what I’d heard, an’ in that case where would I be now?”
“Overboard, I reckon,” Roy replied in a tone of awe. “It must have been
a terrible fight before the first man died, and you would have been
forced over the side while they were leaping around trying to kill each
other. Spider Key has used you mighty well, according to my way of
thinking.”
“That’s a fact, and I’m expecting to have yet better luck here. When we
get back to camp I’m goin’ to open up a scheme to you fellows, an’ I
hope you’ll see things in the same light I do.”
“What’s in the wind now?”
“I’ll tell you when we get back. The day is so nearly spent that it
won’t pay to begin work until morning, an’ we shall have plenty of time
to talk.”
The others were obliged to curb their curiosity as best they could, for
Ned absolutely refused to gratify it until they were where a
conversation could be carried on in a comfortable manner.
After the disagreeable work and the general excitement and horrors of
the morning, none of the party felt particularly hungry, therefore Roy
served a cold lunch for dinner, promising a more hearty meal at night.
“It’s so late now that if I tried to do very much cooking it would be
sunset before the job was finished,” he explained.
“This is good enough for me,” Ned replied as he helped himself to some
sea biscuit and a generous slice of cheese.
“Then while you are eating suppose you give us a glimpse of that famous
scheme. It is better to talk about almost anything rather than sit here
thinking of what we have just seen,” and Vance moved nearer, as if the
closest possible companionship was necessary in order to drive away the
memories of the morning.
“It isn’t so very much that I’ve got to say, but it counts for a good
deal in my mind. To begin with, we want to get away from here as soon as
we can.”
“That goes without saying, and especially now,” Roy replied with a
nervous laugh.
“And it may be a year before any craft comes this way.”
“I’m not prepared to admit quite as much as that, for a vessel of some
kind must happen around before so much time elapses.”
“Well, we would get tired in considerably less than six months. While
there is plenty to be done a fellow don’t have a chance to get lonesome;
but how about when there’s nothin’ to do but walk around thinkin’ of
where we’d like to be?”
“Of course we shall be lonesome then,” Vance replied impatiently. “I
wish we were certain of getting away as soon as we’d overhauled the
hulk, for in the course of a week our folks will understand that
something has happened to us, and it’ll be terrible to know they are
feeling bad when we are all right.”
“Then instead of waitin’ for a craft to come, which may never happen,
why not do all we can toward rescuing ourselves?”
“How can we accomplish more than we are now doing?”
“By launching the yacht.”
“You’re crazy,” Vance replied impatiently.
“We never could do it, no matter how hard we might try,” Roy added, as
if the idea was so preposterous that it was worse than useless to
discuss it.
“You are both wrong,” Ned said quietly. “The job can be done if we set
about it in a proper manner, and if you’ll agree to work with me three
days, I’ll show you it isn’t so much of an undertaking as you seem to
think.”
“Why, we couldn’t put her on an even keel, let alone get her off the
bank.”
“I’ll have her swung around in forty-eight hours and ready for launching
two days after that,” Ned said doggedly.
“How would you go to work?”
“In the first place I’d carry both anchors as far as the cables would
run, make them fast to the capstan, and, aided by the tide, haul in
until she was pulled up on her keel.”
“Should you swim out with the anchors?” Vance asked with just a tinge of
sarcasm perceptible in his tones.
“How long would it take to build a raft?”
“If you were going to do that it would be best to make one large enough
to carry us to the mainland.”
“We haven’t the materials for that. A small one would answer our purpose
in floating her, and I can rig up such a craft alone. Say, suppose you
two dig for the treasure and leave me to get ready? I won’t ask you to
help me more than an hour the first day, and then when I call on you for
regular work you may decide whether my plan can be carried out.”
Ned was so deeply in earnest his companions could not but be impressed,
and Vance, realizing that by agreeing to this proposition he would be
able to get at the treasure-seeking just so much the sooner, replied:
“I’m willing if Roy is.”
“And I shouldn’t be surprised if Ned was correct in what he says,” the
cook added thoughtfully. “A few men have moved a large ship before now,
and I don’t see why, with so much in the way of material for working,
the Zoe could not be gotten into deep water.”
“She can!” Ned exclaimed, rendered even more excited than before by his
partial success in convincing his companions. “What will be the
difference between floating her and finding silver dollars? She is worth
three such lots of coin as I dug up, and even if there is more treasure
in the hulk, the chances are that there isn’t as much as would pay for
her.”
“She cost $8,000,” Roy replied.
“Think of it! We know how to earn that much money, or save it, which
amounts to the same thing, and yet are not willing to make one trial.
She isn’t hurt any to speak of, and even if half a dozen timbers have
been shattered, it wouldn’t cost a great deal to replace them.”
“But we shall probably be unable to work the engine in case you get her
off the bank.”
“Well, what of that? If a vessel comes along, we can have her towed into
port. She will lay in the little bay as snug as a bug in a rug if we
moor her properly, but is bound to go to pieces in case the next heavy
gale finds her where the surf can beat directly upon her bottom.”
It was impossible not to be convinced by the arguments which Ned brought
forward, and the boys began to consider seriously the idea of escaping
from the key by means of the yacht. He seemed to be so positive it could
be accomplished that they fancied it was a very much more simple matter
than had at first been supposed.
Vance insisted, however, that the proposition should stand as first
made.
“You get things in order for floating the yacht, and Roy and I will see
what there is under the sand which covers the old hulk. We can come up
to help you at any time, and when you are ready for the more serious
part of the business we shall have finished our job.”
As a matter of fact Ned would have preferred that they work together,
since the task could be accomplished in so much less time when there
were hands enough to carry everything forward at the same moment; but he
could not well object after having been the one to propose it, and
thought he had succeeded very well in effecting this much.
There was no intention of beginning any new labor now that the night was
so near at hand.
All were both tired and depressed because of the scenes through which
they had passed, and they remained in the tent discussing Ned’s plan
until it was time to prepare another meal.
After this had been eaten Ned and Vance were eager to retire, the former
that he might be ready to begin work on the yacht at an early hour, and
the latter in order to commence the search for treasure at the earliest
possible moment.
Both were awake before the sun showed his face above the waters, and Roy
was surprised by the offers of assistance he received.
When breakfast had been finished Ned went on board the wreck to map out
his work, but Vance was forced to wait until the cook had finished his
regular morning tasks, for the two were to overhaul the old hulk in
company.
Ned had no fears as to the result of his labors, providing nothing
occurred to prevent him from doing as he wished, and as the
anchor-laying was the most important, he began that at once by building
a raft.
Had the others been with him this task would have been comparatively a
light one, but forced to work at a disadvantage because alone, he had
hardly got the first layer of timbers secured in place, when a series of
wildest yells from the vicinity of the hulk attracted his attention.
“If I thought they’d found another box I wouldn’t stir a step from this
place,” he said to himself; “but it may be they are in trouble of some
kind, and I s’pose I must find out.”
Making fast his timbers that they might not float away and thus
necessitate the additional labor of preparing more, Ned started at full
speed through the grove, and on arriving at the opposite side saw Vance
and Roy dancing wildly around an excavation in the sand, alternately
calling him by name and yelling after the fashion of a Comanche Indian.
“They’ve dug out more money!” Ned cried, and for the time being the raft
and the yacht were forgotten, for he could be as enthusiastic over
treasure-finding as either of the others.
“What have you got?” he cried, dashing forward at a swift pace.
“Come and see!” Vance shouted. “Hurrah for Spider Key! Hurrah for
ourselves! Hurrah for the pirates’ treasure!”
There was certainly sufficient to cause excitement.
When he arrived at the scene of their labors it was only necessary for
Ned to peer over the huge wall of sand which had been thrown up, in
order to see four boxes lying side by side, exactly like the one he had
previously found.
It was evident they had been stored in the very stern of the craft,
probably under the cabin floor, as was customary when sailing vessels
carried much treasure, and who could say how many years the wealth had
been lying on the shore of Spider Key, awaiting the chance which should
lead to its discovery?
“That’s the same sort I found!” Ned cried, equally as much excited now
as the others. “Let’s have them out of there. We’ll get back to camp an’
open the boxes!”
Two of the packages were much heavier than the rest, and Vance said:
“These fellows are full of gold! Talk about mining in California! Why,
it isn’t a marker alongside of this way of finding money all coined and
ready to spend!”
The boys had a difficult task to raise the boxes from their long
resting-place, and the united strength of all three was necessary in
order to place them above the wall of sand.
“You’ve got the whole of it this time,” Ned said as he wiped the
perspiration from his face and turned to look at the spot from which the
treasure had been removed. “How long did it take you to shovel all that
sand away?”
“Not such a very great while. We wanted to make certain of getting at
the entire collection, so Roy began on one side and I the other. We had
cleared almost the whole space before striking the boxes.”
It was fully half an hour before the treasure-seekers recovered from
their excitement sufficiently to take any steps toward conveying their
treasure to the tent, and then it was decided to make a sort of litter
with poles, for the weight of two of the packages was too great to admit
of their being carried by one boy.
As a matter of course this required considerable time, and it was an
hour past noon when Vance began to chop at the top of the first box for
the purpose of opening it.
The wood was not so rotten but that a good deal of labor was necessary
in order to effect his purpose, and then exclamations of delight burst
from the lips of all.
This was one of the heaviest boxes, and, as Vance had predicted, was
filled with gold coins, the majority of them having come from a Spanish
mint.
Owing to the fact that they were unable to determine the value of many
of the pieces, it was impossible to figure up the amount of the “find;”
but, judging from the weight, in comparison with that of the silver, the
total sum was very large.
Vance was not satisfied until he had opened all four of the boxes,
finding gold in two and silver in both the others.
“It isn’t a pirate’s hoard, that’s certain,” he said after looking at
the wealth until his eyes fairly ached. “But never mind who it may have
belonged to once, there can be no question but that it’s ours now by
right of discovery.”