THE YACHT.
That they were the possessors of a large sum of money there could be no
question, and after he fully realized this very pleasing fact, Vance was
as eager as any of his companions to escape from the key.
To Ned’s delight he had come to believe that it was in the highest
degree important they should leave the island in the Zoe, and was now as
ready to push forward the work on her as he previously had been to
search for the hidden treasure.
“If a vessel should come along this minute and offer to take us off, I
don’t see how we could leave,” he said as he stood gazing at the money.
“Why not?” Roy asked in surprise.
“Because we couldn’t carry all this wealth away without the fact being
known, and I shouldn’t like to trust everybody with the secret that
these boxes were filled with gold and silver.”
“Then you are ready to aid in launching the Zoe?” Ned said
interrogatively.
“Of course I am. We mustn’t waste a single moment. Help me stack these
boxes up under the tool chest, and we’ll get to work as soon as Roy
cooks dinner.”
“If I’d known how it was goin’ to affect you I’d voted to go ahead with
the treasure-finding two or three days ago; but I thought it would take
very much longer to clear that hulk of sand.”
“There hasn’t been any time lost. Do you think it will be many days
before we can have the yacht afloat?”
“I hope not. It seems as if three of us should be able to do a great
deal in a short while. Suppose you and I tackle the raft while Roy is
doing the cooking? That will put us ahead just so much.”
The treasure had been stowed away near the beds, and Vance was more than
willing to act upon Ned’s suggestion.
He followed him to the scene of his morning’s labors, and when Roy
finally called them to dinner Vance grumbled not a little because it was
necessary to cease the work in order to eat.
“We must have the anchors out before sunset,” he said emphatically, much
as if expecting his companion would object.
“Of course, for then we’ll be takin’ advantage of the night tide.”
“And we shall get along much faster, because Roy will be here to help
us.”
Vance hardly allowed his companions time to eat their dinner properly.
He urged first one and then the other to make more haste, until Roy said
quite sharply:
“This morning you thought it was the same as wasting time to work on the
yacht, and now you’re not willing to do the thing in a reasonable way. I
shall eat all I want, and even then there’ll be plenty of daylight in
which to accomplish as much as Ned has laid out for this day’s work.”
Vance was forced to restrain his ardor, since the others were not
willing to keep at the job with such a rush, and the result was that
very much more labor was performed than if he had been allowed the
direction of affairs.
The raft was finally built as strongly as Ned thought necessary, and the
largest anchor with plenty of cable loaded on it.
It was no slight task to paddle the unwieldy craft out to sea with the
heavy hawser trailing astern, and dragging back until oftentimes more
advantage would be lost than gained.
Vance assisted Ned, both using the oars as paddles, and Roy remained on
the wreck to pay out the cable.
It was necessary to strain every muscle to accomplish the purpose, but
it was finally done, and the boys pulled swiftly back to the yacht to
ascertain, by bringing the rope to the capstan, what kind of holding
ground they had.
“Now rouse her in!” Ned cried as he took a double turn and prepared to
hold the slack. “Walk her around, an’ we’ll soon know whether that
blessed anchor has got to be picked up again.”
It was not necessary to make any change.
When the hawser was hauled as taut as was possible with such a heavy
rope, the anchor held firm, and Ned said in a tone of satisfaction:
“There’s the biggest half of our work done! Now we must make this cable
fast somewhere else until the other anchor is in place. By working
lively we can finish it before dark.”
This seemed like rather a rash statement, since the sun was already very
near the horizon, but so rapidly did the little crew work that the task
was accomplished before night had fully come, and the boys had the
satisfaction of seeing the two ropes stretched far out into the water
like strands of iron.
“I reckon we can call this a full day’s work,” Ned said as he brought
the raft around on the shore side of the stranded yacht. “If we find
those ropes a little slack to-morrow morning, we shall know she has
slipped off just that much.”
“But suppose it doesn’t happen?” Roy asked.
“Then it’ll be a question of using our muscle at the next high tide, and
bringing out a portion of the machinery to lighten her.”
“If we take the engine apart we shall never be able to get it together
again,” Vance said in alarm.
“That doesn’t make any difference. We shall have to do it if this plan
don’t work, and then try to get her along under sail. We’ve got canvas
enough to fit her out in pretty good shape.”
“There won’t be any show of going very fast with the screw dragging
behind.”
“I’ll be satisfied if we make two knots an hour, for that’s more than
we’re doing now.”
The boys were thoroughly tired when they returned to the tent, but so
much had been accomplished since sunrise that they were hardly aware of
their weariness.
The treasure was only spoken of now and then, but Vance and Roy talked
almost incessantly of floating the yacht, and Ned felt well satisfied
that before very long they would be sailing in search of the mainland.
The possibility of getting free from the island suggested to his mind
something which he had paid very little attention to before.
“How shall we know what way to steer when we are ready to leave?”
“Jimminey! I never thought of that,” Vance exclaimed. “I haven’t the
slightest idea where the coast of Florida is, except that it seems as
if, it should be in that direction,” and he pointed toward the west.
Roy felt quite positive they ought to steer a northerly course, while
Ned, having been locked in the state-room so long before coming ashore,
was unable to form any idea whatever.
“We shall be an interestin’ kind of a crew when we do get started,” he
said with a laugh. “How are we to decide the matter?”
“I know I’m right,” Vance replied decidedly.
“And I’m convinced the mainland lies to the north of us,” Roy added in
quite as positive a tone.
“I don’t know anything about it, so it will be necessary for you fellows
to fight it out among yourselves.”
“Of course you’ll agree that we want to get back to Key West rather than
attempt to go to Savannah?” Vance said to Roy.
“Certainly.”
“Well, suppose this key is on the very edge of the line of shoals, and
we steer due north: there’s a possibility of our striking straight
across to where we were originally bound, which wouldn’t be pleasant.”
“Well, what if we went to the west?”
“We are positive this key isn’t south of Key West, and if we run a
westerly course we’re bound to strike some land between here and the
Gulf of Mexico.”
“It’s my opinion that Vance has got the best of this argument,” Ned said
with a laugh, and Roy replied:
“I reckon he has, and I’ll get supper if you fellows will turn to and
help. After dragging on those heavy ropes it doesn’t seem as if I had
strength enough to feed myself.”
All were hungry, but felt at the same time so tired that the exertion of
cooking seemed too great to be thought of, and Ned proposed that they
content themselves with a cold supper.
“I can soon build a fire on the ground large enough to cook the coffee,
and that will be all we shall need.”
The others were perfectly willing to agree to this proposition, and the
last work of the day was quickly dispatched.
Then the boys lay down to rest, and neither of them felt like prolonging
a conversation when their eyes were so heavy.
Before nine o’clock the three were sleeping soundly, and it seemed to
Vance that he had but just lost himself in slumber, when he was aroused
by what sounded very much like a groan, as if a human being was in
agony.
There were cold, bead-like drops of perspiration on his face as he
raised himself to a sitting posture and listened.
The unearthly sound was repeated, and he trembled with fear, while
before his eyes came a picture of the horrible sight he had witnessed
during the forenoon.
Now Vance was not a boy who believed in ghosts or anything of that kind,
but he knew perfectly well there were no other persons on the island,
and yet here was a noise apparently close at hand, which must have been
made by a human being.
“Of course those men whom we buried were dead,” he said to himself, “and
if I waken the fellows they’ll insist I’m afraid of my own shadow.”
He was about to lie down again when the unearthly sound floated on the
night air once more, and this time he fancied it came from some point
nearer the tent than before.
There was no longer any fear in his mind that Ned and Roy would think
him cowardly.
Anything was better than listening to such noises while his companions
were unconscious in slumber, and he shook Ned, who chanced to be nearest
him, violently.
“What’s the matter?” the sleepy boy asked as he rubbed his eyes.
“Hush! Don’t speak so loud! I’ve been hearing the queerest kind of a
noise. It sounds as if some one was on the island.”
Ned’s eyes had closed again while Vance was talking, and the latter
shook him yet more violently than before.
“Wake up and listen. It may be that men have landed, and we must look
out for the treasure!”
This was sufficient to render Ned very wide awake, and he raised himself
on his elbow as he said:
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Wait awhile and you will.”
It was not necessary for Ned to listen many seconds; Vance had hardly
ceased speaking when the noise was heard again, and one would have
failed to decide which boy was the most frightened.