But they were compelled to curb their impatience till that evening after
supper, for the doctor set every one busily to work "stabling" the _Sea
Eagle_ and attending to the engines after the hard test they had
undergone. Every part was carefully gone over, and it was found that
despite the strain of the novel craft's first try-out, nothing save a
few minor adjustments were required.
"Now, dad," said Pudge, after the dishes had been washed and Ben had his
pipe going, and the others were perched on the edge of the lower bunks,
like so many birds on a rail, "now, then, dad, we are ready to hear your
plans for that cruise."
Dr. Perkins smiled.
"I'm afraid, my boy," he said, "that you are in for a disappointment.
While I thoroughly believe the _Sea Eagle_ is capable of conveying our
whole party through almost anything, I am unwilling to place too great a
burden on her at her first long-distance trial."
Pudge's face lengthened.
"Oceans and octopuses!" he groaned, "I s'pose I'm to be left behind, as
usual."
"I'm afraid it will be necessary," was the reply; "you see, there will
only be room under my present plan for experienced navigators. But not
to keep you in suspense any longer, my present plan is to cruise down
the coast to Florida, round that peninsula, and then fly up to New
Orleans, and then possibly I might test out the _Sea Eagle_ still
further on a flight up the Mississippi."
"Wow! And we're to miss all that?"
"Not _all_ of it, Pudge," smiled the doctor. "I was planning to send you
and Billy on ahead to meet us at New Orleans and make arrangements for
our arrival there."
"Cookies and catamounts! That's not so bad. I've always longed to see
New Orleans. But, then, would you take us with you up the Mississippi?"
"If we go--yes."
"Look a-here," struck in Ben's bass voice at this point, "I don't want
to butt in, or nothing like that, doctor; but this here is a cruise that
just suits me. Would you have any objection if I went along with ther
boys ter New Orleans?"
"Why, I hadn't thought of it," confessed Dr. Perkins.
"You see, I've got some partic'lar business down that way," said Ben,
with a portentous wink at Harry; "ain't I, Harry?"
The boy addressed instantly guessed that Ben referred to the supposed
treasure trove lying at the bottom of the Black Bayou. Now, in the rush
of events following Harry's return from his strange cruise on the _Betsy
Jane_, he had quite forgotten about Raoul Duval's map. But now it
flashed back on him, and the recollection caused him to flush with
excitement.
Dr. Perkins looked puzzled, while a glance of intelligence shot between
the grizzled old adventurer and the boy.
"Have I got your leave to tell about the sunken steamer?" inquired
Harry.
"Sure. Heave ahead, my boy," was the hearty answer; "I was never much of
a hand at spinning a yarn."
"Pirates and petticoats! What's all this about a yarn and a sunken
ship?" demanded Pudge.
"Sounds like some fresh adventure. Anything like the Buena Ventura
cruise?" asked Billy Barnes, referring, of course, to their experiences
in the Sargasso Sea.
"I hope not," laughed Harry. "No, this is a much tamer affair," he
continued. "Ben, here, thinks that he knows of a craft sunk in a bayou
off the Mississippi, on board of which is a small fortune in gold dust
and black pearls."
"Gold dust and black pearls!" cried Billy Barnes. "Wow! that sounds like
a regular story."
"Suppose we let Harry heave ahead, as Ben calls it, and tell us what all
this is about," suggested Frank quietly. But his eyes were shining. He
knew that what Harry was about to communicate must be of deep interest
from the manner in which the boy had spoken.
"Yes, let us hear the story," said Dr. Perkins; "since we plan to be
down in that region, anything of interest to be investigated will add to
the pleasure of the trip."
Thereupon Harry, without further delay, plunged into the narrative as
Ben had related it to him. He was interrupted from time to time by
excited exclamations, but at last he finished his narration and then,
turning to Dr. Perkins, he said:
"What do you think of it, sir?"
"Aye, aye," growled out Ben, "supposin' the yarn is true, have I got a
legal right to the stuff?"
"Undoubtedly, if you have papers assigning the claim to you," said Mr.
Perkins, after a moment's thought.
"Oh, I've got them fast enough. I was goin' to chuck 'em away, but I
thought better of it. Glad I did now, but you see I never thought I'd
have a chance to go down there."
Ben reached into his pocket and drew out a battered, brown leather
wallet. From it he produced Raoul Duval's promise to deed him his
(Duval's) interest in the supposed treasure chest, providing the loan
Ben had made the mining man's son was not repaid. He handed the document
to Dr. Perkins, who perused it with knitted brows.
"This certainly appears to give you a legal claim to whatever may be of
value in the late Duval's effects," he said.
"Then you think it is worth looking into?"
"By all means. While the story sounds fanciful to a degree, it is not
much more so than plenty of recorded cases. At all events, no harm can
be done by trying to locate the wreck, and it may be the means of
rehabilitating your fortunes."
"I dunno what that means," grinned Ben, "but if it signifies that I'm to
get some money out of the cruise, I'm willing right now to split it up
any way it suits you."
"We can talk about that later," said Dr. Perkins, with a smile at the
old man's enthusiasm; "now would you mind letting me have a look at that
map to which Harry has referred?"
"Here it be," grunted Ben, once more diving into the wallet and
producing the map that Harry had looked over on Barren Island.
"At any rate, this looks definite enough," declared Dr. Perkins after a
careful examination of it. "Of course, as this Duval appears to be a
thorough rascal, he may have 'cooked this up,' as the saying goes, in
order to induce you to make him a loan. But certain things about it make
me believe that it may be genuine. I recall reading some time ago a
newspaper account of mysteries of the Mississippi, and among them was an
account of the serious disaster to the _Belle of New Orleans_, so, at
any rate, that part of the story is authentic enough."
"Meanin' it's true," murmured Ben. "Waal, if you'll help me we'll soon
find out the truth of it, or otherwise."
"As I said," rejoined Dr. Perkins, "I had intended to cruise up the
Mississippi from New Orleans. What you have told us furnishes us with a
distinct object in making the trip, and," he added with a smile, "I
suppose the spice of adventure about it does not displease the lads
here."
Frank was about to reply when, from the wireless table, there came a
queer buzzing sound from an instrument which the boy had connected with
his detector.
"Hullo! some one is sending out a message," he exclaimed, "and our wires
have caught it. Wonder what it can be."
The boy rose and went over to the wireless table. Seating himself on the
stool in front of the instruments he adjusted the "phones" and began
putting his variable condenser in tune to catch whatever message was
pulsing through the air.
"What's coming?" demanded Harry, as the instruments began to crackle and
snap.
"Don't know yet," spoke Frank, again changing the capacity of the
condenser; "looks as if----"
He ceased speaking suddenly. Sliding his hand across the table he made
an adjustment to catch longer sound waves. Instantly a hail of aerial
dots and dashes came pattering against his ear drums, like rain on a
window pane.
With startling suddenness Frank sensed the meaning of the storm of
desperate flashes.
"C-Q-D! C-Q-D! C-Q-D!"
"Some one out at sea is calling us in distress!" he cried loudly. The
others, brim full of excitement, rose and crowded about him. But Frank
waved them back.
"No questions yet, please!" he said sharply, and then bent all his
faculties to catching the voice out of the black night.