A Runaway Brig Or An Accidental Cruise Part 34

"There's no use to kick ag'in what can't be helped, lad. Try to go to sleep, an' then the time won't appear so long."

To follow this advice was entirely out of the question. It would have been impossible for the weariest of the party to close his eyes in slumber, and in silence and fear they waited for the long, dreary hours of the night to pa.s.s.

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

JOY.

It was useless for the boys to argue with themselves that the rapid discharge of musketry could have no sinister meaning. They were in that frame of mind when no silver lining can be seen, even to the smallest cloud; and against their own better judgment they decided that the strange schooner either would be of no a.s.sistance to them, or that she was manned by a crew which might attempt to inflict further injuries.

Joe thoughtlessly suggested that perhaps the red-nosed man was in command, and had come to get the Bonita's cargo. This was said more in jest than as something with a possible foundation of truth; but it was sufficient to excite all of Jim's fears, and he actually tried to induce Harry and Walter to go with him into the thicket, where they might hide until the schooner had left the vicinity.

While the boys would not agree to anything quite as wild as this, they were seriously alarmed; and when the rattle and splash of oars broke the stillness Walter was almost sorry he had not followed the young fisherman's advice.

"We haven't got to wait long before findin' out if they'll take us away from this blessed key!" Bob said cheerily. "Here comes a boat, an'

unless I'm makin' a big mistake we'll soon, be leavin' this 'ere cove bound for some civilized port!"

Louder and more distinctly sounded the clink of oars in the row-locks until from out the darkness came the welcome hail:

"Ahoy, on the island!"

"Halloo!" Bob shouted with a roar, as if afraid any ordinary cry would not be heard by those from whom he expected a.s.sistance.

"Have you got three boys there who were carried away from the Isle of Shoals in the brig Bonita?"

"Ay! ay! an' they'll be mighty glad of a chance to leave!"

This question surprised the boys almost to the verge of bewilderment. It was positive the red-nosed man would not ask for them so solicitously; and yet, who else in that lonely portion of the ocean knew anything regarding their mishaps?

Harry and Walter clasped hands as if in a daze, both so excited as to be unable to speak until a second voice from out the darkness shouted:

"Are you there, Harry?"

"It's father! It's father!" Harry screamed, as he ran toward the water; and there, with Walter at his side, he stood straining his eyes in the vain effort to see the boat, but in his joyful astonishment giving no heed to the apparently strange fact that those whom he loved had known so well where to look for the Bonita's involuntary crew.

It was not possible for the little craft to land with safety on the beach, where the surf was breaking with sufficient force to overturn if not stave her to pieces, and he who had first hailed now cried:

"Is there a landing-place near by?"

"You're at the mouth of a cove in which there's water enough to float a s.h.i.+p," Joe replied. "I'll walk along the beach to where there is no surf."

By shouting continually he succeeded in piloting the boat behind the point where a landing could be effected, and a few moments later both Harry and Walter were clasped in Mr. Vandyne's arms.

For some moments no word was spoken, and then the boys poured forth a flood of questions regarding the loved ones from whom they had been so long separated.

"They are all well at home," Mr. Vandyne replied laughingly; "but we had better settle down for the night before I attempt to give you the information required. Shall we go aboard the schooner?"

In their exceeding great joy the boys had forgotten the treasure entirely, and it is quite probable they would have said "Yes" to the last question but for Bob. He had not been in such a state of despair prior to the coming of the boat as to render happiness so bewildering, and he also had a very clear idea of what should be done.

"I axes your pardon for interfering sir," he said, stepping very close to Mr. Vandyne and speaking in a low tone, "but there's particular reasons why you'd better have a chance to talk with us alone afore your crew comes ash.o.r.e or we leave the key!"

Harry's father was considerably mystified by this odd statement; but he hesitated only an instant before asking:

"Have you got any kind of a shelter?"

"A decently good tent, with a couple of mattresses to lie on," Bob replied. "It ain't the best that ever was, but you can manage to get along one night, I reckon."

"It's something we've found that he wants you to see," Harry whispered; and turning to the crew, who were lying on their oars a short distance away, Mr. Vandyne said:

"I will stay on sh.o.r.e until morning. Go back to the yacht; and at sunrise, if you think there's no danger, bring her into this cove."

"Ay, ay, sir," a voice replied; and then the sound of oars in the water told that the boat was leaving the harbor, probably steering for a tiny red light which could now be seen some distance off the land.

"What have you got which there is so much mystery about?" Mr. Vandyne asked, as the gentle splash and ripple of water which told that the sailors were returning to their craft died away in the distance.

"We have found a pirate's treasure," Harry said in a whisper. "There are nineteen bags full of all kinds of money."

"Pirates' treasure!" his father repeated in astonishment.

"What the lad says is a fact, sir;" and Bob stepped forward once more.

"We had no way of findin' out how much it was worth; but there's altogether too big an amount for us to run the risk of lettin' strangers see the pile."

"Where is it?"

"At the camp, sir. I'll lead the way. Jim, you foller behind me an' let Joe bring up the rear."

Then Bob set out at such a rapid pace that there was but little opportunity for conversation until the entire distance had been traversed.

Joe and Jim built a huge camp-fire, and after Harry introduced his father to the three members of the party who were strangers, Bob pulled from beneath the mattresses one of the treasure bags.

"There are eighteen more jes' like that," he said, as he slashed the tarred canvas with his knife until the yellow coins fell in a golden stream at Mr. Vandyne's feet. "We haven't overhauled many of 'em; but one's a fair sample of the lot."

"Why, you've got a fortune here!" the gentleman cried in surprise as he a.s.sured himself that the pieces were gold and of large denomination.

"Where and how did you find it?"

"It'll need a pretty long yarn to give you an understandin' of the whole cruise, an' we'll each do a share of the spinnin' so the thing will come out s.h.i.+p-shape," Bob said, as he began to fill a pipe, that his character of story-teller might be enacted properly. "You've got all night for the hearin', so there's no pertic'lar hurry. Harry shall begin, an' I'll chip in when he comes to the pickin' up of me after I'd thinned down pretty nearly to a ghost."

Perhaps Mr. Vandyne would have preferred to hear the story in fragments rather than at one sitting; but Bob was bent on spinning a yarn, and as there was no practicable alternative he was forced to submit.

Harry began without delay, Jim and Walter interrupting whenever he neglected to give all the details. The old sailor then related the particulars of the involuntary cruise up to the time Joe came aboard. He in turn told of the disaster to the Sea Bird, and Bob finished the story, which occupied considerably more than an hour in the telling.

"We shall have to let the crew know what you've got here, although there's no necessity of explaining where or how it was found, for they will be needed to take the bags aboard," Mr. Vandyne said, after the lengthy "yarn" had been spun. "There is no danger, for the schooner is commanded by a man in whom I have every confidence, and there won't be a piece missing when we arrive in New York."

"Now tell us how you knew where we were?" Harry asked.

"The party who came in search of the murderers gave your written story to the newspapers in Savannah, and it was copied all over the country."