CHAPTER XX
THE BOYS MAKE A DISCOVERY
The boys had landed at a spot that was particularly inviting in appearance, and they stopped for several minutes to take in the natural beauty surrounding them. There were tall and stately palms, backed up by other trees, trailing vines of great length, and numerous gorgeous flowers. A sweet scent filled the air, and from the woods in the center of the isle came the song of tropical birds.
"What a fine camping place!" murmured Sam. "A fellow could spend several weeks here and have lots of fun, bathing and boating, and hunting birds, and fishing," and his brothers agreed with him.
Yet the beauty of Treasure Isle was soon forgotten in their anxiety to locate the cave. They had a general idea that it was in the center of the horseshoe curve, and that center was quite a distance from where they had been brought ashore.
"The best we can do is to tramp along the water's edge," said Dick. "Then when we reach the center we can go inland."
"We haven't over an hour," replied his youngest brother. "By that time it will be too dark to do much more. And we'll have to find some suitable place to camp for the night."
"Oh, we can camp anywhere," cried Tom. "It's good enough—just for one night."
They began to trudge along the edge of the horseshoe curve, over smooth sand. But this did not last, and presently they came to a muddy flat and went down to their ankles. Dick was ahead and he cried to the others.
"Stop! It's not fit to walk here!"
"Why, it's like a bog!" declared Sam, after testing it.
"We'll have to go inland a distance," said Tom. "Come on," and he turned back and struck out for the palms and bushes beyond.
It was then that the Rover boys began to realize what was before them. Scarcely had they penetrated the interior for fifty yards when they found themselves in a perfect network of trailing vines. Then, after having pulled and cut their way through for fifty yards more, they came to a spot that was rocky and covered with a tangle of thorny bushes.
"Wow!" ejaculated Tom, after scratching his hand and his leg. "This is something prime, I must confess!"
"What I call hunting a treasure with a vengeance," added Dick, dryly.
"I move we go back," came from Sam. "We seem to be stuck in more ways than one."
"Perhaps it is better traveling just beyond," declared Dick. "I am not going to turn back just yet anyway."
He took the lead, breaking down the thorny bushes as best he could, and Sam and Tom followed closely in his footsteps. It was rather dark among the bushes and almost before the three knew it they had fallen headlong into a hollow.
"Well, I never!"
"This is coming down in a hurry!"
"Is this the treasure cave?"
Such were the exclamations of the three lads as they picked themselves up out of the dirt, which, fortunately for them, was soft and yielding. Nobody had been hurt, for which they were thankful.
The hollow was about fifty feet in diameter and half that depth in the center. On the opposite side were more bushes and rocks, and then a thicket of tall trees of a variety that was strange to them.
"This is what I call hard work," observed Tom, as they began to fight their way along again. "I don't know but what we would have done as well to have waited until morning."
"Don't croak, Tom," said Sam.
"Oh, I am not croaking, but this is no fun, let me tell you that."
All of the boys were panting from their exertions, and soon they had to call a halt to get their breath. It was now growing dark rapidly, for in the tropics there is little of what we know as twilight.
"We certainly can't do much more in this darkness," said Dick at last. "I must confess I thought walking in the direction of the cave would be an easy matter."
"Well, what's to do next?" questioned Sam, gazing around in perplexity.
This was no easy question to answer. As if by magic darkness had settled all around them, shutting out the sight of objects less than a hundred yards away. To go forward was all but impossible, and whether or not they could get back to where they had come from was a serious problem.
"If we can't get back we'll have to camp right here," said Dick.
But they did not want to stay in such a thicket and so they pushed on a little further, until they reached a slight rise of ground. Then Dick, who was in advance as before, uttered a cry of surprise:
"A trail! I wonder where it leads to?"
He was right, a well-defined trail or footpath lay before them, running between the brushwood and palms and around the rocks. It did not look as if it had been used lately, but it was tolerably clear of any growth.
This was something the Rover boys had not counted on, for Bahama Bill had never spoken of any trail in his descriptions of the isle. They gazed at the path with curiosity. Tom was the first to speak.
"Shall we follow it?" he asked.
"Might as well," answered Sam. "It's better than scratching yourself and tearing your clothing in those thorn bushes."
The boys took to the trail and passed along for a distance of quarter of a mile or more. It wound in and out around the rocks and trees and had evidently been made by some natives bringing out wild fruits and the like from the forest.
"It doesn't seem to be leading us to anywhere," was Dick's comment. "I don't know whether to go on or not."
Nevertheless, they kept on, until they came to a sharp turn around a series of rocks. As they moved ahead they suddenly saw a glare of light cross the rocks and then disappear.
"What was that?" asked Sam, somewhat startled.
"A light," answered Dick.
"I know. But where did it come from?"
"It was like the flash of a bicycle gas lamp," said Tom.
"There are no bicycles on this trail," said Dick.
"I know that, too, Dick. But it was like that kind of a lamp."
Just then the flash of light reappeared, and now they saw it came from a point on the trail ahead of them. They listened intently and heard somebody approaching.
"Several men are coming!" whispered Dick.
"Not from our yacht?" said Tom.
"I don't think so."
"Can they be from theJosephine?" asked Sam.
"That remains to be seen."
"If they are from theJosephinewhat shall we do?"
"I think the best thing we can do is to keep out of sight and watch them."
"But they may locate the cave and take the treasure away," said Tom.
"We have got to run that risk—unless we want to fight them."
"Oh, if only we could get our crowd here to help us!" murmured Sam.
"We may be mistaken and they may be strangers to us. Come, let us hide."
Losing no time, the three Rover boys stepped into the bushes beside the trail. As they did so the other party came closer, and the lads saw that they carried not only an acetylene gas lamp, but also a ship's lantern and several other things. The party was made up of Sid Merrick, Tad Sobber, Cuffer and Shelley.
"It's mighty rough walking here," they heard Tad Sobber complain. "I've got a thorn right through my shoe. Wait till I pull it out, will you?" And he came to a halt not over ten yards from where the Rover boys were hidden.
"You didn't have to come, Tad," said his uncle, somewhat harshly. "I told you to suit yourself."
"Oh, I want to see that treasure cave as well as you do," answered Sobber.
"I'd like to know if this is the right trail or not," came from Shelley. "You ought to have brought that Spaniard along, to make sure."
"Doranez is no good!" growled Sid Merrick, who was by no means in the best of humor. "He likes his bottle too well. If he would only keep sober it would be different."
"Why don't you take his liquor from him?" asked Cuffer. "I'd do it quick enough if I was running this thing."
"He says he won't tell us a thing more if we cut off his grog. He is getting mighty ugly."
"Maybe he wants to sell out to those Rovers," suggested Shelley.
"He wouldn't dare to do that—I know too much about him," answered Sid Merrick. "No, it's because he wants too big a share of the treasure."
"Do you suppose the fellows on the steam yacht have landed here yet?" asked Tad, as he prepared to go on.
"I don't know. They are laying-to outside of the reef. I reckon they don't know anything of the landing on the other side of the island," answered his uncle. "Come on, we haven't any time to waste if we want to head them off. I didn't dream they'd get here so quickly."
"I guess that fellow Wingate was no good," came from Cuffer. "He didn't delay the steam yacht in the least."
"Maybe he got caught at his funny work," suggested Shelley, hitting the nail directly on the head, as the reader already knows.
Casting the light of the acetylene gas lamp ahead of them, the party from theJosephinemoved on, directly past the spot where the Rovers were in hiding. The boys hardly dared to breathe for fear of discovery. They stood stock still until the others were all but out of sight.
"This is interesting," murmured Tom. "They must have landed on the other side of the island."
"Yes, and Merrick hired that Walt Wingate to play us foul!" cried Sam. "What shall we do next, Dick?" he continued anxiously. "They act as if they expect to get that treasure to-night!"
"I don't know what to do exactly," answered Dick. "But one thing is certain—we must follow them up and prevent their getting hold of that treasure if we possibly can!"
CHAPTER XXI
SCARING OFF THE ENEMY
It was easy enough for Dick to say they must follow up their enemies and prevent Sid Merrick and his party from gaining possession of the treasure, but how all this was to be accomplished was another matter.
In the first place, the other party numbered four as against their three. More than this, those from theJosephinewere heavily armed, while the Rovers had brought with them nothing but a single pistol.
"It's well enough to talk," whispered Sam, after Sid Merrick and his crowd had passed on, "but if we tackle them in the open the chances are we'll get the worst of it."
"We may get a chance at them in some other way," answered Dick. "We have this advantage, we know where they are and they don't know we are on the isle."
With cautious steps they stole after the Merrick party, keeping them in sight by the waving rays of the lamp and lantern ahead, as they danced over the rocks and among the trees and bushes. They kept about a hundred feet to the rear.
"I've got a plan," said Tom, as the party ahead came to a halt to make sure of the trail. "Can't we cut in somewhere and get ahead of them and then scare them back?"
"Let's try it!" exclaimed Sam. "I am sure if we play ghosts, or something like that, we'll scare Tad Sobber out of his wits."
"It's a risky thing to do," mused the eldest Rover. "We might get caught at it."
Nevertheless, he was rather in favor of the plan, and when the Merrick party stopped again, for Cuffer to take a stone out of his shoe, they "cut into" the woods and pushed forward with all speed. It was hard work, but they were in deadly earnest, and did not let the vines and brushwood deter them.
"Now, the question is, How are we to scare them?" said Dick, after they had regained the trail, well in advance of Sid Merrick and his followers.
"Let us play ghosts?" said Sam.
"We might black up and play niggers on the warpath, with big clubs," suggested Tom.
"And get shot down," interrupted Dick. "No, I think the ghosts idea is as good as anything. Quick, take off your coats and tie your handkerchiefs over your faces."
The boys had on light-colored outing shirts, and these, with the handkerchiefs over their faces, made them look quite ghostlike in the gloom under the trees.
"Now, when the time comes groan," said Tom. "Ghosts always groan, you know."
"And let us order them back," added Sam.
"But be sure to do it in very ghostlike tones," warned Dick. "If our voices sound a bit natural they'll get suspicious at once. If they come for us, or shoot at us, drop behind the rocks and run into the woods."
It must be confessed that the boys were doubtful of the success of their ruse. Yet they felt they must do something to hold the treasure-seeking party in check, at least until morning. With the coming of daylight they could signal to theRainbowand with the aid of those on the steam yacht probably rout the enemy.
The Rover boys advanced along the trail until they reached a spot they deemed favorable for their purpose. Then Dick gave his brothers a few more directions.
Presently they saw the rays of the gas lamp and the lantern in the distance. At once Tom set up a deep groaning and Sara and Dick joined in.
"What's that?" asked Shelley, who was the first to hear the sounds.
"Sounds like somebody in distress," answered Sid Merrick.
"Thought you said there was nobody on this island?" came from Cuffer.
"Didn't think there was. Maybe it's some native who——"
"Look! look!" screamed Tad Sobber and pointed ahead with his hand. "What's that?"
"What's what?" asked the men in concert.
"There—that thing bobbing up and down over the rocks?" And Tad Sobber trembled as he spoke. This lonely walk through the darkness of the forest had somewhat unnerved him.
"That's strange," muttered Merrick. "It's groaning!"
"It's a ghost!" screamed Tad, and shrank back, as did Cuffer and Shelley.
"A ghost?" repeated Sid Merrick. "Nonsense! There are no such things as ghosts."
"It cer—certainly looks like a—a ghost!" faltered Cuffer.
"It is a ghost!" said Tad, his teeth beginning to chatter. "I—I ca—can hear it gro—groan! Come on ba—ba—back!" And he began to retreat.
"Back with you!" came in solemn tones. "Back with you!"
"No white man must come here," said a second voice. "This is sacred ground!"
"He who sets foot here dies!" came from a third voice. "This is the burial place of the great Hupa-hupa! Back, if you value your life!" And then followed a jabbering nobody could understand, and white arms were waved wildly in the air.
This warning was too much for Tad Sobber, and without further ado he took to his heels and retreated down the trail whence he had come. Cuffer followed him, and Shelley also retreated several yards.
"Stop, you fools!" cried Sid Merrick. "Those are no ghosts, I tell you. It's a trick of some kind."
"I—I don't know about that," answered Shelley. "Don't you think it would be better to come here in the daylight? We—er—we can't find that cave in the dark anyway."
"Yes, we can—and I am going to do it, too," was Merrick's answer. "That is a trick, I tell you." He raised his voice: "Who are you?" he called out. "Answer me truthfully, or I'll fire on you!"
This threat alarmed the Rover boys, for they saw that Merrick was in earnest.
"I guess our cake is dough," muttered Tom.
"Wait, I think I can scare him back yet," said Dick. "Let me do the talking."
"I say, who are you?" repeated Merrick. "You needn't pretend to be ghosts, for I don't believe in them."
"We are the owners of this isle," answered Dick, in the heaviest tone he could assume. "We are ten strong, and we order you to go back to your ship at once."
"The owners of this isle?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe it."
"You can do as you please about that. But if you come a yard further we'll fire at you."
"Humph! Then you are armed?"
"We are—and we know how to shoot, too."
"What brought you here at such a time as this?"
"We have a special reason for being here, as you may learn by to-morrow."
"Do you know anything of a treasure on this island?" went on Sid Merrick curiously.
"We know something of it, yes. It belongs to the Stanhope estate, provided it can be found."
"It doesn't belong to the Stanhopes at all—it belongs to me," cried Merrick.
"In a day or two the Stanhopes are coming here to take possession," went on Dick. "They will bring with them a number of their friends and uncover the treasure, which is now hidden in a secret place. As I and my brothers and cousins own this isle we are to have our share of what is uncovered. Now we warn you again to go away. We are ten to your four, and we are all armed with shotguns and pistols, and we have the drop on you."
"Good for you, Dick, pile it on," whispered Tom. Then he pulled Sam by the arm. "Come on, let us appear from behind another rock—they'll think we are two more of the brothers or cousins!"
"You won't dare to shoot us," blustered Merrick, but his voice had a trace of uncertainty in it.
"Won't we?" answered Dick. "There is a warning for you!" And raising the pistol he carried he sent a shot over the heads of the other party.
"They are shooting at us! We'll all be killed!" yelled Tad Sobber, who had come back during the conversation, and again he and Cuffer took to their heels.
"Mind the warning!" called out Dick, and dropped almost out of sight behind a rock. At that same moment Tom and Sam appeared from behind a rock far to the left.
"Mind that warning!" they cried. "Remember, we are ten to four!"
"There are two more of 'em," cried Shelley.
"Confound the luck, what sort of a game is this anyway?" said Sid Merrick, much chagrined.
"Well, it is more than we expected," answered Shelley. "I, for one, don't care to risk being shot down. I reckon they have the bulge on us, if there really are ten of 'em."
"I've seen but five—the three ahead and the two over yonder."
"There are two more!" answered Shelley and pointed to another rock, to which Sam and Tom had just crawled. "That makes seven."
"Go back, I tell you," warned Dick. "We'll give you just two minutes in which to make up your mind. If you don't go back we'll start to shoot!"
"Come on back!" cried Tad, from a safe distance. "Don't let them shoot you, Uncle Sid!"
"We'll go back to our ship," called out Sid Merrick. "But remember, this thing isn't settled yet."
"If you have any differences with the Stanhopes you can settle with the folks on the steam yacht which has just arrived," answered Dick, not knowing what else to say.
The party under Sid Merrick began to retreat, and Dick, Tom and Sam watched them with interest, until the lights faded in the distance. Then Tom did a jig in his delight.
"That was easier than I expected," he said.
"Even if we didn't scare them playing ghost," added Sam. "I wonder if they really thought we were ten in number?"
"Well, they thought we were seven anyway!" answered Dick. "It was a clever ruse you two played."
What to do next the Rover boys did not know. It was impossible for any of them to calculate how far they were from the spot where they had landed or to determine the best way of getting back to Horseshoe Bay, as they had named the locality.
"If we move around very much in this darkness we may become hopelessly lost in the forest," said Dick.
"Maybe we had better stay right where we are until morning," suggested his youngest brother.
"I'm agreeable to anything," were Tom's words.
"If we stay here we want to remain on guard," said Dick. "Merrick may take it into his head to come back."
An hour later found the three Rover boys encamped in a small opening to one side of the forest trail. They made beds for themselves of some soft brushwood, and it was decided that one should remain on guard while the other two slept.
"Each can take three hours of guard duty," said Dick. "That will see us through the night nicely," and so it was arranged.
CHAPTER XXII
PRISONERS IN THE FOREST
Dick was the first to go on guard and during the initial hour of his vigil practically nothing came to disturb him. He heard the occasional cry of the nightbirds and the booming of the surf on the reefs and the shore of the isle, and saw numerous fireflies flit to and fro, and that was all.
"I don't believe they'll come back," he murmured to himself. "Like as not they are afraid to advance on the trail and also afraid to trust themselves to this jungle in the darkness."
Dick had found some wild fruit growing close at hand and he began to sample this. But it was bitter, and he feared to eat much, thinking it might make him sick. Then, to keep awake, for he felt sleepy because of his long tramp, he took out his knife and began to cut his initials on a stately palm growing beside the temporary camp.
Dick had just finished one letter and was starting the next when of a sudden he found himself taught from behind. His arms were pinned to his side, his pistol wrenched from his grasp, and a hand that was not overly clean was clapped over his mouth.
"Not a sound, Rover, if you know when you are well off!" said a voice into his ear.
Despite this warning the lad would have yelled to his brothers, but he found this impossible. He had been attacked by Merrick and Shelley, and Cuffer stood nearby, ready with a stick, to crack him over the head should he show fight. The attack had come in the dark, the gas lamp and the lantern having been extinguished when the party from theJosephinedrew close.
Merrick had prepared himself for his nefarious work, and in a twinkling he had Dick's hands bound behind him and had a gag placed in the youth's mouth. Then he had the lad bound fast to a nearby tree.
In the meantime Tom and Sam were sleeping soundly. The two brothers lay each with a hand close to the other, and with caution Merrick and his party tied the two hands together. Then they tied the lads' feet, so that they could not run.
"What's the meaning of this?" cried Tom, struggling to rise, as did Sam.
"It means you are prisoners!" cried Tad Sobber, who had had small part in the operations, but who was ready to do all the "crowing" possible.
"Prisoners!" gasped Sam. "Where is Dick?" he added.
"Also a prisoner," said Tad, with a chuckle. "You thought you had fooled us nicely, but I guess we have turned the tables on you."
"I suspected you Rovers," said Sid Merrick.
"Really!" answered Tom, sarcastically. "You acted it!"
"See here, don't you get funny, young man. Please remember you are in our power."
"And we'll do some shooting, if we have to," added Tad, bombastically.
"Tad, I guess I can do the talking for this crowd," said his uncle.
"You were afraid of the ghosts, Tad," said Sam. "You must have run about a mile!" And the youngest Rover grinned in spite of the predicament he was in.
"You shut up!" roared Tad Sobber, and exhibited some of the brutality that had made him so hated at Putnam Hall by raising his foot and kicking Sam in the side.
"Stop!" cried the youngest Rover, in pain. "What a brute you are!"
"Leave my brother alone!" came from Tom. "A fine coward you are, to kick him when he is a prisoner! You wouldn't dare to try it if he was free."
"I wouldn't, eh? I want you to understand I'm not afraid of anybody," blustered Tad. "I am——"
"Tad, be quiet," cried his uncle. "I am fully capable of managing this affair. Don't kick him again."
"Yes, but look here, Uncle Sid, they——"
"I will take care of things," cried Sid Merrick, and so sharply that his nephew at once subsided. But on the sly he shook his fist at both Tom and Sam.
"Maybe we had better make sure that nobody else is around," suggested Shelley, who had been Merrick's best aide in the capture.
"All right, look around if you want to," was Merrick's reply. "I am pretty certain these boys are alone here—although more persons from the steam yacht may be ashore."
They looked around, but, of course, found nobody else. Then Dick, Tom and Sam were tied in a row to three trees which were handy. Merrick took possession of their single weapon.
"I don't want you to hurt yourselves with it," he said, grimly.
"Merrick, this is a high-handed proceeding," said Dick, when the gag was removed from his mouth.
"No more so than was your statement of owning the isle," was the answer.
"What are you going to do with us?"
"Nothing."
"I must say I don't understand you."
"What should I do with you? I don't enjoy your company. I am here solely to get that treasure, as you must know. I am going after that and leave you where you are."
"Bound to these trees?"
"Certainly."
"Supposing we can't get loose?" remonstrated Tom. "We may starve to death!"
"That will be your lookout. But I reckon you'll get loose sooner or later, although we've bound you pretty tight."
"Can I have a drink before you go?" asked Sam, who was dry.
"Don't give 'em a drop, Uncle Sid!" cried Tad. "They don't deserve it."
"Oh, they can have a drink," said Sid Merrick. "I'd give a drink even to a dog," he added, and passed around some water the boys had in a bottle.
Less than fifteen minutes later the three Rover boys found themselves alone in the forest. The Merrick party had lit their acetylene gas lamp and the lantern and struck out once more along the trail which they supposed would take them to the treasure cave. The boys heard them for a short distance, and then all became dark and silent around them.
"Well, now we are in a pickle and no mistake," remarked Sam, with a long sigh.
"That ghost business proved a boomerang," was Tom's comment. "It's a pity we didn't dig out for the shore, signal to the steam yacht, and tell father and the others about what was going on."
"There is no use crying over spilt milk," said Dick. "The first thing to do is to get free."
"Yes, and that's real easy," sniffed Tom. "I am bound up like a bale of hay to be shipped to the South Pole!"
"And the cord on my wrists is cutting right into the flesh," said Sam.
"If we were the heroes of a dime novel we'd shoo these ropes away in a jiffy," went on Tom, with a grin his brothers could not see. "But being plain, everyday American boys I'm afraid we'll have to stay tied up until somebody comes to cut us loose."
"Oh, for a faithful dog!" sighed Sam. "I saw a moving picture once in which a dog came and untied a girl who was fastened to a tree. I'd give as much as five dollars for that dog right now."
"Make it six and a half, Sam, and I'll go half," answered Tom.
"Well, this is no joke," declared Dick, almost severely. "We must get free somehow—or they'll get that treasure and be off with it before father and the others have a chance to land. We've got to do something."
They all agreed they "had to do something," but what that something was to be was not clear. They worked over their bonds until their wrists were cut and bleeding and then gave the task up. It was so dark they could see each other but dimly, and the darkness and quietness made them anything but lighthearted.
"Supposing some wild beast comes to chew us up," said Sam, presently, after a silence that was positively painful.
"We know there are no big beasts on these islands," answered Dick. "Don't worry yourself unnecessarily, Sam. We've got troubles enough as it is."
"The only beasts here are human beasts," said Tom, "and their names are Merrick, Sobber, Cuffer and Shelley," and he said this so dryly his brothers had to laugh.
Slowly the night wore away, each hour dragging more than that which preceded it. Two or three times the boys tried again to liberate themselves, but fared no better than before, indeed, Dick fared worse, for he came close to spraining his left wrist. The pain for a while was intense and it was all he could do to keep from crying out.
"I'd like to know what time it is," said Sam, when the first streak of dawn began to show among the trees.
"And I'd like to know if Merrick has found the treasure cave," added Dick.
"It will soon be morning," came from Tom, and he was right. The rising sun did not penetrate to where they stood, but it tipped the tops of the trees with gold and made it light enough for them to see each other quite plainly.
The boys were glad that day had come at last, for being prisoners in the light was not half as bad as in the dark. Each looked at the others rather curiously.
"Well, we are still here," said Tom laconically.
"Yes, and liable to stay here," added Sam.
"I wonder if father is getting ready to land," said Dick. "I suppose if he does he will come ashore where we did."
"Yes, but that is a good distance from here," was Sam's comment.
"Wonder if it would do us any good to yell?" said Tom.
"And bring Merrick and his gang down on us," said his younger brother. "No, thank you."
"I don't believe they are around," said Dick. "I am going to try my lungs." And he began to yell with all the power of his vocal organs. Then Tom and Sam joined in, and they kept this up, off and on, for fully an hour.
"I am not only dry but hungry," said Tom. "Wish I had that lunch we brought along."
"Tad Sobber sneaked that away," said Dick. "If ever there was a fellow with a heart of stone he's the chap. Why, Dan Baxter in his worst days wasn't as bad as this young rascal."
Another hour went by and then Dick uttered an exclamation:
"Listen!"
"What did you hear?" asked his brothers.
"I thought I heard somebody calling!"
They strained their ears and from a great distance heard a cry, but what it was they could not make out.
"Let's call back," said Dick.
"It may do us harm," interposed Sam.
"We'll take the chance," said Tom, and started a loud cry, in which all joined. They waited patiently for an answer to come back. But for several minutes there was absolute silence. Then, to their surprise, a pistol shot sounded out.
"Hullo!" ejaculated Dick. "Something is up. I wonder what it is?"
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT WINGATE HAD TO TELL
After the departure of the Rover boys from the steam yacht Mr. Rover and Captain Barforth held a consultation, and it was decided that the search for the treasure cave should begin in earnest at daybreak.
"I do not think the boys will locate the cave in the coming darkness," said Anderson Rover. "But still it will do no harm to let them have a try at it."
"Mr. Rover, do you suppose those on board theJosephinehave landed yet?" asked Fred, who was present.
"There is no telling for certain, Fred. But I should say not, since their steamer is nowhere in sight."
"I hope they do not come for some days," said Mrs. Stanhope. "For if they do, and you meet, I feel sure there will be serious trouble."
After that Anderson Rover had a long talk with Bahama Bill, and the old tar said he thought he could locate the cave without much trouble.
"O' course, the isle has changed since I was here last," said he. "Must have had a hurricane or something like that, to wash the beach and rake down some o' the trees. But I think I can find it as soon as I locate the trail leadin' that way. You know trails are great things. Why, when I was sailing on theJessie D., from the South Sea Islands, we landed on a place where there was a trail running to a volcano. We took to it, and the first thing we know we went down into that ere volcano about a thousand feet. It made my hair stand on end, I can tell ye! Four o' us went down, an' the others had to git ropes an' haul us up ag'in, an' it took half a day to do it."
"Vos you hurted much?" asked Hans.
"Not a scratch, my hearty, only it broke my pipe, one my brother gave me afore I sailed, an' one I wouldn't have taken a month's pay for," concluded Bahama Bill.
An hour later Songbird, who was on the deck of the steam yacht, composing poetry in the darkness of the night, saw the old tar coming toward him. Bahama Bill was groaning deeply.
"What's the matter?" asked the would-be poet.
"Oh, I'm a-burnin' up on my insides!" answered the old tar, and gave a deep groan. "I want a doctor, I do!"
Seeing Bahama Bill was really sick, Songbird went to his assistance and called Mr. Rover. Then Captain Barforth was consulted and he gave the man some medicine.
"It's queer I took sick so quick," said Bahama Bill, an hour later, when he felt better.
"What did you eat and drink?" asked Anderson Rover.
"I ate a tongue sandwich—one o' them was handed around awhile ago. I put it in my bunk room when I got it and ate it on going to bed. It made me sick the minit I downed it."
"I ate one of those sandwiches and it didn't hurt me," said Fred.
"Yah, and I vos eat two of dem," put in Hans. "Da vos goot, doo!" and he smacked his lips.
"Perhaps you ate something earlier in the day that didn't agree with you," said Captain Barforth; and there the talk ended, and Bahama Bill retired once more.
Less than an hour later came a commotion on the steam yacht. Two men were evidently fighting and the voice of Bahama Bill was heard.
"I've caught ye!" he bellowed. "No, ye ain't goin' to git away nuther!" And then came a crash as some article of furniture was tipped over.
A rush was made by Mr. Rover, the boys and several others, and to the astonishment of all Bahama Bill was discovered on the deck locked arm in arm with Walt Wingate, who was doing his best to break away.
"Wingate, you rascal!" shouted Anderson Rover, and caught the deck hand by the collar.
"Let me go!" yelled the fellow, and struggled to free himself. He held a pistol in one hand and this went off, but the bullet merely cut the air. Then the weapon was taken from him.
"So you are still on board, eh?" roared Captain Barforth, when he confronted the man. "What have you to say for yourself?"
"I—er—I haven't done anything wrong," was Wingate's stubborn reply.
"Oh, no, of course not!"
"He came at me in my sleep," cried Bahama Bill. "He had something in a little white paper and he was trying to put it into my mouth when I woke up an' caught him. I think he was going to poison me!" And he leaped forward and caught the prisoner by the throat.
"Le—let up!" gasped the deck hand. "It—it's all a mis—mistake! I wasn't going to poi—poison anybody."
"Maybe he vos poison does sandwiches, doo," suggested Hans. "I mean dose dot made Bahama Pill sick."
"Like as not he did," growled the old tar. "He's a bad one, he is!" And he shook the deck hand as a dog shakes a rat.
"He is surely in league with Sid Merrick," said Anderson Rover. He faced Walt Wingate sternly. "Do you dare deny it?"
At first Wingate did deny it, but when threatened with severe punishment unless he told the whole truth, he confessed.
"I used to know Sid Merrick years ago," he said. "He used me for a tool, he did. When we met at Nassau he told me what he wanted done and I agreed to do it, for some money he gave me and for more that he promised me."
"And what did you agree to do?" asked Anderson Rover.
"I agreed to get a job as a deck hand if I could and then, on the sly, cripple the yacht so she couldn't reach Treasure Isle as quick as theJosephine—the steamer Merrick is on. Then I also promised to make Bahama Bill sick if possible, so he couldn't go ashore and show you where the cave was. I wasn't going to poison him. The stuff I used was given to me by Merrick, who bought it at a drug store in Nassau. He said it would make Bahama Bill sleepy—dopy, he called it."
"Did he tell you what the stuff was?"
"No."
"Then it may be poison after all," said Captain Barforth. "You took a big risk in using it, not to say anything about the villainy of using anything."
"Oh, jest let me git at him, cap'n!" came from Bahama Bill, who was being held back by Fred and Songbird. "I'll show him wot I think o' sech a measly scoundrel!" And he shook his brawny fist at the prisoner.
"I'm sorry now I had anything to do with Merrick," went on Walt Wingate. "He always did lead me around by the nose."
"Well, he has led many others that way," answered Anderson Rover, remembering the freight robbers.
"I am willing to do anything I can to make matters right," went on Wingate.
"O' course you are, now you're caught," sneered Bahama Bill.
"Can you tell us if theJosephinewas coming to this spot?" asked Captain Barforth.
"Is this the south side of the isle?"
"Yes."
"Well, Captain Sackwell said he knew of a landing place on the north side of Treasure Isle, and he was bound for that spot."
"The north side!" cried Anderson Rover. He looked at Captain Barforth. "Can they have tricked us?" he asked.
"I never heard o' any landing on that side," said Bahama Bill. "But then I never visited the place but onct, as I told ye afore."
"Did the Spaniard Doranez know of the landing on the north side?" questioned Songbird.
"So he told Merrick," answered Wingate. "He said he was the one to speak of the isle first, for he had visited it half a dozen times during his voyages among the West Indies."
"Then they may be on the north side of the island now!" cried Fred.
After that Walt Wingate was questioned closely and he told all he knew about Merrick and his plans. He was very humble, and insisted upon it that he had meant to do no more than put Bahama Bill into a sound sleep.
"Well, you are a dangerous character," said Captain Barforth. "For the present I am going to keep you a prisoner," and a few minutes later he had Wingate handcuffed and placed under lock and key in a small storeroom. The deck hand did not like this, but he was thankful to escape a worse fate.
Anxious to know if theJosephinewas anywhere in the vicinity of the isle, some of those on board theRainbowascended one of the masts and attempted to look across the land. But a hill shut off the view.
"We'll have to wait until morning," said Mr. Rover, and was about to go down to the deck when something attracted his attention. It was a strange shaft of light shooting up from along the trees in the center of Treasure Isle.
"A searchlight!" he cried. "Somebody is on shore, and it must be Merrick with his crowd." And this surmise was correct, as we already know.