The sun had not yet risen the next morning, although the eastern sky was bright with signs of coming dawn, when Lester passed among his sleeping comrades with a shake on the shoulder for each.
“Come along, you sleepy heads,” he cried, as they sat up and rubbed their eyes. “We must hustle now and get off. Lively’s the word.”
“You old tyrant,” yawned Teddy. “I feel as though I’d just got to sleep.”
“What’s that I smell?” demanded Fred, as a savory whiff came to his nostrils. “Is it coffee, or does my nose deceive me?”
“Nary a deceive,” grinned Lester. “I just remembered that we had some coffee in the locker, and I swam out and got it. And that isn’t all. Just take a sniff of this,” and he motioned to an old can that he had rummaged from the hut, and that hung by two forked sticks over the fire, giving off a most appetizing odor.
“Clams,” pronounced Fred, as he bent over it.50“Lester, you’re a wonder. Where did you get them?”
“Found a bed of them up the cove a bit,” answered Lester. “Oh, I’m some little hustler, if any one should ask you.”
The boys needed no further urging, and after plunging their faces into the waters of the cove, they ranged themselves round the fire and sampled Lester’s cooking. The clams were delicious as a beginning, and, topped off with the bacon and the rest of the bluefish, together with the fragrant coffee, furnished a meal that would have made a dyspeptic green with envy.
“Now, fellows,” said Lester, when the last crumb and last drop had vanished, “the storm has gone down, although the water’s still pretty rough. But we can start all right. I’ll swim out to theAriel, get up the anchor, and bring her in far enough so you can wade out to her and get aboard. Then we’ll make a break for open water and take a look around for Ross’ motor boat.”
“I’m none too sure we’ll find her,” said Ross, dubiously. “She may have been swamped or dashed against the rocks.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” remarked Fred. “It’s a wonder what a boat will go through sometimes, and then she was so far out that I don’t think she got near the rocks.”
“Even if we don’t find her, it won’t be any proof51that she went under,” added Teddy. “Some other boat may have caught sight of her and taken her in tow.”
“Not in such a blow as we had last night, I’m afraid,” answered Ross. “Still, I’m not going to begin to grizzle now. There’ll be plenty of time to do that if we don’t find her.”
In a few minutes they were all on board, and theArielmade for the narrow passage between the sentinel rocks at the mouth of the cove.
“A little different from what it was when we came scooting in last night,” remarked Teddy, as the sturdy little boat danced out on the waves that sparkled in the sunshine.
“Well, rather!” answered Lester, as he swung theArielround to her course. “I don’t mind telling you fellows now that I felt mighty shaky yesterday afternoon. I’ve been out in many a stiff blow, but I’ve usually had warning and been able to make a dash for home. It takes pretty careful work to get a boat into that cove between those two big rocks even in ordinary weather; but it’s a case of nip and tuck when one has to try it in a storm. My heart was in my mouth for a few minutes until we got safely through.”
“You didn’t show it,” said Fred. “You went at it as coolly as any old salt who has done nothing else all his life but buck the seas.”
“Well, anyway, we got through all right, and52that’s all that counts,” returned Lester. “But after this I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for signs of trouble before the trouble comes.”
“It was our fault for talking too much,” remarked Teddy. “We were so stirred up by that letter from Mel that we couldn’t think of anything else.”
By this time Lester had the boat well out on the open sea, and every one kept a sharp lookout for any trace of Ross’ boat. In his heart no one of them really expected to see it again, but they all kept up an appearance of confidence, the Rally Hall boys doing so in order not to discourage their new-found friend.
He, on his part, was almost silent. This was due to some extent, no doubt, to the reaction from his severe ordeal of the day before, but it may have been caused somewhat by the feeling that he had gone too far in taking them fully into his confidence. His secret was no longer his, and while he was strongly drawn toward these wholesome young fellows who were of his own age, he could not help feeling a little uneasy. He felt sure that they would act toward him in perfect good faith, but some careless or indiscreet word dropped by any one of them might betray the secret to others who would not be as scrupulous.
“I wish we had brought a pair of glasses along,” remarked Lester. “There’s an extra pair at the53lighthouse, and we might have had it as well as not.”
“Never mind,” said Teddy, “we’ve got Bill’s eyes to fall back on, and if they can see as far out over the water as they used to over the prairie, they’ll be almost as good as glasses.”
Over an hour elapsed without any trace of the derelict, and Lester began to feel uneasy in regard to his long absence from home.
“I hate to cut this short,” he said reluctantly, “but I know just how father is feeling after yesterday’s storm, and I feel it’s up to me to let him know we’re safe. As soon as we’ve done that, we can put right out again and spend the whole day looking for the boat.”
“You’re just right,” answered Ross heartily. “You fellows have done enough for me already and you ought to make a bee-line for home. The chances are all against our finding the motor boat anyway. It may have sunk long ago.”
Just as Lester was about to act on the suggestion, there was a cry from Bill:
“There’s something over there that may be what we’re after. I’ve been watching it for some minutes. It’s a boat of some kind, and it hasn’t any sails. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, but is just tossing up and down.”
The rest strained their eyes, but at first could see only a tiny dot. Lester steered straight toward the54object and as a stiff breeze filled the sail he made rapid progress.
“That’s it!” shouted Ross jubilantly, as they came closer; “I’ve handled it too long to be mistaken.”
“Hurrah!” cried Teddy.
“Great!” exclaimed Fred. “It wasn’t a forlorn hope after all.”
“We’re some little searchers, all right,” exulted Bill.
They were soon within a hundred feet of the motor boat. It was a trim, smart-looking little craft, and the boys admired the long sloping lines that denoted speed. There was no sign of any damage to the boat, but the loggy way in which it moved showed that it had shipped a lot of water.
With a skilful twist of the tiller, Lester rounded to on the port side. Fred reached out and held the two boats together with the hook, while the others let the fenders over the side to keep the boats from scraping.
“Right as a trivet,” said Lester. “Here’s your boat, Ross, old man, and as far as I can see it’s just as good as ever.”
“I’ll never forget you fellows as long as I live!” exclaimed Ross gratefully, as he leaped to the deck of his own craft.
Ross was quickly followed by Bill and Teddy. Lester and Fred waited only until they had fastened the two boats securely together, then they followed the example of their mates.
“She isn’t full of water or anything like that, is she?” remarked Teddy, as he saw the water sloshing from one side to the other as the boat rocked on the waves.
“Two feet at least,” judged Bill.
“Not more than eighteen inches,” was the verdict of Lester, who was accustomed to measure depths where water was concerned. “But that’s enough and more than enough. She’s a pretty good seaworthy boat, or she’d have shipped a good deal more.”
“She must have ridden the waves like a cork,” said Fred in admiration.
The motor boat was not quite as large as theAriel, being perhaps two feet shorter, and also narrower in the beam. In the stern there was a gasoline engine of the newest type, bearing the name of56a celebrated maker. Amidships, there was a tiny cabin that one had to stoop to enter. On one side of this were small lockers, one designed to hold tools and spare parts of the engine, the other serving as a pantry. On the other side was a low, broad seat extending the whole length of the cabin, and on this was a cushion which at night served as a mattress for the owner of the boat.
Everything about the little craft was trim and plain, the only ornament in sight being some brass work that surrounded the binnacle. It was clear that it had been built with an eye to usefulness rather than beauty.
“The first thing now, fellows,” said Lester, after a quick glance around had satisfied his curiosity, “is to get the water over into the sea where it belongs. We’d better get off our shoes and socks and roll our trousers up high.”
In a twinkling, the boys were ready for wading.
“I have a bailer here,” said Ross, producing it from the locker.
“That’s all right but it isn’t enough,” said Fred. “I’ll get Lester’s, and you fellows can rustle up something else that will do the trick.”
The boys were rather restricted in their choice, but the articles they finally got together for the purpose served well enough. As Teddy put it, the collection was “neat but not gaudy.” He had the frying pan, Bill handled the coffee pot, Lester used57a huge sponge, while Fred and Ross did effective work with the bailers.
Before the onslaught of five sturdy pairs of arms, the water went down quickly and was soon so low that only the sponge could be used. Five minutes more, and the last drop had been squeezed over the side.
“There,” said Lester, as he flung the sponge back into theAriel. “She’s empty now and the hot sun will soon dry out the planks. But I wouldn’t advise you to sleep on those cushions to-night, unless you want to get rheumatism or pneumonia.”
“I’m not going to,” answered Ross. “As soon as I get the engine going, I’ll beat it to Oakland, and I’ll sleep between sheets to-night in a regular bed.”
“It won’t be a bad place, either, after last night on the sand,” replied Teddy.
“Are you staying at Oakland right along, when you’re not cruising around?” asked Lester.
“Yes, I’ve been there for the last two months. I have relatives there.”
“If there’s nothing special to call you there now, I’d be glad to have you come along with us to Bartanet Shoals,” said Lester hospitably.
“That would be great!” exclaimed Fred. “Then we could talk more about the missing money. There’ll be a hundred things come up that we’ll want to ask you about.”
58“It’s very kind of you,” responded Ross warmly, “and I’d like nothing better. But just now I’m looking for my mother to come down from her home in Canada. She may be here any time now, and I want to be on hand when she comes. She’s going to stay for several weeks. But the very first chance I get, I’ll come over to the Shoals.”
“All right,” said Lester. “The latch string hangs outside the door, and we’ll be glad to see you.”
“How’s the engine?” asked Bill.
“Right as can be, as far as I can see,” was the answer. “I’ll have to dry it and polish it. There wasn’t anything serious the matter with it yesterday–just a little trouble with the ignition–and I was just getting it into shape, when that big wave came aboard and took me over.”
“We’ll stand by anyway for a few minutes to make sure,” said Lester, as he rose to return to theAriel.
“Don’t wait another minute,” urged Ross earnestly. “You fellows have done enough for me already, and I know you’re just aching to get home to relieve your father’s mind.”
“We’ll cast off anyway,” was the reply. “It’ll take a little time to run up the sheet and get ready to sail, and by that time you’ll know better how things are.”
“What do you call your boat, Ross?” asked59Teddy, as the rest of the boys rose to follow Lester.
“I’ve named her theSleuth,” answered Ross.
“It’s a mighty suitable name, considering what you’re using her for,” laughed Teddy. “Let’s hope she’ll be sleuth enough to get on the trail of the smugglers.”
“She will,” said Ross with decision; and a look of determination leaped into his eyes, while his lips compressed themselves into a straight line.
His chums drew in the fenders and ran up the sail, while Lester took his place at the tiller and eased theArieloff, until a space of twenty feet separated the two boats.
“We’ll run a few rings around you, while you get the engine to working,” called out Lester.
“All right, if you insist upon it,” laughed Ross. “That’s easy enough to do now, but some day we’ll have a race, and then it may be a little tougher job.
“Here it comes now!” he exclaimed a moment later, as the engine gave a few preliminary barks.
The sparking was fitful at first, but it soon settled down into a smooth steady buzz.
“Listen to that music,” cried Ross jubilantly. “Richard is himself again!”
He started the boat, and she darted ahead like a bird. He tested the steering gear and it worked perfectly.
“Capital!” cried Fred delightedly.
“Hurrah!” echoed Teddy.
60“She’s a pippin!” exclaimed Bill enthusiastically.
Ross flushed with pleasure at the praise of his craft.
“Well,” he called, “I owe it all to you fellows that I’m on board of her to-day. I hope you’ll never get into similar trouble, but if you do, I only hope that I’m on hand to help you out.”
Their courses lay in opposite directions and amid a chorus of good wishes and hand wavings they rapidly drew apart.
“Well!” remarked Teddy, drawing a long breath when they were out of ear shot, “this has been an adventure with a great big A.”
“Who’d ever have thought when we started out yesterday that we’d run across anything like this?” added Fred, as he settled down with his hand on the sheet.
“That’s the beauty of the sea,” remarked Lester, as he brought his boat up a little more into the wind. “On the land, things jog along steadily and there aren’t so many surprises. But at sea, anything can happen. You never know what’s going to turn up.”
“I don’t know about that,” replied Bill, moved to a defence of his beloved prairies. “Plenty of unexpected things turn up on land too. I guess Fred and Teddy didn’t find things very tame out at the ranch this summer.”
“We surely did not!” returned Fred. “What with ghosts and rattlesnakes and bears and cattle61rustlers, we didn’t find time hanging heavy on our hands.”
“Not so that you could notice it,” chuckled Teddy.
“Of course there are exceptions,” admitted Lester, “but I was speaking in a general way. My father was a sailor and the sea is in my blood. I never get tired of it and I’m always finding in it something new and exciting.”
“How do you like our new friend?” asked Fred.
“Fine,” said Teddy promptly.
“All to the good,” was Bill’s verdict.
“He seems to be the real thing,” agreed Lester.
“He’s certainly had hard luck,” said Fred. “If his father had been able to carry through his plans, life would be a mighty different thing to Ross from what it is.”
“It must be an awful strain on a fellow to be on a still hunt like his,” mused Bill.
“Yes, and with so little to work on,” chimed in Teddy. “If he had anything definite to go on, like a map or a letter or a confession, it would be another thing. But he seems to be relying altogether on chance and the ravings of his father. And a crazy man may say anything. What does his speaking about Bartanet Shoals mean? It might have been just chance that he didn’t mention Cape Horn or Baffin Bay or any other place.”
62“Do you think,” asked Lester slowly, “that Ross has told us everything he knows?”
The others looked at him in surprise.
“Why, what makes you ask that?” inquired Teddy.
“I don’t know just how much there is to it,” was the answer; “but did you notice how he checked himself last night, when some one asked him whether those were all the clues he had?”
“Now that you speak of it, I do remember that he said he hadn’t anything else, and then he used the word ‘except,’” said Fred. “Then he stopped suddenly and didn’t explain what that ‘except’ meant.”
“He acted as though something had slipped out before he thought,” volunteered Bill.
“You can hardly blame him, if he felt a little doubtful about us,” observed Teddy. “He had never seen us before, and I think he went pretty far in telling us even as much as he did.”
“You’re right there,” said Lester. “How did he know that we wouldn’t blurt out the whole thing to any one who would listen. It might spoil all his chances of recovering anything. There are plenty of fellows who would spy on his every act and make life a burden to him. Others might plan to follow him and take the gold away from him by force if he should find it.”
“It would be a big temptation,” agreed Bill.63“There are some fellows who would sell their souls for a ten dollar bill. How much more, if the reward were a chest of gold!”
“I don’t blame Ross a bit under the circumstances,” said Fred, “but I’m sorry just the same. We have so little to go by that we can’t afford to lose the slightest thing that may help us out.”
“We’ll see him again before long anyway,” put in Teddy hopefully, “and he may grow to know us well enough to put us wise to all that he’s been keeping back.”
“We’ll live in hopes,” said Lester. “But look over there, boys, and see a sight to gladden your eyes. We are almost home.”
They followed his gaze and saw the Bartanet Shoals Lighthouse, its great reflector sparkling in the rays of the morning sun.
The lighthouse was a massive structure, over a hundred feet in height. It had been built in obedience to a general demand, owing to the number of vessels that had been wrecked in the vicinity. There were treacherous currents and swiftly running tides due to the peculiar conformation of the Maine coast at that point, and if a ship once grounded on the shoals while a storm was raging its hours were numbered.
In the distance, with the sun playing on it and the sea gulls swooping about its top, it seemed something slender and ethereal. It was only when one was close at hand that its real strength and solidity could be appreciated.
It was built on a solid rock foundation that sloped down into the sea many feet distant from its base. The tower was circular in form so as to offer as little surface as possible to the wind from whatever quarter it might blow. The walls at the bottom, where the force of the waves spent itself, were many feet thick, but they grew thinner as the tower rose in the air. At the top was the enormous light65of many thousand candle power. It was the alternating kind, and every fifteen seconds it threw out a ray that could be seen by mariners for many miles.
The lighthouse stood about a mile from the mainland, and all the household supplies had to be brought over by Lester or his father from the little village of Bartanet. Whatever was needed for the light itself came at stated intervals on the government cutters that cruised along that section of the coast.
The boys, under Lester’s guidance, had long before this explored every portion of the lighthouse and wondered at the marvels of the machinery that set the light in motion and kept it going automatically through the night. Brought up in inland towns, all this was new to them, and their curiosity and interest were insatiable.
Now as they watched it growing larger as they drew nearer, they shared the delight and pride of Lester in the noble structure of which his father was the guardian.
“Isn’t it glorious?” demanded Fred.
“Think of the lives that have been saved by it,” said Teddy.
“And will be saved by it during the next hundred years,” added Bill.
“I wonder if poor Mr. Montgomery saw it on that last cruise of his,” pondered Fred.
66“He must have, if the smugglers really came this way,” answered Lester. “That was only about nine years ago, you remember Ross said, and the lighthouse has stood for twenty years.”
“Has your father had charge of it all that time?” asked Bill.
“No, he was appointed about twelve years ago.”
“Then he must have been here at the time the gold was stolen,” said Teddy eagerly. “I wonder if he heard anything about the matter.”
“I never heard him speak about it, but I shouldn’t be a bit surprised if he had. There are so many old salts that run over to spin yarns with him, that there’s very little sea gossip going around that he doesn’t hear at one time or another.”
“Let’s ask him,” suggested Bill.
“Surely we will. He may be able to tell us something that Ross himself doesn’t know.”
“In that case, the next time we meet Ross it will be our turn to look wise and mysterious,” laughed Fred.
“Or we can bargain with him. We’ll tell him what we know in return for what he was going to tell us but didn’t,” added his brother.
“We’ll have to come to something like that sooner or later,” said Lester decidedly. “It’s all nonsense our going round blindly, when each might be able to help the other. A sick man ought to tell everything to his doctor, and a prisoner oughtn’t to keep67anything back from his lawyer. When he does, he has no one to blame but himself if things don’t go right. I’m going to put it up to Ross, full and plain, the next time I see him.”
“I wonder when that will be,” murmured Teddy.
“Before long I hope. If he doesn’t come over to see us, we’ll go up to Oakland to see him.”
“How far is Oakland from here?” asked Bill.
“Not more than thirty miles. With a good wind we can make it in a few hours. But I think I see father standing on the platform of the tower. Take a look, Bill, and tell me if it is. My eyes are pretty good, but yours are better.”
“That’s who it is,” pronounced Bill, after a minute’s scrutiny. “He has a pair of glasses in his hands. There, he’s waving to us.”
“Dear old dad!” exclaimed Lester. “I suppose he’s worried himself half sick, wondering what had become of us. But he knows now that we are safe, and with this wind we’ll not be more than twenty minutes or half an hour in getting in.”
They flew along over the waves, cunningly coaxing every inch of speed out of theAriel, and in less time than Lester had predicted they rounded to at the little dock on the leeward side of the lighthouse rock. A bronzed, elderly man, of medium height, came hurriedly down to meet them.
“Thank God, you are safe!” he exclaimed, as he grasped Lester’s hand, then that of each of the boys68in turn. “I haven’t been able to think of anything but you all night long. What happened to you?”
“It’s a long story, Dad,” said Lester, beaming affectionately on his father, as, after fastening theAriel, they all walked up to the lighthouse. “We picked up a fellow that had been carried overboard from his motor boat, and by that time the storm had grown so bad that we had to run for it to the nearest place that offered us shelter.”
“And where was that?”
“Up in Sentinel Cove. You know, where those two big rocks stand at the entrance.”
“Do you mean to say that you took the boat through that entrance while that storm was raging?” asked his father, in a tone in which surprise and pride were equally blended.
“There wasn’t anything else to do,” answered Lester.
“You ought to have seen the way he shot through there, Mr. Lee,” put in Fred. “It was a fine bit of seamanship. He’s your own son when it comes to sailing.”
“I’m glad I didn’t see him,” was the answer. “It would have made my hair grayer than it is, and that’s gray enough. But all’s well that ends well, and I needn’t tell you how thankful I am to have you turn up safe and sound. It wasn’t only my own boy, but I feel that I’m responsible for you young chaps, too, while you’re visiting here.”
69The boys had grown very fond of this kindly, hearty man who was their friend’s father. He had made them instantly welcome and given them the run of the place. His means were limited but his heart was big, and from the outset he had spared no pains to make them feel at home and to give them a good time.
There were no women on the little island, as Lester’s mother had died ten years before. Because of this, the father and son, having no one but each other, were bound together by the strongest affection.
Their housekeeping was of the simplest kind, but both of them were prime cooks and they set such an abundant table that even the boys with their ravenous appetites were completely satisfied. They even found a certain pleasure in the lack of some of the “trimmings,” as Teddy called them, that had surrounded them in their more elaborate homes. It gave them a sense of freedom, and the whole adventure became a sort of exalted camping out.
Bill’s life and Fred’s and Teddy’s recent experiences in the West had hardened and toughened them and also made them more self-reliant. The breezy outdoor life had become almost a necessity to them. So they entered heartily into the domestic arrangements at Bartanet Shoals, making their own beds and helping to prepare the meals. It is probable that some of their women relatives would have70sniffed contemptuously at some of the results they reached, but this bothered them not at all. They ate like wolves, slept like logs and were content.
Mr. Lee had followed the sea for many years. When scarcely out of his teens, he had entered the navy. Later, he had shipped as a whaler, and the boys listened breathlessly to the thrilling stories he had to tell of his adventures in that perilous calling. After his wife’s death, he felt that the interests of his son required that he should stay at home; so he had applied for the position of lighthouse keeper at Bartanet Shoals, and had received it.
“You boys must be half starved,” he said, as they entered the living room of the lighthouse. “As I remember, you didn’t have anything when you started out except a few slices of bacon, and those wouldn’t go far with such a hungry crew as you are.”
“Guess again, Dad,” laughed Lester. “We didn’t exactly starve last night and this morning, did we, boys?”
“Um-yum,” assented Fred, “I should say not! Clam soup and fried bacon and broiled bluefish and hot coffee! Nothing more than that. And we didn’t do a thing to them, eh, fellows?”
“Not a thing!” chorused Bill and Teddy fervently.
Mr. Lee’s eyes twinkled.
“I’m afraid I’ve made an awful mistake then,”71he said soberly. “I thought you’d be nearly famished, and so I spread myself in getting up an extra good dinner. But of course, if you’ve had so many good things, you won’t want anything more and I’ll have to eat all alone.”
He threw open the dining-room door and savory odors issued forth.
“Lead me to it!” shouted Bill. The next moment there was a regular football rush, as the four laughing boys tried to beat each other to the table.
For the next few minutes there was not much talking, and the boys devoted themselves to making a wreck of the good things heaped before them. Their morning in the salt air on the open sea had put them in fine fettle and they had enormous appetites.
“Well,” said Fred, when at last they were satisfied, “we have to hand it to you as a cook, Mr. Lee. You certainly know how to make things taste good.”
“Lester comes rightly by his talent in fixing up the eats,” declared Bill.
“A sailor has to learn to turn his hand to anything,” laughed their host. “He gets into lots of places where he has to depend on himself alone or go hungry. I’ve been shipwrecked twice in the course of my life, and I’ve had to learn to eat all sorts of things and to cook them in a way that would help me get them down.”
“Talking about shipwrecks,” he went on, as he filled and lighted his pipe and settled down for an after-dinner smoke, “reminds me of the fellow you73say you picked up yesterday. How did he come there? Go ahead and spin your yarn.”
“It wasn’t exactly a shipwreck,” explained Lester. “The boat wasn’t smashed, and as a matter of fact we found it for Ross again to-day. It was a motor boat––”
“A motor boat!” interrupted Mr. Lee, with a sniff. He had the distrust felt by most deep-water sailors, of what he called “these pesky modern contraptions.”
“Ross was tinkering with some part of the machinery that had gone wrong,” continued Lester, “when a big wave caught him and carried him overboard. We were near by at the time and we made for him and got him.”
“Yanked him in with a boathook, I suppose,” said his father.
“We were too late for that,” answered Lester. “He had gone down, but Fred grabbed a rope and dived over after him. It was a close call, but he got him, and then we dragged them both in.”
“A plucky thing to do in a storm like that,” commented Mr. Lee, looking approvingly at Fred.
“Ross came to after a while, and we found that the only hurt he had was the water he had swallowed,” went on Lester. “We couldn’t do anything with the motor boat just then, so we made straight for Sentinel Cove. This morning, Montgomery was as good as ever.”
74Mr. Lee started slightly as he heard this name.
“Montgomery, did you say?” he asked. “I thought you called him Ross.”
“Yes, Ross Montgomery. Why?”
“Nothing,” was the reply. “Go ahead with your story.”
“There isn’t very much more to tell, as far as we’re concerned. We anchored at the cove for the night, and got away bright and early this morning. But Ross himself had a story to tell that has got us all worked up. You’d never guess what it was, Dad, in a thousand years.”
“I never was much good at guessing,” smiled Mr. Lee, “so let’s have it just as he told it.”
Lester started at the beginning and told the story as he had received it from Ross, with frequent suggestions from the other boys to remind him of some slight detail he had overlooked.
Mr. Lee listened intently, but he asked no questions, and for some minutes after Lester had finished he continued to smoke in silence, while the boys looked at him eagerly, anxious to know what he made of it.
“Well, Dad,” said Lester, a little impatiently, “what do you think of the story? Is there anything in it?”
“There’s a great deal in it,” replied Mr. Lee gravely, removing his pipe from his mouth. “I believe every word of it is true.”
75The boys were delighted at this confirmation of their own feeling by a mind more mature than theirs. They had been afraid that Mr. Lee would ridicule the story, or throw cold water on their plan to go ahead and try to find the treasure.
“I was perfectly sure that Ross was telling us the truth,” jubilated Teddy.
“I never doubted that for a minute,” put in Bill, “but I thought he might be building hope on a very slight foundation. After all, he has so little to go on.”
“Then you really think that there was a chest of gold and that smugglers took it from Mr. Montgomery and buried it?” asked Fred.
“I think they took it from him, but I don’t think they buried it,” answered Mr. Lee.
“What do you think they did with it; spent it?” asked Teddy in quick alarm.
“I don’t think that either,” was the reply. “I think they hid it somewhere and that it’s there yet.”
“Oh!” said Fred, with a sigh of relief. “Then we still have a chance.”
“Now, look here, Dad!” exclaimed Lester, “I can see by what you’re saying that you know more about this thing than we do. Don’t tease us by acting in such a mysterious way. Come right out with it.”
Mr. Lee laughed good-naturedly.
“You boys are always in a hurry,” he remarked as he refilled his pipe with a deliberation that was76maddening to his hearers. “But just let me get my pipe drawing well, and I’ll tell you all I know. It isn’t so much after all as maybe you think, but it may help to piece out a bit here and there.”
He settled himself comfortably in his seat and began:
“It was about nine or ten years ago–I don’t remember the exact date–that Mark Taylor was out fishing at a point about twenty miles from here.”
“The Mark Taylor who lives in Milton?” inquired Lester.
“That was the one. He wasn’t having very good luck, and had about made up his mind to pull up and go home, when he caught sight of a little boat tossing up and down on the waves. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and Mark could see that there was no one rowing or steering it. He thought that was strange and made up his mind he’d look into the matter. So he ran up his sail and ran over to what he thought was the empty boat. He told me afterwards he was knocked all in a heap, when he saw a man lying in the bottom of it.
“At first Mark thought the man was either dead or drunk. But there wasn’t any smell of liquor on him, and he moved when Mark touched him. Mark saw that something serious was the matter, and he tried to get the man into his sailboat. But Mark didn’t weigh more than a hundred and twenty77pounds, and this man was so big and so heavily built that he had to give it up.
“So, leaving the man in it, he tied the small boat to the stern of his, and made a quick run for home. He took the man into his cabin and sent for the doctor. The doctor examined the man carefully and found a big gash in his head that looked as though it had been made with a hatchet. He saw it hadn’t reached a vital point, though, so he sewed it up and left some medicine, promising to come again the next day.
“Mark said that the doctor had no sooner gone than the man began to rave and toss about. After a while he became violent, and Mark, being a small man as I have said, had to call in some of the neighbors to hold him down. He seemed to imagine that he was in a fight and that a crowd was piling on him. And he kept talking about ‘the gold’ and ‘the chest,’ and vowing that they would never get it away from him.”
A murmur ran around the listening circle.
“Mark didn’t pay much attention to what he said,” resumed Mr. Lee, “because he thought it was only the raving of a crazy man.
“Mark and the neighbors searched his clothes and found some papers that showed them the man’s name was Montgomery. They found out, too, that he lived in a place on the coast of Canada. They wrote to his folks right away, and a couple of men78came down to take him home as soon as he was able to travel.
“That wasn’t for a good while, though, for Montgomery had come down with an attack of brain fever that kept him on his back for weeks. He got over that at last, but his mind wasn’t right. He wasn’t violent any longer but was melancholy. Went around all the time in a daze. Couldn’t get anything out of him, except that he kept muttering to himself about ‘the gold.’ Sometimes, though, he’d speak of debts that seemed to worry him. He couldn’t carry on any connected conversation, and he’d get so excited when any one tried to question him, that the doctor said they must let him alone.
“He was taken away as soon as he was strong enough, and that’s the last Mark ever saw of him. A little while later, the man’s wife sent a little money to Mark to cover his expenses in caring for her husband, and she said in her letter that he was no better. And from what you boys tell me to-day, he must have died soon after.”
“Didn’t he give any hint of where this fight and robbery had taken place?” asked Fred.
“No, except that Mark says the man often spoke of Bartanet Shoals. Of course, that may have meant something and it may have meant nothing. Still, judging from where the boat was found, it probably was somewhere within fifty miles of here.”
79“Fifty miles,” murmured Bill. “That’s an awful lot of territory to cover.”
“Wasn’t there anything in the little boat to give a clue?” asked Teddy.
“Not a thing except that it had the name ’Ranger’ painted on the stern. That showed that it must have come from a large boat of that name.”
“Are you sure that Mark didn’t tell you anything else that might give us a hint?” asked Lester. “Try to remember, Dad.”
“Well,” mused his father, “I didn’t question him very much at the time, because I felt as he did, that it was just the foolish raving of a man who was out of his head.”
“How far is Milton from here?” questioned Bill.
“Only a matter of twenty-five miles or so,” was the answer.
“We’ll go over and see Mark the first chance we get,” said Lester decidedly. “He may drop something when we put him through the third degree that may put us on the trail.”
“That’s a good idea,” commented his father. “Mark’s growing pretty old now and his memory isn’t as good as it was, but he may remember something that will be of use. At any rate there’s no harm in trying.”
“We have something to work with now,” said Fred cheerily. “We’ve been able to check up Ross’80story and know that he wasn’t dreaming. Then, too, we have the name of the man who actually found Mr. Montgomery when he was set adrift, if that’s the way he came into the open boat.”
“But there must be more,” persisted Lester. “What did you mean, Dad, when you said that the gold wasn’t buried but that it was hidden?”
“You’re right,” admitted his father, “there is more that happened some time later.”
The boys were all on edge as they awaited further developments.
“Six years ago,” resumed Mr. Lee, “an old sailor, named Tom Bixby, who had sailed on the same ship with me in the old days, drifted down this way, and hearing that I had charge of the lighthouse came over to see me. Tom was always a decent sort of fellow, and I was glad to see him and talk over the old times when we had sailed the seas together.
“He stayed here a couple of days and one night he told me a strange story.
“It seems that his last trip had been on a four-master sailing out of Halifax. She had been rather short-handed, and the skipper had been worrying about where he could get enough sailors to work his craft.
“While he was casting around, he was surprised and glad one day to have half a dozen burly fellows come aboard and offer to sign articles for the voyage. They told a story of just having finished82a trip on a tramp from Liverpool, and as they were all messmates they were anxious to get a berth together on the same ship.
“The captain didn’t ask any question–no captain ever does when he happens to be short-handed–and he signed the men on at once. That very night the ship hove her anchor and put out to sea.
“They were to go around Cape Horn, and it would be at least two years and maybe more before they would see home again.
“Tom said that the men were good, smart sailors and no mistake. But there was something queer about them. They didn’t mix much with the others of the crew. They would gather together in a little knot when they were off duty and talk in whispers. It seemed as though some secret held them together.
“The man who seemed to be most influential among them was a big Portuguese named Manuel. The others seemed to stand in fear of him. He didn’t seem like a common sailor, but acted as if he were used to giving orders instead of obeying them.
“Tom said that at last he got rather chummy with one of them, named Dick, and used to have long talks with him. From what the man let slip, Tom learned that he had passed most of his life in the coastwise trade, and though he didn’t say right out that he had been a smuggler, Tom guessed as much.
83“One night Dick, while reefing sails in a blow, had a bad fall from aloft. He was a very sick man for a while, and the skipper didn’t know whether he’d pull through or not. The captain detailed Tom to look after him, and in that way they got more confidential than ever.
“One day Dick had a turn for the worse and thought he was going to die. He was dreadfully scared and after a good deal of beating around the bush, told Tom that he wanted to get something off his mind. He didn’t want to die, he said, without having made a clean breast of it.
“Then he went on to say that he had been a seaman on board a coastwise trader called theRangerthat hailed from some Canadian port not far from Halifax. She did a good deal of legitimate trading, but mixed in with this a considerable amount of smuggling.
“Her captain was a man named Ramsay–––”
“That’s the very name Ross gave us,” broke in Teddy excitedly.
“He was a hard man, but, outside the smuggling, a straight one,” resumed Mr. Lee, “and the people along the coast had confidence in him.
“One day a man, whose name Dick didn’t remember, came aboard for a trip to the New England coast. He had considerable luggage, and among other things there was a heavy box that it took two men to handle. The man had them put84the box in his cabin, although some other things he permitted to be placed in the hold.
“They had only been a day or two out, when Ramsay was killed by a tackle block that fell from aloft while he was walking the deck. The mate, Manuel, who Dick explained was the big Portuguese, took command and the captain was buried at sea.
“The passenger seemed to grow nervous after the captain’s death, and kept pretty closely to his room. But he couldn’t stay there always, and one day when he entered it he found Manuel there trying to open the chest. There was a fight right away, and in the struggle the man was badly hurt by a blow from a hatchet that Manuel had in his hand.
“The whole crew had been drawn to the spot by the struggle, and Dick says they were all scared, even Manuel himself, at the outcome of the fight. Manuel would have robbed, but neither he nor the others would have gone so far as to murder.
“But they had got into the scrape now, and felt that they might as well be hung for sheep as for lambs. They had passed Bartanet Shoals a few hours before the fight took place––”
“That’s why Mr. Montgomery kept harping on that, I suppose,” said Lester. “It was one of his last conscious thoughts.”
“That must have been it,” said his father. “They opened the box and got the surprise of their lives.85Dick said that there was nothing but gold pieces, and it shone so that it dazzled their eyes.”
“Did he say how much there was?” asked Bill.
“Dick said he didn’t know, but it must have been a great many thousands of dollars. Dick was an ignorant fellow and he said he didn’t know that there was as much money as that in the world.
“At any rate, there was more money than any one of them could ever hope to earn at the beggarly wages they were getting. They took an oath then and there that they would divide the gold evenly among them, and all swore to take the life of any one who betrayed the others.
“They didn’t dare keep on their voyage to the port where they were going. There would have been too much explaining to do. So they made for a cove on the coast––”
“Where was it? What was its name? How far from here?” came in a chorus from the boys.
“A cove on the coast,” went on Mr. Lee, disregarding the interruption, “where they could think things over and make their plans. They anchored at a little distance out, and came into the cove in a small boat, carrying the chest of gold and the unconscious passenger. They carried the gold ashore and left the passenger in the boat. But in the excitement, they must have failed to draw the boat far enough up on the sand. At all events, it got adrift and floated out into the darkness.
86“When they missed it, they were panic-stricken. They didn’t know what to do with the gold. If it had been in small bills that couldn’t have been traced, the matter would have been easy enough. But they feared that if Mr. Montgomery escaped and recovered there would be a regular hue and cry, and a close watch kept for any one who was spending gold pieces, which is rather an unusual thing to do in these days of paper money. Of course, professional sharpers would have found some way out, but these men were not that, and now that they had taken part in a crime they were in deadly fear of detection.
“They concluded at last that the best thing they could do for the present was to leave the gold in its chest carefully concealed in that lonely place, sail their ship to some harbor where they could sell it for what it would bring, and then ship together on a long voyage that would keep them out of the country until the storm blew over. Thus each could watch the others and when they got back they could get the chest and divide the gold among them.
“Tom told me that when Dick got to this point, he couldn’t hold in any longer but asked him point blank where it was that he had buried the treasure chest.
“‘We didn’t bury it,’ Dick answered. ‘We hid it in––’
87“Just then the skipper called Tom and he had to leave Dick, but promised to come back as soon as he could.
“But one duty after another kept him busy, and he wasn’t able to go back to Dick for some time. Then he found that a great change had taken place. Dick’s fever had gone down, he had a little appetite, and it was clear that he was on the mend. Perhaps the relieving of his conscience by telling of the crime had helped him get better.
“However that might have been, he was a very different Dick from the night before. His mouth was shut as tight as an oyster, and Tom couldn’t get another word out of him. When he reminded him that he hadn’t finished his confession of the night before, Dick stared at him coldly and asked him what confession he was talking about. Tom told him, and Dick said that was the first he had heard of anything of the kind. Said he must have been out of his mind, if he’d gotten off any nonsense like that. And he gave Tom a hint that it wouldn’t be healthy for him, if he spread the report among the rest of the crew.
“He didn’t need to do that, for Tom had no idea of talking. He knew that if he did, it would be a very easy thing for one of the half dozen confederates to knock him senseless and heave him overboard some dark night. So he kept a quiet tongue in his head, and neither he nor Dick ever88referred to the matter again as long as Tom was on board.
“As luck would have it, they soon after fell in with another ship of the same line that was on its way back home. Some of her crew had been swept overboard in a cyclone, and she was short-handed. Her skipper asked the captain of Tom’s craft to let him have a couple of men and he consented. Tom and one other sailor volunteered, and they were transferred to the other ship. It was a lucky thing for Tom, because his old ship went down in a hurricane off Cape Horn and every soul on board was lost.”
“Is that certain?” asked Bill.
“As certain as those things can ever be,” was the answer. “That was as much as eight years ago, and not a single man of her crew has ever turned up anywhere. If any one of them had been picked up by another ship, the matter would have been reported as soon as the ship reached port. Of course, there’s a bare chance that some of them might have reached a desert island and still be alive. But that’s so unlikely that it might as well be put out of mind.”
“What’s become of Tom Bixby?” asked Teddy.
“He shipped on a Canadian sealer soon after he was here, and I haven’t seen or heard of him since.”
89“Is there any chance that he might have gone on a still hunt for the treasure?”
“Not Tom,” laughed Mr. Lee. “He didn’t have enough to go on. But he certainly was sore at the skipper for having called him away from Dick just when he did. Another minute–yes, another ten seconds–and Dick would have blurted out just where the treasure was hidden.”
“It must have been fearfully exasperating to come so near finding out and yet just to miss it,” remarked Bill.
“It is a lucky thing for Ross that he didn’t find out,” interjected Fred. “Tom didn’t know who the rightful owner was, and if he’d found it he would have kept the gold.”
“I’m afraid that he wouldn’t have tried to find out very hard,” laughed their host. “Sailor men have peculiar ideas about hidden treasure. The general rule they go by is that ‘findings is keepings.’”
“I guess there are a good many besides sailors who would go by the same rule,” said Teddy.
“Human nature is much the same, no matter what a man’s calling is,” assented Mr. Lee. “But you lads have kept me talking a long while, and I’ve got to look after my work. I’ve given you all I know about the Montgomery case, and it’s up to you now to put your heads together and make the most of it.”
“Well,” said Fred, drawing a long breath and looking around at his companions after Mr. Lee had left the room, “we’ve certainly got more than we expected from this after-dinner talk.”
“And we didn’t know at the start that we’d get a thing,” exulted Teddy.
“It’s queer that dad never mentioned the matter to me,” mused Lester. “Still I was a little chap when it all happened, and the whole thing has been almost forgotten.”
“But what’s the net result?” asked Bill. “We haven’t the least idea yet where the treasure really is.”
“No,” admitted Fred. “We haven’t. And yet we’ve made a long step forward. In the first place, we know that Ross was absolutely honest and truthful in all that he said. Then, too, we know from Tom’s story that the treasure wasn’t taken away by the smugglers then, and couldn’t have been afterwards, since they were all drowned. So we can be sure that it’s still where they left it unless some one else has stumbled on it, which isn’t at all likely.91Further than that, we know where the man lives who picked up Mr. Montgomery when he was adrift, and there’s no knowing what we may be able to get out of him. It seems to me that we’re already far ahead of where we were this morning.”
“There’s another point too, Fred,” broke in Teddy. “Dick told Tom that the chest wasn’t buried, but was hidden somewhere. That gives us a mighty good tip. If we didn’t know that, we might waste our time and break our backs in digging, when it wouldn’t do us a bit of good.”
“That’s funny, too,” remarked Lester. “You’d think that burying would have been the first thing they thought of. In all the stories one reads of pirate hoards, the treasure is buried deep down in the earth.”
“And the pirate usually shot the man who dug the hole and left his skeleton to guard the treasure,” said Bill.
“Perhaps Manuel might have done something of the kind, if there hadn’t been so many in the crew,” said Fred. “He seems from all accounts to have been more desperate and bloody-minded than the rest.”
“We needn’t worry our brains as to why it wasn’t done,” remarked Teddy. “The only thing that concerns us is that it was hidden instead of buried.”
“Hidden is a pretty big word,” put in skeptical Bill. “It might be hidden on a mountain top or in92a thicket or in a hollow tree or under water or in a cave or any other old place. Instead of making the problem easier, it seems to me it makes it harder.”
“I can see Bill getting cross-eyed trying to keep one eye on the mountains and the other on the sea,” jibed Teddy.
“Bill’s all right,” assented Fred. “He acts as a brake to hold us in check and keep us from going ahead too fast.”
“I guess we can cut out the mountain top idea,” put in Lester, “as there aren’t any mountains of any size close to the coast.”
“And you must remember, too,” chimed in Fred, “that they were in a hurry to get away. Mr. Montgomery was adrift, and they didn’t know at just what moment he might be picked up. Of course, he was unconscious, but he might come to his senses at any time and tell his rescuers just what had happened. In that case, the fat would be in the fire right away.”
“No,” said Lester thoughtfully, “whatever was done had to be done in a hurry. It’s a dead sure thing that they didn’t go far in from the coast.”
“For the same reason, we can dismiss the hollow tree idea,” said Teddy. “Those things can’t be found just when you want them, and they didn’t have time to hunt around for one. Besides it would take a mighty big hollow to hold a chest as big as that.”
93“We’ll consider the other possibilities later,” summed up Fred. “For the present, the one thing on which I guess we’re all agreed is that the chest was hidden somewhere close to the coast.”
“There’s one thing we fellows must do above everything else,” recommended Lester, “and that is to keep the whole thing absolutely secret. Even when we go to see Mark, we must put our questions in such a way that he’ll not have the slightest suspicion of what we’re really after. He might set his tongue wagging, and some reporter might get wind of it and put it in a local paper. Then it would be copied in others, and the first thing we knew it would be written up for the front page of the Sunday edition of a city paper with all sorts of scareheads and pictures. That would put the hoodoo on us for fair. We’d be followed and spied on, and the first thing you know some other party would be finding the money and Ross wouldn’t get a dollar of it.
“Of course, Tom Bixby, if he’s still alive, knows something about it, but that was so long ago that he probably only thinks of it once in a while, and if he should speak of it to any of his mates it would be put down only as a sailor’s yarn.
“Fred, you and Teddy will have to tell your folks, because it’s only right that your Uncle Aaron, who is so heavy a creditor, should know about it, and then, too, he may be able to give us some information94that will help. But you can give the tip to the folks at home that it is to be kept strictly among themselves. Dad, of course, won’t let on to anybody.”
“That reminds me,” said Fred, “that we ought to write to Uncle Aaron right away.”
“Suppose you fellows do that then, while I’m over in Bartanet,” suggested Lester. “I have to go over there this afternoon to get supplies. Want to come along, Bill?”
“Sure thing,” answered Bill, rising and stretching himself. “I need a little fresh air and exercise after the big dinner I’ve just put away.”
The Rushton boys, left alone, got out pen and paper and prepared to send the momentous news to their family at Oldtown.
Up to now, letters to their Uncle Aaron had been rather hard to write. Sometimes they had been little notes of thanks for presents sent to them at Christmas or on birthdays. Often–much too often–they had been apologies that their parents had forced them to write for some piece of mischief that had offended their uncle. He had usually been so crusty and had so obviously resented the fact that they had ever been born to cause him trouble, that they had usually approached the task of writing with the feeling of martyrs.
This time it was different. Mr. Aaron Rushton, though by no means a miser, was sufficiently fond95of money, and took great care to get all that was rightfully his. Therefore the boys knew that the letter, telling of the bare possibility of getting back such a large sum, would be very welcome.
“I’d like to see his face when he reads it,” chuckled Teddy. “By the way, Fred, who shall write it, you or I?”
“You do it,” said Fred. “He’s always been sorer at you than he has at me, and this will help square you with him. While you’re doing that, I’ll write a line to mother.”
“Think of me writing a letter to him that really pleases him!” laughed Teddy. “It will be the first time in my life.”
“We really have an awful lot to thank Uncle Aaron for, although he didn’t think he was doing us a favor,” replied his brother. “If it hadn’t been for his insisting on it, we wouldn’t have gone to Rally Hall, we wouldn’t have met Bill and Lester, and we wouldn’t have had the glorious times we’ve had so far this summer.”
“And you wouldn’t have thrashed Andy Shanks,” grinned Teddy. “Don’t forget that when you’re counting up the advantages.”
“It was a satisfaction,” grinned Fred. “But go ahead now with that letter, or we won’t get through by the time Bill and Lester come back.”
Thus adjured, Teddy set to work. He wrote at first of ordinary matters, keeping the tidbit till the96last. When he came to that he wrote exultingly, telling in glowing terms all they had found out and all that they hoped to find in the future.
“Don’t forget to tell him how Ross and his mother appreciate the way he’s acted toward them,” suggested Fred, himself busy on the letter to his mother.
“I’m glad you reminded me of that,” said Teddy, making the addition. “I was so wrapped up in the rest of it that I’d have surely forgotten that.”
At last both letters were finished and stamped ready for mailing.
“There!” remarked Teddy, with a sigh of relief, “I’ll wager there’ll be some little excitement at home when they read that letter.”
“If only we can follow it up with another one later on, telling that we have actually found the chest of gold!” said Fred.
“If we do, you’ll have the pleasure of writing it,” declared Teddy. “Turn about is fair play.”
It was late on the following day when the letters reached the Rushton home. The head of the house had not yet returned from his office in the city, and the only people in the house, besides Martha, the colored cook, were Mrs. Rushton and Mr. Aaron Rushton.
The latter had been detained at home by an attack of neuralgia, and was in a bad temper. At his best, he could never be called a congenial companion,97but when to his naturally surly disposition neuralgia was added, he became simply intolerable. Mrs. Rushton’s nerves had been worn to a frazzle by having him around, and it was almost with a hysterical feeling of relief that she pounced upon the letters that Martha brought in. There were several, but that from Fred was on top.
“A letter from Fred!” she exclaimed delightedly, as she recognized the writing. “I wonder what the dear boys are doing.”
“Doing everybody, probably,” said her brother-in-law gloomily. “Especially that boy Teddy. He’s either in mischief or he’s sick.”
“Now, Aaron, you oughtn’t to talk that way about Teddy,” protested Mrs. Rushton, bridling in defence of her offspring. “There are plenty of worse boys than Teddy in the world.”
“Maybe, but I never met them,” retorted Aaron Rushton.
“He has a great, big heart,” went on Teddy’s mother.
“His gall has impressed me more than any other bodily organ he owns,” was the reply. Evidently Mr. Aaron Rushton’s temper had a razor edge that day.
“You forgot how he got back your watch and papers,” Mrs. Rushton indignantly reminded him.
“I don’t forget that if it hadn’t been for him I wouldn’t have lost them,” snapped Aaron. “Who98was it that hit the horse with a ball and caused the runaway that might have cost me my life? Who was it that painted Jed Muggs’ team red, white and blue on the Fourth of July? Who was it that nearly caused a panic on the common, when he set those mice loose among the women?”
Mrs. Rushton knew only too well who it was, and she took refuge in generalities.
“He’s just the dearest boy, anyway,” she declared defiantly. “He’s fond of mischief like all boys of his age, but he never did a mean or dishonorable thing in his life. And didn’t I hear you tell Mr. Barrett once, just after you got your papers back, that your nephews were the finest boys in Oldtown?”
“If I did, I must have been out of my mind,” growled Aaron, as a twinge of neuralgia made him wince. “But I’ll admit that the boys are angels. Heaven forgive me for lying. Go ahead and read your letter.”
But Mrs. Rushton had already torn the envelope open and was deep in the reading of its contents.
“Why,” she remarked, after a paragraph or two, “Fred says here that Teddy was writing a letter to you at the same time. I wonder if it’s among these,” and she turned over the other letters in her lap. “Oh, here it is, sure enough,” she added as she saw Teddy’s scrawling writing.
99Aaron Rushton himself was somewhat startled at the unusual occurrence.
“For me?” he growled, reaching for it. “What has he been doing to me now that he has to apologize for?”
“That’s not a nice thing to say,” protested Mrs. Rushton. “Can’t a boy write to his own uncle without having an apology to make?”
“Not Teddy,” said Aaron with conviction.
He took the letter and tore the envelope with studied indifference, to conceal his real curiosity.
The first few paragraphs dealt with ordinary topics, and he passed them over quickly. Then the letter seemed to grip him. He read with ever increasing excitement, while Mrs. Rushton watched him wonderingly. He finished it at last and leaped to his feet with an exulting exclamation.
“Eureka!” he shouted. “Those boys are wonders!”