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