The Boy Chums in the Gulf of Mexico

by Carol Norton

  CHAPTER XIII.

  A CLOSE CALL.

  CHARLEY'S eyes were becoming accustomed to the semi-gloom and a fewsteps forward gave him a clear view of the dark object. One glance, andhe turned to his chum with a cry which was lost in his muffling helmet.

  Before the two lads lay the wreck of a once stately ship, her mastsbroken short off and a great gaping hole in her side. She had evidentlylain long in her bed amongst the coral and sponges for long tendrils ofsea moss streamed out from her barnacle-covered sides.

  Someone had been there before them for the moss and marine growth hadbeen scraped from the vessel's stern revealing the name, "Golden Hope".

  Charley turned from the spelling out of the indistinct letters to seehis chum beckoning to him wildly and he hurried to his side.

  Walter was stooping over an opened box partly filled with what hadonce been shining gold pieces but which were now tarnished and almostunrecognizable in their coat of gray slime. The box had been recentlytorn open as was evident from the freshly-splintered wood.

  Charley sat down on the box's edge and did some rapid thinking. Thecrew's excitement was now accounted for. They had not come upon arich bed of sponges as he had suspected but had discovered a treasuresuch as men for ages have fought, struggled, and died to attain. Thehalf emptied box showed that the divers had already begun to removethe gold. For a moment, the lad was puzzled to know how they had beenable to bring up what was missing without its being seen. There wereno pockets to the diving suits and they could have carried but a fewpieces at a time in their closed hands. A moment's reflection, however,brought him to the only possible explanation; the gold must have beensent up in the sponge basket hidden amongst the lumps of mud from whichit could have been removed by the crew without much risk of discovery.But it was not the removal of the gold which gave the quick-wittedlad the most concern. The amount taken by the Greeks was likely but amere trifle when compared with that which remained. It was the effectsthe discovery of such a treasure would have upon an already unrulycrew that he feared. As he had said to Walter but the day before, hebelieved it needed but a trifle to fan the Greeks' growing discontentinto open mutiny. Here was riches enough to tempt the most steady bandof sailors and it was but reasonable to suppose that it would temptthe lawless Greeks to deeds of violence and bloodshed. These thoughtssurged through the lad's mind in far less time than it has taken totell of them. He would have liked to have talked the matter over withhis chum and settled upon the wisest plan to follow, but that wasimpossible below the surface and signs were useless to convey exactideas. He must decide alone upon their immediate course of action andtrust to Walter's quick wit to fall in with what he decided upon.

  Arising he turned to his chum and laid one finger across his lips.Walter nodded his ponderous head-piece to show that he understood thesign for silence regarding their discovery.

  Taking up his sponge basket, Charley retraced his steps to the spotwhere they had descended followed by his observant chum. Here thesponges grew in abundance and he at once began to fill his basket, anexample which Walter immediately followed.

  As he bent over to tear up an unusually large sponge he became suddenlysensible of an agitation of the water near him. Straightening up, hestood frozen to his tracks with fear and horror. Not ten feet fromwhere he stood lay a gigantic shark, its belly gleaming white throughthe clear water. Its little green eyes were fixed upon him with awicked unblinking stare. He let the basket drop from his grasp andflung up his arms with an unreasoning instinct to protect his head fromthe impending attack. At his sudden movement the great fish dartedaway. Evidently, it was equally as frightened of the strange unknownmonster it had encountered.

  The shock had left the frightened lad weak and trembling and he had torest a few minutes before he could resume the filling of his basket.

  As he placed the last sponge in the basket he turned to signal to hischum to ascend, but Walter was already gone, his figure, grotesque inthe diving suit, was already well up from the bottom and shooting upwith astonishing swiftness. At the same moment Charley became aware ofa strange sickening sensation. He was choking and gasping for breath.Before he could realize what had happened the frightful sensation hadpassed and he was able to breathe fully and freely, and he felt himselfbeing pulled swiftly to the surface.

  In a moment he was hoisted above the surface, hauled aboard the boatand his helmet removed. The captain, white-faced and shaken was leaningagainst the mast his revolver in his hand. Chris, ashen-hued, and asailor, was still pumping faintly. Close beside the air pump lay Manuelin apparent unconsciousness.

  "What's happened?" Charley cried.

  "Manuel keeled over in a fit or something," said the captain, brokenly."I thought you would both be dead before we could get you to thesurface. It seemed ages before I could get Chris to the pump and thefellows to hauling you up. They seemed to move mighty slow 'till Ithreatened to shoot. They maybe didn't understand what I said but thesight of the gun made 'em more lively," he concluded, grimly.

  Charley walked over to the prostrate Greek and stood gazing down at hisupturned face.

  "He has no business to faint when he's working the air pump," he saidsavagely. "I guess I'll kick him a good hard one in the face forpunishment."

  The manly lad had no such intention of carrying out such a brutalthreat but he wanted to test whether the treacherous Greek was, as hesuspected, really shamming.

  The prostrate man's features twitched, he sighed heavily and rolledover on his side, Charley's suspicions were confirmed.

  "Captain," said the lad distinctly, "if anything happens to Walter andI when we are below the surface, I want you to shoot this man withoutthe slightest hesitation. He is the only one who can understand yourorders and he must be made responsible for our safety."

  "I'll shoot him the first time anything goes wrong," the captaindeclared wrathfully, as he caught the wink of Charley's eye. "I feellike killing him now, for the fright he gave me."

  The shamming Greek did not seem to relish this threatening talk. Heshowed signs of surprisingly rapid recovery. In a few minutes he wasable to sit up and look around.

  "I am overjoyed to find you both alive," he said faintly to the twoboys. "Everything grew suddenly black before me when I was pumping andI knew no more. It is my heart, it troubles me at times. You younggentlemen must go down no more, it is too risky."

  "We have had enough of it for to-day, but we may try it againto-morrow," Charley replied, cheerfully. "It is very beautiful andinteresting down below."

  "I hope you avoided the bad place on the bottom," said the Greek,anxiously. "The divers say it is a dangerous hole."

  "You must think we are fools to venture near such a place," saidCharley, indignantly, and the man looked greatly relieved.

  Above all, the prudent lad wished to keep the crew from thinking thathe and Walter had come upon the treasure. As long as they believedthem ignorant of its existence they would likely continue the work ofsecretly removing it without open violence.

  He could not talk over the matter with his chums without danger ofbeing overheard, and he was forced to appear unconcerned and look onwith indifference while the divers sent up basket after basket ofsponges, in every load of which he was convinced was hidden severalhundred dollars of the gold coins.

  He greatly admired Walter's manner. The lad chattered over thebeautiful gardens they had seen below without a hint in his voice ormanner of the secret they had stumbled upon.

  From time to time the crew shot glances of scowling suspicion atthe little group, but they were evidently reassured by the boys'cheerfulness and apparent unconcern.

  It was like sitting beside a powder mine with a lighted fuse in it, andboth lads were greatly relieved when the long day dragged away to itsclose and the diving boat was headed back for the schooner.

  They were met at the schooner's rail by the cook who seemed greatlyexcited and who greeted them with a torrent of rapidly spoken words.

  Manuel listened wi
th a look of sadness, real or assumed, on his face.

  "He says," he interpreted swiftly, "that the wounded man went suddenlycrazy this morning and flung himself into the sea."