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 the Josephine have 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.
“0’ 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 the Jessie 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 post.
“Oh, I’m a burnin’ up on my inside!” 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 Wait 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 the Josephine—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 Nausau. 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, c
ap’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.
“0’ course you are, now you’re caught,” sneered Bahama Bill.
“Can you tell us if the Josephine was 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 the Josephine was anywhere in the vicinity of the isle, some of those on board the Rainbow ascended 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.
CHAPTER XXIV
A MISSING LANDMARK
The searchlight was watched with interest for fully quarter of an hour. It was, of course, visible only now and then, but from the shafts of light seen, those on the steam yacht were certain somebody was moving from the north side of the isle to the location of the treasure cave.
“We ought to head them off, if possible,” declared Anderson Rover. “Should that be Merrick’s crowd and they meet my sons there will surely be trouble!”
“Let us go ashore without delay!” said Songbird, who was sorry he had not accompanied the Rover boys.
“That’s what I say!” added Fred. “We can take plenty of lights.”
“I vos not von pit sleepy,” declared Hans. “I go kvick, of you said so, Mr. Rofer.”
“If yo’ go, don’t forgit Aleck!” pleaded the colored man.
“You shall go, Aleck,” answered Mr. Rover, who knew he could depend upon the colored man in any emergency.
“I hope you find Dick, and Tom and Sam,” said Dora. “It was foolish for them to go off alone.”
“And don’t let Merrick hurt anybody,” pleaded Nellie.
It was quickly decided that the party to go ashore should be composed of Mr. Rover, Bahama Bill, Aleck, and the three boys. Nearly everybody went armed, and the party carried with them a small electric searchlight, run by a “pocket” battery, and two oil lanterns. They also took with them some provisions, and a pick, a shovel and a crowbar, for Bahama Bill said there might be some digging to do to get at the treasure.
Had it not been for the small searchlight it would have been next to impossible to find the opening through the reef during the night. But the light was all that was needed, and they came through with little more than a shower of spray touching them. Bahama Bill and Mr. Rover rowed the boat and soon brought the craft to a point where they disembarked without difficulty.
“The boys did not land here,” said Anderson Rover, after a look along the sandy shore for footprints. “But they must have come in somewhere around here.”
“Let’s call for them,” suggested Songbird, and this was done, but no reply came back.
“They have started on the hunt for the cave, just as I supposed they would,” said Mr. Rover.
“Den let us git aftah dem directly,” said Aleck. “I feels like I could tramp all night widout half tryin’!”
Tying up the rowboat, and shouldering their tools and provisions, they set off along the shore of Horseshoe Bay, just as the three Rover boys had done. Bahama Bill led the way, with Mr. Rover beside him, carrying the electric light, which gave out fully as much light as did the acetylene gas lamp carried by Merrick.
“Here are some footprints!” cried Mr. Rover, after a short distance had been covered.
“Dem was made by our boys!” cried Aleck, after a minute examination. “I know dem shoes, fo’ I has shined ’em many de time!”
“If they walked in that direction they took the wrong course,” was Bahama Bill’s comment. “Like as not they got turned around among the trees an’ in the dark.”
“We must locate the party with that strong light we saw from the yacht,” said Mr. Rover. “Perhaps in doing that we’ll come up to my sons.”
Once on shore, the old tar said he remembered the locality well, and he did not hesitate in pushing forward, across the path taken by the three Rover boys, and then to a trail which the Rovers had missed. They had to climb a small hill, and here it was that Bahama Bill showed the first signs of perplexity.
“Queer!” he muttered, coming to a halt and gazing around. “Mighty queer!”
“What is queer?” questioned Anderson Rover.
“This looks changed to me. When I was here afore there was a rock yonder, an’ the crowd placed a mark on it fer a guide as I told ye. Ain’t no rock there now!” And he scratched his head as if he was afraid he was not seeing aright.
“When you were here was a good many years ago,” said Songbird. “The rock may have tumbled down the hill. Let us look around.”
This advice was followed, and after a long hunt a rock was found in a hollow. It had a peculiar mark cut upon it.
“That’s it!” cried Bahama Bill, in delight. “I knew it must be around here somewhere—but what made that big rock tumble down?”
“Maybe somepody pushed him ofer,” said Hans.
“Four men couldn’t budge that rock,” declared Fred.
“I believe an earthquake must have done it,” came from Anderson Rover, and suddenly his face grew grave. “I trust no earthquake has disturbed the treasure cave,” he added.
They pushed on, but scarcely had they covered a quarter of a mile when Bahama Bill called another halt. And well he might, for the trail they had been following came to an abrupt end in front of a pit several rods in diameter and twenty to thirty feet deep. The bottom of the pit was choked up with rocks, dead trees and brushwood.
“What now?” asked Mr. Rover, and his tone betrayed his uneasiness.
“This wasn’t here afore,” said the old tar, briefly. He was so “stumped” he could scarcely speak.
“You are sure?”
“Dead certain.”
“Then this isle has undoubtedly been visited by an earthquake within the last few years.”
“Maybe the trail can be picked up on the other side of the hole,” came from Fred. “Let us walk around.”
He and some of the others started to do so, but soon came to a place where walking became uncertain and dangerous. Song bird went into one hole up to his waist and poor Hans disappeared entirely.
“Hellup! hellup!” roared the German boy. “Bull me owid, somepody!”
Aleck was close at hand, and reaching down into the hole he got hold of Hans’ hand. It was a hard pull, but presently Anderson Rover took hold, too, and between him and the colored man they got the German youth to the surface. Hans’ face and clothing were covered with dust and dirt and he was scratched in several places,
“I dink I was goin’ t’rough to Chiny!” he said. “You pet my life I vos careful after dis vere I valk, yah!”
“The earthquake seems to have left this part of the isle full of pits and holes,” said Mr. Rover. “I hope my boys have managed to steer clear of the dangerous places.”
They soon found they had to turn back, and now Bahama Bill frankly declared that he was “all at sea,” as he put it.
“Every landmark I knew has been swept away,” he said. “All I can say is, the cave is in that direction,” and he pointed with his hand. “But it may be buried out o’ sight now,” he added, dismally.
There was nothing to do but to retrace their steps, and this they did as far as they were able.
They had covered about half the distance when they saw a shaft of light shoot around the treetops near them.
“There is that strange light!” cried Songbird.
“Let us find out what it is!” added Fred.
They tried to follow the light and in doing this became hopelessly lost in the jungle. Then one of the boys struck one of the oil lanterns on a rock and smashed it, thus doing away with that much of the illumination they carried.
“We must be careful,” said Anderson Rover. “We are making no progress so far as the treasure is concerned. We had better try to find our way back to the shore, and try to find my sons.” And this was agreed to by all.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 197