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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Isle o' Dreams, by Frederick F. Moore
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Isle o' Dreams
+
+Author: Frederick F. Moore
+
+Illustrator: Ralph Pallen Coleman
+
+Release Date: June 16, 2008 [EBook #25813]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISLE O' DREAMS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Suzan Flanagan, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ISLE O' DREAMS
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _"Come up closer so I can look into the boat,"
+commanded Trask_]
+
+
+
+
+                      ISLE O' DREAMS
+
+                            BY
+
+                    FREDERICK F. MOORE
+
+                       _Author of_
+     _"The Devil's Admiral," "The Sailor Girl," Etc._
+
+                     [Illustration]
+
+                      FRONTISPIECE
+                           BY
+                  RALPH PALLEN COLEMAN
+
+
+               Garden City      New York
+               DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
+                          1920
+
+
+
+
+              COPYRIGHT, 1917, 1920, BY
+              DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
+       ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF
+         TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES,
+             INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
+
+
+
+
+                          To
+                       MARJORIE
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+     CHAPTER                                                         PAGE
+
+        I.  Robert Trask Arrives in Manila from Amoy                    3
+
+       II.   Dinshaw Tells of His Island                               19
+
+      III.  Captain Dinshaw Pulls a Long Bow                           33
+
+       IV.  Captain Jarrow Goes Cruising in Strange Waters             50
+
+        V.  Jarrow Does and Says Queer Things                          64
+
+       VI.  Mr. Peth Is Particular About Where He Sleeps               74
+
+      VII. Trask Has a Talk With Doc Bird                              92
+
+     VIII. How the Schooner Arrived off the Island                    104
+
+       IX. Trask Undertakes a Private Investigation                   124
+
+        X. Captain Jarrow Admits He Is Suspicious of Peth             144
+
+       XI. Mr. Peth Does Most Amazing Things                          161
+
+      XII. Trask Makes a Discovery                                    179
+
+     XIII. What Happened to Doc and the Dinghy                        191
+
+      XIV. What Jarrow Wanted and What He Got                         203
+
+       XV. An End and a Beginning                                     220
+
+
+
+
+ISLE O' DREAMS
+
+
+
+
+ISLE O' DREAMS
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+ROBERT TRASK ARRIVES IN MANILA FROM AMOY
+
+
+As the tubby little China Coast steamer marched up Manila Bay,
+Trask stood under the bridge on the skimpy "promenade deck" and
+waited impatiently for the doctor's boat to come alongside. He was
+the only white passenger among a motley lot of Chinese merchants
+and half-castes of varied hues, and he was glad the passage was at
+an end.
+
+He had made the trip with a Finnish skipper, disconcertingly
+cross-eyed, a Lascar mate who looked like a pirate and had a voice
+like a school-girl, a purser addicted to the piccolo late at night,
+and fellow-passengers who jabbered interminably about nothing at
+all in half a dozen languages. So Trask regarded the spires and
+red roofs of Manila with the hungry eyes of a man who has been
+separated from civilization and his own kind too many days to
+remember.
+
+Before the steamer anchored, Trask saw the _Taming_ passing out for
+Hong Kong, white moustaches of foam at her forefoot and her decks
+alive with men and women. She was as smart as a big liner.
+
+But he looked away from her to the Luneta and the villa-like Bay
+View Hotel, white and stately, at the lip of the bay. That was his
+goal, for he had promised Marjorie Locke he would be in Manila the
+day before, and he was now a day late.
+
+The customs boarding officer took him ashore with his bags and
+graciously allowed him to depart in a _quilez_, after holding his
+baggage for examination. Trask went whirling up Calle San Fernando,
+through Plaza Oriente, Calle Rosario, Plaza Moraga, over the Bridge
+of Spain and into shady Bazumbayan Drive, skirting the moat of the
+Walled City. It was a roundabout way but the quickest, for the
+_cochero_ made his ponies travel at a good clip for a double fare.
+
+The rig shot across the baking Luneta, and ere it had come to a
+full stop before the Bay View Trask was out and into the darkened
+hall of the tourist headquarters of the Philippine capital.
+
+The place appeared deserted except for a sleepy _muchacho_, who
+staggered out from some palms, looking for the new guest's baggage.
+
+"Have you got an outside room?" demanded Trask of the drowsing
+English clerk behind the railing, as he pulled the register toward
+him and scanned the open page.
+
+"I say! Mr. Trask!"
+
+The young man looked up. "Correct," he said. "Where did we----?"
+
+"I'm Wilkins, sir, G. O. H., Colombo. You were there last year,
+sir, in from Singapore. You had an argument with a 'rickshaw man. I
+was managing the bar at the time."
+
+"Sure enough, Wilkins! How d'ye do!" and Trask extended a hand
+which Wilkins shook with fervour, striking a bell with the other
+for the Chinese bar-boy.
+
+"Two stone gingers with a finger of Scotch," said Wilkins. "Fine
+room on the bay-side, Mr. Trask. And you'll find it quiet enough."
+
+"It does look quiet for you," said Trask, as he wrote his name in
+the register and took off his helmet. It was plain that the tropics
+had put their mark upon him, for in contrast to the deep tan of
+burnt umber over cheeks and chin, the upper part of his forehead
+showed a white band of skin, the helmet line of the veteran
+traveller in low latitudes. His black eyes were embedded in nests
+of tiny wrinkles, the "tropical squint," which no mere _griffin_
+ever has as a passport.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Wilkins. "The China boat cleaned the place up this
+morning. Not a tripper left."
+
+"No?" cried Trask, with sudden concern. He turned to the register
+again and flopped back the pages. "You must have a man here named
+Locke, an American, travelling with his daughter."
+
+"Gone," said Wilkins. "Left on the _Taming_ to catch the Pacific
+Mail at Hong Kong."
+
+"If that isn't my blooming luck!" moaned Trask, shutting the
+register with a slam and turning his back to the desk, a picture of
+limp despair.
+
+"Yes, sir," continued Wilkins, coming out from behind his barrier,
+"the Lockes left here Friday for Dagupan, to be back in time to
+sail this noon. They must have caught the _Taming_. I sent their
+spare trunks down this morning to be held for Mr. Locke. He wasn't
+to come back here, but go right aboard from the morning train.
+Friends of yours?"
+
+"Yes. We were shipmates from Honolulu coming out, three months
+back."
+
+"Very respectable people," said Wilkins. "I understand Mr. Locke's
+quite wealthy."
+
+"I imagine so," replied Trask, despondently. It was hard luck, for
+he had managed to take a month's vacation for no other purpose than
+to meet Marjorie Locke for a few days in Manila and here he was,
+like a man marooned, with nothing to do, and the Lockes out in the
+China Sea, bound for the "States."
+
+"But why shouldn't they go?" thought Trask. The fact that he was
+secretly in love with Marjorie Locke, and had allowed himself to
+believe that she rather liked him, was no reason why she should
+wait in Manila merely because he had told her that he expected to
+be in that city on a certain date.
+
+"Oh, that reminds me!" said Wilkins suddenly, as he ran in behind
+the railing again. "Look here! I've a letter for you. Been here a
+couple of days, never struck me at the time it was you, never
+dawned on me until I saw you at the desk, then I remembered your
+name."
+
+"Mail for me?" asked Trask. "Why, nobody knows I'm in Manila. I'm
+supposed to be up in Korea."
+
+"Not mail, precisely, sir. It was left here a few days ago."
+
+"Who left it?" Trask was suddenly hopeful.
+
+"Can't say, sir. I found it on the desk. Rather mysterious, you
+know. I'd say it was----" He paused, to rifle the letter-rack.
+
+"Was what?"
+
+"If you don't mind, sir, I'd say it was queer, rather extraordinary
+circumstance. Now where could I have put it?"
+
+"How was it queer? Don't keep me on the grid. What about it?"
+
+"The fact is," said Wilkins, "I'd consider it a bit irregular. The
+backing was done with a typewriter, but the paper--I'd say the
+envelope was business, but not house stationary. It struck me that
+way, if you don't mind my saying it. Quite involuntary on my part,
+but natural, sir, considering the name looked familiar. Of course,
+I never remembered you in connection with Colombo until I'd seen
+your face----"
+
+"Certainly, certainly," said Trask, impatiently.
+
+"Stupid of me not to think of it before," went on Wilkins,
+musingly. "We hotel men get to notice things, and I shouldn't like
+to be so slow as a usual thing with---- Ah, here it is! Got in
+among the steamer guides."
+
+Trask reached across for the letter. It was a large, square
+envelope of a bulky woven paper. On it was typed in purple:
+
+     _Mr. Robert Trask. Consolidated Mines Syndicate.
+     To be called for._
+
+The letters of the words were topped by a faint and blurry purple
+line, showing that the heavy envelope had undergone troubles by
+being rolled into a typewriter.
+
+"Excuse me," said Trask. He tore it open just as the bar-boy
+appeared with a tray decorated with stone ginger jars and glasses.
+The letter read:
+
+     DEAR MR. TRASK:
+
+     Thank you so much for the flowers you sent me at the King
+     Edward in Hong Kong. They were lovely. So sorry we shan't see
+     you again. I remember you said you'd be in Manila the tenth of
+     this month. Dad has changed his plans and wants to get back
+     home, so we leave Manila by the _Taming_ on the eleventh. We
+     are going up to Dagupan by train and will reach Manila to sail
+     by noon. So, if you do get to Manila on the tenth, I think it
+     would be jolly to see you on board. We'll go directly from the
+     station to the tender. I'll address this on the machine, so
+     it'll look most businesslike, for Mr. Wilkins, the clerk, is
+     prone to gossip. Thank you again for your kindness in Hong
+     Kong and your many kindnesses to Dad and me on board the
+     _Manchuria_.
+
+                                                  Sincerely,
+
+                                                  MARJORIE LOCKE.
+
+Trask, smiling broadly, put the letter into his pocket.
+
+"That must be good news, sir. Hope it is. Shall we go out on the
+big veranda for our nip? Cooler out there."
+
+"What? Yes, certainly," said Trask, reminded of where he was as he
+looked up to see the bar-boy standing beside him and Wilkins
+waiting. In spite of the fact that the letter was ample proof that
+Miss Locke was gone, it had put his head in a whirl. At least she
+hadn't forgotten. He followed Wilkins.
+
+"You look quite bucked up now," said Wilkins, as he pulled out a
+chair beside a marble-topped table.
+
+"I do feel better," admitted Trask. "Just the same, I'm bitterly
+disappointed. No doubt I'm ungrateful, but I've played in rotten
+luck."
+
+"You expected to meet the Lockes?" suggested Wilkins. "Too bad."
+
+"Yes," said Trask, and taking a glass from the bar-boy, sat down.
+
+"Here's luck and a long stay, sir," said Wilkins.
+
+"Thanks." But Trask was rather listless and tired, frankly bored by
+the clerk. He stared out over the sickle curve of the bay along the
+Cavite shore, where a line of white beach made a barrier between
+the water and the green jungle. The red-roofed buildings of Cavite
+lay out on the end of the sickle like a clutter of bleached bones
+cast up by the tide.
+
+The bay lay like a great shining shield before him, blazing with
+millions of mirrors that danced on the shoulders of the sleek and
+lazy swells, lifting in the sun-dazzle from the entrance, some
+twenty-five miles away.
+
+Trask looked at his watch. It was well after one, the hour when men
+take shelter from the sun in cafés to talk over prolonged tiffins
+and wait for the heat of mid-day to wane.
+
+A hush had fallen over the city, like the lull which precedes the
+breaking of a typhoon, a panting sort of hush. Heat waves rose from
+the bare expanse of the Luneta like siroccos from the nether
+regions, and the palm trees of the Malecon Drive, seen through the
+shimmering air, appeared to dance like souls in torture.
+
+Beyond the Luneta the tawny walls of the city fairly cracked with
+the heat, and over them could be seen the sea of roofs of the
+intra-mural section, the heart of Manila, inside its ancient
+bastions. Spires rose from the ruck of low buildings like dead
+trees denuded of their branches. Down the bay a streamer of smoke
+hung over the Bataan hills, the last vestige of the outward-bound
+_Taming_, a sort of farewell pennant left behind to tell that she
+was driving jauntily toward Hong Kong.
+
+"It'll be cooler in an hour," ventured Wilkins.
+
+"If you'll order a rig for me," said Trask, "I'll roll down to the
+customs house and see about my baggage."
+
+"How about tiffin, sir?"
+
+"Good idea. I'll have it with you. Never mind the rig now. By the
+way, I heard some gossip coming down. Did you ever hear of a man
+named Dinshaw? A sailor?"
+
+"Looney Dinshaw? Raw-ther! He's a joke."
+
+"How a joke?"
+
+"Oh, the poor old blighter, he sells pictures which he paints
+himself. They're pictures of an island he says he was wrecked on,
+that's full of gold. Comes up here and sells 'em to trippers."
+
+"But the island?" persisted Trask. "There was a Swede yarning with
+the skipper, but they wouldn't let me hear."
+
+"Dinshaw's _loco_," said Wilkins. "Lost his ship on this island
+three or four years ago. It's somewhere up the north coast. He was
+taken off by a Jap fisher crew blown down from the Rykukus. He lost
+his ship right enough, and his mind with it. To hear him talk you'd
+think it was solid gold."
+
+"Solid gold is what I'm hunting for when I'm working," said Trask
+with a smile. "I'd like to look into this business."
+
+"There's plenty who's looked into it, sir, but they can't get
+anything but babble out of the old fellow. He thinks everybody
+wants to cheat him."
+
+"Where can I find him?"
+
+"In the Sailors' Home, kept by Prayerful Jones in Calle San
+Fernando, a charity place for sailors on the beach. I say, you're
+not serious?"
+
+"Indeed I am. Not that I expect to find a solid gold island, but if
+it's off the coast of Luzon it might give me a lead to something up
+in the mountains. The Igorrotes find some gold up in the rivers and
+I've heard the rocks were mighty heavy. May be iron pyrites, or it
+may be the real thing."
+
+"I can have him up here," suggested Wilkins. "Just drop a word over
+the 'phone to Prayerful Jones. Nobody need know what it's about.
+I'll hint he may sell a picture."
+
+"Shoot!" said Trask. "I've got a month to kill, and some money to
+gamble on my own hook. I may take a flyer on it, if I can get
+anything definite out of this Dinshaw."
+
+"You'll have half the waterfront on your heels if you let it out
+that you're taking Dinshaw to his island. Plenty would go if he'd
+tell 'em where it is, but they want to skin him."
+
+"Then we'll keep it mum! Hello! Who's coming?"
+
+He heard the rattle of hoofs and looked across the Luneta to see a
+victoria whirl out of Bagumbayan Drive. It was occupied by a man in
+a pongee suit and a young woman in white with a blue parasol which
+rose above the rig like a porcelain minaret.
+
+"The Lockes!" cried Wilkins.
+
+"Hush!" said Trask. "Don't say a word about me. I'll surprise 'em!"
+He picked up a copy of the _Cablenews_ from the table and hid
+himself behind its ample pages.
+
+"We'll stick right here until the next boat," he heard Locke saying
+as the victoria stopped. "I'd like to see somebody pry me loose
+from this porch."
+
+Trask looked over the top of his paper to see Marjorie Locke, in
+duck skirt and linen coat, climb down from the victoria. Her hair
+was as yellow as her wide-brimmed "sailor" and her eyes as blue as
+her parasol. She was laughing gaily as she mounted the stoop.
+
+"You missed the boat!" exclaimed Wilkins, as he came out.
+
+"Missed it forty miles!" said Locke, taking off his floppy Bangkok
+hat and using a handkerchief on his face as though it were a
+blotter. His nose was peeled from sunburn, but his round and
+rubicund face fairly oozed good humour.
+
+"Your luggage--I sent it, sir," said Wilkins.
+
+"Hang the luggage! I'll have a soda bath right away. I've got the
+prickly heat so bad I feel like a human pincushion!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Wilkins.
+
+"Be game, Dad! You always told me you liked the tropics."
+
+"So I do--at home in the winter time. I believe you knew we'd miss
+that boat, Marge. I'm wise! You want to see where Magellan landed
+and where Legaspi gasped."
+
+"I can't say you're a born tourist," said his daughter.
+
+"Yes, I am. Just now I'd start for the North Pole. Wow! Those
+Spanish fellows sure liked a hot climate when they went out to take
+up land! Whoof! I'd give a lot for ten cubic feet of 'Frisco fog
+right now! Turn the blowers on in our rooms, Wilkins, and say, aim
+mine at the bath water. Well, look who's here! If that isn't Trask
+I'll----"
+
+"Mr. Trask!" cried Miss Locke. "How jolly! Fancy meeting you!"
+
+"Fancy meeting him!" exclaimed Locke, derisively. "It's a frameup,
+that's what it is, a frameup on me and my prickly heat!"
+
+Trask climbed out from behind his paper and stood up, bowing and
+grinning.
+
+"I'm sorry you missed your boat--almost," he said.
+
+"Oh, shucks!" said Locke, taking his hand and pulling him forward.
+"I don't give a whoop. Marge, I'll bet forty dollars you knew that
+Dagupan train wouldn't catch the _Taming_!"
+
+"Don't be absurd, Dad. We're so glad to meet you again, Mr. Trask.
+We were stupid about the train, but----"
+
+"You'll have to excuse me," said her father, "I hear the bath
+going. Wilkins! Feed us tiffin till we're blue in the face," and he
+disappeared into the _sala_.
+
+"And there isn't a boat to connect with the Pacific Mail for
+twenty-six days," said Trask. "I'm on a vacation."
+
+"You know so much about Manila, too," she said. "But we may go on
+the Thursday boat."
+
+"The Thursday boat?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"If there's a Thursday boat, I'll wreck it," said Trask, and
+clapped his hands for the _muchacho_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+DINSHAW TELLS OF HIS ISLAND
+
+
+"Here," said Locke, "comes Rip Van Winkle--without his dog."
+
+"A beggar!" whispered Marjorie, looking past Trask. "Poor old man!"
+
+Trask turned from the table, and saw at the end of the veranda an
+old man approaching with a package under his arm. He looked like a
+vagabond, in khaki trousers with the bottoms fringed by tatters
+through which showed his bare ankles; pitiful old cloth shoes; a
+patched coat of white drill with frogging across the front such as
+Chinese mess boys wear; and a battered, rimless straw hat. He drew
+near the table with weary feet, hesitatingly and dazed, as though
+he had lost his way, peering about like an owl thrust into the
+light of mid-day from a darkened belfry.
+
+"Why, it must be Captain Dinshaw!" said Trask.
+
+The old man stopped ten feet from the trio and lifting his head
+like a hound who has taken scent, gazed at them suspiciously. Then
+he smiled toothlessly and swung off his bowl of a hat with a grand
+air.
+
+"Aye, sir," he said, in a weak but shrill voice. "Cap'n Dinshaw,
+late of the bark, _James B. Wetherall_, lost in a typhoon an' Lord
+ha' mercy on us!"
+
+"This is a shame!" said Locke, in a cautious whisper to Trask, as
+he leaned back in his grass chair to light a cigar. "I hate to see
+a white man like that in this country."
+
+"He looks hungry," said Marjorie. "Dad, call the boy!"
+
+"It's an interesting case," said Trask. "I want you to hear him.
+Wilkins had him up so I could talk to him. He's got an island."
+
+"Would the lady buy a picter?" inquired Dinshaw, with a little bow.
+"Hand painted by myself, out of my head, from my own recollections.
+A good suvverner." He began to unwrap his flat parcel.
+
+"Come over here and sit down," said Locke, rising, and pushing
+forward a chair. "You ought to have something to drink and a bite
+to eat. Shouldn't be out in sun like this with that sort of
+headgear."
+
+Dinshaw muttered a thanks, and dropped into the chair, his thin,
+wrinkled face drawing into a queer smile. He let the package fall
+across his knees, and his hat dropped from his trembling fingers.
+He stroked a tuft of whisker under his chin.
+
+"I don't mind the heat, but the soup's bad," he remarked.
+
+"Here's the boy," said Trask. "Now what's it to be?"
+
+"Eh! Oh, Ah Wing! That boy knows me. A tot of gin with a stinger,
+and thank you kindly. A master should go with his ship," and he
+touched his sparse white hair which showed his scalp, and nodded
+his head, staring out over the bay as if in a reverie. The colour
+was bleached out of his failing eyes and they had a habit of roving
+about unsteadily, a quality common in old sailors and probably
+acquired in a lifetime of watching heaving seas.
+
+"Bring some more of the fish, and a big cup of coffee," said Trask,
+as Ah Wing grinned and turned to go.
+
+"So you sell pictures," encouraged Marjorie. "And paint them
+yourself!"
+
+"Aye, ma'am. All hands lost but myself--piled up on a reef of this
+island. A master should go with his ship." He clutched at his
+parcel and began tearing off the string.
+
+"Picters o' my island. I allus was a painter," he continued, "if I
+did foller the sea. Why, in my bark, the _Wetherall_ it was, I had
+fancy picters on the bulkheads an' gold linin' over the white but
+she got in a twistin' jimmycane, such as we have in these waters.
+Thar's my island!"
+
+He held up one canvas, a foot high and two feet wide, tacked over a
+piece of board. It was a gaudy representation of an island wrought
+with pathetic lack of skill. There was a conical peak at the left
+end smeared with a slash of purple, and over it a very red and very
+round sun. The land sloped away from the peak to the other end of
+the island, and was lost in a white streak extending seaward, the
+the bony finger of a skeleton, marking a reef clothed with fuzzy
+breakers. A rocky ledge ran down to where the reef began and a big
+gray stone stood up abruptly, giving the island the appearance of
+a bluff-bowed vessel, and under it, a triangular patch of beach.
+Near the rock were four palm trees. One bent over at a sharp angle,
+as if it had been partly uprooted, and its moppy fronds almost
+trailed in the still water of a pool formed by a second reef, not
+so clearly defined, which ran parallel with the land. Except inside
+this natural basin the whole shore of the island was wreathed by
+white rollers and behind the shore line was a fringe of vividly
+green jungle.
+
+"Oh, isn't that splendid!" exclaimed Marjorie.
+
+"It's a work o' art, that's what everybody says," remarked the old
+man with a show of pride.
+
+"What do you call the island?" asked Locke.
+
+"The name don't matter, sir. 'Dinshaw's Island' they call it
+hereabouts, in honour o' the fact I was wrecked on it. Blown off my
+course in a typhoon at night and went smash into this reef ye see
+here. I was washed out o' the riggin', an' when I come to I was on
+the beach here, wreckage all round, an' the sun shinin' bright as a
+whiffet, an' me all beat out an' water-logged. Right there it was,"
+and he put his thumb on a spot near the rock.
+
+"Is it a big island?" asked Trask.
+
+"Not in the way ye might think. Big enough as it goes, but it ain't
+the size what counts," and he broke into a cackling laugh, wagging
+his head, as if he held the secret of a great joke.
+
+"Where is it?" asked Locke.
+
+"Thar's lots as would like to know, sir," said Dinshaw, gravely.
+"But I ain't in the way o' tellin', not until I can see my way
+clear to go myself."
+
+"It is near the mainland of Luzon?" asked Trask.
+
+Dinshaw turned quickly and peered at him suspiciously, pursing his
+lips.
+
+"It is," he said, finally.
+
+"I don't see any other land in the picture," ventured Trask,
+scanning the canvas with more care.
+
+"Ye bet ye don't!" snapped Dinshaw, with sudden asperity. "I left
+that out so they can't find it. Lots as would like to find
+Dinshaw's island, young man, but I'm savin' it for myself. Jarrow
+said he'd take me, but he never did. He wants to go steal it
+himself. I know. I know. They can't fool me, if I am old."
+
+"Steal your island?" asked Marjorie. "Why, how could anybody steal
+an island?"
+
+"What's on it?" whispered Dinshaw.
+
+"Oh, ho," said Locke. "Then there's something on it, is there? Now
+we're interesting! Treasure, I suppose."
+
+"Gold on it," piped Dinshaw, with childish simplicity. "Gold enough
+to make us all rich. Gold enough to ballast a hundred ships!"
+
+"Ye see that reef? Well, I lay in that bight thar, an' the sun come
+out. The eye o' the storm it was, and after awhile it come on to
+blow again, as is the custom with twisters. When the weather
+cleared again, I don't know how long it was, I crawled down and
+overhauled the flotsam. There was part of Number One boat, with a
+beaker o' water an' a ham from the cabin stores. Later, I found my
+mate, Seth Colburn. He was dead. He'd sailed with me all his life,
+come from down Eastport way, and a smart man he was, too, at
+figgers. I dug his grave with my bare hands in this patch o' sand,
+right there under the ridge, and it was all yaller, shinin' in the
+sun, as it run through my fingers. All glittery an' soft, like corn
+meal. That island's full o' it, I'm tellin' ye! It'll make us all
+rich!" His voice rose, and quavered with excitement.
+
+Locke looked at Trask questioningly.
+
+"Here," said Trask, passing Dinshaw the glass which the bar-boy
+brought. "Drink this."
+
+"Jarrow said he'd take me," gasped Dinshaw after he had drunk.
+
+"Who's Jarrow?" asked Trask.
+
+"Oh, he's got a schooner," said Dinshaw.
+
+"So your island is full of gold," said Locke, with a skeptical wink
+for the benefit of Trask and Marjorie. "And you sell pictures of
+it, eh?"
+
+"Aye, gold. An' Seth Colburn's buried in it. He'd laugh if he knew.
+But Jarrow'll take me some day, an' when he does, I'll go back to
+Yarmouth an' build a big house, all snug an' shipshape, with a
+piazza like the quarter-deck of a frigate, an' a garden with
+petunias, an'--an'--have good soup for supper. I fed my crew
+better'n Prayerful Jones does, an' I tell him so every day. Them
+that sailed with Cap'n Dinshaw had duff twice a week with raisins
+in it, sir, an' Wes' Injia m'lasses."
+
+Marjorie passed Dinshaw a plate of sandwiches and served him with a
+cup of coffee. Trask drew aside, and Locke followed him.
+
+"This is right in your line," said Locke.
+
+"I've a mind to investigate it," said Trask. "Heard some talk about
+it on my way down from Amoy."
+
+"Sounds fishy to me," said Locke. "I believe he's off his head."
+
+"That's what they say here. Wilkins was telling me about him."
+
+"You think there's gold there?"
+
+"Possibly. The formation of the ledge looks promising. He may have
+run into a deposit washed out by the sea, merely a pocket, but
+significant. You see, if the ledge in the picture is a continuation
+of a crest from the mainland, I might follow up the lead on Luzon.
+There is gold out here but the country hasn't been properly
+prospected, owing to the troubles with the natives. I'd like to
+look things over on my own hook. Of course the company would go in
+on it with me. I've always wanted to come here but my chief never
+thought much of it. So I'm on a vacation, and what I find for
+myself I'll be able to swing. If Dinshaw would split----"
+
+"You'd get yourself into a tangle with him," said Locke. "He'd most
+likely go around telling folks you wanted to steal his island if
+you talked with him about it."
+
+"I'll go slowly and I may get his confidence after awhile."
+
+"Well, I wish you luck," said Locke. "I'm going to make the
+Thursday boat."
+
+"I wasn't thinking of going on this trip for a couple of weeks,"
+Trask hastened to say.
+
+"Hong Kong for mine," said Locke.
+
+"Dad! Come here, please," called Marjorie. "Captain Dinshaw wants
+to go to his island. It seems to me that you men who are looking
+for something to do might help him out."
+
+"I'll give him ten _pesos_ for one of those pictures," said Locke.
+
+"The other for me at the same price," said Trask.
+
+"Stingies!" cried Marjorie. "If I were a man, I'd go find his
+island."
+
+"Perhaps I will," said Trask.
+
+"None of this Count of Monte Cristo stuff for me," said Locke, as
+he laid down a bill before Dinshaw. "Say, captain, I'll tell you
+what I'll do, I'll pay your passage home first class if you'll go
+so that you can get back to your relatives. Now you can't say I'm
+a piker, Marge."
+
+"Ten _pesos_!" whispered Dinshaw, staring at the bill. "Thank ye
+kindly, sir. I'll make ye all rich."
+
+"But how about going home?" said Locke. "I'll fix you up with some
+clothes. This is no place for an old man like you."
+
+"Home!" said Dinshaw. "I'm at the Sailors' Home."
+
+"But you ought to be back in the States."
+
+"I'm goin' back to my island, that's what," insisted Dinshaw.
+"Jarrow said he'd take me."
+
+"Dad, you said I could go anywhere I wanted on this trip," pouted
+Marjorie.
+
+"Where do you want to go, Miss Trinkets?"
+
+"I think it would be gorgeous fun to find this island. I've never
+done anything romantic in my life, and I've always wanted to elope,
+or something. I'll run away with a drummer in a band--or something
+like that, if I have to go home without finding an island--a
+tropical island, with a wreck, too--and sailors buried on it--and
+gold! I'm for it, strong."
+
+"Not so strong as I am for a touch of cool weather," laughed Locke.
+"That reminds me, it's time for another soda----"
+
+"Dad!"
+
+But Locke disappeared into the hall, laughing, saying something
+about Timbuctoo and other places he would not care to visit.
+
+"And he's finding fault about having to live in tourist hotels and
+listen to bored guides! And here's a chance to get off the main
+stamping ground, as he calls it, and help a poor old man."
+
+"We don't like to get far from the comforts of civilization, after
+all," said Trask. "But I don't know of anything I'd rather do than
+take you and your father cruising."
+
+"I wish there wasn't any old Thursday boat," wailed Marjorie. "We
+might argue him into going if we had more time."
+
+"You've got to miss that Thursday boat," declared Trask. "We ought
+to be able to kidnap him or something."
+
+"What's the name?" asked Dinshaw, rising from the table and putting
+on his hat.
+
+"Locke," said Marjorie. "Mr. Locke. You come up again to-morrow and
+see us."
+
+"I'll have to paint another picter," said Dinshaw.
+
+"Here," said Trask. "You take this one with you, and bring it back
+to-morrow, when I'll pay you twenty _pesos_ for it. That'll give
+you an excuse for coming back. And don't say a word to anybody."
+
+"Locke," murmured Dinshaw. "Mr. Locke."
+
+"You ought to eat some more," said Marjorie.
+
+"Can't stop," said Dinshaw, gathering up the other picture, which
+he had not unwrapped. "Can't wait for the tide. I'll go see Jarrow.
+He said he'd take me."
+
+"Now look here," said Trask. "Don't you say a word to anybody.
+Understand? Don't tell anybody!"
+
+"I'm a clam, sir, a clam," said Dinshaw, solemnly, and blinking his
+eyes at the sun which assailed him from the bare Luneta, he hurried
+down the steps and hastened away.
+
+"Poor old duffer," said Trask.
+
+"We've got to help him find his island," said Marjorie. "I'll tell
+you what to do. Dad wants to get up to Hong Kong because there's a
+man at the King Edward he can beat at billiards."
+
+"What's that got to do with it?" asked Trask, vaguely.
+
+"You're a regular man!" she retorted. "Can't you see? Can you play
+billiards?"
+
+"A little," admitted Trask.
+
+"Come up to our rooms and have tea," she said. "Then you get Dad
+into a game of billiards, play as well as you can and--lose."
+
+"A whale of an idea!" exclaimed Trask.
+
+"And don't say anything more about the island," warned Marjorie.
+"Dad's stubborn, but he's easy to handle. We'll act as if we didn't
+care a whoop about this Dinshaw business--until we miss the
+Thursday boat. Then we'll give him no rest. But remember, I'm for
+the Thursday boat. That's just to throw him off his guard. He's a
+dear old Dad, but sometimes he's balky."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+CAPTAIN DINSHAW PULLS A LONG BOW
+
+
+Below the customs house in Manila, close to the embankment of the
+Pasig River, on the Binondo side, opposite Fort Santiago and the
+Walled City, there is an ancient adobe building thatched with
+_nipa_. Its narrow door opens on the waterfront. High and narrow
+windows, devoid of glass or shell, are mere slits cut through the
+walls. Seen from the river, they have a striking resemblance to the
+gun-ports of an ancient battleship.
+
+This place is known to sailormen the world over as "The Cuartel"
+and probably takes its name from the fact that it was a sort of
+block house used by the Spanish, to hold the approaches to the
+river. It stands at the head of a narrow little street which twists
+back into the native quarter of Tondo, and affords a haven for the
+mixed population which labours on the Mole--coolies, seamen,
+Chinese mess "boys," Tagalog _cargadores_, Lascar _serangs_,
+stalwart Sikh watchmen from the hemp and sugar _godowns_, squat
+Germans in white suits with pencils stuck in their sun helmets and
+wearing amber-coloured spectacles. British clerks with cargo lists,
+customs brokers, barking mates with blasphemous vocabularies,
+Scotch mechanics with parched throats, and all the underlings who
+have to do with ships and their freights.
+
+Here they all gather for their tipple and gossip, easy at
+friendships and quick at quarrels. They babble of things which
+their employers would have kept secret, their tongues limbered by
+drams from square-shouldered greenish bottles, Dutch as dykes,
+which line the shelves behind the bar.
+
+The Cuartel is owned by a black man from Batavia who calls himself
+Vanderzee. His mother was a Kling. He was berth-deck cook of a
+gunboat, by his own report, and "Jack o' the Dust" in a river
+monitor up "China way." That's all anybody seems to know about him,
+and it is suspected that he has his own reasons for keeping a clove
+hitch on his tongue about himself.
+
+There are legends about fortunes which have been made out of bits
+of news gleaned from conversations before the bar of the Cuartel.
+The lampman of a Blackpool tramp remarked over his peg of rum that
+his skipper liked smoked eels for breakfast and was taking on a
+cargo of best steaming coal for Kamrangh Bay. This knowledge
+enabled Togo to destroy the Baltic fleet in the Tushima Straits.
+And a stevedore made something like a million dollars out of a
+cargo of canned salmon by hearing some cockney give his theory
+about how the blockade could be run to Port Arthur.
+
+Vanderzee made some of his profits out of a little room at the far
+end of his bar, where a man could sit hidden by tawny _tapa_
+curtains rove on a bamboo pole, and have privacy while he heard
+what was being said at the bar. The room had a marble-topped table
+and two chairs.
+
+Two men were inside of an afternoon, playing at cribbage. One was
+short and heavily built, with powerful shoulders threatening to
+break through the seams of his white drill jacket. His black hair
+was clipped close to his skull, making his ears appear to stick
+out amazingly. He had black moustaches which grew down over his
+mouth, masking it. His face was brown and rough hewn. A straw hat,
+curled up into a grotesque shape, lay at his feet like some
+distorted bivalve. Its owner had an air of authority about him,
+even a touch of dominance in the way he scanned his cards or moved
+the pegs in the board. When his arm went out to the table, it moved
+with a ponderous steadiness. His brown and hairy hand had the slow,
+powerful sweep of a derrick-boom.
+
+His companion was thin and angular, quick-eyed and nervous in his
+movements, as though he moved on a gear of higher speed than his
+opponent in the game. He crouched over the table when he shuffled
+the cards or played them, without lifting his elbows from the
+table, in the fashion of a jealous dog with a bone. He wore a blue
+cap with a polished black visor, tilted back on his head, giving
+him a rakish, devil-may-care aspect. His long and lean face, cut
+with wrinkles, was twisted into a sly grin, as if he thought he had
+the advantage of the other man.
+
+The _tapa_ curtains were closed. The alcove was lighted from two of
+the narrow windows, cut so high in the wall that they gave no view
+of the Mole and the street outside unless a man were to climb on a
+chair and get his shoulders on a level with the bamboo rafters,
+where the tiny lizards prowled in the dust and hunted flies.
+
+The roar of the docks surged through dull and confused, a medley of
+clanking hatch-covers, complaining tackle, deep-throated protests
+of donkey-engines, outlandish commands from stevedores, and the
+yelps of high-strung little tugs bossing the lighters.
+
+Vanderzee pottered at his books behind the bar, smoking a china
+pipe. His watchful eye was on his Chinese boy polishing the
+brasswork of the taps. The last of the noon idlers had gone, and
+the door leading to the Mole was shut against the hot breeze
+lifting from the sun's glare on the river.
+
+Then a beam of light whipped across the floor with a shuffle of
+feet on the stone steps outside. Captain Dinshaw tottered in,
+gasping for breath and shaking with excitement.
+
+"Van!" he cried, weakly, making for the bar. "I'm rich!"
+
+The black man grunted, and put his pipe in his mouth, staring past
+Dinshaw at the door as if he expected to see a pursuing party burst
+in and attack the old man, who seemed spent from running.
+
+"Who's der drouble?" he growled. "For v'y you roon?"
+
+"I've hauled the wind!" cried Dinshaw, dropping his parcel on the
+bar, and throwing up his hands in a gesture of wild delight.
+
+"My luck's turned! I'm a rich man, I tell ye!"
+
+"Vell," remarked Vanderzee with stolid calm. "If you puy a monkey
+in some oder blaces, don'd pring him here to me. You vant me
+droubles to haff der bolice mit, hey? A few trinks you get, der sun
+your het in, und--dronk der Cuartel in und my license I loose
+maype."
+
+"I'll make ye rich!" persisted Dinshaw, in his high-pitched,
+quivering voice, and giving no heed to the admonitions of the black
+man and not in the least disconcerted by the lack of welcome. "I'm
+goin' to my island!"
+
+"Der more kvicker, der more petter," said Vanderzee, and humped his
+shoulders up with a convulsive shrug. "Maype you prink it back und
+anchor it off der lighthouse, hey?"
+
+"Jarrow'll take me in the _Nuestra_," continued Dinshaw, now as if
+talking to himself. "I'll be rich and have good soup for supper.
+I've got the tide this time, an' no mistake. It's turned for me, as
+I allus said it would, and Jarrow'll head out for my island. I tell
+ye, man, it's all settled. Have ye seen Jarrow?"
+
+"Charrow petter nod see you. Crassy you iss."
+
+"He'll want to see me, an' don't forget," said Dinshaw, wagging his
+head. "Jarrow's the man for me and----"
+
+The _tapa_ curtains were thrust aside violently, and the short,
+squat man with clipped hair stood between them, glowering, one hand
+gripped into a fist, and the other holding the swaying fabric.
+
+"What's this of me and the _Nuestra_?" he roared. His moustaches
+puffed out at each word, and his jaw lifted to a pugnacious angle
+as he threw back his head. He screwed up his eyes into a sort of
+malevolent grin which did not extend below the bridge of his nose.
+
+Dinshaw blinked at him for a minute, taken aback by the picture of
+this man, who seemed about to charge into the room after him.
+
+"You said you'd go," said Dinshaw.
+
+"You lay off this blasted chin-chin about me and my schooner!"
+raged Jarrow. "I've heard enough of it!"
+
+"But I'm in soundin's, cap'n. We're bound out in the _Nuestra_ for
+the island! We're goin----"
+
+"Git out!" snapped Jarrow, and clumping out into the room, lifted a
+hairy fist at the old man. But Dinshaw held his ground, and as
+Vanderzee cried out to take care, the captain merely pushed the old
+man back with a snort of rage.
+
+"But it's all settled, I tell ye!" insisted Dinshaw. "Hard and
+fast. We're to go----"
+
+"Then go!" snarled Jarrow. "Go jump off the Mole, and give me some
+rest and quiet. I got other things to 'tend to. How'm I to git a
+charter for the _Nuestra_, with you and yer slack jaw runnin' wild
+up and down the waterfront tellin' all hands and the ship's cook
+I'm goin' to yer blasted island in my schooner? Hop in the river,
+but keep clear o' me and mine! Won't have it from ye!"
+
+"Der sun his het in," said Vanderzee, with a significant nod
+toward Dinshaw. He wanted to avoid trouble. "He iss crassy."
+
+The tall, thin man now parted the curtains and came out, his long
+legs moving stiffly across the floor. He glanced at Dinshaw with a
+sneering, wicked eye and sniffed contemptuously. He gave the
+twisted straw hat to Jarrow, who pulled it open and clamped it over
+his clipped skull. They both turned to the bar.
+
+"Ye said ye'd go," piped Dinshaw. "Ye allus said ye'd take me, an'
+now's the chance. I ain't goin' to stay with Prayerful Jones no
+more. I'm goin to pack my dunnage an' take it aboard the
+_Nuestra_."
+
+"There ye go!" cried Jarrow, swinging toward him, and extending a
+brawny arm wrathfully. "Ye make fast to me like a devilfish! That's
+the tune ye've been singin' for years! '_Said ye'd go!_' Same old
+story! Why, I----"
+
+He paused, as if at a loss for words to express his disgust, and
+pulled a cigar from his pocket. He bit the end from it with a
+twisting motion of his head. The tall man sighed wearily.
+
+"Ach!" said Vanderzee. "No harm. Who iss to giff mind to vat he
+say? He iss crassy."
+
+"There's a-plenty to give mind to it," snarled Jarrow. "Didn't I
+lose a charter last dry season to bring wood from Mindoro? What
+with this booby-bird goin' round Manila with word I'm to take the
+_Nuestra_ to his fool island, who's to want my boat? Here I am now,
+lookin' to sign up a gover'ment hay charter, and he'll put me high
+and dry if this word is passed along again. I won't have it. I'll
+see the police."
+
+"Can't ye let me tell----?" began Dinshaw.
+
+"Come along of me, Peth," said Jarrow. The angular man, who had
+arranged the upper part of his body in such manner that the bar
+afforded possibilities for rest, unfolded himself and moved toward
+his companion.
+
+"I'll make ye all rich," wailed Dinshaw.
+
+"You'll cost me a pretty penny, that's what!" exploded Jarrow,
+turning back from the door. "I never said I'd take ye, and ye can
+git that out of yer fool head! Here I am, kickin' my heels around
+port and my schooner feedin' barnacles off the breakwater, all
+'cause ye've got somethin' chafin' yer top-hamper. I won't stand
+for it no more."
+
+"But I got a man to take us," pleaded Dinshaw, going after him. "A
+man said he'd charter the _Nuestra_ and we'd all go. Two men and a
+lady it was, up at the----"
+
+"Oh, I've heard enough of yer cock-and-bull yarns," retorted
+Jarrow, who was not averse to freeing his mind on Dinshaw. "What
+the devil do ye want to make fast to me fer! I don't want ye
+traversin' round charterin' my schooner and me. Makin' jokes for
+the loafers up on the canal. Ye done that once before, and ye'll do
+it again. I'll have the police on ye! It's about time Prayerful
+Jones was shut of lettin' loose his bums and lunatics on us folks
+with property."
+
+"No harm," said Vanderzee, soothingly.
+
+"I say it is harm! I'm hailed whurever I go about this business of
+the old un's island, Van! Just 'cause I've got a schooner, it's
+Jarrow, Jarrow, Jarrow! I'd look fine and smart cruisin' round for
+a P. D. island, wouldn't I? Now tell me that?"
+
+"It's a lie!" cried Dinshaw. "Them geodetic youngsters didn't look
+for my island, an' what's more, they wouldn't know it if they found
+it. That's why they come back with a 'Position Doubtful' report.
+Think I'm goin' to let them young whippersnappers know about my
+island so they can find it? Find it! I can find it with a bone
+quadrant and----"
+
+"Find Tophet!" yelled Jarrow, and turned to the door.
+
+"Look here!" shouted Dinshaw, reaching into his pocket and fishing
+out the bill he got from Locke for his picture. "I can prove it!
+Here's money, planked down, and more where it comes from. I'm to
+go, I tell ye, an' if ye don't want none of it, I'll see Hood about
+a boat. I thought ye was a friend of mine, Jarrow, so I come to ye.
+This man I got could buy your old schooner and a hundred like her,
+an' never miss the money. He asked for a boat and I said Jarrow,
+an' when the young lady asked who's to skipper it, I said Jarrow's
+the man, an' Peth for mate, an' he sung out for me to bring ye up
+to the tavern an' sign the charter. I'll say no more--I'll see
+Hood."
+
+"What's this?" demanded Jarrow, turning back to stare at the bill.
+Vanderzee leaned over the bar, and Peth craned his neck forward,
+maintaining his eternal grin. They had never seen Dinshaw with so
+much wealth before.
+
+"Money!" piped Dinshaw, triumphantly.
+
+"Has he gone plumb _loco_?" asked Jarrow, looking at Vanderzee.
+
+"Dot money ain'd crassy," said the black man.
+
+"Where'd ye git it?" asked Jarrow, reluctantly gentle.
+
+"A rich man at the Bay View--with a young lady and a young man in a
+helmet. I told 'em about the _Wetherall_ and they give me this
+money to buy clothes, and sent me on the run for you. They want to
+go to the Golden Isle. I better see what Hood's got for charter."
+
+"You better stay right here," said Jarrow, pushing Dinshaw back
+toward the bar. "I'm goin' to look into this."
+
+"I'll see Hood," persisted Dinshaw.
+
+"Luff!" commanded Jarrow, holding out his arms to head Dinshaw off
+from the door. "You'll see me! You've been usin' me and my schooner
+long enough, and if there's anything in this yarn of yours, it's
+mine. Who's this man?"
+
+"He's a rich man, and he'll take us," said Dinshaw.
+
+"I'd believe ye sooner if ye said ye saw pink elephants," said
+Jarrow. "Git down to cases. What's his name?"
+
+"Money talks," suggested Vanderzee.
+
+"Moonshine!" declared Peth.
+
+"His name's Locke," said Dinshaw. "Will ye go, Jarrow? I'll make ye
+all rich."
+
+"Now what did this Locke man say?" demanded Jarrow. "I don't want
+any ravin's. I want facts, straight out, so you come up into the
+wind. What'd he say?"
+
+"He said to look sharp about it," said Dinshaw, blinking at Jarrow,
+a trifle confused at being questioned. "Stores and crew--right
+away, and be ready to sail in a day's time. We don't want no
+soldierin' on the job. It's to be up hook and away and look lively.
+You'll have to move navy style, Jarrow. You know me."
+
+"Thinks I'm foremast in his brig," said Jarrow, with a leer at
+Vanderzee.
+
+"You better cut over across the river," said Dinshaw, "and tell him
+you're ready and you'll have the _Nuestra_ alongside the Mole by
+dark to take on stores, or he'll have another boat. He said
+somethin' about knowin' a man out here who had a yacht, comin'
+down from Japan."
+
+"Smoke," said Peth.
+
+"I wonder," remarked Jarrow, scratching his head. "Sure ye didn't
+lift that ten-_peso_ bill from Prayerful Jones? I'll be bugs myself
+if I listen to you."
+
+"Hood'll listen," said Dinshaw, crisply, and made a new effort to
+reach the door.
+
+"Vhy don'd you to der Pay Few go?" suggested Vanderzee.
+
+Jarrow looked at himself. "I'd have to shift my duds," he said,
+"and I ain't for huntin' sharks' eggs on Looney's say. What ye
+think, Peth? Shall we fill up that way?"
+
+"I ain't no hand for them swells," said Peth. "You go, cap'n, an'
+I'll stand by down here with Dinshaw."
+
+"Vait!" said Vanderzee, holding up a black hand. "Vot's der name?
+Locke!" He stepped into a tiny office behind the bar. They heard
+him asking the clerk at the Bay View if there was a man named Locke
+staying there. In an instant he was back again, grinning.
+
+"Iss!" he exclaimed. "So soon I know, I hang opp."
+
+"Well," said Jarrow, who was still in doubt as to what he should
+do, "that's somethin' to know. Maybe some rich tourist did fall for
+Looney's yarn."
+
+Peth went back to the bar and leaned against it as if he had made
+up his mind not to move until Jarrow reached some decision.
+
+"By the Mighty Nelson, I've got a twist in my chains to take a run
+over to the hotel!"
+
+"Shoot," said Peth, displaying more interest than he had at any
+time since Dinshaw had arrived.
+
+"Come along, Peth," said Jarrow. "I'll git into some fresh duds,
+and you brail yerself up to look smart, and we'll drift over in a
+_carromata_. Will you wait here, Dinshaw?"
+
+"I'll wait, Jarrow, I'll wait. Tell him I sent ye, and he'll know.
+It's all settled right enough if you lay alongside and make fast,
+and no time lost."
+
+"See that he don't git away," Jarrow whispered to Vanderzee. "I
+can't take no chances with this--and keep him quiet--in there."
+
+Pointing to the alcove, Jarrow slipped out through the door,
+followed by Peth, close at heel, like a well-trained dog behind his
+master.
+
+"It's this way," said Jarrow, as they made their way between the
+bales and barrels among the workers on the Mole. "Maybe Looney give
+'em hot shot about this island and they're keen to go, thinkin'
+there's bunches of gold there, which I know ain't so. But it don't
+matter if we git a charter at fifty a day or so, and drag it out
+into a couple of weeks."
+
+"We'll want our own crew," suggested Peth.
+
+"Bevins," said Jarrow.
+
+"Shope," said Peth.
+
+"And Doc Bird for steward, and Shanghai Tom ships as cook."
+
+"Right. Ye leave it to me, and if there's anything in it, I'll have
+all hands come dark."
+
+"I ain't hatchin' no chickens on what Looney said," cautioned Jarrow,
+"but if there's a man who's lit up on Looney's island-o'-gold yarn,
+it ain't my way to throw sand in his eyes. And if we do find gold that's
+two tails to the cat. We'll take things as they lay."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CAPTAIN JARROW GOES CRUISING IN STRANGE WATERS
+
+
+Captain Jarrow and Mr. Peth were driven across the Bridge of Spain
+and up Bagumbayan Drive past the Walled City in a _carromata_, and
+disembarked from the native rig at the edge of the Luneta, whence
+they proceeded to the Bay View Hotel.
+
+Jarrow wore a new white suit, squeaky French shoes of yellow hue,
+and an aura of perfumed soap. Mr. Peth felt uncomfortably
+respectable in blue serge and a shirt with a starched collar.
+
+"I might ha' stayed back," grumbled Peth, as they mounted the stoop
+of the deserted veranda.
+
+"You lay a course for the bar while I brace the gent at the
+office," said Jarrow. "Don't have nothin' to say."
+
+Mr. Peth measured the veranda with his long legs and disappeared
+into the bar, while Jarrow squeaked his way into the palms and
+velvet grandeur of the _sala_, waving away the boy who came to
+inquire about his baggage.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Wilkins, rising from behind the railed desk.
+
+"You got a man here named Locke," asserted Jarrow, seizing the
+railing as if to brace himself against a shock.
+
+"Right-o," said Wilkins. "Name, please?" He reached for the room
+telephone.
+
+Jarrow was taken aback at the thought of being so abruptly thrust
+before a stranger he could not see. He had no plan for a telephone
+conversation as preliminary to a meeting and was averse to having
+his name bandied about by the clerk.
+
+"You can say," he suggested, "it's a friend of Captain Dinshaw's,
+who's come to have a word with him--strictly private."
+
+Wilkins pressed a button, and after a few seconds announced: "Mr.
+Locke, there's a gentleman here to see you from Captain Dinshaw. He
+wants to speak to you privately."
+
+"Put him on the wire," said Locke. "Hello! I guess you've got the
+wrong party."
+
+"No, sir," said Jarrow. "I was sent to see you. I'm from Captain
+Dinshaw."
+
+"Don't know him," said Locke. "What's it about?"
+
+"The island," said Jarrow, still cautious.
+
+"Island! Oh, yes, the old fellow with the picture. All right, come
+on up."
+
+Jarrow was soon before the door of the Lockes' suite and was
+ushered into a room which overlooked the bay, the windows open and
+the awnings down. He saw a young woman seated before a small table
+covered with tea things, and a tall young man standing near by. Mr.
+Locke stood just inside the door, but what warmed Jarrow's heart
+and bolstered his courage was a picture of Dinshaw's island which
+lay on a divan. There was the proof that the old captain had talked
+with these people.
+
+Locke regarded his visitor with a puzzled air, but concealed his
+surprise. The stranger seemed to him to be strangely furtive and
+sinister, standing in the half-light, ears twitching, a clipped
+skull thrust forward on a short neck like the head of a turtle
+pushing out from a shell.
+
+"I didn't get your name, sir," said Locke, in a friendly way, to
+save his guest embarrassment.
+
+"Jarrow's my name. I got a wreckin' business. You ask anybody in
+Manila about me."
+
+"And you say Dinshaw sent you?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I take it you've had a talk with him."
+
+"So I have."
+
+"Then it's all right. Understand he mentioned me."
+
+"You are Captain Jarrow? And you have a schooner?" asked Trask.
+
+"Jarrow!" exclaimed Marjorie. "Of course! Don't you remember, Dad?
+Captain Dinshaw told us about Captain Jarrow."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes," said Locke. "You're the man he said would go to his
+island. This is my daughter, Miss Marjorie--and Mr. Trask."
+
+Jarrow ducked his head. Locke had introduced the others more for
+the purpose of gaining time to study this hulking, limp-kneed man
+who stood before him like a gorilla crouched for a spring and
+squeezing a soft straw hat into a shapeless lump in his hands.
+
+"Won't you sit down?" asked Locke, and took his hat. Jarrow allowed
+himself to sink carefully into a gold-backed chair of doubtful
+strength and capacity.
+
+"Perhaps you'll take a cup of tea," suggested Marjorie.
+
+"No, thanks, ma'am. I don't eat nothin' much between meals. See
+you've been buyin' some of the old cap'n's pictures. He's a oddity,
+but there's gold on that island of his, right enough."
+
+"Think so?" asked Trask.
+
+"Know so. Scads of it. He brung back samples in his pockets. I've
+told him time and time again I'd go to his island, and what's more,
+I would ha', only I don't own all my schooner. It's been busy up to
+now with gover'ment work--hay for the cavalry posts down south. But
+now I'm ready, and if I can arrange a charter, I'll cut the rate to
+the bone, just to help Dinshaw--say sixty-five a day, gold." He
+looked at Locke inquiringly.
+
+"I don't know much about such things," said Locke, vaguely.
+
+"Well, a hundred a day is the usual rate," went on Jarrow, "but
+I'll make it special just to help the old man."
+
+"I hope you're well repaid," said Locke. "If there is gold----"
+
+"Gold!" exclaimed Jarrow. "Mr. Locke, ye're in on a good thing, if
+you'll let me say a word about it."
+
+"I'm a little bit mixed up on this thing," said Locke, with an
+amused smile at Trask. "You know more about the proposition than I
+do, captain. Of course, Captain Dinshaw talked with Mr. Trask----"
+
+"I hope I ain't put my foot in anything," broke in Jarrow. "I
+thought from what Dinshaw said Mr. Trask here knew all about it."
+
+"Mr. Trask knows as much about it as I do, and more," said Locke.
+"Say whatever you like."
+
+"Then it's all right," said Jarrow, obviously relieved. "'Tain't a
+piece of business I'd want to tell Tom, Dick, and Harry, if I had
+the weather on it like you have. I'm above board in my dealin's.
+You ask anybody in Manila about Captain Jarrow, the wrecker. But I
+thought for a minute I'd let the cat out of the bag."
+
+"No damage done," said Locke. "As I understand it, you intend to go
+to this island of Dinshaw's."
+
+"We're so glad to hear it, Captain Jarrow," said Marjorie. "It will
+surely make the old man happy."
+
+"Thank ye, ma'am. I want to kind o' apologize for jammin' myself in
+like this, but I'm a frank man."
+
+Jarrow paused, and throwing one foot over a knee, stroked the seams
+of his new French shoes with the tips of his fingers.
+
+"Of course," he resumed, "Captain Dinshaw and me, we're thick as
+three in a bed. Ask anybody in Manila if I ain't been doin' my best
+to go to his island. I've offered to take him to his island, time
+and time again, but he wouldn't hear it, 'cause he knew I was
+makin' money with the _Nuestra_--that's my schooner, the _Nuestra
+Señora del Rosario_--me and Peth, my mate, we own it with others.
+In the wreckin' business it's touch and go. You got to be on the
+spot, and there ain't been any too many wrecks out this way lately.
+Let me go away for a week or two on this island business, and I'd
+likely lose somethin' good. But with somebody to kind o' go in on
+the deal, I'd split even at sixty-five dollars a day. I'd be some
+out of pocket, if there wa'n't much gold there, but I look for
+findin' it in a big way. It's a open and shut proposition."
+
+"It sounds interesting," said Locke, getting more puzzled as to why
+Jarrow should call on him to take him into his confidence regarding
+plans about Dinshaw's island.
+
+"There's big money in it," said Jarrow.
+
+"May I ask why you think so, Captain Jarrow?" inquired Trask.
+
+Jarrow turned to Trask in surprise. The question was appallingly
+direct, and Trask's tone was crisp and business-like.
+
+"I know it," said Jarrow, uncomfortably aware of being pinned down
+to definite information.
+
+"But I don't understand why you should take the trouble to tell us
+about your proposed trip," said Locke.
+
+"How?" Jarrow's head snapped up suddenly and his eyes opened in a
+wide stare at Locke.
+
+"What is the purpose of this interview?" demanded Locke. "There
+seems to be some sort of mistake."
+
+Jarrow put his foot down slowly and sucked his moustache in between
+his lips. His ears twitched and his head ducked forward as he made
+a swallowing movement with his throat.
+
+"How's that again?" he whispered, as if he had lost his voice.
+
+"From what you've said, captain, I gather you believe I have
+something to do with the matter of the island."
+
+Jarrow blew his moustache and gave a suppressed sigh of agony.
+
+"Why--why, Dinshaw--he told me you wanted me and my schooner to go
+to his island!"
+
+Trask laughed outright in spite of his effort to keep still, and
+Marjorie gave an exclamation of amazement. Locke could only stare
+at Jarrow.
+
+"Told you I wanted your schooner! He certainly is crazy! Most
+absurd thing I ever heard of!"
+
+"Mr. Peth, my mate, he's below now," said Jarrow.
+
+"Then you are going?" asked Trask.
+
+"Am I goin'?" retorted Jarrow. "No! I can't go on my own hook. I
+thought you folks was goin'--that's what I'm here for."
+
+"It's all a mistake," said Locke. "We had no intention of
+misleading the old man."
+
+"It will be a terrible disappointment to him," said Marjorie. "It's
+a ghastly mistake if poor old Captain Dinshaw really believes we
+told him we'd go."
+
+"We bought his picture out of charity," said Locke. "Mr. Trask here
+is a mining man, and was interested in his story, but we haven't
+any more idea of going to this gold island than we have of going to
+the moon. My daughter and I are leaving the day after to-morrow for
+Hong Kong to connect with the Pacific Mail. We were going this
+morning, but missed the _Taming_."
+
+"This'll just about kill old man Dinshaw," said Jarrow.
+
+"He's so pathetic," said Marjorie. "I'm sorry if we've done
+anything to disappoint him. I'll always feel guilty about it. Just
+what did he say, Captain Jarrow?"
+
+"Why, ma'am, he comes runnin' down to the Cuartel not an hour ago,
+all excited up about you people. 'Jarrow,' he says to me, 'I've got
+a party who'll go to my island if they can git your schooner--and
+yours is the only one to be had for love or money. I know you'll
+lose on it, seein's you got a new gover'ment hay charter comin'
+your way, but can't you strain a p'int for an old friend? If you
+don't stand by me, the chance is gone.'
+
+"'Cap'n Dinshaw,' says I to him, 'I'll stand by if I can be any
+help, lose money or no. If me and my schooner's what you need, why,
+she's lyin' off the breakwater, and I'm your man.' And Peth, my
+mate, he speaks up, and says to him: 'Dinny, don't you fret none,
+but leave it to Jarrow. He's the man to tie to if ye need help.'
+
+"So we lays a course for up here. When he hears of this, it'll just
+about kill him dead, sure. Happened the same way once before, and
+he was laid up in the Civil Hospital for a month with brain fever.
+He ain't as strong now as he was then, neither. If I had the
+capital, I'd go in on my own, but I'm up to my ears in debt, and as
+I said, I'd just about split even at sixty-five dollars a day. But
+I can't go it alone. The old man he'll just fade away and die, if
+you don't mind my puttin' in my oar about it. When he gits these
+idees about somebody goin' to his island, and then it falls
+through, he moans and moans----"
+
+"Oh, Dad, I wish something could be done!" cried Marjorie. "I'll
+never forgive myself if we go away from here and leave that old man
+grieving!" She looked at Trask and caught a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"Well, I'll send him back to the States if you feel that way about
+it," said Locke.
+
+"He won't go," said Jarrow. "We've all tried to send him home. I
+offered to buy his ticket some time back, but he's got this island
+on the brain."
+
+"Where is the island?" asked Trask. "I understand it isn't far."
+
+"Oh, up the coast a piece," said Jarrow. "Take a week, say, to go
+and come back."
+
+"A week!" said Locke. "I had an idea it was a long way off."
+
+"Shucks!" said Jarrow. "No great shakes of a ways. With favourin'
+winds, a week would do it easy. Of course, if a man wanted to spend
+a lot of time there, diggin' around, that's a cat of another
+colour. But with a couple of days to look the place over in good
+shape, ten days would do it easy."
+
+"Dad, why can't we go?" asked Marjorie. "Just to make Dinshaw
+happy! You said I might go any place I wanted to on this trip."
+
+"You mean to tell me you want to go schoonering around out in this
+country, Marge?" Locke was astounded.
+
+"It would be great fun."
+
+"Great guns!" said Locke. "Don't you know a schooner isn't what a
+liner is? You can't have suites and stewards and fancy things to
+eat."
+
+"You'll find it comfortable enough on the _Nuestra_," said Jarrow,
+his hopes rising. "A good Chink cook, a coloured steward, all hands
+a room to theirselves. All Cap'n Dinshaw needs is a mouthful of
+sea-air an' a deck under his feet. There's a whallopin' lot of gold
+there, too, or I miss stays. I know nobody believes him, but they
+didn't believe Columbus. I can't guarantee----"
+
+"I'll go," said Trask, "if we can make the right sort of a deal."
+
+"If you go, I'm in on it," declared Locke.
+
+"Oh, Dad, you're a brick! I knew you'd go!"
+
+Trask took Locke aside, to confer privately. "I want you to come,
+Mr. Locke," he said, "but I don't want to have you stand an expense
+which may be a dead loss----"
+
+"I won't go unless I can stand half," said Locke.
+
+"Very well, but I'd rather not appear in the matter as the leader,
+because if I did, the newspapers would find out who I am and make
+it appear that my company was backing Dinshaw. I haven't authority
+to go on this trip, and if it turned out badly, a failure would be
+credited against the Consolidated, and it's a very conservative
+company. Here's a thousand dollars. Will you draw checks against it
+at your bank? And I'll go as your guest?"
+
+"Certainly," said Locke. "I have an account current at the Chinese
+bank, which was to be transferred to Hong Kong, but I'll hold it
+here."
+
+"All right. You give Jarrow a check as an advance and to buy
+supplies. We'll close the deal right now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+JARROW DOES AND SAYS QUEER THINGS
+
+
+Mr. Peth was slinking about the bar like a leopard on a still hunt
+when Captain Jarrow returned from his conference which resulted in
+a tentative charter of the _Nuestra Señora del Rosario_, with
+himself as master and Peth as mate.
+
+Jarrow was in a state bordering between exhaltation at his success
+and collapse over the narrow margin by which he had put through a
+deal which at one time appeared as elusive as a chimera.
+
+"Give me a Picon, and make it strong," said Jarrow to the bar-boy,
+disregarding Peth, while he scrubbed his face with a handkerchief.
+
+"Hook up?" asked Peth, edging along the bar until he had an elbow
+against Jarrow's side.
+
+"Mighty Nelson!" whispered Jarrow. "It was a lee shore, and no
+mistake. Looney lied."
+
+"Lied!" whispered Peth.
+
+"They never told him they wanted us," continued Jarrow, with due
+caution, glancing about the deserted bar. "But I put it through.
+They're swells and no mistake."
+
+"Then it's a go, skipper?"
+
+"We get out in the morning. It's to be quiet. We clear for Vigan
+with passengers. Take rock ballast this afternoon, and git stores
+aboard. Locke give me free rein for everything needed, and I'm to
+draw on him at the Hong Kong-Shanghai bank. We ought to clean up.
+Pipe down, here's the dude clerk."
+
+"You saw Mr. Locke?" asked Wilkins, with a genial air, as he came
+in from the office, consumed with curiosity.
+
+"Oh, yes," said Jarrow. "He's a nice man."
+
+"Raw-ther," said Wilkins.
+
+"I hear he's rich," said Jarrow.
+
+Wilkins smiled knowingly. "Millions," he said.
+
+Peth looked at Jarrow quickly, and whistled faintly through his
+teeth.
+
+"I guess you know me," said Jarrow. "I been up here a few times now
+and then on business."
+
+"You're a Manila man, aren't you?" asked Wilkins. "I don't place
+your name but your face is familiar."
+
+"I'm Captain Jarrow, head of the Inter-Island Wreckin' Company. I
+got a big business, in a way. Everybody knows me in my line. I'm
+the man who done the divin' for the gover'ment."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Wilkins.
+
+"I'd like for you to say a good word for me, if it falls your way,
+to this Mr. Locke--and Trask."
+
+"Sure," said Wilkins.
+
+"Who does this Mr. Trask happen to be?" asked Jarrow.
+
+"Mining man," said Wilkins.
+
+"Oh."
+
+"Yes, he was talking with Looney Dinshaw. Seems he came out here
+from China to look after the island. I knew him down in Colombo,
+when I managed a hotel."
+
+"Lookin' for the island!" exclaimed Jarrow. "That's news to me."
+
+"I thought maybe that's why you called," said Wilkins.
+
+"Well, maybe I didn't and maybe I did. I have to keep a closed
+mouth. But if you'll say a word for me to these people--reliable
+and all that--I may put somethin' your way sometime."
+
+"I'll have a gin," said Peth.
+
+"Glad to do what I can, sir," said Wilkins. "Support home industry,
+that's always been my motto. If I'm asked, I'll say the right sort
+of thing."
+
+"Good for you," said Jarrow. "This is Mr. Peth, my mate. We got to
+slide," and waving his hand at Wilkins, Jarrow walked toward the
+veranda while Peth gulped his gin and trailed after him with
+alacrity.
+
+The mate overtook the captain as the latter headed across the
+Luneta toward Malecon Drive, where the great king palms offered
+shade from the blinding sunlight.
+
+Jarrow marched along, with head down, staring at the gravel. He
+gave no heed to Peth, who overtook him and fell in beside him.
+
+"Millions," said Peth, presently.
+
+"You ain't got the brains of a goose, Peth."
+
+"What's the row?" demanded Peth.
+
+"Can't you hear millions spoke of without actin' like a blasted
+whistlin' buoy?" demanded Jarrow, savagely.
+
+"I was took aback," said Peth.
+
+"Took aback! This ain't no business for a man who's got to blow off
+steam in public the minute he sniffs somethin' good! Things like
+that might bust up the whole business--and sixty a day in it!"
+
+"I don't see what I done, skipper," whined Peth.
+
+"You done enough. Couldn't you see what I was drivin' at? You ain't
+got half an eye. That dude clerk, he can fix us solid with them
+people. What if he got an idea we was out to make money off 'em?
+This Locke'll go askin' that feller, so I had to prime him. Lucky
+he didn't notice your fidgets when he spoke of millions."
+
+"You go make a mountain out of it," said Peth, as they turned into
+the Malecon and proceeded toward the river.
+
+"Peth, you better not cross the bows of these people till we're
+ready for sea."
+
+Peth turned his sharp face toward the captain and looked down on
+him with searching eyes, a trifle startled. He turned away and spat
+viciously. "I won't bite 'em," he growled.
+
+"They might bite you. We can't reckon on what these swells'll
+cotton to in a deal like this."
+
+"Aint I big enough dude?"
+
+"You ain't got no diplomacy."
+
+Peth gritted his teeth gently. "Don't ye want me for mate?" he
+demanded, with a poor attempt to conceal his wrath.
+
+"What's the matter of you?" asked Jarrow, looking at him in
+surprise.
+
+"You that's sayin' it. You talk like I'm a horned toad or
+somethin', to set folks on the run the minute they clap eyes on
+me."
+
+"Have sense," cautioned Jarrow. "We got a lot to do come sundown.
+Have sense. I'm the brain's, ain't I?"
+
+"So you say, cap'n."
+
+"I got my own meanin's. What if this Trask and the girl come down
+aboard this evenin' to look things over, and they don't like your
+looks first off?"
+
+"What's my looks got to do with it? Ain't I dressed up?"
+
+"Yes, good enough for me, but maybe not for them. They'll put a
+hole in our copper plates, charter or no charter, if they take a
+dislike to you. We can't take no chances."
+
+"Might as well see me first as last."
+
+"Oh, no. Plenty of reasons for 'em comin' about on the whole
+business and leavin' us high and dry, except for the advance. They
+hop aboard a liner--what then?"
+
+"Got to see me some time."
+
+"Sure! Once to sea, they'll take things as they find 'em. But it's
+touch and go with us until we clear the bay, and don't forget that
+for a minute."
+
+"What they want? Sody water gents for a crew?"
+
+"Whatever they want, they'll have it, them swells."
+
+"Then I ain't gallant enough for the likes o' you and this charter
+party, I take it," said Peth, his anger rising.
+
+"I ain't findin' no fault with you myself, Peth. All I'm gallied
+about is what the others'll think. You're goin' mate, of
+course----"
+
+"Thanks," said Peth, curtly. "You talk like I was ship's boy, not
+owner of an eighth of the _Nuestra_. Who helped you salve her? Who
+like to broke his back doin' of it? Peth did, that's who. Now he
+ain't good enough, once ye make fast to a millionaire."
+
+"You talk like an old mitten with the thumb brailed up," said
+Jarrow.
+
+"Where was this millionaire feller when ye wanted a man to stand by
+and raise the _Nuestra_, I'd like----?"
+
+"Belay that!" said Jarrow. "I'm talkin' for yer own good. There's
+money in this cruise for both of us. I got my own reasons, and
+that's enough. I'd look smart cuttin' you out of things, wouldn't
+I?"
+
+"Well, all I can say, cap'n, ye don't need to take me mate if ye
+don't want to."
+
+"Steady as she goes," said Jarrow, taking him by his arm. "You're
+mate, and I never had it my mind ye wouldn't go mate."
+
+"All right, all right," growled Peth, shaking himself free. "I
+ain't goin' to fuss none. I don't want to be gammin' around with
+swells, no ways. But if I thought ye wanted to beach me----"
+
+"Oh, git that out of yer head. You've got to git the crew together
+and I got to see Prayerful Jones afore Dinshaw gits back. Then I'll
+git the old man aboard and keep his jaw close to the wind. We got
+to run this thing on some basis. You'll find Doc Bird cookin' in a
+civilian mess out Malate way. We got to have him."
+
+"Will Doc cut loose from a shore berth for what looks like a v'yage
+to Vigan?"
+
+"He'll cut loose from anything if he knows I want him," said
+Jarrow, in a tone significant of no doubts about the matter. "He's
+to be aboard in the mornin'--to-night would be better. When we git
+our ballast we'll lay out in the stream again. It's safer from
+talk."
+
+"How safer?"
+
+"From folks nosin' around. We can't have none of the crew hangin'
+'longshore, ginnin' up. I'll fix the clearance myself, and see the
+commissioner."
+
+"But I'm to have who I want for'ard," said Peth.
+
+"That's it. You know who we want."
+
+They hailed a _banca_ and were rowed across the river, making a
+landing over a tier of _cascos_.
+
+"I'll go over to the Cuartel and pass the word for the men and do a
+little lookin' myself," said Peth.
+
+"Keep Dinshaw there half an hour," suggested Jarrow.
+
+Peth looked at him suspiciously.
+
+"What's the game?"
+
+"Never mind me or the game."
+
+"I seem to be kind o' out on the aidge o' things," growled the
+mate.
+
+"You keep Dinshaw from shootin' off his face, that's all you got to
+do, and don't let Van know how things swung at the Bay View. I'm
+goin' to keep this business under gratin's."
+
+"You don't need to fret," said Peth. "I ain't fixin' to break
+nothin' out," and he tracked away to the Cuartel, weaving in and
+out among the litter of goods on the Mole.
+
+Jarrow stood and watched him disappear into the Cuartel. "I ain't
+never had no luck with him," he remarked. "I hope he breaks his
+fool neck, that's what I hope. He'll mess things up for me yit."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MR. PETH IS PARTICULAR ABOUT WHERE HE SLEEPS
+
+
+Early in the morning, when Manila was turning over for another nap,
+a victoria from the Bay View took Locke, Trask, and Marjorie over
+the Bridge of Spain and through Plaza Moraga to the landing steps,
+where the tug which was to take the _Nuestra Señora del Rosario_ to
+sea was waiting to put the voyagers aboard the schooner. The
+_Nuestra_ was at anchor down the bay.
+
+As they got out of the carriage a black man hopped ashore from the
+tug and made for their baggage.
+
+"I'm Doc Bird, the steward," he said. "I reckon yo' all is fo'
+Cap'n Jarrow's packet?"
+
+"We are," said Locke. "Is everything ready?"
+
+"Never gon' be no readier, sir," said the steward, who looked smart
+in a suit of white and a jaunty cap. Instead of a shirt, he wore a
+gaudy cotton sweater with stripes running athwart his body, red
+and blue, after the manner of a convict's clothes.
+
+"Then we're off," said Locke, as he helped Marjorie aboard, while
+Trask superintended the job of getting their bags aboard, at which
+task the native crew of the tug assisted the steward.
+
+In a minute they were heading down the river. As they cleared the
+old transport docks they made out the _Nuestra_ well off the
+breakwater, her brown, bare masts rising like spires from her black
+hull, and the morning sun glinting from a strip of brass on her
+taffrail. They could see busy figures aboard, and as they drew
+nearer Captain Jarrow appeared on the poop-deck smoking a cigar. He
+was all in white, his queer cockle-shell straw hat fastened to a
+button of his coat by a cord.
+
+They had visited the schooner the night before, under the pilotage
+of Jarrow, before Locke had signed the agreement which was
+practically a charter, at sixty dollars a day. She had six rooms in
+her main cabin in addition to the galley and lazarette, and while
+they were small, they were comfortable enough and satisfactory.
+
+No one was aboard during the brief visit, but Mr. Bevins, the
+second mate, and one man of the crew. Bevins's manners were
+ingratiating and he wore a constant smile, due more to some defect
+of his facial muscles than chronic geniality. The other man was a
+big fellow with much tattooing on his hands and wrists. Captain
+Jarrow summoned him to the cabin door and introduced him as "Shope,
+who was to go b'sun."
+
+"There's Captain Dinshaw!" cried Marjorie, as the _patron_ steered
+the tug to come alongside.
+
+Dinshaw had popped up over the starboard bulwark, and watched the
+tug maneuver with critical eye.
+
+"And all dressed up," said Trask, smiling, as he observed that
+Dinshaw wore a white suit and sported an official-looking cap with
+a white top.
+
+"The old man shore thinks he's the skipper," remarked Doc Bird.
+
+"How's that?" asked Locke.
+
+"He's a-bossin' everybody," replied the steward. "Thinks he's in
+his old brig what he lost on his island."
+
+"The old dear!" said Marjorie. "Isn't he pathetic? He looks
+thoroughly happy!"
+
+Dinshaw stood with his hands on the bulwark, and looked down at
+the tug, his head askew like an observant fowl.
+
+"Don't scratch the paint!" he shouted to the _patron_ of the tug.
+"Mind what ye're at!"
+
+"Paint!" laughed Locke. "Couldn't hurt that paint with a crowbar."
+
+"Glad to see ye in good time, Mr. Locke," called Jarrow, and then
+stepped back to escape the smoke from the tug's funnel, calling to
+Peth to see that the ladder was put over.
+
+After a deal of fussing and bawling on the part of the tug's crew,
+she was nestled alongside the schooner, and Jarrow was at the rail
+to assist them over the side.
+
+"I told ye I'd go," said Dinshaw, proudly, taking off his cap to
+Marjorie as she jumped down to the deck. "This lady knows, and she
+wanted to go to my island. Thank ye, ma'am! Good mornin'."
+
+"Indeed I do want to go," laughed Marjorie. "And I hope we'll find
+your island, too, captain."
+
+"Thank ye, ma'am. We'll find it right enough," and with a hasty bow
+he waddled forward importantly, to oversee the getting of the
+anchor and the passing of the towing hawser.
+
+But the tug remained alongside after Locke and Trask had climbed
+over into the waist and the baggage was transferred by Doc Bird.
+
+"Oh," said Jarrow, as the _patron_ mounted the ladder and grinned
+at them, hat in hand, "this boy wants his towage."
+
+"How much?" asked Locke, taking out a large roll of yellow American
+bills.
+
+"I'd give him a check," advised Jarrow, "if you've got your book."
+
+"All right," said Locke, and he followed Jarrow into the cabin
+while Trask and Marjorie went to the poop-deck. The _Nuestra_
+looked clean as a pin and fresh as a maker's model. Her decks had
+been scrubbed until the caulking in the seams looked like lines of
+black paint on old ivory. Her standing rigging had been newly
+tarred, her bright work polished, and the water casks lashed in the
+waist had their hoops painted a bright yellow, not yet dry. New
+hemp hung in the belaying pins. The roof of the cabin, covered by a
+tarpaulin, gleamed with oil and yellow paint. She had been scrubbed
+and freshened until she had quite the aspect of a yacht.
+
+"This beats waiting around Hong Kong," said Marjorie, as they stood
+looking forward. She looked quite nautical in a suit of white duck
+and a yachting cap pinned to her flaxen hair. Trask thought she
+appeared entrancingly healthy and "out of doors."
+
+"It's going to be a jolly fine trip," said Trask. "I hope you'll
+enjoy it one hundredth as much as I do."
+
+"But gold-mine hunting is no novelty to you," she said.
+
+"It's the first time I've actually gone to sea in search of a gold
+mine. And there are other reasons which make this trip unique."
+
+"You are absurdly reticent, Mr. Trask."
+
+"Under the circumstances it would be unfair to state the facts in
+their blunt simplicity," he retorted, with a smile.
+
+"You mean father and me?"
+
+"Mostly you," and he moved forward abruptly to tell Doc Bird to put
+his bags in his room.
+
+Locke and Jarrow came out of the main cabin and paid off the
+_patron_ of the tug.
+
+"Well, we're off," said Locke, coming aft, as Jarrow went forward
+to oversee the getting of the anchor and the passing of the
+hawser. Bevins came aft presently and took the wheel, and in a few
+minutes the _Nuestra_ started down the bay at the end of her leash.
+
+Well under way, Jarrow called Peth to the main cabin and introduced
+him to Marjorie, Locke, and Trask, who had been summoned below for
+the assignment of their rooms.
+
+Peth stood in the doorway and bowed, looking quite smart and
+respectable in clean dungarees, and though he said nothing but "How
+de do," he gave the impression of affability mixed with shyness. He
+missed no detail of Trask's clothing, and seemed to measure the
+young man's strength as he looked him up and down.
+
+"Now, Miss Locke, you'll have this room aft, to port, next is Mr.
+Locke, and then Mr. Trask. Then comes the cabin stores. I'll be aft
+to starboard, Mr. Peth and Captain Dinshaw next, the cook and the
+steward, and the galley----"
+
+"If ye don't mind, cap'n," interrupted Peth, "I'd not want to bunk
+with the old man. I got to be up and around nights."
+
+"All right," said Jarrow. "There are two bunks in Mr. Trask's room
+here. Maybe you wouldn't find it out of the way if Mr. Peth took
+the lower?"
+
+"Not at all," said Trask. "I'll sleep soundly enough."
+
+"My gear's in there now," said Peth, and he went out on deck.
+
+"I'd git my stuff all opened up and stowed while we're in the bay,"
+suggested Jarrow. "There may be a swell on outside, and then it's
+goin' to be hot below as the sun climbs. Tom! How's that coffee
+comin' on?"
+
+The fat Chinese cook looked out from the galley, a white cap on his
+head and an apron tied about him. He grinned pleasantly, and
+replied that the coffee was on the fire.
+
+"We had breakfast," said Locke.
+
+"I'd take a nip of coffee," said Jarrow. "Now then, here's Doc Bird
+to help open your gear. Anything you want, ask for it, and you,
+Doc, keep an eye out to make all hands comfortable. I got to go up
+now."
+
+Trask followed the captain up the companion and left Marjorie and
+her father below, until he was called to have his coffee. When
+they went on deck again Corregidor Island was astern, rising out of
+the channel like a derelict battleship.
+
+To starboard, close aboard beyond the stretch of sun-dazzled sea,
+was the coast of Bataan, with the brown fuzzy mountains behind
+Mariveles shouldering into the sky. Point Luzon marked the limit of
+the land over the starboard bow, and on the port side the shining
+China Sea reached away to the horizon.
+
+The jib and foresail were already set although the tug had not cast
+off. Soon they began to fill, and as Peth bawled to the tug, the
+hawser was dropped, and tooting a farewell, the little boat swung
+in a wide arc and headed back for Manila.
+
+Peth came aft and routed Doc Bird from under the mainsail boom
+where the steward sat peeling potatoes. Dinshaw kept moving about,
+repeating the orders of the mate, or talking to himself.
+
+The crew were all white, in accordance with the orders of Locke,
+who had declared that he did not want to undertake the voyage with
+natives forward.
+
+The breeze from landward died as the main was being set, and the
+_Nuestra_ began to roll gently as she fell off. For a few minutes
+she threatened to follow the tug back to Manila, with many lurches
+and angry snappings of blocks.
+
+"We'll git a clinkin' good breeze from the south'ard when we're off
+the land," said Jarrow, glancing aloft to the windvane on the
+mizzen truck. It was flopping about like a dead fish on a gaff.
+
+Before long the foresail began to fret its sheets, and Bevins got
+her head to seaward. Then there came from astern a hot, puffy
+breeze, and the schooner stood out on a port tack, curvetting
+prettily as her sails were trimmed and filled.
+
+One of the crew, hailed as Pennock, now came aft and took the
+wheel, and Bevins went forward. Captain Dinshaw went into the
+cabin, and looking down, Trask could see him bent over the table,
+sucking a stub of a pencil and studying a sheet of paper.
+
+"What's the bearin' and distance of Point Luzon?" he called up the
+companion.
+
+Jarrow looked at Locke and smiled.
+
+"Northwest, five miles," called Jarrow, after a look at the compass
+and the land.
+
+"What course ye steerin'?"
+
+"Nor'wes'bywes'."
+
+"Variation, one degree east," remarked Dinshaw, and went back to
+his figuring, talking to himself and scratching his head. From his
+conduct since sailing it was obvious that he intended to hold
+himself aloof from the rest of the party.
+
+"Thinks he's navigatin'," whispered Jarrow, with a wink to Trask.
+
+"He looks a lot better than he did," said Locke. "Has more colour
+and walks with more vigour."
+
+"Good eatin'," said Jarrow. "He perked right up the minute he come
+aboard. Acts like he's master. Don't do no harm, only Mr. Peth gits
+rubbed the wrong way sometimes. I say, if the old man gits any fun
+out of thinkin' it's his own schooner, what's the odds?"
+
+"How did you come out on getting anything certain about the
+position of his island?" asked Locke. "From what you said last
+night it was a sure thing."
+
+"Oh, we know where we're goin' right enough," said Jarrow.
+
+"Then he's given you some more data?"
+
+"We ain't goin' on his say-so. He give me the leaf out of his old
+log, with his noon position the day before he was lifted off his
+course by the typhoon."
+
+"Is that enough?"
+
+"We ought to run slap into his island. It's one of the Capones, off
+the Zambales coast. There's a whole flock of 'em, but the one I
+figure on stands out from the rest, from what I've worked."
+
+"Wilkins, at the hotel, was telling me the geodetic people couldn't
+find the island."
+
+"Wilkins?" Jarrow turned and looked at Locke intently. "Oh, yes.
+Did he say anything about me?"
+
+"Yes, he spoke very highly of you."
+
+"Well, it's this way," said Jarrow, after a thoughtful pause. "The
+old man didn't give 'em the right position. He said he'd piled up
+near one of the Sisters, just to the south'ard of the Little
+Sister, to be exact. But that's more'n sixty miles north of where
+the _Wetherall_ struck. Ye see, the old man didn't want nobody to
+find the island if he couldn't go himself. But he's all right now."
+
+Peth came up the weather side of the poop, and seeing the trio with
+the captain, turned abruptly to go forward again.
+
+"Did you want to see me, Mr. Peth?" called Jarrow.
+
+The mate stopped, and pushing his cap to the back of his head,
+grumbled an assent.
+
+"What about?" asked Jarrow, leaning his elbows on the top of the
+cabin trunk.
+
+"I wanted to speak private," said Peth, grumblingly.
+
+"Well, sing out," said Jarrow.
+
+"Thought I'd speak to ye about where I'd bunk, sir," said Peth.
+
+"Didn't we settle that?" demanded Jarrow, with considerable
+surprise.
+
+"Not to my tastes," said the mate.
+
+"What's the trouble?"
+
+"I thought I'd take my gear out, if it's all the same to you, sir."
+
+"Out where?"
+
+"Out of that room, sir."
+
+"Where'd ye want to bunk?"
+
+"I thought I'd bunk for'ard. Bevins is with the men----"
+
+"Well, you're the mate," said Jarrow. "Ye don't want to be with the
+crew, do ye?"
+
+"I thought mebbe if I moved for'ard I wouldn't be in the way."
+
+"Nobody's said anything 'bout ye bein' in the way," said Jarrow,
+with rising temper.
+
+"I'd be a heap more comfortable, sir," insisted Peth.
+
+"I won't be at all disturbed," said Trask, getting out of his deck
+chair so that he could see Peth.
+
+"I reckon I'd rather be for'ard," repeated the mate, doggedly.
+
+Captain Dinshaw came up through the companion, and started toward
+Peth, glaring at the mate.
+
+"What's this? What's this?" cried Dinshaw.
+
+"Better keep quiet, sir, and let me handle it," said Jarrow in a
+low tone. Then to Peth: "If ye think ye'll be more comfortable
+for'ard, Peth, why, that's your lookout. We'll let it stand that
+way till we talk it over and----"
+
+"Bad for discipline to have the mate for'ard with the crew,"
+shouted Dinshaw. "Ye'll stay with the afterguard, Mr. Peth. I'm
+master here. That's all."
+
+"Who is skipper, anyhow?" demanded Peth.
+
+"I'm skipper," said Jarrow. "No use of gittin' excited up this
+way. Captain Dinshaw, ye'll please me if ye go below. Now we'll go
+for'ard and talk this over, Mr. Peth. I won't have no disputin'
+aboard me." He hurried after Peth, and they went forward of the
+foremast, talking in low tones.
+
+"Captain Dinshaw!" said Locke, as the old man started to descend
+the stairs to the cabin.
+
+"Dad!" warned Marjorie. "Don't hurt his feelings."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Dinshaw.
+
+"Don't you want to go to your island?" asked Locke, gently.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then we can't have this sort of thing, or I'll turn back to
+Manila. Captain Jarrow is in command."
+
+"I know now, sir," said Dinshaw, rubbing his forehead with his
+hand, as if to brush away something which affected his vision.
+"It's all clear in my head, sir--I git kind o' dreamy, sir."
+
+"All right," said Locke. "You'd better go down and keep out of the
+sun. It's all right this time, but you know we must not have a
+division of authority. Captain Jarrow is master."
+
+"Very good, sir." And Dinshaw, somewhat crestfallen, went below.
+
+"I merely wanted to take a hand in things," said Locke. "Better for
+me to chip the old man and keep him quiet than for Jarrow to give
+him fits."
+
+"And I'm as well satisfied that Mr. Peth is going to live in the
+forecastle, if that's a measure of his temper," said Trask, who was
+more annoyed by the mate's request than he allowed the Lockes to
+see.
+
+"I didn't like his looks from the first," said Marjorie.
+
+"Oh, things'll get shaken down," said Locke. "But I'll give Jarrow
+to understand that we don't want to hear any more quarrels."
+
+Trask and Marjorie left their chairs on the lee side of the poop,
+and leaned against the rail, the better to see what was taking
+place forward, where they could hear Jarrow and Peth in quiet
+argument. From their gestures it was plain that in spite of
+Jarrow's pleas Peth was still obdurate.
+
+Pennock, the man at the wheel, gave no sign that he had heard any
+of the conversation aft, but stared over the top of the cabin
+trunk, glancing aloft now and then at the sails, and watching the
+compass. The crew were busy wetting down the decks, having swept
+them after clearing a litter of rope and boxes.
+
+Soon Captain Jarrow came back, looking red and flustered, his cigar
+out and badly chewed. He made an attempt to light it, but gave up
+the attempt and threw it over the side.
+
+"I'm sorry to see this happen, Mr. Locke," said Jarrow finally, as
+if he felt that he must say something to restore a pleasant status.
+
+"You know I've half a mind to put back to Manila and throw him
+ashore," said Locke, severely. "We're here for pleasure, Captain
+Jarrow, and we can't have any such scenes. My daughter's worried."
+
+"Oh, Mr Peth's all right," said Jarrow. "His bark's worse'n his
+bite. He feels a little awkward with you folks aboard, that's all.
+It was the old man scraped him."
+
+"I've already chipped the old man about it," said Locke. "I wish
+you'd let the matter drop. What did Mr. Peth decide to do?"
+
+"He's set on bunkin' with the men," said Jarrow.
+
+"All right, then, he can mess with the men," said Locke. "We won't
+have him aft at all."
+
+"All right," said Jarrow, and fell to pacing the weather side of
+the poop, his hands clasped behind his back.
+
+In a few minutes Peth came clumping down the waist and, calling two
+of the crew, went into the main cabin. There was a banging of
+doors, heard above the clatter of Shanghai Tom's chopping tray, and
+then Peth went forward, carrying clothes under both arms, followed
+by two men with his sea-chest.
+
+The schooner was bowling along now at a good rate, marching away
+from the land steadily, and making little leeway. Trask went below,
+ostensibly to have his bag unpacked, but really to have a talk with
+Doc Bird. Also, he had an automatic pistol which he thought he
+would get out and clean. He suspected that it would do no harm to
+have it known that there were weapons among the "passengers."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+TRASK HAS A TALK WITH DOC BIRD
+
+
+Calling Doc Bird from the galley, Trask set about putting his
+things in order in his room, and sent the steward inside to open
+the biggest bag, which was secured with straps.
+
+"I reckon we better take this out, sir," suggested Doc, as he made
+an effort to get the straps loose. He found it hard to work in the
+narrow little room.
+
+"No," said Trask, "open it in here." He stood in the doorway, and
+let the door rest against his back, holding it partly closed with
+one hand. It was his purpose to keep Doc shut in, and so be able to
+question him without being overheard.
+
+"Mighty hard to open," said Doc, down on his knees, struggling with
+the straps. It was hot in the room, and rather dark, as the
+deadlight to the poop-deck was fogged by sea water.
+
+"You're new to the schooner, aren't you?" asked Trask.
+
+"Yassir. I jus' shipped fo' the roun' trip."
+
+"How long have you known Mr. Peth?" Trask kept his voice low, and
+bent down to Doc.
+
+"Yassir. I know Mr. Peth. I know him fo' a long time."
+
+"Have you sailed with him before?"
+
+"Yassir. I been along with Cap'n Jarrow an' Mr. Peth off an' on six
+years. Got a key fo' this hyar satchel?"
+
+"It isn't locked. Just press the lock to the left."
+
+"You mighty ca'less with yo' possessions," said Doc with a chuckle.
+
+"What sort of a man is Mr. Peth?"
+
+"Catch me with my stuff sailin' around loose. Some o' these hyar
+native trash go'n walk off wid you, bag an' baggage, if you don'
+watch out, man."
+
+"Why do you suppose Mr. Peth wanted to move out of here?"
+
+"Oh, he's just kind o' techy."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"Kind o' uppish. He don' git along wid nobody, nohow, Mr. Peth
+don't."
+
+"He's been with Captain Jarrow a long time, hasn't he?"
+
+Doc turned his head sidewise and looked at Trask, and then looked
+out into the main cabin, as if to make sure no one was listening
+before he went on.
+
+"A lion an' a lamb," he said, in a scared whisper.
+
+"And Peth's the lion?"
+
+"Yassir, you got it. Peth, he'd fight with his own gran'mother,
+that man. Argue en argue en argue. He ain't fixin' to hurt nobody
+when he talks, but when he stops talkin'--excuse me!"
+
+"What does he do when he stops talking?"
+
+"If ol' Doc Bird's on the lan'scape, he hunts a hole an' he crawls
+in when Mr. Peth he begins to act up."
+
+"You mean you're afraid of him?"
+
+"Not exac'ly what you'd go an' call 'fraid, but I don' take no
+chances." He chuckled again, and wagged his head. He could not
+manipulate the lock to get the bag open, and Trask reached down and
+showed him how it was done.
+
+"Then you consider Mr. Peth a dangerous man?"
+
+"He sho' is."
+
+"How is he dangerous?"
+
+"Well, Mr. Trask, I don' lak' to go an' say nothin' agin a man,
+'specially when he's matin' round a boat what I'm in."
+
+"Oh, I suppose he's rough with a sailor if it suits his fancy,"
+said Trask, convinced now that Doc was merely making talk, and
+telling a yarn simply to impress him.
+
+"He wouldn't look twice to hang somethin' on a man's haid, Mr. Peth
+wouldn't. I done saw him stab a man once, not no sailorman,
+neither, stab him right in the back o' the neck with one o' these
+hyar Sweden knives with a ring on the handle. He was a planter down
+Zamboanga way, an' a genelman like you, in white clothes. He come
+sassin' round Mr. Peth on the pier. He won't sass 'round no mo',
+mos' certain."
+
+"Fol-de-rol," said Trask. "You're trying to make him out a bad man.
+I want to know something about him."
+
+"Ain't I tellin' of ye?" asked Doc. "Who all can tell ye, if I
+don'? Reckon that Zamboanga planter's gwine come back to life jes'
+fo' talkin' purposes, Mr. Trask?"
+
+"But he and Captain Jarrow must get along if they've been together
+for several years."
+
+"Git along, man! Them two don' git along, not the way we-all say
+it. Mr. Peth an' de cap'n? Huh! Them two git along smooth as a
+houn' dawg in a brier patch."
+
+"They quarrel a lot, eh?"
+
+"Fight ain' no name fer it. Mr. Peth he owns part of this hyar
+schooner, an' Cap'n Jarrow he wants fer to git him out. I look for
+him to drap Mr. Peth over the side some fine night--if Mr. Peth
+don' drap him fust."
+
+"Then that's why Mr. Peth didn't want to sleep aft here?"
+
+"Mos' doubtless. He pick up his traps an' go. Mr. Peth he done ship
+de crew. Yo' don' reckon he picked out Cap'n Jarrow's Sunday
+friends, does ye? No, suh. Mr. Peth, he knows what he's a-doin' of.
+He looks to be with his own friends when he goes for'ard."
+
+"Well, that's a nice arrangement, to have the mate in with the crew
+and opposed to the captain."
+
+"Won't do no harm thataway," said Doc with much assurance.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I reckon Cap'n Jarrow's got some friends along."
+
+"I suppose you side with the captain, eh?"
+
+"I mos' certain do. Old Doc Bird knows whar his bread is buttered,
+an' he keeps right close alongside de skipper."
+
+"Mr. Peth knows that?"
+
+"Mr. Peth never gits no chance to fergit it. An' the cook, he ain'
+got no use fo' Mr. Peth."
+
+"I see."
+
+"He better not go argufyin' with Shanghai Tom."
+
+"Why not? What could the cook do?"
+
+"Do?" Doc looked up and rolled his eyes, listened a second to make
+sure the cook was busy in the galley, and then went on: "Do? He'd
+let a meat axe in him. Yo' jes' want to stand clear if yo' see Mr.
+Peth an' Tom lookin' crossways at each other. My goodness, Mr.
+Trask, yo' sho' got a powerful lot of stuff in this grip-sack!"
+
+"Yes, it's tightly packed. Take the stuff out and put it in the
+upper bunk. I'll use the lower. So Peth and Jarrow fight. Do you
+mean to tell me there's always fighting? That it amounts to
+anything more than arguments?"
+
+"Fight! Lord-amighty! Them two! They'd rather fight en a yaller
+dawg likes fo' to worry a hambone. Not out an' out strakin', but
+jes' kind o' pickin' en a pickin'; insultin' like. But Mr. Peth
+he's makin' to do somebody hurt some time."
+
+"Let 'em fight," said Trask, and he began to help Doc hand out the
+clothing from the bag which the steward stowed above. When the bag
+was partly empty Trask opened a leather pocket that was fitted to
+one of the compartments. He gave an exclamation of surprise as he
+found it empty. It was in this pocket that his automatic revolver
+was ordinarily carried.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Doc.
+
+"Oh, nothing. I've misplaced something, that's all."
+
+"Yo' don' reckon Mr. Locke'll go an' git skeered 'count o' Mr.
+Peth's carryin' on, does ye?"
+
+"I don't believe anybody in this party is very scared of Mr. Peth."
+
+"Now, Miss Locke, she's a powerful nice lady. I knows quality folks
+the minute I comes across 'em. Now yo', Mr. Trask, is all off yo'
+cou'se."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Yo' all ain' no business fo' mixin' in with a ship full o'
+low-down rakin's an' scrapin's like we got aboard hyar."
+
+"You mean Captain Jarrow and Mr. Peth?"
+
+"Crew," said Doc.
+
+"What about the crew?"
+
+"Bad lot."
+
+"You mean the crew can't be trusted?"
+
+"Honest enough, sho'ly, but they ain't in yo' all's set. Now I know
+quality folks, an' when I sot eyes on yo' all, I like fo' to
+throwed a fit. Huh! 'Ristocrats ain' no business hoppin' along in a
+boat like this. I go fo' to know 'ristocrats when I sees 'em. I was
+a pantry man in a Suezer."
+
+"But this isn't any tea-party to which the crew are invited."
+
+"Huh! Don' yo' go fo' to fool yo' self."
+
+"Oh, fiddlesticks!" said Trask. "What are you trying to do? Make me
+afraid of everybody in the schooner?"
+
+Doc scratched his woolly head and rolled his eyes.
+
+"I ain't got nothin' mo' fo' to say," he declared, with an air of
+mystery.
+
+Doc was getting a trifle too chummy to suit Trask, and he thought
+it high time to bring the discussion to a close. While he felt Doc
+might be valuable as a friend and an ally, the garrulous steward
+might prove to be dangerous as a gossip. Trask feared that he had
+made a mistake by discussing the ship's affairs with him, so he
+gave the black man a generous tip and dismissed him with a caution
+against repeating anything that had been said.
+
+"If yo' go to need any advice, Mr. Trask, jes' yo' call on me," he
+whispered as he went out. "I don't let nothin' what might come in
+handy slip by me."
+
+"Thanks," said Trask, who realized that this was a direct offer to
+turn spy against Captain Jarrow and Peth. He did not care to enter
+into any sort of an arrangement yet felt that it would be wise to
+retain friendly relations with the steward.
+
+"If I pick up anything, Mr. Trask, I'll put a bug in yo' ear."
+
+"All right," said Trask. "But I don't favour your spying on anybody
+for my sake. You're merely to let me know in case anything goes on
+that I should know, which relates to the safety of all hands."
+
+"Oh, I ain' go'n to do no snoopin'," said Doc, with one of his
+peculiar chuckles. "But I looks fer carryin's on."
+
+"I don't want you gossiping," said Trask. Doc was promising to
+become something of a nuisance.
+
+"Yassir," said the steward, and went away to the galley.
+
+Trask now gave his complete attention to emptying the bag which
+should have contained the pistol. He made a careful search. But the
+pistol was gone and he was sure he had packed it that morning at
+the hotel, together with two boxes of ammunition.
+
+So he ransacked every possible place where the pistol could be
+misplaced among his effects. But after going through two smaller
+bags, and shaking out every bit of clothing, even to folding up the
+sheets and blankets on both bunks, he was sure the pistol was gone.
+
+So far as Trask knew, the only person besides Doc Bird to cross the
+threshold of his room was Peth. But the mate had been there only a
+few minutes. Whoever the thief was, he apparently had gone through
+the bag looking for arms, for nothing else had been disturbed. And
+it must have taken some time to open the straps and put them back
+in place, for the leather was stiff and the buckles difficult to
+manage. Trask had found the ends of the straps tucked in under the
+leather bands, just as he had fixed them himself at the hotel.
+
+Besides, to get the pistol and ammunition the leather pocket had to
+be opened, and Trask had found the flap back in place and buckled
+down. Likewise, the bag had been opened before his own eyes by Doc
+Bird, and he had stood over the steward while it was unpacked.
+
+Doc couldn't have known the pistol was there, for immediately the
+bag was opened he stood up and let Trask pass out the contents.
+Peth had been in the room probably fifteen minutes, and part of
+that time two of the crew were with him.
+
+Trask knew it would be unfair to charge Peth with the theft of the
+pistol, or to question the mate about it, and to report his loss to
+Jarrow might precipitate more trouble on top of the ill-feeling
+which had already cropped out aboard the schooner.
+
+So he decided to wait and take the matter up at a time more
+convenient for an investigation.
+
+Trask left his room and went out on deck as if nothing had happened
+to arouse his suspicions against anybody in the vessel. But he had
+an idea that Peth might know what had become of the automatic
+pistol.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOW THE SCHOONER ARRIVED OFF THE ISLAND
+
+
+Trask found Captain Jarrow pacing the weather side of the poop-deck
+when he went up. The captain seemed to be in ill-humour, as if his
+tilt with Peth had not been settled to his liking, and his attitude
+that of shame for having lost his face so soon with his
+"passengers."
+
+He nodded pleasantly to Trask, who observed that his bronzed face
+appeared flushed with anger. There was a savage glint in his eye in
+spite of his silent geniality.
+
+Trask leaned against the taffrail, waiting to see if Jarrow would
+speak, and if the captain's mood warranted it, intended to report
+the loss of his pistol.
+
+Locke and Marjorie were in deck chairs around the cabin on the lee
+side, sheltered from sun and wind to some degree by the sail over
+their heads.
+
+But Jarrow said nothing, continuing to pace from the break of the
+poop and aft, ignoring Trask, but keeping a watchful eye on the man
+at the helm and the sails. His manner indicated that he did not
+wish to engage in conversation, but preferred to consider matters
+which required careful thought.
+
+Dinshaw was standing at the port bulwark abreast of the mainmast,
+gazing out over the sea in a reflective way, and looking quite
+forlorn and chastened. The crew, in skylarking style, were drawing
+water over the side with buckets and throwing it down the deck from
+forward, so that Dinshaw frequently had to pull himself up on the
+bulwark to avoid having his feet wet.
+
+This gaiety forward was in striking contrast to the sense of gloom
+which had come over the after part of the schooner. Not that any
+one was suffering any discomforts from the fact that Jarrow had
+clashed with the mate, unless it were Jarrow himself, but Peth's
+irascibility had checked the holiday air with which the schooner's
+company had put to sea. But the crew had suddenly become gleeful,
+as if the quarrel between master and mate had provided a great
+joke.
+
+Peth was walking about forward, in bare feet, growling out a word
+now and then, and obviously going to great pains not to look aft.
+When his back was turned from them the sailors indulged in grins
+and back-slappings and other rough demonstrations of their
+knowledge that the "afterguard" were not on agreeable terms.
+
+This prankish mood of the crew was shown in their efforts to make
+Dinshaw uncomfortable. It was plain to Trask that they wanted to
+arouse the old man's ire, or pick on him in a sneaking way, to let
+him know that he had lost his previous standing with them. It was
+all undoubtedly meant to have petty revenge on him for the way he
+had been lording it about before Peth had quarrelled with Jarrow.
+They seemed to have an idea that because Peth had come forward,
+they could show the old captain disrespect.
+
+In a way it was all harmless enough, yet Trask felt that neither
+Peth nor Jarrow should allow such lax discipline. Dinshaw belonged
+aft, and for that reason to treat him with contumely was a
+reflection on everybody aft. But Trask thought that it was no time
+to call the captain's attention to what was going on, partly
+because Dinshaw should have remained aft while such work was being
+done, and partly because a criticism from Jarrow would undoubtedly
+cause a renewal of the row that should be allowed to blow over.
+
+The crew's jeering attitude was soon brought out in another manner
+while Trask remained near the captain. Doc Bird went to the lee
+side to throw over some refuse from the galley, and before he could
+make his escape back to the galley one of the men, whom Trask knew
+to be Shope, hurled a bucket of water in such fashion that Doc's
+legs were wet.
+
+The steward said something which Trask did not understand, but
+which must have been suitable to the occasion, for Shope took anger
+at once, and advanced on the negro threateningly. But Doc ran back
+to the galley, and his voice, raised in remonstrance, could be
+heard as he expressed opinions to Shanghai Tom about Shope.
+
+If there had been no trouble in the schooner Trask would have
+thought nothing of the incident, and might have enjoyed it as a
+harmless joke. But he saw that the crew seemed to be openly
+antagonistic to all hands aft, for the others joined in open
+laughter at the discomfiture of the steward. And what was more
+significant, Peth and Jarrow saw what happened, but both ignored
+it. The crew were evidently taking advantage of the relations
+between master and mate, and seemed bent on stirring up fresh
+discord.
+
+In a few minutes Jarrow went below, without looking at Trask, and
+from the set of his jaw Trask knew that his anger was growing.
+Presently he heard Jarrow talking in a gruff way to Doc Bird, and
+the latter's whining and conciliatory voice in argument.
+
+"I don't want no back slack from the likes o' you," Jarrow said,
+and Doc subsided.
+
+Trask went around to where Locke and Marjorie were sitting, and
+with his back against the side of the cabin trunk, sat and chatted.
+
+At lunch time Captain Jarrow joined them at table, and made special
+efforts to renew the good-fellowship of the schooner, chiefly by a
+careful avoidance of any mention of Peth. He made jokes and told
+stories and except for a wicked look now and then at Doc Bird, was
+very jolly and agreeable, so that he made a decidedly good
+impression on Locke and Marjorie. But Trask had some doubts of his
+natural affability and was inclined toward the belief that Jarrow
+was hardly so angelic as he painted himself.
+
+Dinshaw did not appear at table. On investigation it was found that
+the old man was in the waist boat taking a nap and he was not
+disturbed.
+
+Peth came aft shortly, and while Marjorie, Trask, and Locke played
+cards at the cabin table, Jarrow and the mate had a long, low-toned
+conference, which ended by Jarrow's coming down and going to his
+room.
+
+"Everything's all right," he said to Locke, with a vigorous wink,
+and pointed up the companion with his thumb.
+
+"You mean he comes back?" asked Locke.
+
+"No, sir, he stays for'ard, but it's all smoothed out. He ain't a
+bad sort when ye rub him the right way," and thereupon disappeared
+for his afternoon sleep.
+
+When the card party broke up, and the trio went to the poop-deck,
+Peth was all smiles, and arranged their chairs on the starboard
+side. But Locke practically ignored him, except to be officially
+pleasant, as it had been agreed that unless the mate asked
+permission to come aft again his status should be exactly like that
+of the crew. So far as Trask could judge, Peth seemed perfectly
+agreeable to that arrangement, and once he had given formal
+assistance, went back to the weather side, and kept to himself.
+
+Dinshaw crawled out from his nook in the waist boat, rubbed his
+eyes, and looked about him in a dazed sort of way, and then went
+into the cabin to wheedle Doc Bird out of a meal after which he hid
+himself away in his room and remained there until dinner.
+
+"Well," said Jarrow, as he watched Doc Bird light the cabin lamp.
+"We ought to raise the island some time before noon if this breeze
+holds."
+
+"Good enough," said Locke. "But I can't say I'm in any particular
+hurry to get anywhere. I've had the best rest and loaf to-day I've
+had in a long time."
+
+"We've certainly walked along," said Trask.
+
+"Oh, the old gal can go," said Jarrow, proudly. "Mr. Peth has kept
+her diggin' along. We've logged near ten knots steady. I never
+looked to march like we have. If we keep it up through the night,
+we ought to have supper the next time at anchor."
+
+"Then Captain Dinshaw and I'll be able to start our prospecting
+early," said Trask, with a nod at the old captain.
+
+"I can take ye right to the place," said Dinshaw, eagerly. "Ye
+won't have no trouble to find gold with me along."
+
+"You people better draw up an agreement as to who's to have all
+this gold," said Locke, with a waggish smile. "Suppose we fill this
+schooner up with yellow stuff? Who owns it?"
+
+"Share and share alike," suggested Dinshaw. "I'll make ye all
+rich."
+
+"You mean me and all hands?" asked Jarrow. Trask looked to Dinshaw
+for a reply, a trifle surprised at Jarrow's question, for of course
+the schooner's crew could claim no share of anything, as Jarrow was
+being paid for his part in the expedition and was taking no chances
+of being out of pocket if the island proved to be a fiasco.
+
+"No, sir," said Dinshaw, a little ruffled. "What's you and all
+hands got to do with this v'yage, outside of doin' yer duty?"
+
+"Can't ye take a little joke?" demanded Jarrow, with a wry grin.
+"Think we're goin' to run away with yer island?"
+
+Dinshaw became confused at this, and stared at the others
+helplessly. Marjorie spoke up and reassured the old man that no
+one wanted to cheat him out of what was his, and he went on eating,
+content.
+
+But Jarrow's sharpness put an end to the pleasant relations which
+had been resumed. In a few minutes he found an excuse to leave the
+table and did not come back.
+
+"We certainly have joined a happy family," said Locke. "If it
+wasn't that we were so near to this island, I'd be for turning the
+schooner around and----"
+
+"Oh, Dad!" said Marjorie. "Don't take it so seriously! I want to
+see the island."
+
+"So do I, but I hate to hear everybody aboard barking at everybody
+else. First it's Mr. Peth, and now the captain's on his high horse.
+They're not being paid to perform like a box of wild-cats, and I'll
+inform Captain Jarrow to that effect before long if things don't
+change."
+
+"He wants to steal my island!" whispered Dinshaw.
+
+Doc Bird, who was serving the coffee, started visibly, and looked
+at Dinshaw in amazement.
+
+"What's that?" asked Locke, and Trask and Marjorie turned to the
+old captain.
+
+"Jarrow and Peth want to steal my island and have all the gold,"
+insisted Dinshaw, his face tragic.
+
+"Steward, give my compliments to Captain Jarrow and tell him I'd
+speak to him," said Locke.
+
+"I wouldn't do that," cautioned Trask. "Let's see what this is
+about. I don't think it's wise to jump at conclusions. What makes
+you think they're going to steal your island?"
+
+"Call the cap'n, sir?" asked Doc, on his way to the companion.
+
+"Never mind," said Locke.
+
+"What reason have you for believing that Jarrow and Peth want to
+steal your gold, captain?" asked Trask, gently.
+
+"I know," said Dinshaw, wagging his head.
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I--I dreamed it. I was asleep out there in the long boat and heard
+'em talking."
+
+"We can't very well blame Jarrow for what you dream," said Locke,
+relieved that there was nothing more substantial to Dinshaw's
+charges than a dream.
+
+"I didn't dream it," said Dinshaw, with sudden conviction. "I heard
+'em talk. Jarrow said if there was gold on the island, he and Peth
+was to have it for themselves."
+
+Doc chuckled, and showed his teeth in a broad smile, with a sly
+wink at Trask.
+
+"He talks in his sleep," whispered Doc into Trask's ear, as he bent
+over to remove a plate.
+
+"Don't you worry," said Locke. "Nobody's going to cheat you, and
+I'm here to see that they don't. But I'd keep quiet about my
+dreams, if I wanted to go on to the island, or we'll be back in
+Manila in three shakes of a lamb's tail."
+
+"Very good, sir," said Dinshaw.
+
+Trask was between two minds to tell Locke that his pistol had been
+stolen, for while he placed little credence in what Dinshaw had
+said, he began to wonder if there wasn't something going on aboard
+the schooner that promised trouble. What if Dinshaw had not been
+dreaming after all? Suppose Peth and Jarrow were plotting to play
+all hands double?
+
+But it would be silly to abandon the voyage just as they were about
+to arrive at the island, and while undoubtedly there had been
+gossip and conjecture about the island, it was quite possible that
+if Dinshaw had overheard some light talk, he had misinterpreted
+its import.
+
+Trask knew that Locke's attitude was now such that if he reported
+the theft of the pistol, Locke would decline to go forward another
+mile, an idea which Trask could not bring himself to consider for
+various reasons, the most important being that he did not want to
+say farewell to Marjorie Locke and see her sail away to the United
+States.
+
+And as there being any actual danger from Jarrow and Peth, other
+than such as might result from a serious quarrel between the two,
+he considered a piece of absurdity.
+
+As Trask thought the thing over later in the evening, however, he
+realized that his own deductions and desires were selfish, and that
+after all he could not assume the entire responsibility for
+Marjorie's safety. He knew it was only fair to take Locke into his
+confidence regarding what had happened.
+
+So, getting Locke below in the cabin while the others were on deck,
+Trask told Locke that his pistol was missing. But Locke treated the
+matter lightly, and said he did not believe it could have any
+significance. It was his opinion that the weapon had been stolen
+by some of the crew, and he rather suspected Doc Bird. He said he
+would speak to the captain about it after they arrived at the
+island, and that the steward's quarters should be searched and Doc
+questioned, but he doubted the advisability of making what he
+called a rumpus about it now, especially as Marjorie might be
+worried and he wanted her to get a good night's sleep.
+
+Trask let the business rest there and went up with Locke again to
+enjoy the brilliant moonlight and listen to the impromptu concert
+which the crew had begun with a mouth organ and a flute.
+
+Even Peth joined in the fun, and unbent to the extent of whistling
+some popular airs of the sad and sentimental variety with many
+trills and flourishes.
+
+Doc's part in the evening's entertainment was a buck-and-wing dance
+of a most violent sort, and when he had finished, Jarrow told him
+to serve all hands with a tot of rum.
+
+Everybody went to bed in the best of spirits, and for the first
+time since leaving Manila it appeared that the whole ship's company
+was contented.
+
+Trask left his room door open, and was awakened several times
+during the night. It seemed to him that the wind had shifted, and
+that there was much tacking, for all night there was running about
+on deck, and thumping of blocks. At least a dozen times he heard
+Jarrow bawling to "Go about," and Peth's voice from the bows
+yelling "Hard alee," and the jibs being handled to the accompaniment
+of shivering sails and the lurch of the schooner as she stood on a
+new board.
+
+All aft slept late, and were not about for breakfast until well
+past eight o'clock, when they found Doc Bird grinning like an ebony
+monkey.
+
+"What the devil was all the stock-yards noise about last night?"
+demanded Locke, as he came out of his room and went to the door to
+look forward, searching the horizon ahead.
+
+"Shorely broke my bones, sir," said Doc. "We been a sawin' up an'
+down all night, but the old man he kep' on his close spite o' wind
+an' high water."
+
+"I thought we were turning over several times," said Marjorie, as
+she took her place at table.
+
+"Blowed lak' she never blowed befo'," opined Doc. "But we done come
+home."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Locke.
+
+"Didn' yo' see the islan'?"
+
+There was an exodus to the deck at this, but although the trio
+searched the rim of the sky they could not make out a sign of land.
+The schooner was sailing close into the wind, which had abated into
+a steady though stiff breeze, and she was pitching over the swells
+with an even, rocking movement.
+
+Doc grinned and pointed over the port bow, and Jarrow came down
+from the poop, smiling proudly.
+
+"There's our island," he said.
+
+Trask managed to pick it up, but the others could not see it, and
+went back to breakfast. Trask soon followed, observing that Shope
+was in the fore crosstrees studying the distant speck with a glass.
+
+"We ought to be up to it by night," said Jarrow.
+
+"Night!" said Trask, surprised.
+
+"Perhaps before dark," said Jarrow, a trifle disconcerted at
+Trask's manner. "I don't look to hold this wind all day."
+
+"But we seem to be making good time," said Trask.
+
+"Not so good as ye'd think," replied Jarrow. "She's kickin' up her
+heels and makin' a great fuss about it, maybe six knots now, and
+enough leeway to choke an ox."
+
+With that he went up and in a few minutes put the schooner on the
+other tack, but this time she was not sailing into the wind nearly
+so closely as she had been, and was now headed so that if she held
+her course, she would clear the island by several miles and leave
+it to starboard.
+
+Trask said nothing, but suspected that Jarrow was killing time,
+especially as the schooner did not go about for a couple of hours,
+and then on such a sharp angle with her former course that but few
+miles were gained in approaching the island.
+
+Dinshaw spent the morning pottering over a chart in great
+excitement, and his manner indicated that he wanted to be left to
+himself.
+
+All day they tacked up and down, Jarrow explaining that there might
+be reefs about, although there wasn't a spot of broken water in
+sight even with the heavy sea that was running after the night's
+blow.
+
+At one time Trask thought the delay in getting on was due to Peth,
+for the mate was most deliberate in going about, and it was half an
+hour after the order had been given to put the schooner on a new
+tack before Peth got down his jib and shouted for a lee helm.
+
+It was near sundown before they had the island within three miles,
+whereupon Jarrow so manoeuvred that they ran straight in for it,
+and came to anchor in its lee, behind a reef which ran to the south
+of and almost parallel with it.
+
+By this time it was apparent to all that the island was the one
+they were seeking. It stood up out of the sea, green and fresh,
+except for the single peak, which was dun brown.
+
+Dinshaw declared that this was it, and pointed out the reef which
+he had painted into his picture, which showed like a white ridge
+over the greenish water.
+
+"It was here the _Wetherall_ struck," he said.
+
+"But the four palm trees, and the big rock," said Trask; "I don't
+see them."
+
+"Ah ha!" said Dinshaw, slyly. "I put them in to fool folks. There
+ain't no palm trees like them I painted."
+
+Jarrow looked disgustedly at him, and gave orders to Peth to have
+the dinghy lowered.
+
+"Are we going ashore now?" asked Marjorie.
+
+"No, ma'am," said Jarrow. "We can't trust the weather in a hole
+like this. May have to wear and git out. All hands stick close
+aboard to-night."
+
+"In the morning," said Trask.
+
+"In the mornin," echoed Dinshaw, but he seemed disappointed and
+scarcely able to wait for the time of going ashore.
+
+Trask got out his prospecting bag, and after supper they all sat on
+the poop and talked and joked about what was in store for them the
+next day--all except Dinshaw, who, like a child, had gone to bed
+early, that morning would come the quicker.
+
+Then Jarrow followed suit. Locke, Trask, and Marjorie remained for
+an hour's chat in the darkness after which Trask was left to
+himself to finish his cigar.
+
+"Good luck, Mr. Trask," Marjorie had whispered, as she went down
+the companion, and he touched her hand playfully.
+
+He remained in his deck chair for some time, with only the friendly
+glow of his cigar to keep him company, wondering how it would all
+end. For all his impatience to get to the island, now that it was
+lying there within stone's throw behind the whisper of the waves
+washing its beach, he was sorry they had arrived so soon. For if
+there should be no gold on the island, it would be a case of
+turning back, and a couple of days more would see them in Manila,
+and Marjorie Locke homeward bound with her father. But if there
+should be gold! Well, that might give this voyage a new aspect, it
+might alter his own fortunes in such way that he could tell
+Marjorie Locke that he loved her.
+
+Of course, if Dinshaw's discovery proved to be only a pocket, or no
+gold at all, that would put an end to things. But if there was gold
+in quantities that would pay for mining it, his own share might be
+a good stake in life. His future hung on the old man's story, that
+is his future considered with Marjorie Locke, and Trask had now
+come to the point of not being able to consider his own future
+alone, although he did not realize that wholly. It was a thought he
+kept in the back of his mind for fear it might turn out to be only
+a dream.
+
+He threw his cigar into the sea, and stood up suddenly. There was a
+queer noise from the break of the poop. It sounded as if someone
+who had been startled had fled. He did not move for several
+minutes. Then it came back to him that there were other things to
+consider besides the success of this venture in gold and his future
+with Marjorie Locke.
+
+The schooner was quiet, ominously quiet. The queer noise had jarred
+his nerves, and now he began to wonder if there was not some menace
+about the decks.
+
+He heard the main shrouds creak as if someone were going aloft and
+then a rustle like a whispered caution.
+
+Without a warning, he turned and stepped abruptly into the shaft of
+light which came up through the companion, and went below to his
+room, where he shut himself in.
+
+Whatever he did, he knew it would have to be carried on with all
+caution. He would have to meet sneaking and spying with the same
+tactics, but he was determined to keep watch throughout the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+TRASK UNDERTAKES A PRIVATE INVESTIGATION
+
+
+Trask was more worried than he liked to admit, even to himself.
+While he had nothing tangible in the way of suspicion, he disliked
+the manner in which events had shaped themselves, or had been
+shaped by Jarrow.
+
+From the time they had raised the island, Trask had seen on the
+part of Jarrow a decided reluctance to arrive at anchorage before
+dark. There was no doubt about it. He had allowed the schooner to
+lag when she could have been driven ahead. Whether this was due to
+Jarrow's deliberate contrivance, or was the result of a tacit
+acceptance of Peth's dilatory ways in seamanship, Trask had no
+means of determining with accuracy. He could only draw conclusions.
+
+It might have been that Jarrow was willing to overlook Peth's
+delays in order to avoid bringing on a new argument with the mate.
+And Jarrow might have been wise to avoid a resumption of trouble,
+for, as Peth had been openly insolent and had carried a chip on his
+shoulder all the way from Manila, it was just as well that the
+captain did not give him the satisfaction of a row.
+
+But Trask blamed Jarrow for being too complacent in small things,
+which had encouraged Peth to insubordination. It would have been
+far better if the mate had been brought into place with a sharp and
+short encounter which would determine just who was master, than to
+continue strained relations which only allowed Peth to smoulder and
+feed his rising anger with growls and grumbles in the hearing of
+the crew.
+
+There was no doubt that Jarrow was trying to smooth things out and
+avoid a direct clash. He dreaded unpleasantness in the presence of
+Locke. But to Trask the obvious delay in coming up to the island
+was only a small part of his growing fears that the situation
+aboard the schooner was worse than a mere temporary ill-feeling
+between the captain and the mate.
+
+A decided change had come over the crew. They were strangely
+quiet, and when Trask or Locke or Marjorie came in sight, the men
+were full of covert looks and signals to each other with their
+hands for caution and whispers.
+
+There was a feeling of tension, a sudden stiffening of demeanour
+once the anchor was down. It was not so much expressed as shown by
+repression. There was a soberness of purpose in the most trifling
+details of their duties, as if a crisis long expected had arrived.
+
+This change in manner was best exemplified by Doc Bird. Trask had
+noticed that when serving the table he had a way of looking over
+his shoulder suddenly, or taking on a look of scared intentness at
+any unexpected sounds from the deck or in the cabin. Doc had become
+strangely alert, watchful of everybody, and nervous to the point of
+sudden shivering attacks. Trask ascribed Doc's actions to an
+unexplained coolness which had sprung up between the steward and
+Shanghai Tom, although it was quite possible Doc was aware of
+something of the nature which had given Trask a sense of disquiet,
+this undercurrent of insincerity, of hidden meanings, of an evil
+spirit lurking under the friendly relations of Jarrow and Dinshaw
+with the trio who had come seeking the island.
+
+Considering these matters, Trask undressed and put on his pajamas.
+Then he opened the door of his room, and rolled into his bunk,
+purposely accentuating the creaking of the boards under his
+mattress so that any listener might be assured he had turned in for
+the night.
+
+The hole cut in the upper part of Jarrow's door was open and dark.
+The captain, to all appearances, had gone to sleep, but Trask had
+plans for the night and did not care to take chances at having them
+upset.
+
+There was a mild snoring from Dinshaw's room and despite the
+chafing of the schooner's gear and the patter of the water under
+her counter, she seemed deathly quiet after the interminable
+groaning of her timbers during the passage from Manila.
+
+The swinging lamp over the cabin table was burning dimly, waves of
+its light washing into Trask's room like the lifting of a lazy
+tide, and whirling grotesque shadows up and down the bulkhead.
+
+The lighted lamp stood in the way of Trask's carrying out his plan.
+He wished he had found some excuse for putting it out earlier. But
+he had not realized that it was to be left burning. He wanted to go
+out and do a little reconnoitering, but as the door of the main
+cabin leading forward was open, he had no way of leaving the cabin
+without being seen from the forecastle.
+
+It was from the forecastle that he hoped to get some inkling of how
+the crew was getting on. Immediately after the anchor was down
+Trask observed that the crew had gone below, and, except for an
+occasional gruff call, or a joking sally, nothing had been seen or
+heard from them.
+
+Trask was confident they had not turned in to sleep. There had been
+sounds of rough gaiety, promptly subdued, and a few bars of music
+on a mouth organ, checked abruptly. The scuttle had been closed,
+and Trask thought it queer that there should be a desire to shut
+themselves up, for while the evening was cool enough in the open,
+the temperature arose in a stifling way at any shutting off of the
+air currents.
+
+Trask would have thought nothing of it if the crew had openly
+quarrelled, or engaged in skylarking, or had sat around and smoked
+and chatted quietly. But they appeared ominously furtive. And
+Trask knew that if there was anything sinister behind their
+skulking, Peth must have a hand in whatever was going on.
+
+The lamp must be disposed of in a manner not to attract the
+attention of either the crew or those aft. He first thought of
+calling softly to Doc Bird and asking him to put out the light. But
+if Doc demurred, or declared that the light could not be
+extinguished except by order of Jarrow, Trask would have called
+attention to his own wishes and his plan would be balked.
+
+Besides, Doc would undoubtedly want to talk, and Jarrow would
+thereby be disturbed and become watchful, and all hands aft be
+roused. If the light were put out at Trask's request, and later he
+was found prowling on deck, he could no longer maintain his
+character of being a person without suspicion of anything amiss
+aboard.
+
+But if he put the light out himself, he could offer the plea that
+it prevented him from sleeping, and the same excuse could be given
+if he were later found outside for a little fresh air. If any of
+the crew did resent his presence forward, he would have proof that
+they were wary of being spied upon. That, if nothing more, would
+indicate to him that his suspicions were well founded.
+
+He got out of his bunk with great care and struck a match. Then he
+stepped boldly into the cabin and turned down the lamp until the
+wick snuffed out the flame. With the match still burning in his
+hand, he went back to his room, thus establishing for any watcher
+the fact that he had returned to bed after the lamp was
+extinguished.
+
+Waiting a while to make sure there would be no investigation as to
+why the light went out, he crawled out over the coaming of the door
+of his room. It was necessary that he keep low, for he was not sure
+whether there was one of the crew on watch aft. To any one looking
+through the cabin from the companionway Trask would be visible
+against the lantern hanging from a forestay if he walked erect in
+crossing the cabin.
+
+Gaining the outer deck, he stood clear of the doorway and hugged
+the forward bulkhead of the cabin trunk, taking care not to mask
+the forward port-hole of the galley with his back. If Doc Bird had
+heard him crawling out, he might be of an inquiring turn of mind,
+in his present panicky condition, and explore with a knife through
+the open port.
+
+Trask had in the jacket pocket of his pajamas matches and
+cigarettes, so that in case he were challenged he could assume a
+careless manner by preparing to have a smoke, and at the same time
+illuminate the face of any one he encountered.
+
+He moved forward along the starboard bulwark, feeling his way with
+his bare feet, taking great pains not to stumble over any obstacle.
+He could make out the loom of the island over the starboard
+quarter, a black spot focussed in the all-pervading blackness of
+the night. Everything seemed to give promise of secrecy for him.
+The rasp of the boom-jaws, the swishing of coiled ropes on the
+pin-rails, and the chirping creak of the shrouds as the schooner
+bobbed and rolled on the lulling swells, concealed the slight
+sounds of his advance.
+
+He stopped and looked aft every few steps, listening for noises in
+the cabin. He could see the faint outline of the mizzen boom and
+the upper edge of the cabin. His eyes, better adjusted now to the
+gloom, saw a black shape over the cabin roof. It startled him for
+a second, for he thought it might be Jarrow peering toward him,
+until he knew it for a roll of canvas which had been left there to
+spread as awning.
+
+He went on, stopping when he felt the well of the deck rise as he
+approached the forecastle. Presently he saw a tiny point of light
+flare up and die away. Then he caught the spicy aroma of a native
+cigarette in the soft air charged with the acrid smell of new hemp,
+the resinous odour of the deck seams, the sweet reek of opium
+smoked by forgotten crews and the earthy flavour of the jungles
+close at hand.
+
+The thought came to him that perhaps it was he who was exotic in
+the schooner. It might be for this reason that he was too ready to
+mistake normal things as evidences of a menace which did not exist.
+He wondered if this fact might not well account for the formless
+fears he had felt about Peth and the crew. Like a person who wakes
+in the night, to find the windows where they shouldn't be, his
+judgment, too, might be at fault, and affairs far better than he
+thought them.
+
+Trask had no worries for himself. The pursuit of gold in
+untrammelled parts of the world was his business, and at times
+danger was but the thrill which went with the game. He knew that if
+he were the only passenger in the schooner he would very likely be
+in his bunk asleep instead of hunting trouble.
+
+But he felt a responsibility. This wild project of taking a young
+woman in a schooner, with a crew of men who had all the outer
+aspects of rascals, and a mild madman, to hunt an island, was
+largely his own fault and Trask now realized it.
+
+Locke was far too credulous, or rather incredulous. Like most
+Americans who have lived quiet lives and attended to their own
+business, he lacked imagination for dangerous possibilities in the
+motives of others. Such adventures as he had had were out of books,
+and he had taken it for granted that what he read was always
+improbable and impossible. Such people never believe in danger
+until they have a revolver thrust into their faces. And Locke had
+come aboard the schooner with a roll of yellow-backed bills so big
+that he could hold in his hand more wealth than all the ship's
+company together could earn in a year of honest labour.
+
+Trask almost wished he had declined to go in with Locke on the
+trip to the island. He had been quite too easy-going about it all
+himself, neglecting to take precautions about Jarrow and the crew
+because he had been reluctant to forego the pleasure of Miss
+Marjorie's company. Trask had been exiled so long in far corners of
+the globe that he was strongly averse to giving up a single hour to
+business details which he might have with the American girl.
+
+Then he knew that to tell Locke he did not care to go to the island
+and later to go by himself would have been sneakingly selfish. Now
+that they were embarked on the venture, he felt that he must do all
+he possibly could for the protection of his companions. He wished
+that he had demanded an investigation when he found his pistol
+missing. He moved forward with careful steps, knowing that there
+must be a man sitting on the forecastle head facing toward him,
+else he could not have seen the light from the cigarette.
+
+The foremast and the boom were faintly visible in relief against
+the lighter shade of the sky, and knowing he might be seen above
+the bulwark, Trask moved away from the edge of the schooner, and
+drew near the base of the foremast, which offered better
+concealment. He was now but a few feet from the forecastle scuttle
+and could see it outlined by a dim pencilling of light. Voices
+reached him, but he was not able to distinguish any words.
+
+Presently he heard wary footsteps ahead, and saw a figure rise up
+and go into the bows, marked by a faint, comet-like streak of light
+which must be the man's cigarette. The spot of light disappeared
+for a second and reappeared again in a swift, descending arc cut
+off by the bows. The smoker had thrown away his cigarette.
+
+For several minutes Trask watched and listened. The man on the
+forecastle head coughed gently, and then came clumping aft, dropped
+to the main deck with a smack of bare feet, and drew the scuttle
+aside, to put his head and shoulders down.
+
+"It's all right!" Trask heard him whisper, hoarsely. He recognized
+him as Shope. The light coming up through the scuttle illuminated
+the foremast above Trask's head in a manner disconcerting. Trask
+ducked down under the boom.
+
+All was silence below, and then the creaking of the steps leading
+up, and the light below went out. There were sounds of men coming
+on deck, known to Trask by the rattle of the scuttle as incautious
+shoulders rasped it coming out, making the board rattle in its
+grooves.
+
+There was a conference in guarded whispers, and someone started aft
+along the starboard side. Trask could make him out as he passed,
+and after he had disappeared against the blackness made by the fore
+bulkhead of the cabin there was a peculiar rattle along the deck in
+his wake.
+
+Trask was now thoroughly alarmed. The crew could not be out on deck
+whispering and moving about with such secrecy with any good intent
+toward those who had made the voyage possible.
+
+The rattle along the deck continued, and dropping to his hands and
+knees, Trask crawled to the starboard side. He encountered a small,
+hard line, like a lead-line, being paid out from the forecastle and
+carried aft by the man who had passed. Trask put his hand upon it
+and let it run through his fingers for a second.
+
+There came a slight patter of rain and Trask made his way toward
+the cabin, not so much to avoid a wetting, as to be where he could
+alarm Jarrow and Locke if there appeared to be any necessity to
+investigate the actions of the crew.
+
+It was all rather absurd, he thought. There was nothing especially
+sinister about sailors carrying a line aft. To demand what it was
+about and make himself known would only serve to make him
+ridiculous if the explanation proved to be the carrying out of some
+legitimate duty. Being quiet, with the vessel at anchor, was hardly
+to be condemned. And if it turned out that the crew were preparing
+trouble it was no time to show that they were being watched unless
+the danger were imminent.
+
+He stepped into the galley and felt along the bulkhead for the row
+of knives he had seen in their leathern pockets. He pulled out a
+large one, judging its size by the thickness of its handle. It was
+a formidable weapon.
+
+Dinshaw was still breathing musically. So far as Trask could tell,
+all hands in the cabin were asleep. He passed through with great
+care, smiling at the figure he would cut if he were challenged and
+found with a great knife in his hands sneaking about the cabin. He,
+rather than the crew, would be held guilty of some dangerous
+intention against the safety of the schooner.
+
+The rain was now striking the cabin roof with sweeping gusts. It
+was not a heavy downpour, but a threat of more to come, the weak
+advance guard of an approaching deluge.
+
+Ascending the companion, he put his head out far enough to see a
+shape moving at the taffrail, evidently a man bent over some task.
+Then it moved away to starboard, slowly, and Trask heard a gentle
+blowing, as one might make in clearing the nostrils of rain.
+
+Trask now felt rather ashamed of himself. Instead of an attack on
+the cabin, the man who had come aft had gone about his business and
+departed. There was nothing to be alarmed about in that, surely.
+
+So Trask went to the forward door and looked out on deck, putting
+the knife away in the galley without, however, attempting to insert
+it in the leather sheath. Then he stood in the doorway, and
+listened.
+
+The man could be seen moving along the starboard side slowly. Trask
+caught a foreign sound, a gurgle which he at first mistook for rain
+water running from the scuppers. But the deck was scarcely wet
+and, besides, the sound was to starboard. Water running off would
+go to port, for the schooner was heeled a little in that direction.
+
+Soon there was a rasping along the hull, and emboldened by the fact
+that the man who had brought the line aft was now well forward,
+Trask stepped to the bulwark and looked over the side.
+
+At first he could see nothing in the blackness below, but a new
+flurry of rain came, and the drops striking the water hissingly
+made it slightly luminous, outlining a dark, formless mass close to
+the side of the schooner. It moved forward slowly, its progress
+coincident with the movement of the man going along the rail. Trask
+could see his head and shoulders against the fog-like sheen of the
+water over the bows.
+
+At once the whole affair was made plain to Trask. The dinghy, which
+had been lowered from the after davits when the _Nuestra_ anchored,
+was being stolen! The crew were pulling it forward by the line
+which the man had taken aft, and this man was keeping the boat
+clear of the schooner's side. The line evidently had been made fast
+to the dinghy's painter.
+
+Here, indeed, was something which gave every appearance of being
+underhand work. With the Golden Isle only a few hundred yards
+distant, and all hands to go ashore in the morning, there could be
+no other reason for stealing the dinghy than a plan to visit the
+island under cover of darkness. The plan foreshadowed treachery.
+The crew sought some knowledge which they wanted before the other
+members of the expedition could be aware of conditions on the
+island.
+
+Trask saw at once the purpose of the crew, although he had no way
+of knowing how they intended to gain any advantage to themselves
+unless they contemplated abandoning the _Nuestra_, or destroying it
+and those remaining aboard. He had no doubt the scheme was to learn
+whether or not there was gold, and so to act, in the event they
+found it in great quantities, that they would be assured of having
+it for themselves.
+
+It was a wild idea, this going out in the night to hunt gold. But
+it was plain that the cupidity of the crew had been aroused by the
+prospect of a shining, yellow beach. But what was to Trask far more
+important, and fraught with danger to Marjorie, Locke, Dinshaw,
+Jarrow, and himself, was the knowledge that Peth, if not the leader
+of the enterprise, at least must be aware of what was taking place.
+
+The rain came on now with steady, monotonous force, turning the sea
+into a boiling cauldron. Trask, drenched in the first minutes of
+the downpour, remained where he was, crouching under the bulwark
+with his head high enough to get the bulwark forward against the
+gray luminosity of the beaten water.
+
+So concealed, if it could be called concealment, in the darkness of
+the schooner, he saw four figures go over the side, and heard them
+fumbling in the dinghy. They pushed off gently and rowed away in
+the direction of the island, amid the muffled click of oars. Before
+proceeding but a few yards the boat was lost to him in the welter
+of steaming water and all-enveloping blackness.
+
+Trask suffered from a chill, but he remained where he was,
+wondering what could, or should, be done. Jarrow must be warned.
+The sky now turned lighter, being relieved of its burdened clouds,
+and the rain began to fall off, until it was merely a gentle
+trickle.
+
+Dripping like a water spaniel returning to the shore, Trask turned
+in to the door of the main cabin, planning to rid himself of his
+wet clothing, get into some dry garments, and call Jarrow.
+
+As he felt his way into the deeper gloom he heard a movement close
+at hand, and stopped, leaning against the bulkhead, just abaft of
+the galley. He saw that the light from outside marked the cabin
+door as a great rectangle in which a moving form could easily be
+seen from the inside.
+
+"Who's that?" came a whisper.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Trask, whispering, but more boldly, and
+with something of defiance in his tone.
+
+"Doc Bird, Mr. Trask," came the answer. "Fo' the lan' sake, what
+yo' all doin' out in the rain, man?"
+
+"Keep quiet," said Trask, unpleasantly aware of rivulets racing
+down his heels. He followed the bulkhead straight aft, conscious
+that Bird was in the doorway of the cook's room, past Dinshaw's
+room, to the door of Jarrow's, which he opened softly.
+
+"Captain Jarrow!" he called, in a low voice. "Captain Jarrow!"
+
+There was no reply. He listened for the regular breathing of the
+sleeping captain. Then he went inside and felt along Jarrow's bunk.
+The sheet was rumpled and thrown back but Jarrow was not there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CAPTAIN JARROW ADMITS HE IS SUSPICIOUS OF PETH
+
+
+Trask went to his room at once, and stripping off his wet pajamas,
+dressed hurriedly. His discovery that Jarrow was missing seemed to
+verify his suspicions that the captain was not playing fair. His
+absence from his room was the most alarming thing which had
+happened yet aboard the _Nuestra_, and, as Trask saw it, the fact
+pointed to a betrayal of trust.
+
+But the young man decided he would withhold any decision regarding
+the captain until the latter had a chance to explain why the crew
+should put off in a boat in the night, and why Jarrow was not in
+his cabin. There might be a reason for it all which would be
+perfectly plausible, if not convincing of the captain's good
+intentions.
+
+Doc came to the door of his room, and whispered: "Yo' all want the
+lamp goin', Mr. Trask?"
+
+"No," said Trask. "You go to bed and keep still." He felt that the
+steward was inordinately curious about the visit to the captain's
+room and why Trask was walking about outside.
+
+"Cap'n Jarrow, he's gone for'ard," offered Doc, still standing in
+the frame of the door, barely perceptible.
+
+"Forward!" whispered Trask, surprised. This news meant one of two
+explanations for what he had seen--the business was legitimate, and
+under the direction of Jarrow, or Jarrow was involved with the crew
+in whatever treachery was afoot.
+
+"Yassir," continued Doc. "He's got all hands messin' 'round at
+somethin'. I reckon the old man he looks for it to come on to
+blow."
+
+"I see," said Trask. "Well, I'm going out. Maybe I can be of some
+help. Keep quiet, or you'll wake everybody up."
+
+Doc withdrew from the door, and Trask heard him shuffling to his
+own room, expressing some opinion in a whisper which Trask could
+not make out, except that it was to the effect that he hadn't
+started this "walkin' round like ha'nts in the middle of the
+night."
+
+Trask went on deck and moved forward boldly. The squall which had
+passed left the air fresh and cool, and the sky was not so black,
+although the schooner was still in gloom. But her bulwarks were
+more clearly defined against the water, and Trask could see a
+figure on the starboard bow which looked like a man standing and
+peering in the direction of the island.
+
+"Who's that?" came Jarrow's voice as Trask drew near. His voice was
+low and cautious.
+
+"Mr. Trask."
+
+"Oh."
+
+"Can't sleep," said Trask. "What's going on?"
+
+"Storm wake ye up?"
+
+"Not exactly. I've been wakeful since I went to my room."
+
+"Guess we woke ye up."
+
+"Well, I've heard considerable movement, and it made me curious."
+
+"How long ye been out?"
+
+"I was out when it first rained."
+
+"Oh, then it was you!"
+
+"I? I don't understand."
+
+"Loafin' along the rail."
+
+"Yes, I stood there for awhile."
+
+"Thought you was one of the men soldierin' on the job."
+
+"I saw a boat put off."
+
+"Yes," said Jarrow, as if neither the boat nor the fact that Trask
+had seen it was of any interest to him.
+
+"What's up?" asked Trask.
+
+Jarrow made no reply, but stepped off the forecastle head with a
+noise of wet, swishing oilskins, and fumbled for a minute. Then the
+lantern in the forestay bobbed down and up, and he came back to
+where Trask stood.
+
+Presently the captain struck a match, and twisted his head to one
+side to light a cigar, his eyes peering at him over the flame.
+
+"Didn't do much good to keep quiet so you could sleep," said
+Jarrow, grinning into the flame. Then he puffed hard at the cigar.
+
+"Naturally, I'm filled with expectation about the island," said
+Trask. He knew Jarrow was none too cordial, and seemed bent on
+showing disapproval of Trask's being abroad.
+
+"You better git some sleep," said Jarrow.
+
+"Do you look for bad weather?" asked Trask.
+
+"Yes," said Jarrow, with sudden heartiness. "I look for anything in
+these latitudes at this season. At ten o'clock the barometer showed
+a disturbance of the diurnal range. It's below maximum."
+
+"Typhoon?"
+
+"Maybe. But I'm takin' no chances. I've got the crew out with a
+kedge anchor, up in that channel behind the reef, to haul in there
+if things look bad. Lie snug as a bug in a rug. That reef's a
+natural breakwater."
+
+"Then the boat took out a kedge?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did Mr. Peth go, too?"
+
+"Why, yes, Mr. Peth he's out there. He's got an anchor laid out in
+the boat, to buoy it. He's sounding along inside the reef. We'll
+take a hawser out in the mornin', but if the weather falls, we can
+make fast right away. He'll run a heavin' line from the buoy so we
+can find it in the dark. I take it you're satisfied, Mr. Trask?"
+
+"Satisfied? Certainly." Trask was surprised at the sharpness and
+obvious animus in Jarrow's question. His tone, despite the fact
+that he spoke scarcely above a whisper, carried a sneer. Trask was
+on the point of asking Jarrow if he had ever questioned his methods
+of navigation or seamanship, but he held his tongue for it was no
+time to precipitate a quarrel.
+
+Trask suspected that Jarrow had overheard him in some remark about
+the delay of the schooner getting up to the island, or had caught
+disapproval in his manner that afternoon. It was natural enough for
+a sailing master to resent the slightest implication that he was
+not efficient, and Trask was not so much concerned with Jarrow's
+hidden meaning on that score as with his covert acknowledgment that
+he had been watchful of Trask's attitude. It was something to know
+that Jarrow was keen enough to divine the fact that Trask was
+secretly critical.
+
+"I guess you thought we was slow in makin' anchorage," suggested
+Jarrow.
+
+This abruptness in reaching the very subject which Trask was
+considering made him wary of the captain. It was plainly a bid for
+an expression of Trask's ideas. Jarrow was angling for Trask's
+opinion to learn whether he might be easily misled, or perhaps
+ascertain if Trask's coming out to investigate now was part of his
+general feeling that Jarrow was not to be trusted.
+
+"Well, naturally," said Trask, after a moment's hesitation, "we
+were anxious to get here as soon as possible, yet we realized that
+you had to take precautions."
+
+"Can't take no chances with this kind of a bottom," said Jarrow.
+"Might be easy to git in through them coral patches, but I've got
+to know how to git out, and how to git out under the worst
+conditions. Some of them patches probably break with the least
+little sea on. If I had to beat out against a head wind in the
+dark, I don't want to pile up on breakers with----"
+
+Jarrow stopped to listen. The sound of oars came to their ears off
+toward the black shape of the island.
+
+"You better git some sleep," said Jarrow.
+
+"All right," said Trask. "Good-night, captain."
+
+"Good-night, sir. And don't you be worried none about noises out
+here. I'm a-lookin' after things."
+
+"Did you think I was worried?" asked Trask, stopping.
+
+This was apparently a poser for Jarrow, who took his cigar out of
+his mouth, and was a full minute in framing a reply. Trask would
+have given a good deal to see his face.
+
+"I didn't take you that way," said Jarrow.
+
+Trask went back beside him. The young man felt that it was a
+mistake to allow Jarrow to dismiss him as he had, with the curt
+suggestion that he go back to bed.
+
+"Then I want to assure you," said Trask, speaking slowly and in a
+tone intended to carry conviction of just how he felt, "that I'm
+not the worrying kind, Captain Jarrow. And if Mr. Peth gets to
+acting up, I'm prepared to deal with him myself."
+
+"Oh, hush!" said Jarrow, in a low whisper. "We can't have any talk
+like that for'ard here."
+
+"I don't care who hears me," went on Trask, determined to carry out
+his bluff. "I've been out on deck for quite a while, and to be
+frank, I didn't like the idea of a boat going off this way. If it's
+your plan to kedge, and you think it is necessary, all right. I'm
+not a sailor. But I do know you haven't got Mr. Peth or the crew
+very well in hand, so if----"
+
+"Hush up, Mr. Trask, for God's sake!" implored Jarrow, stepping
+over to Trask and putting his hand on his arm. "There is trouble
+brewing, but I don't know what it's about. I'm holdin' things off
+till the mornin'. I don't look for nothin' to come of it."
+
+"Trouble? What sort of trouble?" demanded Trask, amazed at the
+captain's revelation.
+
+"I don't know," admitted Jarrow. "May be everythin' and nothin'.
+It's that Peth's too thick with the crew, and it's bad when a mate
+gits to standin' out with the fo'c's'le agin the master."
+
+"Do you want me to understand that it's--mutiny?"
+
+"I said I don't know what it is, Mr. Trask."
+
+"How about Bevins? Is he in on it, too?"
+
+"All hands. They're off there in the dinghy now, and I don't know
+what they're up to."
+
+"So you're not putting out a kedge?"
+
+"No, sir. That was to git you back to your bunk. I was out on deck
+before you was, and Peth sneaked the dinghy. I suppose they've got
+some fool idea that there's a lot of gold on the island, and----"
+
+Jarrow broke off and said no more. Trask thought he had heard
+something and waited for him to go on, but after a long pause the
+captain did not seem inclined to say anything more, but took long
+pulls on his cigar, which he kept shaded from the sea behind his
+hand.
+
+Trask's mind worked rapidly. If anything, the truth from Jarrow
+that there was danger from Peth and the crew had steadied him, and
+while he realized his helpless position if Jarrow were deceiving
+him, he at least had proof of a desperate situation aboard the
+schooner.
+
+"What do you think they would do if they found gold on the island,
+captain?"
+
+"Don't ask me. Might come back and burn the _Nuestra_."
+
+"Sounds interesting," said Trask.
+
+"Mebbe you think I'm jokin' of you?" said Jarrow.
+
+"Not at all. I wouldn't put murder beyond that lot. There's
+something I've wanted to tell you since we left Manila, but I
+didn't want to do anybody an injustice."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Somebody stole one of my automatic pistols before I'd been aboard
+a quarter of an hour."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Yes. It was taken from my bag in my room."
+
+"Mighty Nelson! You should ha' told me, Mr. Trask! Who do ye think
+got it?"
+
+"I've every reason to suspect Mr. Peth. It was missing right after
+he moved his stuff out of my room. The bag had been opened and
+closed again very carefully, strapped and buckled. The man who took
+it had plenty of time and wanted to make sure he wasn't suspected
+right away. At least, he didn't want the loss noticed at once."
+
+"So Mr. Peth's got an automatic gun, eh?" said Jarrow, rather in a
+musing way, and drawing a deep breath.
+
+"I might not have missed it for days," went on Trask, "but I had
+two, and----"
+
+"Two!"
+
+"I had a pair of them."
+
+"And Peth got away with both of 'em!"
+
+"No, only one. I have the other, and Mr. Locke has two. I went down
+to oil mine after Peth moved out, and found one gone when----"
+
+"Then we're all right," said Jarrow. "If you and Mr. Locke brought
+guns we don't need to worry. I've got a couple, myself. I guess we
+can handle anything that carries away for'ard here."
+
+"Why did you move the lantern?" demanded Trask.
+
+"Oh," said Jarrow, "I had a mind to take it down so they couldn't
+find their way back to the schooner till mornin' unless it cleared
+up in good shape. But it won't clear. Smells like more rain."
+
+"I think it's a good scheme," said Trask. "Let 'em stay off in the
+boat. Then we'll put Peth in irons when he comes aboard in the
+morning if we think he's been up to mischief, or plans trouble. We
+can handle the others. We can't take any chances with Miss Locke
+aboard."
+
+"You're right!" said Jarrow. "I'll douse the glim and let 'em stay.
+If they want to cut up any didoes we can work the _Nuestra_ back to
+Manila ourselves and the government'll take care of 'em for us."
+
+Jarrow clumped down off the forecastle head and lowered the
+lantern, clapped his sou'wester over it, and snuffed the flame out
+between his fingers. Trask observed the grimness of his face as the
+light played on it during the brief instant the lantern was coming
+down and the determined set of his jaw as his teeth gripped the
+cigar.
+
+They stood in the darkness, silent for a few minutes, listening,
+and caught again the rattle of oars in locks at quite a distance.
+The boat seemed to be moving about cautiously, feeling its way in
+behind the reef.
+
+"I can't make out what the devil they're up to," said Jarrow in a
+grumbling sort of whisper. "Peth never did have much sense.
+Sometimes I've thought he was clean out of his head."
+
+"Then you've had doubts about him since we left Manila?"
+
+"No, can't say's I have. I don't pay no attention to his tantrums
+gene'lly. He's up and he's down, just how he feels. But he picked
+this crew from a lot of his old shipmates so they'll stand by him
+if he's set on makin' trouble, and he knows it. I didn't like the
+looks of things to-day, so I kept my weather eye peeled. He lowered
+the dinghy on his own, without sayin' a word to me, and I smelled a
+rat, so I kept watch. I didn't want to git you folks scared up, so
+when you come out I thought I'd pass it off and wait to see what
+their game was. I wouldn't say nothin' to Mr. Locke 'bout it, and
+I'll see what's to be done come daylight."
+
+"Do you think they'll make a fight if you don't let 'em aboard?"
+
+"Wouldn't do no good if they did. We can keep 'em off, now that you
+and Mr. Locke have guns. They can't live on air. You ought to try
+to git some sleep."
+
+"I'll stick it out with you."
+
+"Ain't no use of us two standin' watch all night. You'll be all
+beat out to-morrow night, and with things like they are, you won't
+git no chance to sleep to-morrow. If they come back, I'll call you
+in time to have the weather on 'em."
+
+Jarrow's advice sounded sensible enough. With the crew out in a
+boat there was little imminent danger, and Trask felt that it would
+be wise to remain aft, for if the crew suspected their game was
+known they might attempt to board the schooner from the stern. They
+would probably interpret the disappearance of the riding light as
+discovery aboard the schooner that they were missed and their
+treachery revealed to the heads of the expedition.
+
+So Trask decided to go back to his room, even if he did not sleep,
+and being assured by Jarrow that immediately there was any sign of
+the boat he would be called, he made his way aft and went to bed
+fully dressed except for his shoes.
+
+He had scarcely rolled into his bunk before he heard cautious
+footsteps in the cabin, and Doc Bird came scratching at his door.
+
+"I reckon somethin's powerful wrong, Mr. Trask," he whispered.
+
+"You get out of here and go to bed," said Trask. "And don't show a
+light for any reason until you have orders to."
+
+"I got to be up early to make flapjack batter fo' yo' all," was
+Doc's reply. "I reckon I'll have to have a light in the galley and
+the fire goin' right smart long befo' the chickens is crowin' fo'
+day."
+
+Trask knew it would do no good to get out of patience with Doc, for
+he was incorrigibly persistent and friendly in the face of any
+rebuff.
+
+"Don't make any fire or light any lamps until you're told to,"
+Trask reiterated. "And for heaven's sake, let me and everybody else
+get some sleep. Get some for yourself. Run along."
+
+"Oh, don't yo' fret none fo' me, Mr. Trask. I'm a regular squinch
+owl," and he chuckled audibly, as if his ability to do without
+sleep were a rare joke.
+
+"I'm not," retorted Trask, and rolled over significantly.
+
+"You don't reckon Mr. Peth he's actin' up none, do ye? The skipper
+he goes walkin' 'round like he had somethin' wearin' down on his
+mind."
+
+"You better ask him, Doc," said Trask.
+
+"Huh! Ketch me goin' out and confabbin' around with the ol' man!
+He'd shore hang somethin' on mah haid. Mr. Trask, 'fo' God, I can't
+git no sleep when I'm a-worried. It all kind o' makes my skin go
+all crawly when there's somethin' projectin' around and I don't
+know of it. Yo' shore there ain't nothin' bad nohow?"
+
+"There will be, if you don't get out of that door! Go bring some
+water."
+
+Doc gurgled with a suppressed chuckle, and went to the galley,
+where he could be heard pulling a cork in the dark. He was back in
+a minute, and handed a glass in to Trask, who sat up to take it and
+drink.
+
+"If somebody hadn't a-swiped that gun o' yourn, I would take no
+bother of it if Mr. Peth gits contrary with----"
+
+"I've got another gun," said Trask. "And Mr. Locke has two."
+
+Doc was silent for a time, as if he were pondering the matter.
+
+"Yo' all shore come a-lookin' for b'ar," he opined, taking the
+glass which Trask thrust out at him. "But yo' all don't need to be
+squirmish about Mr. Peth. If he goes to act up, I'll settle his
+hash."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+Doc chuckled again.
+
+"I know how to handle that low-down trash," he whispered,
+tragically. "I'd drap somethin' in his tea. Good-night, Mr. Trask."
+
+"Good-night, Doc. Don't make a light."
+
+"No, sah," and the steward crept away to his bunk, leaving Trask
+staring up into the dark, turning over the situation in his mind,
+and waiting for the dawn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MR. PETH DOES MOST AMAZING THINGS
+
+
+Trask was up at dawn, and slipping out on deck, saw Jarrow sitting
+on the forecastle head, drinking coffee, a plate of biscuits beside
+him, while he kept watch on the island.
+
+Doc stuck his head out of the galley. "Coffee, Mr. Trask?" he
+called, cautiously.
+
+Trask went back and stood in the door while he scanned the shore of
+the island. The sun had come out of the sea, red and bleary, and
+from the jungle came the calls of birds and the shrill cry of a
+parrot evidently in distress about something in the brush.
+
+There was not a sign of the dinghy. The schooner lay still in a
+pool of colourful water, the coral and weeds on the bottom in plain
+view, some of the swaying plants magnified by refraction. There was
+no air stirring, and from the far end of the island a morning haze
+was rising like smoke from flats which appeared to be salt marshes.
+
+Trask filled the basin at the water butt and washed his sticky
+face. Doc, who evidently was astir before the cook, became
+emboldened by the fact that Trask was up, and rattled the dishes in
+the galley with recklessness. Trask cautioned him when he came out
+with the cup and proffered the impromptu breakfast.
+
+"Have you heard anything?" he asked, as the steward stood beside
+him, loath to go back to his duties.
+
+"Me? Lordy, no, Mr. Trask! We been just lak' a buryin' ground! It
+gives me the creeps to have things so daid."
+
+"Seen anything of the boat?"
+
+"Boat?" Doc rolled his eyes, puzzled.
+
+"Go in and get breakfast," said Trask, passing the cup back, and
+went along forward to learn what Jarrow had to report.
+
+"Not a sight of 'em," said the captain, who appeared to be as fresh
+as if he had slept all night.
+
+"That's queer," said Trask. "I thought they'd try to sneak back
+during the night. What can they be up to? You don't think they've
+abandoned us entirely?"
+
+"Now ye got me," said Jarrow. "I guess Peth's crazy in his head.
+He's got 'em all buggy on this gold business, far's I can see. All
+right, let 'em stick to Peth."
+
+"But they'll starve," said Trask. "Suppose they did find gold in
+piles? What good would it do them? They'd have to beg to be taken
+back aboard here, wouldn't they?"
+
+Jarrow blew into his coffee, gulped some of it, and raised his eyes
+in utter dejection to look over at the island. The schooner lay
+with her head to the northeast in response to a current that came
+around the northern end of the island and almost parallel with it.
+
+"When people are out of their heads, no knowin' what they'll do,"
+declared Jarrow. "Peth, he's always for makin' money in heaps. He
+can't see beyond his nose. Now I'm for goin' safe and sure. You
+ain't got no idea how he's bothered me off and on for the last
+couple years. But I had to humour him--he owns an eighth of the
+_Nuestra_."
+
+"He can't have much sense if he thinks gold's to be sacked up and
+carted away," said Trask. "Here's Mr. Locke."
+
+"Looks like this ought to be a good place to fish," said Locke,
+coming forward. He was wearing an old suit of white, but had on tan
+shoes, as if he expected to go walking, and a shirt open at the
+neck. His nose was peeled from sunburn, and he stroked it gently.
+
+"What's going on?" he demanded, seeing that Jarrow and Trask were
+serious-faced, each waiting for the other to speak. He looked about
+the decks questioningly.
+
+"The devil to pay," said Jarrow.
+
+"Crew's gone," said Trask.
+
+"Crew! Gone! Where?"
+
+"Jumped the ship in the night with the dinghy," said Jarrow.
+
+"Say, what's the joke?" inquired Locke, blankly. "You two look as
+though there was to be a hanging. Come on--spring it!"
+
+"I wish it were a joke," said Trask.
+
+"The truth is, Mr. Peth and the crew left last night with the small
+boat."
+
+"Gone to a dance, or something, I suppose," said Locke, still in
+doubt about the motives of the captain and Trask.
+
+"Maybe," said Jarrow, wearily rising, to yawn into the sun's face.
+
+Locke stared at Trask, and finally realized that he was serious.
+"Gone to the island?" he asked.
+
+"Mainland's over there," said Jarrow, turning and pointing over the
+starboard quarter. "You got two guesses. I'll bet on the island."
+
+Trask now looked in the direction indicated by the captain and saw
+a low-lying ridge, barely perceptible in the morning sun, lifting
+out of the horizon. It was merely a dark streak against the edge of
+the sea's brilliance, dividing sky and water.
+
+"Well, that's a fine note," said Locke. "What do they think they're
+getting paid for? To go away on marine picnics?"
+
+"If they come lookin' for pay, we're lucky," said Jarrow.
+
+"Now, captain, let's get down to cases," began Locke, with a look
+at Trask which indicated that he was done with temporizing with
+Jarrow. "What are you going to do?"
+
+Jarrow looked at him quickly, as if surprised, and made a grimace.
+
+"What do ye expect me to do?" he demanded, with a show of temper in
+his voice.
+
+"We'll start for Manila in an hour unless the crew's back aboard.
+Can't you give 'em a signal of some sort?"
+
+"Sure," said Jarrow. "I can run the Blue Peter to the fore truck.
+I'm ready to go now--if you'll start whistlin' for a wind." He wet
+the tip of his finger on his tongue and held it up.
+
+"You take it all-fired calm," said Locke. "What's the idea? Are you
+going to sit down and wait for the crew to make up their minds to
+work?"
+
+"They've probably gone to the island to find gold," said Trask, who
+realized that Locke had not grasped the situation fully. "It looks
+as if they won't attempt to come back."
+
+"Oh, that's the game, is it?"
+
+"Looks like it," said Jarrow.
+
+"Very well," said Locke, grimly. "I'll look to you, Captain Jarrow,
+to carry out the terms of our agreement."
+
+"What ye drivin' at?" demanded Jarrow.
+
+"This: Your pay by the day for schooner and crew is for a definite
+purpose--to visit this island for exploration purposes, and to have
+in our employ a certain number of men. If we have to go back to
+Manila without accomplishing the business, or lie around waiting on
+the crew, it'll be out of your pocket. It's up to you, captain."
+
+"You say I don't git no money at all if we have to go back?"
+Jarrow's colour heightened, and his eyes flashed angrily, but he
+held a certain restraint over his voice.
+
+"What I say and what I mean."
+
+"There ain't no law that compels a master to guarantee against
+mutiny," said Jarrow, and began to chew a biscuit reflectively.
+
+"Mutiny!"
+
+"My mates have jumped ship with the crew. That's mutiny."
+
+"You expect them to make trouble for us?"
+
+"I look for anything with that gang," said Jarrow. "Peth he's a bad
+one when he gits started. So are all them chaps with him. But as I
+see it, they'll be back here in no time. If they don't find gold
+we'll have 'em back on our hands. So there ain't no great hurt
+done."
+
+"But if they do find gold?" suggested Locke.
+
+"They might walk on gold and not know it," said Trask. "If they are
+looking for a fortune in fifteen minutes, I doubt if they'll find
+it, and they'll like the looks of this schooner pretty well."
+
+"My idea exactly," said Jarrow, with a grin. "We might as well take
+this as a joke. If they ain't back by the time we have breakfast,
+I'll take a run over to shore in the long boat and see 'bout
+huntin' 'em up. You folks go aft, and let me handle it. I'll see it
+smoothed over. We don't want to start back for Manila short-handed
+if we can help it. What's the odds, if they are a passel o' fools?"
+
+"Perhaps you're right," said Locke. "It wouldn't look very well for
+us if we went back to Manila and left them here."
+
+"I'll tell you what you do, captain," said Trask. "Take a run
+ashore, as you said, and bring me back a bucket of that sand."
+
+"I thought yould like to go over with me," said Jarrow.
+
+"No, I'll stick by the schooner until this hitch with the crew is
+straightened out."
+
+"Maybe Mr. Locke'll want to go?"
+
+"Not for me," said Locke. "Marjorie'll want to go when I do, and I
+don't want to have anything said about what's turned up. You take
+Dinshaw."
+
+"I'll need two men to row," objected Jarrow. "I might take the old
+fellow and the cook."
+
+"We'll keep the cook," said Trask. "We can spare Doc Bird better."
+
+Jarrow agreed, and suggested that he start at once, so Doc Bird was
+called and told to summon Dinshaw, and they set about throwing off
+the gripes of the waist boat and got it over the side with jury
+tackle in short order.
+
+"I'll take a look about and see if we can find where they made a
+landin'," said Jarrow.
+
+"You'd better come right back, this trip," said Trask. "It's
+important that I get some of that sand under the microscope or cook
+a little of it."
+
+"Cook it?" asked Jarrow, puzzled.
+
+"Certainly. I'll be able to tell in fifteen minutes whether there's
+a sign of gold on that beach."
+
+Dinshaw came out, in great glee over an immediate landing on his
+island, and could scarcely be restrained from climbing over the
+side and into the boat long enough to have his coffee.
+
+As the final preparations were being made for the departure of the
+boat, Marjorie appeared, clad in khaki, with a short skirt and
+heavy shoes.
+
+"I'm all ready," she cried, thinking that everybody was embarking.
+
+"We're not going yet," said Locke. "The crew's ashore, and the
+captain's going to do a little reconnoitering before we leave the
+schooner. We'll go right after breakfast, though, if everything's
+all right."
+
+Doc was all agrin, and regarded the early trip ashore in the nature
+of a lark, and cast aside his white coat, to help row in his
+resplendent sweater, while the cook went about laying the table for
+breakfast, his round yellow face devoid of any interest in what was
+going on.
+
+It was decided that Dinshaw should steer, which tickled him
+mightily, and Captain Jarrow plied an oar himself.
+
+"Keep a good look-out," warned Jarrow, as they shoved off and began
+to pull toward the land.
+
+"You bet we will," said Trask, gaily. "Don't go above high-water
+mark for that sand, but fill the bucket from any dark spots you can
+find."
+
+"Captain Dinshaw'll simply die of joy," said Marjorie. "I'd hoped
+we might all go together and see him land."
+
+"You'd better put your hat on, Marge, or you'll have a skinned
+nose," said her father. "We'll be right in to breakfast."
+
+"There's some hocus-pocus about this," whispered Trask, as he and
+Locke moved forward for a private talk.
+
+"What do you make of it?"
+
+"Jarrow's in on the deal with the crew. That's why I wanted him out
+of the way for awhile so we could figure things out. I believe that
+Dinshaw did hear them say they intended to steal his island. Peth
+or Jarrow got my gun, but Jarrow thinks we've three more between
+us. I told him last night you had two. He wants to get us
+separated."
+
+"Good Lord!" exclaimed Locke, aghast. "You can't mean they want to
+put us out of the way!"
+
+"I wish I knew what they wanted to do," said Trask, speaking
+rapidly, and keeping his eyes on the boat which was making good
+headway toward the shore. "But I believe we're in serious danger,
+and I don't see now what's to be done."
+
+"Jarrow is a fool," said Locke.
+
+"More of a rogue. He's far more clever than we realize. I'm sure
+now he signalled to Peth last night with the lantern, when I was
+out here trying to see what the crew were about with the dinghy."
+
+"Then you knew it last night?"
+
+"Yes. I found Jarrow out here on the forecastle head. First he lit
+a cigar, which I suspect was a caution, then he shook the lantern,
+probably to indicate that their absence was discovered, and then he
+put the lantern out. He said it was so they couldn't find their way
+back in the dark, but now I'm sure it indicated that not only was
+the party known to be gone, but that their motives were suspected.
+What's more, I'm sure he's had Doc Bird spying on us--at least on
+me. Just as sure as I move that black is at my heels, as full of
+questions as a rose is of thorns. We want to be mighty careful with
+the cook, too."
+
+"We're sure in a pickle," said Locke. "If there were any wind I'd
+be for getting out now and leaving Jarrow and all hands."
+
+"My idea, too. But you'll notice he has the schooner well in behind
+the barrier reef, and unless we had a ripping good breeze, we'd
+pile up, or one of the boats would overtake us before we'd have the
+jib set. Of course, if we got out, it would be easy enough to make
+for the mainland, or with good weather keep down the coast until we
+reached some town or came up with some vessel. But as it stands,
+we've got to play the game out with Jarrow."
+
+"What the dickens he expects to do, or make out of this sort of
+performing is beyond me," said Locke.
+
+"Probably find a lot of gold and send us back to Manila in the hope
+of cheating Dinshaw out of it. I expect they'll be disappointed if
+it's gold in any great quantity they're after."
+
+"But why should he and Peth be plotting together when they're at
+outs?" asked Locke.
+
+"It may be that Jarrow favours Peth's scheme, and now wants to get
+in with him. I don't doubt they could make up their differences if
+it came to a question of hoodwinking us."
+
+"Oh, sure. I don't know whether this is all funny or dangerous but
+we seem to be in the hands of a lot of fools, and that's no joke.
+If it wasn't for Marge, I wouldn't worry."
+
+"Dad! Aren't you two coming to breakfast?" Marjorie called from the
+door of the cabin, and then seeing the boat approaching the shore,
+went to the bulwark and watched them make a landing.
+
+They saw Doc jump out and pull the boat up on the shingle a few
+feet, and Jarrow hopped out after him. Dinshaw could be seen
+crawling forward, and went into the water up to his knees and ran
+up the beach to fall forward and plunge both hands into the sand in
+an ecstasy of joy. Those in the schooner could hear his
+high-pitched voice as he cackled gleefully.
+
+Then they saw him talking with Jarrow, and pointing to seaward over
+the reef, and evidently going over the details of how he came
+ashore from the _Wetherall_, and where the bark struck.
+
+Doc stood near by, listening, and kicking the sand with one foot.
+Jarrow made a gesture to him, and the steward went back to the boat
+and brought a bucket, which he began to fill with sand close to the
+water's edge.
+
+Jarrow put his hands up to his face, to make a trumpet, and called
+loudly for "Mr. Peth" several times. His voice was thrown back from
+the hill over the water in long-drawn echoes that died away in the
+murmur of the gentle surf breaking on the other side of the point
+and along the backbone of the main reef.
+
+"For all the world like paging a gorilla," chuckled Locke. They
+went aft and stood by Marjorie, and Shanghai Tom looked out from
+the cabin door, white-capped and white-aproned, and a trifle bored.
+
+Jarrow moved up nearer the rim of the jungle, and was rendered
+almost invisible to those on the schooner against the glittering
+white sand.
+
+Doc put his bucket in the boat, and stood by the bow, looking after
+the captain. Once he turned toward the schooner, and waved his
+hand. Dinshaw was moving toward the point slowly, head bent, making
+a careful examination of the shore, stooping now and then to pick
+up a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers.
+
+"Look--over beyond Captain Dinshaw--in the brush!" said Marjorie,
+pointing.
+
+A figure in blue emerged cautiously from the tangle of green
+shrubbery some hundred yards to the right of Jarrow--Peth, in a
+suit of dungarees. He stepped out into the sand and stood with his
+arms akimbo, watching Jarrow, who was looking in the other
+direction.
+
+Presently Jarrow turned and saw Peth, and started toward him
+slowly, apparently in some doubt as to the attitude of the mate
+toward him. When he had advanced to within twenty feet of Peth he
+stopped, and from his gestures, he seemed to be talking. At times
+he looked over his shoulder toward Dinshaw, and pointed out to the
+schooner as if ordering the mate to return on board.
+
+Peth kicked the sand but made no move to obey. Jarrow drew nearer,
+and his hands became more eloquent, as if he were arguing with Peth
+to bring the crew back and return to duty. Dinshaw, now well up to
+the point, went on with his explorations, and gave no heed to
+Jarrow and Peth, if, indeed, he had seen them at all.
+
+Jarrow turned to the shore and called something, and Doc went
+across and stood near by while the pair continued their
+conversation. Dinshaw heard the summons, and looked back, but had
+no interest in what was going on, for he resumed his trudging,
+stopping frequently to look about him as if searching for some
+landmark.
+
+The parley between Peth and Jarrow lasted several minutes, and then
+other heads and shoulders appeared in the brush, peering out.
+Jarrow's voice, raised threateningly, reached those in the schooner
+in a rumbling sort of growl, although they could not distinguish
+his words. He appeared to be exasperated that his crew should stand
+about in the jungle and refuse to obey his orders.
+
+Finally Jarrow waved his hand to Doc, and turned to follow the
+steward, when Peth ran forward, and stepped between Jarrow and Doc.
+He whipped out a pistol and pointed it at the captain.
+
+The others came out of the brush at this, and Doc took to his
+heels, running for the boat like a deer.
+
+Jarrow put his hands up, and roared out something angrily to the
+effect that he'd "settle this business if it cost him his life,"
+and as the crew closed in around him he shouted wildly toward the
+schooner: "Mutiny! Mutiny!"
+
+Doc reached the long boat and making frantic efforts to push it off
+finally got it afloat, and with an oar shoved it into deep water
+and began to scull it out rapidly, making a zigzag course for the
+schooner.
+
+"Can you beat it?" demanded Locke. "They've taken Jarrow prisoner!
+Now we are in for it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+TRASK MAKES A DISCOVERY
+
+
+"The crazy fools!" exclaimed Trask, as he saw Jarrow being hustled
+into the jungle by the crew. "What sort of game do you suppose this
+is? Have they all gone mad?"
+
+"Mutiny!" said Marjorie. "Why should they mutiny?"
+
+"Search me," said her father, disgustedly. "We seem to have brought
+a fine pack of maniacs with us."
+
+They could see Dinshaw exploring the beach, apparently oblivious of
+what had happened, or careless of the quarrels which Jarrow and
+Peth might have, so long as he was on his beloved island.
+
+So the watchers in the schooner gave their attention to Doc, who
+continued to drive the long boat ahead jerkily, working as though
+he expected to be pursued from ashore and prevented from gaining
+the _Nuestra_.
+
+"What was that all about?" demanded Trask, as the steward,
+breathing hard and to every appearance terror-stricken, brought the
+long boat alongside the schooner.
+
+"Lordy me!" he gasped, his eyes white and rolling. "They shore
+messed up things this yer time!" He quit sculling and stood up in
+the stern of the boat, allowing it to make the distance which
+separated it from the schooner by its own momentum.
+
+"But what did they say?" demanded Locke.
+
+"It's Mr. Peth," said Doc, and turning, looked ashore. "He's got
+the skipper up a tree. Ah tell yo' all that man Peth, he's a
+danger! Yassir!" He made the boat fast, and scrambled up the ladder
+and over the side.
+
+"Now," said Trask, "tell us everything that you heard."
+
+"Mr. Trask, fo' Gawd, if you'll slip me a gun, I'll go back en blow
+dat man's haid off'n his neck! Mr. Peth he don't need to think he's
+goin' do no foolin' round with me, no, suh! I'm jest as mean as
+anybody when I'm stirred up, en I'm mad to mah marrer! If I'd had a
+gun----"
+
+"You're more of a sprinter than a shooter, if I'm any judge," said
+Locke. "Never mind what you'll do. What did you hear?"
+
+"Well, suh," said Doc, scratching his head, "I was a just sort of
+circulatin' 'round when I filled that bucket. I wanted to see what
+Mr. Peth was projectin' about wid the skipper, so I jest aidged up,
+closer en closer, when the cap'n he call me to shuffle along.
+
+"They was a-talkin', kind o' low lak'. Mr. Peth he was a-sayin' how
+they all been fooled 'cause there ain't no gold on the island
+nohow. How they done dug en dug, but nary any gold. And Mr. Peth he
+'lowed he was there for gold, and not a-gitten' any, he was goin'
+to be paid, en paid big, en all hands wanted a batch o' money. He
+said nobody comin' back here nohow, en how Jarrow'll have to stay
+there with 'em ontil they was paid.
+
+"De old man he 'lowed he ain't no bank on wheels, and Mr. Peth he
+say back he don't care whar de money come f'om, he's gwine have it,
+en he slash up wid a gun en say to come along, en come quick. Then
+the others come out o' de woods, lookin' mighty mad, en I says to
+mahse'f, 'Doc Bird, this ain't no place for you to be circulatin'
+'round, not if yo' wants fo' to die of old age,' so I jump fo' de
+boat."
+
+"So it's a hold-up," said Locke, looking at Trask.
+
+"You've got it," said Trask. "They set out to get gold, and can't
+find it. Now they think we'll pay them a good price to get out."
+
+"We'll get out without any help from them," said Locke.
+
+"You better not go pullin' up no anchors in this pocket," advised
+Doc, as he saw Locke look over the bows speculatively. "Yo' all
+would go smack on that yer reef, the way the tide's got a set."
+
+"How much do they want?" asked Marjorie, who was more amused than
+worried at the way things had turned out.
+
+"You'll have to ask Mr. Peth," said Doc.
+
+"You get in the boat and go back ashore and get Dinshaw," said
+Trask. "If you see any of the crew, simply say we'll take the
+matter of paying them extra under advisement when we know what
+their idea is."
+
+"Mr. Trask," said Doc, solemnly, "I'll go back if you give me a
+gun. I ain't 'fraid of no man what stands on two laigs if I got
+shootin' things. But I ain't goin' back with my bar' hands, for
+Dinshaw nor the 'Postle Paul, no, suh!"
+
+"Oh, you want a gun, eh?" said Trask. "I'll bet you couldn't hit
+the island from here with a gun."
+
+"Show me the gun," said Doc, eagerly. "I was in the army, if yo'
+all want to know. I got medals, yes, suh!"
+
+"All right," said Trask. "Go in and serve breakfast and I'll give
+you a gun. Then we'll see what you can do."
+
+Doc made for the cabin, and Shanghai Tom followed him, to whisper
+in the galley about what had happened.
+
+"We'll be in in a minute," said Trask, and with a knowing smile
+Marjorie left the deck. Trask and Locke strolled forward.
+
+"What do you think of it?" asked the older man.
+
+"It's a mad scheme on the face of it," said Trask. "That's why I
+wouldn't undertake to say how it will turn out. But there's one
+thing I'm sure of."
+
+"What?"
+
+"The steward is crooked. He's too anxious to find out how many guns
+we have and too anxious to go back ashore. He's a spy."
+
+"Then we wouldn't be wise to attempt to get the schooner out with
+his help," suggested Locke.
+
+"He doesn't want us to try it, that's plain," said Trask. "I've an
+idea to test him out. It'll take a little time, but we might as
+well set out to see who's who in this crowd."
+
+"That gang ashore'll try to get back here," said Locke, looking
+over at the island. "They can't live on sand and water."
+
+"Come to breakfast," said Trask. "Just leave things to me, and talk
+about our guns. We've got to give the impression that we're a young
+arsenal."
+
+They passed into the cabin, and Trask took the occasion to slip
+into the galley while Doc and Tom were absent, and lifting out an
+old rat-tail file, which the cook used to sharpen his knives on,
+slipped it up the sleeve of his jacket.
+
+They sent Doc out on deck to keep watch and Trask ordered him to
+get the bucket of sand out of the boat.
+
+"Don't you feel worried about this, Miss Trinkets," said Locke, as
+Marjorie looked up doubtful.
+
+"Do you think it's serious, Dad?" she asked.
+
+"Serious! Not at all! We'll get out of here as soon as there's a
+breath of air, and leave that wild lot to themselves."
+
+"But poor old Dinshaw," she said, "and Captain Jarrow--what's to
+become of them?"
+
+"We'll have to get Dinshaw, of course," said Trask. "I'll take Doc
+and go for him at once with the boat." He drank his coffee hastily,
+and went out on deck. He disappeared into the forecastle and was
+below for several minutes.
+
+"Do you think you ought to risk going ashore?" asked Locke, when
+Trask returned with the bucket of sand.
+
+"I don't believe they'll bother me," said Trask, and calling to Tom
+to bring him a frying pan, he measured out two or three cupfuls of
+sand and spread it carefully in the pan.
+
+Then, to the amazement of all of them, he put the pan on the galley
+fire, and calling Doc, told him to watch the sand, and when it got
+well heated, to call him.
+
+"Cookin' sand!" exclaimed Doc, with a suspicious look at Trask. "Ah
+never did hear of such a thing! What fo' yo' doin' it, Mr. Trask?"
+He made no attempt to conceal the fact that he doubted the young
+man's sanity.
+
+"I believe there's gold in it," said Trask, simply. "And if there
+is, we'll find it by heating the sand and then cooling it with
+water quickly. See those dark grains? The heat will melt the gold
+which you can't see, and run it together, and then the cold water
+cracks away the shell of sand, and your gold particle can
+be washed out."
+
+"Beats me!" declared Doc, scratching his woolly head, but he went
+to the galley with renewed interest to watch the strange dish which
+Trask had prepared.
+
+"Don't stir it," said Trask. "Let it get good and sizzling."
+
+"Yo' goin' cook de whole islan' in a fry pan?" asked Doc.
+
+"If there's a hundred dollars' worth of gold in a bushel of sand,
+don't you think it would pay?" asked Trask, as he went out.
+
+"Some cookin'!" declared Doc.
+
+Trask now searched Jarrow's cabin in the hope of finding some sort
+of firearm, but there was neither pistol nor rifle. So he took the
+captain's spy-glass, a cumbersome, old-fashioned tube, and went on
+the poop deck to look the island over.
+
+But the only living thing in sight was Dinshaw, busy scooping up
+sand with his hands, and building what appeared to be sand forts.
+The old man was working out near the point, close to the water's
+edge, piling up sand like a harvester getting ready for the work of
+gathering a crop. Mound after mound he made, in a long furrow on a
+line with the shore, just above the rim of the tide.
+
+"I believe he is crazy," said Marjorie, as she looked through the
+glass. "Can it be possible he thinks that sand is gold?"
+
+"That's been my suspicion for quite awhile," said Trask.
+
+Locke began to laugh. "We are the prize boobs," he said, "if we've
+come here because a cracked old man thinks a beach is solid gold.
+We might have known he was out from the way he talked."
+
+"Anyway, it's lots of fun," asserted Marjorie. "Think of it! A real
+mutiny, a lunatic, sand that's supposed to be gold----"
+
+"Marge, you're a hard-shell optimist," chided her father. "Don't
+you realize that we're in danger? That a storm, or a dozen things
+would----"
+
+"I rather enjoy it, Dad. I've always wanted to do something that
+was more exciting than playing tennis. I'm glad I came."
+
+Trask looked at her and grinned. As she stood against the rail,
+spying out the land through an ancient glass, seeking some sign of
+a crew of piratical tendencies, he couldn't help thinking that this
+slender young woman with the yellow hair coiled under a canvas hat
+really was thrilled by the possibility of danger.
+
+"By George! You do like it!" he said, admiringly.
+
+"I'm only a little bit scared," she confessed.
+
+"Mr. Trask, yo' better take a look at this mess," Doc called up the
+companion. He betrayed his suppressed excitement in his voice, and
+when Trask went down, followed by the others, the steward's hands
+were trembling and his eyes snapping with the spirit of discovery
+which possessed him. He might have been a scientist making a test
+which promised to realize lifelong dreams and labours.
+
+"Fine! It's fairly glowing!" said Trask, as he passed a hand over
+the dish of sand.
+
+They all pressed around him as he took a bottle of water from Doc
+and dashed the liquid into the sand. There was a cloud of steam and
+a terrific hissing.
+
+"Now," said Trask, "pass me that wooden chopping bowl," and he
+dumped the wet sand out into the bowl, and laid it on the cabin
+table.
+
+"Bring me another pan," he called, "and more water."
+
+He began twisting the bowl with a rotary motion, and when Doc
+arrived with the pan, nursed the sand out into it, and as the last
+of the sand went over the lip of the bowl, ran out on deck into the
+sun, and examined the bottom of the wooden bowl.
+
+"Lordy me!" gasped Doc, leaning over Trask's shoulder. "Look at the
+sparkle!"
+
+The wet bowl was shot with tiny points of yellow, which caught the
+sunlight.
+
+"Gold!" exclaimed Marjorie.
+
+"By thunder!" cried Locke. "Dinshaw's right!"
+
+"Gold without a doubt," said Trask, and turned to see Shanghai Tom
+staring into the bowl, his eyes fairly popping out of his head at
+this magical cookery which transformed a sea-beach into glittering
+wealth.
+
+Trask resumed the washing, and in a few minutes had as much of the
+yellow powder as he could hold in the hollow of a palm.
+
+"Man alive!" remarked the gleeful Doc. "I reckon we better take
+this yere island apart, right down level to the water!"
+
+"There's millions on it," declared Trask. "When four cups of sand
+will assay that much gold, consider what's in a mile of beach like
+this."
+
+"It's a new one on me," said Locke. "I never saw such a thing in my
+life and---- Hello! Here's the boat coming out!"
+
+They ran to the rail, and looking shoreward, saw the dinghy, with
+two men rowing it, and Peth and Jarrow sitting in the stern sheets.
+They were heading straight for the schooner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WHAT HAPPENED TO DOC AND THE DINGHY
+
+
+Those aboard the _Nuestra_ watched the dinghy for a minute as it
+came on, the sunlight flashing from the oars. Two men were still on
+the beach, far up to the left, with their hands to their eyes,
+watching the progress of the boat.
+
+"Now what's the game?" asked Locke.
+
+"It looks like a boarding party," said Trask. "If they wanted to
+come back and behave themselves, they'd all come. Get those dishes
+out of sight. They may manage to get aboard in spite of all we can
+do, but we've got to bluff 'em."
+
+"We can't let 'em aboard," declared Locke.
+
+Trask moved forward and mounted the forecastle, followed by Locke.
+
+"Hello, you!" called Trask.
+
+The rowers ceased their work, and with suspended oars allowed the
+dinghy to drift on.
+
+"It's all right," said Jarrow. "They want to put me aboard for a
+talk."
+
+"You can't come alongside," warned Trask. "We'll shoot if you
+attempt to come close," and he put his hand to his hip pocket and
+pulled out his silver cigarette case, taking care that the sun hit
+the upper edge.
+
+"But they want to put me back aboard for a talk about how things
+stand," insisted Jarrow. "You'll let me come, won't ye?"
+
+"Not with that gang," said Trask. "Let 'em take you ashore, and get
+up the beach. Then I'll come for you with the long boat."
+
+Jarrow made some suggestion to Peth, but the mate shook his head.
+
+"He says I come aboard now, this way, or not at all," said Jarrow.
+"You better let me tell you how the land lays."
+
+"Nobody gets aboard here until Captain Dinshaw is brought back,"
+said Trask. "And I'll take one man of the crew. The rest of 'em can
+stay here and starve for all I care. It's their own funeral. They
+had no business deserting the schooner."
+
+"But I'm master, and that's my schooner, and I'm to say what's to
+be done," said Jarrow. "If you try to do that, it's piracy. I can't
+help it if the men refuse duty. All I can do is the best I can for
+the safety of my passengers, and if you don't let me do that, I
+wash my hands of ye."
+
+"You'll find your schooner in Manila," declared Trask. "I've told
+you how to go about getting aboard."
+
+"I can't do what they won't let me," whined Jarrow.
+
+"What do they want?" demanded Trask.
+
+The boat now had no way on her, and had swung broadside to the
+schooner, about a hundred yards off.
+
+"They want a bonus," said Jarrow.
+
+"What sort of bonus?"
+
+"Extra wages to work the schooner back to Manila."
+
+"We won't have 'em work the schooner back to Manila at any price."
+
+"You can't git back yourself, Mr. Trask. Can't git out of this
+place. It's dangerous. You'll lose her."
+
+"We'd rather take the chance of losing the schooner than have that
+cut-throat crew back here, I'll tell you that. They've made their
+bed, now they can sleep in it."
+
+"Be I goin' to lose all I got out of this?" wailed Jarrow. "If
+you'll let 'em put me aboard, it'll come out all right."
+
+"They can have the island. We don't want it," said Trask.
+
+"There ain't no gold," said Peth.
+
+"I know it," said Trask. "Could have told you in fifteen minutes,
+if you hadn't wanted to cheat Dinshaw out of it."
+
+"We wouldn't a-come if we'd knowed this was a sell," said Peth.
+
+"Weren't you paid to come?"
+
+"He ain't got no gun," yelled Doc. "The island is full o' gold,
+cap'n. Yo' got to cook it an'----"
+
+Trask turned to see the steward waving his hands at the rail, and
+ran toward him in rage, telling him to be still.
+
+"Don' you lay han's on me!" yelled Doc, backing away to where
+Shanghai Tom stood. Behind the pair was Marjorie.
+
+"So you're in with 'em, eh?" sneered Trask.
+
+"I'm in fo' mahse'f!" declared Doc, lowering his head and regarding
+Trask from under his brows. He put his hand in his pocket. "Keep
+away, w'ite man, or I'll do yo'all hurt!"
+
+Trask walked straight for the steward, who pulled out a pistol.
+
+"My gun!" cried Trask, stopping. Marjorie uttered a cry of dismay
+as she saw the steward raise his hand.
+
+"I can shoot," warned Doc. "Come on! Come on!" he yelled, waving
+his hand to the dinghy. "I got 'em!"
+
+Trask heard the splash of oars, and saw out of the corner of his
+eye that the boat was coming ahead swiftly. He was about to hurl
+himself at the steward when he saw Shanghai Tom reach over Doc's
+shoulder and grasp the weapon. Doc turned to resist the cook, but
+Tom bent him sidewise, wrenched the pistol from his hand so that it
+fell to the deck, and lifted Doc against the bulwark. Then catching
+the steward's legs, he threw him over, head first, into the sea.
+
+"Good for you!" shouted Trask, and leaping forward, grabbed up his
+revolver and aimed it at the boat. "Stop!" he shouted. "Stop this
+minute or I'll fire!"
+
+The rowers looked over their shoulders, and seeing that Trask had
+them covered, backed water furiously despite the shouts of Peth to
+go on.
+
+Doc came up blowing, and began to swim toward the dinghy without
+further ado. Jarrow now yelled to the rowers to keep backing, and
+when Peth roared at him to "shut his head," the captain, taking
+advantage of the confusion, stood up and leaped into the water and
+began swimming to the schooner quite as fast as Doc swam away from
+it.
+
+"Let me aboard!" cried Jarrow.
+
+"All right," said Trask. "Come on!" and he came, with an awkward,
+splashing, overhand stroke, like some queer fish with one curved
+fin out of the water.
+
+The rowers stopped backing and watched the two swimmers, as if not
+sure just what to do. Peth seemed inclined to wait and see how
+things turned out before making for shore. He evidently had
+abandoned any desire he had to get aboard the schooner by force.
+
+Jarrow came floundering along, and managed to reach up and grasp
+the stern of the long boat, when he pulled himself up and climbed
+in. He stood dripping, dashing the water out of his eyes, and
+regarded the dinghy.
+
+"Get out!" he bawled, shaking his fist. "Ye can go to the devil,
+the whole lot of ye!"
+
+Peth made no reply, but spoke to the rowers, and the dinghy turned
+slowly and headed for the island, but waited for Doc to get
+alongside, when they helped him aboard, and made off rapidly.
+
+"Them blastered scoundrels!" raged Jarrow, as he rubbed his hands
+down over his shirt to squeeze out the water. "I lost my hat."
+
+"Better come aboard, captain," said Trask. "Have you a gun?"
+
+"I wish I had," declared Jarrow, wrathfully. "I'd a-let daylight
+through that fool of a Peth! See the game they run on me ashore?"
+
+"We did," said Locke. "You were lucky to get away."
+
+"By the Mighty Nelson!" declared Jarrow, as he clambered over the
+side and hurled a shower of water around him like a halo as he
+landed on the bone-white deck. "I never did see such a passel o'
+fools! Plumb bugs on gold! They think 'cause there ain't any we're
+to put a young fortune in their hands! I'll have the coast guard on
+'em, that's what, and land every man of 'em in Bilibid for life!"
+
+"Then you're for getting out?" asked Trask.
+
+"You bet I am! Think I want to hang around and palaver with a set
+of pirates that'd stick a gun in my face and tell me where I git
+off? Not much! What's that Doc pulled on you?"
+
+"A gun," said Trask. "And my own. He had it all the time."
+
+"Well, I'll be jiggered!" declared Jarrow, staring at the weapon
+which Trask still held in his hand. "He's a nice one!"
+
+"A smooth article," said Trask. "He fooled me, all right. If it
+hadn't been for Tom----" He looked around, but Tom had disappeared
+into the galley.
+
+"I'm sure the steward would have shot you," said Marjorie, who had
+regained her composure, and now stood beside Trask.
+
+"Looked like it was all off to me," said Locke. "We'll have to
+square things with that Chink."
+
+"What's this?" asked Jarrow, looking at the pan and bowl, and the
+sand on the deck. "Been lookin' for gold?"
+
+"Tried some of it," said Trask.
+
+"Find any?" asked Jarrow, with quick interest.
+
+"No," said Trask, and Locke appeared startled, but said nothing.
+
+"I better git into some dry duds," said Jarrow. "As soon as there's
+a capful of wind, we'll see what we can do about gittin' out of
+this hole, unless you want to go prospectin' ashore, Mr. Trask."
+
+"Not with those fellows there," said Trask, looking over to where
+the boat was making a landing far up the beach. The other two men
+came down to meet the boat's crew, and there was a lively
+conference.
+
+"But we can't go and leave poor old Dinshaw," said Marjorie.
+
+Jarrow looked at Trask questioningly.
+
+"How about it?" he asked. "Are we goin' to hang around and take
+chances just to pick up the old un?"
+
+"We can't leave Dinshaw," said Trask. "We've got to get him before
+we think of leaving."
+
+"You can suit yerself," said Jarrow. "I'm for gittin' out. They
+won't hurt him. Soon's we're gone, they'll all make over for the
+mainland. They've got some canned meat and hard bread. They took a
+lot of stuff with 'em last night."
+
+Jarrow departed for his room, leaving a wet trail behind him.
+
+"He's all right," whispered Locke. "If we can get Dinshaw, we're
+fixed up to leave."
+
+"We'll keep an eye on the captain just the same," said Trask. "I
+rather think he's had all he wants of Peth and the crew, even if he
+was going to stand in with them at one time."
+
+"Oh, I guess he's straight enough," said Locke. "But you didn't
+tell him about that gold."
+
+"He was keen about what you'd found," said Marjorie. "I suppose he
+didn't understand what the steward said."
+
+Trask laughed, and leaning over to Locke, whispered: "There wasn't
+any gold in the sand."
+
+"No gold?" said Locke, staring at him.
+
+"No. The 'gold' was just some brass filings I made in the
+forecastle out of an old brass cleat that was hanging on a nail in
+my room for a clothes hook," and he took from his pocket the piece
+of metal and displayed the groove he had cut in it with the file.
+
+"What the dickens did you do that for?" asked Locke.
+
+"To see if Doc would stand in with the crew, although I didn't
+expect it would result in his pulling a gun on me. I thought that
+if he was against us, he'd try to get back ashore with the news.
+Now if they think the island is full of gold, they'll be content to
+stay there and not bother us. But I didn't want to fool Jarrow. He
+might not be so anxious to leave, if he had what he thought to be
+proof that there was plenty of gold."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry," said Marjorie. "I'd hoped that Dinshaw's dream had
+come true."
+
+"Had me going all right," said Locke.
+
+Before long Jarrow came out, in dry clothing, smacking his lips
+after a drink, and lighted a long cigar.
+
+"Now," he began, "how're we to git Looney Dinshaw back?"
+
+"Go for him with the boat," said Trask.
+
+"You come along?" suggested the captain.
+
+"I'll stick by the schooner," said Trask.
+
+"Then I'll take the cook."
+
+"Not unless the cook wants to go of his own accord," was Trask's
+reply. "I'm not going to ask Tom to do anything."
+
+"Want me to go alone?" asked the captain, in surprise.
+
+"I suggest that you row up toward the point, and call Dinshaw down
+to you. You can get him easy enough, and I'll stand watch here to
+see that you're not headed off by the dinghy."
+
+Jarrow said nothing to this, but went aft for his glass, and
+studied the group far up the beach. The sailors were gathering wood
+from the jungle, and making a pile about halfway between the edge
+of the forest and the water.
+
+In a few minutes a curl of white smoke was rising from the pile
+they had laid.
+
+"Gittin' a meal ready," was Jarrow's comment, and he went into the
+cabin where Shanghai Tom was setting the table.
+
+"Doc is making a fire to melt some gold on his own account," said
+Trask to Locke and Marjorie. "I wish him luck. Dinshaw is still
+piling sand into little dunes up near the point."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+WHAT JARROW WANTED AND WHAT HE GOT
+
+
+Captain Jarrow spent an hour or two loafing about the schooner and
+swearing under his breath as he regarded the shore, where the crew
+was going through mysterious incantations.
+
+But Trask understood that Doc was initiating them into the
+mysteries of smelting out gold from sand. To all appearances, it
+was utterly devoid of anything approaching gold.
+
+Finally, after a conference with Locke and Marjorie, Trask put
+before the captain the matter of bringing Dinshaw back. But Jarrow
+was inclined to be sulky about it. He objected to having "it put up
+to him to bring the fool aboard," as he expressed it.
+
+"None of us will leave the schooner under the circumstances,"
+declared Trask.
+
+"But I want the cook," said Jarrow. Trask had joined him on the
+forecastle and the others remained in the cabin.
+
+"The cook stays right here with us," said Trask. "I don't intend to
+take a chance at losing another man."
+
+"You don't seem to look on me as worth much," said Jarrow, as he
+gazed at the column of smoke which rose straight in the air and
+hung over the island like a volcanic vapour, spreading out into a
+funnel-shaped cloud.
+
+"If Peth was willing to put you on board, I don't see that he'd
+interfere with you if you went ashore," said Trask. "As I see it,
+you can pull over, get Dinshaw, and come back. You don't need to go
+near that gang on the beach."
+
+"Can't ye let me have the gun?"
+
+"No." Trask walked away from Jarrow, satisfied that the captain
+would take no action so long as there was a possibility of
+continuing the argument.
+
+Not long afterward, while the three in the cabin were playing cards
+and Tom was preparing lunch, Jarrow came shambling aft, and without
+a word went over the side and into the long boat. When Trask went
+out on deck the captain was pulling slowly for the shore, making a
+course to land near where Dinshaw was toiling in the broiling sun
+at his sand piling.
+
+All hands deserted the cabin to see what would happen. As the boat
+approached the beach, Doc was seen to leave those about the fire,
+and proceed toward Dinshaw, with the avowed purpose of heading the
+captain off.
+
+Jarrow made his way leisurely, and ran the boat on the shingle. He
+stood watching Doc and waiting for him, and when the steward had
+come close and stopped as if in doubt as to what the captain's
+attitude would be, Jarrow beckoned him on with a peremptory
+gesture.
+
+There was a parley, which ended with Doc returning to the fire, and
+then Jarrow approached Dinshaw. The old man looked up and waved his
+hand as if pointing out the result of his labours.
+
+Jarrow kicked the sand, and got down to examine it. Then he said
+something to Dinshaw, and the latter got up and followed him
+obediently to the boat. Soon they were heading back for the
+schooner, Dinshaw serving an oar.
+
+"What's the news?" asked Trask, as the boat drew near.
+
+"They want to come back," said Jarrow. "Peth sends word that if
+you'll take 'em, they'll return to duty if you'll call it square.
+Seems like they've tried a wrinkle of burnin' the sand to git gold,
+but it won't work, an' they're plumb disgusted."
+
+"We won't take Peth's word about anything," said Trask.
+
+"I guess they got a belly full o' this business," was Jarrow's
+comment as he brought the boat alongside. "You make a mistake not
+to take 'em up. We'd be in a bad hole here if it come on to blow
+hard. Ye better let me signal 'em back."
+
+Trask said nothing to this, but helped Dinshaw over the side. The
+old man seemed utterly spent, and appeared to be in a daze from the
+sun. He looked about as if he had seen none of them before, and
+smiled, whispering something about gold, holding up his hands and
+looking at them.
+
+"He thinks the sand is gold," said Jarrow. "I looked it over and
+it's no more gold than I am."
+
+Marjorie spoke to Dinshaw, but he merely blinked at her, and she
+took him away to the cabin and gave him food and drink.
+
+"What's this Doc said about you cookin' gold out of sand?" asked
+Jarrow.
+
+"Brass filings," said Trask, promptly, and took some of the
+particles from his trousers pocket and dumped them into Jarrow's
+palm. "Had my suspicions of him, and wanted to see if he'd give me
+a double cross. And he has the nerve to want to come back!"
+
+Jarrow grinned and examined the grains of brass, and with a remark
+that it was all a crazy business, announced his intention of
+getting some sleep.
+
+"Call me, Mr. Trask, if this calm breaks, and we'll git out. I'm
+disgusted."
+
+Dinshaw had suffered a sort of collapse, or coma, and he was put to
+bed likewise. Trask managed to get up an awning, and out on deck,
+where they could keep watch on shore, they lunched in comparative
+comfort.
+
+Locke, now satisfied that the whole venture was a mad sort of lark,
+took it all in jocular mood, and chaffed Marjorie about her desire
+to go adventuring in the tropics. But Trask knew that he had been
+much more worried than either himself or Marjorie, and that his
+sallies were the result of his relief from strain about how things
+would turn out for them.
+
+Shanghai Tom had become the pet of the trio, and while he
+maintained his outward imperturbability, it was evident that he was
+quite proud of his exploit in overcoming and disposing of the
+treacherous Doc Bird. Trask had promised him a reward on their
+return to Manila, at which he had remarked, "Me no catchum for
+cash," and shook his head. The Chinaman either from pique at the
+crew's total disregard of him in their plans or from a real liking
+for the passengers themselves had lined himself up on the side of
+the Lockes and Trask.
+
+The crew deserted their fire and took to the jungle, leaving a pile
+of smouldering ashes on the sand, and during the afternoon there
+was nothing to be seen of them. The dinghy was in plain sight,
+pulled up on the beach, just beyond where they had essayed their
+attempts at reducing ore by the "cooking" method.
+
+Trask managed to get a nap lying in a steamer chair under his
+improvised awning, for it was agreed that if they had to remain at
+their anchorage for the night, he would have to share a watch with
+Jarrow.
+
+In spite of the captain's evident desire to abandon the crew to
+their fate, Trask still had a lurking suspicion that Jarrow was
+more in sympathy with Peth's demands for extra money than his
+heated language against the mate implied. And the young man was
+determined that he would not relax his vigilance once Jarrow was on
+deck again. So while he slept, Locke sat in the doorway of the
+cabin and read while Marjorie played solitaire under a corner of
+the awning and kept a watch toward shore.
+
+Jarrow appeared late in the afternoon, and was rather morose and
+silent. He went out on the forecastle and smoked, scanning the sea
+and sky and complaining to himself that there was no wind. The sea
+was as smooth as a field of liquid metal, great glassy swells
+extending to the horizon all round, glinting in the sun. The heat
+was oppressive until the sun dropped to the sea's rim, when dark
+wind patches made their appearance to the southward on the surface
+of the ocean. But still the calm held.
+
+While the sky and sea were yet suffused with crimson from the
+sun's afterglow Jarrow came aft, and without a word to any one, or
+even a look, went on the poop, going up the port side.
+
+Marjorie went in and peeped into Dinshaw's room. The old man was
+sleeping, breathing gently, but lying like a man utterly exhausted,
+flat on his back in his bunk.
+
+As she came out on deck, where Trask and Locke sat watching the sea
+and reconciling themselves to another night aboard the schooner in
+the bight of the reef, Jarrow's voice came over the cabin trunk in
+a low growl as he cleared his throat.
+
+"We better talk this thing over," he suggested.
+
+"All right, captain," said Locke. "Suppose you come down here."
+
+Jarrow appeared at the starboard break of the poop, his hands on
+his hips, a cigar aslant in his mouth. He gave the trio a critical
+glance, and turned his head toward the island.
+
+"Not much chance to get out to-night," began Locke. "Do you look
+for a breeze?"
+
+"I don't look for nothin'," said the captain, without looking at
+Locke. "I been thinkin' this thing over," he said presently,
+chewing his words with his cigar. "I'm out of pocket on this deal."
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Locke, with a startled glance at Trask. He
+had detected a belligerent note in the captain's voice.
+
+"Just this," said Jarrow, with sudden vehemence, slapping his hand
+down on the cabin roof, and turning a savage visage at the three
+sitting below him: "I come on this trip lookin' to make a piece o'
+money. I figured there'd be a couple of weeks here at the
+least--you'd go lookin' for gold, an' maybe find it, an' I'd git a
+look-in. Now ye want to skip out for Manila again. Where do I git
+off?"
+
+Trask sprang to his feet, his face scarlet with rage.
+
+"You sit down, young feller," said Jarrow, holding up a hand for
+attention. "Don't go off half-cocked."
+
+"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Locke. His back was to
+Jarrow, and he did not get up.
+
+Trask stood glaring at Jarrow with trembling lips and set jaw. The
+captain pushed his cap back on his head and puffed a couple of
+times at his cigar before he spoke.
+
+"I mean you can't git out of here, wind or no wind, without me.
+And what's more, ye won't go when I do but ye'll pay me for my
+time, and I'll make it fair enough."
+
+"You're in with Peth!" exclaimed Trask, and made a move toward his
+pistol pocket.
+
+"I'm in with Peth," admitted Jarrow. "He didn't work it just the
+way I wanted, but now it's come to a show down. This schooner is
+for sale for twenty thousand dollars. I guess that's fair enough,
+seein' the jam ye're in, and the young lady along."
+
+"I've half a mind to take a shot at you," said Trask.
+
+"Go ahead and shoot," said Jarrow. "That's my chance. I'll risk it.
+But you've got to handle the rest of the crew before mornin', don't
+forgit that."
+
+"Twenty thousand dollars," said Locke, musingly, and looked at
+Marjorie, who stared at Jarrow as if she could not believe her
+ears.
+
+"My price," said Jarrow. "I thought I'd say somethin' about it
+before the boys come out. They'll be makin' along out this way in a
+few minutes. It'll save messin' things up to reach a bargain before
+they come."
+
+"The first man that tries to come aboard----" began Trask.
+
+"You can't kill 'em all," said Jarrow, grinning. "Oh, it's cheap at
+the price. You'll find it a lot more comfortable to see this thing
+the way it lays. You shoot me, and it's all off with ye. The
+boys'll just have to boat off down the coast and say ye was lost
+with the schooner. That's easy enough."
+
+"You're a murderin' scoundrel," said Locke, quietly.
+
+"I'm out for the coin," said Jarrow. "Work with me, and it'll be
+all right."
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Trask," said Locke. "We might as well go about this
+in a business way."
+
+"Now ye're talkin'," said Jarrow.
+
+"What's your proposition?" asked Locke. "Tom! Bring me my
+cigar-case."
+
+"I'm sellin' the schooner for twenty thousand. I left word in
+Manila at your bank that you had a mind to buy, an' you'd pay ten
+thousand. That's a fair price. My bank thinks ye're goin to buy,
+too, so that's another ten. I won't have no trouble cashin' two
+checks on you. I cashed your checks in both banks before we left,
+and they're sort o' trained to it."
+
+"You're playing a dangerous game," said Locke. "Do I understand
+you're to put us down in Manila and then go up to the banks and
+cash checks on me?"
+
+"No," said Jarrow. "You stay here on the island, hid away. If I
+don't git the money, it's you who's playin' a dangerous game."
+
+"But how are we to get away from here?" asked Locke.
+
+"We'll send the schooner back, after we've had time to git clear of
+Manila. May be five or six days after we git our money, but I'll
+send it right enough. Of course, I could ask more, an' take a wide
+chance, but I ain't hoggin' things. It ought to be worth gittin'
+out without trouble for you folks. And ye'll git some of yer money
+back out o' this old wagon. Say the word, an' I'll signal the boys
+to come back, all peaceful, an' no shootin'. If ye don't want to
+take it my way, I'm done talkin'. The others look for fight, an'
+Peth's got my gun's well's his own. So, if you want fireworks, it
+ain't my funeral."
+
+"I'll take you up," said Locke, as he reached for his cigar-case.
+"You'll let us have Tom--and what we need?"
+
+"Everything ye want," said Jarrow, with satisfaction. "Only don't
+come no didoes with me or the checks. If I ain't here to tell Peth
+it's all right when he comes alongside, he'll cut loose on ye in
+the dark."
+
+"I'm giving you my word that we'll play fair, as you call it.
+You'll get your checks, and all I ask is fair play in return."
+
+"My way o' lookin' at it," said Jarrow. "I thought you'd find it a
+open an' shut game, an' I spoke as I did so's you'd have time to
+pack an' stow the boats, if ye don't want to stay aboard to-night.
+But there ain't no call for you leavin' here 'less we git a wind."
+
+"We'll take that up later," said Locke.
+
+"I'd like a letter from you, as how ye've bought the schooner,"
+said Jarrow. "Ye can say's ye've decided to remain here, and I'm to
+attend to some things in Manila, so's it'll look natural like."
+
+"As you say," said Locke. "If you'll fetch my coat, I'll write out
+a check--the checks. And my pen's with the book."
+
+"I'll bring some paper," said Jarrow, with a glance at Trask. "If
+you don't mind, unload your gun, and give me the ca'tridges. I'll
+turn 'em over to ye when ye leave for the island. How's that?"
+
+"I'll compromise," said Trask. "Suppose Miss Locke keeps the gun?
+You'd hardly expect Miss Locke to shoot you in the back, would
+you?"
+
+"I'll take the ca'tridges," said Jarrow, coming down and holding
+out his hand. "I ain't figurin' on anybody changin' their mind, but
+it'll be better to make sure."
+
+"Give him what he wants," said Locke. "We'll play the game as the
+cards run."
+
+So Trask took out the magazine, and removed the cartridge from the
+chamber of the pistol and surrendered the ammunition.
+
+Jarrow went into his room for the paper, and they heard him
+fumbling in the little bulkhead desk.
+
+"No use arguing with a man when he's got the drop on you," said
+Locke. "If it wasn't for Miss Trinkets, here, it might be
+different. But I'd rather pay up than see anybody hurt."
+
+Trask sat with his empty pistol across his knees, thoroughly
+dejected, staring out over the blood-red sea. Already a star, close
+to the horizon, had popped out, and the top of the island was
+gathering gloom.
+
+"I was a fool ever to take you people on such a wild-goose chase,"
+said Trask. "I'll have to pay you back every dollar of this, Mr.
+Locke."
+
+"Pay nothing," said Locke.
+
+"I'm the one to blame, Dad," said Marjorie, laying her hand on his
+arm. She was quite white, but she smiled faintly. "And you can't
+blame yourself, Mr. Trask. It was all my plan from the first, Dad.
+We plotted to inveigle you into coming to the island, at least I
+abetted Mr. Trask, and I'm glad I came."
+
+"I'm satisfied----" said Locke, with a whimsical smile, and before
+he could go on he was interrupted by a scream of rage inside the
+cabin.
+
+They all sprang up as Tom dashed from the galley and looked into
+the captain's cabin. They saw the white form of the Chinese against
+the dark interior, and heard a terrific struggle going on, with the
+sound of shoes being hammered against the bulkhead.
+
+As the three pressed in to look over Tom's shoulder Dinshaw leaped
+from the deck of the captain's cabin, and yelling like mad, ran up
+the companion and dived over the taffrail.
+
+Trask ran after him in time to hear him splash into the water, and
+turning to come through the cabin for the long boat, heard Jarrow
+sobbing on the deck, and crawling about, or so it seemed, for the
+captain's arms were moving like a swimmer's although he was making
+no progress forward. And as he struggled, he gave gasping cries.
+
+"What's happened?" cried Locke.
+
+"He killum cap'n," said Shanghai Tom, and stooping down, picked up
+a knife. It was a long knife from the galley rack.
+
+Marjorie ran from the cabin, overcome with horror, and Trask
+followed, with the intention of getting the long boat away to save
+Dinshaw. But as he paused, poised on the bulwark to jump down into
+the boat, he looked aft. There was no trace of Dinshaw.
+
+"Go to the taffrail and look," he called to Marjorie. She hastened
+to the poop-deck while he got the boat off, which swung with the
+tide, and drifted aft as he paddled with the big oar, standing in
+the stern.
+
+For an instant there was a white object visible against the dark
+water, as if a fish had broken the surface. Whatever it was, it was
+being swept away swiftly by the tide. Before Trask could reach the
+spot where it had appeared, the water was smoothed out in a steely
+sheen. Dinshaw had been whirled away to the coral depths below.
+
+It was growing dark as Trask rowed back. As he came alongside the
+schooner he saw Locke standing beside Marjorie.
+
+"Dead," said Locke.
+
+From shore there came a confused chorus of cries. Trask listened,
+and across the darkening waters he saw a white spot drifting out
+slowly, and then in the evening hush heard the clatter of oars.
+
+"The cartridges!" he cried. "They're coming out, Peth and the
+others. With Jarrow dead, we've a fight on our hands!"
+
+He leaped over the bulwark, and dashed into Jarrow's cabin, to
+regain the ammunition he had surrendered. A blazing match revealed
+Jarrow lying on his back, his face distorted and spotted. Trask
+found the cartridges loose in the captain's coat pocket, and
+hurried out of the cabin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+AN END AND A BEGINNING
+
+
+A red moon rose out of the sea, and threw a fiery trail over the
+heaving wastes that reached to the schooner's side. Her hull and
+masts stood out in bold relief like a vessel in silhouette before
+the glare of a volcano.
+
+Trask, Locke, and Shanghai Tom stood on the starboard side abreast
+of the foremast where they could see over the bows and still be in
+a position to resist from either side when the crew attempted to
+board. Locke had a pair of iron belaying pins, and while Tom had a
+similar weapon, he also had a galley knife. Marjorie stood just
+outside the cabin door, where she could retreat inside and protect
+herself against bullets.
+
+The boat came forward slowly and cautiously, now only a dark spot
+on the water, still covered by the gloom of the island. The crew
+apparently hoped to get close without alarming those aboard.
+
+"We'll let them come on, and then give it to them without warning,"
+said Trask. "I'll hold my fire until they're right under us. Keep
+low, so they can't see our heads."
+
+Watching over the bulwark, Trask saw the boat come out of the
+island's shadow into the moonlight. He expected a dash once the
+boat was exposed, for it would be useless to attempt to sneak up on
+the schooner if any watch were kept.
+
+But the rowers came on leisurely. It might be that they supposed
+Jarrow would be the only one on watch and would allow them to get
+alongside before their proximity was suspected by Trask and Locke.
+
+"I can't see but three," whispered Locke.
+
+"Others may be hidden," said Trask. "Or they've decided to cut
+their party in two, to intercept anybody who got away to the
+island."
+
+"We can handle three, all right," said Locke, with some relief.
+"They'll walk right into a trap."
+
+"They probably figured Jarrow would have things fixed for them by
+the time they arrived, by having some of us out of the way. It
+isn't possible that they could know what's happened to him,"
+remarked Trask.
+
+The boat came on slowly and silently, the oars working steadily but
+with little noise of locks. It headed for the starboard side, and
+came up within a dozen yards of the bow abreast of it. Then the
+oars were held, backing slowly.
+
+"Aboard there!" came a low, hoarse voice. Trask and his friends
+remained silent.
+
+There was an exchange of whispers. Then the oars backed water
+quietly, to check the way and overcome the tide.
+
+"Aboard there!" This time it was louder, and Trask knew it was not
+the voice of Peth.
+
+"Hello!" he answered, gruffly, speaking as he thought Jarrow might
+if he were waiting for his treacherous crew to seize the schooner.
+
+"Who's that?" asked the voice. It was more cautious, and apparently
+worried. After a pause: "Is it Mr. Trask?"
+
+"Yes," replied Trask boldly. There was something hopeful in the
+tone of the other. If it had been Peth, Trask would not have
+admitted his own identity.
+
+"Then it's all right," said the other. "I'm Bevins. Where's the
+skipper?"
+
+"In his room asleep," answered Trask, still cautious, and not to be
+fooled into telling the truth. If they expected Jarrow, it would
+puzzle them to be told the captain was not there to meet them.
+
+"Look out for him," said Bevins, hastily. "He's fixin' to do for
+ye. We've run away from Mr. Peth. Shope and Pennock are here with
+me. We don't want no trouble. We want to come back aboard for duty.
+But have an eye out for the skipper. He's lookin' for Mr. Peth to
+come out, but we got the dinghy."
+
+"We stood in with him for gold," said another voice, pleadingly.
+"But when it come to makin' trouble for you folks, we ain't for
+it."
+
+"Come up closer so I can look into the boat," commanded Trask.
+
+"You better lock the skipper in his room," said Bevins. "We don't
+want to come aboard if he's going to make a row. He's a slick one,
+and he thought we stood in with him--thought we'd come out with Mr.
+Peth to put you ashore, but we give 'em the dish--Mr. Peth and the
+nigger. You better git the skipper or he'll be down on ye."
+
+They pulled the boat in, and under Trask's orders walked about the
+bottom, to prove that there was no one lying hidden under their
+feet.
+
+"You may come aboard, Bevins," said Trask finally. "But the others
+stay where they are a few minutes. If they attempt to rush, they'll
+get shot."
+
+"Git the skipper before I come," begged Bevins. "Git him while he's
+asleep. Don't take no chances. He's up to maroon ye all."
+
+"We've got the skipper," said Trask, grimly. "Don't worry about
+him. He is dead."
+
+There were exclamations of surprise and joy from the boat.
+
+"Ye done for him? No foolin'?" asked Bevins.
+
+"No doubt about it. Come aboard and see for yourself."
+
+"Ye won't make no trouble for us for what we done if we come for
+duty?"
+
+"Not if you help us get back to Manila, and make no more trouble."
+
+"We don't want no trouble, honest to Gawd!" said Shope.
+
+"Mr. Peth he got us to go ashore just for fun," said Bevins. "I
+know we had no call for doin' of it but he said we'd be back in the
+mornin'. Said the skipper give orders for it."
+
+"We'll call it square if you men turn to," said Trask. "But if
+there's any more trouble the first man to start it, follows Jarrow.
+You'll have to understand that before you come aboard. We're all
+armed and you'll have to be searched."
+
+"That's fair," said Bevins. "I'll come first. I ain't got no arms."
+
+They worked the boat aft to where the pilot-ladder was and Bevins
+came up. Trask searched him from head to toe while Locke and Tom
+kept watch on the others in the dinghy.
+
+Trask believed that Bevins was telling the truth. His warning about
+the captain and his reluctance to come aboard until he was assured
+that Jarrow could do no harm were convincing. If the three in the
+boat had been in league with Jarrow, it was improbable that they
+would tell Trask that the captain was a menace.
+
+Bevins then asked to see Jarrow. So Trask sent him aft and gave him
+matches to examine the captain's room. He came back presently, and
+with considerable satisfaction assured his companions that they
+need have no further fear of the skipper.
+
+Marjorie came forward to her father, and finding that instead of a
+battle they were safer than ever, she began to cry softly.
+
+Bevins now advised that it was necessary to keep a sharp lookout
+toward shore. He was afraid that Peth and Doc would make some
+attempt to get out to the schooner.
+
+Shanghai Tom went to the galley and prepared a meal for the three
+who had returned. After shutting the door of Jarrow's room the
+cabin lamp was lighted, as if in defiance of the two ashore and to
+prove that all was well aboard the schooner.
+
+Shope was given coffee and a cigar and put on watch, while all
+hands joined in a meal in the cabin. Bevins went over the whole
+story of how Mr. Peth had held up the captain ashore, but that it
+was all to mislead those in the schooner, and how after taking to
+the brush the captain had told them his plans for "making a nice
+pot of money" out of the expedition, they having found no gold.
+
+Doc had been in with Jarrow and Peth from the first. He had been
+told to play the spy, but he had kept secret his theft of the
+pistol from Trask's bag, a circumstance which puzzled Jarrow. The
+captain taxed Peth with having made a blunder so early in the game,
+and it was not until Doc had declared himself as the dinghy
+approached the schooner with Jarrow and his men that the secret of
+who had the pistol came out.
+
+Doc had been told to return with the long boat after Jarrow was
+held up by Peth, and announce the captain's capture. When the
+captain came out again it was with the intention of getting aboard
+the schooner and putting Trask, Locke, and Marjorie ashore.
+
+Jarrow had planned that the party which went ashore in the night
+would get back in the morning before they were discovered, but when
+Trask learned of the secret departure, Jarrow had signalled them to
+remain ashore, by means of the lantern in the forerigging.
+
+If the crew had got back aboard the schooner without having aroused
+any suspicions, it was Jarrow's intention to get his three
+passengers on the island, and then demand checks, leaving them
+there while he took the schooner back to Manila and got the money.
+
+Bevins, Shope, and Pennock had no idea of what had been planned
+until Jarrow told the whole plot ashore. Then it came out that
+Peth's refusal to sleep aft was arranged by Jarrow and Peth to make
+it appear that they were at odds. The demand for money was to be
+made ostensibly by Peth, Jarrow always pretending that he was in
+the power of the crew.
+
+Doc's report of how Trask had "cooked" gold out of the sand had set
+them all to burning sand, but when they found no gold after cooling
+the sand, Peth and Doc had quarrelled, the mate calling the steward
+names and charging him with being as crazy as Dinshaw. Peth doubted
+Doc's story of Trask finding gold at all. Doc had been chased by
+Peth, and in escaping from the mate's fury, the steward, being
+barefoot, had burned his feet so badly that he couldn't walk,
+having run into some of the red-hot sand.
+
+So Doc was to have been left behind in the night attack on the
+schooner, and it was due to his disability that the trio was able
+to steal the dinghy. Bevins said that Doc had once killed a man,
+and Jarrow knew about it, with the result that the captain held the
+Negro under his control.
+
+During the night they heard Peth halloing to the schooner, calling
+for Jarrow, but they gave no answer. Peth continued to call, like a
+dog baying the great moon which wheeled overhead, until along
+toward dawn, when the fire on the beach flared up for a while and
+then died.
+
+Before daylight there was a nervous stir of air, and the sun rose
+on a cloud from the north. The breeze freshened, and Bevins, now in
+command, got the anchor, and under jib and reefed foresail they
+headed out for the sea.
+
+Jarrow's room having been cleared early in the night, and the
+captain wrapped in old canvas, the body was dropped overboard as
+they passed clear of the reefs, Trask saying from memory as much as
+he could remember of the service for burials at sea.
+
+Through the glass Trask saw a white figure watching them from the
+edge of the jungle as they drove southward for Manila before a
+steady wind from the northeast.
+
+Marjorie, who had slept after midnight, leaned against the taffrail
+with Trask, watching Shope and Pennock trimming the sails. Bevins
+had the wheel but Locke was asleep below, having remained up all
+night.
+
+"Poor old Captain Dinshaw," said Marjorie. "He'll never have his
+big house with good soup for supper."
+
+"Perhaps it's just as well," replied Trask. "He was too old and
+pitifully crazy ever to enjoy anything. It's likely he would have
+suffered more if he'd never come to his island. And he might have
+killed somebody not so deserving of the fate he meted out to
+Jarrow."
+
+"I suppose you'll come back and really look for gold when we're
+gone," she said.
+
+He looked at her.
+
+"No more of that island for me," he said. "The government will most
+likely send a boat to get Mr. Peth and Doc but I wouldn't come back
+here if the island were all gold."
+
+"Why not?" she asked, somewhat surprised.
+
+"Because it meant great peril for you. I would not care to have
+those terrible dangers recalled. I want to think of you as safe and
+happy. But there's one thing about it all which gives me
+satisfaction."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"You'll never forget me!"
+
+"Why, Mr. Trask, of course I won't! What a silly thing to say!"
+
+"You might if it hadn't been for what we've been through in this
+schooner." He looked out over the sea.
+
+"I hardly think so," she said, smiling at him. "Of course, you
+didn't understand what a joke Dad was going to play on Jarrow about
+the checks."
+
+"What joke!" demanded Trask, turning to her.
+
+"Dad's balance at the International in Manila is only about four
+thousand dollars."
+
+"Then it might have been anything but a joke if Jarrow had come on
+for the money and didn't get it," said Trask. "But I suppose the
+bank would have allowed an overdraft."
+
+"There couldn't be any overdraft. That four thousand is all the
+cash we've got in the world. Dad's supposed to be rich, but he
+isn't. We have only a little fruit ranch in Southern California.
+We've been saving up for ten years for this trip around the world,
+since mother died. Jarrow would have found himself in trouble if he
+had attempted to cash those checks."
+
+"I thought your father was a millionaire?"
+
+"There is a man named Locke who has millions in California, but he
+is not a relative of ours."
+
+"Glad to hear it!" cried Trask. "By George, I'm glad to hear it!"
+
+"Glad that we're not rich! Why, Mr. Trask!"
+
+"I'm--I'm going back to the States," he announced. "On the same
+boat you do, if you don't mind."
+
+"You've changed your plans?"
+
+"Yes. I'm going to quit mine-scouting out in these God-forsaken
+ends of the earth, and get back to where there's civilization. I
+think I'll buy a fruit ranch in Southern California. I've got
+enough capital. And what mining I do, I'll do it in California."
+
+She scanned his face, amazed at what he was saying, and startled at
+his seriousness.
+
+"Come below, and I'll tell you about it," he said, and she went
+down before him.
+
+"Marjorie," he said, seeing that Shanghai Tom was out of sight in
+the galley, and her father's door was closed, "I've been in love
+with you since that first night in the _Manchuria_. But I
+thought--well, I thought you had millions!"
+
+"Wilkins told everybody we were rich." She put her hand on his arm
+so gently that he could scarcely feel its weight. "I--love you. I
+was sure of it when Doc aimed that revolver at you."
+
+He swept her into his arms.
+
+"Thank God you missed the Hong Kong boat," he said.
+
+"I really wanted to see you again," she confessed.
+
+"But you were going home."
+
+"It was I who made Dad miss the _Taming_. Anyway, I didn't tell him
+we'd have to get the morning train from Dagupan."
+
+"For that I'm going to kiss you again," said Trask. And he did.
+
+Immediately on the arrival of the _Nuestra Señora del Rosario_ at
+Manila the coastguard cutter _Candelaria_ sailed for Dinshaw's
+island. Peth and Doc Bird, seeing the steamer approaching,
+attempted to leave the island on an uncompleted raft, which broke
+up with them, and both were drowned, Doc clinging to the mate when
+they were thrown into the water.
+
+The next Hong Kong boat left Manila with Mr. Locke and Mr. and Mrs.
+Robert Trask among the passengers.
+
+Shanghai Tom opened a Chinese restaurant in Manila with the capital
+provided by Locke and Trask as a reward for his bravery in
+disarming the steward.
+
+Trask declares that his days of hunting gold are over. Locke says
+that there is no longer a lure for him in tropical islands, and
+Mrs. Trask vows that all the romance there is between Cancer and
+Capricorn can be claimed by any one who wants it, for she is happy
+enough on the west coast of the United States of America, with the
+picture of Dinshaw's island hanging in the Trask bungalow.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
+GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
+Obvious typographical errors have been corrected; however,
+hyphenation inconsistencies appear as in the original text.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Isle o' Dreams, by Frederick F. Moore
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