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diff --git a/42728-0.txt b/42728-0.txt index 587581f..fbafcaf 100644 --- a/42728-0.txt +++ b/42728-0.txt @@ -1,34 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Forbidden Cargoes, by Roy J. Snell - -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: Forbidden Cargoes - -Author: Roy J. Snell - -Release Date: May 18, 2013 [EBook #42728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORBIDDEN CARGOES *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42728 *** _Mystery Stories for Boys_ @@ -5636,360 +5606,4 @@ Here are the titles of the Snell Books: End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Forbidden Cargoes, by Roy J. 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Snell</title> @@ -147,43 +147,7 @@ p.t15,div.t15,.t15 { margin-left:19em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-b </style> </head> <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Forbidden Cargoes, by Roy J. Snell - -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: Forbidden Cargoes - -Author: Roy J. Snell - -Release Date: May 18, 2013 [EBook #42728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORBIDDEN CARGOES *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42728 ***</div> <div id="cover" class="img"> <img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Forbidden Cargoes" width="500" height="725" /> @@ -6579,380 +6543,6 @@ a wide and interesting scope.</p> <li>Left the reference to hominid warfare for the amusement of readers.</li> <li>Relocated promotional material to the end of the book, and completed/corrected the list of books in each series (using other sources).</li></ul> - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Forbidden Cargoes, by Roy J. Snell - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORBIDDEN CARGOES *** - -***** This file should be named 42728-h.htm or 42728-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/7/2/42728/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42728 ***</div> </body> </html> diff --git a/42728.txt b/42728.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 535e8a8..0000000 --- a/42728.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5996 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Forbidden Cargoes, by Roy J. Snell - -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: Forbidden Cargoes - -Author: Roy J. Snell - -Release Date: May 18, 2013 [EBook #42728] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORBIDDEN CARGOES *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - _Mystery Stories for Boys_ - - - - - Forbidden Cargoes - - - _By_ - ROY J. SNELL - - - The Reilly & Lee Co. - Chicago New York - - - _Printed in the United States of America_ - - _Copyright, 1927_ - by - The Reilly & Lee Co. - _All Rights Reserved_ - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I A Strange Message 9 - II An Underground Sea 29 - III A Strange Dark Room 47 - IV Johnny Thompson in Jail 58 - V Tottering Walls 68 - VI An Earthquake Within a Cave 74 - VII Johnny Wins a Friend 85 - VIII An Ancient Castle in Ruins 96 - IX Creeping Shadows 108 - X Camp Smoke 117 - XI Battling Against Odds 131 - XII Destruction 152 - XIII A Thousand Pearls 166 - XIV Hope Springs Eternal 179 - XV Unseen Foes 192 - XVI In Battle Array 201 - XVII Pant's Problem Increases 214 - XVIII Two Blade Johnny 221 - XIX The Unwilling Guest 230 - XX Hail and Farewell 247 - XXI On the Trail of the Pearls 254 - XXII A Startling Revelation 263 - XXIII Treasure at Last 274 - - - - - Forbidden Cargoes - - - - - CHAPTER I - A STRANGE MESSAGE - - -In a plain board shack with a palm thatched roof which had the Caribbean -Sea at its front and the Central American jungle at its back, a slim, -stooping sort of boy, with eyes that gleamed out of the dark corners -exactly like a tiger's, paced back and forth the length of a long, low -room. His every motion suggested a jaguar's stealth. - -It was Panther Eye, a boy who was endowed with a cat's ability to see in -the dark, and who spent much of his young life in India and other -tropical lands. He also found himself quite at home in Central America. -Nevertheless, at this moment he was in deep trouble. - -The palm thatched shack boasted but one room. As the boy paced the -mahogany floor of this room he passed a desk of roughly hewn rosewood. A -small steel safe stood in one corner, the door slightly ajar. Before it -on the floor lay a litter of papers, a few bundles of letters and a -sizeable roll of currency. The boy paused to consider this litter. - -"It was the map they wanted," he told himself. "Easy enough to see that. -They didn't even look at the money, nearly a thousand dollars. The map! -They knew we could do nothing without the map. The dirty dogs! If only -Johnny Thompson were here!" Again he paced the floor. - -What was to be done? His thoughts were in a tangle. The thieves who had -broken into the safe were now well away in the jungle. There was no time -to be lost. He'd catch them, he was sure of that. A jaguar couldn't -escape him, much less a man. Yet the map might be destroyed. Without it -nothing could be accomplished. Thousands were at stake, the treasure of a -lifetime. And some one dearer to Pant than life itself was scheduled to -lose. All day in that stuffy office he had waited for Johnny. Now evening -was near. - -"If only Johnny would come!" he repeated. - -Had he but known it, his good pal, Johnny Thompson, was some three -hundred miles away. What was more, he was behind iron bars in a stout -stone jail. But this Pant could not know, so he continued to pace the -floor. - -As the first long shadow of a palm darkened the window he suddenly sprang -into action. Throwing up the lid of a rough chest, he tossed out a -miscellaneous assortment of articles, some small oilcloth wrapped -packages, a black box, some fibre trays, a few articles of clothing and a -curious instrument of iron. These he packed carefully in a kit bag, then -closed the chest. - -Seating himself at the desk in the corner, he began pecking at a small -portable typewriter. He destroyed four half written sheets before he did -one to suit him. The following is what appeared on the one he at last -weighted down upon the desk: - - /9*::6 - 5*3 ;@0 8$ -9:3 5*3 $0@:8@4%$ - *@'3 85 8 @; -98:- 8:59 5*3 - /7:-#3 @!534 85 8 28## -35 85 - :3'34 !3@4 #99= 975 !94 @ $0@:- - 8@4% :@;3% %8@( *3 8$ @ - %3'8# :3'34 547$5 :94 '3#83'3 *8; - !94 @ ;9;3:5 - -99% #7?= - 0@:5 - -"There!" he sighed as he turned from the desk. "If Johnny Thompson -doesn't make that out right away he won't be coming up to my -expectations. And if any of these blacks and browns and whites that -infest this waterfront can read it, I take off my hat to 'em." - -Turning about, he slung the strap of his kit bag across his shoulder and -leaving the cabin, disappeared into the gathering night and the jungle. - -Some hours later he might have been found crouching close to the side of -a bamboo hut at the heart of the jungle. - -His hands trembled as he unwrapped a water-proof package. They trembled -still more as he poured a gray powder from the package to a narrow V -shaped piece of iron. A little of the powder was spilled over the side -and, sinking into the deep bed of tropical moss, was lost forever. - -"Won't do," he told himself, stiffening his shoulders. "I've got to get -hold of myself. If I don't keep cool I'll make a mess of it and like as -not get caught in the bargain. - -"Caught by those Spaniards in the heart of the jungle!" He shuddered at -the thought. "Caught. And what then?" He dared not think. - -"No!" His resolve was strong. "They shall not get me, and I shall -succeed. I must!" His face grew tense. - -At that he went ahead with his task. Having spread the gray powder evenly -along the iron trough, he ran a small black fuse half through it, then -gave the fuse five turns about it. When he had finished, the lower end of -the fuse hung some six inches below the trough. - -"There!" he sighed. - -A half hour later found him still crouching at the back of that cabin. -This shelter, for it was little more, was of the sort common to the -Central American jungle. In its construction not a board and not a single -nail was used. A number of cohune nut palms had been felled. Their great -fronds had been stripped. The fibre stripped from the stems had been -piled in a heap, the stems themselves in another heap. Crotched mahogany -limbs were fastened together with tie-tie vines. This made a frame. -Rafters were added. The bamboo leaf fibre had been laid carefully in -tiers over the rafters. This made a perfect roof. After that the ten foot -stems of a great number of leaves were fastened side by side in a -perpendicular position to form walls. When this was completed the house -was ready to be occupied. - -The cracks between the upright bamboo stems forming the walls were wide. -A faint light shone through these cracks, and through them the boy could -see all that went on within. All this interested him, but he was filled -with a fever of impatience. He had come to act, not to listen. - -Two dark-faced Spaniards sat in the center of the room. Two black bushmen -lay sprawled upon the dirt floor. Before them, suspended upon a bamboo -frame, was a map. The map, some four feet across, showed certain boundary -lines, creeks and rivers. There were spots that had been done in blue. -Still others were crisscrossed by pen lines, while larger portions were -left white. The figure of one Spaniard hid part of the map. - -"Ah!" The boy breathed an inaudible sigh of relief as the man moved, -allowing a full view of the map. "Now, if only I can do it!" - -With the greatest care, he thrust the triangle of steel upon which the -powder rested through a crack. Next he adjusted a small black box before -the crack, but lower down. Then, with a hand that still trembled slightly -in spite of his efforts at self control, he drew a sulphur match across a -dry bit of wood. - -The sulphur fumes rose and floated through the cracks. At the same time -there came the faint sput-sput-sput of a burning fuse. One of the -Spaniards arose and sniffed the air. He spoke a word to a companion. They -turned half about. And still the fuse burned. Shorter and shorter it -became, closer and closer to the powder. - -The boy's heart was in his throat. Was the whole affair to be spoiled by -a whiff of sulphur or a fuse that burned too long? - -"If they rise, if they block the view," he thought, "then all will be--" - -But no, they settled back. The whiff of sulphur had passed. But what was -this? A black man jumped. Had the smell of burnt powder reached him? Had -the sput-sput of the fuse reached his sensitive ear? - -Whatever it was, it came too late. Of a sudden there sounded out a loud -boom, and at once, for a fraction of a second, the whole place, cabin, -bamboo trees, and the surrounding jungle was lighted as with a moment's -return of the sun. Then came sudden and complete darkness. - -Within was noise and confusion. A bushman had overturned the candle. It -had gone out. In fright and rage at an unknown phenomenon, an unseen -enemy, the men fought their way to the door, then out into the night. -Before this happened, however, the boy, hugging his precious black box -under his arm, had lost himself in the jungle. - -As we have said, this boy had lived much in the tropics. The Central -American jungle was not new to him. Deep secrets of these wilds had come -to him by day and by night. - -With the startled cries of Spaniards and bushmen ringing in his ears, he -made his way swiftly, silently down a narrow deer path to a spot where he -had hidden his canvas bound kit bag. - -Thrusting his black box deep within the bundle, still without a light, he -made his way swiftly forward until the shouts died away in the distance. - -"If only it is a success!" he thought with a sigh as he paused to adjust -his pack. - -Coming at last to a narrow stream he cast a few darting glances about -him. The jungle here was new to him, yet the bubbling stream, the moss on -the tree trunks, the tossing leaves far above him, told him all he needed -to know. - -Turning sharply to the right, he followed a narrow trail up the winding -bank of the stream. - -He had been traveling steadily up this stream for more than three hours -when he came upon a place where the stream was a roaring young cataract, -tumbling down a series of little falls. This was the thing he had -expected. He was sleepy. The night was far spent. In his pack was a -mosquito bar canopy and a light, strong hammock, woven from linen thread. -With these he could quickly build a safe wilderness home. In the low -swamp land, where malaria and mosquitoes lurked, he did not dare to camp. - -There were wild creatures in all this jungle; crocodiles, droves of wild -pigs, great boa constrictors and golden coated jaguars. For this boy all -these held little terror. But the swamps were not for him. The higher -slopes of the narrow peninsula offered fresher air, and cooling breezes -that lull one to sleep. - -"Sleep," he whispered to himself, "and after that a dark place." - -At that moment the moonlight, falling through an open space among the -trees and spreading a yellow gleam upon the trail, showed him that which -brought him up short. In a damp spot at the base of a rock were -footprints, the marks of a slim foot clad in sandals, and stranger than -this in so wild a spot, the marks of a leather shoe. - -"Huh!" He stood for a moment in perplexity. - -One who knows the jungle is seldom surprised at what he finds there. Pant -was surprised. This portion of the jungle was new to him. "Twenty miles -from the coast," he murmured. "How strange!" - -More was to follow. He had not gone a hundred yards farther before he -came upon a well-beaten road. A little beyond this spot, in the midst of -a broad clearing, half hidden by stately royal palms, gleaming white in -the moonlight, was a long, low stone house which in this land might -almost pass for a mansion. - -Pausing, he stood there in the moonlight, staring and irresolute. It had -all come to him in a flash. - -"The last of the Dons," he said to himself. Something akin to awe crept -into his tone. "I had forgotten." - -"But what now?" he asked himself a moment later. "The jungle or this?" - -In the end he chose the castle before him. "Might be a dark place up -there somewhere, an abandoned cellar perhaps," was his final comment. - -Having chosen a secluded spot at the side of the trail where he might -hang his hammock and spread his canopy to sleep the rest of the night -through, he went quickly to rest. - -"I have heard that they are friendly, and honorable Spaniards. There are -such, plenty of them. I'll risk it. I--" - -At that, with the breeze swaying his hammock, he fell asleep. - -The sun was sending its first yellow gleams among the palms when he -awoke. For a time, with the damp sweet odor of morning in his nostrils, -he lay there thinking. - -A strange mission had brought him into the jungle. This strange boy had -grown up with little or no knowledge of blood relations. His father and -mother were but a dim, indistinct memory. They had passed from his life; -he did not know exactly how. No cozy home fireside had gleamed for him. -He had gone out into the world with an unanswered longing for some one -whom he might think of as a kinsman. Bravely he had fought his way -through alone. When Johnny Thompson came into his life and remained there -to become his inseparable pal, life had been more joyous. Yet ever there -remained a haunting dream that somehow, somewhere in his wild wanderings -he would come upon one who bore his name, who could give him the -traditions of a family and of a past. - -Strangely enough, it had been at the edge of the Central American jungle -that he came upon this person of his dreams. While walking upon the coral -beach he had met a stately, white-haired old man who had the military -bearing of a colonel. - -In this old man he had found a friend. Little enough was left of the -fortunes which from time to time had come to the venerable southerner. -But such as he had he shared unsparingly with the young stranger who had -come so recently from the land of his birth; for Colonel Longstreet, as -the patriarch styled himself, though now for more than sixty years a -resident of Central America, had fought valiantly for a lost cause when -the Gray stood embattled against the Blue in that long and terrible -struggle, the Civil War. - -Broken hearted because of the outcome of the war, he had left his native -state of Virginia and had come to Central America. His life had been -further embittered by the early death of his wife. His only child, a boy -of ten, had been sent back to Virginia while he struggled on, wresting a -fortune from the jungle. - -Life in Central America is one gamble after another. Longstreet had -played in every game. He had always won, in the end to lose again. -Fortunes in sugar, bananas and mahogany had been his. Sudden drops in -prices, a revolution, the dread Panama disease, had cost him all of -these. Now he was playing a last, lone card. Influential friends were -endeavoring to secure for him a concession for gathering chicle on broad -tracts of Government land. - -This was the state of affairs when Pant had made his acquaintance. Hardly -had their acquaintance ripened into deep friendship when they made the -sudden and startling discovery that Pant was the son of the boy who had -been sent back by Colonel Longstreet to Virginia, that Colonel Longstreet -was none other than Pant's grandfather. From that time forth the strange -boy, who had longed for so many lonely years for one of kin, became the -old man's devoted slave. - -There was need enough at the present time for such devotion. - -Fortune had seemed to smile at last. Through the influence of his -friends, a concession from the British Government for gathering chicle -had come from England to Colonel Longstreet. - -"Chicle, as you may know," the old man had smiled, as he told Pant of it, -"is the basis of all good chewing gum. Were it not for the great American -game of chewing it wouldn't be worth a red cent. As it is, with one -company importing two million dollars worth a year and other smaller -companies competing and yelling for more, there's a fortune in it. There -is a net profit of twenty-five cents a pound on chicle. With proper -working, our tract should yield between twenty-five and fifty thousand -pounds a year." - -With the writings of agreement had come a map showing the exact -boundaries of the Government tract they had leased. To the right and -above this tract was shown on the map the holdings of a powerful American -organization. To the left were tracts leased by an unprincipled Spaniard -named Diaz. - -Two days after news of the fortunate concession had gone about the little -city, Diaz had appeared in the Colonel's small office. He offered a -ridiculously low price for the concession. His offer was rejected. He was -told that the owner meant to work the concession. He shrugged his -shoulders and said: - -"No get the men." - -The old man had straightened to his full height as he informed the -Spaniard that he had men who could be depended upon to go anywhere, to do -anything. They had worked with him and knew the honor that lay behind the -Longstreet name. - -Diaz had begged, entreated, stormed, threatened, then in a rage had left -the office. - -Two days had passed. On the third day Pant had come to the office only to -find the safe looted, the map gone. - -"What can we do?" he asked. "We know Diaz has it, but we can't prove it." - -"We cannot," the old Colonel had agreed. "Nor is there a chance of -getting another before it is too late. The bleeding season for chicle -begins with the first rainfall. To begin without a map is to court -disaster. With a big and jealous American company on one side of us and a -crooked Spaniard on the other, we are between the rocks and the tide. We -are sure to encroach upon one or the other. And if we do, it will take -all we have to fight their claims. It looks like defeat." He had cupped -his hands and had stared gloomily at the sea. - -"Wait," Pant had said. "Johnny Thompson will help us out. Give us a -little time. We'll find the map. Leave it to us." - -Johnny Thompson, as you already know, could not help. He was not there. -Two days before he had gone up the Stann Creek Railway. He had not -returned. He was in jail. Pant had been obliged to go it alone. "And now -in this short time," he told himself, "I have located the map here in the -heart of the jungle. No, I haven't got it. That couldn't be done without -bloodshed. But I have its equivalent, I hope. - -"A dark place!" he exclaimed. "I must find a spot that is absolutely -dark." - -As he sprang from his hammock he paused to listen. Some one was singing. -In a clear girlish voice there came the words of a quaint old Spanish -song. - -As he parted the branches he saw a plump Spanish girl, with a round face -and sober brown eyes, tripping barefoot down the path. Balanced on her -head was a large stone jar. - -"Going for the morning water," the boy told himself. "How like those old -Bible pictures it all is!" - -Twenty minutes later he found himself within the white walls of that -ancient and mysterious castle, which had a few hours before loomed so -wonderfully out of the night. - - - - - CHAPTER II - AN UNDERGROUND SEA - - -Pant sat in a kitchen so broad and long that it reminded him of a picture -he had seen in an illustrated copy of Ivanhoe. The table, on which rested -his steaming cup of home grown, home roasted coffee, was a massive -hand-hewn affair. On the top, a single slab of mahogany six feet wide and -four inches thick, axe marks were yet to be seen. - -As his glance took in the room his heart swelled with admiration. There -was no stove. A great fireplace was there in its stead. Pots and pans of -iron, and of copper and black tin, hung from the rafters. - -"Like Longfellow's ancient home," he told himself. "Only this is to-day. -The last of the Dons!" he repeated in a tone of reverence. - -One thing puzzled him. Every article in the room, save two, belonged to -yesterday--a purple coat hanging in a corner and a boy's cap beside -it--were distinctly of to-day and American made. - -"They can't belong to the young girl," he told himself. "Nor to her -grandmother." - -The bent and aged woman who must be the young Spanish girl's grandmother -was at that moment offering him his second cup of coffee. - -His thoughts were cut short by the answer to his problem. A tall, -fair-haired American boy, apparently in his early teens, parted the heavy -homespun curtains at the back of the room and started towards the table. - -Seeing Pant, he halted in surprise. - -"Pardon me," said Pant, springing to his feet. "Perhaps I intrude. I had -supposed that this house belonged to these good Spanish people. -Apparently it is your home instead." - -"No." The strange boy's smile was frank, disarming. "You were right the -first time. Like you, I am an intruder. But you are from America," he -added quickly. "How perfectly grand! Won't you please stay for a second -cup, and to talk to me a little of our homeland?" - -Pant stayed. They ended by talking little of the homeland. In their -strange surroundings they found a fascinating subject of conversation. - -"Yes," said the boy at last, who gave his name as Kirk Munson, "they are -truly the last of the Dons. Once a rich and noble family. - -"And do you know"--his lips moved close, he spoke almost in a whisper, -"there is a tale, perhaps only a legend, a story of a beaten silver box -filled with priceless pearls taken from the Pacific when that great ocean -was young. The silver box, so the story goes, was hidden away by the -first Don of this family to keep it from the buccaneers, hidden and lost -from sight of human eyes, perhaps forever. - -"There are all sorts of caves and things like that about here," he went -on. "It's all very mysterious and--and sort of bewitching." - -"Caves?" said Pant, awaking to his most urgent need. "Are they near? Do -you suppose they are quite dark?" - -"I am told," Kirk's voice was low again, "that there is a very great one -not four miles back in the bush, and dark. It is said you are no more -than inside it before you are fairly immersed in darkness." - -"The very place!" exclaimed Pant. "I must go there at once." - -"Must you?" Kirk's voice was full of surprise. - -This changed at once to entreaty. "Won't you please let me go along? No -one who lives here will take me. I have a servant, a huge Carib, a very -giant of a man who will be our bodyguard." - -"That's all right," said Pant, rising. "Be glad for the company. But why -do those who live here refuse to enter the cave?" - -"Haunted." The other boy's tone was impressive. "They say the cave is -haunted by the ghosts of more than a thousand Maya Indians who are -supposed to have fled there from their enemies and to have perished -centuries ago." - -"One wouldn't care to come upon their bones in such a place." - -Kirk shuddered. - -"Nevertheless, shall we go?" said Pant. - -Kirk nodded. - -"All right. We had better go up in the cool of late afternoon. The jungle -air will not be so oppressive. We can return by the light of the moon." - -Late that afternoon, after a day of rest, Pant found himself on the broad -veranda of the house. Here he unbound his pack. From it he took three -light fibre trays, a package of powders, two flashlights, extra batteries -for the lights, and his small black box. All these, together with a -quantity of matches, he bound carefully in waterproof oiled cloth. He was -then ready for the journey to the cave. - -As he sat for a time, waiting for his new found friend, his mind was rife -with speculations. How had this strange American boy come here so far -from the seaboard? How did he come to be in Central America at all? - -The Spanish people were strange, too. He had heard of them, the last of -the Dons. Fragments of their history had drifted to him from afar. They -were the direct descendants of a proud Spanish family. Two centuries -before the family had grown immensely rich, so the story ran. How had -they come by their wealth? Where had it gone? These were questions no one -seemed prepared to answer. Enough. They were rich no longer. For all -that, they appeared to live very comfortably off the land. - -"So there is a story, probably only a legend, telling of a box of beaten -silver filled with pearls," he thought. "I must know more of that." - -He found himself far more interested in the story of that large band of -Maya Indians who had perished in the cave. "The thing must have happened -long ago," he told himself. - -"They did not enter the cave empty handed. When people flee they take -some treasures with them. Should one come upon their bones he would be -sure to find priceless curios there, beaten gold, hand cut stones and -copper knives of long ago." - -Yes, he was interested in this a little, but most of all he was concerned -with his own business within some dark corner of the cave. - -"Wish he'd come," he thought impatiently, "wish--" - -At that moment the hugest black man he had ever seen, bearing in one hand -a rifle that was a veritable cannon and in the other a basket, rounded -the corner of the house. He was closely followed by the American boy. - -In a loose flannel blouse, corduroy knickers and high stout boots, Kirk -looked quite fit and capable. - -"Ready for any adventure," was Pant's mental comment. - -"I hope I didn't tire you waiting," Kirk smiled at him. "The Spanish -mother put up a bit of lunch for us--casaba bread, home made cheese, -butter and wild honey. She insisted; so did Ramoncita. They are dears." - -"Real sports, I'd say," Pant assented heartily. He could scarcely -remember a time when the very mention of such strange and tasty food did -not whet his appetite. - -"Ramoncita?" he said after a moment. "Is that the girl with round cheeks -and big dark eyes?" - -"Yes. Ramoncita Salazar. Musical name, isn't it? The real Spanish people -of the highest class are wonderfully attune to all things artistic and -beautiful. But we must be off. This black man will go along to help carry -our stuff." - -The trail they followed was steep and rocky. It was not much of a trail. -In places the bushes hung over it so thick and low that they were obliged -to all but creep on hands and knees; again it was so smooth and steep -that only by clinging to low growing shrubs could they go forward. - -For all that, there was something of a trail. Here and there were -suggestions of an ancient, permanently cut way. In three places Pant -found his feet firmly planted upon steps which had been cut from the -solid rock. - -"Stands to reason," he said as he perched himself upon the topmost steps -of the last flight, "that these were built by natives long ago. See how -nature has chipped and worn the edges away." - -"Probably done by the Maya Indians centuries ago," said Kirk, dropping -upon a soft bed of moss and fanning himself with a broad leaf pulled from -a palm. "Everything of importance that is told of the Maya Indians -happened long ago. There are a few of them back in the hills now. They do -not count any more. A nation that was once rich and in a way powerful, -that had a civilization rivaling any to be found in the world five -centuries ago, has dwindled to a handful of vagabonds of the jungle. It -is sad." He cupped his chin in his hands and, as if seeing the palaces -and temples of that lost civilization, sat staring at the jungle. "It is -said," he went on at last, "that the cave we are about to visit was the -last hiding place of the smartest and wisest of the Mayas." - -"Fleeing from the Spaniards?" asked Pant. - -"No. The Spaniards have many atrocities justly charged against them. But -the great Maya civilization was destroyed by fierce, war-like tribes from -the North before the prow of the white man's boat touched Central -America's coral strands. - -"The last of the Mayas are said to have fled to this cave and, unless -they knew a secret passage leading out of the cave, to have perished -there." - -Again Pant thought of the ancient treasure they must have carried with -them. - -"Did the savage tribe follow them into the cave?" - -"They were afraid. That's the way the story goes. Afraid the Earth God of -the Mayas would push the mountain down upon them if they should enter." - -"So," thought Pant, "whatever the Mayas took with them is in the cave -still. And they were possessed of great wealth. I have read of it. Gold -and jade, topaz and perhaps diamonds, pearls from the western shores and -strange little gods carved from rare stones or formed from metal." - -All this he thought, but not one word did he say as they resumed their -upward march. - -The entrance to the cave, which they reached after much climbing, was -most picturesque. Its mouth was entirely hidden by dark spreading palm -leaves. A sparkling stream, appearing to emerge from nowhere, went -dashing headlong over a rocky ledge. - -Parting the large leaves as if they had been a curtain, the boys peered -within to find there a dark hole from which there came a constant draft -of cool damp air. - -"Boo!" said Pant. "It's cold in there." - -The other boy did not hear him. He was staring in amazement at his black -servant. As if seized by a sudden fit of ague, the giant was shaking -violently from head to foot. - -"A chill," said Pant as he caught sight of him. - -"Afraid," his companion whispered back. "Afraid of the Earth God of the -Mayas. He has great courage and the strength of three. I have never known -him to fear anything before." - -In a moment it became evident that the black man was ashamed of his fear -and was making brave attempts to conquer it. In the end he won and, -seating himself upon a rock, watched his young master and Pant remove -their shoes and stockings. The narrow entrance to the cave offered no -footing save the moss covered rocks at the bottom of the stream. - -As they signified their readiness to start, the black lifted the door of -a strange glassless lantern of beaten brass which, Pant was told, burned -fish oil and would provide a feeble light for hours on end. After -lighting the lantern he plunged boldly into the stream and led the way -through icy water straight into the darkness of night until, with a grunt -of satisfaction, he emerged panting and dripping upon a dry ledge where -the cave suddenly widened to a broad chamber. - -For a time, lighted only by the dull gleam of the Carib's lantern, they -moved along the brink of the narrow stream. The silence was oppressive. -The stream flowed placidly over an all but level floor, making no sound. -Only the gentle pat-pat of their bare feet disturbed the tomb-like hush -that hung over all. - -Then of a sudden, like thunder from a clear sky, pandemonium broke loose. -The innocent cause of all the commotion was the Carib. He had, by chance, -struck his lantern against a rock. - -The air was filled with strange noises, such a whirring and snapping as -not one of them had heard before. - -"Wha--what is it?" Kirk's hand trembled as he gripped Pant's arm. - -"Bats," said Pant. "Stand perfectly still. They will settle." - -For a single second he threw on his flashlight and allowed it to play -across the space before them. The other boy's eyes went big with wonder. -Even Pant, who had seen much of Central American life, was astonished. -Bats, a million of them it seemed, circled the air. And such bats! No -tiny mouse-like creatures were these, but great gray monsters with broad -spreading wings, gleaming eyes and teeth that shone white in the -perpetual night about them. - -"Don't." Kirk's hand was on his arm. The light flashed out. - -"May as well go ahead," said Pant. "Doubt if they go far back into the -cave." - -They had not gone a hundred yards before they came to a very narrow -passage. Once more they were obliged to take to the bed of the stream. -This lasted only a moment. As they emerged there came over them a sense -of vastness. Was it the quality of silence that was there? Was it the -changed sound of their footsteps? Or was it some sixth sense that told -them? As Pant threw the gleam of his powerful flashlight before them, an -exclamation escaped every lip. - -Nothing they had seen in any land could compare with the splendor of the -masonry of the vast cathedral that lay before them. - -Masonry? This indeed they at first thought it, the work of some great -lost race. In time they came to realize that the splendid gleaming -pillars were the work of time and a great Creator, the Master Builders of -all ages. The pillars were great stalagmites, formed by the dripping of -water through a thousand thousand years. - -Strangest of all, as they listened they caught from afar a sound that was -like music. - -"Like some mighty organ played softly while a thousand children chant," -Kirk whispered. - -It was now time to cover their feet, yet even the Carib felt something of -the awe that led the others on, still barefooted. - -The illusion of the chant could not last forever. As they advanced the -sound increased in volume, became more distinct until it burst upon them -as the rush and roar of a miniature cataract, where the stream emerged -from a chamber still beyond. - -"Shall we go on?" Pant stood with his feet in the lower water of the -cataract. - -"If--if we don't get lost," the younger boy hesitated. - -"Not a chance," said Pant. "We have only to follow the stream back." - -"To be sure. How stupid of me. Yes, let's go on." There was an eager note -in Kirk's voice. Pant read it correctly. He was eager to go forward for, -in some hidden chamber, perhaps just beyond, there might rest a vast -treasure from the forgotten past. - -The ascent of the water worn and slippery rocks was difficult. More than -once the younger boy was in danger of being thrown into the torrent of -water, but drawn on by Pant, lifted forward now and then by the giant -black, he made his way upward until with a sigh of relief he dropped upon -dry sand at the head of the waterfall. Once more Pant's light gleamed out -before them. Fresh marvels awaited them. A vast, silent underground lake, -reaching as far as the light would carry and yet beyond, seemed to beckon -them on. - -Switching off his light, that batteries might be saved for a possible -emergency, Pant followed the Carib and his dim light along the shore of -this new marvel. - -They had gone two hundred yards or more when out of the darkness before -them, on the shore of the lake, something loomed indistinct and gray. - -"What is it?" The younger boy came to a sudden halt. - -"We'll see." There came the snap of Pant's flashlight. - -The next instant, as if pushed by a sudden force, they all fell back. -Before them, drawn up on the beach, with paddles crossed over the seat, -was a light canoe. - -Staring with all their eyes, they stood there expecting any moment to see -the mysterious canoeist emerge from the dim distance beyond. - -Not knowing what to think, Pant stood at attention. As he did so, a -strange chattering struck his ears. Wheeling about, he discovered the -cause. The black giant's teeth were chattering. Once more he was shaking -from head to foot. His face was almost white with fear. - - - - - CHAPTER III - A STRANGE DARK ROOM - - -Not knowing what else to do as he stood before the canoe, Pant laughed. -The laugh did not ring quite true, but it served the purpose for which it -was intended. It broke the spell. - -"Come on," he said. "Let's see." - -A few strides and he stood beside the mysterious craft. - -"Dust," he said, dragging his fingers across the seat. "Probably been -here for a hundred, two hundred years." - -"How wonderfully preserved it is," said Kirk. - -"Those people knew the secret of preserving wood by boiling it in certain -kinds of oil. They knew a great deal more that might well have been kept -by the white man. But the type of Spaniard who came to these shores, as -well as the wild barbarians who came before them, were all for gold." - -As he stood there beside this strange underground sea, with this relic of -another age so close beside him, Pant found himself lost in revery. He -was trying to reproduce through his mind's eye the scenes that these -silent waters might once have witnessed. - -"What a unique picnic ground," he said to Kirk. "One sees it still. -Gleaming torches, moving like giant firebugs across the water; dark -canoes gliding here and there; the joyous shouts of children that came -echoing back." - -"Hello-o!" he shouted suddenly. Back across the water it came to him -again and again. "Hello-o--H-e-l-l-o-o-o." - -"Perhaps there are fish," he went on. "May be very large fish. Blind, -because there is no need of eyes, but fine fish all the same. Can you see -them, the little Indian boys fishing from their canoes? Can you catch the -gleam of their campfires as they roasted their fish over the coals?" - -He kicked the beach under his feet and sure enough, from beneath the dust -of centuries he uncovered the ashes of a long burned out fire. - -"You see," he smiled, "I am a conjurer. I can read both the past and the -future." - -"Then," said the other boy with a little shudder and a doubtful smile, -"tell us what happens next." - -"Next?" said Pant. "Why next we find a small room equipped with a table -and some chairs. I have some work to do in such a place, in fact that's -what I came for. I needed a dark room. But this," he spread his arm wide, -"this is not a room; it is a whole hidden world." - -Turning without another word, the other boy beckoned to the great Carib, -who had regained his composure, and together they skirted the shore of -the lake to penetrate deeper into the hidden mysteries of the mountain. - -Again the chamber narrowed. Again they were obliged to take to the bed of -the stream. - -This time, to Pant's great joy, they emerged into a small room walled and -pillared in spotless white. - -"The very place!" he exclaimed. "To be sure, there are no real chairs or -table, but that heap of fallen stalactites will take their place, and -there is water in abundance. Have a seat. I will be through before you -know it." - -Unwrapping his pack, he drew forth the fibre trays. These he filled with -water. Having placed them upon a circular fragment of stalactite that -offered a level surface like the top of a round table, he shook a powder -into one, a second powder into another, and left the other crystal clear -and pure. - -After stirring the powder for a time, he drew forth a red cloth and wound -it twice round the Carib's lantern. - -The effect was startling. At once the glistening white stalactites and -stalagmites were turned blood red. The Carib struggled hard against the -wild fears and superstitions within him, conquered in the end, to sit -impassive, watching. - -Opening his black box, Pant removed a square of film. Having dropped this -into the first tray, he began rocking it slowly back and forth. - -"A picture!" exclaimed Kirk. "Do you mean to tell me you have come all -this way to develop a picture?" - -"There was no other dark room. And besides," said Pant, "this picture is -important, the most important bit of work I have done in a long time. -Upon its success hangs my good old grandfather's entire fortune. - -"You see," he went on, as he continued to rock the tray, "through -influential friends my grandfather secured a valuable concession, the -right to gather chicle on a large tract of government land. This tract is -bordered on one side by the holdings of the Central Chicle Company, a -powerful and jealous corporation. This company is honest, but perhaps -they are unscrupulous in their competition. Who can tell? Perhaps they -would drive my grandfather to the wall if they could." - -Had not the red light hid it, he might have seen a crimson flush suffuse -the other boy's face as he spoke these words. It was lost upon him. - -"Our tract," he went on, "is bordered on the other side by land owned by -an unscrupulous Spaniard. - -"We received a map from England showing the boundaries of our holdings. -It had not been in the office a week when it was stolen. Without it our -hands were tied. If we attempted to work our concession without knowing -the true unfenced boundaries we were sure to infringe upon the rights of -our neighbors. If we did not they would claim we had, and would ruin us -with claims for indemnities. - -"If we did not have the map back within a very short time--" he paused to -hold the square of film to the light. A little cry of joy escaped his -lips. "It's coming! I've got them! See those dark spots, three of them?" - -The other boy nodded. - -"Three men," he said impressively. - -He dropped the film into the developing bath to resume his story. "I told -grandfather to wait, I would get the map. I went straight back into the -bush where the crafty Spaniard has his camp. It was dangerous, but I know -the bush. I was careful. I took my camera and a flashlight outfit with -me. Fortune was with me. I came upon the Spaniard and two of his men -examining the map at night. They were inside a bamboo cabin. I put my -camera to a crack, opened the shutter, touched off a flash, and at once -was away. That is how I came to the home of your Spanish friends. That is -why I am here. And there," he said, holding the film by its corners, "is -the picture. And it is far better than I hoped for." - -The film was indeed a strong and clear one. The crafty faces of the -Spaniards and the square map stood out in bold relief. - -"Just a touch more," he sighed as he dipped it carefully in the solution. - -"You see," he added in conclusion, "all we need to do is to get an -enlargement made. That will give us a perfect map showing all the -boundaries. What's more, it gives us proof that they stole the map." - -"I am glad," said Kirk, "that it was not the big American Company who -stole it." - -"Oh, they wouldn't do that," said Pant quickly. "But why are you glad?" - -The other boy did not reply. A moment of silence followed. Pant dropped -his film into the washing tray, then began rocking it again. - -Moments passed. Only the drip-drip of water in some distant corner of the -cave and the all but inaudible rush of the stream disturbed the silence -of the place. - -"There!" Pant breathed at last as he dropped the film into the fixing -bath. "We can have more light now. How would you like to take your man -here and go into the chamber just beyond while I finish this job? No harm -can come of it, and you might discover something of real interest." - -For a moment the younger boy hesitated. Then, as if struck by a sudden -thought, he said, "Yes. Why not?" - -A moment later Pant saw the shadows of his two companions in adventure -moving jerkily along the gleaming walls. - -"Like ghosts," he thought. Something like a tremor ran down his spine. - -He turned to attend to his film. When he looked again they were gone. -Instantly he regretted his suggestion. - -"Spooky business, being here alone in this cave," he thought. "Dark and -damp--sort of like a tomb. Who knows how many human beings have perished -here? This cave is their tombstone and their vault. How still it is!" -Listening, he thought he heard his own heart beat. "What would I do if -they failed to return? Go in search of them, I suppose. And then?" - -He did not like to think of exploring the place alone. All well enough -with others, but alone? Well, anyway, one likes company in such a place. - -The fixing bath was done with. For the final washing he chose a still -pool at the side of the stream. As he dropped in the film, a tiny fish, -startled from its place of hiding, suddenly leaped clear of the water. -The effect on the boy was startling. He jumped backward, and nearly fell -into the stream. - -"Bah!" he exclaimed, quite put out at himself. "How absurd! Nerves. Have -to find something to do." - -Having completed the washing of the film, he fitted it into a protecting -frame, then closed two trays over it and bound the whole tight. He -finished by repacking the kit. - -This done, he allowed his eyes to wander here and there about the place. -"Have a look," he told himself. Instantly some object in a distant -corner, quite well up on a broken ledge, caught his attention. - -"Strange!" he murmured. "Doesn't look quite natural. Unusual color. Have -a look." He started toward the corner, then paused. A curious tremor shot -through him. It was as if he had been on board a ship that had rolled -ever so lightly in a trough of the sea. - -"Nonsense!" he muttered. "Nerves." He again moved toward the corner. - -At that very moment, as often happens when one stands facing some strange -and mysterious phenomenon, Pant thought of one who was far away, his good -pal Johnny Thompson. - -He thought, too, of the strange message of figures and signs he had left -in the office at Stann Creek. He wondered if Johnny had found it yet. If -so, had he read it? Premonitions of some happening tremendous and -terrifying were passing through his mind. If disaster overtook him here, -would Johnny decipher the note? Would he come in search of him? Would he -ultimately find him? So his thoughts whirled on. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - JOHNNY THOMPSON IN JAIL - - -It may seem a trifle strange that anything could have separated these -good pals, Johnny and Pant. Fact is, only Pant's discovery of a genuine -blood relative, his grandfather, could have brought about such -separation. Pant of course had become deeply engrossed in the work of -building up the fortune of his white-haired grandsire. In this task -Johnny had shown a lively interest until the concession with the -priceless map enclosed had arrived. From that time on, it had seemed, -nothing remained to be done save to round up a band of chicleros and get -back into the bush. There a camp would be built and long weeks spent in -gathering and boiling down the sap of the "chewing gum" trees. For this -task Johnny had no taste. He must have adventure. - -So on that bright tropical morning, little dreaming that the safe would -be robbed that night and that adventure would be provided for all, he had -cut himself a stout stick for dealing with snakes, had strapped a machete -to his belt and had fared forth alone in search of adventure. - -Had Johnny lived in Honduras twenty-five years, or even ten, he would -have waited for the train. It wouldn't go up for two days. But always, to -the Central American, there is plenty of time. - -But Johnny was new to the Tropics. He was in the habit of taking the best -transportation he could get. The best this time was a pair of short -sturdy legs which belonged to Johnny Thompson. - -The road leads through a jungle. Here and there is a small group of -struggling, insignificant banana plantations, but the jungle has so far -succeeded in taking them back to itself that they, too, seem wild. - -There is a certain joy to be had from a journey on foot through a -tropical jungle. There is a glimmer of green, a fresh damp odor of decay, -faint and pleasing as musk, and there always comes from the bushes and -trees a suggestion of low, joyous music, made, perhaps by bees and birds, -but nevertheless it is there, an indescribable music. Johnny had enjoyed -all this until he had begun to feel the need of food and refreshment. -Most of all, he wanted a drink. Any old drink would do. But there was no -drink. The dry season was nearing its close. Everywhere the floor of the -jungle was dry as the Sahara. - -Had Johnny lived long in the jungle he would have stepped aside to break -the stem of a certain plant, then to catch in the hollow of his hand the -delicious water that came dripping out almost in a stream. - -He hadn't lived long in a jungle, so all he could do was to plod on. - -When his desire for water had become intense longing, when his tongue -seemed to fill his mouth and his throat clicked when he swallowed, he had -found himself by a sudden turn to the right brought suddenly into the -midst of an orchard of fruit trees. - -"Forbidden fruit" is the name the natives have given these great golden -balls. Johnny didn't call them that. He had called them grapefruit. He -hadn't eaten grapefruit many times because he had found them bitter. - -"Bitter!" he had said, making a wry face. "Bitter, and me dying of -thirst!" At a distance they had looked like oranges. - -"Oh well--" He had resigned himself to his fate. "Here goes!" - -He had left the railway bed, then dropping on the moss beneath a heavily -laden tree, had seized upon a great golden ball and had begun tearing -away its covering. - -Having quartered the fruit, he had made up a wry face and thrust a -generous wedge into his mouth. - -Instantly the wry face had vanished. A glorious smile took its place. - -"Not bad," he said, filling his mouth again. "Not half bad. Just need to -get ripe, I suppose. Sugar would be an insult to such fruit as this. -People in the States don't know what it is." - -He had spoken to himself, but some one else had heard, for from somewhere -above him there had come in a melodious voice: - -"So you like forbidden fruit?" - -"I--I beg your pardon!" Johnny was on his feet at once. "I--I didn't mean -to steal. See here, I'll buy a quarter's worth." - -He had looked up at the girl whose golden hair, golden freckles and dark -green dress so completely blended with fruit and foliage that, until now, -he had not seen her. - -"Have you a donkey?" There was a suggestion of a laugh in the girl's -tone. "I don't see any." - -"Why must I have a donkey?" Johnny looked his surprise. - -"Because we sell them by the barrel. Fifty cents a barrel. Of course, for -a quarter you'd only get a half a barrel. But even so, how are you going -to carry them?" Shaking out her dress and laughing the girl had dropped -to the ground. - -Out of his little adventure in the grapefruit orchard had grown a new -enterprise. Johnny suddenly decided to become a shipping agent. Madge -Kennedy, who had turned out to be a Scotch girl, had insisted upon his -accompanying her to the house to meet her grandfather, Donald Kennedy. -The grandfather, a great gray-bearded man with a store of knowledge that -could come only from long study and many years in the jungle, had proven -a find indeed. Johnny did not soon tire of sitting on the broad veranda -of the long one-story house, listening to the old man as he rambled on -about bananas and grapefruit, strange tropical foods, Carib Indians, and -the future of their little Central American Colony. - -It had not taken Johnny long to discover, however, that these kindly -people were really almost paupers in the midst of their abundance. Many -carloads of the finest fruit in the world hung ripe on the trees. Why was -it not being shipped? - -When he had pressed them for an answer to this puzzling question, Madge -Kennedy had told him that the fruit company had refused to accept their -fruit. The reason, she supposed, was that her grandfather had two years -before sold his crop to the owner of a tramp steamer. The great East Sea -Fruit Company, which had a monopoly on the fruit trade of Central -America, did not wish competition, and they took this method of punishing -her grandfather. - -"But say!" Johnny leaped to his feet. "I'll find you a ship. There's one -anchored off Belize now. Jorgensen is the captain. He's anxious enough -for a cargo. Came all this way for a cargo of mahogany. The half-caste -Indian woodcutters are on a strike. There is no mahogany to haul." - -"Oh!" Madge beamed upon him in sudden excitement. - -"But then," her smile vanished, "I know the ship. It's no use. We have -only a third of a cargo for her." - -"Finish up with bananas," Johnny suggested. - -"Whose bananas? Every grower has a contract to sell only to the Fruit -Company." - -For a little time Johnny felt himself baffled, defeated. Then of a sudden -an inspiration came. Many times he had watched the loading of bananas off -the dock at Stann Creek. - -"Six hands!" he exclaimed excitedly. "That's it! Six hands! We'll have a -cargo yet!" - -That very night, after telling Madge of his grand plan, he started for -Guatemala City to see the man who owned the largest banana plantation in -Central America. - -For some little time fortune smiled upon him in his new enterprise. -Arriving at Stann Creek in the dead of night he found a sailing boat -preparing to leave for Porte Barrios. At this port he caught a train for -Guatemala. High noon found him walking the streets of that ancient and -most beautiful city of Central America. - -The city's beauty was lost upon him. His thoughts were centered about one -man, Don del Valle, the richest banana grower in all that land. He at -once went about the task of finding the man and securing an interview. -Having discovered the dapper, black-eyed Guatemalan sitting in his garden -sipping wine, he wasted no time on ceremony but, boy-like, launched at -once into his project. - -The astonished del Valle, who understood only a part of what was said and -who was accustomed to inflict long periods of waiting and numerous -delays, stared at him in astonishment for a time. Then he demanded: - -"What is it that this mad boy wants?" - -"Bananas! I want bananas!" Johnny exclaimed. - -"Well then, go and buy them, as many as you like." del Valle threw a -handful of coppers at his feet. - -"But I want many. Two-thirds of a ship load, twenty thousand bunches." -Johnny's face took on an air of unusual seriousness. - -"But I have no bananas to sell. They are contracted for, as you should -know, by your great American company." - -"But not the six hands." Johnny exclaimed eagerly. "I only ask for six -hands." - -"Six hands!" the Guatemalan exclaimed in a fit of passion. "Six hands! -Here, take this crazy youth to jail. I will prefer a charge of annoying a -gentleman." - -The two native policemen, who were in reality the official guard of the -great gentleman, sprang into action. Ten minutes later Johnny found -himself inside looking out, and the window he looked through was heavily -barred. So it was that Johnny Thompson came to be in jail. - - - - - CHAPTER V - TOTTERING WALLS - - -It was at an early hour of that same night that Johnny, having wakened -from some vaguely remembered dream, found himself rudely shaken by a -strange convulsion beneath and about him. - -"Ship's pitching something terrible," he told himself. "Must be a -hurricane." - -"Ship?" something within him seemed to whisper. "Ship? When did you -embark upon a ship?" - -Vaguely he groped about in his brain for facts. The sensations that come -to one just before he falls asleep are, more often than not, awaiting him -when he awakes. Johnny's had remained with him. They were earth -sensations, solid earth, a place close and stuffy, and stone, solid -stone, not shifting sea. - -But there was now a strange rocking and shuddering, no mistake about -that. There it was again! Zowie! What a lurch! - -"Like a ship at sea in a storm," he told himself. "No, not quite. More -like a ship stuck fast on a coral reef, being beaten to pieces by the -waves." - -The thought was startling. Again he attempted to sit up. This time he -succeeded. - -Light streamed down upon him, moonlight broken into little squares. - -"Bars," he thought. "Prison bars!" - -Yes, now he remembered. This bed, not a bed at all, merely a broad ledge -of stone left by the prison masons in lieu of a bed. Strange sort, these -Central American prisons! - -Then, as if to refute all this, there came again that horrible rocking -shudder. - -Struggling to grasp reality, Johnny's eyes, roving the dark spaces about -him, arrived at the crisscross iron bars of the window. To his vast -astonishment he saw those iron bars, in a solid mass, literally torn from -the masonry. - -"I don't know where I am," he told himself, "but I won't be there very -long." - -With one thought uppermost in his mind, that of escape, he leaped for the -window, gripped the sill, drew himself up, balanced for a second there in -the moonlight, then dropped. - -He landed rather solidly, not upon the tossing sea, but upon tossing dry -land. - -A moving figure loomed before him. - -"A guard!" His quickened senses registered the thought. - -"Strike first, and talk afterwards." His head buried itself into the soft -center of the moving object. With a grunt the man went down. - -He wished the earth would stand still. It made him seasick, that rocking -motion. They hadn't had a reason for putting him in prison--not any real -reason. He had done nothing except insist upon buying twenty thousand -bunches of bananas. He had tried to do a great service to a splendid old -man and a beautiful girl. He had reason enough for wanting to be out of -prison, plenty of reasons. There was the girl, Madge Kennedy, back there -in the orchard of forbidden fruit, and her grandfather, the aged -Britisher who was so much of a man and so little of a business man that -his orchards and banana plantations would never make him a cent unless -some one took a hand. And there was old Jorgensen, good old salt water -skipper, walking his deck night and day and staring gloomily at the -Caribbean Sea. - -The earth stopped rocking for an instant. An open court lay before him. -He was beginning to realize that he was having a new experience. One of -those frequent Central American earthquakes had broken loose. That was -why a stone prison had seemed so like a ship on a tossing sea. - -"Open places are best," he told himself. - -He had taken a dozen steps when there came a shock which sent him down -like a ten-pin. At the same instant he touched an object lying near him. - -He found it soft and yielding. It was a weeping child, a beautiful, -black-haired, black-eyed girl of seven. - -"There now," he said, sitting up and talking quietly to her. "The storm -will pass in a short while. We're not shipping any water. She's a staunch -old barge. We'll weather this little blow and never lose a mast or a -yardarm." - -Since the girl was unquestionably Spanish, it seems probable that she -understood not one word that he said. She did understand the steady -comforting tone and the kindly touch of his hand. She stopped crying, -cuddled down in his arms and, since it was now well into night, she fell -asleep. - -As Johnny sat there, a motley throng gathered about him. Like him, they -came to this open spot for safety. Some, like himself, were fully -dressed. Some were in pajamas. The mild moonlight was kind to these last. -Some carried things in their hands, things they had salvaged from the -doom of their homes. A parrot in a cage, an iron strong box, an alarm -clock, a broom; these and many more things, somber, precious, ludicrous, -had been brought into the open plaza. - -Johnny's mind began to travel back, to gather up the slender thread of -circumstances that had brought him there. He traced it thread by thread. -"To-morrow," he told himself, "will bring something quite new." - - - - - CHAPTER VI - AN EARTHQUAKE WITHIN A CAVE - - -After leaving Pant to complete his photographic work, Kirk and his giant -servant had passed from the small chamber to one very much larger. He had -taken one of Pant's flashlights. As he sent its gleam down the chamber he -found it impossible to see the distant wall. The ceiling was low, so low -that he was obliged to stoop at times to clear it. The stalactites and -stalagmites were found in such numbers that they formed a veritable -labyrinth. - -"Mustn't go far," he told himself. "Might be difficult to find our way -back." - -At that moment, as his flashlight painted a white avenue between two rows -of natural pillars, he caught a strange yellow gleam a short way before -him on the floor. - -A few steps and he was at the spot. His hand was on the thing, an -ornament of gold of elaborate design, when his foot struck something that -crushed in like an ancient gourd. - -One horrified glance, and he sprang back. - -"A skull. A human skull!" he breathed. - -One instant of horror, then he knew where they were, or at least thought -he knew. They had found the final resting place of a race that had -vanished from the earth. - -A moment's poking about in the dust convinced him that this was true. -Human bones mingled with gold and silver ornaments, pots of bronze, -strings of jade beads, and who knows what other priceless treasures from -the past, formed a setting for a bit of drama at once shocking and -intriguing. - -Scarcely knowing what he was about, like some child in Fairyland, he -began gathering up handfuls of the most attractive trinkets and thrusting -them into the deep pockets of his knickers. - -It was while he was engaged in this strange occupation that he felt the -same curious sensation that had come to Pant. - -"It--why, it's like--" His heart raced wildly. "It's as if the world had -tipped a little!" - -Instantly he heard the loud chatter of the giant's teeth. In the midst of -the chatter he caught the sound of an attempted chant, the Carib chant -which they, in their darkness of mind, believe will drive away evil -spirits. - -The boy gathered no other trinkets. A moment passed, another and another. -Every tick of his wrist watch sounded out in the dead silence of the -place like the tolling of a funeral bell. - -Then, of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. The earth rocked. Huge -stalactites came crashing down, to roll about the floor like barrels on -the deck of a tossing ship. A grinning skull rolled at his feet. With his -head in a whirl, Kirk knew not whether to stand or to flee. - -"The earth god of the Mayas!" a terrible voice sounded in his ear. It was -the Carib's voice. The next moment a powerful arm encircled him and he -was whirled through the dark. - -His senses reeled. Only dimly could he realize what was passing. There -was an earthquake. He was sure of that. They were common enough in -Central America. They had been caught in a cave while an earthquake was -in progress. What could be more terrible? The big black man, ever -faithful to his trust, was attempting to carry him out. - - * * * * * * * * - -Pant, who had mistaken the first strange tilting of that portion of the -earth's surface on which he stood as no movement at all but a break of -the imagination based on unstrung nerves, had moved with a rare showing -of determination toward the curious object which lay on the rocky shelf. -He had made it out as a small chest some two feet long and a foot deep. -He had discovered that the top was thickly encrusted with dust, but the -sides had the appearance of some beaten metal, stained and corroded by -age. This much he had learned when the sudden shock of the earthquake -came. - -If the first movement had seemed like the sudden lifting of a ship by a -heavy sea, the second was like the shudder and crash of a great ocean -liner as she is thrown upon the rocks in a mighty storm. - -The first shock left him well nigh senseless. The second brought reason -back upon its throne. He thought at once of his young companion. He had -brought him to this place and somehow he must see that he escaped from -this awful thing that was going on. - -Seizing his flashlight, he started forward. At once he thought of his -water-proof package and of the precious negative it contained. - -"I owe much to my grandfather. Can't lose that," he thought. - -Groping his way back, he secured the package. Then, turning his face -resolutely toward the spot where the other boy and his black servant had -vanished, he pushed forward. He had gone a dozen paces, had barely -escaped being crushed by a ponderous pillar of white crystal, when a -sudden quake brought him to his knees. - -Instantly he was up and fighting his way forward. And now his eyes fell -upon the opening through which his companions had gone. - -What was his horror when at that moment there came a crashing and -grinding sound, dust filled the air until he could scarcely see; yet -through it all one fact stood out clear and undisputable. The opening -through which the others had gone was closed. - -Next moment some object hurtling at him from the right, striking him -squarely, sent him crashing to earth. There, bruised, half senseless, he -all but gave himself over to despair. - -Through the moment of hopelessness which overcame the boy shot one ray of -light. This light, shining brighter and brighter, brought him courage to -battle on. That light was the sudden realization that God, the one true -God, the good, patient, just God, was still in his universe and that He -still noted the sparrow's fall. - -The instant this fact was established, the boy's mind grew calm. One calm -thought led to another. What had struck him? Not a rock. That would have -crushed him. What, then? What but a human being. - -"The giant black!" he thought. - -At that moment he caught a wavering gleam of light. It was in the -direction of the cave's entrance. - -"The black," he said again. "They escaped. Thank--thank God!" - -Instantly he was away, following the light. - -For a moment the rude shocks of the earthquake were over. Aside from the -debris that had been scattered about, his progress was unimpeded, yet he -made no gain on the feeble light that wavered on before him. - -"Didn't suppose that boy could travel so fast," he told himself. - -Instantly a thought set him shuddering. Had the black servant, overcome -by a terrible fear of a heathen god, forsaken his young charge? How was -he to know? For a second he hesitated, then redoubled his pace. - -"Overtake him and force him to go back," he told himself. "If--" - -He hoped his fears were unfounded. - -He came to the entrance of the great underground lake chamber, had passed -it in safety and was skirting the shore of the lake, which was recovering -from a great agitation, when the earth shudder began again. - -Battling against the dizziness that seemed about to overcome him, -stumbling, all but falling, he had fought his way forward until at last -the great bulk of the black man stood out before him. Then, as the very -universe appeared to reel, a great tidal wave from the lake came sweeping -over him. - -Strangely enough, at that moment there came into his mind a picture of -his grandfather's face. He thought of the water-proof package and the -precious negative, and gripped them tight. - -The tidal wave receded. It did not return. He found himself once more on -solid ground and close by, not twenty yards away, was the black and his -young master. This last onslaught had been too much for the giant native. -His knees had given way beneath him and he had slumped to earth, -murmuring incoherent things about the earth god of the Mayas. - -As for Pant and Kirk, they knew no fear of Maya gods. They waited, and as -they stood there they felt the rude shocks no more. The surface of the -lake was again as placid as a pond beneath a silvery moon. - -They made their way forward in silence until, with a little thrill of -joy, the younger boy gripped his companion's arm as he cried: - -"See! The light! The light of the moon!" It was true. They had reached -the entrance. A moment more and they were sitting in the shadows beneath -the palms. - -"See!" said Kirk at last, drawing from his pocket an object that gleamed -in the sunlight. "A message from out the past." - -It was indeed an interesting collection he had gathered quite at random. -A bracelet of gold set with jade, a small bronze god, grinning and -terrible, a miniature silver goblet, and some other bits of jewelry of -such odd design that one was not able to so much as guess their purpose. - -"Sometime," said Kirk, "we will go back for more." - -"I doubt if you will ever enter that chamber again," said Pant. "I -believe the earthquake closed the entrance to that particular chamber. -But we will go back. - -"Oh yes, we will go back," he repeated a moment later. He was thinking of -the strange chest that was all but within his grasp when the earth -shudder came. - -"But now," said Kirk, "we must go down. Morning will soon be here. And -think what the earthquake must have done to the old Don's castle! Come!" -he cried, shuddering with a terrible apprehension. "Our good friends may -be buried beneath the ruins of their home--they may be dead!" - -Closely followed by Pant and the great Carib, he sprang away down the -ancient trail. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - JOHNNY WINS A FRIEND - - -Just as the first faint glow of dawn lighted the shattered walls and -yawning windows of the ancient Guatemalan jail from which Johnny Thompson -had been so strangely released, the Spanish child in his arms stirred, -then sat up to stare about her. At that moment a tall, dark Honduran came -walking rapidly across the plaza. - -"Don del Valle!" Johnny started. This was the man who owned a fifth of -all the banana land in Central America, the man who had ordered him -thrown into jail. - -"What next?" he thought. - -Not knowing whether to break and run, or stand his ground, he hesitated -until the man was upon him. - -"Hah!" the man exclaimed. "At last!" - -Johnny was on his feet in an instant, prepared for flight. "He's been -looking for me," his thoughts raced on. "Now he's found me, he'll find me -another jail. He'll put me in. If he can catch me. He can't." Yet for the -moment he stood still. Why? Probably he did not know why, but it was well -that he did not run. - -"Where did you find the child?" This was the question the dark-skinned -del Valle shot at Johnny. At the same instant the child Johnny had -protected during the terrifying earthquake sprang into the Honduran's -arms. The man's tone was not harsh as it had been the night before. - -"Why I--" Johnny tried to think. "I really didn't find her. She -found--that is, we fell over each other, so we decided to camp here until -the earth began standing still." - -"But you, my young friend? You are in jail. Is it not so?" - -"I was in jail." Johnny felt a creepy sensation running up his back. That -had been a terribly uncomfortable jail. "The--the jail wasn't safe,"--his -face twisted into a quizzical smile--"so I came over here to the plaza." - -As he spoke the child was pouring words, soft melodious Spanish words -into Don del Valle's ears. - -"I am sorry," said the Honduran. "I was hasty. You should not have gone -to jail. My child here, who was lost from us in the catastrophe, tells me -you were her protector. You have returned me good for evil. Pardon. You -wished to ask me something? Bananas, was it not? You should know that I -have no bananas to sell, that they are all contracted for by your -American fruit company." - -Johnny's heart leaped. Luck was coming his way. Providence had sent him -an earthquake to cast down his prison bars and a child to plead his -cause. Before his mind's eye came the faces of good old Kennedy, of Madge -Kennedy and of Captain Jorgensen. He might be able to help them yet. At -any rate he was not to go back to jail. - -"But you don't understand," he found himself saying to the rich Spaniard. -"It is only the six hands I ask. They are not contracted for. Two-thirds -of a ship load is all I need." - -"Ah! Six hands you say." Don del Valle stroked his beard. "It might be -arranged." - -"But you are hungry!" he exclaimed. "The walls of my house are cracked, -but it has not fallen. The great shudder is over, please God. My servants -have cleared away the rubbish and put things to right. We will have -coffee and hot corn cakes in the garden. After that we will talk of these -six hands. Come!" - -He led the way through streets strewn with debris. The child, flitting -back and forth like a sunbeam, placed a confiding hand first in Johnny's, -then in her father's brown palm. - -In spite of the havoc wrought by the earthquake, Don del Valle's garden -was still very beautiful. The broken fragments of a great flower-filled -urn had been cleared away. Two fallen trees still lay prone amid a -blazing bed of flowering plants. In the background, in the midst of a -luxuriant growth of strange tropical and semi-tropical plants, a path led -to inviting realms beyond. - -On a broad piazza they sat in rosewood chairs around tables of solid -mahogany, munching hot corn cakes and sipping coffee. There was Don del -Valle and his wife, a very beautiful Spanish lady. Besides Johnny and the -little girl, there were no others. - -"She is their only child," thought Johnny as he noted how tenderly they -cared for the dark-eyed girl. "What a privilege to show her a kindness." - -The talk ran on about matters quite foreign to business. They speculated -regarding the extent of damage done by the earthquake and the area shaken -by it. - -"And have you many earthquakes in the United States?" asked the lady. - -"I have never experienced one before," Johnny replied. "Our land is very -broad and flat. It has little backbone. Mountains are the backbone of the -land. At times the backbone appears to shake up a bit." - -"Ah yes!" said the Don. "It is quite true. Our land is very much -backbone, almost nothing else." - -Johnny was interested in everything that these people had to say, but was -very anxious to get down to business. He had come to purchase bananas, -twenty thousand bunches at least. There was need of haste. Skipper -Jorgensen's ship, the _North Star_, was lying before Belize in British -Honduras without a cargo--at least it had been lying there three days -before. There was no telling at what moment some one might offer him a -cargo of cocoanuts, chicle, mahogany or a combination cargo of all. Then -Johnny's chance of helping Kennedy and his granddaughter by getting off -their year's crop of grapefruit would be gone. - -"And that," he told himself, "would be a great tragedy." - -"And now," said his host, as the others moved away and the servant -disappeared with the dishes, "we may talk. We must make it brief. I am a -busy man. In this city I operate two stores, a cotton mill and a -warehouse. I must find out at once the extent of damage done by the -shock. You want bananas?" - -"Six hand bunches." - -"Ah yes, you wish only the six hand bunches. And how can you use six hand -bunches? The Fruit Company will never purchase them. How can you hope to -dispose of them? They are not used. Either they are not gathered at all, -or they are given to the stevedores or are cut up and cast into the sea." - -"That's just it," said Johnny, leaning eagerly forward. "It was just -because you do not care for them, because you have no contract with the -Fruit Company to deliver them, that I thought you would be willing to -sell them to me." - -"Sell them!" The man's eyes lighted. "I could almost give them to you. -Five cents a bunch. That would pay for gathering and bringing them to the -wharf. But you?" He turned his eyes upon the boy. "What will you do with -them? If the Fruit Company cannot handle them, how can you? - -"You see," he smiled, "because you were kind to my child, I like you. I -do not wish to see you cheat yourself." - -"Look!" said Johnny, rising to pace the stone floor. "You grade your -bananas according to the number of groups on a stem. You call those -groups hands. For a bunch having seven hands the Fruit Company pays -twenty-five cents; eight hands thirty-seven and a half; nine hands or -more fifty cents. If a bunch has only six hands they will not buy it. Is -it not so?" - -"_Si, Si, Senor._ It is true." - -"But are the bananas on the six hand bunch smaller? Are they less sweet? -Will they spoil more quickly than those on the other bunches?" - -"No, _Senor_." - -"Then why are they not as good?" - -The Spaniard shrugged his shoulders for reply. - -"They are as good, exactly as good!" Johnny struck the table with his -open palm. "Small bunches are a little more trouble to handle. That is -the only difference. There are plenty larger. The Fruit Company takes -only what it wishes and reaps a rich reward from this. But we will handle -the six hand bunches. - -"In America," his tone became quiet, "there are thousands of poor people -who would gladly eat more bananas. Their children love them. Do they eat -them? No. Why? Because, while you sell a bunch, one hundred bananas, for -a quarter, in the United States one must pay a quarter for five. - -"There may be legitimate reasons for the great difference in price. I am -not going to look into that. It is not my task. But for once, in a little -corner of our great country, there will be cheap bananas. Six hand -bunches. You sell them to me for five cents a bunch and I will do the -rest. How many may I have? Twenty thousand bunches?" - -"Twenty-five thousand, _Senor_. On my three plantations there are this -many small bunches. You may have them all. I will give you a note to my -manager at Porte Zalaya. He will have them brought to the docks at once." - -"In regard to the pay, I--" - -"You will pay when your people pay you for the bananas," said the -generous Spaniard. "Send me a draft. If the money does not come to you, -then it will never come to me. - -"And now," he said, "I must go. Come inside, and I will instruct my -secretary about the note you are to carry to my manager at Porte Zalaya." - -Ten minutes later, stepping on air, Johnny made his way toward the -railway station. - -"Now," he said to himself, "if only I can reach the _North Star_ before -Captain Jorgensen contracts for another cargo, all is well. I'll make it -snappy." - -He had not lived in Central America long enough to know that in this -little world of sudden revolution and many strange surprises, things are -almost never done snappy. It is the land of _manana_ (tomorrow), a land -where nearly everyone believes that _manana_ will do very well for all -"snappy" business. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - AN ANCIENT CASTLE IN RUINS - - -The moon was still casting a golden glow over the wonders of a tropical -world when Pant and Kirk, closely followed by the giant Carib, emerging -from the jungle caught their first look at the last Don's plantation. -With eager eyes they sought out the spot where the ancient castle had -stood. - -At a first startled glance Kirk cried out in dismay. Little wonder this, -for where a noble edifice had stood a mournful sight now met their eyes. -The magnificent, century old castle was now only a crumbled pile of -broken timber, tumbled stone and crumbling mortar. - -"Gone!" Kirk cried. "They are all gone!" - -"It can't be as bad as that," said Pant. "At the first shock they would -run from the house. Come on. Let's get down there." - -No sooner said than done. Heedless of sharp stones that cut their shoes -and sharper cacti that tore their flesh, they sprang away over the -intervening space that lay between them and the tumbled pile of debris -that had once been a very happy home. - -It was with a cry of great joy that Kirk found his good friends, the -family of the last Don, gathered upon a little circle of green that lay -before the ruins. - -After a quiet greeting befitting such a moment of great sadness, the boys -took their places beside them. - -It was a strange and moving sight that met their eyes as they looked -about them. Even Pant, who had seen and experienced much, felt a choking -sensation about his throat. Sprawled about upon the ground in various -attitudes of sleep were the servants. Not so the family. The aged -grandmother sat rocking gently back and forth. The last of the Dons, who -had returned from a trip down the river just in time to see his home -crumble to ruins, walked slowly before them. With hands clasped behind -his back, he paced ceaselessly backward and forward in the moonlight. - -Sitting beside the two boys, the dark-eyed Spanish girl, granddaughter of -the last of the Dons, stared dreamily at the moon. To her no tragedy -could be quite complete, for was she not young and beautiful? Was not all -the world fresh and new? Strong she was, too, and brave. Many the jaguar -that had known the steel of her unfaltering aim, many the wild turkey -brought in by her to be roasted before the fire. - -"Now," she said, and there was a note akin to joy in her tone, "we shall -live like the savages in a house of thatched bamboo. Through the many -cracks the morning sun shall peep at us as we awake. The rain shall fall -gently upon our roof, the breeze shall play with my hair as I sit in our -little castle of bamboo. The jaguar may look in upon us at night and the -little wild pigs go grunting about our cabin. My good friend Kirk, and my -new friend Pant, we will live like savages and life will be sweet for, -after all, what is so romantic as a little home in the midst of a vast -wilderness?" - -Kirk smiled at her. He admired the courage of this child of an old, long -lost race. - -As for Pant, he scarcely heard her. He was thinking of the fragments of a -tale that had come to his ears, the tale of the first Don and his box of -beaten silver filled with priceless pearls. - -"It may have been hidden in the walls of that very building which the -rude shock of nature has wrecked," he told himself. "I must have a look -over those ruins. - -"And then perhaps," he thought more soberly still, "that may have been -the box I saw on the rocky ledge just as the earthquake shook the world -down upon my head. I wonder if that passage was closed? If it is not, was -the box buried in the wreckage? Who can tell? I must know." - -His thoughts returned to the American boy who had accompanied him, who -now sat close beside him. During the previous day he had been taken to -the boy's room. There he had seen costly toilet articles, silver backed -brushes, real tortoise shell combs, and genuine alligator skin traveling -bags. - -"He must belong to a rich family," he thought. "How then does he chance -to be here so far from the home of other Americans, with only a black man -as his companion?" - -As if reading his thoughts, the other boy began to speak. "My uncle," he -said, "has travelled much. He wishes me to know the world as he knows it. -He is especially anxious for me to know much of Central America and her -products. You see I am to be--" He paused, did not finish the sentence, -stared away at the moon for a moment, then said quietly, as if the -sentence he had not finished had really never been begun, "Uncle has had -but one rule in all his travels: wherever a native, one who has always -lived in the land he is visiting, will go, he will follow. That is the -only rule he has laid down for me. My Carib is a native of this land. You -saw how wonderfully he performed to-day." - -Pant nodded. - -"Wherever the Carib will go, I may follow." - -A question leaped into Pant's mind, "Would the Carib venture again into -the fear inspiring Maya cave?" He doubted it, yet he wished very much to -return. He did not wish to go alone, had hoped that his new found friend -might return with him. The story he heard that night as he sat before the -ruins of that ancient home greatly strengthened his determination to -revisit the cave. - -No place could be better fitted for the telling of a tale of buccaneers -and Spanish gold than that scene of ruins beneath the golden moon. - -It was the last Don himself who told it. He told it all in Spanish, with -many a dramatic gesture, but Kirk, who appeared to understand Spanish as -well as he did his mother tongue, interpreted so skillfully that it -seemed to Pant that the aged Don, with his venerable beard and coal black -eyes, was telling the story directly to him. - -And this was the tale he told: - -Soon after gold had been brought to Europe from the New World and the -rush for riches had begun, Ramon Salazar, who had amassed a comfortable -fortune as a trader in old Madrid, but in whose veins coursed the spirit -of the Crusaders, sold all his possessions and, having invested them in -trade goods, sailed for America. - -He landed on the east coast of Central America, but soon made his way -over the difficult trail that led to the Pacific. - -Ramon Salazar was a man of honor. He did not go in search of Aztec gold, -nor did he lend aid to those shameful robberies of natives that still lie -black on the pages of Spanish-American history. - -Having made his way to the west coast, where he hoped to be forever safe -from British and Scotch buccaneers, he set up a trading post and -prospered. - -Having learned of the rich pearl fisheries, he made a study of the matter -and at last fitted out a schooner for the purpose of pearl fishing. -Hiring divers and securing the protection of a Spanish man-of-war, he -lingered long over those shallow waters whose submerged sandbars were -rich with pearl bearing mussels. - -He prospered again. Some pearls were sold, but the richest and choicest -were kept in a box of beaten silver beneath the berth in his own -stateroom. The room was not left unguarded night or day. - -"Some bright morning," Ramon Salazar was fond of saying, "I shall take -that box and sail away for sunny Spain. Then who cares what further -riches the New World may still hold? But first," he always added, "I must -have more pearls, larger pearls, a great pearl of pearls." - -So he lingered, until one day a startling thing happened. The east coast -had long been infested by buccaneers. The west had been free. But now, -out of a clear sky, one day as Ramon Salazar dined with the commander of -the man-of-war, a boat load of marauders boarded the pearl fishing -schooner, overpowered those on board, hoisted sail, and firing a shot -across the bow of the man-of-war, they took to sea. And on board that -schooner was Ramon Salazar's treasure of pearls. - -"What sort of box was it that held the pearls?" Pant asked a bit -breathlessly. - -"Oh, my boy," was the old Don's reply, "that was long ago. Who can say? -It was of beaten silver, perhaps as long as a man's forearm, and as thick -as such a box should be." - -"It might be the box," the boy thought to himself. "Surely I must return -to the cave to-morrow." - -"But to-morrow," he thought a moment later, "I cannot. There are other -matters which must be attended to. I must not forget my grandfather, my -photograph, and the chicle concession." He felt for the packet he had -preserved so carefully. It was still safe. - -"The bloody marauders did not succeed." The old Don's voice rose high -pitched and shrill. "God confounded them. The man-of-war fired a shot -that snapped their mainmast. They were captured. The treasure was -restored. - -"But my sire of many generations back fished for pearls no more. He took -his box of pearls ashore. He did not return to Spain at once. Those were -perilous times upon the sea. He would wait. - -"He waited too long. Morgan came." The Don was fairly shouting now. -"Morgan, the most bloodthirsty and cruel monster that ever sailed the -Spanish Main. He came with many ships and two thousand men." - -For a time after this he was silent. A first faint flush of light along -the fringe of palms announced a new day. - -"No," said the aged man, speaking more to himself than to them, "Morgan -did not get the beaten silver box of pearls. Had he gotten it, one must -have known. He was a great braggart. - -"When my sire heard of Morgan's approach, he put the box under his arm -and walked away into the jungle. He knew the jungle well. He could not -have gotten lost in it. Yet he never returned. Somewhere--" He arose to -fling his arms wide in a dramatic gesture, "somewhere in this jungle the -box of beaten silver with the wealth of every Salazar within, lies -hidden." - -He resumed his seat. Light came more and more. Exhausted, the ancient Don -fell asleep. But Pant stared at the dawn. He was thinking of the time -when he might return to the Maya cave, and what he might find there when -that day came. - -And then, of a sudden, his thoughts took a fresh turn. He smiled as he -thought of the strange code he had improvised at the spur of the moment -before leaving his grandfather's office to plunge in the jungle, and the -curious note he had left for Johnny Thompson. Had Johnny returned? Had he -found the note? Had he been able to read it? What had kept Johnny so -long? What was to happen? Were their paths that had run side by side so -long to diverge at last? - -Had he but known it, Johnny was at this moment planning a task which was -to bring them close together, yet to keep them apart for many days to -come. Such are the strange, wild chances of fate. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - CREEPING SHADOWS - - -Pant's wonderings about Johnny were not misplaced. To dismiss one's good -pal from his mind is impossible. Johnny did not wish to forget Pant. He -had discovered his note and found himself deeply concerned about it. - -After leaving Don del Valle in Guatemala City, he took a train to the -coast. There he caught a fruit boat to Stann Creek, and armed with a note -from Don del Valle to his plantation manager ordering him to deliver -twenty thousand bunches of bananas to the bearer, he reached Stann Creek -just one hour before the train was to start up the narrow gauge railway -to the Kennedy grapefruit plantation. - -His first task was that of getting off a wireless message to Captain -Jorgensen offering him a combined cargo of bananas and grapefruit for his -return trip to the United States. With what feelings of hopes and fears -he then awaited the good skipper's reply. Now he was elated by the hope -that the _North Star_ was still at his service, and now cast down by the -fear that she was already loading mahogany, dyewood or cocoanuts. - -He was not idle, however. Having gotten off his message, he hurried over -to the office which Pant had left some hours before. It was with a deep -feeling of unrest and disappointment that he found the place deserted. -Colonel Longstreet had put the scattered papers to rights and repaired -the damaged safe as best he could and he, too, had left. But on the -table, weighted down by a polished square of ebony, was the curious note -Pant had left. Scrawled across the top by the trembling hand of the old -Colonel was Johnny's name. - -"That was evidently intended for me," said Johnny, "but what in the name -of all that's sane does it mean?" - -"Some of Pant's doings," he grumbled as with wrinkled brow he studied the -miscellaneous jumble of figures, question marks and trade signs. "Oh -well, there's no time for working puzzles now. I must get up the railway -to Kennedy's fruit farm. Won't they be joyous!" With that he thrust the -paper in his pocket, but it was not entirely forgotten. - -He was in the curious day coach with its seats along the sides and its -broad open spaces in lieu of windows, waiting for the train to start, -when he opened Captain Jorgensen's wireless message. - -His fingers trembled, his face grew sober as he unfolded the bit of -yellow paper. - -"What if-- - -"But no!" With a quick exclamation of joy, he read: - -"_Congratulations. The North Star awaits your order._" - -"Couldn't be better," was the way the boy expressed it as he walked among -the gold laden fruit trees two hours later. He was talking to Madge -Kennedy. No wall flower, this girl. Sun-browned arms, honest freckles, -strong and healthy muscles, that was Madge Kennedy. Though only nineteen -years of age, she had taken over the largest share of the task of keeping -the orchard in order. - -Underbrush and creepers grow fast in this warm, moist land. A constant -war must be waged against them. Johnny had found her doing her bit by -swinging a short stout brush scythe. Two husky Carib Indians were working -with her, but Johnny noted with no little pleasure that she was the best -worker of the three. - -After taking the scythe and finishing the swath, he dropped beside her in -the evening shade, and told her of his success. - -"It's your grandfather's chance, and yours," he said with enthusiasm. -"Think of it! Five thousand boxes of grapefruit. That many at least. And -we'll get the top price. America has never tasted such fruit. Your -grandfather has the boxes ready to set up?" - -She nodded. - -"Then there's nothing to stop us. Your grandfather can find men to pick -and pack the fruit?" - -"Carib Indians," she said in quiet confidence, "hundreds of them, -thousands if necessary. They love grandfather, every last one of them. - -"Do you know, my friend," her voice was husky, "my grandfather is a sort -of second Livingston. Livingston went to Africa. Grandfather came to -Central America. He has been all over it. There is no dark little spot in -any tiny republic where he has not been. He has visited Maya Indians who -were supposed to kill a white man at sight. They did not touch him. Love, -sympathy and a simple modesty are the charms that protect him. There's -not a family within the district he has not helped in time of trouble. -There is always plenty of trouble. Oh yes, he can find the men; without -pay if necessary." - -"It won't be necessary. Do you know how much five thousand acres of the -finest grapefruit in the world will bring in New York?" - -She shook her head. - -"Neither do I. Thousands of dollars, there's no question. Then your -grandfather and you can leave this wilderness." - -"Leave--leave it?" - -The girl's eyes swept the scene before her. In the immediate foreground -all green and gold was the orchard; beyond that a broad stretch of green -where an occasional cohune nut palm with leaves thirty feet long broke -the even green. Back of all that, nestling against the vast, impenetrable -jungle, was the long, low house. - -"Leave it?" she repeated. "Grandfather would not leave it. He loves the -land and his black Caribs too well. - -"He left it once." Her voice grew husky again. "War. He left then. He was -gone three years. They made him a captain. They say it was uncanny the -way he led his men, his black Caribs from Central America, and how in -every bloody battle he escaped unharmed." She was silent for a moment. -The shadows deepened. - -"Do you know," she went on softly, "he never speaks of it now. And he -never allows anyone to call him Captain Kennedy. That's what he was, you -know. But somehow I love him a lot more for it." - -"He's got company!" she exclaimed, springing up and shaking herself as if -to break a spell that had come over her. "One of those dark Spaniards. I -don't like him. Br-r-r-r! He makes me think of the wolf in Little Red -Riding Hood. But we must go in. It isn't respectable not to. He's been -talking some sort of business, but must be through by now." - -"Business?" Johnny had the question on his lips, but did not ask it. He -was destined in good time to know what sort of business that was, and to -get little enough comfort from the knowledge. - -They found Kennedy sitting alone on the veranda. - -"How do you do, Mr. Kennedy," said Johnny, putting out his hand. -"Congratulate me. I have my cargo completed. Bananas. You may begin -packing your fruit to-morrow. It will be in New York within ten days if -we have luck. We--" - -He broke short off. A tall Spaniard had emerged from the shadows. He had -heard all, and the black cloud on his face was not all due to his dark -Spanish skin. - -He did not speak to the boy, but turning to Kennedy bade him good-night, -then strode rapidly away to the spot where his saddle horse was tethered. - -It was astonishing, the effect of this man upon Johnny's spirits. It was -as if threatening shadows had begun to crawl upon him. - -"Bah!" he whispered to himself. "Probably never see him again." - -In this he was wrong. He was destined to see him many times, in fact to -see him the very next day, and to get a decided shock from the encounter. - -"Business," he whispered to himself. - -"What sort of business?" He thought of Madge Kennedy and the Spaniard, -then dismissed them from his mind. - -"Sit here with grandfather," he heard the girl saying. "I'll have some -food ready in a jiffy." - -Mechanically he sat down, and as he did so, discovered that the sudden -night of the jungle had blotted out every track of the orchard, the wide -spreading green and the dark forest that lay beyond. - - - - - CHAPTER X - CAMP SMOKE - - -While searching among the ruins of the old Don's castle early that -morning, Pant found an ancient field glass that had by some chance -escaped destruction. A clumsy model it was, and of such ancient design -that it might well have been a present from Queen Isabella to Columbus. -It was a powerful one, for all that, and would serve his purpose well. -The old Don readily consented to loaning it. - -With this new treasure in his pack, Pant struck off toward the hills. He -had gone a short distance when disturbing thoughts came to him. - -"Something may happen to my film," he told himself. "I must not forget." - -Not willing to depend entirely upon memory, he took sheets of paper from -his pack and stuck four of them together with the sticky juice of a wild -vine. Painstakingly he traced as well as he could the outlines of his -grandfather's concessions and of the rival companies, as shown by the -film. Having done this, he rebound his pack and continued on his upward -journey. - -"Soon," he thought as he traveled on, "perhaps to-morrow, we may begin -operations." He had a glorious mental picture of the light on his -grandfather's face as he saw a hundred Caribs at work on their concession -and saw in it a promise of a rebuilt fortune. - -"Chicle gathering," he thought. "What a strange way to amass a fortune! -Yet how sure." - -As he closed his eyes he saw the work begun. The Carib Indians--great -bronze men, one time cannibals, now partially Christianized and caught in -the spell of white man's influence, had always been friends of his -grandfather, as they had been of Kennedy and of every true man. - -"The old Colonel will appeal to them," he thought to himself. "They will -respond. They will flock to his banner. A hundred, two hundred strong, -shouldering axes and machetes, they'll march into the jungle." - -He had a mental vision of what would follow. In the heart of the jungle a -camp site would be chosen. Palms would be felled, rude shelters would be -formed. After this the real work would begin. Scattering out through the -jungle, the Caribs would search out the largest, most promising sapodilla -trees. These, by the aid of their bare toes and a single strap, they -would scale to a distance of thirty or forty feet. Beginning at the top, -working their way round and round the trunk, they would cut in the bark a -spiral groove reaching to the ground. Down the groove sap from the bark -would ooze. When a sufficient quantity had reached the canvas sack placed -at the bottom of the groove, it would be collected and carried to camp -where, in a huge copper kettle over a great fire that blazed merrily, the -sap would be boiled down. - -When the chicle had cooled, it would be kneaded like bread dough until it -was thick enough to form in cakes. Then it would be poured into moulds -and allowed to harden. - -After that, packed two cakes in a gunny-sack, it would be carried on -Caribs' backs to the nearest stream. By pit-pan to the sea, then by -sailing schooner to the nearest shipping point, Belize. - -"And then," he sighed, "our work is done. The Central Chicle Company will -take it off our hands. They are the real exporters." - -His heart warmed as he saw the long rows of black and brown men and -seemed to catch their weird chant as they marched on the first lap of the -long journey with the freshly gathered chicle on their backs. - -"We will succeed," he told himself. "We must!" - -One other thought came to him at that moment, a rather vexing thought. He -would return to the Maya cave. Sooner or later he would go back and enter -in search of the mysterious metal box he had seen there. - -"And if I should find the beaten silver box," he said to himself, "if the -pearls should still be within, after all these years, to whom would they -belong?" - -"Finders keepers," an old adage, kept running through his mind. Yet this -did not quite satisfy him. This problem was soon dismissed from his mind. -He had business before him. - -He had reached the rocky crest of the hill that lay at the back of the -old Don's pasture. From this promontory one might command a view of the -valley below and might trace the course of its main stream, the Rio de -Grande, for a distance of thirty miles. - -Hardly had he reached this observation post and spread his crude map out -before him, than the smoke of a score of campfires rose lazily up from -the jungle valley some ten miles away. - -"That's well within our territory," he said with a start and an -exclamation of anger. "That's Diaz. He has already begun operations on -our trees. He is very bold. He takes too much for granted. But we--we'll -show him!" He clenched his fists hard. - -But what was this? Off to the right, scarcely three miles distant, a -second smoke rose above the tree tops. - -"Who can that be?" he asked himself. At once his mind was in a whirl. -That it was not a second group of Diaz's men he knew well enough. Men in -the jungle always huddle in one group. Perhaps it is fear of that unknown -peril that lurks in the jungle that causes them to do this. Who can say? -Enough that this is a custom of the land. - -"Can it be that the Central Chicle Company is also poaching on our -ground?" he asked himself. "It does not seem possible. And yet, who else -can it be? - -"I must know," he resolved. "I will see." At that, following the bed of a -stream, he struck boldly down through the jungle toward the spot where -the first camp site smoke still rose. - -For two hours he fought the jungle. Scrambling down a water drenched -ledge, battling the clinging bramble, creeping low beneath a growth of -palms, and racing down the trunk of a massive fallen mahogany tree, he -forced his way forward until he found himself on a steep ledge looking -upon the winding sweep of the river. - -Here he paused to stare in astonishment. Less than a year before a -mahogany company had logged a wide strip next to the river. The jungle -had not yet retaken the clearing. In the midst of this cleared space, -some hundreds of yards apart, stood two bands of men. Axes flashed from -their shoulders. Here and there the two foot blade of a machete gleamed. - -"It--why it's as if they were lined up for battle! Who can they be?" The -boy's breath came short and quick. He took the old field glass from his -pack and focused it upon the two groups of men. - -The band over to the right were of mixed lineage, some Spaniards, some -half-castes, some blacks. He could guess this from their postures and the -garments they wore. - -"Diaz," was his mental comment. "But the others?" - -A tall, thin man, wearing a khaki suit and a helmet, stood out before the -others. Unquestionably he was a white man. - -"But the others are Caribs." A thrill shot up the boy's spine. The -distance was great. At that distance it was difficult to tell, and yet-- - -His field glass was now riveted upon the white man in the khaki suit. He -was evidently speaking to a leader of the other group. - -"It can't be!" The boy's throat tightened. "And yet--and yet--" The white -man threw up his arms in a gesture of impatience. There was no mistaking -that gesture. - -"Grandfather, the old Colonel!" The cry stuck in the boy's throat. What -was he saying? The distance was too great to hear. - -As the boy stood there silent, watching, his knees trembled and his head -whirled. The thing that had happened was evident. Having grown impatient -waiting for Pant's return, the old Colonel had gotten together a band of -Carib chicleros and had gone into the jungle to gather from the narrow -stretch of land which he knew to be his. He had happened to stop near the -crafty Spaniard's illegal camp. The two bands had met. - -"And now," the boy told himself with a shudder, "there will be a fight." - -A fight? What did that mean? Certainly terrible bloodshed. Between this -half-caste band and the Caribs there had always been waged a sort of -gorilla warfare. Now here they were face to face, a hundred men on either -side. Armed with axes, machetes and revolvers, they would do terrible -execution. It would be a battle to the death. - -"I must get down there. I have the picture of the map," the boy told -himself. "That may help. I must be beside the old colonel." - -He paused for a moment's thought as to how the affair was likely to end. -A mile of tangled brush lay between him and them. Could he reach the spot -in time? - -As if to answer his question, the white and brown line, Diaz's men, -suddenly began marching straight on toward the lone white man who stood -out before the Caribs. - -"Too late!" The boy all but sank upon the ground. Yet, getting a better -hold upon himself, he stood there wide-eyed and terrified. - -Never had he witnessed a thing so strikingly dramatic as the deadly -regular march of those men. And never had he seen anything so heroic as -the image of the aged colonel standing there erect, silent, motionless, -facing them all. - -Sixty seconds passed, the men had covered half the distance. Ninety -seconds; they were very near. A hundred; they were all but upon the -silent figure. Still with arms hanging motionless, he stood there. It was -a tense moment. The boy ceased breathing. Standing there, leaning far -forward, he thought a prayer, that was all. - -But what was this? At some call from the side, all faces turned right. -The marching column broke step, then came to a dead halt. As they did so, -erect, with head held high, a stately figure rode in before them. - -"The old Don, the last of the Dons!" Pant breathed. "How strange!" - -To all appearance the aged Spaniard began to speak. The others paused to -listen. - -"Now--now is my chance!" The boy's mind worked like a spring lock. "I may -make it yet." At once he dropped over the ledge and made his way down the -perilous cliff until at last he reached the tangled mass of vegetation -that lay at the foot of the rocky ledge. - -Battling now with all his might, heedless of brambles that tore at his -clothing, of stinging palm leaves that cut his face, and the ooze of the -lowlands that threatened to engulf him, expecting every moment to hear -the war cry of the Caribs, he fought his way through. - -He will never know what the aged Don said to the Spaniard, Diaz, and his -mixed band of chicleros, yet he will never think of the Don and his -speech without experiencing anew a deep feeling of gratitude. For it was -that speech which, beyond a shadow of a doubt, saved his grandfather's -life. Had the fight ever begun he would have been the first to fall, for -he was well in advance of his men, and was not the man to turn his back -to the enemy. - -As it was, when puffing, perspiring, bleeding from wounds inflicted by -the jungle, the boy burst into the clearing, he found the aged nobleman, -the last of the Dons, speaking calmly to the men and the men of both -camps as calmly listening. - -What was there about this aged Spaniard to inspire such calm? Was it his -venerable appearance? Was it that he was of noble birth? Who can say? So -intent were the men upon his words that Pant was able to slip unobserved -to the old colonel's side and to explain in a few well chosen words just -what the film he held in his hand meant to them. - -His grandfather's face lighted with a smile not soon to be forgotten. He -spoke quietly to his foreman: - -"Tell the men to withdraw after the speech. There will be no fighting, no -fight, do you understand? We have found a better way." - -Word was quickly passed down the line. The loyal Caribs stood ready to -obey. - -As the old Don ended his speech with a bow of his venerable head, Pant -pressed forward to grip his hand. - -"We will never forget." He repeated the words in Spanish. "Never forget." - -The aged Spaniard bowed and smiled. - -A moment later Colonel Longstreet was speaking to the crafty Diaz. His -words were few and well chosen. He would withdraw his men if need be. -There would be no fight. He, Diaz, might gather all the chicle he chose -to in that valley. One thing he must remember, however; the real owner of -the concession was in possession of an exact reproduction of the stolen -map. Not alone that, but he had positive proof that he, Diaz, stole the -map. - -"Positive proof!" he repeated. "And remember, the profit on every pound -of chicle you gather on our territory must be paid to us. The law of the -land is just." With these words he walked away. - -No smoke arose next morning over the spot where Diaz's camp had stood. -Diaz and his men had returned to their own narrow boundaries. Yet Diaz -was not through contesting the rights of an American to gather chicle on -the upper reaches of the Rio de Grande. He had lost one battle, but -others were to follow. - -There had been rain during a previous night. Now, as if to prove that -nature and the fates were on the side of Pant and his recently discovered -grandfather, there came a perfect deluge of rain. Rain is indispensable -to chicle gathering. Now the work could go forward at once. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - BATTLING AGAINST ODDS - - -In the meantime Johnny Thompson was allowing no grass to grow under his -feet. Having arranged with Kennedy to put his fruit on the wharf within -five days, he secured the services of a wheezy but dependable motor boat -and started at once to Porte Zalaya, the headquarters of Don del Valle's -banana growing company. - -He arrived at three o'clock that afternoon, and went at once to the long -low office building at the end of the wharf. There he asked for Armacito -Diaz, the manager. - -Johnny did not know that Armacito Diaz was the same Spaniard who had been -doing his utmost to defeat Pant in his work of rebuilding his -grandfather's fortune. For reasons best known to himself, though -possessed of concessions of his own, Diaz played the part of a humble -servant under the employ of Don del Valle's direction. He was the same -man who had given Johnny the black look at Kennedy's. Since the valley of -the Rio de Grande was only a short distance off, he had ridden to his -chicle camp, there to meet temporary defeat in his attempt at looting the -old colonel's concessions. Fox-like, he was now in his den behind clouded -glass walls, administering the affairs of the banana planter. - -A dapper Spanish clerk took Johnny's message, then disappeared through a -door at the back. - -"He will see you in a minute," said the polite clerk. - -Johnny sat down on a bench to wait. The day was warm. There was no -breeze. The bench was hard. The minute grew into a half hour, an hour. - -Johnny rose to inquire patiently regarding the impending interview. - -"One minute." The clerk was gone. - -"One minute. Just one more minute and he will see you." - -Another hour passed, a precious hour to Johnny. He rose once more; but -this time, ignoring the clerk, he threw back the swinging gate, strode -across the narrow enclosure, threw open the door at the rear and entered -the room beyond. - -Imagine the surprise and shock that awaited him when he found himself -face to face with the frowning Spaniard of the previous night, the man -Madge Kennedy had said was like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. - -The man sprang from his chair. - -"Senor Diaz?" said Johnny in as easy a tone as he could command. - -"You intrude," said the other without answering his question. - -"If you are Armacito Diaz," said Johnny, looking him square in the eye, -"I have a right to intrude. I have a message from your master. You have -delayed its delivery unnecessarily." - -To himself Johnny was saying, "This man Diaz? Here is a nice mess. He -already dislikes me for some reason or another. Perhaps I am in his way -somehow. Perhaps, like many Spaniards, he hates all Americans. However -that may be, he will do his master's bidding." - -"What's this?" The frown on the Spaniard's brow deepened as he read the -message Johnny laid before him. "Gather twenty thousand defective bunches -for shipment? What nonsense!" - -"So you are Diaz?" - -"I am Diaz. And you?" - -"Johnny Thompson." - -"American." There was contempt in the man's tone. "Adventurer!" - -"American," said Johnny quietly. "As for the other, it matters little to -you whether I am or not. You will deliver the bananas at the dock, this -dock, to-morrow morning; at Dock No. 2 the next day; and at No. 3 that -same night." - -"The order is forged," said the manager, throwing the letter on the -table. "My master would have no part in such nonsense. Twenty thousand -defective bunches!" - -"Six hand bunches," corrected Johnny quietly. "The order is not forged. -You know it is not. Ignore it at your own risk. Your position as manager -is at stake. You will send your men into the field at once." - -"_Manana_. To-morrow," said the manager after several moments spent in -thought. - -"To-day," said Johnny. - -"It is impossible. The men are scattered. We have on hand no more loading -for ten days." - -"All right, then to-morrow. To-morrow evening we will be at this dock -ready to load. We can load at night." - -To this the Spaniard made no answer. After waiting a respectable time for -a reply, Johnny left the office. - -As he walked out into the warm tropical sunshine his head was in a whirl. -The feeling of dark shadows creeping up from behind him was so strong -that he involuntarily turned to look back. There was no one. The dusty -street was empty. - -"Strange," he thought, "that he should seem to hate me and want to thwart -my plans. He seems to be a friend of Kennedy. He must know I am working -only for Kennedy's good. Why then should he behave as he does?" - -He was destined to ask that question many times before he discovered the -real answer. - -Just then as he thrust his hand deep in his pocket, a habit he had when -engrossed in thought, he felt a crumpled bit of paper. - -"Pant's message," he said to himself as he drew it forth. - -"Wonder what it's all about?" His brow wrinkled in puzzled thought. "Wish -I knew. Wish I had the key to it. It might mean a lot. Wish I knew where -he is, and what's happening to him." - -Finding a grassy spot in the shadow of the dock, he sat puzzling over -that jumble of figures and signs which he felt sure was meant to convey -an important message to him, but which in reality meant nothing to him. - -"The key!" he exclaimed at last in disgust. "If only I had the key to -it!" - -The key to this riddle, if only he could have known it, lay back there in -the little bamboo office where Pant had left the note. He had expected -Johnny to sit right down beside the portable typewriter and study out the -meaning of his strange cipher message. - -As it happened, there had not been time for this; a great pity, too, for -the message was an important one. Its solving at that moment might have -saved Johnny many a heartache. Without the typewriter, however, it was -going to be difficult, very difficult indeed. In the end he pocketed the -message still unread. - - * * * * * * * * - -There is only one silence more complete than the silence of the jungle at -mid-day. That is the silence to be experienced at the heart of a great -banana plantation in the heat of the day. There not a twig drops but its -fall is heard. The march of a thousand ants going and coming over their -tiny paths gives forth as definite and distinct a sound as the tramp of -an army. - -Johnny was hearing and watching these toiling ants. He got scant comfort -from these observations. Their actions reminded him of three days of -painful failure. The _North Star_ was at loading dock No. 1, had been for -three days, yet her hold was as empty as the day she had tied up there. -There were no bananas at the dock. - -"Here there are plenty," Johnny told himself, glancing up at the three -great bunches that hung directly over his head, and away at hundreds on -every hand. - -Again his attention was drawn by the rustle of rushing ants. - -"How strange," he thought. "It would take a million of these ants to -weigh as much as I do, yet they are getting on with the thing they wish -done. I have failed." - -He started. The thing the ants were doing was quite like the work he -wished to do. They were tearing bits of leaves from a vine and were -carrying them away beneath the ground. - -"Just as a hundred men should be carrying bunches of bananas to our -ship," he thought. - -"Yes, we have no bananas," he grinned in spite of himself. All about him -were bananas, a vast unending sea of them, a hundred thousand bunches. He -had been promised twenty thousand. That treacherous Spanish manager, -Diaz, had blocked his every move. Not a bunch had he delivered. - -"_Manana! Manana!_" He had whispered over and over. "My workmen are -scattered. They have gone turtle hunting. They are not here. To-morrow -they will be back. To-morrow. To-morrow." - -"To-morrow!" the boy exclaimed. "When I get back to the States I shall -have that word removed from the dictionary." - -Suddenly his lips parted, but no sound came forth. Rising upon one knee, -he crouched there poised like some wild creature ready for a spring. - -"Was that a voice?" - -He felt reasonably sure of it, yet in this land of monkeys, parrots and -mocking birds one could never be quite sure. - -"If it is," he told himself, "if they are that crafty Spaniard's men sent -to hunt me down, there may be a fight. - -"And yet," he thought, "why should he wish to hunt me down, to have me -killed? He's having his own sweet way. What more could he wish?" - -He thought of the man sitting there on the veranda with Kennedy, thought -too of Madge Kennedy. Madge Kennedy of the golden hair and frank freckled -face, the bright, alert, clean Scotch girl of the jungle, and for some -reason or another his brow clouded. - -"If it's a fight they want," he said, clenching his fists tight, "they're -quite welcome to it, though I'd be the last to start it." - -Having caught no further sound, he settled back to his task of watching -the ants stowing away bits of leaves, and of thinking over his own -problems. - -"It's as if they were hurrying through with an important task," he told -himself, watching the tiny workers with renewed interest, "as if they -were preparing for some great change, perhaps some gigantic natural -catastrophe, an earthquake, a storm, a-- - -"I wonder--" his brow wrinkled as he gazed away toward the western sky. -But no, there were no clouds, only a faint haze that spread over all the -sky, faintly obscuring the sun. - -"Nothing much I guess. Getting superstitious," he told himself. "Must be -going back. But not just yet." - -He had come to the heart of this banana plantation for two reasons. He -had wanted to carry on a little investigation of his own, and to think -his problems through. - -The investigation had confirmed his suspicions. There were no workmen in -this field. Diaz had said there were fifty men here gathering bananas. He -had promised that the fruit would be at the dock, a train load of it next -morning. - -"A plain out-and-out lie!" Johnny told himself bitterly. "He knows he has -me defeated. Any untruth will do. To-morrow my option on the _North Star_ -expires. Then she will steam away. After that Kennedy's grapefruit may -rot on the dock. He will be worse off than before. His Caribs have -gathered and packed the fruit and there will be no money to pay them. -What a blunderer I am!" - -It was all quite true. The sleek, soft spoken Spanish manager of the -plantation had, after that first stormy meeting, seemed to suddenly -become quite friendly. He had invited Johnny to lunch and had feasted him -quite royally. He had promised that his men who were out setting nets for -turtles would be called in. Johnny should dock his ship. The bananas -would be ready next evening. - -That had been the first day. At the end of the second day no bananas had -appeared. Johnny had sought out the Spaniard. He had treated the boy to a -sumptuous dinner and had assured him that to-morrow the men would go for -bananas. "_Manana, manana_," he had repeated, wringing the boy's hand. - -If only Johnny had been able to read Pant's note! But he had not. - -Captain Jorgensen had waited patiently for three days; then, having been -offered a cargo of chicle and cocoanuts in Belize, he had given Johnny -notice that if bananas were not coming aboard by the evening of the next -day, his option would expire and he would be obliged to steam away. - -He had said all this in the kindest tone possible. He liked Johnny. He -liked Kennedy and his granddaughter, and would do anything within his -power, but the company that owned his ship would stand for no further -delay. - -"It's all right, quite all right. Very fine, Senor, very fine," Diaz had -said when, in despair, Johnny had sought him out once more. "To-day my -men are among the bananas. To-morrow morning you shall have a train -load." - -Johnny had doubted his word. He had trudged away up the narrow gauge -railway track to see. He had tramped for miles in the shade of great -spreading banana plants and had not seen a workman. - -"They are not here, will not be here. We will have no bananas. To-morrow -the _North Star_ sails away. My plan fails. I have been worse than -useless to my friends. - -"And yet," he said doggedly, "there must be some way out. There must!" - -Again his eyes followed the long procession of ants. Once more he glanced -toward the sky. The veil over the sun had grown a shade deeper. - -"They are hurrying faster than ever," he said as he again watched the -interesting procession. "It is as if--" - -Once more his thoughts broke short off. This time from just behind the -second row of banana plants he felt sure he had caught the low murmur of -voices. - -Strangely enough, at this moment when he crouched there, nerves tense, -eyes and ears alert, watching for the mysterious unknown ones, there -flashed before his mind the picture of a short stout white man standing -at the foot of a dock. He had seen that man only the day before. - -There was a mystery about that man. Who was he? Whence had he come and -how? No steamers had arrived from the States. Yet he was unmistakably -American. His clothes were well tailored. He had the air of one who is -prosperous and who finds himself often in a position of authority. What -could be his business in Central America? - -The first time Johnny had seen him he had been standing at the foot of -the dock. - -"For all the world as if some strange magic had sent him, bone dry and -all spick and span right up out of the sea," the boy told himself. - -This mysterious American had gone directly to the office of Diaz. When he -left that office a half hour later Diaz had accompanied him as far as the -door. There had been a smile on the crafty Spaniard's face; not the sort -of smile one loves to see. - -"That smile," Johnny now told himself, "should have been enough to warn -me." - -There was a rumor afloat that the prosperous looking American was some -high official of the Fruit Company. - -"If that is true, he may be behind my defeat," he told himself. "But one -never can tell. I--" - -He paused. His heart skipped a beat. From close at hand there sounded a -heavy footstep. - -"Diaz's men," he thought, slipping his machete half out of its scabbard. -"They'll find I can fight if that must be." - -The next instant a figure loomed before him, a great black giant with the -face of a south sea cannibal, and a smile--well, such a smile as one sees -only in tropical lands. - -As the man saw Johnny, he turned half about to speak to some one behind -him. The language he used was strange to the boy. - -"Two of them," he thought. - -But somehow his fear was gone. That smile was disarming. The next instant -Johnny smiled. He laughed out loud, then leaped to his feet to stretch -forth both hands in greeting. For the person who moved up to a position -beside the towering black Indian was none other than Madge Kennedy. - -"How, how did you find me?" Johnny exclaimed when greetings had been -exchanged. - -Madge turned to the Carib. "These people who have lived here always know -everything. He brought me here. But why did you hide?" - -"I didn't, exactly. I came here to get the truth. Having gotten it, I -remained to digest it?" - -"Did you enjoy it?" - -"Not exactly." His tone was dubious. "I suppose you know I've played my -last card, and lost?" - -"I--I guessed it. I'm sorry." - -The girl's tone was deep and mellow, like the low note of a cello. - -"So am I," said Johnny, "but only sorry for you, you and your wonderful -old grandfather." - -"For us?" She let forth a merry little laugh. "We shall get on, one way -or another. One always does down here you know." - -"It is rather bad, though," she admitted, sitting down upon the ground. -"You see--" - -She paused to glance away at the sun. Where the sun should have been, -there was no sun, only a dull, veiled sky. Her brow wrinkled, but she did -not comment upon it. - -"It is bad," she went on. "We may have to sell the orchard." - -"Sell the orchard!" Johnny was surprised. "To whom?" - -"Diaz." She leaned far forward as she answered. "He wishes to buy it. -That was what he and grandfather were talking about when you came the -other night." - -"Diaz!" Johnny took in a long breath. The picture of the stout, -prosperous American and the crafty Spaniard passed before him. "So that's -his game," he thought. "He's got Kennedy in a hole. The sale of his -grapefruit would let him out. Diaz is determined to block the shipment, -and is in the position to do it. The scoundrel!" - -"The Spaniards down here don't love us, the English and Scotch, too -much," Madge Kennedy went on. "The trouble goes clear back to the days of -buccaneers and the Spanish Main. The English and Scotch logwood gatherers -drove the Spaniards from the mouth of the Belize River. They have never -forgiven us. - -"Oh yes," she laughed, "they trade with us when there is a profit to be -made, but after all their knife is always near our throats. Diaz thinks -he has us and he means to do his worst. - -"I suppose," she said, "we'll have to sell to the Spaniards. It will -break grandfather's heart. He wouldn't mind if it went to a fellow -countryman. - -"You know," she reminisced, "that's been our land longer than I can -remember, much longer. It's our home. Don't you see, Johnny? It's the -only home I've ever known. You don't like to see your home sold to some -one you don't like, do you? Your home is part of you. When you sell it, -you sell part of yourself. - -"It would have been all right if it hadn't been for the Panama disease. -Our land was all in bananas then, and grandfather was getting rich. We -had bananas like these." She spread her arms wide. "Better than these. -Then the disease came. Plants wilted like flowers before a hot wind. It -wasn't long before there were no bananas. Along the Stann Creek railroad -they used to gather twenty-five thousand bunches a week. Now they don't -get twenty-five hundred." She sighed. - -"Grandfather was cheerful even then. He always will be. He's a sport, a -great big good sport with a soul." The tones of her voice grew mellow and -deep. - -"He planted grapefruit. You know the rest. And now, now I guess we--" Her -voice broke. "I guess we're done." - -Suddenly Johnny sprang to his feet. There came a roar as of rushing -water. - -"Look! Only look!" There was awe in Johnny's voice. - -Madge turned pale. The top of a palm tree, left for some unknown reason -to grow among the bananas, was writhing and twisting as if in mortal -agony. - -At the same instant the entire broad sweep of banana plants moved forward -to bow low as if in obeisance to some god and, caught by a terrific -onrush of air, the three of them, Johnny, Madge Kennedy and the Indian, -were thrown in a heap against a stump. - -Madge scrambled to her knees, rubbed her eyes, stared away at the sky, -then said in a tense, scarcely audible whisper: - -"May God protect us! It is to be a tornado!" - - - - - CHAPTER XII - DESTRUCTION - - -Banana land is never fully cleared before planting. Great giants of the -forest, mahogany, nargusta, black tamarind, Santa Maria, and many other -great trees are girdled and left standing to rattle their dry and -leafless limbs like bones on a gibbet to every wind that blows. In the -time of a great wind such as often sweeps across the Caribbean Sea, dead -limbs of girdled trees and the ponderous fronds of palms come crashing -down upon the less stalwart banana plants. - -It was on such a half cleared plantation that Johnny Thompson, Madge -Kennedy and the giant black Carib Indian found themselves when the storm -came tearing in from the sea. - -That they were in a tight place Johnny knew right well. He had heard of -these tropical storms. Many an old timer had told him of braving them -upon sea and land. Travelers in this land are told in awed tones strange -tales of terrific gales. - -Johnny shuddered as he heard the crack and crash of giant trees torn and -tortured by the wind. - -"What shall we do?" he said to the girl. "Can we get out of this?" - -"No." She spoke slowly, deliberately, as one may who knows her land and -its storms. "The tossing banana plants will shut off the roads. Some will -fall, blocking the way. The wind will increase in violence. The storm -will last for hours." - -"Then we must find shelter." - -"Yes." - -"But where?" - -The girl shook her head. "I don't know." As if determined to destroy -them, the palm sent a second discarded frond sailing toward them. It fell -with a crash that brought down a dozen banana plants with it. - -Madge shuddered. - -The currents of winds above them seemed greater than those that agitated -the banana plants just over their heads. Great dead trees writhed and -tossed as if in terrible agony, while from here and there at a distance -there came the crash of one that had been broken off or uprooted. - -Of a sudden the force of the winds appeared to double in volume. At the -same instant Johnny saw a great black mass come leaping toward him. -Powerless to move or speak for a second, he saw the thing leap straight -at him. Giving up hope, he shut his eyes. - -There came a deafening crash. A sharp quick cut across the face brought -him to himself. He leaped to his feet. The wind caught him and threw him -violently. His senses reeled. The thing was too monstrous. What had -happened? His face was bleeding. He did not feel it. His senses were -benumbed. - -"I must act!" he told himself savagely. "Something must be done. There is -the girl." - -He had succeeded in coming back into control of his senses when something -hurtled past him. - -"It's the Carib," he told himself. "No, the girl!" He had caught the -flash of her blue dress. - -"It is the Carib and the girl." He realized that the aged black giant had -seized the girl in his arms and was battling his way straight into the -teeth of the storm. - -"What can he hope to do?" he asked himself as, first on hands and knees, -then crouching low, on his feet, he struggled forward in their wake. - -Dimly, he became conscious of the thing that had happened. A great -sapodilla tree, uprooted by the storm, had pitched straight at them. - -"Ten feet nearer and we would have been killed," he thought. "That's the -black bulk that leaped at us." - -The thing the Carib was doing puzzled him. He was fighting his way over -broken branches and beneath threatening trees. At last, finding himself -at a branchless trunk, and seeing his way blocked by a tangled mass of -vegetation, he held the girl in one arm while, apelike, he climbed to the -prostrate trunk, then against the terrific force of the gale battled his -way to the shelter of the roots of the giant tree. - -"What strength!" thought Johnny. "What magnificent power!" - -He was content to creep the length of the log, to come up panting beside -them. Not a word was said. The din about them was deafening. The howl of -the wind, the crash of breaking, falling limbs, the groan of tortured -trees, all this was enough to inspire silent awe. - -A moment they rested here. A moment only. Then, at the Carib's sign, they -slid off the log to battle their way around the up-ended roots. - -Johnny saw the Carib suddenly disappear. He saw a chasm yawning before -him; saw the girl leap. He followed her, landing with a shock that set -his teeth rattling, then became conscious of the fact that the storm was -not cracking about his ears. - -"Storm cellar provided by nature," he thought. It was true. The chasm -left by the tree roots was ten feet deep. - -"Gabriel thought of it," said Madge. "It is his country. He is very old. -He always knows the right thing to do. Isn't it grand?" - -Johnny thought it a little more than grand. - -"We British and you Americans," she said slowly, "think we are very -smart. We know many things. But the natives of other lands, they know -many useful things that we never dreamed of. - -"But you are hurt. Your face--it is bloody." Her eyes grew suddenly -large. - -"No, I guess not. Nothing much. It must have been the branch of that -fallen tree. Lucky it didn't kill us all." - -The wound, little more than a deep scratch, was soon dressed. Then, -against the sheltered side of the "storm cellar" left by the tree roots, -they sat down to patiently await the passing of the storm. - -"Getting worse. Listen!" Johnny whispered as the wind whipped the dead -branches with increasing fury. - -The girl shuddered. "The bananas," she said. "They will all be down. -Ruined. The whole plantation. There will be no more for nine months." - -"Then it's the end of our plans." - -"I am afraid so." - -"Anyway, Diaz had us blocked." - -"Perhaps." - -"Did you ever think," the girl said after a while, "that even had you -succeeded in loading the bananas and grapefruit you might have been worse -off than before?" - -"Why? The ship's all right. Isn't she?" - -"Yes, but at the other end? Did you never think that an organization like -the Fruit Company, powerful enough to control the purchasing of all fruit -of Central America, could control the selling market as well. Do you -think a big commission merchant would dare purchase your load of bananas -and grapefruit? Could you deliver to him regularly? You couldn't. What -could he do if the powerful Fruit Company should refuse to sell to him -because he bought from you? Not a thing." - -Johnny was stunned. He had not thought of this. - -"So you see," said the girl in a very quiet tone, "while it was brave and -generous of you to try to help grandfather and--and me, after all it was -just as well that nature and Spanish trickery took a hand." - -"I'm not so sure," said Johnny grimly. "I'd like to have the chance at -it, even now. I'd risk it. I--why, I'd hunt up my old friend Tony, the -push-cart man, if necessary, and I'd say, 'Tony, I have a ship load of -fruit at half price down at the dock. Go tell your pals.' - -"In a half hour's time there would be a mile of push-carts coming my way. - -"But now," he said slowly, almost despondently, "this is the end." - -In this he was mistaken. It was scarcely the beginning of what was to -prove a thrilling adventure. "The _North Star_!" he exclaimed suddenly. -"She was tied to the dock. What will happen to her?" - -Since the girl did not know the answer, she did not reply. - -A moment later, the Carib crept up the bank of the pit to disappear into -the storm. Ten minutes later, when he reappeared, his jacket was filled -with cocoanuts. - -"Food and drink," smiled Madge. "We shall not fare so badly in our cave, -after all." - -Still the wind raged on. Rain came and with it night. - -A great flat boulder, turned half over by the uprooted tree, left a sort -of narrow grotto with a stone floor. By crowding well back into this -grotto, Johnny and the girl were able to escape the terrific downpour of -rain. The Carib, who minded a wetting about as much as a duck, sat -chuckling to himself beneath the tree's great roots. - -For a time the girl and the boy talked of many things, of their homes, of -their native lands, of strange customs and stranger laws, of the sea and -of the land. - -The conversation turned to chicle gathering. Then it was that Johnny told -of his friend Pant, how he had found his long lost grandfather and how -they were, beyond doubt, at that very moment gathering chicle in the -forest around Rio de Grande. - -"The Rio de Grande!" exclaimed the girl. "Diaz gathers chicle there. He -will stop them if he can." - -"Diaz!" came from Johnny. "He has a hand in everything down here!" - -"By the way," he said a moment later, "I have a queer sort of message -from my pal here in my pocket. It's all done in figures and signs. How he -could expect me to read it is more than I know. And yet, somehow I feel -that it must be important." - -"Perhaps I can help you. Let me see it." - -Johnny drew the crumpled bit of paper from his pocket, smoothed it out on -his knee, then gave it to the girl. - -By the light of a tiny flashlight, which Johnny always carried, she -studied it for a full three minutes. - -"That is queer," she said at last, twisting her brow into a puzzled -frown. "But somehow it seems easy enough if only one knew how to begin." - -For three minutes longer, as the wind sang across the top of their grotto -and the rain came dashing down, she studied that bit of paper. Then of a -sudden she asked: - -"Johnny, how does your friend end his notes to you?" - -"Why," said Johnny thoughtfully, "he hasn't written me many. Near as I -can recall, when he comes to the end he just stops." - -The girl's laugh rang out high and clear. - -"I mean does he say, 'Yours truly,' 'Your pal,' or something like that?" - -"No." Johnny's answer was prompt. "He always says 'Good luck--Pant.'" - -"That's it!" The girl gave a sudden excited jump that brought a shower of -small rocks down from above. "That's it! See! Now we are making progress. -See! This hyphen stands for g. Those two nines for double o, percentage -sign for d, and so on. I know now. This was written on a typewriter, one -of the little portable kind." - -"Oh!" said Johnny, beginning to see the light. "What a chump I am. Can -you make it out?" - -"I think I can," she cried excitedly. - -"Read it," said Johnny. - -"I can't just yet. Let me think. Your typewriter is one of those small -portable affairs that fold over and fit into a black case, isn't it?" - -"Yes." - -"Let me think. I learned the touch system on one of those. Let me feel it -out. Got a pencil?" - -Johnny produced a stub of what had once been a pencil. - -Turning the note over, the girl began drumming on it with all her -fingers. - -"As if she were playing a piano," thought Johnny. - -"There!" She put down a figure. "And there!" she set down a sign. - -So at last she filled the back of the sheet with figures and signs. - -"Now we can do it," she said at last. "It's all quite simple." - -"It would seem so," said Johnny skeptically. - -"It really is, only you must know the position of numbers, letters and -signs on your typewriter keyboard. If you had studied it out before your -typewriter it would have been simple in the extreme. - -"Your typewriter has three shifts; one for letters, one for capitals and -one for figures and signs. The thing Pant did was to lock his machine for -figures and signs, then write his note as if the machine were set for -letters. Now I have worked out the location of letters, figures and signs -by memory and the touch system, it will be very simple. The figure 5 -stands for t, the percent sign for d, and so on." - -For a little time longer she studied. Then on a second scrap of paper she -wrote the following, which was Pant's note to Johnny, written many days -previous: - - Johnny: - - The map is gone. The Spaniards have it. I am going into the jungle - after it. I will get it, never fear. Look out for a Spaniard named - Diaz. He is a Devil. Never trust nor believe him for a moment. - - Good Luck, - - Pant. - -"So that was it," Johnny said thoughtfully. "They stole his chart. I only -hope he got it back." - -Then after a time, "Well, I wish you had seen that note sooner. I did -trust Diaz. I did believe him. That was a great mistake." - -Still the wind howled and the rain came beating down upon a plantation -where thousands of banana stalks lay on the ground. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - A THOUSAND PEARLS - - -Pant's knees trembled a little as his feet splashed in that bubbling -stream that coursed its way through the dreadful Maya cave. It had been -strange, the entering of this supposedly haunted cave, with companions. -How much more awe inspiring to be entering it alone! - -He wondered about those companions of that other adventure. Who was this -son of a rich man? What had brought him into the jungle? Where was he -now? - -As these and many other questions crowded his mind, he made his way -cautiously through the outer passages to find himself standing once more -on the shore of that curious inland lake which had filled their minds -with curiosity on that other visit and so inspired them with fear. - -He found everything as it had been. The placid surface, sending back a -glowing reflection of his light, broke into a thousand ripples as he -waded knee deep in its icy waters. - -"Clear," was his mental comment. "Can see my toes. What a marvelous -reservoir for supplying a city's drinking water! What a pity there is no -city near!" - -He had waded back to the glistening sands of the beach when, of a sudden, -he found his being vibrant to a great expectancy. - -"What can it be?" he asked himself. Instantly the answer came. - -"The canoe! The canoe on the shore," he told himself. Strange how one's -nervous system responds to outer things that his mind does not recall. - -"But of course," he assured himself as he neared the spot, "the thing -won't give me the shock it once did. We know now that it has been there -for two hundred years. - -"But wha--" - -His gaze covered a space far in advance of him, many yards beyond the -spot where the canoe had stood. - -"Gone!" he muttered, stopping dead in his tracks. "The canoe is gone!" - -Who can say which shock was the greater, the first sudden discovery of -the canoe that other time, resting on the beach of this underground lake, -or the present astonishing revelation that had come to him? - -For a moment he experienced great difficulty in restraining his feet. -They appeared ready to carry him back to the entrance. Something within -him, an echo of the ancient superstition of his ancestors perhaps, seemed -to be insisting that after all this cave was haunted by the spirits of -beings who perished long ago and it was they who had ridden away in the -mysterious canoe. - -For a moment he wavered. Then reason triumphed. "It was Kirk," he told -himself. "He has returned with his giant Carib, and for some reason or -another has rowed the canoe to some other part of the lake. - -"Only question is, would the thing float after all these years? - -"Perhaps," he thought, "they did not row it away. That giant of his may -have put it on his back and carried it outside. What a treasure for some -museum of antiquity!" - -The thought that some one had been in the cave since he left it was -disturbing. Could it be that Kirk and his Carib, or whoever it may have -been, had made a thorough search of the place and had carried away the -box of beaten silver. - -His heart sank at the thought and he hurried on, reproaching himself for -having waited so long before returning. - -Yet he had been needed every moment at the chicle camp. It was a great -season. The trees were prime, the rainfall abundant. He and his -grandfather, with the faithful Caribs, had been working day and night. -One long, low, palm-thatched shed was already piled high with bricks of -chicle. - -"By and by the season will end, then we will have won," he told himself -not realizing that the chicleros' battle is never won until his bricks of -chicle are aboard a steamer bound for the United States. Then, and not -till then, are his worries at an end. - -Pant had dared snatch a day for this adventure. And here he was. Hope -vied with fear for a place in his heart as he hurried over the sand -toward the entrance to the treasure chamber that might yield a great -fortune or offer blank and broken walls to his eager searching gaze. - -He climbed the water washed rocks with his heart thumping lustily against -his ribs. He entered the small chamber above with the feeling of one who -enters some ancient temple at night. - -With one quick swing he swept the walls with his keen eyes, then with a -low murmured, "Gone!" he sank upon the wet rocks. - -Courage and hope conquered disappointment. Rising to his feet, he found -himself ready for a more thorough search. - -Back behind a tumbled pile of broken bits of rock, thrown in a heap by -the earthquake, he caught the dull gleam of some object that was not -rock. - -With breathless eagerness he attacked the jagged pile. Ten minutes later, -with a cry of triumph on his lips, he lifted the beaten silver box from -its hiding place. - -"Strange!" he murmured. "Still locked. Scarcely a dent in it." - -Holding it before him, he shook it vigorously. A rattling sound was the -response. His heart raced wildly. - -Mopping the perspiration from his brow, he began studying the fastenings -that held the cover to its place. There were seven of these. Six were -mere clasps that lifted in response to a pry of his clasp knife blade. -The seventh, a true lock, resisted vigorously. A sharp blow from the -small axe that hung from his belt, severed this and the lid flew up, to -reveal such a glistening nest of pink, blue and white pearls as is given -to few eyes to see. - -"Pearls!" he murmured, scarcely daring to believe his eyes. "A thousand -pearls. A king's ransom!" - -Then chancing to remember a story he had read as a small boy, he said, "I -wonder if they will turn to rough stones and worthless leaves when I -reach the sunlight." - -This thought troubled him little. The pearls were real enough. Once the -six clasps were back in their places, he felt sure enough of being able -to bring the box and its contents to the light of day. - -"But when I have done this," he thought to himself, "to whom will they -belong? To me?" - -This problem he considered long and earnestly. The land on which he had -found this treasure was wild and rough. No one laid claim to it. But -there was the story of the first Don and his beaten silver box of pearls. -Was this the box? Were these the pearls? Did they belong by direct -inheritance to that last of the Dons who lived now at the foot of the -mountain? - -"Seems probable," he told himself. "But after all," he concluded, "the -real question now is not their ownership, but how are they to be brought -safely from this heart of a jungle to the centers of civilization where a -thousand pearls may be offered for sale in safety and with a reasonable -hope that one may find a buyer. The old Don could never do this. It must -be my task." - -Having come to this conclusion, he bound the box in a stout brown canvas -bag he had brought for the purpose, then began retracing his steps over -the way that led to the outer air and sunshine. - -Hugging the treasure, he made his way into the chamber of the underground -lake. Many and strange were the sensations that passed over him. At times -he seemed to hear the cry of terror that escaped the giant Carib's lips -as his mind became possessed with fear for the earth god of the Mayas. -Unconsciously he found himself looking back, as if expecting to be -followed and overtaken by some unseen force that would wrest the treasure -from him. Such was the spell of the Maya cave. - -At times he fancied that the earth beneath his feet was beginning to -tremble and shudder as once it had. He redoubled his speed. But in the -end, he knew that this was pure fancy. The water that glimmered at his -side was as still as a forest pool at midnight. - -He fell to wondering about the canoe that had stood so long by the -water's brink. "Who can have been here? Who could have taken it?" he -asked himself. - -As he asked himself this question, his foot struck some object that, in -the silence of the cave, gave off a dry and hollow sound. Leaping back, -he threw his flashlight upon the spot. - -"A paddle," he murmured, "from the ancient boat." - -"Strange they didn't take that with them," he thought after a moment -spent in examining it. "Oh well, since they did not, I will. It is -elaborately carved and mounted with metal. Looks like gold. A splendid -keepsake." - -Having picked up the paddle, he threw the light of his torch about him in -every direction. Off to the right, further up from the beach, some other -object cast dark shadows on the sand. An exclamation escaped his lips as -he came close to it. - -"A broken bit of a canoe!" he whispered. - -Then like a flash it all came to him. "No one has been here," he told -himself. "The canoe has not been carried away. It was wrecked by the -great wave caused by the earthquake." - -For a moment he stood gazing upon the bit of ancient wreckage. Then, -suddenly realizing that it was growing late, that it was already dark -outside the cave, he hurried on. - -Darkness had indeed fallen when he reached the outer world of the jungle. -This did not trouble him much. He had flashlights and a lantern. There -was a trail leading directly to their camp. He would be there in two -hours. - -"And then," he thought, "what am I to do with this box of pearls? There -are men enough in this wild land who would split my head open for much -less than this. They must not know." - -As he made his way through the underbrush, now listening to the distant -bark of a crocodile and now catching the puh-puh-puh of a jaguar, he -pondered the problem of concealing the treasure and of bringing it safely -to the outside world. - -At last he hit upon what seemed a brilliant idea. The box was the shape -of a brick of chicle, only smaller. When he got to camp he would stuff -the box with dried palm leaves so it would not rattle, then he would wrap -it round and round with other palm leaves. - -Having done this, he would remove one of the two bricks of chicle in a -gunnysack beneath the storing shed and put in its place the beaten silver -box. - -"I will mark that sack with a bit of green thread woven in and out of the -rough fibre. It will be safe enough until I can decide what to do with -it. Does it belong to me, or to the old Don? Guess I better talk it over -with my grandfather. He will know what is right." - -When he arrived at camp he found everyone asleep but one Carib watchman. -As soon as he made himself known to the watchman, he inquired for his -grandfather only to learn that at present his grandfather was away, but -was expected back in the morning. - -When, an hour later, he lay down to rest, the beaten silver box with its -priceless contents lay in a coarse gunnysack beside a brick of chicle -worth fifty cents a pound. And about it, above, below, on every side were -other sacks of chicle. - -"I must not let it get out of my sight," he told himself. "I must--" At -that he fell asleep. - -The journey of the day had been long, his curious experience exhausting. -He slept well; too well. When he awoke, the sunlight sifting down through -the palm leaves shone upon his face. - -His first waking thought was of the beaten silver box. Hurrying into his -clothes, he fairly raced to the storing shed. There his eyes fell upon -that which left him standing motionless, speechless, struck dumb, -paralyzed with fear. - -"Gone!" he whispered feebly at last. "The whole pile of chicle at that -end is gone, and the silver box with it!" - -"The chicle is gone!" he exclaimed to his grandfather a moment later when -that old gentleman came into the shed. - -"Yes," his grandfather smiled. "Monago and his band of Caribs came in -with me at dawn from the north corner of the tract for some supplies. I -sent them with four pit-pan loads of chicle down the river. They will -bring up supplies. The chicle will be shipped at once. I received word -yesterday that the chicle supply was short and that ours should be rushed -through to meet the demand." - -"Gone!" the boy whispered as he crept away for a few moments of quiet -thought. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL - - -The end of the storm that had trapped Johnny and Madge Kennedy in the -heart of a great banana plantation came suddenly. Clouds went racing. The -wind fell. The moon shone again in all its golden glory. It looked down -upon a scene of unmatched destruction. - -Creeping from their place of refuge which had all but become a pool, they -allowed their eyes to sweep the devastated fields. - -"It's the end; no doubt of it," said Johnny. - -"Looks like the end of the world." There was quiet humor in the girl's -tone. - -Strange and weird indeed was the scene that confronted them. A palm, its -tough stem wrung and twisted by the storm, stood with its fronds hanging -down like a nun in prayer. The broken trunks of massive dead trees reared -themselves toward the sky. Everywhere the banana plants, which but a few -hours before had stood so proudly aloft, now lay flat. - -"A hundred thousand bunches," the boy murmured. "And now all gone. What a -loss!" - -"All gone. I wonder," he murmured as he lifted the topmost plant from off -a heap of its fellows. The bunch he cut away with his machete was ready -for shipment, and perfect. - -"Not a bruise," he said aloud. "Not a banana missing. The plants beneath -it formed a pad to ease it down. There must be others, hundreds, -thousands, perhaps twenty thousand." - -"Here we have bananas!" he exclaimed, turning to Madge Kennedy. - -"But they are not ours." - -"May as well be. We should be able to buy them. The Fruit Company's boat -will not dock for ten days or two weeks. By that time they will be -worthless. Come on, let's hurry back to the port." - -"Diaz won't let you take them." - -"That's right," he admitted in sudden despondency. "Of course he won't." - -"And yet, I wonder if he'd dare refuse?" he said to himself. "He would -not be serving the best interests of his master if he did not sell them -to us at a salvage price." - -He thought of the wary Spaniard's visit to Kennedy's home, and of his -offer to buy the grapefruit orchard; thought too of the -prosperous-looking American he had seen at the foot of the Porte Zelaya -dock. - -"Wonder if I will ever see that short, stout American again?" he thought. -"They say he left yesterday morning." - -The answer to this last question, though he could not know it yet, was a -decided yes. He was to meet that mysterious American again under very -unusual circumstances. A strange break of fate had predestined them to be -thrown together for many days. - -As he followed the unerring guidance of the Carib Indian through the maze -of fallen trees and destroyed banana plants back toward the port, his -thoughts were gloomy indeed. The glory of the tropical moonlight seemed -to mock him. Every black mass of twisted banana plants seemed a funeral -pile on which his dead hopes were to be burned. - -"Fate treats one strangely at times," he told himself. - -So it seemed. He had been endeavoring to assist a very worthy, aged and -needy man, one who had given all his life to others. This man had fought -for his country, fearlessly at the front of his command, yet he refused -the honor of being called "Captain." - -The World War was not the only one in which he had fought. Time and again -the need of his humble fellow countrymen, the black Caribs whose fathers -and mothers had been Indians and negro slaves, had called him to his -duty, and he had gone. - -On one occasion, during the terrible yellow-fever plague, he had toiled -days without end, burying the Carib dead and caring for the stricken ones -until the hand of the dread enemy was stayed. - -"Not a native in all Stann Creek district but knows and loves him," -Johnny told himself. "And now, in his old age, when he truly needs a lift -and we try to help him, see how things come out! We are blocked by a -scheming Spaniard who never fought for any country, nor for the good of -any person beside himself. He probably never had an unselfish thought in -the whole of his life." - -His thoughts were gloomy enough. But, after climbing over many -obstructions and wading numerous small, swollen streams, he began to -reason with himself. What was this "Fate" he was always thinking of? Was -it the great Creator, or was it some other being? - -As he looked away at the golden moon, a line of poetry came to him. - - "God's in His Heaven, - All's right with the world." - -"I wonder?" he thought. Then, "How absurd! Of course it's true. Somehow -there must still be a way." - -His first visible justification of this faith came to him the moment he -stepped inside the dock office. There, snugly sleeping on a couch in the -corner, was a slender, dark-skinned child whose black eyelashes were long -and lovely. And there, pacing the floor before her, was her father, the -great plantation owner. - -"Don del Valle!" the boy exclaimed. He could scarcely believe his eyes. - -"Yes, Senor Johnny Thompson." The man's tone seemed austere. - -"I--I am truly sorry that your crop has been ruined," said the boy. - -"And I, sir, am disappointed in you, disappointed that you should have -taken advantage of my endeavor to deal generously with you." - -"How--how--I--" the boy stammered. - -"Excuses are unnecessary. You told me you had a ship. Where is that ship? -You said you would take twenty thousand bunches. Where are they? Are they -on the ship? They are there." He waved his hand toward the devastated -plantation. - -Johnny's head whirled. What was this--more treachery? - -"Our boat," he said in as quiet a tone as he could command, "was at your -dock three days. In such a storm you could not expect her to hold to her -moorings. Where is she now? Who knows? Perhaps at the bottom of the sea. -The reason she left without a cargo was that your manager, Senor Diaz, -would not supply it." - -"Is this true?" The dark eyes of the Honduran capitalist bored him -through and through. - -"Ask any workman on the dock or in the village. If he has not been -corrupted by a scoundrel, he will tell you it is true." - -Whirling about, the man shot a few sharp questioning words in Spanish to -a boy who sat half asleep in the corner. - -Starting up, the boy answered rapidly. - -"He says," Don del Valle turned slowly about, "that all you have told me -is the truth. It is my honor to beg your most humble pardon. You have -been badly treated. Ask me some favor and I will grant it." - -Johnny's heart beat fast. His mind worked like some speeding mechanism. - -"Shall I?" he asked himself. "I will." - -"In the name of one who deserves much, our friend Donald Kennedy, I shall -ask one favor." - -"Ask it." - -"That you sell me the crop of bananas on this plantation." - -"They are worthless. The storm has ruined them." - -"Not all. There is still a ship load of good ones." - -"How can I grant such a request? I am under contract to deliver these -bananas to the Fruit Company." - -"No contract," Johnny's voice vibrated with earnestness, "stands before -an act of God. The storm was an act of God. No Fruit Company's ship will -be here within ten days. By that time it will be too late." - -"You are right. Your request is granted. To-morrow I will send my men -into the field." - -"By your leave," said Johnny quickly, "I will buy them as they are in the -field. I will gather and load them myself." - -The owner gave him a piercing look, then having recalled Johnny's past -experience, he said slowly: - -"Very well. This also is granted. You may use my equipment. Ten cents a -bunch in the field, a salvage price." - -There was a slight move at the door. Together they turned to look. There -stood Diaz. His white face showed that he had heard much, understood all. - -Don del Valle pointed a finger of accusation and scorn at him. - -He vanished into the dark. His plotting was not at an end, however. He -went directly to a long shed where many men, beachcombers, longshoremen, -chicleros and banana gatherers, were sleeping. There he began to sow the -seeds of a hasty revolution and a wild demonstration against the hated -white men, which was destined once more to threaten disaster to Johnny -Thompson's plans. - -Early that morning one might have found Johnny alone at the edge of the -banana plantation. To one unaccustomed to Johnny's ways, his actions -might have seemed strange. Was he taking his daily dozen? Perhaps, but -surely they were a queer dozen. - -If you know Johnny at all you are aware of the fact that he is a skillful -boxer. But down there in the tropics bare hands avail little. Johnny was -not shadow boxing. The thing he was doing was quite different. He was -keeping fit all the same. - -A stout young mahogany tree had sprung up in the midst of the banana -field. From a tough limb of this tree Johnny had suspended a large bunch -of bananas. The top of the bunch was a little higher than Johnny's -shoulders, the tip a foot from the ground. - -Seizing one of two machetes, great long bladed knives like swords, that -lay on the ground, the boy began circling the swinging bunch of bananas -as one might a mortal enemy. Brandishing his machete, he circled this -imaginary enemy three times. Then, as if an opening had appeared, he made -a sudden onslaught that sent green bananas thudding to earth and set the -bunch spinning wildly. - -Then he parried and thrust as an imaginary blade sang close to his head. -Once more, with a lightning-like swing, he sprang in. This time he split -a single banana from end to end and sent the severed halves soaring high. - -He sprang back. No true blade could have inspired greater skill than the -boy displayed before an empty world and without a real adversary. - -The battle ended when with one swift stroke he severed the stem in the -middle and with a sweeping twirl sent it thudding down. - -"Cut his head off!" he chuckled, throwing himself upon the ground to mop -the perspiration from his brow. - -"It's like boxing," he thought, "this great Central American sport of -machete fighting, only--it's different. You feel as if only half of you -were in it." - -As a boxer Johnny was neither right nor left handed. He was ambidextrous. -Therein lay much of his power. How few of us ever learn to use both hands -well. Yet what an advantage comes to those who do. - -"That's the trouble with this machete business," he now thought to -himself. "Only one hand, that's all you use. And yet, why not?" - -He sprang to his feet, selected a second bunch of bananas, hung it on -high, then prepared as before to attack it. This time, however, he -wielded a machete in each hand. - -At first he found it awkward. Once he barely missed cutting his own -wrist. By the time he had demolished three other bunches he felt that he -was making progress and that an ambidextrous fighter with two knives -would have a decided advantage over one who fought with a single blade. - -Johnny, as you may have guessed, was preparing for that moment which he -felt must come sooner or later, when he and Diaz would stand face to face -ready to fight their battle out with the great Central American blade. - -"And when that time comes," he told himself, "it must not find me -unprepared." - - - - - CHAPTER XV - UNSEEN FOES - - -It was night, such a night as only the tropics knows. Night, dead calm, -hot, and no moon. Motionless clouds hanging low, and dark. Such a -darkness as Pant had never before known hung over all. - -Ten feet below him was the sea. He sensed rather than saw it, felt the -long rolling lift of its swells as the Carib sailing boat gently rose and -fell. - -They were a mile out to sea, becalmed. There should be no one near them. -There had been no craft near when darkness fell. In such a calm no boat -could sail, and who would care to row on such a hot, oppressive night? -Yet, strange as it may seem, from time to time he imagined that some -faint sound came drifting in from the black void that engulfed them. - -"It can't be," he told himself. "There was no one near at sunset. There -is no one now. That silver box of pearls has gotten on my nerves. I will -go to sleep and forget it all." - -He did not sleep at once. His mind was filled with many things. His -pursuit of the pit-pan loads of chicle which his grandfather had sent -down the river had been a strenuous one. A pit-pan, the seventy foot -dugout of the Carib country, when manned by a score of expert boatmen, is -a swift river craft. Without giving his grandfather any definite reason -for his sudden departure, he had hired a twelve foot dugout from a native -bushman and had set out in pursuit of the chicle sack that contained his -treasure of pearls in a beaten silver box. For long hours, eating little, -scarcely sleeping at all, he had held on in pursuit. At the end of the -second day his frail craft had shot boldly out into the ocean. There he -met the pit-pans on their return trip. - -For the moment he counted all lost. When they told him that the chicle -had been stowed away aboard a Carib sailing vessel manned by his -grandfather's men and bound for Belize, his spirits rose. An hour later -found him aboard that boat, munching dry casaba bread and talking to the -Caribs between bites. - -He had not told them why he had come, but gave them to understand that he -was to sail to Belize with them. - -"In Belize," he told himself, "before the chicle is brought aboard the -steamer, I will claim my precious bag. It will be time enough to decide -then what the next move shall be. - -"And now here we are becalmed," he thought to himself with a low shudder. - -Strange and terrible things had happened in these waters. They had been -the hunting grounds of buccaneers. As he closed his eyes he seemed to -hear the creaking of windlasses, the heavy breathing of men in the dark, -the boom of cannon, the rattle of muskets, the ring thud of steel. - -"Those days are gone," he told himself, shaking himself free from the -illusion. But were they? Only the year before four black men, who had -engaged to carry two rich traders across the bay, had murdered their -passengers and sailed to some unknown haven with their spoils. - -"Always a little danger down here," he thought. "Revolutions and all -that." - -He rose suddenly on an elbow, to listen intently. Sure as he was a -rational human being, out of that darkness had come a sound. - -With a hand that trembled slightly, he touched a dark form close beside -him. Something there stirred; otherwise there was not a sound. - -"Hist!" His whisper was low and tense. "Not a word! There is some one." - -"Who? Where?" came back still in a whisper. - -"Who knows, Tuan? You listen. Your ears are better than mine." - -"Tish!" came the black-brown man's low expression of appreciation, then -all was silence once more. - -Tuan was one of those Caribs who, somewhere back in the dim distance, had -a black slave for an ancestor. A great gaunt man, he was endowed with the -strength of the black race and the endurance of the red man. A lifetime -in the bush had given him the ear of a jaguar. - -"Tish!" he whispered a moment later. "Truly there came a sound. But who -can it be? Our other schooner is near. They may have put off a dory." - -"But why?" - -"There is no reason." - -Silence once more. A swell larger than those that went before lifted the -boat high, tilted her to a rakish angle, then let her fall. The boom -rattled, the lazy sail flapped. After that the silence was greater than -before. - -To Pant the situation was a trying one. He found himself only a passenger -on a boat chartered by his grandfather. He had no authority here. If he -had, would he awaken the crew? He hardly knew. One does not suspect a -single sound. In the tropics not all who come near are rascals. - -And yet, aboard that schooner, or its mate lying close alongside, was the -gunnysack with the green thread running through it--a rude container for -a rich treasure. - -"If I should lose it now!" His breath came short at the thought. He had -risked his life for a treasure which he somehow felt did not belong to -him, but which, nevertheless, he was now morally bound to preserve. - -Suddenly his thoughts broke short off. - -"There! There!" he whispered hoarsely. - -But Tuan was on his feet. He was striking out at something in the dark. -His eyesight was quite as remarkable as his hearing. - -There came a loud splash. Tuan had not gone overboard, but some one had. - -"We are being boarded," was the thought that shot through the boy's mind -as he struggled to his feet. - -But what was this? There came a second splash, another, and yet another. - -"The chicle!" he exclaimed out loud, unthinking. "They are throwing it -overboard!" The deck was piled high with gunnysacks filled with chicle. -Was the sack of the green thread among them? He had come aboard too late -to know. Were these boarding ruffians Diaz's men, or were they of another -sort? Had they somehow learned of the treasure? Were they after that? - -"How could they know?" he asked himself. - -His head whirled. What was to be done? He took a step forward and -instantly collided with some bulky object. - -At once he found himself grappling with the oily body of a native. Over -and over they rolled on the deck. They bumped first into a heap of -chicle, then into the gunwale. This last appeared to stun his opponent. -Seizing the opportunity, he grasped him by an arm and leg to send him -overboard. - -He caught the call of Tuan, heard the Caribs swarming up from below, -listened for a second to blows that fell all about him; then, finding -himself within a circle of sudden light, staggered backward to fall -clumsily, and to at last pitch backward into the sea. - -He struck out in the direction he hoped was right for the ship. The sea -was warm as dish water. Sharks and crocodiles lurked everywhere. He must -get aboard. - -"And then what?" he asked himself. - -About him sounded cries, calls, blows, signs of wild confusion. Then came -the creak of oarlocks. - -"A dory! Our dory from the other boat. Reinforcements!" Hope arose. - -His hand touched something hard. - -"A bag of chicle," he thought. "Supposing it was the bag of the green -thread." - -The thing was buoyant. Dragging himself upon it, he took time to look -about him. A light flared here, then went out. A torch flamed, shot -upward, circled down, hissed in the water and went out. The circle of a -flashlight revealed four men in deadly embrace. - -"Got to get back. They need me." Having found the direction of the boat, -he swam quickly to it. There, having made his way cautiously about it, -and coming into contact with a dugout that most certainly was not their -own, he capsized and sunk it. - -A little further on his hand gripped a rope. A moment later he was aboard -the schooner again. - -Suddenly a bright light streamed out. Some one had lighted a gas lantern -and hung it high on the mast. - -"That will end it," he thought. - -It did, for him. An iron belaying pin, hurled square at him, took him in -the temple. After that, for several hours, he knew no more. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - IN BATTLE ARRAY - - -At dawn of the day after the hurricane, Don del Valle and his beautiful -black-eyed daughter hastened away in his high powered motor boat. That he -might determine the amount of damage done by the storm, it was necessary -for him to leave for his other plantation at once. Johnny Thompson went -to the wireless station to begin a search in air for the _North Star_ and -her courageous captain. - -"If she has been wrecked, or if she has been carried far by storm, and -the skipper refuses to return, we are lost," he said to Madge Kennedy. - -For an hour he sent out messages. Each moment he became more depressed. -What if the ship had been lost? - -"One more evil happening to be charged against my too impetuous desire to -be of service," he groaned. - -"Let us hope it has not happened," said the girl. "Captain Jorgensen has -sailed these seas for many years. He is hardly the man to lose his -vessel." - -"Good news!" Johnny exclaimed a moment later when he was brought a -message. "The _North Star_ is anchored behind Mutineer's Island, all safe -and sound. I will get off a message instructing them to pull away for our -own dock at once. There we will pick up your crates of grapefruit and a -hundred or so of your Caribs. We will bring them here to gather and load -the bananas. They can be trusted. I put no faith in the half-castes that -swarm about this dock. We have been defeated by them once. Once is enough -for me. - -"Oh, I tell you!" he exclaimed, seizing the girl by the hand and doing a -wild Indian dance across the floor, "we'll win yet!" - -"You forget," said the girl soberly, "that the great, all-powerful -organization, the Fruit Company, may block your sales after you arrive in -New York." - -But Johnny could not be disheartened. The ship was his. The bananas were -his also. He had men to gather and load them. New York and the day of -their arrival were far away. - -"'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,'" he quoted, then hurried -to get off a message to Kennedy. With Kennedy on the job, the grapefruit -would be ready to load, and the Caribs prepared to steam away with them -to the dock here at Porte Zelaya. - -Johnny was soon enough to know that this day's evil was indeed sufficient -unto itself. He had not left the wireless room before bad news arrived. -The giant Carib, who had come in a motor boat to Porte Zelaya, and who -had been with Johnny and Madge in the storm, had been loafing about the -dock with his ears open. Those ears had caught snatches of terrible -things. He told Madge of all this in his native tongue. - -"What is it?" Johnny asked as he saw the look of terror creep into her -eyes. - -"A plot!" She said the words through white, set lips. "That rascal Diaz, -who was discharged from his position as foreman, is plotting to destroy -your plans, and you with them." - -"How? How could he?" - -"He is stirring up a revolution. He is telling the ignorant half-castes -that the white men rule their country, that they have been paid very -little for much hard work, and that now they are to be deprived of that -work altogether, that you are to bring a ship load of Caribs from Stann -Creek to do the work which is rightfully their own." - -"That in part is true," said Johnny. "I wonder if, after all, I am wrong? -Would they do the work if I were to offer it?" - -Madge consulted the Carib. He shook his head and waved his hands in wild -gestures. - -"He says they would not work," interpreted the girl, "that their blood is -hot, that they lust for battle and that they will meet us at the dock -with clubs and machetes--a hundred, two hundred, perhaps three hundred -strong. They want a fight." - -"Very well." Johnny's tone was deep and strong. "They shall have a fight, -if fight there must be. We are within our rights." - -He stepped back to the wireless to send one more message. The message -which went to Kennedy, ran; - -"Have every able-bodied Carib at Stann Creek at the dock, every man -armed." - -Ten minutes later their motor boat was popping, and the dock and low -sheds of Porte Zelaya were fading in the distance. - -When Johnny and Madge, riding on the prow of the motor boat with the -giant Carib at the wheel, rounded a point of land and came in sight of -the dock at Stann Creek, they were given the thrill of their young lives. -The dock was one moving mass of men. - -"The Caribs!" A lump came to the girl's throat. - -"They came," said Johnny. - -"I knew they would. They would do anything for grandfather." - -It was true. The instant Johnny's word from the air had arrived, -messengers had been sent helter-skelter, here, there, everywhere. The -train on the narrow gauge railroad had gone into the bush to return -groaning and creaking with such a load of black and brown humanity as had -never before been seen on the backwaters of Central America. - -Every grown Carib within twenty miles of the dock was there. The instant -the _North Star_ came alongside they swarmed upon the deck. - -The loading of the grapefruit with the aid of so many strong and willing -hands was but the work of a few hours. Then, with a load of humanity -greater than her load of fruit, the ship cast off her moorings and headed -straight for the dock at Porte Zelaya where, Johnny felt sure, there -awaited them a great and terrible battle. - -As the boy walked the deck his eyes shone with joy. Whoever commanded a -stronger, braver, more loyal army than the black throng that, swarming up -the hatches, perched themselves on mast and rigging, forecastle, after -deck and anchor, until there was scarcely space left to move? - -As his eyes swept the deck they lighted with a sudden new joy. They had -fallen upon a figure garbed in a dress of gorgeous golden yellow. The one -white girl of the company, the queen of all the Stann Creek region, had -not deserted them. There, on a coil of rope beside her patriarchal -grandfather, sat Madge Kennedy, smiling her very best. - -"It's great! Great!" Johnny murmured. "And yet--" - -His brow clouded. There was to be a fight. The thing seemed inevitable. -It would be a bloody battle. He knew well enough what these battles -between Caribs and half-castes meant. Once, on the far reaches of the Rio -Hondo, he had witnessed such a battle. It had been a rather terrible -affair. As he closed his eyes now he heard the thwack of mahogany clubs -on unprotected heads, caught the swish of great swinging knives, saw the -agony of hatred and fear on dark faces where blood ran free. - -"I said then I hoped I'd never see another such battle," he told himself, -"and yet here we are driving straight on toward one that promises to be -quite as terrible." - -Before him, sitting astride the rail, was a Carib youth. "Can't be over -eighteen," Johnny mused. - -He had never in his life seen a more cheerful, smiling face. To look at -him, to catch the glint of his eye, the gleam of his white teeth, to see -the rollicking movement of his face, was like viewing a wonderful -waterfall against a glorious sunset. - -Could it be that before this day was done that glorious face might be -still in death? - -For a moment Johnny felt like turning back. What was success, even -success in a righteous cause, when it must be purchased at such a cost? - -"And yet," he reasoned, "we cannot turn back. The right must be defended. -It must always be so. Perhaps there is a way to avert it, but come what -may, we must go on." - -Having arrived at this conclusion, he walked quietly down the deck to -take his place beside Donald Kennedy and his granddaughter. - -For some time they talked in low tones, the man and the boy, and the girl -listened. Little wonder that they talked earnestly. Much was at stake. - -"It might work," said Johnny at last. "Anyway, we'll try it. You can talk -to them in Spanish." - -That was the end of conversation. After that they sat there looking and -listening. From somewhere forward there came the rattle of a banjo, the -tom-tom-tom of a snake-head drum. Aft, the chant of a weird song rose and -fell with the boat. - -"They don't realize they are going to war," said Johnny. - -"That's the pity. They never do," said the girl, shading her eyes to gaze -away at the perfect blue of the lovely Caribbean Sea. - -All too soon the thrum of the banjo ceased, the tom-tom of the drum -became muffled and low. Land, the point of Porte Zelaya, had been -sighted. - -Rising, the girl and the old man made their way along the deck. As they -moved along they spoke in low tones to the men and the men, as if moved -by some magic spell, rose slowly to go shuffling forward or aft, and to -disappear down the hatchways, leaving the decks almost deserted. - -When the _North Star_ came within hailing distance of the dock, which was -swarming with half-castes drawn up in battle array, a little group of -some fifty black Caribs were gathered on the forward deck of the _North -Star_. That was all. Not a pike pole nor machete was in sight. They -seemed only a small group of laborers prepared for a day's work of -gathering and loading bananas. - -A breathless expectancy hung over all the ship as it came in close, -reversed her engines, dropped anchor and stood off the wharf for further -orders. - -The great man of the jungle, Donald Kennedy, tall, stately of bearing, -yet humble, stepped forward to the rail and began to speak in quiet tones -to the throng on the deck. - -At once there arose a terrific shout. - -"Down with the white man! Death to the intruder!" - -These words were shouted in Spanish, but Johnny knew their meaning well -enough. He thrilled and shuddered. Pike poles were tossed in air above -the dock, great knives flashed in the sun, a pistol exploded. What was to -be the end of it all? - -Again came comparative silence. Again the aged man spoke. Patiently, as -if speaking to children, he began. - -Again he was interrupted by cries of; - -"Death! Destruction! Down with the white man!" - -Four times, with steady patience, the great man attempted to make himself -heard. - -At last, realizing the futility of it all, he turned and shouted three -words in the Carib tongue. - -Instantly there came from the black men forward a shout to answer that of -the half-castes on the dock. At the same time, pike-poles and machetes -flashed and four streams of humanity, black and menacing, began pouring -up the hatchways. - -Johnny Thompson thrilled and grew deathly cold at sight of them. They -swarmed up the masts, they filled the deck, they straddled the rail and -crowded the roofs of the cabins. Everywhere weapons gleamed. From every -corner rang the defiant shout of Caribs ready to defend with their lives -the rights of Kennedy, whom they had come to think of as a loyal friend. - -No pirate ship that sailed these waters in days that are gone ever -witnessed a more tremendous and startling demonstration. - -Before it, awed into silence, the mob on the dock fell back, then began -slipping away. One by one they slunk off into the bush. In ten minutes -time not a man was left. A bloodless victory had been won. The field was -theirs. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - PANT'S PROBLEM INCREASES - - -When Pant awoke from many bad dreams, he found himself in a cool and -comfortable bed on shore. A doctor was bending over him. - -"That's fine, old boy," the doctor was saying. "Now you'll do. You got -quite a welt on the head. But your jolly old bean is hard. Never cracked -it a mite." - -"But the treasure box!" Pant exclaimed, still unable to think clearly, or -use caution. "Where is it?" - -"The treasure box? I see you are still a little off in the head. Here, -take this; it will clear you up," said the doctor. - -Pant took the contents of the glass held out to him at a single draught -and without a question. In the meantime his head cleared. He said no more -about the box of pearls, but learned by judicious questioning that the -attacking band had on the night before been driven off with little loss -of men or goods. A few sacks of chicle had drifted away in the night, -that was all. - -"And if one of them has a green thread running through the sack!" he -thought to himself, and was thrown into a near panic. - -"And the schooners?" he asked suddenly. "Where are they?" - -"Got a fair wind and sailed this morning for Belize. Must be there by -now." - -"They'll load the chicle aboard the Torentia?" - -"Naturally." - -"And she sails--" - -"In about twenty-four hours." - -"Doctor!" exclaimed the boy sitting straight up in bed and gripping his -arm hard. "Fix me up someway. I've got to get over to Belize. At once! -Right away, doctor. This very minute!" - -"Well, young fellow," said the doctor, rescuing his arm and putting on a -wry face as he rubbed it vigorously, "you seem to have plenty of -strength. I'll see what I can do." - -A half hour later, a trifle unsteady on his feet, but otherwise quite -himself, Pant was making his way to the water front of Stann Creek, the -port to which he was carried after the battle. He felt the heavy bandages -about his head, blinked at the sunlight, looked this way then that, until -spying what appeared to be a small store just before him, he hurried in. - -"I want a boat," he said to the black proprietor. - -"What kind of a boat?" - -"Any boat that will take me to Belize." - -"No boat go to-day." The man settled back in his corner. - -"You mean they won't go to-day?" The boy's brow wrinkled. - -"No go." - -"Not for any price?" - -"Oh! Special trip, go. Maybe. You got twenty dollars?" - -Pant hesitated. He had twenty dollars and a little change. To part with -it all would seem to be courting disaster. But much was at stake. He -threw all in the balance. - -"Yes, I have twenty dollars. Where is the boat?" - -"Me see." The man held out a hand. Pant showed him two golden eagles. - -"My boat sailing boat. Good boat. Very fast boat. Ready to go, fifteen -minutes." At sight of the gold the man went into action. - -Action on land is one thing. On sea it is quite another. They were half -way up the bay when the wind fell. The sail fell with it, and the boat -stood still in a placid sea. - -For two precious hours the boy with a bruised and aching head lay beneath -a pitiless tropical sun. Then the merciful after dinner breeze came up -and at once they went booming along. - -Nothing can be more delightful than a sail in a Carib boat on the -Caribbean Sea. To lie on deck and sense the lifting glide of the prow, to -feel the cool breeze on your face, to see the water go rippling by, that -is joy indeed. Pant would have enjoyed it to the full had not his mind -been vexed by many questions. Would he reach Belize in time or would the -steamer be gone? Was the chicle sack of the green thread still on the -sailing boat of the night before, or had the marauders carried it away? -If it were still on board, if it went to America and he did not go with -it, what then? Would he recover the treasure? - -"Not a chance," he told himself. "I must have been out of my head to hide -the box in such a place. But now I must see it through. - -"Why must I?" he asked himself, and at once came the answer, "The old -Don." Unconsciously he had come to think of the treasure of pearls as -belonging as much to the aged Don as to himself. And to that man he owed -much. He had, beyond doubt, once saved his grandfather's life. - -They were nearing Belize. The white houses with their red roofs showed in -the distance. And, joy of joys! There to the left was the _Torentia_ -riding at anchor. - -Still there was much to fear. She might at any moment weigh anchor and -put out to sea. - -"And after all," he said to himself, "what am I to do? By this time the -chicle is stowed away. Dare I make a clean breast of my story? I wouldn't -dare trust them. What then? I must go with the ship to New York. But I -have no money. Who is to pay my passage?" Surely here was a situation. - -"I will find a way. I must!" - -And in the end he did. Sailing time was only a half hour off when he -climbed the rope ladder to the deck of the _Torentia_. - -"Hello, brother," said the purser, looking at his bandaged head. "What -revolution did you come from? Did they make you President or only -commander of the navy?" - -"Neither," said Pant with a grin that went far. "I want to go to New -York." - -"Got any money?" - -"No." - -"Can't go." - -"That last shipment of chicle you took on board belonged to my -grandfather. I'll wire him for money in New York." - -"There's lots of broke Americans down here. They've all got rich -relatives." - -"I'll prove it." Sitting down upon the hatch, Pant told things about -Colonel Longstreet that went far to prove that he at least was a boon -companion of the old man. - -"Guess you're square," said the purser at last. "Anyway, I'll take a -chance. Steward will fix you up later." - -By careful inquiry Pant learned that the chicle had been stored beneath -the forward hatch. The hatch was kept open. There were twenty thousand -bunches of bananas on board. They must have air. By leaning far over the -hatch he could see ends of the chicle bags. Was the one he wanted there? - -"Can't be sure," he warned himself. "Too dark down there. Have to get -closer," he said. "Will, too, after a while. See if I don't." - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - TWO BLADE JOHNNY - - -On the dock at Porte Zelaya, the task of loading bananas was at last -progressing. At regular intervals all that long forenoon and well into -the day, the little engine with its string of cars came puffing and -rattling down the narrow gauge track. With its cars groaning under the -great loads of green which it brought, it came to a halt on the dock. -There, in exact imitation of the ants that had entertained Johnny on the -previous day, the barefooted, perspiring Caribs seized upon the precious -fruit, to pass it from hand to hand and store it carefully away in the -hold of the ship. - -Johnny, with an eye out for trouble, was everywhere. Now on the dock, now -on the train and now in the heart of the banana plantation, his keen eye -took in everything. Yet no trouble came. A few disconsolate Spanish -banana workers hung about. Such of these as seemed willing to render -honest service Johnny set to work. - -Dressed in the simplest of garb, cotton shirt, khaki trousers and -high-topped boots, Johnny nevertheless drew forth many a covert smile -from the black Caribs, for he wore at his belt not one machete, but -two--one on either side, and none of the Caribs had ever before seen a -man carry two such weapons. - -The sun was hanging low over the storm wrecked banana plantation, their -task was well nigh completed when Johnny, seeing some straggling young -banana plants growing in a half cleared patch to the right of the track -and believing that here he might find a few superb bunches, hurried away -down a narrow deer trail. - -He had reached the nearest bunch of bananas and was about to cut it down -when something sprang at him. - -His first thought, as his heart went racing and he dropped to earth with -the quickness of a cat, was that he had come close to the lair of a -jaguar. - -This thought was dispelled by the white gleam of a blade. - -"Diaz!" he told himself. "And we are alone. There is to be a battle after -all, a battle, perhaps to the death, with weapons which he has been -familiar with since a child." - -One thought gave him courage as, springing away to the right, fighting -for time to draw a blade, hotly pursued by the panting Spaniard, he -rounded a great mahogany tree. - -Having drawn his right hand blade, he took a stand in a raised spot -offering some slight advantage. - -His crafty opponent did not rush him. Instead he attempted to outmaneuver -him by springing first to right, then to left, to at last completely -circle him. - -"You'll not win by that," thought Johnny as the blood still pounded at -his temples. "That is like boxing." - -This maneuvering gave him time for a few darting thoughts as to how the -affair was to end. If he were killed, what then? He hoped his body might -be found at once. Madge Kennedy would never consent to the ship's -starting without him, dead or alive. That he knew well enough. He wanted -this, his last undertaking, to succeed, wanted it desperately. - -"Somehow I must outmaneuver him," he thought. At once his mind turned to -that extra blade. - -There was no time for drawing it, for of a sudden his opponent, with -blade lifted high, sprang squarely at him. Had Johnny been beneath that -blade when it fell, his skull must have been split. With skill acquired -as a boxer, he leaped away and the machete, slipping from the Spaniard's -unnerved hand, dropped harmless on the moss. - -There was no time for Johnny to seize his opponent's blade. There was -opportunity to draw his left hand blade. Draw it he did. - -The expression on the Spaniard's dark and angry face as he found himself -facing two blades was strange to see. Plainly he was puzzled and -nonplussed. He had fought and beyond doubt done for more than one man -who, like himself, wielded a single machete. But what of this boy who -seemed at home with two? - -He wasted little time in thought, but springing with a twisting glide, he -attempted to throw Johnny off his guard. In this he was not successful. - -For a full quarter of an hour, battling, perspiring, crossing blades, -bending, thrusting, each striving for an advantageous opening, the two -men fought on. - -Then a sudden catastrophe threatened. On stepping backward Johnny caught -his heel in a tie-tie vine that grew low to the ground. The next instant, -with the Spaniard all but on top of him, he went crashing to earth. - -With a look that was terrible to see, the Spaniard aimed what he meant to -be a final blow. - -A hush hung over the jungle. The blade came swinging down. But not too -fast. As if dodging a boxer's blow, Johnny shot his head to one side. -Burying itself a half blade's length in the ooze, the knife struck there. -Nor did it come away when the frantic Spaniard pulled at it. It had -become firmly embedded in the buried stump of a mahogany tree. - -The next instant the Spaniard felt himself lifted bodily in air. Then -with senses reeling he came crashing down. - -When he came to himself he found himself bound hand and foot. After -crashing him to earth, Johnny had made use of the tie-tie vine which had -come near bringing him to his end. With it he had bound his opponent hand -and foot. - -"You villain! You dirty dog!" Johnny hissed in his ear. "I should kill -you. You have no right to live, you who strike when a man is down. But I -will spare you. The ants may crawl over you for a few hours. After that I -will send some one." - -Gathering up three blades, souvenirs of the expedition, he disappeared -into the brush. - -Ten hours later, laden to capacity with the golden harvest of the -tropics, the _North Star_ pointed her prow toward the north, while the -Caribs, now crowded into pit-pans and sailboats, headed for home, lifting -their voices in song-like chants. - -Only one little thing occurred to interrupt the _North Star's_ passage -out of the Caribbean Sea into the open ocean. The evening was calm. They -chanced upon a sailing boat lying becalmed and helpless in the midst of -the sea. On the deck of the boat was a prosperous looking man. Short and -stout, and with a very red face, he looked the part of a very busy man -who thought well of his importance in the world of affairs, and who had -by some chance been caught in an eddy from which he could not well -extricate himself. - -He requested that they take him aboard. - -Johnny told him that he was not sure that coming aboard the steamer would -serve his purpose. The man insisted; in fact he appeared to act as though -he owned the _North Star_. So aboard he came. - -"What boat is this?" he demanded. - -"The _North Star_," said Johnny quietly. - -"When did we charter her?" - -"When did who charter her?" - -"The Fruit Company, of course." The man's tone was overbearing. - -"You didn't." Johnny's tone was still quiet. "I did." - -The man sniffed the air. "Bananas!" he said. "I am President of the Fruit -Company, and in that capacity I demand to know what is the business of -this steamer in these waters." - -Johnny's heart suddenly sprang up into his throat. He tried to speak and -could not. His head whirled. The President of the great corporation here -on board his ship! The very man who had the power to make or break not -alone him, but Kennedy and Madge as well. The thing seemed impossible! - -"F--fruit," he stammered. "She carries fruit. Bananas, and for--forbidden -fruit and--and things like that." - -He knew he was talking like an idiot, but for the life of him he could -not talk sense. Little wonder. He was having his first little chat with a -millionaire, but it was not to be his last. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - THE UNWILLING GUEST - - -"Do you mean to say," said the magnate who had been taken on board the -_North Star_, "that this ship is loaded with bananas from Central -America, and that it is not chartered by our Company?" - -"Bananas and grapefruit." Johnny was gaining control of himself. What if -this were a millionaire? What if it was in his power to make or break -them? He couldn't very well do that before they arrived in New York, and -that metropolis was a long way off. - -"Then, sir," said the capitalist, "you have been trespassing. This is -forbidden cargo." - -"Who forbids it?" - -Without answering the man stared at him for a moment. His next remark was -guarded. - -"You couldn't get a cargo anywhere along the coast without bribing some -one or taking the cargo by force." - -Hot words leaped to Johnny's lips. He was no thief. He had bribed no one. -He left them unsaid. - -Instead, he watched the sailing boat, from which the man had been taken, -fade in the distance. - -"We'll let it stand at that," he said quietly. "In the meantime, where -were you going?" - -"Going from Bacaray to Belize in that worthless sailboat manned by -spotted Caribs. My motor boat was wrecked in the storm. The sail boat was -becalmed, and there we were. Lay there for ten hours." - -"Belize?" Johnny wrinkled his brow. He did not wish to touch at this -capitol of British Honduras. The Fruit Company was strong there. Who -could tell but that fruit inspectors or health inspectors, in sympathy -with the Fruit Company, perhaps bribed by them, would hold his ship off -those shores until his bananas were overripe and ruined. - -"Having him on board makes it worse," he told himself. Again his brow -wrinkled. - -A happy thought struck him. - -"You are planning to stay in Belize for some time?" - -"Going back to New York on our boat the _Arion_. She was to touch at -Belize. Took on her load at Puerte Baras." - -Johnny heaved a sigh of relief. "The _Arion_ sailed six hours ago. It -gives me great pleasure to offer you my stateroom and a passage to New -York." - -Johnny's smile irritated the man. His face turned red. He seemed about to -choke. - -"You--you'll touch at Belize!" he stormed. - -"Belize," said Johnny calmly, "is four hours off our course. We are -headed for the open sea, and eventually for New York. I don't like to -seem pig-headed, nor over important, but we are not going to alter our -course." - -In this he was wrong. He was destined to alter his course in a manner -that was pleasing to no one. - -"You will take me to Belize or I will have you up in the Marine Court." - -"You'll not have much of a case," said Johnny. "You were adrift. We -picked you up at your own request. The law allows us to charge you for -your passage to our own port. We'll pass that up. You may as well make -yourself comfortable. We will dock at New York in good time." - -"A very cold day when you dock in New York with this--" - -The man checked his speech with difficulty, then turning on his heel, -went stamping down the deck. - -He had said enough. Johnny guessed that he had a scorpion on board. - -"When the time comes he'll bite," he told himself. - -For a moment he considered turning about and heading for Belize. This -thought was dismissed in a moment. - -"Won't do it," he told himself shortly. "That would double his chances of -defeating us. If he didn't tie us up in Belize, he'd wire New York and -his entire pack would be upon us. As it is he can't get off a word before -he reaches New York. That gives us a fighting chance." - -"Looks as if Providence was kind in sending him to us," he added. - -He turned and hurried forward to prepare his stateroom for the Unwilling -Guest, and there was a smile on his face. - - * * * * * * * * - -"It really isn't necessary to tell all you know." Kennedy said this in a -friendly drawl, as he sat beside Johnny on the forward deck. Madge -Kennedy was there too. Johnny had persuaded the old man to come along -with him on the _North Star_. "The passage," he had argued, "will cost -you nothing. Captain Jorgensen is coming back for that cargo of cocoanuts -and chicle. He'll be glad to bring you down. You may be able to help me a -lot in disposing of the fruit. Anyway, the trip will do you good." - -So here they were, three good pals, an old man, a young man and a girl. - -Johnny did not reply to Kennedy's remark about not telling all you know. - -"I told a man once the location of a mahogany tract I meant to buy," -Kennedy went on. "It was good mahogany, some of it six feet through, five -thousand feet to the tree. I told that man and he went before me and -bought it. I talked too much then. I've learned better." - -"That Unwilling Guest of yours," he drawled after a time, "that President -of the Fruit Company, has been on board twenty-four hours and has never -showed his head out of his stateroom. Even pays the steward to bring his -meals to him. That right?" - -Johnny nodded. - -"Nice, friendly sort of a millionaire. That right? Perhaps he thinks -we're not worth talking to." - -"Johnny," the old man laid a hand gently on the boy's knee, "any man is -worth talking to--the poorest and most degraded has something to say. If -he can't tell you how to live, he can tell you how _not_ to live, and -that's sometimes most important." - -Leaning forward, he shaded his eyes to scan the horizon. - -Johnny did not so much as wonder what he saw there. The sea was perfectly -calm. Bits of seaweed floated here and there. A seagull skimmed low to -drop like a single feather upon the water, then to rise and float away in -the air. - -Johnny's eyes lingered first upon the sea, then upon the girl, Madge -Kennedy, who sat close beside him. He thought he had never known a finer -girl. Brave and strong, good color, clear eyes, a clearer skin, strong as -a man, yet tender hearted and kind, giving her spare hours to her -grandfather, yet alert and alive to every sport and joy of life, she -seemed worthy of a place in a great drama or a book. - -"That friend of ours," said Kennedy, resuming his seat, "he will come out -of his hole sooner or later. Then he's going to talk. Who will he talk -to? To an old man. That's me. Everyone talks to an old man if he has a -chance. Did you ever notice that, Johnny?" - -"No, I--" - -"Fact, nevertheless. You watch. Natural enough, I guess. When a man gets -old, he loses the burning desire he might have had to become rich or -famous. He gets to feeling that he's about done his bit, and that it -would be nice and pleasant to sit beside the road and give the younger -ones a little advice. Don't you ever forget that, Johnny. When an old man -talks, you listen. It's just as I said, if he can't tell you how to live, -he can tell you how not to live." - -Again he paused to stare at the sky. Wetting a finger, he held it up to -the air. - -"Wind's changed," he muttered to himself. - -"When he comes out," he went on as if he had been talking all the time, -"when this exclusive sort of millionaire President of the Fruit Company -talks, I'm not going to tell him I'm part owner of this cargo. And you -needn't either. That way he'll think me a harmless old man with a fair -young granddaughter, and he may tell me things we need to know. - -"Johnny!" he exclaimed, springing suddenly to his feet. "I think we -better run for it." - -"Ru--run for it," Johnny stammered in astonishment. "Run from what?" - -"The storm." - -"What storm? The sea's calm, smooth as a floor." - -"Can't you see? Can't you smell it?" The old man sniffed the air. "But -then, of course, you wouldn't. Me, I've lived here on this sea always. I -know things in advance. We're going to have a storm, a regular humdinger, -a mahogany splitter, and if we don't run, if we can't convince the -captain we ought to run, I don't know what's to come of us." - -"Look!" said Madge, springing up. "There's a steamer. See the smoke. You -can make her out too." - -Kennedy unslung his binoculars. - -"That," he said after a moment of close scrutiny, "is the _Arion_. She's -the Company's steamer that our Unwilling Guest was to sail on." - -"He'll be all excited if he sees her," said Johnny. - -"Little good it will do him," grumbled Kennedy. "We'll be far enough from -the _Arion_ by night." - -He hurried away to impart his all but miraculous knowledge of the coming -storm to the captain. - -The sea was still calm, though here and there, racing away with the speed -of the wind, like hurried messengers, dark ripples sped across its -surface. It was then that the Unwilling Guest left his stateroom for the -first time. - -Perhaps he was so well accustomed to sea travel that he could guess that -their course had been altered. However that may be, he went at once to -the bridge. There, after studying the instruments for a moment, he turned -an angry face toward the stocky skipper. - -"What sort of course is this for New York," he stormed. "You are not -headed for New York." - -"Maybe not," said the skipper, unperturbed. "Storm's coming. We were due -for the center of it. We're running." - -"Running! And not a ripple!" The magnate's voice was full of scorn. - -As for the sturdy captain, he knew the sea. The scorn of the millionaire -meant nothing to him. Quite unperturbed, he paced the deck and watched -the roll of the storm clouds that mounted higher and higher along the -horizon. - -At the bottom of the companionway the capitalist found Kennedy sitting -placidly looking away at the sea. Like Captain Jorgensen, he had lived -long. One storm more or less did not matter. - -True to Kennedy's prophesy, the rich man sat down beside him and began to -talk. Who can face a storm without a companion? - -"Going to storm, the captain tells me." - -"Yes," rumbled Kennedy. "Be a mighty tough one over there." He poked a -thumb toward the west. "Over there where the _Arion_ is travelling." - -The other man started. "That's our ship." - -"She didn't change her course. Kept straight on. Good ship, though. May -weather it all right." - -"Do you mean to say," the rich man squirmed uneasily in his chair, "that -it will be as bad as that?" - -"Might be--over there." Again Kennedy's thumb jerked. - -The topic of a man's conversation is very frequently determined by his -surroundings and by the events that are transpiring about him. Was it -thought of the storm and what it might mean to him that directed this -rich man's conversation, or was it a casual remark thrown out by the -strange old man who sat beside him? - -"See those two bits of seaweed out yonder, tossing on the waves?" Kennedy -drawled. "Well, supposing one was you and the other me, and there wasn't -any ship. Supposing I had houses and banks and bonds and you were a plain -ordinary seaman with nothing but a chest full of old clothes. Do you -suppose I'd have any better chance with the sea than you? Sort of -strange, isn't it, when you think about it? Makes you feel unimportant -and, and futile, you might say." - -For a long time the man who owned buildings and banks, bonds and many -ships upon the sea did not answer. When he did speak the thoughts he gave -utterance to might not seem to have been an answer, and then again they -might have. - -"Our times," he said in a tone he had not used before, low, well -modulated, modest and slow, "are very strange. Men, many men, most men -perhaps, have come to think of capital as a great monster that always -crushes the weak. - -"But is that true? Take this Central America. It is true that we, the -Fruit Company, have a monopoly of the banana importing business. But what -was Central America before we came? Where miles on miles of bananas grow -there was wilderness. Where naked half-savage people hunted deer and wild -pigs, or sucked the milk from cocoanuts, there now lives a happy, -reasonably prosperous and contented people. Who changed it all? Did not -the Fruit Company do it? - -"I suppose," he said after a moment, "that our young friend, this Johnny -Thompson who has somehow stolen a march on us and gotten hold of a cargo -of fruit, thinks he's a young hero, a benefactor to mankind. I wonder if -he is right." - -"I wonder," rumbled Kennedy. - -Time had been when Kennedy would have engaged this rich man of the world -in sharp debate. He was old now. He had learned the futility of debate. -Besides, he was greatly interested in the approaching storm. - -At midnight Johnny Thompson found himself wrapped in a blanket and lying -upon a plank, endeavoring in vain to snatch a few winks of sleep. - -He found himself now standing almost upright on his feet and now tilted -in the other direction until his very pockets seemed about to turn -wrongside out. - -"Some storm!" he muttered. - -Canvas boomed above him. The seamen had stretched a canvas over the hatch -to keep out the spray. He was lying on that part of the hatch that had -not been uncovered. Having given up his stateroom to the Unwilling Guest, -he had been obliged to take a bunk below. During such a storm as they -were now weathering, the air below was not to be endured. - -Unable to sleep, he allowed his mind to wander. Had they indeed missed -the heart of the storm, or were they in it now? How was the storm to end? -He thought of the black rolling waves, and shuddered. - -"If we weather the storm safely, what then? Will we come to dock safely -in New York? Will we be able to sell our cargo? Or will we once more face -defeat? And what of the _Arion_?" - -Scrambling to his feet, he plunged off the hatch, rolled to the deck, got -caught in a dash of foam, struggled to his feet, caught the spray in his -face, outrode a wave that threatened to carry him overboard, then made a -dash for the wireless room. - -"Had--had any message from the _Arion_?" He struggled to gain his breath. - -"About ten minutes ago," said the young wireless operator. "Here it is." - -"_Arion laboring hard_," Johnny read. - -"That all?" - -"All but--Wait. Listen!" - -He thrust a head set over the boy's ears. Then his face went white. - -"_Arion_ leaking amidship. Settling by the bow." - -For ten minutes, with the ship leaping up and down beneath them, with the -thud of waves shaking her from stem to stern, they waited. - -"She's gone; the _Arion's_ gone down!" said the young wireless man at -last, mopping his brow. - -"Say!" He started as if struck by a ball. "That pick up we made, that -rich man was going on that boat, wasn't he?" - -"He didn't," said Johnny. - -"He's in luck." - -For a moment there was silence. - -"I suppose you know," said Johnny, "that the Captain must be notified. We -couldn't have helped them; too far away. Have to tell him. But our -Unwilling Guest, no use telling him, not just yet. No use to disturb -folks needlessly." - -"No," said the young wireless man, "no use." - -Then for a time they sat catching the crash of the storm and wondering -what ship would be next. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - HAIL AND FAREWELL - - -Fifteen minutes more of an ominous silence which told plainer than words -that the steamship _Arion_ with all on board had gone to her final -resting place at the bottom of the sea. The very thought of it made -Johnny feel sick and faint. The shrill scream of wind in the rigging -became to him the cries of those who called in vain for aid. - -"Couldn't we reach them?" he asked the wireless man. "There might be some -we could save." - -"Not a chance." The wireless man shook his head gravely. "Two or three -hundred miles away. If we tried it we'd more than likely go to the -bottom. Besides, there are two other ships closer than ours. I caught -their answer to the S. O. S. They can't do anything either. The _Arion's_ -gone. God rest their souls!" - -"Give me your report," said Johnny. "I'll take it to the Captain. Got to -get out of here." He was shaking like a leaf. As he shut his eyes he -could see forms battling with the black waves. - -"Here it is." - -Taking the paper, Johnny threw the door open and shot from the cabin. - -The cool damp air revived his spirits. The battle he fought in making the -bridge over the slippery water-washed deck put the old fighting spirit -into him. - -"We'll make it," he told himself stoutly. "This ship won't go down. She's -Norwegian built. Done by the sons of ancient Norsemen. Her every plank -and beam is selected--flawless and strong." - -The grizzled skipper received his message without comment. On such a -night one expects anything. - -Battling his way back to the main deck, Johnny crept forward to the main -cabin. There, he remembered, was a long mess table, a cushioned seat or -two along the wall, and some chairs screwed down to the deck. - -"Might get a bit of rest," he told himself, yawning. - -As he threw the door open a great gust of wind caught him and sent him in -with such force that he went sprawling on the floor. - -Grumbling to himself, he struggled to his feet. What was his surprise -then to find himself looking into the eyes of Madge Kennedy. - -"I--I couldn't stand my stateroom all alone on such a night," she told -him. "I hoped some one would be down here, so I came." - -"I am glad you did," Johnny struggled to a place opposite her, then -looked across the table at her. - -"You're not used to storms at sea," he said, noting the weary expression -on her face. - -"Not this kind." - -"Nor anyone else I guess. Don't worry. We'll weather it. We'll be in New -York one of these days with our cargo. Then the sun will be shining on -both sides of the street." - -"Will it, Johnny?" A wistful look came into her eyes. - -"Do you know, Johnny," she went on, "I've been thinking to-night of our -orchard and our jungle. I dreamed a bad dream last night. Dreamed that we -couldn't sell the fruit, couldn't go back to our orchard and our jungle -because there was no money. - -"That would be pretty bad, particularly for Grandfather. He's lived there -since he was a very young man. He loves it and he loves his black Caribs. - -"You know, Johnny," her eyes became suddenly dreamy, her voice mellow, -"I've read in books how people who live in other lands love their homes, -their stone castles and their thatched cottages, their apple orchards, -their groves and their tiny clustered villages. All that sounds fine, but -very far away. For we too came to love our homes in the tropical jungle. -To see sunset redden behind the tops of the tangled jungle, to hear the -night birds call, to see the shadow of palms lengthen and lengthen, then -to feel the damp of evening kiss your cheeks. Oh yes, Johnny, there is a -charm in our land. And to us it is home." - -"You'll go home," said Johnny with suddenly renewed determination, "and -you'll go with that ancient alligator-skin traveling bag of your -grandfather's bursting with bales of money. Never fear." - -Reassured by his words, the girl bent her head forward on the table and -fell asleep. - -As for Johnny, he did not sleep. He waited, watched and dreamed. - -The motion of the ship was something tremendous. Now she rose high in air -to strike square into a great world of water; and now, lifting, lifting, -lifting, she appeared to start on a flying trip to the stars, only at -last to put her prow down as gently as a child drops his foot on a pebbly -shore. - -"She's a grand old ship," he thought to himself. - -These were not his only thoughts. He thought of the great, gray-whiskered -man and his granddaughter sitting there before him, the man who had given -much to humanity and asked little in return. - -Then he thought of the other one, their Unwilling Guest. "Providence," he -whispered suddenly. "Providence took a hand. If we had not picked him up; -if he had sailed on the _Arion_ he would now be at the bottom of the sea. -Wonder what he will think of that? - -"Providence," he mused, "and back of Providence, God. God must have some -work for that man to do, some great good work." - -Morning broke at last and with it the storm passed. The wind went down. -The sun came out. The sea was a thousand mountain ranges rolled into one, -and all tossing about, rising and falling, like a new-born world. - -The sea calmed. Hazy clouds drifted along the horizon. The _North Star_, -somewhat battered by the storm, but still a very seaworthy vessel, held -steadily on her course. - -The Unwilling Guest came on deck. He seemed weak and somewhat thoughtful. -No one had whispered a word to him of the ship that had gone to her -grave, but the very force of the storm, the thundering peril of it had -been enough to make any man thoughtful. Still he asked no questions, -ventured no remarks. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - ON THE TRAIL OF THE PEARLS - - -The Captain of the _Torentia_, the ship on which Pant had secured passage -in so strange a manner, was a wary old seadog. On first indication of -storm he had put in behind one of those small islands that dot the -seaboard, and had there lain in safety until the storm had passed. This -does not mean, however, that there were no interesting occurrences on -board that ship to be recorded. As yet Pant had no certain knowledge -regarding that thread marked gunnysack and its rich contents of pearls. -Until he had made a try for that he could not rest. - -To get a look at the chicle stored there in the forward hold was not so -simple a task as Pant had at first supposed it to be. To begin with, it -was a long way down to it from the deck where the few passengers were -allowed to promenade. No companionway or ladder led to it. When it was -necessary to take the temperature of the space where the bananas were -stored the simple expedient of lowering a thermometer by a string was -resorted to. - -"Have to go down there some way, I suppose," he told himself. "Hand over -hand perhaps. Trouble is, I have no rope, and besides there is always -some one hanging about." - -It was a strange situation. He wanted very much to go down there and -inspect the chicle, yet he had no legal right to do so. - -"It's not as if I meant to do anything that's wrong," he told himself. -"If I told them what I wanted, there's not a man on board but would help -me, help me a lot too much. That's the trouble. I dare not trust them." - -On the second day out, he discovered a loose rope coiled up close by the -hatch. But all that day seamen were working or lolling about close to the -hatch. - -"Try it at night," he told himself. "Use a flashlight." - -He did "try it at night." He met with little success. Scarcely had he -lowered himself to the bottom and thrown on his electric torch, than the -night watch threw a more powerful light upon him, then shouted down: - -"What you doin'? Come up out of there!" - -There was but one thing to be done--to come. - -The boy found his knees shaking as he climbed the rope. He had a -wholesome fear of ship's discipline. On the high seas a captain is a -king. What would be done with him now? - -To his great surprise, nothing was done. The night watch took the affair -as a boyish prank, and after a short lecture, let him go. That, however, -ended his attempts to examine the chicle at sea. - -"Have to wait until the stuff is in the warehouse," he told himself. "It -will take some quick moves after that. I'll have to see some one high up -in the Central Chicle office and get permission to make the search. -Shouldn't wonder if I'll have to tell some one the whole story. Might be -safe enough. Suppose it would." - -After these settled conclusions he gave himself over to enjoyment of -wonders of the ship and the changing mysteries of the sea. - -So, freed from the grip of the storm, the two steamers smoked away toward -a common port, New York. On board each was a somewhat worried boy, -worried but eager; worried about the outcome of their adventure, eager -for its end. The _Torentia_, being a faster boat, docked first. - -Fortune was with Pant for once. Scarcely had the ship docked when he went -springing down the gangplank. The doctor had looked at his tongue, the -immigration official glanced over his papers, then set him free. - -To find the offices of the Central Chicle Company he discovered was -something of a task. Once there he found himself confronted by a long -room full of clicking typewriters and a smiling but determined girl at -the telephone switchboard. - -"Mr. Daniels," he was informed, "is in conference. Will you wait? Have -you an appointment?" - -He, of course, had none. - -"'Fraid you won't be able to see him to-day." The telephone girl threw -back her bobbed hair. "He goes out for golf at four." - -"Golf!" exclaimed Pant. "Tell him I must see him." - -"I'll tell him. But I'm afraid it's no use." - -Mopping the perspiration from his brow, the boy sat down. A half hour -passed; three-quarters. A buzzer sounded on the telephone girl's desk. -She hurried back to a mahogany walled office at the back of the room. A -moment later she reappeared, carried a sheaf of papers to a typist, then -returned to her post. Not once did she glance at Pant. - -"Forgotten me," was his mental comment. "That's the President's office -she went into. In the jungle we don't wait for things. We go after them. -I'm off!" - -With a quick elastic step, he cleared the low gate, and before a score of -pairs of startled eyes, marched straight for the mahogany walled office. - -"What's this?" a large, red cheeked man sprang to his feet as he entered. -Two others at a table looked up enquiringly. "Who sent you?" - -"No one sent me. I came." - -"What for?" The man's face showed nothing. Pant felt uncomfortable. - -"Chic--why, I--my grandfather shipped some chicle." - -"Chicle. Go to the adjusting bureau. Can't you see I'm in conference?" -The man's voice rose. - -"But--you don't understand. You--I--" Pant was becoming more and more -confused. - -"Understand? Of course I understand. You want an adjustment on chicle. -Can't you go where I tell you to?" - -The boy was about to give up hope when a familiar voice from behind spoke -his name. - -"Why Pant, old chap! How did you get up here?" the voice said. - -Turning, he found himself staring into the eyes of Kirk, his boy pal of -that first adventure in the Maya cave. - -"Is this some young friend of yours?" The man at the desk asked, turning -to Kirk. His tone had suddenly grown warm and friendly. - -"Why yes, Uncle, a very good friend from Central America. We had some -adventures together. Remember the Maya cave? This is Pant." - -"Ah, Pant. Glad to meet you." The man put out a hand. "Tell you what, -Pant, I'll turn you over to my nephew. He'll help you out. If there is -anything he can't do, and I can, come around." - -"Thanks, I--oh!" Pant choked up, flushed, then backed awkwardly out of -the office. His mind was in a whirl. So that was it, his companion at the -home of the old Don was a favored nephew of the main stockholder in the -Central Chicle Company. - -"And I told him once I thought the Company unscrupulous in its dealings -with smaller holders," he thought to himself. "I may have been wrong. I -only hope he has forgotten." - -Kirk had forgotten or forgiven, for he treated the boy from Central -America like a long lost brother. Hurrying him out of the noisy office, -he led the way to a quiet little eating place. There, after ordering a -savory lunch, he invited Pant to unburden his soul. - -"Time to tell the whole story," Pant thought to himself. - -"Kirk," he said suddenly, leaning far over the table, "you remember the -story of the first Don's silver box of pearls?" - -"Yes." - -"I found it." - -"You didn't!" The other boy stared, unbelieving. - -"I did. Pearls and all." - -"Wha--where it is?" stammered Kirk. - -"In a chicle sack somewhere in the storeroom of your uncle's company." - -"It is? How did it come there?" - -The meal was eaten in haste while Pant told his story. - -Leaving the dessert for some future time, the rich boy seized Pant by the -arm and dragged him out of the place. - -"Come on!" he exclaimed. "We haven't a moment to lose. Chicle is scarce. -Your shipment will be sent at once to the factory. There it will be -unsacked and broken up. Here! Jump in!" He dragged his friend into a -taxi. - -"To the Trans-Atlantic Dock," he commanded the driver. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - A STARTLING REVELATION - - -What of Johnny and his precious cargo? - -As the days passed and land, the shore of his native land, was sighted, -the face of the Unwilling Guest once more took on a shrewd, calculating -expression of a business man whose financial interests are vast. Already, -in his mind, he was entering his office, was sitting at his desk, -dictating letters, pushing buttons, issuing orders, calculating profits; -he was sitting in financial conferences with other rich and successful -men. Little wonder that his chest began to bulge as he strolled the deck. - -They were not a day out from New York when Johnny Thompson decided to -find out a few things. In spite of himself he had been worried beyond -endurance with the thought that after all they had gone through they -might be defeated in the end, that the powerful organization which was -the Fruit Company would make it impossible to sell their fruit, perhaps -even to land it. - -"It is all right about the bananas," he said to Madge. "I can sell them -direct to the pushcart men. Like to do it, too," he chuckled. "Be great -to go down in the Ghetto and see the grinning faces of dirty little -urchins as they devour cheap bananas." - -"Grapefruit is different." His brow wrinkled. "Grapefruit must be sold to -commission men. That's where they may have us. Commission men may fear -the Fruit Company too much to buy from us." - -"I'll get off a wireless or two," he told himself. - -As he emerged from the wireless room a deep frown was on his brow. His -worst fears had been confirmed. Barney Tower, an old trusted friend, had -wired him that without the permission of the Fruit Company's President -the Commission men would not dare purchase his cargo. - -Johnny smiled a little grimly at thought of that very man, the President, -who held all the power, being his Unwilling Guest. - -"It's a queer situation," he told himself. "By the aid of Providence we -saved his life. And yet, I would not dare ask him to lift the ban on our -cargo. I don't believe it would be any use. The interests of his precious -Fruit Company must be preserved at all costs. That's how he thinks of it, -at any rate." - -He sat down to think. Two minutes later he sprang to his feet. - -"We might do it!" He raced away in search of Kennedy. - -"Kennedy," he said, "you are a Britisher. Do you know anyone in Canada?" - -"Why yes, I ought to. Yes, yes, I do. The harbor master in Toronto is an -old war pal of mine." - -"The harbor master. What luck! Kennedy, will the fruit keep an extra -day?" - -"Yes, Johnny, easily. Been cool air all the way. Storm brought it." - -"Then we're safe. We're headed for Canada right now. Nothing can stop us. -We'll sell our cargo there, and no one to bother us." - -"But how about him, your Unwilling Guest?" - -"We won't charge him anything extra," Johnny chuckled. "He'll get a lot -of good out of the trip, find the sea breeze up there quite bracing." He -was away on the double quick to notify the captain on the bridge. - -Johnny was not the only one to note the sudden swing of the ship as she -entered on her new course. The Unwilling Guest saw it and came storming -down the deck. - -"What does this mean?" he demanded angrily. "Changing course again? -Another storm coming. Running again!" His tone was deeply scornful. "A -day late, and running from a cloudless sky!" - -"Not running. Just going somewhere," said Johnny quietly. "Just going on -our way. Going to Canada." - -"Canada! You said New York." - -"Changed our plans." - -"And how about my plans? Your plans!" The man's face was red. He -stuttered in his rage. "Your plans! Your business! Floating a walnut -shell in a teapot!" - -"Pretty good old shell," said Johnny, glancing up and down the deck. - -"This ship!" said the magnate. "Slow and clumsy. A very derelict! The -_Arion_ now, she's docked long since. If I had made Belize in time--" - -"Wait," said Johnny. A new, compelling light was in his eye. "You wait. -Come this way. I'll show you where you would have been." - -Scarcely knowing why he did it, the rich man followed the boy to the -captain's cabin where the ship's log was kept. - -Turning back the pages, Johnny found the record of that terrible night of -storm. There, pasted in, was the wireless man's record. - -"Read that," Johnny's voice was solemn. - -As the man read, his face took on a deadly pallor. - -"My God!" he murmured. "Can that be true?" - -"All quite true," said Johnny huskily. "Had you not been becalmed out -there in the Caribbean Sea, had you made Belize on time to catch the -_Arion_, your Executive Council would now be in session. They would be -electing a man to fill your place." - -"They may be doing that now. Who knows that I am safe?" - -"We do. No one else." - -The rich man shot out of the cabin and away to the wireless cabin. - -"Don't know that I should have kept it from him so long," Johnny thought. -"But a shock now and then does us all good. It takes considerable of a -shock to register with such a man." - -That the shock had indeed registered, he guessed rightly enough as he saw -the short, stout man, a half hour later, pacing the deck. With hands -behind his back and head bent far forward, he appeared deep in thought. - -Suddenly something seemed to come over him. His head snapped up. He spun -around, then walked straight to the side of Johnny Thompson. - -"Why did you change your plans? Why are you headed for Canada?" he asked. - -"You should know the reason." - -"Afraid of the Fruit Company's embargo? You need not be. I am the Fruit -Company. I--why, I'll buy the cargo, buy it just as it stands right here -in the Atlantic." - -"You mean it?" Johnny's face was a study. - -"Bring your papers to my cabin, and I'll show you, young man--" - -A strange thing happened. The voice of the master business man, the head -of a great corporation, broke and for a moment he could not speak. - -"Young man," he began again, "I've been a fool." - -"I'll go tell the captain to alter his course," said Johnny. - - -"There's one other favor I wish to ask." - -Johnny was seated in the Unwilling Guest's cabin. Perhaps by this time he -might have been called a "willing guest." - -"What is that, Johnny?" - -"It's like this," said Johnny. "I hope I can make you understand. It must -be wonderful to develop a business on a large scale, to see it grow and -grow and grow, as you have been able to do. To add one ship after -another, one plantation, one narrow-gauge railroad after another until -the ships are a fleet, railroads a system and the plantations a little -world all their own. I've dreamed of living such a life myself. It's a -grand and glorious dream. - -"But sometimes," his tone was slow and thoughtful, "it's hard on the -little fellow. Sometimes the great promoter, dreaming his great dream, -forgets the little fellow, the man with a few acres of bananas, a few -cocoanuts or grapefruit trees. - -"The elephant enjoys himself as he goes thrashing his way through the -jungle. But what of the small creatures he tramples beneath his feet? -What about the butterflies he crushes with his swinging trunk? The -butterflies appear to enjoy life as they flit in the sunshine. What of -them?" - -"Young man," said the magnate rather sharply, "come down to brass tacks. -What is it you are talking about?" - -"Well then, specifically," Johnny smiled broadly, "there is a fine old -man named Kennedy who has a niece quite as fine. They live in a Central -American jungle. Every Carib loves them because they love the Caribs. - -"Until you signed this agreement they were very poor. The grapefruit -aboard this ship is theirs." - -"Not our Kennedy." - -"Our Kennedy." - -"Kennedy," the rich man mused. "That name sounds familiar. Can it be that -a Spaniard name Diaz tried to purchase his grapefruit orchard for me?" - -"Could be, and is true!" exclaimed Johnny, "That was the wily Spaniard's -game, preying upon Kennedy's poverty. Planning to make a large profit off -land he hoped to buy from a needy man for a song." - -"Why did Kennedy not tell me?" the rich man demanded. - -"Too modest, perhaps. And perhaps--you will pardon me--perhaps he thought -it would do no good. - -"Now," Johnny continued, "you are the Fruit Company. You said that -yourself. And the Fruit Company refused to market Kennedy's grapefruit -because one year he sold to an independent market. That's why they are -poor." - -"And now?" There was a strange look on the man's face. - -"Now I want you to sign a contract to handle their fruit, a five year -contract." - -"Make it ten!" exclaimed the rich man, springing to his feet. "Have the -purser write it up and bring it to me at once. I'll sign it." - -"And by the way," he said as Johnny prepared to go, "have Captain -Jorgensen come down when he finds time. This is a pretty good old ship, a -mighty good one. I want her in my service. Give his owners a two years' -contract. Or, I'll buy her straight out. She's the ship that saved my -life. Along with two stubborn old men and a boy, she did it. You don't -meet a combination like that every day." - -The Unwilling Guest put out a hand to grip the boy's own. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - TREASURE AT LAST - - -With the aid of a flashlight Pant and Kirk were exploring a vast -warehouse filled with sacks of chicle. They arrived in their taxi and -having been admitted, had been told in a general way where they would -find the last cargo that had arrived. - -"Here! Here it is!" exclaimed Pant at last. "I can recognize the weave of -my grandfather's sacks." - -"Perhaps," he said after a considerable search for his particular sack, -"the thread has been accidentally drawn out and lost." - -"If it has," panted Kirk, "we'll open up every one. We--" - -"There! There it is!" Pant pounced upon a sack. The green thread shone -along its side. - -With trembling fingers he cut the cord that bound it. A moment later, -carrying a mysterious package wrapped in palm leaves, the two boys passed -out of the door. - -A second taxi was hailed. "We'd better go back to Uncle's office," said -Kirk. "He--he's awfully square, and knows a lot. He'll tell us what to -do." - -Pant scarcely heard him as he was crowded once more into a taxi. His mind -was in wild commotion. At last he was in New York, in possession of a -vast treasure. Whose treasure was it, the old Don's or his own? He had -read George Elliott's Romola, remembered Tito, the traitor to an old man, -and recalled his terrible end. - -"I will not be a traitor," he told himself. "If the treasure appears to -belong to the old Don he shall have it, every penny!" At that his -troubled mind found rest. - -"I suppose," said Kirk, "that you have wondered how I came to be at the -old Don's." - -"Often," said Pant. - -"Well, you see, my Uncle is my guardian. He holds nearly half the stock -of his Company in my name. When I am of age it will be mine to manage. My -Uncle believes I should know all there is to be known about the business, -from the jungle to the wrapper," he laughed. - -"So he sent me down there. He got the Carib giant for my bodyguard, and -told me to go where I chose, only to keep my eyes open. I came at last to -the old Don's. I liked it so much up there that I stayed a long time." - -"Glorious, wasn't it!" said Pant. "I'd like to live there with the old -Don for a whole year. - -"This," he said, patting the package beside him, "will make the old Don -rich." - -"The old Don! It's yours!" Kirk stared. - -"It's his by direct inheritance." - -"How do you know that? Is there a monogram or a coat of arms on the box?" - -"No." - -"Then you will never be sure." The younger boy's tone was earnest, -entreating. "Don't spoil the old Don by making him rich." - -"It's not for us to decide what a man's rightful possessions will do for -him," said Pant thoughtfully. "The only question for us to ask is, 'Are -they his?'" - -"Perhaps," he said after a moment's silence, "your Uncle can help us -out." - -"I am sure he can," said Kirk. - -Nothing could exceed the astonishment of the chicle magnate when, having -lifted the lid of the ancient silver box, his eyes fell upon the treasure -of pearls within. Instinctively, he stepped back and locked the door to -his office. - -"That's the greatest treasure that ever rested on my desk," he whispered. -"We must get them to the vault for the night. And you say they belong to -Kirk's friend, the old Don?" - -"I will tell you," said Pant. Sitting on the edge of a chair, leaning far -forward, muscles tense, eyes aglow, he told the story of the beaten -silver box from beginning to end. - -"Well," sighed the magnate when the tale was told. "That's quite a yarn. -Wouldn't believe a word of it if it weren't for this." He touched the -silver box. - -"Legally, in a court of law," he said, rubbing his forehead thoughtfully, -"your old Don wouldn't have much chance. You could hold the pearls. -Anyway, in this case possession is nine points of the law. You have only -to pay the duty on them, then sell them." - -"But I don't want--" - -"You want to do the square thing," the magnate interrupted. "Then why not -call it a case of salvage, and split the proceeds fifty-fifty. That will -give each of you more money than you are likely to have any use for, and -certainly more than you need. - -"If your grandfather is interested in chicle," he added, "tell him I'll -sell you an interest in our Company. Then in years to come you and Kirk -will be partners. Pant and Kirk, Chicle Exporters. How does that sound?" -He threw back his head and laughed. - -"Great! Wonderful!" they exclaimed together. - -The beaten silver box took one more ride that day--to the Custom's -offices. There it was placed in a vault until the value of the pearls -could be settled upon. - -A few days later the pearls were parcelled out in groups and sold to -several dealers for a considerable fortune. - -A few days after the docking of the _North Star_, a happy group sat about -a table in a small dining room of the most sumptuous of New York hotels. -They had met there, Johnny, Pant, Kennedy and Madge, for a farewell -feast. Business had been disposed of, and the Kennedys were going home. - -"Johnny," said Kennedy as he rose to stand before a pretty open -fireplace, "it would be nice if we might have a bit of a wood fire. Makes -a fellow feel sort of cheerful." - -"Not there. You couldn't," said Johnny. "That's not a real fireplace. It -has no flue." - -"Then what is it for?" - -"To add a suggestion of comfort." - -Only half satisfied, the old jungle man sat down. - -"Seems a bit stuffy," he said a moment later. "Let's open a window." - -"Those are not windows," said Johnny. "They are looking-glasses that seem -windows. We are probably a half block from any outer wall. This hotel -covers an entire block." - -"A sham!" said Kennedy, rising. "This whole thing's sham. This is my -party. I'm paying the bill. There's a real ship with a real cabin down in -the harbor. There are real windows in her that look out on a real harbor. -I propose that we eat there." - -So aboard the ship they dined and talked. The food was good. The talk was -better. Old days and new were discussed. Pant was to sail with the -Kennedys. He was going back to Central America to make his grandfather -and the old Don comfortable for life. The Kennedys were going home. That -was quite enough for them. - -Johnny, who alone was to remain, felt a little lonesome. - -"Some day," Johnny said to Madge as they parted, "when I am tired, when -the rush and push that is our America gets too much for me, I am coming -back to Stann Creek, to listen to the thrum of the banjo and the Caribs' -song, to watch the moon rise over the jungle and to smell the forbidden -fruit ripening on the trees." - -"Please do," said Madge Kennedy, brushing at her eyes. - -"The latchstring's out and the door swings in," said Kennedy, gripping -his hand, "and may God bless you for all you have done." So they parted. - -Pant returned to the jungle. There he was destined to remain for many a -day to come; for was not his Grandfather there and the old Don, and last -but not least, the beautiful Senorita Ramoncita Salazar? What better -company could he ask and what more thrilling adventures could be found -than awaits one at every turn of jungle trail? - -As for Johnny, the city with its imitation fireplaces, its mirror windows -and much more that is artificial and unreal, could not hold him long. One -day he met a curious sort of chap with a strange hobby. Fascinated by -this man's tale of adventure, he joined company with him. The story of -these fresh adventures in a land far from tropical wilds will be found in -our next book, "Johnny Long-Bow." - - - - - The Roy J. Snell Books - - -Mr. Snell is a versatile writer who knows how to write stories that will -please boys and girls. He has traveled widely, visited many -out-of-the-way corners of the earth, and being a keen observer has found -material for many thrilling stories. His stories are full of adventure -and mystery, yet in the weaving of the story there are little threads -upon which are hung lessons in loyalty, honesty, patriotism and right -living. - -Mr. Snell has created a wide audience among the younger readers of -America. Boy or girl, you are sure to find a Snell book to your liking. -His works cover a wide and interesting scope. - -Here are the titles of the Snell Books: - - - _Mystery Stories for Boys_ - - 1. Triple Spies - 2. Lost in the Air - 3. Panther Eye - 4. The Crimson Flash - 5. White Fire - 6. The Black Schooner - 7. The Hidden Trail - 8. The Firebug - 9. The Red Lure - 10. Forbidden Cargoes - 11. Johnny Longbow - 12. The Rope of Gold - 13. The Arrow of Fire - 14. The Gray Shadow - 15. Riddle of the Storm - 16. The Galloping Ghost - 17. Whispers at Dawn; or, The Eye - 18. Mystery Wings - 19. Red Dynamite - 20. The Seal of Secrecy - 21. The Shadow Passes - 22. Sign of the Green Arrow - - - _The Radio-Phone Boys' Series_ - - 1. Curlie Carson Listens In - 2. On the Yukon Trail - 3. The Desert Patrol - 4. The Seagoing Tank - 5. The Flying Sub - 6. Dark Treasure - 7. Whispering Isles - 8. Invisible Wall - - - _Adventure Stories for Girls_ - - 1. The Blue Envelope - 2. The Cruise of the O'Moo - 3. The Secret Mark - 4. The Purple Flame - 5. The Crimson Thread - 6. The Silent Alarm - 7. The Thirteenth Ring - 8. Witches Cove - 9. The Gypsy Shawl - 10. Green Eyes - 11. The Golden Circle - 12. The Magic Curtain - 13. Hour of Enchantment - 14. The Phantom Violin - 15. Gypsy Flight - 16. The Crystal Ball - 17. A Ticket to Adventure - 18. The Third Warning - - - - - Transcriber's Notes - - ---Copyright notice provided as in the original printed text--this e-text - is public domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and - dialect unchanged. - ---Left the reference to hominid warfare for the amusement of readers. - ---Relocated promotional material to the end of the book, and - completed/corrected the list of books in each series (using other - sources). - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Forbidden Cargoes, by Roy J. 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