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diff --git a/43856-0.txt b/43856-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b6c818 --- /dev/null +++ b/43856-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7941 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43856 *** + +[Illustration: At sight of the hole and freshly upturned earth, Hunter +grew livid with rage. Page 140. + +_The Boy Chums Cruising in Florida Waters._] + + + + +The Boy Chums Cruising in Florida Waters + +OR + +The Perils and Dangers of the Fishing Fleet + + By WILMER M. ELY + + Author of + + "The Boy Chums on Indian River," "The Boy Chums in + The Forest," "The Boy Chums' Perilous Cruise," + "The Boy Chums on Haunted Island," "The + Boy Chums in the Gulf of Mexico." + +[Illustration] + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + NEW YORK + + + + + Copyright, 1914 + BY A. L. BURT COMPANY. + + THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS. + + + +Contents + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. OLD FRIENDS 3 + II. GETTING SETTLED 12 + III. THE FIRST ALARM 20 + IV. THE WARNING 29 + V. FRIENDLY ADVICE 38 + VI. THE MIDNIGHT LIGHT 47 + VII. THE MYSTERY 56 + VIII. THE VISITORS 65 + IX. MORE TROUBLE 74 + X. ONE NIGHT'S SPORT 83 + XI. THE QUARREL 92 + XII. THE GHOST 102 + XIII. CHRIS' STORY 111 + XIV. A CUNNING TRICK 120 + XV. THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 129 + XVI. AN ACCIDENT 138 + XVII. MORE MYSTERIES 146 + XVIII. MORE MISCHIEF 154 + XIX. TELLING MR. DANIELS 163 + XX. THE GROUPER BANKS 172 + XXI. HAPPY DAYS 181 + XXII. TREASURE TROVE 189 + XXIII. SALVAGE HUNTERS 198 + XXIV. THE ACCIDENT 206 + XXV. THE STORM 214 + XXVI. CASTAWAYS 222 + XXVII. HOMEWARD BOUND 231 + XXVIII. THE CHUMS HAVE TWO CALLERS 239 + XXIX. AN IDLE DAY 248 + XXX. THE DISCOVERY 256 + XXXI. THE FISH 265 + XXXII. ABOUT MANY THINGS 274 + XXXIII. THE SMUGGLERS AGAIN 283 + XXXIV. THE SURPRISE 292 + XXXV. AND THE LAST 301 + + + + +THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OLD FRIENDS. + + +"IS this Mr. Daniels?" + +The busy man at the paper-littered desk swung around in his chair +and treated the speaker and his three companions to a brief but keen +appraising glance. Swift as it was, he noted that the questioner was +a sturdy, well-built lad with a frank open face deeply tanned by wind +and sun. His companions consisted of another boy about the same age but +of slighter build, an elderly, stout, heavily-whiskered man with the +unmistakable stamp of the sailor in his bearing, and a little negro +lad with a grinning, good-humored face. All three bore an appearance +of health and cleanliness and their clothes, though old and worn, were +neatly patched and as spotless as soap and water could make them. + +"Daniels is my name," he replied, briskly, "what can I do for you?" + +"We want a chance to fish for you, sir." + +"Have you had any experience?" + +"My companions have never fished any but I put in a couple of seasons +at it. We all know how to handle boats and none of us are afraid of +work," declared the spokesman of the little party, eagerly. + +"I seldom engage green men," said Mr. Daniels, "but I will talk with +you a little further, later," he added, hastily, as he saw the look of +disappointment on the four faces. "I am a pretty busy man now. I have +got to get some letters off on the morning train. Look around and amuse +yourselves for half an hour and I will then be at liberty." + +The four strangers needed no second bidding. Even as they had been +waiting, they had cast interested glances through the open office +door at the busy scene in the immense building adjoining. Now, as +Mr. Daniels turned back to his desk, they stepped out into the great +barn-like room and gazed around with eager curiosity. Everywhere was +bustle and hustle. At the far end of the building, a dozen wagons +were unloading their burdens in great glistening heaps upon the clean +water-deluged floor, fish, fish, thousands upon thousands of them. In +one corner rose a great mound of trout, a simmering mass of white, +bronze, and rainbow spots, close to these lay a heap of Spanish +mackerel, beautiful in their rich coloring of silver and gold; just +beyond the mackerel rose a greenish-blue pile of hundreds of blue +fish and close beside these lay a snow-like mountain of ocean mullet, +while further on, was heaped up, a miscellaneous collection of finny +creatures, sea bass, gorgeous in their rich golden bronze, quaint +bird-like sea robins, lacey-winged flying fish, repulsive looking +flounders, and a hundred and one humble little dwellers of the sea +that had fallen victims to the all-embracing nets. Down the length of +the room, groups of men were working frantically to lessen the rapidly +growing mounds of fish. It almost seemed a combat between the stream +of loaded wagons and the busy workers. One group labored furiously at +the heaps, shoveling the fish into big, swinging, scoop-like scales. As +soon as the scales showed two hundred pounds, they were swung forward +to another group and their contents dumped on the floor. This group, +with skillful, flying hands, packed the fish in layers into empty +barrels. For every layer of fish, a hurrying line of men dumped in a +huge shovelful of chopped ice. As soon as it was filled, the barrel +was taken in charge by other waiting hands. The head nailed in, it was +rolled out on a platform at the far end where a car lay waiting on a +side track to hurry it away to the fish-hungry folks of the northern +cities. + +The little negro lad gazed at the busy scene with distended eyes. + +"Massa Chas, Massa Chas," he exclaimed, at last, "dar ain't no use ob +you white chillens trying to catch no fish." + +"Why, Chris?" questioned the larger lad. + +"'Cause dey's done cotched dem all. Dar can't be many left, Massa Chas." + +"Nonsense, Chris, there's as good fish in the sea as ever came out of +it." + +"Maybe so," said the little negro, doubtfully, "but I reckon dar ain't +so many ob dem." + +"You can not prove there isn't," laughed Charley. + +"May be not," said the little negro, with dignity, "but you-alls had +ought to take a cullard gentleman's word widout any proof." + +"So I will, Chris," agreed the white lad, with a twinkle in his eye, +"but there is Mr. Daniels beckoning to us. Let's see what he has to +say." + +"Take a chair and I will talk with you, now," said Mr. Daniels as they +re-entered the office. "Now, first, I would like to know what has given +you and your friends this fishing idea. Fishermen are a pretty rough +class as a rule and you all seem fitted for a better class of work. +Tell me something about yourselves, please." + +"There isn't much to tell, sir," said the boy spokesman, modestly. "We +four have been comrades for several years and we hate to separate now. +We were sponge fishing out of Tarpon Springs but we lost our schooner +through trouble with our crew. We saved only the clothes on our backs. +We have to get something to do right off. Fishing seems to be the only +thing in this part of the state that we would be able to work at and +keep together. We heard of you, sir, in Tarpon Springs. We arrived +here at Clearwater this morning. In fact, we came here direct from the +station." + +There was a curious gleam in Mr. Daniels' eye as he listened to this +terse, business-like explanation. "What kind of work have you done +besides sponging?" he questioned. + +"We have been kind of Jack-Of-All-Trades," smiled the lad. "We have +raised truck on the East Coast, fished for pearls in the West Indies, +hunted plume birds in the Everglades, and gathered wreckage on the +Atlantic beaches." + +"Your names?" demanded Mr. Daniels, eagerly. + +"My name is Charley West, sir. This is my chum, Walter Hazard; this +gentleman is our good friend, Captain Westfield, and this," indicating +the little negro with a smiling nod, "is Mr. Christopher Columbus." + +"I suspected it," exclaimed Mr. Daniels. "You are the boy chums whose +adventures have been told in several books. I have a boy at home who +has them all. He has made me read them over to him 'til I know them by +heart." + +Charley blushed, much embarrassed. "I am afraid the writer has made too +much of our little adventures," he said, modestly. "We had no idea he +was an author when he got us talking about our trips or we would not +have talked so freely." + +"Well, he speaks well of the boy-chums," smiled Mr. Daniels, "and I +am going to take his recommendation. As I have already said, I do not +often engage green men but I am going to give you four a chance. But +before you decide to go into it, I want you to understand that this +fishing business is no picnic." + +"We do not expect it to be any picnic," replied Charley, quietly. + +"In the first place, it is dangerous," Mr. Daniels continued. "Besides +the risk from storms and accidents, there are dangers from fish and sea +reptiles. Then, too, there are often troubles with other fishermen. As +a class, fishermen are rough and lawless. In my position, with hundreds +of men working for me, it would ruin my business to take sides with any +one man or set of men in my employ. They must settle their quarrels +among themselves. As the old saying goes, 'Every tub must stand on its +own bottom.'" + +"We will be careful and keep out of trouble," Walter assured him. + +"One can not always avoid it," Mr. Daniels replied. "In addition to +the drawbacks I have mentioned, fishing is extremely hard, trying, +nasty work, although I will say that it seems a wonderfully healthy +occupation. Fishermen are seldom sick." + +"Does it pay?" Captain Westfield inquired. + +"That depends largely upon the fisherman. Of course, there is an +element of luck in fishing. Experience counts for something, too, but +in the main, as in everything else, it is the amount of work that +decides success or failure. Some of my men make as high as two hundred +dollars a week, others hardly make a living." + +Charley glanced inquiringly at his comrades who answered with nods. + +"We will try it, if you please," he said, quietly. + +"All right," replied Mr. Daniels, briskly. "You shall have just the +same outfit I furnish the rest of my men. Four nets,--that is, one for +each of you,--three skiffs, and a motor boat. I furnish the motor boat +and the skiffs free, but you are expected to keep them up in good shape +and to buy your own gasoline and oils. As for the nets, I sell them to +you at cost, I take out one-third of your fish until they are paid for." + +"That seems a very liberal arrangement," Charley observed. + +"I have to do it in order to get enough fish to keep my customers +supplied. Now, as to shelter, you will have to have a place to stay. +Out on the long wharf that runs out into the bay, you will find a +number of little houses which belong to me. You can use any one of them +that is not already occupied." + +"You are very kind," said Charley. + +"Not at all. Now, one thing more. Are you supplied with money?" + +"We saved nothing from our schooner but the clothes we had on," Charley +admitted. + +"Then I will tell Mr. Bacon, the store-keeper, to let you have what +groceries and clothing you need until you get to earning. Oh! by the +way, I forgot to ask you if you can run a motor boat?" + +"We have never run one, but we could soon learn." + +"Well, I'll send a man down with your nets this afternoon and have him +show you the boats that you will use and also give you a lesson in +running the engine. You'll soon catch on to it--it's simple. And now," +he concluded, "that, I believe, finishes our business arrangements and +now I have a favor to ask of you." + +"After your kindness, we would do anything in our power," Charley +promised, gratefully but rashly. + +"Good! I want all four of you to come up to dinner with me. That boy +of mine would give me fits if I let the Boy Chums get away from me +without him meeting them." + +Our little party of chums were too modest to relish the idea of a +dinner under such conditions; but, after Mr. Daniels' kindness to them, +they could not do other than accept the proffered invitation much as +they would have liked to refuse. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GETTING SETTLED. + + +THE dinner proved less embarrassing than the little band of adventurers +had feared. To be sure Mr. Daniels' son, a sturdy little lad of eight, +stared at them constantly with wide-eyed hero worship and plied them +with an army of questions about their adventures; but the boys, who +detested talking of their exploits, skillfully directed his questions +to Chris and the vain little darkey, glad of the chance to brag, +entertained the little lad with wonderful yarns of their adventures, in +all of which he made himself out the hero. Mrs. Daniels proved to be +a nice, motherly, little lady who quickly made them all feel at their +ease, while Mr. Daniels exerted himself to make the meal pleasant for +them. As soon as they decently could, however, the four took their +departure, for they were anxious to see something of the little town +and to get settled in their new home. + +"Let's go down to the wharf first of all," Walter proposed as soon as +they were out on the street. "We want to pick out our house the first +thing we do." + +There was but one main street to the little town and a question put to +a passer-by got the information that it led down to the wharf. + +A few minutes' walk brought them past the straggling row of stores +that comprised the town's business center. Just beyond these the four +stopped to gaze around in admiration and delight. + +"My! It's beautiful!" Charley exclaimed. + +"A regular Paradise," Walter agreed. + +Before them stretched a wide street of snow white lime rock, overhung +by gigantic live oak and magnolia trees. Back a little ways from the +street nestled houses almost lost 'mid trees and flowers. Between +them and the sidewalks were gardens blazing with a mad riot of color. +The rich yellow of alamandas mingled with the deep purple of Chinese +paper flowers and the warm blue of Lady Alices. Here and there stood +Royal Poinciana trees and a vivid blaze of scarlet. Great flowered +cacti reared their thorny forms high in the air and delicate lace-like +ferns grew all around. In and out amongst the blaze of color flitted +gorgeous-hued tropical birds twittering to each other, while here and +there frisked little gray squirrels chattering excitedly over the +fallen acorns. + +Captain Westfield drew in a long breath of the sweet flower-scented +air. "I am going to like Clearwater," he declared. + +"Well, we are going to have lots of time to get acquainted with it," +observed Charley, practically. "We had better be moving on now, it is +going to be a busy afternoon for us." + +But at the end of the gently sloping street they paused again with +murmurs of admiration. Before them a long wharf ran out into a great +bay, its waters blue as indigo save where flecked by foaming white +caps. Across on the other side of the bay, and about two miles distant, +stretched a chain of white-beached islands between which the foamy +churning breakers showed where the waters of the bay connected with the +Gulf of Mexico. But our little party spent only a moment admiring the +beautiful scene, they would have long weeks to admire its loveliness. +Just now they were more interested in the wide snowy beach on either +side of the wharf. Here was a living picture of part, at least, of +their new occupation. The shore was dotted with groups of fishermen +engaged in tasks pertaining to their calling. Some were busy mending +long nets stretched out on racks of poles. Some were pulling nets into +their boats preparatory to a start for the fishing grounds. Others, +just in from a trip, were pulling their wet nets out to dry. Still +others were busy calking, painting and repairing their skiffs upturned +on the beach, while here and there little groups were engaged over +camp-fires from which rose appetizing odors of frying fish and steaming +coffee. Close in to the beach the fishing fleet lay bobbing at anchor, +a hundred skiffs and at least half as many motor boats. + +As our little party stood watching the busy scene, a motor boat with +three skiffs in tow came chugging in for the beach. When within a +stone's throw of the shore it rounded up and anchored. Almost before +the anchor had touched bottom a man had jumped into each skiff, cast +it lose from the launch, and was sculling in for the beach. Our little +party joined the group that gathered at the water's edge to meet the +newcomers. The skiffs lay deep in the water and the reason was apparent +when they grounded on the sands. Each was heaped from thwart to thwart +with flat silver colored fish. + +"Pompano!" exclaimed Charley. + +"Pompano," snarled a sallow-faced, tough-looking fisherman near him. +"That's just the luck of that Roberts gang. Tarnation stuck up guys. +Won't have nothing to do with us fishermen. Think themselves too good. +They are greenhorns too. Only started fishing this season. They have +regular fools' luck though. Just like their luck to hit a nice bunch +like that when better fishermen are coming in without a fish. They had +ought to be run out of Clearwater." + +The man in the nearest skiff heard the sneer and his good-humored face +took on a look of scorn. He surveyed the speaker from head to foot as +though he was examining some strange kind of animal. Then he spoke +slowly and deliberately. + +"Run us out of town, you cowardly cur?" "Why, there isn't enough of +your kind in the state of Florida to run one Roberts. If you ever ran +anything in your life it was a rabbit. I've heard enough of your sneers +and I give you notice right now to quit. Yes, the Roberts boys do +consider themselves too good to associate with you and your kind. Not +because you are fishermen but because you are lazy, lying, thieving, +rum-drinking bums. It's time some one told you the truth about +yourself. You and your gang seem to have the rest of the fishermen +bluffed so they will stand for your sneers. You talk about luck. Well, +maybe it is luck, but let me tell you there's mighty hard work to back +it up. We have hunted over fifty miles of water, been without sleep for +thirty-six hours, and worked 'til we can hardly stand, for these fish. +Luck! You make me sick! If you worked one night a week like we work +right along your poor little wife would not have to work her fingers to +the bone over the wash-tub to support you. Hunter, you are a disgrace +to mankind." + +The sallow fisherman's face went livid and he gasped and spluttered +with rage. His hands clenched and he made a movement towards the man in +the skiff but evidently prudence got the better of his rage. + +"I'll pay you for this, Bill Roberts. I'll pay you out. You see if I +don't," he cried. + +"I know what you are thinking about," returned Roberts in level tones. +"I know of the tricks you have played on other men that have crossed +you. I know what happened to them, but don't you think for a moment +that I'll make the mistake they made in going to law about it when they +couldn't prove anything. If any such accidents happen to us, I'll not +go to law about it. I'll beat the miserable little soul out of your +body. Get away from here or I may do it now." + +Hunter slunked away muttering curses and the other fishermen strolled +off behind him. + +Bill Roberts looked after them with a grin. "That fellow gets my goat," +he chuckled. "I'm sorry I lost my temper but I'm about worn out from +work and loss of sleep and my nerves are on wire edge. I've no use for +that fellow anyway, and I guess I would have told him my opinion of +him, sooner or later." + +"You seem to have been fairly well paid for your hard work," observed +Captain Westfield. "You've got twenty or thirty dollars' worth there, +haven't you?" + +Charley chuckled and Bill Roberts grinned. + +"I see you don't savey pompano," he said. "They are a scarce fish. I +reckon we've got one thousand pounds of them and they are worth forty +cents a pound. Figger that out, Mister." + +"Four hundred dollars," gasped Walter. "Whew! I hope we strike a few +bunches like that, Charley." + +"You folks going to fish, eh?" enquired Roberts. "Well, it's a good +healthy business and it pays well for hard work. We don't often strike +a bunch like this, but by keeping steady at it, we always make pretty +good money. The worst drawback about fishing is the men in it. Take my +advice and avoid them all you can. Don't get mixed up with that Hunter +gang anyway if you can help it. Drop into our camp,--it's right over +there on Tates Island,--whenever you feel like it, and we will give you +all the pointers we can." + +Charley thanked the friendly fisherman. "We will be over there soon," +he promised. "We are new to the place and we would like to get some +pointers right off but we are just getting settled and must hurry off +now." + +"I like that gang," he said to his companions as they hurried out on +the long dock. "They seem of a better class than those other fishermen." + +"They would not have to be very good to be that," observed Captain +Westfield, gravely. "Those fishermen are a tough looking lot. I hope we +will not have any trouble with them." + +"We will not have any," said Walter, cheerfully. "If we just tend to +our own business I guess they will tend to theirs. Well, I guess these +are the houses Mr. Daniels spoke about." + +They had reached the end of the long dock. On one side of it stood a +row of small shacks. Most of them were occupied but at last they came +upon a large one that stood empty. + +"Golly," exclaimed Chris, as he peeped inside, "dar poor white trash +dat lived in dis was sho' dirty." + +The floor was thickly covered with filth and rubbish, the walls were +tobacco stained, and the windows were broken and covered with grime. + +"We'll soon make it look different," said Captain Westfield, +cheerfully. "Let's go to work with some system and we'll soon be +comfortably settled. Walter, you make out a list of what we need and go +up to the store. Charley, see what you can do with those windows. Chris +and I will clean out. Bring a broom, Walt." + +When Walter got back with his arms full of bundles he found the shack +wet inside but clean, the windows shining brightly, and his comrades +nowhere in sight. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FIRST ALARM. + + +THE shack contained a rough board cupboard in one corner and a few +shelves along one side and upon these Walter arranged his purchases +which made quite an imposing array. He had bought carefully but there +had been many things that the four of them absolutely had to have. +There was a change of rough, cheap clothing for each, four blankets, +the same of oilskins, four lanterns, a belt and sheath-knife apiece, +and a stock of groceries; this was small, containing only such staples +as rice, coffee, sugar, salt, beans, bacon, and flour, for he figured +that they would get most of their living from the sea. + +His packages arranged to his satisfaction, Walter sat down to await the +appearance of his chums. + +Charley was the first to arrive. He came out from the shore, staggering +under a great load of clean, silver Spanish moss. + +"For our beds," he explained, as he spread the soft hair-like stuff on +the floor in one corner. "It will take a little of the hardness off the +boards." + +Captain Westfield soon appeared bearing a large box partly filled with +sand. + +"What is that for?" Walter inquired. + +"That's our stove," the old sailor explained. "It will have to do us +until we are able to buy one. Chris is coming with some wood." + +The little darkey soon appeared, bearing a load of driftwood that he +had picked up on the beach. + +"I reckon you-alls can fix up things widout me," he observed as he +deposited his burden just outside the door and produced a bit of string +and a fish hook from his pocket. "Dar jis' naturally oughter be lots ob +fish around dese old dock posts. A mess of dem, fried nice an' brown, +would sho' go powerful good for supper." + +Charley grinned, for Chris loved to fish with all the ardor of his +race. "Go ahead," he said, "we will get along without you." + +The little negro needed no second permission, and baiting his hook +with a piece of bacon, and getting astride of a post, he began to fish +earnestly. + +The others occupied themselves in trying to make their new home as +comfortable as they could with the little they had to do with. They +spread their four blankets on the pile of moss, filled and trimmed +their lanterns, made a rough table and some benches out of a few boards +they found on the dock, and covered the broken panes in the windows +with some sand-fly netting Walter had bought at the store. When all +this was done and their new garments hung up on nails, the rude shack +took on quite a comfortable, home-like appearance. + +"It's not so bad," Charley observed. "It will do us very well until we +can get better quarters." + +"We have cause to be thankful," Walter agreed. "Only a few hours ago +we had nothing in the world, now, we have got a dry place to stay, +clothes, a supply of food, and a prospect of soon making money." + +The chums' further conversation was interrupted by a rumble of a wagon +and a hail from the dock. It was the man with their nets. + +"Better put them inside your house until you are ready to use them," he +advised. "The nets all look alike and some one might steal them from +you if you left them outside. I'll be out again in about half an hour +with your boats, they are anchored up the beach a way." + +The boys awaited his return with eagerness for they were anxious to +view their new crafts. Soon they heard the quick snapping of an engine +and a large launch swung out from the beach with a string of skiffs in +tow. + +"My, she can move some," Charley cried as she swept towards them with a +froth of foam at her bow. + +"She's got good lines," announced Captain Westfield, with the certainty +born of his sailor life, "she is bound to be a good sea boat with that +shape." + +When within a hundred feet of where the boys stood on the dock, the +man threw off the switch and the graceful craft glided up alongside. +Charley caught the line the man threw, took a couple of half hitches +around a post, and the three clambered aboard. + +"By gum, she's a beauty," exclaimed Captain Westfield with delight as +he finished his inspection. + +"You're right," agreed the man, pleased with the old sailor's approval, +"she's one of the best in the fleet. There's only two or three that can +run away from her, and she is a peach in a seaway--just like a duck. +She is thirty feet over all and sound as a dollar. You will find that +cozy little cabin will come in pretty nice in bad weather. Few fish +boats have one. Which one of you is going to run her?" + +"Not me," said Captain Westfield, decidedly. "I've dealt with sailing +crafts all my life and I'm not hankering to start monkeying with +engines at my age." + +"Both my chum and I would like to learn how to run the engine," Charley +said, "so if anything should happen to one of us the other would know +what to do." + +"All right," the man agreed. "All I can teach you are the principles, +you will have to learn to run it by yourself. A gas engine is a thing +you have to learn by experience. No two engines are exactly alike. Each +has its own peculiarities which one has to become acquainted with. The +principles are quite simple. There are only three elements, oil, gas +and the spark. See this little valve here? You turn that and it lets +the gasoline into this little tank--called a carburetter. This other +little valve lets air into the same tank to mix with the gas. Now your +gas is on ready to start. See these wires, they lead from four dry +battery cells to the switch and from the switch to this plug in the +head of the engine called the spark plug. Shove on your switch,--that's +right. Now your gas and spark are ready. To start, now, all you have +got to do is to rock this big fly wheel a couple of times then throw it +over quickly. To stop, just throw off your switch. As soon as you stop, +shut off your gas. Keep that oil cup filled. It lubricates the engine. +Be careful with matches and lights when your gas is turned on--you +can't be too careful." He clambered up on the dock. "Good-by and good +luck to you," he called. + +"Hold on," cried Charley, in dismay. "You are not going off and leave +us this way, are you?" + +"Boss's orders," grinned the man. "I can't be with you always. You have +got to learn to run her for yourself sooner or later." + +The boys sat down and gazed at each other in consternation as the man +disappeared up the dock, then Charley grinned as the humor of it struck +him. "It's up to us," he chuckled, "unless the captain will help us +out." + +Captain Westfield shook his head, decidedly. "You are the engineers," +he said, firmly. "I can't make head or tail of that dinky heap of iron. +'Pears to me though that the man said something about turning one of +those things there." + +"He did," said Charley, with mild sarcasm. "He also mentioned several +other things. Well, here goes for a try." + +He rolled up his sleeves and started to work. At the end of half an +hour, he was still turning the big fly wheel and puffing and perspiring +much to the delight of a crowd of fishermen who had quit work for the +day and had gathered at the dock's edge offering free comments and +suggestions. + +"He'll sure wear that fly wheel out," observed one in a perfectly +audible voice. + +"Put rowlocks in her and get a pair of oars, young fellow," suggested +another. + +Charley stood the chaffing nobly but at last he was obliged to stop for +breath. + +"I'm sure I don't know what's the matter with the thing," he declared. +"It had ought to go. I've cranked it until I've got blisters on my +hands." + +"Maybe, if you put on the switch it will go," Walter observed. + +Charley glared at him. "And you have been sitting there laughing in +your sleeves while I've been working myself to death," he spluttered. + +"Mr. Daniels wants us to find out such little things for ourselves," +observed Walter, grinning. + +Charley forced a smile. "Well, I'll let you find out a few things, +yourself, while I rest." + +"Is the entertainment over for the day?" queried one of the fishermen. + +"No, it's just going to begin," Charley prophesied with a grin. + +"Oh, I can start it all right," Walter declared, confidently. "Just +watch me and I'll show you how." + +He turned on the switch, rocked the fly wheel a couple of times, then +threw it over with a quick jerk. The engine started with a sharp +snapping like a quick fire gun. + +"There, I've started her," he yelled, proudly, above the din. + +"That is not the way she was built to run," shouted Charley, while a +roar of laughter went up from the assembled fishermen, for, instead of +going ahead, the "Dixie" had started astern full speed. Charley who was +standing ready to cast off took a quick turn of the line around a cleat +and stopped her in her backward career. "Stop!" he cried, "or she'll +break the line." + +But Walter was thoroughly bewildered and stood gazing helplessly at the +popping machinery. + +"Pour water on it, that's the way to stop it," jeered a fisherman. + +"Throw your switch," Charley advised. Walter, recovering his wits, +obeyed and the popping instantly ceased. + +"Well, I made the engine go, anyway," he replied to Charley's jeers. +"I'll get her going all right yet." + +Again he threw the fly wheel only to have her rear back on the line. + +"Don't tow the dock away," begged a fisherman. "We all live here. We +don't want to lose our home." + +"Tell you what to do, young fellow," advised another, "just change your +rudder and put it on the other end." + +Walter, very red in the face, threw off the switch. + +"Throw the fly wheel over the other way and she'll go ahead," Charley +said. + +"Hump!" Walter grunted, as he realized his error, "why didn't you tell +me that before?" + +"Mr. Daniels wants us to find out such little things for ourselves," +observed Charley, sweetly. + +Walter laughed. "You're even with me now," he said. "Well, I guess, +between us, we can learn to run her, but I guess we had better call +it quits for to-day. It's getting late. Let's anchor her out for the +night." + +Charley agreed and they poled the launch away from the dock and cast +the anchor, returning to the wharf in one of the skiffs. It was nearly +dark when they entered the shack to find a most disagreeable surprise +awaiting them. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE WARNING. + + +CHRIS had started a brisk fire in the box of sand and was preparing to +fry a big mess of fish which had fallen victims to his craft. + +"Golly!" he exclaimed when the boys offered their assistance, "I doan +want none ob you white chillens foolin' around an' spoilin' dese fish. +If you-alls wants to help, jes' light up de lanterns an' sot de table." + +Charley groped around, found the matches, and struck a light. "Why +didn't you get more than one lantern, Walt?" he complained. "We will +need four when we get to fishing." + +"I bought four. They are hanging right there on the wall," his chum +replied. + +"There's only one here," Charley announced. "Are you sure you got four?" + +"Of course," Walter replied. "Maybe some of us moved them, when we were +fixing up the shack." + +But a close search of the shack failed to reveal the missing lights. + +"They have been stolen," Charley said, quietly. "We had better look and +see if anything else has been taken." + +But Walter was already looking over his purchases. "Nearly all our +groceries are gone," he cried. + +The band of chums gazed at each other in dismay. + +"It must have been done while we were working with the launch," Charley +said. "Chris, did you see any one go into the shack?" + +"No, Massa Chas," the little negro confessed. "De fish was jes' +naturally biting so fast dat I doan look around much." + +"What shall we do about it?" Walter inquired. + +"I don't see as we can do anything," said Charley, thoughtfully. "We +will just have to grin and bear it and be more careful in the future. +Of course, it was one of those fishermen who did it, there was no one +else on the dock,--but we have no clue as to which was the guilty one +and we can not accuse all of them." + +"Wisely said, my lad," approved Captain Westfield, "all we can do is to +keep quiet and watch out in the future. We evidently have some tough +characters for neighbors. Let's not mourn and get downhearted, that +won't bring the things back. Here Chris has got a good supper ready. +Let's get at it and be cheerful." + +The boys recognizing the wisdom of the old sailor's advice, and hiding +their disappointment, they made merry over the crisp, tasty, fried +fish, pancakes, and coffee that the little negro had prepared. + +As soon as the supper things were cleared away, Captain Westfield +produced his old worn, well-loved Bible and read the story of Christ +with the discouraged fishermen, after which he prayed earnestly and +with simple faith for the Lord's blessing upon them in the new life +upon which they were about to enter. + +Just as he concluded, there came the sound of shuffling footsteps +outside, and a bit of rustling white paper was shoved in under the door +of the shack. + +Charley picked it up and glanced at the ill-written scrawl it +contained. With an angry gleam in his eyes, he flung open the door and +peeped outside. The retreating footsteps had died away, and he could +distinguish nothing in the inky darkness but the glimmering lights in +the other shacks. + +He closed and fastened the door carefully. + +"What was it?" Walter asked, noting the grim, set look on his chum's +face. + +"Nothing much," Charley replied with a meaning glance. "I'll tell you +about it later." + +As soon as Chris, who was always early to bed, was snoring peacefully +on his blanket, Charley produced the scrap of paper. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked, briefly. + +Walter and the captain bent their heads over the almost illegible +scrawl. + +Walter looked up from the paper, his face flushed with anger. "It's an +outrage!" he cried. "Why I'd die first." + +"Read it to me, Walt," requested the Captain. "I can't make out that +writing." + +Walter obeyed. + + "Strangers, + + "We-alls don't allow no niggers around hyar. Get rid of + that little nigger you've got with you or it will be + worse for him and worse for you. + + "The White Caps." + +The old sailor fairly exploded with wrath as he listened. "By the keel +of the Flying Dutchman," he shouted, "that little darkey is better than +a shipload of thieving fishermen. I just wish I had my hands on the +fellow that dared write that thing." + +"Poor little Chris," Walter exclaimed. "He is as noble a little fellow +as ever lived. His skin may be black but he's white, clean white, +inside. Think of the times he's risked his life for us and how good, +honest and uncomplaining he has always been. Get rid of Chris, never!" + +"Of course not," Charley agreed. "The question is what are we going to +do. I wouldn't say anything about it while Chris was awake because I +knew how terribly bad it would make him feel,--he is a sensitive little +fellow, but what are we going to do? The fellow or fellows, who wrote +this are liable to do something to him at the first good opportunity +they have, especially if he is not warned and on his guard." + +"Give up all idea of fishing and leave this place, before we part with +Chris," declared Captain Westfield. + +"Not much," cried Walter. "Just tell those fishermen, one and all, that +Chris stays with us. And if they do him the slightest injury, we will +make them suffer for it." + +"I don't like either course you propose," observed thoughtful, +clear-headed Charley. "As for the Captain's plan, I don't want to leave +here. We have a good prospect of making money here if we can stick it +out and we are in poor shape to pick up and leave. Besides I don't like +the idea of being forced out of a place by any one. I don't think much +better of what Walt proposes either. We are no match for a hundred +fishermen, and it is foolish to make threats when one can not carry +them out. In the second place, if we quarrel with the fishermen over +Chris, it will make them more bitter against him and more certain to do +him an injury. Lastly, nothing we could do to them for an injury done +Chris would help him any after the injury was done. What we need to do +is to protect him from any possible harm." + +"Well, let's have your plan," Walter said. + +"I have none as yet," Charley confessed. "I propose we wait until +morning before we decide on any course. Some plan will occur to us, I +am sure. There is always a way out of any difficulty if one only thinks +hard enough. I am dead tired and I'm going to bed and try to forget +about this trouble until morning. I'd advise you two to do the same." + +It had been a very full and eventful day and Walter and the Captain +were not loath to follow Charley's example. The three crept into their +blankets and turned out the lantern; but, tired as they were, they were +not to get the sleep they longed for. From the other shacks came the +voices of their occupants gradually increasing in number and volume. +At first, it seemed as though a kind of celebration was in progress; +for the sound of laughter, songs, and dancing filled the air, but +gradually, the uproar took on a rougher note. Voices were raised in +anger, curses were bandied back and forth, and now and then came the +sound of fighting. + +"I believe they are all drunk or fast getting drunk," Charley declared. + +"Why, I understood Mr. Daniels to say that this was a dry town and +that no liquor was allowed in the place," said his chum. + +"Yes, and he also said that there was more liquor drunk here than in +any other town in the state," Charley amended. "He says it's a mystery +where it comes from. The town authorities it seems, keep a close watch +for blind tigers and also keep an eye on the packages that come by +freight and express but none of it seems to come in that way." + +"Well, it evidently comes in some way," remarked Captain Westfield as a +fresh uproar of fighting arose from the dock. + +It was useless to try to sleep as long as the din continued, so the +three lay talking in low tones. + +"Hark!" cried Charley, suddenly. "I wonder what they have done now." + +Loud and clear above the din of fighting rang the sharp crack of a +pistol. The report was followed by excited shouting and then silence. + +"I'll bet one of them has been shot and it has frightened and sobered +up the rest," Walter exclaimed. "Let's go out and see." + +"No, you don't, lad," Captain Westfield declared, firmly. "You'll stay +here if I have to hold you. It's none of our trouble and we don't any +of us want to get mixed up in it." + +Whatever had happened, it had effectually quieted the wild revelry. +Our little party lay for awhile listening but the silence remained +unbroken and one by one, they at last dropped off to sleep. + +It was perhaps midnight when Walter raised up on his elbow and +whispered softly. + +"Are you asleep, Charley?" + +"As wide awake as I ever was in my life," his chum grunted. "Why, +anything the matter with you?" + +"Something is stinging me to death," declared Walter, anxiously, "I +smart, burn, and itch all over." + +"Me too," chimed in the captain's voice, "I've laid quiet here and took +it rather than wake you boys up. Jehosaphat, what is it?" + +Charley chuckled. "It's nothing dangerous," he explained, "evidently +we are entertaining a few thousand of those fishermen's closest +friends--bedbugs. Light up the lantern, Walt, and let's have a look." + +An examination by the light showed their faces and bodies covered with +red, angry-looking blotches. + +"There's no use trying to sleep here," Charley declared. "Let's go out +on board the 'Dixie.' It will be pretty close quarters sleeping in her +cabin but anything is better than this." + +"But our things will be all stolen," Walter objected. + +"They will not bother anything to-night for they will think we are +inside, and we will be back before they are up in the morning," said +his chum. + +Chris was awakened and the four crept softly out of the shack closing +the door carefully behind them. + +To reach their skiff, they had to pass the other shacks. As they came +opposite the first one Charley, who was in the lead, stopped short with +a muffled cry of horror. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FRIENDLY ADVICE. + + +THE moon had arisen while they slept and now shining brightly +down clearly revealed the fearsome object stretched on the planks +at Charley's feet. It was a man lying flat on his back, his arms +outstretched, and his face upturned to the stars. + +"Dead, murdered!" Charley cried, softly. + +"Perhaps he is only drunk," suggested his chum in a tense whisper. + +But Charley silently pointed to a gaping hole in the man's forehead and +the dark pool on the wharf at his head. + +The captain, stooping, felt of the man's wrist, raised his arm and let +it drop. "Yes, he is cold, dead, and stiff," he whispered. "Let us get +away from here. We can do him no good." + +In a few minutes, the four were huddled in the "Dixie's" cabin, +talking over the tragedy with bated breath. They were not strangers to +the sight of death. In the course of the adventurous lives they had +lived, they had often seen the coming of the gristly monster, but the +suddenness of this sight had upset their nerves already overtaxed by +the events of the previous day and the night, and it was long before +they could compose themselves to sleep. + +Just as Walter was dropping off into dreamland, Charley nudged him with +his elbow. "I've got it," he whispered, softly. + +"What?" inquired Walter, drowsily. + +"A plan to avoid trouble with the fishermen and keep Chris from all +harm." + +"Let's hear it," demanded his chum, rousing up a little. + +"Wait until morning. I haven't thought out all the details yet. Get to +sleep if you can. We'll need all the rest we can get for to-morrow is +going to be a busy day." + +It seemed to the weary little party that they had hardly closed their +eyes when they were awakened by the sun shining in the cabin windows. + +Hastily dressing, they got aboard the skiff and made for the dock. + +There was a crowd gathered in front of the shacks and they clambered up +on the wharf unobserved. + +Beside the fishermen, Mr. Daniels was standing in the group and with +him was a stocky, determined-looking man, wearing a revolver, whom the +boys took to be a sheriff. + +"Good morning, friends," called Mr. Daniels when he caught sight of the +little party. "Come here. Perhaps you can tell us something about last +night's affair. These fellows here seem to know nothing about it." + +Briefly, Captain Westfield told the little they knew of the trouble. + +"That don't help us much," observed the sheriff, when he had concluded. +"As long as these fishermen will not talk it is going to be hard to +locate the murderer. The man who was killed was a pretty bad egg, +although that does not excuse the murderer. I wish I could find out +where that whiskey comes from. It is that which causes all the trouble." + +It was on Walter's tongue to tell Mr. Daniels of their own troubles but +he remembered the fish boss's declaration that they must fight their +own battles and he checked himself. + +The sheriff soon left, taking with him as suspects a couple of +fishermen who were known to have quarreled with the dead man the day +before. Before he left, however, he addressed the assembled fishermen. + +"Now," he said, firmly, "these affairs among you have got to stop and +stop right now. Most of you men are not bad at heart. It's the liquor +makes you crazy and ready to follow the lead of the reckless ones. I +don't know where you get the booze but I am going to find out and the +guilty ones are going to suffer. I'll give you a chance to come square +with it. I'll give a reward of five hundred dollars to the man who puts +me next to this booze business, and promise him that he will not be +punished unless he is one of the main offenders. You know where I live. +I am ready to talk any time to the man who will come to me and help me +put an end to the accursed business." + +None of the fishermen spoke but it was evident that the mention of +the large reward was not without some effect. Some faces showed eager +cupidity while others betrayed great uneasiness. + +"That reward offer is a bomb in their midst," whispered the observant +Charley to his chum. "Some of those fellows will squeal to the sheriff +unless they are too afraid of what the rest would do to them. I guess +those that look so uneasy are the guilty ones, they have cause to be +scared. Five hundred dollars is a big temptation for some one to turn +state's evidence. But come, we have no time to stand around. We have +got lots to do to-day. Chris, will you see if you can rustle us up a +little breakfast?" + +"Now for our own troubles," he continued as soon as the little negro +was out of hearing. "We all know now that we can not stay here. If +those fellows will kill one of their own comrades, they certainly +would not hesitate to do the same to Chris or one of us if they got a +good chance. So we must get away from here at once. As soon as we eat +breakfast, let's get all our things on the 'Dixie' and pull out. I've a +sort of plan in my head for a new home but first I want to go over to +the Roberts camp and have a little talk with them. There are several +things I want to find out. Before we go, though, I want to say a few +words to these fishermen." + +The fishermen were still standing as the sheriff had left them, talking +excitedly together and Charley approached the group. "Men," he said in +a clear, manly voice, "please give me your attention for a moment." A +surprised silence fell upon the group, and the lad was quick to take +advantage of it. + +"We only landed in this place yesterday. We came here broke, seeking +a chance only to work and earn. Mr. Daniels was kind enough to give +us that chance. We have started in strangers to all of you and with +no malice or ill feeling towards any of you. Last night we received a +note signed the White Caps stating that we must get rid of our little +colored cook or suffer serious consequences. Now suppose, men, that you +had a friend who for years had been faithful, loyal and true to you. +Suppose that he had again and again risked his life for you. Would you +turn him down at some one else's demand, even if his skin was black? +Could you do it and retain an atom of your own self respect? No, you +could not. Nor can we. That little darkey has been all of those things +to us for many years and we can not and will not turn him adrift. You, +or some of you, object to his presence on this dock. Very well, we will +leave the dock. He will not bother you even with his presence. All we +ask is that if you come across him elsewhere at any time that you do +him no harm. We appeal to your sense of fair play. We do not believe +any American lacks that sense. We ask this not through fear but because +it is right and just." + +A murmur ran through the group of fishermen when the lad concluded and +turning around walked back to his friends. He had little hopes that his +words had done any good but the chance had seemed worth the attempt. + +Chris soon called them to breakfast and as soon as it was finished, the +boys brought the "Dixie" alongside and stored their belongings in her +cabin. + +After a few attempts Charley succeeded in starting, the engine and +with the captain at the wheel and their skiffs in tow behind, they +swung away from the dock and headed across the bay for a little island +on which stood the Roberts camp. As they approached the place, they +were delighted with the looks of the little camp. They landed at a +neat little wharf, on either side of which were neat, well-built net +racks upon which were neatly hung well-mended nets. The skiffs hauled +upon the shore were well-painted and in excellent shape. A trim little +path bordered with sea shells led up up to a neat, cozy, white-painted +cottage nestling in amongst a group of cocoanut palms. + +"These Roberts are tidy as sailors," observed Captain Westfield. "We +can bank on their being pretty near all right. I never saw a clean, +tidy man that was a bad man." + +As Charley had expected, they found the Roberts at home taking a needed +day's rest after their hard work. + +They greeted the little party cordially. "Glad to see you," said Bill +Roberts, heartily. "Hope that you will drop in on us often now that you +have found the way." + +"We have come to bother you already," Charley said. "I thought perhaps +you could tell us if there would be any objection to our making a camp +on one of these islands." + +"What, tired of life on the dock already?" grinned Bill. + +Charley briefly related their experiences with the fishermen. Bill +and his brothers, Frank and Robert, were indignant. "It's some of +that Hunter gang's doings," Bill declared. "Most of the fishermen are +not such bad fellows but they are afraid to oppose the gang for fear +of what might be done to them on the sly. You have done just right +to leave there, now, you won't be mixed up in any of their troubles. +Sure you can make camp on any of these islands. They are owned by the +state and no one has got any right to object. You could build a shack +right here on our island but I've got a better idea than that. You see +that island right over there opposite the Clearwater dock? That's Palm +Island. There is a pretty fair abandoned house on it which with only a +little fixing up would do you first rate. There's a good spring of cold +water on it too. I'll take a run over there with you and show you where +the spring is." + +The little party gratefully accepted his offer. Just as they were +shoving off from the dock, the younger brother came running down with +a rifle in his hands. "Better take this," he offered. "We have got an +extra one and it may come handy to you. You can return it later on if +you find you have no use for it." + +Our friends thanked him for his kindness. A weapon was what they had +been longing for since their acquaintance with the fishermen. They +hoped to never have occasion to use one, but its possession gave them a +sense of security. + +They were delighted with the little cabin and spring that Bill showed +them on Palm Island. The island itself was a small one of about ten +acres and densely covered with palms. It was long and narrow. One of +its snow-white beaches fronted on the Gulf of Mexico and the other on +the bay. The cabin was in a good state of repair, and the spring gushed +up clear and cold from under a clump of rock. + +Their new friend soon took his departure giving them one last piece of +advice before he went. + +"Better leave one man in camp all the time," he said. "It needs one to +do the cooking and keep nets mended up, and it's best not to take any +chances. That Hunter gang may drop in on you any time." + +As soon as he was gone, the little party fell to work fixing up their +new home with which they were one and all delighted. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MIDNIGHT LIGHT. + + +"I WISH we could get to fishing right off," Charley observed, "but I +believe it will pay us best to get everything fixed up right first, +then we will have nothing to bother us and we will be able to fish +steadily without any interruptions." + +"Issue your commands, boss, and they shall be carried out," Walter +assured him. + +"The cabin is the first thing to be attended to. There isn't much +fixing required, as I can see, except to clean it up a little. But we +need something for beds, bare planks make pretty hard sleeping. How do +you suppose some clean dry sea moss would do for couches?" + +"Just the thing," Captain Westfield declared. "I like the sweet salty +smell of it. I'll bring some up from the beach, and clean up the house +too, that's my job." + +"We had ought to have some kind of a fireplace to cook on," Charley +continued. "It's a little trouble to build one, but there's lots of +rock on the beach and it hadn't ought to take very long." + +"Dis nigger's goin' to 'tend to dat," announced Chris. "I'se de cook +an' I knows jes' what kind ob oven I wants. I'se goin' to see if I +can't find something to eat too. We ain't got but mighty little grub +left an' we best save it all we can." + +"Well, Walter and I will try to manage the rest of the work, then. Come +on, Walt, we have got to build a small dock and racks for our nets." + +There was plenty of driftwood on the beach and with proper tools the +two boys would have taken but a short time to complete their tasks, but +the only implements they possessed were their sheath knives. + +"This is a case where necessity has got to be the mother of invention," +Charley observed. "Let's pick out our driftwood as near of the same +length as we can, that will save some cutting which would be an almost +impossible job without saw or axe. We had better tackle the dock job +first because it's the hardest. Let's see--we will want six stout +pieces for posts, three others for cross pieces, and a lot of planks +for the top." + +Although the driftwood was plentiful, it took the boys some time to +find just what they wanted and carry it all to the place they had +decided to have their wharf. + +"Now comes the hardest part of the job," Charley announced, as they +dumped their last load on the sand. "That is to get our posts set. I +don't see any way to do but get overboard and work them down by hand." + +"Here goes, then," said Walter, beginning to shed his clothing. + +The water was not very deep and the boys stood one of the posts upright +and attempted to work the end down into the bottom by swaying the top +back and forth. + +"It's no go," panted Walter after half an hour of hard labor which only +sank the post a few inches in the hard sand. "It would take us ten +years to put them all far enough down to hold." + +"I expect we will have to give up the dock for the present," Charley +agreed, ruefully. "Too bad. Of course one is not absolutely necessary +but it would save us a good deal of trouble and also wet feet." + +"It is lucky that your assistant is a person of great intelligence," +Walter observed, slyly. "Your methods are primitive, clumsy, hand-labor +methods. This is an age of machinery and brains. Now, if I were boss +of this, job, I would call in the aid of machinery to replace the hand +methods which have been tried and found wanting." + +"I resign as superintendent in your favor," Charley grinned. "There is +more honor than pay attached to the position, anyway. It will be a good +opening for you. You will be able to say in future years that you held +at least one position where you were not paid more than you were worth." + +"Your words are prompted by intellectual jealousy," declared his chum, +calmly. "However, it is the misfortune of the truly great not to be +appreciated until they are dead. If you will bring the launch in +here, I'll explain my plan so simply that a child, or even you, can +understand it." + +Charley, deciding that he was getting the worst of the good-natured +banter, obediently waded out and brought the launch in. + +"I don't know whether you are well enough acquainted with engines to +realize it," mocked Walter, who had only made the discovery himself +that morning, "but the cylinder of this engine, as you will see when I +point it out, is inclosed in a hollow iron jacket. This thing down here +is a pump, and you will notice that there is one pipe running from it +down through the bottom of the boat and also another pipe leading into +the jacket. Observe also that there is a short piece of pipe in the +jacket to which is fastened a piece of hose that runs out over the side +of the boat. Do you take in all that?" + +"I do," said Charley, briefly. + +"All right, though I am quite surprised. Now, when the engine is +running that pump sucks up water through the pipe that goes through the +bottom of the boat. The water is forced through the other pipe into the +jacket and passes overboard again through the short pipe and hose. The +constant circulation of cold water keeps the engine from heating up and +exploding." + +"You know more about engines than I suspected yesterday," Charley said, +dryly. + +"I know many things that would surprise you," observed Walter, calmly. +"Now, I will show you how simple it is for a brainy person to make +practical use of such things. Now, we'll just fasten the end of that +hose to the end of the post and start up the engine. The force of the +expelled water will wash away the sand from below the post permitting +it to sink." + +"Yes, and you will start the engine the wrong way and pump the poor +post out of the water," Charley jeered. + +"The superintendent does not stoop to manual labor," replied Walter, +calmly. "I shall simply order my assistant to start the engine." + +The joke was on Charley and he owned it by starting up the engine +without further parley. + +"Now get overboard and hold the post steady," Walter commanded, and his +chum meekly obeyed. + +The idea was really an excellent one. The post sank rapidly and in +an hour all six were sunk to the required depth. Charley labored in +the water with suspicious willingness while Walter, bare-backed, sat +proudly and comfortably in the launch tending the switch and giving +orders with sarcastic comments on the worker's ability. From time to +time, Charley glanced up with a malicious grin at him sitting in naked +state by the engine. That grin made Walter uneasy, for it was not often +that he got the best of his chum in a joke and Charley's meekness was +suspicious. + +"Now for the cross pieces. Put them on next," he ordered. "By jove, how +are we going to fasten them though. We have got no nails or hammer." + +"This is an age of machinery and brains," quoted Charley. "Surely my +brilliant superintendent can overcome such a little difficulty." + +Walter puzzled for a few minutes. "I'll have to give up," he admitted. +"I resign as superintendent. Give your orders, Mr. Super and I'll +execute them." He flopped over the launch's side into the water. + +"Ouch!" he yelled. "What's the matter with this water? It smarts me +like fire." + +"There's nothing the matter with the water," grinned Charley, "it is +just nice, cool, clear sea water. I am enjoying it. The salt in it does +not agree with a badly sunburned back, however." + +"My! I should say it doesn't," agreed his chum, as the reason for the +smarting dawned upon him. "Now laugh. Go ahead, don't mind my feelings. +I am not sensitive." + +And thus with good-natured banter, the two boys made light work of +their heavy, disagreeable task. + +Charley solved the lack of nails and hammer, by plaiting some stout +ropes of cocoanut fiber with which he securely bound the cross pieces +in place. After that it was only a few minutes' task to lay on the +planks for the top and their wharf was completed. + +The net racks gave them less trouble, as they consisted merely of two +poles about four feet apart set up on posts. + +By noon, the boys' tasks were completed and they repaired to the cabin +where they found that the captain and Chris had not wasted their time. +The cabin had been made neat and clean and in each corner was a great +heap of dry fragrant sea moss upon which their blankets were already +spread. + +Just outside the door, Chris had cunningly constructed a kind of rude, +flat-topped stove out of rocks, and the fragrant odors coming from it +caused the boys to quicken their steps. + +"My, Chris, if that dinner tastes as good as it smells, it will be all +right," Charley said. + +The little negro beamed with delight. "Trust dis nigger to git plenty +to eat," he grinned. "Don't make no difference if dat poor white trash +steals all the grub, dis nigger can get up a good meal all right. I'se +just got up a kind of feast to-day 'cause hit's our first meal on de +Island." + +And a feast it truly was. First came a thick soup or stew that was +delicious. "What's this, Chris?" Charley asked, as he smacked his lips +over the first spoonful. "It's a new one on me." + +"Dem's stewed scallops. I find lots of dem on the flats," declared the +delighted little negro. "Dey are powerful hard to open an' clean, but +dey sure beat oysters all hollow for tastiness. Don't eat too much ob +dem, Massa Chas, 'cause dar's lots ob other things comin' yet." + +The next dish was a large fish baked until the juicy meat was dropping +from the bones. With it came the tender, baked bud of a palmetto +cabbage, and great red, boiled claws of stone crabs. To top off with, +there were golden brown, feather-weight flap-jacks with syrup and +white, milky cocoa plums. + +The little party ate like cannibals, while Chris urged more upon them, +tickled with the success of the feast he had prepared. + +"I hate to quit, but I haven't got room for another mouthful," Charley +declared, at last. "Come on, Walt, stop it. There is more work to do +this afternoon and I don't want to do it all by myself. Besides you are +going to get another meal to-night." + +"That's right, begrudge me a few mouthfuls of food," grumbled Walter as +he rose slowly and painfully from the table. + +The afternoon was busily spent in putting their nets on the racks, +overhauling the skiffs, and making themselves more familiar with the +launch's engine. Night found all hands tired and sleepy. As soon as +supper was over, they stretched out on their soft spicy couches ready +to get back the sleep they had lost the night before. + +At midnight Charley sat up suddenly wide awake. For a moment he sat +still and alert. Everything was quiet. Yet he knew that something +unusual had occurred to rouse him from his sound slumber. This sudden +awakening was a habit bred by his adventurous life amid the perils of +sea and forest. Silently he waited, every nerve alert, to sense what +had happened. At last it came again, a deep, mellow, horn-like sound. +One, two, three times it vibrated on the still night air, then came +silence again. + +Softly he crept over and awakened Walter and the captain. "I don't know +what's the matter, but some one is signaling on a conch shell," he +explained, "and the sound is not far off." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MYSTERY. + + +LEAVING Chris still peacefully snoring, the three stole softly outside +the cabin. Once outside they paused and listened again for a repetition +of the strange signal. + +They had not long to wait for in a few minutes, it came again, a long +melodious mellow note, three times sounded. + +"It comes from the Gulf," Captain Westfield declared. "Let's go down to +the point. We can see both bay and gulf from there." + +The island terminated in a long sand point that ran out into a passage +that connected the bay with the Gulf of Mexico. To it, the three +hastened their steps. Just as they stepped out on the sand spit, the +mysterious signal sounded again. + +"There it is," Charley cried, pointing out to sea. "It's a ship." + +Out in the Gulf, about three hundred yards from where they stood, a dim +shadowy mass loomed up vaguely in the darkness. + +"It's a ship all right," Captain Westfield agreed, "but thar's +something queer about her. No ship ever comes in close to these shores. +With all the reefs thar are around hyar it's too dangerous unless one +knows the channels mighty well. Then, that ain't no distress signal +she's sounding,--four long blasts is the distress signal the world +over. Then too she ain't got lights--that ain't proper and shipshape." + +Even as he spoke, a bright flash blazed up from the strange vessel's +deck. It only lasted a few seconds, but in that brief space it lit up +the mysterious stranger, showing a huddled mass of men in her waist and +throwing into sharp distinctness every rope and spar. + +"A flare," cried Walter, "they are certainly signaling some one." + +"There is something familiar about those spars," Charley exclaimed. +"Did you notice them, Captain?" + +"No. I was looking at the hull. She sits low as a pirate craft. She's +schooner rigged and about one hundred tons burden. Hallo! Here comes +some one who has heard her signals. We can find out about her all +right." + +From the bay came the quick chug chug of a motor turning up at full +speed. As she swept into the passage, the little party could tell even +in the dim light that she was a large launch and traveling at a rapid +rate. + +"Ahoy!" hailed Charley, as the strange launch came abreast. + +The launch's engine was stopped at his call, but no answer came to his +hail. + +"Ahoy!" he shouted again. "Can you tell us what ship that is and what +she wants?" + +A string of low-muttered curses came from the launch, and almost at +the same minute a single fiery rocket hissed aloft from her deck. +Immediately her engine began to throb again. + +"Why, she's turned around and going back!" exclaimed Captain Westfield +in amazement. + +"Look at the schooner!" cried Walter. + +From the mysterious ship came muffled orders and the creak of blocks as +sails were hoisted and sheeted home. + +Slowly the put-put of the launch's engine died away in the distance +from which it had come, and the mysterious schooner, under full sail, +glided silently away in the darkness. + +"I'll be joggered!" exclaimed Captain Westfield. "That's queer. I +wonder what they were up to." + +"Something that will not bear the light of day, I guess," said Charley, +thoughtfully. "I believe it was our hail that frightened the fellows in +the launch and their rocket was a signal to the schooner to clear out. +Well, I guess the excitement is over for the night and we might as well +go back to bed." + +Walter and the captain lay awake for some time discussing the +strange incident but Charley lay long awake on his couch, silent and +thoughtful. He was puzzling to determine where he had seen the strange +schooner before. In the second, the flare had revealed her in the +darkness, he had sensed something vaguely familiar in the low graceful +hull and the set of the raking masts. + +"Where have I ever seen a foremast that raked aft like that one," he +pondered. Suddenly it flashed vivid and distinct in his groping memory. +"No, no," he muttered to himself. "It simply can't be her. It must only +be a chance resemblance. That flare only lasted a second. Guess I am +getting to imagine things. I'd better forget it and try to go to sleep." + +Never-the-less it was long before he rid his alert brain of the +tormenting thought and compelled sleep to come. + +When he awoke, it was to find his chums up before him. Chris had +breakfast cooking and Captain Westfield had just returned from taking +a morning plunge in the surf. Walter was not in sight, but he soon +appeared bearing a sack full of turtle eggs which he had found on the +beach. + +"I've been exploring our island," he announced. "Say, some of the +fishermen must come over here to hold their celebrations. There are +several well-worn paths on the island. I followed two of them and +they both led into the same place, a little clearing in a thick bunch +of palms. It looks as though there had been several fights there for +the ground is all trampled up as though it had been dug, and I found a +couple of long, queer-looking clubs and this full bottle. What's in it, +Charley? I can't make out the label." + +Charley took the big black bottle and examined the label that had +puzzled his chum. "It's in Spanish," he announced, then translated +rapidly: "Aguardiente, 100 Proof, Manufactured by Sicava & Sons, +Santiago, Cuba." He pulled the cork and a pungent reeking odor filled +the air. + +"Why, it's rum," said Captain Westfield. + +"A kind of rum," Charley agreed, "only far stronger and more fiery. No +wonder the fishermen fight if this is the kind of stuff they drink. It +would make a rabbit spit at an elephant." + +"Throw it away," Walter said. "We don't want the vile stuff." + +"No, I think I will keep it," said his chum, thoughtfully. "I have a +notion that this little bottle is going to be mighty useful some time." + +"How's that?" Walter questioned, but the spell of silent thoughtfulness +was still upon Charley and he paid no heed to the question. + +"I wish you fellows would go down and pull the nets into the skiffs," +he said, as soon as breakfast was over. "I will be down as soon as I +take a dip in the surf." + +"Why, what do you want the nets on so early for?" Walter protested. "We +don't fish except at night, do we?" + +"We need to have a little drill," Charley explained. "It will be easier +for you to learn how to handle the nets in the day time, and we will +not have to waste any of our precious night time practicing." + +As soon as the three were gone, Charley left the camp himself. He did +not pause at the beach to take a swim, however. Instead he turned into +one of the well-beaten paths Walter had spoken of. He was following +up a vague suspicion that had been growing in his mind and, for good +reasons, he wanted to follow it out alone. If he was right in his +surmises then would be the time to tell his chums. There was no use of +worrying them until he was certain. + +His keen eyes noted one peculiar thing that his chum had not observed +the significance of. All the paths led inward from the gulf beach and +none from the bay. + +A few minutes' walk brought him to the cleared place Walter had +described. It was only a few feet in extent and was densely surrounded +by a thick growth of cocoanut palms. No one a few feet distant would +have suspected its existence so well was it hidden from sight. + +At the entrance to the little space, Charley picked up two heavy +pieces of timber about six feet in length. "These are Walter's clubs," +he grinned. "Well, I suppose one could take them for that but clubs +don't generally have a nice smooth rounded hand grip at each end and +clubs the length of these things would be awkward to handle at close +quarters. I have an idea these were used to carry heavy burdens. They +would come pretty handy for that. Just lay the thing to be carried +across them and one man take hold of the ends in front and another man +at the back. Strange, Walter did not notice an odd thing about this +clearing too. There is not a root or twig on the ground. Men would +hardly fix up a place as clean just to fight in. He is right about one +thing, though, this ground does look as though it had been all dug up, +and unless all my guess is wrong, it has been dug up. Let's see how +near I've hit to the mark with my suspicions." + +He got down on his knees and began to dig in the soft earth. In a few +minutes he came upon that which he sought. It was not unexpected for +all his theories had pointed the one way. As he dug over here and +there, however, he grew amazed at the magnitude of his discovery. At +last he ceased his digging and carefully filled up the many holes he +had made trying to smooth over the face of the ground the same as it +was before. This accomplished to his satisfaction, he stood up with a +thoughtful frown on his face. + +Should he tell his companions of his discovery, he pondered. It was of +no use to any of them at present. Would it be wise to tell them yet? +Some one might let slip a word in an unguarded moment that would spoil +everything. "The more that knows a secret the greater the chance of its +leaking out," he reflected. "No," he would not tell them at present. + +Having reached this decision, he made his way back to the beach. +Stripping, he took a hurried plunge in the surf and hastily dressing +hurried across the island to the skiffs. + +"We have got the nets all aboard," Walter greeted him with. + +One glance at the heaped up nets in the skiffs' stern and Charley's +face fell. + +"Whew!" he whistled, "you have sure done it now. Well, it's all my +fault. I should have explained to you how to boat a net. They don't +want to be piled up in a heap like that. You can't run out a net in +that shape. It would all tangle up and go out in lumps and bunches. +When you boat a net, you want to pile the lead line up carefully on +one side of the stern and the cork line on the other letting the loose +webbing fall in between, then it will run out smoothly without tangles +and snarls." + +The nets had to be all tumbled out of the skiffs and hauled in again as +Charley had directed. + +His chums were quite crestfallen over their mistake, but he only +laughed. "Everything is new to you and you are bound to make a lot +of mistakes at first," he assured them, "but you will soon catch on. +Don't get discouraged over a little mistake like that, you'll make many +bigger ones before you get used to the business. Hallo, I guess we are +going to have some visitors. That launch out there is heading in here." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE VISITORS. + + +THE boys glanced up from their work from time to time at the rapidly +approaching motor boat. + +"My, but she is a fast one!" commented Charley, noting the crest of +foam at her bow and the rapid popping of her exhaust. "I believe she is +as fast, or faster, than our 'Dixie.'" + +Within a few minutes after they had sighted her, she was near enough +for the chums to distinguish her passengers or crew. + +"Why, the man at the wheel is that fisherman Hunter," Walter exclaimed, +"and there are four more with him, some of his gang, I suppose." + +"I wonder what they want with us," speculated the captain, uneasily. + +"Nothing pleasant, I guess," said Charley, gravely. "I believe those +fellows are bent on making trouble for us. Let's not have any words +with them, if we can help it. If we have got to have a fuss with 'em at +all though, I guess now is as good a time as ever. I'll get Chris out +of the way," he added, in an undertone to Walter. "He does not know +yet that he is the innocent cause of our trouble, and there is no use +letting him if we can help it. It would make the poor little chap feel +awfully bad." + +As soon as it was apparent beyond all doubt that the launch was coming +in to the little dock, he called the little negro to one side. + +"I want you to go up to the cabin and stay there until I call you," he +directed. "If I give one long whistle, come a running and bring the +rifle with you." + +The little negro was barely out of sight, when the big launch, its +engine shut off, glided in to the dock. + +Besides the sallow-faced Hunter, it contained four fellows almost as +vicious and mean looking as himself. Hunter made the launch fast to a +post and climbed out on the dock followed by his companions. + +Our little party greeted the visitors with a pleasant good morning. + +"Good morning," grunted Hunter with a snarl, "I didn't come all the way +over here just to say good morning though." + +"Then what did you come for?" demanded Walter curtly, his quick temper +beginning to flare up at the fellow's insolent tones. + +"I am going to let you know mighty quick," snarled Hunter. "You +brought that little nigger over here with you, didn't you?" + +"We did," Charley answered briefly. + +"Well, you-all have got to get off this island--and get off of it +mighty quick," he declared. + +"Why," Captain Westfield demanded, his own anger beginning to rise. + +"First place, 'cause you ain't got any right to stay here. This island +belongs to a friend of mine and I've got charge of it." + +Charley was keeping his temper well in hand though he was as angry +as his chums. "We have been advised that this island belongs to the +state," he said, coolly, "and we believe what we have been told. We +have got as much right on state land as you or any one else." + +"Well, I give you notice to get off right away. We don't allow no +niggers in the fishing business 'round hyar." + +"Now look here, Hunter," Charley said coolly, "you fellows objected to +our having the little negro with us on the dock. Very well, we moved +over here to avoid trouble. Now you come over here and try to order us +off this island which we have as many rights to as you. That's going +too far and we are not going to stand for it." + +"We ain't going to have no niggers fishing 'round hyar," repeated +Hunter doggedly. + +"Chris is not going to do any fishing. He is our cook--and a mighty +good one too." + +"Don't make any difference. You fellows have got to get off this +island." + +"Which we refuse to do," Charley said defiantly. + +"Amen to that," agreed Captain Westfield, hotly. + +"You'll have a hard job making us," chimed in Walter. + +Hunter's sallow face reddened with anger. "If you smart Alecks ain't +off this island before to-morrow night you'll get what's coming to +you," he snarled. + +"Look here, Hunter," Charley said, quietly, "it strikes me you are a +little bit too anxious to get us to leave here and I think I know the +reason. Now you fellows had better get in your boat and go. We want +nothing to do with you and your gang. We will tend to our own business +and you had better tend to yours. If you bother us any more, well, I +know of an officer who would be willing to pay a good big sum to know +about a strange craft that haunts this coast in the night, and a motor +boat that answers her signals." + +It was a chance shot on Charley's part but it went home. + +"We wasn't out at all last night," denied Hunter. "We were all in bed, +didn't even go fishing." + +"I never mentioned last night," said Charley, quickly, and Hunter +muttered a curse as he saw the slip he had made. + +"You're only doing a lot of wild guessing, and guessing ain't proof," +he snarled. "Take all the guesses you want to your officer. He won't do +anything. He's got to have proofs." + +Charley realized with regret that his veiled threat had failed, but he +tried not to show his chagrin. + +"Leave here," he ordered. "Get into your boat and go." + +"I'm leaving right now," Hunter snarled. "But you'll be leaving here +for good before two days are gone. Before I go, I'm going to slap you +around a bit to teach you some manners, you young whelp. Look out for +them other two, boys, while I give this smart Aleck a dressing down." + +His companions drawing their sheath knives, crowded threateningly +towards Walter and the captain while he lunged forward at Charley who +stood his ground a little pale but unafraid. He came at the lad with a +rush, both fists swinging. "Keep back," Charley cried, but Hunter aimed +a swinging blow at his head with all his force. + +Charley ducked with the quickness he had learned in a Y. M. C. A. gym +and at the same instant drove his right fist forward with all of his +weight behind it. It caught the sallow fisherman fair on his chin and +sent him reeling backwards. He staggered and almost fell but recovering +himself with an oath whipped out his sheath knife and came rushing at +the plucky lad. + +It was a desperate situation. A lightning glance out of the corner of +his eye showed Charley he could expect no help from his chums. They +were menaced by the three ruffians with upraised knives. Their own +knives lay in their fishing belts up in the cabin. No stick or club +was within his reach. It was a case of bare hands against naked steel. +Hunter came at him with a savage thrust. The lad leaped lightly to one +side to avoid it. His foot slipped on a mossy rock and down he went on +the sand. + +With a yell of triumph the fishermen leaped for him as he lay +half-dazed by his fall. + +Crack, crack, crack came three sharp reports and the shrill whine of +whistling bullets sang above the prostrate lad. + +The effect on the fishermen was startling. + +With a cry Hunter turned and ran for the launch and his companions +crowding at his heels. + +"We'll get you yet," he yelled as he hurriedly cast off. "We'll get you +when you ain't got that little nigger behind a tree guarding you with +a gun. We"--but his curses were lost in the crackle of the engine as +he threw on the switch. + +Walter and the captain hurried to Charley and helped him up from the +sand. + +"I am all right," he declared as soon as he was on his feet. "I came +down so hard it knocked the wind out of me for a moment but I am all +right now." + +"Chris shot just in time," Walter exclaimed. "I thought you were going +to be killed before our eyes." + +"I don't believe they would have gone that far," said his chum. "Hunter +might have beat me up a bit but I think he aimed to frighten us off the +island more than anything else." + +"I wonder why he is so anxious to drive us away from here," pondered +Walter, puzzledly. + +"That's easy to tell," Charles declared. "His gang are smuggling +aguardiente here from Cuba. That was the meaning of that schooner, the +motor boat, and those signals last night. I found a cache of the stuff +in that cleared place this morning. There must be five hundred bottles +of it." + +"Then all we have to do is to tell the sheriff and he'll put the gang +where they will not bother us any more," Walter exclaimed in relief. + +"That's what I tried to bluff Hunter into thinking," replied his chum, +"but it did not work. You see, we have got no proofs and he knows it. +We see a schooner at night acting queerly, also a motor boat, and +we find a stock of aguardiente buried on the island, but that proves +nothing against the Hunter gang or anyone else for that matter. Of +course, I feel sure that they are the guilty ones but that isn't proof." + +"I reckon we are in something of a mess," said Captain Westfield, +worriedly. "We are going to have trouble with those fellows sure. They +can't carry on such a game with us here on the island, and it ain't +likely they are going to stay quiet and lose all that stuff they've got +cached." + +"It looks bad," Charley admitted, gravely. "We must talk it over +carefully and decide what is best to do. But where's Chris? It's funny +he don't show himself. Something must be the matter." + +With a sudden alarm, Charley hastened up for the cabin, followed by his +chums. + +As soon as he came in sight of the hut, he slackened his speed with a +sigh of relief for the little negro was seated in the doorway with the +rifle in his hands. + +"Good work, Chris," he exclaimed. "Your shots came just in the nick of +time. I am glad you didn't hit any of them though." + +"I ain't shot none, Massa Chas," protested the little negro. "You dun +tole me to stay right hyar till you whistle an' you ain't whistled +yet." + +"Then where did those shots come from?" Charley demanded. + +"Hit sounded like dey come from where you-alls was," Chris declared. + +"Then they must have come from the fringe of palms close to the beach," +Charley decided. "Well, some one on the island has done us a good turn +and we better look him up and thank him. Likely he didn't want to be +seen and recognized by Hunter." + +But at the end of an hour they were back at the cabin, a thoroughly +mystified little group. They had been all over their little domain but +no sign of a human being had they discovered. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MORE TROUBLE. + + +ALL the little party were greatly puzzled but Chris was the one most +troubled. The superstitious little negro was quick to attach an uncanny +meaning to the strange incident. + +"Hit was a ghost," he declared, solemnly. "Dat's jes' de way de ghosts +do on Cat Island. Nobody can ebber find 'em when dey look for 'em. Dey +jes' melt into de air." + +"Bosh, Chris," derided Charley, "there are no such things as ghosts." + +"Yes dar is, Massa Chas," persisted the little darkey. "Plenty of +people has seed dem a heap ob times. My ole daddy on Cat Island dun +seen one once. He come 'cross hit on de road one moonlight night. Hit +was all white an' bigger den any man an' dar was blue fire comin' out +ob hits eyes, an' nose, an' mouth. Daddy run like de wind an' he dun +got away from hit. But he always 'lowed if he hadn't had his conjurer +charm tied 'round his neck hit would hab cotched him sho'. Sho' dar is +ghosts." + +Walter laughed. "Well, if there are bad spirits there must be good +spirits also, Chris," he observed, "and this one seems to be a pretty +good sort. He certainly done us a good turn. If I ever meet him, I hope +he will not do the vanishing act for I want to thank him." + +But Chris was not to be reassured and he went about his task of getting +dinner muttering darkly to himself. + +"Frankly, what do you make of it?" Walter inquired of his chum as they +waited the preparation of the meal. + +"I? I don't know what to think of it yet," Charley confessed. "As soon +as I found out that it was not Chris who did the shooting I thought +maybe one of the Roberts boys had landed on the other side of the +island and happened to come across just in the nick of time. I can +understand that no one would want to be seen by the Hunter gang for the +sake of avoiding future trouble with them, but I can not for the life +of me understand why the unknown should wish to avoid us, also. That is +the puzzling part. Why did he vanish, and where did he go to? He had no +time to get away in a boat without our seeing him. It's a mystery to +me." + +"I ain't worrying much about that," observed Captain Westfield. +"Whoever it was he was friendly to us and that's more than we can say +for that Hunter gang. We are bound to have more trouble with them, I +fear, and I don't see any way to steer clear of it unless we pick up +and leave this part of the country." + +"We can't do that," Walter declared. "We are penniless and there is no +other work we can do around here. Besides we owe a good big bill at the +store and it would not be right to go away and leave it for Mr. Daniels +to pay." + +"No," agreed the captain, "we can't do that. Well, I don't know what is +best to do. What's your opinion, Charley?" + +"Of course, we can't leave here," replied the lad, decidedly, "and I +for one, don't want to leave. There are four of the Hunter gang and +there are four of us. It's true, we have only one gun amongst us while +they are probably well armed. In a way, I do not think the question of +weapons is so very important. I do not believe that they will provoke +a serious open fight. That demonstration this morning was to frighten +us away. There is law in this state and officers capable of enforcing +it, and, bad as that Hunter gang is reputed to be, I do not believe +the members of it are going to run the risk of being hung for any open +killing. What evil they will try to do to us will be done secretly and +in such a way that we can not have them arrested for it. I judge, that +is the way they have always done their meanness from what Bill Roberts +said to Hunter that day. If we stay here that is what we will have to +always be on our guard against. Of course such a state of things will +not be pleasant but I believe we are as bright as they and by being +watchful we will give them little chance to do us any injury." + +"What about that stuff they've got cached," objected Captain Westfield. +"It's worth too much money for them to let it lay where it is and they +won't dare take it away as long as we are on the island." + +"I've been thinking of that," Charley answered, "and I believe, the +best thing to be done is to get the stuff off the island. If we catch +any fish to-night, we will have to take them over to Clearwater and +just tell Mr. Daniels about our finding the stuff. Likely, he will +see that it is removed at once. That will rid the Hunter gang of the +necessity of driving us off the island and it will likely scare them so +that it will be some time before they attempt to smuggle any more in." + +"Wall, I reckon, that is the best course for us to steer," agreed the +old sailor. "Of course, they'll have a grudge against us for the loss +of the stuff but they've got one against us anyway, so it don't make +much difference. We'll have to leave some one in camp all the time so +as to protect our grub and things." + +"We will leave Chris," Charley decided. "One of us will have to cook +and keep the nets mended up anyway and Chris is certainly the boy for +the cooking job. We will leave the rifle with him. At night, or when +there is any sign of trouble, he can bar himself up in the cabin and be +safer than he would be with us. It's strong as a fort, and the palmetto +logs it is built of will not catch fire easy if any one should try to +smoke him out." + +Accordingly when dinner was finished, Charley explained the situation +to the little negro, only telling him of the cached liquor and not +mentioning the objections made to his presence amongst them so as +to spare the little fellow's sensitive feelings. Chris protested +vigorously at the plan to leave him behind. + +"I ain't scared ob dat poor white trash," he declared, "but hit ain't +noways nice to stay hyar alone wid a haunt walking 'round on dis +island. I jes' naturally can't do dat, Massa Chas." + +In vain his three companions argued with him. All the superstitions +of his race were aroused. "A spirit was a haunting de island," he +declared, "an' hit warn't noways wise to stay alone whar a haunt was. + +"If I only had my ole daddy's conjurin' charm, hit might be all right," +he said, doubtfully. "Hit dun saved him from a ghost once." + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Charley at last. "I'll let you have +my one ghost charm. It will ward off any ghost that ever walked this +island." + +"Has you got one for sho', Massa Chas? Let's see hit," exclaimed the +relieved little darkey. + +Charley gravely produced from his pocket a tiny stone, Chinese +mannikin, which he had once used as a watch charm and which had found +its way into his pockets along with a few other worthless odds and +ends. It was grotesquely carved and hideously ugly but Chris viewed it +with delight. + +"Hit sho' looks like a powerful charm," he declared with the longing +for possession. + +"I'll guarantee it to protect against any ghost I ever saw," declared +Charley, truthfully and solemnly. + +"If you could dun spare hit to me, I reckon I wouldn't mind being left +behind, Massa Chas," offered the little negro. + +"All right," Charley agreed, delighted with the success of his ruse. +"You want to be careful not to lose it though. I don't know where I +could get another like it." + +They left the appeased little darkey engaged in fastening the ugly +mannikin with a string around his neck, and took their way down to the +dock for the practice drill Charley had decided upon. + +"Now, I don't want to be bossy," the lad explained as they made their +preparations for the trial, "but, as things are, I happen to be the +only one of us who has had any experience in fishing. I would much +rather that some one else could take the lead for fishing is one +business where the leader must be obeyed without argument or question. +His followers must give him the same quiet service that a military +company gives its officers. It is upon such unquestionable following +that the successes in fishing largely depends. The leader's position, +running head boat it is called, requires quick judgment and swift +action, and these can not be had if argument or explanations have to +precede them." + +"That's all right, I understand what you mean," said Captain Westfield, +placidly. "All you will have to do is to give your orders." + +"Sure," agreed Walter, "we wouldn't know what to do unless you did." + +"All right," agreed Charley. "I want to say, though, before we start, +that this fishing is a nerve-trying business, as you will soon find +out. Sometimes it wears a person's temper to a wire edge and he will +say things and do things he afterwards regrets. If I should happen to +speak shortly or curtly any time please overlook it if you can and I +will do the same with you. I've seen this fishing game break up old +friendships more than once. And now," he concluded, "for our practice. +We will suppose now that we are stealing up on a school of fish. Our +positions are this. My skiff goes ahead. The captain in his skiff keeps +ten feet behind me and a trifle to the left. You, Walter, keep nearly +opposite me but about four hundred feet distant. Now, when I give the +signal to make a run, I will stop rowing. The captain will back the end +of his skiff up to mine and I will tie our two nets together. Then I +will shout to you and you will throw the end of your net overboard and +we will all start rowing as hard as we can. You will watch my boat, +Walter, and keep just opposite me all the time. When our nets are +pretty well run out, I will shout again and we will both head directly +for each other. When we come together, I go around your stern and cross +your net with mine. As soon as you and I start, the captain starts +also. He swings away from me and heads for where you dropped the end of +your net. He crosses it, and, if he has any net left in his boat, he +rows back inside the circle and zigzags back and forth until it is all +run out. If we do this all right and luck holds good, we will have our +fish penned up like this." With a stick he drew on the sand this simple +diagram. + +[Illustration] + +"As soon as our nets run out," he continued, "we row around inside the +circle and beat on our skiffs with the oars and make all the racket we +can to drive the fish into the nets. Then, each man rows back to the +end of his net and takes it up being careful to pile it right so that +it will run out smoothly and also be careful not to break meshes taking +out fish. I guess that's about all." + +"Why, that's simple as can be," Walter exclaimed. + +Charley grinned. "Let's try it and see," he said knowingly. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ONE NIGHT'S SPORT. + + +"NOW just imagine that we are really hunting fish," Charley directed, +as he shoved his skiff from shore. "Take up your positions exactly as I +directed and make as little noise as possible with your oars." + +His companions eagerly obeyed and the three skiffs slowly crept ahead +as if stealing up on a school of fish. + +But their leader was not yet ready for real fishing and they had +proceeded thus but a little ways when he gave the captain the signal +for a run. The old sailor deftly backed up his skiff and threw Charley +the end of his net. The lad caught it and quickly made it fast to his +own. "Give way," he shouted, seizing his oars, and the three boats +darted away while the nets ran out smoothly over their sterns. + +When he judged that three-fourths of his net was out, Charley shouted +to his chums and the two boats swung around for each other. The last +of Walter's net ran out just as Charley passed around the stern of +his skiff and turning back into the circle rowed out the few remaining +yards of his own net. + +"That's one important thing to remember," he commented as he rowed +up to his chum's boat. "We always want to turn when we have got just +enough net left to reach each other with. If our nets don't come +together the fish all run out through the gap." + +"Whew," Walter panted, "I never dreamed those nets were so long. I +thought my arms were going to break from rowing so hard before you gave +the signal to turn." + +Charley grinned. "They are four hundred yards each--nearly a quarter of +a mile long. Wait until you get one full of fish and it will seem forty +miles long. The captain's got that other end closed up nicely, and now +for the drumming up." + +The three rowed around inside the circle while Charley showed them how +to frighten the fish into the nets by pounding on the bottoms of the +skiffs and beating the water with the blades of their oars. + +"Why, the circle is full of fish," Walter suddenly exclaimed. "I can +see hundreds of them darting about." + +"I saw them before I gave the signal to run," Charlie said coolly, but +his words were lost in the din the captain and his chum were making +in their excitement. Walter was beating the water frantically with +his oar while the old sailor standing up in his skiff was clapping his +hands and shouting "Shoo, shoo", much as though he was driving a flock +of chickens. + +Charley rested on his oars and watched them with a broad grin on his +face. + +"Don't get excited," he remarked, when at last they stopped from sheer +exhaustion. "Captain, it's no use straining your voice yelling at +the fish. They can't hear you. The only thing that scares them is a +vibration of the water they live in. That beating the water with your +oar is the proper caper, Walter, only it happens that these fish are +mullet and you can't drive mullet into a gill net in the day time. Fine +as the twine is, they see the meshes and back off. And, now, let's row +back to the ends of our nets and pick them up." + +His two crestfallen companions meekly obeyed, and after considerable +blundering due to their inexperience the nets were once more got aboard +the skiffs. + +The two novices' arms and backs were beginning to ache but Charley +insisted on another trial. + +It was well he did so for Walter had not rowed out a third of his net +when some leads caught in the webbing and the pile turned over into a +tangled heap that took the three a good half hour to straighten out. + +"You must be careful how you pile your net in the boat," Charley +cautioned, when the mess was at last straightened out. "If that had +happened when we were really and truly fishing it might have meant +the loss of forty or fifty dollars' worth of fish. You must keep your +loose webbing piled clear of your lead and cork lines. I noticed you +had piled your net carelessly, that's why I wanted to make another run. +There's nothing like experience to make one careful." + +"You might have told me about it and saved all this hard extra work," +grumbled Walter with a flash of temper. "My arms and back ache like a +tooth ache." + +"Cheer up. We'll go ashore now, and have a rest and supper before we +start out for real work," said Charley, cheerfully, ignoring his chum's +remarks. + +A long rest under the palm trees and one of Chris' capital suppers put +Walter into good humor again. "I guess, I got mad a little too easily," +he half apologized to his chum over the meal. "I didn't stop to think +that you had been working as hard as I and that you would not have put +us all to that extra work if you had not thought it necessary." + +"That's all right," answered Charley, heartily. "Just forget it. Every +one gets a little riled sometimes, and fishing is mighty hard on the +temper." But the lad knew that the flashes of temper would come many +times before his chum became a seasoned fisherman. "Oh, well," he +consoled himself, grimly, "it's no use trying to avoid them, the sooner +they come and go, why, the better." + +Chris had prepared a lunch for the fishermen to carry with them to eat +during the night, and just as the sun went down, the three boarded the +launch and with the three skiffs in tow set out for their first attempt +in their new calling. + +The memory of that first night will linger in Walter's and the +Captain's memory for years to come. They had run about two miles in the +launch when Charley shut off the engine. + +"I think we had better anchor here and take to the skiffs," he said. +"These are strange waters and we might pile the launch up on a rock in +the darkness." + +A lantern was lit and placed on the launch's bow to guide them back to +her, and the other lanterns were also lit, turned down low and placed +in the bottom of the skiffs. + +"None of you must ever allow your lights to show while we are hunting +fish," Charley continued. "A light frightens them worse than anything +else. A flash of lightning makes them all scurry for deep water. +There's no use taking to the skiffs for a little while, it isn't dark +enough to fish yet." + +"That's one thing which puzzles me," Walter said. "How are you going to +find fish at night. Of course, I understand how you can tell where they +are in the day time, for if you can't see the fish themselves, you can +tell they are there by the ripples they make in the water." + +"They are oftentimes easier to find at night," Charley affirmed. "There +is nearly always more or less phosphorescence in the water and a fish +can not move without leaving a glowing streak in his wake, that is, if +he is within ten feet of the surface. An expert fisherman can tell by +the character of the bright streak the kind of fish that makes it. Each +species makes a different kind of movement and an expert can read their +trails like a hunter reads tracks. Nights when the water does not fire +it is harder, for then the fisherman has to go by sound. Each kind of +fish makes its own peculiar noise but it is hard to distinguish some of +them apart and still harder to tell their size. Our nets are made for +mullet and that is the only kind of fish we need be concerned with." + +"Why, there is a lot more to fishing than I thought," Walter commented. +"I supposed it was simple and easy to learn." + +"It takes years of experience to make a skilful fisherman," Charley +assured him. "I do not claim to be one. I only just know the rudiments +of it." + +"I reckon it's that way with most everything," Captain Westfield +remarked, thoughtfully, "from running a ship up to running a nation. +Thar's always a heap more to larn than the man outside thinks thar is." + +"But all the knowledge a man can get does not help without plenty of +good hard work," Charley amended. "And it's time for us to begin ours +now. It's dark enough now, I believe. All aboard for our first attempt." + +The three scrambled into their skiffs and casting loose from the +launch, took to their oars bringing their crafts into the formation +they had practiced. + +In a few minutes, the launch was lost to sight and they could not see +each other. Only the faint glow of the turned-down lanterns rising +above the gunwales of their skiffs enabled them to keep track of each +other. + +As they crept slowly on into the night, Walter was surprised to see how +teeming the waters were with life. On every side of his boat, fiery +streaks marked the passage of finny creatures. At times, he passed +through spaces fairly aglow with the movements of them. As Charley +had said, there was a marked difference in the character of the water +trails. Some were close to the surface, while others showed deep below. +Some were long and continuous in a straight line. Others twisted and +turned, while still others seemed to run only a little ways and then +stopped suddenly. But they all marked the passage of fish, and he soon +began to wonder why Charley did not give the signal to circle them. At +first, he consoled himself with the thought that his chum knew what +he was doing, but as they rowed steadily on mile after mile through +the flashing schools, he began to have doubts. After all, Charley had +admitted that he was not an experienced fisherman. Perhaps Charley +was not passing through the same schools. Perhaps he was not watching +close. Walter's arms and back began to ache from the steady rowing and +as his fatigue increased he began to get irritated. Why all this steady +rowing on and on when there were plenty of fish all about them. The +same thoughts were passing through Captain Westfield's mind but he had +been bred in a calling which demands constant patient obedience to the +one in command. He had elected to follow Charley's leadership and that +was the end of it. He would do it without question. + +At last Walter could stand it no longer. + +"Say, Charley," he hailed, "there's lots of fish around here." + +"I see them," came the cheerful answer. "They don't look right to me, +though. Let's go on a bit." + +Sullenly, Walter rowed on in silence. After what to his tired muscles +seemed ages of weary pulling, a crisp order came floating over the +water. + +"Get ready--Drop your net weight over"--A pause, then: "All right--all +together--pull hard." + +Walter forgot his aching limbs in the excitement of the moment. He bent +to his oars and sent his skiff flying through the water while his net +rippled swiftly out over the stern. + +"Come together," at last came the order and he swung his flying craft +around to meet his chum's. + +"Gee," panted Charley, as he crossed the end of Walter's net, just as +the last of his own ran out. "I pulled myself out of breath trying to +get around that school. Most of them outran me, but I guess we have got +a few penned up in the circle. Put up your lantern and let's rest a bit +before we drum up. Good," he exclaimed as the lights flashed out over +the water. "They are hitting the nets already---Listen." + +From all sides of them came a soft peculiar smacking sound much like +that made by a person opening and closing his mouth rapidly. + +"Listen, old chap," Charley cried in glee, "you are hearing your first +catch of mullet." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE QUARREL. + + +THE new fishermen could hardly wait to beat up the circle so eager were +they to see what their nets contained. + +"I guess we have got all there was in the circle," Charley at last +announced. "Let's start to take up. Fasten your lantern to the end of +an oar and fix it so it will shine down on your net so that you can see +what you are doing, look out for cat fish. I put a short club in each +of the skiffs to-day. If you get a cat fish, kill it before you try to +take it out of your net." + +"What kind of looking fish are they?" Walter paused to inquire. + +"They are a slimy fish without scales," Charley explained. "They +have a flat head and on each side of the gills and on the back are +needle-sharp horns about three inches long with fine saw teeth along +the edge. When the fish are swimming the horns lay back flat against +the body, but when they strike a net or anything else, they stick the +horns straight out. They are fierce to take out of a net, they will +tangle up dozens of meshes on those horns and the fine twine is hard +to work off the saw edges. It's dangerous to handle them unless they +are killed for they are liable to flop and stick those horns in you +and make a very poisonous wound. Well, let's get to work, the night is +slipping away fast." + +With lanterns popped out over the skiff's stern the three set to work. + +At first it was exciting to haul in the nets with the struggling +fish entangled in their meshes, and to watch the pile in their boats +steadily grow, but the novelty soon wore off and only the hard work +remained. And hard work it was, harder than either the captain or +Walter had dreamed. A breeze had arisen since sunset and they had to +drag their skiffs up against it as they pulled in their nets. When they +came to a fish they had to hold the net with their feet, while they +bent over under the dim light and freed it from the entangling meshes. +Every now and then they came to a great mass of sea moss caught up in +their nets, which required all their strength to dump out, nor did they +escape painful accidents, although they met with none of the dreaded +cat fish, every fish handled by them seemed armed with sharp fins and +their fingers were soon sore with a multitude of tiny punctures. A +flopping fish flipped a bit of jelly into the captain's eye. It burned +like a touch from a red hot iron, and the old sailor half blinded grew +faint from the intense pain. At last Walter realized what it meant to +handle four hundred yards of net. Before he had got half of his in +the boat he was fairly ready to lie down and cry from pain and sheer +weariness. + +Charley, more expert, soon had his net boated and taking hold of the +other end of Walter's helped him with the balance, then rowed over and +performed a like service for the captain. "Let's rest a little bit and +eat our lunch before we start again," he suggested when the nets were +all up. "I'll anchor my boat and you both come alongside and tie up to +me so we can all eat together." + +He had brought a box partly filled with sand along in his skiff and in +it he now proceeded to build a small fire on which he boiled coffee and +heated up the lunch Chris had given them. The hot meal and steaming +coffee made his two companions almost forget for a time their pains and +weariness. + +"How many do you think we got that time?" Walter inquired, over a +second cup of coffee. + +"About twelve hundred pounds of mullet," he judged, "some thirty odd +pounds of trout and about two hundred pounds of bottom fish," say +twenty-eight dollars' worth altogether. "That's pretty fair for one +run. If we can get in four more runs like it before daylight, it will +make a good night's work." + +"Four more runs," cried Walter in dismay, all his aches and pains +returning at the thought, "why I don't believe I can last out one more." + +"I know it's tough on you two," said Charley sympathetically, "but we +have got to do it. We cannot hope to make money by just making one or +two runs a night. It will not be quite so bad after you get hardened to +it. I know just how you feel. I once fished every night steady for six +months and we made from six to eight runs each night. I was new to the +business then and I thought the first two or three nights that it would +certainly kill me. Tired. Why many a time I've gone sound asleep while +rowing and fallen over into the bottom of the boat amongst the fish +without waking up. Oh, it's tough all right, but you have got to get +used to it." + +Walter was silent. He was doing a sum in mental arithmetic, "eight +runs a night. Four hundred yards of net to run out each time and four +hundred yards of net to take in. Eight hundred yards multiplied eight +times was six thousand four hundred yards or over three miles besides +all the endless rowing." Why it was more than flesh and blood could +stand. Was any amount of money worth such nerve and muscle racking +labor? He was still pondering this when his chum gave the order to +start again and they once more fell into the old formation and rowed +silently on into the darkness. + +Mile after mile they rowed steadily on until the launch's lanterns +showed only a pin point of light in the distance. The ache in Walter's +muscles grew to an acute pain. Every stroke of the oars was an effort +that seemed impossible to repeat. All around his boat came and went +darting flashes of many fish. Again the old question arose. Why all +this aimless, senseless rowing. He felt a hot unreasoning resentment +against his chum that grew with his deadly weariness and at last flowed +out in speech. + +"Charley," he snapped out across the water, "I'm getting sick of this +nonsense. There's fish all around us. Let's either try to catch them or +go home. I'm tired of this rowing, rowing, rowing for nothing." + +Charley was silent a moment before replying. Matters had come to the +pass he had feared. He had witnessed the same thing many times with new +beginners. One of two things must happen, either Walter must learn to +have faith in his leadership until he himself had gained experience or +else they must give up fishing. No amount of argument would convince +him like a bit of experience, as the result of having his own way in +something he knew nothing about. It was bitter medicine but it was the +only treatment which would check the disease, however, he decided to +give his chum one last chance. + +"I am doing the best I know how, Walt," he answered. "I have to follow +my best judgment in this fishing so long as I am running head boat." + +"Judgment nothing," scoffed Walter angrily, "there's no judgment in +rowing our arms off when there are fish all around us." + +"All right Old Chap, you can run head boat if you think you can do +better. I'll follow you without question," Charley replied wearily. + +"All right, I will," agreed Walter, shortly. "I can promise you I will +not make you row yourself to death for nothing." + +In silence Charley changed positions with his chum. They had not +proceeded a hundred yards in the new order when Walter's skiff slid in +amongst the biggest school he had yet seen. + +"All right, let's run them," he shouted excitedly. + +Charley smiled grimly as he cast him the end of his net to make fast +but he said nothing, and when his chum gave the signal to start he was +off at the word. + +"Whew," panted Walter, as they came together at the end of the run, +"we've made a killing this time. Just look at the bright streaks. Why, +the circle is full of fish. Come on, let's drum them up." + +"I wouldn't drum any," Charley advised. + +"I'm running head boat now," Walter reminded him shortly, "kindly do as +I say." + +"All right," his chum agreed, cheerfully, and fell to beating the water +lustily with his oar. + +"I guess they are all in the nets now," Walter at last announced. +"Let's pick them up." + +Charley rowed back to the end of his net in silence. He grinned with +grim humor as his quick ear caught queer grunting sounds from along +the lines of net. He seized the end of his and pulled it aboard, then +he paused, adjusted his lantern carefully, took a drink of water from +his jug, laid his short club handy on the seat beside him, and settled +himself for a long spell of hard work. + +Walter reached for the end of his net, tingling with anticipation. The +first few yards came in empty, then a score of white bellies showed in +the dripping webbing as he hoisted it into the boat. Pride gave way to +dismay. Instead of the clean, glistening mullet he had expected, these +were slimy, flat-headed fish, loathsome to look at, emitting repulsive +grunts and reeking forth a sickening odor. Each was hopelessly tangled +in a mess of webbing. For a moment, he wildly debated the notion of +casting the net back overboard and fleeing. Then he grimly, doggedly, +settled down to work. His thoughts were more unpleasant than the +task before him. He had brought this upon himself and not only upon +himself but upon his companions also. Because he had become a little +tired, he had given way to a fit of temper and made a fool of himself. +Well, Charley and the captain would never want him to fish with them +again, and it served him right, but his heart ached at the thought of +separating from those kind, true, friendly companions after all the +years they had spent together. He paused for a moment and listened. +From the captain's skiff came muttered exclamations as the old sailor +labored over his unwelcome catch. From Charley's boat came only the +sharp, frequent crack of the club as he hauled the detested fish in +over the stern. + +Slowly the minutes lengthened into hours and the night dragged away, +while the humbled lad, suffering in every muscle, his fingers bleeding +from a score of scratches, and one hand swelling rapidly where a horn +had entered, worked grimly on. Slowly Charley's light drew away from +him for the other lad's experience had taught him the knack of taking +out fish swiftly. + +Once, Walter raised his eyes from his task and looked about. The +morning star had risen in the east and Charley's light had disappeared. +"Got disgusted and gone home," he decided, bitterly. "Well, I don't +blame him." + +The day was just breaking when Walter, at last, reached the end of his +net. The captain had escaped lightly and had been through for some +time. He was stretched out on a seat, resting, and placidly smoking his +pipe. The launch was only a short distance away. Charley had rowed back +and was bringing her up to save his chums the long row to her. + +"Good morning," Charley hailed, cheerfully, as he shut off the engine, +"all through." + +Walter almost shouted with joy. His chum was not angry with him after +all. + +Charley ranged alongside and peeped into his skiff. + +"What have you saved them all for," he exclaimed, as his eye lighted on +the big pile of fish. + +"Why, to sell," Walter faltered. + +His chum grinned. "No one buys them. Why you couldn't give them away. +But come, both of you and make fast. We'll just get home in time for +breakfast." + +It was a humble and abashed lad that stepped aboard the launch. + +"Charley, I've been a fool," he blurted out, "but if you can overlook +it this time, it will not happen again." + +"Forget it," said his chum heartily. "I hated it more for your sake +than for my own, but it's all over now. Cheer up, Old Chap." + +"How did you know what kind of fish they were?" Walter inquired, after +a brief silence. + +"By the streaks. A catfish fires deep below the surface and he only +runs a little ways then stops. A mullet makes a long straight streak +close the surface. But those were not all catfish we rowed through +to-night. There were sharks in one place, a school of porgies in +another, and a lot of sea bass and some fish I could not determine and +was afraid to run." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE GHOST. + + +"I WANT you two to lie down in the cabin and catch an hour's nap on the +way home," Charley said as soon as he got the engine started. "I'll run +the launch in." + +Walter and the captain protested feebly, but the lad would hear no +refusal. "You both look utterly played out," he declared. "There is no +use of all of us staying awake, and I am fresher than either of you. +Fishing is not so hard for me because I know all the little tricks of +handling a net and taking out fish that helps to make it easier. You +will soon learn them and get hardened to the work, and then we will +take turns running the launch. Now stretch out, that hour's rest will +do you a world of good." + +His two chums lost no time in arguing the point, but stretched on the +cabin floor and pillowing their heads on their arms were instantly +asleep. So worn out were they that Charley could hardly wake them when +the dock was reached. + +Chris had a hot breakfast and steaming coffee waiting for them; as +soon as it was dispatched Charley ordered the two off to bed. "Get +rested up good for to-night's work," he announced. "There is nothing +that you need do now. Chris will pull the nets out to dry and I'll row +across to Clearwater with the fish. There is no need of more than one +going and I want to see the sheriff and have a talk with him." + +It was only a few minutes' run across the bay to the little town, and +Charley was soon tying up to the fish dock. He hurried up to the fish +house and notified Mr. Daniels of his catch and waited while a wagon +brought the fish up and they were weighed. The catch totaled thirty +dollars in cash. + +"Not bad for the first night," said Mr. Daniels, encouragingly. +"Several of my old experienced fishermen caught less than that last +night." + +Leaving the fish house the lad hurried over to the store and ordered +some supplies he needed sent down to the launch. By the time his +purchases were made he judged it was late enough to find the sheriff in +his office and there he accordingly made his way. + +But here he met with much disappointment, for he was informed that +Sheriff Brown was out of town and would not return for several days. + +He headed back to his launch greatly troubled in his mind. He had +counted strongly on the sheriff taking charge of the cached liquor. +As long as it remained on the island, just so long could they expect +trouble from its owners. Now he could not decide what was best to do. +He was hurrying on debating the question with himself when turning a +corner, engrossed in his own thoughts, he almost collided with Bill +Roberts hurrying in the opposite direction. + +"Starboard your helm a bit and take in some of that press of sail +you're carrying," hailed that worthy, "you came mighty near running me +down. How's everything? How's fishing coming on?" + +Charley warmed to the sight of Bill's friendly, frank, good-humored +face. + +"The fishing's all right," he answered, brightly, "but some other +things are worrying me. I was thinking of them and not noticing where I +was going." + +"You look tired and worried," said Bill with a critical scrutiny. "Can +we Roberts help you out any with what's worrying you?" + +"You might help me out with some advice," said the lad with a sudden +impulse. "If you can spare me a few minutes' time I'll tell you what's +the matter. + +"Got all the time in the world," said Bill cheerfully. "We are not +fishing for a few days. Our nets are about all worn out and we are +waiting for new ones from the factory. There is a seat over there under +the tree, come on and sit down a while and tell me all about it. It +helps a man sometimes just to tell his troubles." + +He listened with eager interest while Charlie told the story of the +strange schooner, the motor boat and the buried liquor and of their +quarrel with Hunter's gang. + +He pondered a while after the lad had concluded. "Kind of a bad mess," +he said at last. "Of course it's the Hunter gang that's doing the +smuggling, but you haven't got anything to prove it. They ain't going +to lose all that liquor they've got buried either, but they ain't going +to dig it up as long as there is a chance of their being seen doing it, +consequently their only hope is to get you fellows off the island by +fair means or foul." + +"Just the conclusion I arrived at," agreed Charley, grimly. + +"Your plan to have the sheriff take charge of it was the thing, but +of course that cannot be done until he comes back. It isn't likely +they will seek an open fight with you, they are too foxy for that. But +they will try to get at you by every underhanded means they can think +of. You'll have to be on your guard every minute until the sheriff +returns and takes charge of that liquor. Those fellows are cunning and +treacherous. I am not going to tell you of the things they have done +to other fellows who have crossed them. It would do no good and only +worry you more. I just want to impress upon you that you cannot watch +out too sharp. Now I am going to lend you another rifle to keep in the +launch; we have plenty of guns, for we hunt and trap when the fishing +is poor. As I have said we are not fishing for a few days, and if you +should need help any time just fire three shots close together and we +will be over in a hurry. We would be tickled to death to catch those +fellows in some devilment so that they could be sent up for a good +string of years." + +"You are very good," said Charley, gratefully. "It's not right to +bother you with our troubles, but it has been a great relief just to +unburden myself to you." + +"Sorry I cannot be of more help to you," Bill replied, heartily. "I +hope we are going to be good friends, for I like the looks of your +crowd. Our trouble with Hunter's gang has kept us from making friends +amongst the other fishermen. They will not meet us half way for fear of +the injuries the Hunter gang might do them, if they got friendly with +us. You will find it the same way in your case, and it will be pleasant +for us to visit back and forth on stormy days when we have nothing else +to do. There is another thing I can do that will help you a bit. Come +on down to the dock with me and I'll do it now." + +Near the end of the pier they came upon Hunter himself, holding forth +to a gang of his cronies. The fellows made to move away at their +approach but Roberts hailed him. + +"Look here, Hunter," he said in his straightforward way, "I want to +impress one thing on you so you will not forget it. This lad and his +companions are friends of ours and anyone that does any of them harm, +has not only them to reckon with but with the Roberts boys also, +remember that!" Then turning his back to the scowling fisherman, he +said good-by to Charley and walked away, indifferent to the lowering +glances of Hunter's cronies. + +"Fine protector you've got," sneered Hunter, when Roberts was out of +hearing. "Just mark one thing, young fellow, your gang are going to +wish they had never seen Clearwater before we are through with them, +and that goes for that upstart Roberts, too." + +"We are not afraid of you or your threats," Charley replied, coolly, as +he cast off the launch and started up the engine. + +As the throbbing little engine drove the launch through the dancing, +sparkling water, Charley lay back in the thwart with his hand on the +wheel and rested his aching body. He was tired in muscle and brain. It +was nearly noon and his eyes were heavy with sleep. He dozed off for a +moment only to wake up with a jerk as something cold touched his foot. +He glanced down and was startled to see that several inches of water +was sloshing around his feet. Thoroughly awake, he straightened up +and looked around. He was in the middle of the bay about a mile from +either shore. He had evidently dozed but a few minutes, yet the launch +had been dry when he dozed off and now there was several inches of +water in her and it was rapidly increasing. She must have sprung a leak +and a big one at that. Seizing the bailer with his free hand he began +throwing the water out in a steady stream. Swiftly he calculated his +chances of making the shore. The engine rested only a few inches above +the bottom of the boat. If the water reached it the motor would stop. +He had no fear for his own safety for he could easily swim across the +bay if necessary. But if the launch filled she would sink, their career +as fishermen would be at an end, and Mr. Daniels would be poorer the +several hundred dollars the launch had cost. + +A few minutes' bailing convinced him that the water was rapidly +gaining. It had risen to within a couple of inches of the engine. Five +minutes more and it would reach the motor. It was a desperate situation +and the keen-witted lad took a desperate chance. Letting go the wheel +he frantically tore at the thin sheathing that lined the bottom. Luck +was with him for the first piece came up easily revealing a large, +smooth, round hole, just below the water line, through which the water +was gushing in a steady stream. Tearing up his shirt, he rolled it up +into a tapering plug and thrust it into the hole. Holding it in place +with one hand, he steered for the dock with the other. The water still +came in around the plug, but slowly; and with a sigh of relief, the lad +at last ran the launch upon the beach beside the dock just as the water +rippled up around the engine's base. As she grounded, the launch heeled +over on the other side lifting the hole above the water, and Charley +had a chance to examine it more closely. Its smooth, regular appearance +and some chips adhering to the edge showed that it had been made by an +augur, and a ball of waste floating around on the water showed that +it had been plugged to stay closed until the pressure of swift moving +through the water should force it out. There was no doubt in the lad's +mind as to who had made it and he began to feel a certain respect for +the resourcefulness of his enemies. It was a cunning scheme. If it had +succeeded it would have accomplished its purpose. With no launch, he +and his chums would have been forced to leave the island; for without +one they could no longer have carried on their fishing. + +Charley whittled out a smooth plug of soft white pine and drove it +firmly into the hole. He cut off the plug flush with the planking, and +flattening out a piece of tin from a can, nailed it over the spot to +hold the plug firmly in place. + +Chris brought dinner down to him and he snatched a few mouthfuls and +drank two cups of coffee while he worked. + +By the time the job was finished and the launch bailed out, it was well +along in the afternoon and the lad groaned as he realized that he must +face another hard night's work without sleep. + +"Massa Chas," said Chris, as they trudged up to the shack together, "I +ain't bothered you-alls 'bout it before 'cause I seed you was all tired +an' wore out, but I'ze dun got something to tell you." + +Charley glanced sharply at the little negro's serious face. + +"What is it?" he said, quietly. + +"Massa Chas," said the little fellow, solemnly, "sho' as I is a living +nigger, I seed dat ghost last night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CHRIS' STORY. + + +THE little darkey's face was so serious that Charley could not doubt +that he had seen, or imagined he had seen, something out of the +common. He was so long familiar with Chris' superstitious fears that, +ordinarily, he would have scoffed at them, but now, he remembered the +shooting the previous day and the mystery surrounding the disappearance +of the unseen marksman. + +"Tell me just what you saw, Chris," he said, quietly. + +"Hit was soon arter sundown," began the little negro. "I had dun got +de dishes washed up an' was fixin' to go to bed when I 'lowed that a +little swim in de gulf would make me sleep a sight better. So I starts +down for de beach. I ain't more den thirty feet away when I seed hit +atween me an' de water. Hit was walking back an' forth, back an' forth, +wid hits face turned all de time to de water. Hit was white, all white, +Massa Chas." + +"What did you do?" questioned Charley, as the little negro paused, +shivering at the recollection. + +"I don't know 'zackly, but I reckon I let out a yell an' shut my eyes +to hide out dat awful sight. Den I remembers dat charm an' I grabs +for hit, saying some conjurer words daddy taught me. Dat sho's am a +powerful charm, Massa Chas. Hit sho' am powerful." + +"Go on," said Charley, impatiently. + +"Dat charm sho' did de work, for when I opened my eyes dat ghost was +gone. Jes' dun melted into de air. Soon as my laigs quit shakin' so +dat I could walk I makes for de cabin an' bars up de door an' windows +tight. Dat's all I guess 'sept dat hit was a powerful long time afore I +could get to sleep an' I keeps awishin' for you-alls." + +"How long did you keep your eyes closed?" Charley questioned. + +"Hit seemed like a year but I reckon hit wasn't no more dan a minute." + +Charley arose, wearily. "Show me the spot where you saw it," he +directed. + +The little negro lad led the way without hesitation. When about twenty +feet from the water's edge, he stopped. "Hit was right hyar," he +declared. + +Charley bent down and examined the sand carefully. A glance assured +him that Chris' story had some basis in facts for numerous footprints +were impressed upon the firm, white sand. He studied them with +eager interest. They were not fishermen's tracks, or those of his +companions, for the fishermen all wore big, heavy boots, and he and +his chums were shod in rough, broad-toed, working shoes, while the +tracks indicated a small shoe--possibly a number seven--and their shape +suggested expensive footwear. + +"If I were a story book detective, Chris, I could tell from these +tracks the age, size, and color of the one who wore them; his height, +the color of his hair, and what he ate for breakfast; but, as I am +only a common, every-day mortal, all I can make out of them is that +your ghost was a man, and a pretty heavy one, too, judging from the +way his feet sank into this hard sand; see, our shoes hardly make an +impression. If his clothes matched his shoes, he must have been well +dressed. I should say that he wasn't very old either for here is where +he jumped at least five feet. That must have been when you worked your +charm or rabbit's foot on him." + +"I say hit was a ghost," persisted Chris, stubbornly. "Hit was white, +all white, an' hit vanished jes' like that." + +"And here's where it vanished," said Charley, following a line of the +footprints to where they led up into the fringe of palms. "He might +as well have vanished, though, for we cannot track him in this hard +ground; so we may as well go back to the cabin. Hereafter, Chris, just +as soon as it comes dark, go into the cabin and bar the door and +nothing will hurt you. The charm will guard you from any stray ghosts +and the bars and rifle will keep anything else out." + +"Dat's all right, Massa Chas," said the little negro, bravely. "I ain't +scared much ob de ghost now, I'ze seed how dat charm works. An' golly! +I reckon dat ghost is de only thing dis nigger ever was scared of." + +Vain as was this boast, Charley knew it was true. He had seen the +plucky little negro in many dangers and had never known him to show a +sign of fear except at the unknown which excited all the superstitious +fears of his race. + +It still lacked an hour to time to go fishing and Charley lay down on +his couch but he could not sleep. He lay quiet, puzzling over Chris' +experience. Coupled with the mysterious shots of the day before, it +made a problem that defied all his attempts at solution. "Who could the +unseen one be? Certainly not one of the fishermen, the tracks proved +that. Chris' oft-repeated declaration that the ghost was all in white +suggested that it might be a tourist. Tourists often dressed in white +duck or linen in the tropics, while thinner-blooded natives always wore +warmer clothing at this season of the year. But what would any tourist +want on the island, and above all, why remain hidden. After all, the +mysterious one was friendly to them so why worry about the matter? But +was he friendly? Might not those mysterious shots have been aimed at +them as well as the fishermen?" And then a startling thought occurred +to the lad. "Might not it be an escaped lunatic?" That would explain +the queer actions for which he could find no other logical reason. The +thought was most distasteful. A lunatic at large on the island, and +armed with a deadly weapon was more to be feared than all the hostile +fishermen. With an effort, Charley shook off his gloomy speculations +and rising, proceeded to don his fishing clothes. He was dead tired and +would gladly have staid in this night but he felt that he must not hold +back. They must fish every night while the weather was fine and they +could get out. There would be stormy nights when they could not get out +and they must work their best to make up for their lack of experience. + +When he was fully dressed, he aroused his companions. They were still +stiff and sore from the unaccustomed labor and their hands were swollen +and painful from the many pricks they had received, but their long +sleep had refreshed them and they attacked with ravenous appetites the +hearty supper Chris had cooked. + +"I am going in the opposite direction to-night," Charley announced, as +they took their places in the launch and started out. "I got a wireless +message to-day telling me that there is a big bunch of fish to the +north of us. It's a fact," he replied, in answer to his companion's +questioning looks. "All day there has been a big flock of pelicans +hovering over the water in that direction. They often follow up large +bunches of fish to pick up the ones wounded by sharks." + +They had run but a little way when he gave the order to cast anchor. "I +think we have gone far enough," he said. "It is easier to find a big +school at night than in the day time and I do not wish to run by them +in the launch. Somehow, I've got a hunch that we are going to strike +a big bunch, from the space those pelicans were spread out over the +water." + +His suppressed excitement communicated itself to his companions and +they fidgeted about, impatient for dark to come. + +It came at last and they lost no time in getting away from the launch. + +For perhaps a mile they rowed on in silence, then Charley ceased rowing +and thrust an oar down deep into the water. He viewed the result with +dissatisfaction. "For some reason the water does not fire to-night," +he announced. "It happens that way very often. I am sorry for we'll +have to fish by sound, and that is much more difficult. Now whenever I +stop rowing both of you stop also. That will give me a better chance to +listen." + +Resuming his oars, he continued his cautious advance, pausing every +little while and straining his ears for the faintest sound from the +water. + +At last, he stopped suddenly. His quick ear had caught the sound for +which he had been waiting. + +"Listen!" he cried, excitedly. + +From far ahead came a faint rippling murmur frequently broken by soft +pats upon the water. + +"That's the school," he declared, eagerly. "It's a big one and they are +working this way. All we have to do is to hold our boats in position +and wait. They are coming straight for us." + +"If those are mullet, they don't sound as though they amounted to +much," said Captain Westfield, doubtfully. "I've heard mullet jump when +they made a splash like you'd thrown an anchor overboard." + +"Mullet working that fashion, you never want to run," Charley +explained. "Fishermen have a saying: 'Never fish jumping mullet.' When +mullet are schooled up they do not jump high because of injuring others +in their fall. That patting sound you hear is the flipping of their +tails above water." + +Keyed up to the highest pitch our three fishermen waited the coming of +the steadily advancing multitude. + +"Pass me the end of your net, Captain," Charley at last directed, in a +voice that trembled with excitement. + +All ready with oars dipped he waited, waited until even in the darkness +Walter could see the advancing school coming, bearing a tiny wave +before them. Nearer crept the wave, fifty feet, thirty feet, twenty +feet, then--"Go!" Charley shouted, and the boats, driven by the +strength of excitement, leaped in amongst the frightened school. Around +them the water boiled and foamed with the frightened fish. They struck +the sides of the skiffs like hailstones on a tin roof. They battered +against the dipped oars making them vibrate like an electric current. + +Charley held on his course as long as he dared before giving the signal +to close up. When they came together, the end of his net barely crossed +over Walter's. + +"I came near losing them all by being too greedy," he panted. "A few +feet more and my net would not have reached you and they would have +poured out of the gap like quicksilver. Well, I guess we've got enough +for our breakfast, all right." + +"How many do you think we've got?" Walter questioned, eagerly. + +"Wait and see," Charley laughed. "Come on and let's get drummed up good +and start picking up as quick as we can. I fancy we've got plenty of +work ahead of us." + +The drumming finished, they rowed back to the ends of their nets. +Walter leaned over and dragged his aboard, then gave a shout of +delight. "They are sticking in it like pins in a pin cushion," he +shouted. + +"Same here," agreed Charley, happily, "and I guess, the captain is in +the same fix." + +In a few minutes their boats had drifted apart and put a bar to +further conversation, but Walter grinned as there floated over the +water Charley's voice singing all the songs he knew, and the captain's +whistle going over and over the one and only tune he knew, "The +Sailor's Hornpipe." Evidently things were coming well with them. + +For himself, he labored steadily and happily on for every yard of net +pulled aboard yielded up at least a dozen silvery captives. Time flew +with flying footsteps and when, at last, he straightened up to get +a drink of water from his jug, he was surprised to see a gray light +stealing over the waters. Day was breaking and the night had passed +away. He could see Charley and the captain, plainly. Charley's net +was all aboard and he was helping the old sailor with his. Both their +skiffs lay dangerously low in the water. He glanced down at his own +boat. Her gunwales were nearly level with the water under the weight of +the fish in her, and he had still a hundred yards of net to pick up. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A CUNNING TRICK. + + +WALTER had still some seventy-five yards of his net in the water, +when Charley, having finished with the captain, ran the launch down +alongside of him. "Throw part of your fish in here and then just pull +the rest of your net aboard," he directed. "Don't stop to pick out the +fish. I'll do that on the way home. We've got to hustle and get those +fish over to Clearwater. It is getting late and it will only take a +short time longer to spoil them. Some have been out of water nearly all +night." + +He and Walter changed places, and while Charley picked out the fish +with nimble, skilful fingers, his chum started up the engine and headed +the launch back for camp. The sun was well up when they reached it, +and pausing only to empty the fish from the skiffs into the launch, +the launch was headed across for Clearwater, leaving behind the three +skiffs, and the captain to help Chris pull out the nets. + +"I wish I could let you stay behind and rest up," Charley told his +chum, "but I have to have someone to stay in the launch while I go +up to the fish house," and he told his experience of the day before +which up to now he had not had the opportunity to relate. Walter was +indignant over the underhanded trick and was frankly puzzled by the +account of Chris' ghost. + +"It is certainly queer how we fall into difficulties in everything +we undertake," he said. "Now, we have only been here a few days and +already we are involved in a smuggling case, have had trouble with a +gang of fishermen, and are tangled up in a ghost mystery. It does beat +all how we always seem to get into trouble." + +"We have always been lucky in getting out of it," Charley reminded him. + +"Yes, but you know the old saying that 'the pitcher that goes often to +the well is sure to get broken.'" + +"But the pitcher that does not go, gets no water," grinned Charley. +"The facts are that we all want to be making big money in a short time +and the big money lies in dangerous and unusual pursuits. If we stuck +to the slow, well-beaten pursuits, we would have no more troubles than +anyone else, I dare say." + +"Well, I am beginning to get wearied with too many adventures," Walter +confessed. "If we pull out of this fishing business with a good sum +to our credit, I'm going to hunt for some quiet pursuit like raising +chickens or tending sheep." + +"We've got two months of the fishing season yet," remarked his chum, +thoughtfully, "then comes the closed season when the law does not +permit anyone to fish. Well, if we have good luck, we may make a fair +bit in two months. Of course, we cannot expect many catches like last +night's but we ought to make something right along if we work hard." + +Further conversation was ended by their arrival at the dock. Several +fishermen were lounging on the pier and they crawled to the edge +looking down with envious eyes at the launch's load. Among them, +Charley noted Hunter's sallow, sneering face. He paused only to make +the launch fast then hurried up for the fish house. + +Walter lay back on a seat and rested while he waited the arrival of +the wagons. The fishermen, after a few idle questions as to where the +catch had been made, and which way the fish had been working, gradually +drifted away to their various duties, most of them heading for shore to +work upon their nets and boats, but Hunter and a couple of companions +disappeared in one of the shanties on the other side of the dock. "So +that's where the rat lives," Walter reflected. "He would have a good +chance to take a pot shot at me from there if he dared but he wouldn't +try anything so raw as that. I don't believe he would take such a risk +in broad daylight with so many around." The lad's meditations were +interrupted by the arrival of the first wagon from the fish house. +He helped to load it and as soon as it was gone settled back to his +resting. As he lay back with every muscle gratefully relaxed, his quick +ear caught a peculiar sound. On his guard from Charley's experience of +the day before, he raised up and looked carefully around. The sound +was easy to locate. It came from the shanty Hunter had entered. He +could see something dripping down in large drops from the slat-like +floor. "They have got a leaky water pail or something of the kind," +he guessed, then, as a peculiar smell was wafted to his nostrils, he +lay back again with a grin. "Their gasoline can has sprung a leak," +he decided. "The gas is all running out. If it was anyone else but +Hunter, I'd call and tell him about it, but as it is his, it can all +leak away for all I care," and he lay back and listened with a certain +satisfaction to the steady drip of the escaping fluid. + +Half dozing he heard footsteps in the shack and a moment later the +scratch of a match. The next instant he was on his feet, his heart +beating wildly. It had happened like a flash of lightning. All around +the launch the water was aflame. Fool that he had been. He had been +caught by a trick simple but cunning. That film of oil on the water had +only needed a dropped match to set it aflame. + +For a moment he stood helpless, bewildered by the sudden catastrophe. +The oil had drifted all around the launch and she was in the center of +a sheet of flame. Already he could smell the blistering paint on her +hull, and the heat smote him in the face like a fiery blast. + +Only for a moment he stood thus paralyzed. Then his wits, accustomed +to work quickly in emergencies, swept back. With a leap, he gained the +bow and with his sheath-knife severed the rope which held the launch +to the dock. Springing back to the engine, he shoved on the switch and +flung the fly wheel over. Instantly the motor began to throb and the +threatened launch backed slowly out of the sheet of flame. Safe outside +the danger zone, Walter shut off the engine and with his cap beat out +the patches of flame that clung to the launch's sides. Then he leaned +over and grimly inspected his craft. Ten minutes before she had been +a dainty thing in her coat of white, now she looked like an ancient +wreck with her scorched and smoke-grimed sides on which the melted +paint hung in ugly, dropsical blisters. The worst of it was there was +no redress for the damages done her. So cunning was the scheme that it +bore all the semblance of an accident, though the wrathful lad knew +it was anything but that. He could imagine scoundrels chuckling to +themselves in the closed shack and his blood boiled in his veins. How +we would like to repay them for the fright and damage. He sat down for +a moment and strove to gain control of his temper for he realized that +an outburst on his part would do no good and might make more trouble. +As soon as he calmed down a bit, he started up the engine and worked +the launch back to the dock. + +A wagon was waiting and its driver looked down in amazement at the +sadly-altered launch. "What happened to you?" he questioned. + +"Some gasoline and a match," Walter replied, carelessly. "No damage +done beyond some scorched paint. Please report it to Mr. Daniels and +tell him we will repaint her as soon as there comes a spell of bad +weather when we cannot fish." + +The driver departed with his load satisfied with the explanation for +accidents were common amongst the fishing fleet. + +In half an hour longer the last of the fish had been carted away and +Charley came hustling down with a beaming face, which fell as he caught +sight of the launch. He asked no questions, however, but jumped aboard +and shoved off. Once under way Walter enlightened him. + +"Those fellows are clever in their meanness," said Charley, with +grudging admiration. "One would not think from Hunter's looks that he +had much brains. We have certainly got to be on our guard every minute. +That's twice in two days he has nearly put us out of business without +exposing himself." + +"I wish we could get even with him," declared Walter, wrathfully. + +Charley grinned. "In a way we are even with him already. There must be +five hundred dollars' worth of liquor in that cache and he dare not +touch a bottle of it as long as we are on the island. Seriously though, +I would give a good deal to catch him in such a way that we could have +the law on him. Until we do, we will have to be watchful and avoid +open trouble. He is pretty sure to make a slip sooner or later. The +cleverest of rascals do, and then will be our chance if he does not get +us first. I am beginning to understand why the rest of the fishermen +stand in such fear of incurring his enmity. There is the captain and +Chris waiting for us on the dock. I wonder what's the matter. They +ought to have been through their work and the captain asleep long ago." + +By this time, they had drawn near to the little pier and could plainly +see the little negro and the old sailor pacing about in evident +excitement. In a few more minutes, the launch glided in alongside the +dock and the cause of the excitement became apparent. The two were +standing by a heap of broken splintered planks that had once been their +extra skiff. + +"What does this mean?" demanded Charley, in deepest discouragement. + +"I dunno, Massa Chas," replied the grieved little negro, "but I s'pect +hit's some ob dat white trash's doings. Late last night I hears a boat +acoming. First off I thought hit was you-alls, but pretty soon I 'lowed +it wasn't 'cause de engine didn't sound like yourn. Hit stopped at de +dock an' I gets to a crack an' peeps out. Pretty soon hyar comes four +fellows astealing up de path. I up an' hails 'em an' dey stops short. +I guess dey had reckoned dat dar was no one hyar 'cause ob de launch +being gone. I shoots off de rifle an' dey took to der heels. Pretty +soon I hears a breaking noise down by de dock an' den de put-put ob der +boat, as dey puts off. An' dis mornin' I finds de skiff jes' disaway." + +"And that ain't all," broke in Captain Westfield, pointing over to +where their extra net lay on its rack of poles. + +The boys gave a gasp of dismay. The new unused net was a mass of +hanging strips. It had been literally cut and hacked to pieces. + +"This sort of thing has got to stop," declared Charley, white with +rage. "Our catch last night came to a hundred and fifty dollars but it +will cost forty-five dollars to replace that skiff, fifty dollars to +replace that net, and at least twenty dollars to repair the launch, and +all that damage has been done in a few hours. Goodness knows what they +will do to us next. Things cannot go on this way any longer." + +His companions looked at him questioningly but he shook his head +disparagingly. "I haven't a ghost of an idea what to do," he admitted, +gloomily. "Maybe a little sleep will clear my head and bring some plan. +I'm going up and turn in." + +He staggered drunkenly as he made his way up to the cabin. He was +utterly exhausted, nerve and body. Once inside, he flung himself upon +his couch and was instantly asleep. + +Chris tried to arouse him for dinner but it was like trying to awaken +one, dead. Nature was claiming her due. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE MYSTERY DEEPENS. + + +IT was late in the afternoon when Charley at last awoke. The death-like +sleep had done him a world of good and, except for stiffness and +muscles that still ached, he felt his old self again. + +His companions were both up, moving about and he greeted them brightly. + +"I am feeling as fit as a fiddle," he declared. "As soon as I get a +bite to eat I'll be ready for another night's fishing." + +"To-night is Saturday night," observed Captain Westfield, hesitatingly. +"I don't want to stand in the way of making money, but I 'low it won't +do no hurt for us to lay in to-night. We might get into a school that +would keep us working all night, like last night, and it's noways right +to work on the Lord's day." + +"That's right," agreed Charley, heartily, "I had lost track of the +days. We will not go out again until midnight, Sunday night. I don't +believe anyone ever really lost anything by obeying the Lord's command +to keep his day holy." + +"Have you figured out any plan for dealing with the fishermen?" Walter +inquired, anxiously. + +"Nothing very brilliant," his chum admitted. "One thing I think we had +better do at once is to remove all that liquor to another hiding place +and let them think we have destroyed it. It may make them feel more +bitter toward us but they will no longer have a motive for driving us +from the island. I would like to destroy it entirely but we have no +right to do that. That is the sheriff's business. One thing, there is +nothing like a good sleep to do away with worry and discouragement. I +feel quite hopeful, now, but I was almost ready to quit this morning. +After all I guess Hunter has done us about all the damage he can. Our +other nets and boats we will always have with us and he will not have +much chance to injure them if we keep watch of them. With the liquor +gone, they will not be likely to bother us on the island, and, if they +do, all we have will be in the cabin protected by a good rifle. Let's +change the hiding place, now. We have time to do it before dark." + +His companions had no better plan to suggest so they readily agreed +to his proposal. Taking with them some bits of thin boards for spades +they sought the beach and turned into one of the paths that led to the +buried liquor. + +"This smuggling business must have been going on for a long time +judging from the number of these paths and the way they are worn," +Charley observed. "Hunter ought to be rich from the enormous profits he +makes on the vile stuff. It can be bought for a dollar a gallon in Cuba +and on this side, I believe, it retails for five dollars a gallon." + +"The man who follows an evil trade, seldom prospers," said Captain +Westfield, sagely. "In the end he has to pay for his ill-gotten gains. +Generally he has to pay in this life, and he always has to pay in the +hereafter." + +"I believe you are right," Walter agreed. "I have noticed that +saloon-keepers and that class never seem happy. Even those who make +money seem to be cursed with drunken children or something equally bad, +and if they have a shred of conscience, they must suffer terribly in +secret for the misery they cause and the punishment they must expect in +the life hereafter." + +This conversation had brought them to the cache, and, pulling off their +coats, they fell to work with their rude spades. + +They worked with a will and sent the loose sand flying for the sun was +sinking low and they wished to complete their task before dark. In a +few minutes they had made a hole a couple of feet deep, and some ten +feet across. + +"We ought to be down to it," said Charley, with a puzzled frown. "It +must be covered deeper than I thought." + +They worked on for a few minutes longer, then Charley threw down the +board with which he had been shoveling. "It has been taken away," he +declared, voicing the conviction which had grown upon his companions. +"They got it last night, after all, Chris." + +"I doan see how, Massa Chas," objected the little darkey, "I watched +dem come up de path an' I watched dem run away." + +"They must have come back after you went to sleep," Charley said, but +Chris shook his head decidedly. + +"I doan sleep none arter dat," he persisted. "I laid awake and watched +de balance ob de night." + +"Maybe, they had a boat on the gulf beach, also," Walter suggested, +"and while some of them drew attention to the dock, the others removed +the stuff." + +"Well, anyway, it's gone, and I am glad of it," Charley said. "Maybe +they will not trouble us any more now. I confess that they were +beginning to get on my nerves. Let's go back to the cabin and get +supper and have a good sleep. Thank goodness we will likely rest one +night in peace." + +His companions were nothing loath for they had not yet got entirely +over their aches and pains. + +The night passed away uneventfully and morning found them entirely +their old selves once more. + +"We are over the worst part now," Charley assured them. "Of course we +will often come in very tired but we will never again feel like we did +those first two nights, and the longer we fish the less we will mind +the labor." + +As soon as breakfast was over, Captain Westfield produced his old, +well-worn Bible from which he was never separated and read a couple +of chapters of the story of Him he loved with all his big, simple, +trusting heart. + +The simple service was just over when they heard the throbbing of an +engine and they hurried down to the dock just in time to greet the +Roberts who had come over in their launch to pay them a friendly call. + +It was pleasant to our little party to see friendly faces and hear +kindly conversation after all the roughness and suspicion they had met +among the unfriendly fishermen. It was good to feel that they were not +alone entirely in their new life and that there was someone who took a +friendly interest in them and wished them well. + +They began to have a strong liking for the three sturdy brothers, they +appeared so frank, open and sincere. + +Bill had brought over with him the rifle he had mentioned and presented +it to them, together with a box of cartridges. + +He was deeply interested to learn that the liquor had been removed. + +"It is a queer thing," he remarked. "I saw the Hunter gang come in +Friday night about midnight. I had got caught over to Clearwater with a +loose shaft and I was working on it when their boat came in. I supposed +they had been fishing and I glanced into their launch to see what they +had caught. It was empty. Of course, they could have hidden a few +bottles in the lockers but not any such amount as you say was buried +here. They were all mad as the deuce and quarreling amongst themselves. +I didn't get the shaft fixed until about two o'clock. Their boat was +still at the dock when I left and I could hear them snoring in their +shanty. Another thing, I was over again last night to see if our new +nets had come and I couldn't help but notice that apparently there was +no drinking going on. Saturday night is pay night, and, if Hunter had +had that liquor, he would certainly have been handing it out on the +quiet and there would have been more or less drunken men about." + +"Then who could have taken it, if the fishermen didn't?" demanded +Charley, thoroughly puzzled. + +"Can't imagine, unless that ghost of Chris' did it," admitted Bill, +with a grin. "That was a curious thing to happen, and if I did not +know that you fellows are the truthful kind, I would believe you were +trying to kid me with that yarn. We have been here some time, and we +have never heard of any stranger on this island. Let's take a look +over: it again and see if there is any cave or other place a man could +hang out." + +The others readily agreed to his proposal, and all set out together +for a closer exploration of the island. They made a thorough search +from end to end, and from shore to shore, but could find no place a +man could hide out or any trace of human habitation. The shores were +sloping sand beaches without rocks or caves and the only growth was the +scanty groups of palms. + +They returned to the cabin more mystified than ever for they had +convinced themselves beyond doubt that they were the only occupants of +the island. + +"Well, if the fishermen haven't got that liquor, I suppose we must look +for more trouble," Charley sighed. + +"I expect you may," Bill agreed. "Even if they have got it, I guess, +they would not give you a very long rest. As soon as it was gone, they +would want to bring in more and this is the only island around with a +good gulf beach to land the stuff on. Also it's the handiest and most +convenient for their purposes." + +"Then it's a case of move or be in trouble all the time," said Walter, +dubiously. + +"Yes, that's about it," Bill agreed. + +"We can't leave yet," said Charley, decidedly, "so we will have to +take whatever is coming to us. If we could only catch them in the act +of smuggling, we could get rid of them for good and be conferring a +blessing on the rest of the fishermen besides." + +"That's the very thing I've been thinking of," Bill agreed. "Whether +they got the liquor again or not, they are sure to try the game again +as soon as they think it's safe. I've been doing considerable thinking +about it since I talked to you before and I've got a scheme I think +might work." + +He proceeded to unfold his plan while the others listened with eager +interest. + +"It might work," said Charley, thoughtfully, "but, while we are +waiting, they may do us all kinds of injuries." + +"That's a risk you are running, anyway," Bill reminded him, "and we +Roberts will do all in our power to help you. Call on us any time, day +or night, if you are in trouble and you will find us ready." + +Charley thanked him heartily for his offer and soon after the Roberts +took their leave. + +The little party were still on the dock watching their launch out of +sight when they noticed another launch put out from the Clearwater +pier, and it soon became apparent that it was headed for their island. + +"It's Hunter's craft," announced Walter, as it drew nearer. "Looks as +though he had waited for the Roberts to leave to pay us a visit." + +As the launch drew nearer they saw it contained but one person and that +one Hunter himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +AN ACCIDENT. + + +HUNTER greeted the little party with a smile intended to be pleasant +but which resembled a grimace on his sallow, evil face. + +"Good day, and how are all of you this fine day. Well, I hope," he said. + +"We are all right," Charley answered, curtly. "What do you want?" + +"Which of you is the leader of this pleasant little party? I want a +little business talk with the leader," he said, fawningly. "Just a +little business talk. It won't take more than five minutes." + +"Wall," observed Captain Westfield, "when we are at sea I'm generally +the head man, but hyar on shore an' at this fishing business, I reckon +Charley thar does the leading." + +"And a good leader he is too, I'll bet," said Hunter, flatteringly. + +"Oh, cut out all the soft-soap business," said Charley, shortly, +disgusted with the fellow's attempts at flattery. "If you have anything +to say to us say it." + +"But it's a private business," Hunter protested. "Just let me talk to +you alone for a few minutes." + +Charley was about to refuse the request but curiosity as to what Hunter +wanted to say prevailed. With a wink at his chums he accompanied the +fellow to one side, apart from his companions. + +"Now, say what you have to say and be quick about it," he said, curtly. + +Hunter hesitated a moment. "Suppose there was something on this island +that I was interested in," he began. + +"There is," said Charley, with a grin, "but if you want to talk to me, +talk plainly. I know you buried that aguardiente on the island." + +"All right, say I did," agreed Hunter, defiantly, dropping his friendly +pose. "I don't mind saying I did to you. You can't make anything out +of that. If you said I told you I did, I'd swear I didn't. That's why +I wanted to talk to you alone. I wasn't hankering for any witnesses to +our talk. + +"Might as well wait and hear what I have to say," he continued, +doggedly, "because I won't say a word before the others." + +Charley had started to join his companions but he paused in indecision, +and Hunter went on eagerly. + +"Say, I did put the stuff there. Say, I could make a lot of money off +it right now. Say, I ain't going to dig it up with witnesses to see +and testify agin me. Say, I'd give you fifty dollars to take your +party off the island for one single night, one hundred dollars if you +quit the island for good. What would you say to that, eh?" + +Charley considered for a moment. "Nothing doing," he replied, slowly. +"In the first place, you and your gang have done us more than one +hundred dollars' damage. No use denying it," he said, hotly, as Hunter +protested his innocence. "You were pretty slick with your tricks but we +know who has been responsible for our troubles. In the second place, +to smuggle in and to sell liquor in a dry county is a felony. If we +connived at we would be guilty also. Third, I wouldn't take your word +for anything. Lastly, I don't know where the stuff is, anyway." + +"You lie!" snarled Hunter, his little black eyes flashing evilly. "You +know where it is buried." + +Charley grew white around the lips. "Be careful what you say," he +cautioned. "If you will just follow me, I'll show you something." + +He led the way in silence to where the liquor had been buried. + +At sight of the hole and the freshly upturned earth, Hunter grew livid +with rage. + +"You've stole it, you've stole it," he gasped. + +"We have not touched the stuff," Charley denied. "If you fellows didn't +remove it, I don't know who did." + +"A likely yarn," Hunter sneered. "Nobody knew it was on the island +except you and us." He conquered his rage with an effort. "Say," he +said, "let's be partners in this. You can't sell the stuff like we can. +You don't know the fellows who will buy and keep their mouths shut like +we do. I tell you, even we, have to be mighty careful. Why, you'd get +arrested before you got it half sold out. Let's be partners; that's +fair. There's good money in it. You fellows could tend to the running +of it and we could do the selling. We would split the profits up even." + +His earnestness convinced the lad that Bill Roberts was right. The +fishermen had not got the liquor. + +"I have told you the truth, Hunter," he said. "We have not got the +stuff and we do not know who has." + +"You're holding out on us," Hunter fairly screamed. "You are trying to +hog the whole thing. All right, young fellow, what we will do to you +will be a plenty. We haven't started on you good, yet. We'll make you +regret the day you were born before we are through with you." + +"Get off this island," commanded Charley, his patience at an end. "Try +all your tricks you want to. We are on the watch for them now. Sometime +you'll make a slip and we'll take a turn. Now go!" + +Hunter walked down to his boat sullenly, muttering oaths and threats +that Charley ignored. + +"That fellow is cunning," the lad said, as he related the conversation +to his companions. "He admitted everything, but the admission does us +no good. He would swear he had said nothing of the kind and the rest of +you could not testify for you did not hear his words." + +The incident depressed the spirits of all. They had begun to think the +persecutions were over and now they threatened to begin afresh. + +"Well, there is no help for it," said Charley. "We will have to endure +it until we get our plan to working. We will just have to be on our +guard day and night until it is settled. Let's turn in now and forget +it while we catch a nap. We will need the rest if we are going out at +midnight." + +They had no watch amongst them but Charley possessed the not uncommon +gift of being able to wake at any hour he desired. When he awoke he +satisfied himself by a glance at the stars that he was not mistaken in +the hour and then aroused his companions. + +As the time was short before daylight, they ran but a little way from +the dock before anchoring the launch and taking to the boats. + +They had hardly got fairly started with the skiffs when Charley called +a halt. + +"See anything over where you are, Walt?" he called. + +"Yes," shouted back his chum, eagerly, "the water is alive with fish of +some kind." + +"Same here," Charley stated, "but I can't make out just what they are. +They are not catfish, and yet, they don't fire just like mullet. Let's +try them with just a little piece of our nets and see what they are +before we make a big circle." + +They had run out but a few yards of net when he gave the signal to +close up. "We will not drum up any," he said, as he halted his boat +just inside the little circle. "We will get enough in the nets, +without, to tell what they are and will not frighten the rest of the +school." + +A few minutes sufficed to pick up the few yards of net they had out. +Charley scanned his puzzledly as it came inboard. It contained no fish +but was filled with great gaping holes here and there. + +"Not a scale," he announced, disgustedly. "Did you fellows get +anything?" + +"Nothing but a lot of holes," said Captain Westfield. + +"I've got a lot of the queerest looking fish I ever saw," Walter +exclaimed. "Row over and take a look at them. One of them bit me. Gee! +but it hurts!" + +A few strokes of his oars brought Charley alongside and he peeped over +into his chum's skiff. + +A score of big, eel-like, repulsive-looking creatures squirmed in the +bottom. + +One glance and Charley, chucking his anchor aboard Walter's skiff, +sprang into it. + +"Quick, show me where it bit you!" he cried. + +Walter held out a hand in the palm of which a tiny puncture oozed out +occasional drops of blood. + +Charley whipped out a cord from his pocket, bound it loosely around the +wrist of the wounded hand and thrusting an oarlock in the slack twisted +it around until the cord dented into the flesh. "Now, stick your hand +over into the water and keep it there," he commanded. + +Seizing an oar, he gingerly ladled the repulsive-looking creature out +of the skiff. + +"Whew! My arm aches clear up to the shoulder!" Walter exclaimed. "What +were those nasty-looking fish, anyway?" + +"Morays, a kind of salt water eel," said his chum, gravely. "I don't +want to frighten you, dear old chum, but those things are poisonous, +almost as poisonous as a snake." + +Walter received the startling information coolly. "I suspected they +were poisonous as soon as my arm began to ache," he said, quietly. +"Will I lose my hand do you think?" + +"I guess not," lied Charley, cheerfully. He could not bear to tell him +that he was likely to lose his life as well as his hand. + +Calling the captain to follow, the lad rowed the two skiffs to the +launch, made them fast, and helped his chum aboard. As soon as the +captain fastened on, he started the engine and headed the launch back +for the dock. He was thankful that they had not come far from home, +for, short as the distance was, before they reached the little pier, +Walter's arm had swollen to twice its natural size and he had fallen +into a kind of listless stupor. The captain and Charley helped him +tenderly out of the launch and supported him up to the cabin where they +laid him out on his couch. + +Charley looked about in helpless despair. "If I only had some of that +aguardiente, now, there would be a good chance to save him," he said, +bitterly. "I don't think there was time for much of that poison to get +into his circulation before I got the cord around his wrist and shut it +off. Well, it isn't much use, but we will make a fight for it. Chris, +heat up some water, quick, and make a big pot of coffee, as strong as +you can make it." + +The little negro flew to do his bidding and, in a few minutes, Charley +had the wounded hand plunged in a bucket of scalding hot water and +was forcing cup after cup of strong, steaming coffee down his chum's +throat. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +MORE MYSTERIES. + + +"WE have got to get a doctor just as quick as we can," Charley +declared. "I wish you could go, Captain. I would rather be with him and +do what little I can for him. I'm afraid he will not last till you can +get a doctor over here." + +"But I do not know how to run the launch," the old sailor reminded him. + +"That is so, I will have to go," agreed the lad. "Well, I guess, you +can do as much for him as I could. Keep his hand in hot water all the +time and keep forcing the coffee down him every few minutes. I'll be +back as quick as I can." + +Seizing his hat Charley started for the dock on a run. + +In a few minutes he was back, consternation on his face. + +"Something's broke about the engine," he cried, "I can't start it up +and I can't see to fix it in the dark. You'll have to go over in one of +the skiffs, Captain. You will make better time than I could for you row +better." + +The old sailor was out and gone almost before he finished speaking, and +in a minute Charley could hear the quick stroke of oars coming from the +water. + +"Do you think Massa Walt's goin' to die, Massa Chas?" Chris inquired in +an awed whisper as they watched the stupefied lad. + +"I am afraid so, Chris," Charley said, sadly. "Some of that awful +poison has got into his blood. It checks the heart action. That is what +I am giving the coffee for. It stimulates the heart and makes it work +faster. But it is not powerful enough to overcome the deadening effect +of the poison. It needs a powerful heart stimulant to do that. Whiskey +would do fairly well. Oh! how I wish I had a couple of bottles of that +aguardiente now!" + +He lapsed into silence and sat sorrowfully watching his stricken chum, +while Chris crouched at his side, deepest grief on his little ebony +face. + +Suddenly there came a sharp rap at the door, and Charley sprang to his +feet. + +"It can't be the doctor so quick," he said. "Come in," he called out. + +There was no answer to his invitation and stepping to the door he flung +it open. + +Nothing but blank darkness greeted his searching eyes. + +He stepped outside and looked around but the darkness was so dense he +could not see twenty feet from the cabin. + +Puzzled, he was turning back into the cabin when his foot came into +contact with something on the step. He picked the object up and bore it +to the light. + +One glance and he gave a shout of joy. "Aguardiente, Chris," he cried. +"May the Lord bless whoever put it there." + +He seized a cup and pouring it half full of the fiery liquor forced it +down his chum's throat. + +He allowed a half hour to pass by, then administered another dose. + +At times he fancied he could trace a slight return of color in his +chum's pale face but, if any, it was so slight that he could not be +certain. + +At the end of an hour he gave a third stiff dose of the powerful +stimulant. + +"I wish the captain would get here with the doctor," he said, +anxiously. "I can't see as he is improving any. I fancy most that stuff +is doing is to help keep him from slipping away from us." + +"Dat's de captain, now," Chris said, joyfully, as there came a brisk +rap at the door. + +It was not the captain but a young, athletic-looking man bearing a +small, black, leather case. + +"I am the doctor," he announced. "How is the boy? Still alive?" + +"Yes, he is still living," said Charley, in relief, "but I don't think +he will last much longer unless you can help him." + +"What have you done for him?" the doctor inquired, as he knelt by the +stricken lad and felt his pulse. + +Charley told him briefly. + +"Very good," the doctor commented. "Probably he would have died before +now but for those aids. He is pretty far gone but maybe we can pull him +around." + +He laid off his coat and went to work. From his case he produced a +hypodermic syringe and a box of tablets. "Some warm water and a spoon," +he requested. + +Chris was instantly at his side with the required articles. + +He filled the spoon with warm water and dropped one of the tablets into +it. It colored the water a beautiful scarlet. + +"Permanganate of potash," he explained. "You fishermen ought to keep +some always by you. It's invaluable in cases of snake-bites or other +poisonous wounds." + +He filled his syringe from the spoon and baring Walter's arm injected +it into a vein. + +"I expect your warm water treatment has drawn most of the poison from +the wound, but we had better be on the safe side," he observed. + +He partly filled a basin with warm water and dissolved another of the +tablets in it. Then, with his keen, surgeon's lancet, he cut open the +flesh around the puncture, washed it out thoroughly with the solution, +and then bound it up in soft, white gauze. + +"That is all we can do, now, but watch," he observed, when he had +finished. + +He sat down with Walter's wrist in his hand and waited the effect of +the treatment. + +"He is responding to the injection nobly," he said at last. "His pulse +is getting quicker and his skin is becoming moist. Evidently there is +not as much poison in the blood as I feared. Your prompt action has +undoubtedly saved his life." + +In half an hour he gave another injection and watched the result with +satisfaction. + +"Your friend is going to come out all right," he declared, cheerily. + +A wave of relief swept over Charley. "We can never fully pay you for +what you have done," he said, with a lump in his throat. "Money can +never square the debt." + +"That's all right," said the young doctor, heartily. "It's a matter of +more than mere pay to most of us doctors when we are able to save a +valuable life. I can do no more for your friend at present, but I'll +leave some tablets with you to give him from time to time. I think the +danger is over, although he will be a pretty sick boy for a couple of +days from the reaction of the liquor and drugs he has taken, as well as +from the poison itself, but with good nursing, he will pull through all +right." + +Counting out some tiny tablets, he gave them to Charley, seized his +hat and case, and with a cheery "good night" opened the door and +disappeared in the darkness. + +He had been gone a full five minutes before Charley recalled that in +his anxiety for his chum he had forgotten to ask his name or the amount +of his bill. + +"Not very polite, but the captain will find that out," he consoled +himself. "I wonder why the captain did not come up with him. I suppose +the dear old chap could not bear the sight of Walter's lying so +death-like. Chris, make up some more good, strong coffee and cook some +breakfast. The captain's going to be all worn out when he gets back." + +Daylight was near at hand and with it came the old sailor, looking +pale, worn and haggard in the morning light. + +"Is Walter dead?" he greeted, in a trembling, anxious voice. + +Charley laughed in sheer joyousness. "Dead nothing," he exulted. "He's +getting better every minute. Why, didn't the doctor tell you that?" + +"I couldn't find the doctor," said the old sailor, in relief. "There +was none in Clearwater. I got up the telegraph agent and got him to +telegraph to Tarpon Springs for one. He'll come on the noon train. It +was the best I could do. I waited to hear from the telegram, that's +what's kept me so long." + +Charley stared at him. "Do you mean that you did not bring over the +doctor that was here?" + +"Are you crazy or am I?" demanded the old sailor. "What do you mean?" + +"There was a doctor came about an hour after you left," said Charley, +slowly. "He staid at least two hours. He gave Walter medicine which has +pulled him through. He only left about an hour ago." + +It was the captain's turn to stare. "I'll be jiggered," he said in awe, +"and I saw no motor boat going or coming. Who was he, and how in the +world did he know we needed him?" + +Charley shook his head. "I'll give it up," he said. "However, he'll be +back again and will solve the mystery." + +But the doctor did not reappear. However, the noon train brought a +physician from Tarpon Springs. Charley, who, by daylight, had easily +found and repaired the engine break, went over in the launch and got +him. + +The new doctor was visibly annoyed when he examined Walter. "I do not +understand why I was called on this case," he said, shortly. "The boy +is out of all danger. He has had skilful treatment, most skilful +treatment. I would not have come had I known there was already a doctor +in charge." + +Charley explained the circumstances. + +"Your description fits, perfectly, Doctor Thompson of Tarpon Springs," +the new doctor observed. "Did he have a finger missing on the left +hand?" + +"He did, the second finger," said Charley, recalling the circumstance. + +The doctor studied the lad's face closely, started to speak, but +checked himself. + +He was silent during all the trip back to Clearwater but after he got +out of the launch he turned and faced Charley. + +"Young man," he said, coldly, "I do not know what your object was in +telling me that string of lies, but I want to impress upon you that you +have not deceived me." + +Charley stared at him in hurt astonishment. + +"Doctor Thompson dined with me last night," said the physician, icily. +"We sat together after and talked in my study until one o'clock. At two +o'clock, you say, he was at your camp, an impossible thing for Tarpon +Springs is twenty miles away." + +With a curt nod he turned and strode up the dock leaving behind him an +offended, astonished, mystified boy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MORE MISCHIEF. + + +ALL the way back to the island, Charley pondered over the mystifying +occurrence. + +"I don't understand it, I don't understand it at all," he said to +Captain Westfield whom he found sitting beside Walter who was still +sleeping soundly. "There is some mystery about this island that puzzles +me. If this sort of thing goes on I'll be converted to Chris' belief in +spirits. One unexplainable thing after another happening so frequently +is enough to make one lose his wits." + +"I wouldn't worry my head about it," said the old sailor, placidly. +"The mysterious happenings have all been for our own good. Take this +last one. Walter would surely have died but for that liquor and the +doctor. I don't fear the kind of people or spirits that do that kind of +thing. It's the mean, sly tricks of those fishermen that's bothering +me. I cannot help but worry as to what they will do next. Just how do +we stand now, do you calculate, lad?" + +Charley figured rapidly. "Our two nights' fishing makes one hundred and +eighty dollars coming to us. I guess our grocery bills amount to about +thirty dollars, it will cost forty-five dollars to replace the skiff, +that ruined net means fifty dollars more, and repainting the launch +will cost twenty dollars more. Our other three nets are as good as new. +That brings our total expenses up to one hundred and forty dollars, +leaving a balance of forty dollars to our credit." + +"I wish it were a little more," said the captain, wistfully. "If it +was twenty dollars apiece, I would vote right now for giving up this +fishing business. I've got a feeling that those fishermen are going +to do us bad yet. They have pretty near succeeded a couple of times +already. Next time we may not be lucky enough to escape. Bill Roberts' +scheme might work all right, but it will take time and there's no +telling what they may do to us while we are waiting." + +"I hate to give up," Charley replied, "but I guess it is the wisest +thing to do; so far, they have only injured our property, but there is +no telling how soon they will do some one of us bodily injury, they are +getting desperate. This accident to Walt has made me see things in a +different light. I would never forgive myself if one of you should be +badly injured by those scoundrels as a result of my being stubborn and +refusing to quit. If it were only myself it would be different, but, +I do not want to drag the rest of you into the trouble. Walt's close +shave has taken all the fighting spirit out of me. I agree with you +that we had better quit. But we cannot strike out again with only forty +dollars between us. It will be several days anyway before Walt is able +to travel and we might as well put in as much of the time as we can +fishing. We can notify those fishermen that we are going to leave soon +and perhaps they will let up on their persecutions." + +"Where had we better go from here?" speculated the old sailor. + +"Back to the East Coast, I guess," answered Charley, wearily. "It's +pineapple season and we will be able to get work in the plantations, +I guess. They only pay a dollar and a half per day and the work is +very hard. But this is the dull season in Florida now and we can't do +better. I don't know as it much matters what we do," he concluded, +bitterly. "We seem doomed to fail in all our undertakings." + +"Get that idea out of your head, lad," said the old sailor, gently. "If +one lacks confidence, he will never succeed. You are tired out and your +nerves are all unstrung from worry and loss of sleep. Go take a walk +on the beach and a dip in the surf then come back and catch a nap and +things will look brighter." + +His eyes followed Charley's departing form with pitying fondness. + +"Poor lad," he sighed, "he hates to give up, and he is thoroughly +discouraged. It isn't often he gets that way though the good Lord +knows he has but little to keep him bright and cheerful. No father, no +mother, and his whole young life a constant battle against hardships +and disappointments." + +When Charley returned his gloominess had vanquished. "Nothing like good +salt air and a long swim to get the best of the blues, Captain," he +announced, cheerfully. "I feel fit to do battle with the world again +now. How's the boy coming on?" + +"Fine," the captain declared. "I'm expecting him to wake up hungry." + +"I'll be fixed for him, sho'," declared Chris, eagerly. "Dis has been +de longest day for dis nigger, he jus' seemed to be in the way an' ob +no account, so he's jus' been fixing up to feed you-all, dat does all +de work, jus' de best he kin. Golly I got a supper dat will satisfy +Massa Walt all right. I got fresh fish fried nice and brown, big fat +oysters from off de rocks roasted in dere own juice, scallops chopped +up fine and made inter meat balls, nice fresh corn bread an' plenty of +coffee." + +"It would kill Walt to eat all that," laughed Charley. "Make up a +little oyster soup and we will give him that when he wakes up. Your +feast will not be wasted," he said hastily, as he saw the little +negro's look of disappointment. "You want to remember that the captain +and I haven't eaten since yesterday." + +"Dat's so," agreed Chris, brightening. "Hit's all ready when you is." + +He had little cause for complaint for when the two had finished there +was little but crumbs left of the delicious meal. + +"Now I am ready to sleep," Charley announced, with a sigh of content. + +Walt was resting so easily that both Charley and the captain stretched +out on their couches leaving Chris to watch and to call one of them to +take his place when he became sleepy. + +The captain relaxed his tired muscles with a sigh of relief. + +"There's one thing that's been puzzling me a little, Charley," he +observed, as he settled into a comfortable position. "How did it happen +that Walt caught all those critters while you and I got nothing but +holes." + +"I hadn't thought of that," admitted Charley, thoughtfully. "It is kind +of queer; something jumped up, fish all bore down on one net, but, +while that would account for Walt getting them all in his net, it does +not explain all the holes in ours." + +It was a trifling circumstance but he puzzled over it a long time after +his companion had fallen asleep. + +The sun was shining brightly when the two awoke for Chris, with +unselfish kindness, had watched the night through rather than disturb +them. + +They found Walter awake and greatly improved, the swelling in his arm +and hand was subsiding rapidly. He was very weak and was shaky from the +effects of the drugs and liquor but that would soon wear off. + +They were hardly dressed when the Roberts arrived in their launch. +They had heard of Walter's accident in Clearwater and had come over to +inquire after him and offer any assistance they could give. + +"Too bad," said Bill, regretfully, when the captain told him of their +newly-formed resolve to leave the Island. "We Roberts are sorry to lose +you folks. I wish you could stick it out, but, of course, you know your +own business best. We will not only miss you but we hate to see that +Hunter gang win another underhand victory. With you gone they will take +up their old trade of smuggling in booze and making beasts of their +fellow fishermen." + +"It is too bad," the old sailor agreed, "but it is best for us to go +before they do us any more harm. We have more coming to us than we owe +now, but if they got to us with many more of their tricks, we would be +behind with the fish house and then of course we could not go." + +"Well," Bill Roberts offered, as they were leaving, "if you are going +out fishing to-night I'll come over and stay with the boy." + +Our friends accepted his offer gratefully, for they had been loath to +think of leaving their chum alone with Chris, only. It was true he was +doing finely but there might come a change for the worse and the little +negro would be helpless to get word to them. + +True to his promise, Bill appeared before sundown and they were free +for another hunt for the finny prizes. + +They were not long in coming upon a promising-looking school of fish +which Charley decided to run. + +Walter's absence made a slight difference in the mode of making the +circle, but they got around most of the bunch in good shape. + +"I believe we are going to make a good haul," Charley declared, with +satisfaction, as they rested after drumming up. "There's a lot of fish +in the circle and they seem to be hitting the net good." + +But his hopes gave way to dismay as he pulled in yard after yard of +his net without getting a fish. Instead the net seemed riddled with a +multitude of holes. + +"Get anything, Captain," he paused to shout. + +"Nothing but holes," said the old sailor, disgustedly. "Got a hundred +of them." + +"Queer," Charley muttered. He gathered up some of the loose webbing +in either hand and pulled gently. The tested part broke as easily as +a spider's web. Every few yards for the entire length of the net he +repeated the operation. The result was always the same. He finished +picking up and, sitting down, waited dejectedly for the old sailor. + +"We might as well go home," he said wearily, as the captain pulled +alongside. "My net is rotten from end to end. It would not hold a +minnow." + +"Mine is in the same fix," his companion agreed, sadly. "Now, we are +in a bad fix. One hundred dollars' worth more nets to be charged up +against us, and nothing to fish with." + +"We are in a bad fix," Charley agreed. "I don't understand it. Those +were both new nets, and of the highest grade of twine. They should have +lasted for at least three months and here they are gone after only a +few nights' fishing. There is something wrong somewhere. Well, come on, +let's go home. There is nothing to be gained trying to fish with these +nets, they will not hold anything." + +The trip back to camp was made in silence; they were too utterly +discouraged for speech. + +They found Walter sleeping peacefully and Bill Roberts sitting by his +couch reading by the light of a lantern. + +The big fishermen listened in wondering sympathy to the recital of +their experiences. + +"Those nets should have lasted at least three months," he declared, +confirming Charley's statement. "They are good nets. Mr. Daniels is a +square fish boss and does not give his fishermen anything but the best. +Let's see if we can find out what has happened to them. That will not +make them strong again, but it will be of some little satisfaction." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +TELLING MR. DANIELS. + + +"THERE are several things that can happen to a net to make it rot +quickly," Bill said. "Little things that a greenhorn might not think of +any consequence. Now, first, have you run into any big bunches of gilly +fish?" + +"No," Charley answered, "we have been lucky in that respect. I know why +you ask the question. The slime from them catches in the knots of the +meshes and unless well washed out will hasten their decay." + +"Correct," agreed Bill. "Then it is not gilly fish that done that +damage. Next, have you been hauling your nets out to dry as soon as you +got in, mornings." + +"Yes, they have been on the racks drying before the sun got up good. +I've fished enough to know that a hot sun on a wet, heaped-up net will +cause the twine to heat and rot quickly." + +"Well, that does away with another possibility," Bill said. "One of the +most frequent causes of net trouble lies with the liming of them." + +"Yes, I know," the lad agreed. "Some mix the lime with water in their +skiffs and throw it on the nets before it has time to slack thoroughly +and it then burns up the twine. But that isn't the trouble. I was +careful about that. I fixed up a barrel on the dock before we started +in to fish. And every night before we started out I would put in a +bucket of lime and fill the barrel up with water. Our nets were limed +in the morning from that barrel. At least, I am pretty sure they were. +I told Chris to do it. He has tended to the nets." + +"Sho', I always used dat water in de barrel," agreed the little darkey. +"Only trouble was dat dar wasn't ebber enough ob it to dose all three +nets good. By de time I got your's and de captain's fixed good, I'd +have to put in more water to hab enough for Massa Walt's net." + +"There is your trouble right in that lime barrel," said Bill, with +certainty. "It was always weakened down for Walter's net, and you say +his net is all right yet." + +But Charley protested. "I never made the mixture strong enough to do +any harm in the first place." + +"I'm going to take a look," announced Bill, picking up the lantern. +"Everything points to that lime water and it must be it." + +The three followed in his wake as he led the way down to the dock. + +He examined the nets first. "Gee," he exclaimed, "I should say they +were rotten. Let's have a look at Walter's." + +He stepped over to the rack where hung the lad's net and tested several +meshes. "It is not as bad as those others," he announced. "Still it is +getting pretty weak, I don't believe it would last out if a good school +of fish struck it. Now let's look into that lime-water barrel." + +He plunged his arm down in the partly-filled barrel and felt the water +tentatively. + +"Where do you keep your barrel of lime?" he asked, as he straightened +up. + +"Right there on shore under that palm tree," Charley pointed out. "Want +to look at the lime?" + +"No," said the big fisherman, absently, "I've seen enough." + +He led the way back to the cabin in silence. + +"Well, what do you make of it?" Charley asked when they were seated +once more inside. + +"I'm sure sorry for you, fellows," blurted out the big fisherman, +impulsively. "You've been played as mean a low-down trick as was ever +played on anyone." + +"How?" demanded the captain and Charley together. + +"Someone has mixed potash in with the lime in your lime barrel, and +it's just eaten the life out of your twine. It has been done to +fishermen more than once around here and by that same gang of rascals. +It never occurred to me that it had been done to your net, though, till +I felt of that water. Lime water should feel harsh and gritty, but that +felt oily and soapy and I knew then what the trouble was. + +"I wish I could help you out," he said, feelingly, noting the utter +discouragement in the three faces. "I would gladly lend you nets if we +had any but our old ones are all fished out and we have only three new +ones ordered. It was so near the end of the season we did not order any +extra ones." + +"We are mighty grateful to you anyway," Captain Westfield said. "You +mustn't mind if we ain't very pleasant company just now. This last +business has put us in a bad fix and we have got to study some way out +of it." + +"I know," agreed Bill, sympathetically, "and as I can't do any good +here now, I'll run over to camp and turn in. I've got to go over to +Clearwater in the morning to tend to a little pressing business. +Anything I can get you there?" + +"No," Charley said, thanking him, "we have got to go over ourselves +to-morrow and tell Mr. Daniels about the nets." + +When the kindly-hearted fisherman was gone, the three sat long debating +gloomily what they should do but arriving at no decision. "We might as +well turn in," said Captain Westfield at last. "Thar's only one thing +I can see clearly. We must go to Mr. Daniels to-morrow, like men, and +tell him about our loss. If he can give us any work to do, we must take +it and work until we have paid him every cent we owe, if it takes a +year to do it." + +His two companions heartily agreed to this statement. It was clearly +the only honest course to take. + +It was late when they at last got to sleep, and consequently late when +they awoke. + +As soon as they had breakfasted, Charley and the captain started for +Clearwater, leaving Chris to look after Walter's wants. + +On the Clearwater dock they found Bill Roberts and his two brothers. + +"I'll keep an eye on your launch until you come back, if both of you +want to go up to the fish house," Bill offered, a proposal they gladly +accepted. + +For a wonder Mr. Daniels was not busy and Charley poured out the story +of their losses in a manly, straightforward manner. + +"We don't want you to think that we are asking you to take up our +quarrels for us," he concluded, flushing. "We simply want to make it +plain that we have done the very best we knew how. As we figure it, we +owe you now about one hundred and fifty dollars which the prospects do +not look very bright for our paying at present. If you have any work +we can do, we will gladly work out the debt. If not, we will have to +wait until we can get to earning again. But we will pay you every cent +just as soon as we possibly can." + +"Don't worry your head about the debt," said Mr. Daniels, heartily. +"I am sure you and your companions have done your best and I am truly +sorry you have met with so many misfortunes. What you owe the fish +house can stand until you are able to pay it. If I owned the business, +I would cancel the debt entirely but I am only manager here." + +"You are very kind to take it this way," Charley said, gratefully. "I +was afraid you might be angry at the failure we have made." + +Mr. Daniels smiled. "What you have told me about your troubles is not +exactly news to me," he said. "You have good friends in those Roberts +boys and they have kept me pretty well posted as to how things were +going. I would have got rid of that Hunter gang long ago but they are +deeply in debt to the Company and the only chance to get any of it back +is to take out a little, each week, from the fish they catch. You see, +I have got to consider the Company's interests always above my personal +wishes. + +"What concerns me most, now," he continued, "is what you and your +friends are going to do now that your nets are gone. Bill Roberts was +up to tell me this morning that If I would let you have another set of +nets he would stand good for them. But I told him that was unnecessary. +I would gladly refit you again on my own responsibility if I had nets, +but we have not got another one in the house. Have you any plan for the +future?" + +"No very clear one," Charley admitted. "As you know it's Florida's dull +season now. There's very little doing except in the pineapple fields." + +Mr. Daniels considered for a few minutes. "I do not like to advise you +to do it, because it's dangerous work, but there is one thing you might +pick up enough money at to tide you over the dull season." + +"What is it?" Captain Westfield demanded, eagerly. + +"Hook and line fishing for groupers and grunts out in the gulf. After +all, I do not know as it is very dangerous if one keeps close watch of +the weather." + +"The captain here is a regular weather prophet," Charley asserted. "He +can smell bad weather hours before it comes." + +"That's a valuable gift for that kind of work," Mr. Daniels replied. +"The grouper banks lay out in the gulf from eight to eleven miles from +shore, and it wouldn't do for a small boat to be caught out there in a +heavy squall. The more I think of it, the more I think it would be a +good thing for you. You can keep right on using the launch, and the +hooks and lines you need will cost but little. Of course, there is +no big fortune in it but you had ought to make more than wages. Very +likely, you could earn enough to pull out of the hole." + +"I reckon we'd better try it," said Captain Westfield. "I've done a lot +of hook and line fishing in my time." + +"We can start to-morrow," Charley agreed, promptly, his spirits rising +at the possibility of a way out of their difficulties. + +"Very well," agreed Mr. Daniels. "I'll give you a note to the +store-keeper to let you have the lines and tackles, as well as what +more groceries you need." + +"I would feel quite hopeful," said Charley, as he thanked the +kind-hearted manager, "if I did not fear that Hunter would find some +way of still further injuring us." + +"Silas Hunter will not bother you for a couple of weeks, anyway," Mr. +Daniels assured him. "They took him and a couple of his cronies to the +Tampa hospital on this morning's train." + +"Sick?" Captain Westfield inquired, with great relief. + +"You might call it that," Mr. Daniels smiled. "Bill Roberts got so mad +over what he had done to you boys that he came over this morning and +gave him a licking he'll not forget in a hurry. Some of the gang tried +to interfere and Bill's brothers gave them a dose of the same medicine. +Those boys are good friends of yours, and they are friends worth +having." + +"Will not Hunter have them arrested?" inquired Charley, in fear for his +zealous friends. + +Mr. Daniels' smile broadened. "I think not," he said. "Bill warned him +if he did, he would repeat the operation over again." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE GROUPER BANKS. + + +"WE are grateful for what you did in our behalf," said Charley, when +they again came upon the Roberts on the dock. "We did not expect you to +take up our troubles but we cannot find words to express our gratitude +for what you have done for us." + +Big Bill blushed like a school girl. "We didn't do much," he said, +awkwardly. "I was going to do it anyway, sometime. It just came off a +little sooner than I expected. I don't fancy fighting much--it's poor +business--but it's the only way to handle fellows like that Hunter +gang--a decent man can't stoop to meet them with their own tricks." + +"It is a rather primitive way of righting wrongs, but I was not +thinking of that," said Charley, earnestly. "I was thinking of the +loyal friendship, and the kindly feeling you had for us that prompted +the act. It was a big, friendly action, all the more so as we are +almost strangers to you." + +"That's all right," stammered Bill, embarrassed by his thanks. "I +guess I beat Hunter up more than I intended to. He drew a knife on me +so I couldn't handle him very gently. What did the fish boss have to +say?" he inquired, eager to change the subject. + +The captain told him of the new plan that Mr. Daniels had suggested. + +"Mr. Daniels is a mighty square man," said Bill, emphatically. "I am +glad you are going to follow his advice. We are thinking some of trying +the reef fishing, too, until our nets come, so we will likely see a +good deal of each other." + +"The more the pleasanter for us at any rate," declared the old sailor. +"Well, I guess we must be going. Chris will be wondering what has +happened to us. Good-by. Drop in on us when you get the chance." + +The trip back to the island was made with lighter hearts than they had +brought with them, and they were made still lighter at the sight of +Walter's improved condition. He was sitting up in bed arguing warmly +with Chris that he was well enough to get up and dress, but the little +negro had hidden his clothes and could not be moved by threats or +entreaties. + +"No, Massa Walt," Chris was saying as they entered. "You got to jis' +lay quiet. I'se had a terrible time aworryin' an' anursin' you an' I +ain't goin' to risk youah getting sick on my hands again through youah +foolishness. Golly, I doan know what you white chilluns would do widout +dis nigger to watch out foah you-alls." + +So much was Walter improved, that Charley thought it safe to tell him +of all that had happened since his accident. + +"I am almost glad the nets are gone," he declared, when Charley had +finished. "I don't believe I would ever have made a good net fisherman. +I could never have grown to like the work." + +Chris' joy was almost pathetic to see. "I'se sho' going wid you-alls," +he cried. "Dis nigger can sho' catch fish with a hook. An' I sho' is +glad I doan hab to stay alone on dis ole creepy island at night, no +more." + +And, indeed, perhaps, the part the little negro had so far taken had +been as hard and unpleasant as any of theirs. + +The evening that followed was by far the pleasantest they had spent on +the island. Fear of the fishermen was over for the present at least. +Walter's recovery was another cause for rejoicing, and they all looked +forward to their morrow's work with a pleasurable anticipation that +none had felt for the hard, nasty, trying net fishing. + +So eager was Chris to begin, that he was up long before daybreak +cooking breakfast and putting up a hearty lunch for their dinner. + +The sun was just coming up as they steered out of the inlet into the +open gulf. Walter had insisted upon coming with them and lay on one +of the seats looking somewhat thin and pale but drawing in increased +strength from every breath of the bracing, salt air. + +The captain was in full command, for, when it was a matter of sea work, +Charley quickly gave way to the old, experienced sailor. While they +bounded over the blue sparkling waves for the line of coral reefs he +brought out the hooks, lines, and heavy sinkers they had purchased and +rigged up the tackle for their fishing. It was simple. Just strong +braided lines fifty feet long with a heavy lead on one end. Above the +lead, he attached three very short lines a couple of feet apart, tying +a hook on each. + +As soon as he decided that they were nearing the reef he ordered the +engine slowed down and cast a line over the stern. + +"It's too deep to see when we get on the reef," he explained, "so we +will have to feel for it. That lead on the line pulls along smooth +over the sandy bottom but when it strikes the coral lumps on the reef +it will begin to jerk." He sat with hand on the line until a series of +quick, jumping tremors told him they were over the reef when he ordered +the anchor lowered. + +With eagerness the little party baited the hooks and cast their lines +over. They waited breathless for the tugging which would announce a +bite, but as the minutes dragged away without a nibble, their high +spirits began to lower. + +"Golly, I could do better than this on the island," grumbled Chris, as +he pulled up his line and examined his bait for the twentieth time. + +The old sailor filled and lit his pipe with a twinkle in his eye. "Wait +jist one half hour an' they'll begin to bite," he announced, calmly. + +"Have you made special arrangements with them," Walter inquired. + +"Not quite, but fish have their habits the same as people," the captain +explained. "They only bite at certain tides. Seems like they had their +regular mealtime as one might say, only they go by tides instead of a +clock. It's the last of the ebb tide now. In a few minutes it will be +flood tide and the fish will all be hunting their breakfasts." + +"But I have caught fish on both ebb and flood tides, captain," Charley +objected. + +"Yes, an' there are people, too, who are always eating between meals," +the old sailor retorted, "but most of them are contented with their +regular mealtime." + +"Golly! dis nigger often wonders how you keeps track ob dem tides," +Chris remarked. "I can't tell nothin' 'bout dem, 'cept when I'se on de +shore an' can watch the rise and fall." + +"It's simple, lad," explained the old sailor. "It's the moon that +causes the tides. All one has to do is to notice the moon. When the +moon is coming up the tide is going down. When the moon is going down +the tide is coming up. No matter where you are it is always the same." + +"I've got a bite," Charley announced, and moon and tides were +straightway forgotten by the eager little party. + +It seemed as though his announcement had been the breakfast bell for +the finny creatures below, for before he had got his fish to the +surface, his companions were hauling furiously on the lines. + +Charley gave a shout of exultation as he swung his prize aboard. It was +a chunky, reddish fish with mouth and fins of scarlet, and was about +fifteen pounds in weight. + +"That's a red grouper," said the captain, sparing a glance from his own +captive. "This one I've got is a black grouper. Those flat, silvery +fish Chris and Walter have caught are red-mouth grunts." But the old +sailor had no time for further speculations for the sport grew fast and +furious. Often they pulled up to find three fish on their line at once, +one on each hook. + +As fast as they unhooked their captives they threw them into the +forward cockpit where they soon grew into a beautiful, glistening heap +of red, gold and silver hues. + +For two hours they pulled the fish aboard as fast as they could bait +and cast their hooks. Then, as suddenly as they had begun, the fish +ceased to bite. + +"We might as well get up anchor and move to another place," the captain +announced. + +"Has we done catched dem all?" Chris inquired, innocently. + +"Hardly," said the old sailor, with a laugh, "but a shark or some other +sea monster is prowling around down below and has scared them all +away." They weighed anchor and drifted back a couple of hundred feet +upon the reef where they found the fish biting there the same as before. + +"I'ze got something queer on my line," announced Chris, as he pulled up +hand over hand. "Hit don't jerk none. Hit's jest heavy-like." + +"A bit of coral, I expect," Charley suggested. + +All stared at the curious-looking object as Chris slung it in over the +side. + +"Why," said Charley, as he scraped off the clinging moss and barnacles. +"It's a doll, just a big, rag doll." + +"Put it back in the water, lad," said the captain, with a hint of tears +in his voice, "put it back. Likely its little mistress sleeps there +below the waves. We must not separate her from her dolly." + +It was only a guess, but the idea took such strong hold of them all +that anchor was again weighed and they dropped further along to another +place. + +About four o'clock the captain declared it was time to start for home. + +"We have done pretty well for one day," he said, "and we have got to +get home in time to carry the fish over to Clearwater." + +His companions were willing to stop. Although they had enjoyed the +sport greatly, their arms were aching from the constant pulling and +their hands were sore from numerous pricks from hooks and fins. + +An hour's run brought them back to their island. Here Chris stopped off +to get supper, and Walt to lie down and rest a bit, while Charley and +the captain carried the fish over. + +The two were back by the time Chris had supper ready. + +"We had twelve hundred pounds of grouper and six hundred pounds of +grunts, twenty dollars' worth in all," Charley announced, proudly. "Not +bad for our first day's work." + +"Why, that's five dollars apiece," said Walter, delightedly. "If we can +keep that up we'll make thirty dollars a week for each one of us." + +"We can't figure on steady fishing," objected the captain. "That's the +worst drawback about this reef fishing. One can only get out in fine +weather. Sometimes it blows for a week at a time so that one cannot wet +a line." + +"Then it's up to us to discover something to make money at during +stormy weather," Charley declared. + +It was Chris who hit upon the idea, but the reader will learn about +that later. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +HAPPY DAYS. + + +FOR a week the weather held fair and each day found our little party, +out on the reef, fishing with might and main to make as much money as +possible before Hunter returned to his old haunts and tricks. They were +thoroughly agreed that they would leave the island when he came back. +They were not so much afraid for themselves but they had suffered heavy +losses already from his rascality and they did not care to run the risk +of being put still deeper in debt. + +Meanwhile, they were contented and happy in their new pursuit. They +were long, happy days that they spent on the reef with the sparkling +blue water all around them. The bracing salt breezes giving zest to +their appetites, and the ever-new, thrilling expectancy with which +they pulled in their prizes, speculating always before it came to the +surface its kind, and size. + +On Saturday night they figured up the credit slips they had been given +at the fish house and found that they had made one hundred and twelve +dollars during the week. On Saturday night, also, they received a +bit of ill news which was good news for them. Bill Roberts heard it +from the fishermen at Clearwater, and he hastened over to tell them. +It was to the effect that Hunter, discharged from the hospital, was +well enough to be about, had proceeded to fill up on bad liquor in +celebration of his release, and, as a result, was back in the hospital +for a couple of weeks' more treatment. + +"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," quoted Charley, when he +heard the news. "That gives us a couple of weeks more to fish in peace. +Now if the weather only holds fair we will be able to pay what we owe +and have a little left over to take us to some other place." + +But the weather did not hold fair. Sunday morning found the wind +blowing half a gale from the north-west and the seas rolling high +outside. Monday morning it was still blowing with unabated vigor and +the sky looked as though there was more to come. + +"It's going to last for several days," Captain Westfield declared, +"then, likely, we will get another spell of fair weather." + +"Why couldn't it hold off for a couple of weeks longer," Walter +grumbled. "Every day lost means a lot to us now." + +After breakfast, Chris made ready to start out to secure a change for +their bill of fare. Having nothing else to do the others went with him. + +His first move was to secure a supply of the great stone crabs, whose +claws, when roasted, they had found so delicious. + +These were to be found in great numbers on the long mud flats, out +in the bay, when low tide left the flats exposed. The boys could see +thousands of them as they waded out to the flats. They were feeding or +basking in the sun, but at the hunters approach one and all scurried +for their hiding places, deep, slanting holes in the soft mud. But +Chris was prepared for such tactics. He had fixed for himself a long +iron rod with a hook in the end which he would thrust far down into +a hole and drag out its squirming, clawing occupant. Then, he would +kill it with a stroke of the rod, break off the great claws, and drop +them into the sack he carried. In a few minutes the little darkey had +secured as many as they could use before they spoiled. + +The crabs were not the only inhabitants of the flats. Clams were there +in plenty and in a short time they dug up all they desired. Then a trip +was made to some partly submerged rocks and a goodly supply of big flat +oysters secured. + +"Strange we never see any Clearwater boys over here getting these +things when they are so plentiful," Walter commented, as they started +back to the cabin. + +"Golly! I'se been studyin' on dat," Chris said. "'Pears to dis nigger +dat we could make right smart ob money getting dese things an' selling +dem to de folks ober in de town." + +"They would hardly buy anything that is so plentiful right close to +their homes," Walter objected. + +"Oh, I don't know about that," said Charley, thoughtfully. "It's too +hard work getting them for some people, I suppose. Others are too busy +to take the time from their work, maybe. Likely, a lot more have no +boats, and probably there are many who don't know how to get them. +There may be something worth considering in Chris' proposal." + +"Let's try it," said Captain Westfield. "We don't stand to lose +anything but our work." + +All went to work with a will and in a couple of hours they had secured +ten dozen crab claws, a couple of bushels of clams, and had opened up +a couple of gallons of oysters. Chris and Charley took the lot over to +Clearwater right after dinner. + +In an hour the two were back. + +"They sold like hot cakes," Charley declared. "We didn't get over a +quarter of the town before we sold out. We got forty cents a dozen for +crab claws, fifty cents a quart for the oysters, and ten cents a dozen +for clams." + +"You robbers!" Walter gasped, in surprise, "they are not worth that." + +"A thing is worth what you can get for it," Charley grinned. "Besides, +we had to throw in an extra charge for the service, like they do in an +expensive restaurant when they charge you two dollars for a fifty cent +steak." + +"Well, I reckon we can supply them with all they want at those prices," +the captain remarked, dryly. "Let's get to work." + +And work they did for the next three days, by which time the weather +had cleared up, their market supplied for a time, and they, themselves, +richer by about fifty dollars. Then they went back to their fishing +again until the next spell of bad weather should come. + +Often, as their little launch lay bobbing at her anchor, on the reef, +great stately ships swept by in plain sight, traveling north or south +to various ports. The captain watched them with the eager interest of a +boy. Almost his whole life had been spent on the sea, and he loved its +ships like a mother loves her children. + +They were watching one of these ships one day wondering idly as to what +might be her name, port, and cargo, when Charley's gaze became centered +on a smaller craft some two miles astern of the first. Something about +the cut and set of her sails caught and held his attention. + +"That boat is some traveler, Captain," he observed. "See how she is +drawing up on the one ahead." + +The old sailor studied the distant craft with the eye of an expert. + +"She is going some," he admitted. "Fore and aft topsail schooner, about +eighty tons' burden. Funny, there seems something familiar in the cut +of those sails and the set of those spars." + +"That's what I was thinking," Charley agreed. "I'm almost certain I've +seen that rig before." + +"See, she's changed her course and is standing in for shore," suddenly +cried the observant old sailor. + +It soon became evident that he was right. The stranger came sweeping +rapidly on carrying a wave of white froth before her bow. + +Her changed course would bring her within half a mile of where they +lay, and, as she drew nearer, our little party ceased fishing and stood +gazing in admiration at the beautiful picture she made. + +She was a low-hulled, black-painted schooner, keeling over under a +press of snowy canvas, until her lee rail was buried in a smother of +foam. + +"I believe she is headed right for our island," Charley observed. + +"If her captain does not know these waters pretty well he'll be liable +to pile that beauty up on a rock," Captain Westfield said, anxiously. + +It soon become evident that her pilot knew his ground for the +schooner's course was shifted again and again as her commander +jockeyed her around hidden rocks and through winding channels. + +Soon her crew began to take in sail. One after another the snow-white +sheets came in until stripped to mainsail and storm staysail she +rounded up a mile from shore and hung motionless in the wind. + +A tiny blot of color appeared on her deck and crept slowly up her +foremast. At the top it opened up, a fluttering red flag. + +"She's signalling," the captain exclaimed. + +"I have it," Charley cried. "She's that smuggling craft. Her captain is +trying to get in touch with the Hunter gang. No wonder I thought I had +seen her before." + +"I wasn't as lucky as you in getting a glimpse of her that night," +remarked the captain, "but I have seen that craft somewhere before. I +wonder where it was." + +"That likeness to some boat I know struck me hard the night I saw her +by the light of the flare, but I guess it's only a chance resemblance," +Charley said. "Well, if they are waiting to hear from Hunter, they have +a long wait ahead of them." + +"I wonder how Hunter communicated with her before he was hurt," Walter +pondered. + +"There's no mystery about that," his chum replied. "That's the simplest +part of the affair. It only takes a couple of days to get a letter to +Cuba. I expect she has more aguardiente aboard now. Likely he wrote to +her captain for a fresh supply as soon as he discovered that the other +was gone. He doubtless planned to have us off the island before it +arrived but his trip to the hospital has upset all his plans." + +"They are bold to try to bring it in in broad daylight," observed the +Captain. + +"Oh, I daresay, they wouldn't attempt to land it until after dark, and +there's nothing in her appearance to excite suspicion. If any boat came +near her they could quickly slip out a couple of miles further and defy +capture. Uncle Sam's jurisdiction does not extend out more than four +miles from shore." + +The beautiful schooner remained hove to all the afternoon and +apparently waiting an answer to her signal, but, at last, her skipper, +probably deciding that something was wrong, crowded on all sail and +glided swiftly out to sea. + +When our little party started home the schooner was a mere, distant +speck on the horizon. + +"This is the second trip she has made and landed nothing," Walter +observed. "After such luck, I should not think they would try again." + +"Oh, Hunter will likely write them the reason for his not being on +hand and arrange for another meeting," Charley said. "They probably +make enough money out of the business to be able to stand a few +disappointments." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +TREASURE TROVE. + + +THE chums saw but little of their good friends, the Roberts, during +these busy days. They were up and off to the reefs every morning at +break of dawn and only returned in the evening in time to get their +catch of fish over to Clearwater before dark. Once, Charley met Bill +on the dock and learned that his nets had come and that he and his +brothers were fishing every night with but poor success. The big, young +fellows looked weary, worn and worried. + +"I don't know what's become of all the fish," he said, "we have been +hunting over hundreds of miles of water and haven't found a decent +school in a week. We need to make a few good catches, badly, too. All +our money was in the bank which failed in Tampa the other day. We are +almost broke, now, and the closed season, when we are not allowed to +fish, is only a few weeks off. It looks like we are in for a long +streak of hard luck." + +Charley expressed his sincere sympathy. + +"Oh, we'll not starve," Bill replied. "But it does hurt to have all +the money you've worked hard for go like that without getting any good +out of it. Well, I don't know why I am complaining to you, you have had +worse troubles than ours." + +It was a different looking Bill who routed them out of bed before dawn +a few mornings later. His eyes were shining with excitement and his +simple, frank face was beaming. + +"Get on your clothes quick as you can and come with me," he cried. +"We've got a chance to make a good pot of money." + +As they hurried into their clothing he explained. + +"There's a big schooner laden with lumber out about two miles in the +gulf. She sprung a bad leak three days ago and her crew have worn +themselves out at the pumps but the water is gaining on them all the +time. If they can't get her into a dry dock within twenty-four hours, +boat and cargo will be a total loss. We were passing her when her +captain hailed us and asked for a tow. There is a dry dock at Tarpon +Springs and he offers one thousand dollars to be towed up to it." + +"Whew," Charley whistled, "that's a nice bunch of money. Do you think +we can manage it?" + +"Not alone, but I've been over to Clearwater and got three of the best +fishermen there to help us with their launches. That makes five of us +to divide the thousand dollars; two hundred dollars apiece. With luck, +we ought to make the tow up in eight hours." + +His story had hastened the little party's movements and by the time he +had finished they were all ready and eager for the start. + +They found the other three launches waiting impatiently for them at the +dock and in a few minutes all five were under way standing out for the +schooner which was in plain view from the inlet. + +"One thousand dollars seems an awful price to pay for a tow of eighteen +miles," Charley observed, as the "Dixie" tore through the water +leading the little fleet. "Do you suppose we will have any difficulty +in getting the money, Captain? The owners might not back up their +captain's agreement." + +"They will have to do it if we do our part," declared the old sailor, +wise in the laws of the sea. "A captain is king of his ship. He can +bind the owners for anything he considers necessary for the best +interest of his ship or cargo. The only question is whether the owners +are responsible persons. Likely, I can tell who the owners are when we +get close enough to see her name. I know most of the ship-owners of +these waters." + +He uttered an exclamation of satisfaction as they drew near enough to +decipher the name "North Wind" on the bow of the unlucky ship. "She is +owned by Curry Bros. of Key West," he announced. "They are a rich firm, +made most of their money out of wrecking. They own dozens of ships. +Our money is all right if we keep our side of the agreement." + +The unfortunate schooner lay low in the water, the waves almost +breaking over her lumber-laden decks. She was barely moving in the +light breeze. From every scupper hole gushed forth a stream of bright, +clear, sea water as her crew labored at the clanking pumps. + +"Why, they are all negroes, even the captain," Charley exclaimed, as +the "Dixie" swept closer. + +"Most of these Key West boats are manned by negroes," Captain Westfield +said. "They are expert sailors and wreckers, and could give a regular +lawyer points on ocean law, but they are mighty lazy. They get a share +of what the ship earns instead of wages and one would think they would +carry as small a crew as possible so as to get big shares, but instead +of that, they carry double the men they need so as to make the work as +light as possible. Don't seem to care whether they make anything or not +so long as they have plenty to eat and little to do." + +The numerous, grinning, ebony faces and kinky, woolly heads on the +leaking ship testified to the truth of the old sailor's assertion. + +The schooner's captain, a tall, lanky, solemn-visaged, old negro, +wearing bone-rimmed spectacles, met them as they came alongside. + +He glanced at the five launches with evident satisfaction. + +"I reckon you-all white gentlemens can get me into Tarpon afore the ole +gal sinks," he observed. "I figure we can keep her afloat ten hours +longer if I can keep dem lazy niggers working de pumps." + +"She hadn't ought to sink even when she fills," Captain Westfield +observed. "The lumber ought to keep her up." + +"Dar's a lot ob hardware in her, too," the negro captain declared. +"Hit's stowed deep in de hold wid such a raffle ob lumber on top ob hit +dat we can't get to hit widout throwing all de lumber overboard. She'll +go down like a rock when she fills." + +"Then we don't want to waste any time talking," Captain Westfield +declared. "Pass us your lines and we will fasten on. First, though, +you had better repeat the proposal you made to this gentleman here," +indicating Bill Roberts. "If we tow you in, we don't want any +misunderstanding about our pay after the job is done." + +The old negro spoke slowly, evidently considering his words carefully. + +"If you white gentlemens tow me in to de dry dock at Tarpon you is to +get one thousand dollars for de job. You-alls can draw on Curry Bros. +through de Tarpon bank jes' as soon as we gets to de dry dock." + +"All right," Captain Westfield agreed. "Pass us your lines and we'll +get busy." + +In a few moments, the five launches were fast to the schooner and with +engines throbbing were slowly dragging the helpless hulk towards her +destination. + +The fishing launches were all good boats of their kind, but they had +not been intended for such heavy work and the strain on their light +engines was terrific. + +The two boys watched the "Dixie's" straining engine with the anxious +care of a mother for her child as they dragged their big tow slowly +ahead. + +"I guess it will last out the trip," Charley said, "but I wouldn't +like to do much of this kind of work with it. It's like overloading a +willing horse." + +At the end of the fifth mile, the launch ahead of them dropped out of +the struggle with a broken piston ring. + +"Go on, don't stop for me!" its owner yelled with more unselfishness +than they had expected. "I'll manage to limp her back to Clearwater. +So long, and good luck to you. You will have to hit it up for all you +are worth now or you won't make it. There's a squall making up in the +north-west. If it strikes you before you get in behind Anchote Key, you +will have to cut loose from the schooner." + +Captain Westfield had, for some time, been watching the small black +cloud making up in the north-west. + +"It's going to be a close shave to make Tarpon before that thing hits +us," he remarked to Charley. "We pulled slow enough when there were +five of us and now with only four we are not making over two miles an +hour. It's a wonder the engines stand the additional strain. I keep +expecting them to break down." + +"It's not only that we are one less in number, which counts, but also +the fact that the schooner keeps getting harder and harder to pull," +Charley observed. "I'll bet she is six inches deeper in the water than +when we fastened on. Her captain is doing his best to keep her up--just +listen to him," he grinned. + +The lanky, solemn, old negro was dancing around the schooner's deck +heaping abuse, threats, prayers, and supplications on the kinky-headed +toilers at the pumps. He also had noted the gathering squall and was +driving his exhausted crew to the limit of their endurance. + +The minutes dragged slowly away while the launches with their heavy +burden labored gallantly on. They were slowly nearing the island, +Anchote Key, which lay in front of the port of Tarpon Springs. But, +although they were close to their destination, the squall was close to +them. The tiny black cloud had spread rapidly until it blanketed the +entire northern horizon with an inky mass. + +"Do you think we will make it, Captain?" Charley inquired, anxiously, +as they watched the gathering storm. + +"I doubt if we will reach Tarpon before it hits us," answered the old +sailor, "but I guess we will be able to get in behind Anchote Key and +escape the worst of the seas." + +As the squall neared them the wind dropped away and the sea took on an +oily smoothness. The air hung heavy, still and oppressive. The sun had +long since disappeared behind the wall of black but so motionless was +the air that they breathed with difficulty and the perspiration stood +out on their hands and faces. + +"There she comes," cried Captain Westfield, suddenly. + +Away to the north under the low-hanging cloud appeared a wall of +foaming white. + +Charley steered with one eye on the moving comb of water and the other +on the rock-shored island close aboard. + +He gave a sigh of relief as the launches and schooner slipped slowly in +behind the protecting island just as the squall broke in a roar of wind +and driving sheets of rain. + +His relief was short-lived, however. They had escaped the fury of the +billows outside but it was rough enough behind the key and high seas +tumbled and rolled around the boats. + +He glanced back to see how it fared with the schooner. What he saw made +him leap for the straining tow line, whipping out his sheath-knife as +he sprang. One stroke severed the taut rope, and, relieved of the drag, +the "Dixie" leaped ahead like a frightened deer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SALVAGE HUNTERS. + + +ON board the schooner all was excitement and confusion. Nearly awash +as she already was the first big wave had swept her from stem to +stern. Her frightened negro crew had quickly sprung into the rigging +yelling at the top of their voices. Only the solemn, lanky, old captain +remained impassive. He still stood at his post, by the wheel, peering +over his big, horn-rimmed spectacles, sizing up the situation with +shrewd, calculating eyes. + +A second wave struck and swept over, and then a third. + +"She's sinking," Walter shouted. + +Slowly the doomed craft settled down, down until her bulwarks lay even +with the water, then stopped. + +"She is not going to sink," Charley exclaimed, as he saw her stop in +her downward course. + +Captain Westfield quickly grasped the strange situation. "She's gone as +far as she can," he declared. "She is resting on a shoal. Steer down on +the leeward side of her, Charley, and we will take off the crew." + +The other launch captains had been on the watch and had cut loose at +the same time as Charley. Following the "Dixie's" example, they flocked +around to the lee side of the wreck and assisted to take off the crew. +The rescued negroes came aboard, wet to the skin, and fright had given +their ebony faces a peculiar, ashen hue. + +The solemn lanky captain was the last to leave the schooner. Before +getting aboard the "Dixie," he made his way up to the vessel's bow and +knocking out the shackle pin let the anchor drop to the bottom; a move +which Captain Westfield watched with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"That darkey sure knows his business," he remarked in an undertone to +Charley. + +The other launches crowded around the "Dixie," their captains wanting a +consultation. + +"The schooner's not in bad shape here," Bill Roberts observed. "There +isn't sea enough to break her up. The owners can get a sea tug and a +steam pump from Tampa, and get her up and keep her afloat long enough +to tow her into the dry dock." + +"We might as well all run on into Tarpon now and draw on Curry Bros. +for that thousand dollars," one of the other captains proposed. + +"You-alls can't collect dat money now," observed the darkey skipper, +calmly. "You-alls wasn't to get it 'less you got de schooner into de +dry dock." + +"Didn't we do our best?" demanded Bill Roberts. "Haven't we got you +nearly there? Haven't we got your vessel into a place where she will +not be lost? Where would your old ship be outside in the gulf in this +gale? She wouldn't have lasted out there as long as a snowball in the +warm place." + +"Dat's all true," agreed the darkey captain, "but you ain't carried out +youah part ob de contract. If you white gentlemens had got de schooner +into de dry dock all right hit would hab been worth dat thousand +dollars to mah owners, but now, dey will have to go to de expense ob a +tug an' steam pump, an' dat's going to be a heap ob money. I'se got to +watch out for my owners' interests." + +"But we have done our best," Captain Westfield protested. "We have +spent our time and strained our engines, and we ought to be paid for +what we've done." + +"Dat's all right," agreed the sable skipper. "I reckon Curry Bros. pay +you for dat all right, but not dat thousand dollars. Dat's too much, +under de circumstances." + +For a few minutes it looked as though the wily, ebony skipper would +receive rough treatment from the infuriated launch captains, but the +cooler arguments of the Roberts and Captain Westfield prevailed. + +"He has got the law on his side," Captain Westfield said. "We can't +force the payment of that thousand dollars, although what we have done +for the owners is worth many times the amount. I guess the best thing +we can do is to trust to Curry Bros. to do the right thing by us." + +"Not for me," declared the captain of one launch. "If we can't collect +that bill, I'll collect a bigger one. That schooner is abandoned. Her +captain and crew have deserted her. I am going to put a man on her and +put in a claim for salvage. The rest of you can join me, or not, just +as you please." + +"I am with you," the other fish captains agreed. Bill Roberts wavered +and glanced at Captain Westfield for advice. + +"I don't believe such a course would get us anything," the old sailor +said. "These Key West captains are wise to all the salvage laws and +Curry Bros. made their money in wrecking. They would fight any claim +for salvage and they have got too much money for us to fight against." + +"Dis white gentleman is telling you-alls the truth," affirmed the +darkey skipper. "Dat ship ain't abandoned. I'se jes' going ashore to +communicate wid de owners. I'se dun dropped de anchor over. An' she +ain't floating helpless at sea." + +"All right, you fellows can listen to that nigger if you want to," said +the salvage hunter. "I'm going to take possession of the schooner. If +you are going back, you can take these darkeys I've got in my launch." + +His fellow fishermen elected to stay with him but the Roberts boys +decided to return with our party. The negroes in the other two boats +were transferred to the "Dixie," and Bill Roberts' boat, and the two +launches remaining made fast to the sunken schooner. + +As soon as the transfer was made the two returning boats headed back +for Clearwater with their cargoes of ebony passengers. + +It was nearly dark when hungry, weary, and disappointed, our party and +the Roberts arrived at the Clearwater dock. The rescued negroes at once +scattered to seek food and shelter in the colored quarter of the town. +Their captain, lanky and solemn as ever, departed to the telegraph +office to communicate with his owners. + +"You white gentlemen ain't going to lose nothing for de way you-alls +have done," he assured Captain Westfield, earnestly, before he left. +"I'se only a captain an' I'se done got to do what I thinks is foah mah +owners' interests. I allows, though, dat Curry Bros. going to treat you +all right. I'se sorry dose other two white gentlemens is going to try +to make trouble. I'se dun been wrecking foah Mr. Curry foah foaty years +an' I knows all about de salvage laws. Dey ain't a ghost ob a show to +get salvage out ob dat schooner." + +It was not until several days after that, however, that our friends +verified the truth of the ebony skipper's statements. + +The first proof came with the return of the two launches which had +fastened to the schooner. Their captains were weary and wrathful. +They had hung by the schooner for two days. Then a tug and steam pump +arrived from Tampa and on board the tug was a United States marshal +who curtly ordered them away from the schooner. The schooner had then +been raised and towed into the dry dock. The two captains had at once +entered suit for salvage claims but what the outcome would be even +their lawyers could, or would not, say. + +The second proof came in the form of a letter from Curry Bros., +thanking them for what they had done and inclosing a check for two +hundred dollars. Much to their pleasure they found that the Roberts +boys had received a similar letter and check. + +The night the check came Charley got out his note book and pencil and +figured up their accounts and the result brought satisfaction to them +all. + +The reef fishing had proved more profitable than they had dared hope, +and for it they had credit slips on the fish house for two hundred and +seventy-five dollars. + +The sale of crabs, claws, and oysters--the work of stormy days--had +brought them in another hundred dollars in cash. + +Adding to this the two-hundred dollar check they had just received +brought the total up to five hundred and seventy-five dollars. + +Deducting the two hundred dollars they owed for groceries and nets, +left them the comfortable balance of three hundred and seventy-five +dollars. + +"That's not half bad," Charley observed, "but I think now is the time +for us to quit. It will not be long now before Hunter returns and I +want to be away from here before he gets back. If he succeeded in +working a few more of his sly tricks on us he might put us in the hole +again." + +His companions were loath to leave such profitable work but they could +clearly see the wisdom of his plan. So, after some discussion, they +decided that the next day should see their last trip to the reef. Then +they would take their departure for the East Coast and seek whatever +work they could find. + +This settled, they retired to dream happily of new scenes and new +adventures. + +Their sleep would have been less sound, perhaps, had they known +that Hunter had already returned. Their dreams would have been less +pleasant, if they had seen the silently propelled row boat creep into +their little dock, a slinking figure groping around in the "Dixie," +and, after a few minutes, the ghostly row boat departed as silently as +it had come. + +But they were happily unconscious of these things and slept soundly on +to waken only at their accustomed hour at break of day. + +Sunrise found them on the reef fishing busily. But for some reason or +other they did not meet with their accustomed success. Bites came +only at long and irregular intervals. They shifted frequently to fresh +places but with no better result. + +"I shouldn't wonder if there was a storm brewing," Captain Westfield +said. "Creatures in the sea, as well as on the land, seem to have a +weather instinct which tells them when a serious change of weather is +coming. It looks bright all around, but it seems to me I can feel a +kind of heaviness in the air that only comes before a storm." + +Noon came but the sky remained clear and uncloudy. + +"I guess you missed the weather, for once, Captain," Charley observed, +"but I think we might as well start for home, anyway. It's our last day +and we are not catching enough to pay us to stay out any longer." + +His companions were willing so the anchor was hauled aboard and the +engine started up. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE ACCIDENT. + + +BOTH Charley and Walter had by this time become quite familiar with +their little engine and when trouble with it occurred, as it sometimes +did, it generally took them but a short time to locate what was wrong +and fix it. + +They had covered perhaps half the distance back to the inlet when the +steady throb, throb of the engine changed suddenly to a whirling roar. +Charley hastily threw the switch, shutting off the spark, and the big +fly wheel instantly ceased its wild revolutions. + +"Something has come loose," he announced. "Hand me that wrench, Walt. +The shaft must have come loose to make the engine turn up at that +speed." + +His chum handed him the desired tool and the lad raised up the false +flooring in the launch's bottom which hid the shaft from view. + +What he expected to find was that one of the screws which fastened the +propeller shaft had come loose and needed tightening, but what he saw +filled his face with dismay. Rising, he stepped back to the stern and +peered over under the launch's counter. + +"Our propeller's gone," he announced, straightening up. "That leaves +us in a pretty fix--five miles from shore. We'll have to take some of +these bottom boards and paddle in, and it's going to be slow, hard +work." + +"I wonder how it happened," said Walter, as he fell to work with a +heavy board for a paddle. + +"It didn't happen. It was just done," his chum said, grimly. "Evidently +our friend Hunter got home before we expected him. He must have done it +last night when we were all asleep." + +"Are you sure?" inquired Captain Westfield. + +"As sure as a person can be who did not actually see it done. The shaft +was sawn three-fourths in two. The cut part is bright, showing that it +was done recently. It was a clever trick all right. You see, it would +not give way immediately but would wear in two, gradually, where it was +cut. I guess he was in hopes it would break with us out in a seaway +where we couldn't do anything. Luckily, it's happened when it is calm +and we are not such a great ways from shore." + +But although the distance to shore was not so very great, it did not +take them long to realize that it was going to take them a long time to +cover it. The launch was deep and heavy in the water and with their +rude, heavy, ungainly paddles they could only force her forward very +slowly. + +"It's going to be after dark when we reach the inlet," the captain +said, anxiously. "I do not believe we are making over half a mile an +hour." + +Indeed, they were not making as good progress as that, for when +dark settled down upon the water, they were a full three miles from +shore and their arms and backs were beginning aching with the steady +strain of wielding the heavy boards. Soon after the sun set, the wind +commenced to freshen and the launch began to bob and drift about in a +way to discourage further effort. + +"It's no use trying any longer," Charley declared, at last. "We are not +getting ahead any and are just wearing ourselves out for nothing." + +"We might as well put over the anchor and make up our minds to stay +here all night," the captain agreed. + +Walter dropped over the anchor and let out all the cable. "There isn't +any too much rope," he announced, doubtfully. "The water's deep here. I +guess, though, it will hold all right if it does not blow any harder." + +So far there was nothing very alarming in the situation. The launch +rode easily and high, shipping no water, and they knew that if it were +not at their dock in the morning the Roberts boys would notice their +absence and be out looking for them. They had a couple of jugs of fresh +water aboard, and there was enough of their dinner remaining to make +a substantial lunch. This Chris now brought out and all ate heartily, +their appetites whetted by the hard work they had done. + +As soon as they had finished, Charley brought out a lot of old sacks +they had in a locker and spread them out in the little cabin. "Early to +bed, early to rise," he quoted cheerfully. "I guess we might as well +turn in. There is nothing to sit up for." + +They were all tired enough to agree to this and they all laid down, +side by side. The launch's high sides and little cabin protected them +from the wind and they were quite comfortable. Walter and Chris were +almost instantly asleep, and Charley was just on the verge of dropping +off when a movement of the captain roused him. He raised up and looked +around. + +The old sailor had arisen and was standing out in the cockpit gazing at +the sky. + +The lad crept out softly and joined him. + +"What's the matter, Captain?" he inquired, anxiously. + +"I don't just like the feel of this weather," said the old sailor, +uneasily. "The wind is freshening all the time although it's doing it +so slowly one hardly notices it. I am afraid we are in for more than a +cap full of wind." + +"I don't think so," Charley disagreed. "Why, the sky is as clear as a +bell all around. There's not a sign of a cloud." + +"I hope you are right. It don't always take clouds to make a wind, +though, lad. Some of the worst gales I ever saw came out of a clear +sky." + +"If it comes on to blow hard we will not be able to hang at anchor," +Charley said, thoughtfully, impressed by the old sailor's uneasiness. + +"No, the anchor won't hold in this deep water," agreed the sailor. +"Even if it did catch on a ledge of rock and keep from dragging, we +would have to cut loose if the sea ran high. With one short cable it +would help to pull our bows under." + +"What direction do you think will the gale come from, if it comes at +all?" the lad inquired. + +"From the same quarter the wind's blowing now," the captain replied, +promptly. "That's the only good feature about a clear gale, the wind +never shifts or varies but blows steady from one point." + +"Let's see," said Charley, considering. "It's blowing from the +north-west now. That would neither drive us ashore nor out to sea, but +straight down the coast." + +"We might hit some of the capes or cays way down the coast if the +launch lasted to drift that far," said the old sailor. + +"Well," said Charley, philosophically, "if it comes, it comes. If it +doesn't, it doesn't. We can't do any good by sitting up worrying and +watching for it, so I am going to turn in." + +He crept softly in and laid down by Walter and was soon fast asleep. + +He was suddenly wakened out of a sound slumber by being thrown against +the launch's side with a force which knocked the breath from his body. +He tried to rise to his feet but was flung violently to the other side. +Then on hands and knees, like an infant, he crawled out of the little +cabin. + +Once in the open, it took him but a second to grasp what had happened. + +The launch had parted her cable and was now rolling helplessly in the +trough of the seas which were now running high. In the darkness, he +could just distinguish the captain in the bow. With difficulty, owing +to the violent lurching and plunging, he crept forward to his side. + +The old sailor was working frantically to rig up a sea anchor with +which to bring the launch's bow up in the wind. + +"Get me some of those bottom boards, and tear up some of the lockers, +too, if you can break them loose," he commanded. "We will need every +stick we can get to hold her bows to the seas." + +The lad crept aft and soon returned with an armful of boards he had +torn loose. Returning again for more, he met Walter and Chris, who, +also rudely awakened from their slumber, had made their way out of the +cabin. With their assistance, all the loose boards they could get were +soon carried up to the captain who, as fast as they were brought, bound +them firmly with rope into one solid bundle. + +"There ought to be more, but perhaps these will do," said the old +sailor, as he fastened the last plank to its fellows. + +He pulled in the trailing end of the severed cable, and, making it fast +to the bundle of planks, shoved them over the bow. Then all three crept +back aft and anxiously awaited results. + +For some minutes, they feared that their labors had been in vain, then, +slowly, the launch's bow swung around to meet the seas and she rose and +fell easily without the sickening lurching from side to side. + +"All's well, so far," the captain announced, "but this is only the +beginning. It has hardly commenced to blow yet. She can ride out these +seas all right, but if this wind keeps on increasing, by morning there +will be seas that are seas." + +The boys glanced around at the watery mountains tumbling about them and +decided that they cared not to see any bigger. + +The wild plunging of the launch made sleep impossible and the four +huddled together in the little cockpit wondering if day would find them +alive or swallowed up by the hungry waters. + +As the hours crept slowly by, they could not doubt that the wind +was steadily rising. The seas grew steadily in size and the launch's +pitching became wilder and wilder. Accustomed as they all were to the +sea, the violent plunging gave them a feeling of nausea closely akin to +seasickness. To add to their discomfort, the madly plunging launch sent +up showers of spray which the wind drove in upon them soaking them to +the skin and stinging their faces like hail. + +"She would not float a minute if we were out in the open gulf," the +captain observed. "As it is, we are drifting down the coast in between +the reef and the shore and the reef breaks some of the force of the +seas. A little shift of the wind and we would either be driven out over +the reef or upon a rock shore." + +"Cheery prospect either way we look at it," Charley said, grimly. +"Heads we win, tails we lose." + +No one was in any mood for further conversation. Wet, miserable, +wretched and anxious, they huddled close together in the little cockpit +and waited longingly for the coming of day. + +At last, a gray light spread over the rolling waters and grew brighter +and brighter till finally the sun peeped slowly into view. + +It came up grandly in a blue sky unflecked by clouds, revealing a scene +wilder than they had imagined in the blackness of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE STORM. + + +AS they gazed around them, our little party could not help but realize +the peril of their situation. To the west, about a mile from the +drifting launch, was the reef over which the mountainous waves were +breaking in heaps of swirling foam. To the east of them some three +miles distant was the shore. All they could see of it was its swaying +palms for its beach was hidden by the foaming breakers. All around them +rose mighty seas upon which the drifting launch reared and plunged. + +So far, they were drifting straight down the lane between the reef and +shore, but a slight shift of wind, either way, would send them ashore +to be beaten to death in the pounding surf or out on the reef to be +smothered in the mighty seas. + +Even without a shift of wind, they were in a perilous position. The +launch was doing nobly, but she had never been built for such work. +A craft so small could not reasonably be expected to live in such a +seaway. She rose gallantly to the sweeping combers, but even a novice +could see her sea-riding limit had almost been reached. Should the +waves continue to increase much in size, the little craft was doomed. + +"Oh, well," said Charley, with an attempt at cheerfulness, "we are not +as bad off as we might be. While there's life there's hope. The wind +may begin to go down any minute, and if it does we will soon be picked +up. There are boats traveling this passage all the time. There's a +sail, now." + +He pointed to where a tiny fleck of white showed in the distance as +they rose on the summit of a wave. + +All gazed eagerly at the distant fleck of white. They knew that no boat +could rescue them in such a sea, but it gave them a spark of comfort to +know that they were not alone on the watery deep. + +The white speck grew with amazing rapidity. In a few minutes, they were +able to see that it was a small schooner scudding before the gale under +a close reefed foresail. + +It swept by them not two hundred yards away, so close that they could +see the pipe in the mouth of the man at the wheel. + +They gazed longingly after it until lost to view. When it had +disappeared in the distance they felt an intensified loneliness and +helplessness steal over them. + +The only consolation in their wretched plight was the sun. It shone +brightly down with a warmth grateful to their wet, chilled bodies. + +"How fast do you think we are drifting, Captain?" inquired Charley, +breaking the silence that had fallen upon them. + +"Impossible to tell, exactly," returned the old sailor. "As a guess, I +would say about five miles an hour." + +"And we have been drifting about six hours, that would make thirty +miles," the lad calculated. "If I remember the charts right that brings +us about off of Tampa. Do you recall how the coast lies below there, +Captain?" + +"Not exactly," admitted the old sailor, "but I think it holds about the +same direction. Of course, there are a good many capes running out into +the gulf, but I don't think there is any of them long enough for us to +pile up on, short of Cape Sable, and that's a couple of hundred miles +away." + +"So far so good, then," Charley commented. "We are in no immediate +danger of piling up on shore at any rate. Whew, but the salt spray +has made me thirsty as a fish. Here goes to get a drink of water." He +crawled cautiously forward to the locker where the jugs were stowed. + +"Both broken," he announced, after a glance inside. "I might have known +it would happen with all the rolling and pitching about. Well, I guess +we can manage to do without until the wind goes down." + +But before noon, they realized that the loss of their water was a +serious blow. The salt spray and hot sun gave them a painful thirst. +Their throats grew parched and dry, and they could barely swallow the +remnants of food left from their supper. All attempt at conversation +was given up and they sat huddled and silent in the little cockpit. + +And so the long, dreary day dragged away. Time and again boats drove +past them, scudding before the gale, and once a large steamer passed +them almost within hailing distance. But no attempt at rescue could be +made in such a sea. + +Night found them still drifting almost too weak and weary to care what +happened next. + +"I believe the wind is going down a little," Charley said, shortly +after the sun had set. + +"It is," the old sailor agreed, "but I'm afraid it isn't going down +fast enough to help us much. I noticed before dark that our sea anchor +is going to pieces. If it once goes and we swing into the trough of the +seas, we are goners." + +But the old sailor had done his work well and the sea anchor did not +give way as he feared, instead, it held stoutly together while they +drifted on into the night. + +As the hours crept slowly away it became evident, beyond a doubt, that +the wind was steadily going down, and with it the sea, although the +waves still ran dangerously high. + +They were beginning to gain fresh hope and courage even in their +suffering condition when the unexpected happened. + +It was Walter that saw it first,--a dark wall rising high up in the +darkness directly in their path. They could do nothing to avert the +danger, only sit and stare dully at the looming mass. As they drove +down upon it they saw that it was a forest of great trees rising, +apparently, right out of the water. + +Swiftly the doomed launch drifted down on the submerged forest. + +When a hundred feet away the captain roused to action. "Here's a rope," +he cried. "Each of you grab hold of it and cling on for life." + +The words were barely out of his mouth, when the launch, rising on a +big wave, came down with a crash and the next wave sweeping over her +carried them off into the sea. + +Like drowning men catching at a straw, the four clung to the rope +as the rushing comber swept them on with it. Bruised, battered, and +breathless, it hurled them upon something hard. + +"Quick!" Charley cried, as he realized that they had been safely cast +up into shoal water. "Quick! Up for the beach before the next comber!" + +His companions had not waited for the command, but were already +scrambling ahead. A few strides carried them out of danger--but there +was no beach. Everywhere great trees rose up out of water nearly to +their knees. Even in the darkness, they could see that the towering +giants were almost bare of limb, and from high up above the water great +crooked roots grasped down for a hold on the bottom. + +Charley grasped one of the elbow-like roots and pulled himself up out +of water. "Come on," he cried, "it's high and dry up here. These roots +grow so close together one can almost lie down upon them." + +His companions climbed weakly up beside him, where they rested, panting +to gain their breath. + +"Come on, we can make ourselves more comfortable than this," Charley +said, when he had regained some of the wind that had been battered out +of him. + +They followed him as he crept cautiously from root to root. When they +got about fifty feet from shore, he stopped. + +"We had not better try to go any further," he said. "We're shut off +from the wind all right. Now, for a good, long drink." + +He slipped off into the water and, stooping, lapped greedily. + +"Come on," he said, as he straightened up for breath, "drink all you +want, it's sweet and fresh." + +Much to their delight, his companions found it true and they drank long +and greedily of the sweet, cool fluid. + +"Now, for beds," Charley announced, cheerfully, when their thirst was +at last satisfied. "Just reach up and break off branches and lay them +across the roots, that will have to do for to-night." + +By standing on their tip-toes, they were able to reach some of the +small boughs and by pulling down--broke them off without difficulty. In +a short time they had gathered and placed enough to make a platform big +enough to accommodate them all. Upon this they were glad to lie down +and stretch their tired, aching limbs and bodies. + +"This beats the launch, anyway," Charley observed, cheerfully. "The +trees shield us from the wind, our thirst is satisfied, and there is no +spray to wet us. The air is so warm we ought to be able to get a little +sleep without catching cold. I guess, we could all eat a pretty hearty +meal right now but we will have to wait until morning to get that." + +"What is this strange floating forest," his chum inquired. "I never saw +trees like these before." + +"They are quite common," Charley answered. "They are cypresses, and +grow only on low, over-flooded ground." + +"Have you any idea where we are, lad?" asked the captain. + +"I fancy we are on the north-western edge of the great Everglade +swamp," Charley replied. "It meets the gulf somewhere below Marco, +about one hundred and twenty miles from Clearwater. But we can talk +over these things in the morning. Now we had better get a little sleep +if we can. We will need all the rest we can get, for to-morrow is +going to be a hard day." + +Hard and uncomfortable as was the uneven platform, his companions were +so exhausted that they were instantly asleep and their snores soon +mingled with the hooting of multitudes of owls and the croaking of +thousands of frogs. + +Charley lay awake a few minutes longer, his mind too full of worry and +discouragement for instant sleep. + +Their plight was enough to daunt the stoutest heart. Their launch was +gone, pounded to pieces on the hard sand, and all the money they had +worked so hard to earn and save would have to go to make good the loss. +They would, after all their labor, be left just as they had landed in +Clearwater with nothing but the clothing on their backs. That is, if +they lived to reach Clearwater again. + +His mind filled with these gloomy reflections, the lad at last dropped +off to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CASTAWAYS. + + +THE sun was high in the sky when Charley awoke and aroused his +companions who were still sleeping. + +"Too much to do to-day to sleep longer," he declared. "We have got to +find something to eat, and then try to get out of this place. Let's try +the water for food first, and see what we can find. + +"We don't want to stray away from each other or get out of hearing of +the surf," he said, as they picked their way over the knee-like roots. +"Out of sound of the sea, a man would lose himself in five minutes in +this uncanny forest. It is too dense to tell directions by the sun and +one would stand a good chance of wandering around until death overtook +him. Only the Seminole Indians can find their way through this horrible +jungle and they have known it for ages." + +This little talk had brought them down to the water and they were +surprised at the change a few hours had made. The sea was beautifully +calm. Only a few smooth, gentle rollers remained to tell of the past +storm. + +Of the launch nothing remained but a few, broken, splintered planks +drifted up against the trees. + +Our little party were too hungry, however, to waste time in idle +regrets. They waded at once out into the water looking for crabs, +oysters, clams, or anything to fill their aching stomachs. + +But their search was fruitless. Except for a few bits of water-logged +limbs, the bottom was bare. + +"I was afraid we would find nothing," Charley said, when they at last +gave up the search. "The water is too fresh here from the overflow from +the Glades for shell-fish to grow. We will have to depend on the land +for our food until we can get out of this place." + +They were turning to retrace their steps to the platform, when Charley +spied a small box wedged in between two cypress knees. He pulled +it out and with hands that trembled with excitement lifted up the +close-fitting cover and gave an exclamation of delight. It was the +little box which had contained the batteries used to run the launch. +Its contents were perfectly dry. Constructed purposely to protect the +cells from spray, it had floated safely in undamaged. Besides the four +dry cells, it contained a few little odds and ends they had placed +there at different times to keep safe and dry. There was a package +of tobacco belonging to the captain, several fish-hooks, some salt +and pepper mixed together in a little paper package, and a few other +trifles of no particular value. + +Hugging the box to him like a precious treasure, the lad followed his +companions back to the platform. There, he carefully wedged it in +between a couple of roots so that it could not be overturned. He had +just done this when a startled cry from Walter sent him hurrying to his +side. + +He found his chum in the act of killing a huge snake upon which he had +nearly stepped. It was a repulsive-looking creature, stumpy and bloated +in appearance and nearly as big around as a man's leg. + +"It's a moccasin," Charley said. "We will have to watch out for them. +I expect there are lots of them around here. There's enough poison in +that fellow's sac to kill a full-grown elephant." + +"I don't know as it would be much worse to die of snake-bite than to +die of hunger," Walter remarked, gloomily, "and there seems to be +nothing fit to eat in this awful place." + +"There are few places in this world where man cannot find food to +eat, if he uses his wits," his chum replied. "God has provided food, +everywhere, but has left it to man's intelligence to discover and make +use of it." + +"We have a hook and line, perhaps we could catch a fish," Captain +Westfield suggested, hopefully. + +"No bait," Charley said, briefly. + +He sat plunged in thought while his companions looked around for +something with which to bait the hook. + +"Here's plenty of bait," Walter called. "Here's a whole colony of +frogs--big ones, too." + +Charley hurried to his side. His chum was peering under a great root +where were sprawled several, big, long-legged frogs. + +"What idiots we are," Charley grinned, as he dispatched one with a +stick. "These are more than bait. They are the finest kind of food. +Why, their legs are worth a dollar a pound in the New York market. Here +was plenty of food right to our hand and we did not have sense enough +to know it. Why, they were advertizing themselves all night long by +their croaking." + +The captain and Chris joined in the slaughter and in a short time forty +frogs had fallen victims to the sticks. + +"We are not likely to starve right away," Charley remarked, as they cut +off and removed the skin from the legs. "There are certainly plenty +more where these came from." + +"But how is we goin' to cook 'em widout no fire? Massa Chas?" demanded +Chris. + +Walter and the captain gazed at him in dismay. In their pleasure at +the prospect of food they had never thought of the lack of fire. Their +matches were spoiled and useless. They had no steel and flint. They +did not even have a bit of glass with which to focus the rays of the +sun. + +Charley viewed their dismayed faces with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"If you will take a couple of those frogs legs and see if you can catch +some fish, Chris, I will see to the fire," he said. + +Selecting a great root that was slightly hollowed on top, he built up +a little heap of dry twigs, moss, and bits of bark, of which the trees +around them offered an unlimited supply. Then he brought out from its +resting place the box of batteries. Holding the ends of the wires down +in the little heap of tinder, he rubbed them together. Sparks flew out +on the bark and moss as the wires contacted and in a few seconds the +heap was aflame. It only remained to put a few dry sticks on the blaze +and the fire was ready for the cooking. Small branches sharpened at the +end served for spits and in a few minutes a score of frogs legs were +roasting over the coals. + +The odor wafted on the air brought Chris hurrying from his fishing. His +hunger had overcome his patience. He did not come quite empty-handed, +however, but dragged along with him two slender-bodied, long-snouted +fish fully four feet in length, covered with armor-like scales. + +"Dem things is all I could catch, Massa Chas," he said, ruefully. "I +don't reckon dey's any good?" + +"Those are gars," Charley announced. "There are better-flavored fish, +still, they are not to be despised. They will go well with the frogs +legs for dinner." + +His method of cooking them was simple. He removed the entrails, washed +them out carefully, and buried them amongst the coals. While the legs +and gars were cooking, he dispatched Chris down to the shore again to +find some bits of the yacht's planking to serve as plates. By the time +the little darkey returned laden with bits of boards, the repast was +ready. The gars were raked out on a plank, and their scale-armored skin +stripped off, leaving the flesh white as snow, juicy and tender. + +The four attacked the savory fish and delicious frogs legs with the +appetites of wolves for they had eaten nothing for a day and night. + +When they had finished, the world did not seem so dark and gloomy. +Things had taken on a rosier tinge. + +"It is past noon already, I believe," Charley said, as they rested a +bit on the little platform after their hearty meal. "I don't believe +it will pay us to start out to-day. I think we had better wait until +to-morrow and get back our strength a bit, for we have got a tough +journey ahead of us." + +His companions quickly agreed, for they still felt weak from exposure, +thirst, worry, and lack of food. This being settled, all busied +themselves in making things more comfortable for the night, and in +making what simple preparations they could for to-morrow's journey. + +More branches were gathered and their little platform enlarged. There +was plenty of long, soft, Spanish moss growing on the branches above +their heads. It was far out of their reach and they could only look at +it longingly until Walter hit upon the expedient of throwing their rope +up over a limb and shinning up it like a monkey. He flung down great +bunches of the soft, hair-like stuff which the captain spread out on +their platform, transposing it into a soft springy couch. + +While Walter and the captain were thus occupied, the other two busied +themselves in securing and preparing a store of food for the journey. +Fully fifty more frogs and three more gars were caught and roasted. + +Each of the little party wore a large bandanna handkerchief around +their necks and these Charley collected, washed thoroughly, and spread +out on a root to dry. They were the only things he could think of in +which to carry the food they had prepared. + +It was dark when these preparations were completed, and they heaped +fresh wood upon the fire and stretched out on their platform for a +good night's rest once more. + +"I expect they think at Clearwater that we are all dead," said Charley, +as they lay gazing into the glowing embers of their fire. + +"And Hunter is doubtless hugging himself with joy over the success of +his trick," Walter added, grimly. "He didn't cause our death but he +came very near it. I seldom wish any one ill, but he is one man I would +like to see punished for the evil he has done." + +"He will be," the captain said, with certainty. "The Lord will attend +to that. If not in this world, then in the world to come." + +"Well, he has succeeded in putting us back where we started," Charley +remarked, "and he is left free to carry on his smuggling and liquor +selling as he pleases." + +"Unless Chris' ghost scares him off," Walter said. "Have you ever +formed any theory about it and about the doctor's mysterious visit, +Charley?" + +"Not a theory," his chum replied. "They are just mysteries I cannot +account for in any way. Of course the explanation is simple--if we only +knew it--it always is in these mysteries." + +The soft couch and the cozy warmth of the fire soon caused conversation +to lag and yawns take the place of speech. + +Before they composed themselves for slumber, however, the captain +offered up a heartfelt prayer, thanking the Lord for their deliverance +from danger, and asking for His watchful care to attend them ever. + +This simple act of devotion over, all sought the slumber their tired +bodies craved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HOMEWARD BOUND. + + +WALTER awoke just as dawn was lighting up the floating forest, and he +immediately awakened his companions. + +Breakfast was made off the frog legs and gar fish and as soon as it was +finished, they took up their journey for Clearwater. + +Charley took the lead, bearing the box with its precious batteries, and +the others followed carrying the handkerchiefs of food. + +They soon found that it was going to be hard, slow traveling. +They could only make slow progress picking their way between the +dense-growing trees and over the slippery roots. Every few paces they +would have to stop and listen to make sure from the sound of the sea, +that they were traveling in the right direction. At noon when they +stopped to eat lunch, they estimated that they had covered but three +miles. But the slowness was not the worst feature of their march, +every step had to be made with watchful care. Never in all their +Florida experiences had they seen so many snakes. Many were harmless, +brightly-colored, water snakes, which wriggled at their approach, but +besides these, there were dozens of moccasins sunning themselves on the +roots,--great, sullen, sluggish reptiles they were, many being as big +around as a man's leg. They would not move from the places where they +lay and our little party had to pick their way carefully around each, +for to be bitten by one would mean a horrible, agonizing death. To add +to their troubles, they were constantly slipping and falling on the +slippery roots, bruising and hurting themselves. + +"I hope it isn't much further till we come to the end of these +cypresses," Charley said, as they nibbled at their lunch. "This kind of +going is dangerous. We are liable to break an arm or leg before we get +out of here." + +"Massa Chas," Chris observed, "why don't we-alls take to de water? Hit +would sho' be a heap easier an' we wouldn't be runnin' on dem pesky +snakes all de time." + +"Somebody kick me," Charley cried, sheepishly. "Of all the big fools in +this state, we are the biggest. Here we have been wearing ourselves out +over these pesky roots when we might have been wading comfortably along +in the edge of the surf." + +Until Chris had spoken, they had none of them thought of so simple a +solution of their difficulty. Being on shore, it had been the natural +thing for them to try to make their way on shore. + +No time was lost in following the little negro's suggestion. As already +stated, there was no beach, the gulf meeting the forest, but the water +along the edge of trees was not much over a foot in depth and the +bottom was of hard sand. Their progress was now more rapid and free +from the danger of snakes, but, much to their surprise, they found it +much more tiring than the route over the roots. Only those who have +tried walking in water for a distance, can realize the strain on the +leg muscles. + +By the middle of the afternoon, they were thoroughly tired out and +Charley called a halt. + +"We had better make camp," he said. "We don't want to wear ourselves +out the first day, and besides, it will take us some time to build a +platform and get ready for the night." + +Accordingly, they made their way back among the cypress and fell to +work. A platform was built and well bedded with moss and a good fire +started for the night. + +For their supper, they only swallowed a few mouthfuls of their +provisions. Truth to tell, the fish and frogs legs were beginning to +pall on their appetites. + +"I wish there was some game in this uncanny forest," Walter observed. +"This stuff does not taste as good as it did. I believe, there is truth +in that old statement that a man cannot eat a quail a day for thirty +days." + +"This forest is alive with game," Charley declared. "It's here even +if we don't see it. Of course, there are no deer or bear for they +avoid these watery places, but there are plenty of coons, wild cats, +panthers, possums, and such things. I'll bet, there are at least a +dozen animals watching our camp-fire right now and puzzling over it. +Oh, there's plenty of game. The difficulty is to get it without guns or +traps. I have been studying how to get some of it, and I think I have +got an idea that may work." + +It still lacked some time before dark, and Charley immediately began +to carry out his idea. It was absurdly simple. Returning to the gulf's +edge, a short search discovered several short, heavy pieces of timber +drifted up among the trees. These they lugged back a ways from shore. +Each timber was laid upon as flat a surface of roots as they could +find. One end was then raised up a couple of feet and supported on a +stick. To the stick they tied a couple of frogs legs and some of the +bones from the gars. + +"It's rather a primitive method of trapping but it may work," Charley +observed. "The idea is that the animal pulling away at the bait will +dislodge the stick and be crushed by the falling timber. Many animals, +though, are too cunning to be tempted under such a dangerous-looking +log, and others are quick enough to dodge its fall." + +It was now nearly dark and our little party hurried back to their +platform and fire for they had no desire to move about amongst the +roots and snakes after night. + +They were sleeping soundly when a succession of ear-splitting shrieks +roused them into frightened wakefulness. It sounded like a woman crying +out in mortal agony, but they had heard the sound before in their +travels and knew it for a panther's screams. The animal was evidently +close to them and they hastened to throw fresh fuel upon the dwindling +fire. As the flames shot up the screaming ceased and the crashing of +boughs told them of the hurried departure of the midnight prowler. As +soon as the sounds died away, they stretched out to sleep once more +knowing that they were in no danger so close to the fire. + +Their first act on awakening in the morning was to look at the traps. +They had set five altogether and every one had been sprung. The first +two had caught nothing in their fall. Pinioned under the third, they +found a large, fat possum, the fourth held a snarling coon by one leg, +while the fifth and last, was empty but splattered with blood and hair. + +"Here's where Mr. Panther got himself a feed," Charley observed. "There +was a coon, or possum under this log until he came along and made his +supper. I'll bet, he's chuckling to himself right now over the easy +meat." + +The coon and possum were skinned at once and roasted on sticks over the +coals. None of them ate much of the coon--its meat tasted somewhat like +young pork but was rather too fat and strong, in flavor. The possum, +however, they found delicious, the meat being white, tender and sweet. + +As soon as they had eaten and tied up what remained in their +handkerchiefs, they once more took up their journey. + +They traveled steadily all the morning but with no signs apparent of +reaching the edge of the belt of cypress. As far as they could see +ahead of them along the shore the forest continued in an unbroken line. + +Noon brought them to a serious obstacle, a broad, slow-flowing river of +black, muddy water. They were all good swimmers and could have easily +swam the half mile which separated them from the other shore, but the +sight of several large, floating, log-like objects made them hesitate +to attempt it. + +"Those are either alligators or crocodiles," Charley said. "We had +better make sure which they are before we venture in. Alligators are +cowardly creatures, and will seldom attack a man, but crocodiles are +not to be trifled with." + +It was some time before one of the floating monsters came near enough +to reveal its character but when it did they were glad they had +waited. It was a vicious, scaly-looking crocodile, fully fifteen feet +in length. + +"Hard luck," commented Charley in disgust. "That means we will have to +follow this bank up until we can find a place we can cross and then +follow the other bank back to the gulf again. It may be only a few +miles or it may be a hundred. It may take us a day or it may take us a +week." + +"I wonder what river this is?" Walter said. "If we only knew, we could +tell where we are." + +"It's impossible to say for certain," his chum replied. "There are +a lot of big rivers emptying into the gulf. I am inclined to think, +however, that this is the Snake River. It fits the description I've +heard of the Snake. Well, let's have dinner and then we'll start to +follow it up." + +A fire was lit and while it was getting under way, Walter succeeded in +catching a leather-back turtle of which there were numbers basking on +logs. This they cooked by the simple expedient of burying it in the +coals and letting it roast in its own shell. + +Ordinarily they would have relished its delicate flavor, but they were +beginning to tire of an all-meat diet. They were beginning to crave +vegetables, bread, coffee, and the other varieties of food that make up +civilized meals. + +They were munching the last of their frugal repast when they sprang to +their feet in amazed surprise. + +"Good morning," said a voice right behind them. + +Standing but a few feet away was a splendid-looking Indian lad, leaning +gracefully upon a long-barreled rifle. "Good morning," said the young +Seminole again, smiling at their surprise. + +"Good morning," stammered Charley, in reply. "Who are you? Where did +you come from? Where are we?" + +The Seminole's smile widened at the volley of questions. + +"My name is Willie John," he said in perfect English. "I come from the +Big Cypress Swamp. Some of my people are camped there, hunting. You now +are at the Snake River. It is about fifty miles from Tampa. Are you +lost?" + +"Yes," replied Walter, recovering from his surprise. "We are, or rather +were, both shipwrecked and lost. We had begun to think that we were the +only people in the world. That's why your voice surprised us so." + +"I see," said the Indian lad, with his pleasant smile. "Perhaps it will +be very pleasant to help you a little." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE CHUMS HAVE TWO CALLERS. + + +"PERHAPS you can tell us how far we will have to go up this river +before we find a place where we can cross?" Charley said. + +"I can do better than that. I can take you across. I have a canoe but a +little ways from here," replied the Indian lad. + +"Good," exclaimed Walter, with pleasure. "That will help us out a lot. +We were dreading the trip around." + +"We can cross as soon as you wish," offered the young Seminole. + +"Let's sit a while and rest," suggested Charley, whose curiosity was +aroused by the manner and speech of the splendid young savage. "Are +there many of your people camped at the Big Cypress?" + +"About one hundred. The Seminoles are becoming as the leaves in +autumn," said the lad, sadly. "There are only four tribes of us left. +One is camped at Fort Lauderdale, one at Indiantown, another tribe is +hunting in the Glades, and we are at the Big Cypress. Only four hundred +left of a once powerful race." His voice and face took on a deeper +tinge of melancholy as he said, "Soon we will all be gone and only be a +memory growing dim with the passing years." + +"Oh, I guess, it's not as bad as that," said Charley, cheerfully. "The +Seminoles will gradually adjust themselves to civilization and begin to +increase once more." + +"We are a homeless people," declared the lad. "Your race took all, +except this swamp. Here we have lived at peace where no white man would +live and now even it is being taken from us. Every week from the East +Coast, great canals, like rivers, creep further and further into the +swamp. And as fast as they creep in follow the whites with ploughs and +teams. Houses spring up over night. The forest and deer vanish, and +green fields take their place. Soon the great swamp will be no more." + +"But surely that is good," Charley argued. "It is the onward march of +civilization." + +"Civilization," echoed the Indian, bitterly. "Will civilization make my +people better? They are truthful, they are honest, they are cleanly in +mind and body. Will civilization make them better?" + +Charley was silenced. Apart from education, he knew the Seminoles were +the superior of his own race in morals. + +"No, civilization will not improve us, but it is coming to us. Nothing +can stop it. The white man rejoices at its advance, the red man is sad +and troubled. The great writer Kipling says,-- + + 'The toad beneath the harrow knows + Exactly where each tooth point goes, + The butterfly beside the road, + Preaches contentment to the toad.'" + +Our little party marveled at this strange youth, a savage, yet +educated, gentle mannered, and of a wisdom far beyond his years. + +In reply to their questions, they learned that a noble white man, Dr. +Fish, was spending his life in the heart of the Everglades, striving +with all his might to do something for its unfortunate and deserving +people. Amongst other things, he was educating the younger members of +the tribe and trying to fit them for the inevitable struggle under the +new order of things. They learned that their new friend was one of his +pupils. That the lad was hunting for skins that he might earn the money +necessary to go to college and fit himself to help his race in their +distress. + +Our little party were filled with admiration for the noble youth's +lofty ambition. They reflected sadly that there were woefully few white +boys fired by the same high ideals. + +They would have liked to have tarried and talked longer with the +interesting lad, but the slanting sun warned them that they must be on +their way. + +The young Seminole led the way to his canoe which proved to be a +cranky, clumsy craft dug out of a big cypress tree. Used as they were +to water crafts, they entered it with considerable doubt and care. As +soon as they were safely aboard, the lad shoved off and with a long +pole propelled the ungainly craft to the other side of the river. + +"Follow the gulf," he directed, as they bade him good-by. "You ought to +be out of the forest by to-morrow night. You will meet more rivers, but +they contain no crocodiles so you will be able to cross them without +danger." + +He shook hands gravely with each at parting, repeating quaintly the +words of a hymn the good missionary had doubtless taught him. As our +little party once more took up their weary march, the familiar words so +quaintly quoted by the solitary lad in the gloomy swamp kept thrumming +through their thoughts. + + "God be with you till we meet again, + By His counsel guide uphold you, + With His sheep securely fold you, + God be with you till we meet again." + +They tramped steadily the balance of the afternoon and at night made +camp on the edge of another large river. Here they were fortunate +enough in finding a large bed of big mussels or fresh-water oysters, +upon which they made a delicious supper. + +Sunrise found them again on their way, eager to be out of the somber, +gloomy forest. They had already spent three days in its gloomy depths +and they were heartily sick of it and its crawling serpents. They +paused but a few minutes at noon to rest a bit, and to eat a few of the +mussels they had brought with them, then pushed on again. + +"I believe we are nearly out of this hateful forest," Charley said, as +they waded along its edge. "It seems to me that the cypress are not +quite so dense, and, I fancy, I can get a glimpse of some trees of a +darker green ahead." + +An hour's more wading proved his guess correct. Palmettoes, satinwoods, +bays, and even pines, began to be mingled with the cypress. The color +of the water changed gradually from its fresh blackness to the salt +tinge of greenish-blue, and, at last, they came to a stretch of sandy +beach which they hailed with joy for their feet were getting tender and +sore from the constant wading. + +Long before dark, they were clear of the dismal, floating forest and +made camp on a high, sandy bluff by the side of a clear, purling +little brook. Their supper was a feast; roasted buds of the cabbage +palmettoes, black bass fresh from the creek, oysters, clams, crab +claws, and for dessert, huckleberries which grew in profusion around +them. + +When it was finished, they stretched out on the beds they had made of +dry, fragrant sea moss before the glowing fire in more hopeful spirits +than they had been in many days. They were lying thus chattering +contentedly when they received an unexpected visitor. He came as +silently as an Indian. They neither saw nor heard him until he stepped +into the fire's glow. He was a man of about forty years of age, dressed +in buckskin and was of rather engaging appearance. His name, he said, +was Watson, and he was a hunter and trapper. + +From him they learned they were but a day's journey from Tampa, and +that a good beach extended the whole distance. + +The stranger stayed for at least two hours. He seemed to take an almost +childish interest in their account of their misadventures and took an +interest, that was pathetic, in all they could tell him of the news of +the world outside. Events which had occurred two and three years before +seemed to be news to him. Yet he appeared an educated, brainy man. + +He stayed until the little party's yawns could not longer be +suppressed, then departed as silently as he had come. + +"Whew," sighed Charley, when at last he was gone, "I would as soon +entertain a rattlesnake as that man." + +"Why?" Walter said, in surprise. "I thought he seemed bright and +pleasant." + +"Is it possible you have never heard of that man, Watson? I thought +everyone in Florida knew of him." + +"I have never heard of him, either," said Captain Westfield. "Who is +he? Tell us about him." + +"It's a horrible tale, yet pathetic, too, in a way," said the lad, +thoughtfully. "From what I have often heard, we are now in what is +sometimes called 'Murderer's Belt.' I have heard it referred to many, +many times, but I had forgotten all about it until I heard that man's +name. In this fringe of country bordering on the Everglades, it seems +that there are some forty or fifty men hiding out. They are men wanted +for serious crimes, murder in most cases, for nothing but the dread +of being hung would induce men to lead the lives they are forced to +live. They live solitary lives. The Indians will have nothing to do +with them and they fear or mistrust each other too much to associate +amongst themselves. Each one is as alone in the world as though he were +in solitary confinement. They get their living with their traps and +rifles. That's all they get out of life, just a living and freedom. +An army could not capture one of them, except by surprise, for at the +first alarm they plunge into the swamp where none but an Indian could +follow them. I don't suppose that man Watson has even spoken to a human +being in years until to-night. Only our apparent harmlessness induced +him to seek speech with us, I believe. For Watson is the king murderer +of the lot. He came to Florida some years ago from Georgia, with the +law officers in close pursuit. It had been discovered up there that he +was the author of a string of mysterious murders. Brutal, cold-blooded +murders that had been going on for years. Some forty or forty-five +years in all, I believe. The officers caught up with him at Tampa, but +he killed two, wounded the third, and escaped into 'Murderer's belt.' +With him was a young brother, who, so far as could be learned, had +taken no part in his crimes, but the two seemed to stick together from +mutual affection. + +"Contrary to the usual custom in 'Murderer's Belt,' the two did not +play it alone together as they should have done, but met and made +friends with a man by the name of Cox who was about as hardened a +character as Watson. The three hung together for a while, but one day +there was a little quarrel and Cox shot the boy through the heart. He +intended to kill Watson also and thought he had done so but the bullet +glanced off on a button and Watson recovered his senses after a while +to find his brother dead and Cox gone. They are both now seeking each +other in the 'Belt.' Watson will try to kill Cox at sight to avenge +his brother, and Cox will try to kill Watson the first chance he gets +to keep from being killed. Neither can appeal to the law for they are +both outside the law. It's a case of man against man or rather murderer +against murderer. Think of what their lives must be. Every hour, day +and night, trying to kill or keep from being killed. Not seeing each +other, but knowing every minute that the other is seeking him with +murder in his heart, expecting death from behind every tree and bush." + +"Massa Chas," said Chris, with a shudder, "youse gibbin' me de creep. +Please not dat kind ob talk an' let's go to sleep." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +AN IDLE DAY. + + +MUCH to their disappointment, our little party were forced to remain +where they were the next day. The long, continuous soaking in the +brackish water had made their feet so tender that walking on the sand +was very painful. They prepared as usual for the start but they had +not gone more than a hundred yards when they gave up the attempt and +returned to where they had camped. + +"It is just as well for us to lay by, a day, anyway," Charley observed +in an attempt to force cheerfulness from their enforced detention. +"Tampa is only a day away and we couldn't go into the city like we +are. We would be arrested as tramps as soon as the police caught sight +of us. Gee! but we are a tough-looking gang. Captain, you look like a +typical 'Weary Willie.' All you need is a stick, a tomato can, and a +handkerchief full of hand-outs to be a complete 'knight of the road.'" + +"You haven't got any room to make fun of my appearance," grinned the +old sailor. "You look like a cross between a coal heaver and a chimney +sweep and Walter looks just as bad. It don't show up quite as bad on +Chris." + +"Dat's de advantage ob bein' a nigger," agreed Chris, composedly. "A +nigger can't show de dirt much. If I was one ob you white chillens I'd +be plum ashamed ob myself--I sho' would." + +And indeed, the little party was a sight to behold. Their clothes were +stiff from mud, slime, and brine, and their skins were grimed from the +smoke of their camp-fires. They had washed thoroughly, and often, but +the mud and slime of the swamp had made useless all efforts to keep +clean. + +"First, we had better take a good wash ourselves and scrub good and +clean with this white sand. Then wash out our clothes as good as we +can. This warm sun will soon dry them out and keep us from catching +cold. While they are drying, we can be getting something to eat for the +day and fix up our feet. When that's all done we want to lay quiet the +balance of the day and give our feet a chance to get into shape," said +Charlie. + +Without soap, the washing of their clothes was a slow, laborious +job. Luckily their clothing was comparatively new and strong or it +would never have stood the rubbing and pounding it received. At last, +however, the operation was completed and their pants and shirts were +spread on the bushes to dry. This done, they turned their attention +to the laying in of a supply of food for the day. While Chris, with +the fish-line, sought a likely looking pool near the creek's mouth, +Walter and Charley hunted for oysters and clams, and the captain busied +himself in picking a generous supply of huckleberries. In a short time, +the two boys had collected enough shell-fish for a couple of days, and +joined the old sailor in picking the black, glossy berries. By the time +they had gathered all that were wanted, Chris had succeeded in landing +three big sea bass and a small shark about four feet in length. + +"Hold on, don't do that," Charley exclaimed, as the little darkey was +casting the shark back into the water. "That shark is the very thing we +want. I would not take a dollar for it." + +"Hit ain't no good to eat," protested Chris. "Hit tastes so strong +you'd have hard work to swallow one bit of hit." + +"I'll show you what I want it for," Charley said. "Just start up a +little fire while the rest of us open up some clams and oysters for +dinner." + +When the fire was going briskly, the lad attacked the shark with his +sheath-knife. Splitting it open, he cut out the fat and the liver from +inside. These he placed in a big shell obtained from the beach and set +the shell on the coals. + +"Now get some nice, clean, Spanish moss," he directed, "and unravel +a yard or so of that rope we brought with us. There's nothing better +than shark oil for a liniment. It is going to do our feet a world of +good." + +As soon as the oil was tried out in the shell, they rubbed it on to +their swollen feet. The result was immediate and gratifying. The +burning ceased at once and the aching visibly decreased. When they had +rubbed the oil well in, they wrapped their feet up in Spanish moss +which they bound in place with bits of the raveled rope. + +"Now if we lay quiet and don't use them, they will be all right by +to-morrow," declared Charley, with satisfaction. "I guess our clothes +are dry by now. We had better put them on or this sun will have our +backs blistered as sore as our feet." + +The boys hobbled over to where they had spread out their clothes and to +their satisfaction found them perfectly dry. + +They were just slipping on their shirts when the captain descended upon +them, wrath on his usually good-natured face. + +"What have you done with my clothes?" he demanded, angrily. "This is no +time for joking. Stop it right now." + +"We haven't touched your clothes," Charley protested, indignantly. +"They are just where you left them." + +"They ain't," gasped the old sailor, paling, for he knew the lad always +told the truth. "They're gone. Someone has stolen them." + +"Whew," whistled Charley. "Some one of those murderers must have taken +a fancy to them." + +"I'd murder him, if I could get my hands on him," cried the captain, +wrathfully. "How am I going to go into town in this fix." + +Charley grinned as he caught the humor of the situation. "You could +go into town all right," he said, "there wouldn't be any trouble +about that. It's what they would do to you after you got into town. I +don't really believe the police would stand for your present costume, +Captain." + +The old sailor glared at him in helpless wrath. "What am I to do?" he +mourned. "My back is burning already." + +"Sit down in the shade of that tree," Walter suggested, "the sun won't +hit you there. We'll have to think up something for you. We would +hardly care to enter the city with you in your present condition." + +Charley had quickly seized upon a plan to clothe the old sailor but he +could not resist the temptation to tease him a little. + +"If we only had a barrel we could fix you out all right," he said, +reflectively. "We could knock out the head and hang it from your neck +by ropes." + +"But we haven't got the barrel," said Walter, regretfully, catching his +chum's wink. + +The captain eyed them suspiciously but the two lads' faces were +serious. + +Walter appealed to his chum, gravely. "He might pretend he is a work of +art," he suggested, "he's got a ship tattooed on his back, a mermaid on +his chest, and a flying fish on each leg. Maybe Tampa is an art-loving +city and will receive him with open arms." + +"I am afraid not," Charley replied, gravely. "I expect it's just a big, +rough, unartistic city. I think it would be better for him to enter as +a nature-lover who had adopted the simple life." + +"Good," exclaimed his chum, enthusiastically. "Just the thing. What a +sensation it will make. I can just see the papers with his picture on +the front page and the black head lines. + +"Noted sea captain adopts the simple life and discards clothing. Says, +'go naked and you'll live to be a hundred.'" + +"What's the name of that widow lady who was so interested in the +captain, Mrs. Wick? I believe I'll send her one of the papers," said +Charley, reflectively. + +This was more than the old sailor could stand. "If you young idiots +can't suggest anything sensible, for the Lord Harry's sake shut up," he +spluttered. + +"I don't see much we can suggest," Charley said seriously. "Our clothes +are all too small for you or we would each give something to help dress +you. There's no hope of getting your clothes back. The only thing I +can think of, is to do you up in Spanish moss like they do roses and +tender plants they send North." + +"I guess Spanish moss is the only thing," admitted the captain. "It +ain't much, but it's better than nothing." + +So, with difficulty, restraining their laughter, the two lads proceeded +to cover the old sailor with great bunches of the strong, long, Spanish +moss, tying it securely to him with pieces of the raveled-out rope. + +When they had finished, he was a queer and wonderful creature. + +The sight was too much for Chris. The little darkey lay on the grass +and rolled with laughter. + +"Massa Cap, Massa Cap," he gasped, "you look jes' like a great big +Teddy Bear." + +The old sailor grinned feebly at the three, mirth-convulsed boys. + +"I reckon I do look some funny," he admitted, "but I don't care. It's +comfortable, and a heap sight decenter than nothing." + +A look of anxiety came to his face and he winced visibly. + +"What's the matter?" asked Charley. "No pins sticking in you?" + +The captain scratched vigorously. "Thar's ants in that pesky moss," +he declared, at which announcement the three boys let out a roar of +laughter that made the woods ring. + +It was verily a day of rest for the four wanderers. The balance of it +was spent lying on their soft moss couches in the warm sunshine talking +over past events and planning for the future. + +With the night came Watson again to sit in the shadows by their camp +and listen greedily to what they could tell him of the world outside. +In spite of the man's bloody record of crime, they could not help a +touch of pity for his loneliness. And the truth was more indelibly +stamped on their minds that evil brings its own punishment. + +They told him about the theft of the captain's clothes, and he listened +attentively. + +"I guess it was Black Sam took them," he commented. "He was in rags the +last glimpse I got of him. He certainly needs clothes but I guess you +need them worse. I'll get them back for you." + +"Strangers," he said, as he rose to go, "I want you to do me a big +favor. When you get outside send me a copy of the Atlanta Constitution. +I ain't heard a thing of Georgia in years. Send it to Marco, care of +Indian Charley, and I'll get it all right." + +Charley promised him they would do so. + +In the morning when they awoke, the captain's clothes were lying beside +the fire. + +They never knew exactly how Watson made Black Sam relinquish his prize +but there was a large blood-stain on the shoulder of the cleanly-washed +shirt and they formed their own opinion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE DISCOVERY. + + +THE day and night of rest, together with the shark oil, had worked +wonders with the sore feet and, much to their delight, the little party +found that they could travel once more without pain. + +After the weary days in the dismal swamp, they rejoiced in the new +country they had entered. A broad, white sand beach made walking easy +and their eyes were delighted with the ever-changing landscape. Soon +they began to come upon signs of human habitation. Now a herd of cows +grazing in placid contentment, and later, a little shack perched upon +the beach and tenanted by a lone hermit of a fisherman. From him, they +learned that they were within fifteen miles of the city of Tampa. + +The captain purchased a package of tobacco from the hermit and was soon +enjoying the first smoke he had had in many days. + +The boys looked longingly at the fisherman's little sloop bobbing at +anchor in the cove. They would have liked to have bargained for a +passage to Tampa but they had too little money in their pockets to +afford such a luxury. + +It was nearly noon and the fisherman, with the ready hospitality of his +calling, invited them to dinner, an invitation they were not slow to +accept. + +The meal was simple, but the vegetables tasted delicious after their +steady meat diet, and they reveled in the strong, hot, fragrant coffee. + +They did not linger long after eating, for they were anxious to reach +their journey's end. + +When about five miles from the friendly fisherman's, Charley called a +halt. + +"Listen, and see if you hear anything," he said. "I've been hearing +a queer noise for the last ten minutes but maybe it's only my +imaginations." + +His companions stopped and listened. + +"No, it isn't your imagination," the captain declared. "I can hear it, +too--a kind of peculiar noise I can't describe." + +"It sounds like the soft smacking of a thousand lips," Walter said. "I +wonder what it is." + +"We will soon find out," Charley replied. "It seems to come from +somewhere ahead." + +As they advanced, the peculiar noise became more distinct. It grew +steadily in volume until at last they stood at what had once been the +mouth of a creek, but which was now closed up, at the entrance, by a +small mound of drifted sand, thus changing the former creek into a +small lake. + +"My goodness! Look at it!" gasped Charley, weakly, pointing at the +land-locked pond. + +"Jumping Moses," swore the captain, the nearest approach to an oath he +ever permitted himself to use. + +The peculiar noise came from the lake's surface. It was literally +covered with tiny, open, gaping mouths. + +"Mullet," Charley said, in a hushed voice, "mullet, thousands of them, +tens of thousands of them, penned up in there like rats in a trap." + +"And we without a net or boat," lamented Walter, bitterly. "Just our +luck." + +"Golly!" exclaimed Chris. "If we only had dese fish in Clearwater we +wouldn't hab to worry 'bout money no more for awhile." + +"They must have got caught in here during that gale," Charley pondered. +"The heavy sea drifted up the sand and closed up the entrance so they +could not get out into the gulf again. They can't live a great while +longer in that small body of water. That great number must have about +all the oxygen in the water exhausted by now. Their coming to the +surface to breathe proves that. They seldom do that surface breathing. +Let's have a look at that pond and see what it's like." + +A hasty examination showed them that the lagoon was shallow, not more +than three feet in the deepest places. + +"Just an ideal place to catch them," Charley declared. + +"Yes," agreed Walter, excitedly. "If we only had two or three nets we +could tie them together and drag them across the pond like a seine." + +Charley shook his head, decidedly. "That bunch would tear your nets to +shreds if you tried that plan. Why, boy, you don't comprehend how many +fish there are in that school." + +"Well, I guess it's no use standing here looking at them any longer," +said Walter, morosely. "We can't do anything with them, so we might as +well be moving on." + +"Yes, and moving fast too," Charley agreed, "but I have a hope that we +can do something with those fish. They are worth trying for, anyway. It +all depends on whether we can get to Clearwater and back again before +they die, as they surely will as soon as all the air is gone from the +water. Come on, let's hurry." + +As they hastened along at top speed, he explained his plan. + +"The first thing is to get to Clearwater," he declared. "Get the +Roberts boys and their launch and nets, and all the other boats and +nets we can get together, then come back here as quick as we can get +back. Of course, we will have to divide up with the Roberts but they +have been good friends of ours and deserve it. There's enough fish to +pay all of us for the trouble if we find them still alive." + +"Go your fastest, lad," said the old sailor, briefly, "you'll find us +right at your heels." + +And go fast Charley did. It called forth all the wind and strength of +his three companions to keep up with him. + +Just as night was falling, four tired, draggled-looking persons entered +the ticket office of the Atlantic Coast Line in Tampa. + +"When's the next train for Clearwater?" demanded one of the youths of +the party, crisply. + +"Just gone," answered the agent, briefly. "No more until morning." + +"But we have got to get to Clearwater to-night," said the lad, +desperately. + +The agent noted the look of dismay on the four faces. "The Northern +flier is due here in half an hour," he said, slowly. "She slows down a +bit for the curve. If it's a matter of life or death you might be able +to board her. I would not advise it, though. She does not slack down +much at Clearwater and it would be pretty risky jumping off." + +"Where's the best place to get on her?" asked the lad, briefly. + +"Right down by the water tank. It's risky, though." + +The lad thanked him, and the four hurried off for the water tank. + +They boarded the train safely and stood on the platform hanging on to +the rails as the fast limited tore on in the darkness. They would +have liked to have entered one of the coaches and rested on the +cushioned seats but they were afraid the conductor would insist upon +carrying them on to the next regular stop, a hundred miles beyond their +destination. + +It was but an hour's ride to the little town and the flyer barely +slackened speed as she thundered into it. As the lights of the station +flashed into view, they stepped down to the lowest step and jumped. + +It was a fearful chance to take, but luck was with them. They landed +in a bank of soft sand, and, although the breath was knocked out of +them for a minute, they escaped unhurt except for Walter. He gained his +feet, wincing with pain. + +"I've twisted my ankle," he said. "Don't stop for me. I would only be a +hindrance to you with this game foot. Go on. I'll hunt up a doctor and +have it tended to." + +Charley hesitated. "I don't like to leave you this way, old fellow," he +said. + +"I don't like to be left, either," said his chum, grimly, "but you +can't do me any good by staying. Go on. Don't waste precious time." + +Charley reluctantly obeyed. + +Walter stood gamely watching them with a smile on his face until the +three were out of sight, then he hobbled for the main street, his face +contorted with pain. His injury was far more serious than he had +pretended. He was convinced that some bones in his foot were broken but +he had concealed his plight from his chums for he knew they would not +leave him if they thought his injury at all serious. + +Followed by the captain and Chris, Charley headed for the little +station not far away. There were a few loungers on the platform and +amongst them he was pleased to see one of the fish-boat captains who +had helped in the towing of the "North Wind." + +"Is it you or your ghost?" he exclaimed, when Charley approached him. +"Everyone thought you and your friends were lost in that gale." + +"If we are ghosts, we don't know it," Charley laughed. "Say, can we +hire you and your launch for a couple of hours?" + +"You can," said the fish captain, promptly. "Fishing is so poor now I +have quit it for a while. Where do you want to go?" + +"First over to the island where we used to stay, and then across to the +Roberts camp, if they are at home." + +"Oh, you'll find them there all right. Fishing is so poor, now, it does +not pay to go out." + +Charley pulled out a five-dollar bill, the only money he had in his +pocket. + +"Here's your pay in advance," he said. "We may want to hire you for +two or three days, but I'll let you know about that a little later. +Just now, we are in a hurry. Can you take us right off?" + +"Right away," said the fisherman, pocketing the bill with satisfaction. +"My launch is tied up to the dock. Come on if you are ready." + +In five minutes our little party was aboard the launch and headed for +the island. + +"Reckon there ain't much use going there," the fisherman remarked, as +they sped along. "Someone has torn the cabin down and broken the dock +you built all to pieces." + +Charley smiled. Evidently Hunter had been doing all he could to +discourage anyone else from occupying the island. + +"We don't intend to live there, any more," he said. "I just want to go +ashore there for a minute." + +As the launch drew in close to the shore, he had him stop the engine +and as soon as the keel touched bottom, he jumped overboard and waded +ashore, carrying the launch's lantern. + +"Wait here for me. I'll be back in a minute," he directed. + +Once up near the cabin, he was not long in finding what he was after. +He and his companions had taken in over a hundred dollars in cash from +their sales of oysters and clams. It was too large a sum for them +to risk carrying around in their pockets and they had not cared to +leave it unguarded in the cabin while they were away fishing, so they +had wisely put it in a glass jar and buried the jar in a safe place, +keeping out only enough for pocket money. + +The lad found their little treasure undisturbed and stuffing it into +his pockets he hurried back to the launch. + +"Now head over for the Roberts camp," he commanded, as soon as he +climbed aboard. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE FISH. + + +"I HAVE rather a personal question to ask you, Captain Brown," Charley +said, as the launch ploughed her way through the glowing water. + +"Let's hear it," said the fisherman. + +The lad hesitated. "It sounds rather impudent, but I want to know just +how good a friend you are to Hunter and his gang?" + +"Can't say that I am a friend of his at all," answered the man, +frankly. "There are quite a few of us fishermen who have no particular +love for him, but we all try to avoid trouble with him because he can +make things pretty costly for a man in a secret, underhand way which +leaves one nothing to grasp upon. I suspect you have found that out for +yourselves." + +"We have," admitted Charley, candidly. "It's a wonder to me, you +fishermen, who do not like him, haven't got together and run him off +before now." + +"I expect it does look kind of queer to an outsider," replied the man, +reflectively. "But it's natural enough when one gets to understand +fishermen. You seldom find a fisherman but who has been more or less +of a roamer and adventurer. Their lives have made them self-reliant and +taught them the rather hard lesson that it don't pay to take up others' +quarrels. Unconsciously, perhaps, their motto is 'leave me alone and +I'll leave you alone.' They may really be in sympathy with a man, +but they seldom will assist him in his disputes. That trait in them +explains why Hunter lasts so long. They simply will not combine against +him." + +"I see," said Charley, thoughtfully, "that puts the matter in a new +light to me. I had supposed they stood for Hunter and his ways because +they approved of him and them." + +"Not at all," said the other, warmly. "Most of the fishermen are pretty +good fellows at heart, but 'hands off' is their policy." + +"I am glad to learn that," Charley said, frankly. "I want to hire a +few fishermen and their launches for a couple of days, but the work is +rather important, and I want only men who will work for the interest +of the man who pays them and not play into the hands of someone like +Hunter." + +"The fishermen will be true to their employer's interests," declared +the other, emphatically. + +"Good," said the lad. "I am going to trust to your judgment. As soon +as you land us at Roberts' dock, I want you to go back to Clearwater +and get four more launches with their skiffs and captains. Get the +best and most trustworthy men you can pick out. If you can be back with +them before midnight, it will mean five dollars extra for each of them +and ten dollars extra for yourself. Bring plenty of gasoline for the +launches, and provisions for two days for yourselves." + +"I can get the men and boats all right," Captain Brown said, +doubtfully, "but they will want ten dollars apiece per day, and not +knowing you, they will want some money down." + +Charley reached down into his pocket and pulled out the roll of bills +at which the man gazed in amazement. + +"Here's the first day's pay for each in advance," he said, counting out +fifty dollars, "and remember there is five dollars extra apiece in the +job if they are all at the Roberts dock ready to start at midnight." + +"We'll all be ready in two hours," Captain Brown declared. "Here we are +at the dock. I won't stop. Just jump out and give me a shove off. Time +is worth money now," he grinned. + +The three jumped out on the little pier, shoved the launch off, and it +was quickly lost in the darkness. + +Charley grinned as he stood for a moment listening to the rapid popping +of the engine's exhaust. + +"He's got that engine turning up as fast as it will go," he commented. +"He means to get that extra ten dollars, all right. Gee! but I've been +using my nerve, spending money that belongs as much to the rest of you +as it does to me." + +"That's all right," approved Captain Westfield. "You are planning out +this thing. Spend the last penny if you want to. I believe in letting +one at a time run a thing. Others butting in only gum things up--a ship +don't work well under more than one captain." + +The light was still burning in the Roberts boys' cabin and a tap at the +door brought forth an invitation to come in. + +When the three stepped into the lighted room they were greeted with +exclamations of amazed pleasure. + +"It's good to see you all are safe again," cried the husky Bill, as he +shook hands with a heartiness that made them wince. "We were mourning +you as drowned. We did not believe your launch could have lasted out +that gale." + +"She didn't," Captain Westfield said. "She went to pieces on shore a +good many miles down the coast." + +"Tough luck," said the big fisherman, sympathetically. "You fellows do +seem to hit it rough. It's too blamed bad, that's what it is." + +"I believe our luck is due to change pretty soon," Charley said, with a +smile. "How are things coming with you now?" + +"Couldn't be much worse," Bill stated, briefly. "Goodness only knows +what's become of all the fish. We haven't wet a net since the gale. +What we lack of being stone-broke isn't much. We have only got about +a hundred dollars in cash left but you are welcome to half of that. I +guess you are worse off than we are." + +The three chums' hearts warmed with gratitude at the big fellow's +generous offer. + +"We'll take the whole hundred, if you please," Charley said, calmly, +"but not as a loan. We want you three as partners for a couple of days +and the hundred will go to pay expenses. Can you give us a cup of +coffee? We haven't had a bite to eat since noon." + +While the big fisherman rustled around fixing a lunch and making the +coffee, Charley told of their discovery. + +"Whew, it sounds like finding money," Bill commented, when he had +finished. "But we don't deserve any half share for just going with +you and helping you out. Just pay us the same as you do the other +fishermen." + +"No," Charley said, and his two chums nodded vigorous approval of his +words. "It isn't what you are going to do but what you have already +done that counts with us. You helped us out when we were friendless, +and it is only just that you should share in our good fortune if we +have any. But we must not count our chickens before they are hatched. +The fish may be all dead by the time we get there, or someone else may +have found them--they were making noise enough to be heard a mile. + +"Oh, we are making you no gift," he said, as Bill still protested +against an equal division. "We may need your help and we need your +money to pay off the launch men in case the trip is fruitless. It will +take more cash than we've got. Besides, there may be some fighting." + +"Too bad we have got to have anyone in this but ourselves," Bill +observed. + +"We have got to have help," Charley declared, "and, really, I do +not fear any trouble from those who go with us. They are taking no +nets with them, (I figured your three nets would be all we could use +to advantage in such a small place). They have no idea as to our +destination or what we are after. When they get there they will realize +that it is too far away for them to come back, get their nets and +return and do anything all tired out as they will be from the trip. +Besides, I planned to offer them a bonus in money after we get there, +provided they work good and hard." + +"You've got a long head on you," Bill said, admiringly. "You've +evidently got it all planned out." + +"I tried to plan so far as I could," Charley said, modestly. "Where I +fear trouble is when the fish begin to come into Clearwater. There will +be a stampede of the other fishermen on us then. Put all your guns and +ammunition in the launch. We may need them." + +While the three were eating, the Roberts packed up groceries and rolled +up blankets for the trip. These, and the rifles, they carried down to +the launch while the chums were finishing their coffee. + +They were ready none too soon, for as the chums drained their cups, +they caught the mingled popping of the coming launches. + +It still lacked twenty minutes to midnight when the last launch came +churning up to the end of the little dock. + +Charley counted out five dollars and handed it to each of the launch +captains. "This is for being ahead of the time set. You'll each get +your ten dollars apiece at the close of each day. Now, if you are all +ready, we'll be off." + +"Where are we going, Boss?" questioned one of the captains. + +"I do not know the name of the place," the lad replied, thoughtfully. +"Just follow our launch. We will lead the way." + +In a few minutes the things were all stowed aboard and Bill started +up the engine. The launch leaped ahead and, with bow headed down the +coast, sped away in the darkness closely followed by the other boats +containing four contented, but thoroughly mystified, captains. + +As soon as they were fairly under way, our three chums stretched out on +the launch's cushioned seats for a nap. They were completely worn out +by the eventful day and night. + +At sunrise Charley was awakened by Bill. + +"We've been running without a hitch all night," the big fisherman +informed him. "We must be getting near to your creek by now. We passed +Tampa over an hour ago." + +Charley stood up and surveyed the shore-line. "I took a landmark before +I left," he said. "There's a great, dead, pine tree standing up amongst +a clump of palmettoes just to the south of the creek. I believe I can +see it ahead there a couple of miles." + +At the end of ten minutes, he could make out the big, dead pine plainly. + +He awakened his chums and the three sat tense and impatient waiting to +see if all their hopes and trouble had been in vain. + +When within a few hundred yards of the creek, Charley could stand the +suspense no longer. + +"Stop the engine," he requested, in a fever of impatience. + +Bill threw off the battery switch. The four wondering captains trailing +behind followed his example and the throbbing of the engines ceased. + +The lad stood up and listened intently. His quick ear could just +distinguish a faint, peculiar noise, like the soft smacking of +thousands of lips. + +He sank back into his seat with a sigh of relief. + +"It's all right," he exclaimed, delightedly. "I can hear them. Run in +close to shore and anchor." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ABOUT MANY THINGS. + + +AS soon as the anchors were dropped all scrambled into the skiffs, +eager to be ashore. + +They landed close to the sand spit that barred the creek's entrance, +and a few steps brought them to where they could look in on the little +inland lake. All stood silent for a moment, gazing at the thousands on +thousands of little, open, gasping mouths. + +"I expected to see some fish from what you told us but I didn't expect +anything like this," said Bill, drawing a deep breath. "Boy, there's a +pot of money waiting for us in that little pond." + +The other fishermen's faces were expressive of amazement and envy. + +"You might have let us in on this," one of them grumbled. + +"Would any of you have done it for us if you had found them?" Charley +demanded. + +"I wouldn't," the man admitted. "But, all the same, ten dollars a day +looks mighty small with all this money in sight." + +"We need every dollar we can make off of this thing," the lad said, +"but we want to be as generous as we can afford to be. We are going to +do better by you than we bargained to do. If you all do your best to +help us put these fish into Clearwater, we will give you ten per cent +on what we make in addition to the ten dollars a day we promised you." + +"That's more than fair," declared Captain Brown. "We will do our best. +All hands had better get to work at once. Those fish are about all in. +I doubt if they will live thirty-six hours longer." + +Charley had planned everything on the way down the coast and he had +already arranged each man's part so that the work might be done with +system and despatch. The Roberts and himself were to do the work with +the nets. The fishermen were to do the loading, with the captain to +help them. All of them were to work on one launch at a time and as soon +as it was loaded it was to start for Clearwater while the next one +received its cargo. + +To Chris was assigned the job of cooking for all hands, so that no time +would be lost in the preparation of meals. + +Charley and the Roberts had taken on themselves the hardest part of the +work, but the four went at their nasty, disagreeable task with vigor +and cheerfulness. + +Taking an end of the joined nets, they waded across one end of the +shallow lagoon stringing it out behind them. As soon as they had +gotten the end to the opposite shore, two got to each end and pulled +lustily. + +They had been careful to cut off only a small portion of the lagoon, +but even so, they found that the fish between the net and shore were +almost more than they could handle. They had to pull with all their +might to drag in the ladened net, and as they pulled, they feared each +minute that the fine twine would give way under the tremendous pressure. + +But at last they got the net ashore, its meshes full of struggling, +silvery mullet. + +Then began the tiring work of getting the fish out of the fine, +tangling twine. As fast as they were taken out they tossed them into a +large box, and as soon as the box was filled, a fisherman carried it to +the waiting skiffs and dumped the load, returning for another. + +In two hours the first launch was loaded, and started back for +Clearwater. + +Walter, his ankle done up in splints and bandages, and using a cane for +a crutch, limped into the fish house, the day following his accident, +and sought a seat on a pile of old nets in a corner where he was not +likely to be seen by Mr. Daniels. He had not sought the kindly fish +boss yet to tell him of the loss of the launch. He was deferring the +unpleasant task in hopes that his chums would be successful when the +telling would be easier. Besides, he was not feeling equal to the task +of explaining. His foot pained him intensely. He was also depressed by +the doctor's statement that he had suffered a compound fracture of the +ankle and must not try to use his foot for many days to come. He had +but little money in his pocket and had not dared spend any of it for +board and lodging. Instead he had slept miserably in a skiff pulled up +on shore and had breakfasted off of cheese and crackers. Taking it all +in all he did not feel equal to the unpleasant task of breaking bad +news. He had been drawn to the fish house, however, knowing that there +he would be likely to hear the first news of his absent chums. He was +hoping Mr. Daniels would, not spy him in his secluded corner. + +But Mr. Daniels was having troubles of his own. A dull season is hard +on the fishermen but harder still on the fish boss. On the desk before +him was a heap of letters and telegrams from customers demanding +fish. If he could not supply them at once, they would of course buy +elsewhere. Building up a trade is slow work, and if you cannot supply +its wants, it is soon lost. He was worrying through the mass of mail +when the telephone bell rang. He lifted the receiver off the hook. + +"Hello! who's this?" he demanded, curtly. + +"It's Captain Brown, Cap," answered a tired voice. "I'm at the dock. +Send down for some fish, will you?" + +"How many have you got, twenty pounds?" demanded Mr. Daniels, +sarcastically. + +"Call it twenty pounds if you like," drawled the tired voice. "I +calculate, though, that they will come nearer tipping the scales at ten +thousand pounds." + +"Good boy," exclaimed the fish boss in delight. "They will help me out +a lot. Where did you catch them." + +"I didn't catch them," said the weary tones. "Credit them to the +account of those new guys, 'West, Hazard and so forth.' Good-by, I've +got to go back for another load." + +Walter in his secluded corner caught enough of the conversation +to tell him that his chums had succeeded. He forgot his pain and +discouragement. Things took on a rosy tinge. He suddenly remembered the +dime's worth of cheese and crackers, for breakfast, had only put an +edge on his appetite. He stole out of the fish house and hobbled down +the street to a little restaurant where he was soon seated behind a +big, juicy steak and mashed potatoes. + +As soon as his hunger was appeased, he hobbled back to the fish house. + +There he remained all the balance of the day and far into the night for +the fish house was the scene of great excitement. One after the other +the launches arrived with their finny cargoes. When the last one was +unloaded the first to arrive was back again with another load. The +house's regular force was unable to handle the deluge. Men, boys, and +even women were hired at fancy prices to assist. Packing in barrels +became impossible. As many as could be were packed that way but the +most were hustled, unpacked, into a car and heavily iced down. + +"For goodness' sake, how many more are coming?" Mr. Daniels demanded of +a midnight arrival. + +"Not many," answered the launch captain. "They were making their last +haul when I left. Some of the fishermen followed the first launch back +and are trying to butt into the snap." + +"The rascally scoundrels," exclaimed Mr. Daniels, indignantly. + +The man grinned wearily. "You needn't worry," he said. "When I left, +Bill Roberts was standing off the gang with a rifle, while the other +fellows got out the fish." + +"They must be about tired out by this time," commented the fish boss. + +"Tired!" exclaimed the launch captain. "I am pretty well worn out +myself and we launch men have the easiest part of the job. Those +fellows who are handling the nets are earning every dollar they will +make. Their fingers are worn through both skins handling that fine, wet +twine. Their hands are just bleeding raw, and you know how salt water +and fish slimes smart the smallest cut. They have bent over the nets so +long that they can't straighten up without bringing the tears to their +eyes. I'd like to have the money they will make, but hanged if I would +work that hard for it." + +The launch captain had not overstated the case. The little party on the +beach below were very near the limit of human endurance when the last +fish was taken out of the nets. The launch captain had to assist them +to the skiffs and into the launches. Once aboard the motor boats, they +stretched out on the seats and slept the sleep of utter exhaustion. + +Another day had dawned when the fish captain awoke them at Clearwater. + +Walter, radiant of countenance, was waiting on the dock to welcome them. + +It took Charley several minutes to regain his sleep-scattered wits. + +"How much did they weigh?" he asked eagerly, as he wrung his chum's +hand in congratulation. + +"Just an even hundred and fifty thousand pounds," Walter said. + +"Good! at two cents a pound, that's three thousand dollars." + +"Better than that," beamed his chum. "Owing to the scarcity of fish, +the market has gone up a cent a pound." + +"Four thousand five hundred dollars," cried Charley, in delight. "Over +two thousand dollars to be divided up amongst us four. It's almost too +good to be true." + +"And that's not all," added Walter, eagerly. "We are not going to lose +much on the launch, after all. Mr. Daniels says she was insured for +nearly her full value." + +"All's well that ends well," Charley commented. "We have not come out +of our fishing venture so badly after all." + +"I am afraid we haven't reached the end just yet," said Walter, his +countenance sobering. "I've got something pretty serious to tell you as +soon as we are all alone." + +"If it's nothing real pressing, save it a while," said Charley, +hastily. "I want to get some money from Mr. Daniels and pay off the +launch captains. Then, I want a good long sleep with nothing to worry +me. The Roberts have insisted on our staying with them a couple of days +until we get straightened out. We will go over to their camp as soon as +I get the fishermen paid off." + +It took but a short time to get the money and pay off the sleepy launch +captains. They were all well-pleased with their share of the venture. +Besides the ten dollars a day, they received four hundred and fifty +dollars to be divided among them. + +This business attended to, our little party joined the Roberts in their +launch and the run to camp was quickly made. As soon as it was reached, +the workers turned in for a good, long sleep, and Walter was left alone +with his secret. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +THE SMUGGLERS AGAIN. + + +WHILE his chums were making up the sleep they had lost, Walter took the +Roberts launch and ran over to Palm Island. Brief as had been their +stay on the little isle, he had grown quite fond of it and his anger +rose as he viewed the work of the wreckers. The vandals had done their +work well. Not a stick remained standing of the former cozy, little +cabin. The wharf, too, was gone, even its posts had been hacked short +off at the surface of the water. + +Leaving the scene of the ruin, Walter hobbled slowly over the little +island looking all about with thoughtful interest. At last, he made his +way back to the launch and returned to the Roberts camp. + +His companions were awake and stirring about. Chris was busily engaged +in cooking dinner, while the rest were applying salve and bandages to +their sore hands. + +Charley greeted his chum with an affectionate smile. "How's the foot?" +he inquired. + +"Coming on all right," said Walter, cheerfully. "How about you, feeling +better?" + +"Feeling fine and dandy," declared the other, "and I am as hungry as +a wolf. I remember you had some bad news to tell me. Let's hear it. I +feel able to face all kinds of trouble now." + +"I don't know as it is exactly bad news for us," said his chum. "In +a way it doesn't concern us at all, unless we want to make it our +business." + +"You are getting my curiosity aroused," Charley laughed. "Let's hear +this news of yours." + +"The night you all left me in Clearwater, I did not go to a boarding +house to stop. It had cost quite a bit to have my ankle fixed up and +I did not have much money left and I was afraid to spend what little +I had, for I knew, if you fellows were not successful in your trip, +there was going to be mighty hard times ahead. I went out on the dock +and looked around but I didn't quite fancy sleeping there so I went +back uptown and hung around until the stores closed. I was getting +pretty sleepy by this time, so I went down again to the bay and looked +around until I found what I wanted, a skiff pulled up high and dry on +the sand. There were some old nets in the bottom and I crawled in, +stretched out on one of the nets, and pulled the other one over me, +getting my head under a seat to keep out the dew. I went to sleep as +cozy as a bug in a rug. I don't know how long I had slept when I woke +up to the sound of voices. Four men were sitting on the edge of my +skiff talking together. It was too dark to see their faces but I knew +one of the voices. It was Hunter's and you can bet your life I laid +mighty still and listened. + +"They were talking about us at first and it made my blood boil to hear +them chuckling over the harm they had done us, but there was nothing I +could do but lay quiet and stand it. They talked about the cache and +wondered where we had hidden the liquor. At last they came to what, I +guess, was the real object of their meeting where no one could hear +them. Having disposed of us, as they thought, they have arranged to +bring in another large lot of aguardiente." + +"When?" Charley demanded, eagerly. + +"To-night. They expect the schooner at the island at about midnight. +They talked it over and arranged all the details of the job before they +separated." + +"To-night at midnight," Charley mused. "We had better go right over and +tell the sheriff." + +"That was the first thing I thought of," Walter said. "I was up at his +house by sunrise the next morning but it was no use. His wife told me +he was very ill and could not be seen." + +"Queer, he is never around when that smuggling is going on," observed +Charley, suspiciously. "I wonder if it can be that he is standing in +with the smugglers for a share of the profits." + +"Not Sheriff Daley," spoke up Bill Roberts, warmly. "He is as square +a man as ever lived. Queer, though," he added, slowly, "I saw him just +the day before and he looked the picture of health, but then, it may be +appendicitis or some such sudden illness that's struck him." + +"It's too bad," said Captain Westfield. "It leaves those rascals free +to carry out their devilment. Of course, it's none of our business, but +it seems wrong to have such things going on." + +"No, of course it is none of our business," Charley agreed, +hesitatingly. "How many of them are there in it, Walt? Did you hear?" + +"Only the four that met," his chum replied. "They were discussing +getting a couple more men to help, but Hunter objected as it would mean +more division of the profits. He said the schooner's crew could help +land the stuff." + +"Did he say how many were on the schooner?" Bill Roberts inquired. + +"Four men and a boy," replied Walter. + +"Well, as you have all said, I reckon it is none of our business," Bill +observed. + +They sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. + +"It would be hard on Hunter's wife, if he was caught," Charley said, +finally. + +"It would be the best thing that could happen for her," Bill declared. +"She is a good woman. She works like a slave to support them both. +Hunter blows in all the money he makes and lives on her earnings. He +beats her like a dog, too." + +"The brute!" Walter exclaimed, hotly. + +"Dar's five hundred dollars to be gib to de one what catches de booze +sellers, ain't dey?" Chris inquired. "'Pears like hit would be a +powerful good thing for some one to cotch him an' send all dat money to +dat poor woman." + +Captain Westfield looked from one to the other with a sheepish grin. +"Thar isn't any use of our saying it's none of our business," he said. +"Down deep in his heart each one of us knows it is his business. It's +always a _man's_ business to stop wrong-doing." + +"Right you are," agreed Bill Roberts, with gruff heartiness. "I know we +are all thinking about the the same things. It isn't so much that this +man and his gang are breaking the law that counts, it's the misery and +suffering which he causes that calls for action. There have been ten +men killed in the fish camps here the past year, and what caused the +killing? Rum, rum brought in and sold by Hunter. And that isn't all the +misery he's caused. Think of the beaten wives and neglected children. +It's time there was a stop put to it." + +"Yes," Captain Westfield agreed. "We are as much our brother's keeper +as in the days of Cain." + +"I guess we are all pretty well agreed," smiled the practical Charley. +"The question is, how are we going to take them. There are nine of +them and only seven of us. Of course one of them is only a boy, but +then, Walt is pretty well crippled up." + +"I'll be right there when the fun begins," his chum said, determinedly. +"What if they are two more in number. We will be well armed, and surely +a surprise counts for something. I went over the island while you were +all sleeping and planned it all out. There is only one piece of the +beach where a boat can land safely. There is a group of palmettoes +close to it. Now what I planned is this. We had better start out in +the launch early and run straight out of the pass as though we were +going out to the reef. Once we get behind the island, and out of sight +of Clearwater, we'll skirt the shore and run around to the north end. +There's a little cove there where the launch will be hidden from both +the gulf and the bay. When dark comes we can hide in the clump of +palmettoes and wait. When they get to work in earnest, we can slip out +and take them by surprise. Then five of us can keep them quiet with the +rifles, while the other two tie them up. Once we have got them secure, +we can load them into the launch, carry them straight to Tampa and turn +them over to the sheriff there. How does that strike all of you?" + +"It sounds simple enough," Charley said, doubtfully, "too simple, in +fact." + +"What fault can you find with it?" Walter demanded. + +"None," his chum answered, "only I have a hunch that Hunter is too +clever and cunning a rascal to be caught so easily." + +"Have you any better plan to suggest?" Walter asked. + +But Charley had not, nor did any of the others, so, after some +discussion, Walter's plan was adopted. + +As soon as dinner was over, some lunch was packed into a basket, +and storing it and the loading rifles in the launch, they steered +boldly out of the inlet. As soon as the island was between them and +Clearwater, however, they shifted helm, and hugging its shore, ran down +to its northern end. + +Here they found the little cove Walter had mentioned. Running the +launch into it, they anchored and waded ashore. They placed their +launch and rifles in the clump of palmettoes, and then there was +nothing to do until the coming of night, except to pass the time away +as best they could. By keeping on the gulf side of the island, there +was no danger of their being seen from Clearwater, and this they were +careful to do. A swim in the clear, warm water and the picking up of +curious shells on the beach served to while away the balance of the +afternoon. As soon as dark came, they retired within the clump of +palms. With the going down of the sun came the rising of the moon. +It was nearly full and its rays lit up the little island almost as +brightly as day. Our little party welcomed its tropical radiance for it +would allow them to see without being seen. + +The hours slipped slowly away. At first some attempt was made at +story-telling and conversation, but soon all lapsed into a thoughtful +silence. Each realized that they were about to engage in a desperate +undertaking. In fact, it was almost a foolhardy act they contemplated. +The smugglers had all the advantage in point of force. They were eight, +able-bodied men beside the boy, and it was more than likely that all of +them would be armed. Of their own party, the three Roberts boys were +really the only active men. Charley, though unusually strong for his +age, was only a boy, while the captain, vigorous though he still was, +was getting well along in years. Walter was practically helpless with +his broken ankle, while Chris was too small to be of much help where +strength was required. But for the advantage that would lie in taking +the smugglers by surprise, they were more likely to be the captured +than the captors. + +These reflections and the long, expectant waiting were beginning to +tell on their nerves, when they heard the welcome put-put of a distant +launch. + +"They are coming, at last," said Charley, with a sigh of relief. "I can +recognize that exhaust. The Hunters launch is the only one that sounds +just like that." + +"The schooner must be somewhere near but I don't see her lights," +Walter observed. + +"Why, thar she is," exclaimed the captain, "sneaking inshore like a +thief in the night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE SURPRISE. + + +SO silently that they had been unaware of her approach, the strange +craft had stolen in like a phantom ship to within two hundred yards of +where they lay concealed. She now lay directly in the moon's path and +its rays so bright set out every rope and sail in dark relief. Not a +light shone aboard. Her captain had evidently been made wary by his +former alarm and was taking all possible chances against drawing the +attention of others. + +As silent as a ghost ship the graceful craft crept in to within a +cable's length of the beach. Then, with a faint creak of traveling +blocks she rounded gracefully up into the wind and a muffled splash +told that her anchor had been dropped. + +She made a beautiful sight laying, swan-like, full in the glowing +pathway of the moon, her great white sails quivering in the gentle +breeze. + +"The bird is ready to flit away at the first alarm," whispered the +captain. "See, he has got his anchor hove short and has taken in none +of his sails but the jib. He could get under way again in half a +minute. He's wary all right." + +"We had better not talk any more," cautioned Charley in a whisper. +"Sound carries a long ways over the water and the launch is nearly +here." + +With nerves at highest tension the little party waited. + +The loud throbbing of the launch's engine suddenly ceased. There came +a splash from a dropped anchor, and more splashing as its crew waded +ashore. Then came a murmuring of voices and the sound of footsteps, and +the watchers drew further back into their hiding place as four figures +came into view. They passed so close to the bunch of palms that their +features were plain to the hiders. One was Hunter, himself, the other +three they recognized as members of his gang. + +The four hurried down to the water's edge. + +"Ahoy," Hunter hailed the schooner. "It's all right. Come ashore." + +"Are you sure no one else is around?" cautiously inquired a voice from +the schooner. + +The response had been in perfect English but something in the tones and +the faint foreign accent made the chums stare at each other as though +they had heard a voice from the grave. + +"No, there's no one here but ourselves," Hunter replied, impatiently. +"Do you think I would be here if everything wasn't all right? Come, get +a move on you, and hustle that stuff ashore. There's a lot to do, and +it ain't many hours till daylight." + +Those on the schooner fell to work with feverish haste. A small dingy +carried on deck was launched over the side. Two figures leaped into it +and received the cases, two others brought up from the hold. + +As soon as the dingy was loaded, the two on deck scrambled aboard and +one sculled her into shore. + +The moment she grounded, the captain leaped ashore. "Here is part of +our goods," he said smoothly. "We can bring it all in in three more +trips." + +"Good," Hunter growled. "Come, unload it. What are you waiting for?" + +"Only for our money, kind sir," said the schooner's captain, in smooth, +suave tones which stirred in the chums old, cruel memories. "I think it +would be best for each boat-load to be paid for as it is brought in." + +"Don't be a fool, man," said Hunter, roughly. "We can settle up when +the job is done. We have got no time to waste, now." + +"Pay before unloading," insisted the captain of the schooner, politely. +"Gentlemen in our business cannot be too careful. Of course I know you +are the soul of honesty, but you are forgetful, my good friend. You +have never remembered to pay me for that last lot I brought you." + +"How many cases?" Hunter demanded, with an oath, as he pulled out a +greasy roll of bills. + +"Twenty cases, one hundred dollars," said the stranger. + +Hunter counted out the bills, and the schooner captain recounted them +carefully and thrust them into his pocket. + +"You are still forgetting that little bank account of a hundred +dollars," he remarked, pleasantly. "Surely, now is a splendid time to +settle it." + +Hunter's face grew livid with anger, but he controlled his temper with +an effort. He was quick to realize that he could only lose by a display +of anger. The man already had a hundred dollars of his money, and still +remained in possession of the liquor. + +The chums in their concealment chuckled inwardly at his plight. At last +the rascally fisherman had met his equal in cunning. + +Grudgingly, he counted out another hundred dollars which the smuggler +pocketed with a mocking bow of thanks. + +"It's a pleasure to do business with a spot-cash gentleman like you," +he declared. "Now, you may have your liquor, and there's three more +boat-loads, just as good, at a hundred dollars a load." + +"You'll have to help us carry it up to the cache," Hunter growled. +"There's too much of it for us four to get out of the way before +daylight." + +"Always glad to oblige such a pleasant gentleman," said the smuggler, +swinging a case up on his shoulder. "Many hands make light work." His +companions silently followed his example, each shouldering a case and +the fishermen similarly loaded fell in behind them. + +Hunter and one of his gang brought up the rear. As they came alongside +the clump of palmettoes, Hunter nudged the man ahead. + +"Drop behind a bit," he said, softly. + +The man slowed his walk. + +"That fellow's got too much of our money to get away with it," he +declared in tones too low to reach those ahead. + +The man nodded. "We've got to take it from him," he agreed. + +"We'd better wait until all the stuff is landed," planned Hunter. +"We'll jump him just as he gets ready to leave and make him shell out. +He can't make any trouble about it. He dasn't make any kick to the +authorities. Tell the rest of the boys when you get a chance." + +The whispered conference had taken less than a minute but the alert +smuggler glanced suspiciously back at the two plotters and they +quickened their steps. + +"Our work is half done for us if they are going to fight amongst +themselves," exulted Charley, as the procession passed out of hearing. +"We had better wait till the trouble starts and then come down on +them." + +"Did you notice that smuggler captain's voice?" asked Captain +Westfield, eagerly. + +Walter's eyes were gleaming. "It's Manuel George, the Greek +interpreter," he exclaimed, softly. "The rascal that caused us so much +misery and stole our schooner from us." + +"And that's our dear old 'Beauty' lying out there," declared Charley, +a thrill in his voice. "We have got to take her, if we risk our lives +doing it. But here they come back again." + +The smugglers were losing no time but working with all possible +rapidity. The first dingy load was quickly transferred to its hiding +place and a second load brought ashore, the smuggler captain insisting +on his pay before a case was unloaded, a third load quickly followed +the second, and just as the morning star began to show in the east, the +fourth and last load was brought ashore. + +To the hidden watchers it seemed a century of waiting. With the coming +of the last load, the tension became almost unbearable. A few minutes +now would decide whether or not they were to recover their dearly loved +ship which they had long since given up as lost, to them, forever. + +The fisherman and smuggler captain seemed to be in excellent spirits +as the work progressed. They laughed and joked with each other, but it +seemed to Charley, keenly observant, that their gaiety was forced. He +imagined a sinister note under their high spirits and the watchful, +alert smuggler captain, for all his affected friendliness, seemed to be +watching every movement of the fishermen. All were working at top speed +now to complete the unloading before day, and the pile of cases in the +dingy rapidly diminished. + +As the carriers passed back and forth to and from the new cache they +were making, there would be a few minutes each trip when they were far +enough away from the concealed ones for the little party to hold low, +whispered conversation. + +"We want to act all together," Charley said, during one of these +intervals. "When I say, 'Now', we will cover them with our rifles and +step out upon them. I am going to wait till the last minute to give the +word. If they have a mix-up and get to fighting among themselves, it +will make our job doubly easy." + +As the procession passed by on its last trip, the lad chuckled softly. + +"That Hunter is certainly one clever rascal," he whispered. "Did you +notice he and his men head the procession this trip for the first time?" + +"I don't see the advantage in that," Walter remarked. + +"Don't you? Why, they will be the first to unload and consequently the +first to turn back. That will put them between the Greeks and the +dingy. Something is going to happen pretty quick. Be ready. Here they +come back." + +Empty-handed, the eight were returning to the beach chatting gaily +together. As Charley had prophesied, Hunter and his three companions +were well in the lead. At the dingy bow, the four turned and gathered +close together. + +The Greek captain was quick to notice the move. A few words in Greek +brought his men crowding around him. If he felt any fear, however, it +did not show in his face or manner. + +"Our agreeable business is pleasantly ended, gentlemen," he said, +smoothly. "When will you want more of the liquor, Mr. Hunter?" + +"Won't want any more," Hunter growled, surlily. "The game's too risky. +There's too many getting on to it. It's time to quit." + +"Very well," said the smuggler, coolly. "Now, we must bid you good-by, +gentlemen, and be on our way." + +"You Greek fool," Hunter snarled. "Do you think you are going to leave +here with all that money? Hand it over, quick!" + +"Out of the way!" cried the Greek captain, as he leaped forward, +followed by his men. + +In a second smugglers and fishermen were mingled together in a fierce +struggle. + +"Now," called Charley, clearly, and his companions stepped forth with +leveled rifles. + +"Hands up--all of you," he shouted. + +The fighting instantly ceased and the surprised combatants turned to +face the new enemy. + +Then came an interruption that struck both parties with fear and dismay. + +From the gulf rose a huge, bat-like thing which swept down upon them +with a whirling, sucking mumble. + +"De haunts," shrieked Chris, and fled as fast as his shaking legs would +carry him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +AND THE LAST. + + +THE others were hardly less frightened than the little darkey. The +Greeks fell to their knees and mumbled prayers, while the fishermen +stood white-faced and panic-stricken. Even the party with the rifles in +their hands felt a thrill of fear as the gruesome object swept down on +them. Suddenly the whirling sound ceased and the creature of the night +glided down to the ground before them. + +"A hydroplane," cried Walter, with a sigh of relief, fervently echoed +by his companions. + +From the air-ship stepped out three men, two of whom they recognized +with a thrill of joy. They were Sheriff Daley and his deputy. The third +man was a stranger to them. + +The three approached the panic-stricken group of smugglers with drawn +revolvers. + +"I arrest you all in the name of the United States of America," +announced the stranger, throwing back his coat and showing a marshal's +star. "Put the handcuffs on them, Sheriff Daley." + +The sheriff stepped back to the hydroplane and brought out a bunch of +jangling handcuffs which he proceeded to lock on the cowering captives +who offered no resistance. + +"Take them down to their launch and run them over to Clearwater, +Sheriff," the stranger directed, as soon as the job was done. "Keep +them guarded close till evening, then we will take them on to the +Federal prison in Atlanta. I will follow you in the hydroplane in a +little while. I have a few words to say to our friends here before I +leave." + +As soon as the sheriff was gone with his prisoners, the stranger turned +to our friends with a smile. + +"There is considerable explaining to be done, gentlemen," he said, +pleasantly. "Let's go out aboard the schooner where we will be more +comfortable." + +Chris was called down from the top of a tall palmetto where he had +taken refuge and the bewildered party followed the stranger aboard +the dingy and were soon standing on the deck of their well-beloved +"Beauty." The boys felt a lump in their throats as they looked upon the +familiar, beautiful ship. The captain was here and there and everywhere +over her deck. Examining everything like a parent with a long lost +child. + +"They haven't harmed her at all," he declared, with joy. "Only painted +her over a different color and altered the rigging to disguise her. No +wonder we thought she looked familiar to us." + +It was with reluctance that the delighted old sailor obeyed the +marshal's summons down into the cabin. + +"My friends, you have unknowingly made me a lot of trouble and pretty +nearly caused me a failure," the stranger said, when they were all +seated around the cabin table. + +"We will have to ask you to explain," Charley said. "We are all +thoroughly bewildered." + +"I suppose things do seem rather mixed up to you," smiled the +stranger. "Well, I will try to make everything plain. For some time +the government has been receiving complaints of liquor being smuggled +into various places along the West coast, and at last, I was assigned +to trace up the smugglers and this seemed to me to be as likely a +place as any to start my investigations. Well, it didn't take long to +determine who disposed of the liquor here, but it was quite another +thing to discover the identity of the smugglers. I had a pretty full +description of the schooner from several parties who had seen her +hanging around at different places along the coast. One man had even +seen the crew and he described them to me pretty accurately. But when +I tried to find out who were the schooner's owners and what port she +hailed from I ran against a snag. No ship answering her description +was registered in either America or Cuba. Quite by chance, when in +Tarpon Springs, I heard of your lost ship, and the description of her +and the Greeks on her, tallied so exactly with the schooner and the +smugglers that I was convinced that they were one and the same. Having +got a clue to the smugglers and the receivers, the next thing was to +catch them in the act. I took up my residence in Tarpon Springs with a +friend who happened to be an enthusiastic air man, and went to work. +I spent most of my nights on the island going there after dark in my +friend's hydroplane. I was getting along very nicely when you took up +residence on the island and upset my plans. I was quite out of patience +that first night when you were the means of frightening the schooner +away. And then when you found the cache of liquor, I almost gave up +hope. I was afraid you would ring in the local authorities and that +they would mess up things without the evidence necessary to convict the +offenders. To discourage them at the start, if they should take any +action, I removed the liquor from the cache. In fact, I was almost as +anxious as Hunter to have your party leave the island. However, all's +well that ends well, and I have got the rascals at last, where they +cannot escape long jail sentences. I was posted on to-night's doing +through having easy access to Hunter's mail when it passed through the +post-office. An accident to the hydroplane's engine came near making me +too late to take the rascals in charge. As it is, I will have to have +the testimony of your party taken down in writing to-morrow, for I did +not see the actual handling of the smuggled goods myself. And now, I +guess that is the whole story. It will doubtless explain many things +which have puzzled you." + +"Then it must have been you whom Chris took for a ghost?" Walter said. + +"And you are the one who brought us the liquor and the doctor when +Walter was so ill," Charley exclaimed. + +"I plead guilty to both charges," said the marshal, with a smile. "One +other thing I would mention that is important to you," he added. "In +smuggling cases, the government usually seizes the vessel, but in this +case, you, the real owners, are so entirely innocent of wrong-doing, +that I am going to assume the responsibility of leaving you in +uninterrupted possession of your vessel. And now, I am thoroughly tired +out and so I'll wish you good night, or rather good morning. Meet me in +Clearwater this afternoon and we will finish up our business together." + +When the marshal was gone and the Roberts boys had departed for their +camp, the four chums sat in happy content in the "Beauty's" cozy cabin. + +"Pinch me that I may make sure I am not dreaming," Walter sighed, +blissfully. "All this seems too good to be true." + +"If you are dreaming, I am, too, and do not want to be wakened," +Charley said. "Gee! a few weeks ago we had nothing but the clothes on +our backs. Now we have over two thousand dollars in cash and a ship +that we can easily sell for three thousand dollars more, and best, of +all, we have been able to assist the Roberts, who were so friendly to +us when we sorely needed friends, to a share in a part of our good +fortune." + +"It's the good Lord's kindness," said Captain Westfield, reverently. +"Let's thank him for the blessings he has showered upon us." + +All were silent for a time after the heartfelt prayer was ended. At +last Walter said, practically: + +"What shall we do now? No use to start fishing again, it's only a few +days till closed season." + +"I can tell you what we had better do, next," Charley said, rising. + +"What?" his chum demanded. + +"Turn in and get a good sleep," Charley responded, yawning. + +And safe in their bunks, dreaming blissfully of the future, we must for +the present leave our four friends. + +What the future held in store for them our readers can discover in +the next volume of their adventures: "The Boy Chums Conquering The +Wilderness; or, Charley and Walter Amongst the Seminole Indians." + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Original text did not have a Table of Contents. One was created by the +transcriber to aid the reader. + +Obvious punctuation repaired. + +Page 1, "Chnms" changed to "Chums" (The Boy Chums' Perilous Cruise) + +Page 22, "comforable" changed to "comfortable" ( a comfortable, +home-like) + +Page 90, "know" changed to "knew" (chum knew what he) + +Page 131, "somethink" changed to "something" (children or something) + +Page 144, "Monays" changed to "Morays" (Morays, a kind of salt) + +Page 149, "Permangate" changed to "Permanganate" (Permanganate of +potash) + +Page 221, "dopped" changed to "dropped" (dropped off to sleep) + +Page 226, "contracted" changed to "contacted" (wires contacted and) + +Page 227, "appetities" changed to "appetites" (appetites of wolves) + +Page 232, "riggled" changed to "wriggled" (which wriggled at their) + +Page 243, "fesh-water" changed to "fresh-water" (fresh-water oysters, +upon) + +Page 253, "tattoed" changed to "tattooed" (tattooed on his back) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Chums Cruising in Florida +Waters, by Wilmer M. Ely + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43856 *** |