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diff --git a/old/44503.txt b/old/44503.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f30100 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44503.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6594 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific, by Wilbur Lawton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific + +Author: Wilbur Lawton + +Illustrator: Arthur O. Scott + +Release Date: December 24, 2013 [EBook #44503] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON PACIFIC *** + + + + +Produced by Demian Katz, Roger Frank and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images +courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University +(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: Half way to the shore a triangular fin came cruising near +him.] + + + + + THE + + OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS + + ON THE PACIFIC + + BY + + CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON + + AUTHOR OF "THE BOY AVIATORS' SERIES," "THE DREADNOUGHT BOYS' + SERIES," "THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC," "THE + OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS AND THE LOST LINER," "THE OCEAN + WIRELESS BOYS OF THE ICEBERG PATROL," "THE + OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS AND THE NAVAL CODE," + ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY + ARTHUR O. SCOTT + + NEW YORK + HURST & COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + + + + Copyright, 1916, + BY + HURST & COMPANY + + + + + CONTENTS + + I. On the Broad Pacific 5 + II. The Ocean in a Rage 14 + III. A Long Night 20 + IV. The Derelict 26 + V. The "Centurion" 33 + VI. A Mystery of the Seas 39 + VII. An Old Enemy Oddly Met 49 + VIII. "Land, Ho!" 56 + IX. Through Hidden Dangers 64 + X. Chumming with Savages 72 + XI. The Cave of the Pearls 78 + XII. A Trap! 84 + XIII. On the Reef 90 + XIV. Battling Man-eating Sharks 97 + XV. A Message from the Deep 104 + XVI. Alive on the Sea 113 + XVII. An Encounter at Bomobori 119 + XVIII. Donald Judson Again 126 + XIX. He Tells a Strange Story 132 + XX. A Traitor in Camp 143 + XXI. A Memorable Night 153 + XXII. Into the Jungle 164 + XXIII. A Dangerous Tree 171 + XXIV. Wireless at Work 178 + XXV. A Jungle Hotel 186 + XXVI. Prisoners of "Bully" Broom 195 + XXVII. At the Old Fort 203 + XXVIII. The Free-booter's Demands 209 + XXIX. The Rescue Party 216 + XXX. In the Coils of a Python 224 + XXXI. The Journey Resumed 236 + XXXII. A Storm in the Jungle 245 + XXXIII. The Giant Spiders 260 + XXXIV. A Fight with a Hornbill 272 + XXXV. The Heart of New Guinea 280 + XXXVI. Found at Last! 292 + + + + + The Ocean Wireless Boys + on the Pacific. + + + + + CHAPTER I.--ON THE BROAD PACIFIC. + + +Twenty days out from San Francisco in the vast, heaving desert of the +sea, twenty days of storm, sunshine and calm, the _Sea Gypsy_, the great +white yacht of Jacob Jukes, head of the big Atlantic and Pacific +Shipping Combine, was making her way lazily through the dreamy South +Seas. The vessel was capable of great speed, being known as one of the +fastest craft of her kind. But she was bound on a mission which might +take a long time to consummate, and economy of coal, which was piled +even on her decks, to re-enforce the supply in the bunkers, was +necessary. + +What this mission was remained, so far, a mystery to every one on board +except Mr. Jukes himself, the iron-jawed and impenetrable organizer of +the expedition. Up to this time he had shown no inclination to unburden +himself of his secret, and although the craft was equipped with powerful +wireless of the most modern type, the yacht had received no messages, +nor had she sent any, under orders from Mr. Jukes. + +On this particular evening Jack Ready leaned against the door of the +wireless-room, a converted deck cabin, and covertly watched the +heavy-shouldered, bull-necked form of the millionaire shipping man as +the latter gazed over the rail across the vacant waters at the gorgeous +sunset. + +It was a true pageant of the heavens, such as is only to be seen in the +Southern ocean. Great cloud-masses rose in wondrous forms, like +glorified castle walls and turrets, glowing with purple and gold and +red. Jack found himself following Mr. Jukes' gaze. Although such +spectacles had been almost nightly ones since they had steamed into the +tropics, there was something wild and sinister about the present one +that thrilled him. + +Captain Septimus Sparhawk, the brown, gaunt captain of the yacht, whose +thin face was decorated by two little dabs of grayish whiskers forward +of each ear, passed by. + +"Nothing to do but to look at the sky, eh?" he asked Jack, as a +suspicion of a smile crept over his face. + +"That's about all, sir," rejoined Jack, with a laugh. "I expect to see +spiders spinning webs on my instruments every day. I haven't touched the +key since we sailed." + +The captain shook his head. He was an old and loyal employee of the +shipping man, and not much given to words. But, apparently, now he felt +called upon to express himself. + +"It's a queer business, lad," he said, "and it may get queerer still +before we find out what it's all about. I'm as much in the dark as you +or the cabin boy. But right now that sunset worries me more than +anything else." + +"You're on the look-out for a storm?" asked Jack, noting a sudden look +of anxiety in the captain's pale blue eyes, surrounded by a network of +tiny wrinkles, due to long gazing into salty gales. + +"Worse than that, Ready," was the rejoinder. "This is the hurricane +season in these parts and the glass,--I've just taken a squint at +it,--is dropping as if it never meant to stop." + +"If I could use the wireless----" began Jack. + +"We could probably get a weather reading from some other ship," +interrupted the captain, starting off, "but as it is, we might as well +not have it on board at all. The thing's got me stumped." + +He carried himself off on his long, thin legs but paused to speak to Mr. +Jukes. The ship-owner, although Jack could not hear what was said, +appeared to be agitated somewhat by the captain's words, for he began +puffing rapidly at his after-dinner cigar, sending out smoke like the +exhaust of a locomotive funnel, a sure sign, as Jack had observed, that +he was disturbed. + +"I'll make all snug, sir," the boy heard the captain say, as he turned +away, "and then we will be prepared for whatever happens." + +"Very well, Sparhawk," answered Mr. Jukes, in a somewhat louder voice +than he had used hitherto, "and be sure to see to it that the deck load +of coal is secured safely. They tell me the bunkers are running low." + +As has been stated, the _Sea Gypsy's_ decks were piled high fore and aft +with coal, kept in place by wooden bulkheads, which did not add to the +appearance of the ship and encumbered progress from bow to stern. Only +amidships, where the cabins were situated, was the deck clear. As the +captain ascended the bridge he turned and gave an order to a petty +officer and presently the crew could be seen at work lashing big +tarpaulins down over the coal which was so important to keep the _Sea +Gypsy_ moving on her mysterious mission. + +The news that the coal supply was running low in the bunkers was a +surprise to Jack. He made for Billy Raynor's cabin where the young chief +engineer of the yacht was writing up his "log." + +"Yes, it's right," he rejoined to Jack's question, "the loss of that +deck load would be a serious matter. We're a good many hundred miles +from land and will have to tap the supply before long." + +"Billy, what on earth do you suppose is the object of this voyage?" +demanded Jack abruptly. + +"Blessed if I know, but I'm well satisfied with my promotion and job," +declared Raynor. "Cruising these wonderful seas in a yacht that's a +beauty, even if her decks are all littered up like a cattle boat's, just +about suits me." + +"That's all right, you've got something to do," complained Jack. "But +look at my case. I have to polish up my instruments every day to keep +them from getting rusty." + +"Serves you right for not stopping ashore and enjoying yourself," +chuckled Raynor teasingly. "Since you sold that 'Universal Detector' of +yours to the government you could surely afford to." + +"Just as if I could kick my heels on shore doing nothing," was Jack's +indignant reply, "but it does seem as if it's about time we knew +something of what this voyage is for." + +"Maybe it's just a pleasure cruise to allow Mr. Jukes to get away from +his business troubles," hazarded Raynor. + +Jack shook his head in decided negative. + +"There's more in it than that," he declared positively. "Mr. Jukes is +first of all a man of business. He wouldn't come skylarking across the +Pacific for three weeks if he was just out for a cruise. He'd go where +he could keep in touch with the market and Wall Street." + +"That's so," Raynor was compelled to agree. "Well, I suppose when he +gets ready to spill some information he'll do it. In the meantime my job +just suits me. But what made you ask about the deck coal?" + +"Because Captain Sparhawk says we're in for a bad blow, maybe a +hurricane." + +Raynor's usually cheerful face became suddenly serious. + +"When did he say that?" he asked. + +"Just now. They're putting tarpaulins over it now. If we dropped it, +we'd be in a bad fix, eh, Billy?" + +"We'd have about coal enough left for two or three days," rejoined +Raynor. + +"And after that----?" + +"It would be a case of 'merrily we drift along.'" + +The door gave a sudden sharp slam. A puff of wind, sweeping suddenly +over the hitherto breathless sea, had banged it shut. + +Jack jumped up and swung it quickly open again. + +"Here she comes," he cried excitedly. + +At the same instant the _Sea Gypsy_ gave a sidelong lurch that sent both +lads helter-skelter across the cabin. Outside came a sudden bawling of +voices and a distant, disquieting roar that grew louder every second. + + + + + CHAPTER II.--THE OCEAN IN A RAGE. + + +Directly they recovered their sea legs, both lads made for the cabin +door. A wonderful but alarming spectacle met their eyes. The sunset had +been blotted out as if by magic. In its place was a ragged, inky-black +cloud curtain that was being swept across the sky as if invisible, +titanic hands were swiftly pulling it. + +The sea immediately about them was heaving wildly in great swells that +tumbled the _Sea Gypsy_, rendered less stable by her top-heavy load, +from side to side. Far off, under the rushing black cloud, the forefront +of which was almost over them by this time, was a jagged line of white. + +Mr. Booth, the second mate, bundled up in oilskins, ran past the boys on +his way to the bridge. + +"Better get under cover," he advised as he passed. "This is going to be +a hummer." + +But, fascinated by the majestic sight, both boys stood still, clutching +the rail and bracing themselves for the shock they felt was coming, for +both had guessed that the jagged white line in the distance was a giant +wave. Like a cliff of water it grew as it swept toward them, accompanied +by a howling of the wind that sounded like a witches' carnival. So swift +was its advance that the boys had hardly time to run toward the cabin +when it broke upon them. + +The _Sea Gypsy_ heeled like a ship that had been struck a mortal blow. +For one instant she hung balanced as if she was about to capsize. The +door of the cabin in which the boys had taken refuge was ripped from its +hinges by the terrific force of the impact as if it had been matchwood. + +The next moment both lads were struggling for their lives in a surging, +sweeping smother of water that filled the cabin to the roof. Jack felt +himself clutched by the hands of his chum. Fighting to keep himself +above water, Jack saw that Raynor had been hurled against some object +and been wounded. There was a jagged cut in his forehead. + +He had hardly noticed this, when the _Sea Gypsy_ staggered back to an +even keel. As she did so the water swept out of the cabin like a +millrace, carrying both boys helplessly with it. + +Jack felt Raynor torn from his arms, and the next thing he realized he +was struggling for his life in the waves that reared and roared above +the floundering yacht. + +A month before the events we are describing took place, Jack Ready, the +young wireless operator of the _Sea Gypsy_, and his inseparable chum, +Billy Raynor, had been summoned to Mr. Jukes' New York office and told +that they were detached from duty on the big _Columbia_, the crack liner +of the Jukes' ships, and ordered to pack their things forthwith and meet +the ship-owner at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco within a week. +Neither had demurred, supposing some interest of the ship-owners called +for their presence there. But, much to their bewilderment, they had each +been handed a substantial check by Mr. Jukes on his arrival in the +western metropolis, told to outfit themselves for a long voyage, and +nothing more. Two days later the _Sea Gypsy_ cleared the harbor. + +The acquaintance of Jack and Mr. Jukes had its beginning in certain +events which took place near Jack's quaint home, which he shared with an +eccentric uncle on an old schooner in the Erie Basin in New York. The +rescue by Jack of Mr. Jukes' little daughter, and the result on his +affairs, were fully detailed in the first volume of this series, which +was called "The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Atlantic." This is not the +place to re-tell all the exciting adventures that befell Jack and young +Raynor, who was third engineer on the steamer to which Jack was +assigned, in fulfillment of his ambition to be a "wireless man." + +Nor can we do more here than to hint at the contents of the second +volume. This was called "The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Lost Liner," +and set forth the fate of the _Tropic Queen_. In this book we found Jack +and his inseparable chum steadily progressing in their chosen +professions, and also met several other characters, all of whom had an +important bearing on the events of the boys' lives. Mr. Jukes took +formal recognition of the part Jack played in the disaster that overtook +the _Tropic Queen_, and inwardly resolved that his heroism and devotion +to duty had made him a lad worth watching. + +Still a third volume followed, describing the boys' further adventures. +In the "Ocean Wireless Boys of the Iceberg Patrol," much interesting +information about the manner in which the ocean lanes are guarded from +the white menace of the north, was given. The boys shared in many +thrilling adventures also, and ended by discovering something that an +expedition, at the head of which was Jack's Uncle Toby, had almost lost +through the tricks of a band of hard characters. + +The fourth book setting forth their doings was called "The Ocean +Wireless Boys and the Naval Code." Captain Simms of the U. S. N., after +devising a novel code for the use of this government, through the +machinations of a band of daring rascals, found himself robbed of it. +Wireless played a big part in the recovery of the documents in the long +run, Jack acquitting himself to the delight of the naval officials and +the government by his work in this connection. Some of the miscreants, +whose tricks Jack had helped to frustrate, were sent to prison but +others got free. These latter the boys, though they little suspected it, +were destined to meet again. + + + + + CHAPTER III.--A LONG NIGHT. + + +Blinded, choked and with a red mist before his eyes, and in his ears the +roar of waters, Jack fought the undertow of the retreat of the giant +wave with all his strength. All at once he felt some heavy object hurled +against him. + +The force of the collision almost knocked what little breath remained in +his body out of his lungs. Instinctively he reached out for whatever it +was that had struck him. + +It was a human body. + +The boy had hardly realized this before he found himself flung, panting +and gasping, down upon the deck. Thanks to the stays of the foremost of +the _Sea Gypsy's_ two masts, against which the retreating wave had +pitched him, he had not been drawn overboard. Instead, as the pressure +of water relaxed, it had dropped him and the mute burden he had clasped, +to the deck. + +For a few minutes Jack lay there panting, too much exhausted to exert a +muscle or limb. The unconscious form hurtled against him by the swirling +waters lay at his side. It was too dark for Jack to see then who it was, +or if life remained in the motionless figure. By-and-by, as his strength +came back, he got to his feet and dragged the limp form to a cabin. It +proved to be the one which the great wave had swept from Jack so +unceremoniously. Luckily, although the seas were thundering mountains +high about the laboring yacht, none like that first terrific comber +assailed her. + +Steadying himself on the rocking floor with much difficulty, Jack +fumbled for the electric switch. He found it at last and let on a flood +of light. The radiance shed itself on a pale face with a deeply slashed +forehead that lay at the boy's feet. + +"It's Billy," choked the boy. He got on his knees by Raynor's +unconscious form and gently raised his chum's head. It fell back limply. +A blood-chilling thought surged through Jack and he grew as white as the +lad he held. + +He put his hand hastily over Raynor's heart and a great wave of relief +went through him. His chum's heart was beating, although feebly. It was +not too late to save him. It was a hard task for Jack to stagger across +that bounding, reeling floor, carrying the limp and unconscious Raynor, +but at last he managed to accomplish it, and deposited the injured young +engineer in the bunk that occupied one side of the latter's cabin. Then +he washed and dressed the injury as best he could. + +"Now I'll have to get help," said the boy to himself. "The captain's got +a medicine chest and bandages, but we have no doctor. I'll go and find +the skipper." + +[Illustration: It was a hard task for Jack to stagger across that +bounding, reeling floor, carrying the limp and unconscious Raynor.] + +Out upon the dripping decks, over which a wave crest would every now and +then curl, with a roar like that of a waterfall, Jack once more emerged. +Clawing at hand-holds and desperately clinging on now and then when a +wave threatened to tear loose his grip, he wormed his way forward. As he +reached the bridge deck, he heard a thunderous roar forward, and the +_Sea Gypsy_, as if she had been freed of a burden, made a sudden plunge +skyward, with her bow pointing almost straight at the obscured heavens. + +"There goes the fore-deck load of coal," thought Jack, as he made his +way to where, in the lee of the pilot house some obscure figures stood +huddled. Ten minutes later he and the gaunt form of Captain Sparhawk +were bending over Raynor, as he lay white and still, in his bunk. With +rough skill the captain dressed the wound. + +"It's a wonder that Mr. Jukes wouldn't have brought a doctor along," he +muttered. "He's carrying a rapid-fire gun, so why not sawbones, too?" + +"Where is Mr. Jukes?" demanded Jack suddenly. + +"In his cabin, I guess. I haven't seen him since this ocean tantrum +broke out." + +"The--the rapid-fire gun you spoke about?" asked Jack. + +The other looked at him in some confusion. + +"Confound my habit of talking to myself," he exclaimed. "Did you hear +that?" + +"I couldn't help it," apologised Jack. "Are we going to fight any one?" + +"You must ask Mr. Jukes that," answered the captain, non-committally. +"It's up to him to tell what he wants to. All I know is that there is +one on board. Maybe he brought it along to shoot clay pigeons with. +Maybe not. I don't know." + +"Well," he added, "I've got to get for'ard again. I guess our young +ship-mate will do now. He had a nasty crack though. Both of you are +lucky you're not in Davy Jones' locker." + +All through the rest of that tempestuous night Jack sat by his chum, +dozing off at times and then waking with a start to hear the uproar of +the hurricane as they struggled through it. The dawn showed a troubled +sea, leaping at the yacht as though to engulf her. The wind almost +flattened Jack against the deck house as, Raynor having sunk into a deep +sleep after an interval of consciousness, the young wireless man set out +to see what chance there was for breakfast. + +The companionway to the dining saloon on the deck below was in the after +part of the ship. As he was about to descend an unusually big wave +lifted the _Sea Gypsy_ dizzily skyward, and then rushed her downward. +There was a heave and a crash from the stern and Jack saw the after deck +load of coal vanish like a black avalanche, to be swallowed up in the +maw of the sea. + +"Worse, and more of it," he muttered, as some of the crew who had +narrowly escaped being overwhelmed, set up a shout; "this will be bad +news to give poor old Billy." + + + + + CHAPTER IV.--THE DERELICT. + + +Two days later the hurricane had blown itself out. The storm-stressed +crew were set to work putting things to rights and the yacht put on more +of her normal appearance. But she had been sadly battered for all that. +Two boats were stove in, ventilators smashed and stanchions bent and +twisted by the fury of the waves. + +The flat, oily sea that succeeded the wild turmoil of the hurricane, +heaved gently without a ripple as Jack and Raynor, the latter recovered +but still wearing a bandage round his head, stood looking over the rail +into the glassy waters. + +So transparent was the ocean that, under them, they could see great fish +swimming about slowly and lazily, as if life held no hurry for them. Now +and then a great shark glided by, nosing about the ship for scraps. His +sharp, triangular dorsal fin stuck from his back like a blue steel knife +cutting the surface and glistening like a thing of metal. About these +great tigers of the deep, two smaller fish usually hovered. These were +pilot fish, the strange sea-creatures that invariably accompany sharks, +and are supposed by sailors to pilot them to their prey. + +Then there were queer-looking "gonies," with their flat heads winging +their way above the water and every now and then dropping, with a scream +and a splash, in a group of a dozen to fight furiously over some +drifting morsel. After these tussles they appeared to "run" over the +water to give their heavy, awkward bodies a good start upward. Then, +having attained a certain height, down they would flop again, like +weights shooting through the air, hitting the water with a heavy splash +and sliding, with a white wake behind them, for some feet. + +Schools of nautilus, too, gave them something to look at as the delicate +little creatures, with their thin, membranous sails set, drifted by +under the gentle breeze that hardly ruffled the water. + +"Doesn't look much as if this ocean could ever have kicked up the +ructions it did, eh, Billy?" remarked Jack, after a long silence. + +"It does not," replied Raynor, with a rueful grin, "but I owe it this +crack on the head." + +"And the loss of that coal," chimed in Jack. "No wonder you look glum, +old fellow. We'll never make port on what's below." + +"Not a chance of it," was the rejoinder, "about all we can do is to use +the sails if the worst comes to the worst." + +"Well, as we don't appear to have any port in view, and nothing to do +but to keep on drifting about like another Flying Dutchman, I don't see +that it much matters where we fetch up," commented Jack, with some +irritation. + +It was at that instant that there came an interruption. The voice of the +sea-man at the look-out forward broke the spell. + +"Steamer, ho!" he shouted. + +"Where away?" came a hoarse voice from the bridge, that of Mr. Jolliffe, +the first officer. + +"Three p'ints on the starbo'd bow." + +"Let's go forward and have a look," suggested Jack. "You're not on watch +for some time yet." + +"I'm with you," agreed Raynor. "Anything for variety's sake. Wonder what +ship it is?" + +"Too far off to make out yet," said Jack, as, far off, they could just +about see, by straining their eyes, a small dark speck on the distant +horizon. + +"I don't see any smoke," said Raynor. "Perhaps it's a sailing ship after +all." + +"We'll know before long," was Jack's reply. + +During an interval in which the _Sea Gypsy_ drew steadily toward the +craft that had, by this time, excited the attention of all on board, the +boys saw Mr. Jukes emerge from his cabin and take his place on the +bridge beside Captain Sparhawk. That bronzed mariner handed the +millionaire his glasses and Mr. Jukes' rather fat, pallid face took on +an unwonted hue of excitement as he handed them back. + +The boys standing on the main deck just below the bridge heard the owner +of the yacht putting sharp questions. He showed more animation than he +had at any time during the voyage. The sight of the other craft appeared +to affect him curiously. + +"She's a schooner, Sparhawk." + +"Undoubtedly, sir." + +"But although she has her canvas set she is making no way." + +"That appears to be correct. But there is little wind. Odd though that +she doesn't signal us." + +Mr. Jukes snatched up the glasses again from the shelf where he had laid +them down. + +"Blessed if I can make out a soul on board her, Sparhawk," he exclaimed +presently. "Here, try what you can do." + +He handed the binoculars over to the master of the _Sea Gypsy_. Captain +Sparhawk took a prolonged observation. When he, in turn, laid the +glasses down his thin, mahogany-hued face bore a puzzled look. + +"It's queer, sir, but I don't seem to be able to make out a living soul +either." + +"A derelict, perhaps?" + +"Possibly," assented the captain, and no more was said as, with all eyes +fixed on the strange schooner, the _Sea Gypsy_ drew nearer. The boys +could now make out every detail of the other craft. She was a +trig-looking schooner, painted black, with a flush deck except for her +after house and a small structure astern of the fore-mast. Her canvas +was set but it flapped idly in the light breeze as she swung to and fro +on the Pacific swells. No guiding hand could be seen at her wheel. Not a +soul was visible on her deserted decks. + +There is no more melancholy sight than a sea derelict, the aimless prey +of winds and currents, drifting sometimes for years over the trackless +wastes of the ocean. The boys felt something of this as all doubt as to +human occupancy of the schooner vanished. + +"Deserted, I reckon," hazarded Jack. "Although her canvas appears +perfect, her hull sound and----" + +He broke off sharply. From the abandoned ship there had suddenly come a +sound which, under the circumstances, was particularly depressing and +even startling. + +It was the measured tolling of a bell, like a funeral knell. + + + + + CHAPTER V.--THE "CENTURION." + + +"Hark!" cried Raynor, as the two boys exchanged glances. + +"I have it," exclaimed Jack the next instant. "That's only the tolling +of the ship's bell as the schooner rolls on the sea." + +"My, it gave me a jump though," admitted Raynor. "Hullo, they are +slowing down. Must be going to board her." + +"Evidently," agreed Jack, as the _Sea Gypsy's_ propeller revolved more +and more slowly. + +Captain Sparhawk descended from the bridge. The ponderous form of Mr. +Jukes followed him. The millionaire's face bore a look of strange +excitement. + +"Of course that can't be the schooner," the boys heard him say to the +captain, "but still I can't pass it unsearched." + +His eye fell on the boys. + +"Lads, we are going to board that schooner and try to find out something +about her," he said. "Do you want to go along?" + +These were the first words the boys had had with their employer in some +days. Of course both jumped at the chance, and before many minutes +passed, one of the yacht's remaining boats was being sent over the sea +at a fast clip toward the derelict. Close inspection showed the +schooner's condition not to be as good as it had seemed at a distance. +Her paint was blistered and the oakum calking was spewing out of her +sun-dried seams like Spanish moss on an aged tree. Her sails were +mildewed and torn in many places and her ropes bleached and frayed. +Mingling now with the incessant, melancholy tolling of the bell, came +the monotonous creak of her booms and gaffs as they swung rhythmically +to and fro. + +No name appeared on her bow, although blurred tracings of white paint +showed that one had once been inscribed there. But there was a +yellow-painted figurehead; a stern, Roman-nosed bust of a man, +apparently intended for an emperor or a warrior. + +"We'll row round the stern and take a look at her name," decided Captain +Sparhawk. "We'll have to climb aboard from the other side anyway. There +is no means of scrambling up from this." + +The boat was turned and rowed under the graceful stern of the derelict. +On it, in bold, raised letters, surrounded by a fanciful design, stood +out, in fading colors, the lost craft's name. + +"_Centurion_, San Francisco," read out Jack, with an odd thrill. There +was a sudden exclamation from Mr. Jukes, who had not yet been able to +make out more than the first few letters. + +"What's that?" he exclaimed, in a voice so sharp and tense that the boys +turned and stared at him, as did the boat's crew and Captain Sparhawk. + +Jack repeated his answer and, to his astonishment, Mr. Jukes, the +iron-jawed, self-possessed business man, who had never shown signs of +possessing any more emotion than a stone, suddenly sunk his head in his +hands with a groan. + +"Too late after all," they heard him mutter unsteadily. But when he +again raised his face, although it was ashy pale, he appeared to have +mastered himself. + +"Well, we've reached the end of our journey, Sparhawk," he remarked in a +voice that he rendered steady by an apparent effort. "Let us go on +board, however, and see if we can find some trace of the unfortunates of +the _Centurion_." + +The captain looked as if he would have liked to ask a great many +questions, but something in Mr. Jukes' face rendered him silent. He gave +the necessary orders and the boat was pulled round to the other side of +the schooner. Here they were glad to find some dilapidated ropes +dangling which afforded a means of getting on board. Two sailors, after +first testing their weight-bearing qualities, scrambled up them like +monkeys, and, under the captain's orders, went hunting for a Jacob's +ladder which would support Mr. Jukes' ponderous weight. One was found +and lowered, and soon all stood on the silent decks which for so long +had not echoed the footsteps of a human being. + +"Away forward and muzzle that bell, some of you," ordered the captain +briskly. "The sound of the thing gets on my nerves." + +"Send them all forward," supplemented Mr. Jukes. "Tell them to search +the forecastle, anything to keep them busy. We will examine the cabins +and officers' quarters." + +"Are we to accompany you, sir?" asked Jack hesitatingly. + +For a fraction of a second the millionaire seemed plunged in thought. +Then he arrived at one of his characteristic quick decisions. + +"Why not?" he asked, half to himself it seemed. "Later I shall have +something to say to all of you. You have wondered at the object of this +cruise, no doubt?" + +Captain Sparhawk nodded gravely. + +"I have guessed you had some great end to serve in it, Mr. Jukes," he +said. + +"An end which has now been reached, I fear," said the millionaire +solemnly. "But come, let us proceed with our examination." + + + + + CHAPTER VI.--A MYSTERY OF THE SEAS. + + +At first glance Jack saw that the main cabin of the _Centurion_ was +fitted up with a luxuriousness not common to mere trading schooners. A +silver hanging lamp of elaborate design, silk curtains at the stern +ports, book-cases filled with handsomely bound volumes and the thick +carpets on the floor, clearly indicated that whoever had occupied it had +been above the class of the rough and ready South Sea trader. + +In one corner stood a desk as handsome in its appointments as the rest +of the furniture. But it had been roughly dealt with. The front had been +smashed in, drawers pulled out and papers and documents scattered about +all over the cabin floor. The door to a sleeping cabin leading off the +main apartment was open. Within was the same disorder. Even mattresses +had been ripped open in a hunt for something, the nature of which the +boys could not guess. + +Mr. Jukes hastily rummaged through the contents of the desk, selecting +some papers, casting aside others as worthless, and gathered up on his +hands and knees those on the floor. Then every cabin was searched and in +each the millionaire took a few papers, but the look of anxiety on his +face did not change, and the boys judged he had not found what he was in +search of. + +"Not a solitary clue," he exclaimed with a heavy sigh as, dust-covered +and perspiring from his exertions, he sank down at the long dining table +in the main cabin. For a time he appeared lost in thought and the others +stood about silently. To Jack it was almost awe-inspiring, to see this +over-mastering man of affairs, who bullied whole corporations into his +way of thinking, sitting there in the cabin of the derelict schooner +utterly at a loss, and apparently defeated. At length Mr. Jukes spoke. +His first words were a surprise: + +"I suppose you all have heard of my brother, Jerushah Jukes?" he asked. + +"The traveler and explorer?" asked Captain Sparhawk. "I guess every one +in America knows of him, Mr. Jukes." + +Paying no attention to the captain's reply, the millionaire went on. + +"The papers reported some months ago that he had set out for Central +Africa." + +"I read the account," said Jack, "but----" + +Mr. Jukes waved his hand. The boy fell into an abashed silence; in a +second the millionaire had changed once more from a crushed, defeated +human being into Jacob Jukes, millionaire and king of commerce. + +"He did not go to Africa," he said. "Instead, his destination was the +South Pacific. He chartered this schooner, the _Centurion_, and the last +I heard of him was when he set sail from San Francisco. If no news of +him was received within a certain time I promised him to come in search +of him. You see," he added with a simplicity new from him, "he was my +younger brother and I promised my mother on her death-bed always to look +after him." + +There was a pause. In the silence of the long-deserted cabin they could +hear the dismal creak of the neglected rudder and the bang-banging of +the swinging spars above. + +"We were poor then, miserably poor, and my mother never lived to see the +rise of our fortunes, for as I advanced in business I helped my brother +up, too. But his bent was not for finance. He had a streak of the +adventurous in him. But I put it to paying purpose. I seldom lose on any +venture." Unconsciously as it seemed, the hard vein in Jacob Jukes had +cropped out again. "I decided to put my brother on a paying basis. The +results were good. Concessions in South America, gold mines in Alaska, +and certain South African enterprises were put through, largely through +his instrumentality. + +"And now, to get down to the present time. The _Centurion_ was chartered +to obtain for Mrs. Jukes, who has a craze for expensive and rare +jewelry, the 'Tear of the Sea,' the most famous pearl of the South Seas. +I had obtained information of its whereabouts in the Pomoutou +Archipelago through means which are not important to relate here. I +thought that an expedition to purchase the 'Tear of the Sea' and, +incidentally, other pearls, would be a good investment and keep my +brother, who was getting restless, in occupation. + +"In the meantime, however, a dishonest employee managed to get wind of +what was about to take place and furnished the information to a firm of +European jewelers with agents in New York and all over the world. From +that moment, I rushed through the _Centurion's_ expedition with all +possible speed, for I knew the conditions of competition in the Pacific. +There is little more law among pearl traders than there is north of +fifty-three. My brother knew this as well as I did and realised the +necessity for haste. Moreover, we knew that the European firm was +anxious to obtain, for a royal customer, the very pearl that I was +after. In addition, this firm was known as one of the most unscrupulous +in gaining its ends, and maintained, in the South Pacific, a system of +spies and bullies which brought most of the pearl hunters' prizes into +their hands. Ugly stories have been told of their methods of gaining +their ends--and--and I am afraid the fate of the _Centurion_ will have +to be added to the black list." + +"There is nothing in the papers to show what happened to your brother, +sir?" asked Captain Sparhawk presently. + +"Nothing. They are merely formal documents, ship's papers, clearance +bills and so forth. There is no memorandum relating to the pearl in any +way." + +Captain Sparhawk knitted his brows. For a minute he appeared lost in +deep thought. + +"Do you mind telling us the name of that firm, sir?" he asked at last. + +"There is nothing we can prove against them," said the millionaire. +"They work without their hands showing in any of their ugly +transactions. Their name, however, is F---- & Freres." + +"Of Amsterdam?" queried the captain. + +"The same. They have practically a monopoly of the pearl trade of +Europe." + +"I know that, sir," said the captain, clenching his hands. "They tried +to work their tricks on a ship-mate of mine who went a-pearl trading. +But, sir, to change the subject, did you ever hear of 'Bully' Broom?" + +The millionaire shook his head. + +"I have; and have good cause to remember him," said the captain. "But +none of that at this time. Sir," he continued earnestly, "your brother +may be as safe and sound as we are. He may have the pearl. But if +neither of these things have happened, Bully Broom is the man to look +for if we have to hunt him all over the Pacific. I've sailed these seas +and know that 'Bully' Broom did F---- & Co.'s dirty work for them. He +calls himself a trader, but, like lots of others doing business under +that name in these waters, 'Pirate' would be a sight better name for +him." + +"And you think that this man 'Bully' Broom, as you call him, has +something to do with this mysterious disappearance of my brother?" asked +Mr. Jukes, who had listened with deep attention, willing to hear of any +clue, however slight. + +"I ain't dead sure," said the captain, "but it's my impression that if +the firm you spoke of was after this 'Tear of the Sea,' then 'Bully' +Broom knows where Jerushah Jukes is," and he brought his lean, gnarled +fist down with a thump on the table. + +The old ginger came back into Mr. Jukes' eyes, the wonted crisp +authority into his voice as he snapped out: + +"That being the case, we'll find 'Bully' Broom." + +"No matter where we have to go?" asked Captain Sparhawk, raising his +eyebrows. + +"We'll scour the whole Pacific if necessary. But nobody of the _Sea +Gypsy's_ crew need accompany her against his will. All I ask is that +they remain till we can touch at some civilised port, such as Papeiti or +Honolulu and ship a man in his place. Do you boys wish to stick?" + +"To the finish," came from Jack, and Raynor, standing beside him, nodded +his assent. + +As for Captain Sparhawk, he simply reached out one of his brown hands +toward the millionaire, who clasped it, and said: + +"I'm with you till the bottom drops out of the ship." + +"Thank you, Sparhawk. It's what I expected of you all," said Mr. Jukes +quietly, but his voice shook. + +Thus, in the desolated cabin of the derelict _Centurion_, there was +ratified a bargain that was to lead the boys into strange seas and +stranger adventures. + + + + + CHAPTER VII.--AN OLD ENEMY ODDLY MET. + + +The lads stood on the stern deck of the _Sea Gypsy_, gazing behind them. +On the horizon hovered a tall, black column of smoke. It marked the last +resting place of the _Centurion_, for Mr. Jukes, after ransacking the +cabin of everything associated with his brother, had decided to burn the +derelict, which, if she had drifted into the paths of navigation, might +have proved a dangerous menace. + +"Well, Billy, the mystery is solved at last," said Jack. + +"Yes, and in a way I'd never have guessed in a thousand years. Mr. Jukes +must be very fond of his brother. It's a new side of his character to +me." + +"Same here," agreed Jack. "While he has always been just and kind, I +thought him a regular man of business, with ice-water instead of red +blood in his veins, and his heart in his enterprises only." + +"Just goes to show that you are liable to run up against a streak of +sentiment when you least expect it," said Raynor. + +"I see now why an embargo was put on the wireless," said Jack presently. + +"I can't figure it out. I should have thought he would have used it to +try and locate the _Centurion_." + +"I guess he figured that if he did so, some ship might pick up the +message and it would reach the ears of that Amsterdam firm and they +would find out about this expedition in search of Jerushah Jukes." + +"Perhaps that's it. But there's one thing sure and certain, Jack." + +"And that is----?" + +"That we can't do much without coal." + +"Jove, that's true; I'd forgotten that. What rotten luck! Where is the +nearest coaling place?" + +"Papeiti, in Tahiti, I reckon." + +"How close are we to that port now?" + +"Well, to-day's reckoning puts us in Latitude 29 degrees, 49 minutes." + +"I'll have to look at the map, but that makes it quite a run." The +second mate came bustling up to Raynor. + +"The skipper and Mr. Jukes want to see you in the captain's cabin," he +said. + +"Do you know what about?" asked Raynor. + +"Coal, I think. How much have you got to keep those old tea-kettles of +yours chugging?" + +"Precious little since your gang on deck let that deck-load be washed +overboard," grinned Raynor, as he hurried off. + +The consultation lasted a long time. But at length Raynor returned with +the news that, for as long as possible, full speed was to be made with +the coal in hand, and that then canvas would be spread, for the _Sea +Gypsy_ was schooner rigged and in addition carried a big square sail on +her foremast. + +For two days good time was made, but when Raynor, with a rueful face, +announced that only a few shovelfuls more coal remained in the bunkers, +they were still many weary sea-miles from their destination. However, +sailors are proverbially inclined to make the best of things. The _Sea +Gypsy's_ canvas was bent, and under a spanking breeze they glided, at a +fair speed, over the sparkling waters, while in the engine room the +fires were drawn and the engines grew cold. + +But a steam vessel, while she will behave fairly well under canvas, is +not designed for sail and makes an astonishing amount of what sailors +call "lee-way," that is, the wind, if it blows a'beam, constantly drives +her side-ways, or crab-fashion, of a direct course, so that for every +mile she makes in a forward direction a considerable amount of lee-way +has to be deducted. For this reason all hands looked forward to a long +and tedious voyage before the highlands of Tahiti were sighted. + +Now that there was no doubt as to the fate of the _Centurion_, and no +danger of her being captured, the _Sea Gypsy's_ wireless was set to work +again. But they were traveling a lonely tract of the Pacific, and no +answer came to Jack's messages, nor did he "listen in" on any outside +conversations. + +Captain Sparhawk was in hopes of encountering an English, French or +German cruiser, for all those nations keep war craft in these Pacific +waters to watch out for pearl pirates and other law-breakers, but the +wireless failed to pick any up, although Jack worked it assiduously. + +For two days the favoring breeze that was helping the crippled _Sea +Gypsy_ along held. Then there fell a flat calm, and the glass began to +drop ominously. Captain Sparhawk went about with a grave face. Jack +gathered from a few remarks the reserved seaman had let fall, that he +expected another hurricane. Situated as she was, the _Sea Gypsy's_ +predicament would be a serious one if such a tornado as the one she had +safely weathered were to strike her now. The sailors stood about in +little knots discussing the situation and casting anxious glances at the +horizon. Mr. Jukes and the captain and officers spent long hours on the +bridge in careful consultation. + +Before the sun set, the question as to whether or no the _Sea Gypsy_ was +in for a second fight with the elements was definitely settled. Thunder +and lightning deafened and blinded the voyagers. Rain descended as only +tropical rain can, flooding the decks and blinding the look-outs and the +officers on the bridge. The _Sea Gypsy's_ canvas was reduced, only +enough being kept on to keep her from literally rolling her hull under +the towering water mountains. + +The crew clawed their way about the decks by holding fast to life-lines +which Captain Sparhawk had ordered stretched when the storm broke. +Raynor, coming on deck to report that all was well below, met Jack on +his way back to the lower regions of the ship. + +"Well, old fellow, this is a corker and no mistake," he observed, +raising his voice in order to make it audible above the frantic battle +noises of the storm. + +"It's the worst yet," Jack agreed. + +"And it will be worse than ever before it gets better, according to the +way Captain Sparhawk put it when I reported to him," said the young +engineer. + +"Hullo, what's that?" exclaimed Jack suddenly. + +"We hit something," shouted Raynor. "Look at the watch running forward." + +"Storm or no storm, I'm going forward to see what's up," ejaculated +Jack, and, followed by Raynor, he hurried toward the bow where several +of the oil-skin coated crew were already clustered. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII.--"LAND, HO!" + + +It was a fight every inch of the way, but at last they reached the bow +and found the sailors bending over the recumbent form of a youth. + +"What has happened? What did we strike?" asked Jack of one of the +sailors. + +"Struck a small boat," was the reply. "How it ever lived in this sea is +a wonder. This fellow was in it." + +"Is he all right?" + +"No; about half dead," rejoined the third mate. "Carry him aft, men, and +put him in one of the spare cabins. With care he may pull through. I'm +going to notify the captain," and he hurried off. + +Several men picked up the form of the rescued one. Jack suddenly saw his +face, pale as death, with his wet hair hanging over his forehead. + +"Great guns, Billy!" he gasped. + +"What is it? What's the matter? Do you know him?" queried Raynor. + +"Know him? I should say so. So do you. It's Harvey Thurman." + +"Impossible." + +"Not at all. Take a look at him yourself." + +"By George, you are right. What a strange happening," declared Raynor, +after taking one glance at the youth the crew were bearing off. + +"What in the world can he be doing in this part of the ocean in a small +boat?" wondered Jack. + +"I've no idea. We'll have to wait till he comes to, if he ever does. I +remember hearing now that he had got a job on a Pacific steamer. Perhaps +it had been wrecked and he was a castaway." + +"Possibly," agreed Jack. "I'm glad we saved him, although he has made a +lot of trouble for us in the past." + +As readers of "The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Naval Code" will recall, +it was Harvey Thurman who was assistant wireless man on the _Columbia_ +and whose dislike of Jack and Billy resulted in his joining their +enemies in an effort to discredit them. After the stolen code was +recovered, Thurman was not, like the rest engaged in the rascally +business, sent to prison, but was allowed to go free at the boys' +behest, as they believed he had been badly influenced more than anything +else. + +"So you know him?" said Captain Sparhawk, as they all stood in the cabin +to which Thurman had been taken and restoratives were administered to +the unfortunate youth. + +"Indeed we do," said both boys, and they told the captain something of +their experiences. + +"He is not a desirable character then?" said the captain. + +"I wouldn't say that," said Jack. "We thought he was influenced by bad +companions. But at any rate he had no liking for us. Is he going to get +better?" + +"I think so. See, he is opening his eyes." + +Thurman's face, under the influence of the restoratives, had become +suffused by a faint flush of color. He looked wildly about him. As his +gaze rested first on Jack and then on Raynor he looked like a sleeper +newly awakened from a night-mare. + +"Gracious, am I dreaming?" he gasped. + +"No, my lad," said the captain, "but you had a close call from going +into a sleep from which you never would have awakened." + +"But Ready and Raynor! What are they doing here?" + +"Oh, we're solid enough. Nothing ghostly about us," Jack assured him, +extending his hand. "Congratulations on your narrow escape from death, +and--and we'll let bygones be bygones." + +"I never meant to be really bad," said Thurman weakly. + +"Say no more about it," advised Billy. "But tell us how you came to be +adrift in such a fearful storm in that dinky little boat." + +"Better let him eat some soup first," said the captain, taking a +steaming bowl from the steward, from whom he had ordered it for the +relief of the castaway, "he's half starved." + +The way in which Thurman gulped down the grateful food showed that this +statement was no exaggeration. + +"That's the first food I've had in two days," he declared. "You see, +when the _Galilee_, that was the schooner I was on board of, sank in the +storm some days ago, I escaped in the boat. We launched two altogether, +but I guess the other one was lost." + +"Begin at the beginning," suggested Jack. + +"All right then. It was this way, Ready: After my--er--my little trouble +with you I came west. I got a job as assistant wireless man at a lonely +station on one of the Caroline Islands. But I couldn't stand the life +and resigned. No regular steamers touch there, so I got passage on the +_Galilee_, a little trading schooner for Papeiti. She sprang a leak and +sank, and there was only a loaf of bread and a few cans of meat in the +boat when I shoved off from the sinking hulk. It was all I had time to +put in. What happened after that till you bumped into me and saved me is +like a bad dream. I guess I was crazy most of the time. I never expected +to be saved, and--and I guess it has been a good lesson to me." + +"If it has made you resolve to reform, it will not have been wasted," +said Jack. And he then told Thurman something about themselves. Captain +Sparhawk promised that as soon as Thurman was stronger he would find a +job for him, for the boys' old enemy was penniless, having left his +wallet behind him in his haste at fleeing from the sinking schooner. + +All that night the tempest raged with unabated fury. At times it seemed +as if the yacht must go to pieces, so sadly was she wrenched and +buffeted by the giant combers. There was little sleep for any on board +that night and the day broke wildly on a worried, harried-looking crew. +Shortly before noon the foresail tore away from the bolt ropes, and +split with a noise like the explosion of a cannon. This accident was +almost immediately followed by a shout from the lookout. + +"Land, ho!" + +This cry, ordinarily one hailed with delight by sailors, was not thus +received on the _Sea Gypsy_. Captain Sparhawk had been unable to get an +observation during the days of storm, and what with this, and the heavy +lee drift made by the yacht, he had no idea of his whereabouts. + +At the shout all hands clambered to points of vantage to see what +islands they could be approaching. As the _Sea Gypsy_ rose dizzily on +the top of a great wave Jack saw, with a flash of alarm, that they were +headed straight for a large island dotted with tropical verdure and +tall, wind-bent palms about which rocks bristled menacingly like hungry +fangs awaiting to penetrate the _Sea Gypsy's_ stout hull. + + + + + CHAPTER IX.--THROUGH HIDDEN DANGERS. + + +Critical moments followed. Captain Sparhawk navigated the _Sea Gypsy_ +among the rocks with marvelous seamanship. Time and again a shout of +dismay went up from the sailors as the yacht almost grazed some huge +black rock or scraped a coral reef. But the passage was negotiated with +safety, and finally the sea-battered yacht lay snug and safe in the lee +of the island and all hands drew a long breath of relief. + +"Let go the anchor," came the command, and the cable roared out of the +hawser holes with a savage shout, as if of joy, at the ship's delivery. + +"Where under the sun are we?" asked Mr. Jukes of Captain Sparhawk, as +soon as these maneuvers had been completed. + +"I have no more idea than you, sir," was the reply. "But it looks to me +as if this island must be one of the Pamatous." + +"One of the pearl islands?" asked the millionaire. + +"The very same. But I cannot be sure. Islands are sown pretty thickly in +this part of the Pacific." + +"Are the Pamatou people cannibals?" asked Jack. + +"I don't think so," said the captain, "but before I send a boat ashore I +am going to deal out arms to the landing party. We want to run no risks. +I shall also put a guard on the ship, for these savages are great +thieves and they might see a chance for some piratical tricks in our +dilemma." + +"The machine gun will come in handy then," said Mr. Jukes. + +"Yes, indeed, sir. I'll give orders to have it mounted at once in a +conspicuous place so if any of the gentry ashore have any rascally +designs they can see we're ready for them with a dose of cold lead." + +Jack, after some difficulty, secured permission for himself and Raynor +to go ashore with the landing party. Mr. Jukes, who remained on board, +was unwilling that they take the risk of a hostile attack, but at last +he yielded, and the boys, in high glee, buckled on cartridge belts and +selected rifles from the ship's armory. + +"Keep the rifles in the bottom of the boat," ordered the captain, as +they shoved off, "and don't use them unless you absolutely have to." + +Although the place where they lay was sheltered, the storm was still +howling and shrieking above the island and the sea ran rather high. The +inclement weather, no doubt, explained why no natives had so far been +seen. + +A landing was successfully made in the surf, the men leaping from the +boat and dragging her ashore, waist-deep in water. Dense foliage, among +which could be seen the huge fronds of the banana, and broad-leaved +breadfruit trees grew almost down to the dazzlingly white beach. Further +back great palms, laden with cocoanuts, towered majestically above the +tropic growth. + +"There seems to be no sign of a village here," said the captain. + +"Perhaps it is on the other side of the island," suggested Jack. + +"Well, we'll tramp along the beach and see what we can find," decided +the man in command of the "expedition." + +Four men were told off to guard the boat, with orders to fire three +shots if anything out of the way occurred. The party in search of the +village was to signal in the same way if anything untoward happened and +they needed help. + +"Shall we carry the rifles?" asked Jack. + +"Yes; but try to conceal them as much as possible," counseled the +captain. + +They set off along the beach, walking briskly, for the sand was firm and +hard. Looking back at the anchored yacht, they could see the glitter of +the machine-gun with a man stationed beside it. The gun was trained on +the shore ready for instant use against any possible attack. After +traversing a short distance they came in sight of what appeared to be a +pathway. The condition of it showed that it was much traveled and +probably it formed the high road to the village. + +Captain Sparhawk decided to follow it. In single file the adventurers +advanced along the track which wound in and out, dodging trees and rocks +in a manner peculiar to most savage trails whose makers would rather go +round an obstacle than clear it out of the way. There was a gloomy sky +overhead and the wind boomed dolefully among the palms, making a noise +like sheets of rain falling as their big fan-like leaves rustled and +scraped against each other. + +A hundred rods or so from the coast they found themselves in a ravine +which towered up steeply on each side of the track. This canyon appeared +to penetrate the centre of the island, the interior of which was hilly. + +"I guess the village, if there is one, must be clear round the other +side of the island," said Billy Raynor, between bites at a banana he had +picked from a bush at the side of the trail. Others of the party were +munching on oranges and a fruit the captain called a "custard apple," +the latter a large, brown-colored "apple," filled with a yellow paste +that looked and tasted like custard. + +"There's one thing certain, the high cost of living need never worry +these fellows," remarked Jack. + +"Not if they're content to be vegetarians," said Billy. + +"They don't need to be that," said the captain, "the seas hereabouts +teem with fish--and look there!" + +There was a rush and a clatter of falling stones just ahead of them as a +flock of goats, half-wild creatures, with wonderfully agile legs, leaped +up the sides of the canyon and then, at a safe height, stood gazing down +at the invaders of the island. + +"These South Sea islanders prefer goat's meat to anything except pork," +said the captain; "in fact, the cannibals pay the doubtful compliment to +human flesh of calling it 'long pig.'" + +This mention of cannibalism made the boys feel rather uncomfortable. +Although the captain reassured them and they knew that the horrible +practice of eating human flesh had all but died out in the South Seas, +except in some remote islands, they did not know but the one they were +exploring might prove to be one of the latter. It was just as their +minds were busy with these disquieting thoughts that Jack gave a sharp +exclamation and came to a halt. + +The fronds of a banana tree had parted suddenly in front of the lad who +was in advance of the party. + +Between the green leaves a hideous face, daubed with red and white +paint, suddenly glared out at the boy and then, as swiftly, vanished. + + + + + CHAPTER X.--CHUMMING WITH SAVAGES. + + +So quickly had this happened that none of the others had seen it. But +Jack quickly apprised them of his discovery. + +"If the man's face was painted, would that mean he was on the war-path?" +asked Billy rather nervously. + +"Not necessarily," rejoined the captain, "but still, he might be +hostile. On feast days the natives paint themselves up and that may have +been the reason for his decorations." + +"Ugh! He was hideous enough to stop a clock or scare a locomotive off +the track," exclaimed Jack. + +"The village must be near at hand," said the captain presently. "Let us +press on." + +They had reached the end of the ravine now, having crossed almost the +entire island. The path widened and others branched off from it. But +they stuck to the main thoroughfare and in a few moments came in sight +of a native village lying not far back from the shore and amidst a grove +of magnificent palms. + +The rhythmical throbbing of tom-toms reached their ears and they could +see natives dancing in their peculiar swaying manner to the sound of the +skin drums. Suddenly the dancing ceased. The natives in a swarm, among +them the man with the painted face, descended on the travelers. Many +wore flowers in their hair and others added to these decorations by +brass rings in their noses and ear-rings composed of old china door +knobs. The men were remarkably handsome and the women pretty. + +After the first uncertainty as to their reception, there was no doubt of +their friendliness as they pressed about. Several of them could talk +English and the captain soon learned that they were indeed on one of the +Pamatou group, as he had surmised. The village, which was celebrating a +feast day, was one of two on the island occupied by pearl fishers. The +natives were civilized; schooners and ships frequently touching there. +To the south of them they said were "bad men," meaning cannibals, and +the boys were glad they had not landed on one of them. + +Nothing would do but that the white men must sit down and partake of the +feast which was just ready. The boys stuffed themselves with roast pork, +goat-meat, sweet potatoes, yams, roasted bread-fruit, fish and fruit. +They washed this down with cocoanut milk. During the meal, a young +Pamatouan attached himself to each of the boys. Each of these lads was +about sixteen and wore, like most of the rest, a single white garment, +although some of the natives sported trousers, and a few even had +shoes--which they carried in their hands! + +The two lads, who had thrust their services on Jack and Billy, informed +them that they were their friends and would be so all the time the _Sea +Gypsy_ lay at the island. They waited on the amused boys hand and foot, +not letting them do anything. Jack's acquisition was called Bolabola; +Billy's savage servitor was called, so he said, Anai. Each could speak a +little English and they informed the boys that they were "their friends +for always." From the captain the lads learned that this is a common +custom among the islanders who value the friendship of a white man +highly, and think it an honor and a credit to wait on him. He suggested +giving them some little presents. Jack presented Bolabola with a +pocket-knife and Billy gave Anai a fountain pen, having nothing else +with him. Anai promptly stuck the pen through a big hole bored in the +lobe of his ear and capered about delighted with his new ornament. + +When it came time to go back to the ship, the friendly natives could not +hear of the adventurers trudging back on foot. A great war canoe was +launched and paddled by fifty strapping natives, singing musically, and +so they were paddled round the island in state. On their arrival at the +ship, the boat which had been left under guard was signalled to return, +and presents of calico, straw hats, cheap cutlery and glass beads and +fish-hooks and lines,--the latter highly prized,--were dealt out from +the yacht's stores. The natives swarmed all over the ship and it was +hard to induce them to leave at all. As for Bolabola and Anai, they +refused to go till they had extracted promises from their "friends," +Jack and Billy, to visit them ashore and visit a pearl cave they knew of +along the coast. + +This exactly suited the boys, and their delight, when Mr. Jukes decided +to stay at the island for some days, was unbounded. The reason for the +decision to remain there was arrived at after the millionaire had held a +consultation with Captain Sparhawk. Tahiti was not far off, and that +night Jack was ordered to raise the wireless station on the French +island and find out if a small vessel could not be despatched at once +with coal to replenish the _Sea Gypsy's_ exhausted bunkers. + +The next morning Jack had the satisfaction of informing Mr. Jukes that +the details had been arranged and that a small tramp steamer might be +expected to come to their relief in a few days. The expense was +considerable, but this did not appear to bother Mr. Jukes, who chafed at +the delay in his search for the survivors, if any there were, of the +_Centurion_. + + + + + CHAPTER XI.--THE CAVE OF THE PEARLS. + + +Two days later, following the arrival at the island of the coal ship--a +small, rusty tramp steamer--the boys set out for the village to meet +their friends, who had swum out to the ship almost daily, despite the +sharks, to see the white youths. As they left the yacht they saw +Thurman, who had been put to work in the crew, laboring with the other +blackened "hands" at getting the fuel on board. + +"He doesn't look as if he liked his job much," said Jack. + +"He ought to be glad he's alive," supplemented Billy Raynor. "I wonder +if he has really mended his ways or if it was just the effect of his +scare that made him promise to reform." + +"Impossible to say," replied Jack, "but time will show, I guess." + +The boys found their friends on the beach with a long, cranky-looking +canoe, paddled with wonderfully carved paddles. In the canoe were +bananas, roast pork and other delicacies; also several empty cocoanut +shells. + +"What are those for?" asked Jack, looking at the latter. + +"We put um pearl in them if so be we get any," grinned Anai. + +"Do you really think we'll get any?" asked Billy. + +"No can say. Think cave good place. You ready?" + +"Whenever you are," said Jack, taking his place in the canoe, while +Billy followed his example. The two native lads shoved off and sprang on +board with wonderful agility, driving the canoe through the surf and up +onto the summit of a huge wave, where it hung poised for an instant like +a bird. The next moment they had shot with powerful strokes through the +rollers and were out beyond the danger line of the surf. + +They passed through a noisy fleet of fishers, all of whom greeted them, +and then the canoe was headed for a green headland some distance down +the coast. The sun glowed fiercely overhead, the surf boomed unceasingly +on the beach and the reef beyond, the water hissed along the sides of +the canoe as the two athletic young natives urged forward amid shouts. + +Looking over the side, Jack could see the coral bottom as clearly as if +an inch instead of many feet of water separated it from the frail canoe. +It was almost as if they were floating in the air. Fish of brilliant +colors darted about and once a dark, sinister shade appeared beneath the +canoe. The Kanaka boys shouted and beat the water with their paddles. +The dark shadow melted away. + +"Him very bad shark," said Anai. "White men call him tiger shark. Worst +kind of all shark." + +"I'd hate to bathe around here," observed Jack. + +"Oh, him all right, most generally scare him away, kick, splash, makee +big noise, he go 'way." + +"Yes, but suppose he refused to be scared," objected Billy. + +"Then maybe he takee off leg, arm, maybe swallow you all up." + +The long, curved point soon hid the fishers in front of the village from +view. Rounding it, they found themselves skimming along a coast of +surpassing beauty. Steep, majestic cliffs arose from the clear water and +long green creepers from the forest above trailed over them. + +At last the prow of the canoe was turned and the boys saw that the +furious paddlers were heading at top speed for the cliffs. + +"Hey, stop that, you'll smash the canoe!" cried Jack, as, without any +diminution of speed, the canoe was urged with wild shouts from the +paddlers right at the rocky escarpment. + +"They've gone crazy," exclaimed Billy, "they----" + +He did not conclude what he was going to say. Instead, he set up a cry +of alarm as the prow of the canoe was hurled at the cliff at a spot +where a regular curtain of lianas and other forest trailers depended +from above. + +Swish, whoosh, went the canoe, as it shot through the parasites and +creepers. The boys instinctively ducked their heads. Instead of being +dashed to destruction against the cliff, the frail craft had been guided +into this singular cave, one of many along the coast, through the +greenery portal. Both the Kanaka boys set up a shout of laughter at the +expense of Jack and Billy, who looked rather sheepish at their late +alarm. + +They were in a dark passage that led into an inner water cave filled +with an eternal sunless twilight that was very refreshing to them after +the heat and glare outside. The canoe shot through the passage and into +the cave itself, the boys uttering a shout of admiration the while. + +"Look," said Anai, pointing upward. + +Overhead was a marvelously perfect, natural dome, with a large hole in +the centre through which shafts of sunlight fell into the cave and were +reflected from the water with a greenish light. + +"Look," ordered the Kanaka boy again. + +The boys obeyed and gazed over the side of the canoe. Below them, +through several feet of crystal-clear water, they could see bowers of +coral, white and pink, with fish darting in and out of the chinks and +crossing prismatically, while others hung motionless as if suspended, +fanning the water incessantly with their gauzy fins. It was the most +wonderful water picture the boys had ever seen. + + + + + CHAPTER XII.--A TRAP! + + +"We eat. Then we go get pearls," decided Anai. + +The boys, whose appetites had been sharpened by the trip, were not +averse to this, and they made a hearty meal. After it the two native +boys produced leaves in which betel nuts had been carefully wrapped up +and offered them to Jack and Billy, both of whom declined them. But Anai +and his friend began chewing the spicy nuts with great zest. + +A canoe-length from where they floated a clear rill of water stole +noiselessly down from above, mingling its sweet waters with the sea. +After demolishing their betel nuts, the chewing of which is a well-nigh +universal custom in the South Seas, the two native boys stood erect and +then bound their long black hair in knots on the top of their heads. + +Then, with a shout, they balanced gracefully for a second on the edge of +the canoe and plunged over. They floated for a minute or two and then +dived, after inhaling immense breaths. To the boys, watching the divers +through the clear water, it looked as if they were literally climbing +down, head first, through the pellucid depths. + +Then they saw both the Kanaka lads wrenching oyster shells from their +hold on the coral with furious energy. It seemed impossible that they +could stay under water as long as they did, but at length, even their +wonderful endurance gave out and, laden with shells, they shot back to +the surface. + +Reaching the canoe, the two divers hung almost exhausted on the +outrigger, regaining their breath after they had thrown several oysters +into the canoe, which the boys opened eagerly, but only two small pearls +rewarded them. The two Kanaka boys showed plainly the stress of the long +time they had stayed down. Their eyes were bloodshot and their faces +suffused. Their veins stood out on their bodies like cords. + +The boys begged them not to go down again, but they insisted. + +"How often do you mean to dive?" asked Billy. + +"One, maybe two, three time," said Anai. + +"Nobody can dive more than three time," declared the other. "Him bad if +dive too many time. Makee much sick." + +"I should think so," said Jack. "I wouldn't have thought it possible for +any one to stay down so long. It's wonderful." + +The next two dives yielded three more pearls from a dozen or more +oysters. None of them were of any great value but the two divers +insisted on presenting them to the boys. + +"Me try get you very good pearl some udder day," promised Anai, and his +companion nodded to show that he meant to help in the enterprise. + +"Hullo, what's that?" asked Jack suddenly, after they had chatted and +rested for some time and began to think about returning. There was a +booming sound in the air and the waters of the cave began to become +agitated, rocking the canoe dangerously. + +Overhead, through the dome, they could see that the sky had darkened. + +"Me think storm come. Better get out of here," said Anai, looking +troubled. "Him bad time of year for storms." + +"Goodness, I should say so," declared Jack. "We've been in two bad ones +already." + +"That's how we got blown here," added Billy. + +"We thinkee that good storm blow you here, white boys," said Anai. + +The sky grew darker, and every now and then a big roller entirely filled +the mouth of the cavern, blinding them with spray. Having spent its +fury, these great waves retired with a concussion that was deafening, +dragging the canoe with fearful velocity toward the mouth of the cave by +its suction. At such times they only saved themselves from being swept +out to sea by grasping the hanging curtain of creepers and vines. Anai +and his companion baled the canoe with a big shell, but the boys felt +that their position was an awkward and even a dangerous one. + +Another great wave burst, sealing up the cave as if it was an air-tight +compartment, and making the waters of the cavern boil and seethe +furiously. The pressure of air caused by the sudden rush of water +affected the boys' ears as if they had been suddenly placed in a +caisson. + +"This is terrible," cried Jack. + +"Something will have to be done," said Billy. "We can't last in here +much longer." + +"Are we in danger, Anai?" asked Jack. + +"We in very bad fix; but we getee out all right," the Kanaka assured +him, stopping his bailing. + +"They've got some plan in their head," decided Jack, and sat down in the +bottom of the cranky, frail canoe to see what the next move was to be. +It was a startling one. The two youths seized their paddles and then, as +the next wave receded, they shot out of the mouth of the cave like a +bomb from a mortar, before either Jack or Billy could guess their +intention or stop what seemed sheer madness on the Kanakas' part, and +placed all their lives in grave danger. Outside they found themselves in +the teeth of a howling gale. Spray blinded them, flying over them in +sheets. + +Nothing more was said, nothing seen. The air was darkened with flying +spume. It seemed impossible that the canoe could live a minute. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII.--ON THE REEF. + + +The two lads crouched, drenched through, on the bottom of the canoe, +while the Kanaka boys paddled furiously. Giant waves, true mountains of +water, hung above them threatening to engulf them, but the canoe rode +them with what appeared incredible buoyancy. + +How long this kept up, neither Jack nor Billy ever knew. It seemed like +years. Dizzy and sick from the riotous motions of the canoe as it swung +wildly between sea and sky, they lost all count of everything. But the +struggle was nearing its end. + +Suddenly a giant comber caught up the dugout, turtled it skyward and +then rushed it sickeningly down. It lifted the craft over the reef and +into the open sea. For one instant it hesitated and then spun round in +the trough of the sea. The next moment it was smashed into slivers +against the reef while an avalanche of waters carried all its occupants +down into the depths before they had time to even shout their +consternation. More dead than alive, Jack shot back to the surface +again. Not far from him was a projecting point of the reef. He managed +somehow to crawl to it, but as he made his progress along the lower +lying portions of the coral wall he was swept time and again by waves +and compelled to exert all his strength to avoid being dashed off. At +length, with hands cut and bleeding from the rough coral, and his +clothing in shreds, he reached his refuge and was almost immediately +joined there, to his great relief, by Anai and his comrade, who had +rescued Billy Raynor. + +But it was a miserable refuge they had found. The projecting point of +rock hardly gave room for all of them, and frequently waves swept over +it. At all times they were choked and blinded with spray. + +"Well, this is the limit," declared Billy. "Never again for me so far as +pearl hunting is concerned." + +"Nor for me either," said Jack. "Still, it was our fault for not +watching the weather." + +"How long will the storm last, Anai, do you think?" inquired Billy, a +little later. + +The Kanaka boy looked at the weather with a practiced eye. + +"Him get better soon," he said. "Him not bad storm." + +"Not a bad storm!" exclaimed Jack. "Well, if this isn't one, I never +want to see one." + +"Sometimes hurricane season come blow whole village away," Anai assured +him. + +"I hope this won't be a hurricane," said Jack. + +The Kanaka shook his head. + +"Bimeby him go way," he assured them. "Look blue sky way off there now." + +Sure enough, in the far north-west, from whence the hurricane had come, +a shaft of sunlight was striking the sea. Behind them they could see the +storm retreating. Before long the sea had quieted down and the wind +dropped almost completely. + +"Well, we are better off in one respect," said Jack, as they lay about +on the reef, basking in the hot sun and drying their wet garments, "but +how are we to get ashore?" + +The question was answered by Anai. + +"Me swim, get canoe. Soon back," he said. + +The next moment his lithe brown form was in the water. To protect +himself against sharks, he carried a long knife, fashioned out of iron +wood, which was slung round his neck by a lanyard. It was as tough and +hard as steel, and he appeared to have no doubt that he could protect +himself with it against the great fish. + +Half-way to the shore a triangular fin came cruising near him and the +boys dreaded to see a tragic end to their island friend. But Anai set up +diabolical yells and kicked up a great splashing in the water and the +sea monster sheered off again. + +"Shark him big coward," said Anai's friend, who had remained behind with +the boys. Directly Anai landed he turned and waved and then set off at a +sharp run along the beach. Before they expected him he was back again +with a canoe, and thus an adventure which might have had disastrous +consequences ended safely. But it was a long time before the boys ever +forgot it. + +The next morning Jack and Billy were leaning over the rail of the _Sea +Gypsy_, chatting and watching the sharks that swum around the ship +eagerly watching for scraps from the galley. The coal was nearly all +unloaded from the small, rusty tramp that had brought it, and all hands +were looking forward to a resumption of the journey. + +In the meantime, Mr. Jukes had been investigating ashore and learned, +from some natives, that the "Tear of the Sea" had actually been bought +by his brother, and that just after the purchase, the _Centurion_ had +sailed away. Not long after, 'Bully' Broom's ship arrived, and the sea +rover was informed of the sale. He was furious as it appeared that, in +accordance with his usual practice, he intended to raid the village and +take possession of the wonderful pearl by force. Mr. Jerushah Jukes' +arrival ahead of him had, of course, frustrated this plan. According to +the best information he could get, the millionaire learned that "Bully" +had at once put to sea in pursuit of the _Centurion_. The finding of the +empty derelict left little doubt that he had attacked the schooner and +imprisoned, or worse, perhaps killed, all those on board her. + +This, in its way, was well enough, but it left the fate of the party +still a mystery, and their whereabouts unknown, for "Bully" had half a +dozen retreats scattered through the South Seas where he might have +taken them, for even Captain Sparhawk did not believe that the ruffian +would have dared to kill them. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV.--BATTLING MAN-EATING SHARKS. + + +"Like a chance to catch one uv them bastes, Mishther Riddy?" asked Tim +Muldoon, the Irish quarter-master of the _Sea Gypsy_, who paused near +where the boys were standing watching a mighty commotion in the water +made by two great tiger sharks fighting desperately over a piece of +spoiled pork that had been thrown overboard. + +"What would we do with it when we had it?" asked Jack with a smile. + +"Shure there's a certain part of the cratirs that makes illigint ateing. +Meself and several other la-ads in ther crew wouldn't have iny +objictions at all, at all to a bit of shar-ark steak if so be y'u'd +loike to hook one." + +"What do you say, Billy?" asked Jack. + +"That it would be good fun. But what sort of a rig do you use? No use +taking an eight-ounce rod and a dry fly or a hand line to those +fellows." + +"Shure oi've got a foine shar-ark hook up forward. I'll go git it fer +yez," declared Muldoon, hurrying off. + +He was back before long with a hook that looked like one of those used +by butchers on which to hang whole carcasses. Attached to this was a +length of steel chain with a swivel, and above a stout rope some hundred +feet in length. Billy Raynor went below to the cook's quarters and soon +came back with a big chunk of pork which was stuck on the hook. + +"How'll we haul him out if we do get one?" Billy wanted to know, as the +bait struck the water with a splash. + +"Just give a holler and I'll git some uv ther byes uv ther crew to lind +yez a hand," declared Muldoon. "Sure 'tis foine spor-rot ye'll be hivin' +intirely--wow! murtha! Watch yersilf Misther Raynor!" + +There had come a sudden vicious rush of one of the sea-monsters at the +hook. Turning its hideous jaws upward, the ravenous creature had +literally swallowed "hook, line and sinker." It happened that at that +precise moment Billy alone had hold of the rope. + +As the shark's jaws gripped the hook and its sharp point sunk into his +flesh, the creature made a mighty rush. It caught Billy unprepared as he +stood by the rail, a section of which had been removed while the crew +polished the brass work. + +Before he realised what was happening a coil of the rope entangled his +legs. Like a bullet from a gun, he was whisked off the deck and through +the air into the sea, which Jack knew was alive with sharks. It had all +happened so suddenly that the last of Muldoon's alarmed cries had not +left his lips before poor Billy was towed away from the ship by the +maddened shark, unable to make a move to extricate himself. He was +barely able to breathe, in fact, being half submerged. + +Paralyzed for an instant, Jack regained his faculties with an effort. +Captain Sparhawk, who had seen the whole affair, was the first to take +definite action, however. He issued an order for a boat to be lowered at +once and then dashed into his cabin for a pistol. + +"Hurry, Sparhawk, for Heaven's sake," urged Mr. Jukes, who had also been +a witness of the accident. "The poor lad will be drowned or eaten alive +by the other sharks if we don't act promptly." + +But the captain was already out of earshot. Muldoon and two other +sailors were at the oars of the boat as he tumbled into it, followed by +Jack, who, in his haste, did not stop to ask permission to come. +Luckily, the shark, instead of taking a straight course out to sea, was +dashing round and round in circles. This gave them a chance to save +Billy's life, for had the great fish pursued a straight course, Raynor's +fate would undoubtedly have been sealed. + +"Row for your lives, men," urged the captain, standing erect, pistol in +hand, awaiting the first opportunity for a shot at the shark. + +"Shure thare's no nade to till us thot, captain, dear," cried Muldoon. +"We'll git the poor lad if we have to pull our own heads off." + +The shark now made a swift dash for the bow of the _Sea Gypsy_. Behind +him, at a distance of about seventy-five feet, poor Billy's body could +be seen being rushed through the water with a "wake" behind it like that +of a fast steamer. Jack could see his chum's face, which was ashen +white. But from the glimpse he had of it, the young wireless man was +sure that Billy was still alive, marvelous though that seemed. For half +the time, owing to the manner in which he was attached to the shark, the +unfortunate lad's head was under the surface of the water. + +Bang! Captain Sparhawk's pistol spoke as the shark crossed the bow of +the boat which had been instantly turned to follow the creature's new +tactics. + +"Missed," he groaned. + +"No," cried Jack, an instant later. "See, the water is red behind him! +You hit him." + +"Yes, but I fear not mortally. These creatures have an amazing grip on +life," was the despondent reply. + +And now a fresh element entered into the scene. Round the bow of the +yacht, toward which the shark, with its human burden, was dashing, there +suddenly appeared a long, slender canoe with two lithe young native +figures propelling it. It was Anai and his friend, the sworn allies of +the boys. + +For an instant, as the extraordinary scene presented itself to them, +they stood like bronze figures. Then the full meaning of the impending +tragedy appeared to strike them. With a simultaneous cry each grasped +his great iron-wood knife and without the slightest hesitation leaped +overboard. + +"They are going to save him!" cried Jack exultingly, as the two Kanaka +boys fearlessly clove the shark-infested water to attack the monster +that had abducted Billy. + +"And lose their own lives," exclaimed the captain as several dark fins +appeared in the water about the two intrepid youths. + + + + + CHAPTER XV.--A MESSAGE FROM THE DEEP. + + +The scene that ensued was one that lingered long in the recollection of +those who saw it. Uttering loud yells, the two native boys bore down on +the shark that had poor Billy in tow. + +Each taking a side they dashed upon it with fury. As they gained its +flanks their arms flashed up and the next instant their great iron-wood +knives were buried hilt-deep in the tough skin. The watchers saw the +great shark give an upward leap and the water was dyed crimson. + +"They reached his vitals. Hurrah for them," cried Captain Sparhawk. +"Bear down on Billy, lads. I reckon the shark is done for." + +They were none too soon. After being disentangled from the rope that had +caused all the trouble, Billy was hauled into the boat just in the nick +of time. The rope had grazed and chafed his legs cruelly, but except for +the great amount of water in his lungs he had suffered no other injury. + +But no sooner had this been done than another necessity arose. The brave +Anai and his companion were surrounded by a school of sharks attracted +by the blood of the creature the two young Kanakas had despatched. So +far, by splashing furiously, and screeching at the top of their voices, +the native youths had succeeded in keeping the monsters at bay, but it +was doubtful for how long they could do so. + +"To the rescue, lads," cried Captain Sparhawk, replacing the cartridge +he had discharged. "Give way with a will. I wouldn't wish to see either +of those brave lads harmed." + +In a few seconds they were in the midst of the school of sharks that had +assembled as if by magic, ravenous for the flesh of their dead brother. +The captain's pistol spat lead right and left, and at that short range +the effect of the bullets was deadly. In a few minutes five of the sea +monsters were dead. But far from being scared off the rest fell +furiously upon these, making upward rushes, exposing their huge mouths +with their triple rows of needle-like teeth. + +Leaving them to their cannibal feast, Anai and his companion were hauled +on board and at Muldoon's special request the body of the brute that had +almost caused Billy's death was taken in tow. + +"I'll make you byes some handsome watch-charms out of his teeth fer +remimbrancers," he promised. + +"As if we needed anything to remind us of it," shuddered Jack. + +"Just think, if it hadn't been for Anai here and Bolabola I'd have been +past saving by now," cried Billy, warmly ringing their hands. + +"You may well say that, lad," agreed the captain. "They saved you from +visiting Davy Jones, without a doubt." + +"We your friends. Must save you even if it cost our lives," said Anai, +looking embarrassed. + +"Shure an' thot's more than many a white man wud say," approved Muldoon +warmly. "Byes, give us yer flippers. Ye may hav' black skins, but be +jabers yer hearts is pure gold entoirely." + +The canoe was taken in tow and the whole party returned to the yacht, +where they received more congratulations from the others on board who +had watched the whole affair spell-bound with alarm and then with +admiration at the Kanaka boys' brave act. The decks rang with cheers as +they came on board, Captain Sparhawk and Jack supporting Billy, who was +still white and shaky. + +Mr. Jukes' enthusiasm for Anai and Bolabola knew no bounds. The +millionaire wanted them to accept a handful of gold pieces each. But the +lads shook their heads. Gold was of little use to them. But other +presents which were showered upon them they accepted gladly. There was +almost a canoe-full of them, ranging from gaudy neckties to a broken +concertina, the latter being presented by Muldoon. It could emit, upon +coaxing, a few wheezy notes, and the brown boys appeared to prize it +quite above any of their other gifts. + +In the meantime, on the foredeck, to which the body of the great shark +had been hoisted by slings, the members of the crew, who understood such +operations, assisted by Muldoon, were cutting up the monster. From time +to time they flung useless bits of offal over the side. A scramble from +such of the sharks as had disposed of the dead bodies of their +companions instantly ensued. Sharks are the most rapacious of any +creatures on land or sea, and their appetites appeared to have been +slacked in no important particular by their cannibal meal. + +"Bad luck to yez," exclaimed Muldoon, shaking his fist at them after one +of these rushes, for every sailor hates a shark. "There's many a thrue +lad gone to his long rickonin' through yez or yez mates. Bad cess to all +uv yez, says Tim Muldoon." + +An interested group, among whom were Jack and Billy, watched the +proceedings from the bridge. Mr. Jukes was no less interested than the +rest. He attentively watched the sharks as they fought. Perhaps their +feverish rapacity reminded him of certain "big business" operations at +home in the States where great corporations have been not unknown to +gobble up their small competitors as hungrily as any tiger shark. + +"Hullo, they seem to have found something interesting," said Jack, as a +murmur arose among the butchers who suddenly crowded round Muldoon, +chief of the dissectors. + +"It's a bottle," cried Billy Raynor. + +"Look here what I found in the hongry divil's stomach," exclaimed +Muldoon, holding up his find. "Be jabers, he must hav' a digestion a +dispiptic millionaire would invy to ----" + +He stopped short, covered with confusion, as he suddenly recalled that +Mr. Jukes suffered from the very complaint he had mentioned. + +"Bring that bottle here, Muldoon," ordered Captain Sparhawk, in order to +save what threatened to be an awkward situation, for Mr. Jukes had +turned as red as a turkey-cock and the boys had had to turn away to hide +their smiles. + +The quartermaster hastened aft with the bottle. It was encrusted with +deposits apparently caused by the acids of the shark's stomach. But when +Captain Sparhawk held it to the light, he could see that contained +within it was some object. + +"There's something inside it," he said. + +"By jove, perhaps a letter from some shipwrecked sailors," exclaimed Mr. +Jukes. + +"Such messages are often frauds, sir," observed the captain. "If it +should prove to be such, I'd be wary about replying to it." + +"Well, let's have a look at it, whatever it is," said Mr. Jukes. "This +is really interesting." + +They all crowded about, even the Kanakas, as the captain smashed the +bottle on the rail. A rolled-up paper dropped on the deck. Jack, at +whose feet it had fallen, picked it up. He opened it and saw that it was +scribbled on with pencil. + +"It seems ----," he began, when a sudden exclamation from Mr. Jukes +checked his further utterance. + +"Let me look at that paper," commanded the millionaire, who, they now +noticed, was breathing quickly and whose eyes shone with feverish +excitement. + +Jack handed it over, while they all regarded the millionaire's agitation +curiously. With hands that shook, the financier scanned the letter and +then made an electrifying announcement in a voice that was tense and +self-controlled, but yet betrayed the excitement under which he labored +as he spoke. + +"Gentlemen, the age of miracles has not passed," he said. "When Ready +first opened the paper, I thought I recognized a peculiar handwriting. I +was not wrong. This message was written by my brother!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVI.--ALIVE ON THE SEA. + + +"Incredible!" exclaimed Captain Sparhawk, unable to think of anything +else to say at the astounding information. + +"But, nevertheless, true. Sparhawk, this message confirms the truth of +your theory about 'Bully' Broom. That rascal attacked and overcame the +unsuspecting crew of the _Centurion_, and obtained the 'Tear of the +Sea'." + +"The infernal scoundrel," breathed Captain Sparhawk. "There is not +another man in the South Seas who would have dared such a coup. But does +the message give any clue to your brother's fate, sir?" he added +respectfully. + +The millionaire's face glowed and suddenly lost its careworn look. + +"That's the best part of it," he explained. "But come to my cabin, +captain--yes, Ready, you and Raynor may come, too," he added as he +intercepted anxious looks on the boys' faces. + +Inside the cabin the millionaire spread on the table the yellowed, +scribbled bit of paper that just then meant more to him than any +document he had ever seen in his life. + +"I'll read aloud," he said, and then, in a clear voice, he recited the +contents of the missive. + + "Any one finding this please notify my brother Jacob Jukes of + New York, who will reward him lavishly for the trouble. This is + being written on board 'Bully' Broom's schooner, _South Sea + Lass_. We are all prisoners and the 'Tear of the Sea' is in the + ruffian's possession. We are being taken, as I overheard, to + Bomobori, in New Guinea, with what object I cannot say. May + Heaven help us in our desperate strait. I am throwing this, with + a prayer to Heaven that it may be found, from the window of the + cabin in which I am confined. + + Jerushah Jukes." + +"I know Bomobori well," exclaimed Captain Sparhawk, as Mr. Jukes +finished reading. "I was there in '87 and again in '89." + +"What sort of a place is it?" inquired Mr. Jukes. + +"Not much of a town," was the reply. "It is at the mouth of a river that +penetrates a wild country. If 'Bully' Broom wished to hide his captives, +he could not have taken them to a better place." + +"Sparhawk," and the millionaire's voice was vibrant with determination, +"how long will it take us to get there?" + +"I should say not more than a week. But we should have to re-coal at +Tahiti if we are to make the run at top speed. How about that, Raynor?" + +"You're right, captain," said the young engineer. "I'll guarantee to run +the _Sea Gypsy's_ engines faster than they were ever run before, but +I've got to have the coal to do it with." + +"That steamer is through coaling us now?" asked the millionaire, after +he had made a few calculations on a scrap of paper. + +"They emptied the last of their load an hour ago," said Captain +Sparhawk. + +"Good," was Mr. Jukes' response. "Send the captain to me and I will give +him my check. Raynor, how soon can you have steam up?" + +"In an hour, sir," responded the young engineer. + +"Splendid; make all the time you can. Every moment is valuable now. +Ready----" + +Jack was all attention. Into the millionaire's manner had come a snap +and a grip of affairs that had not been there since they had sailed. He +had something tangible to go upon now, and was plainly prepared to make +the most of it. + +"Ready," he went on, "I want you to raise Tahiti at once. Order coal to +be ready for us when we arrive and have a force of men engaged to hustle +it on board without loss of time." + +"Yes, sir," rejoined Jack, hurrying from the cabin. + +Within a few minutes the entire atmosphere of the ship appeared to be +charged with electricity and bustle. Black smoke volleyed from the stack +and the roar of escaping steam soon came from the relief pipe. Anai and +his companion, almost in tears at the thought of parting with the boys, +were sent ashore, and final preparations made for the start. + +Shortly before sun-down Raynor reported all ready in the engine room. + +"Very well, captain," said Mr. Jukes, "you may get up your anchor." + +The necessary orders were soon given and as the chains rattled home +through the exhaust pipes the yacht swung her bow gracefully seaward. A +big crowd of canoes and the small tramp, which had also taken up anchor, +accompanied her some distance out to sea. + +The natives raised their voices in melancholy songs as they paddled, and +from time to time cried out: + +"Come back, white men." + +Among them Jack and Raynor recognized Anai and the other young Kanaka. +Both lads felt a genuine regret at leaving the brave, likeable young +natives, but ahead of them they felt lay experiences which for the time +being put all other emotions out of their minds. The _Sea Gypsy_, +rushing ahead at top speed, soon left the rusty tramp, her consort, far +behind. By dark only the summit of the island was visible on the +horizon. It sank quickly from sight, and when the first stars appeared +the _Sea Gypsy_ was alone on the sea. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII.--AN ENCOUNTER AT BOMOBORI. + + +It was on a clear day a little more than a week later that the lookout +announced land dead ahead. All on board knew that it must be New Guinea, +the wild and little known country where Mr. Jukes had confident hopes of +finding his lost brother. Captain Sparhawk made an excellent +"land-fall," as sailors call it, and by night they came to anchor off +Bomobori. + +It was a beautiful scene. The waves dashed against a golden strand. +Behind lay vast and mysterious forests, looking dark and uninviting in +the evening light. Beyond the forests rose great mountains veiled in the +bluish mist of the far distances. As darkness fell, the lights of +Bomobori began to twinkle, casting reflections in the still waters of +the harbor and river, the mouth of which latter could be seen to the +north of the town. + +"Well, I'm ready to go ashore," remarked Raynor, as he joined Jack on +deck at the conclusion of his duties in the engine-room. "It will +certainly feel good to put foot on shore once more." + +"Indeed it will," agreed Jack, warmly. "I'm anxious to get a look at New +Guinea too. It's a country about which very little is known--I mean so +far as the interior is concerned." + +"Well, we are likely to have plenty of opportunity for exploration," +said Raynor. "I heard Mr. Jukes telling the captain that he believed, +from what he had heard about 'Bully' Broom at Tahiti where he is well +known, that the rascal has a secret hiding place in the interior +somewhere." + +"Then it's likely to take a long time to locate him," said Jack. "This +is a pretty big country and very densely wooded, with big mountains and +rivers galore. I'm afraid it's a needle and hay-stack job." + +"I expect Mr. Jukes means to get a clue in Bomobori, where Broom is +probably well known," hazarded Raynor. + +"That is probably his idea," said Jack. "Anyhow, he is not a man who +would give up his purpose for any ordinary difficulties." + +It was decided not to leave the yacht till the morning. It can well be +imagined then that the sleep of the boys that night was not as sound as +usual. Both lay awake wondering what lay before them, and whether they +would succeed or fail in the mission, for that evening Mr. Jukes had +appointed them members of the expedition, and declared that he would +rely upon them to the uttermost to aid him. + +It was then that Jack had made a suggestion. The yacht was to be left in +the harbor with a crew to guard her, but communication with her might be +important, even necessary, if they were driven to some other part of the +coast and were unable to return to Bomobori. + +Jack's suggestion was that, with the spare parts of the ship's wireless, +of which a big stock was carried, he should construct a portable radio +apparatus by means of which they could at all times be in touch with the +yacht. He had an idea that he could do this easily. Thurman, who had +been conducting himself in an irreproachable manner, could be left in +charge of the _Sea Gypsy's_ plant with perfect safety, the boy felt +confident. And so, subject to his success with a portable set, it was +arranged. + +"This doesn't appear to be much of a town," observed Raynor, as they +landed the next day, a little before noon, in a warm, gentle shower of +rain such as frequently swept across the island at that time of the +year. + +"Well, you could hardly expect to find it a New York or London, you +know," rejoined Jack. + +In truth Bomobori was a very fair specimen of a town in that section of +the world. Along the water front, back of which squatted a line of +tin-roofed warehouses, were moored native craft from up the river with +bamboo cabins and great lattice sails that housed a whole family of +natives. In spite of the rain it was warm and steamy, and a strange +assortment of odors greeted their nostrils as the boat was run up to the +principal dock and made fast. + +The population was a very mixed one. Pallid white men, who looked like +Frenchmen for the most part, rubbed elbows on the water front with +Chinese, Lascars, Malays, Javanese and the wild-looking Papuans from the +interior with their frizzed hair and ornamental cloaks of bird skins and +long spears. Here and there a stout German in white ducks waddled by +with a sun-helmeted Englishman. There appeared to be quite a lot of +trading going on. + +But they were anxious to hurry on to the hotel where Mr. Jukes hoped to +begin the inquiries which he was sanguine would result in his finding +his brother. The hostelry for which they were bound lay some squares +back from the water front. It was situated, like most tropical hotels, +in a park in which flowers and shrubs of all kinds grew luxuriantly, and +bright colored birds flew with harsh cries, like (bright) jewels, among +the brilliant foliage. It was a two-story affair in front of which a +fountain plashed coolingly in the hot, heavy air. Verandas, upon which +every room opened, completely surrounded each story. + +They entered the office where the hand baggage they had brought was +picked up by barefooted, white-garmented servants. Mr. Jukes was bending +over the register writing his name and those of his party when Jack +caught sight of somebody lounging in a bamboo chair in the reading room +that nearly took his breath away. + +"Well, if that isn't----" + +"What is it, Jack?" asked Billy quickly. + +"Look at that chap there reading a paper. It's Donald Judson--Donald +Judson, as sure as you're a foot high!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII.--DONALD JUDSON AGAIN. + + +Jack was right; the boy sitting in the reading room was indeed the +formerly ne'er-do-well son of the man who had headed the plot to steal +the naval code, though what he could be doing in Bomobori neither of the +boys could guess. But so changed was he in appearance from the +flashily-dressed, aggressively-conceited Donald Judson they had known, +that for a moment both boys doubted the evidence of their eyes. + +Donald had always, in the past, been inclined to dudishness in his +clothes. Now his clothing was dilapidated and torn, his shoes were old +canvas ones that looked ready to fall apart, and he had a scarecrow of a +battered straw hat on his head. + +Moreover, his face was careworn and his cheeks hollow and one eye +appeared to have suffered a blow of some sort for it was blackened and +swollen. Altogether he was a most woebegone looking specimen of +humanity, and the boys wondered he was suffered about the hotel. +Donald's presence there, however, was later accounted for, although +this, of course, the boys did not know, by a long tale of disaster and +suffering he had sustained while gold hunting in the interior. Donald +said he was expecting remittances from America and on this account had +been accommodated with quarters. + +"My gracious, what a change," exclaimed Billy under his breath. "He +looks like a regular scarecrow." + +"He must have been in mighty tough luck," rejoined Jack. "But what beats +me is what he is doing here. It's a very odd coincidence that we should +run into two of our old enemies on this trip." + +"It is, indeed. But see, he is looking at us. I suppose we ought to +speak to the poor chap." + +Donald had dropped his paper and was staring straight at the two lads as +if they had been ghosts. Then he got to his feet and came toward them. + +"Jack Ready!" he exclaimed, "where did you come from?" + +"We might ask the same question of you, Judson," said Jack, +"but--er--you'll excuse my saying so, but you look as if you'd been in +hard luck lately." + +"I have been, oh I have been," said Donald, in a voice far different +from his old bragging one. "I got out of a job and shipped for a sailor. +I'd heard it was a fine life. The ship I was on sailed away from +Honolulu while I was still ashore after overstopping my leave. Then I +got a job on a schooner that had a bad reputation, when I was nearly +starved, but I had to live somehow. The captain of the _South Sea Lass_ +was a brute. He----" + +"Here, hold on," cried Jack, seizing his arm which was thin and bony, +"was his name Broom----" + +"Yes. 'Bully' Broom. He is little better than a pirate. He treated me +worse than a dog, and finally, after blacking my eye, put me ashore here +several days ago. He----say, hold on, what's the matter?" + +Jack and Billy had seized him one on each side and were dragging him +across the floor of the hotel office. + +"There's somebody here we want you to tell your story to," explained +Jack. "It'll be worth something to you, but be sure to tell the truth." + +"As if I could lie, no matter what I said about that wretch, 'Bully' +Broom," declared Donald. "I'm sure he was mixed up in some illegal +business. Why we put into an island called the Pommer-Pommer----" + +"The Pamatous?" came from Billy. + +"That's it." + +"And some men were taken prisoners from a schooner called the +_Centurion_?" demanded Jack. + +"Yes, but see here Ready, how in the world----?" + +"Never mind that. What became of those prisoners?" + +"He locked them up in cabins. He said that they were bad men and pearl +robbers and that he was bringing them to justice." + +"Did you ever talk with them?" + +"No; except one, and I never got a chance to say much to him. Broom +watched me very closely. He'd have murdered me if he'd thought that I +was trying to pry into his affairs." + +"What was the name of the man you talked to?" + +"He was a kind of a leader of the party, I guess," was the reply. "I +used to take him his meals and there were precious few of those too, for +we were on short rations ourselves." + +"But his name--his name?" demanded Jack. + +"Oh, Flukes--something like that, anyhow. I never was good at names." + +"Was it Jukes?" + +"That was it," cried Donald, snapping his fingers. + +"Well, boys, what's the matter?" demanded the missing man's brother as +he finished with the register and turned amazedly to face his two young +followers grasping Donald's ragged figure on each side as if they had a +prisoner in custody. + +"Mr. Jukes, this boy has seen and talked to your brother within the last +two weeks," was the announcement from Jack that sent the millionaire +staggering back against the hotel desk, for once in his life giving way +to uncontrolled amazement. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX.--HE TELLS A STRANGE STORY. + + +"Bless my soul," he exclaimed, when he found breath, "you boys are +always digging up somebody. Who is this?" + +He regarded the ragged figure of the unfortunate Donald with some +disapprobation. Jack explained, and then Donald, stumbling and +stuttering somewhat under Mr. Jukes' steady eye, told his story. + +"But you have not told us the most important part of it all," said the +millionaire, as he concluded. "Where was my unfortunate brother taken to +by this ruffian?" + +"That's just what I don't know, sir," rejoined the boy. "You see, they +took good care I shouldn't know too much about their operations. All I +know is that I heard them saying something about 'up the river.'" + +"Meaning this river--the Bomobori?" asked Mr. Jukes. + +"I suppose so." + +"Do you know where the schooner is now?" was the millionaire's next +question, but Donald did not. All he knew was that, after landing him in +Bomobori, 'Bully' Broom had departed under cover of night. Where he had +headed for was a mystery. + +Jack whispered something to the millionaire when Donald had concluded +his narrative and Mr. Jukes put his hand in his pocket and drew out some +coins. Then as he moved off Jack rather hesitatingly said to Donald: + +"You've had a hard time of it for money, I suppose?" + +"Hard? That's no name for it," exclaimed the other. "That rascal Broom +never gave me a cent, though when he shipped me he promised me wages. If +you hadn't arrived I don't know what I should have done." + +"Well, we are willing to let bygones be bygones," said Jack. + +"It wouldn't be fair to be rough on a fellow who is down on his luck," +muttered Donald rather grudgingly. "And--and I guess I've learned a +lesson, fellows." + +"By the way, Donald," said Jack, handing the boy the coins Mr. Jukes had +given him, "here is something from Mr. Jukes to help you along for the +present. I am sure he will see to it that you do not suffer any more +hardships in return for the valuable information you have given us." + +The destitute lad's face brightened wonderfully. The money--about twenty +dollars--was more than he had seen in a long time. He fingered the coins +greedily. + +"I--I'm much obliged to you and to your friend, too," he muttered rather +shamefacedly, "and--er--I'm sorry I ever played you mean tricks." + +"Never mind about that now," said Jack, cutting him short. "My advice to +you is not to hang about here, but to get a job on the first ship that +touches here and go home." + +"I'll go down to the shipping offices right now and see what the chances +are," promised Donald, and with a new spring in his step he started out +of the hotel. + +"What a change," exclaimed Jack, when he had gone. "I never thought +Donald Judson could become so humbled." + +"He is certainly blue, and that is hardly surprising," agreed Billy. +"But the question is whether his seeming repentance is sincere." + +"Let's hope all that he has been through has taught him a good lesson," +said Jack. + +"It surely ought to have," said Billy, and then the subject was +dismissed by a tall, half-clothed native striding into the lobby and +beating stridently on a huge brass gong inscribed with queer characters. + +"What's that for?" asked Jack of the clerk behind the desk who looked +like a German. + +"Dot iss for Riz Tavel," replied the clerk. + +"For Riz who?" asked Billy. + +"For Riz Tavel," rejoined the man impatiently, as if surprised at their +ignorance. "Riz Tavel, dot means lunch." + +"Oh, I see," replied Jack. "Well, I'm ready for it whatever they call +it." + +At the summons of the gong several guests of the hotel came into the +lobby, appearing as if they had just got out of bed. The boys were +amazed to see that many of the male guests wore pyjamas, while the women +were in negligee. This, however, applied only to the half castes and +Dutch residents. The Germans and English, who did most of the trading at +Bomobori, wore tropical suits of conventional make. + +They were waited on by barefooted Malays who set before each of the boys +and their shipmates, when these latter appeared, big soup plates full of +rice. + +"They call this the 'riz-tavel,' that means the rice table," explained +Captain Sparhawk, thus clearing away the secret of the mysterious words. +"Rice is a staple all through the East, just like bread is at home." + +Having filled their plates with rice, as they saw everybody else do, the +Americans waited for the next move. The waiters had all vanished after +depositing the rice, and Jack was moved to remark whether that was all +they were going to get. + +His question was answered by the re-appearance of the barefooted +servitors. They bore numerous dishes piled with fish, duck, chicken, +pork, omelette, onions and peppers. The guests all piled portions of +every one of these dishes on the top of the rice, and the visitors +seeing that they were not expected to ask for more plates were fain to +do the same. The boys, however, balked at a thin curried sauce which was +supposed to be poured over this hodge-podge of edibles. + +Having disposed of what in itself was a mighty meal they then found that +they were expected to despatch beefsteaks, salad and fruit. + +"Well, they don't starve you here, that's one thing sure," said Jack. + +"You must remember that their 'breakfast,' as they call it, is eaten in +the cool of the morning and usually only consists of coffee and fruit," +said Captain Sparhawk. + +A groan from the dyspeptic Mr. Jukes, who had eaten a hearty meal, was +followed soon after by the breaking up of the party. There was much to +be attended to, but Captain Sparhawk said it would be useless to try to +transact business till the late afternoon when the sea breeze sprung up. +The interval between riz-tavel and that hour he said was set aside for +sleeping, and nobody ever dreamed of interfering with the custom. In +fact, he would have found nobody to transact business with. + +He warned the boys against walking about in the scorchingly hot +afternoon sun also, as it was said to induce fevers. There was nothing +left for them to do, therefore, but to pass the afternoon in their +rooms, although they would have preferred exploring the town. + +When they came down again they found Donald Judson in the lobby. He +appeared very disconsolate. He said that no ships for American ports +would call at the port for a long time. + +"I guess I'm stuck here for the rest of my life," he complained, and +then made a sudden suggestion. + +"Say, why can't you take me with you on that expedition?" he asked, for +the boys had told him something about the object of their presence in +New Guinea. + +"Um--er--I don't know that Mr. Jukes wants anybody else along," +hesitated Jack. + +"I'd work hard and do anything I was told to," said Donald pleadingly. +"Won't you ask him about it? It's awful to be stuck here like a bump on +a log." + +"Well, perhaps we might see about it," relented Jack, really feeling +sorry for the unhappy plight of their former enemy, mean and despicable +as he had proved himself to have been in the past. + +"Thanks, awfully," exclaimed Donald, gratefully, and he went off through +the gardens, saying that he was going to get himself a pair of new +shoes. Soon after Mr. Jukes, having got over his attack of dyspepsia, +appeared, the boys laid Donald's request before him. + +"I really don't know," he hesitated. "Of course, the lad is in hard +luck, but somehow I don't exactly like his looks and I don't see what +use he could be to us. I'd rather leave money here to pay for his living +till some ship arrives he could get a berth on." + +"If you left him money in a place like this he might fall back into his +old bad ways," suggested Jack. + +"That is true. I wouldn't wish to push any one down the hill when there +was a chance of helping them up," said the millionaire, musingly. "Well, +I'll see about it," he added after an interval of thought. Just then, as +Captain Sparhawk came up, the incident was ended and the two elders set +out for a trading store to arrange for supplies and other necessaries +for their dash into the interior, for Mr. Jukes had resolved to act on +Donald Judson's unexpected clue and make his way up the river. + +"I've got a notion that if we did take that fellow Donald along that he +would make trouble for us," said Raynor as soon as they were out of +ear-shot. + +"I don't see how he could, or what object he would have," doubted Jack. +"Still, I myself wouldn't trust him very far, in spite of his +declarations of reform." + +But as it so happened neither of the boys need have troubled themselves +over the matter, for that evening, when Mr. Jukes sent for Donald to +have a talk with him, the boy's manner had changed entirely. He was no +longer servile and cringing as he had been earlier. In fact, he +intimated very plainly that he wanted nothing more to do with the Jukes +party. + +There was a reason for this, a reason that none of the party naturally +was able at the time to guess. Donald's change of front was not due to +any mere caprice. A deep-seated reason lay behind it, and that reason +was rooted in an encounter he had had just after he left the boys in the +hotel garden. + + + + + CHAPTER XX.--A TRAITOR IN CAMP. + + +Donald's encounter had been with no less a personage than 'Bully' Broom +himself, whose spies in the town had informed him that a party of +Americans had arrived on a yacht and had been making inquiries about a +missing man named Jukes. Broom at once knew that the half-suspected had +happened, and that a strong party in search of the missing man had, by +some inexplicable (to him) chance, arrived in Bomobori. + +He perceived at once that Donald's presence at the hotel, where he had +abandoned him to his fate, might result disastrously for him and he +congratulated himself that the boy did not know more of the fate of +Jerushah Jukes than he had already told our friends. But even that +meager information, Broom foresaw, might be used to great advantage, so +he posted himself in a resort frequented by men of his type of whom +there are many in the South Seas, and despatched some of his crew to +look for the boy he had cast off. + +It was not long before Donald who, to do him justice, came unwillingly +at first, was presented to Broom by two villainous-looking half-caste +Malay sailors, for Broom had few white men in his crew. + +"They talk too much," he was wont to say. + +As soon as Donald appeared, the 'Bully' reversed his usual tactics and +tried to make himself as pleasant as possible. He was a huge-framed +ruffian with a tangled black beard, and burned brown enough by sun and +wind to be taken for a negro. Donald soon saw that he had nothing to +fear from Broom now, and being a sharp boy he proceeded to take the +initiative after some verbal sparring. + +"You've got an awful nerve sending for me after the treatment you gave +me," he observed. "What do you want, anyhow?" + +"Now see here, boy," bellowed Broom, in his gruff voice which he tried +to render amiable without much success, so used was he to ruling his +band with an iron hand, "I'll admit that I may have used you a bit +roughly, but that was the way of the sea. A fine young fellow like you, +though, oughtn't to mind that. A little knocking about is good for you." + +"Yes, and it was good for me to be left stranded in this hole, too, I +suppose," said Donald. + +"I didn't leave you stranded. I was merely out of funds and was coming +back to pay you up and get you out of trouble," protested Broom, with an +earnestness that appeared genuine. "See here." + +He plunged his hand into his pocket and drew out a handful of gold and +then let it fall trickling on the table. + +"That doesn't look as if I wasn't able to do it, either, does it?" he +demanded. "Now, see here," he went on, "I've got a proposition to make +to you. You're a smart lad, a clever lad, and one that's bound to get on +the world. I'm going to help you, too." + +"Well, what do you want?" demanded Donald, who was very susceptible to +flattery, and who had a weak nature, easily played upon by any one +skillful enough to touch the right chord. + +"That gang that arrived on the yacht? What about them?" came from Broom. + +"They are going to cook your hash if you don't look out," said Donald. +"That's Jukes' brother, and they're going to find him wherever you've +put him and then nab you." + +"So that's the program, eh?" muttered the 'Bully.' "Now see here, +Donald, I want you on my side and I'm not afraid to pay for it. A smart +and clever boy like you could do me a deal of harm if you were sided +with the enemy. You'll be no loser by it. You haven't told them anything +about our little deal with the _Centurion_ yet, have you?" + +Donald did some quick thinking. He was sharp enough to see that Broom +was afraid of what he might have said, for even in Bomobori there was +law and if it were known to Mr. Jukes that Broom was in the vicinity it +would be immediately invoked. He balanced his two opportunities against +each other. Cupidity, greed for money, had always been his main fault, +and now he thought he saw a way to make more out of Broom than he could +out of Mr. Jukes. Besides, although he had appeared so humbled before +the boys, and ashamed of his past conduct, his hatred still rankled, for +the reason that he blamed all his troubles on them and had often brooded +over plans of revenge. + +"No, I haven't told them anything about the _Centurion_," he said at +length, fearing that if he told Broom how much the Jukes party knew the +freebooter might withdraw from any deal he was about to make. "I simply +gave them a cock-and-bull story about myself when they were astonished +to find me here." + +"Ah! So you know them, then? They are friends of yours?" exclaimed +Broom. + +"Hardly friends," muttered Donald. "I knew them in America." + +"You've no particular affection for them, though?" + +"How do you know?" + +"Your tone told me that, my young friend." + +"Well, I might as well admit it. I don't like them. They wronged me in +America and that's why I am here now. I've treated them in a friendly +way because I'm out of money." + +Broom's deep set eyes flashed. + +"You've got a good head boy, very good," he said, approvingly. "Now to +get down to business. I'll give you a handsome sum to stay on my side." + +"Spot cash?" + +"The money on the nail. I want you to do a little job for me in return. +Keep your mouth absolutely shut, but find out all you can about their +plans. You will always find me here when you want to report. Here's +something to start with," and he pushed over the gold which lay on the +table. + +Donald's eyes sparkled greedily as he counted it. + +"All right, I'll do what you say," he remarked, as he pocketed it, "but +tell me one thing: Where is Jerushah Jukes?" + +"Ah, that is for me to know and for them to find out," was Broom's +reply, "but I'll tell you all about it in proper time." + +"It's a wonder you are not afraid to be seen in the town," said Donald. +"Any one might tell them about your being here." + +"Nobody knows about me but my friends, and there is no danger of their +talking." + +"But your schooner, which is as well known in this part of the ocean as +a mail steamer?" + +Broom smiled. + +"You don't think I'd be fool enough to bring my schooner in here after I +heard about the arrival of Jukes' yacht?" he asked. "The _South Sea +Lass_ is safely hidden up the coast. I came here on a native canoe." + +"Well, you ought to be good at covering up your tracks, you've had +enough experience," said Donald, with a sort of grudging admiration for +the ruffian. + +"One thing more," said Broom, acknowledging what he chose to take as a +compliment with a grin. "Jukes is very rich. Has he much money with him +this trip?" + +"I guess not. Jukes is pretty foxy with his money. If he has much it +would be in some form that is not negotiable. He is not the sort of man +to take chances." + +Broom nodded his massive head ponderously. He was evidently revolving +some plan in his mind. Presently he brought down his heavy fist with a +crash on the table. + +"Jukes has poked his nose into this business," he exclaimed, "and it +will cost him something to get out of it before he gets through." + +"What do you mean?" asked Donald. + +"If he was made a prisoner for instance, he would pay handsomely to be +released." + +"I should say so. He's worth about $20,000,000." + +Broom smacked his lips. + +"Some of that's as good as ours if you do what I tell you," he +exclaimed. + +"Ours?" A greedy look crept into the boy's face. + +"Yes, when he pays up you'll get your share and get even with the people +you dislike at the same time." + +When Donald left the place with one of his ragged pockets bulging with +unaccustomed wealth, a compact had been formed that was to cause our +friends a great deal of trouble in the near future. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI.--A MEMORABLE NIGHT. + + +"It's very peculiar that Donald should have undergone such a sudden +change of front," said Jack later that evening, following the boy's +strange way of receiving Mr. Jukes' proposal. "He certainly appeared to +want to go along the worst way a few hours ago." + +"I can't help thinking that he has been up to some mischief," replied +Billy. "He's got himself a new outfit somewhere and I saw him paying his +hotel bill." + +"Well, at any rate that's a laudable act," laughed Jack. "After all, we +are not much concerned with anything that he does now." + +"No, that's true. By-the-way, how is that wireless idea of yours for a +portable set getting along?" + +"First rate; I've got it all worked out on paper and have cut the weight +down to fifty pounds without the aerials." + +"Good for you. I've got a notion we can make a lot of use of it." + +"At any rate it won't be much of an extra load and it might get us out +of a tight place, who can tell?" + +After some further talk the boys decided to turn in, as they had to be +up early the next day. It was a hot, close night when the heavens seemed +to be pressed down like a brazen lid on a pot. Far off, flashes of +lightning illuminated the distant sky toward the mountains where, for +all they knew, the millionaire's abducted brother might be concealed. + +"Phew! It's warm," exclaimed Jack. "I guess I'll take a bath before I +turn in." + +The boys' bedroom was typical of hotels in that part of the world. Its +floor was bare except for a strip of matting. There were two beds in it, +hung with mosquito netting curtains, and a tiny wash basin and jug. An +old-fashioned bell-pull hung near one of the beds and Jack decided to +give it a tug and order a bath, when one of the native "bell boys" +appeared. After a long interval, one of the barefooted functionaries of +the hotel arrived. Jack made his wants known and the man hurried off +again without a word. + +"That's odd," commented Jack, "but I guess he's gone to fill it and will +be back directly to say it's ready." + +They waited for some time before a soft patter of bare feet was heard in +the hall and two of the native servants entered carrying between them a +barrel. Another followed with a sort of dipper made out of a cocoanut. + +The boys stared in amazement as the men advanced to the middle of the +room and solemnly set down the barrel and then stood about waiting with +an expectant look on their faces. + +"What in the world is all this?" demanded the amazed Jack. + +"Him your bath, boss," came the answer, "you gettee in him ballel, we +washee you." + +"I'll be jiggered if you do," exclaimed Jack. "Get out of here," and the +men hurried off, first staring at the boy as if they thought he was mad. +"Well, a New Guinea bath certainly accounts for the appearance of some +of the natives I've seen about," he laughed, as soon as they had left. +"But I suppose I must make the best of it." + +So Jack's bath consisted of dipping water out of the tub and pouring it +over himself, trying not to flood the room. But apparently he did so, +for soon a loud and indignant voice was heard at the door. + +"Who is there?" demanded the boys. + +"Sapristi! Eet is I. Zee landlord. You flood zee place. Zee water drip +on me." + +"Sorry," sang out Jack, cheerfully, "but I'm doing the best I can. You +see, I'm not used to the customs of the country yet. I don't understand +your way of bathing." + +"What do you mean zee bathing?" + +"I'm trying to get a bath in this barrel that you sent me up." + +"Taking a bath!" shouted the landlord in a startled voice, "a bath at +zees time of zee night. You must be crazee. Anyhow, you drop no more of +zee water on me. I sleep zee room undaire." + +"Well, he doesn't look as if a little water would hurt him," commented +Billy, as the landlord's footsteps retreated down the passage. + +The boys were soon in bed, but not to sleep. Their exciting day amid new +scenes had rendered them wakeful and then, too, the beds of the Hotel +Bomobori were not couches of roses. The sheets and pillows smelled +abominably of camphor and mildew, and the latter appeared to have been, +or so Billy declared, stuffed with corn cobs. The same applied to the +mattresses. But as if this was not enough, there came a sudden shrill +cry from somewhere in the room: + +"Beck-ee! Beck-ee! Beck-ee!" + +"What in the nation was that?" cried Billy, considerably startled. + +"Somebody calling for 'Becky,'" laughed Jack, "but Rebecca won't answer. +Go to sleep, Billy, if you can, on these miserable beds. It must be some +insect." + +"I hope it isn't anything venomous," muttered Raynor. + +"Better keep your curtains close drawn and then it can't get at you, +anyhow," advised Jack. + +"But then it shuts out all the air and I almost suffocate," complained +Billy. + +"Wow!" he yelled a moment later, in a tone that roused Jack, who was +almost asleep. + +"What's the matter, Billy?" he asked anxiously. + +"Ugh, something soft with legs on it just ran over my face," cried +Raynor. "For goodness' sake get up and get a light. It may be something +that bites or stings." + +Jack lost no time in getting hurriedly out of his bed, and as he shook +the curtains something was dislodged from them and went whirring and +banging round the room, blundering heavily against the ceiling. + +"What the dickens----!" exclaimed the boy, considerably startled, when +another cry from Billy split the air. + +"Ouch, for the love of Mike. A light, quick. Something just nipped my +toe." + +Jack fumbled for the matches; but, as is usual in such cases, he located +every object in the room before he found them, finally colliding with +the washstand and sending it with a crash to the ground floor. An +instant later there was the noise of slamming doors below and the +landlord came racing up the stairs to the boys' room. + +"Ciel! What is zee mattaire zees time? First you try drown me, zen you +make zee beeg crash like zee tonnaire!" + +"It's all the fault of your old hotel," exclaimed Jack angrily, going to +the door. "This room is full of some kind of animals. It's a regular +menagerie." + +He opened the door and the landlord, with a curious-looking night-light, +composed of a wick floating in a tumbler full of some strong-smelling +oil that gave out a powerful odor of sandal wood, came inside. Instantly +there was a mighty scuffling and several ugly looking lizards darted off +across the floor and a huge bat (no doubt the creature that had vacated +Jack's bed-curtains with such a prodigious flapping) went soaring out +through the open lattice-work doors which led out on the verandah, but +which the boys had left open for coolness. There were also a dozen other +specimens of unclassified insects, both winged and legged, which went +scuttling off at the sight of the light. Then the landlord's eye fell on +the open doors. + +"Sacre!" he cried, "nevaire did I such a foolishness see." + +"What's the matter now?" demanded Jack. "The only foolishness I can see +is in our coming to this hotel." + +The landlord shrugged his shoulders as if in despair. + +"What else do you expect but zee bat, zee scorpion, zee centipede, zee +leezard, zee chigre, zee----" + +"What makes a noise like 'becky, becky, becky'?" asked Billy, breaking +in on the catalogue. + +"Ah! Zee biting leezard 'ee do zat." + +"Then that fellow that nipped my toe and the one that sang out for +Rebecca must be the same individual," cried Billy indignantly, "but go +on with your catalogue." + +The landlord looked puzzled. + +"Zere was zee cat and zee dog 'ere, too?" he demanded. + +"No, I said the catalogue. The list of insects you were rattling off." + +"Oh, well, I was going to say to you not to leave zee porch doors open +in zee night. And also nevaire go to bed wizout lighting one of zees +lights." He tapped the peculiar-smelling night-light he held. "See, here +eez one 'ere on zees table." + +"Well, you can't blame us for not knowing what it was," protested Jack, +as he lighted it. "I thought it was some peculiar kind of drink. It's +the first time I ever saw light served in a tumbler." + +"Zee light veree good," said the landlord, as he was leaving the room. +"Zee animal no like zee light, also they no like zee smell." + +"I don't blame them," said Jack, after the man had left, and the odd +tumbler lamp was burning with a sputtering, smoking flame, "especially +the smell part." + +"Anyhow, anything is better than sharing your bed with +you-don't-know-what creepy-crawly things," declared Raynor. + +"Yes, and lizards that go round hollering girls' names," agreed Jack. "I +fancy we'll sleep better now. But, after all, we've got to get used to +it all for we may meet worse in the jungle." + + + + + CHAPTER XXII.--INTO THE JUNGLE. + + +The next day was busily spent by the boys. Jack had his portable +wireless to assemble. Raynor was assigned as "chief of baggage," and +Captain Sparhawk and Mr. Jukes, with Muldoon, who spoke the Papuan +dialect after a fashion, occupied the time rounding up the native +bearers and finding a suitable "head man." The latter was very important +to the success of the expedition, both to keep the other natives up to +their work and to find trails and, if necessary, act as interpreter. +Through the good offices of Jabez Hook, a "smart Yankee" who ran a +"general store" at Bomobori, and was a warm friend of Captain +Sparhawk's, they finally found just the man they wanted. He was a tall, +up-right Papuan with an exceptionally intelligent face, who spoke fair +English, knew the country thoroughly and appeared about thirty years +old. Salloo, as he called himself, agreed to have everything in +readiness for a start into the interior by the next morning. He held out +hopes that from some of the interior tribes they would get news of the +lost ones, for among the natives news travels fast, and if 'Bully' Broom +had conveyed prisoners into the inland some of the tribesmen would be +sure to know about it. + +When Jack returned from the _Sea Gypsy_, where he had set up his +apparatus, he reported that all was well on board and everything going +forward smoothly under the command of the first officer. Thurman +appeared to be delighted with his chance to vindicate himself, but +acting under Mr. Jukes' advice, it had been deemed prudent to refuse him +shore liberty till the party returned. Thurman did not seem to resent +this, and told Jack that after all he had gone through, a "soft berth" +and good meals on the yacht appealed to him. He had seen enough of the +tropics, so he declared, to have no especial desire to go ashore at +Bomobori. + +It was not till eleven o'clock that night that they turned in. But when +they did so it was with a satisfied feeling that every detail had been +attended to. Not the least satisfactory result of the day had been +Jack's achievement of perfecting the portable wireless which would keep +them at all times in touch with the yacht. + +The next morning dawned bright and clear. The boys were up before any of +the rest of the party, dressed in khaki suits, sun helmets and stout +leggings, for much of the way would lie through ragged bush. Each lad +carried a water canteen, a pocket filter, compass, knife, and wore a +service revolver attached to a cartridge belt. In these "uniforms" they +looked very business-like, and capable of giving a good account of +themselves in any emergency. Soon after the other members of the party +appeared somewhat similarly attired. Mr. Jukes' pockets bulged with +boxes of dyspepsia pills, and Muldoon wore his sailor uniform with the +addition of leggings and a sun helmet. + +"Shure I look like a sea soldier no liss," was the way he summed up his +appearance, and the boys couldn't help agreeing with him. + +While they were at breakfast, Salloo and his "bearers" presented +themselves. + +Salloo greeted them with a low "salaam," and volunteered the information +that: + +"Him welly good day for makum start. Go many miles. Good trail for first +part of journey." + +"Well, the further we go, the quicker we'll get back," commented Muldoon +in true Irish style. + +At eight o'clock they were off. Nobody in the town knew the true object +of their expedition, but supposed they were off on a hunt for +entomological specimens, for New Guinea swarms with rare forms of insect +life and many intrepid collectors have found it a happy hunting ground, +some of them paying for their devotion to science with their lives. + +At first the question of traveling on horse-back had been mooted. But +Salloo promptly vetoed this. The country was too rough and thickly grown +to make horse-back travel feasible for more than a few miles, he +declared. They might have used the river, but it was only navigable for +a short distance when the swift current and the shoals made it dangerous +for up-stream travel. Natives coming down it always abandoned their +dugouts, which were simply hollow trees, at Bomobori, and went back to +their villages on foot. + +The town was soon left behind and they struck into a trail which was +broad and well trodden. On all sides were dense groves of tropical +vegetation, towering palms, spreading mangoes laden with golden fruit, +that ever-present banana and fragrant guava and lemon trees. From the +tall lance-wood and cotton trees great creepers and lianas, looking like +serpents, twined and coiled. There was a moist, steaming heat in the +air. + +"It's just like being in a big conservatory at home," said Jack, and +indeed the air had just the odor and closeness of a glass-house. + +"This is fever territory," declared Mr. Jukes, administering a large +dose of quinine to himself. "There is to be no sleeping on the ground, +remember." + +"I guess not, after the experience we had in our room at the hotel last +night," said Raynor, and amidst much laughter he narrated the details of +their uncomfortable night. + +As they pushed onward, there came from the river, which glinted like +molten lead in the sunshine at their left, a long-drawn cry which +startled all the white members of the expedition. It resembled the human +voice and appeared to be the appeal of someone in agony. + +"Shure there's some poor soul in throuble over yonder forninst the +river," declared Muldoon, and before any one could stop him he had left +the trail and was making for the water. + +"Hi you white man, you comee back," cried Salloo. + +But he was too late. Hardly had Muldoon left the trail than he sank up +to his knees in black, oozy mud which held him like liquid glue. + +His struggles only made matters worse, and soon he was up to his knees +in the evil-smelling, glutinous mass which bubbled about him as it +sucked him down. + +"Help! Murther! Shure, O'im kilt intirely!" cried the frightened man, +waving his arms frantically. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII.--A DANGEROUS TREE. + + +All this time, from the river, came the same weird cries that had +mystified them. What with these cries and Muldoon's lusty yells for +help, had there been an enemy within a mile they must have heard them, +but luckily they were in a territory known to be peaceable, although +Salloo was not quite so sure of some of the tribes who had a bad +reputation as "head hunters." + +"He's stuck in the mud!" exclaimed Jack, and was starting forward to +Muldoon's assistance when Salloo grabbed his arm. + +"No go," he warned, "him mud velly bad. Make drown in mud plitty quick +no get helpee." + +The native began making his way by a circuitous route toward the +luckless Muldoon. In his hand he had a long rope. He leaped from tuft to +tuft of the hummocks that appeared above the black soil. As soon as he +got close enough to Muldoon he threw the struggling boatswain the end of +the line, which Muldoon had presence of mind enough to place under his +arm-pits. Then Salloo skipped nimbly back to the trail and all laying +hold with a will they soon hauled Muldoon out of his disagreeable +predicament, although he was a sorry sight to look at. + +"But faith," he exclaimed, "it's glad enough I am to know O'im not dead +intirely. A little mud will soon dry and clean off, begob." + +"Tropical places are full of just such treacherous swamps," declared +Captain Sparhawk. "It will be well for all of us to be very careful and +not leave the trail except by Salloo's advice." + +But now the strange wailing sound which they had for the moment +forgotten in the excitement of Muldoon's rescue again startled them. The +cause of it was quickly explained by Salloo. + +"Him _dugong_, allee samee sea-cow," he said. + +"Oh, I know now--like the manitou they have in Florida," cried Jack. + +"Me no know 'bout man or two," said Salloo, "but him big an'mul. Live in +river. Makee noise like heap cryee allee timee." + +"It sounds as if somebody was being murdered," commented Raynor. +"However, I guess we're not the first people to be scared by the +dinner-gong, or whatever you call it." + +The halt for the noon-day meal was made in a pleasant grove of tropical +trees which stood on safe rising ground to one side of the trail. All +the white members of the party were glad enough of the chance to take a +rest, but the wiry natives appeared to be perfectly fresh and strong as +when they set out, despite their heavy burdens. While the natives began +cooking their rice and salted fish, with a sort of curry sauce, Salloo +set about making a fire for the whites. With marvelous dexterity he +twirled a stick between his outspread hands against some dry tinder and +soon had a good blaze going. The boys scattered to get wood, of which +they soon had a sufficient quantity. Then, determined to make the most +of their halt, they flung themselves down under a peculiarly fine tree +with wide, dark green leaves, glossy as polished leather. + +They were chatting about the incidents of the trip so far when Jack all +at once felt something strike him on the arm. His first impression was +that it was a stone. But on looking at the place where he had been +struck he saw that the sleeve of his shirt, for he had laid aside his +khaki coat, had been ripped in parallel lines as if a curry comb, with +sharp teeth, had been drawn down it. He felt a sharp pain moreover, and +then he saw blood on his arm. + +Billy had sprung up in alarm at his sharp exclamation of pain, and was +peering into the brush in the dread of seeing savage faces peering at +them. His shout of alarm brought them all, including Salloo, on the run +to Jack's side. The boy explained what had occurred and the faces of the +whites grew grave. If they were attacked at this early stage of the +journey it augured ill for the remainder of their adventure. + +But Salloo speedily solved the mystery. Lying on the ground beside Jack +was a green, oval-shaped ball, about the size of those projectiles that +one sees stacked by memorial cannons in our country. But this missile +was covered with sharp spikes like the spines of a hedgehog. Salloo +pointed up into the beautiful tree under which they had cast themselves +down to rest. + +"Nobody throw him," he explained, "him big fruit, some callum Durion +nut. You comee way from there. One hittee you headee your blains getee +knocked out." + +"They deserve to be for getting up a scare like that," laughed Jack, +who, like Billy, stepped hastily from under the dangerous tree. "It +seems to be a pretty good idea in this country to be always on the look +out. Even nature seems to have it in for you." + +Jack's arm was doctored by Captain Sparhawk, for it was quite painful, +but luckily the spines of the durion, sometimes called the Jack fruit, +are not poisonous and it was soon all right again. But during the +noon-day meal, which was then ready, when they heard the crashing of nut +after nut from the durion tree, both boys felt they had had a very lucky +escape from having their skulls fractured. + +"Be jabers," commented Muldoon, "shure o'ive been in a hurricane where +the blocks and tackle that was ripped from aloft made yez skip around +loively to dodge thim, but this is the first toime thot iver I heard of +a three throwing things at yez as if ye was a nigger dodger at a fair." + +"You'll discover stranger things than that, Muldoon, before we have been +very long in New Guinea," said Captain Sparhawk. + +"Faith, so long as they're not snakes, oi dunno thot I care much," said +the Irishman. "Begob, o'im thinking that St. Pathrick would be a good +man to have along in a counthry where the craturs are. Wun wave uv his +sthick and away they'd all go, bad luck to thim." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV.--WIRELESS AT WORK. + + +For two days they traveled thus, making fresh discoveries constantly. +Once, for instance, Billy triumphantly pounced on what seemed like a +fine bit of fire-wood for the noon-day halt. But he dropped it with a +yell, as the "stick" suddenly developed legs and on being dropped walked +off. + +"Begorrah, there's a shillalegh come to loife, so it has," yelled +Muldoon, as he observed the phenomenon; but the "shillalegh" was only +one of those strange "stick insects" that abound in that part of the +world and sometimes fool even the natives. + +At noon of the third day they found themselves approaching a settlement, +as cleared ground, where grew maize, sugar cane, yams and other plants, +testified. The village proved to be a large one where white traders and +animal collectors often stopped and there was a native hostelry in it +conducted by a greasy-looking Frenchman who had a native wife as +dirty-looking as he was. The native huts were all of bamboo hung with +cocoanut mats. Natives squatted in front of them chewing betel nuts, the +juice crimsoning their lips and chins. All ages and both sexes indulged +in the habit, which is universal throughout Polynesia and the South Seas +generally. + +There appeared to be a lot of rivalry among the men as to who could grow +the fuzziest, most outstanding crop of hair. + +"Faith, a barber would starve to death in this country," declared +Muldoon. + +Just then a young woman came down the "street," if such the muddy track +between the huts could be called. She held something in her arms that +they thought at first was a baby. But it turned out to be a young pig! + +"We'll rest at the hotel here," said Mr. Jukes, "till it grows cooler. +My dyspepsia is bad again. It comes from traveling during the heat of +the day as we have been doing." + +The mid-day meal was cooked on a sort of altar built of stones. The boys +watched the operations in this open-air kitchen with interest. At least +twenty natives assisted in the culinary demonstration and the chatter +and laughter was deafening. They made a hearty meal on the native fare, +which they were astonished to find was quite as good as anything they +had tasted at home. + +As Mr. Jukes did not wish to go forward at once after the meal they took +it easy in several grass hammocks stretched under a large, shady, tree. +The fact that the natives kept coming up and peering into their faces +and that babies, chickens and pigs wandered about under the hammocks did +not disturb the boys after a while, and they dropped off to sleep. + +"I don't wonder the natives here are lazy," remarked Jack, when Muldoon +awakened him with a yell of "All hands on deck to see it rain." "I +rarely slept in the day-time, but here I just dozed off without knowing +it." + +"Same here," chimed in Raynor. "I didn't have to even half try." + +"This climate is very enervating, boys," declared Captain Sparhawk, +joining in the conversation. "That is why this part of the globe makes +so little progress toward civilisation. Men who are hustlers in their +own country come here determined to make the dirt fly, but after a few +months their energy oozes out of them like--well, say like tar out of +the seams of a hot ship's deck." + +"That's a good comparison," laughed Jack. + +Once more everything was stirring in the adventurers' camp, and soon +they were on their way again. The Frenchman, whose "hotel" they had +left, had told them that by evening they would reach another village, +the last one they would encounter before plunging into the really wild +jungle, where there was another "hotel." + +"As it will be our last chance for many days to sleep under a roof, I +propose we stay there to-night," said Mr. Jukes, swallowing a pill. + +This suited the rest of the party and they struck forward at a brisk +pace after their refreshing rest and sleep. The jungle was filled with +countless birds, but there were no feathered songsters among them. The +air was filled with nothing but discordant shrieks and cries that set +the teeth on edge. Once the boys had the thrill of seeing a bird of +paradise, with its glorious plumage and wonderful tail feathers, flash +across their path. + +The village they stopped at that evening resembled in almost every +respect the one in which the noon-day halt had been made. There were the +same huts, the same swarming pigs and chickens, and the same +fuzzy-headed Papuans, many of them returning from the fields with corn +and yams. + +The proprietor of the "hotel," which had no more pretensions to the name +than the other hostelry, proved to be a Portuguese half-caste, lacking +one eye, and sporting a pair of huge brass ear-rings. His wife was a +giant negress. However, they welcomed the party warmly, as they had good +reason to do, not having had any guests for some time, and pigs and +fowls were at once killed for supper, everything in such places being +ordered "on the hoof," so to speak. Mr. Jukes delighted his native +followers by ordering an elaborate meal for them also, in celebration of +the fact that on the morrow they would leave "civilization" behind them. + +Jack, at Mr. Jukes' request, set up his wireless plant, stringing the +aerials from a tall tree up which one of the natives swarmed like a +monkey to make the long wires fast. As he worked, he and Billy talked. + +"I guess we'll sleep with one eye open to-night," said Jack in an +undertone, for they were surrounded by a curious crowd watching the +white boy "make conjure medicine." + +"Yes, those hotel people are a crafty-looking couple," rejoined Billy, +"and in a country like this it's a good thing to regard everybody with +suspicion till you find them all right." + +Muldoon sauntered up to them as they chatted and worked and had his word +to put in too. + +"Begorrah, that Portugee don't look like no angel," he said, "and his +wife looks like the ould Nick himsilf." + +"Just what we were talking about, Muldoon," said Jack. "It will be a +good thing if we keep our eyes and ears open." + +[Illustration: It was some time before Jack got a reply, but at last he +received Thurman's answering call.] + +At last Jack got everything ready, and Raynor started to turn the +hand-crank of the generator, for of course a gasoline engine for that +purpose could not be carried into the jungle. When the storage batteries +were charged, Jack began to pump out the _Sea Gypsy's_ call. At the +first crackle and whip-snap like explosion of the spark the natives +scattered with yells. Even Salloo, who was looking on, and had to stand +his ground to maintain his dignity before his men, looked uneasy and +shifted about nervously. + +It was some time before Jack got a reply, but at last he received +Thurman's answering call. + +Everything it seemed was O. K. and there was no particular news from his +end except that another party had started up-country right on the heels +of Mr. Jukes' expedition. It was thought they were traders, Thurman +said. Jack gave his news and then flashed "Good-night." + +He told Mr. Jukes of the conversation and of the start of a second +party. + +"I heard nothing in Bomobori of a second expedition," mused Mr. Jukes, +on receipt of this information. "But no doubt they are traders. It seems +odd, though, that they didn't join with us if they were coming this way, +as is the general custom." + + + + + CHAPTER XXV.--A JUNGLE HOTEL. + + +The hostelry was divided into half a dozen rooms walled with bamboo, and +all on the ground floor. Rough mats of cocoanut cloth alone interposed +between the sleepers and the ground, and cockroaches and singing lizards +abounded. But by this time the lads had become pretty well used to the +night noises of the jungle, which are far more tumultuous after dark +than in the day-time, and as for the hard beds, they were too tired to +mind much where they slept. + +Jack had not slept long when he was awakened by someone calling to him. +It was Muldoon. The Irishman was plainly agitated by some excitement as +he stood in the grass-curtained door-way. + +"Whist!" he exclaimed, holding a finger to his lips, "is thot you +Misther Riddy?" + +"Yes, what's the trouble, Muldoon?" + +"Shure o'ive made a discovery, sor." + +"What?" + +"Thot other party. Ther ones you was tiligraphing about." + +"Well, what about them?" + +"They're here, begob." + +"Where, in the hotel?" + +"No, in the woods back of the house." + +"Camping there?" + +"No, bejabbers. There's something looks queer to me about the whole +thing, that's why I called yez. They've sent for the Dago that runs this +shabeen, sor." + +"Maybe they want to get accommodations?" + +"Thin why wouldn't they stip up like min and ask for 'em?" was Muldoon's +unanswerable retort. + +Just then Mr. Jukes, rubbing his eyes sleepily, appeared in the +door-way. Behind him stood the giant negress. The millionaire had +evidently dressed hastily. + +"I've got news, Ready," he exclaimed in a rather excited voice. "This +woman has just told me that her husband wants to see me outside. I +gathered it's on some matter connected with my brother." + +"Yassir," grinned the hideous negress, showing a double row of sharply +filed teeth, "dat's it, sah. It's 'bout yo' brudder." + +Raynor had awakened by this time and was sitting up on his mat listening +sleepily. He eyed the woman narrowly as she spoke and an uneasy +conviction entered his mind that all was not well. + +"You'd better be cautious, sir," warned Jack, who also felt an +undeniable feeling of suspicion, "something may be wrong." + +"What can be wrong," demanded Mr. Jukes, rather impatiently. "I'm going +outside to see. If it's about my brother it's my duty to do so at once." + +"Then if you're going I'll go with you," said Jack, hastily throwing on +the garments he had divested himself of, and strapping on his revolver. + +"And begorrah o'i second the motion," declared Muldoon. + +"Wait a moment for me," begged Billy. + +"No, stay here," said Jack. "If anything goes wrong, I'll fire three +shots." + +A minute later, followed by the native woman, the three left the place. +As they reached the door she took the lead and conducted them through a +bamboo grove to a thick growth of trees under which her husband and a +big man with black beard were conversing. + +"You wish to see me?" asked Mr. Jukes, addressing the bearded one. + +"Yes; zees gentleman say zat 'e ave good news for you," said the +landlord, spreading his hands. + +"Begorrah, oi don't see no gintilmin here excipt oursilves," muttered +Muldoon. + +"Muldoon, be quiet," ordered Mr. Jukes, then turning to the +black-bearded man he went on with, "Well, sir, what is it you wish?" + +"You are Mr. Jukes?" asked the other, in a deep, gruff voice. + +"I am, what of it?" + +"I want to see you. I have news for you." + +"But--but I don't know you. Why didn't you come to the hotel if you had +anything to say to me?" asked the millionaire in a puzzled way. + +"I wanted to talk to you in private about your brother," was the reply. + +"My brother! Why, we are searching for him now. That is the reason of +our presence in the jungle. Do you know anything about him?" + +"I do. It was he who sent me here." + +"Jerushah sent you?" the millionaire was fairly amazed now. "He is then +alive?" + +"Yes, but he is a prisoner and very sick. Through natives he heard of +the arrival of your expedition and sent me even at this hour to bring +you to him." + +"That is a strange story, my man," said Mr. Jukes suspiciously. "I might +say it is almost incredible." + +"I'll admit it does sound strange," said the other, "but strange things +happen in this part of the world. I might add that the other Mr. Jukes +wants to see you alone. Something about a pearl, I believe." + +Jack gave a tug at Mr. Jukes' sleeve. The lad had been peering about him +through the dark trees and had seen something the others had not. If his +eyes had not deceived him, and Jack did not believe they had, several +forms were moving about in the gloom beneath the interlaced branches. + +"Mr. Jukes," he whispered, "I don't believe this man. I think we are in +some sort of a trap. Why didn't he come to the house with this +cock-and-bull story?" + +Mr. Jukes hesitated. It was strange that this man of great affairs, +before whom board meetings quailed, and who ruled almost supreme among +the great money kings of New York, appeared to be lost now that he was +out of his little world and among the great elemental things of the +untraveled jungle. + +"I'm sure I don't know, Ready," he replied. + +"Ask him," suggested Jack, with his hand on his revolver. He felt that a +crisis of some sort was at hand, but it was too late to retreat now. + +Mr. Jukes, with some of his old pomposity, put the question. The bearded +man's reply was brief and to the point. + +"That is beside the question," he snapped. "Are you coming with me?" + +Before any reply could be made the bearded man's eye caught the glint of +Jack's weapon. Instantly a shrill whistle sounded. From the trees leaped +a dozen or more men. + +"Howly saints! A trap!" yelled Muldoon. + +"A trap!" echoed Jack. He raised his pistol to cover the black-bearded +man. But before he had it leveled both he and Mr. Jukes were thrown from +their feet by a combined attack and in a twinkling both the millionaire +and the boy were helpless. + +"Run for the house, Muldoon. Warn the others. Come after us as quick as +you can." + +"Hold your horses there," roared the black-bearded man, who, as our +readers will have guessed, was 'Bully' Broom himself, with his band of +renegade followers. He tried to block the boatswain's path as Muldoon +darted off. + +Biff, the old seaman's knotted fist shot out and caught the redoubtable +'Bully' between his eyes. He staggered but did not fall. + +"Take that, you murtherin' spalpeen," shouted Muldoon, as he darted off +among the trees and was speedily lost to sight. Three or four of the +band pursued him, but 'Bully' Broom called them back. + +"We've got the fellows we want," he said; "bind and gag them and if they +show fight don't be too gentle with them." + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI.--PRISONERS OF 'BULLY' BROOM. + + +Jack fought desperately, but as he was helpless, and in return for his +struggles received only a rain of brutal blows, he deemed it wiser to +remain quiet. Soon both he and the millionaire had their hands tied +behind their backs and gags of dirty grass were thrust, none too gently, +into their mouths. + +"Now march, and behave yourselves or you'll be shot," snarled 'Bully' +Broom, whose temper had not been improved by the blow Muldoon's strong +fist had given him. + +As it would have been folly to have resisted, situated as they were, the +two prisoners did as they were told. Jack wondered where they were being +taken and why they had been attacked. Even his acute mind did not +connect their captors with 'Bully' Broom and his gang. The boy thought +they had fallen into the hands of one of those bands of free-booters, +known to frequent parts of the bush, holding up helpless travelers. + +He felt sorry for Mr. Jukes, though. The millionaire was stout and +accustomed to his ease. After his tiring day this night march must have +been cruel exertion to him. But if he lagged, the man of millions +received a vicious jab in the back with the stock of a rifle. + +Even in this trouble, Jack could not help reflecting on the strange turn +of the wheel of fortune that had brought Jacob Jukes, man of millions, +into the heart of a lonely jungle, a shirt-sleeved, perspiring prisoner, +in the hands of a band of men of undoubtedly desperate character. He +wondered, too, if the millionaire himself was not contrasting this cruel +march through the forest with his magnificent town and country houses, +his automobiles, his lavishly furnished offices and his elaborate +entertainments. If he were doing so, Jack surmised that his thoughts +must be bitter. In thinking thus, Jack contrived largely to keep his +mind off his own misfortunes. + +A journey of some hours, at the close of which Mr. Jukes began to give +every outward sign of deep physical exhaustion, brought them to a +clearing, once cultivated, but now neglected, overlooking the river. +Here, on a bluff about fifty feet above the water, in years gone by, a +trading company had maintained a post. It had been built in the days +when the natives were troublesome in that section and it was a strong +structure like a fort. It was almost overgrown with rank tropical vines, +but evidently the way to it was not unknown to the men conducting Mr. +Jukes and Jack. + +Lanterns were lit and when the two captives had been ushered in both +were made fast to the logs that formed the walls of the place. Jack +glanced at Mr. Jukes. The millionaire was assuredly a pitiable-looking +object. His fine white shirt was torn almost to ribbons by thorny vines +encountered along the path, his carefully groomed appearance had given +way to a general disreputableness that would have gained him recognition +by any tramp as a member of the fraternity, his face was almost purple, +from his enforced exertions and the gag in his mouth. + +"Gracious, he looks as if he might have apoplexy at any minute," thought +Jack, who, although he was in as bad a plight, characteristically did +not spend any sympathy on himself. Perhaps the members of the band that +had captured them noticed what Jack had, and feared fatal consequences, +for Mr. Jukes' gag was soon removed and so was Jack's. + +When this had been done, and before Mr. Jukes could recover his breath +enough to speak, the rascals withdrew to the other end of the building, +which was like a long mess hall and may indeed have been used at some +time as such. + +"What does this outrage mean?" demanded Jack, as the black-bearded man +strolled off last of all, after looking them over with a cynical smile. + +"You would like to know, eh, Jack Ready?" + +"So you know my name?" exclaimed Jack in some surprise. + +"Yes, and that of your companions who will join you here before long. We +hope to have the pleasure of your company for quite a long time." + +"You abominable ruffian," cried Jack, overcome by indignation, "you will +pay dearly for this some time," but at the same time the boy did not +believe that the rest had been caught napping and captured. They were a +strong party and, led by Muldoon, he knew they would put up a stiff +fight. + +"I wish you had taken my warning, Mr. Jukes," Jack could not help +saying, as soon as they were left alone. + +"You wish it no more fervently than I do, my boy," was the despondent +reply. "Wall Street and New York seem like a dream to me. Only this +horror is real." + +"I would like to know what it all means," said Jack. "These men can't be +just common robbers; they appear to have a regular hang-out here." + +"I can't help thinking that I've seen some of these ruffians loitering +about Bomobori," said Mr. Jukes. + +"That struck me, too. At any rate they must be the party Thurman +wirelessed to me about as leaving just behind us. They've followed our +trail pretty closely, too. We should have been more on our guard." + +Slowly the hours wore by till daylight began to show in the narrow +windows of the old barracks. The positions of both prisoners were most +uncomfortable. The strain on their arms from the tightly tied cords was +almost unbearable. + +"And to think I used to complain of discomfort if my chauffeur allowed +my car to bump over a rut," groaned Mr. Jukes, with a comical pathos +that would have made Jack smile had they been in any other situation. + +All the men had left the place, but they could hear the murmur of their +voices outside. A smell of wood smoke drifted in and then the +tantalising odors of frying bacon and the aroma of coffee combined to +remind both prisoners that, in spite of their sufferings, they were both +hungry and thirsty. + +"I wonder if we are going to get any breakfast?" asked Jack, after a +silence broken only by Mr. Jukes' pathetic groans. + +"I'd risk a month of dyspepsia for a plate of beans and bacon right +now," wailed the unhappy millionaire. + +"Yes," thought Jack. "There are decidedly situations where all the +millions in the world wouldn't do you much good, and this, apparently, +is one of them." + +At last footsteps were heard approaching from the opposite end of the +ramshackle building. + +"Somebody at last," cried Jack. + +He had hardly spoken when 'Bully' Broom stood before them, followed +by--Donald Judson. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII.--AT THE OLD FORT. + + +Jack found it difficult to credit his eyesight as he gazed at the boy +who formerly had made so much trouble for them and the gigantic ruffian +who stood beside him. + +"Judson! Is it possible?" he gasped. "What brought you here?" + +"Are you a prisoner, too?" demanded Mr. Jukes. + +"A prisoner?" laughed Judson. "Well, that's a good one, I must say. Only +fools walk into traps." + +"Well, what are you doing here then, boy?" demanded the millionaire, +recollecting his former kindness to Donald. "You ask him, Ready. He's a +friend of yours." + +"He's no friend of mine, Mr. Jukes," denied Jack. "Can't you see it +all?" + +"See what?" + +"Why, the contemptible turn-coat is in with these rascals." + +"Impossible!" + +"So, Judson," went on Jack, "this is how you repay our kindness to you?" + +"Your kindness," sneered the boy. "I want none of it. I'm in with a good +crowd now. Besides, I told you in Bomobori I didn't want to go with your +old expedition." + +"But you didn't refuse the money I got you from Mr. Jukes," said Jack. + +"Oh, he's made of money," chuckled Donald, "and we mean to get some more +of it." + +"You miserable young whelp," panted the helpless millionaire, purple +with rage, "if I had you in America----" + +"And anyhow," continued Judson, thoroughly enjoying this, "you are only +getting what's coming to you, Ready. In the States you tried to have me +put in pris--er that is you wanted to tell lies about me." + +"I'm sorry we didn't have you locked up, now," said Jack bitterly. "I +suppose you put this gang of scoundrels on our trail." + +"You can suppose anything you want," was the rejoinder, but a bit of the +old boastfulness crept into his tone, "and you're going to pay up, too, +before you get out of this. Have you had them searched, Captain Broom?" + +"What----?" shouted the millionaire, almost beside himself at this +sudden revelation of the black-bearded man's identity, "are you 'Bully' +Broom?" + +"My name's Broom all right," was the surly reply, "but I want my proper +handle, which is Captain." + +"What have you done with my brother, you infernal rascal?" stormed the +millionaire. + +"Now you ain't going to get along any better by cutting up rough and +losing your temper like that, pard'ner," was the cool reminder. "You may +be my guest for quite a time, so let's you and me get along peaceable. +Otherwise we'll find a way to _make_ you keep a civil tongue in your +head." + +"Did you have them searched?" repeated Donald greedily. "If you did I +want my share of it." + +"They were searched, Judson, but they only had a few dollars; not more +than a hundred at most." + +"Bah!" growled Judson; "then they left some behind at old Baroni's +place. If we don't capture the others, then----" + +"Never mind that, now," commanded Broom; "you tell 'em what I told you." + +"All right," assented Judson, and then, turning to Jack, he said: + +"Do you know why you were brought here, Mr. Fresh?" + +"To be robbed, I suppose. I see no other explanation to it," was Jack's +reply, with a steady look at Judson that made the other drop his eyes. +"I always knew you were a bad lot, Judson, but I never thought you were +as bad as this." + +"Don't talk to me like that. I'm as good as you," stormed Judson, +although he looked uneasy. Jack's shot had told. "To be brief, we want +to make money out of you." + +"In what way?" + +"First of all, you must answer our questions." + +"That's the way," approved 'Bully' Broom, stroking his huge beard. "How +much money did you bring with you from America?" + +"Very little cash," replied the millionaire, who had found it more +prudent to control his temper, "most of the money is in the form of a +letter of credit." + +"Where is that letter of credit?" demanded Judson, interfering. + +"It is in Bomobori with the bankers," was the reply, and Jack rejoiced +to think that Mr. Jukes had managed to tell him that, as most of the +money had been left behind at the hostelry with Captain Sparhawk, who +had been appointed a sort of pay-master to the party. + +"Well, now we'll come down to brass tacks," growled Broom, after an +interval of thought. "How much is your liberty worth to you?" + +"So that's your game, is it, you rascally blackmailer?" sputtered the +infuriated millionaire. "You won't get a cent out of me." + +But 'Bully' Broom only smiled. + +"Perhaps in a few days you'll sing a different tune," he said, and +something, not in the words, but in the way they were uttered, sent a +cold shiver down Jack's spine. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII.--THE FREE-BOOTER'S DEMANDS. + + +"Well, what do you demand?" was the millionaire's next question. + +Donald Judson drew 'Bully' Broom aside and whispered to him. The other +nodded. + +"The least we will take is one hundred thousand dollars," he said. + +The millionaire grew purple. + +"What?" he almost shouted. + +"That is for the liberty of both," said 'Bully' Broom coolly. "Fifty +thousand for the boy and fifty thousand for you. If you don't want to +take the boy, you can pay up fifty thousand and we will keep him." + +"What would you do with him?" + +"Well, the river is full of hungry alligators----" grinned the wretch. + +"You scoundrel," thundered Mr. Jukes, "do you suppose I'd leave him +behind, anyway?" Jack cast him a grateful look. "But what have you done +with my brother, you ruffian?" + +"Ah! I was coming to that," said the rascal with an insolent smile, "but +you can also have him for the very insignificant sum that I have already +mentioned as being the price for you and the boy." + +"You're worth a whole lot more than that, Jukes," put in Judson, with an +equally insolent air. "You're a regular old money-bags, you know." + +"You'll never get my money," raged the millionaire. + +"We won't, eh?" + +"Never." + +"Hunger makes a lot of difference, Mr. Jukes," smiled Broom. + +"So you mean to starve us into submission, eh?" demanded Jack. "I don't +see how such rogues can exist. Judson, you are the worst young hound I +ever heard of." + +In high rage the boy's enemy stepped up to him and deliberately struck +him a heavy blow in the face, which Jack was, of course, powerless to +return. + +"Yes, a cowardly trick like that is in perfect accordance with what I +know of your nature," said Jack with menacing quietness. + +"You dare say that again," screamed Donald, beside himself with anger, +"just you dare and I'll----" He ended with a shake of his fist. + +"Oh, you can't scare me, even if I am tied," said Jack scornfully. + +His perfect calmness added fuel to the fire of Judson's rage. + +"I'll fix you," he yelled, "I'll----" + +"Judson, be quiet," ordered Broom, and the boy subsided. "Now," went on +the free-booter to Mr. Jukes, "your best plan, if you don't want to lose +a few pounds, will be to make out a check for that money. Of course, +we'll have to keep you here till it's safely cashed, otherwise you +might, and probably would, stop the check. But----" + +"Don't pay a cent, Mr. Jukes," interrupted Jack. + +Judson stepped suddenly forward and struck the helpless lad another +stinging blow. It was such a hard one that Jack's senses swam for a +minute. + +"Shame on you, you young villain," cried Mr. Jukes. "He is helpless, +otherwise you wouldn't dare lay hands on him." + +"Who says so? I could lick him any day," swaggered Judson imprudently. + +"Have you people no sense of right and honesty in your compositions?" +demanded Mr. Jukes. + +But this appeal had no more effect on Broom than it would have had on +adamant. + +"We're no worse than you millionaires, if all the papers say is true," +he retorted. "You rob in your way, we rob in ours. We're not quite so +refined about it, perhaps. That's the only difference, Mr. Jukes." + +"You ruffian! Do you compare business,--legitimate business,--with your +rascally trade?" + +"My rascally trade, as you please to term it, is business,--legitimate +business,--to me," returned Broom. + +"Are we to have any food?" demanded the millionaire abruptly. + +"When you listen to reason, yes." + +"And your idea of reason is that I consent to pay that preposterous +ransom?" + +"Your insight does you credit, Mr. Jukes. Sign that check and you shall +have all you want to eat within the poor limits of my larder, and +reasonable liberty till it is cashed. After that you are free to go +where you will." + +"Our friends will raise a hue and cry for us," declared Jack. "They'll +find us and put you where you belong, behind the bars." + +Broom and young Judson turned away and left the hut by another door from +the one by which they had entered. + +"You think they will pay?" asked Broom, with some anxiety in his voice. + +"I'm sure they will. Even a tight-wad old millionaire will pay up when +it comes to a choice between that and starving." + +"Then you think they are sure to give in?" + +"Without a doubt. Then it is only a question of waiting for the money +and getting out." + +"I don't mind that. But I didn't like what they said about their friends +following us here." + +"Why you said nobody knew the way here through the swamps but yourself +along that path we came last night." + +"That's true, but then there's the river. However, it would be +impossible to see the old fort from below and anyhow the cliff is fifty +feet high and easily guarded." + +"Of course you are foolish to worry. However, perhaps if they don't give +in in a day or two we had better be moving along. That young Ready's +chum, Billy, has given me trouble before." + +"Well," said Broom, "we'll see how things come out. If they don't want +to perish in the swamps they'll have to come by the river. From now on +I'll have that cliff guarded." + +"Yes, and if any rescue party comes they'll get a big surprise," was +young Judson's reply. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX.--THE RESCUE PARTY. + + +"I wish I'd gone along with them," muttered Raynor to himself as he +slipped on his socks and boots so as to be ready instantly in case of +alarm. "I don't like the look of this thing at all." + +For some minutes he sat there listening intently. But no sound came from +outside. + +"I guess I'll just join them anyhow," he resolved to himself, getting on +his feet. "This waiting is too nerve-racking. I'll----" + +The boy halted where he stood. A loud shout from the jungle reached his +ears. + +"Something has happened!" cried the boy. + +He reached for his pistol, and hastily buckling it on, he was about to +rush out of the hostelry when a wild figure appeared. + +"Help! There's murther goin' on. Help!" + +It was Muldoon, fleeing before three of Broom's followers. But as the +pursuers came in sight of the hotel they halted. The next moment they +were in active retreat. + +"What's wrong? What's happened?" gasped Raynor. + +"Those spalpeens out yonder. They've captured Misther Jukes and Jack +Riddy." + +"We must rouse the others at once and go in pursuit," decided Billy. + +He hurried off to awaken Captain Sparhawk, while Muldoon aroused Salloo, +who in turn, soon had his native followers astir. It did not take +Captain Sparhawk much longer to get into his clothes when he heard +Billy's alarming news than it did for the natives, who were not +embarrassed by garments, to adjust what few they did wear. + +It was well they had hastened, for the rascally landlord of the place +had, by this time, aroused all the half-castes in the place and as, +headed by Captain Sparhawk, they set off into the jungle, there was a +scattering firing of shots behind them. Nobody was hurt, however, and +they hastened forward to the place where Muldoon told them the capture +had taken place. + +Salloo was consulted and he made a careful examination of the +surroundings. It was considered quite safe to make this halt, as the +tumult behind them had died out and was probably only incited by the +hotel owner in order to get them out of the village. + +"Must wait till light come," decided Salloo at last, "no can make out +trail in dark." + +It seemed a whole eternity till dawn, but at last it grew light and the +Malay darted hither and thither in the vicinity. At last he announced to +Captain Sparhawk that he thought he knew, from the direction the trail +took, the place to which the prisoners had been conveyed. + +"Me think they take um to old fort on river," he declared. + +"Then let us go there at once," said Captain Sparhawk eagerly. "Is it +far?" + +"No velly far through jungle. But Salloo no know trail. Velly bad swamp +in there and if no know trail get in tlubble plenty quick." + +"Then we can't reach them," said Billy with a groan. + +"Salloo know other way," was the reply, "we go round by ribber. Then +climbee cliff, find fort at top." + +"Then let's start at once," said Captain Sparhawk. "I don't want to lose +a second of time." + +"No, begorry, those spalpeens may have taken them further on by the time +we git there if we don't put a good foot forward," said Muldoon. + +Salloo glanced up at the sky. A light, fleecy haze overspread it. + +"Nuther reason we hully," he said. "Salloo think big storm come +to-mollow. Rain washee out the tlacks." + +They set off along a narrow track that Salloo said would bring them to +the river, whose course they must follow to the deserted fort. The +jungle contained every kind of tropical growth, and huge ferns as big as +trees waved over the path. But the atmosphere was close and feverish, +with a humid heat that was very tiring. At times they encountered vines +which had grown across the trail and had to be cut. Some of these were +thin and wiry and could cut like a knife; others were as thick as a +man's arm and bore brilliant, though poisonous-looking blossoms of every +color. + +"Bad traveling," remarked Captain Sparhawk, "still I suppose we must +expect that on a seldomly frequented trail." + +"Him get velly bad further on," was all the comfort Salloo could offer, +"but not velly far to ribber once we strike udder trail." + +Before long they came to the track he had referred to which branched off +at right angles to the one along which they had been traveling. + +Several miles were covered, however, when it became time to halt for +lunch. They made a hasty meal of canned goods instead of stopping to +light fires, as Salloo thought it would be inadvisable to advertise +their whereabouts by smoke columns in case the "enemy" had scouts out. +They had hardly resumed their wearisome journey when they were startled +by hearing a cry from a distance. Salloo came to an instant halt. + +"Keep out ob sight, all of you," he said, "Salloo go see what makee +noise." + +He glided off into the dense vegetation with the silent, undulatory +movements of a snake. + +"Begorry, I wonder what that critter was?" said Muldoon in a low voice. + +"I don't know. I only hope it wasn't a band of natives who might prove +unfriendly," muttered Billy. + +"Well, so far we have had more trouble with white men than with +natives," said Captain Sparhawk, a remark of which they all felt the +truth. + +"It might have been monkeys chattering," suggested Raynor, after a +pause, during which they all listened for some sign of Salloo. + +"And spaking of the divil," exclaimed Muldoon, "look, there's a monkey +looking at us now. See those two black oys back in the threes?" + +He pointed with his forefinger and they all gazed in that direction. It +was Billy who first discovered the nature of Muldoon's monkey. + +"That's not a monkey. It's a big snake! Look out for yourselves!" he +yelled. + +"A python!" cried Captain Sparhawk. + +He started back and the others did the same. But Muldoon tripped over a +bow and fell sprawling headlong. As he scrambled to his feet a serpent's +form appeared above him as it swung from a big tree. The next instant +there was a cry of horror from them all. + +The serpent had made a sudden lunge and a cry broke from Muldoon as, +before he could make a move to help himself, he was enwrapped in the +spiral folds of the great python. + +Captain Sparhawk seized his revolver from his belt and leveled the +weapon. But the next moment he lowered it. To have fired would have been +to imperil Muldoon's life, and there might still be a chance of saving +him. + +The monstrous reptile that had the unfortunate boatswain in its grip was +large, even judged by the standards of the immense pythons of the New +Guinea and Borneo forests. It must have been fully thirty-five feet +long. + +Billy could not endure the sight and put his hands in front of his eyes. +When he removed them it was to behold a stirring sight. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX.--IN THE COILS OF A PYTHON. + + +From the jungle there had darted a lithe figure. It was Salloo. He had +traced the source of the mysterious cries to a troop of monkeys. He was +returning when Muldoon's despairing cry broke on his ears. + +The Malay, guessing that there was serious trouble, glided through the +jungle at the best speed of which he was capable, making his way swiftly +through thickets that a white man could not have passed at all. There is +one weapon with which a Malay is always armed--his kriss, a razor-edged +sword about two feet long, with a "wavy" outline. This kriss Salloo now +drew from under his single garment. + +One instant it flashed in the sunlight and the next, during which it was +impossible to follow its movements, so swift were they, the python's +head was severed. But instantly, by a convulsive movement, its coils +tightened and Muldoon emitted another pitiful cry. But, fortunately, the +life of the snake had departed and soon its coils relaxed and its +gaudily-colored body slipped in a heap to the ground. + +They all sprang forward to Muldoon's aid, for the man, powerful and +rugged, was almost in a state of collapse as the result of his terrible +experience. An examination by Captain Sparhawk soon showed that no bones +had been broken, as they had at first feared, and after restoratives had +been administered, and after a short rest, Muldoon announced that he was +ready to march on again. + +"That was a close shave, Muldoon," remarked Raynor, as they pressed +onward, after Muldoon had nearly wrung the hand off Salloo in expressing +his thanks for the Malay's courageous act, which had undoubtedly saved +the boatswain's life. + +"Ouch! Don't say a wurrud," groaned the Irishman, "I thought I was a +goner sure. Divil a bit more of snakes is it I want to see." + +That evening they reached the river, and leaving them camped, Salloo set +off on a scouting expedition. It was a long time before he returned, but +when he came in he brought good news. He had located the old fort and +reported that the ruffians who had carried off Mr. Jukes and Jack were +all there enjoying themselves round a big fire and apparently in no fear +of an attack. + +"Me see um white boy there, too," he added. "Same boy hang round hotel +at Bomobori all time." + +"Donald Judson!" exclaimed Billy. "How can that be possible? I can't fit +him into this at all." + +"Well, the question is, now that we have tracked the rascals, what's the +next move," said Captain Sparhawk. + +"Me think now good time attack," counseled Salloo. "They no think anyone +near. Give 'em heap big surprise." + +"Begorry, that's well said, naygur," approved Muldoon, "I'm aching to +git a good crack at thim." + +After some consultation it was decided to make the attack at once. If +they delayed they would have to wait till the next night in order to +surprise Broom's band and there was no telling what might happen during +the twenty-four hours that would elapse. + +Luckily, there was a moon, though it was somewhat obscured by the haze +which Salloo had drawn attention to as presaging a storm. The party, +piloted by Salloo, started off up the river, which was low, as the +weather had been dry and there was plenty of room for them to pass +between the bank and the water's edge. + +At last they arrived in sight of the cliff and Raynor's heart gave a +bound. At the top they could see the red glare of the camp fire, though +they could not see any of the men. + +"There's one good thing, the ascent of the cliff will be easy," said +Billy, in a whisper, as he drew attention to the knotted and twisted +vines that hung down it. + +"Yes, we'll need no scaling ladders," rejoined Captain Sparhawk. + +"No need for usum vines," declared the Malay. "Salloo know a path to +top." + +Telling them to remain where they were, the faithful fellow set off on +another scouting expedition. His kriss glittered menacingly in the +moonlight as he went on, trying to keep in the shadow of the cliff. +Arrived at the path he knew of, he glided noiselessly up it, although it +was a steep and tortuous one, and soon was at the top of the cliff. +Through the gloom he made out a solitary figure sitting on a rock far +removed from the campfire, about which the rest were gathered. The Malay +guessed it was a sentry, although the fellow was not keeping a very +careful watch and appeared to be half asleep. + +"Me fixee you one minute," grinned the Malay to himself. + +He cast himself on his stomach in the long grass that grew on the +cliff-top and began worming his way round the sentry so as to approach +him from the rear. He scarcely made a sound as he moved with wonderful +rapidity. + +The sentry appeared to shake off his drowsiness suddenly and rose to his +feet just as Salloo was within a few inches of him. But he left his +rifle leaning against the rock on which he had been seated. Instantly +Salloo leaped from the grass and the next instant the kriss was at the +thunderstruck sentry's throat. + +"You no speak or me killee," grated out the Malay, and one glance +convinced the sentry that Salloo would carry out his threat. + +Salloo stooped and picking up a small pebble cast it over the cliff. It +fell almost at the feet of Captain Sparhawk and Billy, who were +anxiously on the look-out for this signal, which had been prearranged. + +"Forward," ordered Captain Sparhawk, who was in the lead. Next came +Billy, then Muldoon and last the natives, some of whom had spears, and +others the peculiar blow-pipes used by the Papuans to shoot poisoned +darts. + +The advance was made in silence, and at the top of the cliff they found +Salloo waiting for them. He was garmentless, having used his single +cloak to tie up the sentry with. Grass stuffed in the man's mouth had +effectually gagged him. + +"Good for you, Salloo," said the captain approvingly, to which the +native replied with a grin. + +"Now we take him down below and find out some things from him," said the +Malay. + +The helpless prisoner was bundled back down the trail and brought to the +camp at the foot of the cliff. Here he was roped to a tree and the gag +taken out of his mouth. But the sight of Salloo's ever-ready kriss kept +him from making any outcry. + +Yes, he said, the old, fat man and the boy were all right. They had not +been fed though, and wouldn't be till a ransom was forthcoming. + +This made the whites boil with indignation. Questioned as to how many +were in the band, he said he did not know, and as he stuck to this it +was thought best not to waste any more time questioning him. + +After a consultation the gag was replaced, but the ropes were loosened +so that with a little exertion the man could set himself free. + +"If, for any reason, we couldn't come back, and we left the ropes tight, +he would perish," said Captain Sparhawk, "and we want no human lives to +our account." + +"Me leave him there starve to death plitty quick," growled Salloo, with +a scowl at the crestfallen prisoner. + +At the foot of the cliff all was now dark and silent as the grave. The +moon was obscured by a cloud and it was an ideal moment for the dash on +the camp to begin. + +"We go plenty slow or maybe take big tumble," advised Salloo. + +He was in advance but Billy was close at his heels. Cautiously they +ascended, taking great care not to dislodge loose stones which might +have been fatal to their plans. At last the stream was far below them +and the summit of the cliff within reach. + +It was at this moment that a torch flashed above them, glaring into +their upturned faces. + +"What's all this, who are you?" a voice demanded. + +"Silence if you value your life," came from Captain Sparhawk. + +"It's Donald Judson!" exclaimed Billy. + +"Billy Raynor," cried the other in his turn. "How did you----?" + +"Don't utter another word," ordered Captain Sparhawk. "Put your hands +above your head, you young rascal." + +"Not much I won't!" exclaimed Judson. + +He flung his torch full in Billy's face and then started at top speed +for the camp fire, yelling the alarm at the top of his lungs. + +For a minute Billy was in peril of losing his balance as the torch +struck him. But Salloo caught and held him firmly. The torch dropped +with a splash and hiss into the waters of the river below. + +By this time Salloo scrambled to the cliff summit and made off after +young Judson. Both reached the camp fire at about the same time. The +others, following close on Salloo's heels, saw Donald turn, catch sight +of the glittering kriss, and then, with a yell of dismay, tumble +headlong. He lay quite still and had apparently been stunned by the +violence of the fall. + +"Help! Help!" It was Jack's voice from the fort and was instantly +recognised by Billy. + +But by this time the men about the fire, headed by 'Bully' Broom, were +on their feet. There was no time for them to get their weapons, which +had been left inside the fort so that they would not rust in the damp +night air. The battle was a brief one, although some shots were fired, +none of which, in the excitement, took effect. + +Billy, by a clever ruse, brought the engagement to a speedy termination. +In the midst of the fight he turned toward the cliff and then raising +his voice as if summoning help, he shouted: + +"This way, captain. Bring that company up here. Let the others guard the +river." + +"Get out of here, boys," roared Broom, completely taken in. "I'll settle +with you later on," he cried, shaking his fist as he turned and followed +the rout of his followers, who, imagining they were being pursued by +great numbers, made off at top speed for the jungle, which soon +swallowed them up. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI.--THE JOURNEY RESUMED. + + +"Thank Heaven that is over," said Mr. Jukes, as he sat on an old bench +in the fort after he and Jack had been released. "You may depend upon it +that I shall not forget the part that Salloo and all of you played in +our rescue." + +It was some two hours after the "battle," if the rout of the rascals who +had captured Mr. Jukes and Jack could be termed such. The kidnappers' +larder had been ransacked and a good meal enjoyed by all hands, +especially, as may be imagined, by the two captives who had been without +food for almost twenty-four hours. + +Donald Judson, looking hang-dog and abject, was huddled on a bench in a +corner of the room. He had been picked up after the fray, having shammed +insensibility to avoid being injured, and was easily captured by the +victors. + +"You certainly came in the nick of time," said Jack. "From what I could +hear them saying, that scoundrel Broom was actually contemplating +torturing us if that check was not signed by Mr. Jukes." + +The millionaire shuddered. His experiences had greatly affected him. + +"That young ruffian over yonder," he nodded his head toward Judson, "was +the instigator of the idea to get money out of me, I believe," he said. +"He ought to be punished severely." + +"I didn't," whined Judson miserably, "I--I--that fellow Broom did it +all." + +"What's the use of your lying, Judson," exclaimed Jack, "you met Broom +at Bomobori. It's as plain as day now, and furnished him with an account +of as much of our plans as we had confided to you." + +"Well, maybe I did," mumbled Judson sullenly, "but I didn't put him up +to getting money out of you." + +"Nonsense," said Captain Sparhawk, "you are as bad as Broom is--worse, +in fact, for you are a lad of decent upbringing." + +No more was said to Judson that night, and they retired to catch a few +hours sleep, leaving the "carriers" under Salloo on guard. The Malay +amused himself by making hideous faces at the unfortunate Donald and +flourishing his kriss under his nose. By daylight the wretched prisoner +was half dead from fear. Captain Sparhawk sternly warned Salloo not to +tease him any more, at which the Malay appeared to be much surprised. + +"Him enemy," he said, "why no can do what like with him?" + +Breakfast, of which Donald was given his share, was eaten in the fort, +and after that meal the natives were sent down to the river to bring up +all the supplies which had been left there. They reported that the +prisoner Salloo had made had succeeded, as they intended he should, in +loosening his bonds during the night and had vanished. + +As soon as the boxes containing the wireless apparatus and the +hand-generator arrived, Jack lost no time in setting them up and as soon +as he raised the yacht sent a full account of Broom's rascally conduct +to her. The first officer at once left to notify the authorities and ask +that a keen lookout be kept for Broom's schooner. + +"Broom will never guess that we have any means of communicating with +Bomobori," the boy explained, "and if he returns there, will bungle into +a fine trap." + +"Begorry, I hope he does," commented Muldoon, "shure that wireless is an +illigant invintion entirely." + +"If Broom is captured, as many other criminals have been, by its aid, it +will have proved its splendid usefulness once more," declared Mr. Jukes. +"Ready, you might flash another message saying that I will give $1,000 +to anyone who captures 'Bully' Broom." + +After this had been done, the question arose of what to do with Donald +Judson. They had no desire to have the young rascal as a traveling +companion, but at the same time they did not see how they could very +well turn him loose in the jungle in which he might starve to death. It +was a problem that they were still discussing when Donald himself spoke +up in the timid, fawning voice he affected when in trouble. + +"See here," he said, "if you won't make trouble for me maybe I can help +you out." + +"In what way?" sharply asked Mr. Jukes. + +"Why I saw Broom put a map or something that looked like one in a +cupboard in the room that door opens into," said the boy, pointing to +the end of the room. "I thought maybe it might have something to do with +your brother, Mr. Jukes." + +"Come here at once and show me," ordered the millionaire. "I don't +suppose it was anything of great importance," he added. + +"Perhaps not," whimpered Donald, "but if it is will you let it count in +my favor?" + +"I shall consider that later," said Mr. Jukes sternly, as they all +followed the boy into the room he indicated. In one corner was a rough +cupboard. Mr. Jukes opened this and took out a rolled-up paper. He +spread it out on the table and they all pressed about him. + +"It's a map!" cried Billy. + +"Yes, and of this part of the country, too," cried Jack. "See, there's +that village, Taroo, where we stopped two nights ago." + +"And what's this leading along the river from this place marked 'Fort' +on the map?" asked Mr. Judson, his eyes shining as his forefinger traced +a red ink line that zig-zagged along till it left the river and struck +inland to what appeared to be intended to show a range of mountains. +"The Kini-Balu Mountains," he read out. + +"The Kini-Balu Mountains!" echoed Salloo, "me know them. Me bet your +brother up there. One time 'Bully' Bloom he helpee Kini-Balu men fight +big battle 'gainst Tariani tribe. Kini-Balus win and now heap like +'Bully' Bloom hide your brother up there." + +"It is possible," mused the millionaire, "and--yes, by jove! Look here." + +Indicated on the map in red letters, at a spot in the heart of the +Kini-Balu country, was a place marked "Cave." + +"Do you think it possible that that can be 'Bully' Broom's hiding place +for the other Mr. Jukes?" asked Jack. + +"I don't know, but it appears probable," rejoined the millionaire. + +"Me membel now sometime 'Bully' Bloom go way from Bomobori long time," +said Salloo, "nobody know where he go. That time when cruiser come look +for him. Maybe he hide up there." + +"It seems worth trying at any rate," said Mr. Jukes, in the manner of +one who has reached a decision. + +"It seems reasonable to suppose that if Broom had taken your brother and +his men anywhere on the island it would have been to some such +inaccessible spot as that," said Captain Sparhawk. + +"Well thin, what's to privint us going up among the 'balloon' men, or +whativer they call thimsilves?" asked Muldoon. + +"It may be attended by some danger," said Mr. Jukes. "From what Salloo +said the Kini-Balu men are a very war-like tribe. They might attack us. +How about that, Salloo?" + +The Malay's reply was not one calculated to reassure them. + +"Kini-Balu men head hunters," he said, "Maybe they no hurt us. But maybe +take our heads. Salloo no 'fraid, though." + +"Then, by golly, neither are we," declared Muldoon. + +After more discussion, it was decided to advance cautiously into the +Kini-Balu country and then do some scouting to see how matters lay. If +the natives were hostile, and if they were convinced that Mr. Jukes was +really a captive among them, guarded by their warriors at 'Bully' +Broom's orders, then they would return to Bomobori without risking their +lives and come back with a strong force. If everything appeared to be +pacific, then they would seek out the place indicated on the map and +settle the question of whether or no it was actually the place of the +pearl hunter's confinement. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII.--A STORM IN THE JUNGLE. + + +Two days later, before they turned away from the river, they heard some +news of the Kini-Balus from a party of natives bound down-stream in +dug-outs. Salloo learned from them that the tribe was at war, at least +so it was supposed by the canoeists from the fact that they had heard +that the chief of the Kini-Balus had been making levies of cattle and +corn among his subjects. + +"That sounds bad," said Mr. Jukes, when this news had been interpreted +to the party. + +"No, him good," asserted Salloo positively. + +"How do you make that out?" asked Jack. + +"If Kini-Balus makee war, they leave only women and old men at home. +They no fight us," argued the Malay, and they had to admit that there +was a good deal of truth in what he said. + +"We're all going to get killed anyhow," whimpered Donald, who had been +taken along by the party, much against their will, in consideration of +the services he had rendered in showing them the hiding place of the +map. + +"Him heap big coward," muttered Salloo. "Boy's body, girl's heart." + +It was on the afternoon of the second day that the storm that Salloo had +predicted overtook them. They were passing through a dense forest of +magnificent trees when the eternal twilight that reigned under the great +branches deepened till it was almost totally dark. Astonished at this +phenomenon, for it was long before the proper hour for night to descend, +they questioned Salloo. + +"Big storm come," he said, "me thinkee we better get out of here. +Lightning hit a tlee maybe he killee us." + +The birds of the jungle screamed discordantly, as if warning each other +of what was coming. Troops of monkeys swung through the trees as if +seeking refuge, and the almost deafening chorus of insects and lizards +gave way to total silence. It seemed as if nature was holding her breath +preparatory to some great crisis. + +"We had better look for some safe place to stay before it breaks," +counseled Captain Sparhawk. "A hurricane in the jungle is a serious +matter. Trees are rooted up and struck by lightning and in the forest it +is very dangerous for anyone to be caught by such a storm." + +"Me findee place," said Salloo, and struck off down a dim trail leading +toward the river. "Follow me, evelybody, and hully up." + +They needed no urging. The gloom and quiet of the forest was overawing. +It had begun to get on their nerves. Under Salloo's guidance they soon +found themselves at a great mass of rocks on a high bank overlooking the +river. The great masses of stone were piled in such a way that the +crevices among them formed regular caves. + +"We getee in here," said Salloo, indicating the largest of them. "I send +my men in annuder one." + +"I'm not going in there," declared Donald, "there might be snakes or +wild beasts inside." + +"You'd better come in or be blown away," said Captain Sparhawk. + +He had hardly spoken, before the storm broke in all its fury. Donald, +with a cry of alarm, followed the others into shelter. + +"Gracious, this beats anything I ever saw, even that storm off the +Pamatous," shouted Jack, above the shrieking of the wind. + +"Him blow more big bimeby," said Salloo, "him big storm this. You see." + +The trees swayed violently, and before long, from their shelter, they +saw a big one torn up by the roots and hurtled from the bank into the +river. The wind grew more violent. The dark air was filled with flying +branches, leaves and sticks. Birds, large and small, were swept by, +powerless to contend with the furious gale. Donald was crouched back in +a far corner of their shelter, too frightened to do anything more than +mumble and whimper. + +The river began to rise and add its mighty voice to the other sounds, +although no rain had yet fallen where they were. The darkness increased, +but suddenly everything was lit up in a livid glare that made them all +blink. + +"Lightning," exclaimed Salloo, "now him comin'." + +Then down came the rain. It literally fell in sheets, blotting out +everything like a fog even when the constant flashes illuminated the +scene. The water began to pour into their shelter from above, making it +a very uncomfortable place. Soon the water was up to their knees and in +the cave occupied by the carriers the men stood upright with their +burdens on their heads to keep them out of the water. + +"Gracious, I never saw so much water come down in my life," exclaimed +Jack. "It's a regular--my!" + +There had come a flash, a red ribbon of flame, so blinding that for an +instant they could not see. It was followed by a crack of thunder that +seemed to have split the sky. Donald gave a yell of alarm. + +"Him hittee something close by for sure," declared Salloo. He was right. +Presently they saw a tall ceiba tree burst into flame like a torch. +Fanned by the wind, it blazed fiercely even in the downpour. Its red +glare lit up their faces in a ghostly manner, for it was not more than a +few feet from their place of refuge. + +"My, this is awful," muttered Raynor. "Thank goodness we got out from +under those trees in time." + +"Amen to that," said Captain Sparhawk solemnly. + +It rained for the rest of that night and in the morning they were +sorry-looking objects. Everything was wet, and although they had tried +to light a fire during the night, after the first violence of the storm +had abated, they had not succeeded. But when, shortly before noon, the +sun did come out, it shone down with a heat that made the whole wet +earth steam. Clothes were spread out on the rocks to dry, as was the +rest of the outfit. Fortunately, the bags the carriers bore were mostly +of waterproof material, so not much damage was done to the contents. + +It was a scene of havoc on which they gazed. The river ran high and its +surface was littered with the bodies of dead monkeys, snakes, great +trees torn up bodily, and other debris eloquent of the violence of the +hurricane. + +All round them lay big trees and the bodies of countless birds that had +been dashed to death. It was some time before Salloo could persuade a +fire to burn, but among the rocks, in crevices the rain had not +penetrated, he found old dried leaves and sticks which made capital +kindling and at last they cooked a hot meal, in need of which they all +stood badly. + +Then it was off on the long trail again. Late that afternoon, just as +they were making camp, a party of natives came along the trail. They +carried the skins of numerous beautiful birds that they had brought down +with their blow-pipes. They were friendly and the boys bought some of +the skins. Afterward Salloo had a long talk with them and, this being +concluded, they kept on their way while our party went on with its +preparations for spending the night. + +Salloo had some news to disclose, he said. The natives he had been +talking to knew the Kini-Balu Mountains well and told him, after he had +described the cave they were looking for, that it was a very bad place. +Nobody liked to go near it. + +"On account of the Kini-Balus?" asked Mr. Jukes. + +"No, on account um ghosts," rejoined Salloo; "ghost of Taratao, old-time +chief of Kini-Balus haunt him." + +"Begorry, so long as the ghosts ain't got a punch it's sorra a bit I +care for 'em," declared Muldoon valiantly. + +That evening Salloo had a novelty for supper in the form of the flesh of +a huge lizard, or iguana. At first the boys and their companions did not +want to touch it, for in life it had been a hideous looking monster. But +being pressed by Salloo, they consented, and found it very good eating. +Its flesh tasted like chicken, though even more delicate. + +It was about an hour after the meal when they were preparing for bed +that Jack complained that he was feeling poorly. He said he had a +headache and a feeling of vertigo. The others then admitted experiencing +the same symptoms. Nausea soon succeeded these and ere long they were +all convinced that they had been poisoned by eating the iguana. The +natives, who camped some distance off with Salloo, experienced no such +illness but then they had eaten none of the iguana which, to Captain +Sparhawk's mind, made it all the more certain that it was the giant +lizard's flesh that had made them ill. + +Salloo was called from the native camp and bitterly reproached for +inducing them to eat it. He protested that it could not have been the +iguana that had made them ill. Had he not himself eaten it? But in the +end he returned to the native camp with his head hung down, completely +crushed by what he deemed the injustice of his white friends in blaming +him for their illness. At first they were not greatly alarmed, not +deeming it possible that they had actually been poisoned, and Captain +Sparhawk administered remedies from the medicine chest. But, to their +alarm, instead of decreasing in severity, their sufferings grew more +acute as the night wore on. + +Their ideas became confused, and as in sea-sickness in an acute stage, +they lay about, not caring whether they lived or died. If they tried to +rise, their heads swam, their feet tottered. Thus it was that Salloo +found them in the morning when he came from the native camp. + +The faithful fellow was seriously alarmed and set up a mighty wailing +which soon brought his followers running over. But the sufferers only +turned dull eyes upon them and moaned in their pain. Plainly they were +in such a serious condition that unless something was done soon to +relieve them, death itself might put an end to their misery. Salloo +looked about him wildly, hoping to catch some solution to the mystery of +this sudden illness. He raised his eyes upward and his lips moved as if +he were invoking the aid of some heathen deity. + +But suddenly the expression on his countenance changed. His eyes were +fixed on the leaves of a tree under which the sufferers had passed the +night. For the first time, too, he became aware of a peculiarly +sickening odor in the air. It smelled like carrion. As some huge scarlet +flowers which grew on the tree began to open to the daylight (they had +been closed at night) this terrible stench became stronger. Salloo +uttered a single shout of comprehension. + +"Upas!" It was echoed by his companions, whom Salloo at once directed to +pick up the sufferers and carry them to some distance. When the last had +been transported, Salloo got water from a forest pool and poured it over +them. One by one they began to revive. Jack, who was one of the first to +come to, rose dizzily to his feet and tried to walk. But Salloo gently +made him lie down again. After an hour or so all felt better and partook +of some soup and weak tea. + +"Salloo, you are forgiven," said Captain Sparhawk, "but never persuade +us to eat lizard again. You came near being the death of us all." + +"Faith, oi was niver so near the Pearly Gates before," declared Muldoon +emphatically. + +"Him no lizard hurt you," declared Salloo vehemently; "lizard heap good. +Upas he hurt you. If I no see it and have you moved away you plitty soon +have died." + +"What do you mean, Salloo?" asked Mr. Jukes. "Do you mean our sickness +had anything to do with the tree we camped under?" + +"Ebblyting," was the reply; "him tree was the upas." + +"I see it all now," exclaimed Captain Sparhawk. "That tree was the +deadly upas of which you may have heard. Every one in the Indian +Archipelago knows of it. Within its great red blossoms are the sepulchre +of birds and insects whose bodies, lying rotting there, give out that +terrible odor which ought to warn all travelers against it. But we +camped when it was getting dark and the flowers were closed, keeping the +noxious reek from escaping and warning us. Salloo is right, and if he +had not had us dragged from under it we should have perished miserably." + +"I remember reading somewhere of the upas," said Jack, "but I always +thought its deadly qualities were exaggerated. After our last night's +experience I'll know better." + +"I suppose the heat of our camp fire under the branches had something to +do with it, too," said Billy. + +"Undoubtedly," declared the captain. "And then as we sat around after +supper we were, unknown to ourselves, inhaling the deadly vapor till we +grew sick. Instead of moving away before we grew worse, as we certainly +would have if we had known the cause of our malady, we made ourselves +worse by lying down to sleep with that poisonous breath as our only +atmosphere. Salloo, your lizard is vindicated, and to show you it is, +the next one you shoot I'll volunteer to eat." + +But although recovered, they still felt weak from the effects of their +terrible night under the upas, whose Latin name, if any one wishes to +know it, is _antiaris toxicaria_. In fact, their feelings were very like +those of persons just getting over sea-sickness. They felt buoyantly +well and happy, but not yet quite strong enough for the hard work of the +trail. So they remained where they were till the next day and then +pushed on once more on their quest. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII.--THE GIANT SPIDERS. + + +When they resumed their journey the next morning they encountered a new +form of obstacle in the form of the webs of huge red bird-catching +spiders, whose nets stretched from tree to tree in the forest, looked +like seine nets in a fisherman's village hung out to dry, or to make +another comparison, miles of mosquito netting hung between the tree +trunks. Through these webs they had to make their way for a long +distance. + +The boys did not like it at all, and Donald Judson, who was particularly +averse to spiders, slunk in the rear till the natives, with shouts and +yells, cut down the webs that hung across the trail. The soft silky +substance of the webs struck them in the face and clung glutinously and +covered their clothes with a coating of white fleece. + +As they forced their way through this repulsive feature of New Guinea +forest travel, they could, from time to time, see the hideous forms of +the huge and venomous spiders that had spread the webs peering at them +from dark retreats in the crevices of trees or else scuttling off on +long, hairy legs to safety. It did not require much imagination to +picture their anger at this ruthless destruction of their homes. That +night they camped near the edge of a big swamp, and the two boys, weary +of the monotony of the long march and tired of canned stuff and +preserved goods, volunteered to set out with rifles and see if they +could not bring in something more palatable. + +As they had camped early when the swamp crossed their path, there was +plenty of time for them to go quite a distance in search of game. In a +short time they had brought down two birds that looked something like +partridges, as well as shooting an odd-looking bird like a huge parrot, +with a gigantic bill and horny head. They were some distance apart, +separated by a brake of reeds, when Jack heard a sudden cry of alarm +from Billy. + +Disregarding the danger of snakes, he pushed his way through the brake +at once. As he came in sight of Billy, who was standing staring into the +forest as if petrified, Jack, too, received a shock. Not far from Billy +was what he at first thought was a man. But such a man! Not even in a +nightmare had the boy ever beheld such a hideous form. + +This man, if such he was, was covered all over with red hair, thick and +shaggy, except on the face, which was darker and bereft of hair, but +from which two yellow eyes glared malevolently. In an instant the true +nature of this creature flashed upon Jack. It was an orang-outang, and a +monster, too, that stood facing them, its long arms trailing in front of +it. But even though stooped over, it was as large as the average man, +with a massive chest and shoulders. + +"Take a shot at it, Jack," urged Billy. + +But Jack shook his head. + +"It looks too horribly human," he said. "Besides, it doesn't look as if +it would attack us. It seems to be more possessed by curiosity than +anything else." + +Perhaps the boy was right, for after eyeing them for a few seconds more +the monstrous creature shuffled off for the edge of a big sheet of water +on whose margin they stood, and began tearing up some sort of water +plants and eating their roots with many grunts of satisfaction. He waded +in almost knee deep, stuffing his bag-like cheeks full and chewing with +huge satisfaction. The boys gazed at this strange picture with +fascination. + +But suddenly the monster stopped eating and stood erect. Its hair began +to bristle and it uttered an angry sort of growl. Apparently it was not +fear but anger that possessed this colossus of the forests as it glanced +angrily about it. The cause of its emotion was not long in appearing. +From the stagnant waters was approaching an antagonist formidable +indeed--a giant saurian--a crocodile larger than any the boys had ever +seen in any zoo. + +The boys naturally expected to see the orang-outang beat a hasty +retreat. But instead it stood its ground, merely drawing back a few +inches as the crocodile's hideous snout and scaly body were successively +protruded from the water. Jack now recalled what Salloo had told him one +night in camp about the orang. The Malay had said it was the king of the +New Guinea forests, fearing no man, beast or reptile, and this certainly +appeared to be the case in this instance. + +Had it wished to beat a retreat to safety, the mias, as the natives +called the red gorilla, might easily have done so. One leap and he could +have grasped a tree trunk, up which he could have scrambled in a jiffy. +On the contrary, after its first backward steps, which brought it almost +out of the water, the creature stood upright and, uttering savage +growls, beat on its hairy chest with its huge arms, producing a sound +like the reverberations of a savage "tom-tom." + +The scaly reptile continued to advance. Perhaps, to its eyes, the red +gorilla was simply a native, a poor weak human being, such as possibly +had fallen victim to the great crocodile before. However that may have +been, the saurian, without undue hurry, could be seen to be making +straight for the red ape and, maneuvering so as to get its monstrous +armor-plated tail in position to give a fatal flail-like sweep, which +would fling the orang-outang into the water, stunning it and making it +an easy prey. + +It appeared to flatten itself as it reached shallow water, its ugly +lizard-like legs spread out on each side of its scaly body almost +horizontally. Then, with a suddenness that made the boys catch their +breaths in a quick gasp, the monster gave a sudden leap, aiding this +maneuver by its tail, which it suddenly stiffened as if it had been a +spring. + +Its whole length was launched into the air as it sprang, and for a flash +its wide-opened jaws with their hideous rows of triangular teeth, +appeared to engulf the red ape. But while the boys were still held +spell-bound by this spectacle, such a one as perhaps no human being but +a lone native hunter had ever beheld before, the red gorilla gave a +mighty leap. It was partly straight up and partly to one side. As the +great jaws of the saurian came together with a snap like that of a +titanic steel trap, the red ape landed fair and square on the scaled +monster's back. + +Straddling the plated hide, the great hairy legs gripped the crocodile's +sides as a bronco buster grips his fractious mount. And now commenced a +struggle between these two denizens of the deepest New Guinea forests +such as the two young spectators remembered with photographic vividness +to the end of their lives. + +On the part of the crocodile the battle was simply a series of leaps and +wild tail threshings in an effort to dislodge his nimble foe. The grass +and weeds were mown down as if by a scythe by the sweeps of the great +tail, but the ape held firm, his little eyes twinkling wickedly. With +one arm it clutched the rough hide firmly, but the other was waving +about like a tentacle seeking something to grasp. + +During the struggle the jaws of the crocodile had been frequently +snapped, but they only closed on empty air. As in all the saurian tribe, +during this process the upper jaw had pointed nearly vertically upward, +making an opening big enough to swallow a canoe. Suddenly the watchers +saw the orang's purpose. All at once the disengaged arm made a swift +sweep forward and grasped the extended upper jaw. + +"Great Scott! he's done for now," cried Billy. "That jaw will close and +cut his fingers off." + +"Hold on," warned Jack. "Watch. I've heard these creatures can bend +rifle barrels as if they were made of lead. Perhaps--look!" + +The orang suddenly shifted his position. He was now kneeling on the +crocodile's back, his knees braced firmly on its armor-plated neck and +his second arm aiding the first in the task of keeping those jaws, once +apart, from ever coming together again. Then summoning every ounce of +that strength that has made the orang the most dreaded of all the forest +animals in that part of the world, even the Bornean tiger owning his +supremacy, the red gorilla gave one grand wrench. + +There was a tearing sound as of a tree being torn from its roots, and +the alligator's body writhed and threshed about convulsively. The great +ape sprang free from the scaly monster and with hoarse laughter that +sounded like the merriment of a maniac, it gazed on the saurian's +struggles. But it was not destined to see the end of them. In its agony +the great crocodile instinctively made for the water and was soon out of +sight, threshing and writhing until a clump of water-cane hid it from +sight. + +Then, and not till then, did the orang take its eyes from its conquered +enemy. But when it had seen the last of it, the hairy creature turned +and appeared to be contemplating fresh victory. The lust of battle was +in its wicked little eyes. + +"Down, Billy, down with you quick," warned Jack, pulling his chum aside +in the thicket. "If it comes this way, shoot at once. I wouldn't want to +come to close quarters with a creature like that. I thought Salloo was +drawing the long bow when he told me about the _mias_, as he called it, +but he didn't put it on thick enough." + +"If only we'd had a camera," was Billy's regret. But for the next few +moments there were more important things to think about. The orang stood +upright, looking about him in a truculent manner. It almost appeared as +if, now that his battle with the saurian was over, he had recollected +the human figure he had seen not long before, but had paid little heed +to it in his haste to make his evening meal among the water plants. + +In fact, he started shamblingly toward the brake where the boys were +concealed with leveled rifles and fingers on triggers. But the great +creature's life was spared, for that time at least, for had the boys +fired he must have fallen at the first bullets from the high-powered +rifles. After advancing a few paces, he changed his mind and, grumbling +to himself, he shuffled off and was soon lost in the gloom of the +forest. + +"We ought to have shot him, Jack," muttered Billy as they started back +to camp with what game they bagged. + +"What, kill a fine old warrior like that without cause? Could you have +done it, Billy?" + +"Um--well--er--no, I don't believe I could," rejoined his chum. "After +all, that crocodile started the scrap and--and I guess every American +likes a good fighter." + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV.--A FIGHT WITH A HORNBILL. + + +"Now me showee you something." + +It was during the noon rest the next day and the Malay had asked the +whites to come a little distance apart from the camp to a fine-looking +banyan tree. They watched him with interest as with the axe he cut down +several lengths of bamboo from a nearby cluster, and, pointing the ends +sharply, having first separated the lengths into bits about two feet +long, began driving them into the yielding bark of the tree. In this way +he had soon made the first four rounds of a primitive ladder. + +Although, as yet, he had given them no hint of the object of all this, +they were all sure that he had something really of interest to show them +and forbore asking questions till he was ready to explain the mystery. +Salloo had driven the tenth round of his queer ladder and was about ten +feet from the ground, when Jack drew everybody's attention to a strange +hissing sound that appeared to come from within the tree. + +"Look out for snakes, Salloo," he warned. But the Malay only nodded his +head confidently and smiled. Donald glanced about nervously. Even +Captain Sparhawk looked apprehensive. As for Muldoon, he shouted, "This +is no place for a son of St. Patrick," and fled back to camp. + +"What's the matter, Salloo?" asked Mr. Jukes. "Are you in trouble?" + +"No trouble, Missel Boss," rejoined Salloo. "Only bit what you callee +good luck," grinned the Malay, looking down on them and continuing his +work. + +"How good luck?" asked Jack. + +"You see plenty soon," was the cryptic reply, and the Malay drew another +sharp-pointed peg from his girdle and drove it in with vigorous strokes +of the axe. While he did this, the hissing continued, mingled with a +hoarse roaring like that which might be emitted by a disabled foghorn. +Moreover, they could now see that a few feet above Salloo's head was an +object which alternately was thrust out from the tree trunk and +withdrawn. It was white and sharp-pointed, like one of the pegs he was +driving. It was assuredly not a snake's head, as they had for a minute +thought, but what was it? + +"What's that right over your head, Salloo?" asked Captain Sparhawk. + +"Him buld (bird), captain. Him plentee much bigee buld." + +"Oh, only a bird," said Mr. Jukes in a disappointed voice. "What sort of +a one?" + +"Him hornbill. Ole hen hornbill. She on nest. Old man hornbill he shut +her up in there so she no leave eggs. Him put mud over crack in tree so +as she no put nothing but her beak out. That the way he feedee her." + +So that was the explanation of that object that darted in and out, and +also of the hissing and grunting sounds. Looking closer, they now saw +that at the spot where the bill still kept darting in and out there was +a big longitudinal patch of mud which walled the hen hornbill up as +effectually as certain prisoners were "walled up" in the days of old. As +Salloo got within reaching distance of the nest, he raised his axe and +smashed the mud wall before any of the party could check him. The next +instant his bare arm was plunged fearlessly into the orifice and came +out with his fingers clutching the old hen by the neck. In a moment she +was fluttering, with her neck wrung, at the adventurers' feet. + +"Say, Salloo, you shouldn't have done that," called up Jack indignantly. +"That's a shame." + +The rest echoed his indignation at what seemed an act of wanton cruelty. +Salloo only looked astonished. + +"Him plenty good eat. Roast hornbill plenty fine." + +"You see, he takes a different point of view about these things than we +do," said Captain Sparhawk. "You can't blame him. Still I wish we could +have prevented it." + +They examined the dead hornbill with much interest. It was a gorgeous +bird, almost as big as a turkey, with a bill of a size altogether +disproportionate to even its large size. This beak was like a gigantic +parrot's bill and the horny structure extended over almost the entire +head of the bird. It was not unlike the one the boys had shot the night +before and thrown away as not good for food. + +"Plentee eggs in there," said Salloo as he came down, "but they no good +eat." + +"Well, I'm glad there were no young ones to be starved through our +interference," said Billy, and the others felt as he did. + +"Say, I'm going to have a look at that nest," said Jack suddenly. + +"All right. But look out you don't fall and break your neck," warned +Raynor. Jack went nimbly up Salloo's queer ladder and soon reached a +height where he could see into the nest, which was built in a cavity of +the tree and had afterward been carefully walled up with mud, +strengthened by weaving reeds into it. Jack was still examining the nest +when a sudden shadow fell over him. He looked up and above him he saw, +with somewhat of a shock, a great bird whose plumage flashed brilliantly +in the sun and whose huge beak snapped viciously at the boy. + +"Look out, look out, him father hornbill," cried Salloo from the ground. + +The hornbill made a swoop at Jack, aiming with that cruel beak straight +for his eyes. The boy put up an arm to defend himself, but the bird +seized it with its parrot-like claws, scratching it badly, and all the +while it kept up a beating of its wings that blinded the boy. Then the +bird suddenly changed its tactics. It swooped off and then made a swift +dash at the boy's head. It was well for Jack that he had on his stiff +sun helmet or his skull would have been cracked like an egg by that +huge, horny bill. As it was, the helmet was ripped open. + +Those below called on him to come down. But the attacks of the great +bird so blinded and bewildered him that he was unable to move a step. +Billy, at the order of Captain Sparhawk, brought a rifle from the camp, +but so close did the bird stay to the boy that there was danger in using +it. Even the most expert of shots would have been quite as likely to hit +Jack as the enraged hornbill. + +Salloo had sprung into the tree, and with his ever ready _kriss_ was +ascending to the rescue when Captain Sparhawk saw an opportunity. The +rifle was already at his shoulder and, as the hornbill rose and hovered +for an instant before making another plunge at Jack's head, his finger +pressed the trigger. A splendid shot, a broken wing, the huge bird +fluttered to the earth and flopped and screamed on the ground till its +strugglings were put an end to by another bullet. Jack remained where he +was for a few seconds to recover his nerves and then, still somewhat +shaken by his experience, he descended. + +His arm was badly scratched and Captain Sparhawk was opening the +medicine chest when Salloo intervened. He quickly gathered a handful of +a plant that exuded a sort of thick milk. Crushing the gathered stems on +a stone, he soon had a quantity of this juice, which he spread on the +wounds. The irritation at once left them and Salloo promised a speedy +cure. But it may be said that Jack had no appetite for roast hornbill +that night. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV.--THE HEART OF NEW GUINEA. + + +The expedition now found itself advancing through forest that grew +sparser as they progressed. The ground was rapidly becoming more rugged. +Close to them now towered the range known as the Kini-Balu among the +wild recesses of which the tribe of that name made its home. Constant +vigilance was the watchword of the hour now. Salloo would permit no +fires to be lighted, and he and his followers were constantly scouting +in front of the party, while additional watch was kept at the rear and +on both flanks. + +It was dangerous, thrilling work, but the boys, who loved adventure, +relished every moment of it. But Donald Judson lived a life of misery. +Every rustle in the bush made him turn pale. He was constantly giving +false alarms in the night and the boys heartily wished he had been left +behind. One afternoon--they were right in the mountains now--Salloo +halted the party with a quick gesture. + +"Two men ahead of us. Up the mountain. Salloo go, look, see." + +He glided off with his usual snake-like agility and vanished in a flash, +while the party waited behind a mighty rock, for cover of the forest +kind was growing scarce now. A wilder region would have been hard to +imagine. The cliffs and mountains were of all sorts of extravagant +shapes. Some of the larger rocks and peaks took on the outlines of +monstrous animals. But they were still following a trail which was +undoubtedly the one set down in red ink on Broom's map. + +Through the glasses, which they were able to use without being observed, +by crouching down in the coarse grass, they could see Salloo advancing +toward the two figures on the mountain side. As he went he was making +the peace sign, extending his arms as if inviting the others to attack +him at their will. But as far as they could see, the meeting was +friendly enough. Salloo conversed with the two men of the mountain for a +long time. Then he could be seen retracing his steps. + +"Well?" demanded everybody as he returned to the camp. + +"Ebblyting good so far," reported Salloo. "Those two men velly old men. +They left behind when tribe go to war in the north." + +"Then the country is free of danger?" cried Donald. + +Salloo turned a look of contempt on him and did not answer. Addressing +the others, he continued: + +"They say they know of cave. But no know if white man is there," went on +the Malay. + +"Would they be willing to guide us to it?" inquired Mr. Jukes. + +"That me no know yet. Me go see 'em again to-night," replied Salloo. +"They say nobody but old men, women and children left behind now tribe +go to war. So maybe they no afraid to show us. You pay 'em good?" + +"Anything, any sum at all," was the response of the millionaire. "No sum +is too great to restore my brother to his family." + +When night fell Salloo left the camp again and did not return till +midnight. He brought the news that the two old men would guide them for +three pieces of gold each. They did not want the coins to spend, +explained Salloo, but to pierce and wear round their necks as ornaments. + +"I'll make it six each," declared Mr. Jukes, "if they lead us aright." + +There was little sleep for anybody that night, and soon after daybreak +the two old men appeared in the camp. They were odd-looking old fellows; +unclothed except for a breech cloth, and were daubed with red and yellow +earth, signifying that their tribe was at war, although their age barred +them from taking part. + +At Salloo's suggestion, only himself, Mr. Jukes, Jack and Billy were to +accompany the guides. The others were to remain behind and keep as well +under cover as they could till the rest returned with success or +failure. Final instructions having been given, they set off behind the +two old men, who chattered volubly with Salloo as they went. They knew +of the cave, it appeared, but nothing more, for they did not come from +that part of the mountains. + +The next day they were not far from the cave, their aged guides told +them, and Salloo enjoined the strictest caution in proceeding. If they +met a returning war party, their position would be ticklish in the +extreme, he declared, and they readily agreed with him. + +It was not long after this that, high up on the mountain side, they +became aware of a dark hole. The two old men chattered and pointed, and +then Salloo said: + +"There him cave. You wait here. Salloo go, look, see." + +He made off up the mountain with the two old tribesmen, while the others +waited with what patience they could for his return. The boys had never +seen Mr. Jukes so nervous. He could not keep still under the tension, +but paced to and fro, regardless of Salloo's advice to keep under cover. + +"He is taking his time," said Jack after a long interval. + +"Perhaps something has happened to him," said Mr. Jukes, apprehensively. +"We'd better have our pistols ready. Hark! what was that?" + +There was a rustling in the bushes near at hand and they all sprang to +their feet, only to burst into laughter a minute later when a rock +coney, or small rabbit, emerged, looked at them for an instant and then +vanished. + +"That shows how we are keyed up," said Jack. "We've got to keep our +nerve or we shall be useless if any emergency did happen." + +As he spoke, something whizzed over their heads and then sank quivering +in the ground not far from them. They looked round and saw standing not +far off two hideous natives, with frizzed hair and painted faces and +bodies. Both were wounded and apparently had been sent back from "the +front." But still there was a chance that they might be the advance +guard of a big body of troops. + +"We friends," cried Jack, giving the peace sign as he had seen Salloo +give it. + +The natives merely stared, and there is no knowing what might have been +the outcome, but at that moment there came a hail from high up on the +mountain and the old tribesmen and Salloo began coming toward them. The +natives awaited their coming with their eyes fixed on the whites. As +soon as Salloo and the others arrived there was a long confab and Salloo +explained that the two warriors said that the main body of the savage +troops was not far off, and that they had been sent back on account of +their wounds. They had thrown the spear because they thought the whites +were coming to invade their country. When Salloo explained the object of +their errand, everything appeared to be satisfactory. + +"Now we go to the cave," said Salloo, at the end of these negotiations. +"Him velly big one, me think." + +"Did you--did you see any trace of my brother?" asked Mr. Jukes +anxiously. + +"Me no see anything yet," was the reply. "Me only go little way into +cave." + +"Then come, let us start at once," said Mr. Jukes, stepping nimbly over +the rough ground, in spite of his cumbersome build. + +As Salloo had said, the cave was a large one. It ran back fully a mile +under the mountain. But they paid little attention to its natural +beauties, so eager were they to find some trace of Jerushah Jukes. To +one side was a swiftly flowing stream. They did not doubt that it came +from a waterfall, the noise of which they could hear in the distance. + +Before long they stood in front of the waterfall, a beautiful ribbon of +water falling fully a hundred feet into a clear pool. A sort of mist +hung over the pool caused by the spray, which was lighted by a rift in +the rocks above. It was a lovely sight and even in their anxiety to get +on they could not help standing and admiring it for a few minutes. + +"By the way, Salloo," said Jack abruptly, "how about that ghost that is +supposed to haunt the cave?" + +"Me no know. Me----" + +"Look, look, the ghost!" cried Raynor suddenly. He pointed straight in +front of him at the fall. + +"Great Scott!" exclaimed Jack as he too perceived an apparition that +appeared to rise out of the waters. Salloo fell flat on his face in +terror and so did the two old natives, who had been their guides. + +"Don't talk nonsense," said Mr. Jukes sharply. "I see nothing. I--for +heaven's sake!" + +Out of the mist of the pool he had seen advancing toward him as he +stepped forward the gigantic form of a man. Then he glanced again. + +The ghost was Mr. Jukes himself, who certainly had nothing +spiritualistic about him. The explanation of the queer sight struck the +boys and the millionaire at the same instant. The sun, shining through +the rift, was reflected upon the wet rock which in turn projected their +figures against the watery mist that hung above the pool. + +"And so that's the ghost that's been scaring the natives to death," said +Jack. "Get up, Salloo, and I'll show you how the trick is done." + +After a brief demonstration the Malay was satisfied, but the two old men +were unconvinced. They mumbled and were ill at ease till that part of +the cave was left behind. + +"Hullo, here's a path leading up past the waterfall," cried Jack +suddenly. + +"So there is. Let's see where it goes," cried Billy. They started up the +slippery footway very slowly so as to avoid the consequences of a slip. +As they went it grew lighter. They were coming to the upper world once +more. A minute later and they emerged upon a small plateau in the heart +of the mountains. It was surrounded by steep precipices. In the centre +stood a group of bamboo huts. + +At sight of the white men, several women and children set up a shrill +cry. Suddenly above the hub-bub came a voice that brought a thrill to +them all: + +"Has help come at last?" + +[Illustration: "Has help come at last?"] + +From behind one of the huts had stepped a tall, angular figure, wearing +ragged white clothes and a battered sun helmet. Perched on his nose were +a pair of huge horn-rimmed spectacles, a ragged, unkempt beard covered +his face and his hair hung in matted locks about his shoulders. + +At the sight of him, Mr. Jukes gave a gasp and then a glad cry. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI.--FOUND AT LAST! + + +"Oh, my brother," cried Mr. Jukes, "I can hardly believe we've found you +at last." + +"Thank God! you have, Jacob," returned the other fervently. "For a +moment I thought that you were only one of the fantastic visions that +have visited my brain lately." + +"My poor brother," exclaimed the millionaire, "but now thank heaven you +are restored to your friends." + +"But how did you ever find me? I never deemed it possible that rescuers +could find their way to this place where that villain Broom, after +stealing the pearl, marooned me." + +"Ah, so the pearl is gone,--but never mind that now. I would not have +given your life for an ocean-full of pearls," declared the millionaire +happily, "but I must introduce our friends who have shared with me the +hardships of the trail." + +The boys, and then Salloo, added their congratulations to Mr. Jukes, +while the women and children gathered round and chattered frantically. +It was plain that they objected to all this, yet did not see how to stop +it. The white men's weapons glinted menacingly and there were no +warriors in the village. + +"And now let us hasten away from here," said Jerushah Jukes. "The men +are off on a fighting expedition and I might have escaped but without +food or weapons I could never have made my way to the coast through the +jungle. I suppose that is the reason they did not tie me up." + +"Undoubtedly," said the millionaire, "but I'm forgetting something," and +he doled out to the two old men a reward, much over what they had +demanded. They chattered their thanks glibly, making all sorts of +gesticulations of gratitude. + +"It's all like a dream to me so far," said Jerushah Jukes, as they made +their way back through the cave and past the "haunted" waterfall. "Broom +sent me up here with a guard of his men. The tribe appeared to be +friendly to him and agreed to keep me prisoner as long as he wished. But +my poor crew? What has become of them?" + +"That we do not know yet," said Mr. Jukes, "but we will talk later. I +want to put all the distance I can between this tribe and our party as +soon as we can. Those women will give the alarm although they dared not +make an active protest." + +But as they emerged from the cave they met with a rude shock. A party of +warriors with frizzed hair and war-paint daubing their bodies barred the +way. + +At first the tribesmen stood motionless with astonishment at the sight +of a party of white men emerging from their secret cave. But the next +instant they broke into a savage volley of shouts and yells and raised +their spears and cruel-looking war clubs. + +"We have come too late, my poor brother," groaned Mr. Jukes. But +suddenly Salloo raised his voice. He spoke in tones of loud authority. +The spears and clubs were lowered. He turned to Mr. Jukes and in a quick +low voice said: + +"Give me um map. Quick, our lives depend on him." + +The millionaire lost no time in producing 'Bully' Broom's map. The most +be-frizzed of the natives pored over it for several minutes. Then one of +them said in fair English: + +"You come from Chief Broom; all right, you may go. He tell us to keep +white man till he send for him. You show Broom's map. He all right. Goo' +bye," and the warriors went on. + +Thus by the clever Malay's strategy he had told the warriors, who had +returned unexpectedly, that the white men had been sent by 'Bully' +Broom,--they were saved from disaster. But the tribesmen had demanded +proof of Salloo's story and, in the nick of time, he had luckily thought +of the map which satisfied their suspicions at once, for Broom was the +only white man, except the prisoner, who had ever visited the secret +cave. + +The return to the camp was made without incident and Jack, on reaching +it, at once rigged up his wireless apparatus and flashed to the _Sea +Gypsy_ the glad news of the rescue of the millionaire's brother. But, a +few minutes later, he, in his turn, was receiving good tidings. Broom +had returned to Bomobori and was arrested while he was recruiting a crew +to make a dash into the jungle and intercept the Jukes' party. He was +apprehended while rowing ashore from a native craft. + +As the officers of the law seized him, he was seen to throw something +into the water. One of the native oarsmen instantly dived after the +object and succeeded in grabbing it before it reached the bottom. It +proved to be the great pearl, "The Tear of the Sea." And there was yet +more intelligence of a kind to hearten them after all their tribulations +in the wild jungles of New Guinea. + +The first officer of the _Sea Gypsy_, having received news of a +mysterious schooner anchored in a cove up the coast, resolved to do a +little amateur detective work. He found that she was none other than the +famous _South Sea Lass_. Securing the co-operation of the authorities, +the vessel was raided one night and her small crew easily overpowered. +Then cries were heard from below and on the removal of the hatches the +crew of the _Centurion_, or what remained of them--for five had died +from privation--were discovered. They had refused to join Broom's band +and he was afraid to let them loose, so they had been confined in the +almost unlivable hold ever since their capture. Since Broom's arrest, +the Australian authorities had cabled that he was wanted there for +piracy and other crimes and he had been sent to Melbourne on a mail +steamer. It may be added here that British justice was dealt out with a +heavy hand to the ruffian and his many victims were fully avenged. His +crew was tried and sentenced in Bomobori and all received heavy terms of +imprisonment. Thus were the South Seas rid of one of the chief of their +many freebooters. + +The long march back to Bomobori was made without anything of particular +interest occurring and one morning they stood on a rise overlooking the +harbor. There lay the _Sea Gypsy_ with the dear old Stars and Stripes +flying, and the ship dressed in gay bunting; for by wireless Jack had +notified those on board of the time of their arrival. A few hours more +and they were among their friends again with their strange experiences +behind them. + +As there was no reason for staying in Bomobori, except to take on board +the survivors of the _Centurion's_ crew, the _Sea Gypsy_ steamed out of +the harbor the next day, being saluted as she went, a compliment which +she returned with her rapid-fire gun. Watching them from the wharf were +two figures. One a tall agile Malay, who, with tears in his eyes, +watched the yacht till she was hull-down on the horizon. It was Salloo. +He had been well rewarded for his services which indeed, as Mr. Jukes +said, were beyond price; but, as he watched the departure of his white +friends, his thoughts were only with them and not with what were, to +him, the riches of a lifetime. + +The other watcher turned away with a sneer, jingling the money Mr. Jukes +had left him in his pockets: + +"So I've got to stick round this hole till I can get a steamer home," +grumbled Donald Judson, for, as our readers will have guessed, it was +he. "If it hadn't been for those boys I might have gone home in comfort +on the yacht. Well, maybe some day I'll get even with them." + +On the voyage home a stop was made at the Pamatou Islands; the glad news +of the rescue had already been wirelessed home, and there was no great +hurry except Mr. Jukes' desire to get back to his business affairs after +a romantic adventure he would never forget. As the _Sea Gypsy_ dropped +anchor in the well-known harbor, a fleet of canoes dashed out to welcome +her, among them you may be sure those of Anai and his friend, who wept +tears of joy at seeing their white "chums" once more. Mr. Jukes, his +speculative instinct once more in the ascendent, bought a large quantity +of pearls on which he subsequently realized a good profit. + +"But we must hurry home," he said one day. "My business will be going to +rack and ruin without me and besides I've run out of dyspepsia pills. I +only hope I didn't ruin my digestion in the jungle." + +And here the adventures of the Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific must +be brought to a close, except that it might be mentioned that pretty +Helen Dennis, whose father's ship was in port on the return of the _Sea +Gypsy_, now wears a very pretty locket, set with South Sea pearls--the +gift of Jack Ready. And so, till we meet them in the next volume of this +series, we will wish the lads and their friends good-bye. + + THE END + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + A Volume of Cheerfulness in Rhyme and Picture + + KINDERGARTEN + LIMERICKS + + By FLORENCE E. SCOTT. + + Pictures by Arthur O. Scott with a Foreword + by Lucy Wheelock + +[Illustration] + + The book contains a rhyme for every letter of the alphabet, each + illustrated by a full page picture in colors. The verses appeal + to the child's sense of humor without being foolish or + sensational, and will be welcomed by kindergartners for teaching + rhythm in a most entertaining manner. + + Beautifully printed and bound. In attractive + box. Price, Postpaid One Dollar. + + + + + _HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE_ + + FRANK ARMSTRONG SERIES + + By MATTHEW M. COLTON + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c. per vol., postpaid + +[Illustration] + +_Frank Armstrong's Vacation_ + +How Frank's summer experiences with his boy friends make him into a +sturdy young athlete through swimming, boating and baseball contests, +and a tramp through the Everglades, is the subject of this splendid +story. + +_Frank Armstrong at Queens_ + +We find among the jolly boys at Queen's School, Frank, the +student-athlete, Jimmy, the baseball enthusiast, and Lewis, the +unconsciously-funny youth who furnishes comedy for every page that bears +his name. Fall and winter sports between intensely rival school teams +are expertly described. + +_Frank Armstrong's Second Term_ + +The gymnasium, the track and the field make the background for the +stirring events of this volume, in which David, Jimmy, Lewis, the "Wee +One" and the "Codfish" figure, while Frank "saves the day." + +_Frank Armstrong, Drop Kicker_ + +With the same persistent determination that won him success in swimming, +running and baseball playing, Frank Armstrong acquired the art of +"drop-kicking," and the Queen's football team profits thereby. + +_Frank Armstrong, Captain of the Nine_ + +Exciting contests, unexpected emergencies, interesting incidents by land +and water make this story of Frank Armstrong a strong tale of +school-life, athletic success, and loyal friendships. + +_Frank Armstrong at College_ + +With the development of this series, the boy characters have developed +until in this, the best story of all, they appear as typical college +students, giving to each page the life and vigor of the true college +spirit. + +Six of the best books of College Life Stories published. They accurately +describe athletics from start to finish. + +_Any book sent postpaid upon receipt of 60 cents, or we will send the +six for $3.50._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + OAKDALE ACADEMY SERIES + + Stories of Modern School Sports + + By MORGAN SCOTT. + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c. per vol., postpaid + +[Illustration] + +=BEN STONE AT OAKDALE.= + +Under peculiarly trying circumstances Ben Stone wins his way at Oakdale +Academy, and at the same time enlists our sympathy, interest and +respect. Through the enmity of Bern Hayden, the loyalty of Roger Eliot +and the clever work of the "Sleuth," Ben is falsely accused, championed +and vindicated. + +=BOYS OF OAKDALE ACADEMY.= + +"One thing I will claim, and that is that all Grants fight open and +square and there never was a sneak among them." It was Rodney Grant, of +Texas, who made the claim to his friend, Ben Stone, and this story shows +how he proved the truth of this statement in the face of apparent +evidence to the contrary. + +=RIVAL PITCHERS OF OAKDALE.= + +Baseball is the main theme of this interesting narrative, and that means +not only clear and clever descriptions of thrilling games, but an +intimate acquaintance with the members of the teams who played them. The +Oakdale Boys were ambitious and loyal, and some were even disgruntled +and jealous, but earnest, persistent work won out. + +=OAKDALE BOYS IN CAMP.= + +The typical vacation is the one that means much freedom, little +restriction, and immediate contact with "all outdoors." These conditions +prevailed in the summer camp of the Oakdale Boys and made it a scene of +lively interest. + +=THE GREAT OAKDALE MYSTERY.= + +The "Sleuth" scents a mystery! He "follows his nose." The plot thickens! +He makes deductions. There are surprises for the reader--and for the +"Sleuth," as well. + +=NEW BOYS AT OAKDALE.= + +A new element creeps into Oakdale with another year's registration of +students. The old and the new standards of conduct in and out of school +meet, battle, and cause sweeping changes in the lives of several of the +boys. + + Any volume sent postpaid upon receipt of price. + + HURST & COMPANY--Publishers--NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + Log Cabin to White House Series + + LIVES OF CELEBRATED AMERICANS + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c., per vol., postpaid + +[Illustration] + +FROM BOYHOOD TO MANHOOD (The Life of Benjamin Franklin). By _Wm. M. +Thayer_. + +Benjamin Franklin was known in the scientific world for his inventions +and discoveries, in the diplomatic world because of his statesmanship, +and everywhere, because of his sound judgment, plain speaking, and +consistent living. + +FROM FARM HOUSE TO WHITE HOUSE (The Life of George Washington). By _Wm. +M. Thayer_. + +The story of the hatchet and other familiar incidents of the boyhood and +young manhood of Washington are included in this book, as well as many +less well-known accounts of his experiences as surveyor, soldier, +emissary, leader, and first president of the United States. + +FROM LOG CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE (The Life of James A. Garfield). By _Wm. +M. Thayer_. + +It was a long step from pioneer home in Ohio where James A. Garfield was +born, to the White House in Washington, and that it was an interesting +life-journey one cannot doubt who reads Mr. Thayer's account of it. + +FROM PIONEER HOME TO WHITE HOUSE (The Life of Abraham Lincoln). By _Wm. +M. Thayer_. + +No President was ever dearer to the hearts of his people than was +homely, humorous "Honest Abe." + +To read of his mother, his early home, his efforts for an education, and +his rise to prominence is to understand better his rare nature and +practical wisdom. + +FROM RANCH TO WHITE HOUSE (The Life of Theodore Roosevelt). By _Edward +S. Ellis, A. M._ + +Every boy and girl is more or less familiar with the experiences of Mr. +Roosevelt as Colonel and President, but few of them know him as the boy +and man of family and school circles and private citizenship. + +Mr. Ellis describes Theodore Roosevelt as a writer, a hunter, a fighter +of "graft" at home and of Spaniards in Cuba, and a just and vigorous +defender of right. + +FROM TANNERY TO WHITE HOUSE (The Life of Ulysses S. Grant). By _Wm. M. +Thayer_. + +Perhaps General Grant is best known to boys and girls as the hero of the +famous declaration: "I will fight it out on this line if it takes all +summer." + +_We will mail any of the above books prepaid at 60 cents each or the six +for $3.50._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + REX KINGDON SERIES + + By GORDON BRADDOCK + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 60c. per volume + +[Illustration] + +Rex Kingdon of Ridgewood High + +A new boy moves into town. Who is he? What can he do? Will he make one +of the school teams? Is his friendship worth having? These are the +queries of the Ridgewood High Students. The story is the answer. + +Rex Kingdon in the North Woods + +Rex and some of his Ridgewood friends establish a camp fire in the North +Woods, and there mystery, jealousy, and rivalry enter to menace their +safety, fire their interest and finally cement their friendship. + +Rex Kingdon at Walcott Hall + +Lively boarding school experiences make this the "best yet" of the Rex +Kingdon series. + +Rex Kingdon Behind the Bat + +The title tells you what this story is; it is a rattling good story +about baseball. Boys will like it. + +Gordon Braddock knows what Boys want and how to write it. These stories +make the best reading you can procure. + +_Any book sent upon receipt of 60 cents each, or we will send all four +of them for $2.30._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + NEW BOOKS ON THE WAR + + GREAT WAR SERIES + + By MAJOR SHERMAN CROCKETT + + Cloth Bound. 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Each + +[Illustration] + +BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL + +In this story, self-reliance and self-defense through organized +athletics are emphasized. + +BOY SCOUTS ON THE RANGE + +Cow-punchers, Indians, the Arizona desert and the Harkness ranch figure +in this tale of the Boy Scouts. + +BOY SCOUTS AND THE ARMY AIRSHIP + +The cleverness of one of the Scouts as an amateur inventor and the +intrigues of his enemies to secure his inventions make a subject of +breathless interest. + +BOY SCOUTS' MOUNTAIN CAMP + +Just so often as the reader draws a relieved breath at the escape of the +Scouts from imminent danger, he loses it again in the instinctive +impression, which he shares with the boys, of impending peril. + +BOY SCOUTS FOR UNCLE SAM + +Patriotism is a vital principle in every Boy Scout organization, but few +there are who have such an opportunity for its practical expression as +comes to the members of the Eagle Patrol. + +BOY SCOUTS AT THE PANAMA CANAL + +Most timely is this authentic story of the "great ditch." It is +illustrated by photographs of the Canal in process of Building. + +BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN MEXICO + +Another tale appropriate to the unsettled conditions of the present is +this account of recent conflict. + +BOY SCOUTS ON BELGIAN BATTLEFIELDS + +Wonderfully interesting is the story of Belgium as it figures in this +tale of the Great War. + +BOY SCOUTS WITH THE ALLIES IN FRANCE + +On the firing line--or very near--we find the Scouts in France. + +BOY SCOUTS AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION + +If you couldn't attend the Exposition yourself, you can go even now in +imagination with the Boy Scouts. + +BOY SCOUTS UNDER SEALED ORDERS + +Here the Boy Scouts have a secret mission to perform for the Government. +What is the nature of it? Keen boys will find that out by reading the +book. It's a dandy story. + +BOY SCOUTS' CAMPAIGN FOR PREPAREDNESS + +Just as the Scouts' motto is "Be Prepared," just for these reasons that +they prepare for the country's defense. What they do and how they do it +makes a volume well worth reading. + +You do not have to be a Boy Scout to enjoy these fascinating and +well-written stories. Any boy has the chance. Next to the Manual itself, +the books give an accurate description of Boy Scout activities, for they +are educational and instructive. + +_Price postpaid, 50 cents per volume, or we will send any six titles you +select for $2.50._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + MOTOR CYCLE SERIES + + By LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c per vol., postpaid + +[Illustration] + +_The Motor Cycle Chums Around the World_ + +Could Jules Verne have dreamed of encircling the globe with a motor +cycle for emergencies, he would have deemed it an achievement greater +than any he describes in his account of the amusing travels of Philias +Fogg. This, however, is the purpose successfully carried out by the +Motor Cycle Chums, and the tale of their mishaps, hindrances and delays +is one of intense interest, secret amusement, and incidental information +to the reader. + +_The Motor Cycle Chums of the Northwest Patrol_ + +The Great Northwest is a section of vast possibilities and in it the +Motor Cycle Chums meet adventures even more unusual and exciting than +many of their experiences on their tour around the world. There is not a +dull page in this lively narrative of clever boys and their attendant +"Chinee." + +_The Motor Cycle Chums in the Gold Fields_ + +How the Motor Cycle Chums were caught by the lure of the gold and into +what difficulties and novel experiences they were led, makes a tale of +thrilling interest. + +_The Motor Cycle Chums' Whirlwind Tour_ + +To right a wrong is the mission that leads the Riding Rovers over the +border into Mexico and gives the impulse to this story of amusing +adventures and exciting episodes. + +_The Motor Cycle Chums South of the Equator_ + +New customs, strange peoples and unfamiliar surroundings add fresh zest +to the interest of the Motor Cycle Chums in travel, and the tour +described in this volume is full of the tropical atmosphere. + +_The Motor Cycle Chums through Historic America_ + +The Motor Cycle Chums explore the paths where American history was made, +where interest centers to-day as never before. + +You do not need to own either a motor-cycle or a bicycle to enjoy the +thrilling experiences through which the Motor Cycle Chums pass on their +way to seek adventure and excitement. Brimful of clever episodes. + +_We will send prepaid any book for 50 cents or the six for $2.50._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + BOY INVENTORS' SERIES + + By RICHARD BONNER + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c per vol., postpaid + +[Illustration] + +_The Boy Inventors' Wireless Triumph_ + +Blest with natural curiosity,--sometimes called the instinct of +investigation,--favored with golden opportunity, and gifted with +creative ability, the Boy Inventors meet emergencies and contrive +mechanical wonders that interest and convince the reader because they +always "work" when put to the test. + +_The Boy Inventors and the Vanishing Gun_ + +A thought, a belief, an experiment; discouragement, hope, effort and +final success. This too is the history of the daring Boy Inventors. + +_The Boy Inventors' Diving Torpedo Boat_ + +As in the previous stories of the Boy Inventors, new and interesting +triumphs of mechanisms are produced which become immediately valuable, +and the stage for their proving and testing is again the water. On the +surface and below it, the boys have jolly, contagious fun. + +_The Boy Inventors' Flying Ship_ + +A Boston newspaper reporter,--a young fellow with a camera slung over +his shoulders,--wanders into this story at the very beginning. He finds +himself an aerial stowaway and finally a part of a South American +exploring party. How this happens is an absorbing tale in itself. + +_The Boy Inventors' Electric Hydroaeroplane_ + +The restless, inventive spirit of Jack Chadwick and the persistent +enthusiasm of his cousin, Tom Jesson, once more clamor for a new +expression, and this book describes the unique result of their labors +and the use to which it is opportunely put. + +_The Boy Inventors' Radio Telephone_ + +The determination to adopt, adapt and improve the latest means of +communication gave a fresh impulse to the ambition of the Boy Inventors. + +Watch boys, and you will notice their minds naturally turn to mechanism. +In these delightful stories, the boys try their genius in new +inventions. Read the books and see what they accomplish through skill +and ingenuity. + +_Any book postpaid at 50 cents per copy or the six for $2.50._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + DREADNOUGHT BOYS SERIES + + TALES OF THE NEW NAVY + + By CAPT. WILBUR LAWTON + + Cloth. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per volume + +[Illustration] + +_The Dreadnought Boys on Battle Practice_ + +Especially interesting and timely is this book which introduces the +reader with its heroes, Ned and Herc, to the great ships of modern +warfare and to the intimate life and surprising adventures of Uncle +Sam's sailors. + +_The Dreadnought Boys Aboard a Destroyer_ + +In this story real dangers threaten and the boys' patriotism is tested +in a peculiar international tangle. The scene is laid on the South +American coast. + +_The Dreadnought Boys on a Submarine_ + +To the inventive genius--trade-school boy or mechanic--this story has +special charm, perhaps, but to every reader its mystery and clever +action are fascinating. + +_The Dreadnought Boys on Aero Service_ + +Among the volunteers accepted for Aero Service are Ned and Herc. Their +perilous adventures are not confined to the air, however, although they +make daring and notable flights in the name of the Government; nor are +they always able to fly beyond the reach of their old "enemies," who are +also airmen. + +_The Dreadnought Boys' World Cruise_ + +From San Francisco the boys start on their world cruise. At Hawaii, +Japan, Egypt and Gibraltar they meet experiences unforeseen and +eventful. + +_The Dreadnought Boys in Home Waters_ + +Into mimic naval warfare creeps actual intrigue that complicates the +defense of New York Harbor. + +It would be hard work to find a boy--young or old--who is not keenly +alive to the achievements of our great Navy. You can get a good +conception of what Uncle Sam is doing by reading these marvelous +stories. + +_Sent postpaid for 50 cents per volume, or the set of six for $2.50._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + BOY AVIATORS SERIES + + Thrilling Airship Stories + + By CAPTAIN WILBUR LAWTON + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid. + +[Illustration] + +THE BOY AVIATORS IN NICARAGUA + +"Boys of all ages will be captivated by this clever story of two bright +American lads who in an aeroplane of unusual construction have many +adventures in Nicaragua." + +THE BOY AVIATORS ON SECRET SERVICE + +"Its heroes go in an airship to the Everglades of Florida, and use their +wireless telegraph to assist in the rescue of a Government inventor. +Japanese spies are plotting against them, and the result is a thrill in +every chapter." + +THE BOY AVIATORS IN AFRICA + +"In this book the lads go to Africa in their flying machine and strike +an aerial ivory trail. Adventures come thick and fast. One cannot help +wishing himself fourteen years old once more, to take this book out back +on the barn, or under the pear tree, to enjoy it in fashion." + +THE BOY AVIATORS' TREASURE QUEST + +"The author takes the boys on a quest after the golden galleon, lost in +a position where it is imaginatively possible to obtain the treasure. +The story is one of the keenest interest from the boy standpoint." + +THE BOY AVIATORS IN RECORD FLIGHT + +"The story deals with aerial contests for a big prize offered by +newspapers to fly from New York across the continent and the hairbreadth +escapes encountered." + +THE BOY AVIATORS' POLAR DASH + +"The useful information concerning the Antarctic regions, and the +aviation features and their technical correctness, set the book apart +from those of simple entertainment and adventure." + + --_The Dallas News_, Dallas, Texas. + +THE BOY AVIATORS' FLIGHT FOR A FORTUNE + +"The volume is packed with incidents from cover to cover, and conveys an +accurate idea of modern aeroplanes." + +THE BOY AVIATORS WITH THE AIR RAIDERS + +In view of the world-wide interest in practical aviation, this book is +especially thrilling and timely. It pertains to the Great European War. + +_Up-to-the-minute AIRSHIP Books which record the most thrilling +experiences any daring aviator could wish for. The Stories are written +by a famous aviation instructor and are technically correct in details. +One million copies have been sold._ + +_Sent postpaid at 50c. per volume, any four books for $1.75, or the +complete set of eight for $3.25._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + HURST & COMPANY'S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE + + OCEAN WIRELESS SERIES + + By CAPT. WILBUR LAWTON + + Cloth Bound. Illustrated. Price, 50c. per vol., postpaid + +[Illustration] + +_The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Atlantic_ + +How a Brooklyn boy became a wireless operator and shared in the work of +rescue on the sea makes a thrilling tale. + +_The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Lost Liner_ + +This book takes the young wireless operators into southern waters and +through grave perils. + +_The Ocean Wireless Boys of the Iceberg Patrol_ + +The sinking of the _Titanic_ emphasized the usefulness of the wireless +in the iceberg zones described in this volume. + +_The Ocean Wireless Boys and the Naval Code_ + +Combine warships and wireless, danger, intrigue, and daring and you have +an exciting tale of the sea. + +_The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific_ + +Just as fascinating, thrilling and interesting as any of the preceding +volumes. Plenty of action for red-blooded boys. + +The tragedies of the seas became less dreadful with the introduction of +the wireless aboard steamships and it is to be hoped ultimately that the +"ocean grave-yard" will be a thing of the past. These volumes describe +daring and exciting tales. + +_Sent postpaid upon receipt of 50 cents each, or the five books for +$2.25._ + + HURST & COMPANY, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + Transcriber's Notes + +1. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + +2. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have + been preserved. + +3. Page-specific notes: + + p. 76 restored full-stop in "Captain Sparhawk Tahiti was not far off." + + p. 193 whiste -> whistle in "shrill whistle sounded" + + p. 213 Jordan -> Judson in "Broom and young Judson turned" + + p. 242 "membel" retained (for "remember") in dialect: "Me membel now" + + p. 262 blared -> glared in "yellow eyes glared malevolently" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ocean Wireless Boys on the Pacific, by +Wilbur Lawton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS ON PACIFIC *** + +***** This file should be named 44503.txt or 44503.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/5/0/44503/ + +Produced by Demian Katz, Roger Frank and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images +courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University +(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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