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diff --git a/old/69517-0.txt b/old/69517-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1d093b6..0000000 --- a/old/69517-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6446 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The ocean wireless boys of the iceberg -patrol, by Wilbur Lawton - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The ocean wireless boys of the iceberg patrol - -Author: Wilbur Lawton - -Illustrator: Charles L. Wrenn - -Release Date: December 10, 2022 [eBook #69517] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS OF -THE ICEBERG PATROL *** - - - - - -THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS OF THE ICEBERG PATROL - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration: Amidst a glare of red flame and lurid smoke, the young -operator staggered backward.] - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS OF THE ICEBERG PATROL - -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” - -WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES L. WRENN - -NEW YORK - -HURST & COMPANY - -PUBLISHERS - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -Copyright, 1915, - -BY - -HURST & COMPANY - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -CONTENTS - - I. ON THE OCEAN TRAIL - II. ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ICE - III. A NARROW ESCAPE - IV. MAN OVERBOARD! - V. IMPRISONED - VI. MAROONED ON AN ICEBERG - VII. JACK SAVES THE CAPTAIN - VIII. ON BOARD THE “_POLLY ANN_” - IX. A JOKE ON POMPEY - X. PLANS TO ESCAPE - XI. A FIENDISH PLOT - XII. UNCLE TOBY IS OFF FOR TREASURE - XIII. POMPEY MYSTIFIED - XIV. TERROR CARSON’S NERVE - XV. A WHALE IS ANNOYED - XVI. LOCKED IN THE CABIN - XVII. IN THE EYES OF THE SHIP - XVIII. RAYNOR TO THE RESCUE - XIX. SKULL ISLAND - XX. JACK TRIES OUT HIS INVENTION - XXI. THE WRECK OF THE “_POLLY ANN_” - XXII. FOOTPRINTS ON THE SAND - XXIII. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING - XXIV. A FRIGHT IN THE NIGHT - XXV. POMPEY LEARNS ABOUT WIRELESS - XXVI. A JOYOUS MESSAGE - XXVII. A CRASH IN THE FOG - XXVIII. UNCLE TOBY IS SURPRISED - XXIX. OFF FOR SKULL ISLAND - XXX. JACK AND BILL MEET ONCE MORE - XXXI. IN A BOILING SEA - XXXII. CEDAR ISLAND AT LAST - XXXIII. TERROR CARSON AGAIN - XXXIV. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE - XXXV. THE TREASURE - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -The Ocean Wireless Boys of the Iceberg Patrol - - - - -CHAPTER I: ON THE OCEAN TRAIL. - - -The big, high-sided _Cambodian_, in ballast, that is, carrying no -cargo, and outward bound from New York for Rotterdam, was -shouldering through the green seas that came racing to meet her. The -_Cambodian_ was a brand new freighter of the big shipping combine -controlled by Jacob Jukes, and as just then no better berth had been -offered, Jack Ready found himself occupying her wireless room -getting the newly installed radio apparatus in shape and tuned up -for effective service. - -As he worked over a refractory detector Jack, although normally of a -cheerful disposition, felt a strong inclination to grumble at his -present berth. He had been hoping for a chance at the wireless -operator job on board the _Empire State_, the newest and greatest of -the Jukes trans-Atlantic liners. But at the last moment he had been -passed over and another operator appointed on the ground of -seniority. - -But Jack’s gloomy mood did not last long. As usual, the stimulus of -work soon caused the clouds to dissolve, and by the time he had the -detector adjusted, he was humming cheerfully. As he looked up from -his completed job, a ruddy-faced, cheery-looking lad about two years -older than Jack, who was eighteen, stuck his head in at the door of -the wireless-room which, besides the apparatus, contained Jack’s -bunk, a picture of the boy’s dead mother hanging at its head, and -the desk at which he made out his reports. - -“Hello there,” hailed Jack, as Billy Raynor appeared, “going off -watch?” - -“Well, don’t I look it, with this fine old coat of grime on my -hide?” laughed Jack’s chum, now promoted to the post of second -engineer on the new freighter. - -“Thought when you got to be second you were just going to loll -around with your hands in your pockets and give orders,” commented -Jack. - -“Um, so did I,” rejoined Raynor with a rather wry grin, “but, as you -see, it didn’t just work out that way. By-the-way, I thought you -were going to be the dandy, brass-buttoned wireless hero on a -passenger packet this trip.” - -It was Jack’s turn to give a rueful smile and he rejoined, “So did -I.” - -“Old Jukes was mighty nice about it though,” he explained. “I’m -getting the same pay as I would on a liner and then, too, that check -for that South American business came in mighty handy, so that, -financially, I’m not kicking. But I do want to get ahead in my -work.” - -“Well, old Jukes ought to shove you right along,” declared Raynor, -coming in and planting his overalled form in a chair by the desk. -“You’ve sure done a lot for him, starting in by saving his daughter, -and----” - -“Say, shut up, will you!” sputtered Jack, turning red. “I don’t want -any favoritism for anything I may or may not have done. That isn’t -it. I just want to get right ahead in the wireless game.” - -“And so you are, so far as I can see,” replied Raynor. -“Incidentally, how’s the portable set coming along?” - -He referred to Jack’s pet hobby, an invention over which he had -worked during all his spare time, afloat and ashore, for months. It -was a portable wireless set in which weight and complexity had been -cut to the bone. Jack had managed to reduce the weight by degrees -till at last he had produced what he believed would prove a -practicable device for use in the field, which weighed a trifle -under fifty pounds, and could be carried over the operator’s -shoulder in a satchel. - -In reply to young Raynor’s question, Jack opened a closet and -produced a set of instruments of exquisite finish. Attached to them -was a neat coil of copper wire and, strapped to the base that -supported the whole, was a flat package of cloth and bamboo sticks. - -“What’s that jigger underneath?” asked Raynor, referring to the -latter bit of apparatus. - -“That’s a box kite,” explained Jack. - -“A box kite? What in the world do you want with that?” - -“Well, you can’t send out or receive messages without aërials, can -you?” parried Jack. - -“No, but you could hitch your aërial wires to a tree or----” - -“All right, Mr. Smarty, but just suppose that you are in a country -where there are no trees.” - -“Oh, I see,” exclaimed Raynor, “in that case you’d do a little kite -flying.” - -“That’s the idea exactly,” responded Jack. - -“Have you tested it yet?” inquired Raynor. - -“Up to 150 miles. It works splendidly. I’m going to gear up my -hand-generator higher so as to produce a stronger alternating -current, however. Then I think I’ll get better results.” - -Clang-g-g-g-g-g-g-g! - -A gong above Jack’s head sounded clamorously. This gong was another -of the boy’s inventions. By means of a silicon detector ingeniously -connected, a wireless wave striking the antenna of the _Cambodian’s_ -apparatus instantly sounded the gong. In this way Jack had done with -a lot of tiresome waiting for calls with his receivers clamped to -his head. - -“Something doing?” asked Raynor, as Jack sprang from the chair he -had been sitting on and seated himself in front of the wireless key. - -“I guess it’s nothing much,” was the reply, “_Siasconset_ maybe, or -_Race_.” - -But a moment later the expression of the young operator’s face grew -concentrated. His hand reached out for a pencil and he began to -scribble on his transcription pad the words that came pulsing -against his ears like waves out of a vast sea of space. - - “Steamer _Athenia_ (Br.) reports,”--thus Jack wrote--“Along - parallel of 45.06 saw ice as follows:--Grindstone, one mile - of ice inshore. Scatari, close-packed ice inshore. Cape Ray, - loose strings distant. Money Point, heavy close-packed ice - inshore. Cape Race, several small strings loose ice drifting - S. W.” - -Raynor had been peering oyer Jack’s shoulder as the boy wrote. When -he ceased, the young engineer was full of eager questions. Jack -flashed out an answer to the _Athenia_ and then “grounded” his -instrument. - -“Well, that’s to be expected in April,” was his comment. “I guess -we’ll get a lot more of such reports before long.” - -“Think we’ll run into any bergs?” asked Raynor rather anxiously. - -“Don’t get nervous,” laughed Jack, “the iceberg patrol is on the -lookout for those. I’m surprised they haven’t ‘tapped-in’ yet with -some information. That’s the service for you, old man, the iceberg -patrol. Think of the lives you have a chance to save and--and--but -I’ve got to be off with this message to the old man.” - -Jack hurried from the cabin, and forwarded his message to Captain -Briggs on the bridge. Raynor followed with more deliberation and -made for his own cabin and soap and water. As he removed the grime -of the engine-room, he mused on the subject of icebergs. Not many -weeks before a big liner had blundered at night into a huge floating -continent of ice and had sunk, with a terrible toll of lives and -suffering. - -“If a big old liner like that couldn’t stand one wallop from an -iceberg what chance would the _Cambodian_ stand?” he wondered. -“Still, as Jack said, since the accident they’ve had a regular -iceberg patrol to send out warnings by wireless of any bergs that -happen to be in the vicinity. I wouldn’t mind seeing a berg though, -if it wasn’t at too close range. Wonder if I ever will?” - -Had the young engineer possessed the gift of second sight, he would -have been able to foresee that in the immediate future he was -destined to come into closer contact with icebergs than he would -have dreamed possible, and also that the entire current of his life -was to be changed by a series of unlooked for and astonishing -happenings. - - - - -CHAPTER II: ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ICE. - - -With the dropping of the sun it fell bitter cold. The sea heaved in -a leaden, lightless swell which the forefoot of the _Cambodian_, as -she drove along, broke into spuming spray. The officers donned their -heavy bridge coats. The crew, or that portion of it which had the -watch on deck, wrapped up as warmly as they could in the scanty -garments they possessed. - -When Jack opened his cabin to go below to his evening meal, a slight -flurry of snow struck him in the face. - -“Goodness!” thought the boy, “here’s a change, and when we left New -York folks were thinking about Coney Island and putting their winter -coats in moth-balls.” - -The captain was the only other occupant of the dining-room, from -which opened the officer’s cabins, when Jack went below. The boy -noticed that Captain Briggs’ face was rather flushed, and his eyes -were very bright as he took his seat. The captain had finished -eating but before he left the room he came to Jack’s side and, -leaning over him, asked in a rather thick voice, if there had been -any more reports on icebergs. Jack replied in the negative. - -“Tha’s aw’ ri’ then,” said the captain in a loud, boastful voice, -whose tones were thick. “Donner be ’fraid icebergs with Cap’n Briggs -on board. I’m an old sea-going walrus, I am. I jes go ri’ through -’em, yes, sir, jes like knife goin’ thro’ cheese. Thas me.” - -He swaggered out of the cabin with his scarlet face grinning. Jack’s -eyes followed him as the captain rather staggeringly ascended the -companionway. - -“I don’t know much about such things,” thought the boy, while a -serious look came over his face, “but it seems to me that Captain -Briggs is under the influence of liquor. That’s a bad thing. Liquor -is bad at all times but it’s more dangerous at sea than anywhere -else.” - -He finished his meal hastily and returned to his cabin to find his -“wireless bell” ringing furiously. Jack lost no time in getting to -work. He found that the U. S. revenue cutter _Seneca_, one of the -craft detailed by Uncle Sam to the iceberg patrol, was flashing out -signals of warning. Jack got the operator to repeat them when half a -dozen or more other steamers had picked them up. - -The _Seneca’s_ operator was in a bad mood at this. - -“Confound you fellows,” he flashed through space, “why don’t you pay -attention and get the message from the jump?” - -“I was eating supper,” Jack replied contritely. - -“I haven’t had a chance to eat yet, and I’m so hungry I could gobble -a boiler-plate pie,” growled the government man. “This is a dog’s -life.” - -“I’d trade you jobs,” flashed Jack, but the other ignored this and -began thundering out his message concerning the white terrors of the -north. - -“Ready?” he flashed. - -“Fire away!” sparked crackingly from Jack’s key. Far above him, in -the night, the aërials flashed and snapped. - -“_Seneca_, U.S. Iceberg Patrol. Str. Montrose reports from 50:47 on -parallel 42, sighted three bergs, two growlers, April 6th, moving -S.W. Barometer 30. Temperature 36. Overcast. Wind N.W. About 18 -miles per hour. - -“April 7th, 2:00 a. m., big berg, lat. 42.34, long. 48.15. Growler -four miles north-west. Both moving south.” - -“That’s all. Now I’ll get a chance to stow some grub--maybe,” -grumpily concluded the report. Jack did not jot down these latter -words. - -As he made his way forward with his report, the young wireless man -noticed that the fog was beginning to rise from the sea in long, -wavering wreaths. They looked ghostlike under the stars. In the -light breeze they danced a sort of witches’ dance. It looked as if -the sea was a boiling expanse with whirling banners of steam rising -from it. Even as Jack hurried forward he saw that the banners were -closing in to form a solid web of mist. - -The _Cambodian_ was ploughing steadily forward. From her single big -funnel, black with a broad white band, inky smoke was pouring out a -volume that showed there was to be no niggardly saving of coal on -the present voyage. In fact, before sailing, Jack had heard that she -represented a new type of fast freighter, and that her maiden voyage -would be utilized as an opportunity of trying her out thoroughly. - -Above the young operator hung the spiderweb strands of the antenne. -Practiced operator as he was, Jack had never quite lost his wonder -at the often recurring thought that from those slender copper -cables, seemingly inert, he could, by the pressure and release of a -key, send out a message, in time of danger, that would bring a score -of ships hastening to the stricken one. It was characteristic of the -boy that close acquaintance with the wireless had not in the least -dimmed his enthusiasm and reverence for its marvels. - -On the bridge were three figures, shrouded in heavy coats. They were -the captain, chief officer, and second officer. From one end of the -bridge a seaman was constantly casting overboard a canvas bucket -attached to a rope and hauling it in board again. Each time he -brought the bucket to the group of officers, one of whom thrust a -thermometer into it and then read off the temperature of the water. - -“Dropped ten degrees, by Neptune!” Captain Briggs exclaimed thickly -as Jack came up. He had just finished scrutinizing the thermometer -under the light of a hooded lantern. - -“Ten degrees, sir!” cried Mr. Mulliner, the first officer. - -“That’s what. We ought to smell ice before long,” was the reply, -with a loud, hilarious laugh. - - - - -CHAPTER III: A NARROW ESCAPE. - - -“It’s too bad. The captain has certainly been drinking,” mused Jack -to himself as he stood at attention and presented the dispatch he -had just copied. - -“What’s this?” demanded the captain, regarding him with bloodshot -eyes that blinked suspiciously. - -“Report from the _Seneca_, sir. Bergs in the vicinity,” spoke up -Jack. - -“Report from the _Seneca_, eh?” muttered Captain Briggs muzzily. -“Well I know as well as they do there are bergs ahead. Let’s see -what it’s all about.” - -He took the message and scanned it under the light of the lantern by -which he had been taking thermometer readings. His hand shook and he -called first officer Mulliner to read the message to him. Mulliner -repeated it in a grave voice. - -“Hadn’t we better slow down, sir?” he asked. - -“Slow down? What for?” blustered the flushed captain. - -“Why, sir, the temperature of the water and then this dispatch all -go to show that we are nearing ice-fields, maybe growlers and bergs. -We are making fully eighteen knots now and----” - -“We’ll continue to do so,” exclaimed the captain. “I’ve sailed these -seas for a good many more years than you’ve been on earth, Mr. -Mulliner.” - -“That may all be, sir,” rejoined the young officer anxiously, “but -at this speed----” - -“At this speed we’ll head ’em off according to my calculations,” -declared the captain. “If we slowed down we’d land in the middle of -’em. If we keep full speed ahead, we’ll pass to the south of ’em.” - -“Then you mean to race them, sir?” - -“That’s what. If that’s what you want to call it. Now get to your -duty, Mr. Mulliner,” added the captain in sharp tones, as if he felt -he had been too lenient even to argue with his subordinate. Mr. -Mulliner, muttering something about “suicidal,” turned away. - -“Any orders, sir?” asked Jack, when he was alone with the captain. - -Captain Briggs shook his head. He was a seaman of the old school and -did not place much faith in wireless. - -“Just stick at your instruments,” he said, “but if there’s bergs -about the look-out, bet my nose ull pick ’em up ahead of any fool -wireless contraption.” - -Jack made his way aft, burning with indignation. Here was a fine, -new ship, being driven at top speed toward the greatest peril a -seaman can encounter, at the whim of a man who had been drinking. -But there was nothing to be done, as Jack reflected with a sense of -speechless anger. Aboard ship the captain, no matter how insane his -orders may appear, is absolute czar of the situation. His word is -law. He can hang or imprison, for mutiny, anyone who dares to -question his orders. - -The young wireless operator paused, before he reentered his snug -cabin with its shining instruments, to lean over the rail and gaze -out into the night. The mist had thickened now. It struck at his -face like clammy fingers. The night was quite silent but for the -vague hum of the engines far below him, and the hiss and roar of the -sea as the hulk of the _Cambodian_ was driven through it. - -Ahead it was almost impossible to see anything but a dense, black -pall that might hide anything. Dimly through the mist curtains, Jack -could make out the figure of the look-out in the crow’s nest. -Occasionally he could catch his hoarse shout of “All’s well” and an -answer, booming through the smother, from the bridge. - -Suddenly the whistle began sounding. At regular half minute -intervals it shrieked hoarsely. - -Jack knew what they were doing. If bergs were in the vicinity, in -the intervals of silence between blasts, an echo would be flung -back. - -“Pshaw, that’s a haphazard way of detecting bergs at best,” muttered -Jack to himself. - -But he found himself listening with strained ears to catch the -slightest sound of an echo after each clamorous yammer of the big -siren. He fell to musing of the night on the _Ajax_ when the big -berg had loomed up before them. - -Details of that night were told in the first volume of the Ocean -Wireless Series, which was called “The Ocean Wireless Boys on the -Atlantic.” This volume introduced Jack, his strange dwelling place, -and his odd relative, Cap’n Toby Ready, to our readers. We found -Jack, pretty well disheartened in his ambition to become a wireless -operator, on his way home among the shipping to the queer old -derelict craft where he lived with his uncle Toby, the latter a -purveyor of vegetable drugs and medicine, to old and superannuated -skippers. - -Seeing a crowd on a dock, Jack went to find out what was the matter. -He soon discovered that the young daughter of Jacob Jukes, the -millionaire head of the great shipping combine, had strayed from her -father, who was visiting a great “oil-tanker” moored there, and had -tumbled overboard. - -Jack leaped from the dock, while the others stood paralyzed with -helplessness, and saved the child in the nick of time. This won him -Mr. Jukes’ extravagant gratitude. He wanted to give Jack money. But -all Jack wanted was a job as wireless operator on the big -“oil-tanker,” the _Ajax_. He got it. Mr. Jukes would have given him -the ship had he asked for it. But the millionaire was autocratic. -After Jack’s first voyage he wanted the lad to give up the sea and, -at a big salary, become the friend and companion of the -millionaire’s son, Tom, a sickly lad. This by no means suited Jack -and he and the millionaire quarreled. - -But Jack forged steadily ahead in his chosen profession. On his -first voyage, by a clever wireless trick, he brought confusion on a -gang of tobacco smugglers and set all their plans at naught. For -this brave act he almost paid with his life. But all came out well, -and on a homeward voyage from Antwerp he was able, once more with -the aid of the wireless, to unite Mr. Jukes and his son, Tom, who -had become separated when the millionaire’s yacht caught fire and -burned to the water-line at sea. - -In the next volume, which was called “The Ocean Wireless Boys and -the Lost Liner,” Jack found himself the natty chief wireless man of -the crack West Indian liner, _Tropic Queen_, one of the finest -passenger craft plying those waters. - -Jack and his assistant, a youth named Sam Smalley, found themselves -involved in an intrigue almost at once. A mysterious wireless code and -a plot to steal papers involving the Panama Canal formed its chief -features. - -In trying to fight the ring of rascals, against whom he found -himself pitted, Jack was drugged in the Island of Jamaica and cast -into an inaccessible dungeon--part of an old Spanish castle called -The Lion’s Mouth. By wonderful ingenuity and pluck he escaped from -the fate planned for him. - -Later a safe was blown open on the _Tropic Queen_ and the Panama -papers were stolen. - -But Jack’s quick work at the wireless key soon summoned Uncle Sam’s -speediest battleships and cruisers to an ocean wide search for the -yacht, on board which was the gang that had stolen the papers. They -were recovered eventually by Jack and handed over to the rightful -owner. But not long after the Tropic Queen was caught in a hurricane -and cast on an island. - -All seemed lost, for a huge tidal wave overwhelmed the wreck to -which Jack and Sam had swum out, leaving the others ashore. But -eventually the two boys reached land and rejoined the other -castaways. The message that Jack had sent out before the convulsion -of nature ended, the lost liner had reached other crafts, however, -and all were rescued safely. Jack and Sam each received substantial -rewards for their services. - -Jack was turning out of the night to reënter his cabin when Raynor -came along. He was going on watch again. - -“What news?” he asked, as he paused near Jack. - -“Nothing much, except that there is ice ahead.” - -“Bergs?” - -“Yes, and growlers too, and field ice maybe. The _Seneca_ reports -it.” - -Raynor looked about him in a puzzled way. - -“But we haven’t slowed down,” he said at length. - -“That’s just it. Captain Briggs is a drinking man. He is drinking -to-night and reckless. He means to keep right on this way.” - -“Why, that’s madness. At any minute----” - -“That’s just what Mr. Mulliner says. But what are we going to do? -You know as well as I do that the skipper’s word is law at sea.” - -Raynor perched himself on the rail, balancing there high above the -water, a favorite position with him. - -“I wish you’d brace your legs when you do that,” remarked Jack. “If -there was a sudden lurch or anything you’d go right overboard, and -nothing could save you. I’ve spoken to you a dozen times about it -and----” - -“I know you have, you croaking old land-lubber,” laughed Raynor, -“it’s alright. As for danger, if you could see me lying in the -crank-pit, with the big steel throws smashing round within half an -inch of my nose I guess you’d be worried then.” - -“No, I wouldn’t, because that’s your business and you know what -you’re doing,” responded Jack, “but balancing like that’s just pure -foolhardiness.” - -“So there’s ice ahead?” said Raynor, ignoring Jack’s protest. - -“That’s the report. They’re testing the temperature of the water on -the bridge. It’s falling all the time.” - -“Well, what does that amiable maniac Briggs think he’s going to do, -knock a berg out of his way if he hits it?” - -“No; he figures in his muddled brain that by keeping up full speed -he can pass to the south of the path of the bergs. In other words, -he’s racing them.” - -“And if he loses the race there’ll be a most almighty smash-up.” - -“That’s it. I---- What in the name of time is that?” - -Jack broke off in an alarmed voice. Hoarsely, through the night, had -come the frightened cry of the man in the crow’s nest. - -“For the Lord’s sake back her!” - -“What’s up?” was shouted from the bridge. - -“It’s ice. Ice dead ahead! To the port to starboard!” - -With startled eyes and drumming pulses Jack stared forward. - -Ghostlike, gigantic and looming white in the darkness a monolithic -tower overhung, as it seemed, the _Cambodian’s_ bow. - -“Full speed astern!” came the voice of Mulliner, shrill with alarm, -and then the hoarse shout of Captain Briggs. - -“No, confound you. Ahead! D’ye hear me--ahead!” - -And then came a shout to the wheelman. - -“Hard over! Hard over for your life!” - -The _Cambodian_, at unreduced speed, swung off her course. A -shivering shock ran through her steel frame as she grazed the giant -berg and then--swung off, hardly scratched. Jack felt a quick bound -of his heart. In spite of his dissipation, Captain Briggs had shown -he knew how to handle the emergency. That quick order of full speed -ahead, and the swift shifting of the wheel had enabled the -_Cambodian_ to save her life. - -“Say, Raynor, old man!” cried the boy enthusiastically, while the -shouldering form of the berg grew dim, a passed menace, and the -raucous shouts of the crew rose up to him, “say Raynor, I’ll take -back what I said about Captain Briggs. I----why don’t you answer?” - -Jack turned swiftly. Then he stiffened with alarm. The place where -his chum had been perched upon the rail was vacant. Raynor was gone. -For a brief instant Jack was silent from the shock. Then his voice -rang out in tones of vibrant fear. - -“Man overboard!” he cried, running forward stumblingly, “man -overboard!” - - - - -CHAPTER IV: MAN OVERBOARD! - - -Simultaneously with the shivering shock of the impact with the -iceberg, Billy Raynor felt himself lose his balance. - -He grasped frantically at the air as he fell backward. But the next -moment, too alarmed to cry out, he was himself tumbling through -space. Then came the sharp shock and the icy sensation of his -immersion as he struck the water. - -He came to the surface, his lungs full of brine and his ears roaring -as if an express train had been rushing past them. He gasped for -breath and spat the salt water out. Far above him he saw for a flash -the black, high hull of the _Cambodian_. He saw her lights. For a -brief instant he could hear shouts. - -And then the ship had passed by. An instant later she had vanished -from the castaway lad’s sight. - -“Help!” yelled Raynor, finding his voice at last. He sent the cry -echoing and volleying across the dark water again and again. But -there was no response. - -A chill of deadly fear, not altogether born of the icy water, struck -in at his heart. He was alone on the Atlantic. Nothing but his own -efforts would keep him above the water very long. And weighted as he -was by his water-soaked clothes, he felt his strength ebbing every -moment. - -“Great heavens,” he moaned to himself, “is this to be the end? Am I -doomed to end my life here in the ocean with nobody to know of my -fate?” - -He cast his eyes upward. Then he almost gave a shout of relief. -Towering above him was a mighty white wall. - -It was the iceberg to which he owed his predicament. - -It has been said that drowning men will clutch at straws. This may, -or may not, be true, but certain it is that to Billy Raynor, almost -exhausted by his long fight in the chilly water, the iceberg -appeared a haven of refuge. Like most of such huge ice structures it -was very irregular in shape. - -Near him was a spot at which a narrow shelf stretched out close to -the water’s edge. Raynor struck out for it and drew himself upon the -ledge of ice. Then, for a time, he lay there supine, too weak to -even move. - -He was fearfully cold. His teeth chattered and he felt as if his -flesh must be blue. But at least he had saved his life for the time -being. He knew that ten minutes more in the water would have -finished him. Raynor sat up and took stock of the situation. - -He was afloat on an iceberg, a precarious enough situation surely. -His momentary feeling of exultation at having found a safe refuge -began to fade. He felt a wave of fear pass over him. He shouted with -all his might, cupping his hands and casting his voice in the -direction he thought the _Cambodian_ had vanished. But had he known -it he was sending his appeals in altogether the wrong quarter, for -the iceberg was slowly revolving as it lumbered its way south. - -“This won’t do. I mustn’t give way,” thought the lad, pluckily -striving to overcome his depressing fears. - -He felt in his pockets. The tin box in which he was carrying down -his midnight lunch for consumption in the _Cambodian’s_ engine room -was still there. - -“That’s lucky,” thought Raynor, and was still more pleased when he -found that its contents, sandwiches and a piece of pie, were not -much damaged by water. He began to eat ravenously, in the meantime -turning his dilemma over and over in his mind. - -“I’m in the steamer track anyhow,” he thought. “I’m bound to be -sighted and picked up before long, even if the _Cambodian_ isn’t -standing by and waiting for morning.” - -But then came the disquieting thought that the iceberg was drifting. -He had no means of knowing how fast. But by daylight it might be far -south of the steamer track, which is as well marked as any land -road, and rarely deviated from by any vessels except sailing craft. - -“And just think how little things can grow into big ones,” mused the -lad, as he munched his scanty store. “Jack told me not to balance on -the rail. If I’d taken his advice instead of laughing at it I -wouldn’t be here. I’d be on board the _Cambodian_. Jove though--” he -broke off suddenly, as a new thought struck him,--“maybe the -_Cambodian_ was badly ripped by the collision. She may have -sunk--and Jack----” - -He buried his face in his hands, too much unnerved by all that he -had gone through to think any longer. By degrees he regained -possession of his faculties, however. He fell once more to revolving -his plight. He need not fear death from thirst for he had his knife -and could chip off fragments of ice and let them melt in his mouth -when he felt so inclined. Food, though, was another consideration. -He resolutely set aside two sandwiches and half his wedge of pie for -emergencies. - -It was still dark and misty and he could see little but the blackly -heaving water at his feet and the towering white walls of the berg -above him. Suddenly, however, he became aware of a sound, a strange -sound to hear in his present position. - -It was the sound of a footfall, furtive and cautious! - -The blood flew poundingly to the boy’s pulses. He sprang erect, -knife in hand. What he might be called upon to face he did not know. - -But he knew he was not alone on the iceberg. - -His heart beat thick and hot and then seemed to stop. Advancing -onward, from round a shoulder of ice which reached down to the shelf -on which he had found refuge, was a tall white form. - -It resembled nothing that the boy had ever seen. As if in a -nightmare he stood there fixed as a graven image, staring at it with -starting eyes as it slowly approached him. - - - - -CHAPTER V: IMPRISONED. - - -Captain Briggs looked blankly at Jack as the frightened boy came -forward by leaps and bounds to the bridge, shouting “Man overboard,” -a cry which was speedily taken up and echoed from end to end of the -ship. - -“Whasser marrer?” demanded the captain, seizing the excited boy’s -shoulder. - -Jack pointed back into the obscurity. His voice was choked with -emotion. - -“It’s Raynor,--Billy Raynor, second assistant engineer, sir. He fell -overboard when we bumped that berg.” - -“He did, eh?” repeated the captain thickly, staring stupidly at -Jack. “Well, he’s in Davy Jones locker by this time, you may depend -upon that.” - -For a moment Jack stood stupefied. Then he broke out angrily, -utterly forgetting all discipline. - -“Aren’t you lowering a boat? Why don’t you order one away? Raynor’s -drowning back there.” - -“Look here, my lad, you’re excited,” said the captain in more -collected, sober tones, “I’m not going to lay my ship to among these -icebergs on the chance,--it’s one in ten thousand,--of saving him. A -boat couldn’t live among that field ice. It would be crushed in a -jiffy.” - -“Then you’re going to hold on your course without an effort to save -him--? You’re going to abandon him like a coward?” shouted Jack, -beside himself. - -“Nuzzing to be done,” mumbled the captain, relapsing again, “on your -course, Mr. Mulliner.” - -But Jack was too far enraged to stand this. He sprang forward and -grasped the first officer’s sleeve. - -“Mr. Mulliner, sir, you won’t see this cowardly thing done? You -won’t leave that poor lad back there without a chance for his life?” - -“I can’t help it, my boy, captain’s orders, sorry,” and the officer -stepped into the wheelhouse to give the steersman his orders. - -“It’s murder,” shouted Jack, “I’ll see that you suffer for it, -Captain Briggs. It’s a black crime, it’s the work of a coward, -it’s----” - -A heavy hand fell on his shoulder. It was Captain Briggs. His face -was aflame with indignation. - -“Wadderyer mean, you young jackanapes,” he roared, beside himself -with anger and the potations he had drunk, “Jenks, Andrews!” - -The seamen who had been heaving the bucket stepped up. They stood -waiting. - -“Bind this young turkey cock hand and foot and lock him in his -cabin,” thundered Captain Briggs, “he’s guilty of mutiny on the high -seas, by Neptune. To-morrow I’ll see if there’s not a pair of irons -on board that will fit him.” - -“Do you mean that I am under arrest, captain?” stammered Jack, -completely taken aback. - -“I do, yes, sir, and it may go hard with you if I don’t change my -mind,” yelled the captain furiously. “Take him away, you men, and -I’ll hold you responsible for him.” - -Jack saw red for a minute. He made a leap for the captain but the -two sailors caught him. - -“Easy there, young feller, easy,” one of them whispered, “we’ve no -more use for him than you have, but going on this way ain’t goin’ -ter get yer anything. Better come quietly.” - -With a sigh that was half a sob Jack submitted to be bound and then -half carried, half dragged, to his cabin. He heard the key turned in -the lock. He was a prisoner. A wild idea crossed his mind of -flashing out by wireless an account of his plight and the captain’s -drunkenness. - -The next instant it dawned upon him that he was powerless. He was a -prisoner, bound hand and foot like a criminal. And where was Raynor? -Dead, beyond the possibility of a doubt. He could not have lived -more than a few moments in that icy sea. Jack groaned aloud in -anguish as he strained and writhed at his bonds. His plight was -quite forgotten in his anxiety over Raynor’s fate. - -“Hist!” - -The sibilant sound of a man’s voice demanding attention broke in on -Jack’s sad reverie at this juncture. It came from a circular -grating, made for ventilation in the door of the cabin. Jack looked -up and saw the face of one of the seamen looking in at him. The hard -lines of the mariner’s countenance were illumined by the electric -light within the cabin. - -“Well, what’s the matter?” demanded Jack, rather petulantly. - -The man, it was the one who had been addressed as Andrews by Captain -Briggs, began speaking rapidly and cautiously. - -“This here Captain Briggs,” he began, “we don’t like him no more -than you do. I’ve sailed with him before. There’s a plot on foot -to----” - -The heavy footsteps of an officer approaching caused the face to -vanish and the voice to cease. Outside, Jack recognized Mr. -Mulliner’s voice giving an order. - -“Andrews, you can get forward, you too, Jenks. There’s no need to -stand on guard here. Give me the key.” - -Jack listened and heard the men clump off in one direction. Then he -heard the sound of Mr. Mulliner’s footsteps die out. He was left to -his own reflections once more. His mind dwelt on the mysterious hint -dropped by Andrews. - -“There’s a plot on foot----” the man had said. - -Jack wondered to himself if there was a mutiny brooding on board the -_Cambodian_. There had been a seaman’s strike in New York when she -sailed, and the crew was made up of all sorts of water-front -riff-raff. Some of them were desperate-looking characters. - -The young captive struggled with his ropes as these thoughts ran -through his mind, But the knots had been tied by seamen, and try as -he would he could not loosen them. The bonds began to impede his -circulation and grow painful in the extreme. - -“Well, I suppose I’ll have to reconcile myself to my fate till -morning,” said Jack to himself resignedly. “Something tells me that -this voyage is going to turn out to be not quite so tame as I -thought. From what that fellow Andrews said, mutiny is afoot among -the crew, and we are not yet forty-eight hours out of port.” - -His reflections were startlingly interrupted. - -The sharp crack of a revolver split the night from somewhere -forward. Then came hoarse shouts and the sound of trampling feet. - -“The trouble has started already!” exclaimed Jack, rising in his -bunk despite the cruel pain the sudden movement gave his bound -limbs. - - - - -CHAPTER VI: MAROONED ON AN ICEBERG. - - -“Am I going crazy?” - -Raynor, marooned on the drifting berg, passed a hand across his -eyes. The white form that had menaced him with he knew not what -peril a minute before had vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. -Badly overwrought, the lad stood staring at the place where he had -seen it. - -“This won’t do,” he said to himself, “I mustn’t lose my nerve and -get to seeing things.” - -With an effort he braced up his faculties. With infinite patience he -waited for daylight. At last, after what seemed years, the east -began to flush with the dawn. Soon a gray light was diffused over -the sea, the fog had lifted and the horizon could be seen in every -quarter. - -Raynor gave a groan, despite his determination not to give way, as -he gazed about him. The sea was empty. The berg, surrounded by a -small belt of floating ice, was the only object on the surface of -the waters. Not even a streak of smoke on the sky showed the -vicinity of steamers. - -“I must have drifted right off the ocean track in the night,” -muttered Raynor. “It’s a million chances to one now if I ever get -picked up.” - -The thought overwhelmed even his sturdy determination to bear up. He -sank down on the berg utterly unnerved. How long he sat there with -his head between his hands in an attitude of abject despair he did -not know. - -But he was aroused by a sound of snuffling not far from him. He -looked up and gave a shout of terror as he did so. - -Eyeing him from a slight acclivity of the berg not a hundred feet -away, was an immense polar bear! - -Like a flash he realized that this was the mysterious visitant of -the night, the other occupant of the drifting berg. The creature, as -is not uncommonly the case, must have been trapped on the berg when -it broke loose from the ice fields of the north. - -The bear stood perfectly still except for a wagging motion of its -long, narrow, almost snake-like, head. Had the circumstances been -different Raynor could have found it in his mind to admire the snow -white king of the polar regions. But now his emotions were very -different. The bear was no doubt famished, and he was unarmed, -except for his knife, which would not be much more use than a -darning needle against such an antagonist. - -Cold as it was the sweat broke out on the lad’s brow as he realized -his position. He stood immovable, staring at the white bear. The -great creature, too, appeared to be pondering its next move. Behind -Raynor the berg rose to its summit in a series of ledges. Anxious to -place as great a distance as possible between himself and the wild -beast, the young engineer began to climb upward. - -The bear did not follow till he had clambered some distance up the -icy walls. - -Then it extended its long neck, and opening its mouth emitted an -appalling roar. Raynor’s blood ran cold as he saw it shuffle -deliberately from the ledge where it had been eyeing him and begin -to climb up after him. - -“I’ve not a chance on earth,” he groaned. - -He looked down at the white monster as it clumsily clambered up -toward him. Its movements were quite deliberate, as though the -creature knew that the lad could not escape by any possibility. -Saliva dribbled from its red fangs as it mounted steadily and Raynor -could glimpse its sharp white teeth. - -He felt his scalp tighten with fear and kept back a shout of terror -only by a supreme effort of will power. The distance that had at -first separated the lad and his savage foe was now diminished from -feet to inches. In a few seconds more they would be face to face and -then----? - - -[Illustration: Raymond could almost feel its hot breath.] - - -In a frenzy of alarm Raynor seized his tin lunch box from his pocket -and hurled it with all his force in the face of the bear. One of the -sharp corners struck it fairly on the nose and brought the blood. -But it did not stop the creature’s progress. - -On the contrary, it enraged it. Shaking its head from the pain, the -bear emitted a thunderous roar of rage and scrambled up faster than -ever. The scrape of its claws, like steel chisels, against the ice, -was horribly suggestive. Raynor could almost feel its hot breath, -when something entirely unexpected happened. - -A sudden shift to get further away from the bear resulted in the lad -losing his footing on the steep and slippery surface of the berg. - -Like a stone from a sling he shot down the glassy side with the -speed of the wind. Ahead of him was green water but he was powerless -to check himself. - -Splash! The lad slid into the water, which closed over him in a -flash. But in a second he was on the surface again and striking out. -Not far from him was a large floe, one of the numerous ones that -belted the big berg. With some difficulty he clambered upon this. He -had hardly gained its surface when a roar made him look round. The -polar bear was not going to be cheated of its prey in that way. - -To his horror, Raynor saw the hunger-maddened creature leaping -toward him across the ice floes. In a few minutes it would be upon -him. Those cruel jaws would be crushing and tearing his flesh. The -lad turned sick and faint and reeled as if about to fall. But he was -brought sharply back to his senses. - -Bang! - -A rifle cracked and the bear, in a pool of crimson, sank on the floe -it was about to leap from. The next instant the phenomenon was -explained. Not far off lay a handsome, yacht-like looking schooner -with her sails aback. - -The rifle shot that had saved Raynor’s life had been fired from her -deck. He could see the marksman, a tall, bearded fellow, lowering -his rifle on which the light glinted. - -Then Raynor saw a boat being lowered from the stern davits. Four -oarsmen made the light craft fairly skim over the waves toward him. -In the stern sheets of the boat the man who had fired the lucky shot -stood up handling the tiller. The light gleamed in his great bronze -beard and made it shine like copper. His huge build and his attitude -at the helm made him look like a Viking of old. - -But of all this Raynor, for the time being, had only a hazy -impression. Vague lights swam and danced before his eyes in a mad -merry-go-round and a sound like the roar of a thousand waterfalls -drilled in his ears. Then everything went out in a great wave of -darkness. - - - - -CHAPTER VII: JACK SAVES THE CAPTAIN. - - -“Well, young man, I guess you won’t be sorry to get those ropes -off.” - -Jack looked up from the uneasy slumber into which he had fallen to -find Chief Officer Mulliner looking down rather quizzically at him. -His ankles and wrists felt as if they had been seared by hot irons. -With the tide of his returning memory he recalled dropping off to -sleep soon after the mysterious shot had been fired. And now here -was Mulliner, knife in hand, and looking quite amiable, ready to set -him free. - -“You can cut the ropes as soon as you like Mr. Mulliner,” he said -with alacrity, “but what has happened?” - -“The captain has come to his senses again,” was the rejoinder in a -rather uneasy tone, as Mr. Mulliner cut at the ropes, keeping at the -work till Jack was free. - -“I thought--that is I am sure I heard a shot in the night,” pursued -Jack. - -The officer’s reticence increased. - -“That was nothing,” he said. “I wouldn’t be too curious. Just be -glad that the captain has ordered you set at liberty.” - -“He had no right to ever order me confined,” cried Jack hotly. - -“That’s as it may be. On the high seas whatever he says goes. -However, my advice is to keep quiet about this incident. I’m sure -the skipper will.” - -“I’ll not keep quiet about it,” protested Jack vigorously, “it was -an outrage. I shall report it to the owners.” - -“If you do you’ll only get a reputation as a trouble-maker, and that -is a bad thing for a young man to have,” was the reply. “Captain -Briggs is not regularly employed by the Jukes’ concern, and he would -care little about anything you might say. He was just picked up, as -you may say, to run the _Cambodian_ to Rotterdam and back till one -of their own captains gets off the sick list.” - -This put things in a new light. Jack thought deeply as he sat on the -edge of his bunk chafing his burning wrists to restore circulation. -After delivering his advice, Mr. Mulliner had taken his departure. - -“This is surely a strange ship and a strange voyage,” thought the -boy, “and I’ve got a notion that the end isn’t yet, by a long way. -There’s some mystery about that shot in the night too. I mean to -find out what it was. Anyhow, I’m at liberty again and I suppose -that, as Mulliner said, my best plan is not to cross the captain -more than I can help, and wait my opportunity to get back at him for -all he has made me suffer.” - -Then came the thought of Raynor. Jack, although he was famished for -food, sat down at the wireless key and sent out broadcast inquiries. -But although he talked to a dozen ships, passenger vessels and -freighters like the _Cambodian_, none reported picking up a -castaway. It was with a heavy heart indeed that Jack turned away -from his instruments. - -His appetite was gone, but he told himself that he must eat. He made -his way below. Breakfast was over but the German steward made him -some hot coffee and got some rolls. While Jack ate, the man, who was -a garrulous fellow, talked. - -“Dot vos fine diddings vot vee haf py der nightdt ain’d idt?” he -began. - -“How do you mean?” asked Jack. - -“Vot, you ain’t heard alretty. Vale der captain’s be py his bunk mit -a bullet in his shoulder. He haf fights midt der man vot vos in der -grows nest. Der captain say he haf him pudt in irons for not -sighding der iceberg more quivicker. Der man get madt undt der -captain try to shoodt him. In der struggle der pisdol goes off and -hits der captain. Der man is a prisoner. He goes by chail ven ve -gedt to Rotterdam.” - -“How do the crew take it?” asked Jack, recollecting what the man -Andrews had said in the night. - -“Dey is very quiedt.” - -“Nobody saying anything?” - -“Nodt a vurd. Budt dey visper among demselves. Dot badt sign. Vunce -pefore I vos on a ship vere der crew visper. Dere vos murder done -pefore vee made port.” - -“Oh, well, there’s nothing like that here,” said Jack with a breezy -confidence he was far from feeling. “It’s true our crew is a mixed -lot, but I don’t think there’ll be any serious trouble.” - -He returned to the wireless room and spent the rest of the forenoon -talking to various ships. The ice-patrol reports showed that the -bergs had been left behind. The young operator carried his reports -to Mr. Mulliner. Captain Briggs did not appear on the bridge till -the next day. Then he carried his arm in a sling. From his friend, -the steward, Jack learned that the wound was only a flesh one, the -bullet having passed right through without lodging. - -The remainder of the voyage to Rotterdam was without incident. The -crew went about their tasks dutifully but without a word. A sullen -silence was over them. Jack felt that, despite the apparent air of -peace, a volcano was smoldering under their feet that was ready to -break at any moment. He was glad when they tied up at Rotterdam and -he was free for a run ashore. But the sight of the country saddened -him. It reminded him of the time he and Raynor had spent such a -happy time sight-seeing when on his first voyage the _Ajax_ had -docked at Antwerp. - -Where was Raynor now? Curiously enough Jack could not bring himself -to the belief that his shipmate and chum was dead. But he thought of -him almost constantly. He bought lots of postcards and mailed them -home and received some mail, too. Among the latter, which had come -by fast mail steamer and reached port three days ahead of the -_Cambodian_, was a letter from Uncle Toby that puzzled Jack -considerably. - -“Deer buoy”--it read,--“here’s hopping yew will sune be hoam. -Strainge things have been hapning. Capun Walters has gone to glory -but--lef me die-and-gram and much infumachun erbout sum berried -trezer. Leastwayz itz not berried but hidun. If I kan find it we -will be rich, so hurry back, your affeckshonite unkil Toby.” - -“Now, what wonderful scheme is this?” said Jack to himself, with a -half smile, and speedily forgot the matter, for Uncle Toby was -prolific of fortune making plans and usually had a fresh one to -broach to Jack after every voyage. Jack would have liked to go to -Antwerp to visit the good friends that he and Raynor had made there -as a sequel to a surprising night adventure, the details of which -were related in the first volume of this series. But he felt that he -could not face them with the story of the young engineer’s loss; for -even Jack was beginning to lose hope by this time. - -There was little to do while the ship was in port, and Jack devoted -a good deal of time to putting the finishing touches on his portable -wireless set. Captain Briggs was ashore most of the time, coming -back to the ship usually late at night and walking none too -steadily. His wound had long since healed and the man who had -inflicted it had been tried. But owing to some peculiarity of -foreign law, he was acquitted. Jack was not sorry when he heard -this, for he had come to regard the captain as a coarse, brutal -bully, whose excesses only made him the more truculent. As to Jack’s -imprisonment, it had not been referred to by the captain and Jack -felt inclined to take the chief officer’s advice when his wrath -cooled and let “sleeping dogs lie.” - -Thus matters stood one evening when Jack, who had been into the town -to a moving picture show, was making his way back to the ship. The -docks were dark, forbidding places at night. Here and there a -sputtering arc light hung from a gloomy warehouse. But these lights -only made little islands of light, outside which the shadows lay -blacker and thicker than ever. - -Brawls were of frequent occurrence among the foreign sailors, and -altogether the place bore a bad reputation. As Jack came out of a -narrow alley between two warehouses he became aware of a figure -skulking along ahead of him. - -There was something indescribably furtive and suspicious in the way -in which this man crept along, hugging the wall and gazing straight -ahead of him. A filtering ray of light struck his head for an -instant and Jack saw that in the man’s ears were earrings such as -Spanish sailors wear. - -The next instant he saw another figure still further in advance. As -it passed under a light he recognized the stocky form and unsteady -gait of Captain Briggs. At the same instant it flashed across him -that the man with the earrings was Baden Alvarez, the sailor who had -had the tussle with the captain in which the latter was shot. - -“Is he after revenge or what?” Jack wondered as he drew into a -slight recess in the wall as Alvarez turned a corner and still -skulked on like some wild beast stalking its prey. - -“It sure looks as if there was going to be trouble,” the boy said to -himself. “Guess I’ll just follow along and be handy in case of -mischief. Confound it, I wish I’d brought a gun, as this Alvarez is -said to be an ugly customer.” - -But, after all, like most healthy American boys, Jack had no love -for firearms. He preferred to use his fists when the occasion arose -and he knew that at the end of each of his stout arms he had a -formidable weapon. - -Along the dark docks the strange trio strung their way. In the lead -Captain Briggs rolled along, sometimes bawling out snatches of sea -songs, behind him, and creeping closer all the time, came Alvarez -and, last of all, Jack, his every muscle and sense tensed for the -climax that he felt must come now at almost any instant. - -Suddenly, like a wild cat, the Spaniard darted forward. He flung his -lithe form on the stout captain, taking him utterly by surprise. -Jack, in the little light there was, caught the gleam of an upraised -knife as he dashed toward the spot where Captain Briggs was -struggling with his foe. - -“Help!” roared the captain, but the cry was choked back in his -windpipe as the Spaniard’s long, muscular fingers closed on the -seaman’s throat. - -“There ees no help for you,” snarled Alvarez, “for put me in preeson -I keel you. I am Catalonian; we never for-geeve or forget.” - -He raised his knife high, but the next instant a violent blow caught -him under the chin and gave him the impression he had been struck by -a pile driver. The knife went whirling out of his hand and fell, -with a metallic ring, on a cement string piece some distance away. - -“Caramba!” howled the Spaniard, holding his jaw. - -Captain Briggs still lay sprawling on the dock. He was still only -half aware of what was going on. - -“Come, get up, captain,” said Jack, extending a hand. As he did so -Alvarez made a rush for the young operator who had put his plans of -revenge to rout. But again Jack was prepared for him. In his pocket -he had a small nickel plated wrench. He held this like a pistol and -pointed it straight at Alvarez, who had produced another knife. - -“Stand where you are!” exclaimed the boy, “or take the -consequences.” - -The Spaniard stopped. - -“Now, then, hands up,” ordered Jack, and then turned to the captain. -“Captain, I see some rope over there. Will you borrow it and tie -that rascal up while I keep him covered.” - -The captain rose to his feet blinking, but he managed to get through -his muddled intellect what Jack wanted him to do. In five minutes -Alvarez was tied securely. - -“Now, then, quick march,” said Jack, getting behind him. - -“Where you teek me?” sputtered the Spaniard. - -“To the ship. In the morning you will be lodged in jail, I hope.” - -As they advanced to the ship, which lay two piers away, Jack -explained to the captain the narrow escape he had had. The captain -thanked him with maudlin tears, which rather disgusted Jack. When -the ship was reached the captain reeled off to bed while Jack placed -Alvarez forward under the guard of two men. - -“He’ll be all right till morning,” he said to himself, but when -morning came, Alvarez was gone. - -The ropes that had bound him had been cut. They lay on the deck with -cleanly severed ends. - -Jack cross-examined the two sailors, set to guard him, severely. -Both protested vigorously they had not taken their eyes off him all -night. But Jack, of course, knew better. He knew, too, that among -the superstitious sailors Alvarez, on account of certain claims he -made to being a wizard, had much influence. It was certain he had -escaped with the connivance of the crew. - -“Well, good riddance of bad rubbish,” commented Jack to himself, -little dreaming that he was destined to encounter Alvarez again. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII: ON BOARD THE “_POLLY ANN_” - - -When Raynor opened his eyes again he found himself lying on a bunk -in a small cabin. Across the single port-hole which lighted it was a -red calico curtain. Rough beams crossed the ceiling, from which -swung a ship’s lantern, unlighted, of course, at that time of day. - -He was on board a ship and a ship that was under way, for he could -feel the rise and heave of her hull as she took the seas. With keen -curiosity, he sat up. The furniture enumerated was all that he could -see in the cabin. There was not even a strip of carpet on the floor, -which was of well scrubbed planking. - -He looked out of the port. All about him were tumbling green waves -through which the schooner,--for he had long since guessed he was on -board the craft that rescued him,--was driving smartly. He felt -slightly dizzy and sat down on the bunk for an instant before he -rose to open the door and find his rescuers and thank them. When he -did so he experienced a shock. - -The door was locked! - -The briefest of investigations proved that it was locked from the -outside, showing that he had been deliberately shut in, though for -what purpose he could not imagine. He knocked impatiently at the -door, hoping to attract the attention of somebody who could explain -the mystery but nobody came. Raynor sat down on the bunk, again -listening for any sign of movement without. - -But none came for a long time. There was a great trampling to and -fro of feet on deck and the timbers of the schooner complained as -though she was being forced through the water, but this, and the -constant rush of water along her sides, were the only sounds. - -“Bother it all,” muttered Raynor, “this is a fine way to treat a -rescued castaway. Anyone would think I was a prisoner.” - -But at last there sounded steps outside and the rattling of a key in -the lock and the door was flung open. The yellow-bearded man stood -in the doorway, almost filling its frame with his huge bulk. He -looked down at Raynor with a rather amused smile. - -“I suppose you have been thinking that we don’t treat our guests -very well on the _Polly Ann_?” he said in a deep, gruff voice. - -“Well, I don’t see why I was locked in,” rejoined Raynor in a rather -aggrieved tone. - -“Maybe it didn’t occur to you that we might have private matters on -board that we don’t want strangers peering into,” was the calm -reply. “You know you were not invited on board.” - -Raynor felt a sudden twinge of remorse. After all, he owed his life -to this man. He began to thank him but the other silenced him with -the wave of a hand. - -“That was nothing. Anyhow, I got a fine bear pelt out of it. One of -the finest I ever saw. But to get down to business. Have you any -idea where you are?” - -“On board the schooner _Polly Ann_,” rejoined Raynor, with an oddly -uncomfortable feeling. - -“True enough, but do you know anything about her?” - -Raynor shook his head. - -“Well, she’s Terror Carson’s craft. I’m Terror Carson. If you’d ever -been in the northern seas, where we are bound, you’d have heard of -me.” - -The man uttered his sinister name with some pride. He squared his -huge shoulders and stroked his glowing beard with evident -satisfaction. Raynor felt his heart sink. There was something wrong -about this schooner and this man. - -“You are going north trading?” he asked, intending to demand being -put aboard the first steamer or other vessel bound for the states -that they encountered. - -Terror Carson burst into a mighty laugh that seemed to shake the -cabin timbers. - -“Yes, we’re going trading. Trading in our own line,” he said, and -then he beckoned to Raynor to come out into the main cabin from -which six smaller ones, similar to the one the young engineer had -occupied, opened. - -“See those?” he asked, and pointed to three bright brass cannons -that were ranged at the stern inside closed ports. “We use those in -our trading. You see we are what the courts of law and the -international boundary authorities call: ‘seal poachers.’” - -“Seal poachers!” Raynor shrank back. He had heard of these wild, -lawless men of the north who defied the international boundary rules -and even war-ships sent to enforce them. Not a few of them, as he -knew, had been captured after hard chases and sentenced to long -terms of imprisonment. He could hardly bring himself to speak his -next words. - -“But of course you will put me on board the first vessel we sight,” -he said, “you see, Captain Carson, I----” - -“Oh, no, we can’t lose you now,” chuckled the yellow-bearded man, -“you know too much. We need an assistant cook and I think you are -just the man for the job.” - -“Do you mean to say that, against my will, and against the law----” -began Raynor, but Terror Carson checked him. - -“You forget we know no law,” he said. - -“Well, then, against my will you mean to enroll me as one of this -lawless crew.” - -“That’s about the idea,” drawled Carson amiably. - -“But if we are caught by some British cruiser, I shall be imprisoned -as one of you!” burst out Raynor frantically. - -“That’s something you will have to take your chances of. You -shouldn’t have fallen overboard from the _Cambodian_ and then this -wouldn’t have happened. You see I know some of your story and have -guessed the rest. - -“While you were asleep I took the liberty of reading your papers. -Here they are,” and with all the grace in the world, Terror Carson -handed the bewildered young engineer a package and a wallet which -had been abstracted from his inner pocket. - -“Now we will go on deck,” said Terror Carson, “and I’ll show you the -scene of your future labors. You will berth and have your meals in -the cabin and not with the men.” - -Raynor felt grateful for this at least, for he judged the crew of a -craft like the _Polly Ann_ could be little better than a lot of -desperadoes. But he was not prepared for the array of villainous, -hard-bitten countenances he saw when they reached the deck. The -schooner was under full sail and racing northward like a swift sea -bird. - -Except for the man at the helm, and a short, stocky man who was -standing by him and gazing up at the rigging, the men were all -lounging about, some squatting under the weather bulwarks. The -short, stocky man proved to be the mate, Mr. Wiggins, a real -“down-east bucko,” Terror Carson described him as being. The midship -decks were piled with lashed down dories and from the stern davits -hung a smart whale boat. - -Aft of the foremast was a squat, white house with an iron pipe -projecting from it. Terror Carson led the way there with Raynor at -his heels. The men’s eyes followed them, some with scowls and some -with curiosity. - -From the door of the galley, or ship’s kitchen, for that is what the -white structure was, there issued a cloud of steam as they -approached. Suddenly, in the midst of the volume of vapor, there -appeared the round, good-natured, freckled face of a lad of about -Raynor’s own age. His head, of bright red hair, was uncovered, and -he wore a very dirty apron about his waist. - -“Noddy Nipper,” said Terror Carson, nodding toward Raynor, “here’s -our assistant cook. Make him work, and if there’s any nonsense -report him to me. That’s all.” - -With an upward look at the sails, he turned on the heel of his big -sea-boots and strode off aft, leaving the half-stupefied Raynor -staring at the red-headed youth. - - - - -CHAPTER IX: A JOKE ON POMPEY. - - -“So, youse is de guy what was floating about on a chunk uv ice -tryin’ ter be pals wid a poley bear?” said Noddy, with an accent -that betrayed him at once as being from the Bowery, or near it. - -Raynor smiled faintly. - -“Well, I got bounced off my ship on to that iceberg and came nearly -being a meal for the bear if it hadn’t been for your captain, Terror -Carson, as he calls himself.” - -“An’ he’s a Terror, all right, all right, take dat right frum yer -Uncle Dudley,” said Noddy, sinking his voice mysteriously. “I feel -kind er sorry fer youse, fer youse ain’t ther sort as belongs aboard -this wind-jammer. But take it frum me, kid, if yer follers my advice -you’ll git along all right. An’ now let’s put youse ter woik. - -“I see old Terror lookin’ this way. Jes’ trim them murphies uv their -packets an’ then I’ll think up suthin’ else fer yer ter do. Gee! I’m -reg’lar Fi’t Averner style all right, wid me valley an’ all.” - -Raynor determined to make the best of a bad job. At least Noddy, as -he was called, seemed to be friendly and kind-hearted under his odd -exterior. The young engineer turned up his sleeves and went -valiantly to work. In a few moments Noddy, who had been busy over a -big pan of “scouse,” came to inspect his handiwork. - -“Gee!” he exclaimed with scorn, “youse has got a lot ter learn -erbout peelin’ spuds. Youse cut off more pertater than yer do skin. -Do it dis way. Watch me.” - -Raynor did better after this lesson, and before long had a big -bucket-full of peeled potatoes that passed even Noddy’s critical -examination. - -“We’s ull put ’em on ter cook now,” said Noddy, “one bell has jus -gone and ther old man wants the gang ter git their scoff by five er -clock.” - -At this juncture an aged colored man entered the galley. He wore a -white cook’s cap on his head, on which he had scrawled, with ink, -Pompey James, Chief Cook of the _Polly Ann_. Noddy introduced him -with a flourish. - -“Pompey, old top,” he exclaimed, “this is der new deputy assistant -bottle washer.” - -“Ah’m glad ter meet yer,” said Pompey ceremoniously, “ah hopes yo -all is mo’ circumambulatory in yo’ ways dan dis yar raid haided boy. -Gollyumptions, he shuh do make dis chile’s life bud’ensome at -times.” - -Noddy winked and grinned at Raynor. Then he turned suddenly and -looked at Pompey with what appeared to be consternation. - -“Gee! what’s dat you got in yer wool, Jupe?” he exclaimed, for the -cook had taken his white cap off so as not to get it dirty during -his culinary operations. - -“In mah hair, Noddy?” asked Pompey. - -“Yes, sir, in your hair. It’s big and white and round.” - -Pompey investigated his wooly poll, scratching it carefully all -over. Of course he found nothing. - -“Guess yo’ all am tryin’ ter fool dis chile,” he said, with a -good-natured grin, which showed a double set of white teeth. - -“No, I ain’t. On the level, look!” The Bowery boy reached for the -negro’s head and drew from it an egg. It was a simple sleight of -hand trick. - -But Pompey stared in amazement at the egg as it lay in Noddy’s palm. - -“Land ob Goshen! How dat get dere?” he cried in great astonishment. - -“Blessed if I know. Maybe you’re turning into an incubator.” - -“Gollyumption!” gasped the negro, “I don’ want ter be no inky -beater, whateber dat may be.” - -“Well, take this ege and make a pudding with it, see,” said the -red-headed Bowery youth, holding out the egg in his closed fist. But -when he opened his fingers the egg was gone. Instead there lay a -bright dime on Noddy’s palm. - -“Gee whaitakers. Don’t dat beat de Dutch,” exclaimed Noddy, in -apparent astonishment, “queer things seem to be going on here all -the time.” - -“Good land ob Beulah! Dis yah galley am voodooed!” yelled Pompey. -“No, sah, I don’ wan’ner touch dat money under no circumstantials. -Dat am witch money, dat am.” - -“Oh, very well,” exclaimed Noddy, spinning the coin in the air and -catching it, “I kin use it, Pompey. Gee, it’s great ter be pals wid -de witches.” - -“Is yo’ all a witch docto’?” asked Pompey with great awe. - -“Sure I am. I’m a regular witch hazel from Witchville. Say,” he -broke off suddenly, “what’s that growing out of this potato?” - -He picked up a rotten one that Raynor had cast aside. - -“Ain’t nuffin dat I kin see,” mumbled the colored man, much -mystified but refusing to be trapped. - -“Well, what d’yer call dis?” and the Bowery lad pulled another dime -out of the tuber. “My goodness, Pompey, youse have got money -scattered everywhere. Here, take this dime. Youse’ll be a rich guy -if youse keeps on.” - -Pompey took the dime. He turned it over thoughtfully, bit it and -then said: - -“Dat am good money fo’ sho. But ah don’ know but what it’ll turn -inter rats er mice befo’ long.” - -Just at that moment Pompey was summoned aft by the captain’s orders, -who wanted to give some directions about his dinner. Noddy turned to -Raynor with a grin. - -“I’ve got him fooled to the queen’s taste,” he chuckled. “After I’ve -played a few more tricks on him I’ll have him eating out’n my hand.” - -“But what’s the use of scaring him that way?” asked Raynor. - -Noddy stared at him. Then he whistled as if in astonishment and -executed a sort of double shuffle. - -“Say,” he said in low tone as he concluded, “don’t yer see my game? -Dat old coon is the only friend we’ve got on this boat, and when the -time comes for a getaway we’ll need him.” - -“A getaway?” echoed Raynor, “then you want to escape?” - -“Do I, say, kid, how’d you like to be tapped on the head in New York -and shanghied on board a craft like dis?” - -“You mean you were kidnapped on board?” asked Raynor, staring at the -red-headed youth with whom he now felt a bond of sympathy. - -“Surest t’ing you know. Write it in yo’ little book. But I mean ter -get away first chance, you bet. Are you wid me?” - -“I certainly am. This schooner is little better than a floating -inferno.” - -“All right. Tip us yer mitt. When de time comes dat smoke ull be de -guy ter help us. He ain’t got no more use fer Terrer Carson dan I -have, so fur as I’ve bin able to figger it out.” - -The two allies shook hands, but further conversation was barred just -then for Pompey reentered the galley. - - - - -CHAPTER X: PLANS TO ESCAPE. - - -Raynor found that his duties, besides his kitchen work, included -waiting on the table in the cabin. He managed to acquit himself at -this without getting into serious trouble, although Terror Carson -gave him several gruff reproofs during the evening. When supper was -over the duty of washing the dishes fell to the two boys. Pompey -retired forward for a smoke and they had the galley to themselves. - -The breeze, which had been steady all the afternoon, was beginning -to increase. The schooner began to leap and strain as the waves grew -bigger. Raynor found some difficulty in keeping his feet. - -“Say, it’s coming on to blow,” observed Raynor. - -“Yes, and that’s too bad,” rejoined Noddy. “I’d got it framed up fer -a getaway ter night.” - -“To-night?” gasped Raynor. - -“Yep, Pompey is to have the wheel to-night. He has that duty every -two weeks. At midnight he’ll be alone on deck and if we fix up like -ghosts it would be dead easy to scare him and get at the boat on the -stern davits and make our fare-you-well.” - -The boldness of the plan almost overcame Raynor. - -“Here’s de proposition,” went on Noddy. “If we don’t do it to-night -we won’t have a show ter take a crack at it fer annudder two -weeks--see. By dat time de men say we’ll be up among der ice where -der seals are, an’ it wouldn’t do us no good if we did escape, fer -deres mighty few craft up dere.” - -“Well, I’m game,” said Raynor. - -“Good for you,” and Noddy dropped his voice and began whispering the -details of his plan. By the time they had finished their work the -schooner was pitching and tossing wildly and they knew that the -storm was on the increase. “But dat don’t make no never mind,” -declared the Bowery boy. “I’ve heard de men say dat de whale boat -’ud live in seas dat would sink de schooner.” - -They parted, Noddy to go forward to his bunk in a storeroom, where -sails, paint, etc., were stored, and Raynor to his cabin. Terror -Carson and his mate sat at the table. They took no notice of the -lad. In his cabin Raynor did not take his clothes off. He could not -have slept. The excitement of the projected escape would have -prohibited that. Midnight was the hour agreed upon, and he listened -to the ship’s bell sounding the slowly passing hours, and half -hours, with great impatience. At last the growl of voices in the -cabin ceased and then two doors banged and Raynor knew the captain -and mate had turned in. Just then the bell struck seven times. It -was eleven-thirty. - -“This is a bad night to leave the ship,” mused Raynor, as he sat -waiting for the chiming of eight bells. - -The schooner appeared to be under a press of canvas, for her hull -was heeled over at a steep angle. At times she appeared to rush -skyward and then hurtle down into a bottomless abyss. Raynor hoped -the whaleboat was as seaworthy as such a type of boat is reputed to -be. The thought of abandoning the enterprise, however, did not, -enter his head. As Noddy had pointed out, it might be their only -chance of escape, and Raynor longed for nothing more than to get -free of the _Polly Ann_. It was his paramount ambition and it would -have taken more than a stormy night to stop him. - -As eight bells struck, Raynor rose and cautiously opened the door of -his cabin a crack. - -The swinging lamp outside was turned low and the main cabin empty. -He stole cautiously out and then ascended the companionway to the -deck. - -Luckily, the companionway entrance was below a break in the stern so -that the man at the wheel--Pompey--could not see him as, crouched -almost double, he crept forward to the small deck house where Noddy -had his berth. It was a wild night. Big seas, their white tops -luminous, raced by, towering above the schooner’s rail. The speedy -little vessel was heeled over almost on her beam ends at times, but -she appeared remarkably seaworthy. - -Not a soul could be seen on deck except Pompey’s dark form at the -wheel, revealed by the faint glow-worm light of the binnacle lamp. -At last Raynor, with infinite caution, reached Noddy’s sleeping -place. He rapped three times, as they had agreed, and the door was -opened. - -Raynor almost uttered a cry of alarm as the portal was pulled back -by Noddy. He saw what appeared to be a human face enveloped in pale -green fire, out of which shone two luminous eyes. - -“Swell ghost, eh?” chuckled Noddy, pulling him inside. “I made de -stuff out’n match heads. Come on, here’s some fer you. Rub it on yer -face an’ den I’ll give you yer shroud.” - -He held up a shapeless-looking garment of white sail cloth that he -had made, and at the same time cautiously turned up the flame of a -lantern that stood in a corner so that Raynor could see. - -“I don’t believe we can get away to-night in a small boat,” declared -Raynor as he daubed on the phosphorescent solution under Noddy’s -directions. - -“Why not?” asked the Bowery lad. - -“It’s too rough. Feel how the schooner is pitching. It’ll make the -small boat dance about worse.” - -“Well, we gotter take our chances on dat,” decided Noddy, “we’ll -take a look when we git outside.” - -At last the ghosts were ready. Raynor’s heart beat rather faster -than was comfortable as they crept out upon the heaving, tossing -decks. If their plan failed, and Terror Carson discovered it, a -terrible fate might be in store for them. A strong wind whistled -about them and a dash of rain beat in their faces. - -“Gee! It is pretty bad, fer a fact,” declared Noddy. “Well, let’s -get along to the stern.” They proceeded cautiously, doubled up under -the shadow of the bulwark till they reached the break in the stern. -Then, with an appalling yell, Noddy dashed up the steps leading on -to the raised poop where the helmsman stood. Raynor was close behind -him. Noddy’s shriek was echoed by a shout of alarm from Pompey. - -“Gollyumptions! Ghostesses! De good lawd hab mussey on mah soul! Oh, -Massa, ghostesses don’ hurt me! Wow!” - -A wild yell of fear came from the trembling Pompey as Noddy raised a -flaming hand and pointed straight at him. Pompey dropped the spokes -of the wheel and dashed forward, leaping the break of the poop in -one jump. At the same instant the schooner “broached to” as her helm -was deserted. The canvas flapped wildly and she rolled in the trough -of the seas. A giant wave broke over her bow with a sound like -thunder. - -At the same instant, from below, came a stentorian shout like the -roar of an angry bull. - -“On deck, there! What in the name of Davy Jones is the matter?” - -“That’s Terror Carson!” cried Noddy. “Come on, let’s get forward. No -escape for us to-night.” - -The two boys rushed toward the bow just in time to avoid Carson, who -came rushing on deck followed by his mate. They bolted into Noddy’s -sanctum in time to avoid the crew, who came tumbling up the -fore-hatchway, and hastily removed their shrouds and washed off the -phosphorus. Then they ran out and mingled with the crowd on deck as -if they had just been aroused by the confusion. - -It was a wild scene on the deck of the _Polly Ann_. Carson himself -had seized the tiller and was holding the craft on her course, but -two sails had been ripped and a lot of water shipped over the bow. -The boys came out just in time to see some sailors dragging Pompey -aft from the galley, where he had taken refuge from what he thought -were supernatural visitors. - -The black was beside himself with fear of Terror Carson and alarm at -what he had seen. He stammered out incoherent explanations about -being scared from the wheel by “ghostesses.” Carson roared savagely -at him. He declared he had a good mind to have him flogged. But -finally he commuted the sentence to two days in irons. The boys felt -conscience-stricken at having involved poor Pompey in such a -quandary, yet they could not have made explanations without making -matters worse. - -Fortunately for them, the confusion and crowd on deck were so great -that nobody noticed from what direction they came when they -appeared, and it was taken for granted by all concerned that both -had rushed from their bunks when the general alarm that followed the -“broaching to” of the schooner took place. - -And so ended their first attempt to escape from the seal poacher -_Polly Ann_. Both lads were bitterly disappointed at the way Fate -had turned her face against them, but both determined to try again -at the first opportunity. Meantime, the _Polly Ann_ forged -northward, and destiny was weaving strange threads which were fated -to form an important part in the fabrics of their lives. - - - - -CHAPTER XI: A FIENDISH PLOT. - - -Captain Briggs, in a sheepish sort of way, tried to make friends -with Jack following the episode on the dock. But Jack had little use -for the man and kept on with his own devices, paying little -attention to Captain Briggs, except in the line of duty. - -On the night before which they were to sail for America again, Jack -had been uptown to post some cards and letters and did not return to -the ship till about nine o’clock at night. As he made his way to his -cabin, he was startled to see what he thought was a human figure -gliding among the boats and life-rafts on the deck outside, for the -wireless-room of the _Cambodian_, like most such structures, was -perched upon the boat deck. - -“Now, who could that be?” thought the boy. “Guess I’ll take a look -around. These docks are infested with thieves, and although there’s -a watchman on duty, somebody may have sneaked on board.” - -But although he made what was quite a thorough search, he could find -no trace of the man he thought he had seen dodging among the boats -as if seeking a hiding place. He was forced to conclude at length -that, in the uncertain light, he must have mistaken the swaying -shadow of a rope or part of the rigging, for a human form. - -“Well, I guess I’ll turn in,” decided Jack, as he opened his cabin -door. “We sail early to-morrow and I’ll have to be on the job.” - -He undressed slowly, thinking of many things, among them of Raynor -and his fate. - -“Somehow I cannot bring myself to believe that he is drowned,” -reflected the boy. “I’m just as sure as I am that I am sitting here -that he will turn up some day. And yet he should have been picked up -by one of the ships I spoke with if he succeeded in keeping afloat. -But maybe a sailing craft rescued him. In that case he might have to -make a voyage to China before he could communicate with the outside -world.” - -A slight noise outside made the boy sit up erect and listen -intently. He went to the door and looked out. There was nothing out -of the ordinary there. - -“I must be nervous to-night,” said Jack to himself, in tones of -self-reproof. “What’s the matter with me? First I think I see a man -and then I think I hear someone snooping about. Guess this climate -doesn’t agree with me.” - -But Jack was not, as he indignantly assured himself, the victim of -nerves. There was a man outside his cabin. A man who was watching -him eagerly through a port-hole opening into the wireless room. The -man had a yellow, evil face and two glittering black eyes like a -snake’s. In his ears hung two hoops of gold. It was Alvarez, the -Spanish sailor. - -He was there to witness the culmination of a plot he had formed that -was to imperil Jack’s life. - -While Jack was in the town, the man had sneaked on board with the -agility of a monkey, swarming up one of the mooring lines, -unnoticed. He had made his way at once to the wireless room. Once -inside, from his pocket he had produced wires and pliers. - -For half an hour or more he worked feverishly and with a skill in -handling his tools that showed he was an expert mechanician. Indeed, -the man had once been a skilled electrician, but a crime he had -committed had forced him to flee his country and leave his -employment and become a common sailor. - -Every now and then, as he worked, he would stop and tip-toe to the -door of the wireless room. He had no wish to be caught napping for -he knew the power of Jack’s fist and the heavy penalty that would be -visited upon him were he caught in the fiendish work upon which he -was engaged. - -Tirelessly he connected wires to terminals and finally he produced -from his pocket an oblong black object formed, apparently, of metal. -He connected wires to this and then, with a diabolical grin, planted -it beneath the wireless table. He had completed his work just in -time to dart from the cabin as Jack’s quick, firm step was heard -ascending the companion ladder. So that the young wireless lad was -not the victim of an illusion when he thought he saw a human figure. - -Alvarez slipped in under a canvas boat cover while Jack was making a -search. In his place of concealment he chuckled evilly to himself: - -“Caramba! What a revenge is mine on this dog of a Yankee boy! Did he -think that he could insult and beat a Spaniard without suffering? -Todos los Santos, no! A few moments now and my revenge will be -complete.” - -When Jack reéntered the cabin, the Spaniard had crawled from under -the boat cover and taken up a place of vantage at a porthole where -he could see into the cabin and watch Jack’s every movement. - -“Will he never go near the wireless key!” he exclaimed impatiently -to himself as Jack, half-a-dozen times, appeared to be on the point -of retiring. The young wireless operator felt strangely restless and -disinclined to sleep. At last the wireless apparatus caught his eye. - -“Guess I’ll see if everything is in shape,” he murmured to himself. -“I won’t have much time to effect repairs after we sail to-morrow.” - -Alvarez’s eyes glowed like live coals and his yellow fingers -clinched as he watched the lad approach the key. - -He was like an evil serpent watching some victim nearing its fangs. - -Jack pressed down the key. - -There was a deafening explosion. - -Amidst a glare of red flame and lurid smoke, the young operator -staggered backward and fell unconscious on the floor of the cabin. -In his forehead was a jagged gash from which the blood streamed over -his white, lifeless face. - - - - -CHAPTER XII: UNCLE TOBY IS OFF FOR TREASURE. - - -“What happened? Where am I?” - -Jack asked the questions in a bewildered voice the next morning. His -head throbbed cruelly, and placing his hand to his forehead he found -that it was enveloped in bandages. Then he looked about him. He lay -in a neat white cot in a beautifully clean room. - -A young woman whom he knew was a nurse, by her uniform, bent over -him. - -“Hush! Do not excite yourself. Here comes the doctor.” - -A tall man, with spectacles, entered the room. He regarded Jack with -satisfaction. - -“Just as I said, only a flesh wound,” he said, after he had removed -the bandages, “it is getting on nicely. In a few days you will be -up.” - -“In a few days!” gasped Jack, “but my ship will have sailed by -then.” - -“That is all right. Her owners have been communicated with and you -will go home as a passenger on a liner owned by them. That will be -after you have given your deposition against the man Alvarez, in a -court of law. He is a prisoner and is also in the hospital. He was -slightly hurt when the port was blown out by the force of the -explosion and was found unconscious when rescuers reached the scene. -He thought he was going to die and has made a full confession.” - -“I don’t understand,” said Jack, in a puzzled way, “Alvarez, that’s -the sailor who was going to kill Captain Briggs. I punched him.” - -“Yes; and in revenge the man, with fiendish ingenuity, connected the -current from your wireless key with a bomb that he placed under the -wireless table. It was lucky he placed the infernal machine under -the table, otherwise you might have been killed. As it is, you have -got off with a flesh wound inflicted by a bit of flying metal.” - -Jack lay in the hospital three days more. Then he appeared in a -Rotterdam court and gave his account of the affair. The confession -of Alvarez clinched the matter and the murderous Spaniard received a -heavy sentence. A week later Jack found himself a passenger, “an -idler,” he called it, on board the United States liner _New -Hampshire_, bound for New York. - -He struck up a friendship with the wireless man and spent most of -the time in his cabin. - -But he was glad when at last the shores of Staten Island slipped by -as the _New Hampshire_ came up the harbor of New York and the tall -buildings and web-like fabric of the Brooklyn Bridge came into view. - -Jack was no sooner ashore than he started off for the Erie Basin, -where lay the old _Venus_, Uncle Toby Ready’s floating home. The -recollection of his uncle’s strange letter was still strong in his -mind. He wanted to get to Uncle Toby at once and dissuade him from -rushing into any rash scheme. All the way over in the trolley car he -had an odd presentiment in his mind that all was not well. - -His uneasy feeling was increased when, having alighted from the car, -he paced quickly along the docks. No smoke was curling from the -stove pipe of the _Venus’s_ cabin as he neared that venerable -derelict. This in itself was unusual, for Uncle Toby was almost -always to be found brewing his strange concoctions of herbs and -plants over the small ship’s stove. - -Jack hastened across the gang-plank leading on board the aged -schooner that had sailed her last voyage many years before and now -served as a floating home. - -“Uncle Toby!” he hailed, “Uncle Toby!” - -But no answer came to Jack’s loud hails. They only echoed among the -other battered old derelicts lying at the rotting wharves in that -part of the Erie Basin. - -A sickening fear suddenly overwhelmed him as he gazed along the -silent decks and at the empty window boxes which usually, at this -time of the year, were abloom with tulips of Uncle Toby’s planting. - -Could his uncle be dead? - -But just at that moment he noticed on the door of the companionway, -which led below to the living quarters, a square bit of paper. It -was nailed there with enormous nails as if whoever had put it up was -determined that it shouldn’t come down in a hurry. - -In the hope that it might throw some light on the mystery, Jack -hastened to scrutinize it. It was covered with writing in Uncle -Toby’s rough and ready fist which looked as if an exploratory crab -might have tumbled into some black mud and then performed various -athletic feats on a sheet of paper. - -The notice,--for such it was plainly intended to be, read as -follows: - -“To hoome it may consarn: Notice, Captain Toby Ready,--Doctor of -Herbs,--has gone on a cruise fer plesure and proffit. Neffew Jack -will please see Captain Dennis for partiklars.” - -At the bottom of this strange scrawl was the following verse, Cap’n -Toby being ever fond of a bit of rhyme to adorn his conversation or -his literary efforts. - - “My name is Toby Ready, as I sail; - My name is Toby Ready, as I sail, - I’ll get dollars manifold, - And riches unkontrold; - I’ll buy Brooklyn when it’s sold; - As I sail.” - -“Great gracious,” gasped Jack, as he concluded this effort which he -recognized as being Cap’n Toby’s version of the song of Captain -Kidd, “my uncle must have gone crazy. Whoever heard of such a thing. -Off on a treasure hunt at his age, and with a wooden leg. Well, I -guess the only thing for me to do is to see Captain Dennis at once. -It may not be too late to stop this insane trip, wherever it is to.” - -The young wireless man was given a warm greeting at Captain Dennis’s -cozy home in Greenwich Village that evening by the captain’s pretty -daughter, Helen. Jack found her just as charming as ever and was not -sorry when she informed him that the captain would not be back from -his work on the docks for an hour or more. Helen was all sympathy -about Jack’s wound, the scar of which still showed. They had read -all about it in the papers, she said, with a pretty blush. It only -seemed a few minutes to Jack, instead of the hour and a half it -actually was, before Captain Dennis came in. He greeted Jack -heartily but would not hear of discussing Uncle Toby’s strange freak -till after supper. Then, when he had lit his pipe, he told Jack what -he knew of the matter. - -It appeared, according to what Captain Dennis knew, that soon after -Jack had sailed on the _Cambodian_, a battered old mariner appeared -at the _Venus_ and asked for Captain Toby. This was the Captain -Walters referred to in the strange letter Jack had received in -Rotterdam. - -Captain Walters, so it seemed, was an old whaling captain who had -known Captain Toby many years before. He had been shipwrecked in the -Arctic on his last voyage and after incredible hardships at last got -back to America. But he was a mere shell of a man who sought out -Captain Toby to see if that veteran had any remedies that would make -him a well man and fit him to make up an expedition for some vague -treasure he knew of in the land of ice. - -But all Captain Toby’s skill proved of no avail, and Captain Walters -shortly set out on his last voyage. But before he died he confided -to Uncle Toby full details of the location of the treasure and other -important data. Armed with this, Captain Toby had succeeded in -interesting a firm of capitalists in the venture, and a week before, -on a trim schooner, with a picked crew, had sailed for the Arctic -regions. That was all Captain Dennis knew, but that the ancient -mariner appeared beside himself with dreams of wealth, and said that -when he returned he would be a millionaire. - -“And there you have the story, my boy,” said Captain Dennis, -knocking the ashes out of his pipe, “and a more crack-brained, crazy -cruise I never heard tell of, asking your pardon, because he’s your -uncle.” - -Jack engaged a cheap room for the remainder of his stay in New York, -but he spent much of his time at the Dennis’s. One day on the street -he encountered Travis, the operator on the ship on which he had -voyaged home. Travis had much to tell him. The _Cambodian_ had -arrived a week late, after a desperate mutiny, in which Captain -Briggs was almost mortally wounded. - -Her entire crew was under arrest. But Travis had something else to -say that interested Jack a great deal. - -“See here,” said Jack’s friend, “you haven’t got another berth yet.” - -Jack shock his head rather disconsolately. - -“No, Mr. Jukes is away on a cruise on his yacht,” he said, “and down -at the offices of the company I’ve got no pull.” - -“Well, see here,” said Travis, slapping him on the back, “I know of -a job that would just suit a fellow with your cut of jib. My brother -is wireless man on the _Thespis_ revenue cutter. She’s just been -assigned to the iceberg patrol. Jim is going to get married, though, -and can get leave of absence if he can furnish a substitute of the -right sort. You could make the cruise, it wouldn’t last long, and be -back in time to meet old Jukes when he returns. What do you say?” - -“That it would be just the job for me--if I could land it!” cried -Jack delightedly. - -“No trouble about that,” declared Travis breezily. And so it proved. -Jack was placed under a rather severe examination by the commander -of the _Thespis_. But he came through with flying colors. - -Another thing that gladdened him about his new job was that it would -take him into the far regions of the north whither Uncle Toby, on -his hare-brained treasure quest, had gone. Jack felt that he might -get a chance to come in contact with his uncle. He had a vague -feeling that all was not well. He had visited the offices of the -firm that had financed Uncle Toby’s venture and did not much like -what he saw there. He talked to a ferret faced man who told him that -Mr. Rufus Terrill, a member of the firm, had gone along on the -treasure hunting echoonet, as “our representative,” but from a -passing glint in the man’s eyes Jack guessed that Mr. Rufus Terrill -was on board to see that he and his partners got the lion’s share. - -“Still,” the boy had mused, as he left the offices in a shabby -building off Wall Street, “Uncle Toby must have pretty good proofs -that he was on a legitimate venture or he wouldn’t have interested -such sharp folks as Terrill & Co. What a queer thing it would be if, -after all, he did come back rich. Well, stranger things have -happened.” - -A week after he “signed on” as wireless man, for the nonce, of the -_Thespis_, the trig revenue cutter nosed out of New York harbor -bound for the frozen north, there to patrol the margin of the giant -wastes of ice till the danger of icebergs for the year was over. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII: POMPEY MYSTIFIED. - - -As the days slipped by and they worked farther north, the _Polly -Ann_ began to encounter nipping weather. Raynor, who had no thick -clothes, suffered a good deal, but fortunately most of his work was -in the galley where it was apt to be uncomfortably warm. - -Noddy continued to play his tricks on Pompey, much to the latter’s -mystification. The darky had come to believe that the _Polly Ann_ -was haunted. In this way Noddy worked on his superstitious feelings -till the black was quite as anxious as the boys to leave the -schooner. But they did not deem the time yet ripe to broach their -plans to him. - -One day a fine pudding, made especially as a surprise for Terror -Carson, vanished from the galley almost under Pompey’s nose. The -negro was sorely puzzled. - -“Dey suah am ghostesses in mah galley,” he confided to others of the -crew, who only laughed. - -“Alright, yo’ may laff, but ah done see two ghostesses wid mah own -eyes de night ah dropped dat wheel. As spec’s dere’s bin such a -power ob wickedness done on dis hyah boat dat de hants jes natch’ly -sticks round it. Yas sah.” - -But when Pompey got back to his galley he was destined to be more -mystified than ever. Lying on the top of the shelf, where he had -placed it before its disappearance, was the pudding. - -“Good land ob Beulah, de debbil is in dis galley fo’ sho’,” -sputtered Pompey. “Hey, boys! Whar am dem boys?” - -In a few minutes the boys came to answer his repeated calls, -retaining grave faces with great difficulty while Pompey explained -to them the mystery of the vanishing pudding. - -“Ah lays it dar an’ it am gone,” he said in an awestruck whisper. -“When ah come back dar it is agin. Now if ghostesses don’ do dat -what does?” - -“I dunno. It’s sure mysterious,” said the Bowery boy, “but say, -Pompey, what’s that bit of paper stuck on the pudding?” - -“Mah goodness, dat mus’ be some rheumaticacion frum der spirits,” he -exclaimed. - -He gingerly took hold of a scrap of paper that lay on the top of the -pudding. There was writing on it. Jupe looked at it in stupefaction. - -“De spirits, or debbils or ghostesses or whoeber do dis yer voo-doo -work am writing letters now,” he exclaimed in a dumbfounded tone. - -“What do they say?” asked the boys in tones of deep interest. - -“Um-ah, les see. Why, dey says hyah, it’s all wrote lak print: Obey -de boys an’ be dere fren’ or de torture ob de parrellel oblongata -parabolensis will be yours. Mah goodness! what am dat torture?” - -“I’ve heard dat it’s a special kin’ de spirits has,” said the Bowery -boy, “part of it is to pull off your skin with red hot pincers. I -don’t know the rest, but it’s worse.” - -“Wusser ’en red hot pincers. Gollyumption! Say, boys, ole Pompey -allers bin good to you alls, ain’t he?” - -“Sure you have,” said Noddy, “but we’re going to ask you a special -favor sometime. Will you do it for us?” - -“I sho’ will. Anything at all. Mah goodness if ah didn’t wouldn’ ah -get dat parrot yells and parasols torture. Red hot pincers--ugh! -Reckon dem spirits ain’t got no hearts at all.” - -One morning when Raynor came on deck he saw, lying on the sea, not -more than half a mile off, an immense iceberg. Its pinnacles -glittered in the bright sunlight. - -Other bergs floated to the south and east. Ragged fields of ice -stretched about them in long floes. The schooner was beating -northward in short tacks but did not appear to be making much -progress. Just then Terror Carson came on deck. He looked about him -and then spoke sharply to the man at the wheel. - -“Are we making any northing?” he asked, “Hold her on her course, you -lubber.” - -“Faith, yer honor,” rejoined the man at the wheel, a true son of -Erin, “it sorra a bit will she walk at all, at all.” - -“What ails her?” demanded Carson, his brows gathering in a scowl. - -“It’s the southward set of the current, sor, I’m thinking,” was the -reply. “Divil a bit more north have we made the last hour than I -could swing me mother’s ould cat by her tail. It’s wearisome wurruk, -sor,--an thirsty, too.” - -“Well, there’ll be no drinking on this ship,” said Carson sharply, -and strode forward. He hung over the bulwarks amidships, watching -the icebergs intently. Raynor, at his work in the galley, observed -him covertly. He thought Carson appeared worried at the close -proximity of the floating mountains of ice. - -Before long Raynor summoned him to breakfast. When he came on deck -again the icebergs were closer. He turned on the steersman in a -spasm of fury. - -“You bog trotting land-lubber,” he roared out with stentorian lungs, -“where are your eyes?” - -“Sure aich side of my nose, like any dacent Christian’s,” rejoined -the man. - -“Confound your impudence,” thundered Carson, “don’t you see the ice -closing in on us.” - -“Shure, I couldn’t git overboard and shove it back.” - -“You ought to have let me know of this,” growled Carson angrily. He -summoned his mate to his side. Raynor contrived an errand that -should bring him near them. - -“The channel is getting narrower,” he heard the captain say. “I -never saw the growlers so thick up here at this time of the year -before.” - -“Better put about, sir, if we don’t want to get nipped,” advised the -mate. - -“I guess that’s good advice,” muttered Carson, “but I hate to turn -our nose south again. ’Bout ship!” he bawled. - -“’Bout ship!” roared the mate. “Lively, boys, be smart! Leggo all -tackles! Hard a-lee on your wheel! Smartly, now.” - -The schooner’s sails shivered and flapped as she came up into the -wind. The crew hauled on ropes and halyards. Then the smart little -schooner paid off handsomely and filled away on another tack. - -It was none too soon. Ahead of them, drawn together by the ocean -currents, two great bergs crashed together with the force of titanic -steam hammers. - -“If we’d been caught there, we’d have been smashed like an -egg-shell,” observed Terror Carson, to his mate, without any -particular emotion now that the danger was over. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV: TERROR CARSON’S NERVE. - - -Bang! Crash! - -Raynor was almost thrown out of his bunk by a terrific concussion. - -“Goodness! We’ve collided with Cape Race!” was his first -exclamation. - -He scrambled hastily into some clothes and was soon on deck. “We are -foul of the ice!” yelled the mate, rushing forward. - -“What’s that?” roared Terror Carson. “I’ll hang that rascally -look-out to the yard-arm. Down helm there. Quick, now! The sea is -full of loose ice.” - -It was about midnight and intensely dark to add to the confusion. A -thin scud, borne of the cold air above the ice fields, obscured the -stars and moon. It was almost impossible to see anything. Through -the darkness orders were bawled in what appeared to be a hopeless -tangle. - -Jack turned to find Noddy at his side. - -“Gee! Guess we’re in a tight place,” said the Bowery boy. - -“It looks that way. Did you feel that bump?” - -“Did I? Gee, I tort I wuz at Coney Island bumpin’ de bumps. But say, -what’s de matter?” - -“We are in a field of loose ice. We struck a small growler, I heard -the captain say.” - -“I didn’t hear nuffin growl but I guess it’s all right,” observed -Noddy. “Say, do youse tink we’ll ever git out’n dis?” - -“Never say die, you know,” rejoined Raynor, “but look, what’s that on -our bow?” - -“Looks like a big black tenement house wid no lights in der -winders.” - -“It’s a berg.” - -“Holy Moses and we’re headed right bang fer um. Hold fast!” - -“Light a flare there,” shouted the captain suddenly. The next moment -the ghastly blue glare of a Coston light sputtered up. The sight the -blaze revealed was a terrifying one. - -There were two bergs. Both of them giants and both approaching each -other. Between them was only a narrow passage. Waves dashed against -their sides as the sea forced its way through the narrow channel. -They were fairly caught in a trap. It was impossible to go about in -that sea of ice. - -“Chee, we’re goners,” cried Noddy, “we’ll git squeezed in between -’em like a lemon.” - -“It looks as if there was no hope,” admitted Raynor. Then he looked -round at Terror Carson. Like a man of steel the skipper of the -_Polly Ann_ stood poised on the bulwarks, steadying himself by a -back stay. He seemed to be gauging the distance between the two -converging bergs and the schooner. Raynor almost found it in his -heart to admire his stoical calm in that supreme moment. - -“Can we make it, sir?” - -It was the mate speaking. He was ordinarily a calm, stolid man, but -now his voice was hoarse with tension. - -“I don’t know. We must if we can. It’s the only way out,” was the -calm reply, “order all hands to sheets and braces.” - -“Sheets and braces!” bawled out the mate. - -There was a scampering along the decks. Every man stood at his -appointed place. Raynor and Noddy, as “idlers,” as cooks and so -forth are classed, had nothing to do but watch. - -“Jove,” exclaimed Raynor, “Carson’s going to try to get us out of -it.” - -“He don’t stan’ no more chance than a chicken at a nigger picnic,” -opined Noddy dolefully. - -Terror Carson clambered down from his post on the bulwark. Quite -slowly, as if there was no urgent hurry, he strode back toward the -helm. Suddenly he gave a sharp order. - -“Break out your topsails and keep the lights burning.” - -There was a brisk breeze, and as the topsails were added to the -schooner’s canvas, the masts bent like whips. The craft heeled, -shook herself and then bounded forward like a race horse. With iron -bound muscles Carson, his legs braced apart, stood at the wheel, -gripping the spokes. His steady blue eyes gazed straight ahead. He -seemed to steer by instinct. - -Raynor could almost have found it in his heart to admire him. Noddy -was outspoken in his praise. - -“Gee, that guy kin sure handle a ship,” he exclaimed. - -The bows of the schooner were pointed straight for the narrow -passage between the bergs, a channel which was closing in every -minute. Her rigging screeched and her hull groaned under the press -of canvas she was carrying. Raynor looked aloft anxiously. If -anything carried away now, their doom was sealed. - -In the blue glare of the lights the bergs looked gigantic. Their -summits were fretted into pinnacles and steeples like those of a -cathedral. The ice shimmered and flashed as the lambent glare shone -on it. But the boys only gazed at the black channel between the two -glittering monoliths of ice. - -And now the mighty tops loomed right above them. A shout they could -not repress broke from the sailors as the _Polly Ann_ darted -forward. Right for the black passage she made. The salt spray from -the waves that dashed on the icy cliffs showered the schooner’s -deck. “Get ready to jump for the ice if we strike,” breathed Raynor, -“it’s our only hope!” - - - - -CHAPTER XV: A WHALE IS ANNOYED. - - -For an awful instant the wind dropped. Then came a mighty puff. The -topsails filled. The _Polly Ann_ heeled over till it seemed she must -capsize--and darted forward. - -The next instant they were between the bergs. - -“Lights!” roared Terror Carson. Immediately two flares showed they -were in the ice chasm. Luckily one of the bergs was bisected by a -sort of valley. - -This allowed the breeze to blow through and saved the _Polly Ann_. -Gallantly she sped through the fearfully narrow passage and then, -while the crew broke into a cheer, she sped into the open sea -beyond. - -It was a masterly stroke of seamanship. But Terror Carson, as he -relinquished the wheel, did not show in his manner that he deemed he -had accomplished anything extraordinary. - -B-o-o-m! - -Behind them the mountains of ice crashed together. - -“Boys, but for Terror Carson we’d have been there,” bawled out a -deep-sea voice from the darkness forward. “Three cheers for Terror.” - -They were given with hoarse, raucous enthusiasm. But Carson gave no -sign that he heard. He folded his arms and went below. Great swells, -generated by the impact of the two giant bergs, came racing after -the _Polly Ann_ as if angry she had escaped the fate that had -appeared certain. - -Behind them they could hear crash after crash, like the noise of -heavy artillery, as ice pinnacles and towers were snapped off as the -ice mountains scraped together. These rugged summits, falling into -the sea, formed smaller bergs. The noise was appalling. - -But the danger was over! - -It was with a heart full of thankfulness that Raynor turned in that -night. He awakened at his usual hour and made his way forward to the -galley. Early as it was, Terror Carson was already on deck. He sat -on the companionway fussing with some bits of mechanical apparatus. -Raynor glanced at them carelessly as he passed and then thrilled -with a sudden shock. - -Terror Carson was examining parts of a wireless apparatus! - -A means of communicating his plight to the outside world flashed -into Raynor’s mind for, as we know, under Jack’s tutorship, he had -become a fairly expert operator. Terror Carson looked up quickly as -the boy half paused. - -“Do you understand wireless, younker?” he demanded bruskly. - -Raynor was about to reply in the affirmative when something checked -him. He shook his head, guided by some intuition. - -“Too bad,” said Terror Carson, “I got this outfit, thinking it would -be a good way to keep clear of government craft. But I left in too -much ef a hurry to get an operator. I’ve been trying to master it -but I guess I haven’t got the brains, and if I haven’t--nobody else -on board has.” - -Nothing more was heard or seen of the wireless apparatus just then, -and Raynor was glad he had denied knowledge of it, for otherwise he -would have been compelled to work it to keep clear of any ships that -might be cruising in the vicinity and offer a chance of escape. But -it gave a queer sidelight into the cleverness of Terror Carson. Not -many seal poachers would have thought of such a trick to dodge the -cruisers sent after them. - -Still, he had nobody to work it, which certainly reduced its value -to nil. How Raynor longed to get a chance to set the wireless up and -operate the key! He felt sure that were he in a position to do so, -he could soon have summoned help. - -But, as he was fain to admit to himself as he went about his kitchen -tasks, he might just as well have wished for the moon. He did not -even know where Carson had locked up the temporarily useless radio -set. - -The next day a terrific Arctic storm descended on the _Polly Ann_. -The wind blew with a velocity that threatened to tear the sails from -the bolt ropes, and icy sleet and snow enveloped the craft as if in -a white blanket. - -She scudded forward under almost bare poles. Raynor found cause -during those hours to admire Terror Carson’s schooner, which was the -staunchest, swiftest craft he had ever seen. It appeared marvelous -that anything built by man’s hands could endure the merciless -racking the _Polly Ann_ submitted to. - -Work in the galley was only carried on with the greatest difficulty -during this period. The men forward lived on water and biscuit and -hot meals were cooked only for the officers. - -And all this time Raynor was profoundly ignorant of the destination -of the storm-driven schooner, or if she was nearing it. By the -amount of northing that had been made, he knew that they were -getting into the region of seals, but Terror Carson gave no sign -that he intended to lie to. - -In the midst of the white storm an incident happened which, looked -at afterward, was amusing, but at the time it occurred was actually -alarming. Not long after the dinner hour, while the storm was at its -height, the schooner struck some solid object with a dull thud that -made her shake from head to stern. - -“Land ho! We’ve struck!” bawled some of the crew. - -But the _Polly Ann_ flew onward, and in a few seconds the cause of -the bump was ascertained when, over the lee rail, was seen an -immense “right” whale. The creature spouted in indignation as the -schooner, her rail lined with men, shot by. The water fell in a -shower on the decks, drenching them. - -“That’s the whale’s way of getting even fer dat uppercut we handed -him,” grinned Noddy comprehendingly. - -The next day the gale had decreased in violence and the weather -cleared. Raynor, on his way from the galley with the mid-day meal, -looked up to windward and suddenly saw something that made his heart -bound. - -It was another schooner, also flying north under a press of sail. -Like a flash an idea came to him. In a stern locker, already bent to -the hoisting halyards, was the schooner’s ensign,--one of many, for -at different times it suited Terror Carson to belong to different -nations. This flag was a United States ensign. Raynor’s daring plan -was to reverse the flag in the universal language of distress and -summon aid from the other schooner. - -He looked at the man at the wheel. The fellow was dozing apparently. -Raynor set down the tin dishes he was carrying aft and cautiously -approached the flag locker. - -It was the work of only a moment to reverse the ensign. - -“Now I’ll hoist it and then hide some place till that other craft -sends a boat,” thought Raynor. - -With infinite caution he began to hoist the reversed flag. It -fluttered out bravely in the brisk wind. - -Raynor’s heart beat high. - -“Jove, I believe it will be successful,” he exclaimed to himself. - -The flag reached the peak and streamed out in the wind. - -“Now if they only see it,” thought Raynor. He watched the schooner -in an agony of apprehension. Then, with a cry of triumph that he -could not suppress, he saw the canvas on the other craft flapping as -she put about. - -So absorbed was he in the spectacle that he did not notice a quick, -sharp tread behind him, did not see the uplifted sledge-hammer fist -of Terror Carson. - -But the next moment a terrific blow felled him to the deck. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI: LOCKED IN THE CABIN. - - -Half stunned, Raynor looked up in time to see Carson lowering the -reversed ensign. He staggered painfully to his feet. He was in time -to see the other schooner filling away again on her course as those -on board her saw the signal of distress lowered to the deck. - -Carson paid no attention to Raynor till he had finished with the -ensign. Then, in bitter tones, he told him to follow him. Raynor had -no recourse but to obey. - -The captain took him aft and opened the door of a small cabin. It -was not the one Raynor had been used to occupy. - -“I’m going to lock you up in here,” he said, “for the time being. -I’ll decide what to do with you later.” - -“Why can’t you let me go?” demanded Raynor, “I’m no good to you in -your poaching schemes and sooner or later you’ll have to free me. -Why not now?” - -“Because you know too much,” was the answer. The captain turned on -his heel and slammed the door. Raynor heard a wooden bar fall into -sockets on the outside. He was a prisoner. No one came near him for -the rest of that day. - -The room was lighted by a small port. By looking out of this Raynor -was able to make out that he was confined in the extreme stern of -the schooner. Right over the rudder, in fact. - -When darkness came he stretched himself out on the single bunk which -ran along one side of the cabin. It boasted no bed clothes and he -was very cold. But youth, and his exhausted condition after the -excitements of the day, overcame him, and he was soon fast asleep. - -In the morning he was scarcely awake before Pompey appeared with -some bread and a jug of water. - -“Is that all I get to eat?” demanded Raynor who, despite his plight, -had his appetite. - -“Das all,” said Pompey commiseratingly, “dat cap’n he say yo’ blood -need coolin’ wid light diet.” - -“Do you know if I’m to be let out, Pompey?” asked Raynor with some -anxiety. - -“Dat am a subjec’ upon which ah am discommoded by de captain -suppressed commands ter conversationalize,” rejoined Pompey. “I’se -mighty sorry, but ah jes’ got to keep quiet while ah’s in hyah.” - -He shook his woolly head solemnly and then, having set down the -breakfast, if such it could be called, took his departure. Raynor -heard the confining bar fall as the door was locked. He groaned -aloud. - -“Oh, what a fix,” he muttered, “out of the frying pan into the fire. -If I ever get out of this, catch me ever sitting on a steamer’s rail -with my legs swinging, for all my troubles come from that. Good old -Jack, if only I had heeded his advice. I wonder what he is doing -now?” - -He broke off his reflections with a heavy sigh, and tackled the -uninviting-looking stale bread. First, however, he took a hearty -draught from the water pitcher, for he was very thirsty. - -He was munching away at a dried crust when he suddenly saw some -object dangling in front of the cabin port hole. At first he thought -it was a sea bird. But the next instant he made it out as a parcel -hanging on the end of a string. - -“Must be for me,” mused the lad, and reaching out an arm he drew in -the package. The string came with it, as whoever had lowered the -package from the stern deck above, released his grip. - -Raynor tore away the wrappings and revealed what was to him just -then a banquet. There was a chicken wing, crisp fried potatoes, -pickles and a wedge of pie. Scrawled on the paper which contained -the meal was this message: - -“Ete harty.” - -“That’s good old Noddy,” cried Raynor to himself, his eyes growing -misty. “He’s stolen part of that chicken that was killed yesterday -for the captain’s dinner and risked punishment to help me out. What -a fine fellow he is for all his odd ways!” - -With a good appetite Raynor fell to on the daintier fare that had -come to him by “air route.” In a short time not a crumb was left. -The day wore slowly away after that. At dusk Pompey appeared and -thrust a lantern inside the cabin. But he did not speak. From this -Raynor judged that Terror Carson was near at hand. - -His captivity was wearing on him, even in the short time that he had -been confined. He had nothing to read, and had passed the long hours -of daylight gazing out of the port hole and watching the waves and -an occasional sea-bird that swooped in the schooner’s wake, alert -for scraps from the galley. - -The lantern was a welcome companion at least. Raynor felt that he -could not have passed an entire night in the dark with only his -thoughts for company. He hung the lantern on a hook on the ceiling -and cast himself on his back on the bunk. - -All at once he sat bolt upright with an exclamation. - -“I can’t stand this any longer. I’ve got to find some way of -escape.” - -But a brief survey of the tiny cabin showed that this was a much -easier thing to plan than to accomplish. The door was solid, so were -the walls and the ceiling. At last there remained only the floor. A -shabby worn strip of carpet was nailed on it. - -“I might as well be thorough about this,” mused Raynor and he ripped -the flimsy fabric from the planks. Something met his eyes that made -them shine with delight. - -“Eureka!” he cried, “I’ve found it.” - -Under the shabby carpet was an iron ring let into what appeared to -be a small trap-door. - -“Here’s where I fool Terror Carson,” murmured Raynor, as he inserted -his fingers in the ring and tugged with all his strength. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII: IN THE EYES OF THE SHIP. - - -The square piece of flooring swung upward. It revealed a dark hole -and the top rounds of a ladder. - -“Must go down into the hold,” decided Raynor. - -He held the lantern into the black rectangle left gaping by the -opened trap-door. It did not reveal much, except beams and timbers -and the rest of the ladder. - -A dank, musty smell came up from below. Then came a noise that so -startled Raynor he almost dropped the lantern. It sounded like the -rush of a gale of wind. But the next minute he knew what it was. The -scampering of myriads of rats. He could hear their squeaks and -gibbers as, alarmed by the light, they fled through the hold. - -“Well, I might as well risk it,” thought the boy. “If it doesn’t -lead to anything I can always get back.” - -Taking the lantern, he cautiously descended the ladder. Soon he -found himself on the floor of the hold. It reeked with a nauseating -fishy smell which Raynor knew must have come from the numerous -cargoes of seal oil and skins the _Polly Ann_ had carried in times -past. - -The hold was rather unevenly floored and the pitching of the -schooner made the lad’s advance somewhat difficult. But, holding his -lantern aloft, he made his way forward. He had reached a point where -the hold narrowed into a small triangle, the very “eyes” of the -ship, as sailors call it, when he saw a ladder. - -“Guess, since I’m embarked on this enterprise, I might as well see -it through,” thought the lad. - -He clambered up the ladder and found a closed hatchway at the top. -Not without misgivings he shoved it upward, and found himself in a -tiny triangular cubby hole full of odds and ends of chains and -ropes. - -He knew at once where he was. In his ramblings about the ship he had -noticed this little triangular space in the bows and thought of it -in a casual way as a good hiding place, if the time ever came to use -it. He blew out his lantern and cast himself down on a bale of -oakum. But he was far from comfortable in his retreat. - -Every time a wave broke over the bow it drenched him. Soon he was -soaked through and miserable. He had put some of the bread Pompey -had brought him that morning in his pockets. From time to time he -chewed a bit of it, more for the sake of doing something than with -the idea of satisfying his appetite. - -At length he fell into an uneasy doze. He was awakened by hearing -voices near him. It was daylight, as he could see by the light that -filtered through cracks in his hiding place. - -“Be jabbers,” said the voice of the Irish helmsman, “the bye isn’t -on board this hooker. It’s mesilf as has searched frum stem to starn -entirely.” - -“Yo’ tak mah bible word fo’ it O’Brien,” responded Pompey’s voice, -“dat ghostesses has taken dat lad. Dey took mah puddin’ one night, -now dey take one ob mah deputised cooks.” - -“Great snakes, are there ghosts aboard this craft?” gasped O’Brien. - -“De surest ting dat yo’ know. Didn’ dep apparitionise demselves to -me one night when I was steering dis wessel?” - -“Real ghosts?” - -“Yas, sah. Dey had green faces all flamin’ an’ red eyes an’--an’ -green hair an’ dey was mo’ dan nineteen feet tall.” - -“Ochone! This is no place for me,” declared O’Brien. “I guess I’ll -go and report to the captain.” - -“Yo’ all better tell him dat ghostesses done it same as dey stole de -puddin’,” said Pompey in parting. - -“Garn wid ye. D’ye think I want ter be hanging on the yard arrum -like a string of onions on a beam?” flung back O’Brien, as he -hurried off. - -“So they have discovered my disappearance,” thought Raynor, “and so -far they have got no clew to my whereabouts. This is just the -opportunity to escape I was looking for. I’ll sneak out of here -to-night and get a boat and make off. Hold on though, would that be -fair to Noddy?” - -After some cogitation the lad decided that it would not do to leave -the good-hearted Bowery boy behind. - -“I’ll find some means of communicating with him,” he thought. “Maybe -later in the day, when he comes forward to get potatoes, I can -attract his attention. The potato bin is quite close at hand.” - -Not long before noon Noddy came forward with a basket to the storage -bin, where vegetables, such as potatoes, onions and turnips, were -kept. - -“H-i-s-t!” whispered Raynor through a crack. - -“Now what under the sun was dat?” exclaimed the Bowery boy, looking -about him, “sounded like a cat. But dere ain’t no cats on dis craft. -What was it?” - -“Noddy, it’s me--Raynor,” breathed the hidden lad eagerly. - -Noddy dropped his basket in his astonishment. - -“Well, what d’ye know about dat,” he exclaimed. “Pompey said dat de -spooks had got cher.” - -“Not yet,” laughed Raynor, “but I have a fine plan for an escape. -Meet me at the galley at midnight to-night and we’ll get away in one -of the boats.” - -“Chee, youse don’ rush tings at all, at all, do youse?” cried Noddy -admiringly. “But I’m wid yer. I’ll swipe some grub to-day and hide -it.” - -“By-the-way, that reminds me,” exclaimed Raynor, “thanks for that -chicken, but what about something to eat to-day?” - -“I’ll bring youse some grub. Don’t worry. I’ll make all excuse to -git a bit of waste or rope out of that cubby hole. I got ter go now. -De old man’s lookin’ forward. He mus’ tink I’ve gone nuts talkin’ -ter myself.” - -He hurried off but an hour later brought Raynor a good meal, -consisting of what was left over from the cabin dinner. The hidden -lad ate it with a relish which was sharpened by the thought that -that night he might be able to make good his escape. - -That afternoon it began to grow rough, and Raynor’s retreat was -anything but comfortable. Water poured in every time the _Polly Ann_ -breasted a big wave. The lad was soon cold and shivering. But the -hours passed somehow and at last, by the chiming of the ship’s bell, -Raynor knew that the time had come to put his plan of escape into -operation. - -He crawled out upon the deck from his hiding place, feeling wet and -stiff, and proceeded cautiously, for discovery was likely at any -instant. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII: RAYNOR TO THE RESCUE. - - -As he made his way toward the now dark and deserted galley, Raynor -noted, with regret, that it was a rough night. The schooner appeared -at one minute to rush at what seemed to be a towering black wall but -which Raynor knew was a wave. - -It looked as if she must be submerged in the mass of water. But -every time she rose gallantly and topped the crest of the giant -combers. Storm sail was set, just sufficient to give the craft -steerage way. - -“Bother it all,” muttered Raynor, “it seems that luck is always -against us. Here I had everything planned for an ideal escape and -now I doubt if it wouldn’t be suicidal to venture forth in such a -sea.” - -The schooner rushed up a wall of water and then coasted hissingly -down the other side. Her lights shone out bravely like red and green -jewels on either side of her bow. But it seemed that momentarily -they would be drowned out. - -Raynor clawed his way along the bucking, plunging deck, to the door -of the galley. Here he gave three cautious knocks. The door opened -and Noddy drew him in. - -“Chee!” exclaimed the Bowery youth, when they were both safe inside, -“dis is de wurstest night I ever seen. I don’t see a ghost of a show -of our escaping to-night. Why, de _Mauretania_ ’ud have a hard time -in dese waves, let alone a small boat.” - -“Still I hate to give it up,” rejoined Raynor, “maybe the weather -will moderate after awhile,” he added hopefully. - -“Don’t look much like it. I’m gloomed fer fair,” grumbled Noddy -disconsolately. - -They peeped out of the galley through a square port cut in the stern -wall. - -The decks were deserted but for the figure of the man at the wheel. -He stood there in dripping yellow oilskins, gripping the helm and -turning it this way or that as the great seas threatened the -schooner. The binnacle light gleamed on his waterproof garments, -making him look like a figure of bronze. - -“I wish this storm would let up,” observed Raynor at length. - -“Maybe it’ll get worser,” said the pessimistic Noddy. - -“I hope not. It’s quite bad enough now. Anyhow, it’s severe enough -to make us call off all our plans.” - -“Yes, bad luck to it,” was the reply. - -There came, if possible, a louder shriek of the wind, and the -schooner received a buffeting blow from a wave that made her -stagger. - -“Jumping juniper! What’s up now?” cried Noddy in some alarm. - -“Don’t know. But something has happened,” replied Raynor. - -At the same moment came a shout from the helmsman. There was a rush -of feet on deck. The boys could hear it plainly in one of those -lulls that sometimes occur in the midst of even the fiercest storms. -Lanterns flashed and questions and answers were bawled about the -deck. - -They saw Terror Carson, followed by his mate, rush up on deck. Then -came a loud shout. - -“All hands aft. The mainsail has gone!” - -Raynor flung the door open. - -“Come on,” he cried but Noddy hung back. - -“What fer? Dey might cotch yer,” he said. - -“I don’t care. Some bad accident has happened. The schooner may be -going down.” - -Indeed, from the wild yawing and pitching the craft was doing, it -did seem as if she was mortally injured in some way. Thus urged by -Raynor, Noddy accompanied him toward the stern. There was a cluster -of sailors about the after mast. It appeared, as well as Raynor -could make out, that something had happened to the boom or the gaff. - -As the two lads rushed sternward, not caring in their excitement if -Raynor was seen or not, they saw that the stout canvas of the storm -mainsail had been ripped from leach to peak. The great sail was -flapping and snapping in the wind. It made a noise like the reports -of cannon. - -To make matters worse the great boom, unsupported, was sweeping back -and forth across the decks with every roll of the disabled schooner, -like a huge flail. It imperiled the lives of everybody who got in -its pathway. - -“Cut away the halyards and get that canvas loose!” bawled the -captain. - -Half a dozen sailors tried to, but the threshing boom drove them -off. - -“Get a line on that boom,” bellowed the mate, “lash it back. Lively, -now.” - -“It’ll tear out the mast in a minute,” shouted Carson. - -The men labored heroically. But it was almost beyond human power to -do anything with the volleying mass of canvas and the great boom. -The captain and the mate shouted encouragingly to them but it -appeared to do little good. Once or twice a man was almost lost over -the side in the struggle for mastery. - -The boys were now quite close to the whole wild scene. But nobody -noticed them. Everyone was far too much engrossed in his own -affairs. There was nothing they could do, but they stood by in -readiness. To them it seemed as if every moment must be the -schooner’s last. - -“Here, you,” shouted Carson, stepping suddenly forward and -addressing one of the men, “what are you doing with those ropes? -You’re cutting the wrong ones.” - -He hastened forward to show what he meant. For the nonce he had -forgotten the terrible sweep of the menacing boom. An instant later -the big spar, sweeping in a huge semi-circle, swung straight at him. - -“Look out!” roared the mate. - -But Carson did not appear to hear. - -“He’ll be killed dead!” shrilled Noddy, looking on with horror. - -“The boom!” shouted Raynor. - -Suddenly Carson saw his danger. But he stepped aside too late. -Another instant and his brains would have been battered out. But -Raynor, with a flash of inspiration, averted a tragedy. Stooping -down he seized a stout rope attached to the boom. In another instant -he had it wrapped round a stout timber “bitt.” - -The rope strained as the force of the threshing boom came on it. It -drew taut as a violin string. But it held. The big swaying spar was -checked within a foot of the captain’s head. - -Almost instantly a swarm of sailors swooped down on the boom and -secured it strongly. It was then that Terror Carson stepped up to -Raynor. His hand was held out. - -“I thought you had escaped, boy,” he said, “but it seems you were -destined to save my life. I thank you.” - -The words were simple, but there was a curious break in the giant -seal poacher’s voice as he uttered them. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX: SKULL ISLAND. - - -The sailors did not take long in making good the damage done to the -sail. A new one was bent and then the schooner’s action changed from -a wallowing and rolling in the trough of the waves to a light -skimming over them. The storm, now that the wind and waves appeared -to have satisfied themselves by inflicting all the damage they -could, seemed to die down. - -“You had better go below to your own cabin,” said the captain to -Raynor when all had been made snug again. “You will hear no more of -your attempt to get away.” - -Without waiting for a rejoinder, he was gone. Raynor turned dazedly -to Noddy. - -“I guess I’m in his good books again,” he said. - -“Well, why wouldn’t yer be?” said the Bowery boy, “you saved his -life.” - -At this juncture there was a shrill yell behind them. It was Pompey. - -“By de holy poker, de ghostesses done brung back young Massa Raynor, -jes lak dey does mah puddin’,” he cried, feeling Raynor’s arm to -make sure it was solid flesh and blood. - -“Gollyumption,” he exclaimed, “it’s Massa Raynor, all right. Whar -dose ghostesses done tak you-all to? Ah ’specs dey rides yo on a -broomstick an all.” - -“I haven’t been with any ghosts,” laughed Raynor. - -But Pompey put on a knowing look. - -“Yo’ kaint fool dis chile dat ’er way,” he said, “ah knows too much -of der mysteriferiousness of der prognosticatius. Dats de science ob -ghostesses. Yo’ all went to der same place as dat puddin’ done go -when de spooks took it.” - -It was no use to try to argue with the old negro. Ever since the -night the boys had tried to escape, Pompey’s naturally superstitious -mind had conceived the idea that the _Polly Ann_ was “hanted.” -Nothing would drive it out of his head. - -Terror Carson made no further advances to Raynor. In fact, the next -day he hardly appeared to notice the boy who had saved his life by -his quick wit and action. But Raynor did not worry about that. In -fact, the less attention he received from the seal poacher, the -better pleased he was. - -The next day they found themselves enveloped in floes of ice. The -wind blew hard and cold too. Suddenly, while they were crunching -through the floating floes, the look-out gave a loud hail. - -“Land ho!” - -The shout was echoed by a score of voices. It brought a thrill to -Raynor, who ran to the galley door. Across the ice floes he could -make out a rough, low-lying, rocky island. The waves dashed against -some low cliffs in clouds of white spray. A few sea birds hovered, -wheeling and screaming, above it. - -Terror Carson hurried forward. He gave the island one glance and -then said: “That’s Skull Island. There used to be good sealing -there. But that’s all done away with now. The beasts have gone to -other places. There’s water there, though. A perennial spring. I’ve -a good mind to land and replenish the kegs.” - -“Why is it called Skull Island?” inquired Raynor, feeling, that as -Carson appeared in a good mood, he might venture the question. - -“On account of a fight that took place there some years ago,” said -Carson. “Rival sealers battled on the island and the conquerors -stuck up the skulls of their enemies on poles.” - -“It is a dismal-looking place,” said Raynor. “Does anybody live -there?” - -“No, it is uninhabited. Nothing but a few sea-birds and, once in a -while, some sealer, after water, goes there,” was the rejoinder. - -To the right, or western side of the island, there was a sort of -lane or channel through the closely packed ice. It soon appeared -that it was Terror Carson’s intention to guide his craft through -this to a mooring ground. He took the wheel himself, as he usually -did in emergencies. Soon, sharp orders to the sail-handlers came -crackling from his lips in a continuous volley. - -“Easy on your main sheet.” - -“Aye, aye, sir.” - -“Blocks and tackles forward.” - -“All clear, sir.” - -It was ticklish work, for here and there the gnarled heads of black -rocks showed above the surface of the water. If one had penetrated -the _Polly Ann’s_ hull there would have been an end to her then and -there. But Terror Carson steered her, with an expressionless face -and consummate skill, past every peril. At last they lay off a rocky -cove. The leadsman in the bow sang out that there was plenty of -water. - -“Let go the anchor,” bellowed Carson. - -The cable roared out, and for the first time in many days, the -_Polly Ann_ lay at rest. - -Raynor leaned over the rail, not having anything to do just then, -and watched the island with a strange fascination. Even its sinister -name did not detract from his desire to go ashore and give it a -thorough exploration. In time to come Raynor was to grow to know -that island well and regret the day he ever saw it. - - - - -CHAPTER XX: JACK TRIES OUT HIS INVENTION. - - -“Icebergs ahead.” - -The look-out in the crow’s nest of the _Thespis_ sang out the -warning sharply. Officers and men of the smart revenue cutter were -instantly on the alert. - -“Where away?” came from the bridge. - -“Two points off the starboard bow, sir,” was the response. - -The officer leveled his binoculars on a huge mass of ice about two -miles off. It glittered like polished steel. It rose into two huge -points like the steeples of a cathedral. Jack emerged from his -wireless cabin and secured from the officer the latitude and -longitude. - -Then he returned to his instruments, and within half an hour every -ship within reaching distance on the Atlantic track knew of the -great berg and its position, rate of progression and probable -course. For some days this had been Jack’s daily work. - -He went forward to the bridge to make his report on the ships he had -warned. Captain Simms was there eyeing the steely blue ice mountain. - -“I’d like to dynamite that fellow just as I would a derelict that -imperiled navigation,” he said. - -“I’ve been thinking the same thing, sir,” said Jack respectfully, -“and I’ve thought up a new method of doing it.” - -“What’s that, my lad?” - -“I could blow that berg up by wireless!” - -The commander looked at the boy as if he thought Jack had taken -leave of his senses or had had the temerity to joke with his -commanding officer. But Jack was never more serious in his life. - -“I mean it, sir,” he said steadily. - -“Explain yourself, Ready. I must confess that your statement set me -aback.” - -“I’ve been figuring out a method,” rejoined the boy, “of firing -torpedoes, guns and mines by wireless. I think I have it perfected, -but if you would permit an experiment on that big iceberg yonder, it -would be a magnificent opportunity to put my theories to the test.” - -“Jove, boy, I’ve half a mind to do it. To destroy that berg is -certainly in the line of duty.” - -“Undoubtedly, sir. If you will allow me six men and a boat and the -necessary explosives I think I can guarantee to blow that berg into -smithereens within an hour by a simple pressure of the key in my -wireless-room.” - -“It sounds incredible--yet, great guns and little fishes, lad,--I’m -going to let you try. Harley!” - -The coxswain hailed, stepped up, and saluted smartly. “Aye, aye, -sir.” - -“Is the Number Two cutter in good condition?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Very well. You will take a crew of six and report to Mr. Ready, -here, for his orders.” - -The man saluted and hurried off. Before long the crew and the cutter -were ready. In the meantime the explosives Jack wanted were brought -on deck and then loaded in the boat. This done, Jack vanished into -his cabin and emerged before long carrying a coil of copper wire and -several powerful batteries. - -“Now, if I could have two extra oars,” he said, briskly addressing -Commander Simms, who had gazed on the preparations with interest but -had asked no questions. - -“All right, my boy. I’ve no idea what you want them for but you -shall have them. Coxswain, get two more oars.” - -“Yes, sir.” - -At last all was ready, and the boat shot away from the side of the -cutter. The six brawny jackies making up the crew pulled for the -berg with quick, strong strokes. This trip was a welcome diversion -from the monotony of the iceberg patrol duty. They made good time -over the water, and soon the berg was reached. - -A close view showed that a sort of valley bisected it between the -towering steeples of ice that rose at each end. It was an easy -matter to scramble up on the low-lying ledges of the edge of the -berg. Half the party landed, while those remaining in the boat -handed up the explosives and other apparatus to them. At last -everything was ready. Jack ordered the men still remaining in the -boat on to the berg. - -They obeyed with alacrity, all eagerness to know what was coming -next. Among the supplies brought were six crowbars, for the -ice-patrol craft carried every kind of tool for dealing with ice. - -Jack set the men to work digging holes,--like post holes in the ice -at regular intervals right across the valley. When this had been -done an oar was set up at each end of the row of holes. - -“Now we’ll load ’em,” said Jack, and into each hole a “capped” -charge of explosive was placed, being tamped down carefully. - -When this had been done the copper wire was stretched from one oar -to the other like a telegraph wire. From this main wire branch, -wires were led to each of the loaded holes and there carefully -attached to the fulminate of mercury caps. When all this had been -done to Jack’s satisfaction, he electrified the system with his -batteries, attaching them to the main wire. - -“Now we’ll pull back to the ship,” he said. - -“Beg pardon, sir, but ain’t you going to touch off all that -dynamite?” asked the coxswain. - -“And blow ourselves up as well as the berg? Not much,” laughed Jack, -“come on, boys, give way lively now, and before long you’ll see -fireworks.” - -In a short time they were back on the ship. Jack reported to Captain -Simms that everything was in readiness for the long distance -explosion. All eyes turned curiously on the lad as he walked aft to -the wireless room, for word had spread through the ship of the -experiment that was to be tried. - -Jack tested up his instruments carefully. Then he adjusted the -dynamo for an extra heavy current of “juice.” When this had been -done, he sat down coolly at the key. - -“Now watch the berg!” he shouted, and the cry was taken up and -passed along the decks. - -He pressed down the key. There was a snap and a crackle as the live -flame leaped between its points. Far above from the aërials, an -invisible wave of electricity rolled. - -It struck the copper wire on the berg and rushed along it and down -the wires leading to the capped explosives. - -Simultaneously there was a mighty roar. - -“There she goes,” yelled the sailors. - -The berg was seen to split in half and then dissolve as if it had -been melted. Five minutes later nothing was to be seen where it had -been but a cloud of yellowish smoke. - -The pressure of a finger on a wireless key two miles away had -destroyed the titanic berg and left not a trace of its dangerous -existence. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI: THE WRECK OF THE “_POLLY ANN_” - - -To his disappointment, Raynor was not allowed on the boats that took -the water party ashore on Skull Island. He and Noddy had to content -themselves with watching the operations ashore. - -It was night when the work had been completed and the casks all -filled. Terror Carson, therefore, decided to remain at anchor off -the island all night. This was against the advice of his mate, who -counseled making for the open sea. - -“I don’t like the look of the weather,” he said, regarding certain -yellowish castellated clouds that hung on the northern horizon. But -Terror Carson only laughed. - -“This is a snug enough berth,” he declared. “We’ll lie here till -daylight. Then for a dash across the boundary and some fine Canadian -seals.” - -But by midnight it was seen that the mate’s advice had been good. -Without warning on the barometer, a furious storm swept down on the -anchored schooner. She began to drag. Two more anchors were let go -and she held securely. But now another peril appeared. - -Huge fields of drift ice and growlers, driven from the north by the -storm, drove down on the _Polly Ann_. The ice crunched against her -sides like rasping teeth. It seemed as if the forces of nature had -combined to destroy her. - -The stout timbers of her hull cracked ominously under the terrific -pressure. There was no sleep on board. All hands were on deck. -Terror Carson, more perturbed than Raynor had ever seen him, strode -the deck as if distracted. - -The schooner was the apple of his eye. But now it appeared that she -was doomed, and through his fault. - -There was nothing to be done. A sickly gray dawn showed the schooner -surrounded by ice for miles. Almost as far as the eye could reach, -in fact. - -“We’ll never get out of here alive,” declared the sailors. - -“Nothing but bad luck has followed us on this trip,” was another -remark heard among them. - -All that day the _Polly Ann_ held together. Terror Carson grew more -confident. - -“The old hooker will weather it yet,” he declared. But the mate -shook his head. - -“She’ll leave her bones here,” he said. - -Carson turned on him like an infuriated wild beast. - -“One more word like that and I’ll knock what serves you for brains -out of your thick skull,” he snarled, and fell to pacing the poop. - -Completely tired out, Raynor sought his bunk that night and fell -into a deep sleep of exhaustion. He had not closed his eyes the -night before and even the perilous position of the ship could not -have kept him on his feet. - -When he awakened, sunshine was streaming into the port of his cabin. - -“Gracious!” he gasped. “I must be late. Carson will half kill me.” - -He hustled into some clothes and emerged into the outer cabin. -Almost instantly he stepped into water which the tilt of the ship -had prevented penetrating into his cabin. The water almost covered -the main cabin floor. The tilt of the ship made it deeper on the -opposite side of the cabin. - -“The ice has crushed the _Polly Ann’s_ ribs,” exclaimed the boy. -“She is doomed.” - -He rushed on deck. The next instant he stood still at the top of the -companionway, stricken with stupefaction. - -The decks, usually at that hour alive with men, were deserted. Not a -soul was to be seen either fore or aft. - -What had happened? Then Raynor’s eyes wandered to the davits where -the big whale boats used in sealing, generally hung. - -They were empty! - -The boats were gone! - -In a flash he realized what had occurred. The crushing of the _Polly -Ann_ had happened in the night. Knowing that she was doomed the crew -had taken to the boats, which could push a way through the drift ice -and left the ship. - -“Oh, the cowards! the cowards!” cried Raynor, in an agony of anger -and apprehension. - -The schooner was sinking under his feet and he had no means of -escape. He was doomed to go to the bottom of the Arctic Sea in her -without the chance to make a struggle for his life. For a few -minutes he almost went mad. He rushed up and down the decks shouting -and raving like a lunatic. Then he suddenly came to his senses. - -He must be calm. There was nothing to be gained by losing his head. -Never had he needed the cool use of all his faculties so urgently as -he did now. He sat down on one of the knightheads forward and -concentrated his mind on his situation. - -Suddenly he sprang to his feet with a shout. - -“What a blind idiot I’ve been!” he cried aloud, “the dories. I never -thought of them.” - -It was curious but true, that in his excitement the lad had entirely -forgotten, for the time being, the half dozen dories “nested” on the -after deck. Now, however, the recollection of them affected him like -a tonic. He began bustling about making his preparations to leave -the _Polly Ann_ to her ocean grave. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII: FOOTPRINTS ON THE SAND. - - -From the galley and store-rooms he collected a good stock of -provisions and such utensils as he thought he was likely to need. -For the boy had come to a hasty conclusion that he would take up -quarters on Skull Island for the present, at any rate. He knew that -whalers and sealers sometimes touched there, and he might stand a -chance of being rescued if he remained there instead of venturing, -in a flimsy dory, on unknown seas. - -But when he had the dory all loaded a difficulty he had not thought -of in his haste presented itself. - -How was he to launch it? - -This problem bothered him not a little for some time. But at last he -solved it. At each end of the dory was a “becket” or loop of rope. -Raynor unfastened the throat halyards of the mainsail and hooked -them into these loops. Then it was an easy matter to hoist the dory -aloft by the aid of block and tackle. The _Polly Ann_ had heeled so -far over by this time, that once the dory was in the air, it swung -out over the water, to which Raynor quickly lowered it. - -Then he dropped over the side and on board his little craft. - -“Good-bye, old _Polly Ann_,” he exclaimed, as he took up the oars -and began rowing through the drifting ice for the shore of Skull -Island. “You saved my life, but even so I can’t say I’ve any -particular love for you.” - -With this exordium he set to work at his rowing in earnest. It was -hard work but at last he grounded his boat on a strip of sandy -beach. - -“Welcome to Skull Island,” he said to himself, “Let’s hope our stay -here will be a short one.” - -He dragged the boat up as far as he could on the beach, and then -unloaded his various goods. They made quite a pile. - -“I’m a regular Arctic Robinson Crusoe,” he exclaimed, half aloud. - -He had hardly made the remark when he started violently. His -resemblance to Robinson Crusoe was even closer than he had thought. - -On the close-packed sand of the beach were the footprints of a man! - -There was somebody else on the island then. For a minute he half -suspected that one of the landing party, who had come ashore for -water, might have made the tracks. But this solution of the matter -was negatived by the fact that they had landed on the other side of -the island, and had been too busy to roam about. - -Who could this man be? Captain Carson had told him the island was -uninhabited. Certainly nobody with the landing party had noticed any -human being on it or they would have been sure to have mentioned it. - -Raynor began to feel uncomfortable. He had no weapon, and the -strange man might be hostile. Certainly he must be an out of the -ordinary individual to live on such a forsaken island. And why had -he not appeared when the schooner anchored? - -“Maybe he is some desperate criminal hiding here from the law,” -mused Raynor. “In that case my life will be in danger.” - -He traced the footsteps till they became lost in loose sand. But as -nearly as he could judge, the man had walked along the beach, and -then turned inland. - -Raynor felt badly shaken by his discovery. It was not pleasant to -contemplate sharing an island with a man who might prove a dangerous -enemy. However, there was no help for it, The _Polly Ann_ was -sinking and the island was his only refuge. - -He looked about him. Back of the beach the island shores sloped -upward abruptly, shutting out any view of the interior. Gnarled -shrubs and bushes grew among the rocks. They were twisted into all -sorts of grotesque shapes by the rigors of the Arctic winds. From -the beach he could see the hull of the ill-fated _Polly Ann_. - -The schooner had canted over more but did not appear to have sunk -any lower in the water. “If only she’d keep afloat I’d go right back -to her,” muttered Raynor. - -He fell to examining the footmarks again. They were very large and -made with heavy, clumsy boots to judge by their appearance. - -“The man who made these tracks must be a big fellow, more than a -match for me in physical strength,” reflected Raynor. - -He decided not to penetrate into the interior of the island but to -set up a camp where he had landed, at all events, for the present. -He had a half formed plan in his mind, too, of rowing out to the -_Polly Ann_ and getting more provisions before she finally sank. He -had brought some canvas along to make a tent and he constructed -quite a snug shelter by turning the boat upside down and supporting -it on stones. This made a water-tight roof over which he threw the -canvas. Next he collected wood and built a fire. It was not till -that moment that he recollected that he would have to go to the -other side of the island for water. - -He did not much like the task. He might encounter the man of the -island and be attacked by him. Still he thought an encounter was -bound to occur before long, if he remained. So, cutting a stout club -from the bushes, and taking up a bucket he had brought, he set out -for the spring. - -By this time it was growing dusk, so much longer than he realized -had his preparations taken him. He started off, walking briskly, and -had almost reached the part of the island where he knew the spring -was located, when he gave a violent start. - -Ahead of him, standing on a rock as if gazing at something, was the -figure of a man! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII: AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. - - -The man had his back turned to him. But at the sight of him, Raynor -gave such a start that he dropped his bucket. It fell on the rocks -with a loud clatter. - -At the sound the man on the rocks turned suddenly. Then he uttered a -loud yell and leaped from the boulder. To Raynor’s amazement he -began running at top speed away from him. - -“Hanged if he isn’t more scared of me than I am of him,” thought the -boy in astonishment. All his fear of the unknown man vanished now. - -“Hey, there!” he shouted, “don’t run! Stop!” - -“Wow-ow!” yelled the fleeing man, and ran faster than ever. - -“I want to speak to you!” bawled Raynor, beginning to lose his -temper. - -“He must be crazy,” he thought, “but I’ll catch him and find out -what is the matter with him if I have to chase him all over this -island.” - -He picked up his bucket and set off after the man. It was hard work -over the rocks and uneven ground. But Raynor, who had won several -cups as a “miler” at school, soon saw that he was gaining on the -other. At length only a few feet separated them. - -Suddenly the man gave a yell of piercing quality and tripped over a -stone. In a jiffy he was sprawling on the ground. Raynor grasped his -club more tightly and rushed upon him. - -“What do you mean by running away from me like this?” he demanded, -“what’s the matter with you, anyhow.” - -“Oh, oh, Mister Ghost, don’ hurt me. Ah didn’ mean no harm by coming -on you-all’s island. No, indeed, sah, I didn’. Ah des----” - -“Pompey, by all that’s wonderful!” cried Raynor with a glad laugh. -“Get up, you idiot. I’m no ghost.” - -Pompey, for it was the black cook of the _Polly Ann_, sat up with -his eyes as big as saucers. - -“Gollyumption, if it ain’t Massa Raynor.” - -“Yes, and a fine chase you led me. What was the matter with you?” - -“Ah done thought Noddy an’ mahself was alone on dis island. Den ah -see yo coming an’ ah thought it was a ghostess. Ah done heard the -rattle of chains jes’ as plain!” - -“Those weren’t chains. That was my bucket that I dropped. I guess I -was as scared as you for a minute because I, too, thought I was -alone. But tell me, is Noddy really here?” - -“He sholly is.” - -“How did you come ashore?” - -“In one ob de dories. Dey done didn’ leave us nuffin’ else. I was -awakened in de night by de awfullest shoutin’ an’ yellin’. Dey say -de ship sinkin’--de ice done punched hole in her. But de boats was -crowded an’ dey wouldn’ let me or Noddy on board. We got lef’ behin’ -an’ Noddy, he calkerlate that bin as you slep’ in de cabin yo’ mus’ -hab been one of the fustest in de boats.” - -“I guess I slept too soundly,” rejoined Raynor, “but where are you -camped?” - -“Right ober de top ob dat l’il hill yander. We fin’ a hut dere built -by some sealer, an it’s right handy to de spring, too.” - -“Come on, we’ll go right over there. By the way, Pompey, have you -roamed around the island much?” - -“Why yais, dis mawning early I was ober to de udder side. Ah go to -look at de _Polly Ann_ cos it wuz dark when we leabed her.” - -“Then it was the track of your foot I saw on the shore,” laughed -Raynor, much relieved, and he explained to the mystified Pompey the -“Robinson Crusoe” incident. - -As they neared the hut, Noddy came running to meet them. As he saw -who was with Pompey, he broke into an exultant yell. - -“Whoopee! Gee, ain’t I glad! Bill, old socks, I thought you wus off -in de boats wid Terror an’ dat crew. Come on in an’ tell us all -about it.” - -Raynor found a cheery fire burning in an old iron stove inside the -hut, which was lighted by a ship’s lantern Pompey had had the -foresight to bring from the schooner. It looked quite cozy. Pompey -soon cooked a good supper and made boiling hot tea, to which they -all did ample justice. - -Then they all had to tell their stories over again, both the boys -and Pompey, too, shouting with laughter over the wild chase the -frightened colored man had led Raynor across the island. - -“Some day you’ll see a real blown-in-the-panel ghost,” chuckled -Noddy, “and then you’ll jes’ naturally lie down and die of scare.” - -“Ah seen ghostesses, real ones afore now,” affirmed Pompey with -dignity, “ah see two ob dem on board dat _Polly Ann_. Right den ah -knowed dat dat l’il schooner wuz goin’ ter git busted. Yassah.” - -It was agreed that in the morning they should all go to Raynor’s -camp by boat, and bring his provisions and so forth, round to Camp -Hope, as they decided to christen the hut. After the exertions of -the day, they were disinclined to sit up late, and having made up a -roaring fire, they turned into their blankets, of which Pompey had -brought a big supply, and were soon asleep. - -It must have been after midnight that the boys were awakened by an -appalling yell from Pompey. - -“Help! Murder! Help!” shrieked the negro. - -“What’s the matter?” shouted the boys. - -“Oh, the hants! The hants wid de fiery eyes,” bawled the colored -man, burying his head in his blankets and kicking up his heels in an -agony of alarm. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV: A FRIGHT IN THE NIGHT. - - -“For de love of Mike, what’s de matter?” - -Noddy yelled out the inquiry above the uproar. - -“Look! Noddy, look!” cried Raynor suddenly. - -Circling round the room, at about six feet above the ground, were -two glowing fiery eyes. - -Even the boys were alarmed at this. Suddenly, too, their scalps -tightened as a diabolical scream rang through the hut. It sounded -like the wail of a lost soul. - -“Jiminy crickets!” cried Noddy, “I never believed in spooks before -but I do now.” The circling eyes glared at them and then dashed on -through the darkness. Again came that piercing scream. - -“I can’t stand this,” gasped Raynor, “light the lantern.” - -“I-I-fergit where I put de matches,” chattered Noddy. - -Luckily, Raynor had some in his pockets. In a moment he had the -lantern lighted, and the place flooded with radiance. Then it was -that both boys looked rather shamefaced. What had alarmed them so -was nothing more than a big white arctic owl that had blundered into -the hut through the unglazed window. As the light flared up, it -uttered another wild shriek, and dashed out the same way it had -entered. - -“Well, what d’ye know about that?” exclaimed Noddy. “I thought sure -that fer once we had a real sure-enuff ghost on our hands. Get up -there, Pompey, your ghost was only an owl.” - -Pompey, his black face still twitching with alarm, drew his head out -of the blankets. - -“It weren’t no hant?” he asked tremulously. - -“No, only an old owl. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” said Raynor. - -“Well, sir, it peared, to me from what I could obfustacate dat I -wasn’ de onlyest one in dis hut dat was scared inter an ager chill, -no, sir.” - -“I guess he’s got it on us dere,” laughed Noddy. “You looked as -white as a sheet of paper when you lighted that lamp, Raynor.” - -“I’ll admit I couldn’t account for those fiery eyes or that terrible -scream,” rejoined Raynor with a grin. - -They hung a blanket across the window so as to guard against any -more midnight intruders. Soon they were all asleep again. No more -untoward incidents occurred, and at daybreak they were astir. - -After breakfast they took the dory, in which Pompey and Noddy had -landed, and rowed round to Raynor’s camp, which they found -undisturbed. Looking seaward, they met with a surprise. They had -fully expected to see that the _Polly Ann_ had sunk. But she lay -just as she had on the previous day. In fact, although the boys did -not know it just then, the current had swung her hull upon a -submerged reef which kept her from sinking any deeper. - -It was not a long task to dismantle Raynor’s camp and set his dory -afloat. The load of provisions, etc., was divided between the two -boats. - -“What’s the matter with paying a visit to the _Polly Ann_?” -suggested Raynor when they had finished. “It’s odd that she’s still -afloat.” - -“We might get a chance to get some more grub,” added Noddy. “We need -all we can get with three mouths to feed and no knowing how long -we’ll be stuck in dis place.” - -So it was arranged to row out to the stranded vessel. Once -alongside, it did not take the boys long to discover the reason of -the _Polly Ann’s_ still being on the top of the water. - -“If bad weather doesn’t come, she’ll stay here indefinitely,” -declared Raynor. “We can visit her here every day and get what we -want.” - -“Dat’s so,” agreed Noddy, “it’s a lucky ting, dat reef wuz dere.” - -They worked briskly and busily about the schooner and soon had the -dories loaded as heavily as they dared. Another thing they noticed -that pleased them. The drift ice was on the move. - -On every side came sharp reports like pistol shots as it broke up -and drifted, or else crashed together. But it was moving southward -with a vast concerted motion that meant that ships could approach -the island, and was a welcome sign to the beleagured adventurers. - -By noon they were ready for the row back to Camp Hope, which was -accomplished without incident. While Pompey cooked a bountiful -dinner, the boys scrambled to a rocky peak near the hut. - -“We’ll put up a flag here,” declared Raynor, “that will be visible -from all sides of the island.” - -This necessitated another trip to the schooner after the noon-day -meal. The boys towed back an extra spar, which made a fine -flagstaff. To it, before they set it up, they nailed the United -States ensign upside down. - -“Anyone seeing that will know there are shipwrecked mariners here,” -declared Raynor when the job was finished. - -“Well, dey kaint come too quick fo’ dis chile,” grinned Pompey. - -But the weary days went by and no sign of aid came. They spent the -time transferring all they could from the _Polly Ann_ to the shore -while the fine weather lasted, for the schooner was showing signs of -breaking up, and the first gale would demolish her. - -“If only there was some way of communicating with the outside -world,” sighed Raynor one evening after supper, when they had all -sat silent for a time. There was no need for anyone to ask the other -what he was thinking of. - -“Gee, yes,” exclaimed Noddy, “if only we had one of dem wireless -chatter machines we--what’s de matter?” for Raynor had slapped his -thigh loudly and sprung to his feet with a whoop. - -“What a chump I am,” he fairly shouted. - -“I know dat, but what’s de special occasion?” grinned Noddy. - -“Why, we have got one.” - -“One what--a fit?” - -“No a wireless outfit.” - -“Chee, you must have bats in your belfry. What are youse goin’ ter -do, wireless wid yer fingers?” - -“No, with a proper apparatus.” - -Noddy rapped his head with his knuckles in a significant way. Then -he sighed profoundly. - -“Too bad and him so young,” he said to Pompey. - -“I’m not crazy,” cried Raynor joyfully. - -“There’s a complete wireless set on the _Polly Ann_! I’d forgotten -all about it up to now, and what’s more, I can use it.” - -“What’s dat?” cried Noddy, “say, pal, give us yer flipper. I see -where we do a sneak from this island before we’re a week older. Me -fer de wireless every time.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXV: POMPEY LEARNS ABOUT WIRELESS. - - -Bright and early the next morning, you may depend upon it, the boys -were at work. They experienced some little difficulty in locating -where Terror Carson had kept the instruments. But they ultimately -found them in his cabin which, luckily, was not on the submerged -side of the tilted vessel. - -A long, slender spar was towed from the schooner to Camp Hope. This -was to act as an aërial. Raynor experienced a good deal of -difficulty in establishing his station. While he was a competent -operator, thanks to Jack’s untiring instruction, he was unfamiliar -with connecting the instrument. Luckily, however, an instruction -book formed a part of the set and this aided him not a little in his -task. - -Power for the current was supplied by a device especially made for -sailing ships where electric or steam power is not available. It -consisted of a dynamo and batteries run and charged by operating -pedals very much as is done on a bicycle. Raynor found that he could -get ample current with this device. - -It was a great day when all was ready for the test. The instruments -had been installed inside the hut. Outside rose the tall, slender -mast supporting the aërials. Raynor was not without a thrill as he -took his place at the key. Noddy and Pompey stared at him as if he -had been a wizard. He pressed down the key, and the great spark -jumped with a hissing explosion between the points. - -“Wow!” yelled Pompey, in great alarm, “look at de green snake. Will -him bite Massa Raynor?” - -“He would if you put your fingers on it,” laughed Raynor, “you’d get -a shock that would lay you out for a week--so be warned and never -monkey with the apparatus.” - -“No, sah, deed ah won’ do dat ting,” Pompey assured him with a -positive shake of the head. “Dis chile ull certainly not trouble dat -dere spatteratus no time.” - -“How’s she work?” asked Noddy. - -“Alright as far as I can make out. I’m sending out the S.O.S. call -now with all the current I can get.” - -“The S.O.S., what’s that mean?” - -“Why, it’s a call for help.” - -“I see. Means Sunk or Sinkin’, eh?” - -“Something like that,” smiled Raynor. - -“Do dat lilly spark snake send out words jes’ like dat?” asked -Pompey. - -“Yes; it transmits dots and dashes to the aërials and then they form -electric waves which, in time, strike other aërials and give the -message.” - -“All dat talk about overalls done mystify me,” muttered Pompey, “dat -’lectricity go charging frum your overalls till it hits some other -feller’s overalls, is dat it?” - -“Something like it,” rejoined Raynor, “but it’s aërials, not -overalls.” - -“Oh, hair-oils,” said Pompey, “now ah understan’s puffickly. De -’lectricity frum yo’ hair-oils hits de udder hair-oils an den de -udder feller hears de same spots and splashes dat you’ve bin a -sendin’ out.” - -“That’s it, but make it dots and dashes instead of spots and -splashes.” - -Raynor had hardly expected an answer to his first call. But he was a -little discouraged when night came and he had received no answer -from space. He wondered if he had set the apparatus up correctly. He -had followed closely the directions in the book. Still, he might -have made a mistake, and a mistake would be fatal to the success of -his wireless. - -He could see that Noddy and Pompey were skeptical about the wireless -plant working at all. When no answer came their faith plainly began -to waver. He spent the evening figuring out their exact latitude and -longitude on the chart he had brought from Captain Carson’s cabin. -It gave their position exactly and Raynor memorized it so as to be -able to flash it out when the time came. - -“Well, all I’ve got to say is that if wese is dependin’ on dat mouse -cage uv wire and dat lectric spark to git us offen de island, we got -a mighty slim chance uv ever giving the good-bye,” said Noddy after -supper. - -“Dat lilly snake seem pretty ter look at but dem hair-oils don’ seem -ter be circumambulatin’ dose spots an’ splashes in jes’ de way dey -ought to,” added Pompey. - -“Oh, have a little patience,” said Raynor, “we’ll attract attention -in time. The atmospheric conditions may not have been just right.” - -“When you tink dem hysteric conditions will be salubrious fer dem -hair-oils?” inquired Pompey. - -“Well, you noticed to-day that it was rather foggy. The Hertzian -waves don’t travel as well in such weather.” - -“I ’spose dey calls ’em Hurtsome waves on account ob de way dat -snaky spark ’ull hurt yo’ if yo’ grab it,” said Pompey. - -“The wireless transmission is usually better at night,” went on -Raynor. “I mean to try again before we turn in.” - -But his efforts met with no better success than during the day. -Tired out, and not a little disappointed, he went to bed where even -his vexation over his failure failed to keep him awake. - -When he opened his eyes in the morning the first thing he saw was -Pompey bending over the wireless table and looking with eyes that -popped out of his head at the twin “telephone” receivers that lay -there. - -“What’s the matter, Pompey?” asked the boy sleepily. - -“Ah dunno. Dere’s something mighty obstropulous about dis here -contrivance. I tink dere’s a spook or a hoodoo in it.” - -“Don’t talk such nonsense. What’s the matter?” - -“Ah dunno. But ah’m plum scared.” - -“Don’t be absurd, Tell me what’s up?” - -“Whay dis yer telafoam looking ting am makin’ queer noises.” - -“WHAT!” - -“It jes keeps clicking and tapping lak dere was suthin’ alive in -it.” - -Raynor was out of his blankets in a flash. His eyes blazed with -excitement as he dashed across the room. - -“Why, you Senegambian chump,” he yelled, “that’s somebody trying to -talk to us!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI: A JOYOUS MESSAGE. - - -Jack found the life on board the ice-patrol cutter much to his -liking. There was almost constant work for him, for the southern -drift of the ice was unusually heavy that year. - -Many a liner had reason to thank the constant vigilance of the -ice-patrol craft. Across miles of ocean, through space, there would -flash, from Jack’s key, the message that warned of the white terrors -of the north. The knowledge thus gained enabled the ship receiving -it either to alter her course so as to steer clear of danger, or to -be on the lookout for bergs or drift ice. - -Nor was the work of the _Thespis_ limited to this. On her long -“beat” she found occasion two or three times to render aid to the -crews of ice-battered sailing vessels. Jack’s unique device for -blowing up icebergs by wireless was tested many times and was never -found wanting. That spring it did invaluable service, all of which -was duly mentioned in Captain Simms’ report to Washington, when that -came to be made. - -As the spring wore on and the latter part of May approached, the -“patrol” of the _Thespis_ lay further and further north. One day -Jack received a flash from Washington, relayed from northern -stations. The message gave the _Thespis_ additional work to do. - -“Watch international sealing boundary closely,” it read, “apprehend -all poachers. Learn Terror Carson on schooner _Polly Ann_ in your -vicinity. Try all means to capture him.” - -But although a sharp lookout was kept, nothing was seen of the trig -schooner, and little did Jack imagine what ties of friendship bound -him to one of the _Polly Ann’s_ company. And so the days slipped by, -with occasional excitement to vary the routine, and the time was not -far off when danger of icebergs for that year would be passed and -gone, and the _Thespis_ would put back to New York on regular duty. - -When that occurred, Jack’s days with the iceberg patrol would be -numbered, and he had found the work so interesting that he rather -regretted this. Yet he knew that he was far from the top of the -ladder yet and that he had many a step to climb in the days to come. -On his return he knew that Mr. Jukes would be back, and he was -hoping for an appointment on one of the great new liners of the -company. - -However, these were all day dreams, and Jack was a practical youth. -Then, too, a good deal of spare time was occupied perfecting his -portable wireless. He had given it several tests and reaped a -satisfying reward for his months of labor over it when he discovered -that it worked well up to a radius of 156 miles. The weakest point -about it was the hand-driven dynamo. But just at present Jack saw no -way to remedy this without increasing the weight of the contrivance -so much as to impair its portability. - -On the night that young Raynor, far off on lonely Skull Island, sent -out his calls after a day of vain efforts at communication, the -_Thespis_ was further to the north than she had yet cruised. Jack -was unusually tired after a day of hard work, for several icebergs -and fields and not a few growlers had been sighted, and he had been -kept very busy sending out warnings and answering questions flung at -him from all along the Atlantic track. - -But at last the long day was over and his reports neatly written out -and posted in the big “Berg Book” or log. He was at liberty to turn -in, for if icebergs were sighted during the night by the watch, he -knew that he would be at once notified so that he could spread the -warning broadcast. - -As usual, he slept soundly, but he was troubled by dreams. They were -of Raynor. With remarkable vividness he saw his chum adrift on a sea -of ice surrounded by perils. Then the scene shifted, and Raynor was -on a small vessel in a furious storm. Jack saw the little craft -lifted on giant billows and harassed by pounding ice masses. Then -came a terrific crash and the small vessel broke up. For a flash, -Jack saw Raynor swimming heroically in the boiling waves and -then--he awakened with a cry of alarm. - -“Gracious, what a dream,” he muttered. “I’m glad I don’t have a -nightmare often.” - -He looked at the clock on the bulkhead. It was time to turn out. As -was his custom, Jack inspected the “tell-tale” tape of the wireless -before he did anything else. This tape is an automatic contrivance -that works under a “tapper” connected with the receiving part of the -wireless. An inked roller checks off on it any dots and dashes that -may have come over the wire while the operator was otherwise -engaged. To anyone who can read code, therefore, it forms a complete -record. - -Jack picked up the tape in a rather perfunctory way. He expected to -find nothing on it but the usual inquiries about bergs reported -earlier and so forth. - -But hardly had he cast his eyes on it this morning than he almost -dropped it again as, if it had been red-hot. - -Marked on it over and over again were these symbols: - - ... .. ... - S O S - -His trained eye skimmed over other markings on the inked tape. To -him the array of dots and dashes was as plain as print. - -“We are marooned on a small island. Skull Island. Send help.” Then -followed the bearings of the island just as Raynor had taken them -from the course pricked off on Terror Carson’s chart. - -Jack, without waiting even to transmit a report to Captain Simms, -switched on the transmitting current. Then he began to make the -wireless crack and whistle as flash after flash volleyed out at his -crisp decisive handling of the key. - -“Skull Island! Skull Island! Skull Island!” he crackled out from the -aërials of the _Thespis_. - -But what appeared to be an eternity passed and no answer came. Jack -had some time since made his report to Captain Simms, who had -informed him that Skull Island was a speck on the map some 250 miles -to the north-west of their present position. The whole ship buzzed -with excitement. Every now and then an officer’s head would be poked -in the door of the wireless room to know if any answer had been -received yet. - -“It is the most unique situation I ever heard of,” declared Captain -Simms. “I am half inclined to believe it may be some trick. How -could anyone, on such a forsaken spot as Skull Island, which is a -mere mass of rocks and stunted shrubs, have a wireless station?” - -But Jack kept patiently at his task. His young assistant, Bill -Higgins, helped him as much as he could. Higgins was a young sailor -who had shown aptitude for wireless work and had been “broken in” -under Jack’s predecessor. - -“Anything yet?” he asked as he reéntered the wireless room after -scurrying forward with a message to Captain Simms that the air was -still silent as the grave. - -Jack gave a negative sign. - -“I’m going to try more juice,” he said, “there’s a lot of -interference this morning. I’ve got to tune it out. Fix up that -weeding-out circuit like a good fellow.” - -“The tertiary one?” asked Higgins. - -“That’s the idea. If we can’t reach them with that we can’t get them -at all.” - -Higgins took the necessary steps to bring into play an added circuit -which would render the tuning of the transmitting instruments twice -as sharp as with the ordinary loose-coupled transformer. The spark -cracked and snapped like a whip lash. - -All at once Jack gave a shout. - -“Got ’em, by hookey! I got ’em!” - -There was a brief silence while his fingers dashed off the message -that came from space in answer to his insistent demands. - -“We are marooned on Skull Island.” - -“Yes, yes, go on.” - -“There was a bad shipwreck. The schooner _Polly Ann_ was smashed by -ice.” - -“The _Polly Ann_?” queried Jack, with a flash of recollection. -“Terror Carson’s ship?” - -“That’s the one, but Terror Carson and all his crew got safe away in -the boats. They left three of us here. We have plenty of food and -there is water, but the island is uninhabited.” - -“Who are you, members of Terror Carson’s poaching crew? This is the -ice patrol cutter _Thespis_.” - -“No; we were on board against our wills. We are Noddy Nipper, -Pompey, a negro cook, and William Raynor, lately of the freighter -Cambodian.” - -The next instant young Higgins had reason to exclaim as he stared in -amazement at the usually self-contained Jack Ready. - -“He’s gone crazy!” - -For the young wireless man of the _Thespis_ was doing a war-dance -and banging his key as if he would break it off at one and the same -moment. The crackling, whanging spark made an accompaniment for his -wild caperings. - -“What’s the matter? Can I do anything? Shall I go for the doctor?” -inquired Higgins when he had recovered his breath. - -“Doctor nothing!” shouted Jack, and with his free hand he smote -young Higgins a blow petween the shoulders that made that youth -cough and his eyes water. - -“Old Billy Raynor’s come back! Come back from the grave via -wireless, by all that’s wonderful!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII: A CRASH IN THE FOG. - - -Making northward was a smart gasolene craft motored with a powerful -engine. She was the power tender of the _Thespis_, a taut, seaworthy -craft, especially designed for the work of the revenue service, and -she had taken part in many a chase after smugglers and other -would-be evaders of Uncle Sam’s laws. - -But just now her errand was one of rescue and mercy. The machine gun -at her bow was swathed in its waterproof covers and the bulletproof -housing of the engine was not in place. - -She was making eighteen miles an hour on her way to Skull Island and -her motors were turning as steadily and truly as if they knew that -they were on a mission of deep importance. - -There were three persons on board. In the bow sat Jack Ready, his -hand on the steering wheel and ever and anon taking a glance at the -compass before him. Amidships, pipe in mouth, was Matt Sherry, the -engineer, lovingly feeding his motors oil and “mothering” them with -waste and fussing. Astern, preparing a meal on a gasolene stove was -Hank Merryweather, a stalwart tar from the _Thespis_ detailed to -accompany the relief expedition. - -When Jack had made known to Captain Simms the plight of Raynor and -the others, the commander of the _Thespis_ had easily read in the -boy’s excited words his intense desire to proceed to the aid of the -castaways at once. But there was a difficulty in the way, as the -captain explained. Duty held the _Thespis_ to the iceberg patrol. -She could not wander from her post of duty. - -Captain Simms suggested sending out a message to other ships and -also to the government stations ashore and having a rescue -expedition despatched from the most convenient points. But Jack had -already got a plan in his head, and at the risk of offending Captain -Simms, he could not help but broach it. - -“It’s only 250 miles to the island, sir,” he said, “the gasolene -tender could do it in little more than twelve hours and be back at -the ship by to-morrow.” - -The captain smiled at his enthusiasm. - -“But who could take the wireless while you are gone? I appreciate -your anxiety to be reunited to your chum,” for Captain Simms knew -the story, “but it’s duty first, you know, Ready, all along the -line. We are here to warn liners of icebergs. I really think that -we’ll have to let others do the actual rescuing. It isn’t as if the -castaways were in actual want. They say they have plenty of -provisions and fresh water so that a brief stay on the island till -relief can be sent from the mainland won’t be much of a hardship.” - -Jack’s face fell. He had set his heart on going. But it appeared -from Captain Simms’ attitude that that would be impossible under the -circumstances. - -But he did not mean to give up without a struggle to gain his point. - -“Young Higgins has developed into a very competent operator, sir,” -he ventured. “I know that the wireless would be safe in his hands -till I got back.” - -“You can guarantee that, Ready?” asked Captain Simms, giving the boy -one of his quick glances. - -“Yes, sir. I’ll answer for him.” - -The captain tugged his gray mustaches, a way he had when considering -a question. Jack watched him eagerly. - -“Well, then, I suppose I’ll have to give you my permission to go, -Ready,” he said at length. “You can take your portable wireless with -you and keep in constant communication with the _Thespis_. I will -detail Sherry and Merryweather to go with you. The prospects are all -for fine weather and I shall expect you back to-morrow.” - -“Aye, aye, sir,” choked out Jack, saluting respectfully and -restraining himself with difficulty from uttering a shout of joy. -And so it came about that we find the gasolene tender of the -_Thespis_ racing northward. - -“Take the wheel, Merryweather, while I send a message,” said Jack -presently, and as the seaman gripped the spokes of the wheel, the -lad hoisted his aërials aloft on the tender’s single military mast. -They were not long enough for sending messages a great distance. But -for communication with the _Thespis_ they answered admirably. Jack -reported “Progress and all O.K.” - -They took turns at eating supper and all devoured their food with -ravenous appetites. By his portable wireless, Jack had instructed -young Higgins to tell the castaways, to hang out a lantern that -night so that if they approached the island in the darkness they -could lie off till daybreak and not tempt fate by venturing among -unknown waters, for the charts did not bother to give soundings -round such a seldom visited speck of land as Skull Island. - -As it grew dusk and night began to close in, old Matt Sherry came -forward and spoke to Jack. - -“I don’t like the look of the weather,” he said. - -“What do you mean? Are we in for a storm? This craft is staunch -enough to ride out anything that is likely to hit us.” - -“It’s not that,” - -“Well, what then?” - -“Fog. Do you see that smoky looking line yonder to the north?” - -“Yes, it does look like smoke on the top of the water.” - -“That’s fog. It’s the warm air hitting the cold water. It’ll be all -around us in a few hours.” - -“Humph! That is bad. Would you suggest lying to?” - -“No; for there ain’t likely to be any other craft but ourselves in -this part of the ocean and we’ve got a clear run on the compass -course to Skull Island. But we’d better keep taking the temperature -of the water; there may be ice about and we don’t want to hit a -berg.” - -“I should say not. Better put Merryweather to work with a bucket and -a thermometer and tell him to make half-hourly reports. If the -temperature drops, he is to report at once.” - -“Very well; that’s a wise plan,” agreed Sherry and went aft to give -the seaman his instructions. - -As Matt Sherry had prophesied, within a few hours they were driving -forward through a blinding white fog. But Jack easily kept the boat -on her course by the compass bearings worked out before they left -the _Thespis_. Merryweather reported regularly and so far no -alarming drop in the temperature of the water, showing the near -presence of ice, had occurred. - -“We’ll pull through after all,” said Jack to Sherry, who had come -forward to see the result of Merryweather’s latest reading. - -“Hark! What was that?” cried Merryweather suddenly. He leaned -forward listening. - -“Sounded like the creak of a ship’s block to me,” exclaimed Matt -Sherry, “sound your siren quick, Jack.” - -Jack pulled a lever and the compressed air siren let out a long -dismal screech. At the same instant, from the out of the white -smother, came a shout. They could not determine its direction in the -obscurity. - -“In the name of heaven, a boat!” - -“Where away?” came another voice gruffly out of the fog. - -“I dunno. Right under our bow it sounded like----” - -There was a sudden sharp shout from Sherry. - -“Save yourselves. They’re right on us!” - -Above the doomed launch, from out of the mist, a towering black mass -obtruded. - -There was a splintering crash, a confusion of shouts and cries and -then Jack felt the tender sinking under his feet while the water -rushed up to his knees. - -More by instinct than reason he gave an upward leap into the fog. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII: UNCLE TOBY IS SURPRISED. - - -“Matt, is that you?” - -Jack turned to a crouching form beside him. - -“Yes, and Merryweather’s here, too. Thank God we are all saved.” - -“I got an awful wallop on the head,” declared Jack. “I feel dazed, -where are we?” - -“In the bowsprit rigging of some ship,” rejoined Matt Sherry. - -“We must have been born under a lucky star,” declared Merryweather. -“I just jumped straight up and then suddenly found I’d grabbed a -rope.” - -“Same here,” declared Jack, “I didn’t know what I was doing. I guess -I was so scared of going down with the tender that I jumped for the -first thing I saw.” - - -[Illustration: “We saved ourselves,” bawled Matt. “We’re here in -the bowsprit rigging.”] - - -“That’s the instinct of self-preservation,” said Matt. “I’ve read -that it works blindly. But we’d better give ’em a hail up above. -Hark! They are laying the vessel to and lowering a boat. I reckon -they are going to look for us.” - -“They must think that we are all in the water,” said Jack as there -came a flapping of sails from out of the mist and then the creak of -davit blocks and the splash of oars. The rush of water under the -ship’s forefoot ceased and she came to a standstill. - -“Ahoy, on deck there!” hailed Matt with stentorian lungs. - -“Ahoy!” came from above, “where are you? We’ll save you. Keep up -your courage.” - -“We saved ourselves,” bawled Matt, “we’re here in the bowsprit -rigging. Heave us a rope, and we’ll come on deck.” - -“Are you all there?” came the voice incredulously. - -“Well, I can’t see anything missing about me,” declared Matt, “yes -we were all saved. You can call back the boat.” - -A rope ladder was lowered to them and one by one they clambered on -deck. Jack, as commander of the sunken tender, came last. He found -an excited group clustered round his two shipmates asking a perfect -tornado of questions. Lanterns gave light and revealed the faces of -the group. - -Foremost among the questioners was a little old man, with a gnarled -face, like those you sometimes see carved on pipes. His skin was -burned a rich mahogany color and his eyes twinkled restlessly. He -was dressed as if he were the captain of the ship, in a pilot coat -with brass buttons and a seaman’s cap with crossed anchors. Beneath -his coat could be seen the end of a wooden leg with which he stamped -impatiently on the deck as he volleyed his questions. Just as Jack -appeared he had drawn from his coat a big medicine bottle which he -offered to Sherry. - -“Take a pull of this, mate,” he crief in gruff, sailor-like tones, -“t’wont hurt yer.” - -“What is it?” demanded Sherry, “I’m no drinking man.” - -“It’s not liquor,” the other assured him volubly, “it’s Cap’n Toby -Ready’s Universal Remedy and Banisher of Pain in Man and Beast. It’s -made frum the best of yarbs and roots under my personal supervision -and--great tom cats!” - -“Hullo, Uncle Toby,” said Jack, coming forward and causing this -abrupt breaking off of Uncle Toby’s eulogy on his favorite -concoction. - -“Jack! Sufferin’ humanity! It’s Jack!” cried the old man. “How under -the almighty sun did you get here. Did I run you down? How did it -happen? What were you doing?” - -“One question at a time, Uncle Toby,” laughed Jack. “Can’t we all go -aft to your cabin and I’ll tell you everything leading up to this -queer meeting.” - -“Queer you may well call it,” vociferated Uncle Toby, “broomsticks -and bangaloons, if I ever heard the like, and me sailin’ the Seven -Seas. But heave to there, Toby, you ain’t doing the polite. Jack, I -want you ter meet my partner, Mr. Rufus Terrill, of Terrill & Co.” - -“How d’ye do, my dear young man, how d’ye do.” - -From the lantern-lit group a tall, cadaverous figure detached -itself. Mr. Rufus Terrill was as angular as an old fashioned -candlestick, and about as slender. His skin was yellow and his teeth -long and sharp, projecting like tusks from under a scraggly -mustache. His eyes were cold and watery, yet had a penetrating -quality. He looked sharply at Jack. Perhaps he read a look of -disapproval in the boy’s eyes, for he soon relaxed his clammy clasp -on the lad’s hand. - -“Mr. Terrill is my partner, my business partner, Jack,” said Uncle -Toby. - -“So I’ve heard,” said Jack shortly. - -“You have. How’d you find out that?” asked Mr. Terrill quickly, -darting his head in and out of a collar several sizes too large for -his scrawny neck, like a box-turtle looking out of his shell. - -“I visited your offices in New York,” rejoined Jack, “and now let’s -go aft, Uncle Toby.” - -Sail was made again and the party, including Merryweather and -Sherry, made their way toward the stern. Jack was not a little -troubled. By an extraordinary coincidence he was reunited to his -uncle. But he had yet to learn the details of the mad cruise, of -which the note nailed up on the door of the _Venus_ had first -apprised him. Of one thing, however, he was very sure. His first -five minutes’ observation of Mr. Terrill had convinced him that that -gentleman would bear watching. - -After he had told his story, Jack maneuvered things so that Mr. -Terrill was told off to show Merryweather and Sherry their sleeping -places. - -“Now, then, uncle,” said Jack, “what is all this?” - -Uncle Toby’s lined and seamed old face assumed a look of -extraordinary cunning. - -“We’re on our way to get rich, lad,” he chuckled, “rich as that -Greaser chap history tells about.” - -“Crœsus?” ventured Jack. - -“Aye, that’s the bully. We’re shaping a course fer Cedar Island and -the stone chest Cap’n Walters hid from the white Esquimaux, you’ve -heard of ’em.” - -“You mean the tribe Steffason discovered?” - -“That’s them. They’re all blondes, though rightly speaking they -ought to be black. Well, to cut a long yarn short, Walters got lost -in a whaling ship up here and hooked up with a tribe of ’em. He -married one of their gals and she told him about the stone chest on -Cedar Island. He didn’t dare try to get it alone but one night he -sneaks out in a native canoe, an’ by good luck is picked up by a -sealer bound fer the states. But when he got thar he was too sick -fer even the Universal Remedy ter be of any good. Afore he died he -give me the bearings and so on of Cedar Island, all ship-shape, an’ -I hunts up Terrill & Co. an’ they agrees to go inter it with me -and--and here we are. - -“With my pockets full o’ gold. As I sailed,” croaked the old man in -a harsh voice. - -“Here’s the map all drawed kerrect an’ ter scale,” added Uncle Toby, -drawing a yellow, dirty bit of paper from his pocket and shoving it -toward Jack. It was at this moment that Terrill reentered the cabin. - -“Ah! giving our young friend an idea of what we are after, eh?” he -said, rubbing his thin hands till his knuckles cracked like -firecrackers, “good, very good. But our young friend must be -secretive about it. No loose talk, you know. This is a close -corporation.” - -“Which you would like limited to Terrill & Co.,” thought Jack, aloud -he contented himself by saying shortly: - -“I understand all that. Captain Ready is my uncle, you know.” - -“Quite so,” agreed Mr. Terrill, displaying all his teeth in a grin, -“but he’s my partner, my dear young man.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX: OFF FOR SKULL ISLAND. - - -So far as Jack could judge, his uncle had fallen under the influence -of the man, Terrill, to a considerable extent. This was shown when -the boy broached the subject of making a stop at Skull Island to -pick up the castaways. - -“I don’t see how we can do that,” declared Terrill, “we lost several -weeks’ time since the start repairing our schooner, the _Morning -Star_; she sprung a leak and we had to put into Portland, Maine, for -repairs.” - -“Oh! I wondered why you were so long in getting this far north,” -said Jack, “but, uncle, if you’ll give me the chart I’ll show you -your direct course for Skull Island.” - -“Those persons can get off without our aid,” demurred Terrill. “They -have plenty of food and water and the _Thespis_ knows of their -plight. Depend upon it, they will be rescued without our making any -more delays. My business suffers all the time I am away.” - -Jack ignored him and turned to his uncle. - -“Uncle Toby, you are the sailing master of the _Morning Star_?” - -“Yes--er--that is Mr. Terrill--yes, decidedly so, my lad. What’s in -the wind?” - -“I want you to shape a course for Skull Island. It won’t delay you -more than a few hours. It’s your bounden duty as a seaman to go to -the aid of distressed mariners.” - -“Um--er--that’s so, Mr. Terrill, you know,” stuttered Uncle Toby -with a look at the other, who as drumming his long, bony fingers on -the table in a devil’s tattoo. - -“I know nothing about all that. I’m a business man. Time is money,” -snapped Mr. Terrill. - -“I’d like to do it,” said Uncle Toby, “yes, sir, I’d like to do -that--everything but----” - -“See here, Uncle Toby,” cut in Jack, “haven’t you often told me of -your shipwrecks and how gallantly you have been rescued. Didn’t you -say that no man worthy to tread the quarter deck of a ship would -ever ignore a call for help?” - -“Humph!--yes, that’s so. And I think so, too,” rejoined Uncle Toby, -with a flash of his old spirit, “set the chart, Jack.” - -Jack, seeing that he had touched the right chord and gained a -momentary ascendency over Terrill, hastened to get the great paper -roll from the rack where it was kept. - -“Here’s Skull Island,” he said. “If you follow a direct course you -can be there by daylight.” - -“By chowder, that’s true enough, lad,” cried Uncle Toby. He brought -his withered fist down on the table with a bang. “I’ll do it, -Terrill. It won’t delay us much and, consarn it all, man, it’s -nothing more than common humanity.” - -“That may be, but it’s not common sense,” grumbled Terrill, and -retired to his cabin, leaving Jack with a victory on his hands. -Before they turned in Jack and Uncle Toby went on deck and the -latter gave orders for the course to be shaped for Skull Island. - -“Call me as soon as its sighted,” he said, “you should pick it up -about daybreak.” - -“If only I had saved my wireless,” thought Jack, as he turned in -that night. “As things are now I can’t let Captain Simms know of -what has happened and he’ll think something has gone wrong, either -through carelessness or some other cause. Oh, well, after all -Raynor, by some wonderful means, has got a radio set, and I can use -that. I wish it was morning, I can hardly wait till we sight Skull -Island. Good old Raynor, something told me right along that he would -turn up safe and sound, and he has.” - - * * * * * - -“I’m going up to the flagstaff to keep a lookout,” said Raynor as he -shook himself out of his blankets the next morning. “Jack ought to -be heaving in sight any time now.” - -“Dat’s so,” agreed Noddy, “an’ dat old canary cage of a wireless did -de trick after all. Well, I take it all back. Frum now on I b’live -all I hear.” - -The two lads dressed quickly and made their way to the flagstaff. In -the meantime Pompey set to work to build a fire. He hacked -vigorously at the tough wood which he had gathered from the -wind-twisted brush patches that dotted the island. - -“Mah goodness alive,” he muttered to himself as he worked, “dis wood -am as tuff as a thirty-year-ole rooster. Dere! Take dat yo’ ole -stick. Gollyumption, ef I hit as hard as dat agin I’m li’bul ter -chop a hole in de flo’ ob dis ole hut. But ah don’ care ef I do. We -alls is gwine away froum hyah ter-day. Dat hair-oil machine done do -de job.” - -The negro poised his axe to give a stick laid across two others a -mighty blow which should break it in half. - -Smash! The axe fell with all the strength of the negro’s arms behind -it. The next instant there was a crash and simultaneously a yell -broke from Pompey. One fragment of the wood had flown up and hit him -in the eye. - -The other had hurtled across the room and crashed against the -delicate coherer of the wireless set, rendering it useless. Pompey -forgot about his swelling eye as he saw this. - -“Mah goodness, dat stick done bust dat hair-oil machine!” he gasped. -“Gollyumption, what’ll ah do? Gracious hyah comes de boys now too. -Dey am running. Dey mus’ hab news. What am it?” he exclaimed as -Raynor and Noddy burst into the hut. - -“It’s a schooner. A schooner making straight for the island!” panted -Raynor. - -“But I thought yo’ frens was coming in a lilly gasolene boat?” said -Pompey. - -“So did I. I can’t make it out. The schooner is coming for the -island sure enough, though. She’ll be dropping anchor in half an -hour. But where on earth can Jack be? Guess I’ll see if I can pick -anything up by wireless.” - -“Uh-uh-uh, Massa Raynor,” sputtered Pompey, clutching his sleeve -nervously, “ah-ah-ah----” - -“What’s the matter? Are you choking?” - -“Nun-nun-no, sah. But de fac’ is dat a bit ob wood jump up frum whar -ah wuz chopping it an’----” - -“Great Scott, the detector’s broken and the wireless is out of -commission. Confound you, Pompey, I’ve a great mind to----” - -“B-o-o-m!” - -The sound of a heavy report came from seaward. - -“Gee! a choint cracker!” exclaimed Noddy. - -“No, that was a gun. The schooner is firing to attract our -attention,” cried Raynor, “come on, Noddy.” - -Both boys raced from the hut, their eyes aglow with excitement. -Pompey stood still just as they had left him. He didn’t look -comfortable. He began casting anxious glances about the hut as if -looking for some place to hide. - -“Gollyumption, ah don’ see no place ob concealment in de occurrents -dat dey is pirates or somethin’ like dat,” he muttered in an alarmed -tone, “ah wish ah’d nebber shipped on dat _Polly Ann_, das what ah -do.” - -The crashing sound of another gun made the negro jump almost out of -his skin. - -“Mah goodness, ah’ll turn white if dey keeps up dat,” he sputtered, -“dat ain’t de way no fren’ly party greets yo’. No, sah, dat firin’ -ob guns means, ‘Look out, dere. We alls got it in fo’ yoalls.’ Guess -ah’ll hide under de blankets. Dere ain’t no udder place ter go.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXX: JACK AND BILL MEET ONCE MORE. - - -From the eminence where the flagpole had been erected, the two young -castaways of the island watched the schooner brought smartly to an -anchorage. Then a second gun boomed. - -“Does dat mean dey are goin’ ter fight us?” asked Noddy -apprehensively. - -“No,” returned Raynor, “look, can’t you see they are waving to us. I -guess the gun was meant as a salute. And look, a boat is being -lowered. I wish I had a pair of glasses.” - -Soon the boat came rapidly toward them. It was rowed by four sailors -and in the stern sheets sat three figures. In a few seconds a joyous -shout burst from Raynor’s lips as he recognized one of them. - -“It’s Jack--Jack Ready! Hurray!” - -He began waving frantically while Jack stood up and signaled as -frantically back. - -“See, they are going to land in that cove by the hut, let’s hurry -down there,” said Raynor. The two boys reached the beach just as the -_Morning Star’s_ boat grated on the sand. - -“Jack!” cried Raynor, in a voice that shook a little as the young -wireless lad leaped ashore. - -“Well, old fellow, if it isn’t good to see you again. What a time we -shall have talking over our adventures!” cried Jack, as the two -wrung each other’s hands as if they never would stop. - -But Uncle Toby interposed. - -“Avast that! Bill Raynor,” he cried, “give me a shake of your -flipper, shipmate. It’s glad I am to see you all sound and afloat -and A. Number One at Lloyds.” - -“Why, Uncle Toby!” exclaimed Raynor, who had met the old mariner -many times on board the _Venus_, where he spent much time with Jack -when ashore, “how are you? How did you get here? And Jack, what is -he doing on board that schooner? I thought----” - -“It’s a long story, boy, and we can talk better over some grub, I’m -thinking. Shall we go back to the ship?” - -“No; come up to the hut. I want to show you all how shipwrecked -mariners live. Pompey will cook us up a fine breakfast. In the -meantime, let me introduce Mr. Noddy Nipper, late of the _Polly -Ann_.” - -“And recent of Skull Island,” added Noddy. - -“An’ this, gentleman all, is Mr. Terrill, my partner,” said Uncle -Toby, waving toward that individual who, in the sunlight, looked -yellower than ever. - -“Much obliged ter meet cher,” said Noddy, adding in an aside to -Raynor. “He looks like one of dem wharf rats I used ter see aroun’ -de sugar docks on de East River.” - -With everybody talking at once, except Mr. Terrill, who lagged -behind, seemingly busy with his thoughts, the group made for the -hut. Mr. Terrill, with his eyes on the ground, was muttering to -himself as he slowly paced after them. - -“That makes three more added to the forces of Captain Ready when the -time comes,” he breathed. “Three last night and three this -morning--six. It makes the situation more difficult when the hour -comes to strike. I don’t like that youngster Jack Ready. He’s too -smart by half. I believe I’ll have trouble with him before this -thing is over.” - -“Well, where’s your cook?” inquired Uncle Toby, when they reached -the hut, for no Pompey was visible. - -“I can’t think, unless he has gone to the spring,” - -“Avast, thar,” cried Uncle Toby suddenly, “thar’s something moving -under that blanket. Look out, boys, it may be a snake.” - -He picked up a big stick of wood and smote the blankets lustily with -it. The result was startling. An appalling yell came from the -bedding. - -“Ow-ouch, Misto Pirate, don’ done hit me. Ah come out. Oh, Lawsy, -mah bones am broken----” - -“Come out of that, Pompey,” exclaimed Raynor angrily. “What are you -hiding for? What’s all that gibberish about pirates?” - -“Dey done fire guns. Ah think dey come to comblisterate de island,” -moaned Pompey, getting out of his hiding place and rubbing himself -where the stick had hit him, with a doleful expression, “mah -goodness, ah think dat stick mustah bruk some ob mah bones.” - -“Nonsense, if it had hit your head it would have broken the stick. -Get up and get breakfast,” said Raynor, who knew something of -Pompey’s ways of gaining sympathy. - -“And here’s something to take the smart out,” said Uncle Toby, -giving the negro a coin. - -“Thank you, gen’ellman,” said Pompey, with a broad grin, and all his -troubles forgotten. “I perceed at oncet wid’ de prognostications fo’ -de mat’stushanal meal.” - -“Matutinal meal I suppose he means,” laughed Raynor to the rest. -“Pompey has a language that’s all his own.” - -“He should be suppressed,” declared Mr. Terrill, “the idea of -calling us pirates and then, as for giving him money--disgraceful.” - -“Cheer up, Terrill,” chuckled Uncle Toby, “you and me ’ull have so -much money before long that we kin give the Rockybilts a stake ef -they should happen ter need it.” - -In the general laugh that followed Jack noticed that Terrill’s -expression was anything but amiable. In fact, he looked as if he -wished the whole party anywhere but there. During breakfast -everybody told their stories and Raynor apprised Jack of the injury -to the wireless. - -The young operator examined it with a rueful look. - -“Out of business. Too bad,” he murmured. “I counted on it for -notifying Captain Simms of what had happened. It may be weeks before -I can rejoin the _Thespis_.” - -“Why, won’t your uncle sail us all back to her?” asked Raynor, who -had regarded this part of the program as cut and dried. - -Jack looked serious. He looked hastily round to be sure no one -overheard and then said in a low voice. - -“My uncle is on a crack-brained search for treasure which may or may -not exist. This man Terrill has furnished the capital and so, in a -way, dominates the expedition. He has a sinister influence over my -uncle and won’t hear of losing any more time in locating the -treasure, so we are all bound on a long trip.” - -“Well, are we all ready,” struck in Mr. Terrill’s rasping voice. He -looked impatiently at his watch. - -“As ready as we’ll ever be, boss,” cried the Bowery boy, making an -expressive face at Mr. Terrill behind his back. - -“Then let’s get back to the _Morning Star_, boys,” cried Uncle Toby. -“I had treasures manifold, as I sailed,” he sang in his gruff old -sea voice. - -As they were leaving the hut a sudden notion seized Jack. He turned -to Raynor. - -“We’ll take that wireless set along,” he said. “I’ve a notion I -might be able to repair it.” - -“I don’t see what good it will be,” objected Raynor, “anyhow, we -can’t wait to get down the aërials.” - -“Never mind them. There’s copper wire on the _Morning Star_, it’s -used to repair parts of the rigging.” - -“All right,” said Raynor, dismantling the parts of the set and -calling to Noddy and Pompey to help in carrying them to the boat, -“but as I said before, I think it’s a waste of labor. What do you -want it for?” - -“I don’t just know myself,” admitted Jack, “but things are not going -as smoothly on the _Morning Star_ as Uncle Toby thinks, and if ever -we needed to signal for help, this wireless would be a mighty handy -thing to have.” - -“Here comes a fresh breeze,” shouted Mr. Terrill from the distance, -“hurry, boys, we must take advantage of it.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI: IN A BOILING SEA. - - -Two days later found the _Morning Star_, after much struggling -against baffling winds, bowling along under a favoring breeze. Uncle -Toby rubbed his hands as he looked aloft at the canvas, every foot -of which was smartly drawing and urging the schooner forward. - -Even Mr. Terrill’s face had lost its customary sour look. He stood -conversing amidships with the mate, whose name was Jarrow. Jarrow -was squat and broad and had a squint in his bloodshot eyes that gave -him an expression that was not prepossessing. - -“I wonder what those two are talking about,” remarked Jack to -Raynor, as the two lads stood on the stern deck. “Somehow I’ve got -it into my head that they and part of the crew are in a plot.” - -“What makes you think so?” asked Raynor, giving a glance round to -see that Noddy, who was splicing a rope, was not listening. Up -forward Pompey could be seen aiding the _Morning Star’s_ cook. - -“Just this, and nothing more than the fact that they are always -consulting together, and I’ve noticed that Jarrow talks to the crew -more than a mate should. I’ve told Noddy and Pompey to be on the -lookout and see if they can find out what’s going on. I’m certain -some dirty work is brewing.” - -Just then Jarrow looked round and caught Jack’s eye fixed on him. He -nudged Mr. Terrill, and the two moved apart. Mr. Terrill favored -Jack with a malevolent scowl as he passed him. - -“He certainly does love me,” laughed the boy, careless if Terrill -overheard him or not. - -“We ought to be off Cedar Island to-morrow, lads,” said Uncle Toby, -strolling up, “on Tom Tiddler’s ground picking up gold and silver.” - -“Haven’t you ever thought there might be a possibility of the stone -chest being gone?” asked Jack, “that is, if it was ever there?” - -His uncle looked at him as if he had uttered some terrible heresy. - -“Why, of course it’s there,” he declared, stamping his wooden leg; -“where else: would it be? Didn’t Cap’n Walters say----” - -“Deck ahoy!” came from the lookout forward. - -“Ahoy,” roared Uncle Toby, “what’s up?” - -“There is a mist right ahead and what looks like the top of a -mountain,” came back the reply. - -“Can it be Cedar Island?” wondered Jack. - -“No, it’s not Cedar Island,” declared his uncle, “we couldn’t have -made a landfall of that yet. Wait a brace of shakes and I’ll see -what it is.” - -With extraordinary agility he clambered into the weather main -shrouds, bracing himself by thrusting his wooden leg through the -ratlines. Then he clapped his glasses to his eyes. A puzzled look -came over his weather-beaten countenance. - -“Blessed if I know what it is,” he growled. “Looks more like a fire -than anything else.” - -Just then the bell sounded for dinner, a summons to which the boys -were never deaf. When they came on deck again after the meal, an -extraordinary scene met their gaze. The schooner was going fast -through moderately smooth water, but a quarter of a mile ahead the -sea was covered with a milky white mist under which the waves boiled -and tumbled in wild confusion. As they looked from the body of the -mist, there was belched a dense cloud of black smoke. - -“Port! Hard aport!” bawled Cap’n Toby, and he himself sprang to the -wheel and aided the helmsman in carrying out the maneuver, “flatten -in those head sails! Look smart, now!” - -The _Morning Star_ shot off on a new tack just in time to avoid -sailing right into the midst of the bubbling, boiling water, for the -breeze had dropped and her progress was slower. - -“What on earth is it?” demanded Raynor of Captain Toby. - -“It’s a subterranean eruption!” shouted the captain. “I’ve heard of -such in these parts. Sir John Franklin saw ’em. Look! Look yonder!” - -A cable’s length off, a great black patch of what glistened like -mud, rose out of the sea. It bubbled and blistered like baking -dough. Thick columns of smoke rose all round it, and jets of steam -shot from holes in its surface. - -The breeze suddenly veered. A fierce gust, laden with steam and -smoke, swept down on the _Morning Star_. - -The sailors shouted with alarm. Mr. Terrill turned the color of -parchment. - -“Is-there-is--er-that is, are we in danger?” he stammered. - -“Dunno yet,” snapped Uncle Toby, “consarn that thar wind, it’s -coming frum every which way at once. Reg’lar Irishman’s hurricane.” - -A fearful stench, sulphurous and choking, enveloped them with the -cloud of noxious vapors. They coughed and choked as if they were -being suffocated. - -“Oh-oh, this is terrible,” wheezed Mr. Terrill, “oh, dear! oh, dear, -are we all going to die? Ugh! ugh! I wish I’d never come on this -trip.” - -“Don’t talk so much and waste your breath, and you’ll feel better,” -advised Jack. - -Even in his misery and fright, Terrill shot the boy a malevolent -look, but he said nothing. - -A rushing, roaring sound was heard, as the _Morning Star_ suddenly -rushed forward once more as the breeze chopped round, mercifully -blowing the suffocating fumes the other way. But the spray that flew -over her bows was boiling hot. The men forward were forced to -retreat aft. - -For one terrible instant it looked as if the little craft must be -driven into the midst of the inferno of smoke and steam and stench -before she could be put on another tack, but in the next moment a -cheer broke from all hands as she shot forward, and left the strange -disturbance behind her. - -“Phew! I couldn’t have stood much more of that,” said Jack. “Are -such things common in the northern seas, Uncle Toby?” - -“No, lad, they’re not. But once in a while a whaling master will -report encountering one. They’re some of the queer things that them -as goes down to the sea in ships, as the good book says, gets a -chance to see. There, look!” - -He pointed behind them. The boys followed the direction of his gaze. -They saw the boiling mass of mud subside as suddenly as it had come, -making great swells that came chasing after the _Morning Star_, -making her plunge and dance on their crests. - -The next morning the boys were up betimes. The crew were all on the -alert too, for a bonus of ten dollars had been offered to the first -man who should sight Cedar Island. Suddenly, from forward, from a -man perched high in the crosstrees, came a shout. - -“Land ho!” - -“Where away?” bawled Uncle Toby. - -“To the northwest, sir. It’s an island. There’s something sticking -up on it, sir.” - -Captain Toby swarmed into the rigging, using his wooden leg as if it -were a good one. He held his glasses to his eyes for a spell, and -then turned with an excited look on his storm-beaten face. - -“Cedar Island!” he shouted, and all along the decks the cry was -taken up. - -The boys gave a loud cheer. The excitement of the treasure hunt, -although Jack believed it was a wild goose chase, had entered into -their blood. Just at this moment, while his eyes were riveted on the -tiny, almost invisible blob of land to the northwest, something made -Jack turn. He saw Mr. Terrill saying something in a quick, low tone -to Jarrow, the mate. The boy’s quick ears caught a part of what was -said, and it confirmed his worst suspicions. - -“Don’t forget our plan, Jarrow. How does the crew stand?” - -“Oh, I’ve fixed them O.K.,” was the rejoinder, and then the voices -sunk so low that the lad could hear no more. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII: CEDAR ISLAND AT LAST. - - -But in the excitement of the approach to Cedar Island, which was -every moment taking on clearer and clearer outlines as the schooner -neared it, Jack forgot everything else. A smart “topsail” breeze was -blowing, and under it the schooner swiftly bore down on the island. - -The boys saw rough, jagged cliffs shooting up from a sea of the -deepest azure blue. The cliffs bunched as they rose, and the island -appeared to rise in a sort of cone in the center. It looked gloomy -and inhospitable. Even at a distance they could see the white spray -as the waves broke against the steep cliffs. - -“Look,” cried Jack suddenly, “there’s what gives the island its -name, I guess.” - -At the summit of the highest point of the island could now be seen a -lone tree. It looked as if it were dead and stretched out its naked -branches against the sky. - -Cap’n Toby was fairly dancing with excitement. - -“It’s the place, the place,” he kept shouting, “there’s the lone -tree, there are the cliffs, everything is just as Cap’n Walters said -it was.” - -“It’s a mournful-looking place,” commented Jack. - -“What difference, lad,” was Uncle Toby’s retort, “all we’ve got to -do is to land, get the stone chest and then yo, ho! for home and -riches.” - -“I hope your schemes won’t turn out to be false hopes,” said Jack. - -“Confound it, lad, you seem to think the stone chest isn’t there.” - -“I am pretty skeptical. Any one of a thousand things might have -happened to it since Captain Walters left.” - -In an hour’s time the schooner had been brought as close in to the -island as they dared, for those unknown waters might be filled with -saw-toothed reefs and rocky shoals. Snow lay in the abysses between -the steeply sloping rocky hills that made up the interior of the -island. Scanty shrubs with dark foliage found a precarious growth in -patches. Sea birds rose in clouds as the schooner’s anchor roared -down, and flew screaming in anger or astonishment about the invader -of their solitude. - -“Come on, boys,” cried Uncle Toby, “who’s for the honor of being the -first ashore.” - -Of course there was a scramble. Raynor sought and obtained -permission for Noddy Nipper to be one of the party. It would have -broken the Bowery boy’s heart to have been left behind. Mr. Terrill, -however, to their astonishment, did not appear inclined to go -ashore. He said he had a bad headache and would lie down. - -“Very well, we’ll do the prospecting for you, eh, boys?” said Uncle -Toby heartily; but Jack flashed a suspicious look at Terrill as he -turned and went below. Then some instinct prompted him to whisper to -Raynor. The boys also sought the cabin. When they came back, their -arms were full of bundles. - -“What are those for,” inquired Cap’n Toby. - -“Oh, just by way of setting up housekeeping ashore,” returned Jack -with a laugh. - -“I can’t spare any of my men right now to row you ashore,” said -Jarrow, the squint-eyed mate, “but you can take along Merryweather -and Sherry.” - -The two revenue cutter men, who had been doing odd jobs with the -crew since their rescue, were only too glad to go along. Soon the -boat was lowered and everything ready for the landing. - -“There’s something suspicious about all this to me,” whispered Jack -to Raynor as they cast off. - -“What’s the trouble?” - -“Why, haven’t you noticed that there are none of the regular crew -with us, and that Terrill made an excuse not to go ashore. There’s -something queer at the bottom of it.” - -But no more was said just then, for Cap’n Toby, in high good humor, -was pointing out the course they must lay to the oarsmen. His aged -but keen eyes had spied a little cove that would make a good landing -place. The boat was headed for this. - -Before long they were ashore. The cove ran up inland between -frowning walls of black cliff. But there appeared to be an exit to -the interior of the island at the other end of it. - -Pulling the boat up on the beach, the adventurers set off over the -sand and were soon clambering among precipitous rocks, Jack and -Raynor helping Uncle Toby over the worst places. The old captain’s -map gave the hiding place of the stone chest as a cairn under the -dead branches of the cedar. - -Soon they were in full view of the tree and the heights on which it -stood when they emerged from the abyss, and found themselves on a -rocky plateau. From this plateau there rose what may be compared to -a mesa on the western plains. It was a miniature table mountain with -a flat top. On the summit was the cedar tree and, if Uncle Toby’s -hopes were not doomed to be dashed, the stone cairn and the treasure -chest. - -“That cedar tree never grew there,” declared Jack, looking up the -sheer cliffs at the mournful bare branches of the lone tree. - -“No, Cap’n Walters always reckoned it was set up there by the people -who had the treasure. They said it was a guide, he figgered,” said -Uncle Toby. - -“What is supposed to be the origin of the treasure?” asked Raynor. - -“Cap’n Walters allowed that hundreds of years ago the old Vikings -from Norseland came over here and found some sort of gold diggings. -At any rate, the treasure consists, in a large measure, of beaten -gold bracelets and breastplates and so forth. You know scientists -say that there wasn’t always as much ice up here as there is to-day. -They say the world’s axis has shifted a bit.” - -“I’ve heard that,” said Jack, “but these blonde esquimaux, did the -captain figure that they descended from the old Norsemen?” - -“He didn’t know nothing about that,” was Cap’n Toby’s reply, “but it -sounds reasonable when you come ter think of it.” - -“What’s puzzling me is how we are to get to the top of that -plateau,” said Jack, after a few minutes. - -Uncle Toby drew out his map. He studied it for a minute. Then his -face cleared. - -“That stuck me, too, for a minute,” he said. “Nothing but a fly -could scale those cliffs. But see here, the map shows that on the -other side there is a sort of natural rock bridge connecting Cedar -Mountain, as we might call it, with the rest of the island.” - -“That’s so,” said Jack, “well, let’s go round and take a look.” - -It was a tortuous path they had to follow, avoiding big boulders and -huge rocks that were strewn about as though titans had been playing -marbles with them. But at last they worked round to the other side -of Cedar Mountain, as Uncle Toby had christened it. - -Then a simultaneous cry of dismay broke from the lips of the entire -party. - -The rock bridge was gone! - -The jagged edges where it had once spanned a deep gulch could be -seen, but either the disintegration of the rock or some convulsion -of nature had destroyed it. Cedar Mountain, with its steeply -sloping, unsurmountable sides, was cut off from the rest of the -island. It was, in fact, an unattainable island within an island. - -“Stumped!” grunted Uncle Toby. - -In his bitter disappointment he could find no more to say. The rest -of the party exchanged blank looks. - -“I guess the treasure is safe for all time from intruding hands,” -said Jack softly. “I’m sorry, Uncle Toby.” - -But the old man now began to bemoan his fate. He stumped his wooden -leg. He swore, something Jack had never heard him do before. He -shook his fists at the sky. For the time being he was a madman. - -When he quieted down a little they began the wearisome trip back to -the cove where they had left the boat. It seemed an endless trip, -but at length they reached it. - -“Now to get back to the schooner and break the news,” said Jack. -“Won’t Terrill be mad--Jee-hosh--a--phat, where is the schooner?” - -Where, indeed? The anchorage where she had lain when they last saw -her was empty. No vessel was in sight. Suddenly Merryweather broke -into a shout. - -“There! Look there yonder off that bight of land!” he cried. - -Their eyes followed the direction in which he pointed. Angry -exclamations broke from them ally - -“The traitors! The sneaks!” exclaimed Jack chokingly. - -Off a rocky point the _Morning Star_ was tacking clearly with the -intention of rounding it. - -“They are making for the other side of the island,” continued Jack. -“Terrill’s plot to seize the treasure with the help of that rascal -crew has come to a head. But he’ll be nicely fooled. No human being -can ever scale Cedar Mountain.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII: TERROR CARSON AGAIN. - - -“Well, Jack, this is about the worst yet.” - -It was Raynor speaking. He and Jack were sitting on the sandy beach -leaning against the boat. The others were scattered about with -gloomy countenances. Cap’n Toby, utterly prostrated by this sudden -dashing of his hopes, lay face downward on the beach in silence. He -had not spoken a word since his outbreak and Jack feared for his -reason. - -“It’s pretty bad. We’ve got no food and no prospect of getting any, -not to mention water. That rat, Terrill! If I ever get my hands on -him and that treacherous Jarrow. They fooled us nicely, getting -everyone who was hostile to them off the schooner.” - -“Terrill certainly holds the whip hand over us,” agreed Raynor. “I -suppose that he’ll make us come to some sort of agreement before -he’ll let us have provisions or water.” - -“I don’t see what the agreement can be,” rejoined Jack gloomily. “We -can’t come to any concerning the treasure, for that’s on the top of -Cedar Mountain. It’s about as unattainable as the moon. If only we -had that wireless rigged, there’s a bare chance that we might pick -up help.” - -“What does it need to repair it?” inquired Raynor. - -“That unlucky stick of Pompey’s smashed the silicon of the detector, -but I have noticed traces of what looks like pyron in these rocks, -and if we could get some of that, I believe I could fix the -apparatus up.” - -“But in the meantime we starve to death,” objected Raynor. - -Jack could not but agree. He looked gloomily out at the empty sea. -Suddenly, there came a joyous shout from round one of the rocky -points that shut in the cove. It was Noddy. The next moment the -Bowery boy appeared. He was burdened down by the weight of three big -cod fish. - -“Hurray, fellers, here’s our supper,” he panted as he staggered up -to them with his burden. - -“Good for you, Noddy. Well, we shan’t go hungry, at any rate,” cried -Jack, “but how did you get the tackle?” - -“Found it in de boat. I went nosin’ aroun’ while youse guys was all -chewing der rag. I found something else in de boat too. A keg of -water and anudder of biscuits, dose big roun’ fellers dey call -sinkers.” - -“By hookey, now I come to think of it every boat on the schooner was -stocked with biscuit and water,” cried Jack. “I remember hearing -Uncle Toby talk about it. It’s a maritime law to keep boats -provisioned, but I guess it’s more honored in the breach than in the -observance.” - -The spirits of all rose greatly at the prospect of food. Even -Captain Toby sat up and ate his share of broiled codfish and -biscuit. But the old man gazed about him in a vacant way and kept -mumbling to himself, and whimpering like a child over his -misfortunes. - -“I’m afraid his mind is affected,” Jack breathed to Raynor. Indeed, -it appeared so. - -Supper was over and darkness had set in. But they managed to keep -warmth and light about the camping place by kindling a big fire of -brushwood. They were thinking of turning in and trying to sleep, -although it was bitter cold outside the immediate vicinity of the -fire, and they had no blankets, when there came a sound from seaward -that startled them all. - -“Ahoy! Who are you?” - -“It’s some of that rascally Jarrow crew up to some trick,” declared -Sherry, “don’t answer them.” - -“It doesn’t sound like them,” said Jack hesitatingly. - -“Seems to me I know that voice,” said Raynor, “I’ve heard----” - -“Ahoy, ashore there.” - -The hail came again. This time it was accompanied by the splash of -oars. - -“Boat ahoy! What do you want?” hailed Jack, cupping his hands. - -“Can we make a safe landing there?” - -“Yes, pull for the fire. But who are you?” - -“Shipwrecked sailors,” was the reply. Then there came the rapid dip -of oars, and before many minutes a boat pulled into the glare of -light cast by the fire. The boys ran forward as three men staggered -out of the craft, showing signs of exhaustion. At sight of the first -of the newcomers, Raynor uttered a shout of astonishment. - -It was Terror Carson. The men with him were O’Brien, the Irish -helmsman and another named Tewson. - -“Captain Carson!” exclaimed Raynor. The other started back at the -sound of his name. He stared as if he had beheld an apparition from -the grave. - -“Great heavens! it’s young Raynor!” he gasped out. - -“Yes, Raynor, whom you left to die on the wreck of the _Polly Ann_,” -said the boy sternly. - -“An’ here’s anudder of yer chickens come home ter roost,” exclaimed -Noddy Nipper, stepping up, “you’re a nice one, you are. You look as -if you’d bin havin’ a pretty tough time, an’ you deserve it, too. - -“Where are the rest of your crew? In other boats?” asked Raynor. - -“Gone, all gone,” moaned Carson weakly. “Lost in a storm which -overwhelmed us. There were ten men in this boat, but they all died -or went mad but myself and these two. We were just about giving up -when we saw the light of this fire and made for it. It’s--it’s like -a judgment upon me.” - -He sank down on the bench and covered his face with his hands. - -“Have you anything that would bring a dead man to life like a bite -of biscuit or sup of water at all, at all?” asked O’Brien. - -“We are almost dead,” said Tewson huskily. - -The boys, scoundrel though they knew Carson to be, could not but -furnish him with food and drink. The man’s physique was so superb -that, despite his sufferings in the boat, after his refreshment he -was able to sit up, and talk of his adventures. O’Brien and Tewson, -however, sank into a deep sleep of exhaustion. - -“How did you come to this island?” asked Carson at length. - -Jack explained and added: - -“You see, your rescuers are almost as badly off as you are. The -rascal Terrill----” - -“Hold on,” cried Carson, “that name again!” - -“Terrill--Rufus Terrill of Terrill & Co.,” said Jack. “Do you know -him?” - -“Know him?” repeated Carson bitterly. “He was the cause of all my -misfortunes. He made me what I am, an outlaw and a seal poacher. He -is the biggest rascal unhung.” - -“Tell us about it,” urged Jack. - -Carson breathed hard as if laboring under some strong emotion. - -“So Rufus Terrill is here, here on this island, is he?” he muttered. -“Strange that fate should bring us face to face in this place. I was -an honest man when I met Terrill. I had been a sea captain in the -West India trade. I owned my own ship and had a happy home and a -pretty young wife. Terrill wanted me to do some dishonest work for -him by wrecking a ship that was heavily insured. I refused. Then -came a time when misfortune overwhelmed me. I lost my ship in a -tropical hurricane. I returned home to find my wife had died of a -fever. I was desperate and Terrill found me an easy tool, for I was -half out of my mind. - -“Then came discovery of the insurance plot by the underwriters. -Terrill got clever lawyers and they fixed the blame on me. In the -meantime Terrill had given me money to keep out of the country. When -I learned the trick he had played on me I didn’t care what became of -me. I invested what money I had in a seal poaching venture with a -bad character known as Olaf Larsen. Larsen was killed by a chance -shot when a British cruiser chased us. I was captured but escaped, -and then fitted out the _Polly Ann_. I have sailed her ever since, -till--till for my sins she was lost. Oh! if only I could begin over -again, but it is too late, too late.” - -“It is never too late to mend,” cited Jack, “perhaps, if ever we -escape from this predicament, I can help you. I would be willing -to.” - -“And I, too,” said Raynor, stretching out his hand. - -Tears filled Terror Carson’s eyes. His voice shook as he said: - -“I heard a preacher feller once talking about coals of fire. Now I -know what he meant.” - -Soon after they all turned in. All, that is, but Carson. The last -thing that Jack saw, as he dropped off into slumber, was the giant -form of the seal poacher outlined blackly against the firelight. His -head was sunk on his breast. His brawny arms folded. He stood -motionless as a statue gazing into the embers as if he read his -wild, rough past in the glowing coals. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV: A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. - - -Jack was astir betimes. The fire had died down and the chill -awakened him. Carson lay asleep at last, curled up in the lee of his -boat. Jack walked down to inspect the craft. It was a good-looking -whale boat. - -“If only we had enough provisions,” he mused, “we might get away in -her.” - -Apparently the boat had been used for whaling as well as sealing, -for, neatly coiled in a tub, in the bow, was a coil of the finest -and strongest manilla rope, the quality used for whaling, which is -strong enough to stand almost any strain. - -Jack looked idly at the rope for some time, his thoughts far away. -But suddenly, for no reason that he could fathom, a sudden -inspiration struck him. - -“Hookey!” he exclaimed, “I know how I can get to the top of that -plateau and fool Terrill and all that gang. If the food problem were -settled I’d do it as soon as possible.” - -He looked seaward. To his surprise, within the few minutes that he -had been staring at the whale boat, a new object had floated into -view. It was a small boat bobbing up and down on the tiny waves, for -the sea was very calm. - -“Well, that’s queer,” thought Jack, “looks like one of the _Morning -Star’s_ boats, too. And she’s loaded with something. I guess I’ll -row out and take a look at her.” - -He roused Raynor and soon the two boys, in the boat they had landed -in the day before, were rowing off to the strange craft. In a short -time they were alongside. Nailed to the bow was a scrap of paper. On -it was writing. But it was a hard hand to decipher. Finally, -however, Jack made it out. - -“It’s from Pompey, that good old black soul,” he cried. “He says he -can’t bear to think of us starving, so he stole some food while the -crew was carousing, and two kegs of water, and put them in this -boat, which lay alongside. He says that he overheard the mate saying -that there was a strong current all around the island so that he -hopes the boat will drift round our way.” - -“Good for him,” cried Raynor. “He’s got a real white heart, if his -skin is black. See here, Jack, hams, potatoes, onions, all kinds of -canned stuff. Why, he must have made a terrible raid on the -provisions.” - -“I hope he doesn’t get into trouble,” said Jack soberly, as he made -fast a rope to the other boat and the boys towed it ashore. A hearty -breakfast was enjoyed by all. The more so because it was unexpected. -After the meal was over, Jack had an announcement to make. - -“Folks,” he said, “one of our problems is solved. But we have still -another on our hands. We cannot leave the island until we regain -possession of the schooner. Has anyone any suggestions to offer?” - -None had just then except Uncle Toby, whose lips moved and head -wagged, but only inarticulate sounds came forth. - -“Then I declare this meeting adjourned,” said Jack. “Come on,” he -added to Raynor, “we’ve got a lot of work on.” - -Jack chipped several specimens of what he believed to be pyron from -the rocks. Pyron does not make as good a detector as silicon, still -he believed it would serve to repair the apparatus. After some -tinkering he said that he thought he had made the device efficient -once more. - -Luckily, the boat from the _Morning Star_ had a saw, hammer and -nails on board as part of the emergency kit. Jack got these out and -then he and Raynor went into executive session with canvas, stripped -from the locker covering, and long strips of wood pried from the -gunwale of the boat. All morning they kept up a great sawing and -hammering, and by noon had produced an odd-looking contrivance. It -was a paralleloeram of thin strips of wood with a square box of -canvas at each end. - -After a hasty bite, Jack announced that he and Raynor were going off -for a tramp. First, however, Jack borrowed Noddy’s fishing line, -which was about two hundred feet long. Leaving the camp much -mystified as to their errand, they set off up the gulch, carrying -with them the odd-looking object they had devoted the morning to -constructing. To make no further mystery of it, the object was a box -kite. It is true it was a clumsy one, but a brisk breeze was blowing -and Jack believed it would fly. - -“And so you really think you are going to get to the top of Cedar -Mountain?” asked Raynor dubiously, as they trudged along. - -“I know I am,” laughed Jack. - -“You are pretty confident. Of course, I don’t know half of your plan -yet, though.” - -“Well, here’s the machinery,” said Jack, indicating the box kite. - -“It will never carry you up, even if the risk wasn’t too great to -attempt it,” said Raynor, who believed that Jack meant to hang on to -the kite and be borne to the top of Cedar Mountain that way. - -Jack chuckled. - -“There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it to death with -cream,” replied he. - -At last they reached the foot of Cedar Mountain. Its walls rose -steeply, almost menacingly, as if daring anyone to penetrate its -secrets. Jack walked along till he found a point where the walls -were lower than at other portions of the cliff face. - -“Now then,” said Jack, “let’s find out how the wind blows.” - -He moistened his hand and held it up. - -“Good! It’s out of just the right direction.” - -He proceeded to tie the string--the erstwhile fishing line--to the -kite. Raynor watched him, and suddenly broke in. - -“Say, you’re putting a double string on. Scared one won’t hold it?” - -“That double string is the secret of the whole thing,” smiled Jack. -“Now just try some watchful waiting and you’ll see--what you will -see.” - -When the string was attached, Jack told Raynor to hold it up at a -distance. - -“Go,” cried Jack; and ran back a bit. The clumsily made flyer began -to mount in the air even better than he had hoped it would. The kite -rose above the summit of the rocky wall, above the naked old cedar -growing close to its edge. Jack began to maneuver the kite -carefully. You are to remember that the double string hung down from -it like an inverted V. At last, after much patient work, he managed -to get the point of the V over the bare trunk of the cedar in such a -way that an equal amount of string hung down on both sides. - -Then, very carefully, Jack started to haul the kite down while -Raynor held one of the ends taut so that it would not slip back. -Jack soon had the kite on the ground, and there was a loop round the -tree on the summit of the Cedar Mountain, and two ends on the -ground. - -“I see it now,” cried Raynor enthusiastically, “but you can’t haul -yourself up on this string.” - -“I don’t mean to. I know where there is plenty of stout rope. Now -we’ll go back to the cove and get the bunch, and before long we’ll -know if the stone chest is a myth or a reality. I didn’t want to let -them come along till I was sure my little device would work.” - -“Jack, you are a wonder!” exclaimed Raynor. - -Half an hour later an expectant group stood at the foot of the cliff -under the bare old cedar on the summit. Even Uncle Toby was there, -gazing with his lack-luster eyes at the proceedings. Jack tied one -end of the strong, pliant whale rope to one of the pendant ends of -string. Then he began pulling on the unattached end. Steadily the -rope mounted as he reeled in the string hand over hand. Before very -long a loop of stout harpoon rope, instead of string, was round the -cedar trunk. - -“I knew Jack would do it!” exclaimed Raynor. - -“He’s de clear quill all right, all right!” ejaculated the Bowery -boy with no less delight. - -“Now then, boys,” said Jack, making a big loop in one end of the -rope and seating himself in it, “I’m going to get you to haul me up -there.” - -“Great alligators, spos’in de tree pulls out,” gasped Noddy, his -face white under its freckles. - -“I’m going to take a chance on that,” said Jack. “Lay hold -everybody. Now then--pull--easy now!” - -Brawny arms laid hold of the rope and began to walk away with it. - -Jack began to mount slowly into the air, using his knees to keep -from being dashed against the cliff face as the rope oscillated. - -It was a fearful trip. But the boy’s eyes shone with triumph as he -slowly ascended. - -He had only one fear. Would the tree trunk hold fast? If it did -not--Jack did not dare to look downward as this thought came into -his mind. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV: THE TREASURE. - - -That was a dizzy and nerve-racking elevator. At the end of the -rising rope Jack swung about like a pendulum. At last the edge of -the summit was almost reached. - -“Steady on,” called down Jack, “I’ll climb the rest of the way,” for -he had noticed that it was not a hard scramble, from the point he -had reached, to the top. - -After a short struggle, he clambered and writhed himself to safety. -Then he lay flat on his face for a moment on the flat top of the -table mountain, regaining his breath and collecting his faculties. - -After a while he rose. He looked over the brink and waved his cap to -those below. The sound of a faint cheer was wafted up to him. Jack -shouted back. - -Then he turned his face upon the surface of the summit of Cedar -Mountain. It was not perfectly flat as he had imagined from below. -Rocky mounds covered it in every direction. Some struggling bushes -and stunted trees also grew there. - -From his point of vantage, Jack had an excellent view of the island -and the sea for miles. - -At almost his first glance about him, he detected the schooner lying -in a small bay on the opposite side of the island to the cove. On -the beach he spied what appeared to be a camp. A boat was plying -between the schooner and the shore. - -“I wonder if they have found out yet that the treasure, if it’s here -at all, is ungettable,” murmured Jack. - -He used caution in going about the top of the mountain after that, -crouching behind rocky mounds to avoid being seen from the schooner -or Terrill’s camp. - -The “island in the air,” as it might have been fittingly called, was -filled with deep crannies, in some of which snow still lay. To have -fallen down one of them would have meant a miserable, lingering -death, without possibility of rescue. - -“Well, this is a unique adventure,” thought Jack. “Even if there is -no stone chest, it will have been well worth the experience.” - -He made for the great dead cedar by a circuitous route. His heart -beat a little faster as, at its foot, he saw there had been erected -a rough stone cairn. - -“That makes part of the story true at any rate,” he reflected, “but -I see no sign of the chest.” - -The boy did not feel much disappointment. He had distrusted the -story right along. So that he was not downcast to find that he had -drawn a blank. There was no trace of a stone chest, or anything even -remotely resembling it anywhere. - -“Euchred!” murmured the boy, “poor Uncle Toby!” - -There came a sudden shout from below. The lad rushed to the edge of -the cliff and looked over. What he saw gave him an unpleasant shock. -Unperceived by him, three canoes had landed on the east end of the -island. - -Their occupants, wild looking Esquimaux, had stolen up unobserved on -the party below. From his post of vantage, Jack saw Carson snatch -out a pistol and fire point-blank into the onrush of natives, who -brandished spears and clubs. Sherry and Merryweather, too, covered -the retreat of the rest with their service revolvers which they had -brought from the revenue cutter. - -Three of the Esquimaux fell. The rest faltered. They had no -firearms. Jack saw Carson, Sherry and Merryweather fire above the -natives’ heads to scare them. The ruse succeeded. Picking up two of -the wounded, they made a wild dash for the canoes. The white men -picked up the third wounded man and Jack saw them giving him some -sort of stimulants and examining his injury. It was not serious, for -the man was soon on his feet and apparently imploring the white men -not to kill him. The canoes of the others were already putting as -great a distance between the island and themselves as possible. - -Jack hailed the party below and was soon lowered. His news was a -distinct blow to them all. But Uncle Toby took it apathetically. -Nothing appeared to disturb him now. Jack asked him for the map, and -laid it out on a stone to examine it. It was crudely drawn with a -rough picture of the stone chest in one corner. - -The Esquimaux, who, it appeared, had not been wounded at all but was -merely scared into falling flat on the ground, began jabbering -wildly as he saw it. Jack noted that the man’s complexion, though -dirty, was fairer than he had imagined an Esquimaux’s skin would be -and then, too, the man’s hair was distinctly yellowish in color. He -was without doubt one of the famous blonde Esquimaux, the tribe of -mystery. - -Carson, who could speak the dialect, began putting quick, sharp -questions. The man answered, pointing upward at the cedar tree. -Carson seemed strangely excited. He turned to Jack. - -“You and I and this Esquimaux are going up there to the top of Cedar -Mountain,” he said. - -“Why, does he know anything about the stone chest?” asked Jack, his -heart giving a bound. - -“He says he does, but he may be lying. We’ll give him a chance to -prove what he says.” - -Carson was pulled up first, and then weighted the loop in the rope -with a heavy rock and sent it down. Then came the Esquimaux’s turn. -He was badly frightened but seemed to be under the impression that -he would be killed if he didn’t go, so consented to be hauled up. -Jack went last. - -At length they all stood on the summit. The Esquimaux began talking -rapidly. He drew a stone hatchet from his skin-clad body and -advanced swiftly to the tree. He inserted his hatchet in a crack in -the thickest part of the trunk. - - -[Illustration: Within the trunk Jack caught a glimpse of a large, -square box.] - - -A door was disclosed. - -“Great guns! The beggar wasn’t lying!” breathed Carson tensely. - -Jack peered into the hollow of the trunk. The Esquimaux gave a -guttural grunt and pointed. Within the trunk Jack caught a glimpse -of a large, square box of some sort. It had metal hinges. The -Esquimaux pried it open with his hatchet. - -A dull gleam of gold shone from it. - -“Uncle Toby was right after all!” cried Jack. - - * * * * * - -It was the next morning. All the adventurers were bending over a -great heap of golden cups, bowls, breastplates, and other articles, -beaten by some unknown and long-vanished race from virgin gold. What -the pile of precious metal was worth none of them could estimate, -for besides the contents of the stone chest, many other valuable -articles had been found in the trunk of the tree. - -But what gladdened Jack’s heart more than the finding of the -treasure, was the fact that, Uncle Toby, with its discovery, had -been restored to his senses. The golden articles were carefully -counted and inventoried. Then the Esquimaux was given his liberty in -one of the boats, a present which delighted him, and was also -presented with a number of knick-knacks with which he told Carson he -could buy the richest wife of his tribe. - -The pile of gold was carefully covered up with canvas and, curiously -enough, it was not till that had been done and an inventory checked -up that any of them thought of the momentous question of how they -were going to get back to civilization. After a long discussion, it -was decided that that night they would take the boat and reconnoiter -the schooner. If it was possible to retake her they would, and thus -be in a position to dictate terms to Terrill and Company. - -During the afternoon Jack set up the wireless apparatus, stringing -his aërials from a stout bush far up the cliff side. Then he began -to send messages. He was in the midst of this work when there was a -sudden stir in the camp. Three newcomers were approaching down the -gulch. - -They were Terrill, Jarrow and another of the crew. Terrill looked -crestfallen. Jarrow carried a handkerchief tied to a stick as a -token of truce. - -He noticed the hostile looks cast at him and held up one of his -bony-fingered hands deprecatingly. - -“I have come in peace,” he said in a sanctimonious voice. - -“You precious rascal, I’d like to see you go away in pieces,” roared -Uncle Toby, who was with difficulty restrained from rushing at the -oily rascal. - -“We all of us make mistakes,” muttered Jarrow, rolling his squinting -eye horribly. “I’m thinking we all made a big mistake in ever coming -here.” - -“Yes, Captain Ready,” said Terrill, “there is no chance of ever -reaching the top of that cedar plateau. The treasure is secure from -us both. We will reach an amicable agreement. You give me notes to -pay half the expenses of this cruise, and we will sail for home -to-day.” - -Uncle Toby burst into a loud laugh. - -“Fer a slick feller, Terrill, you’ve got yourself inter as nice a -corner as ever a man did,” he chuckled, “so now, after trying your -best to cheat us and leaving us here to starve fer all you know, you -try to get me to sign notes for half of a business venture that you -went into with your foxy eyes wide open and intendin’ to swindle me? -I’ll see you rot on this island first.” - -“Confound you!” shrieked Terrill, “it’s you that are the swindler. -You landed me in this out of the way place. If the treasure is -there, it’s impossible to get it without an aeroplane.” - -“You’ll go up in ther air yerself in a minute if yer don’t watch -out,” grinned Noddy. - -There came a shout from Jack at the wireless. - -“I’ve got the _Thespis_. Hurray!” he cried. - -They all, even Terrill and his companions, gazed at the boy in -silent concentration. - -“They found fragments of the tender and thought we were all lost,” -he continued. “Captain Simms congratulates us all. He will make full -speed for this island at once.” - -A deep-throated cheer greeted this announcement. All took part in it -but Terrill and Carson. Terrill was staring at the seal poacher, -whom he had just recognized, as if he had seen a ghost. Carson was -the first to find his voice. - -“So you know me, Mr. Terrill, eh?” he grated out. “Well, when that -United States vessel reaches here, I’m going to tell all I know -about that insurance swindle of yours that drove me to be an -outlaw.” - -“Don’t dare to threaten me,” shrieked Terrill, “you yourself are -being sought for as a seal-poacher. The revenue men will be glad to -get you.” - -Carson made a rush for Terrill, who shrank back terrified, but -Sherry and Merryweather held back the maddened sailor with their -stout arms. - -“I--er--that is, we must be going,” stammered Terrill. “Come, -Jarrow. Captain Ready, since there is no treasure to be got and we -are in the possession of the schooner with a much stronger force for -me than you, I hope you will come to terms before to-night.” - -“Consarn you, I’d die on this desarted island afore I’d come to -terms with a rascal of your stripe,” shouted Uncle Toby. “There’ll -be some of Uncle Sam’s boys here afore long and they can deal with -you.” - -Terrill turned fairly green at this. Without another word he walked -off up the cove, followed by Jarrow and the other man. Three hours -later our party of adventurers saw the schooner rounding the point -and heading southward. - -Terrill had carried out his threat, which they were powerless to -check, for they were much the smaller party and the schooner carried -guns and rifles. But as the sailing craft wore toward the horizon, a -sudden cloud of smoke appeared. Jack sprang to the wireless. In a -few seconds he was able to tell them that the smoke heralded the -approach of the _Thespis_. - -A moment later the _Thespis_ was in possession of the facts -concerning the larceny of the schooner and was steaming to intercept -her. Terrill, of course, did not dare to fight a revenue cutter, and -the schooner was turned back to the island. Both craft anchored off -the cove about sun down. - -There was a joyous reunion between Jack and his officers and the -crew, with whom he was a general favorite; Sherry and Merryweather -came in for their share of interest and commendation. - -They sat up late in Captain Simms’ cabin telling their stories, and -the gold and plate were transferred to the specie room of the -revenue craft. - -The news was broken to Terrill the next day by Uncle Toby. For a -time it appeared as if the rapacious rascal would go mad. When he -had quieted down, Uncle Toby agreed to pay him for the entire -expenses of the expedition. - -“The rest of the debt I reckon you wiped out yerself,” chuckled the -old mariner. - -“I’ll sue you,” shrieked Terrill. - -“Go ahead. I’ve got nothing to fear in a court of law. I guess your -case is different,” replied Uncle Toby imperturbably. - -Escorted by the _Thespis_, which had been relieved from iceberg -patrol duty for that year, the _Morning Star_, with Terrill a -practical prisoner on board, made a quick run back to St. Johns, N. -S., the nearest port. Both Terrill and Jarrow vanished soon after -landing, and a few days later there was a vacant suite of offices in -the building where Terrill & Co. had once hatched their shady -schemes. - -The gold plate and relics turned out to be immensely valuable and -all concerned in the expedition shared Uncle Toby’s generosity, -including Noddy Nipper and Pompey. Noddy set up a news stand, which -is making good money and Pompey started a colored restaurant where -the chocolate-colored élite of New York gather. He never tires of -telling them of his adventures, nor do they suffer in the telling. - -Captain Carson was “set on his feet” by Uncle Toby, having escaped -punishment through the mercy of the authorities. He is now part -owner of a fine schooner trading between Boston and the West Indies. -Captain Toby was urged by his friends to purchase a conventional -residence on his accession to fortune, but he still lives on board -the old _Venus_. He says he would not feel at home anywhere else. - -As for Jack and Raynor, after a fine time ashore, with plenty of -money to spend after their good luck in the Arctic, they soon began -to pine again for active life. To Jack, existence ashore, even with -the society of pretty Helen Dennis, began to pall, after the many -adventures he had encountered. - -But how he gained another step upward toward his ambition in life, -and what further experiences lay before him must be saved for the -telling in another volume. And here let us leave them, satisfied -that in the future all will be well with Uncle Toby’s companions in -the search for the stone chest, and the hardy members of the Iceberg -Patrol. - -THE END. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OCEAN WIRELESS BOYS OF THE -ICEBERG PATROL *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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