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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77580 ***
+
+
+
+
+LOST IN THE LAND OF ICE
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: “HE MEASURED HIS DISTANCE AND DOVE STRAIGHT INTO THE
+SPUME.”]
+
+
+
+
+  _LOST IN
+  THE LAND OF ICE
+  OR
+  Daring Adventures Around
+  the South Pole_
+
+  _BY_
+  Captain Ralph Bonehill
+
+  Author of “Boys of the Fort,” “For the Liberty of
+  Texas,” “Tour of the Zero Club,” etc.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  A. WESSELS COMPANY
+  _1902_
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1902,
+  by A. WESSELS CO.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+“Lost in the Land of Ice” relates the adventures of a boy and a young
+man who, in company with a sturdy ship’s crew, go in search of a lost
+treasure ship said to be cast away somewhere in the region of the South
+Pole. Fortunately the young man who plays such an important part in the
+narrative is rich, hence the fitting out of the expedition becomes a
+comparatively easy matter. But enemies hear of the lost treasure ship
+and also go in quest of it, and this results in scenes of peril not
+altogether due to natural causes.
+
+My main object in writing this tale was to acquaint young readers with
+something of the wonders of the region around the South Pole. While
+numerous expeditions have been sent north and volumes upon volumes
+have been written concerning these trips, hardly any expeditions have
+gone south, and the Land of Desolation, so called, is almost as much
+of a mystery to-day as it was a century ago, the nearest approach to
+the Pole being made by Sir James Clark Ross in 1842, and this being
+but little closer than the approach by Wendell, in 1823. It is indeed
+a Land of Desolation, yet to-day scientists and daring explorers are
+accomplishing so much that I believe the near future will see the
+mystery of both the South and the North Pole cleared away, in spite of
+the ice, the intense cold, and other drawbacks.
+
+In placing this new story in the hands of my youthful readers, I thank
+them for their appreciation of my former efforts to interest them and
+trust this volume will fulfil their every expectation.
+
+                                               CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                    PAGE
+
+       I. THE COLD-STORAGE WAREHOUSE,                           7
+
+      II. BARRY TO THE RESCUE,                                 15
+
+     III. BOB’S REMARKABLE STORY,                              21
+
+      IV. BOB AND A CAKE OF ICE,                               29
+
+       V. CAPTAIN FENLICK,                                     35
+
+      VI. IN THE GRASP OF THE ENEMY,                           40
+
+     VII. CAPTAIN FENLICK TRIES TO MAKE TERMS,                 49
+
+    VIII. THE ATTACK IN THE ALLEY,                             56
+
+      IX. A PRISONER ON THE VIXEN,                             63
+
+       X. “CROWD ON ALL STEAM!”                                71
+
+      XI. AN ADVENTURE IN THE FOG,                             79
+
+     XII. OFF FOR SOUTH AMERICA,                               87
+
+    XIII. WHAT HAPPENED AT PERNAMBUCO,                         96
+
+     XIV. FIVE STOWAWAYS,                                     103
+
+      XV. SOMETHING ABOUT A PISTOL,                           109
+
+     XVI. THE PRISONERS IN THE HOLD,                          117
+
+    XVII. THE WILD PATAGONIANS,                               124
+
+   XVIII. CAPTAIN GORDON’S OFFER,                             132
+
+     XIX. “WE MUST FIGHT!”                                    141
+
+      XX. A STRANGE MEETING ON THE BEACH,                     148
+
+     XXI. ADRIFT IN A STORM,                                  156
+
+    XXII. THE CONTEST FOR THE ARROW,                          164
+
+   XXIII. THE VOYAGE IS CONTINUED,                            172
+
+    XXIV. THREE POLAR BEARS,                                  180
+
+     XXV. CAST AWAY IN THE ICE,                               187
+
+    XXVI. ADVENTURES ON THE BIG ICEBERG,                      193
+
+   XXVII. FROM ONE DIFFICULTY TO ANOTHER,                     199
+
+  XXVIII. UP INTO THE AIR,                                    206
+
+    XXIX. “THE SHIP! THE SHIP!”                               212
+
+     XXX. THE MAGNETISM OF THE SOUTH POLE,                    221
+
+    XXXI. MEETING OF FATHER AND SON,                          228
+
+   XXXII. HOME AGAIN--CONCLUSION,                             235
+
+
+
+
+LOST IN THE LAND OF ICE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COLD-STORAGE WAREHOUSE
+
+
+Dong! dong! dong! dong!
+
+Loud and clear through the midnight air rang the warning gong of
+a long hook-and-ladder truck as the machine bowled along over the
+granite-block pavement of one of the lower streets of the city of New
+York.
+
+The hour was well past midnight, yet New York never sleeps, and the
+streets were more or less alive with people, some going to their early
+work, others returning from a half night of pleasure.
+
+Dong! dong! dong! dong!
+
+Down past the Astor House on Broadway swept the heavy truck, filled
+with swaying firemen, who clung fast like so many monkeys as they
+donned their rubber coats and boots. Five minutes before, most of them
+had been sleeping on their cots in the truck house, half a dozen blocks
+away. But now every man was wide awake and ready to do his duty to the
+utmost, no matter what the peril.
+
+Dong! dong! dong! dong!
+
+The long truck swept around the corner of Vesey street, and as it did
+so the clanging of the gong awoke many of the sleepers in the hotel
+with a start.
+
+“What’s the matter?”
+
+“Where is the fire?”
+
+“Is the hotel burning?”
+
+Such were some of the questions asked, as those in the rooms either ran
+into the hallway or craned their heads out of the many windows of the
+second, third, and fourth stories of the hotel.
+
+“No danger here,” was the reply, which was quickly circulated. “The
+fire is at the Powell cold-storage warehouse, two blocks below here.”
+
+“The Powell cold-storage warehouse,” repeated a tall and handsome
+youth, who was occupying an elegantly furnished apartment on the second
+floor. “You are sure of that?”
+
+“Yes, sah,” replied the hallman.
+
+“Then I’m going to dress and go to it,” went on Barry Filmore. “I am
+interested in that plant.”
+
+“If you is, I’d be sorry to see it burn down,” remarked the hallman,
+for he had received many a generous tip from rich Barry Filmore, and he
+liked the young man very much.
+
+“Oh, it’s insured, or at least it ought to be,” answered Barry;
+“although old Powell is such a queer stick, there is no telling what he
+is up to, half the time.” And he began to haul on his clothing with all
+speed.
+
+Barry Filmore was a youth of nineteen, tall, strong, good looking,
+and well liked by all who knew him. He was the orphan son of a former
+Brooklyn millionaire, and at the death of his parents, three years
+previous to the opening of this story, had been placed in the care
+of Jasper Powell, a peculiar old man, who was at the head of the
+Powell Cold Storage Warehouse Company, and who was also the inventor
+of several systems of cold storage and refrigerating, in use both in
+warehouses and on freight trains.
+
+Barry did not like Powell because of his peculiar ways; yet as the old
+man let him do very nearly as he pleased, the youth found little cause
+to complain. Powell was a bachelor, living at a cheap hotel on the east
+side. Barry did not live with him, but instead put up either at one
+of the leading hotels or on board of his own private steam yacht, the
+Arrow. The Arrow had been left to Barry by his father, who had also, by
+the terms of his will, left his only son two hundred dollars per month
+for living expenses until he should become twenty-one, when he was to
+inherit the whole of the Filmore fortune, less ten thousand dollars,
+which was to go to Jasper Powell for his services as executor.
+
+When Barry reached the street he found it crowded with people, all
+rushing in the direction of the fire. A steam engine had gone on ahead
+and now another followed, and then came a patrol wagon with several
+special policemen.
+
+The Powell cold-storage warehouse was situated in the middle of a
+block, with other warehouses on either side of it. When Barry reached
+the vicinity, flames were shooting from the windows of the first floor,
+and thick, black smoke was puffing out from many windows above and from
+the roof.
+
+“That building is doomed!”
+
+“The firemen will be lucky if they save the buildings on both sides!”
+
+“Where is the watchman?”
+
+So the cries ran on, as the crowd surged closer and closer, until the
+police drove the people back. One steamer was already at work, and now
+a second began to pour two streams into the second-story window. But
+the crackling of the flames increased, and soon it was evident that the
+fire was crawling steadily up the rear of the structure to the roof.
+
+Suddenly a wild shriek was heard, coming directly after a jingling of
+glass, and an old man with flowing white hair appeared in the frame of
+a third-story window. He had dashed out the panes of glass with his
+hands, and the blood was flowing from those members.
+
+“Save me!” he screamed. “Save me! Don’t let me die like a rat in a
+trap!”
+
+“It’s old man Powell!” uttered half a dozen voices. “What is he doing
+in the building at this time of night?”
+
+“Bring up a ladder, boys!” shouted the captain of the hook-and-ladder
+truck. “Step lively now, or we’ll be too late.”
+
+“Save me!” continued Jasper Powell, dancing around on the window sill.
+“You dogs! Why don’t you save me? You want me to burn up, don’t you?”
+Always of a peculiar turn of mind, the fire had driven him almost
+insane.
+
+The ladders were rushed forward and placed against the window, and
+up the first of them ran a truckman, followed by a fellow-fireman.
+But before the window was gained, Jasper Powell shook his fist at the
+advancing men.
+
+“No, you don’t!” he snarled. “You shan’t learn my secret! Get back!
+I’ll come down alone!” And he continued to shake his fist at the two
+firemen.
+
+“Keep cool, old man,” said the truckman, soothingly. “We’ll have you
+down, all safe and sound in a minute.”
+
+“You shan’t learn my secret, I say!” roared Jasper Powell, frantically.
+“Get back! My secret has been my own for ten years! Get back!” And
+then, as the truckman came up another step, the old man turned suddenly
+and disappeared from view.
+
+“Well, blame him for a fool!” muttered the truckman. “Come back here,
+if you want to be saved.”
+
+“He’s a goner!” yelled the crowd. “He’s gone crazy, and will rush right
+into the flames.”
+
+Barry had listened to Jasper Powell’s words with keen interest.
+
+“His secret!” he murmured. “I knew he had a secret last week, and last
+month, too, when he wouldn’t let me go near room 18. Whatever his
+secret is, it’s in room 18--and I’m going to find it out!” he added
+suddenly.
+
+He was in the front rank of spectators, and darting past a policeman,
+made straight for the doorway of the burning building. The flames had
+now found an outlet at the rear of the building, so the hallway was
+comparatively free from smoke and fire.
+
+“Hi, come back here!” yelled the officer of the law. “Do you want to be
+burnt up?”
+
+“No; and I’m not going to be burnt up!” answered Barry. “I know what I
+am doing.”
+
+“It’s sure death to go in there.”
+
+“I’ll risk it.”
+
+“Not much you won’t!” answered the policeman, and darted after Barry.
+But the youth was not to be caught, and soon a puff of smoke drove the
+bluecoat back into the street.
+
+In the course of the past few years Barry had paid the cold-storage
+warehouse many visits, and consequently he knew the building
+thoroughly. The elevator shaft was a mass of flames, but the stairs
+behind it were still untouched, and up these he went, three steps at a
+time.
+
+“Mr. Powell! Mr. Powell! Where are you?” he called out at the top of
+his lungs.
+
+No answer came back--only the crackling of the flames--and he mounted
+to the third story. He was passing through the upper hallway when he
+stumbled over something and fell headlong.
+
+“Oh!” came in a groan, and he recognized Jasper Powell’s voice. The old
+man was in a chill of fear, with his limbs trembling violently and his
+teeth chattering.
+
+“Go! leave me--leave me with my secret!” he gasped, staring wildly at
+Barry. “Go! go!”
+
+“Mr. Powell, don’t you know me!” returned the youth. “It is your ward,
+Barry Filmore.”
+
+“No! no! You are the demon of the South Pole, come to rob me of my
+secret! Begone, or the fiery furnace will open to receive you! Begone,
+I say!” And then the old man began to weep like a little child.
+
+“As mad as a March hare!” murmured Barry.
+
+“But he’s got a secret, sure!” he added mentally.
+
+“Leave me, I say!” continued Jasper Powell. “You are the demon of the
+South Pole, but the secret of the land of ice is mine--all mine! And
+the gold of the treasure ship, too! All mine--all Jasper Powell’s!
+Ha! ha!” And leaping to his feet he flourished his arms wildly before
+Barry, and then darted swiftly toward the rear of the building, where
+the flames now made all as bright as day.
+
+“Mr. Powell, come back! Please come back!” yelled Barry, hoarsely. The
+strangeness of the situation almost struck him dumb.
+
+“Come back, to be robbed of my secret? Never!” screamed the old man.
+“Farewell, and when next we meet, let it be at the South Pole!”
+
+And with one long cry which rang in Barry Filmore’s ears for days
+afterward, he rushed for the rear of the warehouse and plunged straight
+into the roaring flames, to be seen no more!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BARRY TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+“Gone!”
+
+The cold perspiration stood out upon Barry Filmore’s hot forehead as he
+gazed transfixed at the spot where Jasper Powell had disappeared.
+
+“He has committed suicide, while temporarily insane--and he has taken
+his secret with him,” thought the youth. “What an awful thing to do!”
+
+He started to go forward--to see what had actually become of the old
+man--but the flames grew hotter and he was forced to retreat.
+
+The thick, choking smoke was now swirling everywhere above his head,
+and he had to crouch low to keep from being both blinded and suffocated.
+
+As he retreated his foot struck something bright and kicked it ahead.
+
+It was a key, and to it was attached a bit of flat brass stamped with
+the number 18.
+
+“The key to that mysterious room,” thought Barry. “I wonder if I have
+time to follow up that mystery?”
+
+It was taking a big risk, for the flames were both below and behind
+him, and sweeping onward rapidly. Should he be caught, his life would
+pay the forfeit.
+
+But Barry Filmore was used to taking chances, and was bound to take
+many more even more daring--otherwise this tale would never have been
+written. He had had his own way from childhood, and when he made up his
+mind to do a thing he always did it.
+
+He knew where room 18 was located, on the floor above, almost at the
+front of the building. But could he climb those smoke-laden stairs and
+get back again before the fire should have a chance to cut him off?
+
+“Here goes, anyway!” he muttered, half desperately. “If I’m lost, what
+does it matter? Nobody will be left to mourn over my death. I guess
+some of those fourth-handed relations out West will be glad to get hold
+of my money. They never cared for me.”
+
+Up he went, swiftly but cautiously, crouching down like a whipped dog,
+that he might clear himself of the fatal smoke. Once a cloud swept over
+him and he had to shut his eyes and hold his breath. He breathed with
+difficulty and the tears ran down his cheeks like water.
+
+Crash! boom! Something in the rear had given way, and up came a shower
+of sparks, burning him on the hands and neck and setting fire to his
+coat. But he slapped the tiny fire out and rushed on, and a moment
+later took him to the door of room 18.
+
+It was the work of an instant to insert the key in the lock and open
+the door. But then Barry gave a cry of dismay, for before him he beheld
+what looked like a large empty closet.
+
+“Duped!” he muttered, when he stopped short, for the cry of a human
+voice--the voice of a boy--had reached his ears. The cry came from
+behind the opening he had discovered.
+
+“Hullo!” cried Barry. “Who are you, and where are you?”
+
+“Here I am--Bob Baxter!” was the muffled answer. “Let me out! I think
+there must be fire around here!”
+
+“Think there must be fire?” repeated Barry. “There is fire, and lots of
+it. Where are you?”
+
+“Here,” and then followed a thump on the boarding at the back of the
+closet.
+
+A closer examination showed Barry that the back of the closet formed
+a thick, packed door leading to an inner apartment--the door being
+similar to that used on a butcher’s refrigerator. The handle was
+concealed by a slide of wood, but the youth quickly uncovered it.
+
+To swing the ponderous door open was not easy, and Barry tugged and
+tussled with it for fully a minute before it yielded. When the door
+came open an icy blast reached him which caused him to shiver.
+
+The scene which met his gaze caused him to cry in amazement.
+
+In the middle of the apartment before him stood a tall, well-built
+boy of sixteen. He was clothed in nothing but a bathing suit. Around
+the left ankle of the boy was a band of iron, attached to a long iron
+chain, which was fastened to a ring in the floor. The apartment, which
+was cold, contained a cot, upon which the boy had been sleeping, a
+stand with a number of books, and two chairs. There were no windows
+to the apartment, but several ventilators, and an incandescent light
+burned close to the ceiling.
+
+“By stars! What are you doing here--and with only that bathing suit
+on?” demanded Barry, when he had recovered sufficiently to speak. “Do
+you want to freeze to death?”
+
+“I’m so glad to see somebody besides old Powell,” answered the boy, in
+an odd voice, for he was not used to speaking to any one. “I wish I
+could get away from here.”
+
+“You shall get away, and mighty quick, too. Do you know the storage
+warehouse is burning up?”
+
+“I knew it was getting warm in here, and I noticed the smoke. But how
+am I going to get away with that around my ankle?”
+
+“Doesn’t it unlock?”
+
+“Yes; but Powell has the key.”
+
+“Then it’s gone for good, for Jasper Powell has thrown himself into
+the fire. I have a bunch of keys and I’ll try to fix it. There, now you
+are free.”
+
+“I’ll never forget you for that!” cried the lad, and caught Barry by
+the arm.
+
+“Don’t talk now,” answered Barry. “We must get out, or it will be too
+late. Come.” And he led the way to the hallway.
+
+But the flames had done their work, and escape in that direction was
+completely cut off.
+
+“We will try the front windows--the firemen have ladders up,” said
+Barry. “Here, put on my overcoat.” For the night was so chilly that the
+youth had donned his light overcoat before leaving the Astor House.
+
+They ran for the front windows and Barry raised one of the sashes. A
+firemen’s ladder was just below, but it was not quite high enough.
+
+Willing hands raised up the ladder, putting on a bottom section.
+
+“Shall we come up?” asked a fireman.
+
+“No, we are all right,” answered Barry, and came out on the ladder,
+followed by the boy he had liberated. As both came down the ladder
+smoke and flames swirled all around them, but they reached the bottom
+in safety.
+
+Then what a wild cheer went up!
+
+Barry turned to his companion. “Come with me,” he said. “I have a room
+at the Astor House, only a few blocks from here. Come on,” and before
+firemen or police could stop him he had the stranger out of the crowd
+and was hurrying him up Vesey street. They entered the hotel by the
+side entrance, and a minute later were safe in Barry’s apartment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+BOB’S REMARKABLE STORY
+
+
+“Now, then, I would like to know who you are, and how you came to be
+locked up in that cold room,” said Barry, after he had taken a good
+look at the boy he had rescued.
+
+“All right, I’ll tell you anything you wish to know,” was the ready
+reply. “But say, ain’t it hot in here!” And the boy threw off the
+overcoat Barry had loaned him.
+
+“Hot!” Barry glanced at a near-by thermometer. “It’s only fifty-eight.
+I don’t call that hot.”
+
+“Old Powell kept the thermometer at thirty-five in my room.”
+
+“Thirty-five! Why that’s only three degrees above freezing!”
+
+“Right you are!”
+
+“And did he keep you there without regular clothing?”
+
+“He did. I was never allowed to put on clothing, excepting when he took
+me out for an airing in the dead of winter. Then I used to wear a light
+suit, but no underclothing.”
+
+“Gee Christopher! And what did he do that for?”
+
+“It’s a long story.” The boy paused. “Who are you?”
+
+“I am Barry Filmore, an orphan, the only son of my father, who was a
+Brooklyn millionaire. He’s dead now, and so are all of my folk. Who are
+you?”
+
+“I am Bob Baxter. My father was Professor Amos Baxter, who sailed South
+a number of years ago, to hunt for the South Pole. All of my folk are
+dead, too.”
+
+“And why was Jasper Powell keeping you in that cold room?”
+
+“He was a peculiar man, and he had a notion that he could get me so
+toughened that I would never feel the cold. And to tell the truth, I
+never do feel the cold,” went on Bob. “If you don’t mind, I’ll open the
+window and get some fresh air.”
+
+“Go ahead, and I’ll put on the overcoat,” laughed Barry, and did so.
+“Well, this is the funniest thing I ever heard of. It’s a wonder he
+didn’t freeze you stiff.”
+
+“I used to kick first, but I soon got used to it, and now I rather like
+being cold.” Bob opened the window wide and drank in the cold night
+air. “Did you say old Powell was dead?”
+
+“He must be,” and Barry gave the particulars of how the peculiar old
+man had acted. “He was a queer stick.”
+
+“I guess he deserved what he got,” was Bob’s comment. “But let me tell
+you, he knew a thing or two.”
+
+“What about?”
+
+“About lots of things--inventions and things to drink from little
+bottles to keep from starvation, and how to live so that the cold would
+not have any effect on you. He had it all planned that he and I were to
+sail for the South Pole next year, to hunt for my father who was lost,
+and to locate a strange country, said to be inhabited by a tribe of
+people unknown here.”
+
+“Was he going in secret?”
+
+“Yes. He said he would fit out an expedition at his own expense; that
+he was a millionaire.”
+
+“I guess he was going to use my millions,” answered Barry, dryly.
+“He had all his money tied up in inventions. But how did he get his
+knowledge of a strange country at the South Pole? That region has never
+yet been explored.”
+
+“I don’t know. But he had it all written in a little book, which he
+wanted me to learn by heart. Here is the book. I picked it up when I
+left the room over there and put it in the overcoat pocket.”
+
+Bob Baxter held the volume in his hand and passed it over.
+
+Barry opened it eagerly, to find that it contained half a dozen maps,
+drawn by hand in red ink, and twenty-odd pages of closely written
+manuscript.
+
+“I suppose you have studied it pretty well?” he said, as he began to
+read.
+
+“Yes; I know it thoroughly.”
+
+“And do you believe in this strange land?”
+
+“I wouldn’t like to say as to that. But I would like to take a trip
+south and learn, if possible, what became of my father and his ship,
+the Comet,” answered Bob, soberly. “You know he went south to try to
+locate a treasure ship from California, which was wrecked off the coast
+of Terra del Fuego years ago. There was a rumor that the treasure ship
+had drifted toward the South Pole and had become fast in the ice there.
+The ship had over five million dollars’ worth of gold on board.”
+
+“That would be a find worth making,” observed Barry. “But if you went
+down there you might become lost, just as your father before you.”
+
+“I’d risk that. I have no ties here, and the cold of the South Pole
+would have no terrors for me.”
+
+“Did your father leave you in Jasper Powell’s care when he sailed?”
+
+“Yes. But old Powell wasn’t so peculiar in those days.”
+
+“I know that.”
+
+“Then you knew Powell? But of course you did; otherwise you wouldn’t
+have been at the warehouse.”
+
+“Powell was my guardian, too, although he used to let me do as I
+pleased. I guess he was wrapped up in his scheme to take you to the
+South Pole and turn you loose.” Barry paused and began to smile. “Do
+you know what I think of doing?”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Of taking you down to the South Pole myself. Of course I don’t think
+we can reach the pole, but we may come close to it, and we may locate
+that treasure ship and learn what became of your father.”
+
+At the words Bob Baxter leaped up from his chair and grasped Barry by
+the hand.
+
+“Will you do it? Can you do it?” he questioned. “I am so anxious to
+find out what really did become of my father. And it would be fine if
+we could locate all that gold.”
+
+“Let me read this book thoroughly first, and study these maps,”
+answered Barry. “Luckily I always loved geography, and I know quite
+something of Cape Horn and its vicinity. But here, now you are out of
+Jasper Powell’s power, you must wear some regular clothing. Look into
+those trunks yonder and pick out what suits you.”
+
+“I can’t wear anything heavy--it would kill me,” grumbled Bob.
+Nevertheless he went to the trunks, and while Barry looked over the
+contents of the strange book, he put on some thin summer underwear and
+an equally thin suit of clothing, and likewise a pair of canvas shoes.
+
+“Here are a lot of sailor togs,” observed Bob. “Do you do much sailing?”
+
+“Occasionally--when the humor strikes me,” was the young man’s answer.
+“I own the Arrow, one of the fastest steam yachts afloat.”
+
+“Would she do for a trip south?”
+
+“Certainly, but if I was going to take her down among the ice of the
+South Pole I should want her bow steel plated, and want her frame
+re-enforced, to resist the pressure, you know.”
+
+“That would cost money.”
+
+“I wouldn’t mind the expense. I have all the money I need,” said Barry,
+carelessly.
+
+“Then let’s go; and if we locate the treasure we can whack up on it.”
+
+Barry laughed at Bob’s frankness.
+
+“You believe in getting to the point,” he remarked. “If we do go,
+it can’t be right away. I’ve got to look after my personal affairs,
+now that Jasper Powell is dead. For all I know, he may have been
+squandering my fortune on the sly and I may be a poor man.”
+
+“By the boots, I never thought of that!”
+
+“This fire is going to cause a lot of trouble all around. You haven’t
+any relatives, you say?”
+
+“Nary a relative!”
+
+“Then supposing you stay with me, Bob?”
+
+“It’s a whack, Barry--I mean Mr. Filmore.”
+
+“Barry is good enough for me. You can stay with me and I will look out
+for your interests as well as my own. I’ll place the whole case in the
+hands of a first-class lawyer to-morrow morning.”
+
+The two talked matters over for an hour longer, and then Barry, who had
+been out in his yacht half the night before, said he was too tired to
+remain up longer and went to bed, leaving Bob to rest on a luxurious
+couch near the open window. By this time the cold-storage warehouse
+had been flooded with water and the fire was out. Yet the building was
+practically a total loss.
+
+The sleep of the boy and the young man was not of long duration. At
+seven o’clock came a loud knocking on the door.
+
+“A gentleman to see you, Mr. Filmore,” said the bellboy, and Barry
+arose at once and dressed himself. The gentleman proved to be a
+detective from the nearest police precinct.
+
+“Sorry to disturb you,” said the detective. “But I----” Then he caught
+sight of Bob. “You must be the boy I am after!” he cried.
+
+“What boy are you after?” demanded Barry.
+
+“The lad who set fire to the cold-storage warehouse. Is this the boy
+who came down the ladder after you?”
+
+“It is, but----”
+
+“Then he is the rascal. Come with me.”
+
+And the detective caught Bob by the arm and held him firmly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+BOB AND A CAKE OF ICE
+
+
+For the moment Bob Baxter could not believe his ears. “I set fire to
+the warehouse?” he gasped. “It isn’t true!”
+
+“You came out of there and you didn’t belong around the place, so the
+watchman says. You’ll come to the station house with me.”
+
+“Not much I won’t!” cried Bob.
+
+And wrenching himself from the detective’s grasp, he slipped past that
+individual and made for the door.
+
+“Hi, stop!” roared the detective. “Stop, you rascal!”
+
+“Don’t run. I’ll make it all right, Bob!” called out Barry, but Bob did
+not hear the latter words, for he was already out in the hallway and
+running for the stairs. Down the steps he went, three and four at a
+time, and a minute later found him out on Broadway. He crossed to the
+post-office and then went up Park Row to the Brooklyn Bridge and out on
+the broad promenade.
+
+“They shan’t arrest me, not much!” he said to himself. “I’ve had enough
+of being locked up. Now old Powell is gone I’m going to remain a free
+boy.”
+
+He was hatless and penniless, but for this he did not care at first.
+But after reaching Brooklyn and wandering around the streets for a
+while he began to feel hungry.
+
+Presently he came to a pork-packing establishment where two icemen were
+unloading a wagon of ice. The men were working hard and doing a lot of
+sweating in the bargain.
+
+“Tough work,” said Bob. “Want any help?”
+
+“Can’t pay for help,” answered one of the men. “Don’t make wages
+enough.”
+
+“You ought to carry the ice in on your back,” went on Bob, struck with
+a sudden idea.
+
+“On our backs!” ejaculated the second iceman. “Why?”
+
+“It’s easier--if you’ll take off your coats and shirts.”
+
+“Go on!” growled the iceman. “I’ve no time for fooling.”
+
+“I’m not fooling. I always carry ice on my bare back,” grinned Bob.
+
+“I’ll bet you a dollar you can’t carry one of these cakes on your bare
+back,” put in the first man who had spoken.
+
+“Done!” cried Bob. He looked around and espied the owner of the
+pork-packing establishment. “You heard that bet, didn’t you?” he asked.
+
+“Yes, and I’ll put another dollar to it,” said the pork packer. “But
+you’ve got to keep the ice on your back for at least two minutes.”
+
+“I’ll keep it on five,” answered Bob.
+
+The scene was in the yard of the establishment, which was surrounded by
+a high board fence. Soon Bob was stripped to the waist. The news of the
+bet began to circulate and a crowd collected.
+
+“The boy will be frozen to death!”
+
+“He can’t carry that ice on his bare back any more than he can carry a
+red-hot iron plate!”
+
+So the talk ran on, but Bob paid no attention. Going to the ice wagon
+he raised up a cake weighing at least a hundred pounds and placed his
+back under it. The next instant the cake of ice was evenly balanced on
+his back, and he held it there by clasping his hands together under the
+bottom end.
+
+“There you are!” he cried. “That’s the way to carry ice on your bare
+back!” And he walked slowly toward the pork-packing establishment with
+his load.
+
+The spectators were astonished beyond measure, and the icemen could
+scarcely believe their eyes.
+
+“How does your backbone feel?” questioned the pork packer.
+
+“I’m all right, only it’s making me sweat a little,” grinned Bob. “I
+like a job like this better in the dead of winter.”
+
+“Whow!” gasped a newsboy who was witnessing the performance.
+“Dat feller must be from de Nort’ Pole! Say, wot do youse live
+on--snowballs?”
+
+“No; hailstones and icicles,” laughed Bob. He turned to the icemen.
+“Want to try it?”
+
+“Not much!” came from both.
+
+Bob kept the ice on his back for over six minutes, then dumped it at
+the bottom of the pork-establishment lift.
+
+“Now I’ll take my money,” he said quietly, and there was nothing to do
+but to pass over the two dollars which had been wagered. Soon the lad
+was in his clothing again, and then he left the neighborhood as quickly
+as possible, so that none of the crowd might follow him.
+
+“You had better do that for a turn on the variety stage,” cried one man
+after him.
+
+“No stage for me,” said Bob to himself. “I’m bound for the South Pole.”
+
+Coming past a hat store, he went in and purchased a cheap hat. Then he
+sought out a restaurant and procured a light breakfast. He was not in
+the habit of eating much, for Jasper Powell had kept him on a light
+diet for many months.
+
+After breakfast Bob began a systematic search for the Arrow, for Barry
+had told him she lay at a wharf in Brooklyn. He found the craft in the
+middle of the afternoon, and went on board, to find an Irish sailor in
+charge.
+
+“Yis, this is Mr. Barry Filmore’s yacht,” said Pat Caven, for such was
+the sailor’s name. “An’ what are ye afther wantin’ av him?”
+
+Before Bob could answer he heard a footstep behind him and Barry
+appeared, having just come from New York.
+
+“Good for you, Bob; I was thinking I might find you here,” cried the
+young owner of the steam yacht. “Come into the cabin.”
+
+They entered the cabin, which was a dream of luxury and elegance, and
+here each told his story.
+
+“I had it out with that detective after you left,” said Barry. “I told
+him just how Jasper Powell had been treating you.”
+
+“Did he believe you?”
+
+“He had to believe it. Then I went to see a lawyer, and he is going to
+investigate my money matters for me without delay. He knew something of
+Jasper Powell’s affairs, and he is afraid money matters are pretty well
+mixed up.”
+
+“And what about going to the South Pole?”
+
+“We’ll go, Bob, sooner or later. While I’m waiting to hear from my
+lawyer I’ll have the Arrow taken over to the shipyard and have some
+steel plates put on her, and I’ll also buy in the right stock of
+provisions for such a trip.”
+
+“What of that book? I left it behind when I ran away.”
+
+“I’ve got it in my pocket,” answered Barry.
+
+He placed his hand in his pocket and then gave a start.
+
+“By Jove!”
+
+“What’s up?”
+
+“The book is gone!”
+
+“Gone!” groaned Bob. “You are certain?”
+
+“Yes, it’s gone. And I had it safe when I was on the bridge cars, too.”
+
+“If that book is gone, with the maps, the jig is up!” sighed Bob.
+
+“Perhaps I dropped it on the dock. Let us look and see,” said Barry.
+
+Leaving the Arrow, they began a close search along the dock and to the
+street beyond.
+
+No trace of the precious book could be found, and unwilling to give up
+the hunt, Barry gradually led the way along until they reached a spot
+under the tracks of the elevated railroad.
+
+“I stopped at a store here,” he said. “Perhaps I dropped it when I took
+my money out of my pocket.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CAPTAIN FENLICK
+
+
+A little while later they entered the store the rich young man had
+mentioned and asked about the lost book. The proprietor of the shop
+shook his head.
+
+“Haven’t seen it.”
+
+“It was a small, square book, bound in a red cover,” said Bob.
+
+The man scratched his head.
+
+“’Pears to me I did see that book,” he said slowly. “A man was in right
+after you and he had some kind of a red covered book when he went out.”
+
+“What kind of a looking man was it?” asked Barry.
+
+“He looked like a seafaring man, and was dressed in a suit of blue with
+a blue cap to match.”
+
+“Do you know his name?”
+
+“No, he was a stranger to me,” answered the shopkeeper.
+
+“Do you know where he went?”
+
+“Down toward the docks, I imagine. I took a walk afterward and saw him
+in that neighborhood.”
+
+No more could be learned of the book or the man, and Barry and Bob left
+the store.
+
+“Let us take a look around the docks,” said the young owner of the
+Arrow.
+
+The docks were soon gained and they gradually got back to the Arrow. As
+they approached the steam yacht Bob uttered a cry.
+
+“There is a man in a blue suit now!”
+
+“Where?”
+
+“Just went on board of your yacht.”
+
+Bob was right, and as they came up the stranger introduced himself as
+Captain Richard Fenlick.
+
+“I used to run the Mohawk for Lincoln Vanderbilt,” said Captain
+Fenlick. “But the yacht was run down by an ocean steamer and so badly
+damaged they are not going to repair her, so I’m out of a job. I heard
+that you wanted a new captain.”
+
+“I do,” answered Barry, for his old commander had retired to his home
+on Staten Island.
+
+“Then perhaps we can come to terms. I know all about a craft like
+this--have run such yachts for years for some of the best families.”
+
+“Well, I want a man who will take a long trip,” answered Barry, without
+stopping to think twice. “A trip almost to the South Pole.”
+
+“The South Pole!” cried the stranger. “Why, I----” And then he stopped
+short.
+
+“Did you pick up a book with some writings in it about the South Pole?”
+broke in Bob.
+
+Captain Fenlick hesitated and his face changed color.
+
+“No--that is--no,” he said, slowly.
+
+“I lost such a book,” said Barry, eyeing the captain sharply.
+
+“And what makes you think I picked the book up?” was the uneasy answer.
+
+“Because somebody picked it up who was dressed as you are dressed, down
+in Radway’s store.”
+
+“I don’t know anything of the store you mention.”
+
+While the captain was speaking Bob had been eyeing his coat closely.
+There was a square bulge outside, over an inner pocket. The boy stepped
+closer.
+
+“I would like to know what is in that pocket,” he said boldly, and at
+the same time drew the coat open. The top of the red-bound book was
+plainly revealed.
+
+“Hi! stop!” cried Captain Fenlick savagely. “What do you mean by
+touching me?”
+
+“You give up that book,” answered Bob, angrily. “It belongs to me. I
+didn’t like your look the minute I clapped eyes on you.”
+
+“That’s the book,” put in Barry, “and you must give it up.”
+
+At once Captain Fenlick began to fume, and then he tried to back away.
+But both Bob and Barry held him, and in the end he was forced to give
+the book up.
+
+“Now you’ve got the book, I reckon I can take myself off,” muttered the
+captain.
+
+“We ought to have you arrested,” was Barry’s comment.
+
+“What for? I didn’t steal the book. I found it in the doorway of the
+store you mentioned.”
+
+“But you were going to keep it, after you knew it belonged to us,” said
+Bob. “I think you’re a bad egg.”
+
+“Shut up!” roared the captain. “I guess you don’t want to hire me to
+run your steam yacht for you.”
+
+“Not much!” retorted Barry. “You get out as fast as you can, and don’t
+you ever let me catch sight of you near my boat.”
+
+“Humph! You think you’re on top, but some day it may be my turn,”
+growled Fenlick, and with a sour scowl on his dark face he leaped to
+the dock and walked swiftly toward the street. Barry and Bob watched
+him out of sight.
+
+“He’s a rascal if ever there was one,” was the comment of the young
+yacht owner.
+
+“We want to keep our eyes open for him,” returned Bob. “He’ll make
+trouble for us if he can. It’s too bad that he picked up the book. I
+wonder if he read the contents.”
+
+“I don’t see how he could have had time, Bob.”
+
+“But if he didn’t know the book was valuable why did he deny having it?
+If he had given it up at once it might have gotten him the job he was
+after.”
+
+“True enough. But still I don’t believe he did more than glance at the
+book,” answered Barry.
+
+But for once the young yacht owner was mistaken.
+
+Immediately after finding the book Captain Fenlick had repaired to a
+near-by saloon, and there read its contents carefully while seated at a
+table drinking several glasses of liquor.
+
+He had seen at once the importance of his discovery and he had wondered
+if it would be possible for him to interest anybody in an expedition
+south in search of the lost treasure ship.
+
+He had been thinking of such an expedition when he had applied to Barry
+for a position, and the sudden turn of affairs had dazed him.
+
+“I made a mess of it there,” he muttered to himself as he stole off.
+“But I’ll keep track of those two young fellows, and perhaps sooner or
+later something will turn up in my favor. I’m not going to let such a
+chance for money slip by--not much!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN THE GRASP OF THE ENEMY
+
+
+After a long talk between Barry and Bob it was decided that for the
+present Bob should remain on board of the Arrow. Barry would stay at
+the Astor House in New York until he and his lawyer had settled the
+claim against Jasper Powell’s estate.
+
+The fire at the warehouse had produced many complications in a business
+way, and it was held by the authorities that the conflagration had been
+started by the strange boy who had escaped down the ladder after Barry.
+
+The detectives did their best to find Bob, but Barry gave Bob the tip,
+as it is called, and the latter wisely kept out of sight.
+
+“It will only make more trouble if you expose yourself,” said Barry.
+
+“But what about the money old Powell had, which was coming to me?”
+
+“Wait until we see how Powell was fixed,” answered Barry.
+
+At the end of two weeks affairs were fairly well straightened out.
+
+It was found that Jasper Powell had used some money, but only a few
+thousand dollars were missing from the Filmore fortune, so that Barry
+would still be a millionaire when he became of age.
+
+There was a matter of two thousand dollars coming to one Bob Baxter,
+“said to be missing,” by the court.
+
+“If I were you I’d stay missing for the present,” said Barry. “The
+money is safe so long as it is in the hands of the law.”
+
+The lawyer in New York was appointed Barry’s guardian, but he was a
+whole-souled fellow and was willing to let Barry do as he pleased.
+
+When the young man spoke about the trip to the South Pole he shook his
+head over the idea.
+
+“It will prove a voyage full of unknown perils,” he said. “Take my
+advice, and give it up.”
+
+But Barry was determined, and a few days later the Arrow left the dock
+in Brooklyn and sailed for Philadelphia, where she was to put up at the
+Standard Ship Yard for steel plates and additional bracing inside.
+
+In the mean time Barry had run across an old sea captain named Robert
+Gordon, who had sailed around Cape Horn a number of times and who knew
+the coast of South America well, and this old sea dog had agreed to
+participate in the trip toward the South Pole.
+
+With Gordon came several sailors who were used to the roughest and
+toughest life at sea, and who agreed to go anywhere on a trip to last
+not over three years.
+
+All told, the Arrow carried a crew of ten, including Pat Caven,
+previously mentioned, and Gus Stults, the German cook, as good-natured
+a fellow as could be met anywhere.
+
+Stults soon made friends with Bob and the two became very intimate.
+
+“Ve vos like brudders, hey?” he said one day. “Ve vos git along, I bet
+you, py chiminy!” And Bob laughed and said he hoped they would get
+along.
+
+But if Bob liked Gus Stults, he cordially detested Pat Caven, not
+because he was Irish--Bob had a bit of Irish blood in him himself--but
+because Pat Caven was a natural born sneak. Caven was forever listening
+to the talk of others, and Bob once caught him at it when Barry was
+telling Captain Gordon in private about the lost treasure ship.
+
+“You had better be at your work, Caven,” said the youth, severely.
+“You’ll never hear any good of yourself by playing the listener,” and
+Caven slunk away, but with a look that Bob did not readily forget.
+
+When Philadelphia was reached the Arrow was immediately dry-docked and
+the work of plating her bow and sides with steel begun. Her ribs were
+all strengthened, and likewise her keel, to resist the pressure of any
+ice she might have to cut through, and she was also provided with a
+new and extra heavy screw, the old one being stored in her hold, to be
+used in case the other became lost or broken.
+
+While this was going on the provisions and coal for the long trip were
+purchased. When out of the dry-dock and loaded she sat deep in the
+water, for even her deck carried such bags of coal as could not be
+stored elsewhere.
+
+One day, just before the Arrow was ready to sail, Pat Caven went ashore
+and made his way along the shipping until he came to where a small
+“tramp” steamer lay, one which had been engaged in the South American
+and South African trade.
+
+A week before he had learned that Captain Fenlick had obtained command
+of the Vixen, as the steamer was called, and was about to take her on a
+trip to Rio de Janeiro, South America.
+
+Caven knew Fenlick well, having sailed under the captain some years
+before.
+
+The two had once been companions in a smuggling expedition, which,
+however, had fallen through at the last minute.
+
+“We sail day after to-morrow,” said Caven to Fenlick. “I heard Filmore
+tell Captain Gordon.”
+
+“And what is the first stopping place?”
+
+“Pernambuco, Brazil.”
+
+“Ha! that is where we stop, too,” cried the captain of the Vixen. “I
+am glad you told me, Pat.”
+
+“I knew you’d keep track of the yacht,” grinned Caven.
+
+“Have you found out anything about the red book?”
+
+“No; young Filmore keeps it in his safe, I am afther thinkin’, although
+I am not certain.”
+
+“If we had that book we might make our fortunes, Pat.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“Never mind. We could make piles of money, I am sure of it.”
+
+“I heard something about a treasure ship near the South Pole.”
+
+“Yes, that’s the secret, and the red book tells all about it. Filmore
+and that young Baxter are going after it, I reckon.”
+
+“They are afther something.”
+
+“I wish I could collar young Baxter,” went on Captain Fenlick,
+savagely. “I might get the book through him.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“Oh, easy.”
+
+“By threatening him?”
+
+“You’ve struck it. I reckon he would rather give up the book than
+suffer.”
+
+“Sure, an’ I think so meself,” laughed Caven. “Well, it’s easy to be
+afther doing.”
+
+“You mean to collar him?”
+
+“Yis.”
+
+“How?”
+
+“Barry Filmore goes off to-night to visit some old friend near
+Fairmount Park. When he’s gone ye can send a bogus letter to young
+Baxter, and----”
+
+“Just the idea, Pat! I’ll do it. You must let me know as soon as Barry
+Filmore leaves the yacht.”
+
+“I will let yez know.”
+
+The two conversed for half an hour and had several drinks, and then Pat
+Caven returned to the Arrow.
+
+Captain Gordon was away looking after some matters of business, and
+shortly after Caven came back Barry departed.
+
+“I’ll be back by ten, Bob,” he said.
+
+“All right,” returned Bob, carelessly. “I think I’ll take a cold bath;
+somehow I can’t get used to this warm weather.”
+
+“Hankering after your room at the cold-storage plant, eh?”
+
+“It must be that. I feel as if I was in an oven all the time.”
+
+“You’ll get cold enough when we reach the South Pole. But I am afraid
+you’ll suffer in the journey across the equator. The thermometer goes
+up over a hundred at the line, you know.”
+
+“Great Scott! there will be nothing left of me but a grease spot,”
+sighed Bob.
+
+“Oh, well, we’ll cool you off in the ice box if you get too warm,”
+laughed Barry, and then left his chum to himself.
+
+One of the comforts of the Arrow was an elegantly fitted up bathroom,
+with shower bath and all, and it did not take Bob long to disrobe and
+plunge into the water, which he used as cold as he could get it.
+
+He was just enjoying the shower bath when Caven knocked on the door.
+
+“What’s wanted?”
+
+“A message for you,” announced the Irish sailor.
+
+“All right,” answered Bob, and opened the door a few inches, so that
+Caven could give him the communication.
+
+It was in lead pencil and ran as follows:
+
+  “BOB: I forgot the book. Bring it to me, up at the Rosemore Hotel.
+  Have met an old friend who knows all about the Southern Ocean and
+  South America, and I want him to give me some pointers. Come as soon
+  as possible.
+
+                                                                 BARRY.”
+
+Bob read the note with interest. He was not familiar with Barry’s
+handwriting, otherwise he would have known that the communication was a
+forgery.
+
+He dressed as rapidly as possible and then entered the general room of
+the yacht, where the ship’s safe was located.
+
+Barry had given him the combination of the lock and he opened the door
+without trouble.
+
+With the precious book tucked away in an inner pocket of his jacket, he
+went on deck.
+
+“I am going off to meet Mr. Filmore,” he said to the sailor in charge
+of the yacht. “You must take care of things till Captain Gordon gets
+back.”
+
+“Ay, ay, sir!” said the sailor, and touched his forelock.
+
+Bob knew where the Rosemore Hotel was located, and to get there the
+quicker decided to take a street car running in that direction.
+
+He had to walk several blocks to the thoroughfare upon which the cars
+ran and the way lay along a particularly dark street lined with low
+saloons and tenement houses.
+
+Just as he was passing an alleyway two men rushed out upon him.
+
+“Here he is!” said one of the men, and hurled himself on Bob.
+
+[Illustration: “ONE OF THE MEN HURLED HIMSELF ON BOB.”]
+
+Taken unawares, the lad fought as best he could, but hardly had he
+struck the first man when the second hit him a cruel blow on the head,
+rendering him unconscious.
+
+Then the two men carried him into the alleyway and up to the top floor
+of one of the tenements.
+
+Here he was dropped on the floor and his hands and feet were securely
+bound.
+
+Poor Bob was a prisoner of the enemy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CAPTAIN FENLICK TRIES TO MAKE TERMS
+
+
+When Bob came to his senses all was pitch dark around him.
+
+His head ached and there was a pain in his back which told that he had
+been treated anything but kindly since becoming unconscious.
+
+He tried to rise to his feet, and then found how securely he was bound.
+
+“A prisoner!” he thought. “I wonder what they are going to do with me.”
+
+Slowly the night wore along until the first streaks of dawn began to
+show themselves through the dirty panes of the one window of which the
+tenement room boasted.
+
+The filthy condition of the apartment made Bob shiver. Bugs were
+countless and the dirt in the corners was a foot deep and gave forth an
+odor which was vile.
+
+“If somebody doesn’t come soon, I’ll die here,” he reasoned. “Phew! but
+isn’t it hot!” For the window was closed, cutting off every particle of
+ventilation.
+
+Another hour went by and then came a rattle at the keyhole of the
+door, followed by the entrance of Captain Fenlick.
+
+“So you have come to your senses, eh?” remarked the captain of the
+Vixen, as he dropped on a bench which stood near.
+
+“So it is you who attacked me,” cried Bob. “What did you do it for?”
+
+“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” grinned the captain.
+“How do you feel?”
+
+“Vile,” answered Bob, promptly. “Can’t you give a fellow some fresh
+air?”
+
+“If I open the window you’ll be yelling for help.”
+
+“How do you know that?”
+
+“I know your kind. I’ve dealt with ’em before.”
+
+“Why did you bring me here?”
+
+“I told you before not to ask questions.”
+
+“But I am going to ask them, just the same. You had no right to attack
+me.”
+
+“Bah! Don’t talk like a kid. Might makes right, according to my notion.”
+
+Suddenly Bob thought of the square red book and pressed his arm to his
+breast pocket.
+
+“You stole that book!” he muttered angrily. “It was a put-up job,
+getting me away from the Arrow.”
+
+“I admit it.”
+
+“What are you going to do with that book?”
+
+“Keep it.”
+
+“You shan’t do it! It’s mine.”
+
+“You little fool, don’t you realize that you are in my power?” roared
+Captain Fenlick savagely. “And, let me tell you, you won’t get out of
+it in a hurry.”
+
+“Perhaps I shall.”
+
+“Not much!” The captain rose to his feet and began to pace the dirty
+floor. “See here, let us come to terms. It will be best for you, mark
+my words.”
+
+“What terms?”
+
+“You are in my power.”
+
+“Well?”
+
+“I could kill you and nobody would be the wiser.”
+
+At these words Bob could not help but shiver, yet he put on a bold
+front.
+
+“You wouldn’t dare!” he cried.
+
+“You don’t know me, Baxter. When I cut loose I stop at nothing. It will
+pay you to make terms with me.”
+
+“I asked you before what terms you meant.”
+
+“I mean this: You are in my power; you know the secret of the lost
+treasure ship, and so do I. You were going to hunt for the treasure
+ship with Barry Filmore, a very rich and very greedy young man. If you
+went with him and found the gold, what do you suppose he would do with
+you? He wouldn’t give you a cent of it.”
+
+“He has promised me my fair share.”
+
+“But he doesn’t mean to give it to you; on the contrary, I overheard
+him telling another man that if he got the gold he intended to leave
+you behind at the South Pole to shift for yourself.”
+
+“Captain Fenlick, you are a first-class fraud!” cried Bob, hotly. “I
+can read faces, even though I am but a boy, and I would rather take
+Barry Filmore’s word than believe your oath, so there!”
+
+“You imp!” snarled the captain of the Vixen, and striding forward he
+struck Bob a cruel blow on the mouth. “If you won’t come to terms
+now, I reckon you’ll do it when you get good and hungry.” And then he
+stalked out of the room again, locking the door as before.
+
+The blow made Bob’s teeth bleed and gave him a nasty cut on the lip.
+
+“Oh, if only my hands were free,” thought the lad. Then he crawled over
+to the window.
+
+“Here goes, if I die for it!” And the next instant he had struck the
+lower sash such a blow that the six panes of glass it contained were
+shattered to atoms.
+
+The sound of the falling glass had scarcely reached the bottom of the
+alleyway when Captain Fenlick rushed in once again.
+
+“Thought you’d try a new game, eh?” he snarled. “I’ll fix you for it!”
+
+“Help! help!” yelled Bob at the top of his lungs and with his head
+close to the window. “Help! Hel----”
+
+His cry was cut short by the captain, who pulled him back, threw him
+headlong, and then sat on his back.
+
+“I’ve settled with your kind before,” he cried, and caught Bob by the
+windpipe. “Now will you be still!”
+
+He held the boy so tight that soon Bob’s eyes were staring from their
+sockets and a flashing light danced before his eyes. When the youth
+was almost dead for the want of breath he let go his hold, and still
+resting on the body, made a gag of his big bandanna handkerchief, which
+he speedily stuffed into Bob’s mouth.
+
+Then came a tramping in the hallway.
+
+“Who’s there?” cried Captain Fenlick, in alarm.
+
+“It’s me, cap’n,” came in a hoarse voice.
+
+“All right, Basker. Stand on guard and don’t let anybody come up here.”
+
+“Who broke out the window?”
+
+“The boy. If anybody asks about it, say it was an accident.”
+
+“Ay, ay!” And Basker walked away. He was one of the men from the Vixen
+and Captain Fenlick’s tool.
+
+As soon as Basker was gone, the captain examined Bob’s bonds to see if
+they were still secure.
+
+Satisfied on this point, he crossed the tenement room to where there
+was a closet filled with rubbish.
+
+He threw the rubbish out, and then, catching up Bob’s body, forced the
+lad into the closet.
+
+“Now you can stay there, and see how you like it,” he growled, and shut
+the door tight. There was no lock, but a strong button, and this he
+turned into place.
+
+A moment later Bob found himself alone.
+
+His situation was now ten times worse than before. If the air in the
+room had been stifling, that in the closet was positively unbearable.
+
+With the gag in his mouth, Bob could scarcely breathe, and it was not
+long before his head began to swim.
+
+He was hungry, yet his hunger was not half as great as his thirst.
+His mouth felt as dry as parchment, while the gag made him cough
+incessantly.
+
+The day dragged by slowly until nightfall. By this time the youth was
+more than half unconscious.
+
+Then Captain Fenlick appeared again. In one hand he held a big sack and
+some strong cord. He was followed by the sailor, Basker.
+
+“Now then, out with you,” said the captain, and caught Bob by the
+collar.
+
+The boy was too weak to sit up, and becoming alarmed, the captain
+fanned the prisoner.
+
+“Fainted!” declared Basker. “Look’s ter me like he was most dead.”
+
+“Reckon he’s playing off on us,” growled Captain Fenlick; nevertheless
+he removed the gag and pulled Bob closer to the broken window, that he
+might get some air.
+
+As soon as the lad had revived a bit, the captain of the Vixen applied
+a sponge saturated with chloroform to his nose.
+
+Bob went off in a stupor, and while in this he was placed in the bag,
+the top of which was tied over him.
+
+Then both men carried him downstairs and out of the rear of the
+alleyway.
+
+Here stood a covered wagon, into which the odd bundle was placed,
+Basker getting in beside the close prisoner. Then Captain Fenlick
+sprang up to the seat, caught up the reins, and a hurried start was
+made for the Vixen, which lay seven blocks away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE ATTACK IN THE ALLEY
+
+
+“Where is Bob?”
+
+It was Barry who asked the question on returning from the visit to his
+friends up at Fairmount Park.
+
+He had gone into the cabin expecting to find his chum reading or dozing
+in a chair. The stateroom was, of course, also empty.
+
+“Sure, an’ I dunno where he is,” answered Caven. “He wint off siveral
+hours ago.”
+
+“He tol’ me he vos goin’ to meet you,” put in Gus Stults, the German
+cook, who overheard the young yacht owner’s question.
+
+Pat Caven scowled at the cook, for this announcement was not at all to
+his liking.
+
+“I didn’t hear him say anything av the sort,” he muttered.
+
+“Put dot is vot he did say,” answered Stults. “He said he vos got a
+letter to meet you.”
+
+“A letter to meet me?” repeated Barry.
+
+“Oxactly, Mr. Filmore.”
+
+“I sent no letter,” said the young man thoughtfully.
+
+Pat Caven looked daggers at the cook.
+
+“Perhaps Stults is dramin’,” he ventured.
+
+“No, I know chust vot I vas talk apout,” answered Stults, and he gave
+Caven a look which made the Irish sailor shut up instantly.
+
+“Something is wrong,” murmured Barry. “Where did he go, Stults?”
+
+“Dot I can’t say, exceptin’ he valked straight avay from der dock.”
+
+Much perplexed, if not worried, Barry took a turn up and down the deck,
+and then went back to the cabin.
+
+As he stepped in front of the safe a letter lying on the floor caught
+his eye.
+
+It was the decoy sent to Bob, and he read it with keen interest.
+
+“Some plot here, surely,” he muttered, and then opened the safe as
+quickly as he could. “The book is gone!”
+
+He was more disturbed than ever. What had become of Bob and the
+precious book?
+
+“I must investigate this,” he reasoned, “and perhaps it will be best to
+get the police to aid me.”
+
+It was nearly midnight, yet he left the yacht and walked slowly away
+from the dock.
+
+It looked like a hopeless task. Bob might be miles and miles away, and
+looking for him would be worse than looking for the proverbial pin in a
+haystack.
+
+But Barry was not one to give up easily, and as he hurried along he
+kept his eyes and ears wide open.
+
+But his search, which lasted until after three o’clock in the morning,
+availed him nothing.
+
+Tired and heart-sick, he returned to the yacht and went to bed to catch
+a few hours’ sleep.
+
+Pat Caven had seen him return alone and downcast, and chuckled to
+himself.
+
+“He didn’t discover anyt’ing!” he murmured. “Captain Fenlick is safe,
+an’ the money he promised me is mine.”
+
+Eight o’clock found Barry dressed and on his way to police
+headquarters. Here he told his story, and word was at once sent out to
+look for Bob Baxter, and two special detectives were detailed on the
+case.
+
+Left to himself that afternoon, he reasoned that if Bob had started for
+the Rosemore Hotel he had mostly likely walked in the direction of the
+street cars running past that hostelry.
+
+“One of the car conductors may remember him,” he thought. “I’ll
+investigate. It’s better than sitting down doing nothing.”
+
+His walk took him past the alleyway where Bob had been assaulted, and
+when close to the spot he came across a mob of boys and girls, who were
+poking fun at an old, half-crazy woman called Mad Lize.
+
+“Lemme alone!” Mad Lize was crying, shrilly. “Don’t ye touch me!”
+
+“Pelt her wid mud!” yelled one of the bigger boys, roughly. “Give it to
+her right in de face!”
+
+“Let the poor woman alone!” ordered Barry, sternly. “Go away, every one
+of you!”
+
+At his words the girls and some of the little street urchins ran off.
+But the big boy, a regular bully, and half a dozen of his cronies held
+their ground.
+
+“Dis ain’t none of your business,” snarled the bully. “You skip
+yerself.”
+
+“If you don’t leave this poor woman alone I’ll give you a sound
+thrashing,” answered Barry. “Move, now, and move lively.”
+
+“I will not,” came from the bully, and he hurled another lump of mud at
+the old woman. It missed its mark and struck Barry on the arm.
+
+Without waiting another second the young man rushed at the bully and
+grabbed him by the collar.
+
+“Will you mind me now?” he cried, as he shook the fellow until his
+teeth rattled.
+
+“Let--let up!” gasped the bully. “Hi, Jim! Shorty! Jack! Pitch inter
+him!” he added, appealing to his cronies, and at once the three other
+boys hurled themselves on Barry, pulling at his arms, his legs, and his
+coat, while one hit him in the back with a stone.
+
+For the moment it looked as if the young man would be overcome, not
+only by the mere force of numbers, but because all of the street boys
+were well grown and strong.
+
+But Barry was not to be conquered thus easily, and finding himself
+surrounded by such a determined lot, he struck out right and left, and
+the bully and his cronies went down like so many ten-pins. They had
+picked up Barry for a weak dude, seeing his fine dress, but they were
+sadly mistaken.
+
+“Oh! Oh!” spluttered the bully, and lost no time in retreating, at
+which all of the crowd took to their heels. But they remembered Barry
+and vowed to get square with him.
+
+The half crazy woman was profuse in her thanks.
+
+“You’re a real gent,” she said. “May riches be yer portion for
+evermore!”
+
+“That’s all right,” answered Barry, carelessly. “Do you live near here?
+If you do, you had better go home.”
+
+“I live at the end of the alley. It’s a splendid castle,” cried the
+half mad creature. “Do you want me to show it to ye?”
+
+“Thanks, but I haven’t time.”
+
+“And what are ye doin’ in a neighborhood like this? It’s not fit fer
+the likes of a gent, Rotten Alley ain’t.”
+
+“I’m looking for a boy who is lost,” answered Barry. Then he added
+suddenly: “Were you out here last night between eight and nine
+o’clock?”
+
+“Sure an’ I was.” Mad Lize clutched his arm suddenly. “Maybe I seen the
+boy yer after. They knocked him down and dragged him to the tenement.”
+
+“Who?”
+
+“The two men. They looked like sailors.”
+
+Barry was at once highly interested and listened to all the woman
+had to say. Her talk was rambling, yet he felt certain after she had
+finished that she had really seen Bob assaulted and carried to the
+tenement at the rear of the alleyway.
+
+She led the way to the place, and as they approached the tenement Barry
+saw two men come out with a long bundle between them, and saw the
+bundle placed in a covered wagon.
+
+As one of the men leaped on the seat of the wagon the young owner of
+the Arrow recognized Captain Fenlick.
+
+“That’s one of the men!” cried Mad Lize. “An’ the other got into the
+wagon with the bundle.”
+
+“You are right--and I know the game now!” answered Barry, and ran after
+the covered wagon with all of his speed.
+
+He was less than a dozen feet away when Captain Fenlick saw him coming
+and muttered an imprecation.
+
+“Keep back!” he roared. And then as Barry continued to come on, he drew
+a black-jack from his pocket and hurled it at the young man’s head.
+
+His aim was true, and the young man went down as if shot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+A PRISONER ON THE VIXEN
+
+
+“Hullo, where am I now?”
+
+It was Bob who asked himself the question, as he sat up in darkness, a
+strange rocking motion taking possession of him.
+
+“On board a ship,” he continued, dismally. “And bound for--where?”
+
+The question was easy to ask but impossible, just then, to answer. But
+he was now free of his bonds, and that was one comfort. He rose slowly
+to his feet.
+
+“As dry as a piece of punk, and as hungry as fourteen bears,” he went
+on, dismally. “Was ever a boy in such a pickle before?”
+
+He felt around him, and his hand came in contact with several boxes and
+casks. Clearly he was in the hold of some vessel, and the vessel was at
+sea.
+
+“If they don’t feed me soon, I’ll be food for the fishes!” he groaned.
+He tried to moisten his lips with his tongue, but the effort was a
+failure. “Gosh! what wouldn’t I give for a drink of water!”
+
+Slowly and painfully he felt his way around the tarry-smelling hold
+of the Vixen, until he reached a spot directly beneath the main hatch.
+Here a bit of the combing was broken away, and a thin shaft of light
+shot downward.
+
+“Hi, you, up there!” he yelled, as loudly as his enfeebled condition
+would permit. “Let me out, somebody!”
+
+For a time nobody paid any attention to his calls, but at last the
+hatch was drawn aside, and the face of Captain Fenlick peered down upon
+him.
+
+“Stop your racket, boy!” called the captain of the Vixen. “Yelling like
+that won’t do you any good.”
+
+“I want something to eat and to drink,” retorted Bob. “You’re a mean
+beggar to starve a boy like me.”
+
+“Don’t call me names, or you’ll get nothing,” was the harsh answer.
+“Remember you are on shipboard now, and I am the captain.”
+
+“You are no captain over me.”
+
+“Well, I soon will be, if you want anything to eat.”
+
+“What do you mean by that?”
+
+“I mean that you have got to sign articles before you’ll get any of our
+grub.”
+
+“Then if I won’t sign you’ll starve me?”
+
+“That’s about the size of it--and I’ll give you a tanning in the
+bargain.”
+
+“You’re a cheerful brute!”
+
+“Don’t call me names, I won’t stand it!”
+
+“Then sit down on it!” returned Bob. He was thoroughly reckless, and
+hardly cared what happened next.
+
+“You’ll sing a different tune in a few hours,” said Captain Fenlick,
+with a hard, wicked laugh.
+
+To this Bob did not reply, and a moment later the hatch was shut down
+again, leaving him once more to himself.
+
+As he had said, he was truly “in a pickle,” and it was with a sober
+face he drew back and cast himself on a heap of old rope to review the
+situation.
+
+“I am in that old rascal’s power,” he reasoned, “and he must have
+stolen that book from me. If I don’t give in to him, he’ll most likely
+starve me to death.”
+
+He wished he had a light, and searching his pocket found a broken
+match, something Captain Fenlick had missed in going through his
+clothing. Striking the match, he lit a bit of the rope, which, being
+filled with tar, blazed up into quite a respectable torch.
+
+Light in hand he made a tour of the hold, at the same time examining a
+number of the boxes and casks. One box he ran across was marked Fruit,
+and this he pried open--to discover nothing more palatable than dried
+apples.
+
+“Creation, it won’t do to eat those, with nothing to drink!” he mused;
+nevertheless he ate quite some of the apples. They made him thirstier
+than ever, and his craving for water was something pitiable to behold.
+
+Reaching one end of the hold, he came to a bulkhead in the centre of
+which was a square door with a bar across it. He pulled out the bar and
+found the door free to open.
+
+“A steward’s pantry,” he murmured, as he gazed through a crack of the
+door. “I wonder if anybody is around?”
+
+Nobody appeared to be, and growing bolder, Bob entered the pantry,
+closing the hold door after him. On a shelf rested the half of a
+huckleberry pie, and this the half famished boy finished up in about
+one minute, washing the pie down with some cold coffee which he found
+in a pot, and some water from a cask at his feet. Then he discovered
+the remains of a Hamburger steak lying on a plate on the shelf, and
+this quickly followed the pie.
+
+“Gosh! nothing ever tasted so good!” was what he told himself. “Now I
+feel almost new again!”
+
+At that instant heavy footsteps alarmed him, and he had barely time
+enough to hide behind the stairs leading to the cook’s galley above,
+when a negro appeared, singing softly to himself:
+
+    “My gal am de gal fo’ me,
+    An’ I’m jess as happy as can be!
+    We’re gwine ter be wedded nex’ Monday night,
+    An’ all de fashion----”
+
+The negro got no further, but gazed at the pantry shelf in astonishment.
+
+“Who dun took dat steak an’ dat pie!” he roared, in a bull-like voice.
+“I lef’ dat steak dar less dan ten minits ago! Hi, you, Peter Jackson,
+did you dun took dat steak?”
+
+“Wot’s dat?” came from the cook’s galley.
+
+“Did you dun took dat steak an’ dat pie wot I lef’ on dis yere shelf?”
+
+“Hain’t seen no steak ner no pie,” was the answer. “Reckon you dun eat
+’em up yerself, Moses Brown.”
+
+“Didn’t tech ’em. If you didn’t take ’em, den some of dem sailors must
+hab sneaked down yere,” went on Moses Brown, wrathfully. “Jess wait
+till I ketch ’em at it, dat’s all! Captain Fenlick’s allers growlin’
+about de fings wot am eat up aboard dis yere ship. I’ll prove da is
+stolen away, dat’s wot!”
+
+The cook rattled his dishes and took several of them to the galley. As
+for Bob, he scarcely dared to breathe, fearful that he might be exposed
+at any instant.
+
+“Now, what’s to do?” the lad asked himself, after the cook had retired
+to the galley again. “I can’t stay here--and I’m not going back to that
+hold--no siree!” And he shook his head determinedly. He heard the two
+negroes talking above, and presently one went out of the galley, and a
+short while after the second followed.
+
+Mounting the stairs, he peered into the galley. A number of articles
+were cooking on the big ship’s stove, and Bob could not resist the
+temptation to “fill up,” which he did to his heart’s content.
+
+“Now I am good for another day of starvation, if necessary,” he
+reasoned. “Not that I want it. But there is no telling what will happen
+to me if I stay aboard this ship any longer.”
+
+From the galley he could see that the Vixen was skirting the lower
+coast of New Jersey, and would soon be well out into the broad waters
+of Delaware Bay. Even though a “tramp” steamer, she was fast, and was
+sending up a stiff spray from her bow as she cut the salt water.
+
+“If I don’t want to take in the whole trip I’ve got to get off soon,”
+thought Bob.
+
+He looked at the distance to shore, and shook his head. The coast was
+nearly a mile away, and the sea was running strong and high. He could
+swim well, but not such a distance as that, in rough water.
+
+“If I had a boat,” he mused, and then began to wonder if there was any
+small boat tied up behind, but soon came to the conclusion that all of
+the row-boats belonging to the Vixen were at the davits.
+
+Bob knew he could not remain where he was, that he might be discovered
+at any moment. Not far away was the forecastle. Would he be safer
+there?
+
+“I might be, if I hid away in one of the bunks,” was what he told
+himself, and watching his chance, he ran toward the forecastle and
+gained it without being seen. Once inside, he lost no time in stowing
+himself out of sight.
+
+By this time the cook returned to the galley. Finding the eatables
+again disturbed, he began to scold in such a loud voice that Captain
+Fenlick’s attention was attracted.
+
+“What’s up, Mose?” asked the master of the ship.
+
+“Dun got a t’ief on board, dat’s wot’s up!” howled the cook. “Eat up ma
+steak an’ ma pie, and now been in de stuff wot’s cookin’!”
+
+“Humph!” muttered Captain Fenlick. “Suspect anybody?”
+
+“No, sah, not persackly, sah. But it wasn’t de cat wot dun it, I’se
+suah ob dat.”
+
+Suddenly Captain Fenlick’s face grew dark. “It is possible he has got
+free?” he muttered, and ran for the main hatch. Throwing the cover
+aside, he peered below. “Hullo, you!” he shouted.
+
+Receiving no answer, he called again, and then a third time.
+
+“Got out somehow, I’ll bet a new cap,” he muttered, and began to curse
+to himself. Then he ran toward the galley: “Have you seen anything of
+that boy Basker and I brought aboard?” he demanded of the cook.
+
+Moses Brown shook his head. “No, sah. Do you fink he gobbled dat stuff,
+sah?”
+
+“He’s hungry enough to do it.”
+
+Running down to the pantry, Captain Fenlick tried the door to the hold.
+It gave way suddenly, and he went pitching headlong into the darkness
+beyond.
+
+“Hang the luck!” he roared. “This is the way he got out, but he must
+have had a light to do it. Ha! a bit of burnt rope. That explains it
+all. Now, where did he go to? If he’s on board of this ship, won’t I
+wax him good when I catch him!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+“CROWD ON ALL STEAM!”
+
+
+To go back to Barry, at the time he was struck down by Captain Fenlick.
+
+Stunned, and bleeding from an ugly wound in the temple, he lay like
+a log until Mad Lize picked him up and dragged him to her apartment
+in the basement of a tenement opposite to that in which Bob had been
+confined.
+
+“Poor boy! poor boy!” she mumbled over and over again. “Just like my
+Jack! Poor, poor boy!” In years gone by she had lost an only son, Jack,
+very suddenly, and this had somewhat turned her brain, although she was
+more simple-minded than crazy.
+
+She ran for some water, washed the wound, and bound it up in as clean a
+rag as her means afforded. She was about to force a bit of liquor down
+Barry’s throat, when he gave a gasp and opened his eyes.
+
+“Don’t--don’t hit me again!” he gasped.
+
+“You’re all right, deary,” answered Mad Lize. “Nobody shall touch you
+again. Lie still.”
+
+“But--but those men,” faltered Barry. “Where are they?”
+
+“They drove off as if the old Nick was after ’em.”
+
+Barry heaved a sigh. They had escaped. And he felt certain that they
+had Bob in their power.
+
+“More than likely they have taken him to Captain Fenlick’s ship,” he
+mused. “I ought to go after them at once.”
+
+But this was out of the question, for no sooner did he try to rise than
+his head swam around like a top, while all became black before his
+vision. He sank down, and for an hour he scarcely moved.
+
+He was aroused by the yelling of a boy through the window of the
+basement. It was the bully who had attacked him when he had come to the
+aid of Mad Lize.
+
+“Here he is, fellers, give it to him!” yelled the boy, and then a
+shower of mud and stones landed in the room.
+
+The attack angered the old woman more than anything which had happened
+before, and regardless of consequences, she grabbed up a broom and went
+for the boys right and left, knocking the bully headlong, and loosening
+two of his front teeth. The downfall of the bully disconcerted the
+others, and they ran away, not to return, and the bully went after them.
+
+It was long after nightfall before Barry felt strong enough to stand
+up. Then he asked Mad Lize to call a cab for him.
+
+“Won’t no cabby listen to me,” mumbled the old lady.
+
+“He will if you give him this,” replied Barry, and passed over a dollar
+bill. “And here is something for your trouble,” he went on.
+
+The ten dollars he placed in her hands nearly staggered Mad Lize, and
+she gazed at it as if she did not see aright.
+
+“I must be dreaming!” she gasped. “Is it really and truly ten dollars?”
+
+“It is,” laughed the young owner of the Arrow. “And now please hurry
+for that cab.”
+
+“You must be a--a Vanderbilt or an Astor,” went on Mad Lize, and then
+she ran off to get the cabman.
+
+A quarter of an hour later Barry was being driven down to the docks. He
+had heard about the Vixen, and knew where she had been lying. A block
+off he saw a policeman standing on a corner.
+
+“Stop!” he called to the driver of the cab, and then he motioned to the
+officer. “I want your aid,” he said.
+
+“What’s up?”
+
+“I am after two rascals who have abducted or killed a boy.”
+
+“You don’t mean it!”
+
+“I do. Come--the fellows are, I think, bound for a steamer tied up at
+one of these wharves.”
+
+The policeman was willing, and they made their way along the wharves
+until they reached the spot where the Vixen had been lying.
+
+The tramp steamer was nowhere in sight.
+
+“Gone!” groaned Barry.
+
+“What do you want?” asked a dock watchman, as he ran up, lantern in
+hand.
+
+“We are looking for the Vixen,” answered Barry.
+
+“She sailed two hours ago.”
+
+“To where?”
+
+“I dunno, exceptin’ she went down stream.”
+
+“Did you see Captain Fenlick go on board with another man?”
+
+“I did.”
+
+“Did they have anything with them?”
+
+“Yes, a long, heavy bundle done up in a piece of sacking.”
+
+“It must have been Bob! Poor boy, what will they do with him?”
+
+Both the policeman and the watchman, as well as the cabman, were
+interested, and Barry had to tell his story.
+
+“We’ll have to set the harbor police on the track,” said the officer.
+“Come and make a complaint.”
+
+“The authorities already know of the case. You send in word of what
+you have heard, and get the river police to act. I am going after the
+Vixen myself.”
+
+“You?”
+
+“Yes, in my steam yacht. I reckon Captain Fenlick is bound straight for
+Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.”
+
+Without further words Barry had the cabman drive him to the dock at
+which the Arrow lay. Rushing on board, he called Captain Gordon to him.
+
+“Get up steam with all possible speed, captain,” he exclaimed. “We must
+move without delay,” and then he told of what had occurred, and how he
+hoped to catch the Vixen.
+
+“I’m afraid she’ll slip up in the dark,” observed Captain Gordon, yet
+he was too good a sailor to find fault. He sent a speaking-tube message
+down to the engineer, and soon the thick, black smoke was pouring from
+the Arrow’s funnel.
+
+Pat Caven had witnessed Barry’s return, and by the young man’s manner
+he surmised that something unusual was up. He tried to hear the talk
+between Barry and the captain, but his duty called him elsewhere.
+
+“They must be going to follow the Vixen,” he said to himself.
+
+Soon steam was up, and then the Arrow left her dock, and the trip down
+the Delaware River was begun. Philadelphia was left behind and the
+Arrow continued on her course at full speed.
+
+“I think the Arrow can outrun the Vixen, at least when put at her best
+speed,” said Barry to Captain Gordon. “And as it will be difficult to
+locate that other ship in the dark, the best thing for us to do is to
+run on ahead and then pull up and search around when daylight comes.”
+
+“A very good suggestion,” answered Captain Gordon. “I’ll do my best
+with the Arrow, and I reckon we’ll be ahead by several miles afore
+daylight.”
+
+It was a dark night, without a moon and with but few stars, and as
+the Arrow cut through the water only the thump-thump of her machinery
+broke the stillness. Barry, much worn out, lay down on his couch, yet
+thorough sleep was out of the question.
+
+At last came daylight, and it found the Arrow out on the sparkling
+waters of Delaware Bay, and not far from the lighthouse on the north
+shore.
+
+Barry brought out his glass and searched the horizon eagerly.
+
+“Look!” he cried, pointing to the southeastward. “What sort of craft is
+that?”
+
+Captain Gordon gave a long and careful look.
+
+“A long, rakish appearin’ tramp steamer,” he answered, slowly.
+
+“Painted black, with a yellow stripe?”
+
+“Exactly.”
+
+“Then it’s more than likely she is the Vixen!” cried Barry. “Crowd on
+the steam, and head directly for her.”
+
+The orders of the young owner of the yacht were obeyed without delay,
+and soon the Arrow’s bow was cutting the water with such speed that the
+spray flew back far over the cabin.
+
+“How far off do you suppose she is?” asked Barry, as he sat down to
+watch the chase.
+
+“Not over a mile.”
+
+“Do you think she is running fast?”
+
+“Not over eight or nine knots an hour.”
+
+“Then we ought to overtake her soon.”
+
+“We will, Mr. Filmore, unless they get on to our game, and show us
+their heels.”
+
+“But the Arrow ought to be able to catch that craft, anyway.”
+
+“Oh, we can catch her in time--if the weather holds out.”
+
+“It doesn’t look like a storm to me,” was Barry’s comment, as he gazed
+at the heavens and then at the skyline to the eastward.
+
+“No, I’m not looking for a blow. But we may get one of those nasty
+fogs--and they are just as bad,” answered Captain Gordon. “Hullo! They
+are increasing their speed!”
+
+“Have they discovered us?” came from Barry, and he reached for his
+glass again. “I believe they have.”
+
+“Sure they have!” cried the captain, as he took a squint. “Now for a
+chase of the good old-fashioned sort.”
+
+“Crowd on all steam,” ordered the young owner of the Arrow. “Tell the
+engineer to spare no coal, for we can get more as soon as this chase is
+over.”
+
+“All right; I’ll make him sit on the safety valve, if it is necessary,”
+grinned the captain, and hurried off to stir up the engineer.
+
+His efforts were soon apparent, for the speed of the Arrow increased.
+The noble steam yacht quivered from stem to stern from the pressure she
+was under, and the indicator in the steam gauge ran dangerously high.
+Slowly but surely they began to cut down the Vixen’s lead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+AN ADVENTURE IN THE FOG
+
+
+Lying in the bunk in the forecastle, Bob heard nothing of the talk
+between Captain Fenlick and the negro cook of the Vixen.
+
+But soon he heard footsteps approaching, and then came words in the
+voice of Basker.
+
+“Let us take a look around the fo’castle, cap’n,” the burly sailor was
+saying. “He might have run in here, ye know.”
+
+“If he did I’ll wax him good!” roared Captain Fenlick. He had picked
+up a rope’s-end, and now swung it around in his hand as if he meant
+business. Bob saw the pair approaching, and promptly dived out of sight
+under some bedding and a blanket. The smell was vile, but this could
+not be helped.
+
+The two men came in and began to peer around, first in one corner and
+then another.
+
+“Don’t see anything of him,” remarked Basker, presently, and when
+within two feet of Bob.
+
+“Let us turn over some of these bunks,” answered the captain of the
+Vixen. “Some boys are regular rats for hiding.”
+
+“Perhaps he jumped overboard.”
+
+“Not much--he’s too much afraid of his life. He’s a regular coward.”
+
+“Thank you for nothing!” muttered Bob to himself. “You’ll see if I’m
+a coward if you find me and try to cut me with that rope’s-end. I’ll
+give you as good as you send if I die for it!” and he shut his teeth
+determinedly.
+
+Captain Fenlick approached the bunk in which Bob was lying, and grabbed
+hold of the blanket.
+
+“If he----” he began, and then stopped short. “What’s that?”
+
+“Somebody on deck is calling you,” said Basker.
+
+“Captain Fenlick!” was the call. “You’re wanted. A steam yacht is
+following us.”
+
+“The dickens!” growled the captain, as he started for the doorway. “A
+steam yacht? Can it be the Arrow?”
+
+He ran out of the forecastle and straight for the main deck. Basker
+lingered for a few seconds longer, then followed his superior.
+
+Bob listened to the cry from the deck with interest not unmixed with
+delight.
+
+“A yacht is following,” he murmured. “Oh, I hope it is the Arrow, and
+that Barry is able to bring these scoundrels to justice!”
+
+The heat in the stuffy forecastle was, for him, unbearable, and at his
+first opportunity he slid from the bunk and tiptoed his way to one of
+the bull’s-eye lights open at the side of the apartment. From here he
+could get some fresh air, and likewise see what was going on.
+
+Captain Fenlick was at the rail, with a spy-glass in his hand, and near
+by stood Basker.
+
+“She’s the Arrow, right enough,” he heard the captain mutter. “We have
+got to crowd on steam if we want to leave her behind.”
+
+“And you’ve got to crowd on a whole lot of it, too, to my way of
+thinking,” muttered Bob. “She’ll catch you, and don’t you forget it.”
+
+Nobody came near the forecastle for over an hour, and during that time
+Bob remained at the little window drinking in the sea air, for the
+Vixen was now running directly for the ocean. So far the sun had been
+shining, but now the lad noticed that a haze was coming up.
+
+“It’s going to be foggy,” he mused. “That will make chasing bad. I wish
+I could slip overboard and signal the Arrow to pick me up.”
+
+The more he thought of this plan the more did it appeal to him, until
+at last Bob determined to leap overboard at the first opportunity.
+
+“Both ships are running straight for sea, and the Arrow is bound to
+come directly for me,” he concluded. “I can keep afloat easily enough
+till picked up, if I can get hold of a life preserver.”
+
+A short while after this a sailor came on the run and darted into the
+forecastle before Bob had a chance to get out of sight.
+
+“Hullo, what you do here?” asked the sailor, who was a big Swede.
+
+“Taking it easy,” answered Bob, as coolly as he could.
+
+“You de boy what de cap’n look for, hey?”
+
+“Perhaps I am and perhaps I am not.”
+
+“Vat’s dat? I no lak you make fun by me,” growled the sailor.
+
+“Better talk United States, Dutchy,” grinned Bob. “How’s the weather
+outside?”
+
+“Weather git much foggy. But say, you de boy de cap’n want catch, hey?”
+
+“What do you want to know for?”
+
+“I tell cap’n, dat’s all,” cried the Swede, and ran out as rapidly as
+he had come in.
+
+“Now I am in for it!” thought Bob. Then his face changed. “Not much!”
+And he went out after the sailor. He did not follow the Swede far,
+however, but darted behind the forecastle.
+
+At the rail rested several life preservers and a coil of rope. The rope
+was fast to one of the preservers, and the other preservers were tied
+up by strings.
+
+While Bob was busy obtaining one of the life preservers, he heard a
+shout, and saw Captain Fenlick bearing down upon him.
+
+“Hi! hi! you imp!” roared the master of the Vixen. “So I’ve found you
+at last, have I? I’ll wax you good for breaking out of the hold! Come
+here.”
+
+“Not to-day!” retorted Bob, and with the life preserver in his hand, he
+darted for the stern of the steamer.
+
+Captain Fenlick made after him instantly, and a chase ensued to the
+very rear rail of the Vixen.
+
+“If you don’t come back I’ll shoot you!” roared the captain.
+
+“I don’t think you will,” answered Bob, and then balancing himself on
+the stern rail, he measured his distance and dived straight into the
+spume which the Vixen was leaving in her wake.
+
+“Overboard!” gasped the master of the steamer, and gazed anxiously
+at the water. But Bob had taken a fine dive, and despite the life
+preserver, he remained hidden until the steamer was a good hundred feet
+away from him. Then he bobbed up like a cork, and shook the water from
+his head.
+
+“Stop the steamer!” yelled Captain Fenlick. “That boy shan’t escape me.”
+
+But it was no easy matter to stop such a large craft going at such a
+rate of speed, and before it could be accomplished the daring lad was
+nearly out of sight in the fog, which was growing denser every moment.
+
+“Will you lower a boat?” asked Basker, who had tried to come to his
+superior’s assistance.
+
+“Yes--no,” answered Captain Fenlick. “Hang the luck! If I lower a boat
+it may be captured by those on board the Arrow!”
+
+“Right ye are, cap’n. If I was you I’d let the boy go.”
+
+“Yes, but----”
+
+“You’ve got the red book. What more do you want?”
+
+“I wanted him to explain certain things in the book. He was in with
+that Jasper Powell, and he knows a good bit that isn’t in the book.”
+
+“The fog is getting so thick that it’s dangerous,” went on Basker.
+“Look! You can’t make out the Arrow any more.”
+
+“You’re about right. Ha! I have a thought. That boy evidently expected
+to be picked up by the Arrow. I wonder if those on board saw him leap
+overboard?”
+
+“Not likely--they are still too far off.”
+
+“Then I’ll sheer off to the southward, and put them off the track. In
+this fog I can readily go a bit close to them and then hide again.”
+
+And at once Captain Fenlick turned to put his plan into execution.
+
+In the mean time Bob was adjusting the life preserver under his arms.
+Once this was accomplished, he floated with ease, and then he began to
+watch out for the approach of the Arrow.
+
+“She ought to come up in a few minutes,” he told himself. “And as soon
+as I see her I’ll have to do some tall yelling--the fog is getting so
+thick.”
+
+Several anxious minutes went by. He saw the Vixen move away, but never
+dreamed that her course had been changed.
+
+Then came a thump-thump from a distance, and he knew the Arrow was
+approaching.
+
+“Hi, help!” he yelled, at the top of his lungs. “Barry Filmore--help!”
+
+The Arrow seemed to be coming closer, and he continued to yell.
+
+“Help, Barry Filmore! It’s Bob Baxter, in the water! Help!”
+
+He listened. What was that? The Arrow was passing to his left, instead
+of coming toward him! He would not be seen, after all.
+
+Bob’s heart almost stopped beating at the thought, and again he raised
+his voice, louder, if possible, than before:
+
+“Help! help!”
+
+But no answer came back--only the sound of the swiftly-moving steam
+yacht, now farther off than ever. He strained his ears, refusing to
+believe his senses. Was he to be left alone there on the broad bosom of
+the ocean? The thought was maddening.
+
+“Help! For the love of heaven, help!”
+
+It was a last, despairing cry, and it was followed by absolute silence,
+for the Arrow had now passed out of hearing distance.
+
+Bob raised himself up as far as possible and waited until the rolling
+of the sea carried him to the top of a wave which seemed mountainous.
+He gazed around him.
+
+“Alone!” he cried, as his staring eyes met nothing but the water and
+the fog around him. “Deserted! What will become of me now?”
+
+There was no answer to that question--only the mockery of the intense
+silence. The ocean rolled on in majestic swells and the fog continued
+to thicken. At one instant he found himself high in the air, the next
+he would go down and down, until the overtopping waves seemed ready to
+engulf him.
+
+“I’m lost!” he thought, and gave a groan. “Nothing can save me now!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OFF FOR SOUTH AMERICA
+
+
+“Alone on the wide ocean!”
+
+Such were the words which forced themselves from Bob’s lips as he tried
+to pierce the heavy fog which had settled everywhere around him.
+
+An hour had gone by since he had leaped overboard from the Vixen--an
+hour which seemed to him to be an age. Where was that craft now, and
+where was the Arrow?
+
+“They must have had to give the chase up,” he reasoned, “for the Vixen
+could easily give the steam yacht the slip in this terrible fog. Oh, if
+only it would lift and let the sun shine once more!”
+
+But this was not to be--instead the fog grew thicker, until it fairly
+clung to him like a pall and made him shiver, he knew not why. There
+was a coldness in the air to pierce one’s very marrow, but this did not
+affect him, for, as we well know, he was used to a low temperature.
+
+Another hour drifted by and still he remained where he was, rising and
+falling like a cork on the rolling deep, that precious life preserver
+the only thing between the lad and death. What if the preserver should
+slip away? But no, it was still tightly strapped up under his arms.
+
+He would have tried to swim to shore, great as was the distance, but
+he had become completely bewildered in the fog and knew not which was
+north or south, or east or west.
+
+“If I tried swimming I might steer right out into the Atlantic,” he
+groaned. “It will be best to keep where I am. This fog is bound to lift
+some time.”
+
+But the fog did not lift until after nightfall and then it was as dark
+and darker than before, saving for the twinkling stars which shone in
+the wide firmament so far over his head. He was now exhausted from the
+pounding of the waves and his eyes kept going shut in spite of all he
+could do to keep them open.
+
+“I must keep awake, I must keep awake!” he said, over and over again.
+“I mustn’t sleep, no, no! If I do I’ll go to the bottom sure!” And then
+his head would sink down until the water came up to his mouth when he
+would straighten up with a start, only to go through the same actions
+again.
+
+At last, when ready to give in to the elements, he made out a
+light on the ocean, low down, as if coming from some approaching
+vessel. The light kept coming nearer and nearer and then he saw
+others--incandescent lights, which could emanate only from the cabin
+of some large vessel.
+
+He shouted out as loudly as his enfeebled condition permitted. The
+lights came closer, and he shouted again.
+
+“Hullo, who calls?” came from the ship.
+
+“Help! I am drowning!” he replied. “Save me!”
+
+“We will, if we can!” was the reassuring answer, and a few seconds
+later a Bengal light flared up, lighting the scene for a hundred yards
+around.
+
+“It’s a young man in the water!” Bob heard a somewhat familiar voice
+exclaim, and then followed some directions he could not hear.
+
+The ship came closer, and another Bengal light was lit and then to
+Bob’s joy he made out the Arrow, with Captain Gordon at the rail,
+backed up by several sailors.
+
+“Captain Gordon!” he cried. “Thank heaven! Save me before I go down!”
+
+“By Jove, Bob Baxter!” ejaculated the captain of the Arrow. “Keep up,
+we are coming!”
+
+A small boat was lowered with all speed and into it leaped the captain
+and two of his men. They were none too soon, for scarcely was Bob
+hauled on board than his nerves gave way completely and he sank on the
+bottom, limp and motionless.
+
+Barry had gone to bed, to get some much-needed rest, but as soon as he
+heard the commotion he arose and demanded to know what was up.
+
+“The captain has picked up Bob Baxter,” answered the cabin boy, a lad
+by the name of Paul Ferris.
+
+“Bob! Is it possible!” burst from Barry’s lips, and then he hopped into
+his clothing with all speed. He met the captain and the others bringing
+Bob down the companionway.
+
+“How is he?” he asked, anxiously.
+
+“All right, only tuckered out,” answered the captain.
+
+Restoratives were applied and later on Bob was given some warm food,
+and then he felt almost as well as ever.
+
+Barry and Captain Gordon listened to his tale with close attention,
+and then the owner of the Arrow had to tell how he had followed up the
+trail, but how the Vixen had slipped them in the fog.
+
+“He’s a daring rascal,” said Barry, referring to Captain Fenlick.
+
+“Yes, and the worst of it is, he has got the red book,” added Bob.
+
+“It’s a wonder to me he didn’t leave you behind--after he had gotten
+the book away from you.”
+
+“I overheard him tell Basker, his tool, that he wanted me to explain
+certain matters in the book.”
+
+“I see.”
+
+“Have you any idea where he has gone?”
+
+“Not the slightest. We were cruising around hoping to get on to his
+trail again.”
+
+The talk continued for the best part of an hour, but it brought forth
+nothing new, and presently Barry retired again, and Bob also went to
+rest, thankful that he could do so on a comfortable bed and not at the
+bottom of the ocean.
+
+The morning came bright and clear, and the two chums were enjoying a
+late breakfast when Captain Gordon announced a ship off the port bow.
+
+“She’s a sailing schooner,” he said. “Shall I hail her and ask her if
+she has seen anything of the Vixen?”
+
+“By all means,” answered Barry. “I’ll be up as soon as I finish this
+omelet.”
+
+The schooner was signalled and soon the two craft ran side by side.
+
+“Seen anything of a tramp steamer painted black with a yellow stripe?”
+shouted Captain Gordon, through his trumpet.
+
+“Yes, saw her a couple o’ hours ago,” answered the man in command of
+the fishing schooner.
+
+“Whither bound?”
+
+“Due south, I reckon, an’ going ahead at full steam. Come nigh on to
+running us down, drat ’em!”
+
+“Thanks, that’s all.”
+
+“S’long!” and then the vessels parted and the captain ordered the Arrow
+ahead at full speed.
+
+The day went by slowly and it was not until almost nightfall that they
+came in sight of the Vixen. The tramp steamer was hardly seen when
+darkness closed in on both vessels.
+
+“But I don’t care--I’ve got his course,” declared Captain Gordon. “He
+can’t slip me unless he makes a big tack, and I don’t think he’ll do
+that, since he don’t know we are after him again.”
+
+The night passed and the next day, and still they found themselves
+unable to catch up with the Vixen, although they had the big vessel in
+sight several times. The reason they could see the Vixen was because
+Barry owned an extra powerful marine glass and used it from the
+standing top of the yacht’s mainmast. To Captain Fenlick the Arrow was
+invisible, yet he kept to his course southward with all speed.
+
+Barry had learned before leaving Philadelphia that the Vixen was loaded
+with a valuable cargo for Pernambuco, and he now made up his mind that
+the tramp steamer was heading almost directly for that Brazilian port.
+
+“And how far is that from here?” asked Bob.
+
+The young owner of the Arrow smiled.
+
+“About five thousand miles.”
+
+“Gee whiz! As far as that?”
+
+“Yes, and more than that by the course we will have to take.”
+
+“It will be a long journey--if you really follow the craft.”
+
+“She can sail directly for Pernambuco, Bob, but we can’t.”
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“Our coal won’t hold out. We’ll have to stop at Porto Rico for a fresh
+supply, and most likely at Cayenne, too. That will break the trip into
+three parts.”
+
+“And how long will it take us to reach Pernambuco?”
+
+“A month or more. It will depend a good bit on the weather.”
+
+“Well, they can’t do much better in nasty weather than we can.”
+
+“A little better perhaps--if the waves run high--but not much.”
+
+Two days later they sighted the Vixen again, bearing away to the
+southeastward, past a number of small islands to the north of the West
+Indies.
+
+“Yes, she’s bound for South America beyond a doubt,” said Barry. “And
+Captain Fenlick is going to make the best of his time, too.”
+
+As the steam yacht sped southward it grew warmer, much to Bob’s
+discomfort, who now wore next to nothing.
+
+“I’ll be stewed, I reckon, before I get past the equator,” he grumbled.
+“Never felt so hot in my life before!”
+
+“You remember what I said,” laughed Barry. “If you get too warm you can
+crawl into the cook’s ice-box.”
+
+The days slipped by until they began to approach the northeastern coast
+of Porto Rico. Then came an unusually hot night, followed by a clouding
+up of the sky which completely cut off the sunrise.
+
+“We are up against a storm now,” observed Captain Gordon. “And when it
+comes I allow it will be a hummer!”
+
+The captain was right. It soon began to blow, in fitful gusts at first
+and then a gale, which speedily became a hurricane. All of the ports
+were tightly closed and also the hatches.
+
+As the storm increased, so did the thunder and lightning, until to the
+two chums it was as if the artillery of the heavens had broken loose.
+Both remained on deck in spite of the protestations of the captain of
+the Arrow.
+
+“You can’t do any good here,” expostulated Captain Gordon. “Better go
+below--it’s safer.”
+
+“Perhaps,” answered Barry. “But I----”
+
+He got no farther, for just then came a blinding flash of lightning
+and a sickening crash, which hurled Bob, Barry, and the captain flat on
+their backs. The Arrow had been struck and the electricity was playing
+all over her polished deck!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WHAT HAPPENED AT PERNAMBUCO
+
+
+“Ugh!”
+
+The grunt came from Captain Gordon, as he slowly turned over and
+staggered up. Then, in dazed fashion, he gazed at the two prostrate
+figures before him.
+
+“Are you dead?” he questioned, hoarsely.
+
+“I--I reckon not!” came from Bob, with an odd gulp. “But that was
+awful, wasn’t it!”
+
+“Is the--the yacht on fire?” put in Barry, as he, too, sat up. His body
+felt as if a thousand needles had been stuck into it.
+
+“I’ll see,” answered the captain, and reeled off like a drunken man.
+Soon the two chums followed him, with white, set faces, for the shock
+had been terrific and was not to be easily forgotten.
+
+But the Arrow was safe, for the time being, having lost nothing more
+than a bit of the top-mast and a portion of her starboard railing.
+Several sailors were set to work to clear away the wreckage, and then
+Bob and Barry limped down into the cabin.
+
+The thunder and lightning continued and all told the storm lasted for
+six hours. In spite of himself, the awful pitching of the yacht made
+Bob seasick, and before the blow was over he had to take to his berth.
+
+“I feel as if I was being turned inside out,” he told Barry. “And I
+never thought I would get sick!” And he turned his face to the wall to
+hide his misery.
+
+“Never mind; the best of us get sick at times,” answered Barry. “If I
+remember rightly, you ate an extra heavy dinner last evening.”
+
+When the storm had cleared away they were in sight of the coast of
+Porto Rico, and a few hours later they sped into the harbor of San
+Juan, the capital city.
+
+Fortunately, Barry had brought considerable money with him, so
+there was no delay on that score, and soon the bunkers of the Arrow
+were being filled with coal. Coal was also placed in bags in other
+convenient spots. While this was going on the cook went ashore and
+bought up all necessary provisions.
+
+By noon of the next day they were off again, and soon the steam yacht
+was skirting the southwestern coast of the Leeward Islands, on the trip
+to Cayenne, in French Guiana. The weather remained hot but clear, and
+they made rapid progress.
+
+“The Arrow is a splendid yacht at sea,” remarked Barry, one day. “I
+was afraid she wouldn’t stand it, being built mostly for coast and
+inland travel, but she takes to the ocean as naturally as a duck does
+to a mill-pond.”
+
+The run to Cayenne occurred without special incident. At this city Bob
+and Barry took a run ashore, lasting several hours--a run which was
+full of interest. The city was filled with Frenchmen, Spaniards, and
+South American Indians, and was as bustling as it was dirty.
+
+“And now straight for Pernambuco!” cried the owner of the Arrow, as the
+anchor came up and the engines were started.
+
+“And may we soon get out of this all-fired hot weather!” returned Bob.
+“I tell you, Barry, it’s fearful. Why, the thermometer registered a
+hundred and eighteen in the shade yesterday. I thought I was being
+cooked in the open air!”
+
+“Well, you must remember we are only a few hundred miles above the
+equator, Bob--the hottest place in the whole world. I think you had
+better crawl into that ice-box for a few days, I really do!” And Barry
+gave a laugh.
+
+“It’s no joke!” grumbled Bob. “Some day you’ll wake up to find a grease
+spot in my berth. That will be what’s left of me.” And he sauntered
+off, to lie down in a shady spot, with some cracked ice in a canvas bag
+for a pillow, and with some iced lime water in a bottle with which to
+quench his constantly raging thirst.
+
+As they drew closer to the equator a lively breeze sprang up, otherwise
+Bob must have suffered still more. The wind was in the Arrow’s favor,
+and before many days Cape St. Roque was sighted, on the extreme eastern
+shore of Brazil. From here the run was due south down the coast to
+Pernambuco, and late one afternoon they ran into the harbor of that
+lively little seaport city.
+
+As soon as possible, Bob and Barry went ashore and made inquiries
+concerning the Vixen. Nothing had been seen or heard of the tramp
+steamer.
+
+“She has given us the slip!” groaned Bob.
+
+“Perhaps not,” returned Barry. “She may be taking her time to get
+here--not knowing that we are after her.”
+
+“That is true. What do you propose?”
+
+“That we remain here for a few days and see if anything turns up.”
+
+As there seemed nothing else to do they remained in Pernambuco, the
+yacht in the mean while coaling up again and getting in another stock
+of provisions.
+
+During the days spent on shipboard since leaving San Juan, in Porto
+Rico, Pat Caven had managed to overhear much of the talk between Bob,
+Barry, and Captain Gordon, and he, consequently, knew that those on
+the Arrow were waiting for Captain Fenlick, with the intention of
+accusing him of the abduction of Bob, and the theft of the precious red
+book.
+
+“If they catch the cap’n, sure an’ they’ll be afther makin’ it warm fer
+him,” mused Caven. “If he comes in here I must try to warn him before
+they know he’s here.”
+
+Caven knew something of the people to whom the cargo in the Vixen was
+assigned, and he went to see them and ask them if they knew anything of
+the steamer’s movements.
+
+They said they knew nothing, but were looking for the steamer every day.
+
+Much disappointed, the Irish sailor turned to walk away. As he did so
+he caught sight of Captain Fenlick at a distant corner of the street,
+and he ran to meet his man.
+
+“Caven!” cried the master of the Vixen. “I was hoping to meet you.”
+
+“An’ I was hopin’ to set eyes on you,” rejoined the Irish sailor. “Have
+ye brought yer ship in here?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“It’s good ye didn’t, fer Barry Filmore an’ Bob Baxter are after ye.”
+
+“I was afraid of it. So Filmore picked Baxter up after he left the
+Vixen?”
+
+“He did, an’ they are both down on ye an’ layin’ up a lot av trouble
+for ye.”
+
+Captain Fenlick grated his teeth.
+
+“I wish they were both dead!” he muttered.
+
+“I thought ye wanted some information from Baxter.”
+
+“So I do; but if he was dead I’d try to get along without it.”
+
+Captain Fenlick wished to know all about the doings on board of the
+Arrow, and Caven gave him the particulars.
+
+“My ship is up at Natal, undergoing a few repairs,” he said. “I thought
+I would come down here on horseback, to see if the coast was clear.
+When is the Arrow going to sail?”
+
+“I don’t know. Filmore is waiting fer you.”
+
+The two talked the matter over and then repaired to a French saloon,
+where they had several drinks.
+
+It was agreed that Caven should keep a close watch on Bob and Barry,
+and report to Captain Fenlick if anything new turned up.
+
+Another day slipped by, and Bob and Barry took it into their heads to
+take a ride around the vicinity of Pernambuco on horseback.
+
+“Nothing like seeing a new country when you have the chance,” said the
+rich young man.
+
+“That’s so, too,” answered Bob. “Yet I am anxious to get to the South
+Pole--or near it,” and he gave something of a sigh. Behind it all he
+was very anxious to learn if his father was still alive. The treasure
+ship was of secondary importance.
+
+A mile outside of Pernambuco they stopped at a wayside inn for some
+refreshments.
+
+What was their astonishment on entering the inn to find themselves
+confronted by Captain Fenlick and his ever-ready tool, Basker!
+
+“What, you!” stammered the master of the Vixen.
+
+“Captain Fenlick!” shouted Bob. “You rascal!” And running up he caught
+the captain by the arm.
+
+“Let go of me!” came in a snarl. “Let go, boy!”
+
+“I will--not!” retorted Bob. “You’ll remember we are on land now. You
+are my prisoner!”
+
+“Ha! ha! Boy, you talk like a fool!” answered the captain, yet he
+looked much disturbed.
+
+“Don’t you dare to make trouble for the captain!” broke in Basker.
+“He’s done nothing to you.”
+
+“That is for a court of law to decide,” said Barry. “Who are you?”
+
+“He is the fellow who helped Fenlick make me a prisoner,” said Bob.
+
+“Then he is a villain, too, and must come along,” went on Barry, and
+caught hold of Basker with a grip that was like steel, for the young
+owner of the Arrow was a thorough athlete.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+FIVE STOWAWAYS
+
+
+By this time the loud talking had brought the landlord of the inn and
+several others to the doorway of the apartment.
+
+Everybody was excited, and it was several minutes before Barry, who
+talked French, could explain the situation.
+
+“Call some officers of the law,” said the young man, and this was
+speedily done, and inside of the hour all of the party were marched off
+to the Pernambuco prison.
+
+The company that had been expecting the Vixen were notified and they
+came to see Captain Fenlick.
+
+The captain tried to prove himself innocent of all wrongdoings and was
+at first believed.
+
+But when his vessel was brought from Natal down to Pernambuco, an
+exposure came from an unexpected quarter.
+
+The captain and Basker had had a quarrel with Moses Brown, the cook,
+and now Brown came forward and told, not only how Bob had been
+shanghaied aboard the Vixen, but also how Captain Fenlick and Basker
+had plotted to rob the owners of the tramp steamer of the proceeds
+from the cargo.
+
+The cook’s tale was verified in part by one of the sailors, and in the
+end, Captain Fenlick and Basker were ordered back to prison, to await
+trial, while Bob and Barry were allowed to go.
+
+Along with a ship’s agent from Pernambuco, the two chums visited the
+Vixen, and in Captain Fenlick’s private stateroom found the precious
+red book which had been stolen.
+
+On the day following the recovery of the red book, Barry had a quarrel
+with Pat Caven, for the Irish sailor was half drunk and very impudent.
+
+Barry gave the sailor a good talking to, and this so enraged the
+rascal, that he vowed all sorts of revenge.
+
+There was some difficulty in getting coal at Pernambuco, so that the
+Arrow was not ready to continue her voyage south until two days later.
+
+In the mean time, Pat Caven managed to get shore leave, and unknown to
+those on the steam yacht, he paid a long visit to Captain Fenlick and
+Basker.
+
+At this meeting a secret compact was made by which Caven agreed to do
+all in his power to help the two prisoners to escape.
+
+That very night he sent them a basket of fruit, which included a bunch
+of bananas. In the bananas were concealed a steel saw and several
+files.
+
+On the following morning, much to the jailer’s astonishment, the two
+American prisoners were missing, having liberated themselves by sawing
+and filing away the bars of the cell window.
+
+And not only were the Americans gone, but likewise three other
+prisoners--a negro and two Spaniards, who had been locked up in a cell
+adjoining.
+
+The five prisoners had gone off together and as the three others were
+thorough rascals and sailors to boot, Captain Fenlick and Basker had
+taken them in tow.
+
+That night Captain Fenlick met Pat Caven, as previously appointed, and
+then the captain unfolded a new scheme of his own.
+
+This was that Caven should help him to smuggle himself and his four
+companions on board of the Arrow.
+
+The party of five were to keep hidden away in the hold of the Arrow
+for several days or a week, until the steam yacht was well on her way
+south. During that time, Caven was to aid them in getting food.
+
+At just the right time, some dark night, Caven was to give them the
+signal to come out of hiding. This was to be when Bob, Barry, and
+Captain Gordon were below asleep.
+
+The three were to be locked fast in the cabin and then the six villains
+were to make a combined attack upon the rest of the crew of the Arrow.
+
+“And we’ll do it at the point of the pistol,” concluded Captain
+Fenlick, “and those who won’t submit and join us, will have to walk the
+plank.”
+
+The plan pleased Pat Caven, and he said he would do all in his power to
+push it through. He told the captain of a deserted warehouse close to
+where the Arrow was lying, and the five rascals made their way to the
+place.
+
+The next night was foggy and pitch dark. It was Caven’s watch on deck
+from midnight to two o’clock, and during this time he stole off to the
+warehouse.
+
+“If yez intend to come on board, now is the wan chance,” he said. “We
+sail by noon to-morrow.”
+
+“Is the coast clear?” questioned Captain Fenlick, anxiously.
+
+“It is. The captain and the other two are asleep, and most av the crew
+are ashore putting in their last night in havin’ a good time.”
+
+“All right, then, Pat; lead the way,” said Captain Fenlick.
+
+Then he turned to his four followers and bid them be cautious and move
+as silently as shadows.
+
+Each of the five was heavily armed with pistols and daggers, procured
+by one of the Spaniards, with money provided by the ex-captain of the
+Vixen.
+
+Without making the least bit of noise, the party stole after Caven
+until the dock was reached, where the Arrow lay.
+
+Then Caven went aboard and took another look around.
+
+The deck was still deserted, and walking to the rail he gave a low
+whistle as a signal.
+
+Then up the side of the steam yacht came the five rascals.
+
+Reaching the deck, the forward hatch was raised by Caven and Basker,
+and a rope ladder produced; and then Captain Fenlick’s party descended
+into the steam yacht’s hold.
+
+It was a small place, now heavily loaded with provisions and coal,
+and the five had much difficulty in settling themselves in an
+out-of-the-way corner.
+
+Pat Caven brought them a large basket of provisions and a keg of water
+and another of liquor, and promised to look after their comforts as
+much as opportunity would afford.
+
+Should the attempted capture of the Arrow prove a success, Captain
+Fenlick promised to make Basker his first mate and Caven his second
+mate.
+
+“And each of you shall have ten per cent. of everything that the deal
+brings in,” he added.
+
+After all was arranged, and the party below supplied with matches
+and a dark-lantern, Pat Caven placed the hatch in position again and
+continued his watch.
+
+All went well, and at two o’clock one of the other sailors came to
+relieve him of his watch, and he went to the forecastle chuckling to
+himself.
+
+“Now, Mr. Barry Filmore, we’ll soon see who is on top, you or me an’
+me plucky mates,” he muttered to himself. “Whin we are in command av
+the Arrow it’s you as will git on yer knees an’ beg me pardon fer
+havin’ insulted me. An’ thin ye can walk the plank, anyhow!” he added,
+savagely. “And Bob Baxter wid ye!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SOMETHING ABOUT A PISTOL
+
+
+“Off at last, and glad of it! Hurrah for the South Pole and the finding
+of the treasure ship!”
+
+It was Bob who uttered the words as he stood on the stern deck of the
+steam yacht, watching the harbor of Pernambuco fading rapidly in the
+distance.
+
+“Glad to get away, eh, Bob?” replied Barry. “Well, I am not sorry,
+myself. Only I should have liked to hear what became of Captain Fenlick
+and Basker, after they broke jail.”
+
+“We are well rid of those villains, Barry; I never want to see either
+of them again.”
+
+“Neither do I. We have the red book back and can do very well without
+them.”
+
+It was a perfect day, and long before nightfall the steam yacht was
+far out of sight of land and heading southwest by south, straight for
+Tierra del Fuego--the last stop to be made before pushing into the
+unknown regions of the Antarctic Circle.
+
+Pat Caven overheard the talk between Bob and Barry, and smiled grimly
+to himself.
+
+“Niver want to see Fenlick an’ Basker again, eh?” he muttered. “Well,
+yez will be afther seein’ ’em, mark me wurruds!”
+
+The two days following the departure from Pernambuco were busy ones for
+the two chums and Captain Gordon.
+
+At the seaport city they had invested in some charts delineating the
+vicinity of Cape Horn, and these were studied diligently, in connection
+with the maps and the written descriptions contained in the red book.
+
+From these they learned that almost directly south of Cape Horn
+were the South Shetland Islands, with Trinity Land and Palmer Land
+still farther south. Palmer Land was reported to be covered with
+mountains from a mile to seven thousand feet in height, and covered
+continually with huge icebergs and snow. Beyond these points was the
+great unexplored region of the South Pole, called by many the Land of
+Desolation. Here were to be encountered thick fogs, terrific winds,
+perilous floating icebergs, and submarine eruptions such as no other
+portion of the globe knew.
+
+“Not a cheerful prospect,” said Barry, with a shrug of his shoulders.
+“Does it make you feel like turning back, Bob?”
+
+“No, I’ll go on as long as anybody will go with me,” was the sturdy
+answer. “We’ll come out on top, I feel it in my bones.”
+
+“The Antarctic night is six months long,” went on the owner of the
+Arrow. “That’s a pretty good while to stay in darkness.”
+
+“Pooh! We’ve got lamps on board and barrels and barrels of oil. What
+more do you want?”
+
+“And they say the cold is something fierce. But I know that won’t hurt
+you. You’ll be for taking a swim whenever we strike open water, I
+suppose.”
+
+“We are in for the trip, and there shall be no turning back,” said
+Captain Gordon. “We can at least go as far as others have gone. And if
+we go farther it will be a great feather in our caps, for all the world
+will hear of it.”
+
+“That’s the way to talk!” cried Barry. “I was only testing Bob. I
+wouldn’t turn back now for anything.”
+
+On and on sped the Arrow, as if understanding the honor of her mission
+and as if to do her level best. The weather remained fine, with just
+enough breeze to temper the equatorial heat, and as they drew southward
+it gradually grew cooler until, as Bob expressed it, “it was worth
+living again.”
+
+So far, Pat Caven had taken food and drink to the stowaways three times
+without detection, but the fourth time he was noticed by Paul Ferris,
+the cabin boy.
+
+“What are you doing with that stuff?” questioned Paul, as he and Caven
+came together in an unfrequented gangway.
+
+“It’s all right, me boy,” answered Pat, smoothly. “I’m obeyin’ orders,
+that’s all. You keep yer mouth shut about it, or you’ll git into
+trouble.”
+
+“Does the cook know you have that stuff?” went on Paul.
+
+“Av course he does,” answered Caven. “But don’t you say nuthin’ about
+it, or there will be trouble for ye, mind that!” And he shook his head,
+warningly, at the cabin boy.
+
+Paul hardly knew what to do. At first he was for keeping silent, but
+later on he sounded Stults, the cook, on the subject.
+
+The German was at once wrathful, for there was no love lost between him
+and Caven.
+
+“He got no right to dake some eatings, not much, py chiminy!” he cried.
+“Of you cotch him at it again, you tole me kvick, und I vos tole
+Captain Gordon.”
+
+“All right, I will tell you,” answered Paul. But in the future Pat
+Caven was so careful that nothing came of it until it was too late.
+
+In the mean time, Caven had been sounding some of the members of the
+crew and had gotten one sailor named Logger to go into the mutiny with
+him.
+
+“That will give us seven against nine,” said Caven to Captain Fenlick
+when they met. “That cabin boy don’t count.”
+
+Those in the hold of the Arrow were getting tired of the confinement,
+and Basker was for beginning the attack without delay, but the
+ex-captain of the Vixen told him they must not hurry or they might
+spoil the game.
+
+“Caven must first doctor the weapons belonging to Filmore and the
+others,” he announced. “If that is done, we’ll have them at our mercy.”
+
+This was a ticklish piece of business, for Barry and his friends kept
+their weapons in their staterooms and most of them were under lock and
+key.
+
+After watching for several days, Pat Caven succeeded in getting at
+Barry’s pistols and a rifle in Captain Gordon’s stateroom, and he fixed
+the hammers of the firearms so that they could not be raised.
+
+Then he made his way to Bob’s little stateroom.
+
+He was at work over the best pistol Bob possessed when he heard
+footsteps in the cabin. He had just time enough to get out of sight
+behind a curtain when Bob came in.
+
+Bob was humming gayly to himself and started to look for a certain book
+he was after when his eye rested upon the hook where the pistol had
+hung suspended by a leather strap.
+
+“Hullo, the pistol’s gone!” he muttered. “Wonder if Barry took it?”
+
+Then he got the book he was after and turned to leave the stateroom.
+
+Pat Caven hardly dared to breathe, for Bob passed within a foot of him
+on his way out.
+
+“Begorra, but that was a narrow escape,” said the Irishman to himself.
+“I’ll have to git out av this,” and he placed the pistol on the hook
+again and followed Bob out.
+
+A quarter of an hour later Bob met Barry on the after deck and
+mentioned the pistol to the owner of the Arrow.
+
+“I haven’t touched the pistol,” declared Barry. “It must have been
+somebody else. Better ask Captain Gordon.”
+
+“I will,” answered Bob, and did so, and then asked Paul Ferris. Of
+course, neither knew anything about the pistol, and Bob was much
+mystified and even more so when, on returning to the stateroom, he
+found the pistol hanging in its accustomed place.
+
+“This beats the Dutch!” he declared.
+
+“You must have been dreaming,” answered Barry. “The pistol is just
+where it has always been.”
+
+Bob shook his head, dubiously. “I can’t understand it at all, Barry.
+Somebody had that pistol and that is all there is to it.”
+
+“Is the weapon all right?”
+
+“Appears to be. I’ll tell you one thing, though.”
+
+“What’s that?”
+
+“I’m going to keep it where only myself can lay hands on it in the
+future.”
+
+“There won’t be any harm in doing that, Bob. But whom are you afraid
+of?”
+
+“I don’t know, excepting it is that Pat Caven.”
+
+“Pat Caven? Has he given you any more back talk?”
+
+“Not exactly. But I don’t like his looks. He acts as if he was planning
+to do me an injury.”
+
+“If he tries it I’ll put him in irons, Bob.”
+
+“I suppose your pistols are all right.”
+
+“Why, of course.”
+
+“Have you looked after them?”
+
+“No, but I’m sure they are just where I left them.”
+
+“Better look and make sure.”
+
+Barry smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“You are certainly getting nervous,” he said. “However, I’ll look after
+the pistols as soon as I go to my stateroom.”
+
+Half an hour went by, when Captain Gordon came rushing up to where Bob
+and Barry sat reading.
+
+“Tell me!” he cried. “Have either of you been tampering with my pistol?”
+
+Bob and Barry leaped up in amazement.
+
+“No!” came from both.
+
+“It’s strange. Somebody has fixed my pistol so it won’t go off.”
+
+Barry turned as pale as death.
+
+“Wait,” he muttered, and ran for his stateroom. Inside of three minutes
+he was back, his face full of strange forebodings.
+
+“My pistols and the rifle have also been doctored,” he ejaculated.
+“There is something wrong here.”
+
+He had scarcely uttered the words when Gus Stults came running up, his
+round face full of fear.
+
+“Captain--Mr. Filmore!” he gasped. “It vos awful--I can’t believe him!”
+
+“What?” came from the three others.
+
+“Dare vos strange mens in der hold--two udder dree udder more of dem. I
+vos shpot dem from der galley ven I go me town to git some perdaders.”
+
+“Men!” thundered Captain Gordon. “Men, and my pistols gone!”
+
+“Yah, und Pat Caven, he was steal food from der galley more as vonce.”
+
+“Food stolen--men in the hold--our weapons tampered with,” groaned
+Barry. “What can it all mean?”
+
+“It means mutiny!” answered Bob. “Somebody is going to try to take the
+Arrow from us!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE PRISONERS IN THE HOLD
+
+
+“Mutiny!” came from Barry’s lips.
+
+“Bob must be right,” ejaculated Captain Gordon. “We must be on guard
+ere it is too late.”
+
+“How many men hidden in the hold?” questioned Bob, of Stults.
+
+The cook could not answer this question. But he had seen several moving
+cautiously around in the darkness and heard them conversing in whispers.
+
+“It is undoubtedly a plot to capture the Arrow,” came from Barry. “And
+the question is, how are we to prevent the move?”
+
+“Let us fight the mutineers,” said Bob, promptly.
+
+“To be sure, we will fight,” returned Captain Gordon. “But we are
+placed at a disadvantage without our weapons.”
+
+“My pistol is all right,” said Bob.
+
+“I will go and see to mine instantly,” said Barry, and hurried off.
+
+To get to his private stateroom he had to pass through a passageway
+leading through the cabin.
+
+As he was walking along he heard footsteps behind him.
+
+He turned swiftly, but it was too late.
+
+Down came a club in the hands of Captain Fenlick, and the owner of the
+Arrow staggered and fell headlong.
+
+Then all became a blank before his eyes, and Barry knew no more.
+
+“Number One!” muttered Fenlick, savagely “That was easy.”
+
+He had come from the hold but a few minutes before, followed by the
+others of his lawless crew.
+
+“What’s the next move?” asked Caven, who had joined the crowd.
+
+“Where are Captain Gordon and Bob Baxter?”
+
+Captain Fenlick was informed and started in the direction, with Caven
+and one of the Spaniards at his heels.
+
+In the mean time the second Spaniard, the negro, and the sailor from
+the Arrow who had joined the rascals, moved forward on the crew who
+were on the forward deck and in the forecastle.
+
+Several minutes went by and Bob and Captain Gordon began to wonder why
+Barry did not return.
+
+“I’ll wager he found something wrong with his pistols,” said Bob. “He
+must know----What’s that? Captain Fenlick, by all that’s wonderful!”
+
+“Surrender!” came from Fenlick, as he pointed a pistol at Captain
+Gordon’s head. “Raise a hand against us and you are a dead man!”
+
+For the instant Captain Gordon could not speak.
+
+He was taken completely by surprise.
+
+In the mean time, Caven covered Bob with a pistol.
+
+“It’s my turn now,” he said, with a wicked grin. “Don’t ye be afther
+movin’ a single hair o’ yer head, b’y!”
+
+“What does this mean?” asked Captain Gordon, at last.
+
+“It means that we are in possession of the Arrow,” answered Captain
+Fenlick. “Will you submit quietly or must we use force?”
+
+“You in possession of the Arrow?” repeated Captain Gordon.
+
+“Yes, I and my fourteen men,” went on Captain Fenlick, telling the
+falsehood with great smoothness.
+
+“Mine cracious, fourteen mens!” groaned Stults.
+
+“You keep quiet!” ordered Caven, and then Stults was covered with a
+pistol by the Spaniard and almost collapsed from nervousness.
+
+“Do you know that your actions are treason on the high seas and
+punishable by death?” said Captain Gordon.
+
+“Bah! Don’t talk to me!” growled Fenlick. “Do you submit or not?”
+
+“I presume we will have to submit.”
+
+“That is where you show your common sense.”
+
+“Where is Mr. Filmore?”
+
+“He’s a close prisoner.”
+
+“I don’t see why I should submit,” put in Bob, boldly.
+
+“All right then, Baxter, we’ll put a ball through your head,” replied
+Captain Fenlick, coldly.
+
+“No, no, don’t shoot the lad,” interposed Captain Gordon. “Bob, we had
+better submit, since they have the best of us.”
+
+The youth was very wrathful, yet he could not help but see the wisdom
+of Captain Gordon’s words.
+
+Accordingly he allowed himself to be made a prisoner, the Spaniard
+binding his hands behind him while Caven kept him covered with the
+pistol.
+
+Captain Gordon was treated in a similar fashion and then the pair were
+marched off to the hold and tumbled into the darkness.
+
+In the hold they stumbled over Barry, who was just returning to
+consciousness.
+
+“Barry, are you much hurt?” asked Bob, tenderly.
+
+“My head! It’s almost cracked open!” came with a groan.
+
+“Who did it?”
+
+“Captain Fenlick. He wants to take possession of the Arrow, I guess.”
+
+“He has taken possession.”
+
+Barry was made as comfortable as possible, and then the three sat down,
+wondering what would happen next.
+
+They heard hasty footsteps on deck and several pistol shots, and then
+Stults was thrown into the hold, also bound.
+
+“Der game vos up!” sputtered the German cook. “Dot Captain Fenlick and
+Pat Caven vos got der yacht to demselves!”
+
+“What of the men?” questioned Captain Gordon, anxiously.
+
+Before Stults could reply the question answered itself.
+
+The hatch was opened and down came two of the crew, one wounded in the
+leg from a pistol ball and the second suffering from a crack of a club
+on the head.
+
+They reported that Logger had joined the pirates--for such Captain
+Fenlick and his gang really were--and that the others were in the
+forecastle badly wounded and unable to do anything for themselves.
+
+“There are six of ’em against us, cap’n,” said one of the wounded
+sailors.
+
+“Six!” repeated Bob. “And we are but six here, and two badly hurt.”
+
+“And they have all of the weapons,” put in Captain Gordon. “Boys, I am
+afraid we are in a pretty bad box.”
+
+“Perhaps they will make us all walk the plank,” went on the sailor.
+
+“Valk der blank!” cried Stults. “Ach!” And he raised his hands in
+despair.
+
+The hatch had been closed and all was dark. One after another they sat
+down, Bob with Barry’s sore head resting in his lap. Certainly the turn
+of affairs looked gloomy enough.
+
+Meanwhile, Captain Fenlick and his villanous crew had taken possession
+of the private cabin and were treating themselves to the best of the
+liquors and cigars on board.
+
+“Drink what you will,” said the captain, “but don’t go it too strong.
+Remember, we are playing a game that will be worth millions to us!” And
+for a wonder, none of those under him got drunk excepting the negro,
+who filled up on whiskey and then went to the forecastle and almost
+scared the wounded sailors to death by flourishing a razor in their
+faces and offering to carve out their hearts if they uttered a word of
+protest.
+
+As hour after hour went by, those below wondered if they were to be
+starved to death.
+
+The negro had shipped with Captain Fenlick as cook, but was too drunk
+to prepare any food.
+
+One of the Spaniards went to the galley and did the best he could for
+himself and his comrades, but the prisoners were entirely neglected
+until noon of the next day.
+
+By that time all had freed themselves of their bonds.
+
+Yet they were prisoners in the hold, for all of the doorways leading to
+the cabin and other places had been tightly locked and barred.
+
+At last the fore hatch was opened and a basket of food and a can of
+water were lowered by means of ropes.
+
+“There’s yer hash an’ wather!” sang out Pat Caven, from above. “Be
+thankful yer gittin’ it and be sure an’ make it last ye, fer ye won’t
+git any more in a hurry.”
+
+“Caven, I want to talk to Captain Fenlick,” said Barry, who was now
+feeling better.
+
+“All right, I’ll call him,” was the answer.
+
+Soon Fenlick came up and glared down upon those below.
+
+“Want to make terms, eh?” he said. “All right, fire away.” And he sat
+down on the edge of the hatch to listen to what Barry might have to say.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE WILD PATAGONIANS
+
+
+“Captain Fenlick, I want to know what this outrage means?” began the
+young owner of the Arrow.
+
+“Do you? All right, then. It means that I am now master of the Arrow
+and that you are my prisoners.”
+
+“Do you know that you may be hanged for your actions?”
+
+“Bah! If that is what you want to talk about I’ll leave you at once.”
+
+“What do you intend to do with us?”
+
+“That depends upon how you behave. If you cut up too bad we’ll make
+every mother’s son of you walk the plank.”
+
+“And otherwise----”
+
+“We’ll put you ashore soon and give you a chance for your lives.”
+
+“Ashore! Where?” put in Bob.
+
+“Somewhere at Tierra del Fuego.”
+
+“Among the wild Patagonians!” ejaculated Captain Gordon. “They would
+kill us at once!”
+
+“You will have to fight your way back to civilization,” said Captain
+Fenlick, with a shrug of his shoulders.
+
+“Are you going on in search of the treasure ship?” asked Barry.
+
+“To be sure.”
+
+“You are carrying matters with a high hand.”
+
+“I am going to get square with you.”
+
+“Your plan may fail.”
+
+“If I fail to find the treasure ship I’ll still own the Arrow.”
+
+“How did you escape from prison?”
+
+“That is my business.”
+
+“Will you let us come on deck? The air is very bad down here.”
+
+“Can’t help it. I won’t trust you on deck.”
+
+“Then give us another can of fresh water,” put in Bob.
+
+“No more water until to-morrow.”
+
+“You’re a brute!”
+
+“Shut up, boy, unless you want to be shot down where you stand.”
+
+With these words Captain Fenlick leaped up, replaced the hatch and
+stalked off, leaving them once more in darkness.
+
+“We are in a pickle, truly,” was Barry’s comment.
+
+“Captain Fenlick’s heart is like flint,” said Bob. “I wish I had him
+down here. I’d soon wring his neck for him.”
+
+Four days passed, and during that time the steam yacht made rapid
+progress southward.
+
+The prisoners received a scanty supply of food and drink, brought to
+them by the negro, who had now sobered up and taken his place as cook
+on board.
+
+On the fifth day two of the sailors from the forecastle were lowered
+into the hold.
+
+They were still weak from their wounds, but on the way to recovery.
+They said that Logger had joined the pirates and that another tar named
+Fargon was dead, and his body had been thrown overboard.
+
+Then a dreary week went by.
+
+Bob and Barry knew not what to do with themselves.
+
+They tried by every means in their power to escape from the hold, and
+the others did their best to aid them.
+
+Yet it was all useless, and they remained prisoners as before.
+
+At last the Arrow approached the wild-looking coast of Patagonia and
+ran into a little bay surrounded by tall tropical trees and bushes.
+
+Captain Fenlick went ashore to find the bay practically deserted.
+
+“This will do for our purpose,” he said to Caven. “We’ll put them
+ashore here, and no one will ever be the wiser.”
+
+The hatch was opened, and a rope ladder was lowered.
+
+“Come up, one at a time,” said Captain Fenlick. “And mind, no
+treachery, if you value your lives.”
+
+One after another the prisoners came up.
+
+They were covered by pistols in the hands of the pirates, and each had
+to submit to having his hands again bound behind him.
+
+Then the prisoners were taken ashore, two at a time, and compelled to
+line up on the beach.
+
+When the last of the prisoners were ashore, Captain Fenlick stood up in
+the stern of the rowboat and waved them a mocking adieu.
+
+“Good luck to you!” he cried. “You’re a long way from home, but I
+reckon walking is good.”
+
+“Won’t you let us have at least one pistol or a gun?” asked Barry.
+
+“No.”
+
+“Let us have a few matches,” put in Bob.
+
+“I’ll let you have nothing,” growled Captain Fenlick.
+
+The prisoners said no more, and soon the rowboat was on its return to
+the Arrow.
+
+A few minutes later the steam yacht pulled up anchor, the screw began
+to turn, and in a quarter of an hour the craft was out of sight behind
+a headland to the southward.
+
+“Stranded!” muttered Bob.
+
+“Marooned!” muttered Captain Gordon. “Boys, we are in a bad fix.”
+
+“Untie me,” said Barry. “This cord is cutting the wrists off of me.”
+
+He was quickly released, as were all of the others. Then they could not
+help but stare at one another, helplessly.
+
+Their condition was certainly one not to be envied. Here they were, on
+an unknown coast, miles and miles from civilization, with no food, no
+firearms, and not even a match with which to build a fire.
+
+“First of all we had better arm ourselves,” said Barry, after they had
+talked over the situation for some time. “Who knows but what in the
+forest behind us there may be wild animals ready to chew us up.”
+
+“Mine cracious, ton’t say dot!” cried Stults, with a shiver. “I ton’t
+vont to see no ellefunts or tigers.”
+
+“Or serpents!” put in one of the sailors. “Gosh, but that forest don’t
+look very inviting, does it?”
+
+It certainly did not. The trees were tall, the tropical vines thick,
+and underneath the ground was black and boggy.
+
+“Well, we can’t remain here and starve,” said Bob, after each had
+provided himself with a stick or a club. “Let us move on to somewhere.
+Perhaps we’ll strike some friendly natives.”
+
+“And perhaps we’ll strike some that are not friendly,” put in Barry.
+
+Yet he was as willing to move as anybody, and soon the party was on the
+march.
+
+They turned southward, for to the north and west the ground was so
+boggy they felt sure it must lead to a regular swamp. They tramped on
+for perhaps a mile when Captain Gordon, who was in the lead, called a
+sudden halt.
+
+“A noise ahead,” he announced. “I don’t know what it is.”
+
+They waited and heard the noise quite plainly.
+
+Then of a sudden an arrow whizzed through the air, followed by a squeal
+of pain from a wild hog.
+
+“Somebody is out hunting!” cried Barry, and at that moment a native
+came into view, a tall Patagonian, dressed in skins and carrying a bow
+eight feet long.
+
+The native saw them almost at the same time that they discovered him,
+and he stopped short for a full minute to gaze at them as if they were
+ghosts.
+
+Then, as Captain Gordon advanced toward the Patagonian, the fellow
+turned and fled, yelling at the top of his voice as he did so.
+
+“He’s scared,” said Bob, with a short laugh. “Reckon he has never seen
+a white man before.”
+
+“He killed the hog,” said one of the sailors, as the dead animal was
+brought into view. “Now, Stults, if you only had a fire and a kettle
+you could give us a good dinner.”
+
+“Let us follow the native and take the hog along,” said Barry. “He may
+prove a friend, if once he gets to know us.”
+
+The hog was turned over on his back, and four of the party took hold of
+the legs, and thus they moved on again, in the direction the native had
+taken.
+
+But though they tramped for several hours they saw nothing of the
+Patagonian.
+
+Reaching a little clearing on something of a hill they came to a halt,
+too exhausted to go another step.
+
+They slacked their thirst at a near-by pool of water, but there was
+nothing at hand to eat but the hog meat, and no one cared to devour
+that raw.
+
+“I’m going to try an experiment,” said Barry, and gathered some
+cotton-like pods which were growing near. These he picked apart and
+dried thoroughly, and then laid the mass on the edge of a sharp rock.
+After this he took off his well-worn shoe and began to scrape the nails
+of the heel over the rock. The sparks flew right and left, and by
+blowing he soon caught a tiny flame.
+
+“Hurrah!” shouted Bob, and gathered some dry brushwood. Soon they had a
+roaring fire, and then all set to work literally to tear the hog meat
+apart for cooking.
+
+It was slow work, but they were too starved to give up, and at last
+they had a large chunk of the hog meat roasted, and all fell to and ate
+their fill.
+
+“Never ate anything sweeter in my life,” said Captain Gordon, and the
+others agreed with him.
+
+It was now growing dark, and they resolved to camp on the spot over
+night.
+
+They drew lots as to who should remain on guard, and the duty fell to
+Bob and one of the sailors, each to watch four hours on a stretch.
+
+Bob’s four hours passed without anything unusual happening. He was very
+sleepy, and he was glad enough to turn in when relieved.
+
+It was just growing light when the sailor who was on guard awoke the
+camp with a wild shout.
+
+“The Indians are on us!”
+
+One after another leaped to his feet and gazed about him. The guard was
+right. Around the camp was a circle of wild Patagonians, each native
+armed with a bow and arrow, and many of the arrows were pointed at the
+Americans!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+CAPTAIN GORDON’S OFFER
+
+
+“Surrounded!”
+
+Such was the single word which burst from Barry Filmore’s lips as he
+gazed at the wild Patagonians.
+
+“What’s up?” demanded Bob as he roused himself and rubbed his eyes.
+
+“The Patagonian Indians are upon us, Bob!”
+
+“What!” Bob leaped to his feet. “Well, I never!”
+
+“I wonder if they will prove to be our enemies?” came from Captain
+Gordon, as he surveyed the circle of natives thoughtfully.
+
+“They look wicked enough,” answered one of the sailors. “Look at those
+arrows pointed at us.”
+
+“Ton’t shoot! Ton’t shoot!” burst out Gus Stults, as he fell upon his
+knees in momentary terror. “I vos did you no harm alretty, not me!”
+
+“Get up, Stults,” ordered Barry. “I don’t believe they intend to shoot
+us--at least, not yet.”
+
+Bob turned to Captain Gordon.
+
+“Can’t you talk to them, captain? I believe you said you had once
+travelled in these parts.”
+
+“I will try,” was the answer, and Captain Gordon moved forward, his
+hands held high over his head.
+
+“We are friends!” he called out in the native tongue. “Do not shoot!”
+
+The words took the Patagonians by surprise. They looked first at the
+captain and then at their leader, a fierce-looking individual, fully
+seven feet tall.
+
+“Keep your arrows up,” said the leader, Kinona by name. “I will talk
+with them,” and then he advanced to meet the captain.
+
+A long talk followed, which was, of course, unintelligible to Bob and
+Barry. When it came to an end, Kinona turned to his followers and all
+lowered their weapons.
+
+“Well, how have you made out?” asked Barry of Captain Gordon.
+
+“I have told them our story and asked them for aid,” answered the
+captain. “I have told them we will give them enough silver to cover the
+face of the moon if they will help us back to civilization, and Kinona
+is disposed to accept the offer. But he says that several of his party
+are inclined to refuse him as their leader.”
+
+“Well, what are they going to do?”
+
+“They will take us to their village and make up their minds later.”
+
+“Where is their village?” asked Bob.
+
+“On the seacoast, fifteen or twenty miles below here. The party was out
+on a hunting tour and was about to return home when that first chap we
+saw discovered us and took the news to his fellows.”
+
+There remained nothing to do but to accompany the Patagonians, and
+inside of an hour, after a hasty breakfast on what remained of the hog,
+they set out through the bushes and forests.
+
+The natives still surrounded them, and if one of the party happened
+to stroll apart from the rest, he was quickly ordered back, the
+Patagonians shaking their bows and arrows in his face.
+
+It was a damp day, and within an hour it began to storm heavily, so
+that the jungle became little better than a marsh land, and they had to
+walk along in mud and water up to their ankles.
+
+“This isn’t pleasant,” observed Barry.
+
+“And there is no telling how the adventure is going to end,” put in
+Bob. “All told, I think this is the worst luck yet. Even if we escape
+from these people we will still be in an unknown country, and our ship
+will be gone.”
+
+“Ton’t mention it!” groaned Stults, dismally. “I vos gif all mine money
+of only I peen pack on der Arrow vonce more, ain’t it!”
+
+“With Fenlick and his crew of cutthroats?” asked Barry.
+
+“No, no! I mean mid our crowd!” sighed the German cook.
+
+In the afternoon the storm became so violent that the Patagonians held
+a consultation. After it was over Kinona came to Captain Gordon.
+
+“Big storm and high wind,” he said in the native tongue. “We go to cave
+house and be safe. Not safe to travel now.”
+
+Then the march was taken up in another direction, and they began to
+ascend a small hill not far from the coast of the ocean.
+
+At last they came to the entrance of a large cave, and all went inside
+the opening.
+
+They were none too soon, for hardly were they under shelter when the
+very heavens seemed to part.
+
+The downpour was something awful, the rain forming a perfect sheet and
+running in a river to the ocean beyond.
+
+With the rain came a driving wind and fierce thunder and lightning,
+which shook the forest to its foundation.
+
+A number of trees were struck by lightning and they came crashing down,
+adding to the horror of the storm.
+
+“The worst I ever saw!” declared one of the old sailors. “And I’ve
+knocked around the world for nigh on to forty years.”
+
+“It is a heavy blow,” said Bob. “I’m glad we are not out in it.”
+
+Night found the storm still raging, and now it grew colder and sleet
+and hail came down with the rain.
+
+A big fire was started in the centre of the cave, and all crouched
+around this, glad to get the benefit of the warmth thus afforded.
+
+The Americans were, of course, still unarmed, while the Patagonians
+kept their bows and arrows, as well as their long hunting knives and
+war clubs, within easy reach.
+
+Once Bob took up one of the knives to examine the richly carved handle,
+when the Indian snatched it away and made a move as if to bury the
+knife in the lad’s heart.
+
+Bob squared off, and there would have been a fight then and there, had
+not Captain Gordon and Kinona interfered.
+
+Matters were explained, and peace was restored, but the Americans
+realized then that they were prisoners and nothing less.
+
+“They will do with us as they see fit,” said Barry, and he was right.
+
+By morning the storm had cleared away and the march to the native
+village was resumed.
+
+“I think we ought to get away from these fellows,” said Bob to Barry,
+as the two chums pushed on side by side. “They are not going to be any
+too friendly.”
+
+“How can we get away? They would shoot us down before we had gotten a
+hundred yards.”
+
+“Supposing they take it into their heads to eat us up?”
+
+“I don’t believe they are cannibals.”
+
+“There is no telling what they are. They look wild enough to do
+anything.”
+
+“We can’t get away now. But we can watch our chances.”
+
+The conversation was here interrupted by the natives, and no more could
+be said on the subject.
+
+The morning passed slowly, and a little after noon they came within
+sight of the native village of Peontanili, occupied by about fifteen
+hundred Patagonian Indians, known as the Gumbolo tribe.
+
+The Gumbolos are the most uneducated of all the South American Indians,
+and were in years gone by known as the Blood Suckers, because of their
+habit of sucking human blood.
+
+The entrance of the hunters of the tribe into the village was made to
+the loud beating of tom-toms and a blowing of cow horns, accompanied
+by an odd dance of Patagonian maidens attired in flowers and feathers,
+fantastically arranged.
+
+The Indians were much surprised to see the whites, and immediately
+surrounded them with fierce cries.
+
+“We are in for it, that’s certain,” muttered Captain Gordon. He did not
+like the looks of the crowd at all.
+
+Kinona held a long consultation with the chief of the village, an old
+man with a white beard that came to his waist and was tied up with
+strips of sheepskin.
+
+At the end of the talk the whites were led to a big hut at the end of
+the village street, and told to enter and make themselves at home.
+
+“You will soon be served with dinner,” said Kinona.
+
+There was no use to resist, and the Americans proceeded to make
+themselves as comfortable as possible.
+
+Around the hut was placed a guard of ten tall and strong-looking young
+Patagonians, each armed with bow and arrow, knife, and war club.
+
+“Now we are prisoners for sure,” muttered Barry. “I wonder what the
+next move will be?”
+
+“They’ll eat us sure!” said one of the sailors.
+
+An hour went by, and a native woman came in carrying a big bowl of fish
+chowder.
+
+Another woman followed with a couple of loaves of Indian corn bread and
+a few iron spoons.
+
+“Not a Waldorf-Astoria feed, but better than nothing,” said Barry,
+“especially to a chap that is half starved.”
+
+Then he took one of the iron spoons, dipped it into the chowder, and
+tasted the mess.
+
+The next instant his face puckered up and he spat out the food.
+
+“Ugh!” he ejaculated. “What a dose!”
+
+“What does it taste like?” asked Bob.
+
+“Cod-liver oil and burnt leather.”
+
+Bob tried a mouthful and so did Captain Gordon.
+
+Neither could swallow the stuff, and they and Barry had to content
+themselves with a chunk of corn bread apiece. Some of the sailors ate a
+little of the chowder, but one and all declared it a filthy mess.
+
+Toward nightfall the Patagonians gathered around a large campfire and
+held council.
+
+“I would like to know what is going on,” said Captain Gordon.
+
+Presently he climbed to the top of the hut and put his head out of a
+hole in the thatching.
+
+By listening intently he caught a few words of those spoken at the
+council.
+
+There was a lively discussion, lasting far into the night.
+
+Then the council broke up in a wild song that ended in blood-curdling
+shrieks.
+
+When Captain Gordon came down from above, his face was white and set.
+
+“We must get away from here,” he whispered. “And we must get away
+before sunrise, too.”
+
+“Why, what is up now?” asked Barry.
+
+“To-morrow these natives have their Feast of the White Head, and they
+have decided that all of us are to be bound hands and feet, rolled up
+in blankets of clay, and then roasted!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+“WE MUST FIGHT!”
+
+
+“Roasted alive!” ejaculated Bob and Barry in a breath.
+
+Gus Stults uttered a scream of anguish and fell upon his knees.
+
+“I ton’t vont to be roasted, not me!” he moaned. “Blease, captain, tell
+dem I vos too tough to been roasted, vill you?”
+
+“Hush, not so loud,” went on Captain Gordon. “If they suspect that we
+know what they are up to, they will guard us more closely than ever.”
+
+“That’s so,” said Barry. “But get away we must, that’s settled.”
+
+“How are we going to do it?” asked one of the sailors.
+
+“Make a dash for it,” suggested one.
+
+“Yes, let us fight ’em,” burst out Bob. “Anything is better than to sit
+still and let them murder us in cold blood.”
+
+“Hot blood--if they roast us,” returned Captain Gordon, grimly. “Yes, I
+am in for fighting, too.”
+
+A lively talk followed, in the midst of which one of the Patagonians
+entered, brandishing a war club.
+
+“Talk no more!” he roared in his native tongue. “Talk no more, or all
+of your heads shall be split open!”
+
+He strode up to Barry and raised the club.
+
+The next instant Bob leaped on him from the rear, and a jerk sent the
+Patagonian to the ground.
+
+The club was twisted from the Indian’s grasp and a blow from the weapon
+laid him senseless.
+
+But the attack was heard outside, and now a yell rent the air.
+
+“The jig is up!” cried Barry. “We must fight or die!”
+
+He ran to the doorway of the hut, and the others followed.
+
+Here four gigantic Patagonians barred the way. Each native had his
+knife in one hand and his war club in the other.
+
+For one brief instant the Americans hesitated, then in sheer
+desperation they hurled themselves at the natives.
+
+There was a shock and a scream, and two of the natives went backward,
+one struck down by the club in Bob’s hand.
+
+Barry caught one wild-eyed Patagonian by the throat and was choking the
+breath out of him when the fellow raised his long knife.
+
+The blade would have entered Barry’s heart had not Bob come to the
+rescue in a most unexpected manner.
+
+Out shot the war club in the American lad’s hand, and down came the
+long knife with a force that sent the point two inches into the wood.
+
+“Ugh!” grunted the Patagonian, and tried to withdraw the knife. But
+before he could do so Captain Gordon hit him a terrific blow in the ear
+with his fist, and he went down like a ten-pin.
+
+The fight was now an open one on all sides, and the rest of the natives
+were hurrying up with all speed.
+
+“Run for it!” shouted the captain. “Run, or it will be too late.”
+
+And run they did, the natives coming after them like so many demons,
+yelling, screaming, flourishing their knives and war clubs, and
+shooting their arrows.
+
+The party had just gained the edge of the forest when whizz! an arrow
+struck Bob in the side and he staggered and fell.
+
+“Bob!” muttered Barry, hoarsely. “Oh, Bob! tell me you are not dead!”
+
+“Go--go on!” gasped Bob. “Don’t--don’t mind m-me!”
+
+“I shan’t leave you!” replied Barry, boldly, and in a twinkle he had
+his chum up and over his shoulder.
+
+The rest had fled on ahead, and now Barry did his best to catch up with
+them.
+
+But his strength was not equal to the task, and he could move on no
+faster than a dog trot.
+
+“Better dro--drop me!” went on Bob, faintly. “Save your--yourself!”
+
+“If you die, so will I,” replied Barry, bravely.
+
+The Patagonians were quite close, when Barry saw a dense jungle ahead,
+with a small opening among a number of vines.
+
+Into the opening he plunged and moved onward a distance of fifty yards.
+
+It was almost as black as night in the depths of the forest, and soon
+he stumbled over a fallen tree and fell headlong.
+
+And then something happened which fairly made his hair stand upon end.
+
+From behind the fallen tree there emerged a powerful-looking jaguar,
+with a roar which was blood curdling.
+
+The fierce creature had eyeballs which glowed like balls of fire, and
+these were turned full upon poor Bob at first and then upon Barry, who
+was struggling to get up.
+
+Both of the chums felt that their last minutes upon earth were at hand,
+for the South American jaguar is as fierce as any lion or tiger that
+ever lived.
+
+The jaguar crouched down, and its tail began to swing slowly to and
+fro, for the beast was getting ready for a spring.
+
+Behind the boys came the pattering of feet of the Patagonians, closer
+each moment.
+
+Suddenly the jaguar raised its short ears as if to listen.
+
+Then the head of the beast went up and its gaze was fixed upon the
+opening behind the chums.
+
+It saw the Indians approaching and gave a roar which echoed and
+re-echoed throughout the jungle, and was answered by innumerable
+monkeys and small animals.
+
+The Patagonians heard the roar and came to a quick halt.
+
+One had his bow up, and in a twinkle an arrow sped forward and caught
+the jaguar in the left ear.
+
+The wound was evidently a painful one, for the beast let out another
+roar of wild rage.
+
+Then with a spring it cleared the bodies of the fallen chums and made
+straight for the Patagonians.
+
+What a wild scattering followed! The natives hurried in all directions,
+shrieking with fright and never trying to bring down the beast that was
+after them.
+
+Off they went into the open, and then plunged into another part of the
+jungle.
+
+The jaguar kept after them, and in less than three minutes a scream
+from one of the Patagonians told only too plainly that the beast had
+brought down its prey.
+
+The crunching of bones could be plainly heard by Barry as he stood up
+over Bob’s body to listen.
+
+Poor Bob heard nothing. He had fainted from loss of blood.
+
+What to do next Barry did not know.
+
+The others of the party had gone off in a different direction, and
+there was no telling where they were now.
+
+Afraid that his chum was dead, Barry bent over Bob, to find him
+breathing faintly.
+
+He opened Bob’s shirt and saw that the wound was in the side, directly
+under the arm.
+
+There was some wet grass at hand, and with the water obtained from this
+he bathed the wound and then tied it up with the sleeves torn from his
+own shirt.
+
+Would the jaguar come back to attack them?
+
+This was the agonizing thought which entered Barry’s mind as he bathed
+Bob’s face.
+
+But no, the beast had more than its fill on the dead Patagonian, so
+from that danger they were, for the time being, safe.
+
+At last Barry picked up his chum once more and plunged into the jungle.
+
+At a great distance he heard the Patagonians shouting, but soon these
+sounds grew fainter and finally died out altogether.
+
+The blackness of night and of the dense growth of the jungle was
+everywhere, and he could not see his hand before his face.
+
+Of a sudden he stumbled with his burden and both fell, down and down,
+Barry knew not to where.
+
+Then his senses forsook him and all became a blank.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A STRANGE MEETING ON THE BEACH
+
+
+“Barry! Where am I?”
+
+This was the question which awoke the young owner of the Arrow.
+
+He started up, to find it broad daylight, and Bob bending over him.
+
+He had recovered from the shock of his fall during the night and had
+then gone to sleep, with Bob resting beside him.
+
+“Don’t ask me where we are, Bob,” he answered. “How do you feel?”
+
+“Better, but my side is very stiff.”
+
+“It’s lucky the arrow didn’t go straight into your back; otherwise you
+would have been killed, old boy.”
+
+Both sat up and gazed around them curiously. They had tumbled into a
+ravine, and at their feet ran a tiny watercourse. Above them towered
+the trees and brushwood of the jungle.
+
+“Where is that terrible tiger that spotted us?” went on Bob.
+
+“That was a jaguar, Bob, and it went off after the Patagonians and
+caught one, too.”
+
+“Gosh! I don’t want him to catch me!”
+
+“Nor I, and that being so, we had better get out of here before the
+beast or those Indians follow us.”
+
+“Which way shall we go?”
+
+“Let us follow the stream. That must flow into the ocean, and I would
+rather be on the sea coast than lost in this jungle.”
+
+“So would I.”
+
+Stiff, sore, and hungry, the two chums started down the watercourse,
+Bob leaning on Barry’s shoulder.
+
+On the way they passed a number of berry bushes, but did not dare to
+eat the fruit for fear of being poisoned.
+
+Nearly two miles were covered when they came in sight of the ocean at a
+point where there was a tall cliff split in two by the ravine they were
+following.
+
+“The Atlantic!” cried Barry. “I tell you, it does a chap good to see
+the ocean once more.”
+
+“See any sail?”
+
+Barry ran up to the top of the cliff and gave a long, searching look.
+
+“Nothing, Bob.”
+
+“Too bad!”
+
+“But I see something else on yonder beach which looks inviting.”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Oysters.”
+
+“Good! We won’t starve just yet.”
+
+Both made their way to the beach and were soon at work gathering up the
+oysters, some of which were larger than their hands.
+
+The flavor of these oysters was rather rank, but to the starved ones
+nothing had ever tasted sweeter.
+
+The water from the stream was fresh, and having eaten their fill of the
+bivalves, they procured a drink and then started along the seashore,
+hoping to get some trace of their missing friends.
+
+Presently Bob clutched Barry by the arm.
+
+“Hark!”
+
+“What did you hear?”
+
+“Voices.”
+
+“The Patagonians?”
+
+“No--Americans or Englishmen!”
+
+“Perhaps it’s our crowd! Hurra----”
+
+“Hush, Barry; I thought--get down, quick!”
+
+Barry caught his chum by the arm and both dropped into a hollow of the
+cliff.
+
+They had come to a turn of the shore, and just ahead was a little cove.
+
+Here a sight greeted them which almost took away their breath.
+
+In the cove rested a rowboat, and close at hand, on the beach, were
+Captain Fenlick, Basker, and one of the Spaniards who had helped to
+seize the Arrow!
+
+“By jinks, the Arrow must be around somewhere,” muttered Barry, as he
+surveyed the scene.
+
+“Right you are--but where?”
+
+“Let us draw closer and listen to what they are talking about.”
+
+With caution they climbed up the cliff until they were at a point
+almost over the heads of the party from the rowboat.
+
+“It was a fool move,” Captain Fenlick was saying. “I think I might have
+gotten along without Bob Baxter after all.”
+
+“You ought never to have sent him off,” put in Basker. “He couldn’t
+have hurt us, being alone against so many.”
+
+“If I knew where the Arrow was I wouldn’t care,” went on Captain
+Fenlick. “But that storm must have sent her all out of her bearings.”
+
+“Maybe she ees smashed up on de rocka,” put in the Spaniard.
+
+“Humph! I hope not,” growled Captain Fenlick. “We’d be in a fine pickle
+in that case--as badly off as the party we put ashore.”
+
+“What are we to do?”
+
+“I don’t know--excepting to walk along the shore and keep a lookout for
+the Arrow.”
+
+“I’m hungry.”
+
+“I am verra hungry,” added the Spaniard.
+
+Captain Fenlick brought a black bottle from his pocket.
+
+“Take a swig of this,” he said. “But mind, not too much, for it’s got
+to last until we get back to the steam yacht.”
+
+All three took a drink and then started up the side of the cliff.
+
+They came directly for the spot where our friends were in hiding, and
+in a minute more Bob and Barry were discovered.
+
+“Hullo! You!” ejaculated Captain Fenlick.
+
+“Exactly,” replied Barry, coldly. “I thought you had sailed off,” he
+added.
+
+“We came back on an errand. Where is the rest of your crowd?”
+
+“Not far off. Where is the Arrow?”
+
+“She is--er--a bit down the coast,” stammered Captain Fenlick. He
+hardly knew how to proceed.
+
+There was an awkward pause all around. Neither Bob nor Barry knew
+what to do, and Captain Fenlick and his companions were in the same
+predicament.
+
+“How have you been making out?” went on the captain at length.
+
+“All right. We had a terrible storm. How did the Arrow weather it?”
+
+“Very well,” was the reply, but the captain’s looks belied his words.
+
+Barry saw that all three of the party were armed.
+
+“I wish one of you would give me a pistol,” he said, boldly.
+
+“What for? So you could shoot us when we weren’t looking?”
+
+“No, so I could bring down some game and get a square meal. The jungle
+is full of birds.”
+
+“De gooda de idee!” shouted the Spaniard. “Shoota de bird--cooka
+heem--eata heem--verra gooda!” And he clapped his hands. He was not a
+bad sort, and had gone in with Captain Fenlick more for the fun of it
+than for any desire to commit crime.
+
+He was soon on the edge of the jungle, and here brought down half a
+dozen birds in quick succession.
+
+Then a fire was built and the birds were cooked to a turn. But when it
+came to dividing up the food, Bob and Barry got but a small portion, by
+Captain Fenlick’s order.
+
+There was no use to grumble, and the chums said nothing.
+
+The meal over, Captain Fenlick stretched himself on the sand to rest,
+and his companions did the same.
+
+“You stay with us,” growled the captain. “If you try to run off I’ll
+shoot you down as I would a dog.”
+
+“There would be no use in our running off,” answered Barry. “Back of
+the jungle live a tribe of wild Patagonians--the most bloodthirsty
+Indians you ever saw. They wouldn’t like anything better than to get
+their hands upon us.” And then he told of what had happened at the
+village.
+
+The tale affected Basker very much.
+
+“In that case I move we get back to our boat,” he said. “We may want to
+take to the water in a hurry.”
+
+“Oh, pshaw! don’t get scared, Basker,” growled Captain Fenlick. “I want
+to rest here for a while.”
+
+So they rested an hour, during which time the sky grew dark again, as
+if another storm was coming up.
+
+They were just preparing to return to the boat when a shout greeted
+them.
+
+Looking up, they saw the top of the cliff crowded with Patagonians,
+many of whom had arrows pointed at them.
+
+“Trapped!” roared Captain Fenlick, and pulled out his pistol.
+
+Before he could discharge it an arrow knocked it from his hand.
+
+The weapon fell at Barry’s feet, and in a twinkle he picked it up.
+
+“The boat!” whispered Bob to his chum. “It is our only chance!”
+
+And away went the pair before the others could recover from their
+astonishment.
+
+The cove was gained and they leaped into the rowboat. Looking back,
+they saw Captain Fenlick and his companions coming after them, followed
+by the howling Patagonians.
+
+Arrow after arrow was discharged, and presently the Spaniard went down,
+to rise no more. Another arrow passed through Basker’s cap.
+
+The oars were in the rowboat, and tossing the pistol to Bob, Barry
+caught up the blades and commenced to row swiftly.
+
+“Stop! Take us on board!” roared Captain Fenlick. “Don’t leave us
+behind!”
+
+“Not much!” answered Barry. “You left us behind before. Now you shall
+have a dose of the same medicine.”
+
+Soon the rowboat was at the mouth of the cove, and making straight for
+the Atlantic.
+
+But the Patagonians continued to aim arrows at the craft, and one of
+these hit Barry in the leg.
+
+Then in a rage Basker pointed his pistol at Bob’s head.
+
+“All right if you won’t come back!” he shouted. And then he fired at
+those in the boat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+ADRIFT IN A STORM
+
+
+Loud and clear came the report of Basker’s pistol. The weapon was aimed
+at Bob’s head, and it looked as if the youth must be either killed or
+mortally wounded.
+
+But at that instant a heavy ocean swell caught the rowboat, and the
+bullet merely grazed Bob’s ear, leaving an ugly scratch behind.
+
+The lad sank back on the seat.
+
+“A close shave!” ejaculated Barry. “I’m afraid we can’t make it!”
+
+Nevertheless he continued to row with might and main, straight out into
+the broad Atlantic.
+
+The swells were long and heavy, and soon the rowboat was dancing up and
+down like a cork.
+
+Basker was about to fire a second time, when two of the Patagonians
+threw him flat and took his pistol from him.
+
+The Indians continued to aim their arrows at the occupants of the
+rowboat, but soon the craft was so far off that the arrows fell short.
+
+It was not until the rowboat was a good two hundred yards from the
+beach that Barry rested on the oars and stood up to watch the fate of
+those left behind.
+
+He saw Captain Fenlick and Basker made prisoners, and saw the Spaniard
+was dead.
+
+“They deserve their fate,” he said to Bob.
+
+“So they do,” was the answer. “But what shall we do now?”
+
+“Keep out on the ocean, at least until it grows dark.”
+
+“Perhaps they have canoes handy and will come after us.”
+
+“By Jove, I never thought of that. I’ll row down the coast.”
+
+“I wish I could help you, Barry, but my side is that stiff----”
+
+“You sit still, Bob. I reckon I can take it easy, for it’s not likely
+that they have canoes in the immediate vicinity.”
+
+Down the seacoast went the rowboat until the vicinity of the cove was
+left far behind.
+
+They watched eagerly for the Patagonians, but if the natives were
+following along-shore they kept out of sight behind the brushwood on
+the cliff.
+
+A mile or more covered, Barry threw down the oars to rest.
+
+The sky was overclouded, as if another storm were at hand, and by noon
+it began to rain.
+
+Yet they did not dare to go ashore for fear of falling again into the
+hands of the Patagonians.
+
+“We don’t want to drift too far out to sea,” said Bob. “If we do, we
+won’t be able to find our way back to the coast when it gets dark.”
+
+“I wish I knew what had become of Captain Gordon and the others,” said
+the young owner of the Arrow.
+
+Slowly the afternoon went by. The rain continued, and presently the
+wind came up, blowing southward.
+
+“We’ll have to get to shore now,” said Bob. “If we don’t, we’ll be
+blown out to sea.”
+
+“Right you are,” answered his chum, and took up the oars once more.
+
+But the rain had made the blades slippery, and in a twinkle one of them
+went overboard.
+
+Barry made a clutch at the blade but missed it.
+
+“Gone!”
+
+“What?”
+
+“The oar!”
+
+“Catch it! We can’t afford to lose it!”
+
+In frantic haste both Barry and Bob tried to turn the rowboat around.
+
+But the craft was heavy, and long before the task was accomplished they
+saw the oar drift far away.
+
+Then the rowboat was swept along by the wind, and soon the blade was
+completely out of sight.
+
+“Now we are in for it!” groaned Bob.
+
+“Well, we’ll have to make the best of it,” answered Barry,
+philosophically.
+
+“How are we drifting?”
+
+“Down the coast, I believe.”
+
+“And the storm is growing wilder each instant!”
+
+“Right you are.”
+
+After this came a long spell of silence, so far as talk was concerned.
+
+It was growing dark, and the wind tore over the ocean in fitful gusts.
+
+How would this strange adventure end?
+
+They tried to turn the craft shoreward, but the most they could do with
+the one oar was to keep her head up to the swells of the ocean. Had
+they not done this they would have been swamped.
+
+Night found them still driving before the wind, they knew not whither.
+
+Both were cold, wet, and hungry, and Barry had long since sunk
+exhausted beside Bob.
+
+Suddenly they heard the sound of breakers.
+
+“The coast! We must be near the coast!” cried Bob, leaping to his feet.
+
+“Or else a reef!” answered Barry.
+
+Both strained their eyes, but could see nothing but the driving rain,
+which beat so pitilessly into their faces.
+
+The sounds of the breakers came louder and louder.
+
+Then of a sudden the rowboat struck and was tossed high into the air,
+and both youths found themselves thrown out into the sea.
+
+The water boiled and foamed all around them.
+
+Up they went upon a very mountain of the ocean, then down and down into
+a hollow which looked as if it would engulf them forever.
+
+“Your hand!” screamed Barry. “We’ll live or die together!”
+
+And Bob gave his hand willingly.
+
+On and on they swept, now on top of the ocean, now under. They could
+see absolutely nothing. The shore might be close at hand, or it might
+be miles off.
+
+Something struck Bob’s arm. It was a bit of driftwood, and he clutched
+at it as a drowning man is said to clutch at a straw.
+
+“What have you, Bob?”
+
+“A board. Catch hold. It is better than nothing.”
+
+“No, you keep it. I----”
+
+Barry got no further.
+
+His feet had struck something. It was the bottom!
+
+“The bottom, Bob! Put down your feet and run in!”
+
+Bob tried to do as bidden. But another wave came along and swept them
+back, far beyond their depth.
+
+Yet the returning wave carried them still farther on, and they found
+themselves in water not above their waists. With might and main they
+pushed on, up a sandy beach and out of the element. At last they were
+safe, and threw themselves flat.
+
+Safe! It was enough to make both crazy! All wet, tired, hungry as they
+were, they laughed hysterically.
+
+“Thank heaven!” muttered Barry, and Bob said amen.
+
+All through the wild night they lay under the trees which lined the
+sandy beach.
+
+Nothing came to disturb them, and sunrise found them sleeping soundly.
+
+In the mean time the storm went down and the ocean resumed its long,
+peaceful swells.
+
+The birds began to sing, and their songs at last awoke Bob, who sat up
+and gazed around him in bewilderment.
+
+Where were they now?
+
+The question was easy to ask, but impossible to answer.
+
+Before them was the broad Atlantic, behind them a jungle which looked
+impenetrable.
+
+Slowly Bob arose and stretched himself, and then he walked down to the
+water’s edge.
+
+Hunger was again uppermost in his mind, and he thought he might find
+some of the oysters with which he had before satisfied the inner man.
+
+Oysters were there, sure enough, and also a number of strange-looking
+fish which the storm had cast up.
+
+Soon he had all he could carry of the bivalves, and he took them to
+where Barry still slept.
+
+“If only I could build a fire and broil some fish,” thought Bob.
+
+He still had the pistol taken from the enemy, but it had been in the
+water, and might not go off.
+
+“Anyway, I’ll get some wood together and try it,” he said to himself.
+
+The shore was lined with wood, and this the sun was rapidly drying.
+
+Soon he had a small armful, and again he returned to Barry’s side.
+
+His chum was just stirring.
+
+“Oysters, fish, and wood for a fire!” cried the young yacht owner.
+“Good enough. But how are you going to make a fire?”
+
+“I’m going to try to fire the pistol into this bit of punky stuff,”
+answered Bob.
+
+He was working over the driftwood, sorting out the dryest he could find.
+
+Suddenly he uttered an exclamation of wonder.
+
+“By ginger!”
+
+“What now, Bob?”
+
+“Look at this bit of wood.”
+
+As he spoke he held up a bit of wood about two feet long.
+
+The board was painted brown, and a part of it contained these letters:
+
+                                  ARRO
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE CONTEST FOR THE ARROW
+
+
+“It’s from the Arrow!” came from Barry.
+
+“Exactly--the sign from the deck-house.”
+
+“Then our steam yacht is gone!”
+
+“It looks like it!”
+
+The two chums surveyed the board critically.
+
+They knew the sign well. It was indeed from the deck-house.
+
+“Perhaps Captain Fenlick tore it off--being afraid to use the name,”
+suggested Bob, after a pause.
+
+“No, the board was set into the front of the deck-house, Bob. If he
+didn’t want to use the name he could easily have painted it over. You
+know there were several pots of paint on board.”
+
+“Then the Arrow must have been caught in the storm and gone to pieces
+on the rocks.”
+
+“Let us go down to the beach and see if we can find any more wreckage.”
+
+But both were hungry, and in the end they tried to light the fire first.
+
+It was a troublesome task, but at last the fire blazed up and half an
+hour later they were dining on broiled fish and roasted oysters, a
+meal, so Bob declared, “fit for a king.”
+
+Then began the search for more evidence of the breaking up of the Arrow.
+
+But though they hunted for the best part of an hour nothing more was
+brought to light.
+
+Then they walked farther down the beach and presently came upon the
+rowboat, bottom side up and deeply buried in the sand.
+
+“The boat!” cried Bob. “And see, here is the oar!”
+
+[Illustration: “‘A BOAT!’ CRIED BOB.”]
+
+“If only we had the other oar,” put in Barry.
+
+“Don’t expect too much, Barry. Perhaps we can make an oar.”
+
+“Without even a knife? It will be a tough job.”
+
+“There is a bit of driftwood that might be used for an oar on a pinch.”
+
+“Oh, that’s so! Let us turn the boat over and see if it’s sound.”
+
+The craft was righted and examined with care. She seemed to be still
+water-tight, and the oar was as good as ever. Then Bob ran for the
+piece of driftwood which had been mentioned. With the rough end
+smoothed down by rubbing in the sand, it made a fairly good oar.
+
+But though the chums had found something to eat and also the boat, they
+felt far from light-hearted. Where were they, and where were their
+friends? And how was this strange adventure to end?
+
+“Let us cook some more fish and roast all the oysters we can find,
+while the fire lasts,” said Barry. “There is but one more cartridge in
+the pistol and we want to save that.”
+
+So while Barry went back to the beach to pick up all the food possible,
+Bob returned to the fire and put on more driftwood.
+
+Both were hard at work cooking some fish, when a sudden shout of joy
+greeted their ears.
+
+The next moment the jungle behind them parted, and Captain Gordon, Gus
+Stults, and two of the sailors from the Arrow’s crew appeared.
+
+“Hurrah!” shouted Bob.
+
+“How glad I am to see you!” ejaculated Captain Gordon.
+
+“Mine cracious, dis vos like von tream!” burst out the German cook.
+“And you vos got somedings to eat, too. I vos most starved alretty!”
+
+The party just arrived looked thin and ready to drop.
+
+They had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, and their clothing was in
+rags.
+
+They had had two brushes with the Patagonians, and the other sailors
+had been left behind, dead.
+
+Just before coming down the coast they had run across the body of the
+dead Spaniard, and from this had procured a knife and a small box of
+matches.
+
+They were about to look for fish to fry when they discovered Bob and
+Barry.
+
+It was a joyous meeting, and everybody shook hands with everybody else.
+Bob felt like dancing a jig for joy.
+
+It was decided that the newcomers should first be fed, after which all
+hands would enter the rowboat and proceed down the coast.
+
+“If the Arrow was wrecked, we ought to find some trace of her below
+here,” said Captain Gordon.
+
+It was three o’clock in the afternoon when they set off, the sailors
+taking turns at rowing.
+
+Below them was a long curve of the seashore and it took them fully an
+hour to pass the point.
+
+Beyond the point was a little land-locked bay, fringed with trees and
+bushes.
+
+“The Arrow!”
+
+The cry came simultaneously from everybody in the rowboat.
+
+There in the bay lay the Arrow at anchor, only a sleepy-looking
+Spaniard on her deck.
+
+The steam yacht was considerably battered, and the greater part of her
+deck-house was gone, and also much of her rigging.
+
+“Safe, after all!” muttered Barry. “How fortunate!”
+
+“If we can only recapture her!” replied Bob.
+
+“We must do it.”
+
+“So we must,” put in Captain Gordon.
+
+Keeping out of sight behind the headland, they held a consultation.
+
+It was decided to wait until nightfall, then creep upon the Arrow
+unawares.
+
+It was already growing dark and they had not long to wait.
+
+They saw a negro come on deck and talk to the Spaniard, and then two
+other men came up.
+
+The latter were men who had deserted Captain Gordon at the time the
+Arrow had been captured by Captain Fenlick’s party.
+
+“Four men,” said Captain Gordon. “We ought to be able to overcome them
+easily.”
+
+Soon the rowboat was on its way toward the steam yacht.
+
+The negro was on deck alone, but presently he, too, went below.
+
+“Now is our chance!” cried Barry, and a few minutes later the rowboat
+swung alongside of the steam yacht.
+
+Captain Gordon was first over the rail, and he was speedily followed by
+the others.
+
+Footsteps were heard and the cabin boy, Paul Ferris, appeared.
+
+“Oh!” he cried, thinking he had seen a ghost.
+
+“Hush, Ferris!” ordered Barry. “Tell me, have you cast in your fortunes
+with the pirates?”
+
+“No! no! I have only done what they made me do,” was the nervous
+answer. “They told me if I didn’t mind them they would kill me!” and
+the boy shivered.
+
+“Then you are willing to help us now?”
+
+“Yes! yes!”
+
+“How many are there on board?”
+
+“Five, not counting myself.”
+
+“All in the cabin?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“What are they doing?”
+
+“Drinking and smoking. Captain Fenlick went ashore with two----”
+
+“We know all about that. Are the men in the cabin armed?”
+
+“I believe so.”
+
+“Can you find us a few pistols or guns?”
+
+Paul Ferris’ face brightened.
+
+“I can. There are two pistols in the forecastle and a gun in the cook’s
+galley.”
+
+“I’ll get them,” put in Bob, and ran off, followed by Paul Ferris.
+
+Inside of ten minutes the boarding party was armed with two pistols, a
+shotgun and several long knives taken from the cook’s knife-box.
+
+In the mean time the party in the cabin were having a glorious time--to
+their own way of thinking.
+
+Several bottles of liquor had been consumed and the air was thick from
+tobacco smoke.
+
+One of the Spaniards was singing a coarse love song, and the negro was
+bawling out a plantation ditty.
+
+“Call somebody on deck,” said Barry to Paul Ferris. “Tell them
+something is wrong.”
+
+The cabin-boy went to the cabin.
+
+“Come on deck, somebody!” he cried, and hurried away.
+
+“Whatta ees dat?” questioned the Spaniard.
+
+“You’re wanted on deck,” said one of the others, for in the absence of
+Captain Fenlick and Basker, the Spaniard was in command.
+
+Up to the deck went the Spaniard.
+
+He had hardly taken a dozen steps, when Captain Gordon came up behind
+him and threw him backward.
+
+“Not a sound, if you value your life!” said the captain of the Arrow.
+
+But the Spaniard began to yell, and this brought the others to the deck
+in a wild rush.
+
+The negro had his pistol handy, and was about to kill Captain Gordon,
+when Bob shot him in the shoulder.
+
+The Spaniard showed fight and so did Pat Caven, but the other two men
+hung back, as if ashamed of themselves. Presently both took to the
+cabin and locked themselves in.
+
+In less than five minutes the fight was over. No one was seriously
+hurt, and the negro, Pat Caven, and the Spaniard were made close
+prisoners.
+
+Then Captain Gordon, Barry, and Bob hurried to the door of the cabin.
+
+“You had better surrender!” said the captain of the steam yacht. “The
+others are prisoners.”
+
+“Captain, we want to make terms,” pleaded one of the sailors.
+
+“What terms?”
+
+“Forgive us for taking up with Fenlick, and we’ll serve you straight
+for the rest of the cruise.”
+
+“Will you swear to that, Robertson?”
+
+“Yes, captain; I’ll swear to it. I was a fool to go in with the
+pirates.”
+
+The second sailor also promised to obey Captain Gordon if released.
+
+“All right, I’ll give you another chance,” said the captain of the
+Arrow. “Open the cabin door.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE VOYAGE IS CONTINUED
+
+
+Half an hour later saw our friends in full possession of the steam
+yacht once more.
+
+From the sailors who had been forgiven it was learned that after
+Captain Fenlick had gone ashore, the steam yacht had encountered the
+heavy storm and this had torn away a part of the deck-house and the
+upper rigging. But otherwise the craft was uninjured.
+
+By a vote, it was decided that the Spaniard, Pat Caven, and the negro
+should be put ashore, and this was done early the next morning.
+
+“You deserve death,” said Captain Gordon; “but we will give you this
+one chance for your lives.”
+
+By noon the steam yacht was out of the bay and steaming southward in
+the direction of the South Shetland Islands and the Land of Desolation.
+
+“Off for the South Pole at last!” cried Bob. “I trust we shall have no
+more adventures with men of the Fenlick stamp.”
+
+A careful inspection of the ship’s stores showed that nothing had been
+tampered with, and for this, Barry and the others were very thankful.
+
+Captain Gordon gave the sailors who had rebelled a good lecture, and
+both promised faithfully to behave in the future, and it may be added
+here that they kept their word.
+
+On and on sailed the Arrow, past Cape Horn and a number of small
+islands lying below the extreme southern point of South America. They
+were now in the Antarctic Ocean, and the weather grew decidedly colder.
+
+“This ought to suit you, Bob,” remarked Barry, one day, as the two
+paced the deck.
+
+“It does suit me,” was the answer. “I could stand it even colder.”
+
+“Well, we’ll get it colder before long.”
+
+Day after day went by, and nothing unusual happened. Occasionally they
+passed a small island, uninhabited and looking thoroughly forlorn.
+
+“No wonder they call this the Land of Desolation,” remarked Bob. “It
+looks it.”
+
+The course of the steam yacht was straight for Palmer’s Land. Here they
+came into dense banks of fog and ran close to numerous icebergs, each
+large enough to crush them. A close watch had to be kept day and night.
+
+The cold was intense, and everybody on board but Bob was willing to put
+on all the furs he could get. As for Bob, he was just in his element.
+
+The days were now growing shorter, and by three o’clock in the
+afternoon it was dark. The fogs became thicker, and for days they had
+to lie still for fear of running into rocks or icebergs.
+
+Graham Land was found to contain mountains over a mile high, the tops
+covered perpetually with snow and ice. They were now in the same
+latitude South that Iceland is in the North--about 65 degrees.
+
+“Thirty-five degrees more to the South Pole,” mused Bob, one day. “It
+doesn’t look as if we could reach it, does it?”
+
+“Never despair,” answered Barry, with a faint smile.
+
+“I don’t care so much about the South Pole as I do about my father and
+that treasure ship,” went on Bob. “If we find them I’ll let the Pole
+take care of itself.”
+
+Slowly but surely they passed Palmer’s Land and now came to a wide,
+open sea, where the fogs were not so bad. But icebergs were more
+numerous, and among the bergs they saw many large whales, of a
+silvery-white color.
+
+“This would make good fishing grounds for a whaler,” said Barry,
+“although the icebergs would be dangerous to any vessel built wholly of
+wood.”
+
+The cold was now intense and for days those on board of the Arrow spent
+but little time on deck. They had now passed the last point of land
+known to scientists and geographers. On their charts the territory
+beyond was left blank.
+
+It was indeed the Land of Desolation. All around them was the icy
+sea, with its huge icebergs and its dense fogs, while off to the
+southeastward lay a rocky shore, covered with ice and snow. On the land
+there was no sign of vegetation of any kind. Once they saw some South
+Polar seals and white bears, but never another sign of animal life.
+Even the snowbirds were missing.
+
+“It’s what I call stony lonely,” said Paul Ferris to Bob. “It makes me
+shiver to look at it. I’ll never come here again after this trip.”
+
+“Right you are, Paul,” answered Bob. “The silence and gloom are enough
+to drive one mad.”
+
+The sun shone only a few hours a day, and then it was partly hidden by
+the fog and mist. Everything about the steam yacht was wet, even the
+things in the cabin, where the steam heat was turned on night and day.
+The deck was covered with ice and frost, and out there only Bob could
+breathe with ease.
+
+One night Barry and Bob were on the point of turning in, when there
+came a shock that pitched both to the floor. The steam yacht had run
+into an iceberg in the dense fog. There was a grinding and a crashing,
+a shiver and a second shock, and then the vessel came to a dead stop.
+
+As quickly as they could, the chums ran to the deck. Here they
+found Captain Gordon giving orders to back the yacht. But this was
+impossible. The Arrow had run into a split of the iceberg and was held
+as in a vise!
+
+[Illustration: “THE ARROW CAUGHT IN THE SPLIT OF THE ICE-BERG AND WAS
+HELD AS IN A VISE.”]
+
+Nothing could be done in the darkness, and all waited eagerly until
+daylight. Then an examination was made, and it was found that the Arrow
+had suffered but little damage.
+
+“But we can’t get away from the berg,” said Captain Gordon, “unless we
+blow our way out with dynamite.”
+
+“Let us see how the berg is drifting first,” said Barry, and this was
+done; and to the astonishment of all, it was learned that the mountain
+of ice was moving almost directly for the South Pole!
+
+“Let us remain as we are,” said Barry. “The berg will act as a guard
+for us against other bergs.”
+
+Captain Gordon was doubtful, but he agreed, and for over a week they
+moved along in company with the mountain of ice. It now grew so cold
+that even Bob felt it and was glad to put on extra clothing. Some of
+those on board began to speculate upon the outcome of the voyage.
+
+During those days Bob, Barry, and the captain diligently studied all
+the maps they had.
+
+“Nobody has ever gotten very close to the South Pole,” observed Bob.
+“I see this map gives the most credit to Sir James Clark Ross, who got
+up to about 78 degrees in February, 1842, Wendell, who got up to 74
+degrees in 1823, and Moore, who reached 71 degrees in 1845.”
+
+“The trouble is as you have already learned, lad,” came from Captain
+Gordon. “The fog is something awful nearly all the time and a fellow
+can’t find out how he is drifting.”
+
+“But your compass----” began Barry.
+
+“The compass won’t be of much account soon, because of the southern
+magnetic pole, which lies at about 74 degrees latitude and about 141
+degrees longitude east of Greenwich.”
+
+“Then the real pole is not the magnetic pole?”
+
+“Not by about 16 degrees--and it is on the other side of the real pole
+from where we are.”
+
+“Then how are you going to steer?”
+
+“We’ll do the best we can--nobody could do more,” answered the captain
+briefly.
+
+The immense iceberg was a constant source of wonder to all on board and
+especially to Stults, who had never dreamed such a mass could exist.
+
+“It was so high like dem Alps mountains alretty!” he sighed. “Of der
+top vos proke off ve peen snowed under like neffer vos, I told you!”
+
+“Let us hope the top doesn’t break off,” laughed Barry. “At least not
+while we are around.”
+
+On the following morning the position of the ship was slightly shifted,
+so that a smooth plain of the iceberg came close to the stern of the
+Arrow.
+
+“I’m going out on there for a walk,” said Bob. “I’ve been aching to
+stretch my legs.”
+
+“Be careful,” said Captain Gordon. “We may part company with that berg
+before you know it.”
+
+But Bob was determined to take a run over the ice, and in a minute
+more he had leaped from the rail to the icy plain, which was almost as
+smooth as the top of a table.
+
+“It’s fine!” he called back to Barry. “Better come down.”
+
+“I will,” answered his chum, and soon Barry was on the ice. They both
+set off toward the side of the berg.
+
+The walk lasted the best part of an hour, and when the pair came back
+they felt much refreshed.
+
+“See anything unusual?” demanded Captain Gordon.
+
+“Nothing much,” answered Barry. “Bob thinks he saw a Polar bear and
+some seals, but I couldn’t make them out.”
+
+“I did see the bear,” declared Bob. “About the seals I am not so sure.”
+
+“The bear meat would come in handy--if there really is a bear.”
+
+“I’m going after him to-morrow--that is, if the Arrow remains attached
+to the iceberg.”
+
+“Don’t run too much of a risk.”
+
+The following day, however, was one filled with fog, so that nothing
+could be done. It was as silent as a tomb and the hours on the Arrow
+proved unusually long to everybody.
+
+But the next morning the sun shone as brightly as ever, and, as soon as
+breakfast was over, Bob declared himself ready to go and hunt the polar
+bear.
+
+“I think I’ll go along,” said Barry. “I hate to remain cooped up on
+board, like a chicken in a market crate.”
+
+Strange to say, Stults asked the young ship-owner if he might not
+accompany them.
+
+“I vos a goot snow and ice climber alretty,” he declared. “In der old
+country I vos climb der Alps more as eleventeen times.”
+
+“Then come ahead,” said Barry. “But if you get into trouble don’t blame
+me.”
+
+And off the three started, never dreaming of the unusual adventures in
+store for them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THREE POLAR BEARS
+
+
+Each of the party was of course dressed warmly, and each carried either
+a shot-gun or a rifle, as well as a hunting knife, some matches, and
+also a small stock of provisions, slung in a knapsack over his shoulder.
+
+“You won’t remain out late, will you?” called Captain Gordon to them,
+after they were over the side.
+
+“Not over eight or ten hours at the most,” replied Barry. “If it gets
+foggy, blow the horn, so that we can locate the Arrow.”
+
+“I will.”
+
+The spot where Bob said he had seen the bear was to the north of the
+berg, around a bend from the ship. He led the way and the others came
+close behind.
+
+“Perhaps ve peen lucky and pring down two or dree pears,” observed
+Stults, as they trudged along.
+
+“We’ll be lucky if we get one, to my way of thinking,” answered Barry,
+with a laugh. “Polar bears are not so plentiful, especially in this
+region.”
+
+“Any vild animals around here?”
+
+“Polar bears are wild enough--if you get them cornered.”
+
+“Yah, put I vos mean ellerfuns or taggers or like dot.”
+
+“No elephants, Stults. An elephant would have to wear skates to get
+around here, and a tiger wouldn’t be any better off.”
+
+“Dot’s so? Mine cracious, vot a country ennahow! Noddings put ice, ice,
+ice all ofer. I peen glad ven we get pack to der United States.”
+
+“Well, I won’t be sorry myself. But we must locate the treasure ship
+first.”
+
+“And find out what became of my father,” put in Bob. Now that they were
+so close to the Pole, Bob thought of his lost parent constantly.
+
+On they tramped, around the bend and up a slight hill where the ice was
+covered with a hard, fine snow resembling salt. On the other side of
+the rise was another hollow, with tall peaks of ice still farther in
+the distance.
+
+“The iceberg is a good deal larger than I had imagined,” said Barry.
+“It must be all of several miles long.”
+
+“Perhaps the Arrow will never get clear of it,” returned Bob. “The berg
+may prove the steam yacht’s tomb.”
+
+“Ton’t say dot!” cried Stults. “I ton’t vos vont to peen buried alife,
+not me!”
+
+As they were passing around a ridge of ice Bob suddenly ran ahead, and
+then put up one hand.
+
+“Stop!” he cried, in a low voice.
+
+“What’s up?” asked Barry, in an equally low tone.
+
+“The polar bears!”
+
+“Where?”
+
+“Straight ahead. They are resting on the ice and eating something they
+are holding in their forepaws.”
+
+“How many vos dere of dem?” questioned Stults, as he brought around his
+shot-gun.
+
+“Three.”
+
+“Ha! didn’t I vos tole you! Dot is chust von all aroundt. Let us schoot
+dem kvick!”
+
+“Hold on!” put in Barry, catching the German cook by the arm. “If you
+are not careful you’ll scare them away and we won’t get even one of
+them.”
+
+“I vos a goot shot, I told you. I belong by dot Cherman sharpshooters
+verein,” cried Stults. On a target excursion he had once hit the
+bull’s-eye by accident, and he now thought he could bring down one of
+the bears without trouble.
+
+He was soon quieted, however, and then they crept forward with great
+caution, until they were within a hundred yards of the game.
+
+The three polar bears had been eating some fish dug out of the ice.
+But the fish were not large and the repast soon came to an end. Then
+the bears arose and started to walk off.
+
+“Da vos goin’!” roared the German cook. “Shtop dem!” and rushing
+forward, he discharged his shot-gun at the game.
+
+His aim was wild, nevertheless some of the scattering shot took one of
+the bears in the left hind leg. At once the beast set up a terrific
+roar of mingled pain and alarm.
+
+The noise of the shot, and the roar from their fellow, frightened the
+other bears, and in a twinkle they were off, over the ice, running with
+a speed which was surprising when their unusual bulk was considered.
+
+“They are running off!” ejaculated Bob, and then he blazed away at the
+bear struck by the shot. Barry also fired, and both bullets took effect.
+
+The wounded beast was not fatally struck, but one of the bullets passed
+through its left foreleg, so that running away became difficult.
+
+It let out a howl louder than before, and now turned savagely toward
+those who had made the attack.
+
+“Look owit!” shrieked Stults. “He vos coming for us! He vill chew us
+all up alretty!” And then, dropping his gun, he fled over the ice for
+dear life, in the direction from which he had come.
+
+Fortunately the weapon Barry carried was of the repeating pattern. As
+the bear came closer, he let the beast have another bullet, this time
+in the breast.
+
+“Hurrah!” shouted Bob. “Give him another,” and he started to reload his
+own weapon with all possible speed.
+
+Barry did try to give the bear another bullet. But his aim was not so
+good and the beast was not touched. Then the bear made a tremendous
+leap, and in a trice it had Barry down on his back and was standing
+over him.
+
+It was a moment of extreme peril, and Bob’s heart almost stopped
+beating, for he fully expected to see the bear catch Barry by the
+throat and crush that part of his friend’s body.
+
+But the beast paused for a second before continuing the attack. It
+had never seen a human being before, and it probably knew not how to
+proceed.
+
+That second of time brought Bob to his senses, and aiming full at the
+bear’s head he fired his rifle.
+
+His aim was true, and the bullet, going into the bear’s ear, entered
+the beast’s brain, killing it instantly.
+
+The huge weight fell on Barry before the half stunned young man could
+save himself, and he was pinned fast to the ice and the little
+remaining breath almost crushed out of him.
+
+“Barry! Barry! are you safe?” questioned Bob, when he saw that the
+beast was indeed dead.
+
+“I--I--take the--thing--off!” panted Barry.
+“It’s--crushing--in--my--ribs!”
+
+“I will,” answered Bob, and threw down his rifle.
+
+But removing such a heavy weight was no small task, and he had to exert
+all of his strength to lift even a corner of the game.
+
+But at last the bear was turned over, and then Barry gave a sigh of
+relief. But it was a good five minutes before he felt like getting on
+his feet.
+
+“What a whopper of a bear!” cried Bob, as he inspected the beast. “He
+must weigh about a ton!”
+
+“Load the rifles,” said Barry. “Those other bears may take it into
+their heads to come back.”
+
+“That’s so,” and Bob reloaded both of the weapons with all speed.
+
+“Where is Stults?”
+
+“He ran away as soon as the bear started for us.”
+
+“Perhaps the other bears followed him.”
+
+Barry had scarcely spoken when a yell reached their ears, coming from
+behind an icy ridge.
+
+“Hellup! Hellup, somepody!”
+
+“That’s Stults, and he’s in trouble,” gasped Barry.
+
+“I’ll see what I can do for him,” answered Bob, and ran off, armed with
+the repeating rifle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+CAST AWAY IN THE ICE
+
+
+Poor Stults had indeed gotten into difficulty, but not with the two
+remaining bears.
+
+In running off to save himself, he had missed the path back to the ship
+and floundered headlong into a crack in the iceberg.
+
+The crack was shaped like the letter V and was all of ten feet wide at
+the top and twenty-five or thirty feet deep.
+
+Poor Stults was now lying at the bottom of the crack, wedged in so
+tightly that he could scarcely move.
+
+“Hi, Stults! Where are you?” called out Bob, as he drew close to the
+spot.
+
+“Hellup!” came from the German cook. “Hellup, udder I vos froze to
+death alretty!”
+
+“Where are you?”
+
+“Py der bottom of der hole town! Vos dot you, Pob?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Den git von rope and pull me owt kvick!”
+
+“Are you in that crack?”
+
+“Yah, dot’s me, and I vos sthuck so fast like neffer vos.”
+
+Bob gave a hasty glance around and saw that no bears were within
+several hundred yards of the spot. Then he threw himself flat and
+crawled to the edge of the crevasse. Peering over he could just make
+out the huddled-up form below.
+
+“Are you holding fast?” he asked.
+
+“Holdin’ fast! Mine cracious, I ton’t haf to hold fast. Didn’t I told
+you I vos sthuck so fast like a fly on der fly-baber? Git a rope and
+bull me out, dot’s a goot poy, Pob!”
+
+By this time Barry was coming up on a slow walk, bound to do what he
+could for his friends, should they prove to be in trouble.
+
+“What are you doing there, Bob?”
+
+“Stults is down there--stuck fast in the crack. He wants us to haul him
+out.”
+
+“Then there are no bears around?”
+
+“I don’t see any.”
+
+Luckily the party had brought with them a rope, to be used in hauling
+any game they might bring down back to the ship. This was now produced,
+and one end was lowered into the crevasse.
+
+“Catch hold, down there!” cried Bob.
+
+“Hold of vot?” panted the German cook.
+
+“Hold of the rope. I’ve tied a noose on the end. Put that under your
+arms and we’ll haul you out.”
+
+But, as said before, Stults had gone into the crack head first.
+
+Consequently to get hold of the noose, much less to place it under his
+arms, was out of the question.
+
+“I can’t git hold!” he cried, after a struggle.
+
+“You must!” called Bob. “It’s the only way we can help you. It will
+take both of us to haul you up.”
+
+Poor Stults floundered around for several minutes. The sides of the
+opening were like glass and to get a purchase anywhere was impossible.
+
+At last, however, he called upon them to haul away.
+
+“I can’t do much,” sighed Barry. “That bear took all the strength out
+of me.”
+
+Yet he took hold and did what he could, and between them they hauled
+their living burden to the top of the crevasse.
+
+When Bob caught sight of the German cook he let out a roar of laughter.
+
+Stults had been unable to get hold of the rope with his hands and so
+had done some fishing with his feet.
+
+One foot had caught in the noose, and now he came up feet first
+with the rope around his left ankle and his body stretched out in
+spread-eagle fashion.
+
+“Hurrah! he’s saved by a leg!” cried Bob.
+
+“Yah, I vos safed, but I ton’t feel so goot as before I vent dot hole
+town,” said the cook, ruefully.
+
+“You can be thankful you didn’t drop clean out of sight, under this
+iceberg,” said Bob.
+
+“And that no bones were broken,” added Barry.
+
+Stults wanted to know all about the three polar bears. He was very much
+ashamed over having run away at the critical moment.
+
+“Put I dinks me ve vos all going to get chewed up alretty!” he
+explained. “Von of dose pears opened his mouth and I vos seen clear
+town into his stomach!”
+
+As soon as the excitement was over and Barry and Stults felt like
+moving, the three walked back to where the dead bear lay. As they
+proceeded they kept their eyes and ears open for a sight of more game,
+but not a living thing appeared anywhere around them.
+
+“The shooting has scared them off,” said Barry. “But even one bear is a
+good haul. It will mean fresh meat for a week or more for all hands.”
+
+“If it doesn’t prove as strong and tough as old bull meat,” answered
+Bob.
+
+“We can make it tender by freezing it for a few days.”
+
+“Yah, dot is it,” put in Stults. “Dot ist der vay ve do mit all boultry
+in der Fadderlandt.”
+
+When they arrived at the place where they had left the bear, they found
+the game undisturbed.
+
+“Dot’s goot meat!” cried the cook, after an inspection. “I like me von
+steak from dot.”
+
+“Yes, a bear steak won’t go bad,” put in Bob. “It will----”
+
+The youth stopped short. A strange grinding noise had reached their
+ears. Now the iceberg trembled under their feet to such an extent that
+all three were hurled flat.
+
+“What can this mean?” came from Barry. “Is the berg turning over?”
+
+“If dot is so, ve vill all peen drowned!” wailed Stults. “Oh, vy didn’t
+I shtay by der ship alretty!”
+
+The strange grinding and rocking lasted for fully two minutes, and then
+gradually ceased, and the vast plain under them remained as before.
+
+Slowly they arose to their feet, gazing uneasily at each other.
+
+“I must say, I don’t like this,” remarked Barry, gravely.
+
+“Nor do I,” put in Bob. “What a shaking up it was!”
+
+“Who vould like dot?” put in Stults. “To peen drown town like a
+nine-bin alretty!”
+
+“You don’t understand,” continued the owner of the steam yacht. “The
+Arrow----” He stopped short and put up his hand. “Hark!”
+
+They listened, and from a distance heard another grinding and a
+crashing.
+
+“This iceberg must have struck some other berg!” cried Bob.
+
+“More than likely.”
+
+“What were you going to say about the Arrow? Do you think she has been
+wrecked?”
+
+“I trust not. But we had better run back and make sure.”
+
+“And leave dot pear?” asked Stults.
+
+“For the present. We can come back later--if everything is O. K.”
+
+Without further words they set off over the ice in the direction where
+the Arrow had been left.
+
+It was a hard journey, especially to Barry, who had not yet fully
+recovered from the contact with the big polar bear.
+
+But at last they gained a point where they could look ahead to the spot
+where the Arrow had been fast in the ice.
+
+Then a cry of dismay burst from all three at once.
+
+The steam yacht had disappeared!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+ADVENTURES ON THE BIG ICEBERG
+
+
+“Gone!”
+
+Bob and Barry uttered the single word simultaneously, while Stults let
+out nothing more than a groan.
+
+Yes, the Arrow was gone, and look as sharply as they might in every
+direction not a trace of the steam yacht was to be found.
+
+“This looks bad,” was Barry’s comment, when he could command his
+feelings sufficiently to speak.
+
+“Bad?” echoed Bob. “Oh, Barry, do you think----”
+
+“I don’t know what to think.”
+
+“But if she went down--with all on board----”
+
+“Oh my! Oh my!” came from the German cook. “Please ton’t vos say dot,
+Pob! Of she vent town vot vos ve to do, tole me dot?”
+
+“Let us investigate,” said Barry.
+
+They hurried forward, and as they drew closer to the spot where the
+Arrow had rested in her icy berth they noted that the appearance of the
+ice-field had changed somewhat. Part of the berg on the farther side
+was broken away and there were dangerous crevasses running in half a
+dozen directions.
+
+“Something has been going on here sure,” observed the young yacht
+owner. “Do you know what I think?”
+
+“That the Arrow has gone down?”
+
+“I think the iceberg split apart, just as it split when our ship was
+caught fast, and then the two parts came together again.”
+
+“And the Arrow----”
+
+“Either backed out or else was smashed flat between the two sides when
+they came together.”
+
+“I ton’t vos seen no wreck,” put in Stults.
+
+“Nor do I see anything,” said Bob.
+
+“Then let us hope that she escaped destruction.”
+
+“But what are we to do, Barry?”
+
+“I’m sure I don’t know, excepting to stay here and wait for something
+to turn up.”
+
+“If the iceberg turns up we’ll be goners.”
+
+“Yah, and dot vater vos so cold like neffer vos!” sighed the German
+cook.
+
+“Well, I don’t see anything different to do. We can stay here awhile
+and see if anything more happens to this ice field.”
+
+“If we have got to stay on the iceberg for some time we had better
+secure that game,” said Bob. “It will keep us from starving for a
+couple of weeks, on a pinch.”
+
+Yet nobody felt like leaving the spot just then, and so they remained
+there the best part of two hours looking for some trace of the Arrow.
+
+But the search revealed absolutely nothing, and at last, with hearts
+as heavy as lead, they journeyed back to where they had left the dead
+polar bear.
+
+The quaking of the iceberg had left numerous splits in the surface, and
+they had to proceed with extreme caution less they should fall into
+some hole, as Stults had done.
+
+They found the bear as they had left it. High overhead circled a few
+birds, evidently of prey, but soon these disappeared.
+
+The short day was now coming to an end, and knowing they must pass a
+long night on the ice, they prepared to make themselves as comfortable
+as possible.
+
+This was not saying much, since they had brought no coverings with them.
+
+With the coming of darkness a raw wind came up, which pierced them to
+the marrow of their bones.
+
+“We will skin the bear,” said Barry, “and the skin ought to afford us
+some sort of shelter.”
+
+The skinning was easily accomplished, and then the pelt was propped up
+on two of the guns to form a tiny wall against the gusts of air.
+
+“Now if we could only build a fire, we might have some cooked meat,”
+said Barry. “But we can’t build a fire without wood.”
+
+“Let us take bits of rope,” suggested Bob. “And we can melt out some of
+the fat in the bear and then use that.”
+
+“Dot’s der talk!” burst out Stults. “Der fat vos chust der dings for a
+fire!”
+
+With care they lit several ends of rope and propped them up so that
+they might burn like so many tarry wicks. Over the flame they held the
+fattiest portions of the bear they could find. Soon the fat began to
+drip and this they caught in an iron cup they possessed. Then the fat
+took fire, giving them a lively blaze.
+
+“Hurrah! Quite a little fire after all!” cried Bob. “I’m glad we
+haven’t got to stay in the dark.”
+
+“We’ll have to be careful of our stock of food and fat,” said Barry.
+“There is no telling how long we’ll have to stay on this iceberg.”
+
+“Perhaps ve neffer got off!” sighed Stults, who had now begun to broil
+a steak. “Of I efer got pack by home again I vos stay dare, you pet me
+mine life!”
+
+When the steak was done each ate his fill, and the remainder was stored
+away with care, along with what was left of the tried-out fat. Before
+putting the fat away Barry dipped a length of rope into it a number of
+times, thus making a candle of the old-fashioned sort.
+
+It must be confessed that none of them slept soundly that night. The
+mind of each was filled with speculations regarding the future. Would
+the Arrow come back for them, providing she still existed, or were
+they doomed to death in that Land of Desolation? And each of the party
+uttered a silent but earnest prayer that they might be saved.
+
+In the morning Bob was the first to rouse up. As he arose, he gave a
+cry of dismay that quickly brought the others to their feet.
+
+The awful fog of that location had again settled down, blotting out
+what little there had been of the landscape, or rather, icescape. They
+could not see a dozen feet in any direction.
+
+“We are doomed!” cried Bob. “In this fog we won’t dare to move around.
+If we do we’ll surely fall into some opening.”
+
+He spoke the truth and all were more than usually sober as they sat
+around their tiny fire and ate their breakfast of bear meat and some of
+the provisions in the knapsacks.
+
+What to do next was the question, but nobody knew how to answer it.
+They knew they were Crusoes on an immense iceberg which was slowly
+drifting toward the South Pole. To do anything which would better their
+condition appeared impossible.
+
+“This berg may go to smash at any moment,” said Barry. “And if it does
+there is no telling what will become of us.”
+
+The fog was growing thicker and soon it was so heavy that they
+breathed only with the greatest of difficulty. Bob did not mind this so
+much, but to Barry and Stults it was a severe trial.
+
+Slowly the day wore away. The sun failed to appear and hardly a sound
+broke the awful stillness. Once came a grinding and a crashing from a
+distance, but that was all.
+
+“Another iceberg gone to pieces,” said Bob, grimly. “Perhaps this will
+go next.”
+
+That evening all ate but little, for they had had their fill of bear
+meat. The rude candle was lit and Stults tried out some more fat for
+future use. Then they went to bed as they had done the night before.
+
+“I’ll tell you what, Barry,” whispered Bob, as they were resting. “We
+can’t stand this many days, especially with the fog. It’s enough to
+drive one crazy.”
+
+“We must stand it, Bob. Why, we’ve been here only two days. What will
+you say after a week or a month has gone by?”
+
+Bob could not answer this question, and so turned over to go to sleep.
+
+The night was nearly gone, when Stults awoke his companions with a mad
+yelling:
+
+“Hellup! De pears vos on us! Hellup!”
+
+Bob and Barry leaped to their feet. Stults was right, the two bears had
+returned to the spot, and were now on the point of attacking them!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+FROM ONE DIFFICULTY TO ANOTHER
+
+
+“The guns, quick!”
+
+It was Barry who spoke, and as he did so he leaped for the rifle and
+banged away at the nearest bear.
+
+Bob grabbed up a shot-gun and blazed away directly after his chum.
+
+The aim of each was true, and the nearest brute stopped short, badly
+wounded in the head and the breast.
+
+Stults now gathered his wits together, and determined not to run again
+as he had done before, caught up the third weapon and also fired at the
+nearest bear.
+
+The three shots were too much for the beast and with a roar he fell
+back and rolled over and over in his pain.
+
+Seeing this, the second bear stopped in surprise and then turned as if
+to retreat.
+
+“He mustn’t get away,” said Bob, who was reloading with all possible
+haste.
+
+Bang! bang! went the repeating rifle in Barry’s hands, and the second
+bear received two bullets, one in the breast and the other in his
+stomach.
+
+His howling was louder than that of his companion, and the din made by
+both the beasts was almost deafening.
+
+“We’ve got ’em!” cried Bob, and fired once more, and then Stults
+followed suit.
+
+The battle had been short and decidedly one-sided from the start. Both
+bears could not get up, and consequently our friends took their own
+time about putting the beasts out of their misery.
+
+“We won’t waste any more ammunition--we may need it later,” said Barry.
+“We will finish them with our hunting knives.” And in the course of
+half an hour, when every particle of fight had gone out of the dying
+beasts, this was done.
+
+“Now we’ve got meat enough for two months,” said Bob, as he surveyed
+the carcasses. “And lots of fat for fires, too.”
+
+“I hope there are no more bears on this berg,” said his chum.
+
+Work on the bears kept them busy the best part of the day, which proved
+as foggy as that which had gone before. But by nightfall the fog
+cleared away, and when they slept again the air was drier than it had
+been for a long while.
+
+“The sun at last!” cried Bob, on the morning of the day following. “How
+good it seems, after that awful fog!”
+
+“Yes; we don’t know how good sunshine is until we have to do without
+it,” answered Barry.
+
+It was fairly blinding, after so much darkness, and all had to put on
+smoked glasses, which they had brought with them.
+
+As soon as the morning meal was over, they set out on an exploring tour.
+
+They took their guns with them, and also all the meat they could carry,
+not knowing how soon they would return to the spot.
+
+It was well they took the meat, as later events proved.
+
+The wind had gone down, but half an hour later it sprang up, blowing
+harder than ever.
+
+From one end of the ice plain they journeyed to the other, and then did
+what they could toward climbing an icy summit.
+
+This was hard work, but at last they gained a point where they could
+look around for miles.
+
+On every side were immense icebergs, with the flowing sea and loose ice
+between.
+
+“Not a sign of the ship,” said Bob, disappointedly. “It’s too bad.”
+
+Stults heaved a mountainous sigh.
+
+“Pad ain’t der vord,” he said. “It vos awful, Pob, chust awful! Of I
+got to shtay here long I vos go krazy alretty!”
+
+“Let us hope for the best,” put in Barry, trying to cheer them up. But
+secretly he was as much downcast as his companions.
+
+From the icy summit they proceeded to the eastern slope of the iceberg.
+Here were a series of ridges, where the berg had been broken from time
+to time.
+
+The sky was now beginning to grow dark again, and presently the snow
+commenced to fall.
+
+“Here, this won’t do!” cried Barry. “If it’s going to snow we had best
+get back to where we left the bear meat.”
+
+The others were willing, and the return was begun without delay.
+
+But inside of five minutes it was snowing so furiously that they could
+not see a rod ahead of them.
+
+Presently Stults came to a halt.
+
+“What’s the matter?” asked Bob.
+
+“I vos lost mine bibe,” said the German cook, for he had been consoling
+himself with a smoke.
+
+He tried in vain to recover the article. It was lost in the fast
+falling snow and could not be found.
+
+On they went again. The snow was now thicker than ever, and they had to
+keep close together for fear of becoming separated.
+
+“This is every bit as bad as the fog!” exclaimed Barry. The rapid
+walking was beginning to tell on him.
+
+Half an hour went by, and they all stared at each other in perplexity.
+
+“Where are we anyway?” asked Bob.
+
+“I must admit I don’t know,” came from Barry.
+
+“The bears ought to be somewhere around here.”
+
+“Perhaps dot snow vos cover dem up?” suggested Stults.
+
+They made a search and then went on. But the bears could not be found.
+Then they continued their walk.
+
+Presently the German cook let out a cry. He had kicked up something in
+the snow.
+
+“Mine bibe!”
+
+“Your pipe?” ejaculated Barry.
+
+“Oxactly so.”
+
+“Then we’ve been tramping around in a circle!”
+
+“That’s just what we have done,” came from Bob. “And we are just as far
+from our former camping place as ever.”
+
+“Well, I’m too tired to go another step.”
+
+“So am I.”
+
+“I vos more as tired,” sighed Stults. “I could sleep der snow on
+midowit droubles alretty.”
+
+“Then we might as well camp right here,” concluded Barry.
+
+This was an easy thing to do, with no shelter to erect. At first they
+thought they might build a snow house, but as yet the snow was hardly
+deep enough. Huddled together, they lay down to sleep, and after awhile
+all dropped off into blessed forgetfulness. Thoroughly exhausted, all
+slept soundly for over eight hours.
+
+When they arose they found the snow nearly a foot and a half deep and
+still coming down, although not so heavily as before.
+
+“What a scene!” exclaimed Barry, as he shook himself. “Bob, we are lost
+in the land of ice and no mistake.”
+
+“The land of ice and the land of snow,” was the answer. “And I must say
+I don’t like it a bit.”
+
+“We must locate those bears,” went on the owner of the Arrow. “If we
+don’t, we may be left to starve to death.”
+
+Breakfast was soon over and they set off again.
+
+This time they took care that they should not travel in a circle.
+Nevertheless, they lost the trail half a dozen times, and it was
+growing dark once more by the time they came in sight of their supply
+of meat.
+
+A flock of birds had come down out of the snow-laden sky and were
+pecking vigorously at the bear carcasses.
+
+The birds were immense creatures, with wings spreading out a yard or
+more. They were of the condor species, but different from those found
+in the Andes Mountains.
+
+“Wait! I’ll take a shot at them!” cried Bob, and before Barry could
+stop him he had let drive with his shotgun.
+
+The charge took two of the big birds fairly and squarely, and a wild
+fluttering of wings followed as the creatures tumbled down on top of
+the dead bears.
+
+“Hurrah! that was a fine shot!” began Bob, and then stopped short.
+
+For the other birds had circled upward only to swoop down again.
+
+“Look out! They are coming for us!” ejaculated Barry, and Stults gave a
+shriek of terror.
+
+Barry was right; the big birds were indeed coming for them, and in
+another instant one of them wheeled about and made a swoop directly for
+Bob’s face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+UP INTO THE AIR
+
+
+It was a moment of extreme peril, and nobody knew that better than did
+the three who were thus confronted by the gigantic birds of the South
+Polar circle.
+
+Barry had heard of these birds before--from an old sea captain who
+had seen them twice and had a fierce fight with them--but he had not
+anticipated that they were quite so large and bloodthirsty.
+
+For bloodthirsty they surely were, with their reddish eyes glaring
+wickedly, and their long, sharp beaks thrust out as if to run them
+through.
+
+Bang! went Barry’s gun; for to withdraw from the encounter was now out
+of the question, and another of the birds fell down, to go swooping
+over the ice on its wings a moment later, uttering wild cries as it
+tore along.
+
+The wounding of the second bird appeared to terrorize all but one of
+the number left, and they lost no time in ascending. But the one which
+was left was the largest of the flock, and now it renewed the attack
+with increased vigor.
+
+Swish! the bird flew against Bob, hurling the boy flat and knocking
+the wind from his body. Then the bird came for Barry, and in his haste
+to retreat Barry fell over Bob.
+
+A wild yell from Stults followed, and he started to run. But the ice
+proved too slippery for him, and he pitched flat on his stomach.
+
+This appeared to be just what the monstrous bird wanted, and in a
+twinkle it settled down upon the German cook and fastened its powerful
+talons in the man’s clothing. Then followed a rapid flapping of wings,
+and slowly but surely the bird arose in the air, carrying Stults along!
+
+“My gracious! Look!” burst from Bob’s lips, as he caught sight of the
+spectacle. “The bird is going to carry Stults off!”
+
+Barry turned over and stared in the direction, hardly willing to
+believe his eyesight.
+
+“Hellup! hellup!” came faintly from poor Stults. “Der pird vos going to
+eat me up alretty! Hellup! Let me down der sky owit kvick!”
+
+As soon as he was able, Barry sprang for his rifle and aimed the weapon
+at the bird. Bang! went the firearm, but the aim was poor, and the
+beast of the air remained unstruck.
+
+By this time Bob had also partly recovered from the blow received, and
+he ran for the other rifle. But this was empty. Then he caught up the
+shotgun.
+
+“Be careful!” came in a warning from Barry. “You may put as many shot
+into Stults as in the bird.”
+
+All this time the wings of the big bird were thrashing the air
+fiercely, for the load was a heavy one. It was not yet a hundred feet
+from the icy plain and had moved slightly to the northward. Bob ran in
+the direction, and a second later the shot-gun spoke up.
+
+The youth had been careful to fire high, so that most of the leaden
+pellets entered the back and neck of the gigantic bird. The wounds were
+not fatal, but it was plain to see the beast of the air was sorely
+hurt, and slowly but surely it began to descend, until it was skimming
+over the ice almost within reach of those below.
+
+There was now nothing to do but to give pursuit, and this Bob and Barry
+did, reloading their weapons as they ran.
+
+Over the ice went the bird with poor Stults, the latter still crying
+for aid. Once or twice the German cook tried to reach the bird and do
+it injury, but each time the beast of the air reached down and gave him
+a peck that drew blood and made him feel as if he was being stabbed.
+
+Presently the bird flew across an opening in the ice field a dozen or
+more feet wide. Reaching this opening, Bob and Barry had to halt.
+
+“Blocked!” came laconically from the owner of the Arrow.
+
+“The bird is going to settle on yonder summit!” cried Bob, pointing to
+the hill, which was several rods beyond the crevasse.
+
+He was right, and in a moment more the beast of the air came down on
+the icy hill and pecking vigorously at Stults’ body.
+
+The sight filled both Bob and Barry with horror, for they could see
+the German cook doing his best to protect his face, and especially his
+eyes, from assault. That the big bird meant to kill him there could be
+no doubt.
+
+Crack! bang! The rifle and the shotgun spoke up as one piece and they
+saw the feathers fly in all directions. The bird let go its hold upon
+Stults and came fluttering toward those who had shot at it.
+
+“He’s coming for us!” yelled Bob; but he had scarcely spoken, when the
+huge beast of the air reached the crevasse, fluttering for a moment on
+the brink, and then sank with a shrill cry into its depths, to be seen
+no more.
+
+“He’s gone!” muttered Bob.
+
+“Thank heaven for it,” was Barry’s comment.
+
+Certain that the enemy had disappeared for good, they turned their
+attention to Stults. The German cook lay on the icy hill motionless.
+
+“Can it be possible that he is dead--that we have killed him?”
+questioned Bob, in an unsteady voice.
+
+Barry did not answer. He was looking for some way by which the
+crevasse might be crossed.
+
+At last a way was found, several hundred feet to the eastward, and they
+ran around as quickly as their feet could carry them. When they reached
+Stults, they found him muttering fiercely.
+
+“Dake him off! Hellup! Dake me owit of der sky town kvick! Oh, blease
+ton’t pick mine eyes owit! Ton’t shoot me!” And thus he raved for a
+long time, for the carrying off had literally scared him out of his
+wits.
+
+He was bruised in a dozen places, and two of the shot had entered
+his left foot. But none of his hurts was serious, and in an hour he
+quieted down and allowed them to lead him back to where the bears
+had been left. They approached with caution, but the other birds had
+disappeared, nor did any of the monsters of the air show themselves
+again.
+
+“I dink me I vos going up into der clouds alretty,” remarked Stults,
+when he felt able to speak. “I neffer von’t me dot again, not for dree
+millions tollars; no, not me!” And he shook his head vigorously.
+
+“I reckon none of us want it,” answered Barry. “One such adventure is
+enough.”
+
+It was growing colder, and to protect themselves they now set to work
+to build a snow house. The fog had made the hard snow wet, so that
+packing it became easy, and by the time they wanted to retire, the
+house was ready for them. It was built in true Esquimaux fashion, with
+a round, sloping roof, and a little doorway close to the bottom.
+
+“There, that isn’t a palace, but it is much better than nothing,”
+remarked Barry, when the work was finished.
+
+“If it doesn’t get too hot inside,” came from Bob.
+
+“If you get too hot you can come out and cool off,” laughed Barry. “I
+know Stults and I won’t suffer from heat.”
+
+“Oxactly so,” said the German cook. “Py chiminy! I vos most frozen
+alretty!”
+
+Once inside the house, or hut, they lit several candles made of
+rope’s-end and bear fat, and these not only gave them light but also
+warmth. A steak was broiled over the lights, and to this it is perhaps
+needless to say all did full justice. Then the door was all but blocked
+up, a small hole was poked into the roof for ventilation, and they
+retired to sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+“THE SHIP! THE SHIP!”
+
+
+Two days went by slowly--so slowly that they seemed a week--and nothing
+out of the ordinary happened.
+
+Nothing came near them in the shape of bird, beast, or man, and their
+feeling of loneliness increased.
+
+“It’s queer there aren’t any Esquimaux up here,” said Bob on the second
+day, after a tramp of nearly a mile across the icy plain.
+
+“They probably fear the fogs,” returned Barry. “But I don’t know
+as you could call them Esquimaux, Bob. They’d more than likely be
+Indians--down here.”
+
+“Well, anybody would be better than nobody--providing they proved
+friendly.”
+
+“I agree with you.”
+
+“What do you think has become of the Arrow?”
+
+“I can’t imagine. For all we know she may be at the bottom of the
+ocean.”
+
+“If he managed to save the ship, surely Captain Gordon would do his
+best to find us.”
+
+“I don’t doubt that. But saving the Arrow couldn’t have been easy,
+when the breaking up of the iceberg began.”
+
+That night, while they were sleeping, came another scare. The icy plain
+shook violently, sending the snow house tumbling about their heads.
+There was crash after crash, and a grinding that was sickening to their
+ears.
+
+“Hellup!” shrieked Stults. “It vos an earthquake! Safe me!”
+
+“I guess this berg has struck another berg,” said Barry. “It was an
+awful shock. I wish it was daylight.”
+
+They all wished that, but daylight did not come until several hours
+later, and then with it came the fog once more, shutting out the view
+as before.
+
+All felt depressed, and Stults cuddled up in a heap beside the ruin of
+the snow house.
+
+“Vot’s der use?” he sighed. “Ve vos all going to been swallowed up by
+dem icebergs sooner as later, udder else starved to death so soon as
+der pear meat vos all gone. I dink me I vos sit town and die right avay
+now alretty!”
+
+“Come, cheer up, man!” cried Barry. “You mustn’t give way in this
+fashion. Remember the old saying, ‘while there is life there is hope.’”
+
+“Yah, but ven der pear meat gifes owit, Mr. Filmore, vot den, tole me
+dot, vill you?”
+
+“But the bear meat isn’t gone yet, and won’t be for some time.”
+
+“Vosn’t you sick of dot meat alretty?”
+
+“Certainly, but it’s all we have, and so there is no use in grumbling.
+Come, let us go do a little exploring.”
+
+“No, I vos sit right here. I got enough of dot exblorin’--mit dumbling
+dot hole town and being carried der sky up. I vos sit here and die.”
+
+“Gosh, but Stults has got ’em bad!” burst out Bob. He felt depressed
+himself, but did not wish to show it. “He ought--Hark!”
+
+There was no need for Bob to utter the last word, for every one of the
+party had heard the sound and leaped to his feet in joy.
+
+“A ship’s gun!” burst from Barry. “It must come from the Arrow!”
+
+“We’ll fire an answering signal,” said Bob, and catching up the shotgun
+he blazed away into the air.
+
+Half a minute of intense suspense followed and then they heard the gun
+again, coming from the westward, as near as they could judge.
+
+“The ship! the ship!” cried Bob, dancing with joy. “Come on, both of
+you!” And away he rushed over the icy plain.
+
+The others were not slow to follow, even Stults being almost as quick
+to run as Barry. The course was over the plain and around several
+crevasses, and then up a long slope, where climbing was exceedingly
+difficult.
+
+As they advanced, the gun boomed out once more, and Barry lost no time
+in answering with a shot from his rifle.
+
+“We are getting closer!” said Bob. “Oh, I do hope it’s the Arrow!”
+
+It seemed as if they would never reach the top of the icy slope. At one
+point the way was so slippery they had to brace against each other to
+keep from sliding clear down to the bottom.
+
+“I can’t vos climb dot!” panted Stults. “I vos preak mine neck first!”
+
+Bob was now crawling on hands and knees. He had his hunting knife in
+his hand, and with this he dug into the ice as he proceeded.
+
+Again the gun boomed forth, and now the sound filled them with dread.
+
+“It is farther off!” groaned Barry. “They are leaving us!”
+
+“No! no! They must not leave us!” panted Bob. “Oh, if only I was at the
+top!”
+
+On he went, clutching at the ice with his hand, and digging viciously
+with the keen knife point. He was but a dozen feet from the summit, and
+presently his head came on a level with the top, and he looked over.
+
+“The ship! the ship!” he screamed in delight. “It is the Arrow!”
+
+A perfect frenzy of joy seized him, and, standing on the icy summit, he
+yelled with all the power of his lungs, and then took off his jacket
+and swung it in the air.
+
+Was the signal seen? He waited with his heart in his throat. The
+Arrow was headed away from them, moving through a mass of loose ice
+surrounding the big berg.
+
+“Fire the rifle again!” he called to Barry. “Quick!”
+
+The weapon was discharged twice over, and Bob continued to wave his
+jacket. Then he saw the Arrow swing slowly around and come toward them.
+
+“She sees us!” he gasped, “Come on!” And so speaking, he let himself
+slide down the opposite side of the icy summit. The force of the
+descent carried him to the very edge of the berg and there he stood
+waiting for those on the Arrow to reach him.
+
+The steam yacht came up to the side of the iceberg with ease, and by
+this time Barry and Stults were also coming down the icy summit. Poor
+Stults, unlucky to the end, could not stop his descent, as had Bob and
+Barry, and went flying into the icy water, to be picked up later by
+Captain Gordon with a boat-hook.
+
+“Mine cracious, vot a path!” yelled the German cook, as soon as his
+head came up. “Dake me out, or I vos froze so stiff as a cake of ice
+alretty kvick!”
+
+Bob was the first on board, and Barry quickly followed, and both they
+and Stults were welcomed back as from the grave.
+
+They had to tell their story in detail, not once but several times, and
+to the narrative all those who had been left on the Arrow listened with
+keen interest.
+
+“We, too, have had our share of adventures,” said Captain Gordon. “When
+that first breaking up of the iceberg came the Arrow almost turned
+over, and we shipped so much water that we had to work lively to keep
+from going to the bottom. Then we ran into a fog bank and got all
+twisted around, and, after that, we met a whale that insisted on coming
+on board, until we trained a gun on him and filled him with grape shot.
+I reckon the whale was as hungry as those big birds you met.”
+
+Captain Gordon told them that the icebergs and the Arrow were moving
+steadily for the South Pole. It was decided to bring what remained of
+the bear meat on board without delay and then continue the journey.
+
+Stults refused to leave the ship again, and kept to his cook’s galley.
+The meat was brought in by several sailors, accompanied by Bob, and the
+next day those on board had fresh meat for the first time in many days.
+
+“But I don’t want to go after any more,” said Bob. “At least not if it
+is going to cost us as much trouble and worry as this meat has.”
+
+“No, we’ll stick to the Arrow after this,” answered Barry. “To look
+back on the days spent on that iceberg makes me shudder.”
+
+They were now within ten degrees of the South Pole, and the ocean
+itself was covered with an icy slush, the grinding up of thousands of
+icebergs. The water here was intensely salt, and this saltiness was
+what kept the ocean from becoming one vast field of ice.
+
+“We are going to get to the South Pole after all,” said Barry. “We
+haven’t much farther to go.”
+
+Yet progress was slow, for the icy slush interfered greatly with the
+Arrow’s screw. It was now night nearly all the time.
+
+“It’s lucky we have a good stock of provisions on hand,” remarked Bob.
+“It looks as if we might have to remain here for a long while.”
+
+“Well, we haven’t enough provisions to last forever,” replied Barry.
+
+Ten days later found them running along a shore of rocks, thickly
+covered with ice and snow. It was clearer than usual, and for the first
+time in a week the sun shone brightly, although well down toward the
+horizon.
+
+“I believe we’ll find it warmer directly at the South Pole than at a
+distance from that point,” observed Captain Gordon. “It is certainly
+warmer to-day than it was yesterday, and yesterday it was warmer than
+the day before.”
+
+“I have noticed that,” returned Bob. “I hope we do find it warmer.”
+
+The hope seemed likely to be realized, for the next day it was warmer
+still, so that everybody was glad enough to come to the deck for fresh
+air. They were now less than two degrees from the South Pole.
+
+“We’ll make it,” said Barry, on the following morning. “We lack less
+than a dozen miles of the distance now!”
+
+“But what desolation!” murmured Bob. “Nothing but snow, ice, and
+water--not an animal, a bird, or a tree! It’s awful!”
+
+The Arrow was moving along slowly but steadily, and before noon Captain
+Gordon, who was studying several scientific instruments, gave a loud
+hurrah.
+
+“The South Pole! We have reached it at last!”
+
+A ringing cheer followed. They had indeed gained the South Pole. How
+the civilized world would stare at them upon their return!
+
+“We must go ashore and erect some sort of monument,” said Barry.
+
+This was agreed to, and soon the Arrow was running for the nearest
+stretch of ice-covered rocks. The shore was still some distance away
+when Bob let out what was little less than a scream.
+
+“Look! look! The Black Eagle, the missing treasure ship!” he cried,
+hoarsely. “And a man is on her deck waving his hand to us. Can it be my
+father?”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE MAGNETISM OF THE SOUTH POLE
+
+
+The cry that Bob uttered thrilled to the heart all who heard it.
+
+“It is the Black Eagle!” ejaculated Barry. “See, the name is on the
+bow!”
+
+“The treasure ship!” murmured Captain Gordon.
+
+From the strange craft there now came a cry, faint but distinct.
+
+“Ship ahoy! Ahoy! ahoy!”
+
+“Ahoy there!” answered several voices in return.
+
+“Who are you?” screamed Bob. “Tell me your name!”
+
+“My name is Amos Baxter!” was the answer.
+
+“My father! Found at last!” murmured Bob. His heart was in his throat.
+He raised his voice as best he could: “Father, do you know me? It is
+your son, Bob.”
+
+“Bob! My Bob? Impossible!” and the man on the treasure ship crowded
+forward to the bow of the craft, which was half buried in the ice. “I
+must be dreaming!” and he pressed his hands to his forehead.
+
+“No, you are not dreaming,” answered the boy. “I am Bob Baxter, and we
+have come to rescue you.”
+
+“My son! my son!” moaned the man, and then of a sudden he fell flat
+upon the deck, having fainted from joy.
+
+Poor Bob was almost as much affected, and had to be supported by Barry.
+
+“Don’t die from joy, Bob,” said the young owner of the steam yacht, who
+also felt a bit queer. “Take it easy.”
+
+“I--I must get to my father at once,” said Bob. “Captain Gordon, can’t
+we lower a small boat and go over?”
+
+“Certainly,” answered the captain.
+
+The Arrow came to a stop and soon the rowboat was over the side and
+Bob, Barry, and Captain Gordon entered it. The captain and Barry took
+up the oars and Bob stood in the bow, ready to leap upon the deck of
+the Black Eagle as soon as a landing could be made upon the rocks and
+ice.
+
+They saw that the treasure ship was badly battered, and almost ready
+to fall to pieces. Her masts were gone, and her bow was broken, while
+there was a gaping hole in her starboard quarter.
+
+Less than a hundred yards separated the steam yacht from the rocky
+shore, yet as the rowboat approached the rocks those on board felt a
+peculiar sensation steal over them and of a sudden the craft became
+stationary.
+
+“What does this mean!” cried Captain Gordon. “I feel as if I were being
+stuck with a thousand needles!”
+
+“It must be some magnetic or electric influence due to the nearness of
+the South Pole,” answered Barry. “Oh, my, I’m shaking like a leaf!”
+
+And he was, and so was Bob. Try their best, they could not row the
+boat to the shore. It remained in one spot, spinning slowly around and
+around. In the mean time the piercing sensation became more painful
+than ever.
+
+“We are caught by some Polar magnetism,” said Barry. “The best thing we
+can do is to get back to the Arrow and try to reach the Black Eagle by
+some other means.”
+
+“And leave my father?” asked Bob, faintly. “No! no!” He leaped up. “I
+believe I can swim to that shore.”
+
+“The water is icy!” said Captain Gordon.
+
+“That won’t hurt me, you know. I have taken many a bath in ice water.”
+
+Bob put his hand into the water. It had scarcely touched the fluid than
+he gave a gasp and fell back like one dead.
+
+“He has been shocked!” muttered Barry, his face turning pale. “Pray
+Heaven he is not dead!” and he bent over his chum and felt of his
+heart, to find it beating faintly.
+
+In the mean time, those left on the Arrow had watched the rowboat with
+keen interest.
+
+“Something is wrong, dot’s certain,” said Stults. “Da can’t do
+noddings, py chiminy!”
+
+“Arrow ahoy!” shouted Captain Gordon.
+
+“What you vonts?” asked Stults.
+
+“Throw us a line and pull us back to the yacht.”
+
+“Why can’t we steam up to you?” asked the engineer of the yacht.
+
+“No! no! We are caught by some Polar magnetism. Don’t bring the Arrow
+any closer, or she may not be able to get away again!”
+
+A consultation was held on the steam yacht, and presently a long line
+was hurled forth.
+
+The end fell over the rowboat’s stern, and Captain Gordon quickly made
+fast.
+
+“Now sail away to the eastward!” cried the captain.
+
+At once the engine of the steam yacht was put in motion.
+
+Around and around flew the screw, churning up the water into a milky
+foam.
+
+The yacht moved slowly, as if under a tremendous strain, and the rope
+became as tight as a whipcord.
+
+Those in the rowboat felt as if they were filled with electricity, and
+when the small craft did finally leave the spot, it was as if the very
+hearts of the occupants were being pulled out of them.
+
+But at last the rowboat was free and then the Arrow moved onward as if
+nothing out of the ordinary had ever occurred.
+
+When Captain Gordon and Barry carried Bob upon the deck of the steam
+yacht, the cold perspiration stood out in great beads upon their
+foreheads.
+
+“That was an awful experience,” said the captain. “I wouldn’t want to
+go through it again for ten thousand dollars!”
+
+For a while nothing was done excepting to try to bring poor Bob to his
+senses.
+
+It took a long time, and when the lad recovered, he appeared to be half
+dazed still.
+
+“Father! Father!” he murmured, over and over again. “Where are you? Did
+I not see you?”
+
+“You’re all right, Bob,” said Barry, tenderly. “You were shocked, don’t
+you remember?”
+
+“I--I think I do.”
+
+“We have returned to the Arrow.”
+
+“But my father?”
+
+“We will get to him as quickly as we can. But we must go by some other
+route.”
+
+A consultation was now held, and several scientific instruments were
+used by the captain and Barry.
+
+Both came to the conclusion that the exact centre of the South Pole was
+at the spot where the rowboat had acted so strangely.
+
+“It’s a wonder the magnetism didn’t draw us under the water,” observed
+Barry.
+
+“The rowboat did go down several inches,” answered the captain. Then he
+continued: “I have a plan.”
+
+“Well?”
+
+“We had better make a landing farther down the coast and approach the
+treasure ship from the opposite side.”
+
+“That’s an idea!”
+
+“And let us make the landing at once,” put in Bob, faintly.
+
+Soon the course of the Arrow was altered, and they ran down the shore
+for nearly half a mile.
+
+Then they approached the shore with caution.
+
+There was some magnetism still to be felt, but it was not strong enough
+to do the steam yacht any harm.
+
+The Arrow was run into a small, ice-encircled bay, and made fast to the
+rocky shore.
+
+It was no easy matter to gain the rocks, which were covered with ice as
+hard as flint and more slippery than glass.
+
+But at last nearly all on board left the vessel, and then a march was
+begun toward the treasure ship.
+
+Bob was impatient to push on ahead of the others, and Barry had all he
+could do to keep his chum back.
+
+“Remember, the walking may be dangerous,” said the young yacht owner.
+
+“Yes, yes; but I wish to get to my father.”
+
+“We will soon be there. But look out for holes and cracks in this icy
+cliff. You might drop into some place that had no bottom.”
+
+“I will be careful,” answered Bob, and tried again to go on ahead.
+Barry came close upon his heels.
+
+Thus half the distance to the treasure ship was covered.
+
+The Black Eagle was now in sight once more, and unable to restrain
+himself, Bob broke into a dog trot.
+
+He was thinking only of the father from whom he had so long been
+separated.
+
+Suddenly he tried to stop short, for a black hole yawned before him at
+his very feet.
+
+But he was going too fast, and though he threw himself backward, the
+action came too late.
+
+Down he slid, and Barry made a frantic clutch at his arm.
+
+“Help!”
+
+That was the single cry Bob uttered.
+
+Then he went down and down, out of the light into utter darkness, with
+Barry on top of him.
+
+Both struck into a drift of snow and plunged clear out of sight!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+MEETING OF FATHER AND SON
+
+
+“Bob!”
+
+“Barry!”
+
+“Where are you?”
+
+“Here. And you?”
+
+“Here.”
+
+“And where are we both?”
+
+“Down in some kind of a hole.”
+
+“My ears are full of snow.”
+
+“My mouth was full a minute ago. Are you hurt?”
+
+“No.”
+
+“Neither am I. It was a fortunate tumble after all.”
+
+“Fortunate! How are we to get out?”
+
+“I don’t know.”
+
+“Then don’t say we are fortunate.”
+
+For a moment after this there was silence, as both tried their best
+to get to the top of the snow, which had saved them from having their
+bones broken.
+
+It was no easy task, and at first they sank deeper than ever.
+
+In the mean time, those at the top of the opening were horrified over
+the turn of affairs.
+
+“They are lost!” cried Captain Gordon. “Oh, but this is terrible!”
+
+“And chust ven ve are py de end of der drip!” groaned Stults.
+
+“We must do something for them.”
+
+“Vot can ve do?”
+
+“Did you bring the rope I mentioned?”
+
+“Yah, captain.”
+
+“I’ll tie it under my arms, and then you can let me down, and I’ll
+investigate. But don’t let me slip.”
+
+The rope was speedily produced, and adjusted, and then the captain of
+the Arrow was let down over the edge of the split in the rocks.
+
+He had just gained the top of the drifted snow when he saw a dark
+object coming to light.
+
+It was Barry’s arm, and bending over he clutched at it and gave a pull.
+
+Up came Barry, and with him, Bob; for the two chums had hold of each
+other’s hands.
+
+“Good for you!” said Barry, as soon as he could speak.
+
+“Haul us up!” shouted Captain Gordon, and those above did so. It was no
+easy task, and once it looked as if the rope would break.
+
+But at last they stood again on the ice above, and none the worse for
+the unexpected adventure.
+
+Looking round, they discovered a spot where the split could be crossed
+with ease, and here they went over, and then continued the journey
+toward the treasure ship.
+
+As before, Bob kept in the front, and he was up the side of the Black
+Eagle and on the deck fully a minute before the others.
+
+“Father! father!” he cried, and rushed to his parent, who still lay on
+the deck in a dead faint. The sufferer was icy cold, and the youth did
+all in his power to restore circulation to his body.
+
+“Let us take him to the cabin,” said Barry, and this was done.
+
+It was plainly evident that Amos Baxter was the sole occupant of the
+treasure ship, for on the cabin table rested a single plate, cup and
+saucer, with a knife and fork near by. On a tiny stove some canned meat
+and vegetables were cooking. A black cat sat on a chair by the fire,
+purring contentedly.
+
+“Well, he has been comfortable enough,” observed Captain Gordon. “But
+how lonely!”
+
+The sufferer was rubbed down and given something warm to drink, yet it
+was nearly half an hour before he opened his eyes. Then he started up.
+
+“Bob! Bob! Is it really you, or am I dreaming?” and the tears streamed
+down his weather-beaten face.
+
+“You are not dreaming, father,” answered the boy, and folded his parent
+to his breast.
+
+“Come, let us get out of here,” whispered Barry to the others, and
+they considerately withdrew, leaving Bob and his father to themselves.
+
+It was a meeting never to be forgotten. The heart of each was almost
+too full for utterance.
+
+Amos Baxter’s story was a long one, too long to repeat here in all its
+details.
+
+He told of his long hunt for the Black Eagle, and of how the ship Comet
+had been struck by an iceberg, and how he had gone overboard and been
+lost.
+
+For nearly a month he had wandered around near the South Pole, almost
+dying from hunger. During that time he had lived upon raw whale’s meat,
+cut from a whale he had found frozen in the ice.
+
+Then he had run across the Black Eagle, only to find all of her crew
+dead or missing. All that was alive on board was the black cat.
+
+Weeks and months of lonely life had followed, nearly driving him crazy.
+Day after day he had looked for a sail, but none had appeared until the
+Arrow hove in sight.
+
+The strain had told greatly upon him and he was reduced almost to a
+skeleton.
+
+He had still food left for another month’s rations.
+
+“And when that was gone I would have had to die of hunger,” he said.
+
+“Well, father, you won’t have to suffer any more,” replied Bob. “We
+will take good care of you.”
+
+“On board of this ship are millions of dollars in gold,” went on Mr.
+Baxter. “Many a time I would have given all of that immense fortune to
+be back home once more.”
+
+“I do not doubt it in the least.”
+
+“And to think that you came to rescue me, Bob! It seems almost too good
+to be true.”
+
+Then Bob told his parent of the cold-storage plant warehouse fire, and
+of the fate of Jasper Powell. Of course, Amos Baxter was astonished.
+
+“I never thought that of Powell,” he said. “But he was always peculiar.
+He must have been crazy.”
+
+An hour later the others came back and were introduced. Then the whole
+party went into the hold of the Black Eagle and inspected the gold
+piled up there.
+
+They had never beheld so much of the yellow metal, and all were greatly
+impressed.
+
+“Enough to make each of us independently rich for the rest of our
+lives!” declared Bob.
+
+“Yes, indeed,” answered Mr. Baxter. “But I care not for gold. All I
+want is to get back to the United States and see my friends once more.”
+
+He was glad enough to leave the Black Eagle and return with his son to
+the Arrow.
+
+The elegance of the steam yacht greatly astonished him, and he said he
+felt as if he had returned to life from the dead.
+
+He told them that he had often experienced the magnetism found at the
+South Pole.
+
+“Sometimes it extended to the Black Eagle,” he said, “and then it was
+impossible to lift a piece of iron or anything made of metal.”
+
+“It is queer,” observed Captain Gordon. “Perhaps we will have trouble
+in removing the gold.”
+
+“Perhaps.”
+
+The removal of the golden treasure to the Arrow was begun the next day.
+
+It was no mean task, for each bar had to be carried half a mile over
+the icy rocks before being put on the rowboat for removal to the steam
+yacht.
+
+But at the end of two weeks the task was accomplished.
+
+“And now if you wish to get away this month you must sail at once,”
+said Amos Baxter.
+
+“Why?” asked Captain Gordon.
+
+“Because we are fixing for a storm. Inside of forty-eight hours the
+wind will be blowing a gale.”
+
+“Then we will leave without delay!” cried Barry.
+
+That afternoon the Arrow sailed.
+
+She left the vicinity of the South Pole none too soon, for by morning
+a gale was blowing which threatened to tear the ship into a thousand
+pieces.
+
+The mainmast went by the board and the very bowsprit was cut off as by
+a knife.
+
+Nobody could remain on deck, and they had to run along blindly,
+trusting to fate to see them safely through the storm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+HOME AGAIN--CONCLUSION
+
+
+“We will go to the bottom sure!”
+
+So said more than one person on the Arrow the next day.
+
+The storm lasted for thirty-six hours, yet the steam yacht held her own
+and, though much battered, did not spring even a small leak.
+
+It was the last of the foul weather for many days. To be sure they
+encountered dense fogs around Graham’s Land and Alexander’s Land, but
+not so bad as those met with on the journey to the South Pole.
+
+All on board of the gallant ship were in the best of spirits. And they
+had good cause to be, for Barry and the Baxters had promised to each a
+fair share of the golden treasure.
+
+At last, after many weeks of fair and foul sailing, the Arrow reached
+the vicinity of Cape Horn.
+
+It was a perfect day, and the steam yacht stood steadily for Tierra del
+Fuego.
+
+Barry and Bob could not help but think of Captain Fenlick and Basker,
+as well as of the negro and the Spaniard who had been put ashore.
+
+“They must be dead,” said Bob. “The natives would eat them up at the
+first chance.”
+
+But Bob was mistaken.
+
+None of the party was dead.
+
+They had come together at one of the native villages, and here Captain
+Fenlick had met a Patagonian pirate who commanded a vessel which preyed
+upon ships going around Cape Horn.
+
+The Cape Horn pirates are among the worst in the world.
+
+To this pirate, Zekra by name, Fenlick told his tale, and he enlisted
+Zekra in a scheme to watch for the possible return of the Arrow with
+the golden treasure.
+
+The pirate’s ship was named the Skull, and Captain Zekra took Fenlick,
+Basker, and the others on board with him.
+
+Day after day the pirate watched for the Arrow, and in the mean time
+captured a small schooner which was in the coast trade.
+
+At last the Arrow came in sight of the Skull.
+
+“What a strange-looking craft!” said Barry, who was viewing the other
+ship through his glass.
+
+“I’ll wager she is a pirate!” cried Captain Gordon. “I think we had
+better run away from her.”
+
+But the Skull had up a flag of distress, and Barry was unwilling to
+leave a stranger if in trouble.
+
+But no sooner had the steam yacht come close to the Skull, than the
+latter opened fire with a four-pounder, sending a ball through the
+deck-house.
+
+“We’ll fix you for that!” cried Captain Gordon, in a rage, and ordered
+the yacht’s swivel to be loaded.
+
+“Surrender!” came from the pirates’ ship, and Barry, looking through
+the glass, recognized Captain Fenlick, Basker, the Spaniard, and the
+negro.
+
+He quickly told his friends of his discovery, and ordered Captain
+Gordon to show the Skull no mercy.
+
+Bang! went the swivel gun, and a shot swept the deck of the pirate ship.
+
+Captain Zekra tried his best to put a shot into the Arrow’s hull, but
+the steam yacht was too swift in her movements for him.
+
+All on the yacht armed themselves, and fired on the pirates at every
+available opportunity.
+
+Soon Captain Fenlick was laid low, and the negro followed.
+
+Then a shot from the Skull tore through the Arrow’s stern.
+
+But it was her last, for the next shot from the Arrow took the pirate
+craft fairly and squarely in the side, just below the water line, and
+slowly but surely she began to sink.
+
+Many of the men jumped overboard and tried to swim in one direction or
+another.
+
+But they could not save themselves, and in the end everybody who had
+been on the Skull was drowned, and the ship went down with them.
+
+It was a fitting end to such wretches as Captain Fenlick, Basker, and
+their bloodthirsty companions.
+
+“We are well rid of them,” said Bob, after the fight was over. “I never
+want any such enemies again.”
+
+“Nor I,” answered Barry. “They were a decidedly bad crowd.”
+
+Day after day passed, and one bright morning the Arrow dropped anchor
+in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro.
+
+The steam yacht remained here for two weeks, getting on a new supply of
+provisions and coal and undergoing a thorough overhauling.
+
+Everybody on the craft was cautioned not to say anything about the
+treasure on board, for fear some plot might be hatched out to steal the
+millions in gold.
+
+From Rio de Janeiro the Arrow set a course for Santiago de Cuba, and
+this part of the trip passed without special incident. From this port
+the course was straight for New York.
+
+Off Cape Hatteras another storm was encountered, and for several hours
+all on board feared they and their gold would go to the bottom of the
+Atlantic.
+
+“Wouldn’t it be awful if we should go down,” said Bob, “now we are so
+near home?”
+
+“We must take what comes,” answered Barry, gravely.
+
+But Captain Gordon was a thorough seaman and knew what he was doing,
+and in the end the Arrow came out of the storm with scarcely a scratch.
+
+Then the run was straight to New York, and late one afternoon the Arrow
+entered the Narrows and dropped anchor some distance from the Statue of
+Liberty in the bay.
+
+“Home at last!” cried Bob. “And my father is found!”
+
+“And the treasure is ours!” added Barry. “But no more of the South Pole
+for me.”
+
+“Nor for me,” returned Bob. “I have had adventures enough to last me a
+lifetime.”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here I must bring our story to a close. Several years have passed since
+the events just narrated.
+
+Bob Baxter is now at Yale College, having elected to become a lawyer.
+Barry Filmore has also taken up the law, and in time the two chums
+expect to become partners in that profession.
+
+The golden treasure was fairly divided among those who lived to tell
+of the wonderful expedition to the South Pole, and, as a consequence,
+each of the party became very wealthy.
+
+Amos Baxter is now an old man and spends his leisure hours in
+scientific research. He has written a book upon the South Pole, and
+another upon Polar Electricity and Magnetism, and these works have made
+him known far and wide.
+
+As a result of the Arrow’s wonderful voyage to the South Pole, several
+other expeditions have gone off in the same direction, but so far none
+of them has been able to get past the fogs and mists and the immense
+icebergs of the Land of Desolation.
+
+“How we ever got through is a mystery to me,” says old Captain Gordon,
+now retired. “I can’t understand it at all.”
+
+“I think I can explain it,” said Barry, with a faint smile. “You know
+how the magnet always points to the Pole?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“There is a magnetism between the Pole and the magnet.”
+
+“Undoubtedly.”
+
+“Well, blood is thicker than water, and Bob’s father was at the Pole,
+or very close to it. Bob was attracted to his father by the personal
+magnetism of his parent. That’s the only way I can explain it.”
+
+At this most of the others laughed. But Bob did not laugh.
+
+“Father,” he said, “Barry must be right. I always had a yearning to
+find you and I wasn’t satisfied until I reached your side.”
+
+“And I looked for you, my son,” said Mr. Baxter, “I looked for you,
+day after day, as I stood upon the lonely, forsaken deck of the Black
+Eagle. I told myself you must come to me, and you did come. Yes, your
+friend Barry is right, Heaven bless him!”
+
+It may be added, that after Bob returned to New York, and it was
+learned that he was wealthy, no more was said about the warehouse fire
+and the charge of incendiarism which had been lodged against him. The
+whole Jasper Powell matter was speedily cleared up, and that was the
+end of it.
+
+And here we will ring down the curtain and bid friends and readers
+alike adieu.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
+
+
+Page number error in Table of Contents corrected.
+
+Typographical errors corrected. However, inconsistencies in hyphenation
+and capitalization (especially after exclamation marks) have been left
+unchanged.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77580 ***