The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island Part 10

d.i.c.k exhibited the bag Jack had given him, and showed the letters found on the floor, the captain being able to read them.

"There were money and supplies shipped to the Mexican rebel leader," he said, "and probably the vessel may have been chased, and put in among the islands of the Caribbean to get away, and was wrecked here. There is quite a lot of money in this bag, about a thousand dollars, and if there are many of the bags and they are all as full as this, you will have a pretty good sum to dispose of."

"The money belongs to Jack," said Percival. "He discovered the wreck and it should be his. He needs the money, and I do not."

"You worked with me," put in Jack, "and if I have any of it you should have a share. Does it belong to us, however?"

"Of course it does," said Captain Storms. "You found it and that's the law of treasure trove. It isn't likely that the Mexican rebels or their agents will put in a claim for it, and it is yours all right."

"But we have not got the rest of it," said Jack, "and the hold might be flooded before we go there again. It is a wonder that the water has kept out as long as it has."

"The iron doors have done a lot to keep it out; they are probably watertight. That cabin you were in was like a strong room, and maybe the skipper had it built that way a purpose. You don't know what sort of crew you may get when you are on a lay of this sort, and I guess he wasn't taking chances, having a lot of money on board."

"That may account for it, but it made me feel a little creepy being in there, and knowing that the water was just above me, and perhaps on the other side of those doors."

"I don't wonder. They say divers get afraid when they see all sorts of fishes swimming around them under water. I'd like to go to the place with you. I've had some queer adventures, but nothing so queer as that."

"I should be very glad to have you, sir, and if you want a share of the money in the chest----"

"No, that's all right. It belongs to you and your friend and the little fellow, too, I suppose."

"Why, of course, they must have their share of it."

"I don't think Jesse W. will take it, and, anyhow, he was not with us when we went into the cabin, and I certainly don't want it," said Percival. "It all belongs to you, Jack."

"Not if I don't want to take it," Jack replied with a laugh. "How are you going to make me take it, d.i.c.k?"

"I'm sure I don't know, but it ought to be yours, just the same. I'd like to get the rest of it, and suppose we go after it to-morrow?"

"That will be all right."

"And I'll go along to help you," said the captain. "There's no getting out of here right away, and we may as well do something. I can't get any answer to my wireless messages yet, and maybe folks think they're only a joke, and don't pay any attention."

"You have tried to get New York?" asked Jack.

"Yes, and Havana and any place I can, but I can't do anything. I don't know if I am tuned up with those fellows or whether they think it is only a joke or what. I've tried American and International, wired S.O.S. and all the different distress signals, but could not seem to make connection."

"Why don't you try Mr. Smith in New York? He would be interested on account of his boy. Try a plain commercial message. That ought to go. You can at least try it."

"That is very sensible advice," said the doctor. "I suppose you have been sending out distress signals, and the wireless people, if they have caught you up simply regard it as a hoax."

"Well, I'll try again, and do as the young man suggests. In the meantime I'd like to visit this wreck. I never was in a ship's cabin under water when it was safe, and I'd like to try it."

"We will go to-morrow," said Jack.

CHAPTER IX

THE LAST VISIT TO THE WRECK

The next day, as agreed upon, they went to the old wreck on the rocks to get more of the treasure in the hold, and to satisfy the captain's curiosity about the place.

It had gotten around among the boys that Jack and d.i.c.k had found a sunken treasure, and there were stories of fabulous wealth afloat in a short time, all the boys, with a few exceptions, wishing to visit the place and gaze upon the buried gold with their own eyes.

"We cannot have all those boys visiting the place and getting in our way,"

sputtered Percival when it was suggested by Harry that he and one or two others go with the party.

"But we would not be in the way," said young d.i.c.kson, "and we might be of a.s.sistance."

"How did you find it out anyhow?" asked Percival. "We did not say anything about it."

"I don't know, but, at any rate, it is all around, and everybody knows about it. I heard Herring talking about it. He seems to think it is a big hoax, and that you did not find anything."

"Well, we did, all the same, but we don't want a lot of fellows with us, and, besides, it is dangerous. Never mind, Hal. You are in with us on the most of our adventures, but I don't think you had better go this time. We have promised to take young Jesse W. with us, as he was there the first time, but not the second, and he has never seen the cabin with its strange lights, the swash of water outside, the chest of gold and all that."

"H'm! you make me want to go with you all the more," said Harry, half laughing, half impatient. "You should not appeal to a boy's imagination like that, d.i.c.k. I want to go with you now the worst way."

"Well, I suppose you do, but you'll have to be satisfied with what I tell you about it. I'll write a composition about it, and you will think you are reading Jules Verne and the Arabian Nights all over again."

"You be smothered!" sputtered Harry, half cross and half good natured. "As if that would satisfy me."

"It will have to, Hal," laughed Percival. "Never mind, I'll give you a ten-dollar gold piece to hang on your watch chain as a charm. You can say it was one that Captain Kidd had."

"Yes, and they were not made at that time, two hundred years ago," said Harry in disgust. "Well, never mind. Billy Manners and I will find a buried treasure, and never let you have a smell of it"

"All right, Harry," and d.i.c.k went away to get Jack, young Smith and the captain, and start on their visit to the point.

The captain had a rope and an axe, and Jack took his pocket flash along with him, having found it very useful on the second visit to the submerged vessel.

They climbed up the rocks, and found the place where they had gone down, but now the opening was so small, more rocks having fallen in, apparently, since their last visit, that they doubted if they could get down.

"I am afraid we shall have to give it up," said Jack in some disappointment. "The last time d.i.c.k and I were here we had to squeeze through to get out, but now it seems worse than before."

"Let me try, Jack," said young Smith eagerly. "I am only a little fellow, and can get through where big fellows like you and d.i.c.k could not. Don't you remember how you put me through the little window at the Academy, that time of the rebellion in the school? Well, you can use me now in the same way. I want to see that place down there. You know I did not see it the last time, and I want to see it very much. Try, Jack. I am not so big, and can squeeze through almost anywhere."

Jack found a place where it would be quite possible for Jesse W. to get down, but not for himself or Percival, and, of course, out of the question for the captain, who was nearly as big as both of the latter combined, and he said:

"Here is a place, J.W., which, I think, will fit. It does seem too bad that you should not see the place, having been with us on our first trip, and we will give you a chance."

"I can bring away a bagful of the gold, anyhow, Jack, and perhaps go for another one after that. I should like to see the place, anyhow."

"All right, you shall do so, old man, but don't load yourself down with gold. That has drowned many a man before now. Get the rope, d.i.c.k. We will lower him into the place. Take a light, Jesse W., for you will need it.

You know just how to find everything?"

"Yes, I go into the hole in the bow of the vessel which we saw, follow along till I come to a door, and then go along a pa.s.sage till I come to another door and there I am, right in the cabin with a light overhead, shining through the water."