Dave Porter on Cave Island/Chapter 19
CHAPTER XIX
THE MISSING SHIP
"How much longer do you think this storm will last?"
It was Dave who asked this question, of Captain Sanders, when the latter came down to get a bite for breakfast. To get a regular meal, with the vessel pitching and tossing wildly, was out of the question.
"I don't know, Dave," was the grave answer. "I am hoping the wind will die down by sunset. But the storm may last several days."
"Are we in any danger?" questioned Phil.
"There is always danger during a storm," answered the master of the Golden Eagle. "But I hope to weather this blow without much trouble."
"Can we be of any assistance?" went on our hero.
"No, boys. There is nothing you can do but keep yourselves from falling overboard. How is Roger?"
"A little better."
"I heard that two of those Englishmen are pretty sick," went on Captain Sanders, with a faint smile.
"They are."
"It's queer to me that they sailed with us. It's not such a pleasant voyage."
"I overheard a little of their talk," answered Dave, and, knowing he could trust the captain, he related what had been said.
"Pirates' gold, eh?" muttered the master of the ship. "Most of those yarns are fairy-stories. I've known expedition after expedition to be fitted out, to search for treasures said to be hidden by the old-time buccaneers, but I never saw a man yet who got even a smell of a treasure. Where were they going for it, Dave?"
"I don't know. I think one of them mentioned Cave Island. Is there such a place?"
"There may be, although I never heard of it. Many of the islands in this part of the globe, being of volcanic origin, contain caves."
"They must expect to get to Cave Island from Barbados."
"More than likely," answered the captain, and then hurried on deck again. The storm continued for the remainder of the day, but by nightfall the wind commenced to die down, and by midnight the clouds had passed and the stars were shining brightly. In the morning the big sun came out of the sea to the east like a globe of fire.
"Now we are going to have some warm weather," remarked Billy Dill, and the old tar was right. As the sun mounted in the heavens it grew positively hot, until the boys had to go to their staterooms and don thinner clothing. With the departure of the storm, Roger's seasickness left him, but the two Englishmen remained slightly unwell for some time longer.
"Phew! how warm it is!" remarked Phil. "And just think of it!—up at home they are having snow and ice!"
With the passing of the storm, the boys settled down as before. They saw but little of the Englishmen, especially of the pair who were sick. But one day something happened which came close to causing a crisis.
The boys were seated on the rear deck, talking over matters in general, when a strong puff of wind caused a sheet of paper to blow from somewhere ahead towards Dave. He reached out and caught the sheet just as it was about to go overboard.
"Hello, what's this?" he cried, as he looked the sheet over. "Must be some sort of a chart."
"It is," answered Roger, gazing at the paper. "See, here is a spot marked Barbados, and other marked Cave Island, a little to the eastward."
"Why, look what it says, up here!" cried Phil. "'Map of the Don Amorandos Treasure, buried in 1715.' Say, do you think those Englishmen"
"Hi, you! Give me that map!" bawled a voice from near by, and with a very red face, the Englishman named Geswick bore down on the boys. "How dare you look at this?" he went on, as he snatched the sheet out of their hands and folded it up.
"We wanted to see what it was and whom it belonged to," answered Dave, as calmly as he could.
"You had no right to look at it," stormed Andrew Geswick. "That is private property."
"Then why did you let it fall in our hands?" asked Phil.
"If it hadn't been for Dave, it would have gone overboard," put in Roger.
"Humph!" The man fell back a little. "Well, I am thankful for that. But you boys had no right to look at it," he grumbled.
"Why, it's only a chart, isn't it?" asked the senator's son, curiously.
"Never mind what it is!" answered Andrew Geswick, sharply. "Did you read what was on it?" he demanded, an instant later.
"We saw it was a chart," answered Dave, and looked knowingly at his chums, to make them keep silent.
"It—er—it belongs to Mr. Pardell and he is very particular about it," went on the Englishman. And then without another word he walked away.
"My, isn't he sweet!" muttered Phil.
"Just as sweet as a can of sour milk," answered the senator's son. "Dave, I guess you wish you had allowed that map to blow overboard."
"Not exactly that, Roger. But he might have been a little more thankful for saving something that he thinks so valuable."
"Do you think there is anything in this treasure idea?" questioned Phil, after a pause.
"No, Phil. That is, there may be some lost treasure, secreted by the pirates and buccaneers of old, but I doubt if anybody will ever find it—excepting by accident."
"If there was a treasure on this Cave Island, we might hunt for it," went on the shipowner's son.
"Phil, don't let that bee get into your bonnet!" cried Roger. "Many a man has gone crazy looking for pirates' gold. Better drop it, and think of how we are to round up Merweli and Jasniff."
"Well, I'd like to go to Cave Island anyway," said Phil. "We might" And then he stopped short, as he saw Geswick and Pardell near by. The Englishmen had been listening to part of the conversation.
"So you'd like to go to Cave Island, would you?" cried Andrew Geswick, his face red with rage. "You take my advice and keep away from that place!"
"Say, do you own that island?" demanded Phil, getting angry because of the other's dictatorial manner.
"No, we don't own the island. But we" Andrew Geswick stopped short as his companion plucked him by the sleeve. "Never mind, you keep away from it, that's all," he growled.
"We'll go there if we want to," called out Phil.
"If you do you may get into trouble," called back Pardell. Then he and his companion disappeared in the direction of the cabin.
"They are touchy enough," was Roger's comment. "Phil, you had better drop Cave Island after this."
"I'll talk about it as much as I please," grumbled the shipowner's son. "Those fellows make me tired. They act as if they owned the earth!"
Sunday was a quiet day on shipboard. The Englishmen did not show themselves excepting at meals, and the boys were content to leave them severely alone. They told Captain Sanders of the chart and of the talk that had occurred.
"Let them alone, lads," said the commander of the Golden Eagle. "I'll venture to say that sooner or later they'll find out they are on a wild goose chase."
"The only one that seems to be anyway nice is the fellow named Giles Borden," said Dave. "He is rather quiet. The other fellow, Rumney, is almost as bad as Geswick and Pardell."
"So I've noticed, Dave. And the queer part of it is, Borden paid for the passages. He appears to be the only one with money."
"Maybe he is backing the expedition," suggested Roger.
"I'm sorry for him if he is," answered the captain.
The Bahama Islands had been passed, and now they were in the vicinity of Porto Rico. Then commenced the trip southward, through the Lesser Antilles.
"This is the spot for active volcanoes," observed Phil. "Don't you remember how the Island of Martinique suffered?"
"Oh, don't speak of volcanoes!" cried Roger. "I have no use for them—or for earthquakes either."
"There must be hundreds of islands around here," observed Dave. "The charts are full of them."
"That must make navigation difficult," came from Phil.
"Oh, I reckon Captain Sanders knows what he is about."
"Wonder how soon we'll run into the harbor at Bridgetown?" mused the shipowner's son, the place he mentioned being the main seaport of Barbados.
"Inside of three days, I hope, Phil," answered our hero.
"Merwell and Jasniff must be there by this time."
"It's more than likely—unless something happened to delay them," returned Dave.
At last came the day when they sighted Barbados and, ran into the harbor of Bridgetown. The place was a picturesque one, but the boys had just then no time to view the scenery or the shipping. As soon as it could be accomplished, they went ashore, and Captain Sanders went with them, leaving his vessel in charge of the first mate.
"You may have trouble with those two rascals, if you find them," said the commander of the Golden Eagle. "I'll be on deck to help you all I can."
"Shall we go to the hotel first?" questioned Roger.
"Might as well," answered Phil. "They'd strike for the hotel first thing, after a sea trip like that. Maybe they were both seasick."
"I hope they were—it would serve them right," growled the senator's son.
Dave and the captain were willing, and a little later walked into the Royal George Hotel. Here the boys looked at the register, but found no names that they could recognize. Then Dave brought out his photographs of Merwell and Jasniff and showed them to the hotel proprietor and his clerk.
"Nobody here that looks like either of them," said the proprietor, while his clerk also shook his head.
"They came in on the Emma Brower," said Captain Sanders.
"The Emma Brower!" cried the hotel man. "Is she in?"
"Why, I suppose so," and now the commander of the Golden Eagle showed his surprise.
"She wasn't in last night, and the agents were a bit worried about her. I know the agents personally, you see."
"Then maybe she isn't in yet!" cried Dave. "Let us go down to the docks and find out about this."
They lost no time in visiting the docks and the shipping offices. There they learned that nothing had been heard of the Emma Brower since the vessel had left Jacksonville.
"We must have passed her on the way!" cried Dave, to Captain Sanders. "Could we do that?"
"Perhaps, since we only had half a cargo, Dave. Besides, maybe that vessel was damaged by the storm."
"I wonder how soon she will get in?" mused Roger.
At this the captain shrugged his shoulders.
"It is impossible to say. I've known a ship to be a week and sometimes nearly a month overdue. And I've known a ship to drop out altogether," he added, soberly.
"Oh, don't say you think she has gone down!" cried Dave, in alarm.
"Let us hope not, Dave."
The day passed, and also the next ajid the next. The cargo of the Golden Eagle was unloaded, and the Englishmen, who had been passengers, left for parts unknown. As each day slipped by, Dave grew more serious. What if the Emma Brower had gone down, carrying Merwell, Jasniff, and the Carwith jewels with her?