"It's something we've found that he wants you to see," Harry whispered; and turning to the crew, who were lying on their oars a short distance away, Mr. Vandyne said:
"I will stay on shore until morning. Go back to the yacht; and at sunrise, if you think there's no danger, bring her into this cove."
"Ay, ay, sir," a voice replied; and then the sound of oars in the water told that the boat was leaving the harbor, probably steering for a tiny red light which could now be seen some distance off the land.
"What have you got which there is so much mystery about?" Mr. Vandyne asked, as the gentle splash and ripple of water which told that the sailors were returning to their craft died away in the distance.
"We have found a pirate's treasure," Harry said in a whisper. "There are nineteen bags full of all kinds of money."
"Pirates' treasure!" his father repeated in astonishment.
"What the lad says is a fact, sir;" and Bob stepped forward once more. "We had no way of findin' out how much it was worth; but there's altogether too big an amount for us to run the risk of lettin' strangers see the pile."
"Where is it?"
"At the camp, sir. I'll lead the way. Jim, you foller behind me an' let Joe bring up the rear."
Then Bob set out at such a rapid pace that there was but little opportunity for conversation until the entire distance had been traversed.
Joe and Jim built a huge camp-fire, and after Harry introduced his father to the three members of the party who were strangers, Bob pulled from beneath the mattresses one of the treasure bags.
"There are eighteen more jes' like that," he said, as he slashed the tarred canvas with his knife until the yellow coins fell in a golden stream at Mr. Vandyne's feet. "We haven't overhauled many of 'em; but one's a fair sample of the lot."
"Why, you've got a fortune here!" the gentleman cried in surprise as he assured himself that the pieces were gold and of large denomination. "Where and how did you find it?"
"It'll need a pretty long yarn to give you an understandin' of the whole cruise, an' we'll each do a share of the spinnin' so the thing will come out ship-shape," Bob said, as he began to fill a pipe, that his character of story-teller might be enacted properly. "You've got all night for the hearin', so there's no pertic'lar hurry. Harry shall begin, an' I'll chip in when he comes to the pickin' up of me after I'd thinned down pretty nearly to a ghost."
Perhaps Mr. Vandyne would have preferred to hear the story in fragments rather than at one sitting; but Bob was bent on spinning a yarn, and as there was no practicable alternative he was forced to submit.
Harry began without delay, Jim and Walter interrupting whenever he neglected to give all the details. The old sailor then related the particulars of the involuntary cruise up to the time Joe came aboard. He in turn told of the disaster to the Sea Bird, and Bob finished the story, which occupied considerably more than an hour in the telling.
"We shall have to let the crew know what you've got here, although there's no necessity of explaining where or how it was found, for they will be needed to take the bags aboard," Mr. Vandyne said, after the lengthy "yarn" had been spun. "There is no danger, for the schooner is commanded by a man in whom I have every confidence, and there won't be a piece missing when we arrive in New York."
"Now tell us how you knew where we were?" Harry asked.
"The party who came in search of the murderers gave your written story to the newspapers in Savannah, and it was copied all over the country."
Then Mr. Vandyne briefly related what had previously been done toward finding the boys.
When the Sally Walker failed to return it was supposed she had been blown out to sea, and every available craft was hired to search for the missing party. When a week passed without the hoped-for result, it seemed certain that all were dead, and they were mourned for until the newspaper articles appeared.
The remainder of the story was brief. Mr. Vandyne had just purchased the schooner-yacht Lorlie--the same craft which was now hove-to off the key--and in her he started for the Bahamas.
"What was the meaning of those pistol-shots we heard, sir?" Joe asked. "They sounded like a fight rather than a signal."
