"I'm mighty glad that what we did in Savannah brought your friends on. I'd been blamin' myself for not stoppin' here when we come back; but as things turned out, a delay of two hours would 'a' given them villains the chance of showin' us their heels."
"Then you caught 'em?" Bob asked eagerly.
"That's jes' what we did, an' no mistake, though it was a close shave. We was comin' down past Egg Key, with a full breeze, when I saw a yawl edgin' inshore, like as if her crew wanted to get out of sight. None of us expected that gang was aboard, knowin' as how they'd stole your brig; but I thought it wouldn't do any harm to cut in between them and the land. Two hours later an' they'd 'a' been on the shoals, where we couldn't follow."
"Did they show fight?" Bob asked.
"They attempted to, but we was fixed for jes' sich a crowd. When we hove-to not fifty yards off, an' showed the muzzles of half a dozen rifles, every one of 'em quieted down like lambs. We clapped irons on the gang, an' next day they were here in jail. It was hard work to prove the murder on 'em, although everybody knew they did it. They were sentenced yesterday to twenty years' imprisonment, an' us who live around here feel a good deal more easy in mind, because it wasn't safe for a man to travel very far alone while they were free."
Then the captain insisted on the boys going with him to the coral-reefs, where the spongers were at work, and a very pleasant afternoon did they spend.
There were to be seen, by aid of a glass, sponges of all varieties, from the "sheep's wool" and "velvet" to the bright scarlet "gloves," which grow in the shape of huge hands, and owe their peculiar color to the insects which build them. Reef-sponges, yet covered with their manufacturers and black as a coal; wire sponges, and gray ones, fashioned in the form of a cup; sponges of all shapes and hues, until the shoal looked like a garden of brilliantly-colored flowers which had been suddenly inundated.
The boys collected a huge store of curious things, among which was no small amount of purple and yellow fans, stars and trees of coral, which is so much more beautiful when living, and in the sea, than the dried specimens we see on land.
The day's pleasuring was brought to a close by a visit to the sponge-yard, where the Captain's guests learned very much about this branch of industry, which in the Bahamas alone gives employment to several thousand persons and five or six hundred vessels.
It was very like a revelation to them when the hospitable Captain explained that there were several grades of each variety of sheep-wool, white-reef, dark-reef, abaco, velvet, grass, boat, hard-head, yellow and glove sponges, all worth from five to ten cents per pound by the quantity; and, also, that when first taken from the water a sponge is useless for mechanical or domestic purposes.
Probably every boy knows that a sponge, as we see it, is only the skeleton of an organism. When first gathered it is covered with a thick, black, gelatinous substance which must be removed. Then it is sorted, clipped, soaked in lime-water, and dried in the sun before being compressed into hundred-pound packages.
It would be impossible to learn all that is really interesting concerning the sponge in one short article, or during a single visit to the yards; and Jim was so impressed with this fact that he said to Harry, when the latter hurried him away because the yacht's boat was waiting for them:
"The first thing I buy out of my share of the money will be a book about these things, an' then I'll know a good deal more than I do now."
On the third day after their arrival the boys saw a freighting-schooner, with a large crew of men, set sail for the key on which they had lived so long, to save what was left of the Bonita and her cargo.
This completed the business for which they had visited Nassau--the wreckers being instructed to carry their find to New York--and word was given that every one should be ready for an early start homeward next morning.
"You've had adventures enough for one year, and can well afford to study hard until next summer," Mr. Vandyne said as he announced the early departure of the Lorlie; and, hearing the words, a troubled look came over Jim's face.
"We're ready for any amount of work at school after our accidental cruise," Harry replied promptly; "but what is to become of Jim?"
"He will go home, of course, after receiving his share of the pirates' treasure."
