TREASURE-SEEKERS.
The crew of the schooner obtained the fullest particulars regarding the brig, the direction of the wind when she was gotten under way, and such other information as might be of benefit to them, for the chase was to be continued to the American coast, if necessary.
"We can send for the legal papers in case the murderers have reached the United States," the captain of the schooner said; "and with such proof as we have got concerning their crime there is little doubt but that the Government will grant an extradition."
"If you should catch them, make a claim in our name for salvage on the brig," Joe said. "We brought her through a gale in which she would have been dismasted if not totally wrecked, and as she was stolen from an anchorage our rights in the matter should be respected."
"That's about the size of it, Joe," Bob added, approvingly. "If there's any fairness in law we oughter get a right tidy lot of money outer the old hooker."
"I'll attend to the business for you, my hearties; an' what's more, them villains shall be made to answer for a cold-blooded murder if we have to keep the chase up six months. Now I allow we should get under way, for a good sailin' breeze mustn't be lost. We'll see you in Nassau, I reckon, for if things work favorably we'll be home again in a week at the latest."
This was a decided hint for the visitors to take their departure, and a few moments later they were rowing toward the Sea Bird as the schooner glided swiftly out of the little cove.
"Well, lads," Bob said, after they had watched the rapidly receding craft until her hull was shut out from view by the point of land, "now that they're off there's nothin' to prevent us from findin' out if what was writ down on that paper means anything. Get the compass. We'll take an ax an' the fire-shovel as well, for most likely there'll be a job at diggin' before it'll be possible to tell whether we're on a wild-goose chase or not."
The boys were eager to follow up the clew given by the document found at the ruined hut, and in a very short space of time everything was ready once more for a visit to the key.
It was now past noon, for the schooner had been in the harbor two or three hours; but in the excitement of hunting for treasure no one thought of eating. The heat was intense even where the sea-breeze had full range, and among the underbrush it would be almost stifling; but this discomfort was unheeded in the newborn thirst for gold.
With Bob and Joe at the oars the yawl glided over the glassy waters very swiftly, and when she was pulled up on the sand beyond reach of the tide the old sailor said, as he raised the compass:
"Lead the way, lads, an' make the course pretty nigh direct, for we don't want to cruise 'round any more'n is necessary. Joe, you take the shovel an' ax, so's the leaders can travel light."
By following up their own trail, which was distinctly marked in the underbrush, the boys had no difficulty in going directly to the ruined hut, stopping only once on the way to quench their thirst at the spring.
"This is the place, an' there's the hole in the timber where we found the paper," Harry said, as he laid his hand on the crumbling joist. "What puzzles me is to know from which side of it we're to measure forty-one fathoms."
"There can't be much of a mistake if we're to travel nor'-nor'-east," and Bob placed the compass on that portion of the shattered timber which yet remained in the sand. "It'll be a decently hard job to walk in a straight line, though, an' if we should happen to get an inch or so out of the way at the start it would throw the whole course askew."
"A few feet wouldn't matter a great deal while we've got the palmetto to guide us," Joe suggested.
"We have, if it's standin' yet; but this 'ere document was fixed up a good while ago, my hearty, an' the tree they took their bearin's from may have been blowed down a dozen times since then."
"I don't believe that could have happened more than once," Harry said, laughingly, "unless palmettoes are different from other trees."
"Well," Bob replied, gravely, "once would be enough to knock us out of reckoning, an' instead of standin' here in the hot sun chatterin' like a lot of parrots we'd better find the true course."
