Part 11

"Over some things, perhaps," said Dutch, gloomily; "but sane enough over this. Mind, I don't say that there is any treasure there, but the old fellow has anchored us right across an old wreck."

"Give me that tube," cried Mr Parkley, and he thrust it down into the water excitedly, looking in all directions.

"There's nothing there," he cried. "I examined that place before."

"But it did not occur to us that the weeds had grown up and hidden the timbers. Now you watch that clump lying just under the schooner's keel. Do you see what I mean?"

"Yes, I see."

"Then keep your eye upon it," said Dutch, as he crept softly to the bows of the jolly-boat, and, taking one of half-a-dozen great boulders that were used for ballast, he heaved it overboard with a good splash, and then watched its effects.

As he expected, from half-a-dozen weed masses out darted as many sharks, to make a dash at the stone as it descended rapidly through the clear water, and first one and then another turned over to show its white under-parts before going away sulkily and in disgust.

"Well, what did you see?" said Dutch.

"Sharks! Ugh, the beasts!" exclaimed Mr Parkley, with a shudder.

"What else?"

"Rough stumps of timber amongst the weeds."

"Timbers of the old galleon, no doubt, preserved by the shelly concretions that have formed upon them and held them together."

"But it's impossible, my dear boy. No man dare go down there; the sharks would rend him limb from limb. Who could go down?"

"I shall, for one," said Dutch, calmly. "So now let's get on board."

They climbed the side, and, as the news of their discovery spread through the ship, the excitement became great. Rasp began to bring up helmets and leaden weights, and ordered a couple of the men to come and assist with the air-pump, which had to be got up from below.

"But, my dear Dutch," exclaimed Mr Parkley, in despair, "it is impossible--no one can go down."

"Not at present," said Dutch, smiling, as he looked round and saw that nearly everybody was gazing over the side. "Perhaps, when I have set the example, Rasp will not mind following it."

"But the sharks, my dear boy--they would tear you to pieces."

"Let them, if they can," said Dutch, grimly. "I'm not going to be deterred from the search by a few sharks. And if, as you say, I was torn to pieces," he added, bitterly, "what then?"

"I tell you I shall not let you risk your life," said Mr Parkley, firmly.

"And I tell you I shall go down. If anything happens--"

"That sweet little woman will be a widow," said Mr Parkley.

"And who would care?" said Dutch, bitterly. "My dear Mr Parkley, we are anchored over the treasure, and sharks or no sharks, torn to pieces or left alone, I go down--Hester!"

He started and turned sharply round, just in time to catch the fainting woman as she was falling senseless on the deck.

STORY ONE, CHAPTER NINETEEN.

PEPPER FOR THE SHARKS.

Dutch felt a pang at his heart as he raised and carried the fainting woman below--Bessy Studwick joining him as he laid her on the little couch in the cabin; and he was about to leave her in the latter's care, when she began to revive, and called him by name.

For a moment he was about to run to her, but the old and bitter suspicions hardened his heart, and he turned away.

"Oh," exclaimed Bessy Studwick, bitterly, "if he had been my husband, and behaved to me like that!"

"Pray, hush!" said Hester, feebly.

"I can't," exclaimed Bessy, clasping the weeping woman in her arms. "I know you must have felt horribly jealous of me once, dear, and I really did of you; but as for Dutch Pugh now, I absolutely hate him, and I'm sure you must ever so much more."

"I never loved him so dearly as I do now," sighed Hester. "Some day he will believe in me again."

She covered her face with her hands, and thought of her little adventure upon the deck, one which puzzled as well as alarmed her; and once or twice she was on the point of confiding in Bessy, but the thoughts of her husband's peril drove others away, and, making an effort, she rose to go on deck again.

"I'm sure you are not fit to go on deck," exclaimed Bessy, trying to restrain her.

"Yes," she said, gently. "I am better now, and I could not bear to stay here if he is in danger."

Feeling that it would only cause an extra strain on nerves already weakened, Bessy made no further opposition, but accompanied Hester on deck, where a bustle of preparation was going on, the captain and doctor both working in subordination to Dutch and Mr Parkley. The air-pump was being fixed in a convenient spot, diving suits were in readiness for use, and tubes coiled in great snake-like rings. With an oily rag in his hand, and his cheeks blown out with importance, Rasp was fussing about and giving a touch here and a touch there; while no less important, and evidently feeling as if his task were done, Oakum sat on a coil of rope, chewing his tobacco, and looking on.

But to Hester's great relief the diving apparatus was not yet going to be put in use. For Dutch, Mr Parkley, and the doctor were busy at work with sundry jars, wires, and plates. In fact, they were placing a galvanic battery ready for action, and making some mysterious preparations that the sailors did not understand.

There was a small white canister, too, over which the doctor kept guard, ordering back any of the sailors that approached.

At last, when the battery was ready, and emitting a low, hissing noise from the zinc and platina plates immersed in a solution, a long coil of thin wire was unwound and attached to the little white canister.

"For heaven's sake be careful, Dutch!" said Mr Parkley, who had performed the latter operation. "Don't connect the wire till I give the word."

"Don't be alarmed," said Dutch, quietly, as he held the other end in his hand. "I shall be careful."

"But I am alarmed," said Mr Parkley to himself. "He thinks life of no more value than the snuff of a candle, and I want to live as long as I can."

"Now, are you nearly ready?" said the captain, who came up, followed by 'Pollo grinning, and having on a tin three great pieces of beef.

"Yes, quite ready," said Dutch.

"Bring the meat here," exclaimed Mr Parkley; and, choosing the largest piece, he half cut it in two, placed the white canister in the opening, and bound the meat round it firmly with a fresh piece of wire.

"Am dat mustard, sah?" said 'Pollo, with his eyes wide open.

"No, 'Pollo, it's pepper--pepper for the sharks," said Mr Parkley, smiling.

"Ho!" said 'Pollo thoughtfully. "I no see de good to gib de shark pepper, sah."

"Wait a minute and you will, 'Pollo," said the captain, smiling.

"All ready now," said Mr Parkley. "Every one stand back."

The crew shrank away, some of the men, though, climbing the rigging to get a good view of the proceedings, and John Studwick being helped into a sure position in the main chains. Then one of the pieces of coarse beef was taken and jerked out half-a-dozen yards from the ship.

As it struck the water and began to sink there was a rush and commotion as dark-grey forms and white streaks seemed to rise from below. The water bubbled and foamed, and the lump of beef was seized, torn asunder, and two huge sharks gorged the pieces, and then could be seen swimming backwards and forwards, and round and round, in company with others.

"Cut the next up into small bits, 'Pollo," said the captain, who was standing on the bulwarks, holding on by the main shrouds.

"Yes, sah, I cut um small and easy for mass' shark 'gestion," said 'Pollo grinning; and he cut the beef into pieces of the size of his fist with the large cook's knife he wore in a sheath at his belt.

As he passed them up the captain threw them to the hungry sharks, each piece being snapped up by one or the other, as the monsters, not disdaining such morsels, turned half over and gorged each fragment as it fell.

No less than seven could now be counted, all evidently made more savage and eager by the taste of meat, and ready to leap out of the water as they glided one over the other in a space not many yards square, where the water was still impregnated with the odour and juices of the beef.

"That will do for them now," cried Mr Parkley, mounting beside the captain with the lump of beef bound round the can in his lingers, holding it in one hand, whilst with the other he took a good grip of one of the rattlins.

"Are you ready, Pugh?"

"Yes," was the reply.

"Is the wire all clear for a run?"

"Yes, perfectly. Stand back, man," cried Dutch, as the mulatto stood eagerly watching what was done.

"Then I shall throw it into the midst of them, and when I cry _now_, make the connection--not before."

"I understand," said Dutch.

"One moment," said the captain; "will it endanger the ship?"

"No," said Mr Parkley, "because it will be too far away, and too deep. It will rock her, of course."

"All right," said Captain Studwick, nodding his head; and, giving the beef a swing to and fro, Mr Parkley launched it through the air, so that it fell with a heavy splash some fifty feet from the schooner, and began to sink rapidly.

There was a tremendous swirl in the clear water directly, as the sharks dashed at it, going over one another like dogs in their eagerness to be first, for this was a piece of fourteen or fifteen pounds weight.

The next moment they were tearing at it, but baffled somewhat by the strong wire binding, while it sank rapidly, and the thin copper wire, that had fallen on the smooth surface like a line of light, ran rapidly over the side.

"_Now_," cried Mr Parkley loudly.

As the word left his lips, Dutch applied the other end of the wire to the galvanic battery, an invisible spark darted along the thin copper to the case of dynamite; there was a dull rumble; the ship shivered as if struck by some heavy blow; a column of water rose in the air and sank back; and the schooner rolled from side to side as a large wave lifted her, let her down, and then rushed onward over the rocks to the shore, running up the sands in a line of foam, and laving the trunks of the palms beyond the narrow strip.

The men clung to the bulwarks, looking startled, but seeing that the danger was over, they uttered a loud cheer, for as the water subsided the clear limpidity was gone--sand, blood, fragments of weed and flesh, all combined to make it murky; and, what set the men off cheering again, there were the bodies of the seven sharks, four of them in scraps, the other three apparently uninjured, but floating back downwards quite dead, and with the foul pieces gliding slowly off with the hardly perceptible current.

"Well, I confess, Dutch, I should never have thought of that," exclaimed Mr Parkley. "It was a good idea."

"So the men seem to think," said the captain, as a couple slipped down into the jolly-boat, and, sculling it about, secured about a couple of dozen large fish that had also been killed by the dynamite. "But that was too near the schooner for safety: a shock or two like that would shake the masts out of her hull."

"It was more powerful than I expected," said Dutch. "We will fire the next from the boat with a good length of wire, and the schooner must be fifty or a hundred yards away."

"But you will not fire another unless you are troubled with sharks?" queried the captain.

"I intend to fire a canister exactly beneath where we stand," said Dutch, "so as to sweep away the growth and sand and shingle that have been accumulating for the last two hundred years. One of those charges will do more in an instant than the men could do under water in a week."

He raised his eyes as he spoke, and found that the mulatto was listening intently to every word, but with his eyes half-closed and a bitter look upon his face.

By this time the water was fast growing clear, and the change beneath the schooner was remarkable. The canister of dynamite must have sunk nearly to the bottom before it was exploded, and so great was the lateral sweep of the concussion that the seaweed seemed to have been levelled down in one direction, like a plantation after the passage of a hurricane; and grim and stark stood up now a series of dark stumps, the relics of the timbers of the ill-fated Spanish galleon, if such it really proved to be. Some of these were black and nearly level with the sand; some were worn to a point by the attrition of the current; but there, plainly enough now, could be traced out in timbers the shape of the vessel; but not for long, since the weed began once more to float into its normal position; but enough was known now, and Oakum took a fresh plug of tobacco as he said to Rasp--

"There, old 'un, your work's cut out for some time to come."

No time was lost. A couple of dynamite canisters were lowered down in the most suitable spots where the sand and weed seemed to be thickest, and Mr Parkley held one thin coil of wire, and Dutch and another, at opposite sides of the schooner, the kedge hawsers were buoyed and slipped; and, as the vessel slowly went with the current, the wire was payed out till the schooner had swung right round, and was riding by the anchor from her bows, and eighty or ninety yards away from the sunken wreck. The wire was sufficiently long to render the use of the boat unnecessary, and all being ready the battery was once more brought into use, the wires being connected, and this time the water surged up as from some volcanic eruption, a great wave ran towards the schooner, which rode over it easily, and it passed on towards the shore, washing right up again amongst the trees.

The men went to work with a will, getting ropes to the buoys, hauling upon them, and gradually working the schooner back, and mooring her in her old position; but it was a good hour later before the water was once more clear, and they gazed down upon quite a different scene from that of the morning.

So effective had been the force of the explosion that sand, weeds, small rocks and shingles, had been completely swept away, and lay at a distance, while the interior of the old wreck seemed to have been scooped right out.

The most careful search with the eye, though, failed to show any traces of that which they sought, and as evening was now fast drawing on, any further investigations were left till the following day.

STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY.

A DISCOVERY.

So far as they had been able to make out, there was no trace of inhabitants near the place where the schooner was moored; but the adventure was of so important a nature that Captain Studwick felt it his duty to keep the most careful watch; and he was not sorry that afternoon to yield to the pressing request of Mr Wilson and the doctor to go on shore with their guns for a couple of hours' shooting.

"I consent," he said, "on condition that you are back here by nightfall, and that you take a couple of the men well-armed with you."

This was agreed to, and the party of four was rowed ashore, Dutch and Mr Parkley both declining to accompany them, on the score of fatigue; while, though John Studwick longed to be of the party, he felt that he was too weak, and watched them from the side, as the boat rowed through the sparkling water, landing the party on the golden sands.

As the boat was returning to the side, the longing to go on shore proved too strong for John Studwick, and he beckoned his sister to his side.

"Bessy," he said, "I must go and have an hour's walk under those shady trees, where the sand seems to be so smooth and soft."

Bessy started, partly at his saddened way of speaking, and partly that he, who seemed to hate the very idea of her being anywhere near Mr Meldon, should propose to go ashore after him.

"You mean alone?" she said, quickly.

"Alone? No," he cried, petulantly. "I mean with you. Mrs Pugh would like to go too, perhaps."

"I will speak to father," she said, eager to please him in every way; and she went forward to where Captain Studwick was chatting with Mr Parkley and Dutch about the morrow's arrangements.

"John wishes to go ashore, father," she said, "to sit under the trees."

The captain stood thinking for a moment or two, and then, after a little hesitation--

"Well," he said, "I see no harm. The men shall row you ashore, and stop there. Don't go out of sight, nor far from the boat. I don't think there can be any danger, and, poor fellow, he will soon want to be back."

By the time Bessy returned to her brother, the keen desire was growing blunted, and he felt almost ready to resent what he looked upon as his sister's eagerness to get ashore, where the young doctor had gone.

"The boat is waiting, John dear," she said, holding out her hand. "You will go, too, Hester?"

Hester glanced towards Dutch, but he made no sign, and, yielding to Bessy's implied wish, she followed them to the boat, Oakum helping them down, and receiving his instructions from the captain as to keeping a sharp watch.

As the boat pushed off, the men just dipping their oars, and Oakum standing up and steering, for the distance was only about fifty yards, the captain turned quietly to the mate.

"Lower down the other boat quietly," he said, "and have the rest of the men ready to jump in and row ashore at a moment's notice. Parkley, Mr Pugh, I think it is better to be too particular than not particular enough, so we will get our revolvers and a rifle or two ready. Where's Mr Pugh?"

"He went to the cabin directly," said Mr Parkley; and on their following him they found him loading his rifle, and saw the butt of his revolver sticking out of his breast.

"Actuated by the same thought," said the captain.

"Well, yes," said Dutch, "there may be no danger either from beast or Indian, but it is as well to be on the safe side."

Taking rifles on deck, they went and leaned over the bulwarks, talking, to see the little party land, and Oakum help out the ladies, who walked slowly up with John Studwick towards the trees, while the sailors sat about close to the boat, or threw themselves down upon the sands.

"We seem to have been suspicious enough over this affair," said the captain, taking off his cap, so as to let the soft breeze that was now beginning to blow after the heat of the day, fan his brown forehead. "I wonder what has become of the Cuban."

"Home by this time, I should say," replied Mr Parkley, while Dutch, with an uneasy feeling creeping over him, leaned there, rifle in hand, watching the shore.

"I had my suspicions at first," continued the captain, "and really hardly expected to get out here without some hindrance."

"What did you suspect?" said Mr Parkley, lighting a cigar, and handing one to the captain, who lit up in turn.

"Anything--nothing. I had got it into my head that this fellow wanted to stop us, and I was prepared to be overhauled by a swift steamer; for a mutiny on board; to find him here first--there, it is always the way; once give your imagination its head, and away it goes."

"Well, nothing could have gone better than the trip has since we started, and if it should prove that there is treasure below us here, all we have to do is to dive and get it all."

"If the sharks will let you," said the captain.

"Well, at first I thought we were completely checkmated, but you saw what Pugh did to-day," he continued, in a low tone. "It's my belief that if obstacles ten times as difficult offer themselves, he would surmount them."

They both glanced at Dutch, and then followed his eyes to see that the ladies were gathering flowers, the men fruit and shellfish, and that all on shore looked so peaceful and lovely that the longing came upon them to join the little party.

"It is so easy to imagine danger," said the captain; and then, lulled by the peaceful aspect of matters into security, they went on talking in a low tone about the various incidents of the day, while Dutch kept stern watch alone.

Meanwhile, John Studwick's jealous fancies passed away as his feet touched the sand, and it was with a thrill of delight that he pointed towards the lovely tropic scene before him.

"Flowers, fruit, mossy carpet," he said fervently. "Why, it is really Eden--a paradise. I could live here, I think."

There was an inexpressible sadness in his words, and Bessy's eyes filled with tears as she glanced at Hester, for she knew but too well that her brother's days were numbered.

Hester's heart was full to overflowing, and these words and her friend's sad look had touched the spring ready to gush forth. It was only by a great effort that she could keep from a hysterical fit of crying, and she was obliged to turn away.

John Studwick smiled lovingly upon his sister, though, directly after, for his heart smote him for many little harsh words directed at her in regard to Mr Meldon; and he began to chat earnestly to her about the flowers, calling one of the men to get down a cocoanut or two for them, and sitting down to watch the man make a gasket or band of twisted cane with almost boyish pleasure, Bessy's eyes brightening as she saw his eagerness, and remembering the bright happiness of that scene for years to come.

For the spot was lovely, and in the shade of the densely foliaged trees the wondrous blossoms of gaily tinted bellflowers hung in wreaths and garlands as they festooned the undergrowth and offered their nectary cups to the humming birds that flashed in and out of the sunshine to poise themselves on invisible wings, while each moment some new object struck the eye.

It was, indeed, a scene of loveliness to the sick man and his sister as they rose and wandered here and there, now gazing into beautiful green glades, now looking up at the delicate lacework of some wonderful tree-fern against the sky, or toward the deep blue sea, with the schooner doubled before them as it lay mirrored in its breast. But bright as it was to them, the beauteous scene was, as it were, covered with ashes to Hester Pugh. The sky might have been dark, and the sun's light quenched even as was the light of hope in her breast. She had thought that Dutch would have listened to her before now, and that this dreadful cloud of suspicion would have been swept away; but no, he had let her come ashore without a word, as if careless of her fate, and at last, blind with the gathering tears, she had wandered slowly away unnoticed amongst the trees, as she thought, to find some place where she could relieve her bursting heart and throbbing brain of the tears that she had kept back so long.

She sank down at last upon the trunk of a fallen tree, sobbing as if her heart would break, and, as her head sank down upon her hands, she moaned in the bitterness of her spirit.

All was silent for a time, and in her grief she did not hear the rustling amongst the trees, and it was not until her hands were taken and drawn gently from before her face that she looked up, to see, with the blood chilling in her veins, the mulatto upon his knees before her, gazing with glittering eyes, full in hers.

She was too much surprised and frightened to cry out, but she tried to start up and flee. The effort was vain, though, for, tightening his hold of her hands, the man rested his arms upon her knees and kept her a prisoner.

"Hush!" he said; "for your own sake be silent."

"Let me go," she panted, hoarsely.

"No, no, beautiful Hester," he whispered, his voice low with passion. "Why do you pretend that you do not recognise me, when you know me so well?"

"How dare you!" she began, in a loud voice, when the glittering eyes fixed upon hers seemed to fascinate her, and her tongue refused its office.