CHAPTER XXIII

Dietz Again

In the morning, the three breakfasted in silence. Biff wanted to say something to cheer up Derek. But what was there to say? Derek’s face was white and drawn. It was plain to see that the Dutch boy had had little if any sleep the night before.

It was Derek who broke the silence.

“I want to thank you both,” he said. “But I don’t feel that I can ask you to continue this search any longer.”

“We’ll go along with you just as long as you want us to,” Biff spoke up loyally. “Right, Uncle Charlie?”

“Certainly, Biff.”

“No. It’s no use,” Derek continued. “Not in this section of Martinique. I’m sure that if my father were anywhere around here, we’d have heard something about it—some rumor, some tale of a tall white man.”

“I agree with you there, Derek,” Charles Keene said. “But there is much of Martinique still to be searched. The southern part, down around English Bay. That’s south of the spot where we believe your father located the pearl fishery. He might have gone into hiding down that way.”

“You mean, don’t you, Mr. Keene,” Derek said bravely, “that if he was lost at sea, and washed ashore, then it would be in that section of Martinique?”

Charles Keene didn’t reply. Derek had read his thoughts.

Right after breakfast, the three headed back across Martinique toward the cove where they had hidden their boat. It was about a twenty-mile trip, and they reached the spot just at dark.

“I think we’d better spend the night here,” Uncle Charlie said. “I don’t know this coast too well. Might run into a reef if we try to make it to Trinité tonight.”

Exhausted from their long and fruitless search, the three slept that night under a clear sky, the sleep of the overtired. The sun was already up and blazing when they woke. A quick swim refreshed them after their hard sleep, and half an hour later they were on their way back down the coast.

They reached Trinité by midmorning.

After mooring the boat, they held a conference.

“What are your plans now, Derek?” Biff asked.

“Well, we could continue searching for the pearl fishery. Or—”

“Or we could go south and look for your father,” Biff completed Derek’s thought.

“What about this?” Uncle Charlie cut in. “Suppose Biff and I keep on looking for the pearls and you go off for a few days on your own?”

Biff frowned at these words. He knew his uncle’s intentions were good, but he also felt that if Derek left them, he’d be cut off from the only friends he had on Martinique. He’d be lonely and engaged in a search with his heart heavy at the prospect of what he might discover.

Biff didn’t quite know how to tell his uncle this. He didn’t want to contradict him. He didn’t have to. As he was puzzling a way out of the suggestion made by his uncle, he heard a shout. He looked in the direction the hail had come from. Lumbering down the dock, a broad grin on his strong face, came Crunch.

The giant Indian was delighted to rejoin Biff, his uncle, and Derek. Brilliant white teeth glinted in the sunlight as Crunch wore a perpetual grin on his face.

“What about Dietz?” Uncle Charlie asked.

“Did he locate the pearl fishery while we were gone?” Biff’s question tumbled out after his uncle’s.

“No find fishery,” Crunch said, still grinning. “Dietz look hard, though. Very mad when he find how you fool him.”

“Good,” Biff said. All of them smiled at his news.

“But Dietz do something else,” Crunch went on. “Him get some kind of paper from government.”

“What do you mean, Crunch? What sort of paper?” Charles Keene asked.

“Crunch not understand. Ask questions though. Paper say maybe you don’t find fishery very sudden, then claim no good any more.”

“How can that be, Uncle Charlie?” Biff asked.

“I don’t know, Biff. I’d have to see a copy of it.”

“Copy of paper nailed up in post office,” Crunch said.

“What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go!”

They leaped into a native taxi, urging the driver to speed and more speed. The taxi creaked and groaned, but it got them there.

In the post office the three read the copy of the document carefully.

“It’s not so good, is it, Uncle Charlie?” Biff asked.

“No, it isn’t.”

“I don’t quite understand it, Mr. Keene,” Derek said.

“Well, Derek, cutting through the legal phraseology, it comes down to this: Dietz went to Fort-de-France while we were searching for your father. He has challenged your right to the claim, on the grounds that you’re a minor. How old are you, Derek?”

“I’ll be eighteen my next birthday.”

“Well, what Dietz has obtained—in legal terms—is a temporary injunction. It goes into effect five days from now. At that time, the claim and the working permit will be suspended until the courts decide whether Derek is the rightful heir to the claim. I’m sorry, Derek,” Charlie Keene said soberly, “but Dietz has obtained this injunction on the grounds that your father is deceased.”

After a few moments silence, Biff spoke up. “We still have five days, then, to find the fishery. If we did, how would that affect the injunction?”

“Well, going back to the unwritten law of ‘finders keepers,’ Derek would have an excellent chance of retaining the rights, despite any court battle Dietz might put up.”

“What do you say, Derek?” Biff asked. “Shall we go pearl diving again? I know you want to continue the search for your father, but—”

“I’m with you, Biff. It’s only five days.”

“And then, whether we find the fishery or not, we’ll all continue looking for your father until the case comes up in court.”

“One moment there, young fellow,” Uncle Charlie cut in. “I’ll continue with Derek. _You_ won’t be here.”

“Won’t be here!” Biff was amazed. “Where am I going to be?”

“On your way back to Indianapolis.”

“Oh. School. I forgot.” Biff’s face fell.

“But we’ve got five days still. Let’s make the most of them,” said his uncle.

It took them two hours to restock their supplies, get air for the diving tanks, and return to the dock. At the end of the dock, lounging against a mooring post, was Dietz. He had an evil expression of triumph on his face.

“Don’t you ever give up?” he said.

Specks hovered behind him.

None of the three answered their enemy. They got into the boat and prepared to cast off.

“Hey? Come back here! Where do you think you’re going?”

Dietz’s startled question was directed at Crunch. Crunch had jumped into the boat with the others.

“Crunch go with friends. No work for bad man any more.”

“You’ll still be working for me!” Dietz shouted back in anger. “If you find the fishery, you’ll be finding it for me, because I’ll win it in court!”