CHAPTER XXIII

THE LOST CHARTER IS FOUND

An instant after being laid on the deck, however, Clay opened his eyes and smiled up into the faces of his friends.

"He'll be saying, 'Where am I?' in a minute!" Alex cried, dancing joyfully about the prostrate figure. "That is the usual thing in stories, you know. He'll have to say, 'Where am I?' and I'll have to tell him that he mustn't talk. Look at him grin."

"What gets me," Captain Joe said, lifting the boy into a sitting position, "is how you came up from the bottom of the river without ever diving down to it. It looks uncanny."

"The lost channel!" answered Clay weakly.

"You found it, did you?" asked Alex.

"Boys, boys," said Captain Joe, "never mind the lost channel until we get this boy dressed and fed up."

The processes suggested by the captain were quickly accomplished, and in a short time, Clay sat in the cabin telling of the adventures of the morning. The boys listened wide-eyed.

"Now let me get this thing right," Captain Joe said. "You went into a whirlpool above the falls and came out into a cavern?"

"That's just it, exactly," Clay replied, still weak from his exertions. "I landed on a ledge, where I lay unconscious for a few moments and then followed down the channel of the underground river. There is plenty of room in the cavern," he continued, "and plenty of fresh air, but the place is shy on light. I fell many times in the darkness."

"I thought it wasn't safe for me to be in there!" grinned Alex.

"I thought it wasn't safe for me be in there!" Clay replied with a wink, "and so I made my way out as swiftly as I could. At this end of the channel, the water runs out just below the surface of the west river, and I thought I'd better reduce my weight as much as possible before going through the opening, so I took off my clothes and was pushed out by the current."

"Looked mighty funny to see you come floating out of the river without ever having gone in!" laughed Jule.

"Now, boys," said Captain Joe, after the boys had discussed all phases of the situation, "let's size this thing up together. In the first place, Clay has undoubtedly discovered the lost channel."

"It might have been found years ago," Clay said, "if the men who tried to describe it had only said that it was a subterranean stream."

"And now, the question is," went on the captain, "whether the charter and the family jewels are anywhere in the cavern through which the lost stream runs."

"It seemed to me," Clay broke in, "that the cavern was big enough to hold a small sized city. It is just the kind of a place where one would naturally hide valuables."

"It seems to me," Alex complained, "that the hardest part of our job is still to come, even if we have discovered the lost channel. We can't go up there and dive through the whirlpool, as Clay did, because the outlaws would perforate us before we got anywhere near the falls."

"I've been thinking of that," Clay said, "and I believe there is a way to get into the cavern without getting wet. When I lay in the cavern, high up on the ridge, before being taken to the shore, the men with me emptied several tin cans of food and pitched them into a corner of the cavern. One of the cans was sent along with a kick, and I heard a splash of water when it fell."

"Je-rusalem!" cried Alex. "Show me where that cavern is, and I'll take a rope and go through the opening where the can fell!"

"What would these fellows on shore be doing all the time you were reaching the cavern?" asked Case.

"I am certain," Clay went on, "that there is an opening from the floor of the cavern to the chamber in which the lost river runs, for when I came down, I saw a blur of light about halfway through the journey."

"That settles that part of it, then," Captain Joe said. "We'll have to wait for a suitable opportunity and get into the chamber by way of the cave. And now," he continued, "I propose that we move out to the bay or the St. Lawrence, where we won't be under the guns of the enemy, and cook several square meals. Honest, boys," he went on, "I've been so worried lately, that I've almost lost my appetite."

"Yes," Case laughed, "I notice you consumed only half a dozen of those Bismark pancakes for breakfast."

The _Rambler_ was dropped down to the bay with the launch still by her side, and, once out of rifle shot, the boys enjoyed the freedom of the deck.

"Now, we'll stay here until night," Captain Joe said, "and then we'll see what we can do towards finding that cavern and dropping down into the lost channel. We ought to explore it in one night with the help of our searchlights."

The plan mapped out by the captain was successfully carried out. Leaving Jule on board the _Rambler_, the other members of the party crept cautiously ashore that night, and were led directly to the cavern by Clay. They were not disturbed during the journey. Off to the east, they saw the reflection of a campfire and the sound of many voices showed the boys that the outlaws were not at all anxious to conceal their presence.

The opening leading from the cavern to the channel of the stream was large enough for even Captain Joe to pass through with comfort. Directly under the opening was a ledge of rock and here the boys landed. Almost at the point of entry they saw marks on the wall which indicated that at some distant time an inscription had been carved there.

"We can't read the words," Clay said, flashing his searchlight over the wall, "but at least it tells us that this is somewhere near the scene of the old-time operations."

Alex, who had been poking about around an angle of rock, now gave a great shout of delight which called the boys to his side.

"There's your old safe!" he cried, pointing up to a niche in the wall, "and it's dollars to doughnuts that the lost charter and the jewels are inside of it!"

It was the work of only a few moments to bring the safe down from the ledge of rock to where the boys stood. It was merely a box of steel, not more than a foot in diameter each way, and was evidently constructed with thin walls for its weight was not great. However, it was tightly closed and the boys could see no means by which it might be opened. There was not even a keyhole or a button.

"We'll take it back to the _Rambler_," Captain Joe said. "Perhaps we can find a way to open it there."

"We'll find a way to open it," Alex exclaimed, "when we get hold of the document Max was looking for in the cabin of the _Cartier_."

"Good idea!" Captain Joe replied. "If you wait long enough, you'll always find something like intelligence in the head of a boy!"

When the party returned to the cabin, daylight was just showing in the east and the noisy revel of those at the campfire had ceased.

"I tell you what it is," Captain Joe exclaimed, "those fellows have given up chasing us for the reason that they have arrived at the conclusion that we don't know any more about the lost channel than they do. At first, they doubtless thought the map might direct us to it, but now they have given up that idea, and are satisfied to let us hunt for the lost charter if we want to."

"Yes, but they are still watching us, all the same," Clay replied, "expecting to take the proceeds of the discovery away from us if we are lucky enough to find what both parties are seeking for."

This explanation of Captain Joe's seemed to be the correct one, for the boys were not molested while on their way to the _Rambler_ with the steel box. Having secured the box, the question now was how to get it open, so nearly all that day, they searched among the papers in the cabin of the _Cartier_ for some clue to the mystery. Before night it was found in a bundle of old papers stowed away in a secret draw at the bottom of the owner's secretary, where it had lain for a long time.

"This is easy," Clay said holding the paper up between his thumb and fingers. "The box is only an old French puzzle box. Press on the upper right hand front corner and a button will show. Press the button and the box will open, and there you are."

"What the dickens do you think the Fontenelles left this paper laying around in a place like this for?" asked Case. "Do you suppose they knew what it was?"

"Of course they knew," Clay answered, "and the paper was brought along so that the box might be opened as soon as found."

Although the hinges and lock of the steel box were rusted, it was opened with little difficulty and there were the family jewels and the lost charter! In spite of difficulties, the boys had succeeded in their quest. The search of more than three hundred years was ended!

When the _Rambler_ and the _Cartier_ started away toward Quebec, they left the men who had opposed them still on the peninsula. Reaching the city, they lost no time in communicating the result of their expedition to the Fontenelles. It is needless to say that the latter were overjoyed at the recovery of the charter and the jewels.

At the close of the interview between the elder Fontenelle and Clay, the former wrote a check for ten thousand dollars and passed it over to the boy. Clay smiled as he passed it back.

"You remember," he said, "that we recovered the _Cartier_, and that we searched her papers pretty thoroughly to discover the secret of the steel box. Well, Captain Joe, our old friend from Chicago, has conceived a great liking for the boat, and if you can induce your son to give us the launch, and also to make no trouble for the poor people who will suffer under this charter, we shall consider ourselves amply repaid for all our trouble. It has been a pleasant excursion, anyway."

"So far as the boat is concerned," the old man Fontenelle replied, "you are entitled to it as salvage. Besides, now that the charter and the jewels have been discovered, through your agency, the _Cartier_ will no longer be elaborate enough for my son. He will have a handsome yacht built, anyway, so you may as well take the launch. So far as making trouble for those who have occupied our lands for years goes, no one shall suffer except those who combined their wealth to obstruct us.

"And so you see," he continued, "that the check is yours after all."

And the old gentleman would not accept "No." for an answer.

"One thing I should like to know," Clay said, before leaving Mr. Fontenelle, "and that concerns the mysterious map we received and the manner in which it came into our possession."

"I can set you right on that point," the old man said. "The man who gave you the map and who was drowned that same night was long in our employ. He finally became angry at some fancied slight and disappeared taking with him valuable papers. It is believed that the crude map delivered to you was among the papers he took. At any rate, on the day before you saw him, he expressed to a relative remorse at what he had done and promised to restore the papers. How he came to deliver the map to you, knowing the _Cartier_ as well as he did, is something which will never be known."

The boys left Quebec the next morning without waiting for the return of the men who were still looking for the lost channel on Cartier island. Therefore they never saw either Lawyer Martin or Max again, but they read later in the news dispatches of Max being sentenced to the penitentiary for highway robbery.

The boys went over the old ground on the river again to Ogdensburg, where the _Cartier_ was fully equipped with new electrical apparatus and then the two started away on their long journey up the lakes.

Captain Joe, was, of course, overjoyed at becoming the owner of the launch, which is now one of the show vessels on the South Branch.

Captain Joe, the bulldog, and Teddy when in Chicago alternate between the _Rambler_ and the _Cartier_, having a welcome on either boat.

The boys were not content to remain long on the South Branch. In fact, within a few days, they fitted the _Rambler_ out for a trip down the Ohio river. What occurred during this trip will be related in the next volume of this series entitled: The Six River Motor Boat Boys on the Ohio; or, the Three Blue Lights.