The Radio Boys Under the Sea: or, The Hunt for Sunken Treasure

“Because there is a better way,” was the answer. “There is no need of any of us being killed. I come to offer terms to you.”

“And what are those terms?” asked Benton, seeking to lead the rascal on.

“In the first place, I will spare your lives,” began Ramirez.

“That’s sweet of you,” interposed Benton. “What else?”

“And I will give you a part of the treasure,” went on Ramirez. “I will give you passage on my boat to San Domingo and there leave you free to go where you will. I swear this on my honor.”

Benton laughed.

“Your honor,” he repeated with withering contempt. “Why, you lying, thieving, murderous halfbreed, you don’t even know the meaning of the word. Within five minutes after we had surrendered, you would have cut our throats, laughing all the while at the fool Americanos who were so easily cheated. I know you from top of your head to the sole of your foot, and you’re scoundrel clear through.”

Ramirez flew into a fury.

“You refuse then?” he cried, stamping his foot and raising his hand in a threatening gesture.

“Of course I refuse,” replied Benton. “Now, you skunk, get this straight. Go back to your murderous gang and do your worst. We will give you all the fighting that you want. And I tell you right now that we’re going to whip you to a frazzle.”

Ramirez, seeing that his lies had no effect, lost all control of himself. A stream of imprecations broke from his lips.

“So it shall be then,” he shouted. “War to the death. You were right when you said that I would have cut your throats. But I will do more than that. I will torture you until you shall pray for death. I will – ”

“There now, cut it short, Ramirez,” Benton commanded curtly. “I’ll give you just one minute to get back to shelter. If you’re not there in that time, there’ll be one less villain in the world.”

For a moment it seemed as though Ramirez in his rage would defy the command, but discretion conquered and he went hurriedly back to the refuge of the trees, still heaping maledictions on the heads of his enemies.

“Gee, but the old boy is eloquent,” muttered Tom to Phil.

“Seems real peeved, doesn’t he?” laughed Phil in return. “What he thinks of Benton isn’t fit for publication.”

“He must have thought we were easy marks to be taken in by that mass of lies,” remarked Dick. “Do you see how he threw off the mask when he saw it was of no use, and admitted that he had intended to cut our throats, just as Benton said?”

“The black-hearted rascal is bad medicine,” remarked Benton. “But now we’ve got to prepare for the fight of our lives. It’s either kill or be killed. And don’t forget if it comes to a pinch that it’s better to die than be captured. You heard what he said, and you know what it will mean to fall into the hands of Ramirez.”

CHAPTER XXIX

A FIGHT FOR LIFE

The boys did not need any exhortation on the necessity of fighting to the last. They knew that the issue was fairly joined and could only be finally settled by the complete victory of one side or the other. The malignant threats of Ramirez still rang in their ears, and they had not the slightest doubt that the scoundrel would do exactly what he had stated, in case any of them were luckless enough to fall into his hands.

So they looked well to their weapons in the period of respite that ensued, and prepared for the coming onset. Yet as hour after hour passed without any move on the part of the enemy, they grew puzzled. Why was the attack delayed?

Once at some distance off in the woods they heard a shot, followed by a scream.

“Have they got to fighting among themselves, I wonder,” remarked Phil.

“It would solve our problem if they’d only kill each other off like so many Kilkenny cats,” said Tom.

“I guess that was Ramirez enforcing discipline and killing one of his rascals to cow the others,” concluded Benton. “If so, it makes one less for us to handle.”

Another half hour passed, and still the attack hung fire.

“They’ll have to come along pretty soon or it will be daylight, and that will be all to our advantage,” muttered Benton in some perplexity at the enemy’s tactics.

Just then there came a sharp exclamation from Phil. His eyes were keener than those of any of the others, and he had detected a black blur that to him indicated a massing of men.

“I think they’re getting ready for a rush,” he exclaimed.

The words had scarcely left his lips before they were followed by the roar of a volley, and Ramirez and his men came plunging from the woods, uttering wild yells and making straight for the entrance of the cave. This time they did not scatter, but depended on the power of their mass attack to overwhelm the little party of defenders by sheer weight of numbers.

It was a fatal mistake, for their course was taking them right over the place where the mine had been planted. Phil already had his finger on the key.

“Now!” shouted Benton, and Phil sent the spark along the wire.

There was a terrific explosion, as tons of earth were sent hurtling upward, carrying with them the whirling, sprawling bodies of some of the attacking party. Others were sent staggering to the ground on either side of the great yawning hole that had been dug by the dynamite.

Even in the cave itself the force of the explosion was felt, and the boys were thrown from the positions in which they had ensconced themselves, while their weapons were sent clattering from their hands.

“Get ready to rush them, boys,” Benton’s voice rose high over the din. “It’s our turn now.”

The boys sprang to their feet, and followed their leader through the narrow passage between the rocks that formed the barricade.

They awaited the command to fire, but as Benton saw the devastation that had been caused by the mine, he forbore to give the order.

For the victory had already been won. The mine had done all and more than had been expected of it. It had taken all the fight out of the attacking party. Several had been killed, and the others in wild panic had sought refuge in flight. The boys could hear them plunging in a mad stampede through the underbrush, their sole anxiety to get as far away from the fatal spot as possible. In their confused minds they had probably interpreted the mine as another manifestation of the earthquake.

“No use of following them, boys,” remarked Benton as they listened to the fugitives crashing through the bushes. “They’re making tracks for their ship as fast as they know how. No doubt we could follow them and pick them off like so many rabbits, but we don’t want any slaughter. What we’ve done has been in self defense and because we had to. And we don’t want any captives either. They’d only add to our troubles and make a complicated situation.”

“But don’t you think that Ramirez may rally his men and make another attack?” asked Dick anxiously.

“Here’s the answer to that,” replied Benton, who had taken out his flashlight and was sending its rays over the bodies lying on the ground. “Here’s Ramirez himself. He’s done his last killing, and has met the fate that he has handed out so ruthlessly to others.”

The boys crowded around him and gazed on the villainous features of the scoundrel who a few hours before had threatened them with unimaginable tortures.

“He met the fate he courted and the fate he well deserved,” remarked Benton. “That settles the question of any more fighting. He was the only one in the gang that had any of the qualities of leadership and without him the rest are only a lot of panic-stricken dogs. They think the island’s hoodooed, this end of it especially, and you couldn’t drag them over here again with a team of horses. No, I think our worries are over as far as those rascals are concerned. But on the mere chance that some sniper may want to take a last shot at us before scurrying off after his comrades, we’d better get back to the cave now and wait till daylight. Then we’ll bury these bodies and clear up some of this debris.”

Phil felt a nudge on his arm, and turning about saw Bimbo standing beside him.

“Please suh,” said the negro with a note of pride in his voice, “Ah’s wounded.”

“Is that so?” asked Phil in quick concern. “Where?”

Bimbo exhibited his knuckles, which were bleeding where they had been grazed by a bullet. Phil saw at a glance that it was nothing, but not for the world would he have taken away from Bimbo the satisfaction that the wound gave him.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” he said gravely, “but it’s what a fighter has to expect. Come into the cave and I’ll bathe and dress it for you.”

Bimbo followed, his white teeth showing in a grin of pride, at the same time nursing his scratched hand and emitting an occasional groan which he thought the situation demanded.

“Mighty lucky dat de mine done got dat Ramirez fo’ dis nigger got at him,” he ejaculated. “Ah had him mahked fo’ def, an’ Ah sho would huv messed him up pow’ful.”

“I’m sure you would,” returned Phil, keeping his face straight with difficulty. “If any of those fellows come back we’ll let you have the first hack at them.”

Bimbo’s face fell at this.

“Yassuh, yassuh,” he agreed, but with a marked loss of enthusiasm, “but af’er you, Marse Phil, af’er you an’ de udder gemmun. Dis nigger knows his place, yassuh.”

“And now, Bimbo,” remarked Phil, after he had completed his task, “if you still feel equal to it, it might be a good thing to turn to and rustle us some grub. I guess I speak for all of us when I say that we’re as hungry as wolves.”

There was a universal chorus of assent. Now that the strain was over they had time to think of their material wants, and they did full justice to the abundant meal that Bimbo soon put before them.

They were tired too, desperately tired, and all would have welcomed sleep. But there was too much to do just now to think of that. By the time they had finished their meal, daylight had come, and they set to work to remove the traces of the struggle.

The deep crater dug by the mine served as a burial place, and they placed in it the bodies of the attackers. Bimbo had ventured some feeble remonstrances at having them buried so near the cave and had hinted mysteriously at “ha’nts,” but his objections were overruled.

“That dynamite has surely stood us in good stead,” remarked Phil, as they smoothed out the ground after their task had been completed. “Without it we wouldn’t have got the treasure and perhaps we’d have lost our lives.”

“And don’t forget radio,” put in Dick. “If we hadn’t had the batteries of the set along the dynamite wouldn’t have done us any good.”

“They made a good team,” assented Benton. “And now before we do anything else, we’ll snatch a few hours of sleep. We’ll post guards and keep watch, turn and turn about.”

This met with universal approval, and with the exception of the time spent in sentry duty they slept till noon and awoke refreshed and ready to resume the work of treasure hunting. They were in high spirits when Benton summoned them to a council of war.

“You know why I think the danger is over from those rascals,” he said, “but a wise general never takes anything for granted. We’ve got to make sure as to what they are up to. So we’ll have to do a little scouting. I think Phil had better come along with me, while the rest of you stay here to guard the cave and treasure. I’ve had a lot of experience in this kind of work in San Domingo and Phil has the advantage of having been over the ground before. We’ll be off now, and probably be back in two or three hours.”

They looked well to their weapons and started off. The way was difficult, even more so than before, because of the changes made by the earthquake and volcanic eruption. In places there were streams of lava, not yet cooled, that had blasted everything in their paths. In other sections trees had been uprooted and thrown about in the wildest tangle and confusion. Many times they had to make wide detours, but each had a keen sense of direction, and they steadily pursued the general route that led to the former camp of Ramirez and his gang.

They came to the lagoon, or rather the hollow basin that formed a lagoon when the tide was in. Just now the sands were bare, but Phil could barely repress a shudder as he pointed out to his companion the place where he had had his terrible experience with the sharks. Even now he seemed to feel those horrid noses poking at him through his envelope of seaweed, and his skin prickled at the recollection.

They had reached a height of ground that commanded the sea when Benton suddenly grasped Phil’s arm.

“Look!” he exclaimed, as he pointed out to sea.

A ship had just left the cove that had sheltered it and was beating its way slowly to the open sea beyond. As they watched, another sail was run up, and under the added impetus the schooner quickened its pace and, rounding a headland, was lost to sight.

Benton and Phil looked at each other.

“They’re off!” exclaimed Phil.

“Thank God!” said Benton.

CHAPTER XXX

VICTORY!

They went down to the place where Ramirez had made his camp. Here they found signs of haste and confusion. Utensils had been scattered about, and even some things of value left in the eagerness to be off. Evidence of panic was everywhere.

“There’s been no lack of booze here at any rate,” remarked Phil with a grin, as he looked about at a host of empty bottles.

“Drink and loot were their watchwords, like those of the old pirates,” replied Benton. “‘Heigh-O and a bottle of rum.’ But now let’s get back to the other fellows and set their minds at rest.”

Great was the jubilation among their comrades when they returned with their news. It was like the passing of a nightmare. Now they had the island to themselves, and could pursue their work without the danger of being robbed and murdered.

One anxiety yet remained. Behind them the volcano reared its head, smoke still issuing from its cone, while every once in a while the earth shook with that dizzying, sickening motion. At any moment, giant subterranean forces might be unleashed that would mean their utter destruction.

“It’s up to us to get a move on pronto,” observed Phil. “It’s too late now to do anything further today, but tomorrow morning early we’ve got to get on the job. If the volcano will only be good for a couple of weeks longer, we’ll have nothing more to ask.”

“If it doesn’t stay good we find ourselves in a worse fix than the other fellows,” said Dick. “They at least had a ship to get away in, but if we were driven from the island we’d have nothing but that little dory. And if a storm came up that wouldn’t last for ten minutes. We’d lose not only the treasure but our lives.”

“The thought came to me of seizing that ship after the fight this morning,” said Benton. “Not exactly seizing it either, for it doesn’t belong to us, but of getting possession of it long enough to put in it what treasure we’ve got, running it back to San Domingo where we could place it safely, and then coming back again to go on with our work. I’ve no doubt that in the scared state those fellows were we could have done it. But I dismissed the thought almost as soon as I had it, because it would lead to all sorts of complications. The best use that schooner could be to us would be to get those fellows away from the island.

“But the very fact that they are away makes it necessary for us to hurry up our work,” he continued. “As soon as they get back to San Domingo, they’ll get talking to fellows of their own kind, the wharf rats and toughs that infest the water front. It might be an easy enough thing to get up another expedition, especially when they tell them how few we are. We’ll have to scratch gravel now and make every minute tell.”

They turned in early that night, in order to rise at the first streak of dawn. The hurried look they cast at the sea told them that it was scarcely disturbed by a ripple, and they looked forward to a day of fruitful work. They hastened through their breakfast and then made for the beach.

Phil was in the van, and as he reached the shore he gave a startled shout that speedily brought his comrades to his side.

There, scattered along the beach were the timbers of a ship, while other debris of a vessel, hatches, parts of masts and deck planks bobbed up and down in the surf.

They looked at each other in utter perplexity.

“Some ship must have foundered,” exclaimed Dick, “and yet I don’t see how that could be. There hasn’t been any big storm recently.

“An old ship it must have been too,” said Tom, stooping to examine a piece of timber. “This beam is worm eaten. No wonder the old tub went to pieces. I only hope that her crew has escaped.”

“They didn’t escape,” said Phil quietly. “The ship went down with all on board. And it went down more than two hundred years ago.”

Dick jumped as though he had been shot.

“You mean, you mean – ” he stammered and stopped, his brain whirling with the tumultuous thoughts that surged through it.

“The old pirate ship!” gasped Tom, who had caught Phil’s meaning.

“By ginger, that’s what it is,” cried Benton excitedly. “See,” he went on, pointing to a piece of hatch. “Look at that splintered piece that has been torn off. See how new the broken place looks compared to the old. That’s where it was torn apart by our charge of dynamite.”

They stood for a moment as if stunned. There was something awe-inspiring in the sight of the remnants of the old ship that had come again into the sunlight after its two-hundred years’ sleep on the ocean bed.

Phil was the first to break the silence.

“How could it have happened?” he asked in bewilderment.

“I think I understand,” said Benton. “It’s all bound up with the volcano and the earthquake. The same forces have caused an upheaval in the bed of the sea. The old ship has been close to the center of disturbance, the timbers already shattered by the dynamite have been further wrenched apart and the entire mass thrown up to the surface of the sea.”

“Then that puts an end to our treasure hunting,” said Phil, voicing the thought that came in the minds of all.

“It sure does,” replied Benton. “Even the log that marked the position of the ship has disappeared,” pointing out to the unbroken surface of the sea. “We might hunt now for a hundred years and not locate the spot. And even if we did, the treasure would have been scattered all over the sand of the ocean bed. No, the game is up. We can thank our stars that we got what we did. That is enough to make the expedition a glorious success. Perhaps after all, it’s better that nature took a hand, or we might have stayed on here so long as to end in our destruction. Now let’s get back to the cave and figure out our next move, for we’ll have to do some quick thinking.”

They retraced their steps, Bimbo keeping well abreast of them and occasionally casting frightened glances back at the fragments of the pirate ship.

“What Ah tell you, Marse Phil?” he said, as well as his chattering teeth would permit. “Dey’s a spell on dis yar islan’. Nebber any good fussin’ wiv daid men’s bones. Nussah, deed dey ain’t. Ole piyate ship come back. Bimeby dem piyate skelintons come moseyin’ along too. Min’ mah wuds, Marse Phil, min’ mah wuds.”

Phil made some laughing reply, but he was too much engrossed at the moment with the sudden change in the situation to pay much attention to Bimbo’s superstitious fears, and the latter, with a shake of the head at Phil’s obtuseness, retired within himself, still however keeping up his mutterings and giving a wide berth to the grave of Ramirez and his men as he approached the cave.

“Now here,” said Benton, as they sat down for a conference, “is where that blessed radio of ours comes in to get us away from this island. We want to get busy right away and send out messages that will bring a ship here to take us off. Some of the ships in these waters I wouldn’t want to come, for they’re sailed by as precocious a gang of cutthroats as Ramirez himself. But that kind don’t have a radio outfit, so we can dismiss them from consideration. Any of the liners that ply between the ports of the Caribbean would be all right. But what I would prefer above any other would be one of Uncle Sam’s naval vessels that patrol these waters. There are always some of them cruising about. But beggars can’t be choosers and we’ll have to take what we can get.”

“He calls us beggars,” grinned Dick, “and here we are with enough treasure to form a king’s ransom.”

“True enough,” laughed Benton, “and about that same treasure we’ve got to be mighty careful. It would be exasperating now to lose it after we’ve run such risks in getting it. We don’t want any inquisitive people asking questions or any thievish people doing something worse.”

“How are we going to explain our presence on the island?” asked Tom.

“And how are we going to get the treasure off without its being noticed?” put in Dick. “It’s pretty heavy stuff.”

“The answer to the first question is easy enough,” replied Benton. “We can say that we were shipwrecked while cruising about the Caribbean. We don’t have to tell them why we were cruising there. They’ll probably jump to the conclusion that it was just a pleasure trip, such as is common in these waters, and let it go at that.

“As for the second, that will take a little more planning. The jewels we can fasten in our clothing securely. The gold however is heavier and bulkier and a different proposition. Of course it would never do to keep it in the boxes in which we brought it up. Those boxes would excite curiosity at once. We’d better make some stout boxes out of rough boards and pile a lot of our stores and belongings in them and hide the money well under everything. Then we can have those boxes taken on board of the ship that comes for us and their very roughness and commonplace appearance would prevent anyone being especially interested in them.

“Now Phil, as you’re the most expert sender, suppose you get busy at the radio while the rest of us hustle around, pack up the treasure and get ready to leave.”

For the next few hours they were as busy as beavers. Phil sent out his signals winging their way through space and before an hour had passed had several answers and offers of help. One especially appealed to him that came from the American naval cutter Centaur doing patrol duty in those waters. She was over a hundred miles distant at the time, but the captain, after Phil from Benton’s figures had given him the exact latitude and longitude of the island, promised to be on hand and take them off the following morning.

He kept his promise and the boys’ hearts thrilled as the smart cutter with the Stars and Stripes flying over it hove into view the next morning. She stopped a little way out and sent a boat under the command of an ensign to take them off. The ensign proved to be a fine upstanding young fellow of their own kind, and was most cordial and helpful. The transfer of their belongings was made without delay or difficulty, and before noon they were on their way to Jamaica, which for obvious reasons they had chosen as their first landing place instead of San Domingo, with its lurking dangers from the discomfited members of the gang of Ramirez.

They stood in a group on the after deck of the vessel that afternoon, looking back at the old pirate’s island that was just sinking below the horizon.

“Well,” remarked Dick, with a sigh of huge satisfaction, “it wasn’t a wild goose chase after all. We got the treasure.”

“And a mighty hefty one too,” put in Tom. “I wonder how much it will pan out.”

“Fully a hundred thousand dollars, I should say at a rough guess,” replied Benton. “That’ll be a pretty nice nest egg for each one of the five of us.”

“It’ll come in mighty handy,” observed Phil. “And just think of the adventures we had in getting it. I don’t suppose we’ll ever have such exciting times again in all our lives.”

But how far he was from the facts will be seen by those who read the next volume of this series, entitled: “The Radio Boys In the Rockies; Or, The Mystery of Lost Valley.”

They landed safely in Jamaica, and then as fast as boats and trains could carry them made for home. At Bimbo’s earnest entreaty, Phil agreed to take him along with them.

“The one thing this trip has taught me is that it pays to take chances,” Dick remarked, as they were speeding along in the last lap of their journey. “We took big chances and got away with them.”

“He either fears his fate too much,Or his deserts are small,Who dreads to put it to the touchAnd win or lose it all,”

quoted Steve.