The Rushton Boys at Treasure Cove: or, The Missing Chest of Gold

“What makes you think we didn’t?” asked Bill. “What do we know that we didn’t know before?”

“Well,” suggested Fred, “we hadn’t heard before of that phrase Mr. Montgomery used over and over. ‘It’s where the water’s coming in.’”

“That’s nothing at all,” affirmed Bill decidedly.

“I have a hunch it does mean something,” replied Fred, “and I’m going to keep mulling it over in my mind until I find out what the meaning is.

“By the way, Ross,” he went on, turning to their new-found friend where he sat brooding a little way apart from the rest, “we’ve learned something since we saw you first that may interest you. We’d have told you earlier this afternoon, but we’ve been traveling in different boats, and then when we got on shore we were so busy with cutting up the shark that we didn’t get a chance till now.”

Ross looked up eagerly.

“What is it?” he cried, getting up and joining the group.

He listened breathlessly while Fred told him what they had learned during their talk with Mr. Lee–the fight with the smugglers, their flight to the south Pacific, the partial confession of Dick and the going down of the ship with all on board.

When Fred had finished, Ross rose and paced the beach excitedly.

“You fellows found out in a few minutes what I’ve spent years trying to learn,” he cried. “All the time I’ve been hunting, I’ve been haunted by the fear that even if I found where the gold had been hidden, the money would long ago have been taken and spent by the robbers. I’ve felt like all kinds of an idiot in keeping up the search on such a slender chance, and again and again I’ve been tempted to give it up. But this puts new life and hope in me. There’s still a chance to find the gold and pay my father’s debts.”

“It’s practically certain that the money is still there,” affirmed Fred. “The fellows who took it are all drowned–unless they’re living somewhere on a desert island, and that’s so unlikely after all this time that it isn’t worth giving it a second thought. The only living man, outside of ourselves, who knows about the gold is Tom Bixby. He’s just a rough sailor knocking about all over the world, and he too may be dead by this time. The whole secret lies with us, and if the gold’s ever found, we’ll be the ones who will find it.”

“You boys have been perfect bricks,” declared Ross warmly, “and you make me ashamed for having kept anything back from you from the start.”

“You needn’t feel that way at all,” asserted Teddy. “For my part, I think you’ve been very generous and outspoken in telling us as much as you have. You’d never met us before that day of the storm and didn’t know anything about us.”

“Well, I know all about you now,” declared Ross, “and from now on, everything I find out will be known to you as fast as I can get it to you.”

The boys said nothing but waited expectantly.

“There’s one thing I didn’t tell you that first night,” Ross continued. “I don’t know how important it may prove to be, but at least it’s a clue that may lead to something.

“As you know, the Ranger was taken to Halifax and abandoned there by the smugglers. Ramsay, the captain who died on the trip, had owned it, but he had no family and the authorities took charge of the boat and sold it after a while, holding the money they got for it for the benefit of the heirs, if any should ever turn up. The new owner used the boat for a voyage or two, but he found it hard to get a crew. You know how superstitious sailors are. The mysterious way it was found abandoned gave sailor men the impression that there was a hoodoo of some kind connected with it, and they wouldn’t ship aboard her. So the new owner sold it and the name was changed.

“One day in Canada I ran across a sailor who had made a trip in the ship before the name was changed, and he told me a queer thing. He said he had found a rough map cut out on the wood of the forecastle with a jackknife. There were wavy lines to represent the water and a shaded part that might stand for a beach. Then there was a clump of three trees standing together, and a little way off were two more. One big rock rose out of the water on the right-hand side.

“Of course I jumped to the conclusion that it might have something to do with the place where the gold was hidden. I thought perhaps some of the sailors had wanted to impress on their memory just how the place looked, so that they could find it more easily when the time came. I pumped the man for more details, but that was all he could remember. I’ve tried in every way I knew to trace the old Ranger but she has slipped out of sight like a ghost. If I could only have one look at that old forecastle, I think that the map might put me on the right trail.”

“I’ll bet it would,” declared Fred with conviction, and his opinion was eagerly echoed by the others.

For a long time they debated the matter from this new angle, and it was very late when Lester urged that they should settle down for the night.

“We’ll get an early start in the morning and get back to the Shoals before noon,” he suggested. “I want to get busy on the government maps and plot out every mile of the coast so that we can start out in earnest.”

But Lester’s plan miscarried in part. They got the early start after a cordial good-bye to Mark. But the wind was baffling and they had to make long tacks, so that dusk was drawing on when they at last reached Bartanet Shoals.

CHAPTER XXII

ANGRY WATERS

As the five boys entered the lighthouse, Teddy happened to glance at the barometer that was fastened to the wall near the door.

“Say, fellows!” he exclaimed, “the glass is certainly mighty low this evening. Looks as though there might be some weather coming.”

“Let’s take a peep,” responded Lester carelessly. “We’re not due for any bad weather yet awhile, and I don’t think–Whew! but it is low, isn’t it?” he exclaimed as he examined the dial of the instrument. “There’s something on the way, that’s sure. I don’t remember the barometer often getting quite as low as that.”

“Oh, well, let it come!” exclaimed Fred. “What do we care? We won’t be out in the Ariel this time, and I guess it would take some storm to wash this old lighthouse away.”

“Yes,” assented Lester. “I guess no storm that ever blew or ever will blow can do us much damage. It is built on a ledge of solid bed rock, and it would take an earthquake to shake it loose. We’ll be snug and safe enough, no matter how hard it blows.”

“In that case, bring on your show,” grinned Teddy. “I’ve always wanted to see a first-class, bang-up storm, so you can’t pile on the scenic effects too strong. Let’s have plenty of wind and waves and all the rest of the fixings. Do a good job, while you’re about it, Lester.”

“Judging from the looks of that barometer, I won’t have to do a blessed thing,” replied Lester in the same tone of banter. “My stage manager, old Father Neptune, is going to be right on the job, and when he gets going I don’t feel called on to interfere. I’ve seen a few of his performances and I must confess that I haven’t seen much room for improvement.

“Except,” he went on in a graver tone, “that if I had my way, I’d leave some of the ships out of the production. After you’ve once seen some big craft go to pieces on the shoals, you rather lose your liking for the entertainment.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s so,” acquiesced Teddy, his usually high spirits sobered for a moment by having this view of the case presented to him. “I hadn’t thought of that part of it.”

“Well,” observed Fred, “if there’s going to be a storm, as seems pretty likely now, we’ll hope that nothing of the kind occurs. After that stormy time we had on the Ariel, I can imagine pretty well what it must feel like to be shipwrecked. When we were headed for those rocks, I expected to be swimming for dear life in about two minutes.”

“It must have been rather bad, I suppose,” said Lester with a smile. “It wasn’t so bad for me, because I had done the stunt before and was sure I could do it again.

“But this is no time for talking,” he added. “Either I’ve got to get something to eat pretty soon or else quietly give up the ghost. I’m as hungry as a bear in spring time, and I’m willing to bet something that you fellows feel the same way.”

“You win,” admitted Fred. “But luckily for us it’s near dinner time so we still have a chance to live awhile.”

“Let’s hurry and clean up then before dad calls us to the table.”

As Lester stopped speaking, a gust of wind tore past the lighthouse with a mournful wail. The sound died down for a few seconds and then rose again in a dismal, long-drawn-out note that caused the boys to give an involuntary shudder.

“That’s the beginning,” declared Lester. “It will keep getting worse and worse, and after a while we’ll hardly be able to hear each other speak. We’re in for a real blow this time I think.”

“Let’s go up into the light room and see what it looks like outside,” suggested Fred. “It’s getting dark fast and we’ll not be able to see anything before long.”

“All right, come ahead,” agreed Lester.

He headed the group up the spiral stairs that led to the lamp room.

An early dusk had fallen over the heaving ocean, yet it was not so dark but that they could see that the seas were rising rapidly. Here and there the big waves were capped with white crests as they raced away before the spur of the merciless wind. Already they were breaking against the rocks on which the lighthouse stood with a heavy roar and a force that caused the building, stout as it was, to tremble.

“It sure is working up fast, isn’t it?” asked Teddy in a subdued voice. “I’d hate to be out in it even now. And I suppose it hasn’t really begun to get bad yet.”

“You’re right, it hasn’t,” assented Lester grimly. “But now while we are up here, I’d better light the lamps. Then I can go down and eat with an easy conscience.”

Accordingly, he lit the wicks of the great lamps and, after assuring himself that everything was in perfect order, he and the other boys descended to the dining room. There they found everything in readiness and made one of the hearty and satisfactory meals that the lighthouse larder never failed to afford.

As they ate, they could feel the building shake to the furious blasts that smote against it, and Mr. Lee shook his head gravely.

“It will be a wild night on the ocean, I’m thinking,” he remarked, “and we can thank our lucky stars that we’re all in a snug shelter and well out of harm’s way. I feel sorry for those who have to be abroad on the water to-night.”

“So do I,” echoed Fred. “Just listen to that wind roar, will you? It seems as though a million demons were yelling at once.”

“And the ocean’s a good second,” chimed in Teddy. “Wow!” he cried, as a giant breaker thundered down on the reef, “that must have been the daddy of them all, I guess. Let’s go up to the lookout room as soon as we’re through and watch the storm.”

The other boys were quite as eager as Teddy, and when they had finished their meal they went up the stairs to what might be called the observation room. This was situated just below the room in which the lamps were placed, and had windows of thick glass facing the sea. A door led out from it on to a balcony that ran completely around the structure. This door also faced the ocean, and Teddy, always enterprising, thought that he would like to go out on the balcony to feel the force of the wind.

He attempted to push the door open, but without success. He tried again, with the same result.

“Guess the old thing must be locked,” he remarked, “but I don’t see the key anywhere. Have you got it with you, Lester?”

“No,” replied Lester, who had been watching Teddy’s ineffectual efforts with a smile, “but that door isn’t locked. The reason you couldn’t open it was because the wind was blowing so fiercely against it. I doubt if the four of us put together could do it.”

“It’s no wonder that I had trouble then. But never mind. The wind can’t keep me from looking out, anyway.”

He shaded his eyes with his hands and peered through the thick plate glass windows. The others followed his example, and saw a sight that they never forgot.

The wind had piled the waves up higher and higher, until they looked like an endless succession of undulating, constantly advancing hills and valleys. From the ragged crests the spray was torn and blown in solid sheets before the raging wind so that at times it was impossible to see the heaving waters beneath. As the breakers came up against the lighthouse ledge, their tops would curve over and come crashing down with mighty blows that it seemed must pulverize the solid granite. The rebounding spray was snatched up by the gale and hurled against the lighthouse, as though the elements were furious at this one obstacle that prevented them from wreaking their full rage on some unfortunate ship and were resolved to sweep it from their path once and for all.

The boys gazed spellbound at the awe-inspiring spectacle, and for a time none of them uttered a word. Lester was the first to break the long silence.

“I’ve never seen anything better–or worse–than this,” he said. “I guess the barometer knew what it was doing to-day.”

“It surely is a tremendous thing to watch,” assented Fred, and again applied himself to the window, where the others kept their faces glued, too fascinated with the elemental turmoil to think of anything else.

They tore themselves away at last and went up into the lamp room where Mr. Lee was on duty.

He had just finished trimming the wicks when the boys entered.

“What do you think of this for a storm?” he quizzed. “Is it blowing hard enough to suit you?”

“It’s tremendous!” ejaculated Ross. “I never knew that wind could blow so hard or waves get so big. It’s something to remember for a lifetime.”

Mr. Lee smiled at his earnestness and nodded his head.

“You may well say so,” he observed. “Of course, I’ve seen worse winds in the tropics, when they developed into hurricanes or typhoons. But for this coast, it doesn’t often blow harder. There’s more than one fine ship will lay her bones down on some reef or beach this night.”

While Mr. Lee was speaking, the boys had noticed several dull blows against the outside lens of the light, and Teddy took the first opportunity to inquire the cause.

“That’s caused by sea-gulls and other water birds dashing themselves against the light,” explained Lester. “They’re driven by the wind, and are so confused and terrified that I don’t suppose they know what they’re doing. Or perhaps the bright light has an attraction for them. At any rate, they always do it in a big storm, and in large numbers too. Why, in the morning we can go out and find hundreds of dead birds where they’ve dropped at the base of the tower.”

“What a shame!” exclaimed Teddy, who always had a tender place in his heart for dumb creatures. “I suppose they don’t see the glass at all, and think they can keep right on going.”

“That’s about the way of it, I guess,” affirmed Mr. Lee. “They come against the glass with such force sometimes that I’m almost afraid they’ll break it. It’s too bad, but there’s no help for it yet, though men are at work trying to find some device to prevent it.”

“How long do you think the storm will last?” inquired Fred.

“Chances are that it’ll last out all to-morrow,” answered their host, “though it’s blowing so hard that it may blow itself out before that. There’s no telling.”

“We’ll have a good chance to mend up our fishing tackle then,” remarked Fred, “because it doesn’t look as though there’d be much chance doing anything outdoors.”

“If you find time hanging heavy on your hands,” observed Mr. Lee with a sly twinkle in his eye, “you might get busy and clean out the lamps. They’re about due for a good scouring, and it might help you to pass away a long day indoors.”

“That’s certainly a great idea,” said Lester reflectively, “but there’s nothing in it for me. I’ve done it before and there’s no novelty in it. But I’m sure that Teddy and Fred would enjoy it immensely.”

“Nothing doing,” replied Teddy hastily. “Fred and I aren’t going to come to see you, Lester, and then butt in on all your simple pleasures. You just go ahead and enjoy yourself cleaning out the lamps, just as though we weren’t around. We’ll manage to plug along some way in the meantime.”

They all laughed at this sally and shortly afterwards the boys took leave of Mr. Lee and returned to the observation room. The wind roared and the ocean boomed on the rocks with undiminished force, and they spent the rest of the evening gazing out through the streaming windows and wondering at the mighty spectacle spread out before them.

At last Lester, to whom the fury of a storm was a more common thing than to his companions, proposed that they go to bed, and they reluctantly tore themselves away. The last thing the lads heard as they sank into dreamless slumber was the crash of tumbling waves and the maddened shrieks of the wind as it hurtled past the lighthouse.

CHAPTER XXIII

AN UNEXPECTED WINDFALL

Dawn broke the following day without any sign of the storm’s abating, and the boys were forced to keep close within doors. Despite their forced imprisonment, time did not hang heavily, and they found plenty with which to occupy their hands and minds.

Of course, all about the lighthouse was new to Ross, and he spent a good many hours exploring its delightful mysteries under the guidance of Lester and Mr. Lee himself, who had taken an instant liking to this new addition to his household and had given him a most cordial welcome, not only on his own account, but on account of his romantic story, which had appealed strongly to the old man’s fancy and sympathy.

Bill busied himself with overhauling and getting into first-class shape his fishing paraphernalia, and discharged a neglected duty in writing a long letter to his mother, filled with enthusiastic descriptions of the glorious times he was having, and dwelling most, as may be imagined, on the hooking of the shark the day before.

Fred and Teddy had been delighted to find letters waiting them from the family at home, including one from their Uncle Aaron. They pounced upon the letters eagerly. That from their mother, to which their father had added a few lines as postscript, was full of pride at Fred’s exploit and delight at the prospect opened up of being useful to their uncle in case they found the missing gold.

Teddy tore open the letter which bore the precise handwriting of his uncle with a broad grin on his face.

“Just think, Fred, of opening a letter from Uncle Aaron that doesn’t contain a scolding!” he exclaimed.

“Don’t be too sure,” laughed Fred. “Perhaps he’ll scold you for not having found the chest, instead of telling him you hoped to find it. Hello, what’s that?” as a blue slip fluttered out from the envelope and fell to the floor.

Teddy was on it like a hawk.

“Glory, hallelujah!” he yelled, as he capered around the floor, waving the paper in the air. “It’s a money order for fifty dollars.”

“Fifty dollars!” cried his brother in amazement. “Do you mean to say that Uncle Aaron has loosened up as much as that? You must be crazy.”

“Straight goods,” replied Teddy. “Look for yourself.”

Fred scanned the paper. There was no mistake.

“I take back what I said about your being crazy,” Fred remarked, as he handed the money order back, “but if you’re not, Uncle Aaron is. He must have had a sudden attack of enlargement of the heart.”

He looked over Teddy’s shoulder and they read the letter together. It was written in their uncle’s customary style, except that it was tinctured with a more cordial feeling than he usually displayed toward his nephews. He spoke in terms of great respect of Mr. Montgomery and confirmed what the little memorandum book had revealed as to the amount of the debt. He declared that if the money was found he wanted nothing but the principal, and stated that the interest could go to Ross and his mother as a gift. He warned the boys about letting their hopes get too high, but at the same time urged them to spare no time or pains in the search. If they were successful, they could depend on him to reward them handsomely. As they might need a little extra money he was enclosing fifty dollars, to be used in any way they might think best in carrying on the hunt.

“He’s not such a bad old chap after all,” observed Fred, as they finished reading the letter.

“You bet he isn’t!” echoed Teddy. “There are lots of worse fellows than Uncle Aaron.”

With this qualified praise, they sought out their comrades, who were almost as delighted as the Rushton boys themselves were at the letter and the money order.

“It’s up to us now to get busier than ever,” remarked Lester. “It won’t do to disappoint him after raising his hopes.”

“That’s what,” replied Fred. “So get out the maps you were talking about yesterday, and we’ll lay our plans for the next week or two.”

The boys went to the room where the government maps were kept. These showed every creek and inlet and cove and indentation of the Maine coast, together with the depths of water at these points and a host of other details that were of use to seafaring men.

The boys went at them in a businesslike way, picking out those places most likely to be entered by a sailing ship, rejecting others that were difficult or dangerous to approach, until they had mapped out a program that would keep them busy for ten days to come.

Toward evening the storm gave signs of having spent its worst fury, and just before supper a rift appeared in the clouds on the western horizon.

“That looks promising,” observed Lester to Teddy, who was looking out over the water with him. “Probably it will clear up during the night and we’ll have a peach of a day to-morrow.”

“I certainly hope so,” replied Teddy. “I don’t so much mind being cooped up for one day, but after that it gets kind of monotonous. The strenuous life for me, every time.”

“Yes,” agreed Lester, “one day is about my limit, too. If it’s clear to-morrow, I’ll have to go over to Bartanet to order some supplies and maybe you and the rest of the bunch will come along and keep me company.”

“Surest thing you know,” acquiesced Teddy heartily. “We can see all the excitement that may be stirring in that rushing burg, too. I notice that there’s usually a great deal going on there–not.”

“Well, I’ve got to admit that it isn’t the liveliest place in the world,” admitted Lester with a grin. “Still, once in a while, somebody wakes up long enough to start something. Not often, though, for a fact.”

The others were equally anxious to go and the matter was settled, provided that the weather permitted.

As Lester had predicted, the next day was bright and clear and the boys were up early. Mr. Lee had made out the list of the things he needed, and the boys went merrily down to the little landing place where the boats were kept.

It was decided that they were to row over to the mainland, and Lester and Fred took their places at the oars while the others acted as ballast.

“I’ll let you fellows row at first,” remarked Teddy, in a patronizing tone. “It’s easy going now with no storm in sight. I’ll take it easy, but if any emergency should arise, I’ll take the oars and bring the boat safe to shore. There’s no earthly use, though, in an expert navigator like me spending his time in every-day tugging at a pair of oars. It would be wasting my giant strength for nothing.”

“Oh, it would never do to let Ted row with an ordinary pair of oars,” said Fred sarcastically to Lester. “He’d break those as easily as most people would break the stem of a churchwarden pipe. Back home, we had a pair of tempered steel oars made especially for him and even then he broke them every once in a while. It’s really altogether too expensive.”

“Yes, I should think it would be,” replied Lester gravely. “He must be a good deal like a very strong rower we had about these parts a few years ago.”

“Did he have steel oars, too?” asked Ross, keeping a straight face.

“No,” said Lester slowly. “I’ve no doubt he would have used them if he could have found a pair, but as it happened there weren’t any of that description around. He used to get around it, though, by using two very heavy wooden oars in each hand. That was all right as far as it went, but it wasn’t good enough.”

“Why, what was the matter with that?” asked Teddy.