CHAPTER XVIII.
A SINGULAR DOCUMENT.
In order to better understand the cause of the boys' excitement it willbe well to follow them from the time they stepped ashore on the littlekey in search of water; otherwise it might require the reader more timethan it did Bob and Joe to learn all the details of the story.
The novelty of standing on the solid earth once more, after having beentossed about by the sea, was very pleasant, and the boys enjoyed ithugely. The sun had not yet heated the cool night-air which lingeredamong the underbrush, and they plunged through the dense portions of thethicket as if the very contact of the foliage was a luxury.
The oddly-shaped leaves, unfamiliar trees and wire-like grass claimedtheir attention for fully half an hour to the exclusion of everythingelse, and it is barely possible that the purpose for which they landedmight have been forgotten if Jim had not reminded them of the fact bysaying:
"Look here, fellers, it won't do for us to caper 'round here muchlonger, 'cause Bob'll be hoppin' mad if we ain't back soon to tell himwhether there's a supply of water. We'll have plenty chances to comeashore before the Sea Bird is repaired, an' to steer clear of a row we'dbetter get to work."
Thus reminded of their duties, Harry and Walter assumed a business-likeair, and under the direction of Jim set about exploring the key in amethodical manner.
Before proceeding more than fifty yards straight back from the cove thequestion of water was settled, at the same time that evidences of themen who had done them such grievous injury were found.
In the sand amid a thicket of palms was a spring whose clear, sparklingwater bubbled up apparently through the solid rock, forming a tinystream which flowed toward the east some distance and was then lost amidthe dazzling sand. Near by the underbrush had been trampled down, whilea quantity of embers told unmistakably that here the three men hadcamped several days.
"They wasn't very near starvin' if this was where they hung out," Jimsaid as he lifted from amid the foliage a small sack of yams and anotherhalf-filled with ship's-biscuit. "Here's enough to keep 'em alivelonger'n they had any right to live, an' by the looks of themoyster-shells I should think it had been a reg'lar Thanksgivin' Day with'em."
"All three ate as if they were hungry when they came aboard the brig,"Harry suggested.
"That was to throw dust into Bob's eyes. Anyhow, these bags show as howthe villains weren't left here by accident. If we could know all aboutthe crowd I reckon we'd think ourselves lucky in gettin' rid of themwith only the loss of the brig."
The thought of how they were tricked was one Harry did not care toentertain very long just at this time, when he had succeeded inpartially banishing his great grief, and as a means of checking suchconversation he said:
"I suppose we ought to go back and tell Bob there is plenty of waterhere."
"We've got time enough for that. Let's look 'round a little more, forI'd like to find out where them oysters came from," Jim replied; andWalter started at once through the thicket as if eager to hide from viewthis very unpleasant reminder of their enemies.
"It won't take long to walk across the key," Jim said as he followedclose behind the leader; "an' if we keep straight ahead there's nochance of gettin' lost."
"We can go on for awhile, at any rate," Harry replied, "and if thedistance is too great there's nothing to prevent us from turningaround."
Harry sprung forward with a shout as he pointed to asmall, dark object.--(See page 155.)]
It was destined, however, that they should not penetrate very far intothe interior of the island. Walter had led the party little more than aquarter of a mile when he halted in front of a veritable hut in themidst of a palmetto thicket.
Just for an instant the boys believed the key was inhabited; but as theypushed further among the luxuriant vegetation that question was settled,at least so far as this particular building was concerned. It hadoriginally been a rude affair about ten feet square, and evidently builtfrom the fragments of a vessel, but was now little more than a pile oftimbers. One end and part of a side yet remained standing, the balancethrown down as if decay rather than man or the fury of the elements hadcaused the collapse.
The boys walked around it, trying to peer under the rotten planks in thehope of seeing some evidences of its former occupancy, until Walter saidimpatiently:
"There's nothing here worth looking at, so let's go on."
"Wait a bit," Jim replied, as he began overhauling the ruins. "If wecould find two or three sound planks Bob would think we'd made a fairday's work, 'cause he needs a good deal of lumber."
Harry had not thought it possible the discovery could be of any valueuntil this suggestion of Jim's, and then he worked with a will among theruins, knowing full well how delighted the old sailor would be with twoor three stout timbers.
It seemed hardly probable any very useful material could be gatheredfrom the pile of rubbish, for that portion of the hut yet standing wasin such a condition of decay that, as the fragments inside were removed,it came tumbling down with a crash, sending the centipedes and othercrawling things scuttling away in every direction, while the dust rosein dense clouds, which caused the boys to sneeze as if a huge snuff-boxhad been overturned.
"According to the looks of that we sha'n't find very many serviceablepieces," Walter said when it was possible to speak again. "This stuff isso rotten that it wouldn't even make good fuel."
"I reckon you're right;" and as he spoke Jim pulled toward him thecorner-post, which had broken off close to the sand.
In dragging it out the wood crumbled to pieces, and Harry, who was a fewfeet away, sprung forward with a shout as he pointed to a small, darkobject amid the fragments.
"Look at that! There's something hidden in the timber!"
Pressing forward, the boys saw a square black mass five inches long,four wide, and a trifle more than one inch in thickness, which was lyingapparently in the very heart of the wood. The briefest examinationrevealed the fact that the odd-looking thing was in a cavity or recesswhich had been cut in the timber at what must have been about four feetfrom the ground when the post formed a portion of the hut. It had beenmost skillfully done, and concealed from view by a thin piece of woodrabbeted-in so neatly as to make it appear like the solid post. Evennow, after so many years must have elapsed, it was difficult to see thejoints; therefore when first done one would have looked in vain formarks of a tool on the timber.
"What is it?" Jim cried excitedly as he gazed at the black object, butmade no move toward taking it from the recess where it had so longremained hidden.
"It's something valuable, or it wouldn't have been put away like that.P'rhaps a pirate has left it for safe-keeping, and couldn't get backafter it," Harry suggested.
"He couldn't have been any very great shakes of a pirate if that's allhe had to hide!" Jim said with a tone of contempt for the possiblyblood-thirsty owner of the package which he now lifted from its woodencase.
The boys gathered close around; but the most minute examination failedto reveal anything more valuable than a mass of tar.
"There must be something inside!" Walter cried excitedly, "for no onewould have taken so much trouble to put such stuff away. Cut it open!"
Jim was soon chopping at the black mass with his pocket-knife, and but afew strokes were necessary to show that the tar simply covered acunningly-plaited net-work of stout cord fashioned somewhat like anenvelope.
"Be careful when you stick the knife through!" Harry cried warningly."There must be something precious inside, sure!"
Jim did not intend to run any risk of ruining the contents by a hastystroke. After scraping the tar off sufficiently to expose the cordsstraight across both ends, he cut them carefully apart until theenvelope was divided like an open wallet, exposing to view two thinsheets of wood.
"It's nothing but paper!" Walter exclaimed in a tone of most intensedisappointment as Jim separated this inner covering, showing whatappeared to be the attempt of some amateur to draw a diagram on a so
iledpiece of stout paper.
At the top of the sheet, which was yellow and time-worn, were two lines,as follows:
XLI. fathoms N. N. E. from this timber to palmetto tree.
XII. fathoms S. E. by E. to coral-head.
This information, if such it could be called, was jotted down infanciful letters instead of writing, and immediately beneath it appearedthe rude drawing of a hut, a crooked tree, and a rock or piece of coral.From one to the other arrows were placed to mark the probable directionas given above, while below was what looked like a representation of anisland or key.
Then was written, in angular penmanship, the following:
We solemnly swear not to disturb the treasure buried by us this day, except in the presence of all the owners, or after receiving proof that one or more are dead.
(Signed) BARTH MEADOWS.
His PEDRO X GONZALES. mark.
E. BONN.
His JOSEF X HARTTMAN. mark.
For several moments after Harry ceased reading this singular documentthe boys stood staring at the faded characters in silence, and then Jimexclaimed:
"I'll bet them was pirates what wrote that, an' if we could only makeout what it means there'd be a big pile of gold found. Let's go on boardan' show it to Bob!"
The mere suggestion that they had the clew to a buried treasure wassufficient to throw all three into a perfect fever of excitement, andafter carefully gathering up the coverings they started at full speedfor the shore, shouting to each other, as they ran, the most improbabletheories concerning the ancient document and its signers until the keyresounded with their cries.
"Perhaps the men who ran away with the brig belong to the same gang whohid the paper," Walter suggested in a tremulous tone, glancing behindhim every few moments, as if fancying they might be pursued.
"That couldn't be," Harry replied, panting because of the rapid pace,"unless they've taken the gold with them."
For an instant the boys' joy decreased very materially, and then grewstrong once more as Jim said, confidently:
"If they had we'd seen somethin' of it; but them duffers didn't have anybaggage when they come aboard. The Bonita wouldn't 'a' left the cove soquick if the men had known about this. I tell you, fellers, it was luckyfor us that they stole the brig!"
Fac-simile of paper found by the boys.--(See page 157.)]
Then, as if unable longer to act like rational beings, the explorersburst into loud, incoherent shouts, which sadly lessened their speedbecause of the extra amount of breath required to continue the outcries.
It was this uproar which Joe heard, and he and Bob were wholly at a lossto understand what had happened as the yawl, with her noisy crew,approached the tug.