CHAPTER XXXI.
SUSPENSE.
On this day the siesta was not prolonged. Every member of the party waseager to be at work again, and much sooner than Bob had intended theywere pushing the raft out to the wreck while Walter was making his wayaround the beach, to resume the apparently useless task of watching.
Again was Harry forced to perform that which seemed to be the leastimportant portion of the work. Bob believed, and with good reason, thatthe boy could not endure as much as the others, who were more accustomedto fatigue; therefore he positively forbade his diving save at rareintervals.
The work during the afternoon was conducted as in the earlier portion ofthe day; but it progressed much more rapidly, because the ballast hadbeen removed. To avoid a repetition of detail, it is sufficient to saythat the sun was yet two hours high in the heavens when Harry pulled upthe nineteenth bag, and that which had seemed a well-nigh hopeless taskwas accomplished.
It was well that the last portion of the treasure had been taken outquickly, for the alternate diving and standing in the hot air affectedall hands so severely that it is doubtful if either could havecontinued the work an hour longer.
As a matter of course Harry was comparatively fresh, he having beenunder the water only five or six times, and when the clumsy craft waspulled ashore he insisted on carrying the entire treasure to the tent.
The weary divers lay on the warm sand in wet clothing, which was beingspeedily dried by the sun, until the last heavy bag had been taken tothe tent and covered by the mattresses. Even then they would havecontinued to enjoy their well-earned rest if a most welcome announcementhad not been made by the sentinel.
It was just as Harry returned from the final trip to the tent that heelectrified his companions by shouting:
"There comes Walt at full speed! Perhaps a vessel is in sight!"
Every member of the party was on his feet in an instant watching thesentinel, who ran along the beach waving his hat in the most franticmanner, and on getting within hailing distance cried, using both handsas a speaking-trumpet:
"I can see something to the northward! It's pretty far away, but I'msure it's a vessel!"
Harry and Jim were literally wild with excitement, because of thisjoyful news; but Bob remained sufficiently calm to be able to calculateas to the length of time before the stranger could approach withinhailing distance.
"There isn't wind enough to bring her this way very fast," he said afterwhat seemed to be a long pause. "We've got time to start all the signalsin good shape. Pick up the axes an' we'll see what kind of flaresfifteen or twenty gallons of alcohol will make."
Jim and Harry obeyed this command without loss of time, and then startedaround the beach at full speed; but Bob and Joe followed more leisurely.
The boys might as well have husbanded their strength, as was learned onarriving at the point; for, to the great disappointment of both, thesail was so far away that it became necessary to search the horizon-lineseveral moments before discovering the tiny white speck.
"That isn't much to feel glad about," Harry said, as if believing thesentinel had caused needless excitement.
"It's a good deal more than we've seen before, except when the schoonerfrom Nassau put in here," Walter replied. "It didn't look half as bigwhen I first saw it, and I watched a long time before telling you."
While Harry and Jim were gazing at that which looked more like the wingof a bird than a canvas large enough to propel a ship, Bob and Joearrived. They did not appear to be at all disappointed; and, in fact,the old sailor stared at the tiny object as if it was even nearer thanhe expected, while he said to the engineer:
"I reckon we'll be able to make out what kind of a craft she is beforedark. There is yet considerable of a job necessary to get the signals inworkin' order, an' we'd better begin."
The entire party would be needed, and all hands started up the beach,halting at the first cask. The head of this was knocked in, a littlemore than half its contents poured out, and one of the signals was inreadiness for the spark of light which would send the flames mountingskyward.
"Ain't you goin' to touch her off?" Jim asked, as the old sailor wenttoward the next beacon.
"There'll be time enough when we've attended to the whole lot. Thatcraft is on her reg'lar course, bound for Nassau most likely, an' willkeep on within two or three miles of the key."
It was an hour before the last cask had been prepared, and in that timethe stranger had lessened the distance so much that Bob unhesitatinglypronounced her a top-sail schooner.
"Her spars look a leetle too trim for a trader, an' she carries so muchsail that I reckon she's a pleasure craft with a lot of fresh-watersailors aboard. Howsomever, they'll know enough to stand in when theysee this 'ere illumination, an' that oughter satisfy us."
Bob waited half an hour longer before firing the alcohol, and then theevening shadows were beginning to lengthen into the gloom of night. Allthe stranger's spars could be seen quite distinctly, and there was butlittle question that she was a yacht.
When the bluish flames leaped up, casting a ghastly glare upon thesurrounding objects, it was no longer possible for the party on the keyto see any distance over the ocean because of the blinding light; butthey had the intense satisfaction of knowing that the suddenillumination must of a necessity be observed by those on the schooner,and also that its purpose could not be mistaken.
"Set 'em all ablaze, boys!" Bob shouted; and one by one the long pillarsof flame shot up from the beach until that portion of the key wasfringed with fiery monuments.
After this had been done the little party stood at the water's edgetrying in vain to peer through the gloom, which was growing more denseeach moment; and in a short while it was ascertained that, brilliantthough the beacons were, they would not continue so any very greatlength of time. The alcohol burned furiously, sending forth an intenseheat which caused the casks to burst asunder, thereby allowing largequantities of the spirits to sink in the sand, and half an hour afterthe first had been ignited the volume of flame decreased verymaterially.
"This won't do!" Joe cried in dismay. "By the time that schooner getsnear the island our signals will have died out entirely, and they maykeep on their course without thinking it worth while to stop."
"We could cut some wood," Harry suggested; but realized, even as hespoke, how insignificant would be such a fire after these mighty shaftsof flame.
"It'll be better to roll more casks down," Bob said quickly. "Never mindthe work, so long as we can hail that craft."
No one cared how much labor might be involved providing the desiredresult was gained, and all hands ran swiftly up the beach to where theBonita's cargo lay half buried in the sand. It was as much as the threeboys could do to roll a heavy cask over the shingle; but they workedmanfully while Bob and Joe struggled with another, and in a few momentsafter the first two signals had died out they were replaced by freshsupplies of this costly fuel.
During the next three hours every member of the party tugged and pulledand lifted with a feverish energy born of the knowledge that theirchances of being rescued depended upon the exertions made, and then itwas not possible to longer continue the task. All were so exhausted thatfurther efforts were absolutely out of the question, and Bob said, as hewiped away the perspiration which ran down his face in tiny streams:
"It's no use, lads. What with the divin' an' this last job, I'm tuckeredout. If she don't pay any attention to us after all this glare wecouldn't make 'em stop by telling the whole story."
"Perhaps she has already passed," Harry suggested, as he choked back asob. "The rate at which that schooner was sailing when we last saw herwould have brought her here long before this."
"For all we can tell she may be hove-to half a mile off the shore," Bobsaid consolingly. "A captain would need know this shoal mighty well torun in here on a night so black as this one."
"They've got the lights to guide them;" and from the tone of Walter'svoice it could be understood he was givin
g way to despair.
"That wouldn't do them any good, for these flames only illumine thisportion of the coast, and throw the entrance of the harbor into deepershadow," Joe said, speaking for the first time since the labors werebrought to a close. "Besides, there are such things as false lightskindled for the purpose of wrecking vessels, and any careful captainwould most likely want to wait for daylight; but he might at least senda boat ashore."
This last portion of the engineer's remarks took from the boys anyconsolation they might have found in his speculations, and they seatedthemselves on the sand very wretched both in body and mind.
The beacons expired one by one, and the last was but a feeble,flickering flame when the report of fire-arms rang out sharp anddistinct on the still air, causing every member of that mournful partyto spring to his feet in alarm.
The detonations had not been heard at regular intervals, as one mightnaturally suppose would be the case if they served as signals to let thecastaways know that succor was at hand, but came together in a rapidvolley, as if several weapons were discharged at the same time, andthose on the beach looked at each other in dismay.
"What's the meaning of that?" Harry asked nervously, and the old sailorreplied, gravely:
"I don't know, lad. It may be they want us to understand that theschooner will stand by till mornin'; an' then, ag'in, there may be sometrouble aboard."
"Are they near enough for us to hail them?"
"No; not accordin' to them sounds. I should say the schooner was a goodhalf mile away. Anyhow, we know she's near, an' the rest can be foundout at sunrise."
To wait until morning before there could be an end to the painfulsuspense appeared almost as bad as to know the vessel had continued onwithout paying any attention to their signals; and Jim said petulantly:
"It seems as if they might let us know what was goin' to be done."
"There's no use to kick ag'in what can't be helped, lad. Try to go tosleep, an' then the time won't appear so long."
To follow this advice was entirely out of the question. It would havebeen impossible for the weariest of the party to close his eyes inslumber, and in silence and fear they waited for the long, dreary hoursof the night to pass.