CHAPTER VI
THE BROKEN CHEST
Sam lifted the big chest, and, very carefully this time to make amendsfor his previous dereliction, carried it into the private office. Heplaced it on two chairs that his employer indicated and then withdrew,closing the door softly behind him and rejoicing at having got off soeasily.
"Well, Allen," remarked Tyke, wiping his glasses and replacing them onthe bridge of his nose, "you're going to get your wish sooner thaneither one of us expected."
"What do you mean?" asked Drew wonderingly.
"Don't you see anything familiar about this box?" replied Tyke,answering a question in Yankee fashion by asking one.
"I don't know that I do," responded the other. Then, as he bent overto examine the broken chest more closely, he corrected himself.
"Why, yes I do!" he cried eagerly. "Isn't this the one you pointed outto me the other day as belonging to the man who fought with you againstthe Malays?"
"That's it," confirmed Tyke. "It's Manuel Gomez's box. Queer," hewent on reflectively, "that of all the chests there were in that loftthe only one we thought of looking in should burst open at our veryfeet. If I was superstitious" (here Drew smothered a smile, for heknew that Tyke was nothing if not superstitious), "I might think therewas some meaning in it. But of course," he added hastily, "we knowthere isn't."
"Of course," acquiesced the younger man.
Tyke seemed rather disappointed at this ready assent.
"Well, anyway, now that it has opened right under our noses, so tospeak, we'll look into it. I guess we've got far enough ahead with ourmoving to take the time."
Drew, who was burning with curiosity and impatience, agreed with himheartily.
The chest had split close to the lock, so that it was an easy matterafter a minute or two of manipulation to throw the cover back.
A musty, discolored coat lay on top, and Tyke was just about to liftthis out when Winters stuck his head into the office.
"Some one to see you, sir," he announced.
Tyke gave a little grunt of impatience.
"Tell him I'm busy," he snapped. Then he caught himself up. "Wait aminute," he said. "Did he tell you his name?"
"No, sir," returned Winters. "But I'll find out." In a moment he wasback. "Captain Rufus Hamilton, he says."
The petulant expression on Grimshaw's face changed instantly to one ofpleasure.
"Bring him right in," he ordered.
Drew, thinking that Grimshaw would wish to see his friend alone, roseto follow Winters.
"I suppose we'll put this off until after he's gone," he remarked.
But his employer motioned to him to remain.
"Stay right where you are," he directed. "Cap'n Rufe is one of thebest friends I have, and I'm glad he came jest now."
The door opened again, and Winters ushered in a powerfully built manwho seemed to be about fifty years of age. He had piercing blue eyes,a straight nose with wide nostrils, and a square jaw, about which werelines that spoke of decision and the habit of command. His face wasbronzed by exposure to the weather, and his brown hair was graying atthe temples. There was something open and sincere about the man thatcaused Drew to like him at once.
The newcomer stepped briskly forward, and Tyke met him half way,gripping his hand in the warmest kind of welcome.
"Well met, Cap'n!" cried Tyke. "I haven't seen you in a dog's age. Iwas jest wondering the other day what had become of you. There'snobody in the world I'd rather see. What good wind blew you to thisport?"
"I'm just as glad to see you, Tyke," replied the visitor, with equalheartiness. "I've been in the China trade for the last few years, withFrisco as my home port. You can be sure that if I'd been hailing fromNew York I'd have been in to see you every time I came into the harbor."
Tyke introduced Drew to the newcomer, and then the two friends settleddown to an exchange of reminiscences that seemed sure to be prolongedfor the rest of the afternoon.
After a while Captain Hamilton leaned back to light a cigar, and in themomentary nagging of conversation that ensued while he was getting itto going well, his gaze fell on the open chest.
"What have you got here?" he asked with a smile. "Looks like asailor's dunnage."
"And that's jest what it is," answered Tyke, recalled to the work onwhich he had been engaged when the captain's coming had interrupted."I declare! your visit put it clean out of my head. It's the box thatused to belong to Manuel, that old bo'sun of mine that I guess I'vetold you about in some of my yarns. The one that was with me offBorneo when I lost these two fingers."
"That run-in you had with the Malays?" returned the captain. "Yes, Iremember your telling me about him. Saved your life, I think you said,when one of the beggars was going to knife you."
"That's the one," confirmed Grimshaw. "He was shipwrecked later offthe Horn. He left his box here with me to take care of for him."
"Seems to be pretty well broken up."
"The porter dropped it coming downstairs," explained Drew.
"You had it brought in here to save room, I suppose," said the captain."I noticed that you were all cluttered up outside."
"Why, it wasn't that exactly," replied Tyke, slightly embarrassed."You see, Allen an' I were rummaging around in the top loft the otherday, an' among other things our eyes fell on this box. That started meoff yarning about the tight places Manuel an' I had been in together,an' how he'd hinted that some day he'd be rich. Then I told Allen ofhow Manuel said, when he left his box with me, that there was somethingin it worth more'n diamonds an' then----
"Yes, I can guess the rest," said Captain Hamilton, with a quiet smile."And then you both got a hankering to see what was in the box."
"Allen did," admitted Tyke, "'an' I ain't denying that my fingersitched a little too. But I put it off until we had got moved into ournew place. Now, didn't I, Allen?" he demanded virtuously.
Drew assented smilingly.
"Why didn't you wait then?" gibed the captain.
"We would have," affirmed Grimshaw eagerly, conscious that here at lasthe was on firm ground, "but that black rascal, Sam, the porter, droppedthe box on his way downstairs an' it split wide open, as you see. If Iwas superstitious----" here he glared challengingly at both of hislisteners, who by an effort kept their faces grave, "I'd sure think itwas meant that we should look into it right away. What do you say,Cap'n Rufe?"
"I agree with you," replied the captain. "The man is dead, and the boxis yours by right of storage if nothing else. This Manuel didn't havewife or children that you know of, did he?"
"Nary one," responded Grimshaw. "When he'd been drinking too much heused to cry sometimes an' say that he hadn't a relative in the world tocare whether he lived or died."
"That being the case, heave ahead," advised the captain. "You don'towe anything to the living or the dead to keep you from finding out allyou want to know."
Reinforced by this opinion, the old man again lifted the coat from thetop of the box.
What lay beneath was a curious medley of articles such as might havebeen gathered at various times by a sailor who was familiar with allthe ports of the world. Mingled in with old trousers and boots andcaps, were curiously tinted shells, clasp knives with broken blades,grotesque images of heathen gods, a tarantula and a centipede preservedin a small jar of alcohol, miraculously saved from breakage.
But what especially attracted their attention in the midst of thismiscellaneous riffraff was a small cedar box, about eight inches longby six inches wide and deep. It was heavily carved, and was secured bya lock of unusual size and strength.
"Wonder if this is the thing that was worth more'n diamonds," gruntedTyke, with a carelessness that was too elaborate not to be assumed.
"It must be that, if anything," replied Captain Hamilton, who had lethis cigar go out and was now vigorously chewing the stub.
Drew said nothing, but his cheeks were flushed and his eyes brighterthan usual.
Grims
haw fumbled with the lock for a moment, but found it immovable.
"Jest step out, Allen, and get all the keys we have an' we'll see ifany of 'em fit," he directed.
Drew did so, and returned in a moment with the entire collection thatthe shop boasted. Tyke tried them all in turn, but none fitted.
"I guess there's no help for it," he said at last. "I hate to spoilthe box, but we'll have to force the lock. Get a chisel, and we'll prythe thing open."
The chisel was brought and did its work promptly. There was a rasping,groaning sound, as if the box were complaining at this rude assaultupon its privacy, then, with a hand that trembled a little, Tyke liftedthe cover.
All three heads were close together as the men bent over and peered in.Their first glimpse brought a sense of disappointment. They had halfexpected to catch the sheen of gold or the glitter of jewels. Insteadthey saw only a piece of oilskin that was carefully wrapped about whatproved to be some sheets of paper almost as stiff as parchment.
"Huh," grunted Tyke. "Pesky lot of trouble with mighty little result.I told you I thought Manuel was a bit touched in the brain, an' I guessI was right."
"Wait a minute," said Captain Hamilton. "Don't go off at half-cock.Let's see what's in that oil-skin."
Tyke opened the packet. The others drew up their chairs, one on eitherside, as he unfolded the oilskin carefully on his desk.
There were two sheets of paper inside, so old and mildewed that theyhad to be handled carefully to prevent their falling to pieces.
One of the papers seemed to be an official statement written inSpanish. The other consisted of rude tracings, moving apparently atrandom, with here and there a word that was almost illegible.
The three men looked at this blankly. Drew was the first to speak.
"It's a map!" he exclaimed eagerly.