CHAPTER VI.
THE CAPE TOWN MYSTERY.
On their way to the hotel, Matt and Townsend met Dick Ferral. Carl,after exchanging his bathing suit for every-day clothes, had wanderedabout looking for Matt, and had only just come to the air ship torelieve Ferral. In a few words Matt told his chum what had happened,and Ferral accompanied Matt and Townsend to the hotel.
"You and Matt own the Hawk together, don't you, Ferral?" Townsend hadasked.
"That's the way of it," Ferral had answered.
"Then I want to talk with the two of you."
These remarks merely served to whet the curiosity of the two boys.
On reaching the hotel, the three repaired at once to the boys' room,and after Matt had got into some dry clothing and all were seatedcomfortably, Townsend plunged at once into the subject that lay nearesthis mind.
"It is clear to me," said he, "that Jurgens mixed up in thismoving-picture business just for a 'blind.' He must have heard that Iwas coming to Atlantic City for a look at your air ship, King, and havelaid his plans for the capture of the submarine. The _Grampus_, as nearas I can figure out, was captured by confederates of Jurgens' while Iwas in the air with you. Jurgens had no idea that he would be able tosecure that paper from me direct, but probably hoped to find it in the_Grampus_, or to take it from me when I returned to the submarine afterthat flight in the Hawk."
"If Jurgens' men captured the _Grampus_ while you were in the air withus, Mr. Townsend," said Matt, "the capture must have been effected inbroad daylight, while the Inlet was alive with sailing craft. Wouldthat have been possible?"
"Easily possible. The _Grampus_ is a steel shell, you know, and whattakes place aboard of her cannot be seen by any one on the outside.The skipper of the _Crescent_ happened to be a friend of Jurgens', andthe _Crescent_ happened to be handily by to pick Jurgens out of therowboat. We'll know more about that part of it as soon as McMillaninvestigates and reports. Just now, the point for us to remember isthat luck has been with Jurgens. His men captured the submarine,Jurgens captured the paper, and the _Crescent_, with her skipper andcrew, helped Jurgens and his clique to foil the ends of right andjustice."
Townsend paused. He was a man of fifty-five or sixty, with graymustache and gray hair, but with alert and piercing black eyes. Hislooks and manner were such as to inspire confidence, and both Matt andDick felt that he was to be trusted implicitly.
"But why has Jurgens gone to all this trouble?" inquired Matt. "He hasmade himself a thief and a fugitive, and what does he hope to gain byit?"
"Ah," returned Townsend, "now you are touching upon the mystery of theMan from Cape Town. I shall have to tell you about that before you canget any clear understanding of what Jurgens has done.
"Nearly a year ago a ragged specimen of a man stopped me at the cornerof Broad and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, and asked if I wasn'tthe man named Townsend who had invented and was then building a newsubmarine which was to have a cruising radius of several thousandmiles. I told him that I was. Thereupon the stranger informed me thathe was the Man from Cape Town, and that he wanted to borrow a dollar.
"The Man from Cape Town was very different from your ordinary beggar,and I handed him the dollar. Thereupon he took a folded paper from hiscoat, gave it to me, and asked me to keep it for him. He declared,gravely enough, that the paper was worth a fortune, and that when mysubmarine was completed, we would go in her to the place where thefortune had been tucked away, find it and divide it between us.
"That sort of talk led me to look upon the Man from Cape Town as aharmless lunatic. I discovered that the paper was a chart of the BahamaIslands, and that it gave the latitude and longitude of a particularisland, together with other information necessary for the finding ofwhat purported to be an iron chest.
"This chart I looked upon as rank moonshine, and tucked it away ina pigeonhole of my desk. Months passed, and I had almost forgottenthe Man from Cape Town, his chart and his iron chest, when somethingoccurred to bring the entire matter prominently to my mind.
"A night watchman at the yard where I was building the _Grampus_ founda man going through my desk at midnight. When the fellow was captured,he was just getting away with a paper which he had abstracted from oneof the pigeonholes. That paper was the chart, and the would-be thiefwas--Jurgens, Lattimer Jurgens.
"Jurgens had been a workman in the shipyard, but had been dischargedfor incompetency. While at the yard I presume he learned, in somemanner known only to himself, that I had possession of the chart, thatit was in my desk, and that it purported to locate a fortune.
"While Jurgens' attempted theft recalled the chart to my mind, it didnot add anything to its importance in my estimation, for Jurgens wasjust the sort of man to take stock in such wild yarns about hiddentreasure; however, in order to keep the chart from being stolen, I putit away in the office safe. As for Jurgens, I let him go with a warning.
"About three weeks after that I was called hurriedly to one of the cityhospitals. There I found the Man from Cape Town, a total wreck andlying at the point of death. He had strength enough left to insist thatthe iron chest contained a fortune, and he made me promise to start forthe Bahamas as soon as the _Grampus_ was finished, find the chest, andthen take it to his daughter, who lived in New Orleans, open it in herpresence, and divide the contents equally.
"I still considered the Unknown as the subject of delusions; but, asI should want to try out the _Grampus_ on a long cruise as soon asshe was completed, I agreed to carry out the man's request. He diedblessing me so fervently that I was a little ashamed of myself for nothaving more faith in his story.
"A few days, perhaps a week, later, Jurgens came to see me. He declaredthat the Man from Cape Town had been his brother, and that the chest,now that his brother was dead, belonged to him. I asked Jurgens wherethe chest came from, what it contained, and how it had happened to becached in the Bahamas. These questions he could not answer. I had beenfairly sure, all along, that Jurgens was not telling the truth, and hislack of information made me positive of it. I declined to give him thechart, or to treat with him in any way regarding it. Thereupon Jurgensleft me, vowing vengeance, and asserting that, by hook or crook, hewould obtain what he was pleased to call, his 'rights.'
"Some time later, when the _Grampus_ was ready for sea, I shipped mycrew and tried the boat out, up and down the Delaware. The trialsresulted in a few changes to the machinery, and when the submarine wasfinally in shape, I made her ready for the trip to the Bahamas. The daywe were to start, I read a column or more about the Hawk, and what youlads were doing here in Atlantic City. I have always been interestedin air ships quite as much as in submarines, so I decided to come toAtlantic City and have a look at the Hawk before going to the Bahamas.
"At that time, I know positively that Jurgens was in this resort,making moving pictures for a firm in Chicago. Some one in his servicemust have telegraphed him of my change of plan, thus enabling him tolay his schemes to capture the _Grampus_. I tried to keep my movementsas secret as possible, but it is certain that they leaked out.
"On leaving the _Grampus_ to visit the beach, this afternoon, threetrusty men were in charge of the submarine. The officer on duty at theInlet wharf says that three men came there and claimed to have a letterfrom me to the man in charge of the _Grampus_; that the letter wasopened by Cassidy, the machinist in charge of the boat, and that themen were admitted below decks. That, undoubtedly, is when the capturetook place.
"As I said before, it is my belief that Jurgens either hoped to findthe chart concealed in the _Grampus_, or else to capture me on myreturn from the beach and take the chart by force. Events worked thescheme out differently, and the chart was snatched from my hands whileI was going over the papers I had taken from my pocket. Now, the chartis gone, and the _Grampus_ is gone."
Townsend relapsed into silence, his keen eyes leveled on Motor Matt'sface.
The faces of Matt and Ferral, at that moment, were a study. It was astrange story they had heard, but that it
was a true story they did notfor a moment doubt.
"How much are you making, here in Atlantic City?" Townsend askedabruptly.
Matt told him, wondering what that had to do with the matter.
"You understand," Townsend went on, "that my interest is wholly in the_Grampus_. I must recover the boat. It is a fair surmise that Jurgens,and those with him, will lay a course for that particular island in theBahamas. I have that chart, and all the other information containedin it, as clearly in my mind as though the paper itself was beforemy eyes. Furthermore, I questioned you so thoroughly about the Hawk,while we were in the air this afternoon, that I know the air ship'scapabilities. In less than two weeks, Motor Matt, we could make a roundtrip to the Bahamas in your air ship. What I want is to charter theHawk for two weeks, and to pay you five thousand dollars for the use ofthe craft. I am rich enough to do this, and my hope is that we will beable to recover the _Grampus_. If you boys will agree, I will pay overtwenty-five hundred dollars before we start from Atlantic City and giveyou the remainder of the five thousand upon our return."
The two chums were thunderstruck. They had not had the least idea ofthe way Townsend's talk was trending.
"Sink me!" mumbled Ferral, "but that sounds like a large order."
"Not so large, perhaps," returned Townsend, "as it seems at firstsight."
"How long a trip is it?" asked Matt, a bit dazed.
"Perhaps a thousand miles, as the crow flies, or fifteen hundred aswe'll have to go. We could follow down the coast line, and then jumpacross the Florida Straits to the Bahamas. You tell me you can makethirty miles an hour in the Hawk, and that you can do even better withfavoring winds. Say, at a rough estimate, that we make seven hundredmiles a day. Why, inside of three days we should be where we want to goin the Bahamas. If we spend three or four days there, and as much timegetting back, ten days ought to see the trip completed."
"But if we strike rough weather?" asked Matt.
"This is the time of year when the weather ought to be at its best.Nevertheless, if a stormy day comes, we could alight and wait for theweather to clear. Even at that, we ought to be back in Atlantic City intwo weeks."
"It's a good deal of a guess, Mr. Townsend, as to whether, even if wedo find the _Grampus_ in the Bahamas, you will be able to get her back."
"I am staking five thousand on the guess," said Townsend, quietly."You're the right sort of a fellow to make such a venture a success,Motor Matt, and the proposition I have made you I wouldn't make toevery one. What do you say?"
Matt and Dick withdrew for a little talk. They would lose their"advance bookings" for flights in the Hawk, but they stood to makea greater profit by this air cruise to the Bahamas than they couldpossibly hope for in Atlantic City.
"When do you want to start?" Matt asked.
"We should start in the morning," replied Townsend, "as early aspossible."
"We'll go," said Matt.
"Good!" cried Townsend, a gleam of satisfaction darting through hiseyes.
Taking a checkbook and a fountain pen from his pocket, he drew a chairup to the table and wrote for a few moments.
"There's your twenty-five hundred," said he, handing the check to Matt."I've made out the check to King & Ferral. I'll leave you boys to dothe outfitting, and will meet you on the beach, ready for the start, atseven in the morning. Good night."
With that, Townsend shook hands with Matt and Dick and went away. Dick,highly delighted, started in to do a sailor's hornpipe.
"Twenty-five hundred," he gloried, "and twenty-five hundred more tocome. Strike me lucky, mate, but we're going to be millionaires if thiskeeps up."
"We've got to earn the money yet, Dick," returned Matt, "and thatcruise to the Bahamas will be anything but a picnic."