CHAPTER VIII
COUNTING THE COST
"The first thing to be done," continued Benton, as they all gatheredabout the table, "is to figure on the cost of the expedition. In this,as in everything else, we need the 'sinews of war.' We've got to lay insupplies, purchase a diving suit, charter a sailing vessel after wereach San Domingo and lots of other things. It can't be done under fivethousand dollars and we'd better figure on ten. How about it?"
"That's all right," answered Phil promptly. "We've talked it over amongourselves and estimated that it would be somewhere between those twoamounts. A year ago it might have stumped us a bit, but the reward wegot from the bank for the capture of Muggs Murray and the generous wayin which Uncle Sam treated us after we had helped to run down thecounterfeiters has put us on Easy Street."
"Good," said Benton. "I have a little wad of my own stowed away, andwe'll go in on an even basis. There are five of us--that is, if yourfriend Elwood comes in with us--and that will make from one to twothousand each that we will have to put up. And of course it isunderstood that we share alike in all the profits of the expedition."
"Seems to me that you ought to have a larger share than the rest of us,"objected Phil. "You're the one that got the papers, without which therewouldn't be any trip at all."
"Not a bit of it," protested Benton. "The papers wouldn't do me any goodunless I had fellows like you to help me realize on them. No, it's gotto be 'hoss and hoss,' share and share alike. That is," he added, withhis whimsical smile, "if there's anything to be shared. We're countingour chickens before they are hatched."
"I suppose the first leg of our journey will be from here to some of theWest India Islands," said Dick.
"Yes," answered Benton. "I figure that we'd better go from here to NewYork by rail, and then by one of the regular steamers to San Domingo.When we reach there, it will be up to us to charter a small fast sailingvessel in which we can cruise around in the Caribbean while we're tryingto locate the old pirate's island. We'll drop down to the neighborhoodof latitude 14, longitude 81, keeping our eyes open for any island whoseskyline looks like the teeth of a saw."
"How about navigating the sloop?" asked Phil.
"Leave that to me," responded Benton. "I thought one time before Ijoined the marines of going into the merchant service and studied forthe position of mate. I got my papers too and can handle a ship with thebest of them. But the marine service appealed to me more stronglybecause of the greater chances of adventure, and so I passed the otherup. But I haven't let myself get rusty, and I've had a lot of practicalexperience. I'm as much at home on a boat as I am in the barracks. Buthow about you young fellows? Know anything about sailing?"
"Not on the ocean," replied Phil, "but we've done considerable cruisingon the Great Lakes, which are the next thing to the sea itself. We knowenough about ropes and sails to understand orders and to obey thempromptly. If you'll act as captain, we think we can qualify as crew,especially on as small a boat as we expect to handle."
"That's dandy," replied Benton, "and when we get down to San Domingowe'll do a lot of cruising just off shore so that you can get thoroughlyfamiliar with your work before cutting loose for the big adventure. Thatremoves a lot of worry from my mind, for I'd hate like thunder to haveto ship a crew from the kind of material you find in a West Indian port.They're smart enough sailors, but as a rule a bad lot to have on anytrip, let alone an expedition that's looking for treasure.
"Now as to supplies. We've got to take along guns, revolvers and plentyof ammunition. Then we'll need dynamite and blasting powder--"
"I don't see exactly where that comes in," remarked Tom.
"For use in getting to the treasure," explained Benton. "Granted that welocate the ship, it's altogether unlikely that we'd be able to getthrough the hatches. They'd in all likelihood be crusted with barnaclesor covered with silt and sea growths that would make it impossible forthe diver to get into the hold unaided. But he could plant a charge ofdynamite, and then after he'd been drawn up the charge could be fired bymeans of an electric spark from a battery in the boat above. That wouldtear a big hole in the deck and give the diver a chance to get in.
"Speaking of the diver," Benton went on, "brings us to one of the mostimportant things of all, and that is the diving suit. We can't afford toget any but the best, for the man that goes down in it literally takeshis life in his hands. The work though is less dangerous than it used tobe because of the improvements that have been made.
"For instance, in the old-fashioned suits the fresh air was served tothe diver from the surface of the water through a tube and the pressurewithin the suit was increased to equal the pressure outside of it. Butthe more modern suit that I have in mind eliminates the necessity of theair tube. The diver carries his own oxygen with him in a tank that isfitted into a steel shell that is a part of the suit. Beside the oxygentank is another tank containing caustic soda which absorbs the carbondioxide given out by the expelled breath of the diver. A valve operatesto deliver a certain amount every hour of oxygen properly mixed withnitrogen.
"You see how much safer the diver is under these conditions. Most of thedanger used to lie in accidents to the air tube. It might get entangled,or cut or bitten by a shark and then it was all up with the diver. Nowhe's independent of that. He can work longer at a time and with muchgreater peace of mind.
"Then too he can see under water much better than he did in the olddays. The head piece of this suit I'm talking of has four openings whichare fitted with heavy glass, so that he can look out in front or oneither side without shifting his position. And as the diver goes down,three blazing lights of many hundred candle power each, in glassespecially made to resist pressure, are let down with him so thatinstead of groping around he can work at his ease in a great zone oflight that floods the water and the ocean bed for many yards on allsides of him.
"Moreover they're using manganese bronze nowadays for the trunk andheadpiece of the diving suit and that is a good many times stronger thansteel. Take it altogether, the work of the diver isn't nearly as hardand perilous as it used to be."
"No cinch though under the best of conditions, I should think," put inDick.
"That's true enough," assented Benton, "but the point is that with allthese latter-day advantages it doesn't take as long to learn thebusiness as it used to. Another thing that adds to his safety andfacilitates his work is a telephone wire that is attached to the cableby which he is lowered and pulled up, by means of which he can keep inconstant communication with his helpers above.
"Still, although the work has been made so much easier and safer than itused to be, there is still a certain amount of actual experience thatone has to have before he can carry it on effectively. If we had to workat great depths, there'd be nothing left for us but to take a diveralong. But from what the old pirate said about the soundings and thefact that the _Sea Rover's_ masts would show above the water after shesank if they had not been snapped off by the hurricane, I figure thatthe depth won't be much more if any than about fifty feet.
"Now if we had to take a diver with us, he'd have to know all about thetreasure, and that might lead to all sorts of complications. Whatoccurred to me was this. There's a good deal of dredging being done inthe vicinity of San Domingo, and in my off hours I used to watch itbeing done and got quite chummy with one of the divers. He's a regularfellow, and I'm sure he'd be glad to do me a favor. When we get down toSan Domingo, I'll hunt him up and ask him to take one of us and give himsome practical lessons in the diver's business. We'll have to be thereseveral weeks perhaps, while we're getting our stores and chartering ourboat, and in that time it ought to be possible to get enough experiencefor the work we have to do. We'll pay him well of course for histrouble, and he probably won't bother us much with curious questions. Ifhe does, it will be easy enough to evade them."
"Count me in as a volunteer," broke in Phil. "The thing has always had awonderful fascination for me, and it
would be a great experience to findone's self walking on the bottom of the sea."
"How about me?" asked Tom.
"And me too," chimed in Dick. "Don't forget your uncle Dick." Bentonsmiled at their enthusiasm.
"I can see that you fellows need the brake rather than the spur," hesaid. "You'd all perhaps better have a taste of it, but in the limitedtime we'll have it would be better to single out one and let him havethe main part of the experience. But that's a matter of detail and we'llhave plenty of time to settle that later."
"Of course, we'll take a radio set along," suggested Phil.
"That goes without saying," replied Benton. "We'll want it on our boatand we'll want it when we get to the island. There may be times whenit'll be the only thing that'll stand between us and death. It'll keepus in constant touch with civilization. If Robinson Crusoe had had aradio set, he wouldn't have had to stay long on his island. There arealways United States naval ships in the waters of the Caribbean, and ifwe got into trouble they'd come to our help in a jiffy."
For several hours they discussed their plans, and when at last Bentonarose to go they felt that they had overlooked little and had marked outa pretty complete program.
The next few days were busy ones for Benton and the Radio Boys. Each onewas assigned a certain part of the work, and they kept the radio busyordering from different cities the objects necessary for the expedition.Passage was engaged on one of the steamers sailing for San Domingo.
And the reservations were for five instead of four, for as Dick hadpredicted, Steve's acceptance of his invitation came by telegraph, to befollowed by a letter in which he expressed his delight at theprospective adventure and prophesied in glowing terms the success of thetreasure hunt.
"The old boy's in it with both feet," grinned Phil as the Radio Boysread the letter together.
"I knew he would be," chortled Dick. "Just speak to him of adventure andit's like showing catnip to a cat. He goes crazy over it."
"He'll get his fill of it on this trip or I miss my guess," laughed Tom."Gee, but it seems a long time to wait before we get to that oldpirate's island. I'd like to start tonight."
But all things come to him who waits, or as Dick amended it "to him whohustles while he waits," and finally the day came when all theirpreparations were complete, when the farewells were said and they settheir faces southward toward the sunlit waters of the Caribbean.