CHAPTER XX
LIFTING A SUNKEN LAUNCH
After the departure from the _Rambler_ of Clay and Alex, Captain Joebegan exploring the little store rooms of the craft in search ofcables and grappling hooks. He soon had quite a collection laying onthe deck.
"What's the idea, Captain Joe?" asked Case.
"Well, boys," the captain replied, "you remember what the Quebec chiefof police said regarding the _Cartier_ and the perfectly goodassortment of supplies lying at the bottom of the St. Lawrence river?"
"Sure, we remember that," Case replied.
"And you remember what Clay said about having discovered the boat aswe came in? Why, he told us right where it is."
"Yes, he said he saw it on the bottom," Jule interrupted.
"Now, I have an idea," Captain Joe smiled, winking at the two boys,"that it would be all right for us to lift the launch while Clay isaway. What do you say to that?"
"Great idea!" shouted Case.
"Then let's get at it," Jule suggested.
"The first thing to do," Captain Joe said, "is to find out exactlywhere the _Cartier_ lies."
"Aw, I know that," Jule said, "Clay told me about that. It's rightover there in about fifteen feet of water just below that submergedbar."
"Fifteen feet with or without the tide?" asked Captain Joe.
"Fifteen feet with the tide out," was the reply, "and the tide is outnow, so we'd better be getting busy."
They swung the _Rambler_ over to the north side of the bar andanchored. From this new position, across the white surface of thebottom, they could see the trunk cabin of the _Cartier_ sittingsquarely up in the water. The boat had evidently dropped straight downwhen scuttled, and she now lay on an almost even keel with her nosepointing upstream.
"Now, I tell you, boys," Captain Joe observed, "one of you must godown and attach a line to her forward towing bitts. I'd go downmyself, understand, only I'm so big and clumsy that I might displacetoo much water in the stream. Who'll go?"
"I'm the champion diver of the South Branch," Jule cried, "and I'll godown and have that line fast in about a second."
"It's a long dive," warned Captain Joe.
"I've stood on my head in deeper water than that," said the boy.
Case got out the rowboat and Jule was taken over to the place fromwhich he was to dive. The end of the cable was passed to him and hedropped down. In a moment, he came climbing up the rope like a youngmonkey, shaking water over Case as he tumbled into the boat.
"Now get a-going," he said, "and we'll have this boat out of the mudbefore Clay and Alex return. I wonder what we'll find on board ofher."
"You don't expect to find a lost channel, do you? Or a casket offamily jewels?" asked Case, with a wink.
"I was thinking," Jule replied, "that we might find something to eat."
The boys rowed back to the _Rambler_, clambered on board, and themotor boat was started forward, one end of the cable attached to herafter deck cleats. She pulled steadily for a moment under full power,but the launch refused to move. She was evidently deeply imbedded inthe bottom.
"I reckon we'll have to go down and push," Case grinned.
"You just wait, boys, and I'll try it once more," Captain Joe said.
The second attempt was successful, and the _Cartier_ was drawn slowly,carefully, to the bar. When she left her original position on thebottom of the river, she listed to one side and so came in almost onher beam ends.
"I guess we've spilled some of her crockery," Jule laughed as the boatshowed one side of her hull. "Fontenelle may kick on our wearing outhis furniture."
"Oh, he'll be glad enough to get his boat back," Captain Joe remarked."Now, we'll see if we can pump her out."
The launch now lay tipping only slightly on the bar, her keel havingcut into the soft sand, with her gunwales two or three inches abovethe surface of the river. The cabin stood well out of the river, ofcourse, but the great body of water in the cockpit and over the cabinfloor held her down.
"Now we'll see if we can't pump her out," Captain Joe said. "I don'tunderstand what sent her to the bottom. She looks to be as fit as afiddle."
"Perhaps we can tell that when we get the water out of her," Casesuggested. "There may be a big hole in her bottom."
The _Rambler's_ pump was now put in operation, but the interior of thelaunch remained full of water. The river rushed in as fast as thepumps removed it, so the craft did not rise to the surface.
"You'll have to get your feet wet again, Jule," Case said. "Just dropover into the cockpit and see if you can see any hole in the bottom."
Jule did as requested, floundering and splashing about in the water asthough he considered the enterprise only a bit of fun.
"Nothing doing here!" he shouted back. "There's no hole in the bottomthat I can see. There may be one under the double floor in the cabinbut I don't believe it."
"Look for the sea-cock," cried Captain Joe, leaning over the gunwaleof the _Rambler_. "It may have been opened. It ought to be right therein the cockpit close to the wall of the cabin."
Jule felt around in the water for a time, ducked his head under inorder to get closer to the bottom now and then and finally raised hisdripping face with a shout.
"I've found it!" he cried. "The sea-cock was wide open and that's whatsunk the launch."
"Wonder Fontenelle wouldn't have investigated," said Case.
"The launch was probably sunk in the night," Captain Joe suggested,"when the members of the party were away. When they returned to theboat, of course, they had no grappling apparatus or anything to helpraise her, and so they just went away and left her in the mud."
"That's probably it," Case said, turning on the pump.
"Hold on," Jule cried. "You wait till I get something to plug thissea-cock with. I can't turn the valve. It's rusty."
The boy was given a basket of waste which had been used in cleaningthe motors, and in a short time the sea-cock was securely plugged.
Then the pumps were set in motion again and in a very short time the_Cartier_ was virtually free of water.
"That's a mighty handsome boat," Captain Joe observed as the launchlay on the surface. "If I had her down on the South Branch, I couldhave the time of my life every day in the week."
The boys worked over the boat for some time drying off the woodworkand fixing the valve of the sea-cock so it would close.
"Of course, she won't run now," Captain Joe explained, "because thebatteries and the magneto are soaked with water. We can transfer newapparatus from the _Rambler_ and, as she has plenty of gasoline, shewill go like a duck on a mill-pond."
"I guess Clay will think we have been going some to get that boat offthe bottom," laughed Case.
Captain Joe looked at his watch, his face clouding as he did so.
"Why, look here," he said. "We've been a long time on this job. It isafter one o'clock."
"We might have known that by the tide coming in," Case said.
"I wasn't thinking about the water," the captain laughed. "I wasthinking about Clay and Alex. Now, where do you suppose those twoscamps are? They ought to have been here long ago."
"Perhaps they've found the lost channel!" Jule put in.
"It is more likely they found a nest of outlaws they couldn't get awayfrom," was Case's idea of the situation. "I think we ought to dosomething about it right now," he added.
"I am afraid," Captain Joe said, poking a stubby finger into Case'sside, "that it takes you boys about half your time to find each otherwhen you go off on these river trips. First one gets lost and then theother."
"That's all right," Case replied, "but every time a fellow gets losthe butts into valuable information. Clay may pick up those Fontenellediamonds while he's gone, or find the lost charter."
"It's up to us to do something," Jule insisted. "After dinner, we'llgo out on the peninsula and see what we can discover if Captain Joewill remain on the boat. We won't be gone long."
Dinner was hastily prepared and hastily
eaten, and then Case and Julerowed to the shore in the _Rambler's_ boat, the canoe having been lefton the bank by Clay. The captain saw them disappear in the thicket andthen sat down in the cabin to watch and wait.
In less than half an hour, he heard shouts on the shore, and then twofigures came plunging down the high bank into the river some distanceabove the location of the _Rambler_.
The captain reached for his gun and stood waiting, fearful at firstthat a bold attempt to board the _Rambler_ was being made, but as thetwo figures in the water came closer, he saw Case and Jule alternatelyswimming on the surface and diving. The reason for this apparentlystrange conduct on the part of the boys was soon discovered, forbullets began whistling about their heads and about the deck of the_Rambler_.
However, the swimmers reached the deck of the boat unharmed anddropped down behind the gunwales.
"Use your gun, Captain Joe!" Case panted. "Alex is back there in thewoods trying to get to the river."