The Rover Boys Shipwrecked by Arthur M. Winfield - HTML preview

CHAPTER XXX
 WHAT THE BOX CONTAINED—CONCLUSION

“Look at the gold!”

“I wonder what it’s worth?”

“Those sailors told the truth, after all!”

Such were some of the exclamations made by the Rover boys as they gazed at the contents of the chest pulled out of the rocky hole before them.

But if they were excited, Ira Small was more so, and for a few minutes the boys thought the old tar would go crazy. Again and again he dove his hands into the chest, to bring up the coins and let them fall back with a merry clink.

“I knowed we’d find it!” he cried. “Now I’ll be a rich man fur life!” And then he added quickly to the boys: “But you’re to have your share of it, lads. One-half of whatever is here goes to Jack an’ the rest of you.”

They were still looking over the coins in the chest when the bit of candle spluttered up and went out.

“Never mind! I don’t care how dark it is now,” said Andy. “We’ve found the treasure, and that’s enough.”

“We’ll have to stay here all night,” returned Jack. “We’ll never be able to find our way out in the darkness.”

“What do we care?” put in Randy, lightly. “I don’t believe any wild animals are going to bother us in this out-of-the-way hole. Those pirates certainly buried their gold in a spot where it was hard to find,” he added.

Sitting around in the darkness, the boys and the old sailor discussed the situation from every possible angle. They could make only a wild estimate of what the contents of the chest was worth, but knew it would run into many thousands of dollars.

Their exertions that day had worn them out completely, and presently all were glad to make themselves as comfortable as possible on the rocks and go to sleep. They set no guard, and such a precaution would have been unnecessary, for no wild animals came to disturb them.

In the morning they took another look at the contents of the chest, and then, while it was still early daylight, set out for the passageway under the cliff. It took them two hours to clamber to this place and two hours more to get out to the clumsy scow and rig up a hawser so that they could haul the chest on board.

“Now we’ve got it we don’t want to lose it,” said Ira Small anxiously, and so the ancient box was handled with care.

Once aboard the clumsy scow, they set out upon the return to the wrecked steam yacht.

“We’ll certainly have a story to tell when we get home,” said Fred to his cousins. “Do you know, I had half a notion that that story about pirates’ gold was a fairy yarn.”

“So did I, Fred,” said Randy. “But, of course, it’s well known that pirates did bury their treasures around the West Indies.”

Once aboard the wreck, the boys and the old sailor washed and brushed up the best they could, and then prepared for themselves a much-needed meal. After this they sat down to look over the contents of the chest more carefully and to wait as patiently as possible for those who might come to their rescue.

“These are Spanish doubloons all right enough,” said Jack. “But what they’re worth, I don’t know.”

“Yes, but they’re not all doubloons,” answered Randy. “Some of these coins seem to be copper.”

“Well, it’s quite a find, anyhow, Randy.”

“Oh, I agree with you on that!”

On the afternoon of the next day a vessel hove in sight which proved to be an auxiliary cruiser of the United States Navy. Again the boys and the old tar set up their signal of distress, and soon a small boat containing a couple of officers and a number of men reached the wreck.

“Hurrah! Hurrah!” shouted Andy, as they came up. “Now we’re safe!”

“What vessel is this?” asked one of the officers, as soon as he had found out who the party were; and when told he said that the Coryanda had been reported water-logged and about to sink two weeks before.

“She belongs to two scientists from Baltimore,” he said. “They had a valuable collection of wild animals, snakes and birds on board.”

“So they did!” answered Jack. “And, believe me, we had some fun with those creatures! A few of them are dead, and the rest of them were either drowned or escaped to this island.” And then he and his cousins and the old tar told their story.

“Did those two men, Jackson and Borderwell, who were in the hydroplane and flew over the wreck, notify you?” questioned Jack, curiously.

“They did,” answered the leading officer. “They were sent out on a scouting expedition,” he explained. “After such storms as we have had lately we often find wrecks floating around in this vicinity.”

“Well, those men certainly deserve our thanks,” put in Randy, and the other boys and Ira Small agreed with him.

Many of the things of value on the wreck were taken to the cruiser, and then the boys and the old tar went on board. The cruiser was from Porto Rico, but was bound for Norfolk, for which the boys were thankful.

“Well, it’s good-bye to the island!” cried Jack, as they steamed away.

“Yes, and good-bye to whatever of the wild animals and snakes are left!”

“Gee! what of the monkeys we left tied up?” questioned Jack, suddenly.

“They’re not tied up,” answered Andy. “I didn’t have the heart to do it, so I cut them loose when we were leaving camp.”

The auxiliary cruiser was, of course, supplied with radio, and the lads lost no time in sending a message to their parents. A few hours later came a return message, relayed from New York City, stating that the fathers of the four boys were on the way to meet them as soon as they landed at Norfolk.

It can well be imagined how impatient the boys were to reach home. Yet every time they thought of joining their parents and Mary and Martha a tinge of sadness crept into their minds.

“Poor Ralph, Gif and Spouter!” murmured Jack. “How we shall miss them!”

When at last Norfolk was reached, the boys could hardly wait to get ashore. There were their fathers ready to greet them, and my readers can rest assured that all received the warmest kind of welcome.

“We were hoping against hope when your message came,” declared Dick Rover. “We thought the motor boat had been lost with all on board.”

“We’ve been watching all the shipping reports for days,” added Tom Rover. “We knew there had been some terrible storms, and the papers have reported half a dozen wrecks. We were sure no motor boat could live in such weather.”

“Well, we’ve got bad news,” said Randy, sorrowfully. “Spouter, Gif and Ralph——”

“Are all safe!” burst in Sam Rover.

“Safe!” came simultaneously from the four Rover boys.

“Yes, safe! We got a message from them only yesterday. They were picked up by a vessel bound for Spain, and they are now on their way home.”

“Hurrah! This is the best yet!” cried Andy, and tried to do a jig in spite of his hurt ankle. Later on the poor fellow had to go to a hospital to have the ankle readjusted. But the operation was not a severe one, and soon his ankle was as well as ever.

The old sailor went home with the boys and was warmly thanked for all the assistance he had given the lads during their perilous days on the ocean and on the island.

The contents of the pirates’ chest was gone over carefully, and then Dick Rover advised that a well known numismatist be called in.

“What in the world is a numismicks?” demanded Ira Small, and when he was told what was meant, he agreed at once that what Dick Rover had suggested be done.

The numismatist went over all of the coins carefully and declared many of them valuable, not only intrinsically, but on account of their age and rarity. He took charge of the whole affair, and in the end the treasure brought in twenty-four thousand dollars.

“An’ half of it goes to the boys. I won’t have it no other way,” declared the lanky sailor. And so each of the boys was able to place three thousand dollars to his own bank account.

“Well, we certainly had great times on that trip!” declared Randy. “I don’t suppose we’ll ever have such strenuous times again.” But Randy could not look into the future. Strenuous days were still to come for the boys, and what some of them were will be related in another volume, to be entitled “The Rover Boys on Sunset Trail; or, The Old Miner’s Mysterious Message.”

It was not until later that the boys learned that the two scientists from Baltimore who owned the Coryanda had been saved along with all but two of those who had been aboard the ill-fated steam yacht. About the Hildegarde they heard nothing for many months, but one day Ira Small turned up with the information that the rum-runner had been lost in the hurricane and not a soul had been saved.

“Oh, Jack, I’m so glad you got back safe and sound,” said Ruth Stevenson, when she met the young major. “You can’t imagine how worried all of us were!”

“Well, I’m mighty glad to be back, Ruth,” he answered. “We’re all glad to be back. It was no fun being cast away on the ocean on that bit of wreckage and then to get on a water-logged yacht that had a lot of wild animals and snakes aboard.”

“What are they going to do about those wild animals and snakes?” questioned Martha.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” answered her brother. “One such experience was enough for me.”

“I guess it was enough for all of us,” put in Randy.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind having that little monkey back,” came from Andy. “But as for the rest of the beasts—not for me!”

“Hurrah! Here’s a letter from Ralph, Spouter and Gif!” cried Fred, bursting in upon his cousins. “They’re coming back to America just as fast as a steamer can bring them.”

And now, while the Rover boys are reading the letter from their chums, we will say good-bye.

THE END