Part 19 (1/2)

”No; but listen to that yelling. It isn't possible they have found human beings on the key, and unless they're in trouble I don't see why there should be such an uproar.”

There was but little time for speculation. Almost before Joe ceased speaking the boys came from the underbrush at full speed and leaped into the boat after launching her, Jim and Walter pulling energetically at the oars while Harry waved some small object above his head.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A SINGULAR DOc.u.mENT.

In order to better understand the cause of the boys' excitement it will be well to follow them from the time they stepped ash.o.r.e on the little key in search of water; otherwise it might require the reader more time than it did Bob and Joe to learn all the details of the story.

The novelty of standing on the solid earth once more, after having been tossed about by the sea, was very pleasant, and the boys enjoyed it hugely. The sun had not yet heated the cool night-air which lingered among the underbrush, and they plunged through the dense portions of the thicket as if the very contact of the foliage was a luxury.

The oddly-shaped leaves, unfamiliar trees and wire-like gra.s.s claimed their attention for fully half an hour to the exclusion of everything else, and it is barely possible that the purpose for which they landed might have been forgotten if Jim had not reminded them of the fact by saying:

”Look here, fellers, it won't do for us to caper 'round here much longer, 'cause Bob'll be hoppin' mad if we ain't back soon to tell him whether there's a supply of water. We'll have plenty chances to come ash.o.r.e before the Sea Bird is repaired, an' to steer clear of a row we'd better get to work.”

Thus reminded of their duties, Harry and Walter a.s.sumed a business-like air, and under the direction of Jim set about exploring the key in a methodical manner.

Before proceeding more than fifty yards straight back from the cove the question of water was settled, at the same time that evidences of the men who had done them such grievous injury were found.

In the sand amid a thicket of palms was a spring whose clear, sparkling water bubbled up apparently through the solid rock, forming a tiny stream which flowed toward the east some distance and was then lost amid the dazzling sand. Near by the underbrush had been trampled down, while a quant.i.ty of embers told unmistakably that here the three men had camped several days.

”They wasn't very near starvin' if this was where they hung out,” Jim said as he lifted from amid the foliage a small sack of yams and another half-filled with s.h.i.+p's-biscuit. ”Here's enough to keep 'em alive longer'n they had any right to live, an' by the looks of them oyster-sh.e.l.ls I should think it had been a reg'lar Thanksgivin' Day with 'em.”

”All three ate as if they were hungry when they came aboard the brig,”

Harry suggested.

”That was to throw dust into Bob's eyes. Anyhow, these bags show as how the villains weren't left here by accident. If we could know all about the crowd I reckon we'd think ourselves lucky in gettin' rid of them with only the loss of the brig.”

The thought of how they were tricked was one Harry did not care to entertain very long just at this time, when he had succeeded in partially banis.h.i.+ng his great grief, and as a means of checking such conversation he said:

”I suppose we ought to go back and tell Bob there is plenty of water here.”

”We've got time enough for that. Let's look 'round a little more, for I'd like to find out where them oysters came from,” Jim replied; and Walter started at once through the thicket as if eager to hide from view this very unpleasant reminder of their enemies.

”It won't take long to walk across the key,” Jim said as he followed close behind the leader; ”an' if we keep straight ahead there's no chance of gettin' lost.”

”We can go on for awhile, at any rate,” Harry replied, ”and if the distance is too great there's nothing to prevent us from turning around.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: Harry sprung forward with a shout as he pointed to a small, dark object.--(See page 155.)]

It was destined, however, that they should not penetrate very far into the interior of the island. Walter had led the party little more than a quarter of a mile when he halted in front of a veritable hut in the midst of a palmetto thicket.

Just for an instant the boys believed the key was inhabited; but as they pushed further among the luxuriant vegetation that question was settled, at least so far as this particular building was concerned. It had originally been a rude affair about ten feet square, and evidently built from the fragments of a vessel, but was now little more than a pile of timbers. One end and part of a side yet remained standing, the balance thrown down as if decay rather than man or the fury of the elements had caused the collapse.

The boys walked around it, trying to peer under the rotten planks in the hope of seeing some evidences of its former occupancy, until Walter said impatiently:

”There's nothing here worth looking at, so let's go on.”

”Wait a bit,” Jim replied, as he began overhauling the ruins. ”If we could find two or three sound planks Bob would think we'd made a fair day's work, 'cause he needs a good deal of lumber.”