"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 ship'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 banishing 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."

Harry had not thought it possible the discovery could be of any value until this suggestion of Jim's, and then he worked with a will among the ruins, knowing full well how delighted the old sailor would be with two or three stout timbers.

It seemed hardly probable any very useful material could be gathered from the pile of rubbish, for that portion of the hut yet standing was in such a condition of decay that, as the fragments inside were removed, it came tumbling down with a crash, sending the centipedes and other crawling things scuttling away in every direction, while the dust rose in dense clouds, which caused the boys to sneeze as if a huge snuff-box had been overturned.

"According to the looks of that we sha'n't find very many serviceable pieces," Walter said when it was possible to speak again. "This stuff is so rotten that it wouldn't even make good fuel."

"I reckon you're right;" and as he spoke Jim pulled toward him the corner-post, which had broken off close to the sand.

In dragging it out the wood crumbled to pieces, and Harry, who was a few feet away, sprung forward with a shout as he pointed to a small, dark object amid the fragments.

"Look at that! There's something hidden in the timber!"

Pressing forward, the boys saw a square black ma.s.s five inches long, four wide, and a trifle more than one inch in thickness, which was lying apparently in the very heart of the wood. The briefest examination revealed the fact that the odd-looking thing was in a cavity or recess which had been cut in the timber at what must have been about four feet from the ground when the post formed a portion of the hut. It had been most skillfully done, and concealed from view by a thin piece of wood rabbeted-in so neatly as to make it appear like the solid post. Even now, after so many years must have elapsed, it was difficult to see the joints; therefore when first done one would have looked in vain for marks of a tool on the timber.

"What is it?" Jim cried excitedly as he gazed at the black object, but made no move toward taking it from the recess where it had so long remained hidden.

"It's something valuable, or it wouldn't have been put away like that.

P'rhaps a pirate has left it for safe-keeping, and couldn't get back after it," Harry suggested.

"He couldn't have been any very great shakes of a pirate if that's all he had to hide!" Jim said with a tone of contempt for the possibly blood-thirsty owner of the package which he now lifted from its wooden case.

The boys gathered close around; but the most minute examination failed to reveal anything more valuable than a ma.s.s of tar.

"There must be something inside!" Walter cried excitedly, "for no one would have taken so much trouble to put such stuff away. Cut it open!"

Jim was soon chopping at the black ma.s.s with his pocket-knife, and but a few strokes were necessary to show that the tar simply covered a cunningly-plaited net-work of stout cord fashioned somewhat like an envelope.

"Be careful when you stick the knife through!" Harry cried warningly.

"There must be something precious inside, sure!"

Jim did not intend to run any risk of ruining the contents by a hasty stroke. After sc.r.a.ping the tar off sufficiently to expose the cords straight across both ends, he cut them carefully apart until the envelope was divided like an open wallet, exposing to view two thin sheets of wood.

"It's nothing but paper!" Walter exclaimed in a tone of most intense disappointment as Jim separated this inner covering, showing what appeared to be the attempt of some amateur to draw a diagram on a soiled piece of stout paper.

At the top of the sheet, which was yellow and time-worn, were two lines, as follows:

XLI. fathoms N. N. E. from this timber to palmetto tree.

XII. fathoms S. E. by E. to coral-head.

This information, if such it could be called, was jotted down in fanciful letters instead of writing, and immediately beneath it appeared the rude drawing of a hut, a crooked tree, and a rock or piece of coral.

From one to the other arrows were placed to mark the probable direction as given above, while below was what looked like a representation of an island or key.

Then was written, in angular penmanship, the following: