Among other things aboard the motor-boat they had found a contraption which Frank said was a small Spanish cast-net. It had a row of leads along the bottom, with leading strings pa.s.sing up through a central ring.

Frank had read directions how to use this, and he amused himself making a few trials while Jerry was busy.

At first he came near pulling a few teeth out, for it is a part of the program that one of the leads must be held between the teeth while others are gathered up in the hands as the net is flung out over the water by a sharp rotary motion that spreads it open as it strikes.

The leads instantly sink, covering a s.p.a.ce often ten feet or more in diameter; then, by drawing quickly at the rope, the cords are pulled through the ring and the net closes in like a purse, holding whatever fish it may have covered when thrown.

After a few trials Frank succeeded in catching a couple of silver mullet that had been unable to escape his clumsy attempts.

"I'll get the hang of it after a while," he said, as he tossed these into the little dinghy where Jerry was taking his place, "but those may do you for bait this evening, old fellow."

"Bully for you, Frank! Always coming to the rescue. I was just wondering what I should use, and had an eye on some big blue crabs swimming along there on the bottom. With the dip-net I might have caught a few. If Bluff sees them he'll never stop talking about fried crabs." And Jerry pushed off.

"Good luck to you, sportsman!" called Frank.

He had a number of things he wanted to do himself, and only cast an occasional glance out to where Jerry had anch.o.r.ed the dinghy, opposite to where the motor-boat was tied up.

Will was fussing around, doing something or other. He always made so much bustle whenever he had anything on hand that his chums frequently called him an "old woman," but this never seemed to bother the ardent photographer, who pursued his way in spite of laughter or ridicule.

After a while he came and sat down near where Frank was arranging the three little single blue-flame stoves that formed the cooking range of the boat.

"I was just thinking, Frank," said he, "that I've never heard you say a word about that mysterious packet your father entrusted to you before we left home."

"Well, I've often thought about it as I felt it in my pocket, but you see there's nothing to be done until we sight Cedar Keys. Then I'll break the seal and read further directions," replied Frank.

"Of course you've speculated about it?" went on Will.

"Lots of times, but always arrived at the same old point--that I couldn't guess in a year what it meant," laughed the other.

"Do you think it could be a joke?" asked Will.

"Never. My dad was too serious when he gave it to me; and besides, he never jokes like that. We must wait a little while, and then learn the truth. Depend on it, he had a good reason for what he did. I expect we'll get something of a big surprise."

"There comes Bluff, and I really believe the fellow's got some oysters opened, by the way he carries that kettle," said Will.

"And just look at the expression on his face, will you? A fellow who had won a first prize in school could hardly seem more tickled."

"Oh, I've got 'em, all right, boys, about a big quart, too, and only cut myself half a dozen times," cried Bluff, laughing as he scrambled aboard.

"And I give you fair warning that those cuts will hurt worse to-morrow than they do now. Let me see. Well, they do look pretty fine. I reckon you've got lots of broken sh.e.l.ls in with the oysters, so I'll take care to strain the mess. How shall we have them for the first, boys?" asked Frank.

"I'm just hankering for scalloped oysters, but perhaps a stew would be easier to start with. We have the unsweetened milk, you know, and they say that answers first rate. How are you on that, Frank?"

"I can manage it first rate. Are you fond of a stew, Will?"

"Yes. I like them any way. But I was watching Jerry out there. What under the sun is he doing?"

Frank cast a quick glance out over the water.

"He's got a fish on, and it seems to be a big one, too!" he exclaimed.

"Why, it's pulling his boat around like fun! Look at that, will you? Say!

be careful, Jerry, or overboard you go!" shrieked Will.

"There! He's headed this way, now, and going faster than ever! I never saw such a thing before, in all my life! What can it be, Frank?" cried Bluff, excited.

"I don't know for certain, but I'd venture to say he's fast to a shark!"

answered Frank, hurrying to the side of the motor-boat to see better.

"A shark! Great Caesar's ghost! What will become of him? Why, the brute is carrying our pard off! There he goes, faster and faster, and headed straight out toward the open gulf! Jerry, let him go!" called Will in his excitement.

Jerry, in the little c.o.c.klesh.e.l.l of a dinghy, was whirling past as this cry rang out. He turned to wave a hand at his chums, and they heard him singing:

"A life on the ocean wave for me, my boys!"

CHAPTER XII

THE BREAKDOWN OF THE MOTOR

"Say! he's going off, dead sure!" exclaimed Will, in distress.

"He certainly seems to be having a free ride out to sea," remarked Frank.

"But that little craft will upset, and let him drown, Frank! Can't you stop him from such mad capers?" continued the other.

Frank put his hands up to his mouth in such fashion that they formed a sort of megaphone, and allowed his voice to carry far.

"I say, Jerry!" he bawled.

"h.e.l.lo!" came faintly from the onrushing fisherman, who was sitting in such fashion as to properly balance his small pumpkin-seed-shaped craft as it sped over the water, so rapidly as to leave a sheet of white foam behind.

"Cut loose! Danger!" shouted Frank.

"Did he hear you, Frank?" asked Will anxiously.

"I guess so. Anyhow, he seems to be moving toward the bow, where his line is fast. I hope he has a knife with him, that's all," replied Frank, straining his eyes to see what was going on, for the sun had set, and already dusk was just commencing to gather over the water.

"He always carries one in his fishing bag," declared Bluff, not a little alarmed himself over this new source of danger, so utterly foreign to anything they had ever experienced before.

"There! He's done it! Hurrah!" shouted Will in relief.

"I bet he hated to let that thing go!" said Bluff, who knew the determined nature of the fisherman full well.

"And he's lost his line, and the hook, too," commented Will.

"That's of little consequence, for there are plenty more where they came from. I'm glad he was sensible enough not to carry the joke too far,"