The Secret of the Reef

“It’s obvious that, as the salvage people abandoned the vessel, something has happened to give you a chance,” he said. “However, as you can’t have money enough to buy a proper outfit, you’re not likely to make much use of the opportunity. You want steam and the best diving gear, and I guess you found them too expensive.”

“We might do better if we had them,” Bethune admitted.

“Very well; are you willing to take a partner?”

There was uncompromising refusal in Jimmy’s face, but he did not speak, and Clay surmised that Bethune had given him a warning kick under the table. Bethune, in fact, had done so, and was thinking hard. To refuse would imply that they expected to succeed and that the salvage could be easily accomplished with such poor apparatus as they could obtain; but this was not advisable, because it would encourage Clay to anticipate them.

“We might consider a sleeping partner who’d be content with his profit on the money he supplied,” he said.

“That means you intend to keep the practical operations in your own hands?”

“Yes,” Bethune answered; “you can take it that it does.”

“Then the arrangement wouldn’t suit me. I know more about the vessel than you do, and I’ve been accustomed to directing things. But I’ll bid you five thousand dollars for your interest in the wreck.”

“Strictly speaking, we have no interest that we could sell.”

“That’s true; but I’ll buy your knowledge of how she lies and the best way of getting at her cargo. Of course, after you have taken the money you’ll leave her alone.”

“It’s tempting,” Bethune said thoughtfully. “But perhaps we had better be frank. I understand that you were one of the owners, and, as the underwriters paid you, I don’t see what you would gain.”

“All the gold on board her wasn’t insured.”

Bethune looked hard at him and Clay smiled. “It’s true. Then, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have a try at the salvage. I’m open to make a shot at anything that promises a moderate profit.”

“I suppose there is no reason,” Bethune agreed slowly. “Would you go up to ten thousand dollars?”

“No, sir!” Clay said firmly. “I stick to my bid.”

“Then I’m sorry we can’t make a deal.” Bethune turned to the others. “I suppose that’s your opinion?”

“Of course,” said Jimmy; and Moran nodded.

Clay was silent for a few moments. He would gladly have given ten thousand dollars to settle the matter, but he doubted whether Bethune would take it; and to bid high would rouse suspicion. It looked as if he had accomplished nothing, but he had found out that his opponents were more capable than he had imagined, and he decided that it would be safer to put no further pressure on them. He did not wish them to learn that he was the cause of the trouble they had had in finding employment, as it would indicate that he had some strong reason for preventing their return to the wreck.

“Well,” he said, “it’s a pity we can’t come to terms, but I can make no fresh suggestion. You’re up against a pretty big undertaking.”

“So it seems,” Bethune answered pleasantly. “We’ll have to do the best we can. And now, as we mustn’t take up your time, I’ll bid you good-night.”

Clay let them go, and as they went down the street Jimmy turned to Bethune.

“What do you think of the interview?” he asked.

“A drawn game. Neither side has scored; but I’ve learned two things. The first is that he has no suspicion that we have found the bogus case.”

“How do you infer that?”

“From his view of our character. You must recollect that we’re hard-up adventurers whom he wouldn’t expect to be scrupulous. He’d conclude that if we had found anything suspicious we’d have let him know and tried to sell our secret. He was waiting for some hint, and I was careful to give him none.”

“What’s the next thing?”

“That he’ll try to clean out the wreck before we get there. It was the only reason he let us go. I dare say you noticed how careful he was not to show any anxiety to buy us off. It’s curious, but I really think he spoke the truth when he said all the gold was not insured.”

“If it had been a straight deal, with nothing behind it, I think I’d have taken the five thousand dollars,” Jimmy said. “He won’t have much trouble in getting ahead of us when the ice breaks up. It will cost something to fit out the sloop, and our pockets are empty.”

“Oh, there’s time yet,” Bethune replied with a cheerful laugh. “Something may turn up.”

Fortune favored them during the next week, for Bethune secured a post as hotel clerk, and Moran went inland to assist in repairing a railroad track which a snowslide had wrecked. Soon afterward Jimmy shipped as deck-hand on a Sound steamboat and was lucky in attracting the attention of one of the directors who was on board by the cool promptness with which he prevented an accident when a passenger gangway broke. The director had a talk with him, and, learning that he was a steamship officer, placed him in charge of a gasolene launch which picked up passengers at unimportant landings and took them off to the boats. The work was easy, and paid fairly well; and Jimmy had held his post for a month with some satisfaction when he went off to meet a north-bound steamer at dusk one evening.

He had no passengers and it was blowing fresh with showers of sleet. Savage gusts whipped the leaden water into frothing white, and as he drew out from the shore the ripples which chased the launch grew larger. When he passed a headland they changed into short, breaking seas, and the craft plunged wildly as she crossed a strong run of tide. Here and there an island loomed up dimly, but the shore had faded into the haze. When Jimmy first joined her, the boat had carried another hand, but the man had gone and had not been replaced because trade was slack in winter. Jimmy thought that he might have trouble in getting his passengers on board; but they were not likely to be numerous, and the steamer would run into shelter behind an island.

He was late, for his engine was not working well, but there was no sign of the steamer when he stopped, and the boat lay rolling with the spray blowing across her rail. It rattled on Jimmy’s slickers and stung his face, but the cold was mild by comparison with what he had endured in the North, and he sat in the shelter of the coaming, glancing up the Sound every now and then. Presently a sleet-storm broke upon him, and when it blew away a blinking white light and a colored one broke out of the driving cloud. Jimmy lighted a blue flare and, starting the engine, headed for the end of the island. When he stopped, the steamer was close ahead, a lofty, gray mass, banded with rows of lights. She rolled as she crossed the tide-stream, and he could see the foam about her big side-wheels and the smoke that swept from her inclined stacks. It did not look as if she were stopping, and he was about to get out of her way when a deep blast of her whistle broke through the turmoil of the sea. In another minute he was abreast of the gangway and caught the rope thrown down, though he kept the launch off at a few yards’ distance.

The ladder was lowered, and hung banging awkwardly against the vessel’s side; and while Jimmy waited with his hand on the tiller a deck-hand ran down to the lowest step and flung a valise into the boat, and then turned to assist a woman who followed him. Jimmy could not see her well, but he noticed that she was active and not timid, which was reassuring, and he cautiously sheered the launch closer in.

“Give me your hand and jump!” he cried.

She did as he directed, and when she was safe on board he stood looking up at the gangway.

“That’s all!” somebody shouted; and when he let the rope go, the side-wheels churned and the steamer forged ahead while the launch slid clear of her with propeller rattling.

Jimmy pulled up a canvas hood which covered part of the cockpit and lighted a lantern under it before he turned to his passenger.

“If you sit here, you’ll be out of the wind and spray. Where are you going?”

“To Pine Landing.” She gave a start when Jimmy stooped over the engine where the light fell upon him. “You!” she cried. “Mr. Farquhar!”

He gazed at her in surprise, with his heart throbbing. Though she had turned her head quickly and the light was not good, he thought he had seen a flush of color in her face.

“It was too dark to recognize you until you spoke, Miss Osborne,” he said as coolly as he could. “Then, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Our house is scarcely a mile from the Landing.”

“The pretty place in the woods? I didn’t know it was yours. I’ve seen it from a distance, but have never been there.”

“I think you are to blame for that,” she said.

“Until a few weeks ago, I was living on the Canadian side.” Jimmy laughed as he added: “Besides, I hadn’t many opportunities for making visits.”

Ruth glanced at him with quick sympathy, remembering how he had looked when she had last seen him; but he was doing something to the engine and his face was hidden.

“How did you come to be in this boat?” she asked.

“I’m her captain, but just now I wish I were an engineer,” he answered humorously. “She’s not running as she ought to do, and I’m afraid you’ll have rather a long trip. In fact, I think we had better go round behind the island where there’s smoother water. Will your people be anxious because you’re late?”

“They don’t expect me until to-morrow. Some friends were traveling by the boat, and I thought I could get home before it was dark.”

Jimmy thrilled at her nearness, but he knew that he must steel himself against her charm. Her friends were his enemies and he could not involve her in any difficulties with them. He must wait until fortune favored him, if it ever did so. But the waiting was hard.