The Secret of the Reef

“Thank you,” murmured Jimmy. “You have made me hopeful.” He looked up abruptly as Bethune addressed him. “Oh, yes,” he said hastily. “Quite so.”

“Quite so!” exclaimed Bethune. “My impression is that you haven’t heard a word I said.”

“I believe that’s possible,” Mrs. Jaques laughed. “However, he has a good excuse. You can’t blame him for talking to me.”

The party broke up soon afterward, and the next morning the sloop sailed for Victoria. Jimmy spent several anxious days in the city before he got a telegram from Bethune informing him that he had come to terms with the underwriters. They were more liberal than Jimmy had hoped, and he thought there should be money enough to launch the new venture in a modest way. He gave the express company orders to deliver the gold, and then set off to visit Osborne.

It was evening when he reached the house. He entered it longing to see Ruth and wondering how she would greet him, but disturbed about his meeting with her father. He was shown at once into the library, and Osborne rose to receive him.

“Aynsley Clay told me that you would call, and I am glad you have done so,” he said cordially. “I hope you will stay for a few days.”

“Thanks, I’m afraid not,” Jimmy answered. “Perhaps I had better get my business done. I really came because Clay asked it; he made me promise to bring you something. I left it in the hall.”

Osborne rang a bell and a square package neatly sewed up in canvas was brought in. Jimmy placed it on the table as soon as they were alone, and began to cut the stitches.

“I don’t know whether you’ll be surprised or not,” he said, as he uncovered a strong wooden box which showed signs of having long been soaked in water.

“That!” exclaimed Osborne, dropping into the nearest chair. “Who found that box?”

“I did – in the steamer’s strong-room.”

Beads of perspiration stood on Osborne’s forehead, and he was breathing with difficulty.

“Do you know – what it contains?” he gasped.

“Yes,” Jimmy answered quietly. “It isn’t gold. Some of the stuff is still inside but I took the rest out to save weight.”

Osborne leaned back in his chair, limp from the shock.

“When did you find it?” he asked.

“About eight months ago, roughly speaking.”

“And Clay knew about it all along?”

“No. We didn’t tell him until a week before his death.”

“That sounds curious,” Osborne said suspiciously. “Since you were silent so long, why did you speak about the thing at last?”

“It looked as if we might have trouble. Clay could have prevented our working, and when he came off to talk matters over we told him about the case. In the end, he lent us his diver and all the assistance he could.”

“And was that the only concession he made?”

“Yes,” said Jimmy with a flush. “It was all we demanded and all we got. It would simplify things if you took that for granted.”

“I suppose you know you were easily satisfied?” Osborne’s tone was ironical.

Jimmy made no response.

“Am I to understand that the case is mine absolutely, to do what I like with?” Osborne asked.

“Yes. You may regard it as a gift from Clay.”

“Who knows anything about the matter besides yourself?”

“My two partners, and a storekeeper who financed us, and his wife. They’re to be trusted. I’ll answer for them.”

“Well,” said Osborne quietly, “you’ll allow me to remark that you and your friends seem to have acted in a very honorable manner. That Clay should send me the case was, in a sense, characteristic of him; but I had no claim on you. If you won’t resent it, I should like to thank you for the line you have taken.”

“I haven’t finished my errand yet. You probably know that we salved a quantity of the gold, but you cannot have heard that we recovered and have accounted for every package that was insured.”

Osborne looked puzzled. He indicated the box on the table.

“You mean counting this one?”

“No; we found a duplicate, containing gold of rather more than the declared weight, on which the underwriters have paid our salvage claim.”

Osborne started, and his face expressed blank astonishment.

“But it sounds impossible! I can’t understand – ”

“It’s puzzling,” Jimmy agreed. “There’s obviously a mystery; but, after talking the thing over, my partners and I decided that we wouldn’t try to unravel it.”

“Perhaps you are wise. You are certainly considerate. But, still, I don’t see – Did you find the thing in the strong-room?”

“Not in the room. Clay showed me where to cut a hole in the roof. He crawled through and brought out the box. I imagine it was hidden among the deckbeams, but we hadn’t time to examine the place.”

“Ah!” exclaimed Osborne; for a light dawned on him as he remembered his partner’s determined attempt to break through the cabin floor on the night of the wreck. “Perhaps you are right. So the insurance people paid your claim and asked no questions. Did they seem satisfied?”

“Yes. I think the matter’s closed.”

There was keen relief in Osborne’s face, and the slackness of his pose suggested the sudden relaxing of a heavy strain. He sat very still for a few moments and then got up.

“Mr. Farquhar,” he said, “you must guess the satisfaction with which I have heard your news. Indeed, I feel that I must think over it quietly. If you will excuse me for a while, Miss Dexter and my daughter will be glad to entertain you.”

“But I must get back as soon as possible,” Jimmy objected, feeling that to stay, as he longed to do, would be embarrassing both to himself and to his host.

“You can’t leave before to-morrow,” said Osborne, smiling. “There’s no night boat now, the launch is under repairs, and my car’s in town. I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with our hospitality.”

He rang the bell, and when Jimmy left him he sat down with knitted brows. He wondered where Clay had got the gold. Then suddenly his fist clenched tightly and his frown grew deeper: he remembered that somebody had worked out the alluvial mine before they reached it. There was cause for grave suspicion there, particularly as the case had been put on board secretly, without appearing on the ship’s papers, which would have brought it to Osborne’s knowledge.

The box of gold, however, was not of the first importance. Clay, on his deathbed, perhaps by way of making reparation, had sent him a gift which had banished the apprehensions that had haunted him for years. Whatever Clay had done, Osborne could forgive him now. At last he was a free man: the only evidence against him was in his hands, and he meant to destroy it at once. After all, he had bitterly regretted his one great offense; and his partner’s last act had been to save him from its consequences.

CHAPTER XXXII – THE BARRIERS GO DOWN

When Jimmy was shown into the large, cool drawing-room, he stood awkwardly still, with a thrill of keen satisfaction and an effort for self-control. He had so far seen little of Osborne’s house, and the beauty of the room had its effect on him. Curtains, rugs, furniture and pictures formed harmonies of soft color and delicate design, which seemed to him a fitting environment for the occupant of the room.

Ruth wore a clinging evening dress, and Jimmy had hitherto seen her only in traveling and outing clothes. He could not have told how the dress was cut, nor have described its shade, but he knew it was exactly what she ought to wear. The way it hung about her hinted at the graceful lines of her figure; it matched the purity of her coloring and showed up the gloss of her hair. But although the effect was admirable, it was daunting, in a sense. She was wonderfully beautiful and in her proper place; he felt himself rough and awkward, and was conscious of his disadvantages.