CHAPTER XXVI.
ALL ENDS WELL.
One beautiful September night the Diamond passed the Golden Gate and sailed into the harbor of San Francisco.
Below decks was a million in gold and silver, in the cabin a party of happy friends.
The voyage from Treasure Island had been without incident. Favorable winds, sunny skies, and calm waters had been with them all the way.
The day after their arrival in San Francisco the three captains and the admiral went to a prominent shipping agent. Captain Eccles acted as spokesman for the party.
“Are you agent for MacMillan & Lloyd, of New York?” he asked of the gentleman who presented himself.
“Yes, sir.”
“Authorized to make sales and transfers for them?”
“Under instructions, yes.”
“The firm own a ship named the Diamond?”
“They do, sir.”
“It is in port, here. We are ready to settle with the captain and crew, and buy the ship. What is the price?”
“How would you pay?” asked the agent.
“Cash, every cent.”
The agent named a price, subject to the approval of the owners. For an hour telegrams flew back and forth across the continent. Before night Captain Eccles had turned some of the treasure into cash, and become owner of the Diamond. The next morning he went to a reliable sea captain he knew and offered him a large price to visit Treasure Island and carry Vail, Smith and the rest of the baffled treasure hunters back to New York. The offer was accepted, and in the latter city the disconsolate adventurers arrived in due time.
There was a surprise for Vail when he reached the door of his office in Wall Street. He found it closed and the place deserted. The Speedwell forgeries had been discovered, and Loucks, learning that the police were after him, had fled, taking all the available funds. His precious nephew, Jack Benson, who had managed to make his way back to New York after the wreck, went with Loucks, and neither was ever heard of again in New York. But Vail was caught, and, after a speedy trial, sent to Sing Sing prison for ten years.
Admiral Semmes, Captains Collins, Eccles, and Dartmoor found themselves well-to-do men when a division was made of the cash from the sale of the treasure. To Captain Dartmoor were given a new ship and a liberal allowance of cash, and every member of his crew received a generous reward.
Eccles and Collins engaged in the shipping business in New York, and Nick was made a junior partner. The other boys were not taken into the business until they had put in two more years at school, for they had not been as well advanced in their studies as Nick at the time they left Parkdale.
In time the two captains as well as Admiral Semmes passed away, but the sign over the door of the shipping office was not changed. And as “Collins & Eccles” the firm is known yet, but the head partner is Nick, and his associates are Frank and Will Alden. By introducing modern ideas and conducting affairs with the enterprise and enthusiasm of youth, they have built up a large and prosperous business.
THE END.
“Who was Milton Marr?” by Frederick Gibson, is the mystery title of No. 200 of the Alger Series.