CHAPTER XII
HARD WORK
“Anybody hurt?” Bill shouted as he leaned over the side of the cockpit.
“All right here,” Rogers cried as he slowly got to his feet.
“Same here,” Gordon declared. “But I wouldn’t want to do that for a steady diet.”
“We were lucky,” Bill told them.
“I call it skill,” Gordon grinned.
“Well, take it all round, I guess we got out of a bad fix rather handily,” Rogers told them.
“But, boy, I thought it was all up with you when I saw you coming down out there,” Gordon said and Bill saw that there were tears in his eyes.
“You thought I had lost control?” he asked.
“Sure did.”
“How did you think of it?” Rogers asked him.
“Of changing the cell?”
“Yes, of changing the cell.”
“Seems to me it was a natural thing to think of under the circumstances,” Bill told them, “But, to tell the truth, I didn’t think of it until I was up pretty high. I went up hoping that I’d strike a wind in the other direction. But I didn’t. The higher I got the harder the wind seemed to be blowing and it was carrying me right out to sea. So I did the only thing there was to do.”
“But suppose——” Gordon began, but Bill interrupted.
“No use in supposing. There wasn’t one chance in a hundred that I couldn’t do it.”
“But you didn’t have much room to spare,” Rogers reminded him.
“Well, a miss is as good as a mile, you know and all’s well that ends well, so let’s not worry any more about it,” Bill smiled.
“No, let’s get dinner,” Gordon added.
“You aren’t hungry?” Bill laughed.
“I’m always hungry.”
“Don’t I know it?”
“A body’d think you never got hungry,” Gordon declared as he started gathering wood for the fire.
“I guess I usually manage to put away my share,” Bill laughed.
“I suppose we’ll have to take a trip over to the other island after dinner,” Rogers suggested a few minutes later.
“Think we better wait till to-morrow?” Bill asked.
“What for?” Gordon demanded. “We’ve got to go so why not to-day?”
“Guess we might’s well,” Bill said putting some potatoes in the pot.
“You know what I’d like for dinner?” Gordon asked.
“That’s easy, square tails,” Bill laughed.
“What’s a square tail?” Rogers asked.
“Bill, he doesn’t know what a square tail is.”
“Gee, I guess I’m in wrong now,” Rogers grinned.
“But no harm done,” Bill assured him. “A square tail is a trout, one of the kind that have colored spots on them.”
“Is there any other kind?” Rogers asked.
“Sure there is. There’s a kind that we call a crotchtail that have no spots. Some call them togue.”
“They’re the lazy fellows,” Gordon explained. “You have to fish down deep for them and it’s about as exciting to catch one as it is to hook a good big sucker. They won’t fight, but they’re mighty good eating, just the same.”
“Some time I’m coming up to Maine and go fishing with you,” Rogers promised.
“And we’ll show you some fishing that is fishing,” Gordon told him. “Get a five pound square tail on a five ounce rod and, oh boy, ain’t we got fun.”
“An eight pounder is better,” Bill added.
“Too large for a beginner though,” Gordon insisted.
“Perhaps you’re right about that,” Bill smiled. “I reckon we’ll have to start him on the little fellows.”
“Kid me all you want to, but I’m coming just the same,” Rogers assured them.
“And you’ll be as welcome as flowers in May,” Gordon told him.
As soon as they had cleaned up after the meal they started for Honolulu after the implements they needed and had no difficulty in finding what they wanted. It was time to get supper when they got back and they decided not to visit the cliffs until the following day.
“Seems to me that about all we do is to get meals,” Bill growled as he started the fire.
“Too bad we haven’t a cook along,” Gordon told him.
“What’s the matter with the one we’ve got?” Rogers wanted to know.
“Oh, he’s all right,” Gordon grinned, “Only if we had a regular cook we wouldn’t have to take so much time from our work.”
“Well, we have to wait on the tide anyhow, so what’s the odds?” Rogers said.
“I didn’t think of that,” Gordon declared. “Guess we might’s well let the old one stay on.”
“Maybe he’ll go on a strike first thing you know,” Bill broke in.
“Don’t mention anything so serious as that,” Rogers laughed.
“Just think,” Gordon remarked as they were sitting by the fire a couple of hours later, “to-morrow at this time we may have the job all cleaned up and be ready to start for home.”
“And then again we may not,” Gordon reminded him. “Something tells me it isn’t going to be so easy.”
“Another hunch?” Rogers smiled.
“Maybe,” Bill smiled back.
“Don’t you think we’ve found it?” Gordon asked.
“Maybe and maybe not. I’ll tell you what I think after we get that stone out,” Bill told him.
“Huh, anyone can tell then,” Gordon told him.
“But no one can tell a thing about it till then. Of course we can guess and if you want mine you can have it.”
“Shoot.”
“Well, I guess it’s the place and that we’ll find the platinum.”
“That goes here too,” Rogers added.
“But it doesn’t mean anything?” Gordon asked looking from one to the other.
“Nary thing,” Bill assured him.
“Well, I’ve got a hunch that your guess is right so I’m going to bed and sleep on that idea,” Gordon told them as he got to his feet.
“Hope you don’t have any nightmares,” Bill told him as he too got up and stretched. “Reckon I’ll turn in too.”
“And here’s where I make it unanimous,” Rogers added as he threw a big junk of wood on the fire.
“How do you suppose that hole got there?” Gordon asked after they were all rolled in their blankets.
“Probably an ant dug it,” Bill told him.
“Thanks, I just wanted to know,” Gordon replied.
“No trouble,” Bill assured him.
“I’ve got a theory.”
“So have I.”
“What’s yours?”
“That I’m going to sleep if you’ll let me.”
“Go to it,” Gordon snapped.
They were up with the sun the next morning and breakfast was over and the dishes washed long before the usual time. No one said a word about the work of the day until they were ready to start. Then Gordon asked:
“How about leaving the plane here this time and walking?”
“Did you hear what I heard?” Bill asked looking at Rogers.
“You think your ears fooled you?”
“Well, strange things happen but I never thought I’d hear the kid suggest a thing like that.”
“Come, cut out the comedy. Anybody’d think that I never walked. Are we going to take the plane or are we going to walk?” Gordon demanded.
“We’re going to walk,” Bill told him.
“Right, that’s all I wanted to know.”
“We found the plane somewhat in the way yesterday and——”
“No excuses are necessary,” Gordon interrupted. “Didn’t I suggest leaving it here? Come on.”
They divided up the load they were to take with them and set off in high spirits. Gordon was especially elated over the prospect of an early and successful termination to their quest and insisted that they were going to find the platinum that very morning.
“It’s fine to be young and hopeful,” Bill told him, “But I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high if I were you.”
“Well, I don’t believe in hanging crape all the time.”
“Neither do I, but——”
“All right, let’s talk about something else,” Gordon interrupted. “Think we’re going to have a hard winter?”
“Tell you later about that,” Bill laughed.
The tide was at its lowest point when they reached the place and there was a space of about a hundred feet between the cliffs and the water.
“We’ve got about five hours,” Rogers said as he dumped his load on the sand.
“One’ll be enough,” Gordon assured him.
“Here’s hoping,” Bill added. “Now, how are we going at it? We ought to have brought along a short ladder. Think you can manage it on my shoulders?”
“Of course I can,” Gordon replied. “Steve, you hand me the bar when I get up. All right, let’s go.”
But it was not the easy task he had thought it would be. He was in a difficult position in which to use the crowbar although he had little difficulty in inserting the end in the crack. But, pull and tug as he might, the rock would not budge.
“Guess it’s stuck in there harder than I thought,” he panted after several attempts.
“And you aren’t getting any lighter all the time,” Bill reminded him.
“The fellow that put that rock in there sure did know his pebbles,” Gordon declared as he jumped to the ground. “It’s no use trying that any longer.”
“It’s funny what holds it,” Rogers said.
“Maybe it’s sort of rusted,” Gordon grinned. “It’s been there a long time, you know.”
“Well, I reckon we’ll have to try the dynamite,” Bill declared.
“Good thing you’ve got a good understanding, Gordon,” Rogers grinned.
“What do you mean understanding?” Gordon demanded.
“Why, what you’ve been standing on.”
“Oh, Bill’s shoulders.”
“That’s it.”
“Well, the understanding is going to get wobbly if he sticks up there as long this time as he did the last,” Bill told them.
Among other things they had purchased a couple of long drills and a hammer, and now Gordon, again perched on his brother’s broad shoulders, started the job of drilling a hole in the cliff. Of course he took advantage of the crack but, even so, it was slow work and he was obliged to stop several times to give the understanding a rest. Once Rogers insisted on taking his place but it was the first time he had ever served in that capacity and the result, as Gordon put it, wasn’t all that could be desired.
“As a regular fellow you’re A number one,” he told him, “but as an understanding you’re a flat failure.”
This opinion was expressed after Rogers had dumped him off three times. Bill again assumed the task and Rogers looked on with amazement to see how steadily he held him. It had seemed easy before he tried it but now he realized that it took a certain amount of skill. He felt a little better about it after Bill told him that he and Gordon had done a good bit of tumbling and that standing on one another’s shoulders was one of the best things they did.
“I’ll give you some lessons sometime,” Bill promised.
“I’m afraid I’m too old a dog to learn a new trick like that,” Rogers told him.
“Jimminy, but this rock is hard,” Gordon grumbled as he jumped to the ground to give Bill a rest.
“How much you got done?” Bill asked.
“About half, I’d say.”
“And you’ve been about an hour. Aren’t you getting hungry?”
“I’ll say I am.”
“And it’s only nine o’clock,” Bill laughed.
“Is that all? I thought it was ’most noon. It is by my stomach anyhow.”
“Nothing unusual about that,” Bill again laughed.
“I’d like to know how that fellow ever got that rock up there,” Gordon said a few minutes later as they were again resting.
“Very likely it wasn’t so high up at that time,” Rogers told him. “You know the shore line changes more or less and the sand may have washed away several feet here. Probably, if this is where the stuff is, that hole wasn’t more than a foot or two from the ground then.”
“And I sure wish it wasn’t now,” Bill declared as he set himself once more.
“Well, you haven’t got a thing on me,” Gordon told him as he swung up to his position.
“Maybe not, but I’ve got something on myself all right,” Bill chuckled.
Shortly before ten o’clock Gordon decided that he had drilled enough and that he was going to call it a job. By this time the tide had come in until the water was only a few feet from where they were standing and, after a short consultation, they decided to wait until afternoon before setting off the charge of dynamite.
“We’ve got to go before long anyhow if we’re going to get back without wading and no knowing what we’re going to get in to when we blow it,” Rogers told him. “Anyhow, there’s no great hurry about it and we’d better wait till we have plenty of time. By three o’clock this afternoon we can come back and work till dark if we want to.”
“Guess you’re right as usual,” Gordon grinned, “But I sure am in a hurry to shoot off that charge. It’ll be just our luck if some fellow comes along and swipes that hole I’ve drilled.”
“I guess the hole’ll be safe,” Bill told him as he began picking up their tools.
“Well, let’s hurry back and——”
“Get dinner,” Rogers finished.
“How’d you know that was what I was going to say?” Gordon demanded as they started off on the return trip.
“Ask him something sensible,” Bill broke in.
“Pardon me, but it was Steve I asked,” Gordon told him.
“My mistake,” Bill laughed.
“Well, I’m pretty good at guessing,” Rogers explained.
“A wizard, I’d say,” Gordon grinned.
“I agree with you,” Bill laughed. “It’s the last thing I’d have thought of.”
“Smarty.”
“You bet.”
But by the time dinner was ready they all confessed that they were half starved, and a little later Rogers declared that they had eaten enough for a dozen ordinary men.
“Now there’s nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs till the tide goes out,” Gordon grumbled after the dishes were washed.
“It might be worse,” Rogers told him.
“Such as what?” Gordon demanded.
“Well, someone might steal the hole.”
“Which would be a catastrophe,” Bill declared.
“For your shoulders?” Gordon asked.
“You said something.”
“Well, I guess it’s about time to start,” Gordon suggested a while later.
“It’s only one o’clock,” Bill laughed.
“Get out with your kidding,” Gordon told him pulling his watch from his pocket. “Why, what’s the matter with this watch? It’s stopped. No it hasn’t either,” he said, holding it to his ear.
“What time have you got?” Bill asked him.
“Five minutes to one.”
“Which is just one minute too fast.”
“Is that right, Steve?”
“Just right by my time,” Rogers told him.
“Can you beat it?” Gordon sighed as he returned the watch to his pocket.
“We should have brought a checker board along,” Bill said.
“I wish to goodness we had,” Gordon told him. “Think I’ll read a bit if you fellows don’t mind.”
“Go to it,” Rogers told him.
CHAPTER XIII
A RESCUE
Three o’clock came at last although Gordon had declared a dozen times that all their watches must have stopped.
“My, but they sure do have long days out here,” he said as he closed his book and jumped to his feet. “It’s ten minutes to three and I’m going to start tide or no tide.”
“Then I guess we might as well trail along,” Bill said as he picked up his load.
They walked slowly down the pathway leading to the beach and had covered about half the distance when Bill called their attention to a plane flying at a high altitude and well out over the ocean.
“He’s coming this way,” he declared.
“You mean that eagle?” Gordon asked him.
“What do you mean eagle? I’m talking about that plane out there.”
“Which happens to be an eagle. No it isn’t either. It is a plane sure enough.”
“I told you that in the first place. And what’s more it’s a bi-plane.”
“Wonder who it is,” Rogers mused. “Hope it isn’t anyone coming to see us.”
“Say,” Bill cried a minute later, “he’s having trouble of some sort.”
“You bet he is. He’s lost control,” Gordon cried pointing toward the distant plane.
“And what’s more, he’s falling,” Rogers added.
They could now see that the plane had gone into a tailspin and was falling rapidly.
“Funny he doesn’t straighten out,” Bill gasped.
“Can’t, probably,” Gordon told him.
“Gee, but it’s too bad,” Rogers groaned.
But just then they saw a tiny speck leave the plane and a moment later a parachute opened just as the plane struck the water.
“He’ll probably be drowned,” Gordon said.
But Bill was already racing back toward the camp as fast as he could run.
“He’s going out in the Albatross,” Gordon declared and started back to join him.
By the time Gordon had reached camp closely followed by Rogers, Bill had the cells in place and was climbing over the side of the cockpit.
“Here, I’m going with you,” he shouted.
“Make it snappy then,” Bill ordered.
“How about me?” Rogers asked.
“Make too much weight,” Bill told him.
“I guess you’re right, but I hate to have you go without me.”
“Don’t worry about us, we’ll be all right,” Bill assured him as he started the motor.
“Don’t take any chances that you can help,” Rogers called after them as the plane rose from the ground.
Gordon waved his hand in answer and a moment later Bill started the forward propeller. Rogers watched them as the plane started for the ocean and then he too started in the same direction. “If anything happens to those two boys I’ll never forgive myself,” he muttered as he ran.
“See anything?” Bill asked as the plane swept out over the water.
“Not yet,” Gordon told him as he scanned the water through the glass.
“You’ll have to look sharp I guess. I imagine the plane is at the bottom before this and I don’t know whether the parachute will stay on top the water or not. Most likely he’s swimming around somewhere if he can swim.”
“And he’ll make a pretty small mark to find.”
“Right, so strain those eyes for all they’re worth and don’t miss a thing.”
“That’s what I’m doing. But you’re going too far to the right, unless I’m away off.”
“Think so?”
“I know it. Quick, to the left.”
“See him?”
“I think so. Now you’re going right, but get down a bit lower.”
“How about it?” Bill asked a moment later after he had brought the plane down to within a hundred feet of the water.
“It was a seal,” Gordon told him.
“Sure?”
“Of course I——no it isn’t either. There he is right ahead of us.”
Another moment and the plane was hovering over the swimmer who had now seen them and waved feebly.
“He’s about all in,” Gordon declared. “Get down, quick.”
Rapidly as he dared Bill allowed the plane to settle toward the water and soon they were only a few feet above the waves. Then, without saying a word to him, Gordon plunged over the side and disappeared. Lightened so suddenly the plane seemed to leap upward and for a moment Bill had all he could do to control it. But soon he had brought it down close to the water again and was anxiously gazing over the side of the cockpit.
Gordon, watching the swimmer, had seen him, after a second despairing wave of the hand, sink from sight and knew that there was but a single chance. He struck the water head first and about twenty feet, as near as he could judge, to the right of where the swimmer had disappeared. As he came to the surface he looked in that direction and, to his joy, saw a head bob up about twenty-five feet away. But before he could reach the spot the head had again disappeared and, taking a long breath, he plunged downward. Down he swam with powerful strokes until it seemed that he must have gone far enough. He knew that a human body sinks but slowly and the one he was after had but a short start. But he could see nothing.
“I’ll go a little farther,” he thought. But just then his eyes caught sight of an object a few feet to his left and slightly above him, and a moment later he was moving upward his left hand grasping the figure by the collar of his shirt.
It seemed as though his lungs would burst before his head bobbed from the water and allowed him to draw the lifegiving air into them. His burden was, he judged, unconscious, and holding the head out of water he glanced about for the plane. But Bill had seen him and the Albatross was only a short distance away and moving toward him.
He saw that Bill had already thrown a rope over the side and in another minute he had grasped it.
“Keep the plane up and I’ll get the rope around him,” he shouted. “He’s not heavy and you can pull him up if you’re careful.”
A moment later and the form was drawn from his arms and, treading water, he watched as Bill drew it slowly up and finally over the side. He had been obliged to increase the speed of the elevator to counter-balance the increase of weight and the plane was now nearly a hundred feet above the water. But Gordon had no fear regarding his own safety as he knew he could easily swim ashore if necessary. So he waited calmly for the plane to settle down again. Down it came and he could see Bill as he leaned over the side letting out the rope.
The rope had nearly reached him when there was a slight sound just ahead which caught his ears and, looking up, he saw a triangular fin cutting through the water and but a few feet away.
“Quick, Bill, there’s a shark,” he shouted.
Even as he yelled his hands grasped the rope and he began to pull himself from the water. But his weight was pulling the plane down and, as he afterward told Bill, it seemed as though he would never get above it. And the shark was coming with the speed of an express train. But Bill had, the instant Gordon had the rope in his hands, thrown the lever over to the last notch, and nobly did the plane respond. Then came a flash of white as the monster turned to grasp his prey and for a second Gordon gave himself up for lost.
But he managed to jerk his body sideways and the shark missed but by so close a margin that the boy’s right foot was brushed by the slippery side of the shark. Before the fish could turn for another rush Gordon was safe and mounting the rope hand over hand.
“Talk about your narrow escapes,” he gasped as he drew himself over the side of the cockpit.
“Just by the skin of your teeth,” Bill told him, “But, thank God you made it.”
Then, as Bill started the forward propeller, Gordon turned his attention to the one he had saved. The body was lying across the rear seat face down and, as he turned it over, he gave a gasp of surprise.
“Great guns, it’s a girl.”
“Sure is,” Bill told him, “See if you can get any water out of her. I’m afraid she’s pretty far gone.”
It was an extremely narrow place in which to work but Gordon knew that it was a time when a minute might mean a life and he at once set to work while Bill headed the plane for the shore. Getting his hands beneath the girl’s body he slowly raised it up and was rewarded by a small expulsion of water from her mouth. Again and again he repeated the movement and each time a small amount of water came from her mouth, but there were no signs of returning life. But now Bill was bringing the plane down over the camp site and soon Rogers lifted the body from the plane and placed it on the ground.
“She’s alive,” he declared a moment later.
“You sure?” Gordon asked anxiously.
Rogers had been awaiting them with his medicine kit ready and now he forced a strong stimulant between her teeth, and a moment later her eye-lids quivered and they knew that they had won the battle against death.
An hour later, wrapped in heavy blankets, she was sitting near the fire sipping hot soup and stopping every few minutes to tell the boys how brave they must have been and how grateful she was. She was a very handsome girl but little more than twenty years old and had told them that her name was Laura Mann. It seemed she lived in Honolulu and her father was a wealthy merchant of that city. She had been flying for more than two years and this was the first serious accident she had encountered.
“My engine went dead when I was up ten thousand feet and to make matters worse, one of the wing stays snapped and I guess I must have lost my head for a minute. Fortunately father never would give his consent to my flying ambition until I promised that I never would go up without a parachute strapped on,” she explained.
“It surely saved your life that time,” Rogers told her.
“But it came very near not doing it at that,” she smiled. “You see, I didn’t jump soon enough and the result was I hit the water pretty hard and it rather knocked the breath out of me and left me pretty weak. If it hadn’t been for that I could have swam ashore easily.”
“Provided a shark didn’t get you,” Rogers said gravely.
“Not much danger of that,” she smiled.
“But one nearly got Gordon,” Rogers told her.
“Not really?”
“Very really,” he assured her.
“Then I owe you a lot more than I thought I did,” she said turning to Gordon who was blushing violently.
“You, you——” he stammered, but she cut him short.
“If you say anything like what I know you were going to say I’ll think that you don’t consider my life worth saving.”
“Then I won’t say it,” Gordon blushed.
“Don’t mind his blushes,” Bill laughed. “He’s mighty bashful.”
“But you must tell me all about the shark,” she insisted again turning to Gordon.
“There’s not much to tell,” he declared. “But I guess I did have a pretty close call,” and he told her what had happened.
“I should say you did have a close call,” she said when he had finished.
“I suppose your parents will be worried about you before long,” Rogers ventured.
“I’m afraid they are right now,” she told them.
“Do you feel strong enough to let us take you home?” Bill asked her.
“In your plane?”
“Certainly.”
“Oh, I’m all right,” she assured them. “What make of plane have you?”
“Well, it’s our own make,” Bill told her.
“You mean you made it all?”
“All but the motor. We bought that.”
“I suppose it’s a Liberty.”
“No, it’s an electric motor.”
“You——why, you must be the boys who won the race across the United States,” she declared.
“They sure are,” Rogers assured her, “and take it from me, they’re some boys.”
“I believe you. And you’ll take me home right now?” she asked turning to Bill.
“Certainly, if you’re sure you’re strong enough.”
“Let’s go.”
It was nearly dark when the Albatross settled gracefully to the ground directly in the rear of a large mansion in the outskirts of the city. The plane had been sighted in time for a considerable crowd to gather and it was surrounded by people all eager to know if there was news of the missing girl. When it was seen that she was a passenger a great shout of joy rose and as she jumped from the cockpit she was clasped in the arms of her parents.
“Can’t we get away right now?” Gordon whispered.
“Afraid not,” Bill whispered back.
“Let’s make a try,” Gordon insisted.
“All right. You get in and I’ll follow,” Bill told him.
But the ruse failed of its purpose for Laura was even then leading her parents to them and, whether they liked it or not, they were obliged to submit to the praise and thanks of not only her parents but of many others as well. Laura and both her parents insisted that they remain with them all night, but the boys assured them that it was impossible on account of their friend, Steve.
“He’ll be worried sick if we don’t get back to-night,” Bill told them.
They finally made their escape but not until they had promised to return within the next few days.
“Well, we got out of that better than I expected,” Bill declared as soon as the plane was headed back toward Molokai.
“I do hate that hero stuff,” Gordon said.
“But if you will do such things you must expect to be thanked, you know.”
“I suppose so.”
“She’s a pretty girl.”
“Is she?”
“And she’s as nice as she is pretty.”
“Think so?”
“Don’t you?”
“Haven’t thought much about it.”
“Then take it from me.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Funny she didn’t ask us what we’re doing on that island,” Bill said a few minutes later.
“I thought of that. And her folks didn’t seem inquisitive either.”
“Guess, maybe, we didn’t give them time.”
“Wouldn’t wonder. They’ll probably want to know when we see them again.”
“Some home they’ve got.”
“Some is right.”
“They seemed like nice people.”
“Sure did.”
By this time it was pretty dark but they were not afraid of losing their way as they knew Rogers would have a big fire going to guide them. And a few minutes later Gordon announced that he could see it.
“Got her home all right?” Rogers asked as they jumped out.
“Safe and sound,” Gordon told him. “How about supper?”
“All ready.”
“Lead me to it.”
CHAPTER XIV
THE SECRET OF THE HOLE
“Well, I wonder what will happen to interrupt our work to-day.”
Bill was frying flap-jacks and Rogers had gone to the brook for water while Gordon was making the coffee. It was Gordon who made the remark.
“It won’t take us long to find out what’s what if we don’t get stopped again,” Bill told him as he flipped a cake in the pan.
“Honest injun, Bill, do you have the least idea that we’re going to find anything?”
“How do I know, I——”
“I didn’t ask you what you know. I asked what you think.”
“One think’s as good as another, I guess,” Bill laughed. “Wait till we get that rock out and I’ll tell you.”
“That’ll be mighty kind.”
“What do you think about it?”
“I think it’s a pretty long shot.”
“You don’t think we’ll find any platinum?”
“Not a bit.”
“Well, we’ve had a pretty good time anyhow.”
“And met a pretty girl.”
“Rather.”
It was after seven o’clock, but on account of the tide they had slept later than usual and were in no hurry. But breakfast was ready when Rogers returned with the water, and they took their time eating.
“Suppose we don’t find the platinum in that hole,” Gordon suggested, “Are we going to hunt any more?”
“I don’t think it would be much use,” Rogers told him. “To my way of thinking that’s the place all right. Of course whether or not there’s anything there is another thing again. But just the same, between you and me we’re going to find it and we’re going to find it right there.”
“Hope you won’t be disappointed,” Bill told him.
“Well, it won’t be the first time if I am, and it probably won’t be the last.”
“What time is it?” Gordon asked.
“Why don’t you look at your watch,” Bill asked him. “You’re always asking the time with a watch right in your pocket.”
“Just habit, I reckon,” Gordon told him. “What time is it?”
“Half past eight,” Bill told him.
“Thanks, you’re a minute and a half slow.”
“Well, use your own watch after this,” Bill laughed.
“And we’ve got to wait another hour,” Gordon groaned. “Hang that old tide.”
“Better read another chapter in your book,” Rogers suggested.
“I believe I will.”
“What a calm,” Bill laughed as Gordon settled down with his book.
Finally the time came to start and they once more got their tools together and set off.
“Probably we’ll see a ship on fire or a whale with a sore toe,” Gordon declared just before they reached the shore.
“That last would be a sight worth seeing,” Rogers told him.
“Well, it’s going to take something unusual to stop me this time and I don’t mean maybe.”
“That goes for me too,” Bill added.
The tide was out just far enough to allow them to walk along the foot of the cliffs without getting their feet wet. They were all anxious to know what they would find in the hole and so hurried as fast as their legs would take them without actually running.
“The hole’s still there,” Rogers announced as soon as they had reached the place.
“It’s a wonder,” Gordon told him.
It took them but a few minutes to place the charge and fix the fuse.
“Directions say this fuse burns a foot in two minutes,” Bill told them. “Suppose we make it about four feet long. That’ll give us plenty of time don’t you think?”
“Sure it will,” Gordon told him.
So Bill cut the fuse and a moment later lighted the end. He waited until he was sure it was burning and then started after the others who were already some distance away. They ran along the edge of the water until they had covered a distance of some two hundred yards.
“Guess we’ll be safe enough here,” Rogers said as he sat down on a rock.
Gordon had his watch out and was watching the time. “Four minutes,” he announced.
“And four to go,” Bill added.
“Three minutes.”
“And five gone.”
“Only one left.”
“Ten seconds. Wonder what has——”
But then the explosion came and they saw the rock fly from the face of the cliff and land in the water at least twenty feet away.
“That part was a success anyhow,” Bill declared as they started back.
“Yep, it came out all right,” Gordon agreed.
As they approached the spot they could see that there was a hole in the cliff about two feet in diameter but they could not tell how far back it extended even when they stood directly beneath it.
“Give me a leg up and I’ll take a look,” Gordon suggested.
A moment later he was on Bill’s shoulders peering into the hole while Bill and Rogers held their breath waiting for the word which would tell them of success or failure. But it seemed a long time before Gordon spoke.
“Just as I thought,” he finally told them as he jumped to the sand.
“You mean there’s nothing there?” Rogers asked and his voice trembled as he put the question.
“Not a thing,” Gordon told him.
“How deep is it?” Bill asked.
“About two feet.”
“But it doesn’t seem possible,” Rogers told them. “That rock was fixed in there by someone and why did he do it if it wasn’t to hide something?”
“That’s a mighty hard question to answer,” Bill told him. “It doesn’t seem reasonable.”
“Want to take a look?” Gordon asked Bill.
“I’d like to if you think you can hold me.”
“Sure I can. Hop to it.”
A moment later he jumped off Gordon’s shoulders and confirmed his announcement.
“It’s as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard,” he declared. “Get on my shoulders and take a look,” he ordered Rogers.
“Guess I’m too heavy,” Rogers objected.
“Nonsense. Help him, Gordon.”
It took some time and a couple of spills but finally he stood on the firm shoulders and saw for himself that the hole was indeed empty.
“Well, it’s a great disappointment,” he said as he stood on the sand again. “I was dead certain that we’d find it there.”
“We aren’t greatly disappointed,” Bill told him. “You see, we didn’t really expect to find it.”
“You didn’t?”
“Not really.”
“Well, it’s some consolation to know that you’re not disappointed,” Rogers said slowly. “But all the same, I don’t understand it.”
“Don’t understand what?” Bill asked him.
“Two things. First I don’t understand why you didn’t expect to find the platinum in that hole and then I don’t understand why it isn’t there.”
“Of course we can’t answer the last but, you see, it was so long ago and——”
“But what if it was? Platinum doesn’t spoil.”
“I know that, but it evidently disappears,” Bill smiled.
“But it’s funny,” Rogers told them. “As I said before, someone went to a lot of trouble to make that hole and to fix that rock there, and why did he do it? If he put the platinum there and someone else found it and took it away, why did he go to all the trouble to put the rock back?”
“We’ll probably never know the answer,” Gordon told him as he began picking up the tools they had brought with them. “Guess we might’s well be getting back.”
“It isn’t time for dinner yet,” Bill reminded him.
“Are we all agreed that it would be a waste of time to hunt any more?” Rogers asked.
“What do you think?”
“I think it would be. I’m sure that that is the place where the stuff was hidden.”
“I agree with you on both counts,” Bill told him, and Gordon nodded his head in consent.
“Then there’s nothing to do but pack up and start back home,” Rogers told them.
“That’s about all, I guess,” Bill agreed, “Except that we’ve got to make a call in Honolulu.”
“You mean on that girl?”
“On her parents. We promised we would,” Bill told him.
“Of course you won’t see the girl,” Gordon grinned.
“Of course not,” Rogers laughed.
Although he was trying his best not to let them know how bitterly disappointed he was, both the boys knew that the failure to find the platinum had been a hard blow to him. They knew that he was far from being a rich man and had expected much from the venture. But all the way back to camp he kept up a lively conversation and tried to appear in good spirits. But they could see that it was forced and wished they could do something to make it easier for him.
It was after ten o’clock when they reached camp and they at once set to work packing up for their departure, although they had decided not to start until after dinner.
“We might as well have dinner early,” Gordon suggested as he finished rolling his tent.
“I was expecting something of the sort,” Bill told him.
“Well, we don’t want to get over there just at supper time, do we?”
“Sure not. Start the fire going and I’ll get busy even if it isn’t eleven o’clock yet,” Bill laughed. “What’ll it be, canned lobster or corned beef?”
“Lobster for me,” Gordon told him, and Rogers voted the same way.
Dinner was rather a quiet meal. In fact there seemed to be little to say. The boys longed to console their friend but hesitated to do so as they knew he was trying to keep his disappointment from them and would feel all the worse to know that he was not succeeding. So the subject of the platinum was not mentioned while they were eating. Although no one had said anything in particular about it as if by mutual consent they hurried to clean up as soon as the meal was finished and, shortly after one o’clock, were ready for the hop.
“Honestly, boys, I think you had better leave me here and stop for me on your way back,” Rogers told them when all was ready.
“Nothing doing,” Bill told him. “You’re going with us or we don’t go at all.”
“That final?” he asked.
“That’s final,” Gordon assured him.
“Then I’ll go of course, but I hate to be a wet blanket at a party and you may have suspected that I’m not feeling exactly what you’d call jovial.”
“Who’d a thunk it?” Gordon laughed. “Honest injun, Steve, as a crape hanger you’d make a good end man. You couldn’t be a wet blanket if you tried.”
“But I’d counted a lot on this thing and——”
“Don’t we know it?” Bill interrupted. “But we’ve done our best, you know, and——”
“And failed,” Rogers finished the sentence for him. “And now the chapter is closed and we’ll not say anything more about it. We’ve had a good time and I wouldn’t have missed this trip with you boys for a farm and so I’m mighty glad we came and——and that’s all there is to it.”
It was exactly half past one when the Albatross rose in the air and the plane carried a crew which was, so far as outward appearances went, in a joyous mood. Not a breath of air disturbed the ocean beneath them as they swept out over its broad expanse and headed for Honolulu.
“Know what day it is?” Bill asked as soon as they were over the water.
“Friday, isn’t it?” Gordon guessed. “At least it ought to be,” he added.
“And the thirteenth at that,” Rogers smiled.
“Well, you’re both wrong,” Bill told them.
“What day is it then?” Gordon demanded.
“It’s Saturday and the date is the tenth.”
“Which means that we don’t start for home till Monday,” Gordon declared.
“Exactly,” Bill agreed.
“I reckon he planned it so that he could stay longer with, er, with Mr. and Mrs. Mann,” Gordon grinned turning to Rogers who, as usual, was in the back seat.
“Probably you’re right,” Rogers told him.
“A lot of planning there’s been so far as time is concerned,” Bill retorted. “But have all the fun you want to at my expense. I don’t mind it.”
“Then what are you blushing so for?” Gordon asked.
“Who’s blushing?” Bill demanded.
“Ask Steve, he knows,” Gordon laughed.
“I guess it’s nothing but tan,” Rogers smiled.
“Maybe, but I’d like to take his temperature just the same. I’ll bet the mercury would jump out the end of the thermometer.”
“Keep it up,” Bill told him.
“Hope I never fall in love,” Gordon said in an undertone but loudly enough for both of them to hear.
“You probably never will,” Bill told him.
“It must be awful.”
“Ask Steve, he knows,” Bill advised.
“It’s not so bad,” Rogers laughed, “when you get the right girl.”
“But how do you know when you do get the right one?” Gordon wanted to know.
“You’ll know all right when the time comes,” Rogers assured him.
“Anyone will be the right one for Gordon provided she’s a good cook,” Bill chuckled.
“You said a mouthful,” Gordon grinned.
“Wonder how the Jap made out,” Rogers remarked a few minutes later.
“Perhaps we’ll get a chance to make a call on him while we’re visiting,” Gordon said.
“We must try to,” Bill added.
“Yes,” Rogers agreed. “I’d really like to know that he’s all right. I sure took a fancy to him.”
“Same here. He’s a regular fellow if his skin is a bit on the yellow shade,” Gordon told them.
All this time the plane had been skimming along at about seventy-five miles an hour and only a few hundred feet above the water. They knew there was no hurry and the day was too fine and the flight too pleasant to make speed. But finally they were hovering over the lot in back of the mansion, and the elevator was slowly allowing the plane to approach the ground.
“There’s Laura,” Gordon announced when they were nearly down.
“Guess she must have been expecting us,” Rogers chuckled.
“And there’s the rest of the family,” Gordon said as he saw a man and a woman emerging from the rear of the house.
They were greeted most heartily by the entire family and made to feel at home at once. In spite of their evident great wealth and high position the boys knew that they were just plain people, the kind they liked. Two men, who evidently worked about the place, rolled the plane into the commodious garage a hundred feet back of the house, and Rogers and the boys followed their hosts into the house.
The house was most luxuriously furnished but with such excellent taste that there was no hint of ostentation. A hot bath was most grateful to all three, and a little later they sat down to a meal which, as Gordon afterward declared, was in entire keeping with the house.
“Those biscuits were pretty nearly up to your standard, Bill,” he whispered as they left the dining-room an hour later.
“All they needed was a square tail to go with them,” Bill whispered back.
Seated on the broad porch Rogers asked Mr. Mann if he knew of their Jap friend and was told that he knew of him although he had never met him. Then Rogers told him the story of their meeting.
“Suppose we have the car around and run over and call on him. I know they usually keep open until nine o’clock or later.”
“Just what we’d like, eh boys?” Rogers replied.
“You bet,” Gordon told him.
They found their friend in and delighted to see them again and were happy to learn that things had come out splendidly.
“I bought my partner out two days ago and he left for the States yesterday,” the Jap told them.
Sunday morning they went to Church with the family in spite of their insistence that they had no decent clothes to wear.
“Doesn’t make a mite of difference,” Mr. Mann assured them. “We’re rather a free and easy lot here and your clothes will attract no attention.”
After dinner the car was brought around and they enjoyed a long drive about the city and outlying country.
“It’s most as good as Maine,” Gordon whispered to Bill as they returned to the house.
“But not quite?” Bill smiled.
“No place can be quite as good as home,” Gordon told him.
“And square tails,” Bill chuckled.
“You’re getting your figures of speech mixed,” Gordon told him.
“Thought you’d appreciate it,” Bill smiled.
It was sometime in the night that Bill’s sleep was broken by a violent jab in the side.
“What the dickens?” he grunted.
“Listen.”
“Where’s the fire?”
“There isn’t any fire, but I’m a chuckle headed idiot,” Gordon told him.
“That’s no news, but why wake me up to tell me about it? Afraid you’ll recover before morning?”
“Listen, Bill. I woke up a few minutes ago and was thinking and it came to me all of a sudden.”
“What came and why?”
“Why how we made a mistake about that platinum.”
“You mean you think it’s there?” Bill was wide awake now and sitting up in bed.
“I don’t know that, but I’m sure we overlooked a bet.”
“Where?”
“In that hole.”
“Nonsense.”
“’Tisn’t nonsense. Do you remember how the bottom of it looked?”
“Why, no, not particularly. Seems to me it was kind of sandy looking.”
“That’s just it, it was sandy. In fact it was covered with sand.”
“Well, what of it?”
“My, but you’re dumb. Why didn’t we look under that sand?”
“Brush it away, you mean?”
“Sure, why didn’t we brush it away?”
“I’ll bite. Why didn’t we?”
“I told you why I didn’t. Because I’m an idiot. You can draw your own conclusions in regard to yourself.”
“Well, it isn’t too late.”
“But don’t you think it’s a possibility?”
“That the platinum is there?”
“That’s what I meant.”
“Of course it’s possible.”
“And we’ll go and take another look?”
“Of course.”
Rogers occupied another room and so they had to wait till morning before telling him of their new idea, and after talking it over for a few minutes longer, they turned over for another nap.
CHAPTER XV
CONCLUSION
“You mean you think there’s a chance that we overlooked it?”
Rogers asked the question of the boys as they were sitting on the porch the following morning waiting to be called to breakfast. Gordon had told him what he had told Bill during the night and he was all excitement in an instant.
“I think there is,” Gordon told him.
“But rather a small one I’d say,” Bill added. “Of course, as Gordon says, there’s a chance that there’s another hole under that layer of sand, but my advice is that you don’t get your hopes up again. Of course we’ll stop there on the way back and see what there is to see, but you mustn’t be disappointed if nothing comes of it.”
“But that sand didn’t get there by itself, that’s certain, and so it must have been put there for a purpose and what other purpose could there have been?” Rogers demanded.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Gordon told him.
The evening before, in answer to a rather broad hint given them by their host, they had told him their story and Mr. Mann had agreed with them that it was a pretty long chance. He had, however, sympathized with them over their failure, and they had agreed not to mention their new purpose.
“We’ve got enough grub in the plane to last a couple of days, haven’t we,” Bill asked just as the breakfast bell sounded.
“Sure we have if we don’t eat too much,” Gordon told him as he got up from his chair.
“It wouldn’t make any of us one bit mad if you folks would make up your minds to stay with us a few days,” Mr. Mann told them as they took their seats at the table.
“It’s mighty kind of you to ask us,” Bill replied, “but we’ve really got to go.”
“Stay over one day and I’ll take you down to the south shore and show you some surf board riding that’ll make you sit up and take notice,” he coaxed.
“Please do,” Laura added her invitation and Mrs. Mann was no less insistent.
“Well, I don’t know,” Bill hesitated. “What do you say?” he asked turning to Rogers.
“I guess we can spare one more day,” he said.
“How about you, Gordon?”
“I’m for it. I’ve never seen a real surf board rider and I’ve always wanted to.”
“Then we’ll consider it settled,” Mr. Mann smiled. “About ten o’clock is the best time and I think I can promise you some fun.”
“Bill was all right,” Gordon whispered to Rogers a few minutes later as they were leaving the house for the porch, “until the girl put in her two cents’ worth.”
“But I thought you were keen for it,” Rogers told him.
“Well, I am in a way, but I think we ought to get back there as soon as we can. Suppose someone finds that hole and goes to poking around in it.”
“Oh, I guess there’s no danger of that,” Rogers told him. “We didn’t see a soul about there except the Jap all the time we were there. It’ll be safe enough, I reckon.”
“I suppose it will only——”
“Only what?”
Bill had lingered behind a few minutes to speak to Laura and had joined them just in time to hear Gordon’s last words.
“Nothing,” Gordon told him.
“Didn’t you want to stay?” Bill demanded.
“Sure he did,” Rogers broke in. “Only he’s afraid someone will get ahead of us over on the other island.”
“Of course I want to stay,” Gordon added. “It’ll probably be the only chance we’ll ever have to see real natives ride surf boards and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The sight was all their host had promised and for fully two hours they watched the riders of both sexes as they raced in on the long swells.
“Gee, but I’d like to have a try at it,” Gordon declared.
“It takes a lot of practice to do it right,” Mr. Mann told him.
“To do it at all, I’d say,” Bill declared.
“Few white people ever get the knack,” Mr. Mann said. “Of course, after a little practice one can do something at it but it seems to take a native to do it right.”
“I imagine it’s some different from riding a board after a motor boat,” Rogers declared.
“Well, yes, I reckon it is,” Mr. Mann told him. “The hard part of it seems to be to hit the wave at just the right second and that’s what counts.”
“Well, I’m mighty glad we stayed,” Gordon said as they started back.
“So say we all of us,” Bill added.
They were treated to another long ride in the afternoon and they were forced to acknowledge that they had never seen more beautiful scenery.
“Not a bad place to live, is it?” Mr. Mann asked as they rolled into the driveway shortly before six o’clock.
“It’s wonderful,” they assured him.
“But you ought to see Maine in the summer time,” Gordon added.
“I’ve never been there,” Mr. Mann told them, “But it’s possible that we may see it next summer.”
“If you do you must come to Skowhegan and make us a visit,” Bill quickly told him and grinned as he caught the wink which Gordon gave Rogers.
“We surely will do that very thing,” Mr. Mann assured him.
It was just nine o’clock when they took off the following morning after bidding farewell to their new friends and exacting another promise that they would come to see them the following summer if it were at all possible.
“Nice people,” Rogers declared, as the Albatross rose in the air.
“And then some,” Bill added as he headed her nose toward Molokai.
“Father, mother and——ahem——daughter, all of them,” Gordon agreed.
“You said it,” Bill told him. “She’s a fine girl and I don’t care who knows it.”
“She’d be prettier if she had a bit more nose,” Gordon suggested.
“What’s the matter with her nose?” Bill demanded.
“Nothing, what there is of it,” Gordon laughed.
“Well, I guess it suits her all right.”
“And somebody else as well,” Gordon again laughed.
“Looks to me as though it was going to rain,” Rogers changed the conversation. He did not realize how dear the two boys were to each other and sometimes feared lest real offense might be given when they were kidding.
“Does look a bit thick off there,” Bill agreed. “Hope it holds off till we land.”
“It’s going to take more than rain to keep me away from that hole,” Gordon told them. “Believe me, I’m anxious to find out if my hunch is in good working order.”
“You didn’t say you had a hunch. I thought it was just an idea,” Bill told him.
“Is there any difference?” Rogers wanted to know.
“Sure there is,” Gordon told him. “A hunch is an idea with a college education.”
“Then I hope this one of yours went to a good college,” Rogers laughed.
“You’ll have to wait a bit after we get there, rain or no rain,” Bill said a few minutes later. “It’ll be just about high tide when we land.”
“That old tide again,” Gordon groaned.
“Which waits for no man,” Rogers reminded him.
“It’s going to rain all right,” Bill declared just then as a drop of water struck the wind shield in front of him.
“Just a shower, I reckon,” Rogers told him.
But a few minutes later the rain was coming down in torrents and the visibility was so poor that they could see but a short distance ahead.
“Better slow her down or we’ll be going past without seeing it,” Gordon cautioned.
“We’re only making a bit over thirty now,” Bill told him.
“Then the wind must be pretty strong,” Rogers suggested. “It seems to me as though we were going pretty fast.”
“We aren’t nearly there yet,” Bill declared.
“Some shower, if you ask me,” Gordon declared.
But it turned out that Rogers was right. It was only a shower, and a few minutes later the sun burst through the clouds and the rain stopped so suddenly that Gordon declared someone must have turned off the spigot.
“Is that our island?” Gordon asked pointing straight ahead.
“Unless I got lost in the rain it is,” Bill told him.
“Well, I guess you didn’t because those are our cliffs all right.”
“And right over there is where our hopes are,” Rogers smiled pointing a bit to the right.
“Tide’s in all right but I reckon it’s on the turn,” Gordon told them.
“Which means that we’ll have time to get some dinner,” Bill laughed.
“I sure do like that statement,” Gordon assured him.
A few minutes later the plane settled to the ground at their old camping ground and they jumped out and at once began getting things in shape for the meal.
“Doesn’t look as though there’d been anyone here,” Gordon announced as he looked about.
“I guess there doesn’t anyone come here very often,” Bill told him.
“It isn’t a very inviting place to come to,” Rogers added.
It was nearly two o’clock when they started out for the hole in the cliff and Gordon hurried them along so fast that Rogers was panting heavily when they reached the spot.
“I’ll have to go into training if I’m going to follow you fellows about much,” he declared.
“Quick, Bill, give me a jump up,” Gordon ordered and Bill hastened to take his stand beneath the hole.
In an instant Gordon was on his shoulders and then the sand began to fly as he brushed it out with both hands.
“Go easy there,” Bill gasped stepping back a pace and nearly upsetting his burden. “I’m getting the most of that sand down the back of my neck. Don’t brush it out so hard and then it’ll fall down straight.”