Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-04


Willingly returned to the key iron
IM1Nl which, but little while previous
- they believed they had escaped, a.
{ it was impossible to credit their own senses
The rudely.constructed condenser seemed u
uddenly have taken on sinister appearance
md the pourds swayed back and forth IN th'
Wind with an ominous movement.
1t was with an effort that Box threw OIL tht
errible forebodings which beset him' "no
ried to be cheerful, as he said:
''Well, fellows, there's bright as well as
lark side to it ALL We have come where we
iave a piece of bacon, an AK and hatcneV
tored, so we are better off than we thought
Then, again, it was from this place that we
ent out the gourd messengers, and they may
et do good. We must try to keep away
rom Gomez, and perhaps in the end we
hall be better of than if we had been
rrecked on some other key. Let's do little
diminishing to find out what the men are
bout"
Dudley was decidedly opposed to acting as
py He had seen quite as much OF Gomez
md his friends as he thought necessary, and
he feared recapture.
Lets dig up the things we buried here,
md go back where we can put up camp,
"But we must know what they are doing,
Bob insisted. "If you don't want to go with
Much as Dudley disliked being left alone,
ne thought it was preferable to venturing
lear the enemy, and he disappeared among
he underbrush, as Bob and Percy started
m what might be dangerous mission.
Uncertain as to where the men were, and,
;earful lest they might be met in the most
Unexpected places, the boys moved slowly
md cautiously, spending fully an hour in the
ldvance, only to discover finally that their
footsteps would hardly have been heard If
hey had taken no precautions.
It was evident, from what could be seen,
hat Gomez had ceased his efforts to find the
treasure, for the time being, and was intent
,nly on making arrangements to leave the
sland. With the exception of the wounded
nan, all were engaged in building large
raft, with spar in the centre, to be used as
/ mast for the Jaquita's mainsail or jib.
The material was the trunks of small trees,
formed in three layers, each placed at right
angles with the other, and all lashed firmly
together They had broken up the raft made
and partly sunk by the boys, and were using
The timbers TINS gained to strengthen their
own at the ends.
"By waiting for fair wind they can easily
get to the mainland on such a craft as that,
and we might do the same if we had one of
those Sails" Bob whispered to Percy
But the mate only nodded his head in re
ply. He was quite willing the men should
go, and WOuIu noJ LOOK upon ms luprlson-
ment on the key as hardship, if there were
no such disagreeable neighbors.
Let's go back" he said. eve can do
nothing here
Bob at once crept along in the direction
from which they had just come, and in a
short time they had made Dudley acquainted
with all that had been learned.
"No matter how busy they are now" Dud-
ley replied, apprehensively, "they may take it
into their heads to come over this way. We
shall be safer where you proposed building
the camp and the sooner we get there the
better / shall feel
There were several good reasons why they
should make their way down the coast with
out loss of time, and as soon as the bacon,
the AK and the hatchet had been dug up. the
little party started, feeling decidedly worse
in mind than when they set out, although
they were considerably better off in worldly
goods.
When they have arrived within about
quarter of mile of the place where they
proposed to make camp, they found on the
beach souvenir of the Jaquita in the shape
of the small compass that had been kept in
a wooden box in the cabin.
1t was one OF Dudley's old treasures, and
had been brought on board when the bows
first purchased the felucca, but had never
been used because a large and better one
was portion of the vessels outfit.
Dudley was the only member of the party
who showed much joy at finding the useful
article, but before the shipwrecked bows left
Egg Key they came to appreciate how fortu-
nate it was for them that it had been washed
ashore.
When finally the cleared place was reached
but little time was lost in selecting location