CHAPTER XXV
IN DEADLY DANGER
It took the boys a moment or two to catch the full significance of thissimple question and answer. Phil never boasted of his exploits. He neverspoke of them unless directly questioned.
But suddenly they realized just what his simple answer meant. He hadswum safely through fifty yards of shark-infested water! Impossible. Itcouldn't be done.
"Listen Phil," cried Steve, eagerly, "Don't kid us, old boy. Youcouldn't pull off a stunt like that and live to tell the tale. It justisn't being done."
"The sharks were dead ones," suggested Tom, skeptically.
"I wish they had been," Phil returned. "I'd have been saved a lot ofbother. Tying myself up in that slimy wet seaweed wasn't exactly my ideaof fun."
"Seaweed," repeated Tom while the boys looked more and more mystified."What do you mean--seaweed?"
Then Phil quickly sketched for them that nightmare journey across theshark-infested lagoon. They drank in his words eagerly, living over withhim every moment of that hideous experience.
When he had finished they stared at him with eyes in which there wasadmiration and a new respect. Bimbo, who, all during the recital, hadbeen edging nearer his idol, now crouched beside him, looking up intoPhil's face adoringly, even while he shook with fright.
"Seaweed," muttered Jack Benton. "Now who, but you, would have thoughtof that, Phil? It's a clever idea, all right."
"It was a lucky one," said Phil. "It sure had those maneaters guessing,all right. But now," he added, going back to the danger which menacedthem in the shape of Ramirez and his men, "we've got to get busy andhide the treasure. From what I saw last night, that gang of his won't beheld off much longer. For all I know they may attack this morning."
"At any rate, we'll have to be prepared for them," agreed Jack Benton,rising as he spoke. "As you say, the first thing is to dispose of thetreasure."
So in the ghostly first light of the early dawn, the boys filed out ofthe cave armed with pickaxe and shovel, determined to put the boxes withtheir precious contents safely out of harm's way.
As Tom had said, it was hard for them to realize that Phil's strangestory was actual fact. They had gone to sleep the night before so securein their possession of the treasure. It seemed impossible that now notonly it, but their own lives, as well, were menaced.
But Phil, who had discovered the danger and had no doubts whatever as tothe reality of it, worked like a beaver, driving them on mercilesslywhenever they stopped to take breath.
"We can rest all we want to, afterward," he reminded them when theyprotested. "But now our job is to get these chests out of sight and bemighty quick about it. Hi there, Steve, heave to, my lad. You're wastingtime!"
They had chosen a spot for the burying of the chests quite a distancefrom the cave but not so far but what they could "keep an eye" upon theplace.
When they had finished and pounded the disturbed earth down hard overthe great hole that contained such riches they scattered stones andtwigs over it with apparent carelessness so that when the task wascompleted to their satisfaction, there was nothing to distinguish thespot from the surrounding scenery.
"There," said Phil, drawing a great breath of relief. "Now I guess wecan take time for some breakfast. I'm about famished."
As the boys found themselves in the same sad fix they returned to thecave, relieved Bimbo of guard duty--a revolver had been thrust into thedarky's hands but it is doubtful if he would have had the courage to useit in case of necessity--and commanded him to "rustle some grub."
This Bimbo did willingly, glad to escape to the comparative safety ofthe cave's interior.
"Poor Bimbo," observed Dick, as he examined his revolver to make sure itwas ready for action. "Something tells me he isn't enjoying himself theway he should."
Steve grinned, but the grin quickly changed to a more seriousexpression.
"Say, Phil," he said, uneasily, "Don't you think we'd better scout abouta bit and find out if there's anybody spying on us? All the time we wereburying the treasure I felt as though someone were looking on."
Phil shook his head.
"I don't think so," he said.
"Then you don't think they'll attack right away?" put in Dick quickly.
Again Phil shook his head.
"I think Ramirez has them pretty well under his thumb," he said. "Theywon't dare to carry mutiny very far. And as for Ramirez himself, he's apretty cautious rascal--and a greedy one too. He must have spent a gooddeal of his time around these diggings. At the moment we brought in thetreasure he was hiding somewhere nearby. Later he came so close to thecave that he listened in on our conversation."
The boys looked startled and glanced about them uneasily. The sun hadrisen flamingly giving promise of another fine day, but even its brightrays did not do much to lessen the uncomfortable feeling that someonewas lurking near, spying upon them.
"The rat!" muttered Dick under his breath. "How much did he hear, Phil?"
"Enough," Phil answered earnestly, "to make him sure that we had notonly found the treasure but that there was still more to come. That'shis chief reason for not wiping us off the map at once."
"Wants us to do the work, eh?" said Jack Benton. "And then when we'verecovered all the treasure for him--which feat he couldn't hope toaccomplish for himself, not having the necessary equipment--he'll getrid of us and triumphantly carry off the treasure?"
Phil smiled grimly.
"Almost his very words," he said.
"Well," Steve fingered his trusty revolver, resolutely, "I have an ideahe won't find it quite as easy as he thinks for. We'll give him a goodfight for his money anyway."
"For our money, you mean," corrected Tom with a grin.
"I was a fool to think we had seen the last of that scoundrel, Ramirez,"said Jack Benton, moodily. "The smell of gold to that kind of scum islike raw meat to a pack of wolves. Of course it was he that shadowed usin San Domingo. On the strength of his story of treasure, it would havebeen the easiest thing in the world to gather about him a band ofdesperate men, ready for any illegitimate adventure. They have charteredsome sort of ship and followed us here. Simplest thing in the world."
"You bet," agreed Phil. "And now they think they have everything theirown way. They know now certainly there is a treasure and though theyknow it is temporarily in our possession--"
"Temporarily--say, where do you get that stuff?" demanded Steveindignantly. "You don't suppose they've got a chance in the world ofgetting that gold away from us, do you?"
"No, I don't," said Phil, adding soberly. "But it won't do for us toforget for a minute, that they are twenty against our six."
"Five and a half, you mean," said Tom with a grin as he thought ofBimbo. "I imagine old Bimbo--" But Phil sent him a warning glance as theblack boy himself appeared in the door to announce that "breffus donebeen prepared dis long time. Done nobody else wanna eat it Ah will,yassir, Ah's one hungry nigger!"
Phil insisted on keeping watch while the other boys ate and no amount ofargument could move him from his stand. However, Dick hastily finishedhis breakfast and relieved the famished Phil.
As soon as they had fortified themselves with food, they set about tobarricade the cave. For, as Phil had said, the odds were tremendously onthe side of Ramirez and his men and in order to overcome these odds itwas necessary that their position be strongly fortified.
They barricaded the mouth of the cave, leaving a gap only wide enoughfor one person to squeeze through with difficulty. They were careful toleave peep holes, however, through which they might watch the movementsof the enemy.
A heavy stone had been rolled inside the cave so that even the narrowaperture might be blocked up if it became necessary.
"There," said Phil, grimly as he regarded the operations. "Now let 'emcome on."
The Radio Boys Under the Sea; or, The Hunt for Sunken Treasure Page 25
