“ That's all."
"You're dreaming!" vociferated Bob. "Say, Dave Fearless, you're a genius and a worker, but if you mean that there is the least hope in the world in going back over a course of over a thousand miles hunting up men with a two weeks' start of us--desperate men, too--scouring a trackless ocean for fellows who have to hide, and know how to do it, why, it's--bosh!"
"Bob Vilett," said Dave, with set lip and unflinching eye, "we are only boys, but we have tried to act like men, and Captain Broadbeam respects us for it. We have his confidence. ”

“ Captain Broadbeam came storming by like a mad lion.
"There's foul work here," he roared--"foul work all around. First that stupid, drunken pilot runs us afoul of a snag and stove a hole in our bottom. Now that rascally governor sends word asking a small fortune for the timber and truck and men to mend up the Swallow. All right. Pipe the crew, bosun. We'll have to overhaul the keel ourselves and do the best mending we can. Then I'm out of these latitudes mighty quick, I can tell you!"
"Don't he know?" inquired Adair, stepping closer to Dave's side and speaking confidentially. ”

“ There seemed to be no doubt but that Dave was back on the old stamping-ground of Pat Stoodles. He was not at all sorry for this. It was the destination of the Swallow. Perhaps the steamer had already reached it.
"Things are working easier for me than I had any right to expect," reflected Dave, "only I must keep out of the clutches of any of the natives till I locate my friends."
Dave got behind an obscure rock. From there he peered intently at the two men who now entered the cave; the one crawling on his hands and knees, the other maintaining still his lofty bearing of superiority. ”

“ Dave, rushing up on deck quite pale and agitated, had made the announcement that brought Bob to his feet with a shock.
They were two sturdy boys. The flavor of the briny deep was manifest in their bronzed faces, their attire, their clear bright eyes, and sinewy muscles. They had known hardship and peril such as make men resolute and brave. Although Dave was deeply distressed, determination rather than despair was indicated in the way in which he took the bad, bad news now being conveyed with lightning speed, mostly with depressing effect, all through the ship. ”

“ All right, captain, call it a dozen. What then? You march on a thousand natives. No, no, sir," said Stoodles, shaking his head solemnly, "they would wipe you off the face of the earth, first move. Don't be foolish, sir. Let me thry."
"Try what?"
"To rescue me young friend, Dave Fearless. Captain, you remember how I hocused them and came it over them when you were here before?"
"Yes, Pat, I have a very vivid memory of some of your whimsical doings," answered the captain, smiling.
"Then one favor, captain: loan me Bob Vilett and a few traps I need. Give me two days to bring back Dave Fearless." ”

“ To those who had aided and protected them, however, from Doctor Barrell, on board the Swallow to make deep-sea soundings and secure specimens of rare marine monsters for the United States Government, down to Bob Vilett, Dave's chosen chum and the ambitious young assistant engineer of the vessel, every soul on board knew that when they reached San Francisco, the generous ocean diver and his son would make a most liberal division of the splendid fortune they had fished up in mid-ocean. ”

“ Captain Broadbeam sank to a stool, bent his head, and groaned.
"Lad," he said, "I know what you want to do and what I'd like to do. It can't be done--no, no."
"Captain," interrupted Amos Fearless, in an eager, quivering tone, "we are old friends----"
"Belay there!" roared the veteran tar, springing to his feet and waving his ponderous arms like windmills. "Would ye tempt a man from his duty who has never yet over-stepped discipline? That duty is plain, Amos Fearless. This here Swallow was sent out to collect curiosities for the United States Government. ”

“ Gerstein raved like a madman when the drug Dave had given him began to lose its effect. He threatened all kinds of things--the law, for one, for kidnapping--but Captain Broadbeam only laughed at him.
"Just one word, my hearty," he observed spicily. "As long as you behave yourself, outside of every man aboard having his eye on you to look out for tricks, you'll have bed and food with the best of us. ”

“ Dave felt as if he had been scalped.
Dave was lying on the grass and Stoodles was working over him, digging and dabbling with a handkerchief to get the youth's eyes and mouth clear of the glutinous "frew-frew."
"Sorra a bit too soon was I," said Pat, as Dave blinked and groaned. "I've a lock of your hair for a keepsake, lad! I saw you go into that threacherous pit, I threw a plank across, I grasped your topknot. It was loike taking a drowned cat out of glue. Sit up, if you can't stand up. If you let that stuff harden once, you'll be stiff as a statoo." ”

“ We must go back to the Windjammers' Island and hunt for a trace of the Raven. Stoodles can make his old subjects, the natives, tell what they know. If we find that the Raven was not wrecked and has made for the South American coast, then we must put right after them."
"Dave, you give me a good deal of courage," said Amos Fearless--"you make me ashamed of my despair. I'm old, though, you see, and this is a big disappointment."
"Don't you fret, father. I feel certain that prompt work will soon put us on the track of the treasure." ”

“ From the nearest bushes some darts cut the air as the two refugees reached the ground. The next moment, showing that they had been aware of their movements all along and were awaiting just this opportunity to attack them, the four weapon-makers burst into view.
"Run for it!" shouted Daley.
"This way," directed Dave, dashing towards the corral. "Out with your knife, Mr. Daley. Cut the tether of one of those dadons. I'll do the same. We may escape those natives yet." ”

“ He opened his eyes. It was clear starlight. He lay on a sandy beach. The waves lapped him to the knees. Beside him was the yawl, stove in at one side. He was still attached to it by the wrist held firmly in the rope loop.
The yawl had proved a loyal convoy. As the tempest swept it along, Dave must have been held at least a part of the time out of the water. This had saved his life. Perhaps, he thought, he might at times also have lain across the upturned keel of the yawl. ”

“ There was not the least possible hope of any aid from the Swallow. He had gone overboard unseen by any person except Gerstein.
"He will tell no one," reflected Dave. "In the first place it would be dangerous for him to do so, for they would suspect treachery on his part. In the next place he is probably glad to get rid of me. Unless Bob or father look into my stateroom, I shall not be missed before morning. By that time----"
Dave halted all conjecture there. The present was too vital to waste in idle surmises. He planned to use all the skill and endurance he possessed to keep afloat. ”

“ They acted like new men under the spur of new hopes. They evidently believed in Dave. It was some time, however, before Daley would consent to forego his thirstings for revenge against Nesik and the Hankers.
"Don't you go for to spoil everything by thinking up a rumpus," advised one of the sailor's companions. "Young Fearless means what he says. Let's rest on that, say I, and follow his orders."
"I have none to give at present," said Dave. "When I do, I am sure we will work in harmony all right. Mr. Daley, you are the pilot. Can we reach the Windjammers' Island in any way?" ”

“ Superior numbers, desperate men heavily armed, had simply overpowered those on board of the steamer two at a time.
The bound captives were put ashore. With sad hearts they saw the Swallow sail out of the secret cove in the hands of their enemies. Dave's hardest trial was to listen to the triumphant taunts of Bart Hankers. The elder Hankers gloated over Amos Fearless.
Captain Nesik goaded Captain Broadbeam to the verge of madness with his mean sneers. ”

“ The sight of so many of us might change the ideas of the natives as to a friendly welcome," said Broadbeam.
"Why not make a raft, then?" suggested Doctor Barrell.
"Where to go?" asked Bob Vilett, who was quite dejected over the bad turn in affairs.
"In search of the threasure, shure," said Pat.
"We don't know where it is," said Bob. "We might search for forty years and not find a trace of the treasure."
"Not at all," put in Dave sharply. "Find an island full of caves, and we have the location. I am sure of that from what the outcast native imparted to me." ”

“ Even if it tried to, it would be some minutes before its crew could swing around into position to make the chase.
The launch took the channel like an arrow. Dave's spirits rose high, notwithstanding some loud and quite peremptory hails from the direction of the gunboat.
"Better than before," soliloquized Dave. "I can swing around the sandbars directly to the anchorage of the Swallow."
Glancing back, Dave saw that the gunboat did not intend to follow the course he had taken. That craft had stopped and put about.
"They must suspect that something's not exactly right," calculated Dave. ”

“ The night previous he was the only trusted one of the crew that Nesik and the Hankers took in the yawl that went for the treasure.
"They got the gold," narrated Daley.
"Oh, they did?" muttered Captain Broadbeam, with a jolly smile.
"I helped them--in bags just as Gerstein had left it."
"Smart boy, that same Gerstein!" chuckled Pat Stoodles.
"Then they discovered that you people had recaptured the Swallow," continued Daley. "All day they hid with the yawl in a little cave. They decided you people would be too watchful to ever afford them a chance to again get possession of the steamer. ”

“ We wouldn't run across a ship in a hundred years on this out-of-the-way route. We can never hope to row thousands of miles to a continent coast. No--provender being gone, and especially the rum, we don't feel quite as bold as we did when we started out," confessed Daley, with a dejected air.
"No," put in one of his companions lazily, "we'll go back and take pot-luck with what's left of the Raven crowd."
"If they'll have us," put in his companion. "Looked to me all along as if for some purpose or other Nesik wanted to get rid of us." ”

“ Four guards grabbed him up in a moment. All those around the royal daïs looked towards the present center of commotion in amazement.
Bob struggled in the grasp of his fierce captors, but was hampered by the bundles he carried. Suddenly one of the guards discovered he had shoes on. They tore away the garment encircling him. Some hurried words were called out to the king. In stern tones that monarch responded.
Bob could tell from the menacing manner of the guards that he was being borne away to punishment.
"Stoodles! Pat Stoodles!" he shouted at the top of his voice. ”

“ Nesik intended to lose the Swallow some way. The cyclone helped him out."
Daley drew out a long-bladed knife. He began abusing Nesik and the Hankers. He slashed the air in a frantic manner.
"I'll kill them for this, I'll kill them!" he raved. "Men, you'll help me? Why," he exclaimed suddenly, "then the gold must be on the Raven, stuck on the rock, eh?"
"Hardly," answered Dave. "No, Nesik intended losing the Swallow, sailing for South America, getting rid of you fellows cheap, and then he and the Hankers and Gerstein would make a grand division of the spoils. Their plans miscarried. ”

“ Daley looked sheepish, then surly.
"If you should get hold of it what could you do with it?" pursued Dave. "You can't spend it on the Windjammers' Island. You can never get it away from there except in a stanch vessel, such as may not come along for years. I should think," added Dave, "after all the trouble you have seen grow out of the Hankers stealing what was not their own, you would take a new tack."
"How, a new tack?" demanded Daley, surlily surveying Dave from under his bushy, bent brows.
"Be square and honest. The Raven people have deceived you. I have a proposition to make you. ”

“ If we should be found here by the natives."
"Why?" inquired Bob.
"Taboo. No one is allowed here except the women who give their life to tending to the flowers, unless by direct permission of the native king."
"Well," observed Bob quizzically, "you had ought to be able to get a free pass, seeing that you was king once."
Stoodles chuckled as if some pleasant idea was suggested to his mind.
"I'll be king again," he observed. "I've got to be. 'Tis only for an hour maybe, but Dave Fearless and I want to make that ten thousand dollars." ”

“ Vance Barnum is a real treasure when it comes to telling about how magicians do their weird tricks, how the circus acrobats pull off their various stunts, how the "fishman" remains under water so long, how the mid-air performers loop the loop and how the slackwire fellow keeps from tumbling. He has been through it all and he writes freely for the boys from his vast experience. They are real stories bound to hold their audiences breathlessly. ”