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Adrift on the Pacific: A Boys Story of the Sea and its Perils, a fiction by Edward Sylvester Ellis |
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Chapter 20. How Diamond Cut Diamond |
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_ CHAPTER XX. HOW DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND The three mutineers on board the schooner Coral had sailed away and disappeared from view on the face of the vast Pacific, and the captain and mate were left with little Inez alone upon a small, lonely member of the Paumotu Group, in the distant South Seas. Inez was too young to realize the gravity of the situation, and she ran hither and thither, delighted with her new home, though she found the cabin too warm inside to be comfortable, and she made frequent draughts upon the spring of cool, clear water near which the former residents of the atoll had built the cabin. Then, too, she had found that there was considerable tropical fruit growing in the place, and she made such havoc among it that Captain Bergen felt impelled to caution her, if she should become sick on their hands, she would be apt to fare ill, for they had little medicine at command. While she was thus engaged, captain and mate were reclining on the ground, in the shade of the palm-trees. They spoke only now and then, but there was a peculiar expression on their faces as they watched the schooner gradually disappearing in the distance, for it was a long while in sight. The time came at last, however, when even their straining vision could not detect the faintest resemblance to a sail in the horizon, though it was still visible, as a matter of course, through their glasses. "I believe she is gone," said Storms, looking toward the captain. "Yes; I see nothing of her." "Then it's about time to shake." The two brawny hands clasped, and the friends greeted each other with remarkable cordiality; and, as they did so, they laughed heartily, and the mate almost shouted: "Captain, but it was a good trick!" "So it was; and I give you the credit of inventing it. I never would have thought of it." "Shake again; and now to work." The mate had deposited some of the oysters brought up on the bank, and they were carefully opened. They were eight in number, and there was not found a single pearl among them. In all probability the entire lot which were carried away upon the schooner were not worth as much as the same quantity of bivalves from Chesapeake Bay. In short, this was not the pearl-oyster bed which had brought the two friends the greater part of the way around the globe. Suspecting--or, rather, knowing--the evil intentions of the mutineers, Abe Storms proposed the ruse, by which the visit was made to the wrong place. The mutineers themselves were outwitted, and, under the belief that they were carrying away a cargo of fabulous wealth, they did not wait to make an examination of the mollusks until they were well out to sea. When they should open and examine them they were not likely to suspect the trick, but would think that the whole journey was a failure, and the three left on the island were, in reality, worse off than themselves. And yet the true bed of oyster-pearls remained to be visited. "It is possible they may suspect something and come back again," said the mate, "but it is hardly probable." "Are they likely to send any friends to take us off?" asked the captain, with a quizzical look. "Not to any great extent. They will be sure to give us as wide a berth hereafter as possible. In the meantime, I propose that we investigate." The two rose to their feet, and, lugging the armor between them, moved off toward a point whose location was as well known to them as if they had spent years upon the atoll. While they were thus walking, the mate, who was much the better-educated man, said: "This pearl-hunting is a curious business. Those specimens that I brought up were the genuine species, and yet they have very few or no pearls among them. It must be because the conditions are not favorable for their creation or development, while, at the place we are about to visit, the mollusks are the same, and yet there are conditions existing there which cause an abnormal growth of the precious jewels." "Did you make a careful examination of those other oysters?" "Yes. As I told you, they are genuine, but they have no pearls of any account, the conditions being unfavorable for their formation. You know the pearls grow within the oysters, being composed of slimy secretions deposited around some foreign substance that enters them. It may be that a peculiar action of the tide drives a grain of sand into the mollusks, where we are to visit--though that is all conjecture." But Mate Storms, who was only fairly launched out in the discourse upon pearls, was here interrupted by the captain exclaiming: "This must be the spot." The particular bank had been designated so clearly that there could be no mistake, and had the chart, or map, fallen into the hands of the mutineers, they would have discovered the trick played on them in an instant. The spot was a peculiar one where the two friends stopped. Instead of being partly landlocked like the other, it opened out fairly upon the sea, and appeared to be entirely unprotected from the force of the breakers, which boomed against the beach. It would have been supposed naturally that the true course was for the fishermen to go out in a small boat, and make their explorations from that, but Grebbens had instructed the captain that the formation was so peculiar that nothing would be gained by this course. The shore sank like the side of a wall to a considerable depth, and the oysters lay on the bottom, with some clusters clinging to the rocks, where they could be torn off like sponges. It can be understood that the work of removing these would be almost impossible for any one excepting a professional diver, unless, as was the case with our friends, he should have some artificial assistance. But for the diving-armor, it is hardly possible that Abe Storms would have made a serious attempt to secure anything, knowing the danger from sharks, and the difficulty of retaining his breath for any extended time below the surface of the water. It was near the middle of the afternoon when this spot was reached. The sea was calm, but there were signs in the sky ominous of a coming storm, so that the two were anxious to make a beginning without any unnecessary delay. Stooping almost upon their faces, when the swell had receded enough to permit them, they peered down into the crystal depths, and caught shadowy glimpses of the prizes. They saw the craggy clusters, big and brown, clinging to the rocks, while others were outlined on the floor of the bank. "They're there, beyond a doubt," said Storms, "and it now remains to see whether they are worth the gathering. Help me get on this suit." Both worked deftly, and it was soon adjusted. The main thing was the breathing apparatus, Storms having some fear that at such a depth the pressure would be so great as to close the pipes, and thus shut out the air. However, the only way to learn was by experiment, and he did not wait. Carefully coiling his pipe, he took the rope in his hand and began descending, the two having arranged the signals so that with ordinary care no accident need result. Captain Bergen held one end of the rope in his hand, ready to draw his friend to the surface the instant he should receive notice that it was necessary. "It is a long way to the bottom!" exclaimed the captain, standing like the harpooner in a whale-boat, and saw the line steadily paying out. "It won't do for him to go much further," was his conclusion, noticing, with some alarm, that but little more of the hose was left on the ground. "I wish those pearls had fixed themselves not quite----Hello!" He knew from the instant cessation of the weight on the rope, and the motionless condition of the hose, that the bottom had been reached by Abe Storms, and none too soon, either. Peering carefully into the clear depths, Captain Bergen saw, too, that his mate was attending to business. _ |
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