“Jumping Jehosephat!” he shouted as the boys gazed at him in amazement. “Where’n tarnation’d ye git it? Got a lot on it, ye say! Well, I’ll be everlastin’ly biled! What is it? Sufferin’ cats, don’t ye know? It’s ambergris, boys, ambergris, an’ wuth five hundred dollars a poun’ ef it’s wuth a cent! Come ’long, where in Sam Hill is it?”
“Ambergris?” cried Jim as the two boys hurried towards their find, with Cap’n Pem stumping at his top speed beside them, “and worth five hundred dollars a pound! Hurrah! We’ve got a fortune, Tom. There must be a ton of it.”
But although there was far less than a ton of the valuable material, there was enough to make the old whaleman’s eyes fairly bulge from their sockets, and, calling on the boys to help, he plunged into the water to his armpits and feverishly rolled and dragged the mass of ambergris beyond the water’s edge. Then, floundering about in the shoal water, the three gathered a number of smaller masses which had broken loose, and hunted over every corner of the beach and rocks searching for more, while Cap’n Pem constantly uttered exclamations of wonder and congratulations to the boys.
“Better’n a full cargo o’ ’ile!” he declared. “Why, ding-bust me! Ye’ve got nigh onto two hunderd pound here, an’ that’s a hunderd thousan’ dollars—jes’ as good as two thousan’ bar’l o’ ile. Derned ef ye ain’t millionaires! Reckon they’re bein’t no more. Run over and fetch the men, Tom, and hev ’em bring some o’ them casks.”
When at last the ambergris was safely secured in the casks and in the boat, everything else had been forgotten, and hastily throwing in the coconuts, Cap’n Pem and the two boys were pulled to the bark. Carefully and with constant cautioning from Cap’n Pem the casks of treasure from the sea were lifted on board and carried aft, where, to the wondering eyes of the skipper and the others on board, the boys’ find was exhibited.
“But it’s not ours,” declared Tom, when the captain congratulated the boys on having made a fortune. “It belongs to the ship. We’re officers, you know and we won’t take more than our lay.”
Despite the captain’s protests, the boys were firm in their decision and at last the other gave in.
“Well, have it your way if it pleases you,” agreed the captain. “The ambergris weighs a little over 300 pounds so your share of that alone will be about $3,000, each. Looks as if the Hector wasn’t so unlucky after all. If we’d taken three thousand barrels of oil—besides what we have—it wouldn’t have been worth more than those casks. You’ve saved the day, boys.”
“Reckon I’ll have ter knuckle down about them there bo’sun birds,” chuckled Cap’n Pem. “Mebbe three on ’em does mean good luck, jes’ as Mike said.”
“Shure an’ didn’t Oi tell yez ’twas a full-house we’d be afther havin’ aboord ship?” exclaimed Mike. “An’ b’gorra, ’tis harrd to bate thot—burrds or no burrds!”