“Went down in that terrible storm we had about ten days ago.”
“Down!” gasped all of the boys, while Captain Sanders looked the concern he felt.
“So they say. I do not know the particulars,” went on the man as he walked away.
It did not take the boys and the captain long to get into the shipping office and there they learned as many of the particulars as were known. A tramp steamer from Porto Rico had come in bringing word that she had sighted portions of a wreck while out at sea, and an investigation proved the same to belong to the Emma Brower. A portion of a small boat had been picked up, but nothing had been seen of sailors or passengers.
“Where was this?” questioned Dave, when he could get the chance.
“The captain of the steamer says about two miles west of Cave Island.”
“Cave Island!” cried Phil. “Why, that is where those Englishmen were going to hunt for that pirates’ treasure.”
“Two miles from Cave Island,” mused our hero. “If the Emma Brower went down, perhaps those in some of the small boats got to that place.”
“Perhaps,” answered Captain Sanders.
The boys and the captain remained at the shipping office for an hour, getting all the details possible concerning the wreck, including the exact latitude and longitude where the vessel was supposed to have gone down.