“Gee, that was tough luck!” murmured Randy. “To have it snatched away just when you thought you had it.”
“Well, that’s the luck of the sea,” answered the diver. “You have to take things as they come,” and he shrugged his shoulders and his face took on a sour look.
When the boys retired that night the yacht was pitching and tossing far more than at any time since they had left home. A breeze had sprung up, and this was increasing steadily.
“I shouldn’t be surprised if we got a storm before long,” remarked Jack, as he took a look at the sky. The stars had been out, but now the heavens were gradually becoming overcast. The wind commenced to whistle through the riggings and the boys could make out the dim outlines of whitecaps on the waves around them.
“Do you know, Jack,” said Fred, when he and his cousin had retired to one stateroom and the twins had retired to another, “I can’t say that I like that fellow Olesen at all! And I can’t say that I like his assistant, Nick Amend, either!”
“He certainly doesn’t strike me as being very pleasant, Fred,” was the reply. “But just the same, from the way he talks, I guess he understands his business.”
“Did you notice how eager he was to take in every word that Captain Corning has to say about the treasure? When the captain let slip as to its possible value I saw a light in Olesen’s eyes that I didn’t like. It was like a miser might have when he was gloating over his gold.”
“Well, I suppose the fellow thought it was a shame that he couldn’t pull up that treasure for himself. Nobody likes to dig up gold for the other fellow;” and there the talk came to an end.
The boys turned in, but as it was a hot night in spite of the ever increasing breeze none of them could sleep. Fred and Jack tumbled and tossed in their berths, and so did the twins.
“Gee, I can’t stand this any more!” cried Andy at last. “I’m going to get up and go on deck. I’m sure it’s cooler there.”