In some way Takyak had become acquainted with Captain Garrish, and eventually had interested him in the quest, although he very wisely refused to give the exact location of the wreck, having a shrewd suspicion that the captain might help himself to the treasure if he could. So now they were bound in quest of it.
But of more than of the treasure itself was the old Eskimo in quest of. He was desirous of seeing his home country once more. To the boys the barren northland wastes seemed to present little attraction, but with the Eskimo it was different, and his eyes held a faraway, wistful look when he spoke in his queer jargon of home and people. From him the boys learned that the treasure ship was very old and had been lying on the sand before the memory of the oldest man in the tribe.
The boys became excited as he described the wealth that lay within the weather-beaten hulk, but even should the expedition be successful, they saw little chance of obtaining any of the gold for themselves, and their longing to be home increased day by day. They resolved many wild schemes of escape in their minds and resolved to be on the lookout for any opportunity for getting away that might present itself.
This feeling was lashed almost into a passion by the roughness that Captain Garrish began to manifest toward them soon after he knew that they possessed his secret. He grew increasingly surly and ugly, and soon drove them to tasks far beyond their strength. Blows had not come yet, but there was no telling when they, too, might be added to the burdens the lads were bearing.
CHAPTER XIV
THE MIDNIGHT CONFERENCE
The situation grew worse, and it finally reached the place where the four boys were given almost no chance to talk together. As Captain Garrish had said, it was true that the ship was desperately short of hands, and the boys were kept busy day and night—with short intervals for rest, of course—at unaccustomed tasks that wore blisters on their hands and severely tested their patience and nerve.
“You boys are too much together—you waste too much time in talking,” snarled the captain one day. “You’ll keep apart after this.”
He had them separated when they turned in also, giving them berths that were far apart in the forecastle. Evidently, in his strange way, he was growing more suspicious of them and of Chief Takyak every day. Possibly he imagined the chief was telling them more than was desirable concerning the quest for treasure.
Fred it was who chafed most under the restraint, and Bobby was continually worried for fear he would do or say something that would rouse the captain’s slumbering wrath. Their only chance, so thought Bobby, was, by a show of meekness and docility, to fool the captain into thinking there was no longer any need for watching them closely.