“What happened to the Southern Queen?”
“It struck a reef off an island on the coast of Yucatan. The accident happened shortly after midnight. Crazy John says they started to sink at once and the crew and rebels were too drunk to get the boats off. A few jumped overboard and tried to swim to the island. The sharks got them. Crazy John managed to get a skiff launched and he reached the island. It was uninhabited and a gale wrecked his small boat. He finally made a raft but he drifted for days before he was able to get across the channel to the mainland for the currents held him just away from the shore. He thinks he went insane then and it wasn’t until he got away from the sea and settled down here that his mind cleared up. But the horror of those days on the raft is too much for him. He won’t go back.”
“I don’t blame him,” said Tim. “It must have been horrible, drifting for days with the shore in sight.”
“I’ve made an agreement with Crazy John that he is to have a fourth of the treasure if it is found,” went on Ford. “In turn he has given me an excellent description of the island and that section of the coast of Yucatan. I’m sure I’ll be able to find the island without difficulty.”
“But will you be able to locate the remains of the Southern Queen and bring up the treasure if you do find her?”
“That’s something I’ve got to take a chance on. A good many people would like to have the same information I obtained from Crazy John.”
“Including Jack Sladek?”
“Right. Sladek would give a good many thousand.”
“Why is he so interested?”
“Sladek was one of the soldiers of fortune with Crespes on the short-lived revolution. He had a broken leg and they sailed away from Martee and left him stranded there. It saved Sladek’s life, but he doesn’t know that.”