As Jake said this, he drew up alongside the snag and dropped the anchor overboard. He must have been in a fearful state of suspense, for I could feel that he was trembling in every limb. When he came to divest himself of his clothes, preparatory to going down after the money, his hands shook so violently that he could scarcely find the few buttons that held them together. He didn’t dive, for the splash could have been heard a long distance in the stillness of the night, and might have attracted somebody’s attention. He made one end of the clothes-line fast to a brace, took the other in his hand, and, lowering himself gently over the stern of the canoe, drew in a long breath and sank out of sight. He was gone a full minute; but before he came to the surface I knew he had been successful in his search, for I could tell by the way the line sawed back and forth over the gunwale that he was tying it to something. An instant later his head bobbed up close alongside, and then Jake essayed the somewhat difficult task of clambering back into the canoe. Being a remarkably active young fellow, he accomplished it with much more ease than I expected; and no sooner had he gained his feet than he began hauling in on the line with almost frantic haste.
“I’ve got one of ’em! I’ve got one of ’em!” he kept on saying over and over again; and a second afterward one of the little valises was whipped out of the water and deposited on the bottom of the canoe. “Pap didn’t find my silver mind, like I was afeard of, an’ it’s mine, all mine. I’m rich.”
Forgetting where he was in the excess of his glee, Jake jumped up and knocked his heels together; but when he came down I wasn’t there to meet him. He gave me a shove that sent me to one side, and Jake disappeared in the water. He was greatly alarmed by the noise he made, and during the next five minutes remained perfectly motionless. Supporting himself by holding fast to the anchor rope, he waited and listened. He was so quiet that he scarcely seemed to breathe; and all this while an equally motionless and silent figure sat in the skiff, not more than fifty yards away, taking note of every thing that happened in the vicinity of the snag.
The deep silence that brooded over the lake deceived Jake, and he made ready to go down after the rest of the money. He was not out of sight more than half a minute, and again the sawing of the line told me that he had found the object of his search. There was another short, frantic struggle to get into the canoe, a hasty pull at the rope, and the second valise was jerked out of the water and placed safely beside its companion. Jake Coyle had worked his silver mine to some purpose.
CHAPTER VII.
AMONG FRIENDS AGAIN.
I cannot give you even a faint idea of the extravagant demonstrations of delight to which Jake Coyle gave way when he saw the two valises deposited side by side on the bottom of the canoe. He had been tormented by the fear that his father had found and appropriated the money, and he could not convince himself that those fears were groundless, until he had opened both the valises and plunged his hands among the glittering silver pieces with which they were filled almost to the top. Then he threw himself back in the stern of the canoe and panted as if he were utterly exhausted with his exertions.
“I do think in my soul that I’ve got it,” said he, in an excited whisper. “Now what’ll I do with it to keep it safe? If pap or that Sam of our’n——”
For some reason or other Jake became frightened when he thought of his father and brother. The idea of sharing his ill-gotten gains with them never once entered his head. He scrambled to his feet and hastily pulled on his clothes, after which he raised the anchor and paddled up the lake. As soon as I got under way the pursuing skiff was set in motion also; but I lost sight of it after we rounded the first point and entered the mouth of the creek which had been the scene of Joe Wayring’s exciting encounter with Matt Coyle and his boys a few weeks before.
Up this creek Jake paddled as swiftly as he could, his object being to find a hiding-place for the money so remote from the hatchery that no one who lived about there would be likely to stumble upon it. For two hours he never slackened his pace, and by that time I became aware that we were drawing near to the site of Matt’s old camp—the one that had been destroyed by Mr. Swan and his party. A few minutes later I passed through the little water-way that connected the creek with the cove, and there Jake made a landing and got out.
“I’ve heared them say that lightning don’t strike two times in the same place,” said he, as he drew me higher upon the beach and took hold of the valises, “an’ that’s what made me come up here. Swan has been here once an’ done all the damage he could, an’ ’tain’t no ways likely that he’ll come agin. Pap dassent come so fur from home, ’cause he’s that scared of the constables that he sticks clost to the shanty all the time, an’ don’t even go huntin’ for squirrels; so I reckon the woods about here are the best place I can find to hide my money. I’ll leave my canoe, too, an’ then, when I get ready to strike out for myself, I’ll have him an’ the money an’ both them fine guns right where I can lay my hands onto ’em.”