After this had been eaten Ned and Vance were eager to retire, the former that he might be ready to begin work on the yacht at an early hour, and the latter in order to commence the search for treasure at the earliest possible moment.
Both were awake before the sun showed his face above the waters, and Roy was surprised by the offers of assistance he received.
When breakfast had been finished Ned went on board the wreck to map out his work, but Vance was forced to wait until the cook had finished his regular morning tasks, for the two were to overhaul the old hulk in company.
Ned had no fears as to the result of his labors, providing nothing occurred to prevent him from doing as he wished, and as the anchor-laying was the most important, he began that at once by building a raft.
Had the others been with him this task would have been comparatively a light one, but forced to work at a disadvantage because alone, he had hardly got the first layer of timbers secured in place, when a series of wildest yells from the vicinity of the hulk attracted his attention.
“If I thought they’d found another box I wouldn’t stir a step from this place,” he said to himself; “but it may be they are in trouble of some kind, and I s’pose I must find out.”
Making fast his timbers that they might not float away and thus necessitate the additional labor of preparing more, Ned started at full speed through the grove, and on arriving at the opposite side saw Vance and Roy dancing wildly around an excavation in the sand, alternately calling him by name and yelling after the fashion of a Comanche Indian.
“They’ve dug out more money!” Ned cried, and for the time being the raft and the yacht were forgotten, for he could be as enthusiastic over treasure-finding as either of the others.
“What have you got?” he cried, dashing forward at a swift pace.
“Come and see!” Vance shouted. “Hurrah for Spider Key! Hurrah for ourselves! Hurrah for the pirates’ treasure!”