“You ought to have thought of that when you deserted us in that cowardly fashion during the magnetic storm,” rejoined the professor.
The deck of the Nomad was almost on a level with the top of the schooner’s bulwarks, so it was easy for the professor to step from one craft to the other. He now did so, disdaining the proffered aid of Captain Lawless and his mate.
Mr. Tubbs joined him, and the two went immediately into the after-cabin of the schooner, where they had lived while on board.
While they were collecting their belongings, Nat and Joe filled a twenty-gallon keg with drinking water, and it was hoisted to the schooner’s deck. It was really more than they could spare, but Nat was a generous lad, and figured that, if necessary, they could go on short allowance till the South American coast was reached.
During the time that the boys were about this work, Captain Lawless and his mate had been holding a consultation in the lee of the deckhouse, just aft of the foremast.
“It’s going to make lots of trouble for us if we arrive in America without the professor or that chap Tubbs,” said the mate. “Besides that, too, we’ll have lost our chance of sharing in that hunt for a lost city. There ought to be enough loot in that to make us both rich.”
“That’s so,” agreed the captain. “If what those papers of the professor’s say is right, that place must be paved with gold, and when it rains it must drop diamonds.”
“Pretty near,” grinned the mate, in appreciation of his superior officer’s humor. “I wish I’d had time to go over the papers more thoroughly before that kid’s craft overhauled us. That was a good guess of yours that they’d pick up the old gent and that chap Tubbs, and the reversed ensign was a good way to get ’em to come alongside.”
“Well, now that we’ve gone this far, we may as well take the next step,” observed the captain.
“And what’s that?” asked the mate, with a peculiar glint coming into his little rat-like eyes.