In the meantime, Sam had summoned Captain Nelsen from his berth. But the veteran mariner was as unable as Sam to devise a means of coping with the situation. His advice was not to resist, which, in the long run, would have been useless, but to cut and run for it. In accordance with this resolve, Sam went below, while Captain Nelsen got up anchor.
The next instant the "Nomad" was moving swiftly through the water, while a howl of rage went up from the baffled occupants of Morello's boat. But, having started his engines, Sam could not resist the temptation to run astern and shake a fist at the rascals. In doing this he had lost his balance, and before he could utter a cry, or even make a sound, he was overboard.
In the meantime, Captain Nelsen, who was at the wheel of the "Nomad," and supposed Sam was still below at his engines, kept right on. When he came to the surface Sam found that the "Nomad" was some distance off and Morello's boat close upon him. The next instant hands reached out for him from the craft and he was dragged on board, and, on his shouting to attract Nelsen's attention, was promptly knocked on the head.
He came to in the cabin of the schooner and here, as Sam said, he got a shock. Bending over him was the form of a man he knew only too well. That of Elias Gooddale.
"But Elias Gooddale is dead in California!" exclaimed Nat.
"True enough," rejoined Sam, "the real one is. But this Gooddale is a spurious one. It is time now that I should tell you what I have been meaning to since we set out on our trip. As you know, I came from the South Sea Islands some years ago. I never told the reason—it was this: When my father, Elias Gooddale, emigrated to these islands from Australia I was only a little fellow.
"But to return to the schooner," he broke off. "This Gooddale, as he calls himself, instantly recognized me and began a long rigmarole about some sapphires. It seems, to make a long story short, that he and Morello whom he met years ago in Mexico had come to some sort of agreement to divide some sapphires. I told them I knew nothing about them." (This was true. While conversant with the main object of the trip, Sam had not been told of the sapphire hoard.) "I also told Gooddale that I wished nothing to say to him; that I knew him to be a scoundrel. I would have said more, but just then that fellow Dayton struck in.
"'Head him up in a keg and chuck him overboard,' he said. 'The fellow is in the way on board and likely to prove a source of trouble if we don't look out.'
"They seemed to hesitate a while and then consulted together. The upshot of it was that I was to be placed in that barrel with some biscuit and water. Holes were pierced in the top and Morello told me I ought to be lucky to get such a chance for my life.
"Then they placed me in the thing, lowered me overside, and set me adrift. I was desperate at first, as you may imagine. But afterward I cooled down and set to work trying to figure out some way out of my scrape. The better to keep up my spirits, I started to sing. A good thing I did, too, or you'd have missed me sure."