CHAPTER XIV
THE EPISODE OF THE LAUNCH
THE clue discovered by Billy Walker was accepted without hesitation. No secret was made of the information thus obtained as the first progress in the search for the gold, and an air of excitement prevailed in and about the cottage. Jake, especially, was all agog with interest in the new development, and took an active part in the subsequent operations, since the four friends now spent much of their time on the water, hoping by some fortunate chance to come on a suggestion for further guidance. They went cruising out of sheer desperation, having no precise idea to follow until more should be learned from the manuscript. All pinned their faith to the music left by the miser. Each spent hours in study of the scrawled notes in the quest of added discovery, but all efforts were futile. Even the redoubtable Billy himself admitted humiliating defeat. Yet, he was in no wise cast down by the failure of the moment. He was sure of ultimate victory for the orderly processes of reason. Roy, on the other hand, retained his confidence in the final revelation that had been foretold by his industrious sixth sense, and David shared this optimistic trust in the occult. As for Saxe, when day after day passed without a hint of new knowledge concerning the gold, he might easily have become hopeless, had it not been for the diversion of interest offered by his love-affair. For now the manner of Margaret West toward him was such that sometimes he dared believe it possible to win her.
May Thurston was assured by the continued absence of Masters that he had abandoned further vicious effort. In this view, the girl did the indefatigable scoundrel less than justice. As a matter of fact, the engineer was very busy indeed. He had kept away from the cottage because he feared that May might have guessed his agency in the attack directed against Saxe, although he had taken the precaution to remove the rifle and its accessories from the sapling on the day after the shooting. He suspected, too, that May would learn from Margaret the truth concerning his treachery in love—in which suspicion he was quite wrong—and he deemed himself safer out of the injured girl’s sight. So, he kept himself hidden from the household of the cottage, while still devoting himself to malevolent schemes. Hope developed in him that he might yet win Margaret West—if only Saxe were out of the path. In addition, the removal of this rival would allow him another chance, even if brief, to search for the treasure. He was determined that Saxe should die, straightway. To that consummation, he set himself with cold-blooded ingenuity.
It was on a splendid morning a week later that the four friends were taking another trip in the motor-boat, to examine the extreme northern end of the lake. Jake was at the steering-wheel, as always, for the abundant sunken rocks and shoals forbade a stranger as pilot in these waters. Roy sat beside the boatman, as his custom was, while Saxe and David were in chairs behind, and Billy, puffing his black cigar, lounged contentedly in the stern.
Saxe shook his head impatiently, as the smell of gasoline, instead of the balsamic fragrance of the shore, afflicted his nostrils. He spoke of the annoyance to David, who agreed that the scent was unusually strong in the boat that day.
“Must be a bit of a leak somewhere,” David vouchsafed. He called a question to Roy, who merely shook his head by way of answer. “They wouldn’t get the smell up there, anyhow,” David continued, to Saxe. “You see, it’s floating round in the bilge right under us, so that we get the worst of it.”
Saxe had just time to wonder, without much real concern, whether or not it were quite prudent of Billy to be smoking where so large a quantity of gasoline was loose—then, the catastrophe came—came with lightning swiftness—a huge burst of flame enveloped them.
In that first second of horror, common instinct driving, the five men plunged into the lake. The motor-boat sped on, the engines still throbbing. Saxe, as he rose from the leap, and tossed his head to clear the water from his eyes, chanced to be facing in its direction, and could see only a swirling mass of flames, darting onward toward the shore. Then, a cry startled him to concern over his companions. He turned quickly, and, to his relief, saw four heads appearing above the water. In the same instant, relief yielded to fear, for one of them vanished below the surface. It was David.
Saxe, who was a practised swimmer, shot forward to the rescue in a powerful racing stroke. As he raised his head from the water a moment later, horror gripped him anew—now, only two heads were showing. Billy had disappeared. But his emotion changed to delight as he covered the short distance between him and the place where David had sunk, for suddenly two heads rose above the water. He saw David supported in the arms of Billy, who was treading water in a lazy fashion all his own.
That was the end of the actual peril. Saxe aided David on the side opposite Billy, and the two had no difficulty, since David, though unable to swim, retained his coolness, leaving himself limp to the control of his rescuers. The land was less than a hundred yards away, and thither the five wrecked men went, and clambered out upon the shore, bedraggled, dripping, scorched, half-angry, half-dazed by the suddenness of it all, but wholly thankful for their escape from the dual dangers of fire and flood. The chief mourner was Jake, who lamented with tears over the loss of the boat he had learned to love.