“Right you are. I expect to occupy the camp to-night. Señor Bazán will be fidgeting to get ashore again.”
“I hope you will find something,” very courteously replied Don Miguel. “Perhaps you will find something to-night. Señor Bazán seems to know exactly where to look for the treasure. I was not so lucky with my chart of Benito Bonito’s boatswain.”
Soon after this interview, Captain Cary returned to the Valkyrie. Mr. Duff was left as prize master with a guard of five men. Señor Bazán was found asleep in a deck-chair after wearing himself out with fears and anxieties. Ricardo felt his pulse. It relieved him to find that the old gentleman had survived such a racking night as this. His heart was behaving far better than could have been expected. Apparently the sea voyage had been good for it.
Well, there would be no more clashes and alarms on Cocos Island. The argonauts from Cartagena could remain as long as it should please Ramon Bazán to hunt for the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end. They had found an awkward neighbor in Don Miguel O’Donnell, but he was departing bag and baggage.
Captain Cary slept late into the forenoon. The black cares had lifted. His own wounded men were on the way to recovery. His was the satisfaction of having fought and maneuvered his way out of an exceedingly tight corner, with the favoring aid of the goddess of chance. He felt a young man’s pride in defying the odds and smashing a way through adverse circumstances.
When he came out of his heavy slumber, Ramon Bazán hovered beside the bunk. His spectacles were on his nose. He was examining the chipped ear and the grazed arm which Ricardo had covered with strips of plaster.
“All’s well,” yawned the hero. “What do you say? Shall we shove off to the camp to-night?”
“I hope so,” chirruped Ramon, who was in high spirits. “The men have told me all. Do not trouble yourself to talk too much now. Do you know what I have decided? To give you half the treasure as soon as we find it. It will be my gift to you and Teresa, three millions besides the gold ingots. You must chase after that girl and marry her, Ricardo, if it will make you happy. With this treasure you can live quiet and safe. If you keep on fighting like this, Teresa will be a widow. Of course, when I die you will get my treasure, too, you and your sweetheart, except what I give to the splendid officers and sailors of the Valkyrie. There is nobody to leave it to, only you and Teresa. Now you will have some fun in digging up this Cocos Island.”
“Oh, I have had fun enough already, and a bully good run for my money,” Ricardo assured him. “It is very fine of you to feel this way, but what do I want with three million dollars? Supposing we let it rest until we turn up the treasure.”
“If we miss finding it,” uneasily pursued Papa Ramon, “I have not much to leave Teresa. There is my house in Cartagena, and some more land, but this steamer and the voyage have cost me many thousands of dollars.”