He listened breathlessly while Fred told him what they had learned during their talk with Mr. Lee–the fight with the smugglers, their flight to the south Pacific, the partial confession of Dick and the going down of the ship with all on board.
When Fred had finished, Ross rose and paced the beach excitedly.
168“You fellows found out in a few minutes what I’ve spent years trying to learn,” he cried. “All the time I’ve been hunting, I’ve been haunted by the fear that even if I found where the gold had been hidden, the money would long ago have been taken and spent by the robbers. I’ve felt like all kinds of an idiot in keeping up the search on such a slender chance, and again and again I’ve been tempted to give it up. But this puts new life and hope in me. There’s still a chance to find the gold and pay my father’s debts.”
“It’s practically certain that the money is still there,” affirmed Fred. “The fellows who took it are all drowned–unless they’re living somewhere on a desert island, and that’s so unlikely after all this time that it isn’t worth giving it a second thought. The only living man, outside of ourselves, who knows about the gold is Tom Bixby. He’s just a rough sailor knocking about all over the world, and he too may be dead by this time. The whole secret lies with us, and if the gold’s ever found, we’ll be the ones who will find it.”
“You boys have been perfect bricks,” declared Ross warmly, “and you make me ashamed for having kept anything back from you from the start.”
“You needn’t feel that way at all,” asserted Teddy. “For my part, I think you’ve been very generous and outspoken in telling us as much as 169 you have. You’d never met us before that day of the storm and didn’t know anything about us.”
“Well, I know all about you now,” declared Ross, “and from now on, everything I find out will be known to you as fast as I can get it to you.”
The boys said nothing but waited expectantly.
“There’s one thing I didn’t tell you that first night,” Ross continued. “I don’t know how important it may prove to be, but at least it’s a clue that may lead to something.
“As you know, the Ranger was taken to Halifax and abandoned there by the smugglers. Ramsay, the captain who died on the trip, had owned it, but he had no family and the authorities took charge of the boat and sold it after a while, holding the money they got for it for the benefit of the heirs, if any should ever turn up. The new owner used the boat for a voyage or two, but he found it hard to get a crew. You know how superstitious sailors are. The mysterious way it was found abandoned gave sailor men the impression that there was a hoodoo of some kind connected with it, and they wouldn’t ship aboard her. So the new owner sold it and the name was changed.