"Then they find gold," Ben continued, "that makes them crazy. Manuel tells them to leave you alone if you don't find out about the money, but kill you if you do."
"The infernal rascal," exploded the captain. "He goes in irons and down in the hold to stay 'till we get to port."
"Don't do that!" cried the alarmed Greek lad. "They kill you right off if you do."
"One thing more," said Charley, as the little fellow's tears began to flow afresh. "Who killed that sailor?"
But Ben did not know although it was evident that he did not doubt that the man had been killed.
Charley waited until the lad had dried his tears, then let him go with the caution to tell none of the crew that he had told them.
"We are in the tightest fix of our lives," he declared, when Ben had gone. "It seems, from what he says, that we are safe so long as they do not suspect that we know anything about the gold but I fancy that Manuel suspects that we have found it and I do not believe we can count on their being willing to let us reach port alive. The question is, what had we better do."
"I don't understand all this talk about gold," said the captain.
The boys hurriedly told of the discovery they had made while the old sailor listened with sparkling eyes.
"Boys," he exclaimed, when their tale was concluded, "you've found what will make rich men of us all. I remember the excitement caused by the loss of that ship. It happened twelve years ago. For months tugs and steamers were scouring the Gulf searching for her. She had cleared from New Orleans for New York with two million dollars in gold aboard."