“Perdita!” he exclaimed, “that is wonderful! But the treasure was found upon Spanish soil, and I claim it in the name of the King of Spain. This Captain Reade, you say, has the gold?”
“Yes,” cried Poole, “and curse him, he robbed me of it! Follow him and wrest it from him. I will ask of you no greater favor.”
“But where shall we look for him?” asked the little captain; “in what direction shall we sail?”
“He will be found in the neighborhood of Cape Catoche.”
“Yes,” replied Poole, “but you will never catch them if you are not shrewd.”
“You see, his boat is a submarine craft, and he can sink out of sight and reach in a moment.”
“Perdita! Senor shall tell me what to do?”
“Use a subterfuge; trick him!” cried Poole, fiendishly. “When you sight him lure him toward you! Fly a signal of distress; when he gets within range give him a shot that will cripple him, or he will get away.”
“That would be an assault upon the American flag,” he began.
“Hang the American flag! Who will ever know the story? Sink the accursed submarine boat with every man on board! The secret will be well kept. All we want is the gold.”
The two rascals looked at each other for fully a minute. Then Don Azata said, softly:
“Senor, you are wise; I shall do as you say. It is true that we must have the gold. May le diable aid us!”
CHAPTER XII. A TURNING OF TABLES—THE END.
The sunken isthmus had been discovered and explored. The mission of the Diver and its voyagers was thus accomplished.
The only thing now left to be done, as it seemed, was to start for home. All were in favor of this.
“Bejabers, I’m more than ready to be off,” cried Barney. “Shure, it’s an outlandish counthry about here, onyway.”
“Huh,” sniffed Pomp, “I don’t see no country, nuffin’ but de ocean all about us!”
“Arrah, an’ don’t yez be so funny,” retorted Barney. “Shure, ain’t the counthry underneath us, an’ phwativer more kin yez ask fer than that?”
This put Pomp to thinking, and no more was said just then. But Frank and Wade discussed the question.
And the result was, it was finally decided to return home after first paying a visit to Belize and having the boat’s engines overhauled.
The Diver, meanwhile, had been drifting all the time nearer to Cape Catoche. The shore presented an alluring aspect, and Wade exclaimed: