Steadily onward the Sea Diver ran. At length land was sighted to the southwest.
“No,” said Frank; “Cuba is farther to the east. Those are some little cays which lay off the coast. We must bear off a little to the west.”
At this moment Barney sighted a sail. It was a coast lugger and carried some trading natives from Honduras.
They signaled the Diver in a careless sort of way and then scurried off to the eastward.
“Doubtless they think us a government boat or war vessel,” he said. “Their trade may be of an illicit kind.”
However this was, the lugger certainly got out of the way very rapidly. She was soon lost to view.
They were now well into the Yucatan Channel. Wilbur Wade was a very busy man.
He was hurriedly making his reckoning and drawing his lines for exploration. The Sea Diver sailed slowly westward the while.
At length she came to a stop. It was at this point that the quest was to begin.
If there was really such a thing in existence as the Sunken Isthmus this was certainly the locality to look for it.
“I have been thinking about that sunken Isle of Mona,” said Wade. “Why might it not have been a part of the isthmus?”
“Very likely,” agreed Frank. “We may be directly over it now.”
“Eh!” exclaimed Wade, with a start. “And if we should come across the treasure——”
“I don’t see why it would not be lawfully ours as well as Poole’s,” said Frank. “Yet, I have no hankering for it.”
“Still, we might rescue it from the sea. Certainly if Poole gets it he will make no good use of it. It would be a mercy to cheat him out of it. Yet we have given him our oath——”
“Pshaw!” said Frank. “That does not count. It is not binding after what followed.”
“That is true. However, I don’t believe there is a very great chance of our finding any treasure. Let it stay down there with the drowned Caribs. Doubtless it is accursed gold.”
The electric lights flashed forth, and now a remarkable scene was presented to the view of the voyagers.
In that one moment of strained gaze it was seen that the hypothesis of the Sunken Isthmus was a thrilling truth.
Below them the searchlight showed a deep defile between rocky hills. And upon the sides of those hills there were leafless trees, with arms and branches and trunks as natural as life.