The Boy Aviators' Treasure Quest; Or, The Golden Galleon

d Eben Joyce opened his eyes on a cot in their aerodrome and gave a long s

uded, after he had informed the

alking now," and the aged inventor remained silent ther

the wound in the old man's head was not at all serious, bu

d," he said, "but at the hospital he

would return to New York and make her home with relatives till such time as her father had recovered. These arrangements made, and the inventor's daugh

f aged Eben Joyce as he returned from his ride in Luther Barr's car. He was somewhat perturbed as he entered the shed for fear that he would have to face the inventor, fresh as he was from an intervi

he had been talking t

dropped as he m

cco," he stammered, "I hope you have not needed

nk shortly. He felt no wish to enter into an argument with the man who

ff down the road to the village. Half-way there they were startled to hear the loud "honk-honk"

ff the

ave a simultaneous sharp exclamation as they both recognized the face of its occupant. Luther Barr, once clear of the grounds, had removed his

be doing here?"

u can depend on it he

k's

der if he recognize

hey used to be, he did, witho

d for the reason that at that very moment his mind was bent on frustrating a plan that Sa

to talk over, he'd give a few dollars to be

"anything that there seems to be a dolla

he further side of which stood a neat cottage. Portions of a whale's huge bones dotted either side of the path as ornaments, and in front of the cottage s

grizzled face, set in a perfect forest of white w

voice. "I've a fine dish of lobscouse, a raisin pie and some cid

petizing odor, that the meal was ready. The boys were nothing loath to fall to on the sea banquet the old salt spread before them, and so busy were they despatching the sailor's cooking, that it was not till after they concluded the mea

steners and told it with so much embroidery and discursive oratory that to rep

ssailed the vessel. She encountered heavy weather and, during a towering climax of the storm, part of her deck load of American lumber fetched away and carried with it three of her crew of ten

favoring breezes, and soon entered what are called the "doldrums" in which fierce hurricanes alternate with periods of dead flat calm in which a ship will float on a rippleless sea "as i

ing, one of the sudden storms, that are common t

were ripped out of her as if by a giant's hand. The crew managed to cut the wreckage away before it had pounded a hole in her side, and with what canvas they co

in tons of overwhelming fluid. As they fought desperately to retain footi

en he

hty onslaught of the wave, which, strong as was his grip, plucked him from his hold and sent him tumbling and half drowned into the lee scuppers. Fortunately he man

as a

f had been swept from the deck

ically and scarcely emerged on deck at all. The fear of sharing the fate of his comrades possessed him and he remained in the cabin, not knowing from one m

ight met

thought he w

a vast prairie. From it rose the sharp, pungent odor peculiar to seaweed and the old mariner had no difficulty in

stance of not more than a mile or two he made out the outlines of a queer-looking three-masted ship. Here at least was company. Obtaining the glasses, which the ill-fated skipper ha

to have men o

re figures leanin

strange sight met his eyes as he drew nearer. His neighbor in the vast entangling expanse was a high-sided craft with great ports, of which one or two had fallen away, revealing the grinning muzzles of great guns. Her

leaning ov

ter Bill's hopes of

s faded side at the lone castaway in his cockle-shell. How they had died, the sailor, even after he had clambered on board, could make no guess; but

t ship. Apparently some attempt had been made when first the Buena Ventura was caught in the deadly embrace of the Sargasso to convey her treasure to the boats, for,

gold pieces, jeweled candlesticks and other costly articles. A score of other chests examine

s a veritable

ck that fairly blazed with its setting of pre

caused his scalp to tighten and his he