The Go Ahead Boys and the Treasure Cave Part 44

"One hundred and twenty," said Grant quickly.

"Right," exclaimed John. "In other words, we want to measure a distance one hundred and twenty times the length of my shoe due north from here."

"Go ahead and do it," urged George. "I'll do it myself."

"You see to it that we keep going straight north," advised Grant. "That is one of the most important things of all."

"That suits me," said George. "Start your measurements."

The course led off across the sandy beach towards a little clump of pine trees. Placing the toe of John's shoe close up against the spot on shark's rock that was their starting place, Grant began to measure. With a small stick he marked the place to which the heel of the shoe extended and then repeated the operation, using the marker for a starting-point.

George kept close watch with his compa.s.s to see that the correct direction was being followed.

It was slow work and arduous. Everybody was on his hands and knees keeping careful watch of all the operations. The sun was hot and in some places sharp stones or bits of coral were mixed in with the sand so that more than one of the little party soon had bleeding knees and hands as a result. No one seemed to mind or even to notice these discomforts, however. The task they were engaged in was so interesting and absorbing to them that they paid scant attention to anything else.

"Be sure to keep track of the number of times we have measured, Fred,"

reminded Grant. "We don't want any slip-up, you know."

"Don't worry about that," said Fred confidently. "Every time you s.h.i.+ft that shoe I make a mark on this page from George's diary. When there are five marks made I cross them off."

"How many so far?" inquired John.

"Seventy," replied Fred after a rapid calculation. "Fifty more to go."

"Don't hurry," warned Grant. "We want it right, you know."

"We certainly do," agreed George. "We don't want to do all this work for nothing."

The measurements were continued, painfully and slowly. Every ten inches was marked off with the greatest of care, and if John's statement that his shoe was exactly ten inches long was correct it seemed impossible that any mistake had crept into their calculations. John insisted over and over again that the length quoted was absolutely correct, but his friends kept on asking him, so anxious were they to be perfectly sure.

"One hundred and twenty," announced Fred at length. "That's the end of the first journey."

"Thank goodness," exclaimed Grant, wiping the perspiration from his brow. "That's about as hard work as I care to do."

"I should say it is," agreed George. "Let's rest for a few minutes."

"I've got to," said Grant. "I'll never last otherwise."

"Mark the exact spot where we are to start on the next lap," said John, "and then let's go up here in the shade and rest for a little while."

"Good idea," exclaimed Grant. "I'll put this stick in the ground."

The important spot plainly indicated, the whole party withdrew to the shade afforded by a neighboring clump of palms and stretched themselves upon the ground for a well earned rest.

"I don't suppose we have any business to be working out in that sun in the middle of the day anyway," said Grant. "It's entirely too hot."

"Do you think we're apt to get a sunstroke?" queried John.

"There's a good chance of it, I should think. I don't believe that people who are used to living in the tropics would be working out in it either."

"Suttinly dey wouldn't," said Sam with great conviction. "It am bery, bery dangerous."

"I think so too," exclaimed George. "I say we don't do anything more until the sun begins to go down a little. We've got more than half of it measured out anyway, and it won't take us so very long to do the rest."

"The only trouble is," remarked Fred, "that if we wait until then to finish the measuring we won't be able to do any digging to-day."

"What of it?" demanded Grant. "Gold won't evaporate, you know, and if it's there to-day it'll be there just as much to-morrow."

"You're right, Grant," agreed George. "There's no hurry, and much as I want to see that gold, I'm willing to wait 'till to-morrow rather than run the risk of sunstroke or something."

Having reached this decision they lay about in the shade all through the tropical noon and discussed the treasure for the thousandth time since they first had come into possession of the code. Sometimes they dozed and Sam, true to the traditions of his race, slept soundly.

At last the shadows began to lengthen and a cool breeze sprang up off the water. It was like food to a starving man it was so refres.h.i.+ng and strengthening.

"We're off!" cried Grant, springing eagerly to his feet.

Every one joined him quickly and the task was resumed, and the air being cooler now, they all worked better and more easily.

"This next course is just half as long as the last one, isn't it?" said Grant.

"Yes," said John, "that makes just sixty times the length of my shoe."

Due east they measured off the distance and before very long had marked the completion of the second stage of their journey.

"Now," exclaimed Grant, "we go north by east thirty-three feet. How many lengths of your shoe is that, John?"

"You figure it out, Fred," urged John. "You've got pencil and paper and all you have to do, you know, is to multiply thirty-three by twelve and divide by ten."

"Thirty-nine and six-tenths times," announced Fred. "How can we measure that fraction exactly?"

"We won't need to," said Grant. "It's the last figure and we can get it within a couple of inches. We'll dig a hole a couple of feet square all around our last marker, so two or three inches won't make any difference."

"That's right," agreed Fred, and the measurements were continued.

Soon they came to the end, but there an unexpected complication presented itself. Thirty-three feet from the last point brought them squarely up against a palm tree some twelve or fifteen inches in diameter.

"That's the end," exclaimed Fred. "How can we dig down through a tree like that though? We must have made a mistake in our calculations."

"Why so?" demanded George.

"I don't see how it could be any other way," insisted Fred. "In the first place how can any one bury anything underneath a tree like that?"

"They didn't," said George. "They buried the treasure here and then planted this palm tree to mark the spot. Do you notice that it is the only one within fifty or a hundred feet of here?"

"You're right, Pop," exclaimed Grant. "I believe that that's exactly what happened."

CHAPTER XXVII