John Gaythers Garden and the Stories Told Therein | Page 6

struck
sentimentally the least bit, as I had been. It did not make any more
difference to him whether those two ships had been down there two
hundred years or two years; but there was another part to the affair that
was very interesting to him.
"'Gayther,' said he, 'it's ten to one that them ships has got treasure
aboard, and what we've got to do is to form a company and go to work
and get it.'
"'And how would you do that?' said I.
"The captain was from Provincetown, Cape Cod, and it didn't take him
two seconds to work out his whole plan.
"'It's this way,' said he. 'The first thing to do is to form a company. I am
president and you can be the other officers. When that is all fixed we
can go to work, and we'll mend that hole in our bow. Now if you know
just where it is, we'll work day and night in that hold, water or no water,
and we'll stop it up. Then we'll pump the brig out, and I believe she'll
float. Then we'll mark this place with a buoy, and we'll sail away as fast
as we can, with our company all formed and everything fixed and
settled. Then we'll come back with the vessels and machines, and we'll
get out that treasure. We'll divide it into three parts. One part will be

mine; one part will be yours; and the other part will go to the crew.'
"'And how about the stock-broker?' said I. 'Going to let him in the
company?'
"'No, sir,' said the captain, bringing his fist down on the table.
'Whatever else happens, he is to be kept out.'
"This was a very fine plan, but it didn't altogether suit me. I didn't want
to sail away from that spot and perhaps never see those two ships again.
There was no knowing what more I might find out with my water-glass
if that stock-broker could be kept from bothering me.
"I told the captain this, and he looked hard at me and he said: 'It will
take a couple of days to mend that leak and to pump out the brig. If this
fine weather keeps on I think we can do it in that time. And if while we
are working at it you choose to try to find out more about them two
ships, you can do it.'
"'And how can I do it?' said I.
"'If you can go down in a diver's suit you can do it,' said he. 'I don't
know whether you know anything about that business, but if you want
to try, I have got a whole kit on board, air-pump, armor, and everything.
It belongs to a diver that was out with me about a year ago in the Gulf
of Mexico. He had to go North to attend to some business, and he told
me he would let me know when he would come back and get his
diving-kit. But he hasn't come back yet, and the whole business is
stowed away here on board. Do you know anything about going down
in a diving-suit?'
"Now I had never done anything in the way of diving, but I had heard a
good deal about it, and I had seen divers at work, and my whole soul
was so jumping and shouting inside of me at the very idea of going
down and searching into the secrets of those two old ships that I told
the captain I was ready to undertake the diving business just the minute
he could get things in shape.

"Well, miss, early the next morning--and I can tell you I didn't sleep
much that night--everything was ready for me to go down, and two of
the crew who had done that sort of thing before were detailed to attend
to the air-pumps and all the other business. The stock-broker he was
like a bee on a window-pane; he was buzzing, and kicking, and
bumping his head trying to find out what we expected to do. But the
captain wouldn't tell him anything; you may be sure I wouldn't; and
nobody else knew.
"As soon as we could get things straightened out I was lowered over
the side of the brig, and sunk out of sight into the water. The captain
and all the crew, except the men who were attending to me, then went
to work to mend the hole in the side of the brig. And the last thing I
heard as I went under the water was the stock-broker howling and
yelling and rampaging around the deck.
"As I told you before, miss, I had never been down in a diving-suit; but
I paid the greatest attention to everything