The Boy Aviators Treasure Quest | Page 6

finally he unfolded the wildest tale about
buried treasure you ever heard--that is, I don't mean buried
treasure--floating would be a better word to describe it. He told me that
he had been one of the crew of a sailing vessel that had drifted, after
being dismasted in a storm, into the Sargasso Sea."
"You might tell us where the Sargasso Sea is," struck in Harry. "I never
heard of it."
"Why, it's a vast expanse of floating seaweed brought together by
circling ocean currents," explained Billy. "There are hundreds of miles
of seaweed in it and from the name of the weed it gets its title of
Sargasso. It is in the north Atlantic, just about off the Gulf of Mexico
roughly speaking, though many hundred miles from land. It is shifting
all the time though, I understand, and a ship that once gets into it never
gets out. The weed just holds her in its grip till she rots. Bluewater Bill
told me that, after his ship drifted into it, he counted ten steamers and
four sailing vessels drifting idly about on the brown expanse that
spread like a desert on all sides. But the most remarkable of all,
according to his story, was a high-pooped, castle-bowed affair with
three masts that the tattered sails still hung to. According to him she
was a real, sure-enough galleon. One of the old treasure vessels that
used to ply the Spanish Main."
"Oh, I say, Billy, you don't believe such a yarn as that, do you?" burst
out Frank and Harry, both at once.
"Well, I don't know," replied Billy, "the fellow seemed serious enough
and I am half inclined to believe he was telling the truth. He wanted to

get somebody to finance an expedition to go down there and prove that
he was not falsifying, and give him a small share of the treasure he is
sure the vessel is laden with, in return for his information."
"In other words he is seeking a backer for an enterprise that looks
ridiculous on the face of it," commented Frank.
"I'm not so certain of that," went on Billy. "Look here," and with the air
of a conjurer producing a card from the empty air, he dived into his
pocket and then, after a moment's fumbling, held out a round gold coin
for the boys' inspection.
"A Spanish pistole!" exclaimed Frank, as his eyes fell on the dull
yellow metal of the golden coin.
"That's right," said Billy. "I took it to a coin-dealer and had him give it
a name. Of course the paper laughed at the story, so I'm after it now on
my own hook. I got a leave of absence to dig it up. Bluewater Bill lives
in Mineola and I'm going to see him later to-day and get more details
from him. The more I think it over the more I think it's worth looking
into."
The boys, whose opinion of the old sailor's story had been much altered
by Billy's production of the indisputable evidence of the gold coin,
agreed with him that it was indeed worth investigating further.
"But you haven't told us half the story, Billy," objected Frank. "How
did Bluewater Bill escape? What became of the other men on the ship?
How did he get aboard the galleon and get the coin? Oh, and heaps of
other hows? and whys?" he broke off, laughing at Billy's serious face.
"I haven't got time to tell you all that now, and besides I am not clear
on many of those points myself," replied Billy. "Suppose, if you are not
doing anything this evening, you come round with me to Bluewater
Bill's home and talk to him about it yourselves."
"Say, are you trying to lure us into any fresh adventures?" said Frank
with mock seriousness. "Didn't we have enough of them in Africa?"

"I don't see how we could get at the galleon, supposing there is one
there, even if we did go after it," chimed in Harry, whose active mind
had already jumped ahead of the boys' conversation.
"Why not?" demanded Billy.
"Why, you chump, if ships get in there and can't get out, how are we
going to sail in there--get the treasure--always supposing there is
any--and then return to civilization?"
"Do you mean to say that your gigantic brain can't grasp that?"
demanded the reporter.
"No, my brilliant literary friend, it cannot--can yours?"
"It can."
"Well, let us have it."
"Well, in the first place," began Billy, "if--I only say if--the galleon is
there and--if--please remark I say 'if' once more--if we should decide to
go after the treasure--if (useful word that) we did do so, we wouldn't
have to sail INTO the Sargasso Sea at all."
"No?"
"No. We could sail