ADIEU TO CONTENT KEY.

On the following morning work was begun under the new system. Gertie and old Chloe had quite as much as they could do in or around the tents. Jake, Ben and Tom Johnson commenced taking out the cargo, while Captain Irwin paid no attention to anything save boat-building.

“I am allowing that we sha’n’t have another norther for some time,” the latter said while they were eating breakfast on this, the first day of wrecking. “We’ve had two pretty near together, an’ according to the weather prophets, there’ll be a long spell of clear sky now. If that comes true we shall be able to save all the cargo, and in order to reap the fruits of our labor, it is necessary we should retain possession of the goods.”

“I don’t reckon there is anybody round here who would try to take ’em away from us,” Jake said with a laugh.

“Perhaps not, but suppose all hands should leave the island and go to Key West? Then I fancy it would be a race among the wreckers as to who should get here first.”

“What are you drivin’ at?” Jake asked, unable to gain the slightest clew as to the captain’s meaning.

“Instead of all trying to leave on a large craft, we’ll build a small boat, and after the work of wrecking has been done, one or two only will start for Key West to make arrangements with the underwriters. By such a course we shall be obliged to remain on this reef quite a while longer, but that won’t be much of a hardship considering the amount of money to be gained from the sale of the Mermaid’s cargo.”

No one made any protest against this plan. All had such implicit confidence in the captain’s judgment, that even old Chloe was ready to follow his instructions to the letter without so much as a hint of her desire to return home or to see Moses. So far as Jake and Ben were concerned, it made but little difference where they stayed providing they could reach the main land if it should become necessary; and Gertie, having no fear of being again obliged to assist in the patent medicine business, was well content to remain until he should give the word for departure.

The work which was thus begun on the second morning after the stranding of the Mermaid, continued without interruption, except on the Sabbath, when all hands indulged in the luxury of a well-earned rest, and it was on one of these idle days, when the task appeared to be fully half-performed, that Ben laid before the captain a matter which had been troubling him as the time for leaving Content Key drew near.

“What is to become of Gertie when we get back to New York? Now that her step-father is dead she won’t have any home, unless those friends with whom she lived are willin’ to let her stay with them.”

“You have got considerable money of your own,” Captain Irwin replied with a smile, “and could do a good deal toward her support.”

“I’ll agree to give her every cent father left, for I can earn my own livin’ without much trouble.”

“Perhaps there won’t be any necessity for such a sacrifice on your part, providing she and Chloe will agree to a plan which I have in mind.”

“I will do whatever you think best,” Gertie said quickly; “but I don’t want you to feel that I expect to be taken care of, for I can work as well as Ben.”

“I have no home,” Captain Irwin said, speaking very seriously, “and I want one, although I’m not ashore very much of the time. It is necessary Ben should have an abiding place when he goes to school, as I intend he shall this winter, and it seems as if now was a good time to start just such a harbor as I need. Madame Servoise, one of the sweetest and neatest old French ladies I ever met, is living in New York, and I know from a conversation with her just before we sailed, that she would take charge of a house for me. I propose to hire a neat little cottage, and make up a family by adopting Gertie as a sister for Ben. Now that her step-father is dead she has neither home nor relatives, and there is no reason why she should not consult her own pleasure in the matter. Chloe can come with us, unless her Moses has other plans regarding her future; she will be captain of the kitchen, and Jake may be mate whenever he’s ashore.”

There was no necessity of asking if the listeners assented to this proposition. The approval pictured on their faces was so decidedly unqualified, that from that moment the matter was considered as settled, and many were the conversations which Gertie and Ben held on the subject during their leisure moments before leaving Content Key, when they laid famous plans for the future.

“I’se done gwine to lib wid de chillun no matter what dat wuffless Mose say ’bout it,” and old Chloe emphasized her words by a vigorous wave of the skillet above her head as she gave Jake her views regarding the captain’s proposition that same evening. “When a po’ nigger woman gits ole now’days she ain’t got no whar to lay her head, an’ de cap’in sha’n’t nebber want fur good cookin’ while I’se able to stan’ ober de fire.”

“If you’d only let me tell you one or two things that I know better’n you do, it would----”

Jake was not allowed to conclude the rather egotistical remark. While he believed himself to be the better cook, old Chloe looked at the matter in an entirely different light, and he was forced to leave the tent very quickly in order to avoid a blow from the skillet.

The work went on without intermission, however, despite the plans all were making regarding the future, and in due course of time the Mermaid’s cargo was not only landed, but secured in such a manner that however severe a storm might arise there would be no danger of its being blown away.

The boat-building had also received due attention from Captain Irwin, and when the little party of wreckers begun to tear the hulk to pieces, a seaworthy craft was finished. It was not large enough to carry all the castaways to Key West, nor was it intended for such a purpose; but two men could sail in it among the keys without inconvenience, and sloop-rigged as she was, there could be no question as to the safety of those who manned her.

It was agreed that the captain and Johnson should make the voyage, leaving the others behind to hold possession of the goods until an agreement for salvage had been made, and on the same day of the launch the journey was begun, the remainder of the party feeling decidedly lonely as the little craft sailed swiftly away and they were once more the only dwellers upon a reef.

They were very far, however, from being in as desperate a condition as at any time before the Mermaid came ashore, and, unless some unforeseen accident should occur, all knew that it would only be a question of comparatively a few hours before the journey to New York could be commenced.

“You’ll see us again in two or three days,” Captain Irwin shouted as the rudely-built sloop left the shore; but those on the key hardly believed that such would be the case until it was proved a fact.

When the castaways were once more the only occupants of the key it was impossible to repress a certain sense of loneliness, even though they had every reason to believe that Captain Irwin would return at some time, even if not quite as soon as he had promised. To old Chloe, Gertie and Ben the awkward-looking boat seemed all too frail for the shortest voyage in those treacherous waters, and Jake was not without certain misgivings in case a norther should make a sudden descent upon the gulf.

These fears, however, had a very large germ of hope behind them compared to the terrible desolateness which they had experienced while in doubt as to whether any one would discover their whereabouts, and each tried hard to appear cheerful.

Jake proposed that they vary the somewhat limited bill of fare by a dinner of oysters, large quantities of which hung to such branches of the mangrove trees as trailed in the water, and when the little boat had disappeared in the distance, after sailing swiftly before the light breeze, he and Ben started off to gather this somewhat unusual fruit, while old Chloe, Gertie and the kitten returned to the main tent.

The dinner of shell-fish was a pleasing success, and after it had been eaten the occupants of Content Key gave themselves up to the charm of idleness, for from the morning when the Mermaid came ashore, every one had been hard at work, with not a moment’s cessation, save during the hours of darkness.

When night came the tent was brilliantly illuminated with every lantern they could find, for the absence of two from the small party left a wofully large vacancy, and it seemed as if the cheering rays of light gave a certain sense of companionship.

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do, Ben,” Jake said as he carefully filled and lighted his pipe, after the evening meal had been eaten and the flaps of the camp were opened that the warmth of a fire at the outside might be fully enjoyed, for the heavy dew caused the warm air to seem chill and raw. “The tide will be full about ten o’clock, an’ you an’ I’ll have a regular turtle-hunt. It’s pretty late in the season, but I reckon we’ll find enough to pay for the trouble, an’ seein’s how we can sleep all we want to for the next two or three days, it don’t make much difference whether we’re awake half the night or not.”

As may be supposed, Ben was perfectly willing to participate in anything which promised even a semblance of sport, and old Chloe no longer felt averse to being left with Gertie and the alleged supernatural cat, for long companionship with that harmless animal during the time while the others were engaged saving the Mermaid’s cargo, had taught her that she was innocent of voodouism.

To one who has never engaged in the business of catching turtles, it would seem as if there would be at least considerable excitement attending it, and Ben was of this opinion until the events of the evening proved the contrary. Patience is the chief thing necessary, and it is by no means pleasant to lie among the sand until one of these huge shell-fish comes up out of the water to deposit her eggs. Then the “sport” consists simply in turning her on her back at the exact moment when she starts for the sea again, and after that, a weary time of waiting for another.

If there was but little pleasure to be extracted from this plan of Jake’s, it resulted in quite an addition to the castaways’ larder, for when the tide had so far receded that it was not probable any more would visit the key, the hunters had four captives and a store of eggs which looked absolutely enormous.

“We’ll keep three alive till Captain Irwin comes back,” Jake said in a tone of satisfaction as they went toward the tent, leaving the turtles on their backs without fear of an escape, “an’ I reckon he won’t find much fault at bein’ fed on soup for a while.”

The greater portion of the following day was spent in conveying the eggs to the tent that they might be kept reasonably cool, and in building a pool where three of the huge captives could enjoy a bath without possibility of taking unceremonious leave of those who proposed to convert them into delicacies for the table.

After this work had been done Jake refused to exert himself any further. He needed a rest, so he said, and was fully determined to take a long one, for when Captain Irwin returned there would be plenty of hard labor; therefore he remained idle until the morning of the fourth day, exactly seventy-two hours after the little boat left the beach, at which time Ben announced the welcome fact that a craft of some kind was in sight.

It was quite a while before the anxious watchers could determine the true character of the tiny speck far away to the westward, but by noon there was no longer any question that the absent ones were returning.

A tug towing a lighter was what Ben had sighted, and the time for leaving Content Key was very near at hand.

At sunset both crafts were anchored in shoal water to the northward of the coral reef, and Captain Irwin was enjoying his share of the turtle soup as he related in detail the incidents of his visit to Key West.

“Our boat sailed like a clipper,” he said, when the castaways gathered around as he sat in the tent with supper spread out on a piece of canvas. “I didn’t think we could do very much with her except before the wind, but she laid up to it like a yacht. We were made fast to the dock in Key West eighteen hours after leaving here, and the visit to the underwriters was finished early next morning. I have left the whole matter in the hands of a responsible firm, and we shall get all that belongs to us without fear of being cheated.”

“How long do you reckon it’ll be before we can start from here?” Jake asked, as if it was of the greatest importance that he should get away at the earliest possible moment.

“Three days will see the work done, I fancy. We couldn’t get much of a crew, but there are four of us, which will give a pretty good working force, and by swinging the lighter well inshore it won’t be such a very heavy job.”

“Den we’se gwine up Norf inter dat house what you tole ’bout?”

“Yes, aunty, as soon as the business is finished in Key West we’ll start, and you can count on seeing Moses very soon.”

“I ain’t got no call ter hunt roun’ fur him,” old Chloe said angrily. “Ef de wuffless chile wants ter see his mammy, he mus’ fin’ her, kase I wouldn’t done gone got wrecked ef it hadn’t been ’count ob his nonsense.”

“Then you wouldn’t have seen us, nor be thinking about that wonderful home Captain Irwin is going to get for our especial benefit,” Gertie said laughingly.

“You’se right, honey, an’ I won’t break out agin him any mo’ kase ob dat. De Lawd’s bin mighty good to dis ole nigger by rasin’ up sich fren’s for her, an’ de leas’ she kin do is ter hole her tongue.”

At this point the conversation was interrupted by the captain of the steamer, who had come to consult with Captain Irwin as to the best method of conducting the work which was to be begun at daybreak next morning, and the castaways left the tent to view the key that seemed suddenly to have been converted into a populous island. With the crews of the lighter and tug roaming around on shore, it was difficult to remember what a desolate place it had once been, and as Ben said, “it made him feel queer to see so many people.”

It was late in the evening before the visitors and castaways settled down to rest, and the sun had not yet showed his face above the sea next morning when the shrill whistle of the tug called all hands to work.

The summons told how nearly the time of their imprisonment had come to an end, and every one of the castaways was on the alert at the first sound of the signal.