The Hunniwell boys and the platinum mystery 15 – Wyman · Verses Across
Literature · Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
The Hunniwell boys and the platinum mystery 15Conclusion
18
Literature · Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
The Hunniwell boys and the platinum mystery 15
Conclusion
WymanEnglish
“You mean you think there’s a chance that we overlooked it?”
Rogers asked the question of the boys as they were sitting on the porch the following morning waiting to be called to breakfast. Gordon had told him what he had told Bill during the night and he was all excitement in an instant.
“I think there is,” Gordon told him.
“But rather a small one I’d say,” Bill added. “Of course, as Gordon says, there’s a chance that there’s another hole under that layer of sand, but my advice is that you don’t get your hopes up again. Of course we’ll stop there on the way back and see what there is to see, but you mustn’t be disappointed if nothing comes of it.”
“But that sand didn’t get there by itself, that’s certain, and so it must have been put there for a purpose and what other purpose could there have been?” Rogers demanded.
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Gordon told him.
The evening before, in answer to a rather broad hint given them by their host, they had told him their story and Mr. Mann had agreed with them that it was a pretty long chance. He had, however, sympathized with them over their failure, and they had agreed not to mention their new purpose.
“We’ve got enough grub in the plane to last a couple of days, haven’t we,” Bill asked just as the breakfast bell sounded.
“Sure we have if we don’t eat too much,” Gordon told him as he got up from his chair.
“It wouldn’t make any of us one bit mad if you folks would make up your minds to stay with us a few days,” Mr. Mann told them as they took their seats at the table.
“It’s mighty kind of you to ask us,” Bill replied, “but we’ve really got to go.”
“Stay over one day and I’ll take you down to the south shore and show you some surf board riding that’ll make you sit up and take notice,” he coaxed.
“Please do,” Laura added her invitation and Mrs. Mann was no less insistent.
“Well, I don’t know,” Bill hesitated. “What do you say?” he asked turning to Rogers.
“I guess we can spare one more day,” he said.
“How about you, Gordon?”
“I’m for it. I’ve never seen a real surf board rider and I’ve always wanted to.”
“Then we’ll consider it settled,” Mr. Mann smiled. “About ten o’clock is the best time and I think I can promise you some fun.”
“Bill was all right,” Gordon whispered to Rogers a few minutes later as they were leaving the house for the porch, “until the girl put in her two cents’ worth.”
“But I thought you were keen for it,” Rogers told him.
“Well, I am in a way, but I think we ought to get back there as soon as we can. Suppose someone finds that hole and goes to poking around in it.”
“Oh, I guess there’s no danger of that,” Rogers told him. “We didn’t see a soul about there except the Jap all the time we were there. It’ll be safe enough, I reckon.”
“I suppose it will only——”
“Only what?”
Bill had lingered behind a few minutes to speak to Laura and had joined them just in time to hear Gordon’s last words.
“Nothing,” Gordon told him.
“Didn’t you want to stay?” Bill demanded.
“Sure he did,” Rogers broke in. “Only he’s afraid someone will get ahead of us over on the other island.”
“Of course I want to stay,” Gordon added. “It’ll probably be the only chance we’ll ever have to see real natives ride surf boards and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The sight was all their host had promised and for fully two hours they watched the riders of both sexes as they raced in on the long swells.
“Gee, but I’d like to have a try at it,” Gordon declared.
“It takes a lot of practice to do it right,” Mr. Mann told him.
“To do it at all, I’d say,” Bill declared.
“Few white people ever get the knack,” Mr. Mann said. “Of course, after a little practice one can do something at it but it seems to take a native to do it right.”
“I imagine it’s some different from riding a board after a motor boat,” Rogers declared.
“Well, yes, I reckon it is,” Mr. Mann told him. “The hard part of it seems to be to hit the wave at just the right second and that’s what counts.”
“Well, I’m mighty glad we stayed,” Gordon said as they started back.
“So say we all of us,” Bill added.
They were treated to another long ride in the afternoon and they were forced to acknowledge that they had never seen more beautiful scenery.
“Not a bad place to live, is it?” Mr. Mann asked as they rolled into the driveway shortly before six o’clock.
“It’s wonderful,” they assured him.
“But you ought to see Maine in the summer time,” Gordon added.
“I’ve never been there,” Mr. Mann told them, “But it’s possible that we may see it next summer.”
“If you do you must come to Skowhegan and make us a visit,” Bill quickly told him and grinned as he caught the wink which Gordon gave Rogers.
“We surely will do that very thing,” Mr. Mann assured him.
It was just nine o’clock when they took off the following morning after bidding farewell to their new friends and exacting another promise that they would come to see them the following summer if it were at all possible.
“Nice people,” Rogers declared, as the Albatross rose in the air.
“And then some,” Bill added as he headed her nose toward Molokai.
“Father, mother and——ahem——daughter, all of them,” Gordon agreed.
“You said it,” Bill told him. “She’s a fine girl and I don’t care who knows it.”
“She’d be prettier if she had a bit more nose,” Gordon suggested.
“What’s the matter with her nose?” Bill demanded.
“Nothing, what there is of it,” Gordon laughed.
“Well, I guess it suits her all right.”
“And somebody else as well,” Gordon again laughed.
“Looks to me as though it was going to rain,” Rogers changed the conversation. He did not realize how dear the two boys were to each other and sometimes feared lest real offense might be given when they were kidding.
“Does look a bit thick off there,” Bill agreed. “Hope it holds off till we land.”
“It’s going to take more than rain to keep me away from that hole,” Gordon told them. “Believe me, I’m anxious to find out if my hunch is in good working order.”
“You didn’t say you had a hunch. I thought it was just an idea,” Bill told him.
“Is there any difference?” Rogers wanted to know.
“Sure there is,” Gordon told him. “A hunch is an idea with a college education.”
“Then I hope this one of yours went to a good college,” Rogers laughed.
“You’ll have to wait a bit after we get there, rain or no rain,” Bill said a few minutes later. “It’ll be just about high tide when we land.”
“That old tide again,” Gordon groaned.
“Which waits for no man,” Rogers reminded him.
“It’s going to rain all right,” Bill declared just then as a drop of water struck the wind shield in front of him.
“Just a shower, I reckon,” Rogers told him.
But a few minutes later the rain was coming down in torrents and the visibility was so poor that they could see but a short distance ahead.
“Better slow her down or we’ll be going past without seeing it,” Gordon cautioned.
“We’re only making a bit over thirty now,” Bill told him.
“Then the wind must be pretty strong,” Rogers suggested. “It seems to me as though we were going pretty fast.”
“We aren’t nearly there yet,” Bill declared.
“Some shower, if you ask me,” Gordon declared.
But it turned out that Rogers was right. It was only a shower, and a few minutes later the sun burst through the clouds and the rain stopped so suddenly that Gordon declared someone must have turned off the spigot.
“Is that our island?” Gordon asked pointing straight ahead.
“Unless I got lost in the rain it is,” Bill told him.
“Well, I guess you didn’t because those are our cliffs all right.”
“And right over there is where our hopes are,” Rogers smiled pointing a bit to the right.
“Tide’s in all right but I reckon it’s on the turn,” Gordon told them.
“Which means that we’ll have time to get some dinner,” Bill laughed.
“I sure do like that statement,” Gordon assured him.
A few minutes later the plane settled to the ground at their old camping ground and they jumped out and at once began getting things in shape for the meal.
“Doesn’t look as though there’d been anyone here,” Gordon announced as he looked about.
“I guess there doesn’t anyone come here very often,” Bill told him.
“It isn’t a very inviting place to come to,” Rogers added.
It was nearly two o’clock when they started out for the hole in the cliff and Gordon hurried them along so fast that Rogers was panting heavily when they reached the spot.
“I’ll have to go into training if I’m going to follow you fellows about much,” he declared.
“Quick, Bill, give me a jump up,” Gordon ordered and Bill hastened to take his stand beneath the hole.
In an instant Gordon was on his shoulders and then the sand began to fly as he brushed it out with both hands.
“Go easy there,” Bill gasped stepping back a pace and nearly upsetting his burden. “I’m getting the most of that sand down the back of my neck. Don’t brush it out so hard and then it’ll fall down straight.”
“Don’t be so particular,” Gordon called down, “There isn’t much more. There, I told you so.”
“Found something?” Rogers asked eagerly.
“Looks like it. There’s a crack here in the floor that makes almost a square, but I’ve got to have something besides my fingers to pry it out.”
“How about the bar? I brought it along, you know.”
“Hand it up and I’ll give it a try but I don’t believe it will work.”
“Crack too small?” Bill asked.
“Afraid so,” Gordon told him as he reached for the bar which Rogers was handing him.
It required several minutes for Gordon to work the end of the bar into the crack, but he finally accomplished it and in another minute he dropped a flat stone about a foot and a half long and a little more than a foot wide to the ground.
“Get a bit nearer, Bill,” he called and a moment later added: “It’s here all right, but I don’t know’s I can lift it out alone.”
“What is it?” Both Bill and Rogers asked the question in the same breath.
“It’s a wooden box and it’s sure some heavy,” he told them panting as he tugged with both hands. “Steady now, and don’t spill me if you can help it. Here, Steve, get under it and I’ll ease it down to you.”
The box was in a fair state of preservation as they found upon examination, although the cover was rotted a bit on one side.
“Just a minute,” Rogers cried as Gordon was about to use the bar in prying off the top. “Do——do you suppose we’re going to find the platinum in there?”
“Best way is to get it open and find out,” Bill told him.
“Go ahead.”
The cover flew off and three pairs of eyes peered eagerly at the contents.
“I reckon we’ve found it,” Rogers said as he stooped and picked up a small lump of what looked like a fragment of nickle.
“Is that platinum?” Gordon asked as he too picked up a piece.
“Well, I never saw any unrefined platinum,” Rogers told him. “And, of course, I can’t be certain, but what else could it be? No one took all that trouble to hide something that wasn’t pretty valuable.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Bill told him.
“Let’s get it back to camp and I’ll get my lab to working and we’ll soon know what it is,” Rogers told them.
“We’ll take turns carrying it,” Bill proposed. “Help me get it up on my shoulder and I’ll take the first whack.”
Changing the load at short intervals they made easy work of it and half an hour later Rogers was busy getting his chemicals and apparatus ready.
“I’m not much of a chemist,” he told them, “But I studied up on this thing and don’t believe I’ll have much trouble.”
“You better hadn’t,” Gordon warned him. “We don’t want to cart home a lot of worthless stuff.”
“I’ll do the best I can. Believe me, I don’t want to get my hopes up again and get fooled. Now here’s the nitric acid. We’ll pour some out in this beaker and put a lump of the stuff in it and see if it has any action on it. If it’s any common metal it will dissolve. Where’s that little stove that uses that solid heat of yours? I want to warm the acid to make sure.”
Gordon soon found the little stove and a moment later they were eagerly watching the experiment.
“Not a sign of any action,” Gordon declared after five minutes had passed.
“Which makes it look encouraging,” Rogers told him. “Now we’ll try some hydrochloric acid.”
The result was the same with the latter acid and the hopes of all three were at fever heat as they watched the experiment.
“Now we’ll try the aqua regia and see if that dissolves it,” Rogers told them as he mixed the two acids.
“It should, shouldn’t it?” Bill asked.
“If it’s platinum, yes.”
How they all stared as he dropped a small lump into the mixture and how they cheered a moment later as they saw it slowly grow smaller and finally disappear.
“I guess that settles it,” Bill cried.
“Just a minute. There’s one more test to make to be sure,” Rogers told him as he diluted the mixture with some water. “If it’s platinum this solution of ammonium chloride, which I have in this bottle, will precipitate it.”
Again they held their breath as he poured some of the solution into the beaker, but their joy was unbounded as they saw the dark colored precipitate thrown down and Rogers told them that it was the precious metal beyond the shadow of a doubt.
“Now I reckon we can enjoy the flight home,” Gordon declared catching his cap on the back of his head as it descended from the height to which he had thrown it.
“It’s dead certain that I’m going to,” Rogers assured him. “Boys, this means a lot to me.”
“And I reckon we can use our share,” Bill grinned.
“Well, I guess we’d better plan to spend the night here and get an early start in the morning,” Rogers suggested.
“It doesn’t make so much difference when we start,” Bill told him. “We’ll have to fly part way in the dark anyhow unless we hit full speed about all the time and I don’t like to do that unless we have to. But we ought to take a couple of hours or so and go over the plane and be sure that everything is all right before we start so I’m in favor of doing as you suggest. What do you say Gordon?”
“Suits me. We don’t want to have trouble with the motor on the way back, that’s certain.”
“Then I’ll get the tents up while you two are doing the work on the plane,” Rogers said.
“I’ll say it’s a lucky thing we did look it over,” Gordon declared an hour later.
“Found something wrong?” Bill asked looking up from the commutator of the elevator motor which he had been examining.
“Here’s a wire that’s all but broken and if it had given out while we were in the air——well, we’d have had to come down, that’s all.”
“But this other motor would hold us up,” Bill told him.
“I forgot about that one for the minute, but this would have given out before we had gone a hundred miles or I’m no mechanic. Looks to me as though there must be too much vibration here. No wonder,” he added a moment later. “This motor is all but loose.”
“I’ll say it is,” Bill agreed after a short examination. “It needs some new bolts in there. Wonder if we’ve got any.”
“I’ll look and see.”
After a long search Gordon found the bolts and started in to replace those which were worn. It took considerable time as they were hard to get at and supper was ready by the time he had finished.
“Where are we going to hide that stuff?” Bill asked later as they were sitting around the fire. “We don’t want to have it stolen now that we’ve got it.”
“Who’s going to steal it?” Gordon demanded.
“I don’t suppose anyone is,” Bill told him. “But, just the same, we’re going to hide it and, what’s more, we’re going to set a watch to-night.”
“That’s fool——”
“I think Bill’s right,” Rogers interrupted. “Of course,” he explained, “there’s not much chance of anyone coming around here to-night, but it’s possible, and that platinum is altogether too valuable to take the slightest chance with.”
“I guess you’re right at that,” Gordon agreed. “It’s only for one night anyhow.”
Before going to bed they packed everything which they did not need, including the platinum, in the plane as they planned to be off by four o’clock, and before nine o’clock Rogers and Bill were asleep leaving Gordon to stand the first watch until eleven. It was a beautiful night after the shower of the morning and the sky was studded with stars, and a great sense of pleasure took possession of the boy as he sat with his back to a large rock only a few feet from the plane.
“It’s all a bunch of foolishness sitting up here,” he told himself as he glanced at his watch and saw that it was half past ten.
But at that moment he changed his mind. A slight sound off to his left caught his ear and he quickly sprang to his feet every sense alert. For a moment he stood perfectly still and listened. Then he heard it again. It was only a faint sound as though someone were stepping on a loose stone but it told him that some kind of an animal was near. There was no moon and, in spite of the stars, he could see but a short distance. Then he heard a whisper and knew that the animals were men. How many there might be he could not tell but that there was more than one was certain.
He hesitated no longer but dropped to his knees and crept quickly toward the tents about thirty feet away. There he shook Rogers and Bill at the same time whispering to them to keep quiet.
“There are some men close by,” he told them.
“You sure?” Bill, now fully awake, asked.
“Yes, I heard them talking.”
“Did you see them?” Rogers whispered.
“No, it’s too dark.”
“We’d better get over close to the plane,” Bill told them. “Never mind the tents: we can leave them if we have to.”
A moment later they were crouching close to the plane and straining their ears to catch the slightest sound. But none came and Bill was on the point of telling Gordon that he must have been mistaken, when, the latter whispered:
“I saw one of them then. Look over there by that rock. See him?”
“Yes,” Bill replied.
“And there’s another just to his right.”
“And another one about ten feet to his left,” Bill whispered.
“Like as not there’s a dozen of them,” Rogers added.
“Get in the plane, quick, and don’t make any noise,” Bill ordered.
“Going to take off?” Gordon asked.
“If we can,” Bill told him.
“Make it snappy then. They’re coming nearer.”
“All set?” Bill asked a minute later.
“All set,” both Rogers and Gordon told him.
Bill started the elevator and at the same instant, as though it had been a signal, there came a shout and a rush of dark forms.
“They’re coming,” Gordon cried, at the same time firing his automatic into the air.
He hoped that the shot would scare them but it only seemed to increase their speed and now they could see that there were at least a half dozen men rushing the plane. Bill had the switch on the last notch by this time and the propeller was spinning but the plane did not rise.
“They’ll get us if you don’t hurry,” Gordon cried again firing a shot over the heads of the men.
“She’s got it all,” Bill replied and just then the plane gave a slight lurch and the wheels left the ground.
But two of the men were close at hand and, before the plane had risen far enough to escape them, they had grabbed hold of the side of the cockpit one on either side, and for a second it seemed they would pull the plane back to the ground. But Gordon on the one side and Rogers on the other brought the handles of their guns down on two separate heads and both men dropped without a sound as the plane seemed to leap into the air.
“Good work,” Bill cried.
“But, believe me, it was touch and go for a second,” Gordon told him.
Down below they could hear the shouts of angry men whose prey had escaped them and for a moment they feared lest they would fire at them. But no shots came and, as Bill started the forward propeller, all breathed sighs of relief.
“I reckon it’s just as well we kept a watch,” Rogers declared.
“If we hadn’t we’d have had trouble,” Bill told them, “and probably lost the platinum.”
“You win,” Gordon acknowledged.
“By the skin of our teeth,” Bill chuckled.
The weather continued all that they could have asked, and shortly before six o’clock the next afternoon, the Albatross landed just outside San Francisco. They lost no time in finding a place to park the plane for the night and, taking the box with them, they soon were quartered in a small hotel.
“Now, I think it’ll be the best plan to sell the stuff to-morrow,” Rogers told them as soon as they had reached their room. “If we try to take it home with us we may lose it and we probably can get as good a price for it here as anywhere. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a wise plan.”
“Then first thing in the morning I’ll go to the chief of police and tell him who I am and get him to tell me the best place to take it.”
This plan was carried out and before noon they had found a customer in one of the largest jewelry firms of the city. Of course it took some time to make settlement as they had to wait until the platinum was assayed. But the time did not hang heavy on their hands and two days later they received a check for one hundred and sixty-four thousand dollars.
“Not a bad summer’s work,” Bill chuckled as they left the office.
“Not half bad,” Gordon agreed.
They left for home the next day and two days later the Albatross touched the ground behind the old homestead and two very happy boys received the hearty congratulations of their parents.
“We dropped Steve off on Long Island,” Bill told them, “But he’s coming to make us a visit next summer.”
