The Radio Boys Under the Sea; or, The Hunt for Sunken Treasure

  THE RADIO BOYS SERIES

  RADIO BOYS IN THE SECRET SERVICE; or, Cast Away on an Iceberg.

  RADIO BOYS IN THE FLYING SERVICE; or, Held For Ransom by Mexican Bandits.

  RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS; or, The Yankee-Canadian Wireless Trail.

  RADIO BOYS UNDER THE SEA; or, The Hunt for Sunken Treasure.

  COPYRIGHT 1923. BY M. A. DONOHUE & CO. MADE IN U. S. A.

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  CONTENTS

  I. A Daring Leap II. By Land and Sea III. Radio and Its Wonders IV. Strange Happenings V. Marooned VI. The Sunken Treasure VII. A Hazardous Venture VIII. Counting the Cost IX. "Man Overboard!" X. Lurking in the Shadows XI. The Wrath of the Storm XII. Shipwrecked XIII. Under the Sea XIV. The Tentacles of the Devil-Fish XV. Torn Apart XVI. Wave-Tossed XVII. An Uncanny Experience XVIII. Gold and Jewels XIX. A Perplexing Mystery XX. The Earthquake XXI. From the Ocean Bed XXII. Quelling a Mutiny XXIII. The Horrors of the Lagoon XXIV. Cheating the Sharks XXV. In Deadly Danger XXVI. The Volcano Wakes XXVII. On the Alert XXVIII. A Flag of Truce XXIX. A Fight for Life XXX. Victory!

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  RADIO BOYS UNDER THE SEA

  CHAPTER I

  A DARING LEAP

  Down the road came plunging a runaway horse, his eyes blazing and hismouth flecked with foam.

  In the light buggy that rocked and bounced behind him, threatening atany moment to overturn, stood a young man, sawing at the reins with allhis strength. But though he was stalwart and vigorous, his strengthavailed nothing against the power of the maddened brute.

  The man's eyes glanced from side to side, as though he were planning tojump. But at the fearful rate at which he was going, a leap would almostcertainly have meant broken bones or a broken neck. He seemed to abandonthe thought, and put the last remnant of his overtaxed strength in onemore frantic tug at the reins.

  A little way up the road, coming in his direction, were three young men.They had evidently been on a fishing excursion, as was attested by theirrods and a big string of finny trophies. They were laughing and chaffingeach other, and evidently on the best of terms with themselves and withlife.

  The thunder of approaching hoofs made itself heard, and they looked ateach other questioningly.

  "That fellow seems to be in a hurry," remarked Phil Strong.

  "He sure does," returned Dick Weston. "Mazeppa or Paul Revere hadnothing on him."

  "Just burning up the road and breaking all speed laws," commented TomHadley, the third of the trio.

  They turned a bend in the road just then, and broke into exclamations ofalarm, as they saw the horse tearing toward them.

  "The man will be killed," shouted Tom, as they instinctively jumped tothe side of the road, which at this point was comparatively narrow,bordered on one side by trees and on the other by underbrush, back ofwhich a little brook purled along.

  On came the frenzied brute, yielding not a particle to the strain on thereins.

  Just as he came within ten feet of the group, Phil stiffened himself fora spring. The next instant he had launched himself in the air at thehorse's bridle. His aim was good, and his right hand clenched theleather while his left gripped the mane.

  He had leaped in the direction the horse was going, and this to someextent lessened the force of the shock. All the same it was terrific,and his muscles strained taut until it seemed as though they wouldburst. He held on however with a grip of iron, swinging himself up so asto escape the lashing hoofs and at the same time making the animal bearhis whole weight.

  The horse plunged wildly, shaking his head to get rid of his burden, butPhil held on with grim determination. His left hand slid from the manedown over the horse's nostrils which he compressed with all hisstrength.

  Choking for breath the panic stricken animal reared and threw himself toone side, at the same time overturning the buggy. The driver was thrownout, striking on his head, while the horse was brought to his knees.

  All this had happened in a few seconds. Paralyzed for a moment by thelightning quickness of Phil's action, Dick and Tom had quickly graspedthe situation and rushed to his aid. Scarcely had the horse gone downthan both were at the side of their comrade, helping him to hold downthe frightened animal, who was making desperate efforts to get his feet.

  They held him long enough for him to know that he had met his masters.Then they hastily unbuckled his harness and as the horse scrambled tohis feet, Tom led him to a tree and tied him fast, while Phil and Dickhurried to the side of the injured driver, who still lay there limp andunconscious.

  They were experts at first aid, and were greatly relieved as they rantheir hands over him to find that no bones were broken. Blood wasflowing from a gash in his head and running down over his face.

  "Let's get him to the brook and bathe his head and face," suggestedPhil, who was still panting from the effects of his tussle.

  "Lucky if his skull isn't fractured," remarked Dick, as he lent a hand,seconded by Tom, who had by this time secured the horse and come to thehelp of his comrades.

  Together they lifted the man and bore him through the underbrush to thebank of the brook. There they laid him down, and while one of themrubbed the wrists and hands, the others washed his head and face anddashed cold water on him in copious quantities. Phil carefully washedout the gash on the head into which the dust and grit of the road hadbeen rubbed, and stripping enough linen from the sleeve of his shirt tomake a bandage, carefully bound up the wound.

  Before long the result of their administrations became apparent. Therewas a fluttering of the eyelids, and soon the man opened his eyes andlooked wonderingly around. His glance fell on the boys, who werewatching him anxiously.

  He tried to speak, but his voice was thick and the words came withdifficulty. Phil stopped him with a reassuring gesture.

  "Don't try to talk yet, old man," he said. "You've had a nasty tumblebut there are no bones broken and you'll be all right when you've restedup a little. Just take it easy for a few minutes and give your head achance to clear."

  The injured man relaxed and lay for a little while with his eyes closed,collecting his strength. And now for the first time the boys had achance to take a good look at him.

  He was a tall muscular man of athletic build, lean as a greyhound andwith not an ounce of superfluous flesh upon him. His face was bronzed asthat of an Indian and spoke of a life spent largely in the open. Therewas a smartness in the set of his shoulders that suggested militarytraining. His nose was straight and his jaw firm. There were quizzicallines about his mouth that indicated the possession of a sense of humor.Altogether it was a likable face, and the boys as they watched himmentally classed him as a "regular fellow."

  This impression was deepened when the man again opened his eyes. Theywere no longer clouded but clear and penetrating, eyes that lookeddirectly at one, eyes that indicated a frank and straightforwardcharacter.

  "I guess I've about got this thing straight now," the man remarked witha faint smile, as he raised himself on one elbow. "For a little while myhead was buzzing like a flywheel. But I remember now trying to hold thehorse in and one of you young fellows flinging yourself at the brute'shead."

  His eyes trav
eled over the boys and rested on Phil.

  "You're the one that did it," he said.

  "Oh," replied Phil deprecatingly, "I just happened to be the nearestwhen the horse came tearing along."

  "It was a mighty plucky thing to do, I'll tell the world," said thestranger with gratitude and admiration in his voice. "There isn't onefellow in a thousand that would have taken the chance. It was a gamblewith death, all right. I can't thank you enough. You probably saved mylife."

  "Oh, I don't know," replied Phil, throwing the matter off lightly. "Youmight have stopped him yourself after a while. He couldn't have run onforever. But how are you feeling now? Arms and legs all right?"

  "Sore as the mischief but nothing broken," was the reply, as he movedthem about. "I see my head was cut," he went on, as he raised his handto the bandage.

  "Rather deep cut," remarked Dick, "but nothing to worry about as long asthe skull wasn't fractured."

  "Oh, that skull has had many a hard knock in its time," the man saidwith a smile. "I guess it was pretty thick to begin with and it's beentoughened by what's happened to it since."

  He raised himself to a sitting position and the boys helped to settlehim comfortably with his back to a tree.

  "I'm afraid I'm taking up your time and interfering with your plans," hesaid apologetically, as he glanced from one to the other.

  "Not a bit of it," Phil hastened to reassure him. "We'd just been on afishing trip and were on our way home. We've got all the time there is,and we're going to stick around until we see you safe to your home orhotel or wherever it is you want to go."

  "That's mighty good of you," said the stranger gratefully. "I wasfiguring on staying at Castleton over night."

  "That's where we hail from," replied Phil, "and as soon as you've resteda bit more we'll harness up the horse and drive you over, I guess he'shad his fill of running away."

  "The old pirate was sure full of ambition," laughed Tom. "He torealong--"

  He stopped suddenly, for at the word "pirate" the stranger hadstraightened up like a flash and clapped his hand convulsively to hisbreast.