CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIII. THE END.

Down out of sight Barney went like a flash.

As it happened, Pomp saw him disappear and set up a yell for help.

“Golly, de I’ishman am gone!” he screamed. “Come quick, Marse Frank! Cum everybody! He am done gone!”

Down Barney fell for several feet.

When he picked himself up he was astonished.

He was in the cabin of a ship.

Sand and debris were heaped upon the floor, and there was little left to show that it was really the cabin of a ship.

But such it was.

The Celt picked himself up to hear a voice above:

“Hi dar! Am yo’ kilt, I’ish?”

“Divil a bit!” roared the Celt. “Cum down yersilf, naygur!”

But Pomp was satisfied with gazing down into the place.

“Fo’ de lan’s sake!” he gasped; “it am de cabin ob a ship!”

“Begorra, that’s what it is!” cried Barney.

“Upon my word it is, Frank!” said Stanhope, who, with the young inventor, had come up just at that moment. “It is a sunken vessel!”

“Deeply sunk in the shoals!” said Frank. “Truly that is very odd.”

All crowded about the cavity in the sand.

What was the name of the ship, and how long it had been in this position it was not easy to guess.

But from what could be seen of the woodwork and the shape of the hull, it was evidently of a very antique pattern.

Doubtless it had lain there buried for a hundred years or more. What was the fate of its crew would never be known. Oblivion covered all.

Thoughts of this kind were surging through the mind of Frank Reade, Jr., as he stood there.

Who should say that they would not share the same fate as those castaways, and perhaps find a lonely grave upon the desert isle?

Some time strangers might come and ruminate upon their fate in precisely the same manner. It was a curious thing to ponder on.

But even as they stood thus engrossed around a headland of the isle there swung the hull of a ship.

Her sails filled lazily in the breeze as she rounded to an anchorage. The rattle of her chain was the first thing to apprise the castaways of her presence.

“Great Jericho!” gasped Captain Uriah.

Then he yelled at the top of his lungs:

“Alloy! the Belden!”

The scene which follows baffles description. Barney scrambled out of his hole.

All rushed down to the water’s edge insane with joy and excitement. A boat put out from the Belden.

Half an hour later all their effects were safe on board the big brig.

The great voyage of the Dolphin was ended. In one sense it was a great success.

The chief ends had been gained. The loss of the Dolphin was the dampening feature.

Two months later the Belden arrived in San Francisco harbor. A thankful crew disembarked.

Frank Reade, Jr., Barney and Pomp returned at once to Readestown, but before they left the Golden Gate, Valentine Tucker was set free and rejoined his happy family.

George Stanhope went back to Philadelphia, his home, happy as could be. As for Captain Uriah, his valuable pearls netted him a vast fortune. And so we write.

THE END.