They were so engrossed in their
discovery that they had eyes for nothing else. Walker straightway
plunged the sausage-shaped gray stick into the water again.
"What are you doing with that dynamite?" she demanded. "Do you intend
to visit the Valley of the Golden Sands? If so, please take me. I am
very poor."
It was Courtenay who answered.
"Are you alone?" he asked.
"Mr. Boyle is in the chart-house."
"I know; but is any one else up there?"
"No."
"Then we shall join you at once."
Notwithstanding the serious demeanor of the men, Elsie was far from
guessing what had happened. But she was soon enlightened.
"In which bunker was the coal placed which we shipped at Valparaiso?"
Courtenay asked Boyle.
"In the forrard cross bunker," was the instant answer.
"And that was the first coal used in the furnaces?"
"Yes, sir."
The captain's tone was official, exceedingly so, and the chief officer
took the cue from his superior in rank.
"Did we get up steam with it?"
"There might have been a hundred-weight or two lying loose in the
stoke-hold, but, for all practical purposes, we have used nothing but
the Valparaiso bunker since we left port.
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