"What can be done?" asked Cora.
"I don"t know, yet. I"m going to find out. Maybe it isn"t so bad as it sounds after all," replied Jack.
"It sounds bad enough," sighed Cora. "But, Jack, I am with you in this. I simply won"t be left out."
"And no one wants to leave you out, Sis. Walter, just see if we can get a carriage, or a motor, to the marina. We"ll take a boat from there out to the Boldero."
"I will give you a letter to the captain," said Senor Ramo. "He knows me well, and he will show you every courtesy."
"Surely," thought Cora, "this man cannot be a political plotter, who would put innocent men in prison. Inez must be mistaken about him.
He is very kind."
Some little excitement was caused by the advent of the bad news to our party of friends, and it quickly spread through the hotel. A number of the guests, whose acquaintance the motorgirls had made, offered their services, but there was little they could do. What was most needed was information concerning the wreck.
Inez, who had made the getting of Cora"s fan an excuse to go to her room, to escape Senor Ramo, heard the sad tidings, and came down. By this time the "fat suspect," as Jack had nicknamed him, had gone, having scribbled a note of introduction to the captain of the Boldero.
"Oh, what is it, Senoritas?" gasped Inez. "Is it zat you are in sorrow?"
"Yes," said Cora, sadly. "Great sorrow, Inez. We have had very bad news," and there were tears in her eyes.
"I sorrow with you," said the impulsive Spanish girl, as she put her arm about Cora. "I was in sorrow myself, and you aided me. Now I must do ze same for you. Command me."
"There is little that can be done until we learn more," Cora made answer. "The steamer has been wrecked."
"With Senor Robinson, and with the Senoras Kimball and Robinson?"
gasped Inez.
"So we hear."
"Ah, zat is indeed of great sorrow. I weep for you. My own little troubles are a nothing. My father may be in prison, but what of zat--he is living--and your mother--"
She did not finish. Walter came in to announce that he had secured a large auto that would take them to the marina, whence they could get a boat to go out to the steamer.
"I only hope those sailors haven"t disappeared," murmured Jack. "Now then, are you girls ready?"
"Yes," answered Belle. She, as well as Cora and Bess, had somewhat recovered their composure, after the first sudden shock. Hope had sprung up again, though they were presently to learn on what a slender thread that hope hung. Jack had regained some of his former commanding manner in the emergency.
Inez went with her new friends to the docks. She seemed to have forgotten her own grief in ministering to the girls, and much of her former timid and shrinking manner had disappeared.
They found a large and powerful motor boat that would take them out to the ship, and, indeed, a staunch craft was needed, since there was still a heavy swell on, from the recent storm.
"Are there many boats like this in San Juan?" asked Jack of the man at the wheel, who spoke very good English.
"Not many. There"s only one as good, and that"s much larger. She"s the Tartar--and she"s a beauty!"
"For charter?"
"Well, maybe. The same man owns her as owns this one, but only large parties engage her."
"Fast and seaworthy?"
"None better."
"That"s good," Jack said.
"What are you thinking of?" asked his sister.
"Tell you later," he announced briefly.
"Oh, if it wasn"t for the terrible news, how lovely this trip would be!" exclaimed Bess.
They were gliding over the deep, blue waters of the bay, and the golden setting sun now shone aslant the harbor, pouring its beams over the tops of the distant mountains, and through the palm branches. A promise of fair weather followed on the wings of the storm.
Whatever Senor Ramo might, or might not be, he certainly procured a welcome for our friends at the Boldero. Or, rather, the note Jack presented to the captain did.
"Ah, yes, you desire news of the shipwrecked sailors. Well, they are still here on board. One of them is hurt, but the other can talk.
But they speak no English--I had better translate for you."
"First tell us what you know yourself, Captain," begged Cora.
"I know little, except what I have heard, of the foundering of the Ramona," was the answer.
"Then you think she did go down?" asked Bess.
"I fear so--the sailors we picked up so affirm. All I can tell you is that, a day or so ago, as we were staggering along through the stress of the storm, the lookout sighted a small boat. No signs of life aboard were seen, but we stopped and picked it up. In the craft, which was one of the lifeboats from the Ramona, were two sailors, nearly dead from exposure, and one from hurts received."
"How was he hurt?"" asked Jack.
"He was shot, Senor."
"Shot!"
"Yes, it appears there was mutiny aboard the Ramona, as well as the horrors of the storm and shipwreck."
"Mutiny!" murmured Cora, a look of horror in her eyes. "Poor, poor mother!"
"You had better hear the story directly from the sailors," suggested Captain Ponchero. "I will summon the unwounded one. You will find that more satisfactory."
He came, a sorry and unfortunate specimen of a Spanish sailor. There followed a rapid talk, in the Castilian tongue, between him and the captain, and the latter then said:
"His story is this. They ran into the storm soon after leaving San Juan, and could not find, or, rather, did not dare to try, for the nearest harbor, as the seas were running too high to make it safe to go through the narrow entrance. They had to keep on, and this caused discontent among some of the crew.
"There was an uprising--a mutiny, and some of them tried to leave in the boats. The brave captain would not let them, but he was overpowered, and the mutineers, in the face of certain danger, turned the ship to put back to a harbor which the captain had pa.s.sed because of the danger of trying to enter it in the storm."
"But how did the sailor get shot?" asked Jack.
"He worked against the mutineers--he and his comrade here," the captain answered. "Then those who had revolted, and seized the ship, ordered into small boats all who would not throw in their lot with them. So these two, with only a little food and water, were put adrift in the storm. It was almost certain death, but the boat lived through it, and we saved them."
"But what of the ship--the pa.s.sengers?" asked Cora.