was
wet up to his knees.

"Hello! what is this, Jesse W., how do you happen to be so wet?" he asked.
"There was no water in----"

"Yes, some," answered the boy quietly. "It had worked in under the door or
at the side somewhere. Maybe they had settled. Anyhow, I got the bag and
here it----" and then the boy sank limp and helpless into Jack's arms and
fainted away.

"By George! he was a plucky little fellow and no mistake!" exclaimed Jack.
"He said that he would get the bag and he did, and standing in water up to
his knees, and not knowing at what time he might have the whole Caribbean
sea tumbling in upon him. Get some water, Dick!"

The boy presently came around, however, and said faintly, but with a half
laugh:

"I told you I'd bring it, didn't I, Jack? Well, I did, and I hope it will
be enough to keep you at the Academy for the rest of the course. If it
isn't, my father----"

"You are a brave young fellow, Jesse W., but you don't go back for
another, I tell you that!"

"You bet he does not!" echoed Percival. "So the water had made its way in,
had it? That's the last we will see of the place, then."

"Yes, it had come in somewhere, at the bottom, I guess. Still, it was not
coming in all the time nor fast, and I wanted to see the place, and I had
promised to fetch a bag of gold to Jack and----"

"And you wanted to keep your word even if you were drowned," sputtered
Percival. "Much you could have kept it in that case. You are a young
brick, J.W., but don't you do anything like that again."

"Well, I won't, if you say so, Dick," answered the little fellow.

"That's a brave little chap," said the captain. "He said he'd do a thing,
and he did it. There's lots who wouldn't."

They returned to the boat, and the captain told Percival to row toward the
reefs and as close to the stump of a mast as it was safe to go, as he
wanted to observe the wreck again.

Nearing the wreck they noticed that the water was swirling and eddying
very violently at a point where they judged the cabin to be, and the
captain said, after looking at the boiling waters for a short time:

"The water is making its way in and will run forward as far as its level.
She'll break up with all that water in her, and I wouldn't be surprised to
see her go any time."

In fact as they lay there watching the boiling waters over the sunken
vessel, they saw them become more greatly agitated and Percival pulled
away to a safer distance as the agitatio