“There is no other point suitable for a steamboat-landing on my property,” said Mr. Berkeley. “The channel makes a bend inland here, and above and below the water is shallow for some distance out; besides it would be very expensive to build a wharf into the deep water beyond the sunken wreck. It is not the part that you may see sticking out of the mud that is dangerous,” he continued. “It is another portion of the vessel which is sunk in the channel, but not far from the bank. The condition of my fortune does not warrant me in removing this wreck, which has been there so long that it has probably become a part of the bank. You see, therefore, that as it is impossible for us to have a steamboat wharf here at present, it is useless to talk of starting a town.” Thus the matter was disposed of, and Mr. Muller discovered that although he had not had the slightest idea of the fact when he told Chap the story of the three brothers, the sunken ship had, after all, very much to do with his business at Hyson Hall. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXX. THE GREAT MOMENT ARRIVES. Early one afternoon Chap Webster might have been seen rowing a little boat, near the water’s edge, in front of the Hyson Hall estate. In the stern of the boat was a box with a piece of canvas thrown over it, and in the bow were several large packages. These things had been brought home by Chap, in a wagon, that morning from Boontown, where they had been sent to him from the city. When Chap reached a spot nearly over the sunken vessel--and he found the place very easily, for it was marked by a little floating buoy which he had put there after many previous soundings and surveys--he anchored his boat with a long rope, and began to carry out the great scheme on which his mind had so long been set. A large package securely tied up in India-rubber cloth, with the ends of a long, double wire inserted into it, was lowered to the bottom of the river, where it rested as near as possible to the side of the sunken ship. The upper ends of the double wire were then attached to the ends of two long, covered wires, which lay in separate coils in the boat. This being done, Chap pulled up his anchor and slowly paddled his boat to shore, carefully letting out his wires with one hand as he paddled with the other. This was quite a difficult thing to do, and it would have been much better if he had had one of the other boys to help him. But he had come to the conclusion that there must be no faint hearts in this matter, and he had said nothing to them about it. When he reached the shore, he fastened the boat to a stake, and taking one coil of wire in his arms, he carried it up to the fence, which stood at a little distance from the water’s edge, carefully uncoiling it as he proceeded.