Part 25 (1/2)

”Well,” suggested Fred, ”we hadn't heard before of that phrase Mr

Montgo in'”

”That's nothing at all,” affirmed Bill decidedly

”I have a hunch it doesit over inis

”By the way, Ross,” he went on, turning to their new-found friend where he sat brooding a little way apart fro sinceyou first that may interest you We'd have told you earlier this afternoon, but we've been traveling in different boats, and then e got on shore ere so busy with cutting up the shark that we didn't get a chance till now”

Ross looked up eagerly

”What is it?” he cried, getting up and joining the group

He listened breathlessly while Fred told hi their talk with Mr Lee--the fight with the sht to the south Pacific, the partial confession of dick and the going down of the shi+p with all on board

When Fred had finished, Ross rose and paced the beach excitedly

”You fellows found out in a fewto learn,” he cried ”All the ti, I've been haunted by the fear that even if I found where the gold had been hidden, the o have been taken and spent by the robbers I've felt like all kinds of an idiot in keeping up the search on such a slender chance, and again and again I've been teive it up But this puts new life and hope in old and pay my father's debts”

”It's practically certain that the money is still there,” affirmed Fred

”The felloho took it are all drowned--unless they're living somewhere on a desert island, and that's so unlikely after all this tiht The only living old is To about all over the world, and he too may be dead by this tiold's ever found, we'll be the ones ill find it”

”You boys have been perfect bricks,” declared Ross war back from you from the start”

”You needn't feel that way at all,” asserted Teddy ”For enerous and outspoken in telling us as much as you have You'd neverabout us”

”Well, I know all about you now,” declared Ross, ”and fro I find out will be known to you as fast as I can get it to you”

The boys said nothing but waited expectantly

”There's one thing I didn't tell you that first night,” Ross continued

”I don't kno important it may prove to be, but at least it's a clue that er_ was taken to Halifax and abandoned there by the slers Ramsay, the captain who died on the trip, had owned it, but he had no fae of the boat and sold it after a while, holding the ot for it for the benefit of the heirs, if any should ever turn up The nener used the boat for a voyage or two, but he found it hard to get a crew You kno superstitious sailors are The ave sailor men the impression that there was a hoodoo of some kind connected with it, and they wouldn't shi+p aboard her So the nener sold it and the naed

”One day in Canada I ran across a sailor who had ed, and he told h map cut out on the wood of the forecastle with a jackknife There avy lines to represent the water and a shaded part that ht stand for a beach Then there was a cluether, and a little way off were two ht-hand side

”Of course I ju to do with the place where the gold was hidden I thought perhaps some of the sailors had wanted to impress on their memory just how the place looked, so that they could find it more easily when the time came I pumped the man for more details, but that was all he could reer_ but she has slipped out of sight like a ghost If I could only have one look at that old forecastle, I think that the ht trail”

”I'll bet it would,” declared Fred with conviction, and his opinion was eagerly echoed by the others

For a long tile, and it was very late when Lester urged that they should settle down for the night