the wreck, and to catch the
attention of a whaler a few days later, and was taken off. Before
going, however, he made a careful drawing of the place, and by
studying other charts on the American whaler which took him away he
was able to locate the island with such correctness that he could
return to it at any time, his intention, of course, being to do so at
some period when he could go provided with means to prosecute his
search without such frightful risk.

"But Bill never saw the time, for he was too fond of liquor when
ashore. He met his death just as I told you, and he gave me this chart
or map of the locality, telling me that a fortune lay at that point
where my finger is resting to whosoever should go after it."

Such was the story of Captain Bergen, as he related it to his friend,
Abe Storms, to whom he proposed that they should fit out an expedition
to go to the South Seas in quest of the fortune that awaited them in
the shape of pearls.

Abe was slower and more deliberate, but he finally fell in with the
scheme, and the two, as we have already stated, became joint partners
in the grand enterprise.

Both were frugal men, and they now decided to invest all their funds
in the scheme, which promised to make or break them. Instead of
sailing from the port of Boston, they took an important cut "across
lots" by going by rail to San Francisco, thus saving the longest and
most dangerous portion of the voyage, which otherwise would be
necessary. In San Francisco, at a sale of bankrupt property, they
bought the schooner, which has already been described, and shipped
their crew.

The wonder was that two men possessing the shrewdness of Storms and
Bergen should have been so deceived respecting their men.

Hyde Brazzier was an American sailor, with blotched, bleared face,
with one eye gone, while over the sunken, sightless cavity he wore a
green patch, his face covered by a scraggly beard, and his single eye,
small and deep-set, added to the sinister expression of his
countenance.

He had the reputation of being a good seaman, and undoubtedly he was,
and being strong and vigorous, in the prime of life, he was considered
an especially valuable man to Captain Bergen, who paid him five
dollars more per month than he expected.

Since Captain Bergen had pursued a rather original course from the
beginning, he continued to do so. He engaged his men without any help
from the shipping-master, and had hardly reached an un