"I certainly
am in favor of finding out what those codes mean. Perhaps we'll find
something on this island after all. I'll bet this is the one Sam has
heard about all right."

"Seems so, doesn't it?" agreed Grant. "We may get rich yet."

"The treasure was in that chest up there in the cave, I tell you," said
George. "Some one has been here and taken it away."

"Not at all," cried Fred. "At any rate there's more of it here. Didn't
you hear Sam say that he has heard about this island for years and
years?"

"You're not sure this is the one."

"Well, I'm pretty sure there aren't two islands with rocks on them like
that," exclaimed Fred. "A rock shaped just like a shark is so unusual
that you see they identify the island by it."

"But why has no one ever found it?"

"You just said they had," Grant reminded him. "You also said that the
treasure was gone. You are contradicting yourself."

"Well, you'd think some one would find it," exclaimed George. "An island
as big as this one couldn't very well be overlooked if any one came near
it at all."

"Apparently no one does come near it," said Fred. "How many boats have
we seen since the _Josephine_ burned?"

"Not one," said Grant.

"Why is it?" demanded Fred. "In this day and age, when the ocean is so
covered with ships, you'd certainly think we'd see at least one."

"We never even saw any of the other lifeboats," said John.

"That's true," Fred exclaimed. "How do you account for it?"

"I don't," said Grant. "It's a strange thing all around."

"Well, if we're going to be stranded here for a few years we might just
as well spend part of the time looking for the treasure," said Fred.
"Everything seems to point to the fact that there is some here. That
cave and the chest and the two codes and the queer rock that fits in so
well with what Sam has heard, everything about it sounds like treasure
and lots of it."

"If we could only be the ones to find it," sighed John. "Just think of
going home rich; rich with pearls and diamonds and emeralds and gold
doubloons and bars of gold all dug up from some old pirate's hiding
place. If we only could!"

"Perhaps we can," exclaimed Fred, much thrilled by John's description of
the wealth that might be theirs. "My opinion is that we must translate
those codes first, though. Wouldn't it be awful if they didn't apply to
this island after all."

"But they do," insisted Grant. "I know they do."

"And I think so, too," exclaimed J