egraph this
afternoon," he added, always ready to do things on the rush. "We ought
to get an answer to-night or to-morrow morning."

"When do you want to start on the trip?" asked Dick.

"As soon as the party can be made up, and the steam yacht can be gotten
in readiness. I have already instructed the captain to provision her
for the trip."

"Then she has a captain and a crew?"

"Oh, yes, she carries ten men, including an engineer and his
assistant."

"That is certainly fine!" said Dick, and he smiled as he thought of
what a nice trip they would have with Dora Stanhope on board. Dick was
not "moonstruck," but he had a manly regard for Dora that did him
credit.

After that Anderson Rover gave them many more details regarding the
treasure, and his talks with Bahama Jack and of what he hoped to
accomplish. He had a fair idea of the latitude and longitude of
Treasure Isle, which, he had been told, was of coral formation, covered
with palms and shaped somewhat like a horseshoe.

"Bahama Jack says the treasure cave is about In the center of the inner
curve of the island, but that you cannot sail close to it on account of
the numerous reefs. You have to land on the island in a small boat, and
that is why very few ships stop there. Natives of that vicinity
occasionally go there for fruit and for birds, but there is no regular
village on the island."

"If the island is shaped like a horseshoe we ought not to have great
difficulty in locating it," said Dick.

"The trouble is, you cannot see the formation very well from the sea,
Dick. If one were in a balloon it would be different. You must remember
that there are many hundreds of islands scattered in that part of our
globe."

"Let's take a balloon along," suggested Tom. "Then we could go up and
take a look around."

"You couldn't look far enough, Tom, and if you tried to sail in the
balloon you'd probably drop into the ocean and be drowned. No, we'll
have to do our searching from the steam yacht. But I have several maps
and drawings which I think will aid us."

"The things Cuffer and Shelley were after?" cried Dick.

"Perhaps--if they are in league with Sid Merrick. Merrick, of course,
would like to get all the information possible."

"I'd like to look at the maps and drawings."

"So would I," added Sam and Tom. The idea of going on a treasure hunt
filled them with great interest.

"The maps and drawings I have are only copies," went on Anderson Rover.
"The