ion of reaching the shore was not
an easy one. However, Pete knew the keys thoroughly and, in response to
much questioning, admitted that it was possible with only a short swim
here and there, to reach a lighthouse about four miles away.

The negro would have preferred to stay on the reef until morning, for he
could sleep as easily on the sand as in a bed, but Mr. Murren knew that
the two boys were not inured to hardship, Paul especially, and he
compelled the boatman to show the way. It was a toilsome but not
particularly dangerous journey, and when they reached the lighthouse,
and had done full justice to a quickly-prepared meal, they were quite
willing, as Paul declared, to tackle another sea-bat. There was a small
motor-boat owned by the lighthouse-keeper, and the party borrowed this,
reaching the _Golden Falcon_ without further misadventure, the
capitalist recompensing the cowardly negro for the loss of his boat.

Owing to the thorough work that had been done at Bermuda, and having the
assistance of his capitalist friend, Mr. Collier speedily secured the
specimens and the drawings he needed of the Florida reefs. He kept Colin
hustling, but found time to enter into the question of the proposed
sponge-farm with a great deal of interest, and went with a party to
Anclote Key, where the Bureau of Fisheries had established a station for
the investigation of the sponge industry, with especial regard to the
transplanting of sponges. The government expert welcomed them heartily,
and an arrangement was entered into whereby the Bureau accepted Mr.
Murren's offer to use for its experiments a part of such sponge-ground
as he should acquire, while he, at the same time, had the benefit of the
advice of the investigators.

"It seems to me," the capitalist said, when the details had been
concluded, "that's about the best kind of investment I know, getting
expert opinion for yourself in such a way that it benefits the whole
nation."

"It is, I think," the Fisheries official replied; "but you can't always
get people to realize that. Why, even the State governments in many
cases are not always ready to co-operate, and only last year the
Assembly of a certain State refused to permit the establishment of a
hatchery, because a relative of one of the assemblymen owned a summer
hotel in the district, and he thought it might reduce the number of fish
in a lake near the hotel."

"How absurd!"

"Of course, it's absurd, but it's amazing