ad, easy. We must play our cards and not throw the hand down. We
must get hold of the treasure before we can make terms."

"And let Evelyn stay in his hands without making an effort to free her?"
I demanded.

"Did I say that, Jack?"

"What are you going to do, then?"

"As soon as night falls we'll send a boat up the river to find out where
his camp is. We'll make a reconnaissance."

"I'll go."

"Don't you think somebody less impetuous would be better, Jack? We don't
want to spoil things by any premature attack."

"I'm going, Sam. That's all there is to say about that."

"All right. If you are, you are. But you'd better let me."

"You may come along if you like."

"No, if you go I'll have to stay by the ship against a possible attack.
Tom will have charge of the party that watches the treasure. The deuce
of it is that our force will be divided into three. I hope Bothwell does
not take the occasion to make mischief."

Within the hour the tug that had brought Philips steamed back down the
harbor on the return trip to Panama. With it we sent Jimmie and the
steward. Dugan flatly declined to go, and since his wound was almost
healed the captain let him stay.

This left us fourteen men, counting the former mutineers and the native
stokers. To go with me on my night expedition I chose Alderson and
Smith. The guard for the treasure cache consisted of Yeager, Gallagher,
Barbados and Stubbs. The rest were to remain with the ship.

The tide was coming in when we pulled from the _Argos_ toward the mouth
of the Tuyra. The wash of the waves made it unnecessary for us to take
any precautions to muffle the sound of our oars and the darkness of the
night made detection at any distance improbable.

One difficulty we did encounter. For the first few hundred yards of our
journey up the river we disturbed some of the numberless birds which had
settled for the night on the trees close to the banks. The flapping of
their wings gave notice of our approach as plainly as if a herald had
shouted it.

We carried no light. The heavy tropical jungle growth on the mud flats
which extended on both sides of the river helped to increase the
darkness. Our progress was slow, for we had to make sure that we did not
slip past without noticing the schooner that had brought the pirates
down from Panama.

The sound of voices on the water warned us that we were approaching the
boat of which we were in search. Very cautiously, keeping close to