me be your bank. But I say, Sedgwick, you'll
need a sailing master. You're not a seaman."

Our eyes met.

"Could Sam Blythe be persuaded to take the place?"

"Could I?" He got up and wrung my hand. "That's what I wanted you to
say. Of course I'll go--jump at the chance."

"There's the chance of a nasty row. We're likely to meet Bothwell in
that vicinity. If we do, there will be trouble."

"So I gather from your description of the gentleman."

I was delighted. Blythe was not only a good navigator; he was a tried
companion, true as steel, an interesting fellow who had passed through
strange experiences but never used them to impress upon others a sense
of his importance.

He had served through the Boer and the Spanish-American wars with
distinction. As I looked at him--a spare tall man with a bronzed face of
power, well-shouldered, clear-eyed, and light-footed--I felt he was the
one out of ten thousand for my purpose.

"Too bad I didn't know a week ago. I've let my crew go. But we can pick
up another. My sailing master Mott is a thoroughly reliable man. He'll
look after the details. My opinion is that we ought to get under way as
soon as possible. That fellow Bothwell is going to crowd on all sail in
his preparations. I take it as a sure thing that he means to have a try
for the treasure."

"My notion too. He struck me as a man of resource and determination."

"So much the better. He'll give us a run for our money. My dear fellow,
you've saved my life. I was beginning to get bored to extinction. This
will be a bully picnic."

"How long will it take you to get the yacht ready?"

"Give me a week to pick a crew and get supplies aboard. I'll offer a
bonus to get things pushed."

To see the enthusiasm he put into the adventure did me good after the
three days of disappointment I had endured. I was eager to have him and
Miss Wallace meet, and I got her at once on the telephone and made
arrangements to bring him up after dinner to the private hotel where she
and her aunt were stopping.

They took to each other at once. Inside of ten minutes we were all
talking about our equipment for the trip.

"If we have a good run and the proper luck we'll be back to you with the
treasure inside of a month, Miss Wallace," Blythe promised as he rose to
leave.

"Back to me!" She looked first at him and then at me. "You don't think
that I'm not going, too, do you?"

It is odd that the point had not come up before, but I ha