ng us as much as
you have. You'd never met us before that day of the storm and didn't
know anything about us."

"Well, I know all about you now," declared Ross, "and from now on,
everything I find out will be known to you as fast as I can get it to
you."

The boys said nothing but waited expectantly.

"There's one thing I didn't tell you that first night," Ross continued.
"I don't know how important it may prove to be, but at least it's a clue
that may lead to something.

"As you know, the _Ranger_ was taken to Halifax and abandoned there
by the smugglers. Ramsay, the captain who died on the trip, had owned
it, but he had no family and the authorities took charge of the boat and
sold it after a while, holding the money they got for it for the benefit
of the heirs, if any should ever turn up. The new owner used the boat
for a voyage or two, but he found it hard to get a crew. You know how
superstitious sailors are. The mysterious way it was found abandoned
gave sailor men the impression that there was a hoodoo of some kind
connected with it, and they wouldn't ship aboard her. So the new owner
sold it and the name was changed.

"One day in Canada I ran across a sailor who had made a trip in the ship
before the name was changed, and he told me a queer thing. He said he
had found a rough map cut out on the wood of the forecastle with a
jackknife. There were wavy lines to represent the water and a shaded
part that might stand for a beach. Then there was a clump of three trees
standing together, and a little way off were two more. One big rock rose
out of the water on the right-hand side.

"Of course I jumped to the conclusion that it might have something to do
with the place where the gold was hidden. I thought perhaps some of the
sailors had wanted to impress on their memory just how the place looked,
so that they could find it more easily when the time came. I pumped the
man for more details, but that was all he could remember. I've tried in
every way I knew to trace the old _Ranger_ but she has slipped out
of sight like a ghost. If I could only have one look at that old
forecastle, I think that the map might put me on the right trail."

"I'll bet it would," declared Fred with conviction, and his opinion was
eagerly echoed by the others.

For a long time they debated the matter from this new angle, and it was
very late when Lester urged that they should settle down for the night.

"We'll get an early start in th