crew shipped yet?" Drew inquired, after a pause.

"Well, some of them are aboard," was the answer. "We've got two dozen
in round numbers, but we still need five or six more men before we get
our full quota. Ditty's ashore looking them up now."

"Do you think they're going to suit you?"

"Oh, I've seen better crews and I've seen worse," answered the captain.
"There are some of them whose faces I don't just like, but that's true
in every ship's company. I guess they'll average up all right.

"There's one thing I want to show you," went on the captain, opening
the door of a closet built into the cabin.

Drew looked, and was surprised to see as many as a dozen rifles, as
well as several revolvers and a sheaf of machetes.

"Why, it looks like a small arsenal!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "What
on earth will we want all these for? One might think that we expected
to have a scrap ourselves with pirates on the Spanish Main."

"Not that exactly," said the captain laconically, "but in an enterprise
like ours it's wise to take precautions. 'Better to be safe than be
sorry.' If it's known that we're after treasure, there may be sundry
persons who will take an unwholesome interest in our affairs."

"Do you mean members of the crew?"

"Not necessarily; though they may. It's not likely, for it's probably
nothing but a turtle cay, but there may be people living on the island
where we're going who would seriously dispute our right to take
anything away and might try to stop us. Few of those small islands are
inhabited; still, I'll feel a good deal more comfortable to know that
I've got these weapons stowed away where I can get them at a moment's
notice. By the way, do you know how to shoot?"

"Yes," answered Drew. "I belong to a rifle club, and I'm a fairly good
shot with either a pistol or a gun."

"A useful accomplishment," commented the captain. "You never know when
it may come in handy."

Drew was wild to go on deck again to talk with Ruth. He had scarcely
exchanged three sentences with her, and there were a thousand things he
wanted to say. The time was getting so terribly short! In two days
more he would be sailing away with her father, leaving her behind, and
months might elapse before he could see her again.

It was his eager desire just now to get her interested in him to some
extent, so that she would think of him sometimes while he was away; to
give her some hint of the tumult in his heart; to let