ter I made up my mind .... .... .... .... one
more rich prize .... .... wickedness.

"We captured the .... Guadalquiver ..... Desperate .... .... blood
..... thousand doubloons .... pearls .... .... price.

"I knew of an island off the beaten track where there was good hiding
.... .... found, night. Cutter .... .... ashore, mutiny .... ....
killed them both. And there the booty is still .... .... .... ....
.... forbid.

"Now standing .... .... .... .... .... hell, I have made .... drawing
.... .... island where .... buried. I give it freely .... Mother ....
.... .... .... cand .... .... .... altar and .... .... masses .... ....
unworthy soul.

his
(X) _Al_ .... ....
mark

"Attest _Pablo Ximenes_, notary."

The captain laid the paper on the desk and glanced at the intent faces
of his companions.

"Now, what do you make of that?" he asked.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SCOURGES OF THE SEA

Tyke's eyes were staring and his face was so apoplectic that Drew was
alarmed.

"Make out of it?" Tyke spluttered, getting up and nearly overturning
his chair. "I make out of it that Manuel was right when he said that
the old chest held something worth more'n diamonds."

Grimshaw was so shaken out of his usual calm that Captain Hamilton,
too, shared Drew's alarm.

"I tell you what we'd better do," he suggested. "We're all too much
excited to discuss this thing intelligently now. We've got a whole lot
to digest, and it will take time. This thing will keep. Suppose we
have our young friend here take this rough draft home with him and
piece out the missing parts as well as he can. In the meantime we'll
all mull it over in our minds, look at it from every angle, and meet
here fresh and rested to-morrow morning to decide on what we'd better
do."

"I guess you're right," assented Tyke, mopping his forehead. "This old
head of mine is whirling around like a top."

Tyke locked the map carefully in his safe and committed the other paper
and the captain's partial transcription to his chief clerk with solemn
injunctions to take the utmost care of them.

But the latter stood in no need of the admonition. He would have
defended those papers with his life. They meant for him--what did they
not mean?

Romance, adventure, wealth! Now at last he would have something to
justify his search for Ruth Adams and his suit for her hand. Now he
could frame his jewel, when he found it, in a proper setting.

The thre