GETTING DOWN TO "BRASS TACKS"

In a moment the chart was taken down from its hook and spread out on
Tyke's big desk. With shaking fingers the old man found the line of
longitude indicated on the pirate's map, and followed it down till he
came to the thirteenth degree of latitude.

"Thirteen-ten; sixty-seven-three," he muttered. "Thirteen degrees, ten
minutes latitude; sixty-seven degrees, three minutes longitude. There
it is!" and he made a mark with his pencil on the chart. "Right down
there in the Caribbean, west of Martinique. Glory Hallelujah!"

The old man was as frisky as a colt, and under the stimulus of
excitement the years seemed to drop away from him.

Captain Hamilton was quite as delighted, though he did not give so free
a rein to his emotions.

"Splendid!" he beamed. "When we can actually get down to figures, it
begins to look like business. Of course, there are innumerable small
islands down that way. But it won't take much cruising around to try
them all."

Once more he studied the shape and the size of the island, and his
brows knitted almost to a scowl, so close was his concentration.

"That elevation in the middle looks something like a whale's hump,"
remarked Drew.

Captain Hamilton jumped as though he had been shot.

"That's it!" he cried. "By Jove! I know that island! I remember
thinking that very thing about it one day some years ago when I was
coming up from Maracaibo. My mate was standing by me at the time. It
was just as sunset, and the island stood out plain against the sky. I
remember saying to him that it looked to me just like the hump of a
whale. Now we've located it sure. I'll recognize it the minute my
eyes fall on it whether it's charted or not. My boy, you're a wonder.
You've helped us out at every turn in this business."

"That he has," declared Tyke enthusiastically. "Neither the paper nor
the map would have been any good without Allen to translate 'em. I'm
proud of you, Allen."

The young man flushed with pleasure and murmured deprecatingly that it
was just a bit of luck that he happened to know Spanish.

"Luck! 'Tisn't luck that makes a man dig out a foreign lingo," said
Tyke. "An', anyway, you've been smart at every point with your
suggestions, an' helped us out as we went along. You started things
with your eagerness to look into Manuel's box an' you put the cap sheaf
on when you jest now gave Cap'n Rufe that last pointer.

"An' now," Tyke wen