aves of the infinite ocean, and how to recover
them. Mine is the simple key with which to open to man the mysterious
virgin temples of the nymphs and sirens who, by their sweet singing,
draw men to see and to take their endless treasures."

This interesting Pino is no dreamer, however, and he has enlisted ample
capital with which to build costly machinery and charter yachts and
steamers. With him is associated Carlo L. Iberti, and there is an
ideal pattern of a treasure seeker for you, a man of immense
enthusiasm, of indefatigable industry, dreaming, thinking, living in
the story of the galleons of Vigo Bay. It was he who secured the
concession from Madrid, it was he who as he says, "was flying from
province to province, from country to country, from archives to
archives, from library to library, ever studying, copying, and
acquiring all documents relating to Vigo. I had made up my mind to
find out all that was to be known about the treasure. And I believe I
have succeeded."

Never was there such a prospectus as Iberti wrote to awaken the
interest of investors in the undertaking of Pino. It was a historical
work bristling with data, authorities, references, from French,
Spanish, and English sources. It was convincing, final, positively
superb. One blinked at reading it, as if dazzled by the sight of
mountains of gold, and moreover every word of it was true. As a text
for this narrative, his summary, the peroration, so to speak, fairly
hits one between the eyes:

"As the total quantity of treasure which arrived at Vigo in 1702
amounted to 126,470,600 pesos, or L27,493,609, there is not the least
doubt that the treasure in gold and silver still lying in the galleons
of Vigo Bay amounts to as much as 113,396,085 pieces of eight, or
L24,651,323, after deducting the treasure unloaded before the battle,
the booty taken by the victors, and that recovered by explorers. That
would have been the value of the treasure two hundred years ago.
To-day, its value would be greater, at a moderate estimate of
L28,000,000. Such is the sum which we who are interested in the
recovery of the treasure have set our hearts on winning from the sea."

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[Illustration: Sir George Rooke, commanding the British fleet at the
battle of Vigo Bay.]

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After this, the hoards of the most notorious an