was enthusiastic, and that was enough. A trio of Dutchmen
were taken in--Wagner, Weiss, and Myers, three good fellows down on
their luck. A Portuguese named Christo, and two Sou'wegian brothers
named Swanson completed the bunch. We talked it over down at the end of
the fruit dock, where the oyster boats come in and make fast, and where
the downs-and-outs congregate to smoke and boast of the prosperous
past.

"But this crowd talked of the prosperous future. Seven millions, said
Gleason, lay down there off Turks Island in less than sixty fathoms,
and all we needed was some kind of a craft to get us there, a diving
suit, and a storage battery to light up a bulb to search for the
treasure. These things seemed beyond our reach, until a schooner came
in for supplies. We sized her up, and Gleason went wild as her
different fittings and appliances showed up. There were the diving
dresses we needed; there was the storage battery; there were the extra
anchors for mooring a craft over a certain spot, and the air pumps and
paraphernalia for diving operations, scattered about the deck. She was
a small craft, and was manned by men who did not act and talk like
sailors. There seemed to be no skipper, and they smoked on deck while
working, and talked back and forth as though all were equal.

"'A company,' said Gleason, 'just like us, only they've got the money,
and possibly the secret. Well, the company that gets the loot owns it
and such matters as the ownership of the schooner and the outfit can be
settled afterwards, possibly out of court. What do you say? Are you
game?'

"We were. We laid low, but watched, and when that schooner was filled
up with grub, we were ready to raid her and chuck the crew overboard;
but it wasn't necessary to do the latter. They filled up too late for
the tide and went ashore for the evening, leaving no one aboard but a
Japanese cook. We remembered, as we climbed aboard after dark, that we
hadn't a man among us who could cook, and so, instead of dropping that
Jap over the rail, we simply locked him into a stateroom and made sail.

"Naturally, as Gleason originated the scheme, he was elected captain,
but, as I was the only navigator in the crowd, I was made first mate,
and the big nigger, Pango Pete, second mate. It looked good for
discipline, for even pirates recognize the need of it, and the first
man that growled or kicked had to deal with Pete. He whaled a few
before we'd got around the Florida Cape