we wouldn't let
him.

"When the captain had heard all I had to tell him, he wasn't struck
sentimentally the least bit, as I had been. It did not make any more
difference to him whether those two ships had been down there two
hundred years or two years; but there was another part to the affair
that was very interesting to him.

"'Gayther,' said he, 'it's ten to one that them ships has got treasure
aboard, and what we've got to do is to form a company and go to work and
get it.'

"'And how would you do that?' said I.

"The captain was from Provincetown, Cape Cod, and it didn't take him two
seconds to work out his whole plan.

"'It's this way,' said he. 'The first thing to do is to form a company.
I am president and you can be the other officers. When that is all fixed
we can go to work, and we'll mend that hole in our bow. Now if you know
just where it is, we'll work day and night in that hold, water or no
water, and we'll stop it up. Then we'll pump the brig out, and I believe
she'll float. Then we'll mark this place with a buoy, and we'll sail
away as fast as we can, with our company all formed and everything fixed
and settled. Then we'll come back with the vessels and machines, and
we'll get out that treasure. We'll divide it into three parts. One part
will be mine; one part will be yours; and the other part will go to the
crew.'

"'And how about the stock-broker?' said I. 'Going to let him in the
company?'

"'No, sir,' said the captain, bringing his fist down on the table.
'Whatever else happens, he is to be kept out.'

"This was a very fine plan, but it didn't altogether suit me. I didn't
want to sail away from that spot and perhaps never see those two ships
again. There was no knowing what more I might find out with my
water-glass if that stock-broker could be kept from bothering me.

"I told the captain this, and he looked hard at me and he said: 'It will
take a couple of days to mend that leak and to pump out the brig. If
this fine weather keeps on I think we can do it in that time. And if
while we are working at it you choose to try to find out more about them
two ships, you can do it.'

"'And how can I do it?' said I.

"'If you can go down in a diver's suit you can do it,' said he. 'I don't
know whether you know anything about that business, but if you want to
try, I have got a whole kit on board, air-pump, armor, and everything.
It belongs to a diver that was out with me about a year ago in the