otten in readiness. I have already instructed the captain to
provision her for the trip."

"Then she has a captain and a crew?"

"Oh, Yes, she carries ten men, including an engineer and his
assistant."

"That is certainly fine!" said Dick, and he smiled as he thought of
what a nice trip they would have with Dora Stanhope on board. Dick was
not "moonstruck," but he had a manly regard for Dora that did him
credit.

After that Anderson Rover gave them many more details regarding the
treasure, and his talks with Bahama Jack and of what he hoped to
accomplish. He had a fair idea of the latitude and longitude of
Treasure Isle, which, he had been told, was of coral formation,
covered with palms and shaped somewhat like a horseshoe.

"Bahama Jack says the treasure cave is about in the center of the
inner curve of the island, but that you cannot sail close to it on
account of the numerous reefs. You have to land on the island in a
small boat, and that is why very few ships stop there. Natives of that
vicinity occasionally go there for fruit and for birds, but there is
no regular village on the island."

"If the island is shaped like a horseshoe we ought not to have great
difficulty in locating it," said Dick.

"The trouble is, you cannot see the formation very well from the sea,
Dick. If one were in a balloon it would be different. You must
remember that there are many hundreds of islands scattered in that
part of our globe."

"Let's take a balloon along," suggested Tom. "Then we could go up and
take a look around."

"You couldn't look far enough, Tom, and if you tried to sail in the
balloon you'd probably drop into the ocean and be drowned. No, we'll
have to do our searching from the steam yacht. But I have several maps
and drawings which I think, will aid us."

"The things Cuffer and Shelley were after?" cried Dick.

"Perhaps if they are in league with Sid Merrick. Merrick, of course,
would like to get all the information possible."

"I'd like to look at the maps and drawings."

"So would I," added Sam and Tom. The idea of going on a treasure hunt
filled them with great interest.

"The maps and drawings I have are only copies," went on Anderson
Rover. "The originals are in Mrs. Stanhope's possession."

Mr. Rover turned to his brother. "You have them, Randolf. Will you
please get them?"

"I have them?" queried Randolph Rover, in perplexity. As my old
readers know, he was at times somewhat absent minded.