romised to realize lifelong dreams and labours.

"Fine! It's fairly glowing!" said Trask, as he passed a hand over
the dish of sand.

They all pressed around him as he took a bottle of water from Doc
and dashed the liquid into the sand. There was a cloud of steam and
a terrific hissing.

"Now," said Trask, "pass me that wooden chopping bowl," and he
dumped the wet sand out into the bowl, and laid it on the cabin
table.

"Bring me another pan," he called, "and more water."

He began twisting the bowl with a rotary motion, and when Doc
arrived with the pan, nursed the sand out into it, and as the last
of the sand went over the lip of the bowl, ran out on deck into the
sun, and examined the bottom of the wooden bowl.

"Lordy me!" gasped Doc, leaning over Trask's shoulder. "Look at the
sparkle!"

The wet bowl was shot with tiny points of yellow, which caught the
sunlight.

"Gold!" exclaimed Marjorie.

"By thunder!" cried Locke. "Dinshaw's right!"

"Gold without a doubt," said Trask, and turned to see Shanghai Tom
staring into the bowl, his eyes fairly popping out of his head at
this magical cookery which transformed a sea-beach into glittering
wealth.

Trask resumed the washing, and in a few minutes had as much of the
yellow powder as he could hold in the hollow of a palm.

"Man alive!" remarked the gleeful Doc. "I reckon we better take
this yere island apart, right down level to the water!"

"There's millions on it," declared Trask. "When four cups of sand
will assay that much gold, consider what's in a mile of beach like
this."

"It's a new one on me," said Locke. "I never saw such a thing in my
life and---- Hello! Here's the boat coming out!"

They ran to the rail, and looking shoreward, saw the dinghy, with
two men rowing it, and Peth and Jarrow sitting in the stern sheets.
They were heading straight for the schooner.

CHAPTER XIII

WHAT HAPPENED TO DOC AND THE DINGHY

Those aboard the _Nuestra_ watched the dinghy for a minute as it
came on, the sunlight flashing from the oars. Two men were still on
the beach, far up to the left, with their hands to their eyes,
watching the progress of the boat.

"Now what's the game?" asked Locke.

"It looks like a boarding party," said Trask. "If they wanted to
come back and behave themselves, they'd all come. Get those dishes
out of sight. They may manage to get aboard in spite of all we can
do, but we've got to bluff 'em."

"We can't let 'em ab