s the island?" asked Trask. "I understand it isn't far."

"Oh, up the coast a piece," said Jarrow. "Take a week, say, to go
and come back."

"A week!" said Locke. "I had an idea it was a long way off."

"Shucks!" said Jarrow. "No great shakes of a ways. With favourin'
winds, a week would do it easy. Of course, if a man wanted to spend
a lot of time there, diggin' around, that's a cat of another
colour. But with a couple of days to look the place over in good
shape, ten days would do it easy."

"Dad, why can't we go?" asked Marjorie. "Just to make Dinshaw
happy! You said I might go any place I wanted to on this trip."

"You mean to tell me you want to go schoonering around out in this
country, Marge?" Locke was astounded.

"It would be great fun."

"Great guns!" said Locke. "Don't you know a schooner isn't what a
liner is? You can't have suites and stewards and fancy things to
eat."

"You'll find it comfortable enough on the _Nuestra_," said Jarrow,
his hopes rising. "A good Chink cook, a coloured steward, all hands
a room to theirselves. All Cap'n Dinshaw needs is a mouthful of
sea-air an' a deck under his feet. There's a whallopin' lot of gold
there, too, or I miss stays. I know nobody believes him, but they
didn't believe Columbus. I can't guarantee----"

"I'll go," said Trask, "if we can make the right sort of a deal."

"If you go, I'm in on it," declared Locke.

"Oh, Dad, you're a brick! I knew you'd go!"

Trask took Locke aside, to confer privately. "I want you to come,
Mr. Locke," he said, "but I don't want to have you stand an expense
which may be a dead loss----"

"I won't go unless I can stand half," said Locke.

"Very well, but I'd rather not appear in the matter as the leader,
because if I did, the newspapers would find out who I am and make
it appear that my company was backing Dinshaw. I haven't authority
to go on this trip, and if it turned out badly, a failure would be
credited against the Consolidated, and it's a very conservative
company. Here's a thousand dollars. Will you draw checks against it
at your bank? And I'll go as your guest?"

"Certainly," said Locke. "I have an account current at the Chinese
bank, which was to be transferred to Hong Kong, but I'll hold it
here."

"All right. You give Jarrow a check as an advance and to buy
supplies. We'll close the deal right now."

CHAPTER V

JARROW DOES AND SAYS QUEER THINGS

Mr. Peth was slinking about the bar like a leo