Isle o' Dreams Part 3

"Oh, ho," said Locke. "Then there's something on it, is there? Now we're interesting! Treasure, I suppose."

"Gold on it," piped Dinshaw, with childish simplicity. "Gold enough to make us all rich. Gold enough to ballast a hundred ships!"

"Ye see that reef? Well, I lay in that bight thar, an' the sun come out. The eye o' the storm it was, and after awhile it come on to blow again, as is the custom with twisters. When the weather cleared again, I don't know how long it was, I crawled down and overhauled the flotsam. There was part of Number One boat, with a beaker o' water an' a ham from the cabin stores. Later, I found my mate, Seth Colburn. He was dead. He'd sailed with me all his life, come from down Eastport way, and a smart man he was, too, at figgers. I dug his grave with my bare hands in this patch o' sand, right there under the ridge, and it was all yaller, shinin' in the sun, as it run through my fingers. All glittery an' soft, like corn meal. That island's full o' it, I'm tellin' ye! It'll make us all rich!" His voice rose, and quavered with excitement.

Locke looked at Trask questioningly.

"Here," said Trask, pa.s.sing Dinshaw the gla.s.s which the bar-boy brought. "Drink this."

"Jarrow said he'd take me," gasped Dinshaw after he had drunk.

"Who's Jarrow?" asked Trask.

"Oh, he's got a schooner," said Dinshaw.

"So your island is full of gold," said Locke, with a skeptical wink for the benefit of Trask and Marjorie. "And you sell pictures of it, eh?"

"Aye, gold. An' Seth Colburn's buried in it. He'd laugh if he knew.

But Jarrow'll take me some day, an' when he does, I'll go back to Yarmouth an' build a big house, all snug an' shipshape, with a piazza like the quarter-deck of a frigate, an' a garden with petunias, an'--an'--have good soup for supper. I fed my crew better'n Prayerful Jones does, an' I tell him so every day. Them that sailed with Cap'n Dinshaw had duff twice a week with raisins in it, sir, an' Wes' Injia m'la.s.ses."

Marjorie pa.s.sed Dinshaw a plate of sandwiches and served him with a cup of coffee. Trask drew aside, and Locke followed him.

"This is right in your line," said Locke.

"I've a mind to investigate it," said Trask. "Heard some talk about it on my way down from Amoy."

"Sounds fishy to me," said Locke. "I believe he's off his head."

"That's what they say here. Wilkins was telling me about him."

"You think there's gold there?"

"Possibly. The formation of the ledge looks promising. He may have run into a deposit washed out by the sea, merely a pocket, but significant. You see, if the ledge in the picture is a continuation of a crest from the mainland, I might follow up the lead on Luzon.

There is gold out here but the country hasn't been properly prospected, owing to the troubles with the natives. I'd like to look things over on my own hook. Of course the company would go in on it with me. I've always wanted to come here but my chief never thought much of it. So I'm on a vacation, and what I find for myself I'll be able to swing. If Dinshaw would split----"

"You'd get yourself into a tangle with him," said Locke. "He'd most likely go around telling folks you wanted to steal his island if you talked with him about it."

"I'll go slowly and I may get his confidence after awhile."

"Well, I wish you luck," said Locke. "I'm going to make the Thursday boat."

"I wasn't thinking of going on this trip for a couple of weeks,"

Trask hastened to say.

"Hong Kong for mine," said Locke.

"Dad! Come here, please," called Marjorie. "Captain Dinshaw wants to go to his island. It seems to me that you men who are looking for something to do might help him out."

"I'll give him ten _pesos_ for one of those pictures," said Locke.

"The other for me at the same price," said Trask.

"Stingies!" cried Marjorie. "If I were a man, I'd go find his island."

"Perhaps I will," said Trask.

"None of this Count of Monte Cristo stuff for me," said Locke, as he laid down a bill before Dinshaw. "Say, captain, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll pay your pa.s.sage home first cla.s.s if you'll go so that you can get back to your relatives. Now you can't say I'm a piker, Marge."

"Ten _pesos_!" whispered Dinshaw, staring at the bill. "Thank ye kindly, sir. I'll make ye all rich."

"But how about going home?" said Locke. "I'll fix you up with some clothes. This is no place for an old man like you."

"Home!" said Dinshaw. "I'm at the Sailors' Home."

"But you ought to be back in the States."

"I'm goin' back to my island, that's what," insisted Dinshaw.

"Jarrow said he'd take me."

"Dad, you said I could go anywhere I wanted on this trip," pouted Marjorie.

"Where do you want to go, Miss Trinkets?"

"I think it would be gorgeous fun to find this island. I've never done anything romantic in my life, and I've always wanted to elope, or something. I'll run away with a drummer in a band--or something like that, if I have to go home without finding an island--a tropical island, with a wreck, too--and sailors buried on it--and gold! I'm for it, strong."

"Not so strong as I am for a touch of cool weather," laughed Locke.

"That reminds me, it's time for another soda----"

"Dad!"

But Locke disappeared into the hall, laughing, saying something about Timbuctoo and other places he would not care to visit.

"And he's finding fault about having to live in tourist hotels and listen to bored guides! And here's a chance to get off the main stamping ground, as he calls it, and help a poor old man."

"We don't like to get far from the comforts of civilization, after all," said Trask. "But I don't know of anything I'd rather do than take you and your father cruising."

"I wish there wasn't any old Thursday boat," wailed Marjorie. "We might argue him into going if we had more time."

"You've got to miss that Thursday boat," declared Trask. "We ought to be able to kidnap him or something."

"What's the name?" asked Dinshaw, rising from the table and putting on his hat.

"Locke," said Marjorie. "Mr. Locke. You come up again to-morrow and see us."

"I'll have to paint another picter," said Dinshaw.

"Here," said Trask. "You take this one with you, and bring it back to-morrow, when I'll pay you twenty _pesos_ for it. That'll give you an excuse for coming back. And don't say a word to anybody."