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“I was still wrapped up, body and soul, in this wonderful discovery, when I heard a hail from the stern of the brig, and there was that stock-broker, shouting to me to know what I was looking at. Of course that put an end to my observations, and I paddled to the side and got on board.

“‘Lend me that box,’ said the stock-broker, ‘and let me get down on your raft. What is it you’ve been looking at, and what did you see in that box?’

“But he had got hold of the wrong man. ‘No, sir,’ said I. ‘Find a box for yourself, if you want one.’ And I held mine so that he could not see that the bottom of it was glass. Then the captain came along and told him not to try to get down on that hatch, for if he did he would topple into the water and get himself drowned, which would have been certain to happen, for he could not swim. Then the hatch was hauled on deck, and I went below with the captain to his cabin to tell him what I had seen. The stock-broker tried awfully hard to come with us, but 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 Gulf of Mexico. He had to go North to attend to some business, and he told me he would let me know when he would come back and get his diving-kit. But he hasn’t come back yet, and the whole business is stowed away here on board. Do you know anything about going down in a diving-suit?’