"Yes, sir," replied Winters dutifully. Having locked the door as an additional guard against intrusion, Tyke rejoined the two at the desk. "Fire away," he directed. "What's the first move?" "The first thing is to make out what's written on this other paper," said the captain, handling it gingerly. The three bent over and studied the document closely. "Why, it's some foreign lingo; Spanish probably!" exclaimed Grimshaw. "Not a word of English anywhere, as far as I can make out." "That's so," agreed the captain, a little dismayed at the discovery. "We've struck a snag right at the start. If we have to call in any one to translate it, we'll be taking the whole world into the secret, if there is any secret worth taking about." "Don't let that worry you," Drew intervened. "I think I know enough Spanish to be able to make out the paper." There was an exclamation of delight from Captain Hamilton and a snort of surprise from Tyke. "Why, I never knew that you knew anything about that lingo!" the latter ejaculated. "I don't know any too much about it," returned Drew, modestly. "But the South American trade is getting so big now that I thought it would be a good thing to know something of Spanish; so I've been studying it at night and at odd times for the last two years." "Well, don't that beat the Dutch!" cried Tyke delightedly. "Now if I was superstitious"--he stared truculently at the suspicious working of Drew's mouth--"I'd be sure there was something in this that wasn't natural. We want to look into the box, an' it busts open in front of us. We want to read that Spanish lingo, an' you know how to do it. I'll be keelhauled if it don't make me feel a little creepy. That is," he corrected himself quickly, "it would if I believed in them things." "Well, now that we know you don't believe in them," said Captain Hamilton, with the faintest possible touch of sarcasm, "and since our young friend here is able to read this paper, suppose we go to it." "You bet we'll go to it!" cried Tyke eagerly. "You jest take a pencil an' write it down in English as Allen reels it off." "There won't be any 'reeling off'," warned Drew, as with knitted brow he pored over the document. "In the first place, the Spanish used here is very old, and some of the words that were common then aren't in use any more. I can see that. Then, too, the ink has faded so much that some of the words can't be made out at all. And where the paper has been folded the lines have entirely crumbled away." "Sort o' Chinese puzzle, is it?" queried Tyke dismally. "A Spanish puzzle, anyway," smiled Drew. "I need something to help out my eyes. I wish we had some microscopes in our stock, as well as telescopes." "We'll get the best there is in the market if necessary," declared Tyke. "But jest for the present, here is something that may fill the bill." He reached into a drawer and brought out a reading glass that could be placed over the paper as it lay on the desk.