So she was Captain Hamilton's daughter! Her name was not Adams! What a blind trail he had been following! But Drew's thoughts were interrupted by the girl's voice. "We have met before, Daddy," Ruth said with a smile. "Don't you remember my telling you about the young man who came to my aid that day when I went on an errand for you to the _Normandy_? You remember--the day I dropped the letters over the side? That was Mr. Drew." "You don't say!" exclaimed the captain. "And here we've been seeing each other every day or so and I've never thanked him. Drew, consider yourself thanked by a grateful father." They all laughed, and then the captain put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Come into the cabin and let's get that business settled. You'll excuse us, won't you, Ruth?" he added, turning to his daughter. "We've got a hundred things to do yet, and we can't afford to lose a minute." Ruth smilingly assented, and Drew was dragged off, raging internally, his only comfort being the glance she gave him beneath her lowered eyelids. He tried to listen intelligently to the captain's talk and give coherent answers to his questions. But bind himself down as he would, his mind and heart were in the wildest commotion. So she was Captain Hamilton's daughter! Her name was not Adams! The thought kept repeating itself. But he had found her now, he wildly exulted. The search that might have taken years--that even then might not have found her--had come to an end. He had been formally introduced to her. He need no longer worship from afar. Her father was his friend. He could see her, talk to her, listen to her, woo her, and at last win her. Poor fellow! he was so hard hit he scarcely knew how to conduct himself. "As I was saying," he heard the captain remarking in a voice that seemed to be coming from a great distance, "young Parmalee has finally made up his mind to come with us. His doctor insists that the one thing he needs just now is a sea voyage. Not the kind that he might get on an ocean steamer, with its formality and heavy meals and chattering crowds, but the kind you can get nowhere but on a sailing craft." "I suppose you had to tell him just what we were going down there to look for?" Drew forced himself to say. "Yes, I did, after putting him on his word of honor never to breathe a word about the object of the cruise to anybody. I'd as lief have his word as any one's else bond." "What did he think about our chances in such an enterprise?" "Now, there's a thing that rather surprised me," replied the captain. "To tell the truth, I felt a little sheepish about mentioning the doubloons to him, for I rather expected him to laugh. But he took it in dead earnest, and honestly thinks we have a chance." "Is he perfectly willing, as far as his interest in the schooner goes, that she shall be used for this purpose?" Drew queried.