"Sit down, sir," he said, sharply, as he perched himself on a stool as jerkily as the stranger resumed his full of grace. "Read it aloud, Mr Pugh." Dutch still felt troubled; but he read, in a clear voice, the letter from a well-known English firm at Havana. "Dear Sir,--The bearer of this, Senor Manuel Laure, comes to you with our earnest recommendation. He has certain peculiar projects that he will explain. To some people they would seem wild and visionary; but to you, with your appliances, they will doubtless appear in a very different light. He is a gentleman of good position here, and worthy of your respect. If you do not see fit to carry out his wishes, kindly place him in communication with some other firm, and do what you can to prevent his being imposed upon.--Faithfully yours,-- "Roberts and Moore. "To Mr Parkley, Ramwich." "Glad to see you, sir," said Mr Parkley, upon whom the letter wrought a complete change. "Good people, Roberts and Moore. Supplied them with a complete diving apparatus. So you've come over on purpose to offer me a fortune?" "Yes," said the visitor, "a great fortune. You smile, but listen. Do I think you a child, sir? Oh, no. I do not tell you I want to make a great fortune for you only, but for myself as well." "Of course," said Mr Parkley, smiling, and showing in his manner how thoroughly business-like he was. "I thought that had to come." "See here, sir--This Mr Pugh is in your confidence?" "Quite. Go on." "See, then: I have travelled much, boating--yachting you would call it in England--all around the shores of the Great Gulf of Mexico. I know every island and piece of coast in the Carib Sea." "Yes," said Mr Parkley, drumming on the desk. "I have made discoveries there." "Mines?" said Mr Parkley. "Not in my way." "No, sir--better than mines; for the gold and silver are gathered and smelted--cast into ingots." "Buried treasure, eh? Not in my way, sir--not in my way." "Yes, buried treasure, Mr Parkley; but buried in the bright, clear sea, where the sun lights up the sand and rocks below." "Sea, eh? Well, that is more in our way. Eh, Pugh?" "Read the old chronicles of the time, sir, two or three hundred years ago," said the Cuban, rising, with his eyes flashing, and his handsome face lit up by his glowing excitement, "and you shall find that gold ships and plate-ships--ships laden with the treasures of Mexico and Peru, taken by the Spaniards, were sunk here and there upon those wondrous coasts." "Old women's tales," said Mr Parkley, abruptly. "Cock-and-bull stories." "I do not quite understand," said the Cuban, haughtily, "except that you doubt me. Sir, these are truths. I doubted first; but for five years in a small vessel I have searched the Carib Sea, and I can take you to where three ships have been wrecked and sunk--ships whose existence is only known to me." "Very likely," said Mr Parkley; "but that don't prove that they were laden with gold."