“That’s very kind of you,” said Tempest, apparently absorbed for the moment in getting an obstinate pipe to burn. Here was Old Man Opportunity hammering hard. Mr. Flagg had a boat that was perfectly suitable for the trip. Mr. Flagg and his two Kanaka sailors knew the waters as well as any one else. Mr. Flagg, also, probably knew the very place Dave and Tempest were so anxious to reach. Tempest did some hard and quick thinking in a very few seconds. It would only be fair, if they took Mr. Flagg into partnership, to give him a full share of the possible proceeds. After burning his second match Tempest had decided that he and Dave would carry out their original program and do the whole thing off their own bat if possible. At least they could make their one big effort. If that failed,――if they could not get a boat, or if they got a boat and could not find the place they were looking for,――it would always be possible to come back to Joe Flagg and put the proposition up to him on a proper business basis. “No, I don’t see exactly that you can do anything for us,” Tempest added at length. “There’s a wreck there that Dave and I have a particular fancy to look over, and we’re going to make a trip in that direction from Christmas Island, when we get there. It may be waste of time, but we’ve set our minds on it. There was some stuff worth a pile of money on the _Hatteras_ when she was lost, but that’s a good many years since.” “Go to it,” said Flagg encouragingly. “Never let a chance slip by. That has always been my motto, because if you don’t grab your chances in this world, you won’t get anywhere. But if I may express an opinion without discouraging you, it seems like a mighty slender chance to me. Perhaps you’ve never seen a real storm in this part of the world, eh? I mean the sort of storm that smashes everything. Well, I tell you that anything but rocks on the beach gets beaten up into splinters in very little time. I’m afraid you won’t find any wreck there. If I’m not too inquisitive, what is the stuff in the vessel? You’ve got a nice job on if it is at all bulky.” “Platinum,” Tempest replied. “It is worth a good deal more than gold nowadays. It would be easy enough to handle if ever we got the chance to handle it.” Joe Flagg shook his head slowly many, many times. “I hate to sound like a wet blanket,” he said, “but you’re up against some proposition. Do you know what part of the ship this treasure stuff was stored in?” “Well, it wouldn’t be in the hold,” Tempest said. “We figure on it being in one of the cabins, or perhaps the owner had given it into the captain’s care. He might have had it locked up in his quarters.” “Yes, but my dear man,” Flagg said, “you don’t tell me seriously that you expect to find the captain’s cabin there now, with the remains of his breakfast on the table just as he left it!”