Phyllis was the most self-possessed of the four girls. She was greatly disappointed at the captain's determination to put off the time for her diving expedition until a later date. But Phyllis was always unselfish. She realized that her chaperon and her friends had had about as much anxiety as they could endure in one day. Madge had been under the water, and she could not dream of what the others had suffered above, while awaiting her return. Mrs. Curtis put her arms about the little captain and embraced her with an affection she had not shown her during the summer. "My dear," she murmured, "will you ever stop being the most reckless girl in the world? What possible good could that wretched diving feat of yours do anybody on earth? If my hair weren't already white I am sure it would have turned so in the last half-hour. Look at poor Philip Holt. He seems as nervous as though you were his own sister." Madge and Captain Jules had both taken off their heavy diving suits and were soon shaking hands with every one on the pier. Even Roy Dennis and Mabel Farrar, much as they disliked Madge, could not conceal the fact that they thought her extremely plucky. Captain Jules had laid the iron chest on the ground and for the moment they had forgotten it. It was little Tania who danced up to it and tried to lift it. "Show us the pearls you found, Madge," Eleanor begged her cousin at this instant, her brown eyes twinkling. The little captain looked crestfallen. "I am afraid we didn't find anything of value," she said, trying to pretend that she was not disappointed. "I have only some pretty shells and stones that I gathered on the bottom of the bay for Tania." She pulled her sea treasures out of her netted diving bag. Sure enough, the water had dried on them and the shells and stones appeared quite dull and ugly. There were almost as pretty shells and pebbles to be picked up at any place along the Cape May beach. "Why, Madge!" exclaimed Lillian, before she realized what she was saying, "surely, you didn't waste your time in bringing up such silly trifles as these?" Madge shook her head humbly. "We didn't find anything else but this old iron chest. Captain Jules, may I take it back to the houseboat with me as a souvenir, or do you wish it? Tania, child, you can't lift it, it is too heavy." Tom Curtis brought the chest to Captain Jules. Some of the crowd had moved away, now that the diving was over. But a dozen or more strangers pressed about the girls and their friends. "There is something in this little chest, Captain," declared Tom Curtis quietly, as he set it down before the captain and Madge. "I could feel something roll around in the box as I lifted it." Captain Jules shook the heavy safe. Something certainly rattled on the inside.