“John Garrison Rayne?” shouted Lawton. “I’ve heard of that fellow. He operates all over this continent.” “And on others, too,” put in Chick. “Come down to my cabin with me, Sykes, and help me go through my sea chest again. Bring your two men with you. Come on, Cross! I’ll rummage it from top to the very bottom.” That is exactly what they did do. The locker belonging to Captain Lawton was an old-fashioned affair, such as seamen were more accustomed to use fifty years ago than in these days. They had everything out and in again before the skipper was convinced that his money really was gone. “Cross!” he bellowed. The mate stepped to his side, looking at him questioningly. “I’m going ashore!” announced Captain Lawton. “When?” “Now!” thundered the commander. “I’m going to find that lubber who dived overboard with my money. And, when I get him, I’ll turn him inside out. Then I’ll----” “I wouldn’t,” advised Van Cross. “You have to look after the ship now we are in port.” “You can do that,” interrupted Lawton savagely. “A captain can trust his first mate to do some things, can’t he?” “Sure!” assented Van Cross. “But I don’t believe you’d ever find that man if you did go after him. Now, here’s this Sykes, who has just said he knows the man. Why don’t you let him go?” “How do I know he’d ever come back?” “He hasn’t got his wages, has he?” grinned Cross. “Don’t give him anything to spend, and he’s bound to come back. Besides, he’s got it in for that tall, gray-haired lubber himself. I know that from some words he let drop when he didn’t know I was near.” Nick Carter overheard this confab, notwithstanding that it was conducted in hoarse whispers, and it coincided with his inclinations exactly. He wanted to get ashore, for he was nervous over the way Rayne had left the ship. He knew it was not like the Apache to give up a purpose he had nearly carried to fruition without fighting it to the end, and he believed something more would be heard of him before they were out of San Juan. It would suit Nick exactly to go ashore, and, as he did not know just when he would be back, he resolved that he would take at least one of his assistants with him. He was glad when he found that the master of the _Cherokee_ was willing that he should go. “Will you go into the town and see if you can get any trace of that lubber who jumped overboard, Sykes?” asked Captain Lawton, turning to him with as propitiatory an expression as his rocky face would permit. “Just loaf around in saloons and places where you’d be likely to pick up news.” “And if I find the man?” asked Nick. “Bring him aboard, and I’ll deal with him,” was the significant answer. “Once you find him, that will be enough.” “How many men can I have with me?” asked Nick. “How many do you want?” “Two. Give me my two old shipmates. We’ve worked together before, and I’d rather have them than anybody else.”