“I’ll bet we find it just the same,” Gordon declared as they watched the train pull out from the station. “Now you don’t want to get your hopes up too high,” Bill advised. “To my way of thinking it’s a mighty long shot. A hundred years is a mighty long time and the chances are that, even if the letter isn’t a fake and he never returned and got the stuff, we’ll never be able to find it.” “Well, maybe not, but we’ll have a mighty good time hunting for it, let me tell you.” After they had gone to bed that night they took up the conversation again. “Say, Bill, you don’t happen to know how big that island is, do you?” Gordon asked. “Sure do. Two hundred and sixty-one square miles.” “How do you know?” “Looked it up, of course.” “And how far is it from San Francisco?” “Twenty-one hundred miles.” “And all the way over water.” “Sure. There’s no bridge there.” “Smarty.” “Well, you asked me.” “Know anything more about it?” “Not much. There’s a leper colony there.” “I knew that.” “Indeed.” “Know how many lepers live there?” “No.” “Indeed.” “Well, you can’t expect me to know everything,” Bill laughed. “I don’t,” Gordon chuckled. “But I know one thing.” “Indeed.” “And that is I’m going to sleep if you’ll let me.” “Far be it from me to keep your mighty intellect working over time. Good night.” “Bon nuit.” Impatient to be off and chafing at the delay the boys put in all the time possible going over the Albatross until Gordon declared that if they did not quit they would wear it all out before they started. “You’ve oiled that motor about a dozen times in the last two days,” he told Bill, “and you know that once in two thousand miles is a plenty.” “And how many times have you greased that main bearing?” Bill retorted. “Well, I guess all it needs,” Gordon laughed. But at last the day came and they bade farewell to their parents and promised to be careful and take no unnecessary chances for the twentieth time. Rogers was awaiting them when about ten o’clock in the morning the plane settled to the ground. “Been waiting long?” Bill asked as he leaped from the cockpit and grasped his hand. “Only about fifteen minutes,” Rogers told him. “I’ve got all my stuff here. Think we can find room for it?” “I reckon,” Gordon assured him. “There’s lots of room back of that back seat. What’s in that box?” he asked pointing to a wooden box about eighteen inches square. “That’s my laboratory,” Rogers told them. “You see,” he explained, “we don’t want to bring home a hundred pounds of something that’s not worth anything. I happen to know a little about Chemistry and I’m taking along enough equipment to be able to make some tests.” “You talk as though you really expected to find it,” Bill smiled. “Of course I do,” Rogers told him. “What do you suppose we’re going for?” “Platinum,” Gordon answered. “You said it, son.”