The information respecting the doings of the _Adventure_, communicated to them by their fair friends the Senoritas Clara and Dolores, left little doubt in their minds that the crew, thoroughly discouraged at the disastrous result of their adventure in Cartagena, had decided to rest satisfied with the treasure which they had already acquired--and which, indeed, was considerable enough to satisfy most reasonable people--and had sailed direct for England upon quitting the harbour, too hastily concluding, perhaps, that all the missing were dead; or, if not dead, at least captive beyond all hope of deliverance. This assumption seemed to Stukely and Chichester to be the only one at which they could reasonably arrive; and since its acceptance shut them out from all hope of ever again seeing the _Adventure_ and being able to rejoin her, the question that naturally arose in their minds was: What were they to do now? It was Dick who first put this question into words; and by way of reply Stukely put another question--"Why did we come here at all?" "Well," retorted plain, matter-of-fact Dick, "because we couldn't help ourselves, I suppose." "Very well," agreed Stukely, "I will concede that, if you like. We came because we could not help ourselves; because, in other words, after we were picked up by the _Adventure_, no opportunity occurred to land us again, and therefore we had no choice but to remain in the ship. But why did we consent to become members of her crew?" "Why, in the hope of making our fortunes, of course," returned Dick. "And we did so, too; or should have done so, rather, if thicky stone had not cracked my skull for me."