Ralph D. Paine

“ Sadly she went out to the Challenge and watched Professor Bodge send his freight ashore and the white tents rise against the somber background of rock. At supper, the captain announced:
“We shall move ashore to-morrow and stay there. It’s wiser to be right on the ground every minute. That rascally professor may try to steal a march on us. His information is pure buncombe, and, when he finds it out, he’s likely to crowd closer to our diggings and try to beat us to the treasure. ”

“ Breakfast was served at daybreak next morning, and only the cook was left on board the schooner. The sea men had been promised extra wages, and they were eager to make the sand fly. Eudora lent her encouraging presence, deciding to save her energy until later. At the indicated spot, the party opened a trench above high-water mark, while the summer sun climbed higher from a windless sea, and the heat became uncomfortable.
Conscious of Eudora’s scrutiny, Mr. Mannice labored valiantly, an example for the others. Sweat ran from him in rivers, and his unaccustomed muscles ached acutely. ”

“ I have the only authentic information about this treasure, and I propose to keep it to myself.”
“Nonsense! Please let me talk to him, Ellen,” firmly quoth Professor Bodge. “He is laboring under a delusion. We possess the only clew to the whereabouts of Peleg Peterson’s hoard. These other people are merely wasting time and money.”
“And you are wasting your breath,” snapped Captain Kempton. “You propose to land anyhow, do you?” ”

“ There wasn’t any treasure, of course, and he had faked the only chart in existence, yet here was another party with another chart which might be the real thing, after all.
“This guy with the Vandyke beard certainly has me up in the air,” lamented Mannice, who was breathing hard. “Dear, dear, what a tangled web we weave when we try to slip one over. And now what? Bluff it out! Show a firm front, William! You’re living on somebody else’s money, and there’s a pretty girl in sight. You should worry!”
Now, Eudora had beheld the singular effect of the Bodge interview upon Mr. ”

“ His energy dominated the crew, who continued to drag out of the hold an astonishing amount of equipment. Presently he assisted into a small boat a short-skirted woman of a substantial, more deliberate aspect, and they were rowed ashore by two sailors. ”