The next week proved a busy one, not only for the captain but also for the boys. The captain had a list of vessels available for charter and allowed the boys to go with him to look over the various craft, which were located in New York Harbor and along the Long Island coast. They at last settled on an oil-burning yacht named the Firefly, the property of a rich cotton merchant who was now on a tour around the world.
“She’s certainly a dandy looking craft,” remarked Jack, as he and his brothers walked around the boat, a yacht nearly two hundred feet in length and rather broad of beam. “She looks as if she could stand real service, too.”
“I’m glad she doesn’t look too fancy,” answered Fred. “There may be a lot of rough work to do if we ever do locate the Margarita. This isn’t just an outing for fun, you know.”
There were several sailors already attached to the Firefly, and these men readily agreed to sign up with Captain Corning for the trip. Then the captain obtained several men who had sailed with him before, including a mate named Nat Brooks, a man well acquainted with the Atlantic seacoast and the West Indies. It was known that the expedition was on a treasure hunt, but no details were mentioned.
Some newspaper reporters heard of the affair and at once imagined that the Rovers were going after those who had held up the offices in Wall Street, and Jack and his cousins allowed them to think this and smiled to themselves when they read an account in the various journals that evening.
Captain Corning had thought to get two divers with whom he was acquainted to go with him on the hunt, but at the last minute found neither of these men available. This was a keen disappointment, and he did not know what to do next. Then his mate came to him and said that one of the sailors, a Norwegian who had sailed on the Firefly before and now signed up for the trip, knew of another Norwegian who was an expert deep-sea diver and who had just finished a contract with one of the lighthouse corporations.
“Peterson says this diver, whose name is Leif Olesen, is a very reliable man,” said Brooks. “He’s worked both for the Atlantic Lighthouse Corporation and for the Hazlett-Dockery Company, laying both lighthouse and bridge foundations. If he’s done all that, perhaps he’s just the fellow we want.”
“I’ll look him up and have a talk with him,” answered the captain.
As a result of this, Leif Olesen was engaged, along with his helper, another Norwegian named Nick Amend. Both were tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed, and both seemed to understand their business thoroughly. The captain told Olesen just what he had in mind to do, and the deep-sea diver gave him a list of what ought to be taken along and of what sort of equipment he himself would need.
After this began the task of provisioning the Firefly and having the tanks filled with oil, and while this was going on the boys spent part of their time at their homes getting ready for the trip.