“What would Captain Joe be doing while the Mexicans were on the boat?” asked Clay, perplexed. “I never thought of that! He loves Mexicans like cats love hot soap. Guess my elimination theory has led me into a hole that gets me nowhere! Now, what is to be done?”
“I don’t know!” Alex answered. “I’ve lost the power of thought.”
“I can’t think in such large sums as fifty thousand dollars,” grinned Case. “Don’t ask me for an expert opinion! I can’t give one!”
There was a long silence, and then Alex took out the copies of the inscriptions—as he called them—which he had found in the belt. Clay and Case opened their eyes wide at sight of them. When Alex explained their history, as far as he knew, the boys fell to studying the letters and figures with anxious interest. Alex looked on doubtfully.
“What do you make of them?” he finally asked, as Clay held one of the papers up to the light.
“Is this an exact copy?” he asked. “Did you place your letters and figures just as the letters and figures on the originals were placed?”
“I surely did,” was the reply. “They are exact copies.”
“Hush, then!” Clay whispered, with a grin. “We tread on dangerous ground! Aha! These papers tell of the whereabouts of a buried treasure!”
“Hush!” repeated Case, with a mocking face. “Hush! Also S’cat!”
Alex looked at his chums reprovingly. This did not seem to him to be a time for by-play. He had lost a large sum of money which did not belong to him, and all the world looked black and creepy!