"The tide had turned by the time I reached the boat and it was no hard job to push it free. A good breeze was blowing toward the South, so I decided to go that way. I stepped the mast and in a few more moments I was well away from the island. Sometime I may tell you something about that sail, but not now. It would take too long. Suffice it to say that it was six days before I saw land again, and then I had been without food for nearly thirty-six hours and without water nearly as long, and was about at the end of my rope, when another island came in sight. It was inhabited and I was saved, but it was nearly three months before I got passage on a ship.
"And now comes the most interesting part of the story. I found that I had carried away twenty of the largest oysters I ever saw and in an even dozen of them I found a pearl and each one was a beauty."
"But how did they get there, the oysters, I mean?" Bob asked.
"I don't know, but I've made a good many guesses since then and I think the best one is that they were put there by someone who had an object in keeping it a secret. Of course, how he got them there I have no idea and I may be away off."
"And you're going there again to get some more?" Jack asked.
"That's the idea. I suppose it seems strange that I've waited so long, but there's a reason. In the first place I've got all the money I want, and I'm only going for the fun of the thing. And then, while I always intended to go sometime, I wanted to wait long enough to give the owner of them, provided there is anyone who owns them, a chance to get them. If they're still there, after more than twenty years, I think we can safely say they belong to whoever gets them first."
"I should say so," Bob agreed.
"So I've bought a boat, and I'm going to try to find that island again and it's likely to prove a man-sized job," Mr. Lakewood assured them with a smile.