"Then you just took a long chance?" Jack asked.
"Not quite so long as you think, perhaps, although I might as well confess that it's a chance all right."
"You mean——"
"I mean that, although those particular pearls are undoubtedly gone, I hope to find others."
"Where?" Bob asked.
"In the water just off the head of the island."
"But what makes you think there are any oysters there?"
"I saw some there when I was here before, and for another thing, I believe that whoever hid those oysters in there gathered them close by. These natives around here are a mighty lazy lot as a rule and, for that reason, I figure that they didn't find them a great ways off."
"But where—"
"So when I outfitted the boat," Mr. Lakewood went on ignoring the interruption, "I included some oyster rakes and to-morrow we're going oyster hunting."