“Perhaps. It may amuse me to stay and look at you. One of my men reports that you sent an officer to the schooner. The second mate? A fat young man with curly hair who chatters like a parrot.”
“Quite correct. That was Mr. Panchito,” replied Cary. “I wanted to find out.”
“And you found out? My men asked some questions of your Mr. Panchito. He was delighted to tell them. Señor Ramon Bazán has come to camp on Cocos Island for his health?”
The manner was genial, but the voice conveyed a certain amusement, ironical and patronizing. Thus might the wandering Ulysses, crafty and vastly experienced, have addressed beguiling words to his own simple-minded sailormen on some other desert island of a blue sea.
Young Charlie Burnham was nothing if not direct. He broke in to say: “Quit your kidding. You know exactly what we came for, and we expect to get it. Mr. Panchito is as leaky as a basket. I’ll bet he told your men all he knew and then some. But there’s no harm done.”
“I will be frank with you, gentlemen,” cordially exclaimed Don Miguel O’Donnell, who showed no resentment. “My own chart of this pirates’ treasure was made by the boatswain of Benito Bonito’s ship. The rascal died in prison in Guayaquil. The chart was found by accident, a few years ago, in a pile of old prison records and papers. As you say, Señor Burnham, I knew exactly what I came for and I expected to get it. May you have more success. My Cocos Island Exploration Company has wasted its money.”
The visitors from the Valkyrie eyed each other dubiously. If the chart of Benito Bonito’s boatswain had failed to locate the treasure, what about the chart of Captain Thompson of the brig Mary Dear? This was poor news for Señor Ramon Bazán. They would say nothing about it.
“If you decide to stay longer, Don Miguel,” said Cary, “I see no reason why we should get in each other’s way. We shall be digging a good many rods from here.”
The adventurer from Ecuador had been shrewdly appraising the massive candor of the Yankee shipmaster. Plausibly he suggested:
“Why not a partnership, Captain Cary? You have your own secret information. I have the machinery, with more iron pipe in the hold of my schooner if we need a longer line.”