Jack smiled. “Think you’ll get the fifty?” he asked.
“No, not more than twenty-five. But I’ve got twenty dollars now and so I’ll have enough. This thing is going to be done right, fellows; it’s going to be done scientifically. This afternoon we will look over the ground, do you see? Then I’ll know just what is necessary. In two or three days I’ll be ready to begin operations.”
“You’re a silly chump,” laughed Hal. “He won’t talk of anything but Nobody’s Island and hidden treasure, Jack! And he wants to go and camp out there and dig the whole place up!”
“Why not?” asked Bee. “Wouldn’t it be fun camping out, even if we didn’t find anything? Think of the good time we could have!”
“What would we eat?” asked Hal dubiously.
“Fish, which I would catch when I wasn’t digging, and all sorts of things in cans. We could take fresh meat with us, too, I guess. I wish you wouldn’t think so much about your old stomach, Hal.”
“Well, it’s the only one I have and it’s got to last me,” replied Hal untroubledly. “How about you, Jack? Want to join the party?”
“I’d like to awfully, but I don’t suppose I could. I have to stay with the ship down there. I haven’t camped out since I was a little bit of a chap. Maybe I could manage for a couple of days, say Saturday and Sunday.”
“How much,” asked Bee, “will you rent the Crystal Spring and your own personal services for by the week, Jack?”
Jack smiled. “I guess we aren’t for rent,” he said.