I tried to appear at ease; but I knew then just how the man who applies to look after your furnace feels, when you ask him if he can also run a sixty horse-power dynamo.
“I have never actually found any buried treasure,” I admitted; “but I know where lots of it is, and I know just how to go after it.” I endeavored to dazzle him with expert knowledge.
“Of course,” I went on airily, “I am familiar with all the expeditions that have tried for the one on Cocos Island, and I know all about the Peruvian treasure on Trinidad, and the lost treasures of Jalisco near Guadalajara, and the sunken galleon on the Grand Cayman, and when I was on the Isle of Pines I had several very tempting offers to search there. And the late Captain Boynton invited me——”
“But,” interrupted Edgar in a tone that would tolerate no trifling, “you yourself have never financed or organized an expedition with the object in view of——”
“Oh, that part’s easy!” I assured him. “The fitting-out part you can safely leave to me.” I assumed a confidence that I hoped he might believe was real. “There’s always a tramp steamer in the Erie Basin,” I said, “that one can charter for any kind of adventure, and I have the addresses of enough soldiers of fortune, filibusters, and professional revolutionists to man a battle-ship, all fine fellows in a tight corner. And I’ll promise you they’ll follow us to hell, and back——”
“That!” exclaimed Edgar, “is exactly what I feared!”
“I beg your pardon!” I exclaimed.
“That’s exactly what I don’t want,” said Edgar sternly. “I don’t intend to get into any tight corners. I don’t want to go to hell!”
I saw that in my enthusiasm I had perhaps alarmed him. I continued more temperately.
“Any expedition after treasure,” I pointed out, “is never without risk. You must have discipline, and you must have picked men. Suppose there’s a mutiny? Suppose they try to rob us of the treasure on our way home? We must have men we can rely on, and men who know how to pump a Winchester. I can get you both. And Bannerman will furnish me with anything from a pair of leggins to a quick firing gun, and on Clark Street they’ll quote me a special rate on ship stores, hydraulic pumps, divers’ helmets——”