“Why so?” inquired Fred.
“I’d like him to see those gold pieces and I’d like him to see what is written across the top of this parchment. I think after that he wouldn’t be so sure there was no treasure on this island. We’ll convince him now quick enough.”
“Let me see one of those coins,” said Fred. “What are they, anyhow?”
“Spanish, I should say,” replied John. “They’re old ones.”
“I should think so,” exclaimed Fred. “They’re worn, too, and the date is gone from this one.”
“This says seventeen something,” remarked John, examining the piece of gold which he held in his hand. “I can’t make out the rest of it.”
“They must be a couple of hundred years old, all right,” said Grant.
“Do you suppose they’ve been here all that time?”
“I can’t tell you, Grant,” said John. “I do wish we could decipher that code though. This makes it look better than ever.”
“It surely does,” Grant agreed heartily. “I’ve thought of about everything under the sun, but nothing seems to work for a cent. I’d like to catch the fellow who made up that set of figures. He must have been a fiend.”