“All willing to jeopardize your lives for gold, and when gotten what do you do with it?”
“Why, live in comfort,” laughed the professor, “as you do.”
“Yes, as I do without it,” returned the other, smilingly.
“Perhaps, though, you can help us in our search, since having no need, we cannot be robbing you.”
“You will find no treasure on this island,” was the firm response. And then he again looked intently into each of the three faces before him, ignoring only that of the professor.
“You have looked for the treasure yourself,” questioned the professor, “and there was none here?”
“There was,” replied the chief. “But it is gone.”
“The fortunes of war,” said the professor lightly. “Really, though, while we have been talking we may have been devoting to you time we owe to one of our party, for our expedition this morning is one of search of a missing member of our company.”
The chief was then told of Jim’s probable capture by the captain of the Marjorie.
“Beauchamp, eh? So he is around again. Well, we on Rarihue concern ourselves but little with the outside world. Rarihue has no harbor and only small boats can effect a landing. Excepting for Bohoola the island we are on, and one other uninhabited island, there is no other land within two hundred miles. We are not a fighting people, and have no real need to be. I’ve taught them to fight only for their homes. But if I can help you in any way, be assured of my willingness.”