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----"

Edgar's eye-glasses became frosted with cold, condemnatory scorn.
He shook his head disgustedly.

"I was afraid of this!" he murmured.

I endeavored to reassure him.

"A little danger," I laughed, "only adds to the fun."

"I want you to understand," exclaimed Edgar indignantly, "there
isn't going to be any danger. There isn't going to be any fun. This
is a plain business proposition. I asked you those questions just
to test you. And you approached the matter exactly as I feared you
would. I was prepared for it. In fact," he explained shamefacedly,
"I've read several of your little stories, and I find they run to
adventure and blood and thunder; they are not of the analytical
school of fiction. Judging from them," he added accusingly, "you
have a tendency to the romantic." He spoke reluctantly as though
saying I had a tendency to epileptic fits or the morphine habit.

"I am afraid," I was forced to admit, "that to me pirates and
buried treasure always suggest adventure. And your criticism of my
writings is well observed. Others have discovered the same fatal
weakness. We cannot all," I pointed out, "manufacture unshrinkable