The others nodded.

"I always felt I didn't really deserve that money," urged Billy. "You
fellows did most of the work in Africa, I just trailed along."

"Oh, get out, Billy Barnes!" cried Frank. "You did as much as any of
us in overreaching old Barr."

"Go ahead and tell us about this story of yours," demanded Harry.

"Well, it sounds like a weird dream and perhaps you fellows will laugh
at me for taking it seriously, but a few days ago an old fellow in a
tattered blue suit called at the Planet offices and said he wanted to
see the city editor. Of course nobody ever does see the city editor,
so I was sent out to ascertain what the visitor wanted. I saw at once
he had been a seafaring man. He told me his name was Bill Hendricks,
known better as Bluewater Bill. He beat about the bush a good while
before he would tell me what he was after, and finally he unfolded the
wildest tale about buried treasure you ever heard--that is, I don't
mean buried treasure--floating would be a better word to describe it.
He told me that he had been one of the crew of a sailing vessel that
had drifted, after being dismasted in a storm, into the Sargasso Sea."

"You might tell us where the Sargasso Sea is," struck in Harry. "I
never heard of it."

"Why, it's a vast expanse of floating seaweed brought together by
circling ocean currents," explained Billy. "There are hundreds of
miles of seaweed in it and from the name of the weed it gets its title
of Sargasso. It is in the north Atlantic, just about off the Gulf of