ed it. When the boatswain came aboard--he
had been ashore for a couple of days, searching for me--in the middle
of the afternoon, he found me asleep in my chair. He thought I was
drunk, and he picked me up and carried me to my bunk. When Ruth came
aboard later, bringing the captain with her, it was discovered that
Ichi had vanished, and Ruth had to prepare the cabin supper that night.
I slept till morning. When I awoke, I discovered that Winters's code
had vanished with the cook."

"We also discovered that Ichi had tried unsuccessfully to open the safe
in the captain's room," said Ruth. "He was undoubtedly after the old
log book that contained the entry about the discovery of Fire Mountain,
including the latitude and longitude."

"Well, he was successful enough in making off with the code," said
Little Billy. "We combed Honolulu for him that day, without result.
Two ships had left the afternoon before--one bound for the Orient, the
other for California. Our missing cookie appeared upon the passenger
list of neither vessel, but we concluded that he had taken steerage
passage for Yokohama.

"The loss of the code was a serious matter. Of course, we knew the
location of the island, and we were determined to square away for Fire
Mountain as soon as the season permitted, but we were rather dismayed
by the prospect of having to search blindly through that labyrinth of
caves for the _Good Luck's_ treasure. That Winters and Silva had
stowed the stuff in some well-concealed place was evident from the
entry in the log, and from the use of a code. We were dubious of
success in our quest until last night.

"Jump from Hawaii to San Francisco. We came up to Frisco, you know, to
consult some specialists about the captain's eyesight. Yesterday, the
captain came aboard from the hospital. We were lying off Angel Island,
ready for sea, and awaiting the captain's word to up anchor and away
for the Bering--it will be the open season up there by the time we have
completed the passage.

"Yesterday was a holiday with us. It was the occasion of our revered
and beloved chief mate's twenty-first natal day, and in the morning,
the boatswain and I set forth for shore in search of suitable
offerings."

"I know--you were setting forth to buy flowers," broke in Martin.
"Bosun told me--you got----"

"We got lost from each other; intentionally lost on my part, as I
confessed to you. Well, friend Ichi was the innocent cause of that