ppreciate it!"

With a laugh the man seated himself on a locker and motioned the lads to
do likewise. They listened intently as he proceeded:

"You perhaps all realize that the possession of wealth is the desire of
almost every human being. I am not different from the rest in that
respect at least. Owing to some family trouble which I shall not at this
time detail, I was not given the advantages that accrue ordinarily to
heirs. I think you will understand what I mean?"

"You were left out in the cold when they passed the dough?" asked Jimmie
with a knowing look. "Just shoved one side?"

"That's about it!" replied the man. "But I resolved to get some money,
nevertheless. I had a fertile imagination, some education and a very
small amount of money. I did not want to take so cheap a way as to rob or
cheat my fellow men. I was not shrewd enough to enter the business world.
Therefore, I turned my attention to lost or buried treasure."

Jimmie delivered a broad wink toward Ned. It was not lost by their
observant entertainer, who laughed much to the boy's confusion.

"Amongst other inventions that were in my brain was an instrument for
detecting the presence of gold similar to the instrument called a
compass. In this instance electricity had nothing to do with its action.

"To make a long story short, you know, I finally succeeded in perfecting
the arrangement. It was an amusing circumstance that I had a very hard
struggle preserving my last gold piece with which to test the device," he
went on with a laugh at the recollection of his trials.

"At last, I thought I had my instrument perfected. I next needed only
something on which to practice. With my precious treasure carefully
guarded I succeeded in reaching the Gulf of Mexico, where it is said so
much pirate gold has been buried. Wonderful to relate, I actually located
and recovered a small amount. It was not large but helped me to fit out a
vessel in which to make other cruises."

"And it really worked?" inquired Jimmie in a tone of unbelief.

"How well I shall presently demonstrate, you know," was the reply. "But I
found that the crew was tricky. They helped me get a treasure aboard then
calmly turned pirates themselves and ran away with the treasure. For
nearly a year I had hard luck. Then I succeeded in locating a large sum
of gold that had been buried by a man's grandfather.

"My past experiences had taught me that I could not trust anyone.
Therefore I determ