"But say!" broke in Tyke, as a thought suddenly occurred to him, "what
about that feller--Parmalee--who has a third int'rest in your craft?
Of course, he'll want to know, an' he'll have a right to know, why you
don't take this Galveston cargo an' why you're going on this cruise of
ours. How are you going to git around that?"

"That is something of a problem," the captain replied slowly, "and
especially as he thought of going with me to Galveston for the sake of
his health. He's lame and delicate, and the doctor told him that a sea
voyage was just what he needed to build him up.

"Of course," he went on, "I'm the principal owner of the ship, and what
I say, goes. I could do this against his will, if I wished, although
of course in that case I'd be bound to see that he got as much profit
as he would have done if I'd taken the Galveston job."

"What kind of feller is this Parmalee?" asked Grimshaw cautiously.

"As fine a lad as you'd care to meet," answered the captain heartily.
"Friendly and good-hearted and white all through. He's sickly in body,
but his head's all right. And just because he is that kind, I don't
want to do anything that would hurt or offend him.

"But that's a matter that can wait," he continued. "In any event it
won't affect our plans. Either I'll fix the matter up with him
satisfactorily in a money way, or, if you think best, we'll let him
into the secret and take him along."

"Would that be safe?" inquired Tyke dubiously.

"Absolutely," affirmed the captain. "He's a man of honor, and if he
promised to keep our secret, wild horses couldn't drag it from him.
I'd trust him as I would myself. Maybe he'd like to come along with
us. He's too rich to care anything about the doubloons, but he's
romantic, and he might like the fun of hunting for it."

"Well," said Tyke, "we'll have to leave that matter to you to settle as
you think best. Any one you vouch for will be good enough for me."

"And now," said Captain Hamilton, "there's one thing more that we
haven't touched on yet. I suppose we understand, Tyke, that you and I
put up the expenses of this expedition, fifty-fifty?"

"Sure thing," agreed Tyke.

"And if nothing comes of it, we simply charge it up to profit and
loss----'

"An' let it go at that," finished Tyke. "We'll have had a run for our
money, anyhow."

"On the other hand," the captain continued, "if we find the treasure,
and it proves to be of any size, we'll first ded