aces, were the only ones that
stood apart from all the rest as a trio.

The hands of the three men trembled as they got out the old map and
pored over it.

"Thirty-seven big paces due north from the Witch's Head; eighty-nine
big paces due east from The Three Sisters," muttered the captain.

"Paces, even big paces, is rather indefinite," commented Drew. "If it
were yards or feet, now, it would be different. But one man's paces
differ from another's, and a short man's differ from a tall man's."

"It was very inconsiderate of that old pirate not to tell exactly how
tall he was," jested Ruth.

"Well, we can't have everything handed to us on a gold plate," said the
captain. "We may have to dig in a good many places before we strike
the right spot."

"Let's do this," suggested Tyke. "Each one of us men will mark off the
paces, taking good long strides, an' see where we bring up. Then we'll
mark off a big circle that will include all three results. It's a
moral certainty that it will be somewheres in that circle if it's here
at all."

They acted on this suggestion, Ruth, with pencil and paper, serving as
scribe, while the men did the pacing. She was elated at the part she
had played in the discovery.

It was an easy enough matter to make thirty-seven big paces from one
point and eighty-nine big paces from another, but, as every student of
angles knows, it was very difficult to make the two lines converge at
the proper point. But though their methods were rough, they succeeded
at last in getting a very fair working hypothesis. A rough circle of
forty feet in diameter was drawn about the stake Drew set up, and
within that circle they were convinced the treasure lay.

By this time the sun had reached the zenith, and before they started to
dig they retreated to the shade in the edge of the jungle and ate their
lunch.

"Hadn't you better wait until it gets a little cooler by and by?" asked
Ruth anxiously. "It will be frightful under this hot sun. This is the
hour of siesta."

"I guess we're too impatient for that," answered her father. "But
we'll work only a few minutes at a time and take long resting spells
between."

Fortunately the ground was moderately soft within the circle, and their
spades sank deep with every thrust. Tyke was not allowed to share in
this work of excavation, much to his disgust. As for Drew and Captain
Hamilton, their muscular arms worked like machines, and they soon had
great