young
fellow Jim had a copy of it, which he carries always in a water proof
paper in his pocket."

The listener did not move. He was as securely hidden as if by a
prearranged plan. He had not been observed, and while he did not see
the speakers he knew that those to whom the steward was talking must
be of the rival ship's crew, probably it was the leader himself who was
present here, and possibly the mate, for he could tell from the voices
there were two of the desperadoes.

"Why have you not secured the copy and destroyed it?" came the inquiry.

"I cannot do it. The fellow suspected me. Besides he is a terror, and I
dare not."

"Dare not! What would your life be worth if I told the authorities at
home what I know about you?"

There was something said by the other man which Juarez could not hear,
but he caught the word captain.

"Dash it, man!" said the one addressed. "I believe you are right!"

Then it was the steward who spoke. "I only know," he said, "that I got
the chart out of the secret hiding place into which it was put. I cannot
say if it is the original, the right chart."

"Then it is the papers which that fellow you speak of has now that we
must have. There is something wrong about the chart we have been working
with. We were evidently on the wrong island entirely. Things did not
figure out right."

"It's about the original chart that I came to tell you to-day,"
responded the steward. "Jim is at this moment alone in the little shack
on Crescent Bay."

"Well," said the captain, "why don't you get it?"

"It cannot be gotten unless you kill the fellow."

"Well," drawled the captain, "and why not? You have done--."

"Don't! Don't! I had been drinking then," was the plaintive protest.

"So you want to turn the pleasant task over to me, eh? Well, I guess
between the two of us we can manage one young cub, eh mate Marion?"

There was no reply, but doubtless the mate acquiesced by a motion of the
head.

"I warn you, Captain Beauchamp, that although he is young, Jim
Darlington is a difficult one to handle," cautioned the steward.

"Jim Darlington!" gasped the captain. It was his turn to be surprised.
"I thought he was dead."

"On the contrary, he is very much alive, as are the other Frontier
Boys."

"Well, I'll be blessed," said the captain, "the old innkeeper and the
Senor's man told me all the party had gone up with the old hulk."

Amid frequent expressions of astonishment the steward told th