that
the position of the wreck was in a deep fiord some fifty miles east of
where it actually was. This done to his critical satisfaction, he
returned the map to its hiding-place in the dead pirate's belt, and made
all haste away. Not till he was back in the European quarter did he feel
himself secure. Once among his fellow whites, where he was a man of
known standing and reputed to be the best diver in the Archipelago, he
knew that he would run no risk of being connected with a drinking brawl
of Lascars and pirates. As for the dead Englishman, he knew the odds
were that the Singapore police would know all about him.

Jan Laurvik had a little capital. But he needed a trusty partner with
more. To his experienced wits his other needs were clear. There would
have to be a very seaworthy little steamer, powerfully engined for
service on that stormy coast, and armed to defend herself against
prowling pirate junks. This small and fit craft would have to be manned
by a crew equally fit, and at the same time as small as possible, for
the reason that in a venture of this sort every one concerned would of
necessity come in for a share of the winnings. Moreover, the fewer there
were to know, the fewer the chances of the secret leaking out; and Jan
was even more in dread of the Dutch Government getting wind of it than
he was of the pirates picking up his trail.

Up to a certain point, he had no difficulty in verifying the dead
pirate's story. He had heard of the wreck of the Dutch steamer _Viecht_
on a reef off the Celebes, and of the massacre of all the crew and
passengers, except one small boat-load, by pirates. This had happened
about eight months ago. Discreet inquiry developed the fact that the
_Viecht_ had carried about $300,000 worth of pearls. The evidence was
sufficiently convincing and the prize was sufficiently alluring to make
it worth his while to risk the adventure.

It was with a certain amount of Northern deliberation that Jan Laurvik
thought these points all out, and made up his mind what to do. Then he
acted promptly. First he cabled to Calcutta, to one Captain Jerry
Parsons, to join him in Singapore without fail by the very next steamer.
Then he set himself unobtrusively to the task of finding the craft he
wanted and looking up the equipment for her.

Captain Jerry Parsons was a New Englander, from Portland, Me. He had
been whaler, gold-hunter, filibuster, copra-trader, general-in-chief to
a small Central Ame