ck had recalled digging up the remains of a campfire in Pirate's Field
during the installation of equipment for the moon rocket, the first
great experiment that had put the Spindrift Island scientific group in
business as a research foundation headed by Rick's father, Hartson
Brant. It was during this experiment that Scotty had joined the staff
after rescuing Rick from an unscrupulous gang. The two boys had been on
a number of expeditions together since that time and were fast friends.
Zircon was one of the original Spindrift group. Youthful Tony Briotti
was one of the new staff members, but he had already earned the loyalty
and friendship of the boys by his fine leadership of the expedition to
the Philippines, as related in _The Golden Skull_.

Starting with the campfire site, Barby and the boys had excavated
Pirate's Field under Tony's direction. They had unearthed positive
evidence that pirates had landed there. The most vital evidence was the
remains of a logbook, once the log of the bark _Maiden Hand_, sunk by
the woman pirate Anne Bonney off the island of Clipper Cay in the Virgin
Islands.

Scotty turned and looked at the two scientists. "I'm just kidding, of
course. You couldn't have kept me from coming without tossing me into
irons. But seriously, do you expect to find treasure, Tony?"

The archaeologist grinned. "Depends on what you mean by treasure. As I
recall, one definition is 'something rare or precious.' Well, a chance
to go skin diving in the Virgin Islands is certainly that--a rare and
precious opportunity. At least I think so."

Hobart Zircon grunted, "And so do I."

"Amen," Rick echoed.

"You're evading the issue," Scotty accused. "You know perfectly well
what I mean. Do you expect to find that golden statue mentioned in the
logbook?"

"Expect? On a treasure hunt, one hopes; one doesn't expect," Zircon
stated in his booming voice.

Rick smiled to himself. Probably no Spindrift expedition ever had
started with such a flimsy excuse. According to the log of the _Maiden
Hand_, the ship had gone down before the pirates could locate a golden
statue of St. Francis, hidden by the bark's captain, Thomas Campion.
According to Captain Campion, the statue had weighed "an
hundred-weight." Certainly a hundred pounds of gold was worth going
after, but there were a few considerations that made finding it rather
unlikely.

In Captain Campion's words: "_That we did prevent the boucaniers from
fynding the bl