essede statue was moste fortunate, yette the bark did go
to her deathe in twentye fathomes, and so the statue is loste._"

Rick and Scotty had become underwater enthusiasts on their return from
the Philippines, and both had aqualung equipment that would take them to
twenty fathoms without difficulty. However, working time at that depth
was sharply limited by the capacity of their tanks. This was assuming
that they were able to find the wreck of the _Maiden Hand_ in the first
place.

Still, there was enough of a chance to provide an excuse for a vacation
expedition. The real purpose, so far as Rick was concerned, was to get
in some superb swimming in clear water. He also intended getting plenty
of underwater movies of the colorful reefs and fish. Scotty planned to
do some underwater hunting.

Tony Briotti's interest grew out of his profession. The Virgin Islands
had been pretty well worked over by archaeologists, and most of the
early Indian middens and mounds explored. But on the west coast,
archaeologists equipped with aqualungs had recently found primitive
artifacts a half mile offshore, and Tony wanted to do a little
underwater artifact hunting of his own.

Hobart Zircon was the only one without a specific objective. He had
readily agreed to go along simply because he wanted a vacation. He had
said, "Tell you what, I'll go along and do some surface fishing. Rick
and Scotty can catch fish underwater and put them on my hook, then
signal me to pull up. If the fish aren't heavy enough to ruin my rest,
I'll haul them in."

Mr. and Mrs. Brant had already made plans to take a vacation in Canada,
and Barby was registered at a summer girl's camp. Weiss, Winston,
Gordon, and Shannon, the other staff scientists, were away on various
projects. So the four "treasure hunters" had welcomed an excuse to go
off on a venture of their own.

They would have a wonderful time, Rick thought, and who knew? They might
even find the treasure!

Scotty had been looking through the binoculars again. He gave Rick a
grin. "I take it all back," he said. "There's an island ahead."

The scientists leaned forward eagerly, and Rick strained to see. Sure
enough, in a few moments they began to make out the island on the
horizon ahead. Rick had enough confidence in his navigation to be
certain that it was Clipper Cay.

The group had spent the night in Puerto Rico, then departed early in
order to fly off the direct route for an advance look at C