use," remarked Tom. "We won't probably see a
ship until we get near the coast of California."

"Don't make any difference," replied Jim. "That's the law of the sea
and you can't ever tell what you will run against."

Juarez did not wait to hear the discussion, but went after the red and
the green lanterns. He placed the red on the starboard side for'ard in
a wooden bracket well up, and the green was placed on the port side,
or the left, and they shone through the bronze dusk that obscured the
rolling sea, like separate jewels, the emerald and the ruby.

It was a happy group that gathered around the supper table in the
cabin that evening, for the boys were homeward bound. The windows
of the skylight were wide open, because it was a typical tropical
night--warm and balmy--and the great lamp that swung over the table
with its brass reflector served to make it warmer still.

"Tell us something more about that lost mine you were telling about
the other day, Jeems," piped up Tom.

"Don't tell Tom first," warned Jim, "because if you do, he will have
all the shares sold before we arrive." There was a general laugh at
this because Tom was strictly business when it came to money.

"Wait till we get on deck, then I'll spout," said Jeems.

CHAPTER III

JEEMS' STORY

So the clan shortly after supper gathered at the after hatch on the
main deck to hear what Jeems had to tell them in regard to this stray,
lost, or stolen mine in the depths of the Sierra Nevadas. The captain
was seated in his old chair upon the quarter deck, and, in the
gloaming, puffing thoughtfully at his weathered old pipe, meditating,
like as not, on the days of long ago, when he was as full of life as
that bunch now talking and laughing on the main deck.

"This is a fine old night," declared Jo, as he stretched himself
comfortably out on the canvas cover of the hatch.

"I never saw so many stars before," declared Tom, "must be a million
in sight."

"Not so, son," remarked Jeems. "There is not more than three thousand
visible to the naked eye."

"Go on with you," said Tom, conclusively, "you needn't tell me that.
It's as much of a yarn as your story of the lost mine."

"Don't mind him, Jeems," said Jim. "Let's hear your tale of woe about
this mine that somebody lost."

"Well," remarked Jeems, "if you children will be quiet and don't
interrupt, I'll begin. First make yourselves comfortable."

This the boys proceeded to do; Jim and Juarez