“Oh!” exclaimed Plinny, “I wasn’t counting on you, ma’am, to accompany this expedition; nor on Mr. Rogers.  You are great folks as compared with us, and have public duties—­a stake in the country—­ great wealth to administer.  Yet I was thinking that, while we are abroad, there may happen to be business at home requiring attention, and that we may perhaps rely on you—­who have shown so much interest in this sad affair.”

“Meaning that we have been dipping our fingers pretty deep into this pie.  Well, and so we have; and thank you again, my dear, for putting it so delicately.”

“But I meant nothing of the sort—­indeed I didn’t!” protested Plinny.

“Tut, tut!  Of course you didn’t, but it’s the truth nevertheless.  Well, then, it appears that Jack Rogers and I are to be the spotsmen[1] for this little expedition, and that you and Captain Branscome, and Mr. Goodfellow, and—­yes, and Harry, too, I suppose—­ are to be the Red Rovers and scour the Spanish Main.  All right; only you don’t look it, exactly.”

“But is not that half the battle?” urged the indomitable Plinny.  “They’ll be so much the less likely to suspect us.”

“They—­whoever they may be—­will certainly be so far deluded.”

“And really—­if you will consider it, ma’am—­what I am proposing is not ridiculous at all.  For what is chiefly wanted for such an adventure?  In the first place, a ship—­and thank God I have means to hire one, in the second place, a trustworthy navigator—­and here, by the most unexpected good fortune, we have Captain Branscome; in the third place, a carpenter, to provide us with shelter on the island and be at hand in case of accident to the vessel—­and here is Mr. Goodfellow; while as for Harry—­” Plinny hesitated, for the moment at a loss; then her face brightened suddenly.  “Harry can climb a tree, and the instructions on the back of the map point to this as necessary.  Harry will be invaluable!”

I could have wrung her hand; but Plinny, having finished her justification of the ways of Providence, had taken off her spectacles and was breathing on them and polishing them with a small silk handkerchief which she ever kept handy for that purpose.

“Captain Branscome,” said Miss Belcher, sharply, “will you be so good as to give us your opinion?”

Captain Branscome lifted his head.  “My mind, if you’ll excuse me, ma’am, works a bit slowly, and always did.  But there’s no denying that Miss Plinlimmon has given the sense of it.”

“Hey?”

“To be sure,” said the Captain, tracing with his finger an imaginary pattern on the table-cloth, “her courage carries her too far—­as in this talk about hiring a ship.  A ship needs a crew; a crew that could be trusted on a treasure-hunt is perhaps the most difficult to find in the whole world; and when you’ve found one to rely upon, your troubles are only just beginning.  The main trouble is with the ship, and that’s what no landsman can ever understand.  A ship’s the most public thing under heaven.  You think of her, maybe, as something that puts out over the horizon and is lost to sight for months.  But that helps nothing.  She must clear from a port, and to a port sooner or later she must return; and in both ports a hundred curious people at least must know all about her business.