"He's about the
poorest specimen of humanity I know."
"He thinks he's well within his rights," argued Jack. "I don't like him,
but I must admire his 'stick-to-itiveness.'"
"Whatever that is," put in Tom. "If he'd stick to it and dig up his
good-for-nothing old treasure chest himself instead of barking at the
moon, we'd all be better off. But here we are at the good old Fortuna.
My, my, how she looms up out of the water."
"She certainly does look big when one can get a view of the hull below
the water line," agreed Jack, with a note of pride.
For some time the boys walked around the vessel, noting her fine lines
and examining the hull for possible defects. They found nothing that
they considered worthy of repair except the hole through which their
plug projected. Jack examined with minute care the outboard end of the
shaft log and the propeller.
"Here comes the watchman," announced Frank as the boys paused at the
foot of the ladder before going aboard the motor boat.
"Let's stop and have a word with him," Tom said. "Maybe he's a pretty
decent sort of chap. At any rate it won't hurt to get acquainted. He can
likely tell us something about the man you saw."
"Agreed," announced Jack. "By all means, let us cultivate the
acquaintance of the watchman. We may need him in our business."
Accordingly when the watchman arrived in the course of making his rounds
the boys spoke pleasantly to him, finding him quite agreeable. In fact,
he was inclined to visit at some length.
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