"Yes, but would you?" inquired Mr. Chalk.
Captain Bowers took up the map and returned it to its place in the
bureau. "You go and find it," he said, with a genial smile.
"You give us permission?" demanded Tredgold.
"Certainly," grinned the captain. "I give you permission to go and dig
over all the islands in the Pacific; there's a goodish number of them,
and it's a fairly common shape."
"It seems to me it's nobody's property," said Tredgold, slowly. "That is
to say, it's anybody's that finds it. It isn't your property, Captain
Bowers? You lay no claim to it?"
"No, no," said the captain. "It's nothing to do with me. You go and
find it," he repeated, with enjoyment.
Mr. Tredgold laughed too, and his eye travelled mechanically towards the
bureau. "If we do," he said, cordially, "you shall have your share."
The captain thanked him and, taking up the bottle, refilled their
glasses. Then, catching the dull, brooding eye of Mr. Stobell as that
plain-spoken man sat in a brown study trying to separate the serious from
the jocular, he drank success to their search. He was about to give vent
to further pleasantries when he was stopped by the mysterious behaviour
of Mr.
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