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INTRODUCING MR. JOE FLAGG

could make their one big effort. If that failed,—if they could not get a boat, or if they got a boat and could not find the place they were looking for,—it would always be possible to come back to Joe Flagg and put the proposition up to him on a proper business basis.

"No, I don't see exactly that you can do anything for us," Tempest added at length. "There's a wreck there that Dave and I have a particular fancy to look over, and we 're going to make a trip in that direction from Christmas Island, when we get there. It may be waste of time, but we 've set our minds on it. There was some stuff worth a pile of money on the Hatteras when she was lost, but that's a good many years since."

"Go to it," said Flagg encouragingly. "Never let a chance slip by. That has always been my motto, because if you don't grab your chances in this world, you won't get anywhere. But if I may express an opinion without discouraging you,

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