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LOST ISLAND

it seems like a mighty slender chance to me. Perhaps you 've never seen a real storm in this part of the world, eh? I mean the sort of storm that smashes everything. Well, I tell you that anything but rocks on the beach gets beaten up into splinters in very little time. I'm afraid you won't find any wreck there. If I'm not too inquisitive, what is the stuff in the vessel! You 've got a nice job on if it is at all bulky."

"Platinum," Tempest replied. "It is worth a good deal more than gold nowadays. It would be easy enough to handle if ever we got the chance to handle it."

Joe Flagg shook his head slowly many, many times.

"1 hate to sound like a wet blanket," he said, "but you 're up against some proposition. Do you know what part of the ship this treasure stuff was stored in?"

"Well, it would n't be in the hold," Tempest said. "We figure on it being in one of the cab-

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