“Alike?” cried Grant in amazement. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said,” returned Fred. “The numbers on these two papers are exactly the same from start to finish.”

“That’s the strangest thing I ever heard of in my life,” exclaimed Grant. “Let me look at them.”

“Didn’t I tell you fellows that that piece of parchment Petersen had was a code of some sort?” demanded Fred.

“Does the fact that we found one like it prove that?” said George skeptically.

“It certainly seems so to me,” Fred exclaimed. “At any rate, it is a very odd coincidence.”

“It’s that all right,” admitted George. “Are they exactly alike, Grant?”

“They seem to be,” replied Grant, who had been carefully studying the two papers.

“We can soon find out, anyway,” said John. “Let me have one of them and I’ll read it aloud. One of you fellows can watch the other and check up the numbers.”

“That’s a good scheme,” Grant agreed. “Here, String, you take this one and I’ll keep my eye on the numbers on the other as you call them off.”

“All ready?” said John.

“Go ahead,” and this is what John read:

“20-1-11-5-1-3-15-21-18-19-5-4-21-5-14-15-18-20-8-15-14-15-18-21-14-4-18-5-4-6-5-5-20-6-18-15-13-20-8-5-19-15-21-20-8-5-18-14-5-24-20-18-5-13-9-20-25-15-6-19-8-1-18-11-18-15-3-11-20-8-5-14-5-1-19-20-6-9-6-20-25-6-20-25-6-5-5-20-1-14-4-14-15-18-20-8-2-25-5-1-19-20-20-8-9-18-20-25-20-8-18-5-5-4-9-7.”

“Exactly the same,” announced Grant when John had finished. “Now what do you think about that?”

“I believe it’s a code which tells where some pirates have buried treasure,” announced Fred decidedly. “I also believe that this is the island where it was done. How else do you account for our finding that duplicate in the chest here?”

“It’s strange all right,” said George. “I can explain it all in a different way, though.”

“What’s that?” asked Grant curiously.

“Just this. Suppose all those numbers do make up a code and that they do give the key to some treasure or something. Isn’t it possible that the treasure was once in this empty chest, and some one found it and took it away? Evidently there were at least two people in the secret, as the two codes show. One of them got here first and took it away and as long as he had no more use for the code he left it. Doesn’t that sound reasonable?”

“Yes, it does,” Fred admitted. “It’s not very cheerful, though, and I hope you are wrong about it.”

“I hope so, too,” exclaimed George heartily. “It’s just as well to look at both sides, though.”

“I don’t believe your idea is right, Pop,” said Grant.

“Why not?”

“Petersen got this code from his father, didn’t he? Well, if his father and the men he was with buried that treasure on this island it seems strange that this old powder-horn and flint-lock pistol should be here. Such things as that were used a good many years before Petersen’s father was alive.”

“Who said his father was the one who buried the treasure?”

“I thought that was what some one said back there on the Josephine.”

“No, indeed. They said Petersen’s father had the code, but I never heard that he was one of those who were supposed to have buried the treasure.”

“At any rate,” put in George, “no matter who buried it, it doesn’t say that my theory is wrong. The pistol and the powder-horn may have been in the chest along with the treasure. Whoever found it thought they weren’t worth taking, so they were just thrown to one side.”

“Why was the chest locked again?” asked John.

“I don’t know, I’m sure,” laughed Grant. “I give up.”

“Not at all,” exclaimed Fred. “Don’t say that. We can at least try to make out this code. That will give us something to do and I guess we are going to have plenty of time on our hands before we get away from here.” As he finished speaking he turned to scan the horizon, but nothing was in sight save the endless expanse of ocean. As far as appearances went they might have been alone in the world. The occasional note of a bird and the soft murmur of the waves as they caressed the beach below were the only sounds to be heard.

“Yes, I guess we will,” said Grant. “As you say, we can at least try to decipher it.”

“I’m no good at such things,” exclaimed George. “I don’t believe I ever worked out a puzzle in all my life.”

“That doesn’t say you can’t do this, though, does it?” demanded Grant.

“Oh, no. Perhaps I’ll get an idea some day and work the whole thing out for you.”

“I have an idea right now,” said John.

“Better tell us what it is, quick,” urged George. “You may lose it.”

“I am not like some other people I know,” said John loftily.

To this remark George made no intelligible answer, though he muttered something under his breath. “I’m glad of it,” was what two of his companions made out his reply to be.

“What’s your idea, String?” asked Grant.

“I say to take possession of this cave and live here.”

“That’s a good scheme,” exclaimed Fred heartily. “Let’s go and get our few belongings just as soon as we can and bring them up here.”

“A fine idea,” agreed George. “String, I didn’t think you knew so much.”

“That proves that you know very little yourself, then,” replied John scornfully.

“Ha, ha. Good one, String,” cried Fred laughingly. “Give him another.”

“He is not worth bothering about,” said John. “Let’s get our things.”

Down the side of the hill they scrambled, slipping and sliding down the steep decline. They came to the bottom in safety, however, and it was not long before they reached the spot where the baggage had been left.

“Where’s Sam?” exclaimed Grant. “He certainly can’t be sleeping still.”

“There he is,” said Fred, pointing down the beach.

“What’s he got in his hand?” said George curiously. “It looks like a knife.”

“Where could he get a knife?” exclaimed John. “Just as I told you a few minutes ago, Pop, you’ve certainly got something missing in that head of yours.”

“I thought maybe he’d gone around to the hardware store and bought it,” drawled George soberly with a wink at Grant. He loved to stir up his companions, and none of them more so than his tall friend, John, who almost invariably rose to any bait he might happen to offer.

“What have you got there, Sam?” called Fred when the negro was within earshot.

Sam merely grinned and waved the object he held in his hand to the boys.

“As I said before it certainly looks like a knife,” murmured George.

“What is that, Sam?” asked Fred again when Sam had come up to the spot where the four boys were standing.

“Ah’s makin’ a knife,” said Sam proudly.

“Where did you get the steel?”

“Dat ain’t steel,” grinned Sam. “Dat am one o’ dem iron hoops off o’ dat dere bar’el o’ water. Ah is gwine sharpen her up and den we’ll hab a sho’ nuff knife.”

“I’m afraid it’ll never cut much,” laughed John. “No knife with a blade made of iron is apt to be much good. It’ll be all right to dig holes in the ground with, though.”

“Wait ’til she’s sharpened,” warned Sam.

“How are you going to sharpen it?” asked Grant curiously.

“On a big black rock Ah done discovah roun’ dat dere point.”

“The rock that looks like a shark,” exclaimed George. “That ought to be a good one, for it certainly seemed hard enough.”

“Dat rock look lak a shark, yo’ say?” remarked Sam suddenly.

“Yes,” said George. “Didn’t you think so?”

“Now dat Ah comes to think on it, it sho’ did,” said Sam. “Ah wondahs if dis yere can be de island.”

“What do you mean?” demanded Fred eagerly. “What island?”

“Well,” said Sam, “evah sence Ah done commence to foller de sea Ah has heard tales of some island where dey is treasah buried. Dat island was said to hab a big rock on it what done look lak a shark. Mebbe this am de one.”

“Where was this island?” asked George eagerly.

“No one ebber knew,” said Sam. “All Ah knows is dat on dis island dey said dere was all so’ts ob treasah. Yo’ could tell de pahtikelah island by its habbin’ a big rock on it what done look lak a shark. Dat’s all Ah knows.”

“Did you ever meet any one who had seen the island?” inquired Grant.

“Nebber,” replied Sam. “Some say dat de island done disappeah or dat de ocean had swallowed ’er up. Dese was all stories Ah heard.”

“Well!” exclaimed Fred, his eyes shining with excitement. “I certainly am in favor of finding out what those codes mean. Perhaps we’ll find something on this island after all. I’ll bet this is the one Sam has heard about all right.”

“Seems so, doesn’t it?” agreed Grant. “We may get rich yet.”

“The treasure was in that chest up there in the cave, I tell you,” said George. “Some one has been here and taken it away.”

“Not at all,” cried Fred. “At any rate there’s more of it here. Didn’t you hear Sam say that he has heard about this island for years and years?”

“You’re not sure this is the one.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure there aren’t two islands with rocks on them like that,” exclaimed Fred. “A rock shaped just like a shark is so unusual that you see they identify the island by it.”

“But why has no one ever found it?”

“You just said they had,” Grant reminded him. “You also said that the treasure was gone. You are contradicting yourself.”

“Well, you’d think some one would find it,” exclaimed George. “An island as big as this one couldn’t very well be overlooked if any one came near it at all.”

“Apparently no one does come near it,” said Fred. “How many boats have we seen since the Josephine burned?”

“Not one,” said Grant.

“Why is it?” demanded Fred. “In this day and age, when the ocean is so covered with ships, you’d certainly think we’d see at least one.”

“We never even saw any of the other lifeboats,” said John.

“That’s true,” Fred exclaimed. “How do you account for it?”

“I don’t,” said Grant. “It’s a strange thing all around.”

“Well, if we’re going to be stranded here for a few years we might just as well spend part of the time looking for the treasure,” said Fred. “Everything seems to point to the fact that there is some here. That cave and the chest and the two codes and the queer rock that fits in so well with what Sam has heard, everything about it sounds like treasure and lots of it.”

“If we could only be the ones to find it,” sighed John. “Just think of going home rich; rich with pearls and diamonds and emeralds and gold doubloons and bars of gold all dug up from some old pirate’s hiding place. If we only could!”

“Perhaps we can,” exclaimed Fred, much thrilled by John’s description of the wealth that might be theirs. “My opinion is that we must translate those codes first, though. Wouldn’t it be awful if they didn’t apply to this island after all.”

“But they do,” insisted Grant. “I know they do.”

“And I think so, too,” exclaimed John. “Let’s go to work.”