“Might ask ’em,” says I.

“Wish they’d run on a sandbar,” says he.

“But they won’t,” says I.

“No chance. So we’ve got to plan it. We’ve got to fix it so we can go while they’ve got to stay. They’re pirates, aren’t they? Well? It’s fair and lawful to do anything to pirates.”

“Sink ’em,” says I.

“Guess we hadn’t better go that far,” he says with a grin, “but there’s something we can do. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll find out.”

“What,” says I, “do you s’pose they’re after? What has Mr. Topper got that they want?”

“Treasure,” says he.

“What kind of treasure?”

“Oh, gold and precious stones, and rings and jewelry and all the things old Captain Kidd and those other pirates used to hide in chests.”

“Think he’s got a map?”

“Yes,” says Catty.

“Um ...” says I.

“Say,” Catty says, and he lifted his head out of water, “wouldn’t it be a joke if we could send them off on a wild-goose chase?”

“How?”

“By letting them get hold of the wrong map,” says he. “We could fix up a map, and let it fall into their hands—and make them think they’d got hold of the right one. Then they’d leave us alone and go hiking off as fast as they could to get the treasure before we could.”

“Good idea,” says I, “but how could we fix it so’s they’d get the map?”

“That’s what we’ve got to figure out,” says he.

“Let’s get back, then,” says I, “and make the map.”

So we swam back and dressed. Catty hunted up Mr. Browning and 

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