"How about navigating the sloop?" asked Phil.
"Leave that to me," responded Benton. "I thought one time before I joined the marines of going into the merchant service and studied for the position of mate. I got my papers too and can handle a ship with the best of them. But the marine service appealed to me more strongly because of the greater chances of adventure, and so I passed the other up. But I haven't let myself get rusty, and I've had a lot of practical experience. I'm as much at home on a boat as I am in the barracks. But how about you young fellows? Know anything about sailing?"
"Not on the ocean," replied Phil, "but we've done considerable cruising on the Great Lakes, which are the next thing to the sea itself. We know enough about ropes and sails to understand orders and to obey them promptly. If you'll act as captain, we think we can qualify as crew, especially on as small a boat as we expect to handle."
"That's dandy," replied Benton, "and when we get down to San Domingo we'll do a lot of cruising just off shore so that you can get thoroughly familiar with your work before cutting loose for the big adventure. That removes a lot of worry from my mind, for I'd hate like thunder to have to ship a crew from the kind of material you find in a West Indian port. They're smart enough sailors, but as a rule a bad lot to have on any trip, let alone an expedition that's looking for treasure.
"Now as to supplies. We've got to take along guns, revolvers and plenty of ammunition. Then we'll need dynamite and blasting powder--"
"I don't see exactly where that comes in," remarked Tom.
"For use in getting to the treasure," explained Benton. "Granted that we locate the ship, it's altogether unlikely that we'd be able to get through the hatches. They'd in all likelihood be crusted with barnacles or covered with silt and sea growths that would make it impossible for the diver to get into the hold unaided. But he could plant a charge of dynamite, and then after he'd been drawn up the charge could be fired by means of an electric spark from a battery in the boat above. That would tear a big hole in the deck and give the diver a chance to get in.
"Speaking of the diver," Benton went on, "brings us to one of the most important things of all, and that is the diving suit. We can't afford to get any but the best, for the man that goes down in it literally takes his life in his hands. The work though is less dangerous than it used to be because of the improvements that have been made.