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166 the smoke of a steamer. But they saw nothing.

"I haven't much hope of sighting anything," the captain said. "I know we are off the track of the regular liners, and our only chance would be that some tramp steamer, or some ship blown off her course, would see our signal. I tell you, friends, we're in a bad way."

"If money was any object," began Mr. Jenks.

"What good would money be?" demanded Mr. Hosbrook. "What we need to do is to get a message to some one—some of my friends—to send out a party to rescue us."

"That's right," chimed in Mr. Parker, the scientist. "And the message needs to go off soon, if we are to be saved."

"Why so?" asked Mr. Anderson.

"Because I think this island will sink inside of a week!"

A scream came from the two ladies.

"Why don't you keep such thoughts to yourself?" demanded the millionaire yacht owner, indignantly.

"Well, it's true," stubbornly insisted the scientist.

"What if it is? It doesn't do any good to remind us of it."