The boys all agreed to the proposition, and even Captain Morgan seemed to gain enthusiasm as they talked over their plans.
"I wouldn't mind being with you," the captain said, "but of course, I can't go. However, if you keep on across the river, straight to the north, you'll come to the egg-shaped peninsula. Keep to the right of it, and you'll enter a broad river. This map shows you where the lost channel is claimed to have existed. Go to it, kids, and good luck go with you!"
"Now then that point is settled," Clay smiled, taking the second letter from his pocket, "tell us what this means."
Captain Morgan looked over the paper carefully before making any reply. His face clouded and an expression of anger came to his eyes.
"The fact of the matter is," he said, "that for two hundred years the Fontenelles have met with opposition in their search for the lost channel. Some of the land claimed under the charter is now held by innocent purchasers who believe their title to be perfect.
"There is no doubt that such might come to a fair understanding with the Fontenelles if the charter should ever be found, but it is alleged that an association has been formed by the wealthier persons who are interested to defeat any attempt made to discover the charter. They claim, of course, that with the charter in their possession the Fontenelles would be able to make their own exorbitant terms."
"I knew it!" Alex cried. "We are in between two hostile interests again! It always happens that way. But we like it!"
"I have been thinking," Captain Morgan went on, "that the men who attempted to wreck the _Rambler_ are not river pirates at all, but men sent here to obstruct, as far as possible, those in search of the lost channel. It certainly looks that way."
"Well," Clay remarked, "they haven't got any motor boat, and we've got one that can almost beat the sun around the earth, so we'll just run away from them. In an hour after you leave here, we'll be in the east river looking for the channel which is said to have connected it in past years with the one paralleling it on the west."
The sailors who had been searching now reported to the captain that no strangers had been seen by them on the island, and it was agreed that the outlaws, whether wreckers or men employed to obstruct the search for the lost channel, had taken to the south shore. Captain Morgan shook the boys warmly by the hand as they parted.