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 Contents vii

8 DATA COLLECTION: PRIMARY DATA 177

Types of Primary Data 177
Basic Means of Obtaining Primary Data 186
Communication Methods 188
Questionnaires Classified by Method of Administration 191
Structured vs. Unstructured and Disguised vs. Undisguised Observation 201
Summary 202
Questions 202
Applications and Problems 202
9 QUESTIONNAIRES AND DATA-COLLECTION FORMS 204
Questionnaire Design 204
Observational Forms 224
Summary 228
Questions 229
Applications and Problems 229
10 ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT 232
Scales of Measurement 233
Scaling of Psychological Attributes 235
Which Scale to Use 247
Summary 248
Questions 248
Applications and Problems 248
Appendix: Psychological Measurement 251
Variations in Measured Scores 253
Classification and Assessment of Error 254
Direct Assessment of Validity 256
Indirect Assessment Through Reliability 258
Summary 260
Questions 261
Applications and Problems 261
Cases for Part 3
Case 3.1 E-Food and the Online Grocery Competition (B) 263
Case 3.2 Premium Pizza Inc. 264
Case 3.3 CTM Productions (A) 268
Case 3.4 Comparing Ads Against a Databank 270
Case 3.5 Measuring Magazines 271
Case 3.6 Secondary Data on Health from CDC 273
Case 3.7 Critiquing Questionnaires 274

part 4 Sample Design for Data Collection and Sample Size 281
11 SAMPLING PROCEDURES 282
Required Steps 283
Types of Sampling Plans 285
Nonprobability Samples 286
Probability Samples 287
Summary 308
Questions 309
Applications and Problems 309

Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
viii Contents

12 DETERMINING SAMPLE SIZE 312

Basic Considerations 312
Sample Size Determination When Estimating Means 313
Sample Size Determination When Estimating Proportions 319
Population Size and Sample Size 321
Other Probability Sampling Plans 321
Using Anticipated Cross Tabs to Determine Sample Size 322
Summary 325
Questions 325
Applications and Problems 325
13 FIELD PROCEDURES FOR COLLECTING THE DATA 328
Impact of Nonsampling Errors 328
Types of Nonsampling Errors 329
Total Error Is Key 340
Summary 341
Questions 342
Applications and Problems 342
Cases for Part 4
Case 4.1 Riverside County Humane Society (B) 344
Case 4.2 Sampling Lead-Users for New Products 344
Case 4.3 Sampling from Your Loyalty
Database 345
Case 4.4 International Differences in the
Cost of Data 345
Case 4.5 Online Samples 346
Case 4.6 Sampling Gambling 347

part 5 Data Analysis and Interpretation 349

14 PREPROCESSING THE DATA, AND DOING CROSS-TABS 350
Editing 350
Coding 351
Tabulation 352
Goodness-of-Fit Chi-Square Test on One Variable 359
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test 362
Contingent Relationships in Cross-Tabs 364
Presenting Tabular Data 374
Summary 375
Questions 375
Applications and Problems 376
Appendix: Chi-Square and Related Indices for Cross-Tabs 378
Hypotheses and Statistics to Test Them 378
Log Linear Models 382
Nonparametric Measures of Association 385
Summary 388
Questions 388
Applications and Problems 388

Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
 Contents ix

15 DATA ANALYSIS—BASIC QUESTIONS 390

Choice of Analysis Technique: An Example 390
Basic Considerations 393
Overview of Statistical Procedures 399
Summary 400
Questions 401
Applications and Problems 401
Appendix: Quick Stats Review 402
Null Hypothesis 402
Types of Errors 404
Procedure 405
Power 407
Summary 412
Questions 412
Applications and Problems 412
16 ARE MY GROUPS THE SAME OR DIFFERENT? 413
Hypotheses about One Mean 413
Hypotheses about Two Means 416
Hypotheses about Two Proportions 423
Summary 426
Questions 426
Applications and Problems 426
Appendix: Analysis of Variance 428
Randomized Blocks 432
Summary 438
Questions 438
Applications and Problems 439
17 ARE THESE VARIABLES RELATED? 441
Simple Regression and Correlation Analysis 441
Simple Regression 442
Correlation Coefficient 451
Multiple-Regression Analysis 454
Summary 460
Questions 460
Applications and Problems 460
Appendix: Conjoint Analysis 463
Variable Transformations 463
Dummy Variables 464
Conjoint Analysis 465
Summary 475
Questions 475
Applications and Problems 475
18 MULTIVARIATE DATA ANALYSIS 477
Discriminant Analysis 477
Factor Analysis 491
Cluster Analysis 506
Multidimensional Scaling and Perceptual Mapping 524
Summary 533
Questions 533
Applications and Problems 533
Appendix: More Multivariate Statistical Techniques 537
Correspondence Analysis 537

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x Contents

Structural Equations Models 539

Neural Networks 540
Social Networks 541
Cases for Part 5
Case 5.1 CTM Productions (B) 544
Case 5.2 E-Food and the Online Grocery Competition (C)2 544
Case 5.3 Internet Advertising and Your Brain (B) 545
Case 5.4 A Picture is Worth a Megabyte of Words:
Census Data and Trends in Lifestyle Purchases 546
Case 5.5 CountryCable: Customer Satisfaction Survey Data 547
Case 5.6 Teeth-Whitening Conjoint Study 549
Case 5.7 Sports Marketing and Television Programming 549
Case 5.8 Repositioning a Brand 552
Case 5.9 Conjoint—Brand & Pricing 553
Case 5.10 Segmentation Study 554

part 6 The Research Report 557

19 THE RESEARCH REPORT 558
Criteria of Research Reports 558
The Oral Report 563
Graphic Presentation of the Results 566
Summary 571
Questions 571
Applications and Problems 572

Epilogue 573

Appendix A: Cumulative Probabilities for the Standard Normal Distribution 576

Appendix B: Critical Values of w2 577

Appendix C: Critical Values of t 579

Appendix D: Percentage Points For the F Distribution. a = .05 580

GLOSSARY 584
SUBJECT INDEX 594
AUTHOR INDEX 602

Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
 P R E F A C E

Intended Market
This book introduces marketing research to MBA students, Executive MBA stu-
dents, and advanced undergraduates. It also serves as a reference resource for
marketing managers.
Marketing research is complicated—it requires answers to many questions,
and tough decisions are made at each step in the process, e.g., techniques to be
used to solve the research problem. In this book, we provide an over-arching
framework so that students won’t become overwhelmed by the bits and pieces,
and they’ll be able to see the relationship of the parts to the whole. This ap-
preciation is important because decisions made at one stage in the marketing
research process have consequences for other stages.
This book attempts to serve both the marketing manager and marketing re-
searchers through its basic organization around the stages of the research process:
1. Formulate the problem.
2. Determine the research design.
3. Design the data-collection method and forms.
4. Design the sample and collect the data.
5. Analyze and interpret the data.
6. Prepare the research report.
Each stage is discussed in several chapters. Breaking the steps down allows the
reader to see the forest for the trees, and it gives instructors latitude about what
is covered. An instructor’s decision on what to cover will depend, of course, on
the background, interests, and preparation of the students, and on the time
provided in the curriculum for marketing research.

Organization
Part 1, on formulating the problem, consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 provides
an overview of marketing research, including the kinds of problems for which it
is used and who is doing research. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the various
ways of gathering marketing intelligence. It emphasizes the increasingly im-
portant role played by marketing intelligence systems in providing business and
competitive information. Chapter 3 overviews the research process in terms of
the kinds of decisions to be made at each stage and then discusses in greater
detail the problem formulation stage of the research process.
Part 2 consists of three chapters and deals with the nature of the research
design. It emphasizes ensuring that the research addresses the appropriate
questions and treats them in an efficient manner. Chapter 4 presents the vari-
eties of research designs, then proceeds to exploratory research and qualitative
data. Chapter 5 presents aspects of descriptive designs. Chapter 6 discusses the
role of experiments.
In Part 3, we get into data. We discuss methods of data collection and the
design of data-collection forms. Chapter 7 focuses on secondary data as an
xi

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xii Preface

information resource and includes a discussion of commercial marketing in-

formation services. The prime sources of secondary data are just a click away on
our Web site. Chapter 8 discusses the kinds of information we can gather, e.g.,
attitudes and behaviors, and the means by which we can gather that infor-
mation, e.g., via observation or techniques that rely on forms of communication
(e.g., interviews, surveys). Chapter 9 covers the construction of questionnaires.
Chapter 10 explains the general topic of attitude measurement using scales and
discusses some of the more common types of attitude scales. The important
topic of developing measures for marketing constructs is discussed in the
appendix to Chapter 10.
Part 4, which consists of three chapters, is concerned with the actual data
collection to answer questions. Chapter 11 discusses the various types of sampling
plans that can be used to determine the population elements from which data
should be collected. Chapter 12 treats the question of how many of these ele-
ments are needed, so that the problem can be answered with the required pre-
cision and confidence in the results. Chapter 13 discusses the types of errors that
can arise in completing this data-collection task, so that managers can assess the
quality of the information they receive from research.
Once data have been collected, emphasis in the research process logically
turns to data analysis, which amounts to searching for meaning in the collected
information. The five chapters and several appendices in Part 5 present an
overview of these steps and questions. Chapter 14 reviews the preliminary
analysis steps of editing, coding, and tabulating the data. The appendix covers
chi-squares and related approaches to analyzing categorical data. Chapter 15
provides a framework of basic questions that must be resolved before statistical
examination of the data can begin.
Next, Chapters 16, 17, and 18 review the statistical techniques most useful in
the analysis of marketing data. Chapter 16 discusses the procedures appropriate
for examining the differences between groups; Chapter 17 covers the assess-
ment of association—namely, correlation and regression, including conjoint
analysis; and Chapter 18 examines the multivariate techniques of discriminant
analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling. The ap-
pendix to Chapter 18 introduces correspondence analysis, structural equations
modeling, neural network models, and social networks.
Part 6 consists of one chapter and an epilogue. Chapter 19 discusses a critical
part of the research process, the research report, which often becomes the stan-
dard by which the research effort is assessed. Chapter 19 discusses the criteria a
research report should satisfy and the form it can follow to contribute positively
to the research effort. This chapter also discusses some of the graphical means
that can be used to communicate the findings. The epilogue ties together the
elements of the research process by demonstrating in overview fashion their
interrelationships.

Organizational Flexibility
Given the flexibility in structure of this book, Marketing Research: Methodological
Foundations, 10th ed., can be used in a variety of marketing research course se-
quences: one- or two-quarter sequences, semester courses, etc. For example,
instructors with only a single, brief introductory course in marketing research
who hope their students will develop a basic appreciation might choose to
overview the research process at an elementary level. One way to accomplish this

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 Preface xiii

would be to omit Chapters 6, 10, and 12, and use only Chapter 14 from among
the five analysis chapters. This approach would serve to present the basics.
In contrast, instructors who wish to emphasize, say, data analysis would have
ample materials to do so. There are databases online that instructors can have
students analyze. Students can perform their own analyses, thereby increasing
their comfort level with the statistical techniques discussed.
Each part of the book offers cases to illustrate the issues. The cases present
actual situations, although many of them have disguised names and locations to
protect the identity of the sponsors. Students can apply what they have learned
by critically evaluating what others have done, thereby increasing their analytic
skills.
To help students, there are:
●
Cases at the end of each section to develop evaluation and analytical skills. The
cases are diverse across industries, and raw data are available to let students try
various analyses.
●
Ethical Dilemmas present students with scenarios that arise when making
marketing research choices. Students can be challenged to see the advantages
and disadvantages of making certain choice and in their social consequences.
● Research Realities illustrate what is going on in the world of marketing re-
search today, both in general and at specific companies.
●
Problems at the end of chapters have students apply the concepts to very fo-
cused situations, to develop an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses
of various techniques.
●
The Thorndike Video Case is structured so that the segments follow the sec-
tions of the books, so it can interact with students and simulate a real world
research process.
● NFO Coffee Study. The questionnaire, coding form, and raw data from a study
on ground coffee conducted by NFO are used to frame a number of applica-
tion problems. Everything is online and it allows students to work with \live"
data in honing their skills in translating research problems into data analysis
issues and in interpreting computer output.
For instructors:
● Due to their popularity, we’ve retained the Thorndike Sports Video Case (it’s
online, alone with the Avery Sporting Goods materials), the \Ethical Di-
lemmas" presented in each chapter, and the Research Realities to demon-
strate to students \how they do it in the real world."
●
There is a lot of support for instructors online (data bases, slides, lecture
support, etc.).
❍ An Instructor’s Manual to help the instructor cover the material, depending
on their desired emphases and time frames. For each chapter, there are
resources: 1) learning objectives, 2) list of key terms, 3) detailed outline,
4) lecture and discussion suggestions, 5) suggested supplementary readings,
6) answers to the application questions and/or problems in the book,
7) more exercises (and answers) for students, and 8) suggested cases for the
chapter, from our cases and from HBS.
❍
New cases, covering these applications:
loyalty and RFM
■

■
brand extensions

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xiv Preface

■ advertising databases
■ brand associations
■ new products lead-users
■
customer satisfaction and CRM
■ online marketing research samples
■
conjoint: brand equity and pricing
■ segmentation study
❍
There are slides drawn from the book and others to facilitate classroom
discussion.
❍ There are 1,100+ test questions (multiple choice) in a computerized test
bank. The computerized test bank enables instructors to preview and edit
test questions, as well as add their own. The test and answer keys can also be
printed in scrambled formats.
❍
Data Disk. The raw data for the cases are online, which allows instructors and
students to use them for analysis.
❍ Video Collection. In addition to the Thorndike Video Case, there are other
clips online. Companies ranging from Fossil watches to Hard Candy focus on
the ideas and concepts presented throughout the text.
This book is intended to teach, but it is also an extraordinary reference—it’s
very thorough. In addition, the level of difficulty of material naturally varies
within and across the chapters. Some sections are straightforward, while others
are more abstract or technical, and more challenging for readers. We do not shy
away from topics simply because they can be challenging; that is, we didn’t want
to produce a marketing research text that is fluff. We also didn’t want to provide
a book decipherable only by highly motivated techno-geeks. We hope that the
reader finds the material clearly presented. You’ll also see in Marketing Research:
Methodological Foundations, 10th ed., sections that professors can teach through,
or ask students to skip when reading.

Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
 A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

I’d like to thank Gil Churchill, a wonderful coauthor and mentor. I thank Curt
Dommeyer (Cal State, Northridge) for an amazing eye. I also thank the Cengage
team, Melissa Acuña, Michael Roche, John Abner, Neil Marquardt, Suzanna
Bainbridge, Martha Conway, and an astonishingly terrific sales force.
Dawn Iacobucci
Nashville, Tennessee

Writing a book is never the work of a single person, and when attempting to
acknowledge the contributions of others, one always runs the risk of omitting
some important contributions. Nonetheless, the attempt must be made, because
this book has been helped immensely by the many helpful comments I have
received along the way from users and interested colleagues. I especially wish to
acknowledge those people who reviewed the manuscript for this or for one of
the earlier editions of the book. While much of the credit for the strengths of
the book is theirs, the blame for any weaknesses is strictly mine. Thank you one
and all for your most perceptive and helpful comments.
My colleagues at the University of Wisconsin have my thanks for the in-
tellectual stimulation they have always provided. Dr. B. Venkatesh was particu-
larly instrumental in getting the first edition off the ground. My discussions with
him were important in determining the scope and structure of the book.
I wish to thank the many assistants at the University of Wisconsin, especially
Janet Christopher, who helped in the preparation of one or more versions of the
manuscript. I also wish to thank students Tom Brown, Sara Evans, Margaret
Friedman, Diana Haytko, Jacqueline Hitchon, Larry Hogue, Joseph Kuester,
Jayashree Mahajan, Jennifer Markanen, Sara Pitterle, Kay Powers, and Frank
Wadsworth for their help with many of the miscellaneous tasks on either this
edition or one of the earlier editions. I would like to thank the acquisitions
editor and the developmental editor, as well as the entire production staff at
Cengage for their professional effort. I also want to thank P.J. Ward of NFO for
contributing the questionnaire, coding form, database, and the compatible
problems and exercises using the database regarding coffee consumption that
illustrate so nicely the statistical ideas discussed in the text. I am grateful to the
literary executor of the late Sir Ronald A. Fisher, F.R.S., to Dr. Frank Yates, F.R.S.,
and to the Longman Group Ltd., London, for permission to reprint Table III
from their book Statistical Tables for Biological, Agricultural and Medical Research
(6th edition, 1974).
Finally, I owe a special debt of thanks to my wife, Helen, and our four chil-
dren, Carol, Elizabeth, David, and Thomas. Their understanding, cooperation,
and support through all editions of this book are sincerely appreciated.
Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr.
Madison, Wisconsin

xv

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Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
 R E V I E W E R S

Mark I. Alpert, University of Texas–Austin

Robert L. Anderson, University of South Florida
Gary M. Armstrong, University of North Carolina
Emin Babakus, University of Memphis
Sri Beldona, University of Dallas
Frank J. Carmone, Jr., Drexel University
Joseph Chasin, St. John’s University
Imran S. Currim, University of California–Irvine
Michael R. Czinkota, Georgetown University
Albert J. DellaBitta, University of Rhode Island
John Dickinson, University of Windsor
James F. Engel, Eastern College
Peter Faynzilberg, Carnegie Mellon University
Claes Fornell, University of Michigan
Margot Griffin, California Lutheran University
Sachin Gupta, Northwestern University
James W. Harvey, George Mason University
Vince Howe, University of North Carolina–Wilmington
Roy Howell, Texas Tech University
G. David Hughes, University of North Carolina
Dipak C. Jain, Northwestern University
Robert Krapfel, University of Maryland
Patrick Kurby, Rutgers University
H. Bruce Lammers, California State University–Northridge
Peter La Placa, University of Connecticut
Charles L. Martin, Wichita State University
M. Dean Martin, Western Carolina University
David Mick, University of Virginia
Carlos W. Moore, Baylor University
David J. Moore, University of Michigan
Carl Obermiller, Seattle University
Christie H. Paksoy, University of North Carolina–Charlotte
Kalyan Ramon, University of Florida
C. P. Rao, University of Arkansas
Arno Rethans, California State University–Chico
Kenneth J. Roering, University of Minnesota
Abhijit Roy, Plymouth State College
William Rudelius, University of Minnesota
Alan G. Sawyer, University of Florida
Randall L. Schultz, University of Texas–Dallas
Subrata K. Sen, Yale University
Allan D. Shocker, University of Minnesota
Seymour Sudman, University of Illinois

xvii

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xviii Reviewers

David Szymanski, Texas A&M University

Sandra Teel, University of South Carolina
Robert Thomas, Georgetown University
Rex S. Toh, Seattle University
David J. Urban, Virginia Commonwealth University
Elizabeth J. Wilson, Boston College

Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
 A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S

Dawn Iacobucci is the E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Marketing at the Owen

Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining Owen,
Iacobucci was Professor of Marketing at Kellogg (1987–2004), Wharton (2004–
2007), and The University of Arizona (2001–2002). Her research focuses on
social networks and methodological questions. She has published in the Journal
of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of
Service Research, Harvard Business Review, Marketing Science, International Journal of
Research in Marketing, Psychometrika, Psychological Bulletin, and Social Networks.
Iacobucci teaches Marketing Management, Marketing Research, Marketing
Models, Services Marketing, and New Products to MBA and executive MBA
students, and multivariate statistics and methodological topics in Ph.D. semi-
nars. She is recent editor of both the Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of
Consumer Psychology. She edited Networks in Marketing, Handbook of Services Mar-
keting and Management, Kellogg on Marketing, Kellogg on Integrated Marketing, and
she is author of Mediation Analysis and of Marketing Management (also published
by Cengage).
Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr., received his DBA from Indiana University in 1966
and joined the University of Wisconsin faculty in 1966. Professor Churchill was
named Distinguished Marketing Educator by the American Marketing Associa-
tion in 1986—only the second individual so honored. The lifetime achievement
award recognizes and honors a living marketing educator for distinguished
service and outstanding contributions in the field of marketing education.
Professor Churchill was also awarded the Academy of Marketing Science’s life-
time achievement award in 1993 for his significant scholarly contributions. In
1996, he received a Paul D. Converse Award, which is given to the most influ-
ential marketing scholars, as judged by a national jury drawn from universities,
businesses, and government. Also in 1996, the Marketing Research Group of the
American Marketing Association established the Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr., life-
time achievement award, which is to be given each year to a person judged to
have made significant lifetime contributions to marketing research. In 2002, he
received the Charles Coolidge Parlin lifetime achievement award for his sub-
stantial contributions to the ongoing advancement of marketing research
practice.
Professor Churchill is a past recipient of the William O’Dell Award for the
outstanding article appearing in the Journal of Marketing Research during the year.
He has also been a finalist for the award five other times. He is a coauthor of the
most and third-most influential articles of the past century in sales managements
as judged by a panel of experts in the field. He was named Marketer of the Year
by the South Central Wisconsin Chapter of the American Marketing Association
in 1981. He is a member of the American Marketing Association and has served
as consultant to a number of companies, including Oscar Mayer, Western Pub-
lishing Company, and Parker Pen.
Professor Churchill’s articles have appeared in such publications as the
Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research,
Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Decision Sciences, Technometrics, and
Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, among others. He is coauthor
of several books, including Basic Marketing Research, 7th ed. (Mason, OH:
Cengage, 2010) Marketing: Creating Value for Customers, 2nd ed. (Burr Ridge, IL:
xix

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xx About the Authors

McGraw-Hill, 1998), Sales Force Management: Planning, Implementation, and Control,

6th ed. (Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2000), and Salesforce Performance
(Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1984), in addition to his coauthorship of
Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations, 10th ed. (Mason, OH: Cengage,
2010). He is a former editor of the Journal of Marketing Research and has served on
the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing,
Journal of Business Research, Journal of Health Care Marketing, and the Asian Journal
of Marketing. Professor Churchill is a past recipient of the Lawrence J. Larson
Excellence in Teaching Award.

Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
“A hundred thousand bunches,” the boy murmured. [180]
“And now all gone. What a loss!”

“All gone. I wonder,” he murmured as he lifted the

topmost plant from off a heap of its fellows. The bunch
he cut away with his machete was ready for shipment,
and perfect.

“Not a bruise,” he said aloud. “Not a banana missing.

The plants beneath it formed a pad to ease it down.
There must be others, hundreds, thousands, perhaps
twenty thousand.”

“Here we have bananas!” he exclaimed, turning to

Madge Kennedy.

“But they are not ours.”

“May as well be. We should be able to buy them. The

Fruit Company’s boat will not dock for ten days or two
weeks. By that time they will be worthless. Come on,
let’s hurry back to the port.”

“Diaz won’t let you take them.” [181]

“That’s right,” he admitted in sudden despondency. “Of

course he won’t.”

“And yet, I wonder if he’d dare refuse?” he said to

himself. “He would not be serving the best interests of
his master if he did not sell them to us at a salvage
price.”

He thought of the wary Spaniard’s visit to Kennedy’s

home, and of his offer to buy the grapefruit orchard;
thought too of the prosperous-looking American he had
seen at the foot of the Porte Zelaya dock.
“Wonder if I will ever see that short, stout American
again?” he thought. “They say he left yesterday
morning.”

The answer to this last question, though he could not

know it yet, was a decided yes. He was to meet that
mysterious American again under very unusual
circumstances. A strange break of fate had predestined
them to be thrown together for many days.

As he followed the unerring guidance of the Carib [182]

Indian through the maze of fallen trees and destroyed
banana plants back toward the port, his thoughts were
gloomy indeed. The glory of the tropical moonlight
seemed to mock him. Every black mass of twisted
banana plants seemed a funeral pile on which his dead
hopes were to be burned.

“Fate treats one strangely at times,” he told himself.

So it seemed. He had been endeavoring to assist a very

worthy, aged and needy man, one who had given all his
life to others. This man had fought for his country,
fearlessly at the front of his command, yet he refused
the honor of being called “Captain.”

The World War was not the only one in which he had
fought. Time and again the need of his humble fellow
countrymen, the black Caribs whose fathers and
mothers had been Indians and negro slaves, had called
him to his duty, and he had gone.

On one occasion, during the terrible yellow-fever [183]

plague, he had toiled days without end, burying the
Carib dead and caring for the stricken ones until the
hand of the dread enemy was stayed.
“Not a native in all Stann Creek district but knows and
loves him,” Johnny told himself. “And now, in his old
age, when he truly needs a lift and we try to help him,
see how things come out! We are blocked by a
scheming Spaniard who never fought for any country,
nor for the good of any person beside himself. He
probably never had an unselfish thought in the whole of
his life.”

His thoughts were gloomy enough. But, after climbing

over many obstructions and wading numerous small,
swollen streams, he began to reason with himself. What
was this “Fate” he was always thinking of? Was it the
great Creator, or was it some other being?

As he looked away at the golden moon, a line of poetry

came to him.

“God’s in His Heaven,

All’s right with the world.”

“I wonder?” he thought. Then, “How absurd! Of course [184]

it’s true. Somehow there must still be a way.”

His first visible justification of this faith came to him the

moment he stepped inside the dock office. There,
snugly sleeping on a couch in the corner, was a slender,
dark-skinned child whose black eyelashes were long and
lovely. And there, pacing the floor before her, was her
father, the great plantation owner.

“Don del Valle!” the boy exclaimed. He could scarcely

believe his eyes.

“Yes, Senor Johnny Thompson.” The man’s tone seemed

austere.
“I—I am truly sorry that your crop has been ruined,”
said the boy.

“And I, sir, am disappointed in you, disappointed that

you should have taken advantage of my endeavor to
deal generously with you.”

“How—how—I—” the boy stammered.

“Excuses are unnecessary. You told me you had a ship. [185]

Where is that ship? You said you would take twenty
thousand bunches. Where are they? Are they on the
ship? They are there.” He waved his hand toward the
devastated plantation.

Johnny’s head whirled. What was this—more treachery?

“Our boat,” he said in as quiet a tone as he could

command, “was at your dock three days. In such a
storm you could not expect her to hold to her moorings.
Where is she now? Who knows? Perhaps at the bottom
of the sea. The reason she left without a cargo was that
your manager, Senor Diaz, would not supply it.”

“Is this true?” The dark eyes of the Honduran capitalist

bored him through and through.

“Ask any workman on the dock or in the village. If he

has not been corrupted by a scoundrel, he will tell you it
is true.”

Whirling about, the man shot a few sharp questioning

words in Spanish to a boy who sat half asleep in the
corner.

Starting up, the boy answered rapidly. [186]

“He says,” Don del Valle turned slowly about, “that all
you have told me is the truth. It is my honor to beg
your most humble pardon. You have been badly treated.
Ask me some favor and I will grant it.”

Johnny’s heart beat fast. His mind worked like some

speeding mechanism.

“Shall I?” he asked himself. “I will.”

“In the name of one who deserves much, our friend

Donald Kennedy, I shall ask one favor.”

“Ask it.”

“That you sell me the crop of bananas on this

plantation.”

“They are worthless. The storm has ruined them.”

“Not all. There is still a ship load of good ones.”

“How can I grant such a request? I am under contract

to deliver these bananas to the Fruit Company.”

“No contract,” Johnny’s voice vibrated with earnestness, [187]

“stands before an act of God. The storm was an act of
God. No Fruit Company’s ship will be here within ten
days. By that time it will be too late.”

“You are right. Your request is granted. To-morrow I will

send my men into the field.”

“By your leave,” said Johnny quickly, “I will buy them as

they are in the field. I will gather and load them myself.”

The owner gave him a piercing look, then having

recalled Johnny’s past experience, he said slowly:
“Very well. This also is granted. You may use my
equipment. Ten cents a bunch in the field, a salvage
price.”

There was a slight move at the door. Together they

turned to look. There stood Diaz. His white face showed
that he had heard much, understood all.

Don del Valle pointed a finger of accusation and scorn at

him.

He vanished into the dark. His plotting was not at an [188]

end, however. He went directly to a long shed where
many men, beachcombers, longshoremen, chicleros and
banana gatherers, were sleeping. There he began to
sow the seeds of a hasty revolution and a wild
demonstration against the hated white men, which was
destined once more to threaten disaster to Johnny
Thompson’s plans.

Early that morning one might have found Johnny alone

at the edge of the banana plantation. To one
unaccustomed to Johnny’s ways, his actions might have
seemed strange. Was he taking his daily dozen?
Perhaps, but surely they were a queer dozen.

If you know Johnny at all you are aware of the fact that
he is a skillful boxer. But down there in the tropics bare
hands avail little. Johnny was not shadow boxing. The
thing he was doing was quite different. He was keeping
fit all the same.

A stout young mahogany tree had sprung up in the

midst of the banana field. From a tough limb of this tree
Johnny had suspended a large bunch of bananas. The
top of the bunch was a little higher than Johnny’s
shoulders, the tip a foot from the ground.
Seizing one of two machetes, great long bladed knives [189]
like swords, that lay on the ground, the boy began
circling the swinging bunch of bananas as one might a
mortal enemy. Brandishing his machete, he circled this
imaginary enemy three times. Then, as if an opening
had appeared, he made a sudden onslaught that sent
green bananas thudding to earth and set the bunch
spinning wildly.

Then he parried and thrust as an imaginary blade sang

close to his head. Once more, with a lightning-like
swing, he sprang in. This time he split a single banana
from end to end and sent the severed halves soaring
high.

He sprang back. No true blade could have inspired

greater skill than the boy displayed before an empty
world and without a real adversary.

The battle ended when with one swift stroke he severed

the stem in the middle and with a sweeping twirl sent it
thudding down.

“Cut his head off!” he chuckled, throwing himself upon [190]

the ground to mop the perspiration from his brow.

“It’s like boxing,” he thought, “this great Central

American sport of machete fighting, only—it’s different.
You feel as if only half of you were in it.”

As a boxer Johnny was neither right nor left handed. He

was ambidextrous. Therein lay much of his power. How
few of us ever learn to use both hands well. Yet what an
advantage comes to those who do.

“That’s the trouble with this machete business,” he now

thought to himself. “Only one hand, that’s all you use.
And yet, why not?”

He sprang to his feet, selected a second bunch of

bananas, hung it on high, then prepared as before to
attack it. This time, however, he wielded a machete in
each hand.

At first he found it awkward. Once he barely missed [191]

cutting his own wrist. By the time he had demolished
three other bunches he felt that he was making
progress and that an ambidextrous fighter with two
knives would have a decided advantage over one who
fought with a single blade.

Johnny, as you may have guessed, was preparing for

that moment which he felt must come sooner or later,
when he and Diaz would stand face to face ready to
fight their battle out with the great Central American
blade.

“And when that time comes,” he told himself, “it must

not find me unprepared.”

[192]
 CHAPTER XV
UNSEEN FOES

It was night, such a night as only the tropics knows.

Night, dead calm, hot, and no moon. Motionless clouds
hanging low, and dark. Such a darkness as Pant had
never before known hung over all.

Ten feet below him was the sea. He sensed rather than
saw it, felt the long rolling lift of its swells as the Carib
sailing boat gently rose and fell.

They were a mile out to sea, becalmed. There should be

no one near them. There had been no craft near when
darkness fell. In such a calm no boat could sail, and
who would care to row on such a hot, oppressive night?
Yet, strange as it may seem, from time to time he
imagined that some faint sound came drifting in from
the black void that engulfed them.

“It can’t be,” he told himself. “There was no one near at [193]
sunset. There is no one now. That silver box of pearls
has gotten on my nerves. I will go to sleep and forget it
all.”
He did not sleep at once. His mind was filled with many
things. His pursuit of the pit-pan loads of chicle which
his grandfather had sent down the river had been a
strenuous one. A pit-pan, the seventy foot dugout of the
Carib country, when manned by a score of expert
boatmen, is a swift river craft. Without giving his
grandfather any definite reason for his sudden
departure, he had hired a twelve foot dugout from a
native bushman and had set out in pursuit of the chicle
sack that contained his treasure of pearls in a beaten
silver box. For long hours, eating little, scarcely sleeping
at all, he had held on in pursuit. At the end of the
second day his frail craft had shot boldly out into the
ocean. There he met the pit-pans on their return trip.

For the moment he counted all lost. When they told him [194]
that the chicle had been stowed away aboard a Carib
sailing vessel manned by his grandfather’s men and
bound for Belize, his spirits rose. An hour later found
him aboard that boat, munching dry casaba bread and
talking to the Caribs between bites.

He had not told them why he had come, but gave them
to understand that he was to sail to Belize with them.

“In Belize,” he told himself, “before the chicle is brought

aboard the steamer, I will claim my precious bag. It will
be time enough to decide then what the next move
shall be.

“And now here we are becalmed,” he thought to himself

with a low shudder.

Strange and terrible things had happened in these

waters. They had been the hunting grounds of
buccaneers. As he closed his eyes he seemed to hear
the creaking of windlasses, the heavy breathing of men
in the dark, the boom of cannon, the rattle of muskets,
the ring thud of steel.

“Those days are gone,” he told himself, shaking himself [195]

free from the illusion. But were they? Only the year
before four black men, who had engaged to carry two
rich traders across the bay, had murdered their
passengers and sailed to some unknown haven with
their spoils.

“Always a little danger down here,” he thought.

“Revolutions and all that.”

He rose suddenly on an elbow, to listen intently. Sure as

he was a rational human being, out of that darkness
had come a sound.

With a hand that trembled slightly, he touched a dark

form close beside him. Something there stirred;
otherwise there was not a sound.

“Hist!” His whisper was low and tense. “Not a word!

There is some one.”

“Who? Where?” came back still in a whisper.

“Who knows, Tuan? You listen. Your ears are better than
mine.”

“Tish!” came the black-brown man’s low expression of

appreciation, then all was silence once more.

Tuan was one of those Caribs who, somewhere back in [196]

the dim distance, had a black slave for an ancestor. A
great gaunt man, he was endowed with the strength of
the black race and the endurance of the red man. A
lifetime in the bush had given him the ear of a jaguar.

“Tish!” he whispered a moment later. “Truly there came

a sound. But who can it be? Our other schooner is near.
They may have put off a dory.”

“But why?”

“There is no reason.”

Silence once more. A swell larger than those that went

before lifted the boat high, tilted her to a rakish angle,
then let her fall. The boom rattled, the lazy sail flapped.
After that the silence was greater than before.

To Pant the situation was a trying one. He found himself

only a passenger on a boat chartered by his
grandfather. He had no authority here. If he had, would
he awaken the crew? He hardly knew. One does not
suspect a single sound. In the tropics not all who come
near are rascals.

And yet, aboard that schooner, or its mate lying close [197]
alongside, was the gunnysack with the green thread
running through it—a rude container for a rich treasure.

“If I should lose it now!” His breath came short at the

thought. He had risked his life for a treasure which he
somehow felt did not belong to him, but which,
nevertheless, he was now morally bound to preserve.

Suddenly his thoughts broke short off.

“There! There!” he whispered hoarsely.

But Tuan was on his feet. He was striking out at
something in the dark. His eyesight was quite as
remarkable as his hearing.

There came a loud splash. Tuan had not gone

overboard, but some one had.

“We are being boarded,” was the thought that shot

through the boy’s mind as he struggled to his feet.

But what was this? There came a second splash,

another, and yet another.

“The chicle!” he exclaimed out loud, unthinking. “They [198]

are throwing it overboard!” The deck was piled high
with gunnysacks filled with chicle. Was the sack of the
green thread among them? He had come aboard too
late to know. Were these boarding ruffians Diaz’s men,
or were they of another sort? Had they somehow
learned of the treasure? Were they after that?

“How could they know?” he asked himself.

His head whirled. What was to be done? He took a step

forward and instantly collided with some bulky object.

At once he found himself grappling with the oily body of

a native. Over and over they rolled on the deck. They
bumped first into a heap of chicle, then into the
gunwale. This last appeared to stun his opponent.
Seizing the opportunity, he grasped him by an arm and
leg to send him overboard.

He caught the call of Tuan, heard the Caribs swarming [199]

up from below, listened for a second to blows that fell
all about him; then, finding himself within a circle of
sudden light, staggered backward to fall clumsily, and to
at last pitch backward into the sea.

He struck out in the direction he hoped was right for the

ship. The sea was warm as dish water. Sharks and
crocodiles lurked everywhere. He must get aboard.

“And then what?” he asked himself.

About him sounded cries, calls, blows, signs of wild

confusion. Then came the creak of oarlocks.

“A dory! Our dory from the other boat. Reinforcements!”

Hope arose.

His hand touched something hard.

“A bag of chicle,” he thought. “Supposing it was the bag

of the green thread.”

The thing was buoyant. Dragging himself upon it, he

took time to look about him. A light flared here, then
went out. A torch flamed, shot upward, circled down,
hissed in the water and went out. The circle of a
flashlight revealed four men in deadly embrace.

“Got to get back. They need me.” Having found the [200]
direction of the boat, he swam quickly to it. There,
having made his way cautiously about it, and coming
into contact with a dugout that most certainly was not
their own, he capsized and sunk it.

A little further on his hand gripped a rope. A moment

later he was aboard the schooner again.

Suddenly a bright light streamed out. Some one had

lighted a gas lantern and hung it high on the mast.
“That will end it,” he thought.

It did, for him. An iron belaying pin, hurled square at

him, took him in the temple. After that, for several
hours, he knew no more.

[201]
 CHAPTER XVI
IN BATTLE ARRAY

At dawn of the day after the hurricane, Don del Valle

and his beautiful black-eyed daughter hastened away in
his high powered motor boat. That he might determine
the amount of damage done by the storm, it was
necessary for him to leave for his other plantation at
once. Johnny Thompson went to the wireless station to
begin a search in air for the North Star and her
courageous captain.

“If she has been wrecked, or if she has been carried far
by storm, and the skipper refuses to return, we are
lost,” he said to Madge Kennedy.

For an hour he sent out messages. Each moment he

became more depressed. What if the ship had been
lost?

“One more evil happening to be charged against my too [202]

impetuous desire to be of service,” he groaned.

“Let us hope it has not happened,” said the girl.

“Captain Jorgensen has sailed these seas for many
years. He is hardly the man to lose his vessel.”
“Good news!” Johnny exclaimed a moment later when
he was brought a message. “The North Star is anchored
behind Mutineer’s Island, all safe and sound. I will get
off a message instructing them to pull away for our own
dock at once. There we will pick up your crates of
grapefruit and a hundred or so of your Caribs. We will
bring them here to gather and load the bananas. They
can be trusted. I put no faith in the half-castes that
swarm about this dock. We have been defeated by them
once. Once is enough for me.

“Oh, I tell you!” he exclaimed, seizing the girl by the

hand and doing a wild Indian dance across the floor,
“we’ll win yet!”

“You forget,” said the girl soberly, “that the great, all- [203]
powerful organization, the Fruit Company, may block
your sales after you arrive in New York.”

But Johnny could not be disheartened. The ship was his.

The bananas were his also. He had men to gather and
load them. New York and the day of their arrival were
far away.

“‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’” he quoted,

then hurried to get off a message to Kennedy. With
Kennedy on the job, the grapefruit would be ready to
load, and the Caribs prepared to steam away with them
to the dock here at Porte Zelaya.

Johnny was soon enough to know that this day’s evil

was indeed sufficient unto itself. He had not left the
wireless room before bad news arrived. The giant Carib,
who had come in a motor boat to Porte Zelaya, and who
had been with Johnny and Madge in the storm, had
been loafing about the dock with his ears open. Those
ears had caught snatches of terrible things. He told
Madge of all this in his native tongue.

“What is it?” Johnny asked as he saw the look of terror [204]

creep into her eyes.

“A plot!” She said the words through white, set lips.

“That rascal Diaz, who was discharged from his position
as foreman, is plotting to destroy your plans, and you
with them.”

“How? How could he?”

“He is stirring up a revolution. He is telling the ignorant

half-castes that the white men rule their country, that
they have been paid very little for much hard work, and
that now they are to be deprived of that work
altogether, that you are to bring a ship load of Caribs
from Stann Creek to do the work which is rightfully their
own.”

“That in part is true,” said Johnny. “I wonder if, after all,

I am wrong? Would they do the work if I were to offer
it?”

Madge consulted the Carib. He shook his head and

waved his hands in wild gestures.

“He says they would not work,” interpreted the girl, [205]
“that their blood is hot, that they lust for battle and that
they will meet us at the dock with clubs and machetes—
a hundred, two hundred, perhaps three hundred strong.
They want a fight.”

“Very well.” Johnny’s tone was deep and strong. “They

shall have a fight, if fight there must be. We are within
our rights.”
He stepped back to the wireless to send one more
message. The message which went to Kennedy, ran;

“Have every able-bodied Carib at Stann Creek at the

dock, every man armed.”

Ten minutes later their motor boat was popping, and

the dock and low sheds of Porte Zelaya were fading in
the distance.

When Johnny and Madge, riding on the prow of the

motor boat with the giant Carib at the wheel, rounded a
point of land and came in sight of the dock at Stann
Creek, they were given the thrill of their young lives.
The dock was one moving mass of men.

“The Caribs!” A lump came to the girl’s throat.

“They came,” said Johnny. [206]

“I knew they would. They would do anything for

grandfather.”

It was true. The instant Johnny’s word from the air had
arrived, messengers had been sent helter-skelter, here,
there, everywhere. The train on the narrow gauge
railroad had gone into the bush to return groaning and
creaking with such a load of black and brown humanity
as had never before been seen on the backwaters of
Central America.

Every grown Carib within twenty miles of the dock was

there. The instant the North Star came alongside they
swarmed upon the deck.

The loading of the grapefruit with the aid of so many

strong and willing hands was but the work of a few
hours. Then, with a load of humanity greater than her
load of fruit, the ship cast off her moorings and headed
straight for the dock at Porte Zelaya where, Johnny felt
sure, there awaited them a great and terrible battle.

As the boy walked the deck his eyes shone with joy. [207]
Whoever commanded a stronger, braver, more loyal
army than the black throng that, swarming up the
hatches, perched themselves on mast and rigging,
forecastle, after deck and anchor, until there was
scarcely space left to move?

As his eyes swept the deck they lighted with a sudden

new joy. They had fallen upon a figure garbed in a dress
of gorgeous golden yellow. The one white girl of the
company, the queen of all the Stann Creek region, had
not deserted them. There, on a coil of rope beside her
patriarchal grandfather, sat Madge Kennedy, smiling her
very best.

“It’s great! Great!” Johnny murmured. “And yet—”

His brow clouded. There was to be a fight. The thing [208]

seemed inevitable. It would be a bloody battle. He knew
well enough what these battles between Caribs and
half-castes meant. Once, on the far reaches of the Rio
Hondo, he had witnessed such a battle. It had been a
rather terrible affair. As he closed his eyes now he heard
the thwack of mahogany clubs on unprotected heads,
caught the swish of great swinging knives, saw the
agony of hatred and fear on dark faces where blood ran
free.

“I said then I hoped I’d never see another such battle,”

he told himself, “and yet here we are driving straight on
toward one that promises to be quite as terrible.”
Before him, sitting astride the rail, was a Carib youth.
“Can’t be over eighteen,” Johnny mused.

He had never in his life seen a more cheerful, smiling

face. To look at him, to catch the glint of his eye, the
gleam of his white teeth, to see the rollicking movement
of his face, was like viewing a wonderful waterfall
against a glorious sunset.

Could it be that before this day was done that glorious

face might be still in death?

For a moment Johnny felt like turning back. What was [209]
success, even success in a righteous cause, when it
must be purchased at such a cost?

“And yet,” he reasoned, “we cannot turn back. The right

must be defended. It must always be so. Perhaps there
is a way to avert it, but come what may, we must go
on.”

Having arrived at this conclusion, he walked quietly

down the deck to take his place beside Donald Kennedy
and his granddaughter.

For some time they talked in low tones, the man and
the boy, and the girl listened. Little wonder that they
talked earnestly. Much was at stake.

“It might work,” said Johnny at last. “Anyway, we’ll try

it. You can talk to them in Spanish.”

That was the end of conversation. After that they sat

there looking and listening. From somewhere forward
there came the rattle of a banjo, the tom-tom-tom of a
snake-head drum. Aft, the chant of a weird song rose
and fell with the boat.
“They don’t realize they are going to war,” said Johnny. [210]

“That’s the pity. They never do,” said the girl, shading
her eyes to gaze away at the perfect blue of the lovely
Caribbean Sea.

All too soon the thrum of the banjo ceased, the tom-
tom of the drum became muffled and low. Land, the
point of Porte Zelaya, had been sighted.

Rising, the girl and the old man made their way along
the deck. As they moved along they spoke in low tones
to the men and the men, as if moved by some magic
spell, rose slowly to go shuffling forward or aft, and to
disappear down the hatchways, leaving the decks
almost deserted.

When the North Star came within hailing distance of the

dock, which was swarming with half-castes drawn up in
battle array, a little group of some fifty black Caribs
were gathered on the forward deck of the North Star.
That was all. Not a pike pole nor machete was in sight.
They seemed only a small group of laborers prepared
for a day’s work of gathering and loading bananas.

A breathless expectancy hung over all the ship as it [211]

came in close, reversed her engines, dropped anchor
and stood off the wharf for further orders.

The great man of the jungle, Donald Kennedy, tall,

stately of bearing, yet humble, stepped forward to the
rail and began to speak in quiet tones to the throng on
the deck.

At once there arose a terrific shout.

“Down with the white man! Death to the intruder!”

These words were shouted in Spanish, but Johnny knew
their meaning well enough. He thrilled and shuddered.
Pike poles were tossed in air above the dock, great
knives flashed in the sun, a pistol exploded. What was
to be the end of it all?

Again came comparative silence. Again the aged man

spoke. Patiently, as if speaking to children, he began.

Again he was interrupted by cries of;

“Death! Destruction! Down with the white man!” [212]

Four times, with steady patience, the great man

attempted to make himself heard.

At last, realizing the futility of it all, he turned and

shouted three words in the Carib tongue.

Instantly there came from the black men forward a

shout to answer that of the half-castes on the dock. At
the same time, pike-poles and machetes flashed and
four streams of humanity, black and menacing, began
pouring up the hatchways.

Johnny Thompson thrilled and grew deathly cold at

sight of them. They swarmed up the masts, they filled
the deck, they straddled the rail and crowded the roofs
of the cabins. Everywhere weapons gleamed. From
every corner rang the defiant shout of Caribs ready to
defend with their lives the rights of Kennedy, whom they
had come to think of as a loyal friend.

No pirate ship that sailed these waters in days that are [213]
gone ever witnessed a more tremendous and startling
demonstration.
Before it, awed into silence, the mob on the dock fell
back, then began slipping away. One by one they slunk
off into the bush. In ten minutes time not a man was
left. A bloodless victory had been won. The field was
theirs.

[214]
 CHAPTER XVII
PANT’S PROBLEM INCREASES

When Pant awoke from many bad dreams, he found

himself in a cool and comfortable bed on shore. A
doctor was bending over him.

“That’s fine, old boy,” the doctor was saying. “Now you’ll
do. You got quite a welt on the head. But your jolly old
bean is hard. Never cracked it a mite.”

“But the treasure box!” Pant exclaimed, still unable to

think clearly, or use caution. “Where is it?”

“The treasure box? I see you are still a little off in the
head. Here, take this; it will clear you up,” said the
doctor.

Pant took the contents of the glass held out to him at a [215]
single draught and without a question. In the meantime
his head cleared. He said no more about the box of
pearls, but learned by judicious questioning that the
attacking band had on the night before been driven off
with little loss of men or goods. A few sacks of chicle
had drifted away in the night, that was all.
“And if one of them has a green thread running through
the sack!” he thought to himself, and was thrown into a
near panic.

“And the schooners?” he asked suddenly. “Where are

they?”

“Got a fair wind and sailed this morning for Belize. Must
be there by now.”

“They’ll load the chicle aboard the Torentia?”

“Naturally.”

“And she sails—”

“In about twenty-four hours.”

“Doctor!” exclaimed the boy sitting straight up in bed

and gripping his arm hard. “Fix me up someway. I’ve
got to get over to Belize. At once! Right away, doctor.
This very minute!”

“Well, young fellow,” said the doctor, rescuing his arm [216]
and putting on a wry face as he rubbed it vigorously,
“you seem to have plenty of strength. I’ll see what I can
do.”

A half hour later, a trifle unsteady on his feet, but

otherwise quite himself, Pant was making his way to the
water front of Stann Creek, the port to which he was
carried after the battle. He felt the heavy bandages
about his head, blinked at the sunlight, looked this way
then that, until spying what appeared to be a small
store just before him, he hurried in.

“I want a boat,” he said to the black proprietor.

“What kind of a boat?”

“Any boat that will take me to Belize.”

“No boat go to-day.” The man settled back in his corner.

“You mean they won’t go to-day?” The boy’s brow

wrinkled.

“No go.”

“Not for any price?”

“Oh! Special trip, go. Maybe. You got twenty dollars?”

Pant hesitated. He had twenty dollars and a little [217]

change. To part with it all would seem to be courting
disaster. But much was at stake. He threw all in the
balance.

“Yes, I have twenty dollars. Where is the boat?”

“Me see.” The man held out a hand. Pant showed him
two golden eagles.

“My boat sailing boat. Good boat. Very fast boat. Ready
to go, fifteen minutes.” At sight of the gold the man
went into action.

Action on land is one thing. On sea it is quite another.

They were half way up the bay when the wind fell. The
sail fell with it, and the boat stood still in a placid sea.

For two precious hours the boy with a bruised and

aching head lay beneath a pitiless tropical sun. Then the
merciful after dinner breeze came up and at once they
went booming along.
Nothing can be more delightful than a sail in a Carib [218]
boat on the Caribbean Sea. To lie on deck and sense the
lifting glide of the prow, to feel the cool breeze on your
face, to see the water go rippling by, that is joy indeed.
Pant would have enjoyed it to the full had not his mind
been vexed by many questions. Would he reach Belize
in time or would the steamer be gone? Was the chicle
sack of the green thread still on the sailing boat of the
night before, or had the marauders carried it away? If it
were still on board, if it went to America and he did not
go with it, what then? Would he recover the treasure?

“Not a chance,” he told himself. “I must have been out

of my head to hide the box in such a place. But now I
must see it through.

“Why must I?” he asked himself, and at once came the

answer, “The old Don.” Unconsciously he had come to
think of the treasure of pearls as belonging as much to
the aged Don as to himself. And to that man he owed
much. He had, beyond doubt, once saved his
grandfather’s life.

They were nearing Belize. The white houses with their [219]
red roofs showed in the distance. And, joy of joys!
There to the left was the Torentia riding at anchor.

Still there was much to fear. She might at any moment

weigh anchor and put out to sea.

“And after all,” he said to himself, “what am I to do? By

this time the chicle is stowed away. Dare I make a clean
breast of my story? I wouldn’t dare trust them. What
then? I must go with the ship to New York. But I have
no money. Who is to pay my passage?” Surely here was
a situation.
“I will find a way. I must!”

And in the end he did. Sailing time was only a half hour
off when he climbed the rope ladder to the deck of the
Torentia.

“Hello, brother,” said the purser, looking at his bandaged

head. “What revolution did you come from? Did they
make you President or only commander of the navy?”

“Neither,” said Pant with a grin that went far. “I want to

go to New York.”

“Got any money?”

“No.”

“Can’t go.” [220]

“That last shipment of chicle you took on board

belonged to my grandfather. I’ll wire him for money in
New York.”

“There’s lots of broke Americans down here. They’ve all

got rich relatives.”

“I’ll prove it.” Sitting down upon the hatch, Pant told
things about Colonel Longstreet that went far to prove
that he at least was a boon companion of the old man.

“Guess you’re square,” said the purser at last. “Anyway,

I’ll take a chance. Steward will fix you up later.”

By careful inquiry Pant learned that the chicle had been

stored beneath the forward hatch. The hatch was kept
open. There were twenty thousand bunches of bananas
on board. They must have air. By leaning far over the
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