"Now," cried Peebles, pounding the table with his meaty fist, "'ere we are, and that's that! We 'ave everything, Flora—the plans, the money, Señor Miranda—and are jolly well ready, old dear, for your part of it."
"How much money have you?" asked Flora. "It is going to take a lot of money, and there is no use starting unless you have plenty to carry on with."
Peebles turned to Bluber. "There," he said, pointing a pudgy finger at him, "is the bloomin' treasurer. 'E can tell you 'ow much we 'ave, the fat rascal of a Dutchman."
Bluber smiled an oily smile and rubbed his fat palms together. "Vell", he said, "how much you t'ink, Miss Flora, ve should have?"
"Not less than two thousand pounds to be on the safe side," she replied quickly.
"Oil Oi!" exclaimed Bluber. "But dot is a lot of money—two t'ousand pounds. Oi! Oi!"
The girl made a gesture of disgust. "I told you in the first place that I wouldn't have anything to do with a bunch of cheap screws, and that until you had enough money to carry the thing out properly I would not give you the maps and directions, without which you cannot hope to reach the vaults, where there is stored enough gold to buy this whole, tight, little island if half that what I have heard them say about it is true. You can go along and spend your own money, but you've got to show me that you have at least two thou-
