← catalogue

Dutch the Diver; Or, A Man's Mistake

by George Manville Fenn · English · Gutenberg #36724 · 638,428 chars · public domain (US)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dutch the Diver; Or, A Man's Mistake
    
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: Dutch the Diver; Or, A Man's Mistake

Author: George Manville Fenn


        
Release date: July 13, 2011 [eBook #36724]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36724

Credits: Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH THE DIVER; OR, A MAN'S MISTAKE ***




Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




Dutch the Diver
A Man's Mistake
By George Manville Fenn
Published by Cassell and Company Limited, London.
This edition dated 1883.
Dutch the Diver, by George Manville Fenn.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
DUTCH THE DIVER, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER ONE.



STORY ONE--DUTCH THE DIVER.

AT THE DIVER'S OFFICE.

"I say, Rasp.  Confound the man!  Rasp, will you leave that fire alone?
Do you want to roast me?"

"What's the good o' you saying will I leave the fire alone, Mr Pug?"
said the man addressed, stoking savagely at the grate; "you know as well
as I do that if I leave it half hour you never touches it, but lets it
go out."

Half a scuttle of coals poured on.

"No, no.  No more coals, Rasp."

"They're on now, Mr Pug," said Rasp, with a grim grin.  "You know how
the governor grumbles if the fire's out, and it's me as ketches it."

"The office is insufferably hot now."

"Good job, too; for it's cold enough outside, I can tell you; and
there's a draught where I sits just as if you'd got yer ear up again the
escape-valve of the air-pump."

"Get a screen, then," said the first speaker, impatiently, as he
scratched his thick, curly, crisp brown hair with the point of a pair of
compasses, and gazed intently at a piece of drawing-paper pinned out
upon the desk before him.

"Screen?  Bah!  What do I want wi' screens?  I can stand wind and cold,
and a bit o' fire, too, for the matter o' that.  I ain't like some
people."

"Hang it all, Rasp, I wish you'd go," said the first speaker.  "You see
how busy I am.  What's the matter with you this morning?  Really, you're
about the most disagreeable old man I ever knew."

"Disagreeable?  Old?" cried Rasp, seizing the poker, and inserting it in
the bars for another good stoke at the office fire, when the compasses
were banged down on the desk, their owner leaped off the stool, twisted
the poker out of the stoker's hand, and laughingly threw it down on the
fender.

"I'll get Mr Parkley to find you a post somewhere as fireman at a
furnace," said the first speaker, laughing.

"I don't want no fireman's places," growled Rasp.  "How'd the work go on
here wi'out me?  Old, eh?  Disagreeable, eh!  Sixty ain't so old,
nayther; and just you wear diving soots for forty year, and get your
head blown full o' wind till you're 'most ready to choke, and be always
going down, and risking your blessed life, and see if you wouldn't soon
be disagreeable."

"Well, Rasp, I've been down pretty frequently, and in as risky places as
most men of my age, and it hasn't made me such an old crab."

"What, you?  Bah!  Nothing puts you out--nothing makes you cross 'cept
too much fire, and you do get waxey over that.  But you try it for forty
year--forty year, you know, and just see what you're like then, Mr
Pug."

"Confound it all, Rasp," cried the younger man, "that's the third time
in the last ten minutes that you've called me Pug.  My name is Pugh--
PUGH--Pugh."

"'Taint," said the old fellow, roughly, "I ain't lived sixty year in the
world, and don't know how to spell.  PEW spells _pew_, and PUGH spells
_pug_, with the H at the end and wi'out it, so you needn't tell me."

"You obstinate old crab," said the other, good-humouredly, as he stopped
him from making another dash at the poker.  "There, be off, I'm very
busy."

"You allus are busy," growled the old fellow; "you'll get your brains
all in a muddle wi' your figuring and drawing them new dodges and plans.
No one thinks the better o' you, no matter how hard you works.  It's my
opinion, Mr Dutch--there, will that suit yer, as you don't like to be
called Mr Pug?"

"There, call me what you like, Rasp, you're a good, old fellow, and I
shall never forget what you have done for me."

"Bah!  Don't talk stuff," cried the old fellow, snappishly.

"Stuff, eh?" said the other, laughing, as he took up his compasses, and
resumed his seat.  "Leave--that--fire--alone!" he cried, seizing a heavy
ruler, and shaking it menacingly as the old man made once more for the
poker.  "And now, hark here--Mrs Pugh says you are to come out to the
cottage on Sunday week to dinner, and spend the day."

"Did she say that?  Did she say that, Mr Dutch?" cried the old man,
with exultation.

"Yes, she wants to have a long chat with the man who saved her husband's
life."

"Now, what's the good o' talking such stuff as that, Mr Pug?" cried the
old man, angrily.  "Save life, indeed!  Why, I only come down and put a
rope round you.  Any fool could ha' done it."

"But no other fool would risk his life as you did yours to save mine,
Rasp," said the younger man, quietly.  "But, there, we won't talk about
it.  It gives me the horrors.  Now, mind, you're to come down on Sunday
week."

"I ain't comin' out there to be buttered," growled the old fellow,
sourly.

"Buttered, man?"

"Well, yes--to be talked to and fussed and made much of by your missus,
Master Dutch."

"Nonsense!"

"'Taint nonsense.  There, I tell you what, if she'll make a contract not
to say a word about the accident, and I may sit and smoke a pipe in that
there harbour o' yourn, I'll come."

"Arbour at this time of the year, Rasp?" laughed the younger man.  "Why,
it's too cold."

"What's that to do wi' it?  Just as if I couldn't stand cold.  Deal
better than you can heat."

"Then I shall tell her you are coming, Rasp.  What would you like for
dinner?"

"Oh, anything'll do for the likes o' me.  I ain't particular."

"No, but you may as well have what you like for dinner."

"Oh, I ain't particular.  Have just what you like.  But if there was a
morsel o' tripe on the way I might pick a bit."

"Good!" said the other, smiling, "you shall have some tripe for dinner
for one thing."

"Don't you get letting it be got o' purpose for me.  Anything'll do for
me--a bit o' sooetty pudden, for instance."

"All right, Rasp.  Tripe and suet pudding on Sunday week."

"If ever there was," said Rasp, thoughtfully, as he made an offer to get
at the poker, "a woman as was made to be a beautiful angel, and didn't
turn out to be one because they forgot her wings, that's your missus,
Master Dutch."

"Thank you, Rasp, old fellow, thank you," said the young man, smiling;
and his eyes brightened as he listened to this homely praise of the
woman he worshipped.

"But what's a puzzle to me," continued the old fellow, with a grim
chuckle, "is how she as is so soft, and fair, and dark-haired, and
gentle, could take up with such a strong, broad-shouldered chap as you,
Mr Dutch."

"Yes, it was strange," said the young man.

"I should more like have expected to see you pair off wi' Captain
Studwick's lass--Miss Bessy.  Now, she's a fine gal, if you like."

"Yes, she's a fine, handsome girl, Rasp; and her father's very proud of
her, too."

"I should just think he ought to be," said Rasp.  "Why, it's my belief,
if any chap offended her, she'd give him such a clap aside o' the head
as would make his ears ring."

"I don't know about that, Rasp," laughed the other; "but I do believe
whoever wins her will have a true-hearted Englishwoman for his wife."

"O' course he will, else she wouldn't be the skipper's lass.  Bless
her!--she's always got a nice, pleasant word to say to a man when she
comes here with her father.  He used to think you meant to make up to
her, Master Dutch."

"Nonsense, man, nonsense!"

"Oh, but he did; and then this other affair came off.  I never could
understand it, though."

"Ah, it was a problem, eh?" laughed the younger man.

"For you ain't good-looking, are you, sir?"

"Not at all, Rasp," laughed the other.  "We should neither of us get the
prize for beauty, eh, Rasp?"

"_I_ should think not," said Rasp: "but I always was the ugliest man our
way.  I think she took to you because you were so straight, and stout,
and strong."

"Perhaps so, Rasp."

"I've heerd say, as the more gentle, and soft, and tender a woman is,
the more she likes a fellow as is all big bone and muscle, so as to take
care of her, you know.  That must ha' been it, sir," continued the old
fellow, chuckling, "unless she took a fancy to your name.  Ho! ho! ho!"

"No, I don't think it was that, Rasp, my man," said the other, quietly.

"More don't I, sir; Dutch Pug.  Ho! ho! ho!"

"Dutch Drayson Pugh, Master Rasp."

"Pug's bad enough," said the old fellow; "but Dutch!  What did they call
you Dutch for?"

"It was a whim of my father," said the other.  "My grandfather married a
lady in Holland, and in memory of the alliance my father said--so I've
often been told--that as I was a fair, sturdy little fellow, like a
Dutch burgomaster in miniature, I should be called Dutch; and that is my
name, Mr Rasp, at your service."

"Well, you can't help it now, sir, any more than you can the Pug; but if
it had been me I should have called myself Drayson."

"And seemed ashamed of the name my dear old father gave me, Rasp!  No,
I'm not the man for that," said Dutch, warmly.

"No, sir, you ain't," said Rasp, in a more respectful tone, as he looked
at the colour flaming up in the younger man's cheeks, and in his heart
of hearts acknowledged that he was not such a bad-looking fellow after
all; for, though far from handsome, he was bold, bluff, and Saxon of
aspect, broad-shouldered, and evidently Herculean in strength, though,
from his deep build and fine proportions, in no wise heavy.

Now, on the other hand, Rasp was a decidedly plain man, rough, rugged,
grizzled, and with eyebrows and whiskers of the raggedest nature
possible.  Their peculiar bristly quality was partaken of also by his
hair, which, though cut short, was abundant; and though you might have
brushed it to your heart's content, it was as obstinate as its owner,
for it never lay in any direction but that it liked.

At this point Rasp, who was a favoured old servant of the firm in which
Dutch Pugh held a confidential post, made another attempt to stoke the
fire, was turned on his flank, and retreated, leaving the young man to
busily resume the drawing of a plan for some piece of machinery.

It was a dark, gloomy-looking room, that in which he worked, for the one
window opened upon the narrow street of the busy sea-port of Ramwich;
and a heavy, yellow fog hung over the town, and made the office look
gloomy and full of shadow.

The place was fitted up as a private office, and near the window was
placed one of those great double-sloped desks, so arranged that four
people could stand, or sit upon the high leather-covered stools, and
write at it at the same time.  A wide level divided the two slopes, and
this was dominated by brass rails, beneath which stood a couple of those
broad, flat, pewter inkstands common in commercial offices, and which in
this case it was Rasp's delight to keep clean.

There were other objects about the gloomy office, though, upon which
Rasp bestowed his time; for in three places, fitted on stands, and
strapped to the wall to prevent their falling forward, were what looked
at first sight, as they peered from the gloom, like so many suits of
grotesque armour; for what light there was gleamed from the huge
polished helmets, with their great brass, latticed goggle glass eyes--
whose crests were tubes, and ornamentation glistening rims and studs of
copper.  A nervous person coming upon them in the dark might easily have
been startled, for, with a certain grim idea of humour, Rasp had by
degrees so arranged them that they leaned forward in peculiarly
life-like positions--the hand of one holding a copper lantern, another
being in the act of striking with a massive hatchet, and the third
poising a huge crowbar in a menacing mode.

Farther back in the gloom stood a strange-looking air-pump; while in
various directions, coiled and trailed like snakes, great lengths of
india-rubber tubing, apparently in disorder, but really carefully kept
ready for instant use, this being Rasp's special task, of which he was
proud to a degree.

"This is a teaser," said Dutch to himself, after making sundry lines on
the paper before him, and then pausing, compasses in one hand, pen in
the other.  "Valve A to close tube B--escape-valve at A dash--small
copper globe at B dash, as a reservoir, and--hum--ha--yes--to be sure,
small stop-cock in the middle of the copper tube at H.  That's it!  I've
got it at last."

"Of course you have--I knew you would," said a short quick voice.

Dutch started, and turned sharply round, to confront the little,
square-built man who had entered the office quietly, and stood peering
over his shoulder.

"Ah, Mr Parkley!  I didn't hear you come in," said Dutch, smiling.

"Too busy over your work," said the new-comer, who seemed all hat and
comforter, from between which peered a pair of keen, restless eyes.  "I
knew you'd work that out, Dutch, or else I shouldn't have given you the
job.  Dutch Pugh, I'd give something for your cleverness with pen and
pencil.  Look at me, sir, a man dragged up instead of brought up--a man
who never signs his name because he can't write decently--a man who can
hardly read a newspaper, unless the type's big.  Ignorant, ignorant to a
degree--a man--"

"Of sound judgment, sir," said Dutch, interrupting him, "who from the
power of his brain and long experience has suggested more improvements
in hydraulic machinery than any of our greatest scientists, and who has
not only originated and made his great business, but whose opinion is
sought from everywhere in all great diving cases."

"Stuff--stuff--stuff, Dutch!  I'm ashamed of my ignorance."

"And who is one of the wealthiest men in Ramwich."

"Gammon and flattery, Dutch, my lad," said the other, taking off his
great hat to place it jauntily on one of the diving-helmets, and then
returning into the light, with his broad bald head shining, and his
dark, restless eyes twinkling good-humouredly.  "Here, catch hold of
that," he continued, thrusting one hand into his chest, and dragging out
the fringed end of his white woollen comforter.

Dutch Pugh laid down his compasses, smiling, and took hold of the end of
the comforter, when its wearer began slowly to turn round before the
fire, as if he was being roasted, unwinding about three yards of
comforter from his neck, and then giving a sigh of relief as he again
went into the back part of the office, and hung the woollen wrap round
one of the diver's necks.

"I've managed to make bread and cheese, Pugh--bread and cheese," he
said, chuckling, as he came back, climbed upon a stool by that of his
assistant, and sat with his hands on his knees.  "Yes, bread and cheese;
beef and horse-radish.  Pugh, how's the little wife?"

"Quite well, Mr Parkley," said Dutch, smiling.

"That's right, bless her!  Tell her I'm coming down to spend a Sunday
soon."

"We shall only be too glad, sir," said Dutch, smiling.  "When shall it
be?"

"Soon, man; but not yet.  Too busy.  I've got this big job on," he
continued, rubbing his bald head, which looked as if he had worn a
diver's helmet till all the hair had been frayed off.  "Oh, here's a
letter."

For just then Rasp came into the office, not quietly, like his master--
who walked slowly and heavily, as if putting down boots with massive
leaden soles, and seemed as if he were wading through deep water, and
liable to get entangled amongst sunken rigging--but with a bang and a
rush like a big wind, and even made the letter he held in his hand
rustle as he held it out to Mr Parkley, saying, with a surly snarl--

"Letter.  Answer.  Waiting."

Then, uttering a snort, he walked across to the diving suits, snatched
off Mr Parkley's hat, whisked off the comforter, and dabbed them both
on a hat-peg close at hand; after which he took out a large blue-check
cotton pocket-handkerchief drew forward a set of short steps, and,
growling as he did so, began to breathe on the bright copper, gave it a
good polishing, and then went off to his den.

"See that?" said Mr Parkley, nodding his head sideways at Rasp, as he
went out--but not until he had seized the poker, rammed it between the
bars with a scientific twist, and made the blaze go dancing up the
chimney.  "See that, Pugh!  He's the real master here.  He's a tyrant."

"Well, really, sir, he has his own way pretty well."

"Rare stuff though, Pugh, my dear boy--rare stuff.  That man's one you
can always trust in any emergency.  I'd leave my life in his hands at
any time."

"I know that, sir," said Dutch, warmly.  "He is as true as steel."

"Right, Pugh, my dear boy--right.  But look here," he continued,
thrusting a finger in the young man's button-hole, "I wish you would
drop that `sir' to me.  I don't like it.  I'm only a business fellow,
and you've had the education of a gentleman, and I feel sometimes as if
I ought to say `sir' to you."

"My dear sir--"

"There you go again."

"Well, my dear Mr Parkley, then, I have you to thank for so much
kindness."

"Stuff! stuff! stuff!" cried the elder, laying his hand playfully on his
mouth.  "You came to me to help me, and I was to pay you for that help.
Well, look here, Pugh, you've been no end of value to me, and get more
useful every day.  What I pay you is nonsense to what you are worth.
Now, look here; in three months the current business year with me will
be up, and I'm going to ask you to join me as junior partner."

"Mr Parkley!" cried the young man, astounded, as his employer leaped
off his stool, and took down and replaced his hat.

"Say no more," he cried; "I don't act without thinking, do I?"

"Never, sir."

"Then it's all right.  Catch hold of this," he continued, handing the
young man one end of the comforter, and then, tucking the other in under
his waistcoat, he slowly wound himself up in it again, tapped the
letter, and said, "Big job on here--I'm going to see them about it;" and
then, lifting his feet in his peculiar way, he seemed to move out of the
office as if he were under water, and the door closed behind him.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWO.

GOLDEN PROMISES.

The last words of his employer had such an effect upon Dutch Pugh that
he leaped from his stool, and began to pace the office excitedly, for
this was beyond his wildest dreams.  Partner in such a business, where
he knew that many thousands were netted every year!  He could hardly
believe it.  At one moment he was all exhilaration, thinking of the
delight it would afford his young wife; at the next, he felt a strange
sensation of depression, as of coming trouble.  It was as if the
sunshine of his life had been crossed by a black shadow; and minute by
minute this increased upon him, till he shuddered, started, and turned
round, to glance uneasily about the office, as if expecting to see
trouble there.

And then it seemed to him as if the three goblinlike figures were
laughing and blinking at him weirdly, menacing him with crowbar and
hatchet; and, as if in a dream for the next few moments, he seemed to
see himself engaged in some dangerous diving experiment, and at the
mercy of an enemy who sought his life, while his young wife pleaded for
him and in vain.

It was all misty and strange; his brain was confused, and he could the
next minute no more have analysed this waking dream, or idealised the
actors therein, than have flown; but there, for a few brief moments, was
the impression upon him of coming trouble--trouble so horrible that it
menaced his life and the honour of her he most dearly loved.  That was
the impression; but how, when, where, he could not comprehend.

"Am I going mad?" he exclaimed, dashing his hand to his forehead.  "What
an idiot I am!" he cried, with a forced laugh.  "That old rascal has
made the place like an oven, and the blood has flown to my head.  There,
only to think what trifles will upset a man, and, if he is weak-minded,
make him superstitious and fanciful.  Some men would have really
believed that a terrible calamity was about to befall them, when it was
only--"

"Here's a gentleman to see you," said Rasp, barking out his words, and
ushering in a stranger.

Dutch Pugh involuntarily started, for he seemed to be in the presence of
a stranger, and yet somehow the face was familiar to him.  It was that
of an exceedingly handsome man of about thirty, who took off a soft
sombrero hat, and loosened the folds of a heavy black cloak, one end of
which was thrown over his shoulder.  He was evidently a foreigner, for
his complexion was of a rich creamy tinge, his crisp black hair curled
closely round a broad, high forehead, his dark eyes glittered beneath
straight black brows, his nose was slightly aquiline, and the lower part
of his face was covered with a thick, silky, black beard.

As he loosened the cords of his heavy cloak with his carefully-gloved
hand, Dutch Pugh saw that he was faultlessly dressed, and, as he smiled
and showed his white teeth, he said in good English, but with a
perceptible foreign accent--

"Mr Parkley, I learn, is out.  I address Mr Pugh?"

"The same," said Dutch, who seemed fascinated by his look.  "Will you
take a chair?"

A cold chill came over the speaker as the visitor smiled and seated
himself, but only to be succeeded by a feeling of suffocation; and for
an instant his brain swam, and the dreamy feeling seemed about to
return, but it passed off instantly, as, rousing himself, Dutch said--

"You will find this room too hot, perhaps.  Shall I open--"

"Hot!" laughed the stranger, taking out a card and letter of
introduction.  "My dear sir, it is comfortable after your chilly
streets.  I am from Cuba, where we see the sun."

As he spoke he handed a card, upon which was printed--"Senor Manuel
Laure."

"You will open the letter?" he continued, passing the one he held in his
hand.  "No?"

"Mr Parkley will be here shortly," said Dutch.  "Would you prefer to
see him?"

"Yes--no," said the stranger.  "I should like to see him, but I am
content to talk to you.  You Englishmen are so intelligent, and those
who sent me here told me that their fellow-countrymen would be ready to
help my designs."

"May I ask what they are?" said Dutch, who began to feel suspicious of
the stranger.

"Yes, for I shall betray nothing.  First, am I right?  Yes," he said,
glancing round, and pointing at the diving suits.  "I see I am right.
You work under water--dive?"

"That is our business, and the making of apparatus."

"Apparatus?  Oh, yes, I understand.  Would you--would Mr Parkley like
to make a great fortune?"

"Not a doubt about it," said Mr Parkley, entering, all hat and
comforter.  "How do?" he continued, bluffly, as the visitor rose and
bowed, and then scanned him searchingly, as hat and comforter were
placed once more upon the diving suit.

"This is Mr Parkley, the head of this establishment."

"I am delighted," said the stranger, raising his eyebrows, and
half-closing his eyes.  "Will you, then, read?"

"Thinks I don't look it, Pugh," said Mr Parkley aside, as he took the
letter handed him, opened it, glanced at the contents and
superscription, and then handed it to Dutch.

"Sit down, sir," he said, sharply, as he perched himself on a stool as
jerkily as the stranger resumed his full of grace.  "Read it aloud, Mr
Pugh."

Dutch still felt troubled; but he read, in a clear voice, the letter
from a well-known English firm at Havana.

  "Dear Sir,--The bearer of this, Senor Manuel Laure, comes to you with
  our earnest recommendation.  He has certain peculiar projects that he
  will explain.  To some people they would seem wild and visionary; but
  to you, with your appliances, they will doubtless appear in a very
  different light.  He is a gentleman of good position here, and worthy
  of your respect.  If you do not see fit to carry out his wishes,
  kindly place him in communication with some other firm, and do what
  you can to prevent his being imposed upon.--Faithfully yours,--

  "Roberts and Moore.

  "To Mr Parkley, Ramwich."

"Glad to see you, sir," said Mr Parkley, upon whom the letter wrought a
complete change.  "Good people, Roberts and Moore.  Supplied them with a
complete diving apparatus.  So you've come over on purpose to offer me a
fortune?"

"Yes," said the visitor, "a great fortune.  You smile, but listen.  Do I
think you a child, sir?  Oh, no.  I do not tell you I want to make a
great fortune for you only, but for myself as well."

"Of course," said Mr Parkley, smiling, and showing in his manner how
thoroughly business-like he was.  "I thought that had to come."

"See here, sir--This Mr Pugh is in your confidence?"

"Quite.  Go on."

"See, then: I have travelled much, boating--yachting you would call it
in England--all around the shores of the Great Gulf of Mexico.  I know
every island and piece of coast in the Carib Sea."

"Yes," said Mr Parkley, drumming on the desk.

"I have made discoveries there."

"Mines?" said Mr Parkley.  "Not in my way."

"No, sir--better than mines; for the gold and silver are gathered and
smelted--cast into ingots."

"Buried treasure, eh?  Not in my way, sir--not in my way."

"Yes, buried treasure, Mr Parkley; but buried in the bright, clear sea,
where the sun lights up the sand and rocks below."

"Sea, eh?  Well, that is more in our way.  Eh, Pugh?"

"Read the old chronicles of the time, sir, two or three hundred years
ago," said the Cuban, rising, with his eyes flashing, and his handsome
face lit up by his glowing excitement, "and you shall find that gold
ships and plate-ships--ships laden with the treasures of Mexico and
Peru, taken by the Spaniards, were sunk here and there upon those
wondrous coasts."

"Old women's tales," said Mr Parkley, abruptly.  "Cock-and-bull
stories."

"I do not quite understand," said the Cuban, haughtily, "except that you
doubt me.  Sir, these are truths.  I doubted first; but for five years
in a small vessel I have searched the Carib Sea, and I can take you to
where three ships have been wrecked and sunk--ships whose existence is
only known to me."

"Very likely," said Mr Parkley; "but that don't prove that they were
laden with gold."

"Look," said the Cuban, taking from a pocket in his cloak a packet, and,
opening it out, he unwrapped two papers, in one of which was a small
ingot of gold, in the other a bar of silver.  They were cast in a very
rough fashion, and the peculiarity that gave strength to the Cuban's
story was that each bar of about six inches long was for the most part
encrusted with barnacle-like shells and other peculiar sea growths.

"Hum!  Could this have been stuck on, Pugh?" said Mr Parkley, curiously
examining each bar in turn.

"I think not, sir, decidedly," said Pugh.  "Those pieces of metal must
have been under water for a great length of time."

"You are right, Mr Pugh," said the Cuban, whose face brightened.  "You
are a man of sound sense.  They have been under water three hundred
years."

He smiled at the young Englishman as he spoke, but the other felt
repelled by him, and his looks were cold.

"How did you get those bars and ingots?" said Mr Parkley, abruptly.

"From amongst the rotten timbers of an old galleon," said the Cuban.
"But where?"

"That is my secret.  Thirty feet below the surface at low water."

"Easy depth," said Mr Parkley, thoughtfully.  "But why did you not get
more?"

"Sir, am I a fish?  I practised diving till I could go down with a
stone, and stay a minute; but what is that?  How could I tear away
shell, and coral, and hard wood, and sand, and stones.  I find six such
bars, and I am satisfied.  I seek for years for the place, and I know
three huge mines of wealth for the bold Englishmen who would fit out a
ship with things like these"--pointing to the diving suits--"with brave
men who will go down with bars, and stay an hour, and break a way to the
treasure, and there load--load that ship with gold and silver, and
perhaps rich jewels.  Sir, I say to you," he continued, his face
gradually glowing in excitement, "are you the brave Englishman who will
fit out a ship and go with me?  I say, make a written bond of agreement
to find all we shall want in what you call apparatus and brave men.  I
show you the exact place.  I take your ship to the spot to anchor, and
then, when we get the treasures, I take half for myself, and you take
half for yourselves.  Is it fair?"

"Yes, it sounds fair enough," said Mr Parkley, rubbing his nose with a
pair of compasses.  "What do you say, Pugh?"

"I hardly know what to say, sir.  The project is tempting, certainly;
but--"

"But it is a monstrous fortune," said the Cuban.  "It is an opportunity
that cannot come twice to a man.  Do you hear?  Great ingots of gold and
bars of silver.  Treasures untold, of which I offer you half, and yet
you English people are so cold and unmovable.  Why, a Spaniard or a
Frenchman would have gone mad with excitement."

"Yes," said Mr Parkley, "but we don't do that sort of thing here."

"No," said the Cuban, "you are so cold."

"It takes some time to warm us, sir," said Dutch, sternly; "but when we
are hot, we keep so till our work is done.  Your Frenchman and Spaniard
soon get hot, and are cold directly."

"That's right, Pugh, every word," said Mr Parkley, nodding his head.

"Then you refuse my offer?" said the Cuban, with a bitter look of
contempt stealing over his face.

"Do I?" replied Mr Parkley.

"Yes, you are silent--you do not respond."

"Englishmen don't risk ten thousand pounds without looking where it is
to go, my fine fellow," said Mr Parkley, drumming away at the desk.  "I
don't say I shall not take it up, and I don't say I shall."

"You doubt me, then.  Are not my papers good?"

"Unexceptionable."

"Is not the half of the wondrous wealth enough for you?  You who only
take out your ship and divers to get what it has taken me years to find.
I tell you there are cargoes of this rich metal lying there--hundreds
of thousands of pounds--a princely fortune; and yet you hesitate."

"Are there any volcanoes your way?" said Mr Parkley, drily.

"Yes--many.  Why?"

"I thought so," said the sturdy Englishman.

"It is enough," cried the Cuban, haughtily.  "You play with me, and
insult me."

And, as he spoke, with flashing eyes, he snatched at the two ingots, and
began to wrap them up, but with a smile of contempt he threw them back
on the desk.

"No, we do not," said Mr Parkley quietly; "only you are so red hot.  I
must have time to think."

"Time to think?"

"Yes.  I like the idea, and I think I shall accept your offer."

"You believe in my papers, then?"

"Oh, yes, they are beyond suspicion," said Mr Parkley, holding out his
hand.  "Only there are so many tricks played that one has to go
carefully.  Well, how are you?  Glad to see you, and hope we shall be
good friends."

"My great friend!" exclaimed the Cuban, throwing his arms round the
sturdy little man, and nearly oversetting him, stool and all, in his
fervid embrace.  "They were right: you are the true enterprising man of
energy after all."

"I say, don't do that again, please," said Mr Parkley.  "We shake hands
here, and save those hugs for the other sex--at least the young fellows
do."

"But I am overjoyed," exclaimed the Cuban, enthusiastically.  "Here, I
will be English," he cried, holding out his hand and shaking that of
Dutch most heartily.  "We two shall be great friends, I see.  You will
come too.  You are young and full of energy, and you shall be as rich as
he.  You shall both draw up gold in heaps and be princes.  Thank you
both--thank you.  And now we will make our plans."

"Gently, gently," exclaimed Mr Parkley; "this all takes time.  If that
treasure has lain for three hundred years at the bottom of the sea, it
will be safe for a few months longer."

"Ah, yes, yes."

"Then we must take our time, and, if we go, make plenty of preparation."

"Yes, yes," said the Cuban; "take plenty of diving suits and a diving
bell."

"Don't you fidget about that, sir," said Mr Parkley, proudly.  "I think
we can find such appliances as will do the trick.  Eh, Pugh?"

Dutch nodded, and then looked uneasily at the Cuban, whose presence
seemed to fill him with a vague trouble.

"I've got an important contract on too," continued Parkley.

"A contract?" said the Cuban.  "A new machine?"

"No, no; a bond such as we must have to do certain work."

"Yes, yes.  I see."

"I've got to empty a ship off the coast here.  She went down, laden with
copper."

"I must see that," cried the Cuban, excitedly.  "Where is it?  Let us
go.  I must see the men go under water."

"All in good time, sir--all in good time; for I must finish that job
first.  Well, Rasp," he continued, as that worthy came in.

"It's Mrs Pug, sir.  Shall I show her in?"

"No, no," exclaimed Dutch, eagerly.

But he was too late; for, as he spoke, a lady-like figure entered the
room, and the bright, fair, girlish face, with its clustering curls of
rich dark-brown hair, turned from one to the other in a timid,
apologetic way.

"I am sorry," she faltered.  "You are engaged.  My husband arranged--"

"Come in, my dear--come in," said Mr Parkley, hopping off his stool,
taking her hands, and patting them affectionately, as he placed her in a
chair.  "We've about done for to-day; and if we had not, there's nothing
you might not hear.  I'll be bound to say, Pugh keeps nothing from you."

"But she is beautiful!" muttered the Cuban, with sparkling eyes, as his
lips parted, and a warm flush came into his creamy cheeks; while Dutch
turned pale as he saw his admiration, and the vague feeling of dread
came once more in combination with one of dislike.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER THREE.

UNDER WATER AND UNDER CURRENT.

"But I am not polite, my dear," said Mr Parkley.  "This is Senor Manuel
Lorry, a gentleman from Havana.  Senor, Mrs Pugh, the wife of my future
partner, and almost my daughter."

The Cuban bowed low as the young Englishwoman rose and looked anxiously
at him, her eyes falling directly, and she blushed vividly, as though
her fair young cheeks were scorched beneath his ardent gaze.

A pang shot through the breast of Dutch Pugh; but the eyes were raised
again to his with so naive and innocent a look that the pain was
assuaged, and he crossed to her side.

"Well, Senor," said Mr Parkley, "I am to see that you are not imposed
upon, so you are in my charge."

"I know so much of the straightforward honesty of the English, sir, that
I am glad to be in your hands."

"That's complimentary," said Mr Parkley.

"It is true, sir," said the Cuban, bowing.

"Very well, then," said Mr Parkley, "we'll begin by trusting one
another fully.  Well, Rasp, what is it now?"

"Here's Sam Oakum just come from Barrport."

"Well, have they got out all the copper?"

"Not a bit of it, for the men won't go down."

"Why?"

"Say the engine don't supply enough air, and the receiver's bust.  Won't
go down, hany one on 'em."

"Nonsense!"

"John Tolly's dead or thereabouts."

"Dead?"

"So Sam says."

"Tut, tut, tut!" ejaculated Mr Parkley.  "Always something wrong.
Pugh, you'll have to go down directly, and set an example, or I must.
Tolly always comes up dead when he don't like a job."

"No, no, no!" exclaimed Mrs Pugh, leaping off to catch her husband by
the arm.  "He must never go down again.  Promise me you will not go,"
she cried, turning her ashy face up to his.

"But she is beautiful indeed!" muttered the Cuban.

"My darling," whispered Dutch, "be a woman.  There is no danger."

"No danger!" she wailed.  "Dutch, I've dreamed night after night of some
terrible trouble, and it is this.  You must not--must not go."

"My darling," he whispered.  And, bending over her, he said a few words
in her ear, which made her set her teeth firmly and try to smile, as she
stood up clasping his hand.

"I will try," she whispered--"try so hard."

"I'm ready, Mr Parkley," said the young man, hoarsely.

"That's right, Pugh.  Go and set matters square.  I'll see your wife
safe back home."

"I leave her to you," said Dutch, in a low voice.  "Good-bye, my
darling, get back home.  I'll join you soon," he whispered, and hurried
out of the office.

But as he turned for a moment, it was to see the Cuban's eyes fixed upon
the trembling girl; while the goblinlike figures against the wall seemed
to be nodding and gibbering at him, as if laughing at the troubles that
assailed his breast.

"Off down to Barrport, Mr Pug?" said Rasp, as he stood in the outer
office.

"Yes, instantly.  Come, Oakum," he said, to a rough-looking sailor, who
stood hat in hand.

"Sharp's the word, Mr Pug," said Rasp; "but I say," he continued,
pointing with his thumb over his shoulder, "that foreign chap, I don't
like the looks o' he."

"I tell you what it is, sir," said the rough-looking sailor, as he
walked by Dutch Pugh's side down to the station.  "If I weer much along
o' that Rasp, it would soon come to a row."

"Why, man?"

"'Cause he's such a overbearing sort of a chap.  He's one of them kind
as always thinks he's skipper, and every one else is afore the mast.  If
he'd come aboard the ship and hailed me, I should ha' ast him to sit
down on the deck and handed him the bacco; but when I comes in he sits
and stares at one orty like, and goes on taking his bacco, in a savage
sorter way, up his nose, and never so much as says, `Have a pinch,
mate,' or the like."

"You don't know him, my man," said Dutch, quietly.

"And don't want to," growled the old sailor.  "I should just like to
have him aboard our vessel for a month.  I'd show him how to count ten,
I know."

"Well, there are more unlikely things," said Dutch.  "Perhaps he may
sail with you."

"What, are we going off, sir?" said the sailor, facing round.

"I don't know yet," said Dutch, "but it is possible."

"I'm glad on it," said the sailor, giving his canvas trousers a slap.
"I'm tired o' hanging about the coast as we do.  All this diving work's
very well, but I want to get out in the blue again."

"Tell me all about the upset over the work," said Dutch.  "Is Tolly
bad?"

"Not he, sir," chuckled the sailor.  "I'd ha' cured him with a
rope's-end in about two twos.  Didn't want to go down, and when the
skipper turned rusty, and said as how he must, his mates takes sides
with him, and say as Mr Parkley wants to send 'em to their death, and
then the real sore place comes out--they wants a rise in the pay.
`Well, then,' says the skipper, `I'll send for Mr Parkley;' and then
Tolly says in his blustering way, `Ah,' he says, `I ain't afraid to go
down, and if I loses my life it's all the governor's fault.'  So down he
goes, and dreckly after he begins pulling his siggle rope, and they
pulls him up, unscrews him, and lays him on the deck, and gives him cold
grog."

"But was he senseless?"

"He wasn't so senseless that he couldn't lap the grog, sir, no end; and
if he warn't playing at sham Abraham, my name ain't Sam Oakum."

Barrport was soon reached, and, boarding a small lugger, Dutch and his
companion were put aboard a handsomely-rigged schooner, lying about four
miles along the coast, at anchor, by the two masts of a vessel seen
above the water.  And here it was evident that arrangements had been
made for diving, for a ladder was lashed to the side of the vessel,
evidently leading down to the deck of the sunken ship, while four men in
diving suits lounged against the bulwarks, their round helmets, so
greatly out of proportion to their heads, standing on a kind of rack,
while the heavy leaden breast and back pieces they wore lay on the
planks.

"Ah, Pugh," said a weather-beaten, middle-aged man, greeting Dutch as he
reached the deck; "glad you've come.  When I've a mutiny amongst my own
men I know what to do; but with these fellows I'm about done, especially
as they say the machinery is defective."

"Of course, Captain Studwick," said Dutch aloud, "men cannot be asked to
risk their lives.  Here, Tolly, what is it?"

The diver spoken to, a fat-faced, pig-eyed fellow, with an artful leer
upon his countenance, sidled up.

"The pump don't work as it should, Mr Pugh," he said.  "Near pretty
nigh gone--warn't I, mates?"

The others nodded.

"Is the work below very hard?" said Dutch, quietly.

"Well, no, sir, I don't know as it's much harder nor usual; but the
copper's heavy to move, and the way into the hold is littler nor usual;
ain't it, mates?"

"Take off your suit," said Dutch, after glancing at the men at the
air-pump, and seeing that they were those he could trust.

"It won't fit you, sir," said the man, surlily.

"I'm the best judge of that," said Dutch; "take it off instantly."

The man glanced at his companions, but seeing no help forthcoming from
them, he began sulkily to take off the copper gorget and the
india-rubber garments, with the heavy leaden-soled boots, which, with
the help of the old sailor, Dutch slipped on with the ease of one
accustomed to handle such articles; then fitting on the leaden weights--
the chest and back piece--he took up the helmet, saw that the tube from
the back was properly adjusted and connected with the air-pump, which he
examined, and then turned to Captain Studwick--

"You'll see that no one touches the tube, Mr Studwick," he said, in a
low tone.  "One of those fellows might feel disposed to tamper with it."

The captain nodded, and Dutch then lifted on the helmet, the rim of
which fitted exactly to the gorget, had the screws tightened, and then,
with the old sailor and the captain himself seeing that the tube and
signalling cords were all right, the pump began to work, and Dutch
walked heavily to the side, took hold of the rungs of the ladder, and
began to descend.

In a few moments his head had disappeared, and his blurred figure could
be made out going down into the darkness, while a constant stream of
exhausted air which escaped from the helmet-valve kept rising in great
bubbles.  The pump clanked as its pistons worked up and down, and the
sailors and divers--the former eagerly and the latter in a sulky
fashion--approached the side and looked over.

Captain Studwick himself held the signal-line, and answered the calls
made upon him for more or less air by communicating with the men at the
pump; and so the minutes passed, during which time, by the necessity for
lengthening out the tube and cord, it was evident that Dutch was going
over the submerged vessel in different directions.  All had gone so well
that the captain had relaxed somewhat in his watchfulness, when he was
brought back to attention by a violent jerking of the cord.

"More air!" he shouted--"quick!" just as there was a yell, a scuffle,
and the man Tolly struggled into the middle of the deck, wrestling hard
with a black sailor, who backed away from him, and then, running forward
like a ram, struck his adversary in the chest and sent him rolling over
into the scuppers.

By this time the signalling had ceased, and Dutch was evidently moving
about at his ease.

"What was that?" said Captain Studwick, sternly, as the man Tolly got up
and made savagely at the black, but was restrained by the strong arm of
the old sailor, Oakum.

Tolly and the black both spoke excitedly together, and not a word was to
be understood.

"Here you, Mr Tolly, what is it?" cried the captain.  "Hold your
tongue, 'Pollo."

"I bash him head, sah.  I--"

"Hold your tongue, sir," said the captain.  "What was it?"

"I happened to look round, sir, and found this stupid nigger standing on
the tube, and when I dragged him off he struck me."

"Who you call nigger, you ugly, white, fat-head tief?" shouted the
black, savagely.  "I bash your ugly head."

"Silence!" cried the captain.

"It great big lie, sah," cried the black.  "I turn roun' and see dat
ugly tief set him hoof on de tubum, and top all de wind out of Mass'
Dutch Pugh, and I scruff him."

"You infamous--"

"Silence!" roared the captain.  "Stand back, both of you.  Oakum, see
that no one goes near the tube.  Haul in gently there; he's coming up."

This was the case, for in another minute the great round top of the
helmet was seen to emerge from the water; its wearer mounted the side,
and was soon relieved of his casque, displaying the flushed face of
Dutch, who looked sharply round.

"Some one must have stepped on the tube," he said.  "Who was it?"

"It lies between these two," said Captain Studwick, pointing to the pair
of adversaries.

"It was the nigger, sir," said Tolly.

"No, sah, 'sure you, sah.  I too much sense, sah, to put um foot on de
tubum.  It was dis fellow, sah," said the black, with dignity.

"I presume it was an accident," said Dutch, quietly.  Then, turning to
the divers--"I have been down, as you see, my men.  The apparatus is in
perfect working order, the water clear, the light good, and the copper
easy to get at.  Begin work directly.  If anything goes wrong, it is the
fault of your management."

"But ain't this black fellow to be punished?" began the man Tolly.

"Mr John Tolly, you are foreman of these divers," said Dutch quietly,
"and answerable to Mr Parkley for their conduct.  If one of the sailors
deserves punishment, that is Captain Studwick's affair."

For a moment there was dead silence, then 'Pollo spoke.

"I not a sailor, sah; I de ship cook.  You mind I not put de cork in de
tubum, Mass' Tolly, next time you go down."

"There! do you hear him?" cried Tolly.  "Who's going down to be
threatened like that?"

"Yah, yah, yah!" laughed the black.  "Him great coward, sah.  He not
worf notice."

Then he turned and walked forward, while Tolly resumed his suit, vacated
for him by Dutch, their helmets were put on by two of the men, and
diving commenced, Dutch remaining on board till it was time to cease,
and having the satisfaction of seeing a goodly portion of the copper
hauled on the deck of the schooner, the divers fastening ropes round the
ingots, which were drawn up by the sailors.

"That was a malicious trick, of course," said Dutch to the captain while
Tolly was below.

"I'm afraid it was," said the captain, "to try and make out that the
machinery was out of order."

"Yes, I expected it," said Dutch; "and that's why I spoke to you.  They
did not mean to do me a mischief, of course--only to frighten me.  I
don't suspect the black, though."

"What, 'Pollo!" said the captain.  "Good heavens, no!  He's as staunch
as steel.  A thoroughly trustworthy man."

"I must wink at it, I suppose," said Dutch, "for it is not easy to
supply vacancies in our little staff, and the men know it.  They are
hard fellows to manage."

"And yet you manage them well," said the captain, smiling.  "You ought
to have been a skipper."

"Think so?" said Dutch; "but look, who is this coming on board?"

"Poor John!" said the captain, with a sigh.  "Poor boy, he's in a sad
way."

"But he's very young, Mr Studwick, and with the fine weather he may
amend."

"He's beginning to be out of hope, Pugh, and so is poor Bessy.  The
doctor says he must have a sea voyage into some warmer climate--not that
he promises health, but prolonged life."

"Indeed!" said Dutch, starting, as he thought of the Cuban's proposal,
and the probability of Captain Studwick having charge of the vessel if
the trip was made, but not feeling at liberty to say much; and, the boat
from the shore touching the side, he held his peace.

A minute later a fine, handsome, but rather masculine girl--whose clear
eyes sparkled as they lit on Dutch Pugh, and then were turned sharply
away--stepped on deck, holding out her hand directly after to assist an
invalid to pass the gangway, which he did, panting slightly, and then
pausing to cough.

He was evidently enough the girl's brother, for with his delicate looks
and hectic flush he looked strangely effeminate, and in height and
stature the pair were wonderfully alike.

"I don't think it was wise of you to come out, John," said the captain,
kindly; "it's a cold, thick day."

"It's so dull at home," said the young man, "and I must have change.
There, I'm well wrapped up, father; and Bessy takes no end of care of
me."

He gave the girl a tender and affectionate look as he spoke; and she
smiled most pleasantly.

"Ah, Mr Pugh, I'm glad to see you.  Have you been down?"

"Yes, just for a little while," said Dutch, shaking hands with him, and
then holding out his hand to the sister, who half shrank from him with
an angry, flushed face; but his frank, pleasant look overcame her, and
she held out her hand to him.

"You have not been to see us yet, Miss Studwick," he said, frankly.
"Hester quite expects you to call, and I hope you will be friends."

"I will try to be, Mr Pugh," said the girl, huskily.  "I'll call--
soon."

"That's right," he said, smiling.  "Come, too, John.  We shall be very
glad to see you."

The young man started, and looked at him searchingly with his
unnaturally bright eyes.

"No," he said, sadly.  "I'm too much of an invalid now.  That is, at
present," he said, catching his father's eye, and speaking hastily.  "I
shall be better in a month or two.  I'm stronger now--much stronger; am
I not, Bessy?  Give me your arm, dear.  I want to see the divers."

The couple walked forward to where the air-pump was standing, and the
eyes of the captain and Dutch Pugh met, when the former shook his head
sadly, and turned away.

There was something very pathetic in the aspect of the young man, in
whom it was plain enough to see that one by one most fatal diseases had
made such inroads as to preclude all hope of recovery; and saddened at
heart, for more than one reason, above all feeling that his presence was
not welcome, Dutch superintended his men till, feeling that it would be
absolutely necessary that some one would have to be on deck every day
till the copper was all recovered, he made up his mind that it would
fall to his lot, except at such times as Mr Parkley would relieve
guard.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOUR.

THE DIVER AT HOME.

The next morning Rasp was sent off to act as superintendent, for Mr
Parkley decided that Dutch must stay and help him in his plans for
carrying out the Cuban's wishes, if he took the affair up, and
previously to discuss the matter.

Dutch announced to Rasp then that he would have to set off at once.

"It's always the way," grumbled the old fellow.  "Board that schooner,
too.  Yah!"

"Never mind, Rasp; you like work.  You'll be like the busy bee,
improving each shining hour," said Dutch, smiling.

"Yes; and my helmets, and tubes, and pumps getting not fit to be seen,
and made hat-pegs of.  Busy bee, indeed!  I'm tired of improving the
shining hours.  I've been all my life a-polishing of 'em up for some one
else."

He set off growling, and vowing vengeance on the men if they did not
work; and Dutch returned to find Mr Parkley with a map of the West
Indies spread upon the desk.

"Look here," he said, "here's the place," and he pointed to the
Caribbean Sea.

"Do you think seriously of this matter, then?" said Dutch.

"Very.  Why not?  I believe it is genuine.  Don't you?"

"I can't say," replied Dutch.  "It may be."

"I think it is," said the other, sharply; "and it seems to me a chance."

"If it proved as this Cuban says, of course it would be."

"And why should it not?" said Mr Parkley.  "You see he has nothing to
gain by getting me to fit out an expedition, unless we are successful."

"But it may be visionary."

"Those ingots were solid visions," said Mr Parkley.  "No, my lad; the
thing's genuine.  I've thought it out all right, and decided to go in
for it at once--that is, as soon as we can arrange matters."

"Indeed, sir!" said Dutch, startled at the suddenness of the decision.

"Yes, my lad, I have faith in it.  We could go in the schooner.  Take a
couple of those divers, and some of our newest appliances.  I look upon
the whole affair as a godsend.  Hum!  Here he is.  Don't seem too eager,
but follow my lead."

A clerk announced the previous night's visitor; and Dutch recalled for
the moment the previous day's meeting, and the annoyance he had felt on
seeing the stranger's admiring gaze.  But this was all forgotten in a
few moments, the Cuban being certainly all that could be desired in
gentlemanly courtesy, and his manners were winning in the extreme.

"And now that you have had a night for consideration, Senor Parkley,
what do you think of my project?" he said, glancing at the map.

"I want to know more," said Mr Parkley.

"I have told you that vessels were sunk--ships laden with gold and
silver, Senor Parkley, and I say join me.  Find all that is wanted--a
ship--divers--and make an agreement to give me half the treasure
recovered, and I will take your ship to the spots.  Where these are is
my secret."

"You said I was slow and cold, Mr Lorry, yesterday," said Mr Parkley.
"You shan't say so to-day.  When I make up my mind I strike while the
iron is hot.  My mind is made up."

"Then you refuse," said the Cuban, frowning.

"No, sir, I agree.  Here's my hand upon it."

He held out his hand, which the Cuban caught and pressed hastily.

"Viva!" he exclaimed, his face flushing with pleasure.

"You will both be rich as princes.  Our friend here goes too?"

"Yes, I shall take him with us," said Mr Parkley.

Dutch started in wonder at what seemed so rash a proceeding.

"And he must share, too," said the Cuban, warmly.

"Yes; he will be my partner," said Mr Parkley.

"And when do we start--to-morrow?"

"To-morrow!" laughed Mr Parkley.  "No, sir; it will take us a month to
fit out our expedition."

"A month?"

"At least.  We must go well prepared, and not fail for want of means."

"Yes, yes, that is good."

"And all this takes time.  Trust me, sir, I shall not let the grass grow
under my feet."

"I do not understand the grass grow," said the Cuban.

"I mean I shall hurry on the preparations," said Mr Parkley.

The Cuban nodded his satisfaction; when the rest of the morning was
spent in discussing the matter; and, though the visitor was extremely
careful not to say a word that might give a hint as to the locality of
the treasure, it became more and more evident that he was no empty
enthusiast, but one who had spent years in the search, and had had his
quest browned with success.

Several days passed in this way, during which great success attended the
raising of the copper, and a proper deed of agreement had been drawn up
and duly signed between the parties to the proposed expedition, at
which, however, Dutch had said but little at his own home, lest he
should cause his wife, who had been delicate since their marriage, any
uneasiness.

The strange fancies that had troubled him had been almost forgotten, and
in spite of himself he had become somewhat tinged by the Cuban's
enthusiasm, and often found himself dwelling on the pleasure of being
possessed of riches such as were described.

"It would make her a lady," he argued; "and if anything happened to me
she would be above want."

He was musing in this way one morning, when Mr Parkley came to him,
they having dined together with the Cuban on the previous evening at his
hotel.

"Well, Pugh," he said, "I'm getting more faith every day.  Lorry's a
gentleman."

"Yes," said Dutch, "he is most polished in his ways, and I must say I
begin to feel a great deal of faith in him myself."

"That's well," said Mr Parkley, rubbing his hands.  "You'll have to go
with us."

"I'm afraid, sir, you must--"

"Excuse you?  No, I don't think I can.  Besides, Pugh, you would go with
me as my partner, for I shall have all that settled."

"You are very, very kind, sir," said Dutch, flushing with pleasure.

"Nonsense, man," cried Mr Parkley; "all selfishness.  You and I can do
so much together.  See how useful you are to me, partner."

"Not your partner yet, sir."

"Yes, you are, Pugh," said the other, slapping him on the shoulder; "and
now we'll go in for calculations and arrangements for the expedition.  I
was thinking the schooner would do, but I find it would be too small, so
I shall set Captain Studwick to look out for a good brig or a small
barque, and take him into our confidence to some extent."

"Not wholly?"

"No; and yet, perhaps, it would be as well.  And now, Pugh, I've got a
favour to ask of you."

"Anything, sir, that I can do I will do with all my heart," replied
Pugh, enthusiastically.

"I knew you would," replied Mr Parkley.  "You see, this is a big thing,
my lad, and will be the making of us both, and Lorry is a very decent
fellow."

"Decidedly," said Pugh, wondering at what was coming.

"Well, I must be as civil to him as I can, and so will you, of course."

"Of course."

"He's taken a great fancy to you, by-the-way, and praises you sky-high."

"Indeed!"

"Yes; and look here, Pugh, he has got to be tired of this hotel where he
is, and wants society.  I can't ask him to my shabby place, so I want
you to oblige me by playing the host."

Pugh started as if he had been stung.

"Nothing could be better," continued Mr Parkley, who did not notice the
other's emotion.  "Ask him to come and stay at your little place.  Mrs
Pugh has things about her in so nice and refined a way that you can make
him quite at home.  You will gain his confidence, too, and we shall work
better for not being on mere hard business terms."

Dutch felt his brain begin to swim.

"I'll come as often as I can, and we shall be making him one of us.  The
time will pass more pleasantly for him, and there'll be no fear of
somebody else getting hold of him to make better terms."

"Yes--exactly--I see," faltered Pugh, whose mind was wandering towards
home, and who recalled the Cuban's openly expressed admiration for his
wife.

"The dear little woman," continued Mr Parkley, "could take him out for
a drive while you are busy, and you can have music and chess in the
evenings.  You'll have to live better, perhaps; but mind, my dear
fellow, we are not going to let you suffer for that, and you must let me
send you some wine, and a box or two of cigars.  We must do the thing
handsomely for him."

"Yes, of course," said Dutch vaguely.

"Quite a stranger here, you know, and by making him a friend, all will
go on so much more smoothly afterwards."

"Exactly," said Dutch again.

"But how dreamy you are?  What are you thinking about?"

Dutch started, for in spite of his love and trust he was thinking of the
handsome Cuban being installed at his home, and always in company with
his innocent young wife, while he was away busy over his daily
avocations.

"I beg pardon; did I seem thinking?"

"That you did.  But never mind; you'll do this for me, Pugh?"

"Certainly, if you wish it," said Dutch, making an effort; while the
figure of the Cuban seemed to be coming like a dark shadow across his
life.

"Well, yes, I do wish it, Pugh, and I am very much obliged.  By-the-way,
though, what will she say to your going out on the expedition?"

Dutch shook his head.

"By Jove, I never thought of that," said Mr Parkley.  "Poor little
woman, it will be too bad.  I tell you what, I was going to get old
Norton to mind the business.  I will not.  You shall stay at home."

"I should like to go," said Pugh, quietly; "but situated as I am, I
should be glad if I could stay."

"So you shall, Pugh--so you shall," said Mr Parkley.  And nodding his
head over and over again, he left Dutch to his thoughts.

He left for home that night with the cloud seeming to darken round him.
He felt that under the circumstances he was bound to accede to his
partner's wishes, and yet he was about to take this man, a stranger, to
his own sacred hearth, and he shuddered again and again at the ideas
that forced themselves upon his brain.

"I've said I'll receive him," he said at last, half aloud; "but it is
not yet too late.  Hester shall decide, and if she says `No,' why
there's an end of it all."

A short run by the rail took him to his pleasant little home--a small
house, almost a cottage, with its tolerably large grounds and well-kept
lawn.  The little dining and drawing-rooms were shaded by a broad green
verandah, over which the bedroom of the young couple looked down, in
summer, upon a perfect nest of trailing roses.

Dutch gave a sigh of satisfaction as he saw the bright, sunny look of
pleasure that greeted him, and for the next hour he had forgotten the
dark shadow as he related to his young wife the great advance in their
future prospects.

"I do love that dear old Mr Parkley so," she cried, enthusiastically.
"And now, Dutch, dear, tell me all about why this foreign gentleman is
taking up so much of your time.  Why, darling, is anything the matter?"

Dutch sighed again, but it was with satisfaction, as with a mingling of
tender love and anxiety the little woman rose, and, throwing one arm
round his neck, laid her soft little cheek to his.

"Matter!  No, dear.  Why?" he said, trying to smile.

"You looked so dull and ill all at once, as if in some pain."

"Did I?  Oh, it was nothing, only I was a little bothered."

"May I know what about?"

"Well, yes, dear," he said, playing with her soft hair, as he drew her
down upon his knee.  "The fact is that Mr Parkley is anxious for some
attention to be paid to this Cuban gentleman--this Mr Laure."

"And he wants us to ask him here," said Hester, gravely; and for a
moment a look of pain crossed her face.

"Yes.  How did you know?" he cried, startled at her words.

"I can't tell," she replied, smiling again directly.  "I seemed to know
what you were going to say by instinct."

"But we cannot have him here, can we?" said Dutch, eagerly.  "It would
inconvenience you so."

She remained silent for a moment, and a warm flush appeared upon her
face as he gazed at her searchingly; for it was evident that a struggle
was going on within her breast, and she was debating as to what she
should say.  Then, to his great annoyance, she replied--

"I don't think that we ought to refuse Mr Parkley this request, dear.
I hardly liked the idea at first, and this Mr Laure did not impress me
favourably when we met."

Dutch's face brightened.

"But," she continued, "I have no doubt I shall like him very much, and
we will do all we can to make his stay a pleasant one."

Dutch remained silent, and a frown gathered on his brow for a few
moments; but the next moment he looked up, smiling on the sweet
ingenuous countenance before him, feeling ashamed of the doubts and
fancies that had intruded.

"You are right, dear," he said, cheerfully.  "It is a nuisance, for I
don't like any one coming between us and spoiling our evenings; but it
will not be for long, and he has come about an enterprise that may bring
us a considerable sum."

"I'll do all I can, dear," she cried, cheerfully.

And then, going to the piano, the tones of her voice fell upon the ears
of Dutch Pugh even as the melodies of David on the troubled spirit of
Saul of old, for as the young husband lay back in his chair, and
listened to his favourite songs--sung, it seemed to him, more sweetly
than ever--the tears gathered in his eyes, and he closed them, feeling
that the evil spirit that assailed his breast had been exorcised, and
that the cruel doubts and fears were bitter sins against a pure, sweet
woman, who loved him with all her soul; and he cursed his folly as he
vowed that he never again would suffer such fancies to gain an entrance
to his breast.

For quite an hour they sat thus, she singing in her soft, low voice
ballad after ballad that she knew he loved; and he lying back there,
dreamily drinking in the happiness that was his, and thanking Heaven for
his lot.  For the shadow was beaten back, and true joy once more reigned
supreme.

He was roused from his delicious reverie by the touch of two soft, warm
lips on his forehead.

"Asleep, darling?" whispered Hester.

"Asleep?  No," he cried, in a low, deep voice, as he drew her to his
heart.  "Awake, darling--wide awake to the fact that I am the happiest
of men in owning all your tender, true, womanly love."

As he spoke his lips sought hers, and with a sigh of content, and a
sweet smile lighting up her gentle face, Hester's arms clasped his neck,
and she nestled closer to his breast.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER FIVE.

A WAKING DREAM.

The next day, after a long and busy discussion, in which Laure took
eager interest, and during which plans were made as to stores, arms for
protection against the Indians of the coast they were to visit, lifting
and diving apparatus, and the like, the Cuban was installed at the
cottage, and that first night Dutch saw again upon his face that intense
admiration the dark, warm-blooded Southerner felt for the fair young
English girl.  For girl she still was, with a girl's ways, prettily
mingled with her attempts to play the part of mistress of her own house.
The young husband felt a pang of jealous misery await him as he sat
back in the shade of his prettily-furnished drawing-room, seeing their
visitor hover about the piano while Hester sang, paying endless
attentions with the polish and courtesy of a foreigner, various little
refined acts--such as would never have occurred to the bluff young
Englishman.

"I'm a jealous fool--that's what I am," said Dutch to himself; "and if I
go on like this I shall be wretched all the time he is here.  I won't
have it--I won't believe it.  She is beautiful--God bless her! and no
man could see her without admiring her.  I ought to be proud of his
admiration instead of letting it annoy me; for, of course, it's his
foreign way of showing it.  An Englishman would be very different; but
what right have I to fancy for a moment that this foreign gentleman, my
guest, would harbour a thought that was not honourable to me?  There,
it's all gone."

He brightened up directly; and as, with a pleasant smile, Laure came to
him soon afterwards and challenged him to a game of chess, the evening
passed pleasantly away.

The days glided on rapidly enough, with Dutch Pugh always repeating to
himself the stern reproof that he was unjust to his guest and to his
young wife to allow a single thought of ill to enter his heart; and to
keep these fancies away he worked harder than ever at the preparations
for the voyage, being fain, though, to confess that one thing that urged
him on was the desire to be rid of his guest.

"I don't think much of these furren fellows," said Rasp, one day, when,
after a shorter stay than usual at the offices, Laure had effusively
pressed Dutch's hand and gone back to the cottage.  "How does Mrs Pug
like him?"

Dutch started, but said, quietly--

"Suppose we get on with the packing of that air-pump, Rasp.  You had
better get in a couple of the men."

"All right," grumbled the old fellow; "I wasn't going to leave it
undone; but if I was a married man with a 'ansum wife, 'ang me if I
should care about having a smooth-tongued, dark-eyed, scented foreign
monkey of a chap like that at my house."

"You insolent old scoundrel!" cried Dutch, flashing into a rage; and he
caught the old fellow by the throat, but loosened him again with an
impatient "Pish!"

Rasp seized the poker and sent the red-hot cinders flying as he stoked
away at the fire.

"I desire that you never speak to me again like that.  How dare you!"

"Oh, all right, Mr Pug, I won't speak again," said Rasp.  "I didn't
mean no offence.  I only said what I thought, and that was as I didn't
like to see that furren chap always a-hanging after going back to your
house, when he ought to be here, helping to see to the things getting
ready."

"Rasp!" said Dutch angrily.

"Well, so he ought to, instead of being away.  Nobody wants him to take
off his yaller kid gloves and work, but he might look on.  He's going to
be a niste one, he is, when he gets out in the place where we're
a-going.  He'll have a hammock slung and a hawning over it when he gets
out in the hot sunshine, that's about what he'll do, and lie on his back
and smoke cigarettes while one works.  Say, Mr Pug, I wish you was
going with us!"

He went and had another stoke at the fire, and glanced at Dutch's back,
for he was writing, and made no response.  "Sulky, and won't speak,"
muttered Rasp; and, going out, banged the door after him.

"The fancies of a vulgar mind," said Dutch to himself, as soon as he was
alone.  "The coarse belief of one who cannot understand the purity of
feeling and thought of a true woman; and I actually let such ideas have
a place in my breast.  Bah!  It's disgraceful!"

He glanced round the office, and then angrily devoted himself once more
to his work, for it seemed as if the great goggle-eyed diving-helmets
were once more bending forward and laughing at him derisively.

"I will not have this office made so hot," he muttered impatiently; and
he worked on for some time, but only to fall dreaming again, as he said,
"A little more than a fortnight and we shall be ready.  Good luck to the
expedition.  I wish it were gone."

Then, in spite of himself, he began thinking about the conduct of Laure
at his house, and wishing earnestly that he had never agreed to his
reception as a guest.

"But, there, he is a perfect gentleman," he argued; "and his conduct to
me is almost too effusive.  Little Hester must find him all that could
be desired, or she would complain.  Hallo, who is this?"

"Company to see you," said Rasp, roughly; and, as Dutch left his stool,
it was to meet Captain Studwick's invalid son and his sister, who came
in, accompanied by a quiet, gentlemanly-looking young man, whom he
introduced as Mr Meldon.

"The medical gentleman who attends me now," said John Studwick, smiling;
"not that I want much, do I, Mr Meldon?"

"Well, no, we will not call you an invalid, Mr Studwick," said the
stranger.

"Fact is," said John Studwick, "I've set up a medical man of my own.
Mr Meldon is going with us on the voyage."

"What voyage?" said Dutch, eagerly.

"Oh, you don't know, of course," said John Studwick, laughing.  "My
father thinks a sea voyage will set me right, and I am going in the _Sea
King_.  Bessy's going too."

"Indeed," said Dutch, looking from one to the other, while Bessy
coloured slightly, and turned away.

"Yes, it's just settled this morning.  Mr Parkley is willing, so we
shall have a sea voyage and adventure too.  I say, Mr Pugh, you asked
me to come to your house."

"Yes, and I shall be very glad," said Dutch, smiling.

"Well, can we fix a day when we may be introduced to this Spanish Cuban
gentleman?  I'm curious to know my fellow-passenger.  Sick man's fancy."

"Thursday week, then," said Dutch, eagerly.  "Mr Meldon, perhaps, will
join us."

"I shall be very happy," replied that individual.

And he glanced at Bessy, who coloured again slightly; and then, after a
few words about the voyage, in which John Studwick expressed his regret
that Dutch was not going on the expedition, the little party went away.

"If I'm not mistaken," said Dutch to himself, as he climbed to his
stool, "there's somebody there to heal the sore place in poor Bessy's
heart.  Poor girl!  If I was not coxcombical to say so, I should think
she really was fond of me.  There, come forth, little loadstone," he
said, with a look of intense love lighting up his countenance, and
raising the lid of his desk he took from a drawer a photographic carte
of his wife, and set it before him, to gaze at it fondly.

"I don't think I could have cared for Bessy Studwick, darling, even if
there had been no Hester in the world."

As he gazed tenderly at the little miniature of his wife's features,
there seemed to come a peculiar look in the eyes--the expression on the
face became one of pain.

He knew it was fancy, but he gazed on at the picture till his
imagination took a wider leap, and as if it were quite real, so real
that in his disturbed state he could not have declared it untrue, he saw
Hester seated in their own room, with every object around clearly
defined, her head bent forward, and the Cuban kneeling at her feet, and
pressing her hands to his lips.

So real was the scene that he started away from the desk with a loud
cry, oversetting his stool, and letting the heavy desk lid fall with a
crash.

In a moment Rasp ran into the office, armed with a heavy diver's axe,
and then stood staring in amazement.

"Is any one gone mad?" he growled.

"It was nothing, Rasp," said Dutch, wiping the perspiration from his
forehead.

"I never heard nothing make such a row as that afore," growled Rasp.

And then, putting the axe down, he made for the poker, had a good stoke
at the fire, and went out muttering.

Dutch opened the desk on the instant, but the scene was gone, and
hastily closing the lid again he began to pace the room.

For a moment his intention was to rush off home, but he restrained
himself for the time, and tried to recall the past; but his brain was in
a whirl.  At last he grew more calm, and took out his watch.

"Only five o'clock," and he had said that he should get some dinner
where he was, stop late at work, and not be home till after nine.

He was to stay there and work for another three or four hours--to make
calculations that required all his thought, when he had seen or conjured
up that dreadful sight.  No: he could not bear it.  His nerves tingled,
his brain was throbbing, and incipient madness seemed to threaten his
reason as he prepared to obey the influence that urged him to go home.

"The villain!" he groaned.  "It must be a warning.  Heaven help me, I
will know the worst."



STORY ONE, CHAPTER SIX.

A PLEASANT EVENING.

Dutch Pugh seized his hat and coat, and was about to dash into the
street, when the remembrance of that evening before the coming of the
Cuban came upon him, and he replaced them.

"Stop a moment," he said hoarsely, as he began to walk up and down once
more.  "Let me think--let me take matters coolly, or I shall go mad.
There, there, this will not do; I'm going up and down here like a wild
beast in his cage."

He made an effort, and forced himself to sit down.  "Now," he said,
"let's see.  What does this mean?  Here am I, a strong, full-blooded,
sane man, and what have I been doing?"

He paused for a moment before answering his question.

"Letting my mind dwell on thoughts that are a disgrace to me, till I
imagine--yes, imagine--so vividly that it seems real, all that nonsense.
I picture the scene.  I magnify a simple piece of cardboard, and make
it fit my own vile imaginations till I see what could never have taken
place; and on the strength of that, what am I going to do?  Why rush off
home as jealous and mad as an Othello, ready to distort everything I
see, believe what does not exist, and generally play such a part as I
should repent to my last day.  Poor girl, has it come to this, that I
cannot trust you, and am going to play the spy upon your actions?"

"No, hang me if I do.  Now, look here, Dutch, this is not manly," he
continued, catechising himself.  "You are foolishly jealous of that man,
are you not?"

"Yes," he said, answering his own question.  "Now then, why are you
jealous?  Has your wife ever given you the slightest cause?"

"Never, so help me Heaven."

"There, then, does not that satisfy you?  Why, man, if everyone who has
a handsome wife were to act like this, what a world we should have.  So
much, then, for your wife.  Now, then, about this man--what of him?  He
is polished and refined, and pays your wife attentions.  Well, so would
any foreigner under the circumstances.  Shame, man, shame; he is your
guest, the guest, too, of a woman whose truth you know--whose whole life
is beyond suspicion.  You leave her every day to go here or there, and
does she ask you where you have been--what you have done?  Does she
suspect you?  Why, Dutch Pugh, you wretched maniac, if she saw you
talking to a score of pretty women how would she act?  I'll tell you.
She'd open those sweet, candid eyes of hers, and beam upon you, and no
more doubt your truth than that of Heaven."

"And I'll not doubt yours, darling," he muttered, going to the desk,
taking out the photograph, kissing it before putting it back; and then,
tightening his lips, he took his seat, fixed his attention upon his
work, and grew so intent that the next time he looked at his watch it
was close upon nine, when, in a calm, matter-of-fact way, he walked all
the way home.

In spite of his determination, he could not help seeing that Hester
looked pale and troubled when he entered the little drawing-room, and
that her manner was strange and constrained.  She met his gaze in a
timid way, and without doubt her hand trembled.

He would not notice her, though, but began chatting to them, Laure being
in the highest of spirits and relating anecdotes of his travels till
Dutch felt in the best of spirits, and it was near midnight when they
all rose for bed, Hester looking very pallid though--so much so that
Dutch noticed it.

"Are you quite well, dear?" he asked.

She raised her eyes, and was about to speak when she caught Laure's eyes
fixed upon her in a strange manner, and she replied hastily--

"Oh, yes, dear, quite, quite well?"

"You don't feel any of your old symptoms?"

"Oh, no," she replied, smiling.  "You are so anxious about me."

"No wonder," said Laure, "with such a pearl of a wife.  Well, I must to
bed.  Good-night, dear host and hostess."

He advanced to Hester Pugh and kissed her hand, turning directly to
Dutch and pressing his so affectionately that the young Englishman
returned the grip with such interest that the Cuban winced, and then
smiled as he saw in Dutch's eyes how honest and true was the intent.

"I was sorry to be detained to-night," continued Dutch frankly; "it must
be very dull here.  Look here, Hester, I've asked John Studwick and his
sister and Mr Meldon, a doctor, to dinner on Thursday.  Send a letter
to Miss Studwick yourself and ask Mr Parkley as well, so as to have a
pleasant evening."

Hester Pugh brightened up directly, and began to talk of the
arrangements for the dinner, while the Cuban went off with a peculiar
smile upon his face.

"But I don't know what to say about this, Dutch," said Hester,
playfully, as she made an effort to be gay and shake off the lassitude
that seemed to oppress her.  "Report says, sir, that Miss Bessy Studwick
was very fond of a certain gentleman we know."

"Poor Bessy!" said Dutch, thoughtfully.

"Poor Bessy, sir.  Then it is all true?"

"What--about Bessy Studwick, darling?  Well, I think it was.  It sounds
conceited of me to say so, but I believe it was the case.  But," he
added, drawing her to him, "this certain gentleman only had one heart,
and a certain lady took possession of it all.  Hester, my darling, I
never in my life had loving thought about more than one woman, and her I
love more dearly every day."

She closed her eyes, and the tears gathered beneath her lids as he
pressed her to his heart and sighed gently.

Miss Studwick's name was mentioned no more that night.

The time passed quickly, away, and the Thursday came.  Dutch had been so
fully occupied, and so determined not to listen to the promptings of his
fancy, as he called it, that he refused to take any notice of the way in
which the Cuban had settled down in his house.  From being all eager now
to get the expedition fitted out, and ready to be pettish and impatient
with Mr Parkley and Dutch for their careful, deliberate preparations,
he seemed now quite careless, pleading indisposition, and spending the
greater part of his time at the cottage.

The dinner passed off most pleasantly, and the table was made bright by
the magnificent flowers the Cuban had purchased as his offering to the
feast, and by the rich fruit Mr Parkley had added in his rough pleasant
way, coming down to the cottage with a heavy basket on his arm, and
smiling all round as he dabbed his lace and head, hot with the exertion.

To the great delight of Dutch, he saw that quite a liking had sprung up
between his wife and Bessy Studwick, both evidently trying hard to let
him see that they indulged in no thoughts of the past; while the Cuban
ceased his attentions to Hester, and taking Bessy down to dinner, heaped
his foreign, nameless little results of polish upon the tall, Juno-like
maiden.

The only person in the party who looked grave was John Studwick, who
watched all this with uneasy glances, though it must be said that he
seemed just as much annoyed when Mr Meldon, the young doctor, was
speaking to his sister.  He lacked no attentions, though, himself, for,
compassionating the state of the invalid's health, both Dutch and Hester
tried hard to make the meeting pleasant to him.

"The little wife looks ill, Pugh," said Mr Parkley, as they went in to
dinner.  "You ask Mr Meldon his opinion about her by-and-by.  Our
coming worries her."

"I'll ask her if she's poorly or worried," said Dutch smiling.
"Hester!"

She came up to him looking pale and startled, but he did not notice it.

"Mr Parkley thinks you wish all the visitors anywhere," said Dutch
playfully.

"He does not," said Hester, placing her hand on Mr Parkley's arm.  "He
knows he is always so very welcome here."

She went in with him to dinner, and evidently exerted herself greatly to
chase away the cloud that shadowed her, devoting herself to her guests,
but in spite of her efforts her eyes were more than once directed
partially to where Laure was chatting volubly with Bessy Studwick, and,
meeting his, remained for a few moments as if fascinated or fixed by his
gaze.

Later on in the evening, when they were all in the drawing-room, Hester
seemed quite excited, and full of forced gaiety, while Laure was
brimming with anecdote, chatting more volubly than ever.  Before long he
was asked to sing, and Hester sat down to the piano.

While he was singing in a low, passionate voice some Spanish love song,
and those near were listening as if enthralled, Dutch felt his arm
touched, and John Studwick motioned him to follow into the back
drawing-room, and then, seeing it was impossible to speak there, Dutch
led the way into the little dining-room, where, with the rich tones of
the Cuban's voice penetrating to where they stood, the invalid, who
seemed greatly excited, caught his host by the arm.

"Dutch Pugh," he said, "I like you because you're so frank and manly,
and that's why I speak.  I shan't go out with this expedition if that
half Spanish fellow is going too.  I hate him.  Look how he has been
pestering Bessy all the evening.  I don't like it.  Why did you ask him
here?"

"My dear fellow," exclaimed Dutch, "be reasonable.  You expressed a wish
to meet him."

"So I did.  Yes, so I did, but I don't like him now.  I don't like his
ways.  Pugh, if I was a married man, I would not have that fellow in my
house for worlds."

"My dear John Studwick," said Dutch, uneasily, "this is foolish.  He is
a foreigner, and it is his way."

"I don't like his way," cried the young man, whose cheeks were flushed
and eyes unnaturally bright.  "If he won Bessy from me, I should kill
him.  I was afraid of you once, but that's passed now."

"But, my dear boy," said Dutch, laying his hand on his shoulder, "you
must expect your sister to form an attachment some day."

"Yes, some day," said the young man.  "Some day; but let her wait till
I'm gone.  I couldn't bear to have her taken from me now.  She is
everything to me."

"My dear Studwick, don't talk like that."

"Why not?" he replied with a strange look.  "Do you think I don't know?
I shall only live about six months: nothing will save me."

"Nonsense, man!  That sea trip will set you right again.  Come, let's
get back into the drawing-room."

He led the way back, and, seeking his opportunity, whispered to Bessy
Studwick that her brother was low-spirited, and taking her from the
Cuban's side, he made John Studwick happy by bringing her to him.

The Cuban's eyes flashed, and he arose and crossed the room, so that
when Dutch looked in that direction it was to see that he whispered
something to Hester, who glanced across at him where he was standing by
Bessy.

The next minute he was seized by Mr Parkley, who backed him up into a
corner, where he seized one particular button on the young man's
breast--a habit he had, going to the same particular button as a small
pig seeks the same single spot when in search of nutriment.

"Dutch," said Mr Parkley, as soon as they were alone, and while he was
busily trying with his left hand to screw the button off, "Dutch, shake
hands."

The young man did so wonderingly.

"That's right: no one's looking.  That chap's going to sing another
song, and little Hester's getting ready the music.  See here, Dutch, you
won't be offended at what I say?"

"Offended?  Absurd!"

"Old, tried, staunch friend, you know.  Wouldn't say a word to hurt you,
and I love that little girl of yours like a father--just as if she was
my own flesh and blood."

"And I'm sure Hester loves and respects you, Mr Parkley."

"Yes, yes, of course; and that's what makes me so wild about it."

"I don't understand you, Mr Parkley," said Dutch, uneasily.

"There, that's what I was afraid of when I spoke.  But I must say it
now, Pugh.  I'm afraid I made a mistake in asking you to invite that
Cuban hero.  I'll tell him to come and stay with me."

"Indeed, I beg you will do no such thing, Mr Parkley," said Dutch
hotly, as his face burned with mortification.  "I understand what you
mean, sir, and can assure you that your suspicions are unjust."

"I'm very glad to hear you say so, Pugh, I am indeed," said Mr Parkley
earnestly.  "Don't be angry with me, my dear boy.  I'm getting old--
stupid, I suppose.  There, don't take any more notice of what I said."

Under these circumstances it was hard work for Dutch Pugh to preserve an
unclouded face before his guests, but he strove hard--the harder that he
was annoyed at people for having the same fancies as those he had tried
so hard to banish.  It was, then, with no small feeling of pleasure that
he welcomed the time when his guests departed, but even then he was not
to be spared a fresh wound, for on taking Bessy Studwick down to the fly
she said to him in a low voice:

"Dutch, I have been trying so hard to-night to love your wife.  I do so
hope you will be very happy."

"Thank you, Bessy, thank you," he said warmly.  "I'm sure you wish me
well."

"I do, I do, indeed," she whispered earnestly, "and therefore I say I do
not like your new friend, that foreign gentleman.  He is treacherous: I
am sure he is.  Good-night."

"Good-night!" said Dutch to himself as he stood on the gravel path with
the gate in his hand listening to the departed wheels; and then in spite
of his determination the flood of evil fancies came rolling back,
sweeping all before it.

"They all see it, and think me blind," he groaned as he literally reeled
against the gate.  "Those thoughts, then, were a warning--one I would
not heed.  Hester--Hester--my love," he moaned as he pressed his hands
to his forehead.  "Oh, my God, that it should come to this!"

He stood leaning against the gate post for a few minutes in a stunned,
dazed way, but recovering himself he clenched his hands and exclaimed
through his teeth:

"I will not believe it.  She could not be no false."

He strode in, apparently quite calm, to find Hester standing by the
fire-place, looking very scared and pale, while Laure, who had thrown
himself back upon the couch, began to laugh in a peculiar way.

"Ah, you English husbands," he said, banteringly, "how you do forsake
your beautiful wives.  But there, the fair visitor was very sweet and
gracious.  I almost fell in love myself."

Dutch Pugh's eyes flashed for a moment, but he said nothing, only
glanced at his wife, who met his look in a troubled way, and then let
her eyes fall to the carpet, while Laure went on talking in a playful,
bantering manner.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN.

MORE SHADOWS.

From that night a complete change seemed to have come upon the home of
Dutch Pugh.  He had more than once determined upon putting an end to the
Cuban's stay, feeling at the same time as if he would like to end his
life; but reason told him that his were, after all, but suspicions, and
that perhaps they were unjust.  Under the circumstances, he sought for
relief in work, and strove night and day to perfect the arrangements
which now fast approached completion.  Captain Studwick was to be in
command of the large yacht-like schooner that had been secured, and was
being carefully fitted with the necessaries in stores and machinery.
Two of the divers engaged in raising the copper had volunteered to go,
and a capital crew had been selected.  The cabins were comfortably
furnished, there being plenty of space, and places were set apart for
the captain's son and daughter, while a gentleman friend--a naturalist--
had, on learning from Captain Studwick the part of the world to which
the ship was to sail, petitioned hard, and obtained permission to go.

This last gentleman said his object was to collect specimens of the
wonderful birds of Central America; but the probabilities are that if he
had not been aware that Bessy Studwick was to be of the party, he, being
a very bad sailor, would have stayed at home.

By degrees everything necessary was put on board the handsome vessel,
and though the ship's destination was kept a secret, and the real object
of her mission confided to few, she formed the general topic of
conversation in the port, and plenty of exaggerations flew about.

The energetic way in which Dutch worked served to lull to a certain
extent the sense of pain that he endured; but he suffered bitterly; and
at last it had come to this: that he spent as little of his time at home
as possible, returning there, however, at night faint and weary, but
with a heart sickness that drove away the needful sleep.

It afforded him some gratification, though, to find that Miss Studwick
often called at his home; and when, on more than one occasion, she came
with her brother to the office, he read in her eyes the deep sympathy
that she felt for him, and asked himself why he had not made this woman
his wife.

He sat often quite late in the office, long after Rasp had grumblingly
gone off with a final stoke at the fire, which afterwards sank and died
out; and at such times, in the semi-darkness, with the goggle-eyed
helmets seeming to stare at him and rejoice in his sufferings, he asked
himself what he should do?  Whether he should leave home for ever?
Whether he should put her away from him, and wait till some time in the
far-off distance of life when she might, perhaps, come to him, and ask
his pardon for the wrong she had done.

"No!" he would exclaim, "I will not believe such evil of her.  She is
dazzled by this polished scoundrel, and poor, rough, I compare badly
with him, for she cannot see our hearts."

Should he end the matter at once?

No, he felt that he could not, for he had nothing but his bare, cruel
suspicions to go upon, the greatest of which was that before long Hester
would flee with this man, and his home would be wretched.

Wretched?  If not wretched already, for all was wretched at home: Hester
was low-spirited; for his own part, he rarely spoke; and the Cuban
avoided him.

So far, Dutch had indulged in the hope that he might, after all, be
deceiving himself, when one evening, on entering the little drawing-room
suddenly, Hester started up, looking confused, and left the room, while
the Cuban turned away with a short nod, and walked to the window.

From that hour every spare moment was devoted to watching: for the
suspicion grew stronger now that before long, if he did not stay it, his
home would be left desolate.

This lasted for some days, when the idea was checked by Laure himself,
who, as the time approached for the departure of the expedition,
suddenly began to display great interest in the proceedings, so that
Dutch felt compelled to own that his ideas of flight must be wrong; in
fact, it was as if Laure had divined his thoughts just as he was about
to speak to Mr Parkley, and tell him his suspicions that the Cuban
evidently meant to give up the expedition, and, much as it would tear
his heart to speak, give the reasons for his belief.

Hardly, though, had he come to the conclusion that he was wrong, when a
trifle set him off back in his former way of thinking, for his mind was
now a chaos of wildering fancies, and the slightest thing set his
jealous feelings in a blaze.

He would not speak to Hester; he would not take an open, manly way of
seeing whether his suspicions were just; but, submitting his better
parts to his distorted reason, he nursed his anguish, and so it fell out
that one night he found himself watching his own house, in the full
belief that his wife's illness in the morning before he left for the
office was a subterfuge, and that the time had come for her to take some
step fatal to her future.

"But I will stop it," muttered Dutch to himself, as with throbbing pulse
and beating temples he avoided the gate, so as not to have his footsteps
heard on the gravel, and, climbing the fence, entered his own garden
like a thief.

He had hardly reached the little lawn when he heard the sound of wheels,
and stepping behind a clump of laurels he stopped, listening with
beating heart, for here was food for his suspicions.

As he expected, the fly stopped at the gate; a man in a cloak got out,
went hastily up the path, knocked softly at the door, and was admitted
on the instant.

Dutch paused, hesitating as to what he should do.  Should he follow and
enter?  No, he decided that he would stay there, and stop them as they
came out, for the fly was waiting.

Where would Hester be now? he asked himself, with the dimly-seen house
seeming to swim before him; and the answer came as if hissed into his
ear by some mocking fiend--

"In her bedroom, getting something for her flight."

Half-a-dozen steps over the soft grass took him where he could see the
window, and of course there was a light there, and then--

The blood seemed to rush to his brain, a horrible sense of choking came
upon him, and he groaned as he staggered back, for there, plainly enough
seen, was the figure of Hester, her hair hanging loose as she lay back
over the arm of a man, who was half-leading, half-carrying her towards
the door.

All this in shadow was sharply cost upon the blind, and with a groan of
mingled rage and misery Dutch rushed towards the house, but only to
totter and fall heavily, for it was as though a sharp blow had been
dealt him, and for some time he lay there passive and ignorant of what
passed around.

He recovered at length, and lay trying to think--to call to mind what
this meant.  Why was he lying there on the wet grass, with this strange
deathly feeling of sickness upon him?

Then all came back with a rush, and he rose to his feet to see that the
light was still in the bedroom, but the shadows were gone.

With a cry of horror he ran to the gate, but the carriage was not there,
and he stood listening.

Yes, there was the sound of wheels dying away.  No, they had stopped,
and he was about to rush off in pursuit when a hasty step coming in his
direction stayed him, for he knew it well, and, drawing back, he let the
Cuban pass him, then followed him softly as he stole round the house,
going on tiptoe towards the dining-room window, where Dutch caught him
by the shoulder.

"Ah," he said, laughing, "so our gallant Englishman is on the watch, is
he?  Does the jealous trembler think I would steal his wife?"

"Dog!" hissed Dutch, catching him by the throat, "what are you doing
here?"

"What is that to you, fool!" exclaimed the Cuban, flashing into rage.
"Loose me, you madman, or you shall repent it.  Curse you, you are
strong."

Blind to everything but his maddening passion, kept back now for so many
days, and absorbed by the feeling that he could now wreak his vengeance
upon the man who had wrecked his home, Dutch savagely tightened his hold
upon his adversary, who, though a strong man, bent like a reed before
him.  It was no time for reason to suggest that he might be wrong; the
idea had possession of the young man's soul that he was stopping an
intended flight, and he drove the Cuban backwards, and had nearly forced
him across a garden seat when Laure, writhing like an eel, got partly
free.

"Curse your English brute strength!" he muttered, and getting his arm
from his cloak, he struck Dutch full on the temple with some weapon, and
the young man fell once more prone on the grass.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT.

BREAKING THE CONTRACT.

Five days had passed since the encounter in the garden, and Dutch Pugh
had not been back to his home.  He had lain for some time stunned from
the blow he had received, and then risen half-dazed, and in a wretched,
dejected way made for the town, where, letting himself into the office,
he had thrown himself upon the floor, and slept heavily till morning, to
the great surprise of the clerks, who found him there when they came.

With an intense desire to hide his anguish from everyone, he had given
out that he had fallen asleep after being many hours at work, and no
notice was taken of his soiled clothes.  Then, with the truth gradually
oozing out, that no flight had been intended, but that for some reason,
so Mr Parkley said, Senor Laure had gone back to his hotel, Dutch
worked on, superintending till the vessel was ready for sea.

The stores and machinery were complete for the purpose, and the
passengers were on board.  Moreover, a brother of Mr Parkley had been
invited to assist in the business during the chief partner's absence,
and together Mr Parkley and Dutch walked down to the dock.

"We had a sort of hint from Bessy Studwick that you haven't been home
for some days, Pugh," said Mr Parkley.

"Don't talk about it, please."

"Well, I won't much," said Mr Parkley, "for I guess a great deal.  It
was all my fault, Dutch, my dear boy.  I had no business to have
proposed such a thing, and, believe me, if I had known what a scoundrel
the fellow was, I would never have entered into this project with him."

"Pray say no more," exclaimed Dutch.

"I must, my dear boy, I must, for I want to clear myself.  You see the
preparation for this trip means five thousand pounds, and I cannot throw
the matter over; the loss is too heavy, or else I would."

"Oh, no, it is impossible," exclaimed Dutch.

"If I had known my man sooner, I would have seen him at Hanover before I
would have had anything to do with him.  But look here, my dear Pugh, I
couldn't help hearing a great deal about your domestic trouble.  Haven't
you been wronging the little woman?"

"If you have any respect or feeling for me, Mr Parkley, say no more."

"All right, my dear fellow," said the other, with a sigh, "I will not;
only act like a sensible man in all things--home and business.  Heigho,
I really wish I was not going, but the idea of these hidden treasures
sets me on fire."

Mr Parkley forgot all his hesitation as they stepped on board and saw
how--in spite of the bustle and confusion consequent upon receiving late
supplies of fresh meat and vegetables--ship-shape and excellent were
Captain Studwick's arrangements.  John Studwick was on board, seated
upon a wicker chair, and his sister beside him; Mr Meldon, the young
doctor, was leaning over the bulwarks, with a very tall, thin young man,
the naturalist friend; the sailors were busy lowering bales and
arranging coops and hens; and all was ready for the start--in fact, the
dockmen were ready to warp the schooner out, and after a short run
behind a tug down the harbour, they would have the open Channel before
them.

There was a goodly concourse of people about the wharves, for the object
of the schooner's trip had somehow gained wind, and while some expressed
interest and curiosity in the voyage, others laughingly called it a
fool's errand.

"Has anybody seen Senor Lorry?" said Mr Parkley at last.

"I had a note from him," said Captain Studwick, "He said he would be
down here punctually at twelve.  Has his luggage come, Oakum?"

"None on it, sir," said the rough old sailor, pulling his forelock.

"That's strange," said the captain.  "When did you see him, Parkley?"

"Last night, and he said he would be aboard in the morning, and glad of
it, for he was sick of England."

"Twelve o'clock now," said the captain.  "Well, the tide serves; I must
give the word for getting out of dock.  He must have a longer row for
being late.  He's sure to come, of course."

"Oh, yes," said Mr Parkley; but he glanced uneasily at Dutch, as if he
did not feel sure.

"Ready there," cried the captain.  "Now, my lads, be handy--cast off
those ropes for'ard.  Oh, here he is.  Hold hard there."

"But where's his luggage?" said Mr Parkley.

"Oh, behind the crowd," said the captain.  "Come along, sir, we were
going without you."

"Indeed!" said the Cuban, with a smile.  "I doubt that.  Where would you
go?"

"Where Mr Parkley told me," said the captain.  "Give me the order.
I'll find the place.  Let's see, Mr Pugh, we are to send you back in
the tug, I suppose."

Dutch nodded.

"Now, then, for'ard there," cried the captain; "be ready to cast off.
Are you ready?"

"Ay, ay," came in chorus from the smart, well-picked crew.

"Stop!" exclaimed Laure in a loud voice, and, turning to Mr Parkley, he
pointed to Dutch and said, "That is your partner, is it not, Mr
Parkley?"

"Yes, certainly."

"And he will share in the profits of this expedition?"

"Certainly he will, sir."

"Then, sir, I break our engagement.  I shall have nothing to do with the
voyage.  The matter is entirely off."

"Confound it all, sir!" cried Mr Parkley, in a passion.  "You can't do
that."

"But, sir, I have done it," said the Cuban, lighting a cigar.

"What!  After I've spent all this money in preparation?"

"I have told you," said the Cuban, contemptuously--and he gave a
malignant glance at Dutch.

"Mr Parkley," said Dutch, stepping forward, "my private quarrel with
this man shall not stand in your way.  All this preparation has been
made for the expedition, and my being your partner shall not stop it.
Sir, our partnership is at an end."

"Is it?" said Mr Parkley, with his teeth set.  "No, I'll be hanged if
it is;" and as the men gathered round, wondering at what they had heard,
he laid his hand on Dutch Pugh's shoulder.  "I've proved you, my lad,
but I've not proved this man, who at the first touch bends and nearly
breaks.  We are partners, and mean to stay so, and Mr Lorry here will
have to keep to his bond, or I'll soon see what the law says to him."

The Cuban smiled contemptuously.

"Suppose I say it was all a mad dream, and I know of no such place: what
then?"

"Why, you are a bigger scoundrel than I took you for."

"Sir!" cried the Cuban, menacingly.

"Oh, you want to frighten me with your big looks, sir," cried Mr
Parkley.  "Now then, I ask you in plain English, will you fulfil your
undertaking, and show me the place where the old Spanish galleons are
sunk?"

"No," said the Cuban, coolly, "I will not help to enrich my enemy!" and
he again looked indignantly at Dutch.

"Mr Parkley!" exclaimed the latter, "I cannot see all this costly
enterprise ruined because of my private trouble with this villain."

"Villain!" cried Laure, confronting Dutch, whose face flushed and whose
hands were half raised to seize his enemy.

"Be silent," he said, in a low, hoarse voice, "I've that within me that
I can hardly control.  If you rouse it again, by the God who made me,
I'll strangle you and hurl you over the side."

The Cuban involuntarily shrank from the menacing face before him, and
Dutch by a strong effort turned to Mr Parkley.

"Make terms with him, sir.  I will not stand in your way."

"Yes, I'll make terms with him," exclaimed Mr Parkley, angrily.  "Now,
sir, I ask you again will you fulfil your contract?"

The Cuban half-closed his eyes, puffed forth a ring of smoke, and said
quietly,--

"In my country, when one man strikes another the insult is washed out in
blood.  Your bold partner there has struck me, a weaker man than
himself, and I cannot avenge the insult, for you cold islanders here
boast of your courage, but you will not equalise the weak and strong by
placing the sword, the knife, or the pistol in their hands.  You say no;
that is the law.  You call in your police.  Fools! cowards! do you think
that will satisfy me?"

"Did Mr Pugh strike you, then?" said Mr Parkley.

"Yes, three cruel blows," hissed the Cuban, with his face distorted with
rage.

"Then you must have deserved it," cried Mr Parkley.

"You think so," said the Cuban, growing unnaturally calm again.  "Then I
say I must have satisfaction somehow.  Your partner makes me his enemy,
and you must suffer.  I shall not fulfil my contract.  I will not take
you where the galleons lie.  You have made your preparations.  Good.
You must suffer for it, even as I suffer.  I give up one of the dreams
of my life.  I will not go."

A pang shot through Dutch Pugh's breast, for in this refusal to depart
he saw an excuse to remain in England, and once more the hot blood rose
to his face.

"You absolutely refuse, then, to show Captain Studwick and me where the
objects we seek are hid?" said Mr Parkley, turning up his cuffs as if
he meant to fight; and the Cuban's hand went into his breast.

"I absolutely refuse," said the Cuban, disdainfully.

"You know, I suppose, that you forfeit half the result," said Mr
Parkley.

"Yes," said the Cuban, moving towards the gangway, "I know I lose half
the result."

"You know I have spent five thousand pounds in preparations," said Mr
Parkley, calmly.

"Yes," sneered the Cuban, "and you have your law.  Go to it for revenge;
it may please you."

"No," said Mr Parkley, looking round at the frowning faces of his
friends; "that means spending another thousand to gain the day, and
nothing to be obtained of a beggarly Cuban adventurer, who has neither
money nor honour."

"Take care!" cried Laure, flashing into rage, and baring his teeth like
some wild cat.  But the next instant, with wonderful self-command, he
cooled down, standing erect, proud and handsome, with his great black
beard half-way down his breast.  "Bah!" he exclaimed, "the English
diving-master is angry, and stoops to utter coward's insults."

"I'll show you, Mr Lorry, that I am no coward over this," said Mr
Parkley, firmly.  "You mean to throw us over, then, now that we are
ready to start."

"You threaten to throw me over," said the Cuban, smiling disdainfully.
"If you mean, do I still refuse to go, I say yes! yes! yes!  You and
your partner shall never touch a single bar of the treasure.  Ha! ha!
What will you do now?"

"Start without you," said Mr Parkley, coolly.  "Captain Studwick, see
that this man goes ashore."

The Cuban was already close to the gangway, but he turned sharply round,
and took a couple of steps towards the last speaker.

"What!" he said, with a look of apprehension flashing out of his eyes.
"You will go yourself without one to guide you?"

"Yes," said Mr Parkley; "and if you went down on your knees now to beg
me, damme, sir, you've broke your contract, and I wouldn't take you."

"Ha--ha--ha--ha--ha!" laughed the Cuban, derisively, as he quickly
recovered his composure.  "A beggarly threat.  Do you not know that it
took me five years of constant toil to make the discovery? and you talk
like this!"

"Yes," said Mr Parkley.  "It took a beggarly mongrel foreigner five
years, no doubt; but it would not take an enterprising Englishman five
weeks."

The Cuban's hand went into his breast again as he heard the words
"beggarly mongrel foreigner," and Captain Studwick grasped a
marlin-spike, ready to strike his arm down if he drew a weapon; but the
rage was crushed down directly, and Laure laughed again derisively.

"Go, then, fools, if you like.  But I know: it is an empty threat.  Ha,
ha, ha!  Go alone.  A pleasant voyage, Senor Parkley, and you, too,
Senor Captain.  You will perhaps find me there before you."

"Perhaps," said Mr Parkley.  "But go I will, and hang me if I come back
till I have found it."

"Well, for the matter o' that, Master Parkley and Capen Studwick," said
a rough voice, "if it means putting the schooner at anchor where them
Spanish galleons was sunk in the Carib Sea, if you'll let me take the
wheel, and you'll find fine weather, I'll steer you to the very spot."



STORY ONE, CHAPTER NINE.

'POLLO'S EVIDENCE.

"What?" shrieked the Cuban, rushing forward, with outstretched hands,
but only to control himself directly and smile contemptuously.

"I says as I'll clap this here schooner right over two or three spots
where old ships went down, and also off the coast where one on 'em lies
buried in the sand, all but her ribs and a few planks," said the old
sailor, Sam Oakum.

"He's a liar--a cheat.  Bah!" exclaimed the Cuban with contempt.

"I wouldn't adwise you to say them sorter things, gov'nor," said Oakum,
quietly.  "I knowd a chap as rubbed the skin off the bridge of his nose
wunst and blacked both his eyes agin my fist for saying less than that."

"Bah!" said the Cuban, snapping his fingers.

"And do you know, Oakum?" exclaimed Mr Parkley, eagerly.  "Can you
prove it?"

"If anybody would pass a man a bit o' 'bacco, I could, I dessay," said
the old fellow quietly.  "Thanky, mate.  Just pass the word for 'Pollo
to come aft, will you?  He's in the galley."

A sailor who had given Oakum the tobacco ran forward, while all waited
in breathless attention--the Cuban standing like a statue, with folded
arms, but, in spite of his apparent composure, smoking furiously, like a
volcano preparing for an eruption.

The sailor came back directly.

"Says he's cooking the passengers' dinner, and can't leave it, sir,"
said the sailor.

"Tell the cook to come here directly.  I want him," exclaimed the
captain, sternly; and the sailor ran off, returning with 'Pollo, the
black cook, rubbing his shiny face.

"I speck, sah, if de rose meat burn himself all up, you no blame de
cook, sah," he said.

"No, no, 'Pollo; only answer a question or two."

"Yes, sah; d'reckly, sah."

"Look ye here, 'Pollo, old mate," said Oakum; "you and I have had some
rum voyages in our time, old nigger."

"You call me ole mate, sah," said 'Pollo, angrily, "I answer hundred
tousan queshtum.  You call me nigger, sah, I dam if I say noder word."

"It's all right, 'Pollo, I won't any more.  You're a coloured gentleman;
and, though I chaff you sometimes, I know that I can always depend on
you, fair weather or foul."

The black nodded, showed his white teeth, and his eyes twinkled.

"Now look here, 'Pollo, old man; do you remember being in the little
brig off Caraccas, when we had the gold?"

"Yes, sah, I membah well; and membah when we had do tree hundred lilly
women aboard de big ship, and de big horse alligator woman.  Yah, yah,
yah!"

"So do I, 'Pollo; but what did we do when we were in the brig?"

"Catch de fish," said 'Pollo.

"To be sure we did; but what did we find lying down fathoms deep in the
clear water?"

"You mean de ole 'Panish gold ship, sah?"

"There!" said Sam Oakum, turning round with a grim smile on his mahogany
face; "Ain't that there corroborative evidence, sir?"

"We find two ole ship, sah, and one on de shore," said 'Pollo, volubly,
"and I dibe down, sah."

"Did you find anything?" said Mr Parkley, eagerly.

"No, sah, him too deep down, but I membah perfect well, sah, all about
'em.  All 'Panish ship, sah."

"That will do, 'Pollo," said Mr Parkley.  "Now go and see to the
dinner.  By-the-way, 'Pollo, will you come into the cabin after dinner,
and join Mr Oakum in drinking a glass of wine to the success of our
voyage?"

"I hab great pleasure, sah," said the black, with his eyes twinkling;
and as he went away bowing and smiling, Mr Parkley turned to the Cuban.

"Now, Mr Lorry, or Laure, or whatever your name is, will you have the
goodness to step ashore?  This is my ship, and this expedition belongs
to me and my partner.  You have refused to carry out your contract
before twenty witnesses, and now you see that I can do without you."

"But," said Laure, "the man is mad.  He cannot take you; but I will not
carry my revenge so far.  Make me a good concession and I will consent
to go."

"I thank you, Senor Laure, for endorsing the statement of our old
friend, Oakum, and the ship's cook, and since you are so kind, I will
make you a concession."

"You consent," said the Cuban, more eagerly than he intended.

"Yes," said Mr Parkley.  "You shall be allowed to walk off the ship
instead of being kicked off.  Captain Studwick, see that man off this
deck."

A look that was almost demoniacal overspread the Cuban's face, and
shaking his fist menacingly, he stepped on to the wharf and disappeared
through the crowd.

"Now, then," said Mr Parkley, triumphantly, "we are ready.  Captain
Studwick, westward ho!  Hallo, what now?  What is it, Rasp?" as that
individual came panting up.

"Are you sure as you've got all your company aboard?" said Rasp.

"Yes, I think so.  Eh, captain?"

"My crew is all right, certainly," said the captain.  "I don't know
anything about yours."

"To be sure, I did not think to look after them as they had promised to
be aboard in good time.  Where are John Tolly and James Morrison?"

"What, them?" said Oakum.  "Oh, they came aboard at nine this morning."

"Yes," said one of the sailors, "but they went ashore again about ten; I
saw 'em go."

"There," said Rasp, "where would you have been without me?  I see John
Tolly go by the orfice half-an-hour ago, so drunk he could hardly walk,
and Morrison as well, and--"

"Tut, tut, tut! we must have them," exclaimed Mr Parkley.  "The
scoundrels! to deceive us like this.  Pugh, come ashore, we must get the
police to help us."

"Then we shall not sail to-day," said the captain, with a shrug.  "Never
mind, we shall have the more time for getting ship-shape."

"Nonsense!" said Mr Parkley eagerly; "we shall soon be back."

The captain shook his head, for he knew better; and night had fallen,
and no more had been seen of the two divers on whom so much depended.

As the day wore on, Mr Parkley and Dutch returned to the ship two or
three times to report progress, if such it could be called, for nothing
was heard of the two divers.

"Dutch Pugh," said Mr Parkley, on one of these meetings, "I shall never
forgive myself.  Here am I, as I thought, such a business-like man, and
what do I do but go and forget to look after the very mainspring of my
works.  I fit all my wheels together, and then when I want to wind up
there's no springs.  What should we have done without divers?"

Night closed in without success, and a little party assembled in the
cabin, for as the ship might sail at any time, those who occupied the
place of passengers felt that it was hardly worth while to return
ashore.  Mr Parkley kept a bright face on the matter, but it was
evident that he was a good deal dispirited, though he chatted merrily
enough, and talked to John Studwick and his sister of the beauties of
the land they were about to visit.

"If we get off, Mr Parkley," said John Studwick, quietly.

"Get off, sir; why of course we shall.  These two scoundrels will come
off to-morrow morning, penniless, and with sick headaches.  The
rascals!"

Mr Parkley was reckoning without his host, for at that moment the two
divers, each with twenty pounds in his pocket above the advance pay he
had drawn, were on their way to London, and the man who had given the
money was now forward in the darkest part of the deck, crouching beneath
the high bulwarks of the large three-masted schooner, whispering with
one of the men.

Their discussion seemed to take a long time, but it ended in the other
man of the watch joining them, and the conversation still went on.

It was interrupted by the coming on deck of Captain Studwick, and
silence ensued, while the captain took a turn round the deck, and gave
an eye to the riding lights, for, as evening had come on, the vessel had
been warped out of dock, and lay a couple of hundred yards out in the
great estuary, fast to one of the buoys.

"We might have some of the lads taking a fancy to go on shore," he had
said to Mr Parkley, when he complained of having to take a boat to come
off; "and we shall be all the more ready to drop down with the tide.  I
don't want to find my crew like yours to-morrow morning--missing."

Finding all apparently quite right, and the lanterns burning, brightly,
Captain Studwick took another turn round the deck, peeped down into the
forecastle, where the men were talking and smoking, then went right
forward and looked over at the hawser fast to the buoy, said a word or
two of warning to the men, and went below.

It was now ten o'clock, and excessively dark--so dark that it was
impossible to see across the deck, and the lights hoisted up in the
rigging seemed like great stars.  The buzz of conversation in the
forecastle had grown much more subdued, and then suddenly ceased, though
a dull buzzing murmur could be heard from the deckhouse, where the dim
light of a smoky lantern, hung from the roof, shone upon the bright
cooking apparatus with which the place was furnished, and upon the
glistening teeth of 'Pollo, the black cook, and Oakum, the old sailor,
both smoking, and in earnest converse.

"Yes, 'Pollo," said Oakum, "it seemed to bring up old times, and some of
our vyges, so I thought I'd come and have a palaver before we turned
in."

"I glad to see you, Mass' Sam Oakum, sah, and I hope you often gin me de
pleasure ob your company during de voyage.  I 'spect you, Mass' Oakum,
and you always 'spect colour genlum, sah, dough we use quarrel some
time."

"Only chaff, 'Pollo."

"Course it was, sah, only chaff, and nuffum at all.  And now I tink ob
it, sah, I hav 'plendid 'rangement here, and supply for de cooking; and
when, by an' by, you find de beef too salt, and de biscuit too hard,
juss you drop in here, sah, after dark, and 'Pollo most likely find
lilly bit ob somefin nice leff from de cabin dinner."

"Thanky, 'Pollo, thanky," said Oakum.  "But what do you say, eh
ship-mate?  I think we can find the old galleons again?"

"I quite 'tent, sah, to put dis ship in de hands ob such sperienced
navigator as Mass' Sam Oakum, who know all ober de world quite perfeck.
You tink we sail in de morning?"

"If they catch them two skulking scoundrels of divers, 'Pollo.  I'd just
like to ropesend that Mr John Tolly.  Gets three times the pay o' the
other men, and is ten times as saucy."

"'Top!"

"Eh?" said Oakum.

"What dat, Mass' Oakum, sah?" said the black, whose eyes were rolling
and ears twitching.

Oakum listened attentively for a few moments, and then went on.

"Nothing at all, my lad, that I could hear."

"I sure I hear somefin, sah.  Let's go and see."

They both stepped out on to the deck, and stood and listened, for it was
impossible for them to see, though the light from the deckhouse made
them stand out plainly in view if anyone else was on the watch.

They saw nothing, for as they stepped out, a man, who was stealing aft,
dropped softly down and crouched under the bulwarks.

The hawsers creaked softly as they swung in the tide, and a faint light
shone up from the forecastle hatch, while from aft there was a tolerably
bright glow from the cabin skylight.  Here and there the riding lights
of other vessels rose and fell as they were swayed by the hurrying
waters, while the lights of the shore twinkled like stars on a black
background, but, saving the rippling noise of the tide against the great
schooner's side, all was perfectly still.

"False alarm, 'Pollo," said Oakum, leading the way back.

"No, sah," said 'Pollo, reseating himself, cross-legged, beneath the
lantern.  "I sure I hear somefin, sah, dough I no say what it was."

"I've often wished for you as a mate in a dark watch, 'Pollo," said
Oakum, hewing off a quid of tobacco, and thrusting it into one cheek.
"You would not go to sleep."

"Not ob a night, sah," said 'Pollo, complacently, "but I no so sure bout
dat if de sun shine hot; I go sleep den fass enough."

They had hardly resumed their conversation when the man who had dropped
down under the bulwarks rose, and went softly by the deckhouse, walking
rapidly aft to the side, where he climbed over, after running his hand
along and finding a rope, slid down, and took his place in a large boat
already half-full.

A few moments later and another man crept softly along the deck, went
over the side, and slid into the boat.

Another and another followed, and then one man who had been waiting by
the forecastle hatch, instead of going aft, opened a sharp knife and
crept forward to where the stout coir hawser was made fast to the buoy.
It was drawn very tight, for the tide was running in fast, and a few
sharp cuts would have divided the strands, with the result that the
schooner would have drifted up with the current, and, if it had not
fouled, and perhaps sunk some smaller vessel in its course, have run
ashore.

The man listened attentively but all was still, and raising his knife he
began to saw through the strands, when, rising, he shut the knife with a
snap and exclaimed:

"No, hang it all, I won't.  It's too bad; and there's a woman aboard.
Bad enough as it is."

Then following the example of those who had gone before, he went softly
aft, feeling his way along the bulwarks till his hand came in contact
with the rope, and he, too, slid down into the boat.

"Well, did you cut the great rope?" whispered a voice.

"Yes, gov'nor, all right.  But not deep," added the man to himself.

"Quick then, quick then," whispered the former speaker, "undo this
little rope and let the boat float away."

The boat's painter was loosened--but not without rattling the iron ring
through which it was run--dropped over the side with a splash, and just
faintly grating against the vessel's side the boat glided away,
appearing for a few moments in the faint glow cast from the stern
windows, and then seeming to pass into a bank of utter darkness.

"I no care what you say, Mass' Oakum, sah," said 'Pollo a few moments
before; and his great black ears seemed to start forward like those of a
hare, "I sure I hear de rattle ob a rope; and you see if dare isn't a
boat under de side."

He leaped softly up, and ran on deck, followed by Oakum.

"Dere, I sure I right," whispered the black, pointing astern.  "Boat
full ob men."

"I can't see nowt," growled Sam.  "Let's go forward and ask the look-out
if they heerd anything.  Hear a boat touch the side, mates?" he said
aloud.

There was no answer.

"The lubbers are asleep," he cried, angrily; and hurrying to where the
men should have been, he found that they were missing, and ran to the
hatchway.  "Below there!" he shouted.  "On deck here, some of yer!"

All silent, and he lowered himself down to find a lantern burning, but
not a soul there even in the bunks, the men's kits being also gone.

"Deserted, by jingo!" cried Oakum, slapping his thigh, as he began to
ascend the ladder.  "Here, 'Pollo, run and call the skipper."

"What's wrong?" cried Captain Studwick, from out of the darkness.

"Not a blessed man, sir, left aboard;" and the captain brought his foot
down with a savage stamp upon deck.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER TEN.

OFF AT LAST.

The outcry brought the doctor, Mr Wilson, and John Studwick on deck the
latter panting, and evidently in a terrible state of alarm.

"Quick, father, the boat, save Bessy, don't mind me," he gasped.

"There's nothing to fear, my boy," exclaimed the captain, catching the
young man's arm.  "Only the men have gone ashore--forsaken the ship.
Now go below.  Here, you Oakum, what do you mean, you scoundrel?
Where's Mr Jones?"

"Here, sir," said the mate, who had hurried from his berth.  "What's
wrong?"

"Wrong?" exclaimed the captain, stamping about the deck in his rage.
"Why, the men have forsaken the ship.  What were you about?"

"I beg pardon, Captain Studwick," said the mate, sharply; "but it was my
watch below.  You said you would see to the first watch with Oakum."

"So I did, so I did," cried the captain.  "Here, Oakum."

"You said I could go below, Capen," said Oakum, gruffly.

"Did you know anything of this?"

"If I'd know'd anything of it, I should have come and told you," growled
Oakum.  "Didn't I give the alarm as soon as I know'd?"

"Yes, yes, yes," cried the captain.  "There, I beg your pardon, Mr
Jones.  Don't take any notice, Oakum.  It's enough to make any man mad.
How am I to face Mr Parkley and Mr Pugh when they come off in the
morning?"

"Lads on'y gone off to have a good drink, p'raps, sir," suggested Oakum.

"Drink?  No.  They've been got at and bribed, or persuaded not to go.
The scoundrels!  I'll have them before the nearest magistrate and punish
them for this."

"Got to ketch 'em first," growled Oakum to himself.

"Look here, when did you find this out?" exclaimed the captain.

"When you heerd me shout," said Oakum.  "'Pollo here thought he heard a
noise, and we came and looked."

"And I see de boat go astern wif all de men in, sah," said 'Pollo,
importantly.

"It's a planned thing, or the men would not have gone off like that,"
said the captain.  "Mark my words, John, that foreigner's at the bottom
of this.  Did either of you see him come near the ship?"

"I did, sah," cried 'Pollo.

"You did?" exclaimed the captain.

"Yes, sah, jus' 'fore dark I see um get in boat 'low de wharf, and two
men row boat wif um."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sah, I quite sure.  I see um sit in de stern wrap up in um cloak,
and smoke cigar.  But he nebber come nigh de ship."

"I thought as much," groaned the captain.  "Here, go below, John.  The
night air's chilly.  There's nothing the matter, my child," he continued
tenderly, "only some of the crew have absconded."  For just then Bessy
Studwick, very quiet and trembling, had come to his side.  "Well,
gentlemen, I'm very sorry, but I could not help it, and now I shall have
to ask you to share the watch with Mr Jones and myself.  Oakum and
'Pollo, go below.  Oakum, you will take the next watch with Mr Jones;
Mr Meldon, or you Mr Wilson, will, perhaps, join me in the morning
watch."

Both gentlemen expressed their willingness, and the night passed off
without further misadventure.

Captain Studwick was quite right, for the Cuban had hovered about the
schooner until darkness set in, when, watching his opportunity, he
caught the attention of one of the men, who absolutely refused to listen
to him at first, but as Laure bribed higher, and vowed that it was a mad
voyage, of which he had himself repented, as he would not expose the men
to the risks of the deadly coast where the treasure lay, the man began
to listen.

"There are fevers always on those shores, of the most deadly kind," he
whispered; "and I shall feel as if I had sent a party of good British
seamen to their death."

At last his words and his money began to tell.  This man was won over,
and when the others were brought under the persuasive ways of the Cuban,
the dread of punishment for desertion was mastered by another sovereign
or two, and after his last words they gave way.

"Take your choice," he had said at last; "a dog's death and your body
for the sharks in that pestilent clime, or the money I give you.  You
can take the night train for London, have your run there, and then get a
good vessel afterwards."

An additional sovereign to the man he felt most likely to be his tool
made him promise to cut the hawser, and then all went well for the
infamous design, except that this man repented of part of his bargain,
and the crew of stout, able seamen was taken off, and landed a mile or
so above where the schooner lay in the tideway.

By eight o'clock in the morning Mr Parkley and Dutch came off to
announce that they had discovered through 'Pollo that when he saw Tolly
and the other diver they were on their way to the station, and had taken
tickets for London.

"Did you ever have worse news?" said Mr Parkley, bitterly.  "It may be
months before we can get others who will go, for Layman, my other man,
is ill."

"Yes," said the captain, quietly.

"What do you mean?" exclaimed Mr Parkley, aghast.

"Our friend the Cuban has seduced all the men away, and stopped the
expedition."

"I'll be--No, I won't swear," exclaimed Mr

Parkley, turning red with fury.  "Stopped the voyage, has he!  Got my
divers away, and the crew, has he!  Look here, Dutch Pugh; look here,
Captain Studwick.  I'm a man who takes a good deal of moving, but when I
do move it takes more to stop me.  I'll move heaven and earth to carry
this plan out, and I'll spend every sixpence I've got, but what I'll
beat that scoundrel."

"You will apply to the magistrates about the men?" said the captain; "at
least, shall I?"

"No," said Mr Parkley, sharply.  "Might just as well commence
proceedings against that scoundrel.  Waste of time.  Dutch Pugh, you'll
stand by me?"

"Indeed I will, Mr Parkley," said Dutch, calmly, as he held out his
hand.

"And I'm sure I will," exclaimed the captain.

"I knew you would," said Mr Parkley, warmly.  "I'm determined now, for
it's evident that that rascal will try all he can to thwart me.  Come
down in the cabin, and let's see what's to be done.  We'll have a
meeting."

They were all seated round the cabin table soon after, and the matter
was discussed in all its bearings, Captain Studwick saying that he had
no fear of being able to get a dozen good men in a day or two, if they
were prepared to pay pretty highly.

"Then you must pay highly," said Mr Parkley; "but look here, every step
you take must be with the knowledge that this Laure is trying to thwart
you."

"I will not boast," said Captain Studwick, "but if I get a crew on board
here again, I think it will take two Laures to trick me."

"Good!" said Mr Parkley, beginning to brighten up.  "What I want is to
get off at once.  It will be horrible to stay, for we shall be the
laughing-stock of the whole town.  The chaff was beginning last night."

"But about divers?" said the captain.

"Yes, there is the difficulty.  It is not every man who will train for
it, as it is a risky thing.  Perhaps I may be able to train one or two
of the men we get.  At all events, go I will, and I will not be beaten."

"I'm afraid that would be but a poor chance," said Dutch, who sat there
pale and troubled, but had hardly spoken.

"Don't throw cold water on it, Pugh, for Heaven's sake," cried Mr
Parkley, testily.

"I do not wish to do that," said Dutch.  "I wish to help you."

"Well, then," cried Mr Parkley, sharply, "I shall take old Rasp.  He'll
go to oblige me, old as he is; and if it is necessary I will go down
myself.  I've not been down for years now, but sooner than that
scoundrel shall crow over me I'll do all the diving myself."

"There will be no necessity," said Dutch, quickly.

"What do you mean?" exclaimed Mr Parkley.

"I will go with you myself," said Dutch.

"What!" cried Mr Parkley, joyfully.  "You?  You go with me?  My dear
Pugh, I shall never forget this."

He rose and grasped the young man's hand with both of his own, and his
face flushed with pleasure.

"Yes," said Dutch, quietly, "I will go, and with old Rasp I think we can
manage."

"Manage!" cried Mr Parkley, "why, you are a host in yourself.  But look
here, my dear boy.  Gentlemen, you will excuse us.  Come on deck."

He led the way, and Dutch followed him to the side of the schooner,
where he took him by the button.

"I'm so grateful, Pugh," he exclaimed, "you can't think; but it won't
do.  The business would be all right with another, but I can't take you
away."

"Why not?" said Dutch, sharply.

"Your poor little wife, my boy, I could never look her in the face
again."

"For God's sake don't mention her," cried Dutch, passionately.  "There,
there," he cried, mastering himself, "you need not consider that."

"But, my dear Pugh, are you not too hasty--too ready to believe?  No,
no, it won't do, you misjudge her.  I won't let you go.  In a few days
all will be well again."

"Parkley," exclaimed Dutch, hoarsely, "it will never be all right again.
I speak to you as I would speak to no other man.  Heaven knows how I
have loved that woman.  But I have no home now.  I shall never see her
again."

"No, no, no, don't speak like that, my dear boy.  You are too rush.
Come, have patience, and all will be right.  You shall not go."

Dutch smiled bitterly.

"You are mad just now, but it will pass off; and look here, my dear boy,
it was all my fault for getting you to take the cursed scoundrel in."

"Don't speak of it, pray," cried Dutch.

"I must, my dear boy.  Now, look here.  After being guilty of one wrong
to that poor little woman of yours, how can I do her another by taking
her husband away?"

"I am no longer her husband, and she is no longer my wife," said Dutch,
sternly.  "I tell you I shall go."

"No, no; I will not let you."

"I am your partner, and I shall insist upon it.  Stay at home and let me
take the lead in the expedition.  You may trust me."

"Better than I would myself," said Mr Parkley, warmly.

"Then let me go.  It will be a relief to me from the torture I have
suffered these last weeks.  Parkley, you cannot dream of what I have
felt."

"Do you really earnestly mean all this?" said Mr Parkley, gazing in the
other's troubled face.

"Mean it?  Yes, it would be a real kindness."

"Time cures all wounds," said Mr Parkley, "so perhaps it will be best,
and you will make arrangements for her while you are away."

"She has the house," said Dutch, bitterly, "and what money I have.  I
shall write to her mother to join her.  Is that enough?"

Mr Parkley held out his hand, and the two men grasped each other's for
a moment, and then turned back to the cabin.

"Mr Pugh goes with us, Studwick; Rasp I know will come when he hears
that Mr Pugh is with us."

"Indeed," said Dutch, "I should have thought not."

"You'll see," said Mr Parkley, writing a few lines in his pocket-book
and tearing off the leaf.  "Now, then, about Rasp.  Whom can we trust to
take this ashore?"

"Let me go," said Mr Meldon, the young doctor, "I will deliver it in
safety."

"You will?" cried Mr Parkley.  "That's well; but mind you don't get
tampered with, nor the man this is to fetch."

Mr Meldon started, being rowed ashore in a boat they hailed.  The
captain was ready to suspect everyone now, but in an hour old Rasp come
grumbling aboard, with a huge carpet bag, which dragged him into the
boat in which he came off, and nearly pulled him back into it when he
mounted the side.

"Oh, yes, I'll go," he said, as soon as he encountered his employers on
the deck.  "Hain't got enough clean shirts, though.  I allus thought
that Tolly was good for nowt, and the forrener a bad un."

"And now, Rasp, I want you to go ashore again for me," said Dutch.

"I'll take him with me," said the captain, "and keep a sharp look-out.
Mr Parkley is going too."

"I don't want no sharp look-outs," said Rasp, gruffly.  "I can take care
o' mysen'."

Rasp's mission was a simple one, namely, to purchase certain articles of
outfit, for, with stern determination, the young man had set his face
against revisiting his home.  Moreover, as if distrustful of himself, he
stayed on board, meaning to remain there for good.

The captain and mate both left for the shore, leaving Dutch in charge of
the vessel, and so earnestly did they work that by nightfall they had
secured six fresh men, and were hopeful of obtaining another
half-dozen--all they required--by the following day.

The new-comers were of a rougher class than those who had been wiled
away, but for all that they were sturdy, useful men, and, anxious as the
leaders of the expedition were to start, it was no time for choosing.

That night, little thinking that every action in connection with the
vessel had been closely watched with a powerful glass from the upper
window of a house overlooking the estuary, Captain Studwick returned
with the mate, taking the precaution to give the men plenty of liquor,
and placing them under hatches for safety.

Rasp had long been back with the necessaries Dutch required, bringing
with them a letter, which the young man read, tore to shreds, and then
sent fluttering over the side; and at last the party, feeling hopeful of
success on the morrow, retired for the night, saving such as had to keep
watch.

The next day, however, brought no success; not a man of those unemployed
could be induced to undertake the voyage, and to Captain Studwick's
great annoyance he found that by some means the whole business of the
voyage had been turned into ridicule, and the men he addressed responded
to his questions with a coarse burst of laughter.  With the
determination, then, of sailing the next morning with the crew he had,
and putting in at Plymouth with the hope of obtaining more, he returned
on board, and was in the act of relating his ill-success, when Oakum
hailed a boat, pulled towards them by a couple of watermen, with
half-a-dozen sailors in her stern.

It was growing dark, but those on deck could make out that the men had
their long bolster-like kits with them, and the captain's heart beat
with joy as he heard, in answer to the hail, that the men had come from
one of the sailors' boarding-houses, having arrived there that
afternoon.

"Simpson's, on West Quay," said one of the watermen.  "He heerd you were
looking out for hands, and he gave me this."

He handed a up letter in which the boarding-house keeper asked for five
pounds for securing the men and talking them into coming, and as the
sailors came on deck, and proved quite willing to sign for the voyage,
the money was paid and the boat pushed off.

They were not a handsome set of men, three being Englishmen, one a Dane,
and the other two Lascars, one a long black-haired fellow, the other a
short-haired, closely-shaven man, with a stoop, and a slight halt in one
leg.  He was nearly black, and did not look an attractive addition to
the party; but the men declared he was an old ship-mate, and a good
hand, evidently displaying an inclination, too, to refuse to go without
him, so he was included.

"I think we can set our friend at defiance now," said the captain,
rubbing his hands as the men went below.

"I don't know," said Mr Parkley.  "He's one of those treacherous,
cunning scoundrels that will steal a march on us when it is least
expected.  It's a fine night, and not so very dark; the tide serves; so
what do you say to dropping down at once, and putting a few miles of sea
between us and our friend?"

"The very thing I should have proposed," said the captain; "and, what's
more, I say make all sail for our port, in case our friend should
charter a fresh vessel and be before us."

"He would not get the divers."

"No, perhaps not; but he might make up a party who could overhaul and
plunder us.  I shall not be happy till we are well on the way."

"Good, then, let's make our start.  It will astonish Pugh when he comes
up from his berth to find us full-handed and well on our way."

"Is he lying down, then?" said the captain.

"Yes, I persuaded him to go, as he was the watch again to-night.  The
fellow is ill with worry and anxiety, and we can't afford to have him
knocked up.  You'll start, then, at once."

"In a quarter of an hour or so," said Captain Studwick.  "Here's a large
barque coming up, and we may as well let her clear us first."

Giving the word to the mate, the first half-dozen men were called up,
and a couple of sails made ready for hoisting, so as to give steerage
way, and the motions of the dimly-seen barque were watched.

"I don't want her to run foul of us," said the captain, "for if she did,
I should be ready to swear that it was one of the Cuban's plans."

"Hardly," replied Mr Parkley.  "If any fresh hindrance is to come to
us, it will be from the shore.  If you take my advice, you will not let
a boat approach the ship to-night."

"I don't mean to," said the captain.  "All right, she'll give us a
pretty good wide berth.  Hallo!  What's that?" he said, crossing over to
port.

"Boat from the shore, sir," said one of the men; and at the same moment
came a hail out of the darkness.

"Ahoy there!  Heave us a rope."

Oakum stepped forward, and was about to cast a rope down, when the
captain stayed him.

"What is it?" he said sharply.  "Keep off, or you may have something
through your planks;" and as he spoke he peered down into the boat.
"Here, Jones, keep a sharp look-out on the other side, and see that no
boat comes up."

"Is that Captain Studwick?" said a woman's voice.

"Yes, and what then?" said the captain.  "Now, it won't do.  The trick's
too clear.  How many have you in that boat?"

"No one but myself," replied the same voice.  "Pray, pray let me come on
board."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" exclaimed the captain.  "Quick!
I've no time to waste."

"Let her come on board," cried Mr Parkley, hastily.  "Don't you know
her?" he whispered; "it's Mrs Pugh."  Then leaning over the
side--"Hester, my child, is that you?"

"Yes," was the hoarse reply.  "Mr Parkley, for Heaven's sake, take me
on board."

"There, I told you so," exclaimed Mr Parkley; "let down the steps."

"I tell you it's some ruse of that cursed Cuban," cried the captain,
angrily.  "If you give way we shall be stopped again.  Keep that boat
off below there."

"No, no!" cried Mr Parkley.  "Stop.  Studwick, I take the
responsibility on myself.  Oakum, lower the steps, and throw that rope."

"Ay, ay, sir," said the old sailor.  "Am I to do it?" he continued to
the captain.

"Yes, if he wishes it," was the testy reply; and then in a low voice he
said to the mate, "Slip the hawser, and haul up the jib and staysail.
I'm going to the wheel."

His orders were rapidly executed, and the long, graceful vessel began
almost imperceptibly to move through the water.

"If it is any trick," said the captain, as he went aft to the man he had
stationed at the wheel, "it shall take place at sea.  What's that?"

He turned back instantly, for at that moment what sounded like a slight
scuffle was heard by the gangway he had left.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN.

IN BESSY'S CABIN.

So determined was Captain Studwick not to be lightly trifled with that a
pistol was in his hand as he ran back to the side, but his alarm was
unnecessary, for the scuffling noise was caused merely by Mr Parkley
catching their visitor as she tottered and nearly fell on the deck.

"Let me see my husband, Mr Parkley," she moaned, "for pity's sake let
me see my husband.  If I saw him and spoke to him, he would listen to
me."

"But, my dear child," began Mr Parkley.

"I shall die if I do not see him," she moaned again.  "I have been so
ill--I have suffered so much, and this evening the news came that he was
going away--away without seeing me.  Oh, God, what have I done that I
should suffer so!"

"My dear child--my dear Mrs Pugh."

"I must see him--pray, pray take me to him," she sobbed, "it is more
than I can--more than I can bear."

Mr Parkley caught her again just in time, for she swooned away, and
laying her upon the deck he tried hard to restore her.  Then looking up
he became aware that the lights of the town were fast receding.

"Why, Studwick," he exclaimed, "the schooner's moving."

"Yes," said the captain.

"But the boat this poor girl came off in?"

"Ashore by this time."

"But we can't take her.  Hang it, man, we cannot have domestic
differences on board.  She must go back."

"We must now land her at Plymouth," said the captain.  "Send for my
Bessy, man, she will soon bring her to.  How foolish of the little woman
to come aboard."

"Shall I fetch the young lady, sir?" said Sam Oakum gruffly, as he stood
with a look of disgust upon his face.

"Yes, for goodness' sake, do.  Quick!" exclaimed Mr Parkley, whose
efforts to restore animation were all in vain.

Just as Sam went aft, though, Mrs Pugh began to revive, stared wildly
about, and sitting up saw the captain bending over her.

"Captain Studwick," she cried, catching his hand and drawing herself
upon her knees to cling to him, "don't send me back--don't send me away.
Let me go too.  I could not bear to part from my husband like this.  He
is angry with me," she whispered, "I cannot tell you why, but he has not
spoken to me for days, and I have been so--so ill."

"Yes, yes, you shall see him, my dear, but stand up.  You must not make
a scene."

"Oh no," she exclaimed, rising hastily, "I will do anything you say,
only let me see him and explain.  Let me go with, you.  If I could talk
to him he would believe me, and all would be well again.  If not," she
said with a hysterical cry, "I shall go mad--I shall go mad."

"Come, let me take you below," said the captain, for she was clinging
tightly to his arm.

"Yes, yes," whispered the poor trembling woman.  "I could not help that;
I am trying so hard to be calm, but my poor breast is so care-laden that
a cry would escape.  Let me go with you, Captain Studwick.  I will be so
quiet--so careful."

"It is impossible, my dear child," he said in a husky voice, for her
agony affected him.

"No, no, don't say that; I will help Bessy nurse your poor son.  She
loves me, and believes in me, and I will give no trouble.  If you set me
ashore I shall die of grief.  I cannot live to be separated from my
husband--for him to leave me like this."

"Well, well, well, I'll see what I can do," said the captain in the
quieting way that one would speak to a child; but she peered instantly
into his face.

"You are deceiving me," she cried.  "You are trying to calm me with
promises, and you mean to set me ashore.  Mr Parkley," she wailed,
turning to him, "you know me, and believe in me: you know the cause of
this trouble.  Take me to my dear husband, and help me to drive away
this horrible belief of his, or I shall die."

"My dear child--my dear child," he said, drawing her to him, "I will try
all I can."

"But you will set me ashore again when I strove so hard to get to him.
I was so ill in bed, and he has not been near me.  I found out that you
were taking Dutch from me, and I could not stay.  Let me see him--oh,
let me see him!"

"You shall, my dear, as soon as you are calm."

"But he is here," she whispered, not daring to raise her voice lest, in
her excited state, it should get the mastery over her, and she should
burst forth in hysterical wails.

"Yes, my child, he is here.  He is asleep below."

"Poor Dutch!" she whispered to herself; and then with a faint, weary
smile she laid her hands in those of her old friend.  "There, you can
see how calm and patient I will be," she continued.  "No one shall
suspect any trouble.  I will be so quiet and patient, and if he will not
listen to me, I will not complain, so long as I am near him--only wait
till God changes his heart towards me."

"There, then, you shall stay--till we get to Plymouth," exclaimed Mr
Parkley, hastily passing his hand across his eyes.  "Don't let the men
see that anything's the matter, my dear."

"No: oh, no," she replied.  "I'm quite calm now.  Ah, here's Miss
Studwick."

"You here, Mrs Pugh!" exclaimed the captain's daughter, who believed
that she was coming to her father.

"Yes, I could not stay," Sobbed Hester.  "I was obliged to come.  Oh,
Bessy, dear Bessy, don't shrink from me," she wailed, as the men gladly
drew away and left them together.

"Hush! don't say a word here," said Bessy, glancing round, and speaking
hoarsely; "come down to my cabin."

Hester tottered, and would have fallen, but Bessy caught her arm and led
her below, where, as soon as they were alone, the former fell upon her
knees, and held up her hands, catching those of Bessy as she stood
before her.

"Listen to me, Miss Studwick," she moaned.  "Don't condemn me unheard.
I thought you believed in me, but you shrank from me just now."

Bessy did not speak, but gazed down on the sobbing woman with a look of
pity.

"My dear husband has allowed cruel suspicions to creep into his heart,
and he wrongs me--he does, indeed.  Oh, Bessy, Bessy, you loved him
once, I know, I know you did, and you must have hated me for taking his
love from you."

A low sigh burst from Bessy's breast, but she did not speak.

"You know," sobbed Hester, "how true and noble and frank he is."

"I do," said Bessy softly.

"Then, what would the woman be who could betray him, even in thought?
Would she not be the vilest, the most cruel of wretches?"

"She would, indeed," said Bessy coldly.

"Bessy--Miss Studwick," cried Hester, with a low wail of misery, "if I
have committed any sin it is that of loving my dear husband too well.
God--God knows how innocent I am.  Oh! it is too hard to bear."

She sank lower on the cabin floor, weeping silently, but only by a great
effort, for the heavy sobs kept rising to her lips, and in her agony the
intense desire to obtain relief in uttering loud cries was almost more
than she could master.

Bessy stood looking down upon her with brows knit and lips pressed
together, for her heart whispered to her that this was a judgment on
this woman, who had robbed her of her love, and that she ought to
rejoice over her downfall.  Then, too, the thought came that, this idol
fallen, she might, perhaps, herself be raised up in its place, and a
flash of joy irradiated her mind, but only for a moment.  Then her
better nature prevailed, and bending down she lifted the prostrate woman
with ease, and laid her upon the couch-like locker that filled one side
of the cabin, kneeling down beside her, and drawing the dishevelled head
upon her bosom.

"Hester," she whispered, "I did hate you, very, very bitterly, as
intensely as I once loved Dutch Pugh; but all that is passed.  When I
came to your house, and began to know you better, I used to go home and
kneel down and pray for his happiness with you, while, when I heard of
his trouble, my hatred began to fight its way back, so that the last day
or two I have felt ready to curse you for the wreck you have made."

"Oh, no, no, no," sobbed Hester, clinging to her; "I am innocent."

"Yes, I know and believe that now," said Bessy; "and I will help you to
win him back to the same belief."

"But you will bring him to me quickly, or they will set me ashore,"
wailed Hester, clinging tightly to her companion as she uttered a sigh
of relief.  "If I could but stay only to see him sometimes, and know
that he was safe, I should wait then patiently until he came to me and
told me that all this dreadful dream was at an end."

"And you believe that he will do this?"

"Believe!" cried Hester, starting up, and gazing full at her companion.
"Oh, yes, I believe it.  It may be long first, but the time will come,
and I can wait--I can wait--I can wait."

She sank back quite exhausted as she repeated the last words again and
again in a whisper, the last time almost inaudibly; and then, holding
Bessy Studwick's hand tightly clasped to her bosom, her eyes closed, and
she sank into the deep sleep of exhaustion, the first sleep that had
visited the weary woman for three nights; while, as the light from the
cabin lamp fell athwart her pretty troubled face, Bessy knelt there
watching her, passing her soft white hand across the forehead to sweep
away the tangled locks.  Then as the time wore on, and the rippling,
plashing noise of the water against the ship grew louder, and the
footsteps on the deck less frequent, she listened for the catching sighs
that escaped at intervals from the sleeping young wife's lips, her own
tears stealing gently down from time to time, as Hester murmured more
than once the name of which she had herself loved to dream.

"Poor Dutch! and he might have felt the same trouble, perhaps about me,"
thought Bessy, as she bent over and kissed Hester's cheek, to feel the
sleeping woman's arms steal round her neck for a moment, and then glide
softly down again.

"No, no, it could not be true," she whispered again, as she knelt there
watching hour after hour for Hester to awake, till her own head sank
lower and lower, and at last she fell asleep by the suffering woman's
side.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWELVE.

THE DOCTOR'S DECREE.

As the morning broke bright and clear, the large three-masted schooner
was running down the Channel under easy sail, and the men were beginning
to fall into their places, though all was at present rather awkward and
strange.  Captain Studwick and Mr Parkley had gone below,
congratulating themselves on having succeeded so far, and placed
themselves out of the reach of Laure's machinations, while Mr Jones,
the mate, had taken charge, and was now pacing the deck in company with
Dutch, who was trying hard to master his pain by throwing his whole soul
into the adventure.

In spite of himself, though, a little suffering face constantly
presented itself before him; and again and again he found his conscience
smiting him, and charging him with cruelty in forsaking his wife--asking
him, too, if he was sure that his suspicions were just.

At such times he recalled the shadows on the blind, set his teeth, and
thought of Laure's sneering laugh of triumph, and then his blood seemed
to boil up, and it was only by a strong effort that he was able to
master the agony he felt, mingled as it was with a desire for revenge.

"If I don't get to work at something," he muttered, "I shall go mad."

Just then the sun rose bright and clear, sending a flood of wondrous
radiance over the dancing waters, flecking the distant land with golden
radiance and dark shadows, while the soft mists gradually rose higher
and higher, gleaming like transparent silver, as they floated over
woodland and down.

"I wonder whether I shall ever see you again," muttered Dutch to
himself, as he leaned over the bulwark, and gazed at the beautiful
panorama by which they were swiftly gliding; and then, turning away with
a sigh, he came full upon the dark-skinned mulatto sailor, busily
coiling down a rope, and Dutch started slightly, half feeling that he
had seen the lowering countenance before, but the man paid no heed to
him, only went on with his task with his tarry hands, and finally limped
off to another part of the vessel.

Just then Captain Studwick and Mr Parkley came on deck, talking
earnestly, and when he went forward to shake hands they looked troubled,
and there was an air of constraint in their manner that he could not
understand.

"Well, gentlemen," he said, with an affectation of ease which he did not
feel, "we are out of our troubles now."

"I don't know so much about that," said Mr Parkley.  "Eh, Studwick?"

"No," said the captain, "I don't know either."

"Why, what do you mean?" said Dutch, and his eye involuntarily fell upon
the dark-skinned sailor, who was close at hand.  "You don't suspect that
the Cuban can interfere now?"

"You'd better tell him," whispered Mr Parkley.

"No, no, you tell him," said the captain uneasily, "known him longer,
and so on."

"What are you whispering about?" exclaimed Dutch.  "Pray speak out."

Mr Parkley looked at the captain for help, but he began to whistle, and
walked away to give an order.

"Well, my dear Pugh, the fact is," said Mr Parkley, taking hold of his
special button.

"Pray go on," exclaimed Dutch, "not anything serious?"

"N-no, not serious, but awkward.  The fact is your wife came on board
last night."

"My wife!" exclaimed Dutch, and a flash of joy lit up his face.  Then
the sombre cloud overshadowed it again, and he exclaimed bitterly, "I
have no wife," and walked away.

"Well, my lad," said Captain Studwick sharply, for the mulatto had
ceased working, and, half bent down as he was, stood listening intently
to all that passed, "you've nothing to do with what those gentlemen are
saying."

The man made a deprecating motion with his hand and bent to his work
again.

"We may as well understand each other at once," said the captain
sharply.  "Stand up."

The mulatto stood up, but in a half-averted way, and displayed a curious
sinister expression, caused by what appeared to be a scar across his
cheek, while his eyes seemed shifty and unable to meet the speaker's
gaze.

"What is your name?"

"Tonio," said the mulatto.

"Well, Tonio, mind this: You are engaged here for good pay.  I always
see that my men are well supplied in their mess, and, in return, I
expect smart work and strict obedience.  Do you understand?"

"Yes, captain," said the man, in a tone half sulky, half-full of
humiliation.

"That will do.  Now go and help that fellow to take a pull at the jib."

The man went limping off, but with great alacrity, passing Dutch, who
came back looking very stern and angry.

"Captain Studwick, I must ask you to put in at Plymouth.  Mr Parkley,
she must be set ashore."

"But, my dear boy, had you not better see her first.  I'm--I'm afraid
she will object to go without."

"No," said Dutch sternly, and he gazed at both in turn.  "She must be
set ashore as soon as possible."

Captain Studwick walked forward again, whistling, and then pulling out
his glass he took a look at a fast steamer astern.

"Parkley," said Dutch, as soon as they were alone, "I could not say it
before him, but I have not the manly strength to see her.  I am weak as
water, and I could not bear to see her agony.  Tell her," he added with
his lower lip working, "that I forgive her, and will pray for her, but I
can never see her again."

"But, my dear Pugh, you must--"

"Good morning, gentlemen," said a voice that made them start; and
turning sharply round, it was to find Mr Meldon, the young doctor.  "I
wanted to see you, Mr Pugh."

"To see me?"

"Yes, about Mrs Pugh.  You know she came on board last night."

"Yes, I know," said Pugh, coldly.

"She must have left her sick bed to come and see you, I suppose.  It was
a very ill-advised course, for she was ill."

"Yes," exclaimed Dutch, with an eagerness he could not conceal.

"And I am sorry to say that she is now in a high state of fever."

"Fever!"

"Yes, and quite delirious."

"We must put back, then," exclaimed Dutch.  "She must be set ashore--
taken home."

"I should not like to take the responsibility of having her moved," said
the doctor.  "If you will take my advice, you will let her remain."

"Let her remain?" gasped Dutch.  "Impossible!"

"No," said the doctor, smiling; "the removal is impossible."

"Is she in danger?"

"Not necessarily now; but she would be in great danger if moved.  I'm
afraid I must ask you to leave her to me.  It is fortunate that I was on
board, and that she has so good a nurse with her as Miss Studwick."

Dutch essayed to speak, but no words came, and drawing in his breath as
if in intense pain he walked to the side and stood with his head resting
upon his hand, looking out to sea, and wondering how this tangle was to
be ended.

"Poor fellow! he seems a good deal cut up about it," said Mr Meldon,
who was a dark, earnest-looking man of three or four-and-thirty.

"Yes," said Mr Parkley.  "She was to have gone ashore at Plymouth."

"Ha?" said Meldon.  "Poor young thing.  Great trouble about parting from
her husband."

"Ye-es," said Parkley.  Then, to turn the conversation, he said with a
smile, "Lucky thing for us bachelors, Mr Meldon.  We never have to
trouble our heads about the women."

"N-no," said the doctor, looking sharply at his companion, with a broad
red stain of blood suffusing his cheeks.  "Quite a novelty, though, a
voyage with ladies on board.  He didn't hear me," he continued, as Mr
Parkley obeyed a sign from the captain to come and have a look through
his glass at the steamer astern.

"No, sir, he's gone to have a good look at that steamer, as seems as if
she meant to overhaul us," said Sam Oakum; "but I heard you, and you're
right."

"Let's see, you are the second mate, aren't you, Mr Oakum?"

"Sir, to you, I am," said Oakum.

"But what do you mean by being right?" said the doctor with a smile.

"'Bout having ladies on board, sir.  I know I've been voyages before
with women aboard twice or three times mayhap, and no good can come of
it."

"Ah, you're a croaker, I see," said the doctor, nodding and laughing.
"Your liver's out of order."

"Hope I am, sir; and as to my liver, I don't believe I've got one,
leastways I can't say as I knows I've one.  Ay, ay, sir, coming."

He trotted forward to obey a call from the captain, and more sail was
hoisted, the steamer still overhauling them, and both the captain and
Mr Parkley watched her intently, fully expecting to find that this was
some new trick of the Cuban, but to the satisfaction of all concerned it
proved a false alarm, and the schooner continued her way onwards towards
the west.

It soon became evident, even to the greatest doubter, that the doctor
was in the right, and, accepting it as fate that Hester must remain on
board, Dutch devoted himself to the preparations for their cruise,
rather avoiding the cabins when possible, and dividing his time between
reading to the invalid John Studwick, and long talks with old Sam Oakum
about the coast and the places where he swore the old plate-ships lay.

"Lor' bless you, Mr Pugh, sir, and you, Mr Parkley," Oakum said one
day, when Land's End had long been left behind, and all was open water,
"I'm as sure of the place as can be.  I remember all the bearings, too,
so well.  Don't you be skeart about that; I'll take you, sure enough."

"Well, Oakum, we are going to trust you," said Mr Parkley, "and if you
lead us to success you shall not go unrewarded."

"I don't want no reward, sir," said the old man gruffly.  "If it turns
up trumps, you give me a pound or two o' bacco, and I shall be
satisfied."

Mr Parkley laughed, and after a time left them together, Dutch seeming
to find solace in the old sailor's company as, in a grumbling way, he
began to talk about the state of those on board.

"Seems to me, sir, as it warn't wise to bring that there poor fellow
aboard here, just to die and be wrapped in a hammock, for a sailor's
funeral: he's allus in your way, and gives a fellow low spirits to see.
Look at that steward as the skipper must have, just as if we wanted a
steward when we've got 'Pollo, as is as good a cook as ever came to.
Great fat fellow to go walloping down just when I wanted some rope
coiled down, and set to blubbering like a great gal because he's left
his wife behind."

Dutch winced slightly, and turned away to light a cigar.

"By-the-way, sir, how's your missus?" said Oakum.

"Better, decidedly," said Dutch shortly.

"Glad on it, sir.  Not as I likes women aboard; but I don't want 'em to
be ill.  Good job we've got the doctor here, to see as everybody takes
his salts and senny reg'lar; but what in the world the skipper meant by
shipping that great long chap, Mr Wilson, for I don't know.  He won't
go into one o' your soots, Mr Dutch, I know."

"Oh, no," said Dutch, smiling; "he's a naturalist, and going to collect
birds."

"And take 'em out too, sir.  He is a long-legged 'un.  Why, I see him
hit his head twiced up agen the cabin ceiling, and he's allus knocking
his hat out o' shape.  Nattalist, eh?  Well, he's about the
unnattalist-shaped chap I ever see, and all corners.  It's my opinion,
sir, as when he was made Natur begun him for a geerarf, and when she'd
done his legs altered her mind and turned him into a man.  You don't
mind me going on talking, sir?"

"No, Oakum, I like it," said Dutch, though he hardly took in a word.

"Well, sir, he's got a couple of cages full of birds, robins, and
sparrers, and starnels, and all sorts, as he says he's going to set free
out in South Amerikee, and bring back the cages full of other sorts."

"Naturalists have queer ideas, Oakum," said Dutch, moving himself.  "But
about this place we are going to.  The sea is always calm, you say?"

"'Cept in stormy times, sir, when, of course, she gets a bit thick.  But
there, don't you worry about that; we'll take you right to the spot, and
lay you just where you can have the long-boat out with the pumps and
traps, or maybe even get the schooner anchored right over the place, and
you and Master Rasp there can go down and crowbar the gold and silver
out in heaps."

"But suppose some one has been there before us," said Dutch.

"Not they, sir: first place, no one knows of it 'cept that furren
gentleman; second place, where's the air-pumps and divers' togs, to go
down and get at it?  I get wondering now why I never thought of a trip
out there, after being with Capen Studwick here, but I never did.  And
now, sir, if you'll give me a light I'll have a quiet smoke."

Dutch took out a match-box, and was going to light up, but Oakum held up
his hand to command silence; and before the young man could make out
what he was about to do, he stepped softly to the side, where a large
tarpaulin covered one of the boats lying in its chocks, gave one end of
the cover a sharp snatch, and the mulatto started up.

"Now then, out o' that," said the old sailor, menacingly.  "If you want
a caulk, just you take it below in your bunk."

The man bent his head, as he leaped lightly out, gave Oakum a curious
look from beneath his half-closed eyelids, and then limped forward.

"I don't like the looks o' that chap, Mr Dutch.  He's one o' the sort,
that if you hit him, he'd out with a knife and sheath it in a man's
ribs.  That chap was listening, that's what he was a-doing, though he
pretended to be asleep.  I don't like the look on him, nor of some more
o' them as come aboard with him, and if the skipper don't look out
there'll be mischief."

"I'm afraid you are given to prophesying evil, Oakum," said Dutch, with
a smile.

"Well, sir, I on'y says what I thinks, but, mind you this: if we get
back safe, I shall be surprised, for never yet, when I've gone out to
sea with petticoats on board have we got back without an accident."

"Nonsense, man."

"'Taint nonsense, sir; it's fate," said Oakum, "and what's more, look
here, I ain't a sooperstitious man, but the speerits o' them sailors as
was lost in the olden times along o' the treasure ships ain't a-going to
let us get hold o' what they've been watching all those hundreds o'
years without making a bit of a how-de-do."



STORY ONE, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE CAPTAIN'S SUSPICIONS.

The next day it came on to blow--and for quite a week tempestuous
weather set in, the schooner skimming along almost under bare poles, but
progressing well on her voyage.  Captain Studwick had some trouble with
his men, but on the whole they were pretty good sailors, and his strict
discipline kept them well to their work, so that, from showing at first
a little insubordination, they went pretty willingly to their duties.

On the tenth day out, the sun rose over a sea just rippled by a pleasant
breeze.  The men were busy drying clothes, and all the ports and hatches
were well open, and as the day wore on Mrs Pugh, looking very weak and
pale, came on deck, leaning on Bessy Studwick's arm, the latter leading
her to where Dutch was talking to Mr Parkley.

Dutch started as he saw them coming up, then, bowing coldly, he walked
to the other side of the deck to where John Studwick was sitting,
impatiently watching his sister; and as soon as he saw Mr Parkley lead
Mrs Pugh to a seat, he called to Bessy sharply to come to him, keeping
her jealously by his side, as he saw Mr Wilson and the doctor come up
and begin walking up and down, and frowning as they both raised their
hats, and smiled at his sister.

"I wish you would not notice these men, Bessy," he exclaimed in an
impatient whisper.

"I only bowed courteously to them, John dear," she said sadly; "and I
will not speak to them if you do not wish it."

"I don't like it," he said, hastily.  "Come and read to me."

She glanced across at Hester Pugh, and saw her white lips working as her
eyes followed her husband, and then, taking up a book, began to read to
her brother.

"Look at that, Bob," said one of a little group of men, busy overhauling
a large sail which had been split during the late gale.

"Yes, he looks bad enough," said another.  "A couple more days like
we've had would about finish him."

"Get out," said the other; "I don't mean him, I meant the gal."

"Yes, she ain't bad to look at," said the first.  "That's her as Oakum
was talking about."

"That it warn't," said the other; "'twas the little pale one."

"Just you two get on with that sail, will you," said a gruff voice
behind them; "and leave the women passengers alone."

One of the men looked across at the other, and grinned, and they went on
with their work, while Sam Oakum walked grumbling forward.

"I wish they wouldn't have no women aboard," he muttered half aloud.

"Why not?" said the doctor, who overheard him, and, facing round, Sam
found him standing there with the tall young naturalist, whom the men,
with their tendency at sea to nickname everyone, had christened Pigeons.

"Why not?" growled Oakum, scowling across at old Rasp, between which two
a deep dislike had sprung up.  "Because--though someone here as I won't
name will contradict every word I says--they ain't no good.  They sets
the men talking about 'em instead of doing their work; they consooms the
stores; they causes the ship to be littered with green stuff and fresh
meat; and, what with them and invalids, my deck's always in a mess.  Why
here's a cow and chickens, and a goat and ducks, and 'Pollo milking
every morning to get some thin blue stuff like scupper washings, and the
whole place turned into a farm-yard, and all because of the women.
Blame 'em!  I wish there warn't one on the face of the blessed earth."

"Hear him," said one of the two sailors who had just spoken; "hear him,
Bob," for they were dragging the sail aft as Oakum spoke.  "He was
crossed in love when he was green."

"Women's right enough at times," said Bob, a dull heavy fellow, with a
dreadful squint, one of those distortions of the eyes which cause the
owner to look behind his nose, which in this case was a very thick one.
"I'm right sorry for that little one there, though, for she seems mighty
bad."

"Let me introduce one of our protectors to you, Miss Studwick," said the
doctor, stopping by where she sat, book in hand.

John Studwick gave an impatient twist in his chair.

"This is Mr Oakum, the second mate, a gentleman who is a confirmed
hater of your sex."

"No I arn't," said Sam gruffly; "I only said as ladies hadn't no
business on board ships, even if they is captain's daughters.  They only
get listening by accident to people's tongues going a deal too fast and
free."

"That's meant for me, I suppose," said the doctor, laughing.  "Never
mind, Oakum, we shall not quarrel.  I think you'll like Oakum, Mr
Studwick."

"Thank you," said the young man, sharply, "but I only take your medical
advice, Mr Meldon.  Come, Bessy, it's chilly here."

"But the sun is getting warmer every moment, John," said his sister,
gently.  "I think you will be all the better for staying on deck."

"I'm sure you will," said the doctor, smiling, and passing on.

"I'm sure I shall not," exclaimed the invalid, pettishly, while his eyes
looked jealously and brightly at the young doctor.  "Take me below,
Bessy.  There--I can walk; come along.  Mr Oakum is right--men's
tongues do go too freely here."

Bessy looked at him sadly, and then smiling pleasantly as he raised his
eyes, walked with him to the cabin door.

"I hope you will not take any notice of my son's sharp remarks, doctor,"
said Captain Studwick, overtaking the two young men, for he had heard
what had passed.

"Not I, indeed, captain," said the doctor, frankly.  "I think I
understand what it means, and I should be a poor student of human nature
if I visited his petulance upon him.  We shall be the best of friends
before long, I'll be bound."

"I hope so, I'm sure," said the captain, gloomily, "for it's quite
possible that we may need to hold well together before our trip is
over."

"Do you anticipate any danger, captain?" said Wilson, turning pale.

The captain hesitated, and then said--

"Voyages are always dangerous--that's all."

"He means more than he says," thought the doctor; and he followed the
captain with his eyes as he went forward, stopped, and spoke a few words
to Hester and Mr Parkley, who were still sitting together, and then
joined Dutch, who was, according to his wont, gazing over the bulwark
far out to sea.

"Pugh," he said, holding out his cigar-case, for several of the men were
standing about, and he thought it better not to seem to be making a
communication, "I've got something on my mind, and of all the men on
board you are the one I have chosen to make my confidant."

Dutch's eyes brightened, and he turned to the captain eagerly.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"Nothing--only listen.  Perhaps this is only a mare's nest; but I've had
so much to do with men, that I am rather a keen observer."

"Is there any danger--anything wrong?" exclaimed Dutch, glancing
involuntarily towards his wife.

"Danger or no danger," replied the captain, "life is very uncertain, and
if you will excuse me for saying it, I don't think you would like to
die, or see her die,"--he nodded in the direction of the spot where
Hester was sitting--"without clasping hands once more."



STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

A MAN OVERBOARD.

Dutch turned pale as ashes, and closed his eyes for a few moments; then
turning an angry look upon the captain, he exclaimed--

"You have no right to intrude in this way upon my private feelings,
Captain Studwick."

"Not, perhaps, between man and man, Pugh; but I speak as one who would
give all he has to recall his poor wife, who died while he was at sea,
after parting from her in anger."

"For heaven's sake, be silent!" panted Dutch, grasping his arm.

"She looks, poor little woman," continued the captain, paying no heed to
his appeal, "as if a few weeks' neglect from you will kill her."

"I cannot, I will not listen to you," said Dutch, hoarsely, and with the
veins in his temples swelling.

"I will say no more about that, then," said the captain, "but confide to
you what I wish to say."

"Go on."

"Well, I may be wrong, but I have been trying to think it out ever since
we started, and I have said nothing to Parkley because I am so
uncertain."

"I do not understand you," said Dutch, looking at him curiously.

"I hardly understand myself," replied the captain; "but I will try to
explain.  In the first place, you or we have made a deadly enemy in our
Cuban acquaintance."

"Undoubtedly," exclaimed Dutch.

"One who would do anything to serve his ends--to stop us from getting to
the place Oakum professes to know."

"I am sure he would."

"He would atop us at any cost."

"If he could; but we were too quick for him, and he has not stopped us."

"That's what troubles me."

"How troubles you?  Why should that cause uneasiness?" said Dutch.

"Because he strikes me as being a man of such diabolical ingenuity that
he would have found, if he had wished, some means of circumventing us
before we started; and hence, as you know, I have carefully scanned
every ship we neared, or steamer that passed us."

"Yes, I know all that," said Dutch, growing excited; "but we have been
too much for him."

"I fear not," said Captain Studwick.

"Then you think we are in danger from him still?"

"I do, and that he would not stop at murder, or sinking the ship, to
gain his ends."

"I believe not," said Dutch, moodily.  "But you have found out
something?"

"Not yet."

"You know of something, then, for certain?"

"Not yet."

"Speak, man," exclaimed Dutch, impatiently.  "You torture me with your
riddles.  What is it you think?"

"Don't speak so loud," said the captain; "and don't look round and start
when I tell you, but smoke quietly, and seem like me--watching those
bonito playing below."

Dutch nodded.

"Go on," he said in a low voice.

"I will explain, then," said the captain.  "But first I believe this: we
have not been stopped or overtaken by Laure, because--"

"Because what?"

"We have the danger we shunned here on board."

In spite of the feelings that had troubled him, the deep fervent love
for his wife asserted itself at the words of Captain Studwick, and Dutch
Pugh made a step in her direction, as if to be ready to protect her from
harm, before he recollected himself, and recalled that there could be no
immediate danger.

"What do you mean?" he exclaimed then, eagerly.

"That's a larger one than I've seen yet," said the captain, pointing
with his cigar down into the clear water.  "Oakum, ask Mr Jones to get
up the grains, and let any of the men who like try to strike a few of
the fish."

"Ay, ay, sir," exclaimed Oakum.

"Didn't I warn you to be quiet?" said the captain.  "Our safety and
success depend on keeping our enemy in ignorance that we suspect him."

"I beg pardon," said Dutch, taking his double-glass from its case,
adjusting it, and watching the fish play about; by its help seeing them
swimming together, rising, diving, and chasing one another through the
water, which was of all shades, from the faintest aquamarine and pale
turquoise to the richest, deepest sapphire blue.  "I am impulsive; but I
will control myself.  Go on.  Whom do you suspect?"

"That Cuban, of course."

"But he is two thousand miles away."

"Possibly, but his influence is with us."

"What do you think, then?"

"There's a much finer one still," cried the captain, pointing to an
albicore, which kept pace exactly with the schooner, as she careened
over to the soft breeze and surged through the sparkling water.  "No
one."

"Yes, I see him," said Dutch, aloud.  "But you think that Laure has
emissaries on board?"

"May be yes, may be no.  Lend me your glass, Mr Pugh.  Thanks."

"Pray be a little more explicit.  What do you think, then?"

"I hope they will strike a few of these fellows," said the captain,
returning the glass.  "I can get on better without it, thank you.  Look
here, Pugh," he said, in a lower tone, "I am all suspicion, and no
certainty.  One thing is certain--those treasures have an existence; the
Cuban's acts prove that, and he will never let us get the spoil if he
can prevent it.  The colours of those fish are magnificent," he said,
aloud, as the mulatto limped by.  "The ladies ought to come and look at
them.  Every act of that man," he continued, "that I saw, proved him to
be a fellow of marvellous resource and ingenuity."

"Yes," said Dutch, nodding, with his eyes to the binocular.

"And unscrupulous to a degree."

Dutch nodded again.

"If the _Wave_ was a steamer, instead of a fast three-masted schooner,
it's my impression that we should have gone to the bottom before now."

"How?  Why?"

"He would have had a few sham lumps of coal conveyed into the bunkers--
hollow pieces of cast iron, full of powder or dynamite; one or two would
have been thrown into the furnace in firing, and the poor vessel would
have had a hole blown in her, and gone to the bottom before we knew what
was the matter."

"Diabolical!" exclaimed Dutch, below his breath.

"Oh, here is the grains," said the captain, as Oakum came along with an
implement something like an eel spear, or the trident Neptune is
represented as carrying, except that in this case, instead of three, it
was furnished with five sharp barbed teeth, and a thin, strong cord was
attached to the middle of the shaft.  "Would you like to try?" he
continued, turning to Tonio, who stood close at hand.

"Yes, I'll try," said the mulatto, in a guttural voice.

"Let him have the grains, Oakum," said the captain, to the great
disappointment of several of the men.  "These fellows are, some of them,
very clever this way."

The mulatto eagerly took the spear, fastened the cord around his wrist,
and, followed by several of the men, went forward to the bowsprit,
climbed out, and, descending, stood bare-footed on one of the stays,
bending down with the weapon poised ready to dart it at the first likely
fish that came within range.

"I am all impatient to hear more," said Dutch, still watching the fish
that played about in the blue water.

"And I am all impatient to find out more," said the captain; "but we
must be patient."

"Then you know nothing?"

"Nothing whatever.  I only feel sure that the Cuban is at work, trying
to checkmate us; and, of course, I suspect.  Now, I want your help."

"Of course," replied Dutch, both speaking more freely, for the attention
of all was taken up now with the scene being enacted in the bows of the
swift craft.  "I feel sure that you must be right; but I have had so
much to think of that these things did not trouble me.  He must have
started, and will get there before us."

"I don't think that possible," said the captain, "but I have thought
so."

"But suppose that he has some of his men on board, scoundrels in his own
pay."

"That is far more likely," said the captain; "and that is why I am so
careful."

"Of course, that must be it," exclaimed Dutch.  "The villain!  He bribed
your crew to desert, and has supplied others--his own miscreants."

"That is one thing I suspect."

"That last party there--the mulatto and the black."

"That is the most natural supposition at the first blush; but the men
are all strangers, and for this very reason I am half disposed to think
it was the first lot.  One is so disposed to judge wrongly."

"You are right," said Dutch, thoughtfully, "and we have no common
plotter to deal with.  You remember the man who wanted to hide an
important letter from the French spies?"

"No," said the captain, watching him intently.  "What did he do?"

"He placed the letter somewhere so as they should not find it, knowing
full well that they would come and ransack his chambers as soon as his
back was turned."

"Well," said the captain, impatiently.

"Well, the spies of the police came; and in his absence searched the
place in every direction, even trying the legs of the chairs and tables
to see if the document was rolled up and plugged in one of them; but
they gave up in despair, finding nothing."

"Where was it hidden, then," said the captain.

"It was not hidden at all," said Dutch, smiling.  "The owner came back
at last, after having been waylaid and searched, even to the linings of
his clothes; and then, feeling secure, took the letter from where he had
placed it, the French police feeling that it must be in other hands."

"But where was it?" said the captain again.

"Why, where he left it: in a common envelope, plain for everybody to
see, just stuck half behind the looking-glass over the mantel-piece, and
had probably been in the searchers' hands half-a-dozen times."

"That is just the trick that the Cuban will try with us," exclaimed the
captain.

"I think so," said Dutch; "otherwise one might look upon that mulatto as
a suspicious character."

"Yes, of course," replied the captain.  "I was ready to pitch upon him
at first, but I changed my mind, and am more disposed to suspect those
two quiet English fellows, Lennie and Rolls, the men Oakum was talking
to some time back."

"I know," said Dutch.  "One of them is a dark fellow, with an outrageous
cast in his eye."

"In both his eyes, you mean," said the captain.  "That is Rolls.  The
other fellow seems as thick-headed and stupid as an ox.  He has a
perpetual grin on his face, and looks simplicity itself."

"I know the men," said Dutch.  "But now what do you propose to do?"

"Nothing but wait.  I had thought of putting the others on their guard;
but by doing so I might defeat my own ends.  Perhaps, after all, I am
wrong, and we shall never hear more of Master Laure, except, if we are
successful, he may attack you by law for a share."

"But you could take precautions," exclaimed Dutch, who again glanced
involuntarily at his wife, who sat there watching him in a sad appealing
way that went to his heart.

"Every precaution with respect to the arms, which I always keep under
lock and key.  And now, what I want you to do is to keep about at all
times, night or day, as the chance may serve, picking up such facts as
you come across, and communicating them to me; while, for my part, I
shall keep every possible stitch of canvas set, and reach the place as
soon as I can."

"For it may turn out a false alarm," said Dutch.

"I trust it may; but I feel sure it will not," replied the captain.

"I'm afraid I must agree with you," said Dutch.  "Depend upon it, there
is some deeply-laid plot ready to be sprung upon us.  However,
forewarned--"

"Man overboard!  Man overboard!" shouted half-a-dozen voices in chorus;
and directly after, Mr Jones, the mate, was heard to cry hoarsely to
the man at the wheel--

"Hard down, my lad, hard down; steady, my lads.  Quick to those
braces--'bout ship."

"Here, four of you lower down this boat," cried the captain, as
excitedly as the rest, for the fact was plain enough for comprehension.
Tonio, the mulatto, had been darting his spear with more or less success
at the bonito, and had at last sent it down with such precision in the
back of a large fish that he had buried it far beyond the barbs, when
his prey made a tremendous rush, gave the cord a violent jerk, and,
being attached to the thrower's wrist, it literally snatched him from
his precarious position, and, in spite of his being a good swimmer, he
was rapidly being drowned by the frantic efforts of the fish.

Dutch saw in an instant that long before the boat could be lowered the
man would be exhausted, unless he was freed from the cord that jerked at
his wrist as he swam, and by means of which he was dragged again and
again beneath the water.  There was no time for thought: a
fellow-creature was in deadly peril, and he felt that he could give
help, so, throwing off the loose jacket he wore, and kicking off his
shoes, he took out and opened his knife, and climbed on the bulwarks.
As he did so, he caught a glimpse of Hester tottering with outspread
arms towards him, and heard her wail his name, but as he did so he was
leaping from the schooner's side to plunge deep down in the bright
water, sending the shoal of bonito flying in all directions as his body
formed a curve, and he came up twenty feet from where he had dipped, and
then began swimming lustily towards the drowning man.

A loud cheer saluted him as he turned on his side and swam hard, as the
preparations for lowering the boat went on, with the schooner becoming
each instant more distant, while it soon became evident with him that
unless something unforeseen occurred the mulatto must be drowned; for,
in spite of all Dutch's efforts, the fish took him farther and farther
away, the man's struggles, as he rose on the long swell of the Atlantic,
growing evidently feebler and feebler, till in its frantic dread and
pain the fish suddenly turned, making back for where Dutch, with long
slow strokes, urged himself rapidly through the water.

He hardly knew how it happened, for as he made a dash to cut off the
pain-maddened creature, it leaped over him, dived down, and, to his
horror, Dutch found that the rope was over his body, and that he was
being towed rapidly down into the awful depths of the ocean.  The light
above him seemed to be dimmed, and he half lost consciousness.  Then,
with one vigorous application of the knife, he was free, and a few kicks
brought him breathless to the surface, where, as he panted, he paddled
about looking for the mulatto, and had almost given him up when
something rose up slowly to the surface, and one hand appeared clutching
vainly at the air.

Half-a-dozen strokes took Dutch to his side, and, catching the drowning
man's wrist, he turned him over, and tried to get behind him.  But he
was not quick enough, for, in the strong desire for life, the mulatto,
as soon as he was touched, clasped the swimmer with arms and legs,
completely crippling him, and, after a brief struggle, they sank
together.

As they rose once more, Dutch saw that the boat was quite two hundred
yards away, and that his case was hopeless unless he took some
high-handed manner of saving himself; so, turning as well as he could,
he struck the drowning man a tremendous blow upon the temple with his
doubled fist, stunning him effectually; his clasp loosened, and, shaking
himself free, Dutch now turned him on his back, floating by his side as
he sustained him, till, with a loud hurrah, echoed from the schooner,
which was now coming down upon them hand-over-hand, the pair were
dragged into the boat, and soon after lay in safety upon their vessel's
deck.

The first upon whom Dutch's eyes fell was his wife, kneeling by his
side; and, as their eyes met, she took his hand, trembling, and raised
it to her lips, those quivering lips seeming inaudibly to say--

"Don't repulse me.  I love you so dearly, and so well."

The next moment Bessy was leading her away, and, after swallowing a
glass of stimulant handed to him by the doctor, Dutch rose, went below
and changed, returning, little the worse for his immersion, to find that
the doctor had succeeded in restoring the mulatto to consciousness,
while Dutch himself was received with a hearty cheer.



STORY ONE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

THE SILENT SEA.

The schooner sped on, and nothing troublous disturbed the progress of
the voyage as the days glided by.  So free from suspicion was everything
on board, that the captain was beginning to be lulled into a sense of
security, and a change had come over Pugh.

A reconciliation had not taken place between him and Hester; but he did
not avoid her now, but in a quiet, stern way watched over her, attending
her as she struggled back to health under the unremitting charge of the
doctor; and her lips daily grew less pale as the light of hope began
once more to shine in her eyes.

The routine of the ship went on in a regular way, and the men smoked and
idled as they entered the tropics, and neared the object of the voyage.
The doctor made himself specially agreeable to Sam Oakum, chatted with
him, gave him cigars, which Sam cut up and chewed, ending by talking
about John Studwick; at which Sam winked to himself as he thought that
the doctor would not have taken so much interest in the case if it had
not been for the sister.  Then, to use Oakum's own words, Mr Wilson
would "come and fold his back," so as to lean his elbows on the
bulwarks, and chatter about his birds and the natural-history objects
Sam had seen in his travels--that worthy not forgetting to shoot the
birds he described with the long bow; and all the while Mr Wilson, who
was an exceedingly meek individual, would be smoothing his light, towey
hair, which the winds blew about, altering the set of his tie and
collar, and brushing the specks off his clothes.

"He's a poor, weak, soft Tommy sort of a chap," said Sam to himself, as
he watched him out of one corner of his eye, and saw that he was
constantly on the look-out to see if Bessy Studwick came up on deck,
content to watch her from a distance, for her brother had taken quite an
antipathy to him.

"Heigho!" he'd sigh, as he shook his head, and gazed down at the water,
as if wondering whether he had not better emulate Dutch's plunge, and
not come up again.  "Heigho! this is a strange world, Mr Oakum."

"It's a rum 'un, sir, all round, and always was.  But I say, sir, it's
easy to see what's the matter with you."

"Oh, nonsense, nonsense, Mr Oakum!" said the tall fellow, blushing like
a girl.

"It's only natur', sir," said Sam, sympathetically, as he gave a good
twist to his quid, and winked at one of the blacks.  "It ain't nothin'
to be ashamed on."

"Ah; Mr Oakum, I wish I was in such favour as you are over yonder."

"You would not like to pay the cost, sir, I know."

"Pay the cost, Mr Oakum; what do you mean?"

"It's only we ugly ones as enjoys these privileges with the fair sect.
You wouldn't like to be old and ugly like me, to be talked to as I am."

"Ah, Mr Oakum, I would be her dog if she would be fond of me--or a
bird," he said, enthusiastically.  "Ah, if I had only thought of it
before I started."

"Thought o' what, sir?" said Sam, winking at the black again.

"Of bringing a few canaries.  They are such nice presents to give a
lady."

"Do you want to send a present to her, sir?"

"Oh, yes, Mr Oakum."

"Well, sir, if I were in love with a lady, and wanted--"

"Oh, hush!  Mr Oakum."

"Wanted, I says, to find her a present, I shouldn't send whistling
canaries, but a pair o' cooing doves."

The young naturalist stared at old Oakum, as if he wished to penetrate
his inmost thoughts; but the old sailor never flinched, looking as
serious as a judge outside, but laughing heartily within at the other's
expense.

"I will," he exclaimed; and hurrying away he was busy the rest of the
day painting up one of his old cages, in which he placed a pair of
doves, and called the old sailor down to him in the evening.

"Take those to Miss Studwick, Mr Oakum, with my compliments, and--er--
by the way--er--you would not feel offended if I offered you
half-a-crown to buy tobacco?"

"Not in the least, sir," exclaimed Oakum, earnestly.  "I'd do owt to
oblige you."

"Take them directly, then," he exclaimed; and with the two soft-plumaged
birds sitting close together as the old fellow swung the cage, the
present was taken to where Bessy Studwick sat by the side of her
brother, reading to him on deck.

Oakum was gone some time, and meanwhile poor Wilson fidgeted about
amongst his birds, hardly able to bear the suspense, turning first red,
and then pale, as Oakum came back, cage in hand, and set it down before
him.

"Miss Studwick says she's werry much obliged to you, sir," said Sam;
"but she can't werry well keep the birds, as Mr John thinks they'd be
too much for him to bear when they took to cooing."

"It don't matter, Oakum--set them down," he said, huskily, with his back
turned to the old sailor.  "I only thought the birds might amuse them,
as Mr John is so ill.  Dick, Dick, pretty Dick," first to one bird and
then to another, to hide his confusion.  "Come, little tame bird--come,
Jenny," he continued, opening one of the cage doors, when a pretty
little red-poll came hopping down from one perch to the other, and then
stood at the door looking out, with its head first on one side and then
on the other, and its little beady eyes directed first at Oakum, then at
its master.

"Why, bless its little heart, it looks as knowing as a Christian," said
the old sailor.  "Why didn't you send that one, sir?  That would have
pleased the young lady, and would have made no noise."

Wilson shook his head as he held out his finger, and the bird uttered a
loud twitter and flew to him, sitting on its living perch, and then,
raffling its throat and crest, jerked out a little song, suffering
itself afterwards to be stroked, and ending by picking a crumb from the
naturalist's mouth, and then flitting back to the cage in which it was
duly secured.

But all of the birds were more or less tame, being ready to peck at the
young man's fingers; and a robin, setting up his feathers and making a
playful attack as it fluttered its wings, and pecked and fought, ended
by hopping on its perch, and bursting into a triumphant song, as if it
had conquered some fierce rival.

"I wonder how many of them'll live in a foreign country, sir, when you
gets 'em there," said Oakum.

"Well, not all," said Mr Wilson; "but many of them.  Mind the paint on
that cage, Mr Oakum.  I'm so much obliged.  Er--you won't take any
notice about that cage and the birds?  Not that it matters, only Mr
Meldon or Mr Parkley might laugh, perhaps."

"Not I, sir.  You may trust me," growled Sam.

"Some people have a habit of laughing at natural history, you know, er--
er--because they don't understand."

"You may trust me, sir," exclaimed the old fellow, as he went up the
steps; and then to himself, "Yes, some folks has a habit of laughing at
that kind o' nat'ral history when they see it.  For only to think of a
thin, wobbling chap fancying as our Miss Bessy would take up with the
likes o' he.  Hah! its a curus thing this love, and them as has got
spliced don't allus seem to fit."

He went on deck to find Bessy Studwick still reading to her brother; and
her voice sounded so hoarse that the old fellow trotted to the steward's
pantry for a glass of water and a couple of lumps of sugar, squeezing in
afterwards the two halves of a lemon, bearing the drink himself to where
John Studwick lay back gazing at the setting sun, his face lit up with a
calm, placid smile; and, though his sister read on, he evidently hardly
heard a word that was read.

He started slightly as Oakum came up with the tumbler.

"What is it?" he said, harshly.  "Has that Mr Meldon sent me more
medicine?  I will not take it."

Bessy Studwick must have turned her face more to the setting sun, for
her cheeks grew crimson at her brother's words; and, seeing this, he
looked at her angrily.

"Lor' bless your 'art, no, sir," said Oakum.  "I thought you and our
young lady here might be a bit thirsty after so much book, so I brought
you some lemonade."

They gave him a grateful look, each thanking him for the attention to
the other, and as he walked back with the empty glass Mr Meldon, who
was standing talking to Hester Pugh and Mr Parkley, turned, sighed to
himself, and looked after the old man with a feeling of envy.

"If I had paid that little attention," he thought, "it would have been
refused with some harsh remark.  Poor fellow! even though he's her
brother, I do not wonder at his feeling jealous of every look."

Days of sailing over bright, sun-flecked seas, evenings of gorgeous
sunsets, and nights of black violet skies, with the great stars
sparkling overhead, and reflected in myriads on the smooth surface of
the wondrous phosphorescent water, all aglow with pale fire wherever
fish darted, while the schooner's bows seemed plunging through foaming,
liquid moonbeams.  Mornings with such wondrous tints of orange and
scarlet, crimson and gold, that those who gazed upon them did so in awe
of the mighty works of the grand world.  Then came heat so intense that
the brass rails burned the hand, the pitch oozed from the seams, and the
passengers lay panting beneath the awning spread aft, and longing for
the evening breeze.

Now and then the cocoanut-fringed islands were seen, but no stoppage was
made; for, on consideration, it was decided that such a step might
afford the Cuban a clue to their whereabouts, while now both Captain
Studwick and Dutch felt satisfied that their suspicions had been without
foundation--that they had indeed eluded him, and all they had to do now
was to make the best of their way to the treasure, and secure their
prizes.

So southward and westward went the schooner, past reef, key, and island
towards the El Dorado of their hopes; the two invalids much better; in
fact, Hester's colour had been pretty well restored, and all she waited
for was the day when her golden hopes would be realised--not those of
finding ingot or bar long buried in the sea, but the restoration,
complete and full, of her husband's love and trust.

The Caribbean Sea had long been entered, and its sheltering chain of
islands left behind; and now, with Oakum in consultation with the
captain, the vessel's course was altered to due south, with the result
that one evening, after gradually creeping along the forest-clad coast
of Venezuela, and land that seemed almost weird in its silence and wild
grandeur, anchor was cast for the night, for the voyage was almost at an
end.

A long debate took place that night, in which Oakum and the black took
part, the result being eminently satisfactory to Mr Parkley and Dutch,
for both the above spoke positively as to their being now within
certainly a mile east or west of the spot where one of the wrecks could
be found.

"I don't say, you know, as I've put the schooner right on the spot; but
she's here close, and we must out boats and cruise about, looking down
thr

Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/36724