Latitude 19 degree Part 33

"What are you looking for, Bo's'n?"

"Only to see if there wasn't any more anywhere about, sir. It seems as if the boy might have forgotten some, or perhaps he didn't look----"

I laughed aloud.

"You avaricious old jacky!" said I. "Here is as much as would buy the Bank of England, and you are searching for more."

The Bo's'n looked down, abashed at my laughter.

"Don't mind my laughing, Bo's'n," said I kindly. "We are born that way, all of us. I have not enough in my pocket to buy myself a pair of shoes, yet I feel just as you do. That hill of riches seems to have grown small since we came back and looked at it again. Let's bury it out of sight before it vanishes altogether."

The Bo's'n stood gazing at the glittering ma.s.s. He shook his head. "How can we ever get it all to Belleville?" he asked.

"We can't get it there now, perhaps not for a long time," I answered.

"Listen, Bo's'n. I want to talk quick before any one comes. When we get back home--it may be in a month from now, and it may be in a year--I want to fit out a vessel and come down and get this treasure and take it home. Never any more going to sea for us, Bo's'n, after that."

"No, sir, that's so, sir," returned the Bo's'n.

"We shall have plenty of guns and plenty of sails. By that time, perhaps, the revolutions about here will be over. In any case, we must bury this fortune so that if those wretches come here again they will not be able to find it. One of us had better hide them, and not tell the other; not tell any one until the time comes to----"

"I think I know a splendid place, sir, Mr. Jones, sir," said the Bo's'n eagerly.

"Very well, Bo's'n," said I.

"It is in----" The Bo's'n waited a moment and looked questioningly at me.

"Don't tell me, Bo's'n, now don't. At least for the present. You hide them and tell me later."

The Bo's'n bent over the ma.s.s and began to make separate piles of the different articles, putting those of a kind together.

"There's one thing I want to say right here, Bo's'n," said I. "When we do fit out that s.h.i.+p, Captain Schuyler is to command her. I shall not agree to anything else."

"That's right, sir," answered the Bo's'n. "I shall be glad to have him.

And you'll take me along, sir? I mean on the expedition, Mr. Jones?"

"Certainly, Bo's'n. You are as much a part of it as I am myself. I'm sure you are much more a part of it, since I am letting you hide the jewels."

"What do you think of putting----" The Bo's'n waited again.

"Stop!" said I sharply. "I do not wish to know anything about them now."

"Suppose I take this watch to the Captain?" I suggested. I took from the pile a plain watch. I knew that the Skipper's had stopped since coming ash.o.r.e. He had dropped it overboard, and, though he had recovered it, it was quite watersoaked.

"Certainly, sir; but why not take a finer one, Mr. Jones?"

"No, no," said I. "We don't want the Minion to suspect our having a hand in hiding the jewels. The watch must be the plainest that we can find, if it will only keep time, and as much like the Captain's as possible."

The timepiece which I selected had no key. I found another with a simple chain attached, and to this chain was fastened a key. I wound the watch, and found that it started off at once as if it had never stopped at all.

"They must have taken this lately," said I.

"Would you like anything for yourself, sir?" asked the thoughtful Bo's'n.

"There is one gorgeous jewel, Bo's'n," said I, "that I should like very much to take. It equals a small fortune," I pointed to a great diamond which, whatever we did with the ma.s.s of brilliant things, was ever uppermost. I have since that time in our one trip across the ocean seen some of the court jewels of England and Germany, but I have never gazed upon anything to equal the size and brilliancy of that great globe of light.

"There is a fortune in that diamond," said I. "Did I say a small one?

Well, I mean a large one. It would make us all rich."

"Would it, sir?" asked the Bo's'n.

"Yes," said I. "What a pity we can't take that or any of them with us!

But, of course, the only thing for us to do is to hide them until more quiet times. If we are captured, we shall be searched."

"You're right, Mr. Jones, sir," said the Bo's'n. "Perfectly right, as usual. We must hide them, as you say. I hope you won't forget me, sir, when you come to get them--on that expedition, I mean, Mr. Jones, sir."

"Forget you, my honest man!" exclaimed I, clapping the good soul on the back. "As soon forget my own mother. No, no, Bo's'n, share and share alike, as I told you before;" for I had determined that, humble as the Bo's'n was, He should derive as much benefit from the wonderful find as any of the rest of us.

I pa.s.sed my hand over the ma.s.s of rings which the Bo's'n had been heaping together, rolling them about until I discovered the thing that I sought.

"I think I should like this, Bo's'n, if you say it's quite right." I held up to view a very little thread of gold, with a very small diamond caught in the top.

"It's a poor thing, sir, for a gentleman, and rather small for your finger, sir, begging your pardon, sir."

"No matter," said I. "It's all I want. Now you!"

"I what, sir?"

"You choose something, Bo's'n."

"Not now, sir. I will wait till we come to fetch 'em."

By this time we had the jewels wrapped in four different parcels, which seemed to be the Bo's'n's idea of arranging them. I let him have his way, for I saw that he had a definite idea of what to do with them, and I had puzzled my brains without finding any solution.

"I think this is the place where they were, sir," said the Bo's'n.

He led me back to a little pa.s.sage which I had not noticed before, and by the light of the still burning lamp we saw a flat stone lying upon the ground, and beside it lay the tools which the Smith had left behind for my release.

"There may be many such places hereabouts. That Minion must have come here and peered and pried and poked about until he started the stone.

Gad, sir, he must have been nonplussed!"

"Shall we put them there again, Bo's'n?" I asked.

"No, sir. There are lots of places. Hollow trees, places way up in the branches, deserted nests, real large mammoth ones. I might divide 'em, sir. Places down on the sh.o.r.e far enough from the stream, so that if the sea robbers do come back they won't have an idea of looking there. I should like to tell you, sir, when I have got them hid away----"

The Bo's'n had wound the last thread of the fine brocade which he had been cutting for strings round the fourth bundle.

"Now I'll go," said I, "and good luck to you in finding a hiding place, only don't forget where it is."

"I don't think I can forget, sir," said he. "I'll take a range, and I am sure not to forget."