used it constantly, assured me that there was but a
small sum in one of its drawers, which he had himself placed there.

We looked around in perplexity. The walls were of wood, not of lath
and plaster, so that there were no nooks and crannies in which he
could have bestowed his hoard. The floor also was of single
planking, forming the roof of the room below. There seemed no
possible place of concealment here. Could there be any spot on the
veranda that might have served his purpose?

I went out; the veranda was empty, the men who had been injured
(and some who were dead) having been removed. If my reasoning was
correct, the hiding place must be on the inner side, otherwise the
assailants could have obtained what they came to seek without
attacking the room. We looked carefully along the base of the wall
where it met the floor of the veranda at first in vain.

But just as I was almost prepared to give up the search and try
elsewhere I noticed that at one spot the nails of the flooring
seemed newer than at other parts. Calling to Cludde, with his
assistance I prized up one of the boards, and the secret was
instantly revealed. The board rested on one of the broad wooden
pillars supporting the veranda. A hole had been cut down the center
of the pillar, and there lay the missing money--doubloons and
silver dollars.

Leaving McTavish to gather them up and count them, Cludde and I
went down to the kitchen. Vetch was tied to a chair (as Joe had
been tied months before), and Joe was sitting over against him,
with a cutlass on his knees. I told Vetch briefly that the money
was found.

Even now his bravado did not desert him. He repeated we had no
right to call in question any action of his and that none but Sir
Richard could claim an account of his stewardship. I did not reply,
as I might have done, that the money, being found in the house
after Mistress Lucy had come of age, was patently hers, and in
attempting to recover it he was no better than a common
housebreaker. I bade Punchard collect our men in readiness to march
back to the brig, and strictly charged him that he should have
every care of Vetch on the way.

Then I saw a shadow of fear cross the villain's face. He knew that
to brazen it out longer would avail him nothing, and 'twas his
inward vision of the hangman, I doubt not, that caused him to go
white to the lips.

Cludde went from the room to gather his few possessions in
preparation for our despatch. Ve