de.

Had this vessel, on which the wreckers were engaged, been freighted with
money, and had the boxes been buried as soon as brought ashore?

It was possible, thought the new comers. They must wait and learn; and
if there was any means by which they could claim a share in the good
fortune of those who had first discovered the wreck, those means must be
adopted.

The original discoverers were too impatient to stay proceedings till
their departure; and feeling secure in the superiority of numbers, they
recommenced their task of discharging the submerged hulk.

They advanced to the water's edge, taking along with them a long rope
that had been found attached to the spars. At one end of this rope they
had made a running noose, which was made fast to a man, who swam out
with it to the distance of about a hundred yards.

The swimmer then dived out of sight. He had gone below to visit the
wreck, and attach the rope to a portion of the cargo.

A minute after his head was seen above the surface, and a shout was sent
forth. Some of his companions on the beach now commenced hauling in the
rope, the other end of which had been left in their hands.

When the noose was pulled ashore, it was found to embrace a large block
of sandstone, weighing about twenty-five or thirty pounds!

The Krooman had already informed Harry Blount and his companions of
something he had learnt from the conversation of the wreckers; and the
three mids had been watching with considerable interest the movements of
the diver and his assistants.

When the block of sandstone was dragged up on the beach, they stared at
each other with expressions of profound astonishment.

No wonder: the wreckers were employed in clearing the ballast out of a
sunken ship!

What could be their object? Our adventurers could not guess. Nor,
indeed, could the wreckers themselves have given a good reason for
undergoing such an amount of ludicrous labor.

Why they had not told the old sheik what sort of cargo they were saving
from the wreck, was because they had no certain knowledge of its value,
or what in reality it was they were taking so much time and trouble to
get safely ashore.

As they believed that the white slaves must have a perfect knowledge of
the subject upon which they were themselves so ignorant, they closely
scanned the countenances of the latter, as the block of ballast was
drawn out upon the dry sand.

They were rewarded for their scrutiny.

The su