l, however, refused to sit down again, even though other
urgent appeals were made to him, couched in much coarser language,
interlarded with not a few strange oaths, which need not be repeated.

"I have told you, mates, that I have business to attend to. Amuse
yourselves as you list, only don't get to brawling, or burn the house
down in your revels; if you do, remember you will chance to burn with it
before your time comes."

The smuggler captain, for such he appeared to be considered by his
ruffianly companions, without again speaking left the room.

He repaired at once to his own chamber, and sitting down at a table, on
which a lamp burned, he opened a desk, took a huge pocket-book from his
coat, and began to examine several documents which it contained.

"I must raise the wind by fair means or foul to satisfy my fellows, as
well as to make another venture before I cry die. Unless that is as
unsuccessful as the last, I shall soon redeem my fortunes."

He sat for some time ruminating, now and then turning to his papers, and
casting up accounts. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"How came I so long to forget the chest I got only off the wreck from
which old Halliburt saved the little girl?" he muttered. "Though I took
out not a few valuables, there were all sorts of things at the bottom of
the chest, which, now I think of it, I never turned over. I will have a
look at them this very night. Even a few gold pieces would be welcome,
and it was evidently the treasure chest of some Indian nabob or other,
his ill-gotten gains from the wretched natives he had fleeced and
cheated."

He went to a chest of drawers in which he found a key.

"This must be it," he said, "by its foreign make."

Taking the lamp he left the chamber, and descended the stairs. The
sound of boisterous revelry proceeded from the room where his guests
were assembled.

"The drunken brutes are not likely to disturb me," he growled out, "and
Dick is fast asleep in his loft."

Going across the stable, on removing a heap of straw he found a low
door, which opened with a key he produced from his pocket. Going
through it, he closed it carefully behind him.

He now stood in a low vaulted cavern, the earth supported by upright
pieces of stout timber, with flat boards above them, which prevented the
sandy soil in which it was cut from falling in. This was the excavation
which he, with a few trusty companions, had formed many years ago.

Var