of
whom had children in their arms or at their apron-strings, and all in
costly foreign costumes. A crowd of Dutch sailors brought up the rear
of the procession, each one having a quid of tobacco in his mouth, and
holding between his teeth a little cutty-pipe, which he smoked in
gloomy silence.

The fisherman shuddered as he looked at this singular assembly; but his
expectation that something would come of it all kept his courage up.
For some time the strange people stood around him thus, and the smoke
from their pipes floated over them like a cloud, through which peeped
the stars. The men closed in on Falcon in an ever-narrowing circle; the
smoking became more and more vehement, and the clouds that arose from
pipe and mouth increased in density.

Falcon was a bold, daring man; he had prepared himself beforehand for
extraordinary occurrences; but when he saw this innumerable crowd
pressing in on him as if to crush him by their numbers, his courage
failed him, great drops of sweat stood out on his forehead, and he
thought he would perish in a spasm of fright. But one may imagine his
horror when, as he chanced to turn his eyes, he saw, sitting motionless
and erect, close by his head, the little old man in the yellow linen
suit, looking just as he had the first time except that now, as if
making fun of the whole assembly, he, too, had a pipe in his mouth. In
the mortal fright that now took possession of him, Falcon cried out to
the leader of this assembly:

"In the name of whomsoever you serve, who are you? and what do you want
with me?"

The tall man drew three whiffs, even more gravely than before; then
gave the pipe to his servant and answered very coldly:

"I am Alfred Frank van Swelder, commander of the ship _Carmilhan_, of
Amsterdam, which, on the voyage home from Batavia, went to the bottom
with man and mouse on this rocky coast. These are my officers, those my
passengers, and beyond, my brave crew who were all drowned with me. Why
have you summoned us from our dwellings deep in the sea? Why do you
disturb our rest?"

"I wish to know where the treasure of the _Carmilhan_ lies."

"On the bottom of the sea."

"Where?"

"In the cave of Steenfoll."

"How can I recover it?"

"A goose dives into the abyss for a herring; is not the treasure of the
_Carmilhan_ of as much value?"

"How much of it shall I recover?"

"More than you will ever spend."

The little man in yellow grinned horribly at this reply,