Monsieur Benoist pulled his sinister mouth into as pleasant a grin as he
could manage, and veiled the dangerous light in his eyes. Then he
replied, in a loud voice that caught the attention of all the men in the
room, that he was certainly in a position to know, having come straight
from a little harbor to the southward where a handful of fishermen had
just salvaged two chests of good French gold from a wreck. He told the
whole story of the wreck and of the subsequent fight in which his
companion had been killed. To add reality to his tale he described
several of the fishermen minutely.

"That bes the skipper himself!" cried Dick Lynch. "That bes Black Dennis
Nolan, ye kin lay to that--aye, an' Bill Brennen an' Nick Leary! Sure,
then, ye've come from Chance Along, b'y--the very place I comes from
meself. Two chests o' gold, d'ye say? Then I tells ye, b'ys, there bes
as much more there besides. Chance Along bes fair stinkin' wid gold an'
wracked stuff."

He went on excitedly and gave a brief and startling outline of the
recent history of Black Dennis Nolan and Chance Along, not forgetting
his own heroic stand against the tyrant.

"B'ys, all we has to be doin' bes to go an' take it--an' then to
scatter. This here captain wid the rings in his ears has the right idee,
sure! Wid all the gold an' jewels in Chance Along shared amongst us sure
we'd never be needin' to hit another clip o' work so long as we live.
Aye, 'twould be easy wid guns in our hands; but we must be quick about
it, lads, or the law'll be gittin' there ahead o' us," he concluded.

The others clustered about Lynch and the French sailor, a few of them
reeling, but all intent upon coming to some arrangement for laying hands
upon the treasure of Chance Along. Big fists pounded the sloppy table,
husky voices bellowed questions, and stools and benches were overturned.

"There bes twelve o' us here," said Tom Brent, of Harbor Grace, "twelve
able lads, every mother's son o' us ready for to make the trip. Now the
first thing bes for every man to tell his name an' swear as how he'll do
his best at gettin' the stuff an' never say naught about it to any
livin' soul after he's got safe away wid his share."

All agreed to these suggestions, and oaths were taken and hopes of
everlasting salvation pledged that were not worth the breath that
sounded them. It was next ascertained by Monsieur Benoist, who naturally
took a leading part in the organization, that every m