Did the poor devil believe in
himself; or did he have some ulterior purpose, unknown to any but
himself? Fitzgerald determined, once they touched land, never to let
him go beyond sight. It would not be human for him to surrender any
part of the treasure without making some kind of a fight for it,
cunning or desperate. If only the women-folk remained on board!

Breitmann gazed toward the town motionless. It was difficult for
Fitzgerald not to tell the great secret then and there; but his caution
whispered warningly. There was no knowing what effect it would have
upon the impulsive girl at his side. And besides, there might have
been a grain of selfishness in the repression. All is fair in love or
war; and it would not have been politic to make a hero out of Breitmann.

"You haven't said a word for five minutes," she declared. How boyish
he looked for a man of his experience!

"Silence is sometimes good for the soul," sententiously.

"Of what were you thinking?"

His heart struck hard against his breast. What an opening, what a
moment in which to declare himself! But he said: "Perhaps I was
thinking of breakfast. This getting up early always makes me ravenous.
The smell of the captain's coffee may have had something to do with it."

"You were thinking of nothing of the sort," she cried. "I know. It
was the treasure and this great-grandson of Napoleon. Sometimes I feel
I only dreamed these things. Why? Because, whoever started out on a
treasure quest without having thrilling adventures, shots in the dark,
footsteps outside the room, villains, and all the rest of the
paraphernalia? I never read nor heard of such a thing."

"Nor I. But there's land yonder," he said, without an answering smile.

"Then," in an awed whisper, "you believe something is going to happen
there?"

"One thing I am certain of, but I can not tell you just at this moment."

A bit of color came to her cheeks. As if, reading his eyes, she did
not know this thing he was so certain of! Should she let him tell her?
Not a real eddy in the current, unless it was his fear of money. If
only she could lose her money, temporarily! If only she had an ogre
for a parent, now! But she hadn't. He was so dear and so kind and so
proud of her that if she told him she was going to be married that
morning, his only questions would have been: At what time? Why, this
sort of romance was against all accepted rules. She was inordinately
happy