position he had taken, and of
inducing him to keep the secret of the hidden treasure until its
ownership had been fully investigated.

"That's another sort of a thing, you see," replied Mr. Redmond. "In that
case, the money would belong to me, as his nearest heir, and I should
have the pleasure of spending the whole amount, thus unexpectedly
reclaimed from the sands of the sea, in champagne suppers at Delmonico's
up-town house. That would be the fair thing, you see."

"I think so myself; and I purpose to act on precisely the principle you
suggest. Mr. Wallbridge, to whom the money belonged, has gone to the
happy hunting-ground, where I don't want to trouble him to hunt for this
bag of gold. For aught I know, Mr. Wallbridge had had a handsome,
refined accomplished son, familiar with the poets, to whom this money
now belongs just as much as though he were here to claim it; though I
hope, when he gets it, that he will not spend the whole or any part of
it in champagne suppers. I see that we are perfectly agreed in this
matter, and that you think the way I mention is the right way to do this
sort of thing."

Mr. Redmond felt that he had been whipped in the argument; and he was
very much dissatisfied with himself for the admission he had made in the
supposed case, and very much dissatisfied with Leopold for the advantage
he had taken of the admission.

"Who was the feller that buried the money?" he demanded, feeling his way
to another argument in favor of a division.

"Mr. Wallbridge."

"Who was he?"

"I don't know."

"You haven't been introduced to him?"

"No."

"What do you know about him?"

"Nothing."

"Then how did you know he had a good-looking son, familiar with the
poets?"

"I don't."

"That was what you said."

"I only supposed a case. So far as we know now, no one was acquainted
with Mr. Wallbridge. No one knows anything at all about him."

"All right, then. All we have to do is to divy."

"Not yet. I am going to see the owners of the Waldo, in which Mr.
Wallbridge was a passenger. They know nothing about him, I am aware; but
I am going to ask them to write to their agents in Havana, and ascertain
who he was."

"That's taking a good deal of trouble for nothing, you see," added Mr.
Raymond, with a look of disappointment and dissatisfaction.

"That is just what I am going to do, any how," replied Leopold, firmly.
"The money don't belong to me, and I intend to keep it safely till the
heirs