hat two others intend asserting a claim to
them--one being Blew, the other Davis.

And these two certainly seem so determined, their eyes constantly
turning towards the grotto where the girls are, unconscious of the
interest they are exciting.

At length the dreaded interrogatory is put--and point blank. For it is
Jack Striker who puts it. The "Sydney Duck" is not given to sentiment
or circumlocution.

Speaking that all may hear him, he blurts out:

"Well, chums? what are we to do wi' the weemen?"

"Oh! they?" answers Gomez in a drawling tone, and with an affectation of
indifference. "_You've_ nothing to do with them, and needn't take any
trouble. They'll go with us--with Senor Hernandez and myself."

"Will they, indeed?" sharply questions the chief officer.

"Of course," answers Gomez.

"I don't see any of course about it," rejoins Blew. "And more'n that, I
tell ye they don't go with ye--leastwise, not so cheap as you think
for."

"What do you mean, Mr Blew?" demands the Spaniard, his eyes betraying
anger, with some uneasiness.

"No use your losin' temper, Gil Gomez. You ain't goin' to scare me. So
you may as well keep cool. By doin' that, and listenin', you'll larn
what I mean. The which is, that you and Hernandez have no more right to
them creeturs in the cave than any o' the rest of us. Just as the gold,
so ought it to be wi' the girls. In coorse, we can't divide them all
round; but that's no reason why any two should take 'em, so long's any
other two wants 'em as well. Now, _I_ wants one o' them."

"And I another!" puts in Davis.

"Yes," continues Blew; "and though I be a bit older than you, Mr Gomez,
and not quite so pretentious a gentleman, I can like a pretty wench as
well's yerself. I've took a fancy to the one wi' the tortoise-shell
hair, an' an't goin' to gi'e her up in the slack way you seem to be
wishin'."

"Glad to hear it's the red one, Blew," says Davis. "As I'm for the
black one, there'll be no rivalry between us. Her I mean to have--
unless some better man hinders me."

"Well," interpolates Striker, "as 'twas me first put the questyun, I
'spose I'll be allowed to gi'e an opeenyun?"

No one saying nay, the ex-convict proceeds:

"As to any one hevin' a speecial claim to them weemen, nobody has, an'
nobody shed have. 'Bout that, Blew's right, an' so's Bill. An' since
the thing's disputed, it oughter be settled in a fair an' square--"

"You needn't waste your breath,"