hould, Herrick, so we should. But if they knew it was to fetch
all this loot on board, they'd make a little more haste."

"They know it by this time, sir," I said. "They must have met the first
boat."

"Oh, I don't know," he said rather sourly. "The men are very slow when
I am not there."

"Here they are, sir!" I cried; for the marine sentry down by the river
challenged, and then there was a loud cheering, and soon after Mr
Brooke appeared, followed by a long train of fully-armed Jacks.

"Why, I thought when we started that we had come to fight," cried Mr
Brooke as he reached us. "We met the two loaded boats. Is there much
more?"

"Come and look," said Mr Reardon; and we went first into one and then
the other store, while our party of Jacks communicated our luck to the
newcomers, the result being that, as we came out of the second long hut,
the men cheered again lustily.

Then no time was lost; and the way in which the crew attacked those two
stores of loot was a sight to see. It was tremendously hot, but they
laughed and cheered each other as those returning met the laden ones
going down to the boats. They would have liked to make a race of it to
see which crew could load up their boat first, but Mr Reardon stopped
that; and the strength of all was put to work to load one boat and get
it off, so that there were two streams of men going and coming; and the
first boat was deeply laden in an incredibly short space of time, the
men leaving themselves no room to row, but placing the chests amidships
to form a platform, and two smaller ones in the bow and stern.

They would have laden the boat more deeply still but for Mr Brooke, who
superintended at the side of the creek, while Mr Reardon was at the
stores.

Then the first of the boats Mr Brooke had brought was sent off, and by
the time the next was loaded one of those we had previously sent off
returned.

"Velly plime lot of plize-money," Ching said to me every time we met;
and he toiled away with the rest, his face shining, and while our men
grew red he grew more and more yellow. But, in spite of the
tremendously hard work of carrying down those loads, the men took it all
as a party of pleasure; and when, later on in the day, after boatload
after boatload had gone down the creek for hours, I had to go up to Mr
Reardon with a message from Mr Brooke, I was astonished to see how the
contents of the stores had disappeared.

It was getting close upon sund