Abdallah Yezzed," answered the old sheik, "and neither my
companions nor myself are so bad but that we, too, may be numbered among
those who are entitled to God's favour, when it pleases Him to cast on
our shores the ships of the infidel."

In rejoinder Sidi Hamet entered upon a long harangue; in which he
informed the old sheik that in the event of a vessel having gone to
pieces, and the coast having been strewn with merchandise, each party
would have been entitled to all it could gather, but unfortunately for
both, those pleasant circumstances did not now exist; although it was
true that the hulk of a vessel, containing a cargo that could not wash
ashore, was lying under water near by. They had discovered it, and
therefore laid claim to all that it contained.

Sidi Hamet's party was a strong one, consisting of seventeen men; and
therefore could afford to be communicative without the least danger of
being disturbed in their plans and prospects.

They acknowledged that they had been working ten days, in clearing the
cargo out of the sunken vessel, and that their work was not yet half
done, the goods being very difficult to get at.

The old sheik inquired of what the cargo consisted; but could obtain no
satisfactory answer.

Here was a mystery. Seventeen men had been ten days unloading the hulk
of a wrecked ship, and yet no articles of merchandise were to be seen
near the spot.

A few casks, some pieces of old sail, with a number of cooking utensils
that had belonged to a ship's galley, lay upon the beach; but these
could not be regarded as forming any portion of the cargo of a ship.

The old sheik and his followers were in a quandary.

They had often heard of boxes full of money having been obtained from
wrecked ships.

Sailors cast away upon their coast had been known to bury such
commodities; and afterwards, under torture, to reveal the spot where the
interment had been made.

Had this vessel, on which the wreckers were engaged, been freighted with
money, and had the boxes been buried as soon as brought ashore?

It was possible, thought the new comers. They must wait and learn; and
if there was any means by which they could claim a share in the good
fortune of those who had first discovered the wreck, those means must be
adopted.

The original discoverers were too impatient to stay proceedings till
their departure; and feeling secure in the superiority of numbers, they
recommenced their task of discha