ze was creeping higher every day, so that all
that remained was to strip her as quickly as might be before she was
swallowed up for always.

Tazzuchi asked Captain Kettle for his opinion that night in the
chart-house. "I'm to be guided by you, of course," he said, "but my idea
is that we should go for the specie first thing, and let everything
slide till that's snugly on board here. Birds gave L5,400 for the wreck,
and there's L8,000 in cash down there in a room they built specially for
it over the shaft-tunnel. If we can grab that, it will pay our expenses
and commission and all the other actual outlay, and Birds will be out of
the wood. Afterward, if we can weigh any more of the cargo, well, that
will be all clear profit."

"Yes," thought Kettle, "you want those gold boxes in your hands, you
blessed Dago, and then you'll begin to play your monkey tricks. I wonder
if you think you're going to jam a knife into me by way of making things
snug and safe?" But aloud he expressed agreement to Captain
Tazzuchi's plan.

He felt that this was diplomacy, and though the diplomatic art was new
and strange to him, he told himself that it was the correct weapon to
use under the circumstances. He had risen out of his old grade of
hole-and-corner shipmaster, where it had been his province to carry
things through by rough blows and violent words. He was a Captain in a
regular line--the Bird line--now, and (with a trifle of a sigh) he
remembered that wild fights and scrimmages were beneath the dignity of
his position.

Accordingly, as soon as dawn gave a waking light, the boats were put out
again, and the divers were given orders to let the further survey of the
vessel rest, and put all their efforts into getting the specie boxes on
to the end of the salvage steamer's winch chain. They were quickly
helmed and sent below, and presently an increased cloudiness in the
water told him that they were actively at work. A lot of dhows were
showing here and there amongst the reefs, obviously watching them, and
Tazzuchi was beginning to get nervous.

"We're in for trouble, I'm afraid," he said to Kettle. "That rock on
which she's settled astern has made a hole in her you could drive a cart
through. I suppose it was a tight-fitting hole at first, but as she
settled more and moved about, it's got enlarged same as the hole in a
tin of beef does when you begin to waggle it with the can-opener."

"Well?"

"Didn't you hear the report they've j