a very
welcome addition to my rather meagre wardrobe; so I made them up into a
good-sized bundle for transference to the schooner.

By the time that this was done the boat was alongside again, with the
carpenter; and presently that individual came clawing his way below with
his tools. I showed him what I wanted done, and he immediately set to
work; but so substantially put together was the table, and so strong and
intricate the locks appertaining to it, that the man was compelled to
virtually take the whole affair to pieces before we could get at its
contents. But the trouble was amply worth the taking; for I found the
despatches, locked in an iron box and sealed with the great seal of the
Governor of Cartagena, together with several other important-looking
documents which subsequently proved to be of the utmost value. In fact,
as my knowledge of Spanish was altogether too imperfect to admit of my
determining what papers were valuable and what were valueless, I took
every one that I could find.

This was not all, however. There were five Orders--what they were I
knew not, but they were handsome enough, being elaborately set with
superb jewels, to show that the late captain of the _Magdalena_ was a
man of _very_ considerable distinction. Also a magnificent pair of
long-barrelled pistols, the barrels of which were damascened like the
sword. And last, but not least, an oaken casket, strongly bound with
heavy, handsomely-worked iron clamps and hinges, also sealed with the
seal of the Governor of Cartagena, and which, upon being broken open,
was found to contain a quantity of uncut gems, among which I recognised
some rubies of extraordinary size and fire. All these valuables,
needless to say, I unhesitatingly appropriated, for the twofold reason
that if I did not they would certainly go to the bottom of the sea when
the ship broke up, as she probably would in a few days; and in the next
place, they were spoils of the enemy, to which we of the _Sword Fish_
had as valid a title as anybody.

Having at length thoroughly ransacked the captain's cabin, I proceeded
to overhaul the rest of the ship, devoting, indeed, practically the
whole day to the work; but nothing else was found worthy of mention,
except a chest containing a thousand gold Spanish dollars, in what I
took to be the purser's room. And as for the rest of the ship,
everywhere forward of the stump of the mainmast, she was so strained and
battered as to be no