ys, and it was then found that
they were, as supposed, dead. None of the other natives would have given
them house-room; but the chief, who was less superstitious than the
majority of the tribe, had brought them into his hut, although he had not
had sufficient courage to break them up for the sake of the brass.

Having disposed of these the chief opened the lid of the chest. He took
out some clothes and held them up, but Stephen shook his head decidedly.
Then he brought out a gold watch and a heavy bag; he untied the latter,
and handed it to Stephen for inspection. The lad had difficulty in
repressing an exclamation, for it was full of guineas, but put it down and
placed the watch beside it, assumed an air of indifference, and then made
up another pile of about equal value to the first, but threw in a couple
of dozen brass buttons. The chief nodded, and Stephen slipped the bag and
watch into his coat pocket. While this transaction had been going on, Jim
had carried the boxes containing the chronometers and quadrants to his
comrades.

"Anything more, sir?" he asked, as he appeared at the door of the hut.

"Nothing more to carry, Jim, as far as I am concerned; but there is a good
pea-jacket and some togs in that chest. I have no doubt that it belonged
to the captain of the ship; they have cut off all the buttons. I will buy
them for you."

The coat and trousers, and half a dozen shirts were, to Jim's great
delight, purchased for him. Stephen then examined the whole contents of
the chest, thinking that some papers might be found that would give a clue
to the name of the ship that it had belonged to, but nothing of the sort
was discovered. However, he bought the whole of the clothes, and, calling
in the sailors one by one, divided them among them, and then went back and
joined the captain.

"I have been doing some trading, captain," he whispered to him. "It is
white plunder; and I have no doubt that a ship has been surprised and her
crew massacred somewhere near here. I have bought the chronometers and
quadrants, and they have certainly not been in the water; also the
contents of a sea-chest, which I divided among the men. There were no
papers of any kind, but from the appearance of the chronometers, I should
say that they cannot have been here long."

The captain nodded.

"We will talk it over when we get on board, Steve. We will be off at once,
for these fellows are beginning to get drunk with this beastly liquor o