t the chronometers, and he also bought
the contents of the chest and divided them among the men who went ashore.
The chief made signs to him that these things had been saved from a ship
that had been wrecked, and it is possible that it may be so. It may not
have been wrecked on this island, and those things may have been the share
of one of the canoes from here that assisted in looting her; at any rate,
we have no proof that the vessel was boarded and captured. If it had been
done here, I think we should have seen more signs of it among the natives
who have come out to the ship or on shore. There would have been more
trade goods about--handkerchiefs, and beads, and so on, and they would not
have been anxious to trade with us. At any rate, there are no grounds for
attacking a village that has, during the last three or four days, traded
peacefully with us, as they have done on several different occasions when
I have put in here. Even if there were no other reason, I should refuse to
allow them to be attacked, because the news of the affair would spread
from island to island, and next time we were in these seas we should do no
trade, and should certainly be attacked if we gave them a chance. Of
course I shall report the circumstances connected with the discovery of
this chest at Calcutta, and endeavour to find out what ship has been
lately missing; beyond that we can do nothing in the matter. We are
traders; if we are attacked we do our best to beat off the assailants, but
it would be altogether beyond our business to attack sea-side villages
because we find that they are in the possession of ships' goods, for were
we to do so we should soon put an end to all trade in these islands. Go
back and tell your comrades this, and then muster at once and heave the
cable short."

The orders were obeyed, but it was evident that there was a lack of the
usual briskness and willingness. However, before the ship had been many
hours on her way, matters settled down and the work went on as usual.

"You see, lad," the first officer said to Stephen as the sails were
sheeted home, and the _Tiger_ glided away from her anchorage, "the captain
was quite right, and if it had been known on the ship that you had got
that money, there would have been a good deal more trouble than there was.
It would have been no good to tell them that, no doubt, it was the ship's
money. Sailors are like children; they would have argued that if you could
obtain two