k at a grasp."

I took a big grab and succeeded in retaining about forty, so that we had
between us much more than half the precious stones. But this was not
all, for he continued:

"Now, Harry, I will relieve you of the _whole_ of the doubloons, but at
the same time I will ask you to put this in your pocket, as a settlement
of what you might easily have taken for yourself, had you been anyone
but the honest lad you are."

Here he handed me a cheque for a thousand pounds, which I sincerely
thanked him for. Then turning to Alec he said:

"Young man, I believe it is your wish to live upon Jethou, and such
being the case I shall allow you to retain possession so long as you
choose to live there, and in addition to this, in lieu of the bag of
doubloons you selected, and which I shall retain, I purpose giving you a
sum of fifty pounds per annum, so long as you remain on Jethou."

We all thanked him again and again for his generosity; but he would hear
nothing of thanks, as he said the goods belonged to me as much as to
him, and in giving away the greater portion he was only acting in a just
spirit, in which he declared generosity had no part. "Beside," said he,
"I shall leave your hospitable roof with a good slice of the treasure
trove, which, although found on my island, was (all but the lace) left
by will 'to the lucky discoverer of Barbe Rouge's hoard.' All round, I
trust we may say we are satisfied. And now to the church."

In the afternoon I and my bride left for Hastings. Next day M. Oudin,
with his heavy packing case of doubloons, bade farewell to my parents to
return to Paris, where he had a very large leather business, and was
accounted a wealthy man, as his brother had left him his whole fortune.

Alec, in a few days, set out on his return to Jethou, compassing the
distance as far as Dover in the "Happy Return," which I had presented to
him, but could get no further in her, as a gale from the south-west set
in, and further attempt at crossing would have been suicidal. He
therefore waited a few days for a stone steamer to take both him and his
boat to St. Sampson's Harbour, Guernsey, from which he crossed to his
island home.

I may add that as a wedding gift my father presented me with two new
fishing smacks, complete with trawl net, herring nets, and other gear.
On my part, to Priscilla I handed over Walter Johnson's cheque for a
hundred pounds, which was duly honoured by his father.

I think I have now