with if he has removed his property. He has a key."

"No, sir, I have not interfered," said the Prince emphatically. "I
committed my property to the charge of this ship and to her officers. I
have not interfered."

Barraclough and I looked at each other. Lane whistled, and his colour
deepened.

"There, doctor, that's where I come in. I told you so. That's a
give-away for me. I've got the other key--or had."

"Had!" exclaimed the Prince, turning on him abruptly.

"Yes," said Lane with sheepish surliness. "I was telling the doctor
about it not long ago. My key's gone off my bunch. I found it out just
now. Some one's poached it."

The Prince's eyes gleamed ferociously, as if he would have sprung on
the little purser, who slunk against the wall sullenly.

"When did you miss it?" asked Barraclough sharply.

"Oh, about an hour and a half ago!" said Lane, in an offhand way.

"He has stolen it. He is the thief!" thundered the Prince.

Lane glanced up at him with a scowl. "Oh, talk your head off!" said he
moodily, "I don't care a damn if you're prince or pot-boy. We're all on
a level here, and we're not thieves."

Each one looked at the other. "We're cornered," said Barraclough. "It
will make 'em mad, if they haven't got that. There's no chance of a
bargain."

"It is not my desire there should be any bargain," said the Prince
stiffly.

Barraclough shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. But it was plain
to all that we were in a hole. The mutineers were probably infuriated
by finding the treasure gone, and at any moment might renew their
attack. There was but a small prospect that we could hold out against
them.

"We must tell them," said I; "at least, we must come to some
arrangement with them. The question is whether we shall pretend to fall
in with their wishes, or at least feign to have what they want. It will
give us time, but how long?"

"There is no sense in that," remarked Prince Frederic in his autocratic
way. "We will send them about their business and let them do what they
can."

"Sir, you forget the ladies," I said boldly.

"Dr. Phillimore, I forget nothing," he replied formally. "But will you
be good enough to tell me what the advantage of postponing the
discovery will be?"

Well, when it came to the point, I really did not know. It was wholly a
desire to delay, an instinct in favour of procrastination, that
influenced me. I shrank from the risks of an assault in our weakened
state. I strugg