s only, had L22 16s. 0-1/2d. each.

From talking and brooding on these figures it was but a step to opening
the chest, and once the chest open the glamour of the cash was
irresistible. Each felt that he must see his treasure separate with the
eye of flesh, handle it in the hard coin, mark it for his own, and stand
forth to himself the approved owner. And here an insurmountable
difficulty barred the way. There were some seventeen shillings in
English silver, the rest was Chile; and the Chile dollar, which had been
taken at the rate of six to the pound sterling, was practically their
smallest coin. It was decided, therefore, to divide the pounds only, and
to throw the shillings, pence, and fractions in a common fund. This,
with the three pound fourteen already in the heel, made a total of seven
pounds one shilling.

"I'll tell you," said Wicks. "Let Carthew and Tommy and me take one
pound apiece, and Hemstead and Amalu split the other four, and toss up
for the odd bob."

"O, rot!" said Carthew. "Tommy and I are bursting already. We can take
half a sov. each, and let the other three have forty shillings."

"I'll tell you now, it's not worth splitting," broke in Mac. "I've cards
in my chest. Why don't you play for the lump sum?"

In that idle place the proposal was accepted with delight. Mac, as the
owner of the cards, was given a stake; the sum was played for in five
games of cribbage; and when Amalu, the last survivor in the tournament,
was beaten by Mac it was found the dinner-hour was past. After a hasty
meal they fell again immediately to cards, this time (on Carthew's
proposal) to Van John. It was then probably two P.M. of the 9th of
February, and they played with varying chances for twelve hours, slept
heavily, and rose late on the morrow to resume the game. All day on the
10th, with grudging intervals for food, and with one long absence on the
part of Tommy, from which he returned dripping with the case of sherry,
they continued to deal and stake. Night fell; they drew the closer to
the fire. It was maybe two in the morning, and Tommy was selling his
deal by auction, as usual with that timid player, when Carthew, who
didn't intend to bid, had a moment of leisure and looked round him. He
beheld the moonlight on the sea, the money piled and scattered in that
incongruous place, the perturbed faces of the players. He felt in his
own breast the familiar tumult; and it seemed as if there rose in his
ears a sound of m