nswered Carera; "and to that you must add what the other traders
have taken across, which will perhaps amount to at least as much more.
And there is also the specie which he has captured, and which of course
he has had no need to barter away."

"Whew!" I involuntarily whistled, a great light suddenly bursting in
upon my hitherto darkened understanding. Courtenay frowned a warning to
me, and I hastened on to say: "That will be a big haul, certainly. Why,
Carera, you will be able to retire from the sea altogether, and live
like a gentleman for the rest of your days."

"Yes," he responded somewhat gloomily, "if the secret is well kept. If
not--if it ever gets abroad that any of us on board here have been the
means of--of--well, of betraying Giuseppe and his gang, our lives will
not be worth a maravedi; for were all hands over there,"--nodding
ahead--"to be taken, there would still be the traders to reckon with.
We shall completely spoil their game, you know, senors, and where there
is so much money to be made out of it they would never forgive us."

"Pooh!" exclaimed Courtenay reassuringly, "have no fear about that; they
will never get to know how the thing has happened. If you can only
depend upon your own people keeping close you may rely upon _our_ so
managing affairs that no suspicion shall rest upon you."

"I hope so--I fervently hope so!" murmured Carera anxiously. "Riches
would be of little value if one had to go about in constant dread of the
assassin's knife."

We gave a cordial affirmation to this sentiment, and then noticing that
our worthy and most estimable skipper seemed somewhat indisposed for
further conversation just then, Courtenay and I retired to the cabin to
talk matters over, having at length extracted sufficient information to
show us pretty nearly how the land lay.

On getting below Master Courtenay's first act was to carefully select
another cigar from the box on the table, cut off the point with
mathematical regularity, light the weed, and then push the box over to
me with the cheerful invitation:

"Help yourself, old fellow. Really superb weeds these--wonder what was
the name of the ship these were taken out of, eh?"

Then he seated himself upon the lockers, planted his elbows squarely on
the table, rested his chin in the palms of his hands, and, in this by no
means elegant attitude, puffed a long thin cloud of smoke at me. He
intently watched the tiny wreath for a moment or two,