n I suppose it was mine," snapped the captain.

The dwarf shrugged his shoulders.

"You wouldn't let me put a knife in him," he snarled venomously. "The
sharks would have had him now."

"Bah!" sneered the captain. "Can't you think of anything better than
that? Besides, there are four of them. That's too clumsy, anyway. And,"
he went on after a moment's pause, "I don't believe you could have done
it. Jim Darlington is too smart for you."

If it was the captain's intention to arouse all the malignity and
vindictiveness of the hunchback's nature to the utmost, he certainly
succeeded. The dwarf's eyes blazed with fire, his form trembled with
rage and his voice when he spoke resembled more the hiss of an angry
snake than the utterance of a human being.

"Leave him to me now," he hissed. "I will make an end of this Senor
James and his whole tribe."

There was a devilish malignity in the way he spoke that stirred even the
captain, callous as he was.

"All right," replied the captain, "if that's the way you feel about
them, I guess you'll take care of the matter all right."

Getting upon his feet with an inarticulate growl, the captain lurched
across the cabin and up the companion way to the deck, where a quick
glance around assured him that there was no one within eavesdropping
distance. Returning to the cabin he dropped heavily into the chair
again.

"So the professor is back again?"

The dwarf made a surly gesture of assent.

"Why didn't you get the chart?"

"How could I? I paid the porter five dollars to let me handle the bag
for a minute, but there was nothing in it."

"Why didn't you take the bag?"

"What was the good? There was nothing in it, and beside there was no
chance."

"Where did he pick up those Darlington boys?"

"Who knows? He came with them on the train--all except Jim."

"What has this Jim been doing?" went on the captain.

"Nothing. He is crazy. Since I saw you, I followed him here, there,
everywhere."

"Did he know you were following him?"

"He? No. He is the imbecile."

"Do you think he knows where we are going?"

"No." The dwarf laughed contemptuously. "He knows nothing. They are all
of them to hunt for the treasure. He thinks no more of the girl."

"Don't be too sure of that," returned the captain. "I think he is on our
trail, but we will give him the slip yet. And we will be rid of her, the
day after to-morrow."

"What are you going to do with her?" asked the dwarf.

"P