s being shifted and shortened.
The ship came about, and presently he knew that she was beating back
toward land.

A man at the bows was constantly heaving into the sea a rope to the end
of which a small object was fastened. Tarzan wondered what the purpose
of this action might be.

At last the ship came up directly into the wind; the anchor was
lowered; down came the sails. There was great scurrying about on deck.

A boat was lowered, and in it a great chest was placed. Then a dozen
sailors bent to the oars and pulled rapidly toward the point where
Tarzan crouched in the branches of a tree.

In the stern of the boat, as it drew nearer, Tarzan saw the rat-faced
man.

It was but a few minutes later that the boat touched the beach. The
men jumped out and lifted the great chest to the sand. They were on
the north side of the point so that their presence was concealed from
those at the cabin.

The men argued angrily for a moment. Then the rat-faced one, with
several companions, ascended the low bluff on which stood the tree that
concealed Tarzan. They looked about for several minutes.

"Here is a good place," said the rat-faced sailor, indicating a spot
beneath Tarzan's tree.

"It is as good as any," replied one of his companions. "If they catch
us with the treasure aboard it will all be confiscated anyway. We
might as well bury it here on the chance that some of us will escape
the gallows to come back and enjoy it later."

The rat-faced one now called to the men who had remained at the boat,
and they came slowly up the bank carrying picks and shovels.

"Hurry, you!" cried Snipes.

"Stow it!" retorted one of the men, in a surly tone. "You're no
admiral, you damned shrimp."

"I'm Cap'n here, though, I'll have you to understand, you swab,"
shrieked Snipes, with a volley of frightful oaths.

"Steady, boys," cautioned one of the men who had not spoken before.
"It ain't goin' to get us nothing by fightin' amongst ourselves."

"Right enough," replied the sailor who had resented Snipes' autocratic
tones; "but it ain't a-goin' to get nobody nothin' to put on airs in
this bloomin' company neither."

"You fellows dig here," said Snipes, indicating a spot beneath the
tree. "And while you're diggin', Peter kin be a-makin' of a map of the
location so's we kin find it again. You, Tom, and Bill, take a couple
more down and fetch up the chest."

"Wot are you a-goin' to do?" asked he of the previous altercati