ich man than have to go to sea for the rest of my
days; but Rogers stopped him with a look, and said, `Now, doctor, you
leave Joe alone, and don't go puttin' no nonsensical notions into his
head. You leave him to me; perhaps I may have somethin' to say to him
myself by-and-by, and I don't want nobody to interfere at all in this
here matter.' And that's how the thing stands at present."

"Very well," said I. "You have told me enough to satisfy me that your
conjectures are by no means as groundless as I supposed them to be, and
you must do your best, Joe, to find out what you can. But you will have
to be _very_ careful what you are about: it is clear enough that, if
they meditate treachery of any kind, they are not yet at all disposed to
trust you; and if they at all contemplate the possibility of winning you
over to join them, they will set all manner of traps for you, and test
you in every conceivable way before making up their minds to trust you."

"Yes," assented Joe, "I expects they will. But I'm all ready for 'em,
whenever they likes; I've got my course all marked out, clear and
straight; and, if Rogers or any of the others comes soundin' me, they'll
be surprised to find what a downright bad character I am, and how ready
I am to take a hand in any mischief that's brewin'."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT.

This secret conversation between Joe and myself--secret by reason of the
intense darkness of the night, and by the precautions I had deemed it
expedient to take, at an early stage of the conversation, to conceal my
precise whereabouts from any prying eyes among the starboard watch--at
first produced within me a feeling of the keenest uneasiness and
anxiety. For Joe's revelation as to the discovery by the late steward
of my secret relating to the concealed treasure furnished me with what
had previously been lacking, namely, _a motive_ for that secret plotting
of the existence of which Joe was so firmly convinced. The story to
which I had that night listened left no room for doubt in my mind that
my own want of caution and the late steward's inquisitive propensities
had placed within the knowledge of the latter the two important facts
that I possessed the secret of a concealed treasure, and that it was my
intention, on leaving Sydney, to proceed in search of it. Moreover, it
was clear enough that the fellow had no sooner acquired this knowledge
than he concocted a plan for the eventual acqui