ort, and she vas go down in ze deep vater, mit
ze crew still vighting on ze deck to ze last. One--doo--dree--vore--
mens vas already kil't, besides Cap'en Schackzon--ze lifing and ze det
going down zogeder into de zee, mit ze golt Madonna dat you vas now
vind!"

"An' how did ye scrape through, hey?"

"I vas schvim ashore," answered Jan Steenbock, in reply to this question
from the skipper, who followed his recital carefully, with his
inquisitive long nose twitching every now and then, and his billy-goat
beard wagging as he nodded his head, watching apparently to catch the
other tripping in his story. "I vas schvim ashore and go to landt all
raite."

"What became o' ye then?"

"I vas shtop heres till I vas pick oop by a passing sheep."

"Her name, mister?" again interrogated Captain Snaggs, with keen
pertinacity. "Thet is if ye reck'lects."

"Oh, yase, I vas remembers very well," rejoined the other, equal to the
occasion. "She vas ze whaling barque _Jemima Greens_, of Bostone, I
zinks."

"Thet's right; I knows her," interrupted the skipper, quite satisfied.
"Joe Davis master, hey?"

"Yase, joost zo," replied the other, "dat vas ze name of ze cap'en, I
remembers."

"An' how long did ye remain aboard her?"

"Vor more dan vore months. She vas veeshing vor ze whale ven she pick
me oop vrom here; and I vas hab to vait till she vas load up mit ze
oils, ven she vas go zouth, and landt me at Valparaizo. Vrom dat port I
vas vork mein passage back to England ze next zommer--and dat vas dree
year ago."

"Waal, thet's a tall yarn, anyhow," said the skipper, when Jan Steenbock
had thus concluded his strange history; "but, dew ye mean ter say ez how
ye hev never ben nigh this place hyar agen sin' thet time?"

"Nein," replied the other frankly, "nevaire!"

"What! d'ye mean ter say ez how ye hed no kinder sort o' curiosity like
to find thet thaar cave, with the rest o' thet gold an' treasure what
them old buccaneers stowed away so snug, 'specially arter seein' it wer'
reel?"

"No, cap'en," said Jan Steenbock firmly, as if he had previously well
considered all the bearings of the case and arrived at his final
decision. "I vas nevaire likes vor to zee dat blace nor ze golt again--
no, nevaire!"

"But, why, mister?" asked the skipper, with insatiable curiosity,
winking to the hands round, to call their attention to the fact that he
was about to take a rise out of the simple-hearted Dane, and `trot him
out,' as