n Shackzon, and ze
crew of ze schgooners dat I vas in; and, markt mine vorts, it vas bringt
harms to Cap'en Schnaggs, as zertain as I vas here and dere!"

"I'm durned, though, if I don't make him suffer fur it, if he don't
shell out!" cried Hiram hotly, as we all resumed the path back to the
shore, much more quickly than we had gone up to the cave. "I'll give
him goss!"

"He vill meet his vate vrom elsevere," said Jan Steenbock solemnly,
hurrying after us, for Hiram and Tom seemed all eagerness to tackle the
skipper at once, and I trotted close after them. "Ze sbirrit ob ze
dreazure vill hoont him, and poonish him in ze end!"

And, incredible as my story may seem, quite unwittingly, Jan became a
true prophet, as what occurred subsequently will show.

When we got to the shore, we found that the ship had her boats hoisted
in, and her anchor weighed; while the topsails were cast loose, showing
that she was ready to sail at a moment's notice.

What concerned us most, though, was that we could see no means for
getting on board; for the dinghy by which we had landed was towing
astern by its painter, and thus all communication was cut off with the
shore.

"_Denver City_, ahoy!" shouted out Hiram, putting his hands to his mouth
as an improvised speaking trumpet. "Send a boat to take us off!"

Captain Snaggs at once jumped up on the taffrail on our hailing her.

"Not one o' ye durned cusses comes aboard my shep agen, if I knows it!"
he yelled back loudly. "Ye went ashore o' yer own accord, an' thaar ye
shell stop, by thunder!"

"Ye durned thief!" cried Hiram, mad with rage at the villain for thus
cheating us, and abandoning us to our fate there on that lone desert
isle. "Whaar's our treesor?"

"Guess ye're ravin', man," bawled Captain Snaggs; and then, as if this
ended the colloquy, he sang out to the hands forward to "Hoist away!"

We then noticed a slight commotion on board, as if some of our shipmates
rebelled at the idea of leaving us behind, while they sailed homeward;
but this intervention on our behalf was futile, for the skipper
brandished his revolver, as we could easily see from the top of the
cliff, to which we had now climbed, in order to make our voices better
heard on board, and after a momentary pause the sails were let drop and
hauled out, and the vessel began to make her way out of the bay.

The captain then called out to us, as if in bragging malice, "I've got
every durned chest aboard! D'ye