set about it before."

"It is quite possible they have done so already," Will said, "but they may
have taken prizes quicker than they could dispose of them, which would
account for this immense accumulation. Now, Dimchurch, I will sit down and
go through those bills of lading and pick out the most valuable goods. We
will then take these off to begin with, and can leave it to the admiral to
send a man-of-war or charter some merchantman to bring the rest. The
schooner should carry between two and three hundred tons, and we could
manage to cram eighty or a hundred into our hold. If we get all that
safely to Jamaica, we need not grieve much if we find that the rest of the
goods have been burned before the ships can come to fetch them."

It took him three hours to go through the bills of lading, making a mark
against all the most valuable goods. Then some of the men were set to sort
these out. There was no great difficulty about this, as the goods had been
very neatly stored, those belonging to each ship being separated by narrow
passages from the rest. The remainder of the men except two were meanwhile
brought from the cutter. Sentries were then placed to watch all the
approaches to the storehouses, and while ten men got out the bales and
boxes, the remaining twenty-six carried them down the path. At night half
the men remained in the storehouses, the other half returning to the
cutter.

Before sunset Will went with a small escort to the top of a neighbouring
hill to see that all was well with the hulk of the schooner. With the aid
of his telescope he could see her plainly, and to his great satisfaction
noted that she had made but little drift.

The next morning the work was resumed, and was carried on all day with
only short breaks for meals, and so on the following two days. At the end
of that time as much had been put on board the cutter as she could carry.
Ten men were then left to guard the stores, and the rest, going on board,
sailed out to the schooner and towed her in. They did not, as was at first
intended, stop a mile outside the inlet, but came right into it and
anchored opposite the path, as the labour of continually loading the
cutter and then transferring her cargo to the hulk would have been very
great. The next morning a party of twelve men went on board her, and
found, as Will had expected, that she was entirely deserted.

"They will be too happy at having made their escape to do anything for the
next