y ready to
rise, was locked in a casket in a locked drawer.

"It shows you," said Mr. Jermyn, "how well worked, that he did all this
in so little time. If you hadn't fallen on the nail, Martin, our friends
in the West would have fared badly. It was very clever of you to bring
us out of the danger." When we got back aboard the schooner, we found,
as we had expected, that the men in league with the horsey man had
deserted. Neither carpenter nor boatswain was to be found. Both had
bolted off in pursuit of the horsey man at the moment of alarm, leaving
their chests behind them. I suppose they thought that the plot had
succeeded. I dare say, too, that the horsey man, who was evidently well
known to them both, had given them orders to desert in the confusion,
so that he might suck their brains at leisure elsewhere. Altogether,
the morning's work from breakfast time till ten was as full of moving
incident as a quiet person's life. I have never had a more exciting two
hours. When I sat down to my own breakfast (which I ate in the cabin
among the gentlemen) I seemed to have grown five years older. All three
men made much of me. They brought out all sorts of sweetmeats for me,
saying I had saved them from disaster. The Duke was especially kind.
"Why, Jermyn," he said, "we thought we'd found a clever messenger; but
we've found a guardian angel." He gave me a belt made of green Spanish
leather, with a wonderfully wrought steel clasp. "Here," he said. "Wear
this, Martin. Here's a holster on it for your pistol. These pouches
hold cartridges. Then this sheath at the back will hold your dagger, the
spoils of war."

"There," said the captain. "Now I'll give you something else to fit you
out. I'll give you a pocket flask. What's more, I'll teach you how to
make cartridges. We'll make a stock this morning."

While he was speaking, the mate came down to tell us how sorry he was
that it was through him that the horsey man was shown over the ship. "He
told me he'd important letters for Mr. Scott," he said, "so I thought it
was only right to show him about, while you was dressing. The carpenter
came to me. 'This gentleman's got letters for Mr. Scott,' he said. So
I was just taken in. He was such a smooth spoken chap. After I got to
know, I could 'a' bit my head off." They spoke kindly to the man, who
was evidently distressed at his mistake. They told him to give orders
for a watchman to walk the gangway all day long in future, which to me