I had been in this unpleasant plight about three weeks, during which the
remainder of the cargo had been discharged, the ship ballasted down to
her very best sailing trim, and everything made ready for my trip to the
Pacific, when one day, as I was wandering aimlessly about the streets, I
encountered Sir Edgar and Lady Desmond, who--after a much longer sojourn
up-country than they had intended--had returned to Sydney, and were
beginning to think seriously of finding their way back to England. They
were palpably and unfeignedly delighted to see me again, although they
of course sympathised with me in my misfortune, and insisted upon my
dining with them that evening, and afterwards accompanying them to the
theatre. I suppose they saw that I needed a little cheering up; and I
got it, too; for they were more than kind--their genial frankness of
behaviour to me was more that of a brother and sister than of mere
acquaintances, or even of the usual run of friends; and when I left them
next morning after breakfast--for they insisted on my acceptance of
their hospitality for the night--I felt more cheerful than I had done
since the desertion of my crew. As I shook hands with Sir Edgar on the
hotel steps, he said--
"Now, Saint Leger, we are in no hurry to start for a month or two, you
know; and we are all quite as eager as ever we were to see the end of
this adventure of yours; so if you should succeed in scraping together a
crew within, say, the next two months, you may reckon upon us as
passengers again--that is, if you would care to have us."
"You are more than kind, Sir Edgar," said I, "and I should be delighted
to have you; but you appear to have forgotten that my plans include
another visit to China before I point the barque's nose for home, even
should I succeed in securing the treasure."
"That does not matter a bit, my dear fellow," he laughed. "As I have
already told you, we are in no hurry whatever; and, to tell you the
truth, Lady Emily seems to enjoy so much better health when at sea than
she does when on shore, that I should welcome any excuse plausible
enough to keep her on shipboard for two or three months longer. So, if
you should succeed in picking up a crew, let me know at once."
It really seemed as though the reappearance of the Desmonds upon the
scene had brought good fortune to me; for when I reached the ship and
went on board, Forbes met me at the gangway with quite an unwonted
expression of delight upon his face, and said--
"I am glad you have come on board so early, sir; for I have actually had
a gang of eleven men alongside, who say they are looking for berths."
"Eleven men! _looking for berths_!" I ejaculated, scarcely crediting my
ears. "Where are they?"
"They went off up-town again, unfortunately, when I told them you were
not on board," replied Forbes. "But I have the address of the
boarding-house at which they are staying, and I told them I would let
them know when you could see them."
"My dear fellow," I exclaimed, "be off at once, and say that I shall be
on board for the remainder of the day, and can see them at any time.
Or, stay--perhaps I had better look in upon them myself; I can manage to
drop in upon them in a casual sort of way, that will have less
appearance of eagerness and anxiety than would sending especially for
them. What did they look like?"
"Well," admitted Forbes, "they _looked_ as rowdy a set of ruffians as I
ever wish to set eyes on; but their manners and mode of speaking were
those of fairly decent, respectable men. They said that they had been
at the gold-fields for the last seven months, and had scarcely made
enough to keep themselves; they were consequently tired of their shore
life, and had determined to go to sea again if they could meet with a
ship and officers to their liking. They were mightily taken with the
barque--as of course any man who knew a ship from a washing-tub would
be--swore she was the sweetest-looking craft in the harbour; and, when I
mentioned your name, said they had heard of you and wouldn't wish to go
to sea under a better man. Altogether, if they are only in earnest as
to their desire to go to sea again, I do not think you should find much
difficulty in securing them, sir."
"Give me their address," said I, "and I will be off after them at once.
This is not a time for fencing and feigning indifference; the fellows
know, as well as you or I do, what a haul they will prove to the man who
is lucky enough to secure them, so I will not run any risk of losing
them by pretending otherwise. If I can persuade them to ship, I will
sail to-morrow, short-handed though we should be. I can take the
starboard watch myself; and, for the rest, we shall just have to keep an
extra sharp eye upon the barometer and the weather, and be careful to
snug down if need be in good time, until we again reach China, when we
shall probably be able to get another man or two." So saying, I took
the address from Forbes, and forthwith started in search of the men. I
found them at length, after a somewhat tedious quest, in a most
disreputable-looking boarding-house, situate in the most disreputable
part of the town. And I am bound to admit that my first impression of
the men was that their appearance was in perfect accord with their
surroundings. They most undoubtedly were, as Forbes had said, as
rowdy-looking a set of ruffians as one would care to meet. Tough,
sinewy desperadoes, swarthy as mulattoes by long exposure to the fierce
southern sun, with long, dense, tangled thatches of hair mingling with a
thick, neglected growth of beard and whisker that permitted scarcely a
feature, save the nose and eyes, to be seen, clad in the remains of the
inevitable flannel shirt, cord trousers, and knee-boots, with belts
about their waists, in which each man carried his revolver and a
formidable bowie-knife; the whole topped off with a soft, broad-brimmed,
battered felt hat dashed on to the head in a fashion eloquently
suggestive of the utmost extreme of recklessness,--I think I never saw a
party of men who, under ordinary circumstances, I would have been less
willing to ship as a crew than these. Yet, when I spoke to them, they
answered me respectfully, and there was scarcely more than the merest
tinge of that defiant independence of manner that their appearance had
prepared me to expect. They told me, as they had told Forbes, that they
had been working for something like seven months at the gold-fields, and
had met with so little success that they were now almost penniless, a
result which they attributed to their lack of experience as miners. One
of the party remarked grimly that the life of a miner was even worse
than that of a sailor; inasmuch as that, with an equal amount of
exposure and harder work, it was no unusual thing for them to be reduced
to starvation rations. Seven months' experience of this kind, they
said, had satisfied them that they were never intended for gold-miners;
and they had accordingly left the fields in a body, and tramped to
Sydney, determined to revert to their original occupation of seamen, and
agreeing to ship together for home in the first craft that took their
fancy.
"But," said I, "I am not going directly to England. I am bound to the
Pacific for a cargo of sandal-wood, and thence to China, before seeking
a freight to England."
"Oh, well," said the fellow who had constituted himself the spokesman of
the party, "that won't make any great difference. The voyage 'll be so
much the longer, and we shall have the more money to take up at the end
of it. The chief thing with us is to find a comfortable ship and a good
skipper, and we're of opinion that if we ship with you, we shall have
both. Ain't that so, mates?"
"Ay, ay, judge; that's so, my bully. Them's our sentiments. Right you
are, as usual."
In these and similar terse sentences, the men confirmed the remarks of
their companion.
The question of wages was then raised, in respect of which I found their
demands far more moderate than I had dared to hope; namely, five pounds
ten per month for the seamen and the man who undertook to perform the
duties of steward, and six pounds ten per month for the cook; each man
to receive an Advance of _two_ months' wages upon signing articles. To
this I agreed without demur, and then, anxious to strike while the iron
appeared to be hot, I suggested that they should sign articles
forthwith. A short consultation among themselves followed this
proposal, at the end of which they declared themselves quite willing,
but stipulated that they should have twenty-four hours clear after
signing, in which to provide themselves with an outfit for the voyage.
To this I also assented, and we then separated, they to make their way
to the shipping-office, and I to hurry down to the barque for the
necessary papers and cash prior to joining them there.
It was just noon when, the work of signing the articles and paying the
advances having been completed, I jumped into a cab to drive to the
hotel at which the Desmonds were staying, to acquaint those good people
with my latest stroke of luck. They were out, however, as I felt
morally certain they would be; so I left a note for Sir Edgar, and then
set about the transaction of such small items of business as were
necessary prior to going to sea. This, however, amounted to very
little, as I had practically completed all my preparations long before;
so by five o' clock in the evening I had cleared everything off my
hands, and was once more alongside the ship. Here I found a note from
Sir Edgar Desmond awaiting me, in which he acknowledged the receipt of
my own epistle, and enjoined me to dine with them without fail that
evening. This I did; and the upshot of it all was that they decided to
complete the trip with me, despite the poor account I felt constrained
to give them of my crew, and announced their intention of joining the
ship immediately after lunch on the following day.
As I stretched myself out in my bunk that night, and reflected with a
sigh of satisfaction that, if all went well, we should be once more at
sea in less than twenty-four hours, the disagreeable suspicion for the
first time obtruded itself upon my mind that possibly it might prove
after all that I had been the victim of a clever swindle, and that I
should never see anything more of any of the men to whom I had handed
over two months' advance so confidingly. However, about eleven o'clock
the next morning, the first of them--William Rogers, the man whom I had
shipped as boatswain--put in an appearance alongside, neatly dressed in
a new suit of blue cloth, with cap, shirt, and shoes to match; also a
brand-new chest and bundle of bedding; and coming on board, quietly went
below and proceeded to arrange his belongings for the voyage. I was
agreeably surprised at this man's appearance; for whereas when I had
shipped him on the previous day, he was ragged, dirty, and unkempt, he
was now well-dressed, clean, and palpably fresh from the hands of the
barber. Close upon his heels came Jacob Simpson, the cook, who had
likewise undergone a renovating process that materially improved his
appearance, although as I looked at the man there was a something about
him that I did not quite like. For one thing, he seemed to remind me
vaguely of somebody else--though who, I could not for the life of me
say--who had left an unpleasant impression upon my mind; and, added to
this, he was afflicted with an affection of the voice--the result of
bush-fever, he informed me--which permitted him to speak only in a
hoarse whisper. Next came Peter Gale, the man who had undertaken to
perform the functions of steward, though he frankly admitted that he
knew little or nothing about the duties of the post. But, since a
steward we must have, and this man impressed me as being the most quiet
and likely man for the berth, I had chosen him, since he had professed
his readiness to try his hand and do his best. From this man I learned
the pleasing intelligence that the remainder of the men were following
him, and would be on board in about a quarter of an hour; so I
introduced him to the lazarette, and directed him to obtain the cook's
assistance to break out a fresh barrel of beef, and get a dinner under
way for the crew forthwith. About the time named by the steward, the
main body made their appearance and came quietly on board. There were
eight of them, namely, Hiram Barr and James Mckinley, Americans; Michael
O'Connor, an Irishman; Francois Bourdonnais, a Frenchman; Carl Strauss,
a German; Christian Christianssen, a Swede; Pedro Villar, a Portuguese;
and James Nicholson (nicknamed "San Domingo," from the island in which
he was born), a full-blooded negro. They constituted a distinctly
scratch crew, I was compelled to admit, as I watched them coming on
board; but they all understood and spoke English; and although, with all
their sprucing up, a few of them still wore a somewhat sinister
appearance, every man of them was, for a wonder, perfectly sober, and
they all bore themselves in a remarkably decent and orderly manner.
Moreover, the eight last enumerated had all shipped as able seamen. In
short, while perhaps they were not a crew that I would have selected
from choice, I considered myself marvellously lucky in getting even
them, and was more than content.
As soon as they were all aboard and had gone below, I sent word for'ard
by the steward that they were to employ the interval until dinner-time
in "shaking down," and that after dinner we should proceed to rig out
the jib-boom and unmoor the ship preparatory to going to sea. Then,
leaving Forbes in charge, I went ashore and cleared the ship for the
Pacific, paid the harbour and other dues, wrote and posted a few
letters, and took lunch. Then down on board again, overtaking the
Desmond party on the way; when, having shipped them and their somewhat
multitudinous belongings, the windlass was manned, the cable hove short,
the topsails sheeted home and mast-headed, the anchor tripped, and we
were off, reaching the open sea just in time to see the sun disappear
behind the land as we squared away upon a north-easterly course for Dick
Saint Leger's treasure island.
For a time all went merry as a marriage bell; the weather was simply
perfect, with blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and gentle breezes, with
charming glimpses of lovely tropical islands, day after day, when we
reached the Fiji and Friendly Archipelagos and threaded our way through
them. To add to the enjoyment of this time, the men were doing their
duty in a manner that ought to have satisfied the most exacting of
officers, and behaving with a quietness and steadiness of demeanour that
was absolutely unexceptionable. They seemed always willing, and always
_content_--a phenomenon that I had never hitherto met with on shipboard
for longer than the first week after leaving a port.
I was consequently very much astonished when, one dark night, in the
middle watch, when we had been at sea rather over a fortnight, Joe
Martin, who was at the wheel, took advantage of a momentary pause I made
beside him, to address me in the following terms:--
"Beg pardon, cap'n, but could you make it convenient to pitch into me,
and give me a most tremenjious blowin' up, and call me a lot of hard
names afore all hands, to-morrow, some time in the second dog-watch, if
I was to give you an excuse for so doin'?"
"Blow you up? abuse you? before all hands?" I ejaculated, as soon as my
astonishment would allow me to speak. "Why, what in the name of all
that is extraordinary do you mean, Martin?"
"Just exactly what I says, sir," was the reply. "The fact is, there's
something brewin' in the fo'c's'le, and I want to get to the bottom of
it. But I can't, because the men have got the notion into their heads
that I'm a bit of a favourite of yours, and they won't trust me. So I
want you to pitch into me, hot and heavy, before all hands, to-morrow;
and then I'll turn sulky, and start a good growl, and perhaps then
they'll say something to me."
"But I don't understand you, Joe," I protested. "The men are the most
quiet, willing, contented, well-behaved set of fellows it has ever been
my pleasure to sail with; and do you mean to tell me that they are
plotting mischief among themselves?"
"Well, sir, they're plottin' _something_, that's certain; and if it
ain't mischief, why do they keep me out of it?" argued Joe.
"How do you know--or rather, what makes you suppose they are plotting?"
I asked.
"Why, they're everlastin'ly whispering together," was the reply. "If
you'll only take notice, sir, you'll see that there's never a minute,
day nor night, but what two or three of 'em has got their heads
together, palaverin'. And if ever I goes near and makes a show of
chimin' in, the talk's stopped at once and changed to something else.
And away along in the first dog-watch, for an hour or so, the steward
'll come for'ard, and then they'll all be as thick as thieves together,
instead of turnin' in and gettin' their sleep, as honest men should. If
it's our eight hours out, our chaps slinks off down into the fo'c's'le
out o' my way; and if it's our eight hours _in_, the whole watch except
me 'll be on deck until pretty nigh on to four bells. Pretends, they
do, that the fo'c's'le's so hot they can't sleep. _I_ don't find it too
hot to sleep."
"And how do they behave to you?" I asked.
"Oh, as to that," conceded Joe, "I haven't got no fault to find.
They're all civil and friendly enough, exceptin' cookie; _he_ won't have
a word to say to me, or come anigh me if he can help it; and, whatever
it is, it's my belief that he's at the bottom of it. But the rest of
'em are all right, only they won't have me in with 'em durin' their
confabs."
"Pshaw! my good fellow," I exclaimed, "you have found a mare's nest.
Their `confabs,' as you call them, relate to nothing worse than their
past experiences at the mines, I'll be bound. And the reason why they
will not speak about them to you is, most probably, because they think
you would not be interested in them."
"Well, sir, maybe you're right," remarked Joe, "but I don't believe you
are, all the same, if you'll excuse my sayin' so. There's too much
secrecy for everything to be quite right. And, if you don't mind, I
should like to try that little experiment I spoke about just now; if
there's nothing wrong it won't matter, and if there is, perhaps they'll
be inclined to have me in with 'em, if they think I've fallen out of
your favour."
"Very well, Joe," said I; "have your own way, if you like. I'll not
spare you if you do anything to vex me; only remember, my good fellow,
that whatever I may say will only be said to humour you."
"That's all right, sir; and thank ye kindly. There's just one thing
more I'd like to say, sir, and then we'd better stop talkin'. It's just
this. Don't you try to have any talk with me on the quiet like. You
leave everything to me, sir, and as soon as I've found out anything I'll
make a chance to let you know, somehow."
And so this remarkable conversation ended. Could there possibly be
anything in Joe's idea? The men seemed to be perfectly comfortable and
contented; they appeared to desire nothing in the way of food or
accommodation, beyond what they already possessed; they had not grumbled
or made any complaint; what could they be plotting to obtain? I asked
myself this question over and over again, and could find no answer to
it; notwithstanding which, Joe's communication made me feel exceedingly
uneasy and anxious; so much so that, when I turned in, I found it quite
impossible to get to sleep.
It may be readily imagined that when next I had an opportunity to
observe the men I watched them, individually and collectively, most
closely; yet, beyond the trivial circumstance that conversation always
ceased if I happened to approach, I could detect nothing in the men's
demeanour to lend the slightest colour to Joe's supposition. True, two
or three of them--the Frenchman, the Portuguese, and the German, for
instance--now impressed me as being scarcely so civil in their behaviour
as they had been when they first joined the ship; but that, after all,
might be only my fancy; and, if it were not, one hardly looks for such
good behaviour from foreigners as one is wont to receive from
Englishmen.
As for Joe Martin, he began his operations bright and early on the
morning following his conversation with me. He was now the ship's
carpenter, and in that capacity he had received orders on the previous
day to fit a new set of stern-sheets in the port quarter-boat. This job
he began the first thing in the morning, swinging her inboard and
lowering her to the deck for his greater convenience during the progress
of the work. This simple matter he managed so clumsily that he
contrived to bilge the boat, necessitating the renewal of three timbers
and a plank. I was on deck at the time of the accident, and, forgetting
for the moment his scheme to provoke a seeming quarrel with me, I
cautioned him about the awkward, lubberly way in which he was
proceeding, and recommended him to get more help. He replied, in an
offhand, careless way, that he was quite man enough to _do such_ a job
as that without anybody's help; and, as he spoke, down came the boat
with a crash, and the damage was done. The whole thing seemed such a
piece of pig-headed stupidity that I was thoroughly exasperated with the
fellow, and gave him a good sound rating; much, apparently, to the
amusement of the other men. Joe said nothing by way of excuse--indeed,
any attempt to excuse himself would have been so wholly out of place as
only to have increased his offence--but he slouched away forward,
muttering to himself, and I noticed him stop and say a word or two to a
couple of men who were at work upon the forecastle. _Then_ I remembered
his proposal, and bethought me that this might be his way of carrying
out his plan; if so, I could not help admiring his ingenuity, albeit
still decidedly annoyed with him for the powerful realism with which he
was playing his little comedy.
The boat lay as she had fallen for fully an hour; meanwhile Joe had
vanished. This cool behaviour on his part nettled me still more; and at
length I directed the boatswain to pass the word for Joe to come aft.
Upon which Joe made his appearance, obviously from the forecastle,
wearing that sulky, sullen look that always exasperated me more
thoroughly than anything else, whenever I met with it in a man (I am
afraid I am rather a short-tempered individual at times); and I gave him
such a wigging as four hours earlier I would not have believed possible;
ordering him not to waste any more time, but to set to work at once to
repair the damage occasioned by his clumsiness. Whether or no Joe began
to guess from my manner that he had gone a trifle too far, I know not;
but he at once went to work as I had ordered him, and worked, moreover,
with such a will that by eight bells in the afternoon watch the damage
was repaired and the boat as good as ever she was, save for a lick of
paint over the new work. This want Joe now proceeded, with a great show
of zeal, to supply, procuring a pot of paint and a brush, with which he
came bustling aft. Now, if there is one thing upon which I pride myself
more than another, it is the scrupulous cleanliness of my decks;
conceive, therefore, if you can, the extremity of my disgust and
annoyance when I saw Joe catch the naked toes of his right foot in the
corner of a hen-coop, and, in his agony, drop the pot of paint upon my
beautifully clean poop, of course spilling the whole contents. It is
true that, forgetting his pain the next moment, he dropped upon his
knees and contrived, by scooping up the spilled paint in the palms of
his hands, to replace a considerable proportion of it in the pot; but
after he had done his best with canvas and turpentine a horrible
unsightly blotch still remained to mar the hitherto immaculate purity of
the planks, and it is therefore not to be wondered at if I again
administered a sound and hearty rating to the culprit, this time in the
presence and hearing of all hands. It was all the more vexatious to me
that, instead of expressing any contrition for his carelessness, Joe
persistently maintained the surly demeanour he had exhibited more or
less throughout the day.
My anger, however, was short-lived, and by the time that I had had an
hour or two for reflection I could not help feeling that I had been
decidedly harsh and severe with the fellow for what was practically his
first offence; moreover, he had always hitherto behaved so exceedingly
well, and had proved himself such a splendid workman, that he had become
a great favourite with me. When, therefore, during dinner, Sir Edgar
made some half-jesting remark about Joe's misdeeds, I was far more
disposed to make excuses for the man than to maintain a semblance of
that annoyance I had so conspicuously exhibited during the day:
nevertheless, I deemed it politic to do the latter, particularly while
the steward was about; as I felt that, if the rest of the men were
indeed traitors, the steward was probably the same, and would, in any
case, be pretty certain to repeat in the forecastle whatever might be
said in the cabin as to Joe's misdemeanours.
It was Joe's trick at the wheel that night for the first half of the
first watch; but, as the passengers were about the deck during the whole
time, I made no attempt to enter into confidential communication with
him, and I had no other opportunity that night. On the following day
his misdeeds were not quite so egregious, but he still contrived to
behave like a man who considered himself aggrieved; and when his trick
at the wheel came round again, during the first half of the afternoon
watch, he steered so carelessly, and ran the ship off her course so
abominably, that I had at last to send him away from the wheel, and
summon another man in his place; taking the fullest advantage, at the
same time, of the opportunity thus afforded to give him another good
rating, hot and heavy, as I felt that he intended I should.
His turn to "grind water" came round again at the latter half of the
middle watch, and when he came aft at four bells to relieve the wheel I
took care to be at hand with a reminder of his shortcomings during the
previous afternoon, and the stern expression of a hope that he would
give me no further cause to complain of him. And, not content with
that, I took up a position near him with an air that was intended to
convey to the retiring helmsman my determination to keep a strict eye
upon Master Joe's conduct during the remainder of the watch.
Joe waited a minute or two, to allow the other man to get fairly out of
hearing forward, and then remarked--
"I'm afraid, sir, I rather overdone the thing yesterday, a-stavin' in
the gig, and then capsizin' the paint. If I did, I hope you'll forgive
me, sir, and remember as I done it for the best."
"Overdid it? Did it for the best?" I ejaculated. "Why, confound you,
man, do you mean to tell me that you did those things _intentionally_?"
"Of course I did, sir," answered Joe, in much lower tones than my own,
obviously with the intention of putting me on my guard. "You see, sir,
them chaps for'ard are pretty cute; they're too old birds to be caught
with chaff; and I knew that if I was to get on the blind side of 'em,
it'd have to be by means of throwin' you into a genuine, downright
passion with me. Besides, if you'll excuse me for sayin' of it, Captain
Saint Leger, you ain't much of a hactor, sir; you're altogether too
fair, and straightfor'ard, and aboveboard to be able to deceive, or
fight on equal terms with a lot of sharp, sly, underhand, sneakin'
beggars like them in the fo'c's'le. So says I to myself, `Joe,' says I,
`if _you_ wants that crowd to believe as you're out of the skipper's
favour, and are ready to join 'em in any mischief they may be hatchin',
you've got to do somethin' to make the cap'n real downright savage with
yer.' And that's why I done it, sir. I'm boun' to allow that the
capsizin' of that there paint was perhaps a-comin' of it a _leetle_ too
strong; but--"
"Oh, that's all right, Joe," I interrupted. "There is no doubt about
the fact that you succeeded in making me genuinely angry with you; the
important question now is, has it had the effect that you anticipated?
Have the other men shown any disposition to take you into their
confidence and make you a participator in the plot or whatever it is
that you suppose them to be hatching?"
"Well, no, sir, not exactly," Joe admitted. "But I'm in hopes that they
will afore long, if this here unpleasantness between me and you goes on.
At present, you see, they don't know but what it may be a temp'ry thing
as'll soon blow over; but if they finds that you've got a sort of spite
again' me, and are always down upon me and drivin' me to desperation, as
you may say, they'll be pretty certain to have a try to get me over on
their side. You see, sir, I'm about as strong as e'er a man aboard
here, and if them chaps are up to mischief they'll nat'rally prefer to
have me with 'em instead of again' 'em."
"Undoubtedly they will," I agreed. "But, Joe, you have not yet told me
exactly what it is that you suspect. If they were dissatisfied with
their food, or their treatment, or their accommodation, would they not
come aft and make a complaint, and endeavour to get the matter rectified
in that way? But they never have done so; and indeed I cannot imagine
what they have to be dissatisfied with: their food is all of the very
best description it was possible to obtain; the forecastle is as roomy
and comfortable a place as you will meet with in any ship of this size;
and, as to work, I do not think they have much to complain of on that
score."
"No, sir, no; it ain't nothing of that sort," asserted Joe. "It's my
belief, sir, as they've somehow got wind of _the treasure_, and that
it's that they're after."
"The treasure?" I exclaimed in blank astonishment. "What treasure?"
"Why, the treasure as you expects to find on this here island as we're
bound for. Lor' bless you, sir," continued Joe, noting the
consternation that his unexpected communication had occasioned me, "we
all knowed about it in the fo'c's'le--the old hands, I mean--afore the
ship arrived in Sydney Harbour. It was the steward as brought the news
for'ard to us one night. He was a curious chap, he was, as inquisitive
as a monkey; he always wanted to know the ins and outs of everything
that was goin' on, and he'd noticed you porin' and puzzlin' over a paper
with a lot of figures wrote on it, and a drorin' in the middle; and he
used to come for'ard and tell us that you'd been havin' another try to
find out what them figures meant. And one night--it was when we was
gettin' well on toward Sydney--he comes for'ard in great excitement, and
he says, says he, `I'm blowed if the skipper haven't been and found out
at last the meanin' of that paper that he's been puzzlin' over durin'
the whole of this blessed voyage; and what do you suppose it is?' says
he.
"Well, in course we said we didn't know; and some of us said we didn't
care either, seein' that it wasn't any business of ours.
"`Oh, ain't it?' says he. `P'r'aps you won't say it ain't no business
of yours when you know what it is,' he says.
"`Well,' says one of the men--it were Bill Longman--`if you thinks as it
concerns us, why don't you up and tell us what it is, instead of hangin'
in the wind like a ship in irons?' says he.
"So then the steward he tells us as how, that mornin' whilst you was all
at breakfast in the saloon, he'd heard you tellin' about a dream you'd
had the night before; and how you started up in the middle of the meal
and rushed off to your state-room, and stayed there a goodish while, and
then went up on deck and told Sir Edgar as you'd discovered the meanin'
of the paper, which was all about how to find a treasure that was buried
on a desert island somewhere; and that you intended to go on to Sydney
and discharge your cargo, and then take in ballast and sail for the
Pacific to find this here island and get the treasure.
"Of course when he'd finished tellin' us about it there was a great
palaver about buried treasure, and pretty nigh every man in the
fo'c's'le pretended to have heard of a similar case; and we all agreed
as you was a lucky man, and we hoped as how you'd find the island, and
the treasure too. And by-and-by, after there had been a good deal of
talk of that sort, Bill Longman up and says, `But, George,' he says to
the steward, `you haven't told us yet how this here affair concarns us?'
"`Oh, well,' says George, with a curious kind of a laugh, `if you don't
_see_ as how it concarns us, why of course there ain't no more to be
said.' And that was all we could get out of the steward that night.
"But a night or two afterwards, Master George brings up the subject
again by sayin' that he don't suppose it's likely as you'll offer to
share this here treasure with all hands, supposin' that you find it.
And then he goes on to say that, for his part, he don't see as the
treasure is yours any more than it's anybody else's, and that, in his
opinion, if it's ever found, all hands ought to share and share alike.
And some of the chaps seemed to think he was right, and others they
didn't, and Bill up and says--
"`Look here, George,' he says, `supposin' when we gets ashore at Sydney
you was to find a bag of sovereigns in the street, would you share 'em
with us?'
"George said that 'd be a different thing altogether from findin' a
treasure on a desert island; and we all had a long argyment about it,
and couldn't agree; and, after that, the steward talked a good deal more
about all sharin' alike in the treasure, and that if we was all of one
mind it could be done, and a lot more stuff of the same kind. But we
all laughed at him; and then came the arrival of the ship in Sydney, and
George bein' paid off, and after that I heard nothin' more about the
treasure."
"And what makes you imagine that the new men have got hold of the
story?" I asked.
"Well, sir," said Joe, "it's just one or two little things I've
overheard said. The first thing as ever made me suspect that there was
somethin' up was the mention of the word `treasure.' Cookie is the man
as seems to know most about it--he's everlastin'ly talkin' about it--and
I fancy he must have fallen in with the steward somewheres ashore and
heard the whole story from him."
"And what has the cook to say about it?" I inquired.
"Ah, that's just what I wants to find out," answered Joe. "They won't
say anything to me about it, but just sits whisperin' with their heads
together away for'ard in the far end of the fo'c's'le, and I notices as
it's always the cook as has most to say. He and Rogers seems to be the
leadin' spirits in the job, whatever it is."
"So your little scheme of yesterday has borne no fruit, thus far?" I
suggested.
"Well, not much," said Joe. "But then, I don't expect 'em to take me
into their secrets right off the reel, the first time that I misbehave
myself. But I believe they'll have a try to get me in with 'em before
they tries to carry out their plans. Last night, when I was sittin' on
my chest, grumblin' and growlin' at the way I'd been treated durin' the
day,"--here Joe laughed softly as the peculiar humour of the situation
seemed to present itself to him--"the cook wanted to know whether I
wouldn't rather be a rich 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'."