4J6C
 
 SPANISH DOUBLOONS
 
 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Bj 
 CAMILLA KENYON 
 
 luustrateJ by 
 LOUIS ROGERS 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT 1919 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
 BROOKLYN, H. 
 
 BRAUNWORTH 4 CO. 
 BOOK MANUFACTURERS
 
 To L. T. 
 
 In recognition of her faith in me. 
 
 21S6577
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I AN AUNT ERRANT 1 
 
 II APOLLO AND SOME OTHERS ... 16 
 
 III I ENGAGE THE ENEMY .... 25 
 
 IV THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 43 
 
 V THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY .... 56 
 
 VI THE CAVE WITH Two MOUTHS . . 82 
 
 VII A RABBIT'S FOOT 95 
 
 VIII AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM . 110 
 
 IX "LASSIE, LASSIE ...".... 123 
 
 X WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND . . 137 
 
 XI Miss BROWNE HAS A VISION . . 157 
 
 XII THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT . 167 
 
 XIII I BRING TO LIGHT A CLUE ... 185 
 
 XIV MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS .... 193 
 XV SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY ... 208 
 
 XVI LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST . 226 
 
 XVII FROM DEAD HANDS 246 
 
 XVIII OF WHICH COOKIE Is THE HERO . 255 
 
 XIX THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES ... 269 
 
 XX TWIXT CUP AND LIP . . . . . 286 
 
 XXI THE BISHOP'S CHEST 300
 
 Spanish Doubloons 
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 
 
 NEVER had life seemed more fair and smiling 
 than at the moment when Aunt Jane's letter 
 descended upon me like a bolt from the blue. The 
 fact is, I was taking a vacation from Aunt Jane. Be- 
 ing an orphan, I was supposed to be under Aunt 
 Jane's wing, but this was the merest polite fiction, 
 and I am sure that no hen with one chicken worries 
 about it more than I did about Aunt Jane. I had 
 spent the last three years, since Aunt Susan died and 
 left Aunt Jane with all that money and no one to 
 look after her but me, in snatching her from the 
 brink of disaster. Her most recent and narrow 
 escape was from a velvet-tongued person of half her 
 years who turned out to be a convict on parole. She 
 had her hand-bag packed for the elopement when I 
 confronted her with this unpleasant fact. When she 
 1
 
 2 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 came to she was bitter instead of grateful, and went 
 about for weeks presenting a spectacle of blighted 
 affections which was too much for the most self- 
 approving conscience. So it ended with my packing 
 her off to New York, where I wrote to her fre- 
 quently and kindly, urging her not to mind me but 
 to stay as long as she liked. 
 
 Meanwhile I came up to the ranch for a long holi- 
 day with Bess and the baby, a holiday which had 
 already stretched itself out to Thanksgiving, and 
 threatened to last until Christmas. People wrote 
 alluringly from town, but what had town to offer 
 compared with a saddle-horse to yourself, and a lit- 
 ter of collie pups to play with, and a baby just learn- 
 ing to walk ? I even began to consider ranching as 
 a career, and to picture myself striding over my 
 broad acres in top-boots and corduroys. 
 
 As to Aunt Jane, my state of mind was fatuously 
 calm. She was staying with cousins, who live in a 
 suburb and are frightfully respectable. I was sure 
 they numbered no convicts among their acquaint- 
 ance, or indeed any one from whom Aunt Jane was 
 likely to require rescuing. And if it came to a re- 
 tired missionary I was perfectly willing. 
 
 But the cousins and their respectability are of the
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 3 
 
 passive order, whereas to manage Aunt Jane de- 
 mands aggressive and continuous action. Hence the 
 bolt from the blue above alluded to. 
 
 I was swinging tranquilly in the hammock, I re- 
 member, when Bess brought my letters and then hur- 
 ried away because the baby had fallen down-stairs. 
 Unwarned by the slightest premonitory thrill, I kept 
 Aunt Jane's letter till the last and skimmed through 
 all the others. I should be thankful, I suppose, that 
 the peace soon to be so rudely shattered was pro- 
 longed for those few moments. I recalled after- 
 ward, but dimly, as though a gulf of ages yawned 
 between, that I had been quite interested in six pages 
 of prattle about the Patterson dance. 
 
 At last I came to Aunt Jane. I ripped open the 
 envelope and drew out the letter a fat one, but then 
 Aunt Jane's letters are always fat. She says herself 
 that she is of those whose souls flow freely forth in 
 ink but are frozen by the cold eye of an unsympa- 
 thetic listener. Nevertheless, as I spread out the 
 close-filled pages I felt a mild wonder. Writing so 
 large, so black, so staggering, so madly underlined, 
 must indicate something above even Aunt Jane's 
 usual emotional level. Perhaps in sober truth there 
 was a missionary
 
 4 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Twenty minutes later I staggered into Bess's 
 room. 
 
 "Hush !" she said. "Don't wake the baby !" 
 
 "Baby or no baby," I whispered savagely, "I've 
 got to have a time-table. I leave for the city to- 
 night to catch the first steamer for Panama !" 
 
 Later, while the baby slumbered and I packed, I 
 explained. This was difficult ; not that Bess is as a 
 general thing obtuse, but because the picture of Aunt 
 Jane embarking for some wild, lone isle of the Pa- 
 cific as the head of a treasure-seeking expedition was 
 enough to shake the strongest intellect. And yet, 
 amid the welter of ink and eloquence which filled 
 those fateful pages, there was the cold hard fact con- 
 fronting you. Aunt Jane was going to look for 
 buried treasure, in company with one Violet Hig- 
 glesby-Browne, whom she sprung on you without 
 the slightest explanation, as though alluding to the 
 Queen of Sheba or the Siamese twins. By begin- 
 ning at the end and reading backward Aunt Jane's 
 letters are usually most intelligible that way you 
 managed to piece together some explanation of this 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne and her place in the scheme 
 of things. It was through Miss Browne, whom she 
 had met at a lecture upon Soul-Development, that
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 5 
 
 Aunt Jane had come to realize her claims as an In- 
 dividual upon the Cosmos, also to discover that she 
 was by nature a woman of affairs with a talent for 
 directing large enterprises, although adverse in- 
 fluences had hitherto kept her from recognizing her 
 powers. There was a dark significance in these 
 italics, though whether they meant me or the family 
 lawyer I was not sure. 
 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne, however, had assisted 
 Aunt Jane to find herself, and as a consequence Aunt 
 Jane, for the comparatively trifling outlay needful to 
 finance the Harding-Browne expedition, would 
 shortly be the richer by one- fourth of a vast treasure 
 of Spanish doubloons. The knowledge of this hoard 
 was Miss Higglesby-Browne's alone. It had been 
 revealed to her by a dying sailor in a London hos- 
 pital, whither she had gone on a mission of kindness 
 you gathered that Miss Browne was precisely the 
 sort to take advantage when people were helpless 
 and unable to fly from her. Why the dying sailor 
 chose to make Miss Browne the repository of his 
 secret, I don't know this still remains for me the 
 unsolved mystery. But when the sailor closed his 
 eyes the secret and the map of course there was a 
 map had become Miss Higglesby-Browne's.
 
 6 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Miss Browne now had clear before her the road to 
 fortune, but unfortunately it led across the sea and 
 quite out of the route of steamer travel. Capital 
 in excess of Miss Browne's resources was required. 
 London proving cold before its great opportunity, 
 Miss Browne had shaken off its dust and come to 
 New York, where a mysteriously potent influence 
 had guided her to Aunt Jane. Through Miss 
 Browne's great organizing abilities, not to speak of 
 those newly brought to light in Aunt Jane, a party of 
 staunch comrades had been assembled, a steamer en- 
 gaged to meet them at Panama, and it was ho, for 
 the island in the blue Pacific main ! 
 
 With this lyrical outburst Aunt Jane concluded 
 the body of her letter. A small cramped post-script 
 informed me that it was against Miss H.-B.'s wishes 
 that she revealed their plans to any one, but that she 
 did want to hear from me before they sailed from 
 Panama, where a letter might reach her if I was 
 prompt However, if it did not she would try not 
 to worry, for Miss Browne was very psychic, and 
 she felt sure that any strong vibration from me 
 would reach her via Miss B., and she was my always 
 loving Jane Harding. 
 
 "And of course," I explained to Bess as I hurled
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 7 
 
 things into my bags, "if a letter can reach her so can 
 I. At least I must take the chance of it. What those 
 people are up to I don't know probably they mean 
 to hold her for ransom and murder her outright if it 
 is not forthcoming. Or perhaps some of them will 
 marry her and share the spoils with Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne. Anyway, I must get to Panama in time to 
 save her." 
 
 "Or you might go along to the island/' suggested 
 Bess. 
 
 I paused to glare at her. 
 
 "Bess ! And let them murder me too?" 
 
 "Or marry you " cooed Bess. 
 
 One month later I was climbing out of a lumber- 
 ing hack before the Tivoli hotel, which rises square 
 and white and imposing on the low green height 
 above the old Spanish city of Panama. In spite of 
 the melting tropical heat there was a chill fear at my 
 heart, the fear that Aunt Jane and her band of treas- 
 ure-seekers had already departed on their quest. In 
 that case I foresaw that whatever narrow margin of 
 faith my fellow-voyagers on the City of Quito had 
 had in me would shrink to nothingness. I had been 
 obliged to be so queer and clam-like about the whole 
 extraordinary rendezvous for how could I expose
 
 8 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Aunt Jane's madness to the multitude ? that I felt 
 it would take the actual bodily presence of my aunt 
 to convince them that she was not a myth, or at least 
 of the wrong sex for aunts. To have traveled so far 
 in the desperate hope of heading off Aunt Jane, only 
 to be frustrated and to lose my character besides ! It 
 would be a stroke too much from fate, I told my- 
 self rebelliously, as I crossed the broad gallery and 
 plunged into the cool dimness of the lobby in the 
 wake of the bellboys who, discerning a helpless prey, 
 had swooped en masse upon my bags. 
 
 "Miss Jane Harding?" repeated the clerk, and at 
 the cool negation of his tone my heart gave a sick- 
 ening downward swoop. "Miss Jane Harding and 
 party have left the hotel !" 
 
 "For for the island ?" I gasped. 
 
 He raised his eyebrows. "Can't say, I'm sure." 
 He gave me an appraising stare. Perhaps the woe 
 in my face touched him, for he descended from the 
 eminence of the hotel clerk where he dwelt apart 
 sufficiently to add, "Is it important that you should 
 see her?" 
 
 "I am her niece. I have come all the way from 
 San Francisco expecting to join her here."
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 9 
 
 The clerk meditated, his shrewd eyes piercing the 
 very secrets of my soul. 
 
 "She knew nothing about it," I hastened to add. 
 "I intended it for a surprise." 
 
 This candor helped my cause. "Well," he said, 
 "that explains her not leaving any word. As you are 
 her niece, I suppose it will do no harm to tell you that 
 Miss Harding and her party embarked this morning 
 on the freighter Rufus Smith, and I think it very 
 likely that the steamer has not left port. If you like I 
 will send a man to the water-front with you and you 
 may be able to go on board and have a talk with your 
 aunt." 
 
 Did I thank him? I have often wondered when I 
 waked up in the night. I have a vision of myself 
 dashing out of the hotel, and then the hack that 
 brought me is bearing me away. Bellboys hurled my 
 bags in after me, and I threw them largess reck- 
 lessly. Some arch-bellboy or other potentate had 
 mounted to the seat beside the driver. Madly we 
 clattered over cobbled ways. Out on the smooth 
 waters of the roadstead lay ships great and small, 
 ships with stripped masts and smokeless funnels, 
 others with faint gray spirals wreathing upward
 
 10 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 from their stacks. Was one of these the Rufus 
 Smith, and would I reach her or him before the 
 thin gray feather became a thick black plume? I 
 thought of my aunt at the mercy of these unknown 
 adventurers with whom she had set forth, helpless 
 as a little fat pigeon among hawks, and I felt, des- 
 perately, that I must reach her, must save her from 
 them and bring her safe back to shore. How I was 
 to do this at the eleventh hour plus about fifty-seven 
 minutes as at present I hadn't considered. But expe- 
 rience had taught me that once in my clutches Aunt 
 Jane would offer about as much resistance as a 
 slightly melted wax doll. She gets so soft that you 
 are almost afraid to touch her for fear of leaving 
 dents. 
 
 So to get there, get there, get there, was the one 
 prayer of my soul. 
 
 I got there, in a boat hastily commandeered by 
 the hotel clerk's deputy. I suppose he thought me 
 a behted passenger for the Rufus Smith, for my 
 baggage followed me into the boat. "Pronto!" he 
 shouted to the native boatman as we put off. 
 "Pronto!" I urged at intervals, my eyes upon the 
 funnels of the Rufus Smith, where the outpouring 
 smoke was thickening alarmingly. We brought up
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 11 
 
 under the side of the little steamer, and the wide 
 surprised face of a Swedish deckhand stared down 
 at us. 
 
 "Let me aboard ! I must come aboard !" I cried. 
 
 Other faces appeared, then a rope-ladder. Some- 
 how I was mounting it a dizzy feat to which only 
 the tumult of my emotions made me indifferent. 
 Bare brawny arms of sailors clutched at me and 
 drew me to the deck. There at once I was the cen- 
 ter of a circle of speechless and astonished persons, 
 all men but one. 
 
 "Well?" demanded a large breezy voice. "What's 
 this mean? What do you want aboard my ship?" 
 
 I looked up at a red- faced man in a large straw 
 hat. 
 
 "I want my aunt/' I explained. 
 
 "Your aunt ?" he roared. "Why the devil should 
 you think I've got your aunt ?" 
 
 "You have got her," I replied with firmness. "I 
 don't see her, but she's here somewhere." 
 
 The captain of the Rufus Smith shook two large 
 red fists above his head. 
 
 "Another lunatic !" he shouted. "I'd as soon have 
 a white horse and a minister aboard as to go to sea 
 in a floating bedlam !"
 
 12 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 As the captain's angry thunder died away came 
 the small anxious voice of Aunt Jane. 
 
 "What's the matter? Oh, please tell me what's 
 the matter!" she was saying as she edged her way 
 into the group. In her severely cut khaki suit she 
 looked like a plump little dumpling that had got 
 into a sausage wrapping by mistake. Her eyes, 
 round, pale, blinking a little in the tropical glare, 
 roved over the circle until they lit on me. Right 
 where she stood Aunt Jane petrified. She endeav- 
 ored to shriek, but achieved instead only a strangled 
 wheeze. Her poor little chin dropped until it disap- 
 peared altogether in the folds of her plump neck, 
 and she remained speechless, stricken, immobile as a 
 wax figure in an exhibition. 
 
 "Aunt Jane," I said, "you must come right back to 
 shore with me." I spoke calmly, for unless you are 
 perfectly calm with Aunt Jane you fluster her. 
 
 She replied only by a slight gobbling in her throat, 
 but the other woman spoke in a loud voice, addressed 
 not to me but to the universe in general. 
 
 "The Young Person is mad !" It was an unmis- 
 takably British intonation. 
 
 This then was Miss Violet Higglesby-Browne. I 
 saw a grim, bony, stocky shape, in a companion cos-
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 13 
 
 tume to my aunt's. Around the edges of her cork 
 helmet her short iron-gray hair visibly bristled. She 
 had a massive head, and a seamed and rugged coun- 
 tenance which did its best to live down the humilia- 
 tion of a ridiculous little nose with no bridge. By 
 what prophetic irony she had been named Violet is 
 the secret of those powers which seem to love a 
 laugh at mankind's expense. 
 
 But what riveted my eyes was the deadly glare 
 with which hers were turned on me. I saw that not 
 only was she as certain of my identity as though she 
 had guided me from my first tottering steps, but 
 that in a flash she had grasped my motives, aims and 
 purposes, and meant once for all to face, out-general 
 and defeat me with great slaughter. 
 
 So she announced to the company with delibera- 
 tion, "The Young Person is mad!" 
 
 It nettled me extremely. 
 
 "Mad !" I flung back at her. "Because I wish to 
 save my poor aunt from such a situation as this? It 
 would be charitable to infer madness in those who 
 have led her into it !" When I reviewed this speech 
 afterward I realized that it was not, under the cir- 
 cumstances, the- best calculated to win me friends. 
 
 "Jane !" said Miss Higglesby-Browne in deep and
 
 14 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 awful tones, "the time has come to prove your 
 strength !" 
 
 Aunt Jane proved it by uttering a shrill yelp, and 
 clutching her hair with a reckless disregard of its 
 having originally been that of a total stranger. So 
 severe were her shrieks and struggles that it was 
 with difficulty that she was borne below in the arms 
 of two strong men. 
 
 I had seen Aunt Jane in hysterics before she had 
 them that time about the convict. I was not fright- 
 ened, but I hurried after her neck and neck with 
 Miss Browne. It was fifteen minutes before Aunt 
 Jane came to, and then she would only moan. I 
 bathed her head, and held her hand, and did all the 
 regulation things, tinder the baleful eye of Miss 
 Browne, who steadfastly refused to go away, but sat 
 glaring like a gorgon who sees her prey about to be 
 snatched from her. 
 
 In the midst of my ministrations I awoke sud- 
 denly to a rhythmic heave and throb which pervaded 
 the ship. Dropping Aunt Jane's hand I rushed on 
 deck. There lay the various pieces of my baggage, 
 and in the distance the boat with the two brown 
 rowers was skipping shoreward over the ripples.
 
 AN AUNT ERRANT 15 
 
 As for the Rufus Smith, she was under weigh, and 
 heading out of the roadstead for the open sea. 
 
 I dashed aft to the captain, who stood issuing or- 
 ders in the voice of an aggrieved fog-horn. 
 
 "Captain !" I cried, "wait ; turn around ! You must 
 put my aunt and me ashore !" 
 
 He whirled on me, showing a crimson angry face. 
 "Turn around, is it, turn around ?" he shouted. "Do 
 you suppose I can loaf about the harbor here 
 a-waitin' on your aunt's fits? You come aboard 
 without me askin'. Now you can go along with the 
 rest. This here ship has got her course set for 
 Frisco, pickin' up Leeward Island on the way, and 
 anybody that ain't goin' in that direction is welcome 
 to jump overboard." 
 
 That is how I happened to go to Leeward Island.
 
 II 
 
 APOLLO AND SOME OTHERS 
 
 THE Rufus Smith, tramp freighter, had been 
 chartered to convey the Harding-Browne ex- 
 pedition to Leeward Island, which lies about three 
 hundred miles west of Panama, and could be picked 
 up by the freighter in her course. She was a little 
 dingy boat with such small accommodation that I 
 can not imagine where the majority of her passen- 
 gers stowed themselves away. My aunt and Miss 
 Browne had a stateroom between them the size of a 
 packing-box, and somebody turned out and resigned 
 another to me. I retired there to dress for dinner 
 after several dismal hours spent in attendance on 
 Aunt Jane, who had passed from great imaginary 
 suffering into the quite genuine anguish of seasick- 
 ness. In the haste of my departure from San Fran- 
 cisco I had not brought a trunk, so the best I was 
 able to produce in the way of a crusher for Miss 
 Higglesby-Browne and her fellow-passengers was a 
 cool little white gown, which would shine at least by 
 16
 
 APOLLO AND SOME OTHERS 17 
 
 contrast with Miss Browne's severely utilitarian cos- 
 tume. White is becoming to my hair, which nar- 
 row-minded persons term red, but which has been 
 known to cause the more discriminating to draw 
 heavily on the dictionary for adjectives. My face is 
 small and heart-shaped, with features strictly for use 
 and not for ornament, but fortunately inconspicuous. 
 As for my eyes, I think tawny quite the nicest word, 
 though Aunt Jane calls them hazel and I have even 
 heard whispers of green. 
 
 Five minutes after the gong sounded I walked into 
 the cabin. Miss Browne, Captain Watkins of the 
 freighter, and half a dozen men were already at the 
 table. I slid unobtrusively into the one vacant place, 
 fortunately remote from the captain, who glared at 
 me savagely, as though still embittered by the recol- 
 lection of my aunt's fits. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Miss Browne in icy tones, 
 "Miss Virginia Harding." 
 
 Two of the men rose, the others stared and 
 ducked. Except for Miss Browne and the captain, 
 I had received on coming aboard only the most 
 blurred impression of my fellow-voyagers. I remem- 
 bered them merely as a composite of khaki and cork 
 helmets and astounded staring faces. But I felt that
 
 18 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 as the abetters of Miss Browne a hostile and sinister 
 atmosphere enveloped them all. 
 
 Being thus in the camp of the enemy, I sat down 
 in silence and devoted myself to my soup. The ma- 
 jority of my companions did likewise audibly. But 
 presently I heard a voice at my left : 
 
 "I say, what a jolly good sailor you seem to be 
 pity your aunt's not !" 
 
 I looked up and saw Apollo sitting beside me. Or 
 rather, shall I say a young man who might have 
 walked straight out of an advertisement for a ready- 
 made clothing house, so ideal and impossible was his 
 beauty. He was very tall I had to tilt my chin 
 quite painfully to look up at him and from the 
 loose collar of his silk shirt his throat rose like a 
 column. His skin was a beautiful clear pink and 
 white just tinged with tan like a meringue that has 
 been in the oven for two minutes exactly. He had 
 a straight, chiseled profile and his hair was thick 
 and chestnut and wavy and he had clear sea-gray 
 eyes. To give him at once his full name and titles, 
 he was the Honorable Cuthbert Patrick Ruthmore 
 Vane, of High Staunton Manor, Kent, England. 
 But as I was ignorant of this, I can truthfully say 
 that his looks stunned me purely on their own merits.
 
 APOLLO AND SOME OTHERS 19 
 
 Outwardly calm, I replied, "Yes, it's too bad, but 
 then who ever dreamed that Aunt Jane would go ad- 
 venturing at her time of life? I thought nobody 
 over the age of thirteen, and then boys, ever went 
 treasure-hunting." 
 
 "Ah, but lads of thirteen couldn't well come such 
 a distance on their own, you know," returned Apollo, 
 with the kindest air of making allowance for the fe- 
 male intellect. 
 
 I hurriedly turned the subject. 
 
 "I really can't imagine Aunt Jane on a desert 
 island. You should see her behave on the mere 
 suspicion of a mouse ! What will she do if she meets 
 a cannibal and he tries to eat her?" 
 
 "Oh, really, now," argued the paragon earnestly, 
 "I'm quite sure there's no danger of that, don't you 
 know? I believe there are no natives at all on the 
 island, or else quite tame ones, I forget which, and 
 here are four of us chaps, with no end of revolvers 
 and things shooting-irons, as you call them in 
 America. Mr. Shaw sitting opposite Miss Browne, 
 you know is rather running things, so if you feel 
 nervous you should talk to him. Was with the 
 South Polar Expedition and all that knows no end 
 about this sort of thing wouldn't for a moment
 
 20 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 think of letting ladies run the risk of being eaten. 
 Really I hope you aren't in a funk about the canni- 
 bals especially as with so many missionary Johnnies 
 about they are most likely all converted." 
 
 "It's so comforting to think of it in that light!" 
 I said fervently. At the same time I peeped around 
 Apollo for a glimpse of the experienced Mr. Shaw. 
 I saw a strong- featured, weather-beaten profile, the 
 face of a man somewhere in his thirties, and looking, 
 from this side view at least, not only stern but grim. 
 He was talking quietly to the captain, whose man- 
 ner toward him was almost civil. 
 
 I made up my mind at once that the backbone of 
 the party, and inevitably the leader in its projected 
 villainies, whatever they might be, was this rugged- 
 looking Mr. Shaw. You couldn't fancy him as the 
 misled follower of anybody, even the terrific Violet. 
 
 As it seemed an unpropitious moment for taking 
 counsel with Mr. Shaw about cannibals, I tried an- 
 other tack with the beautiful youth at my side. 
 
 "How did you like Panama? I fancy the old town 
 is very picturesque." 
 
 "Oh, rather !" assented Mr. Vane. "At least, that 
 is what those painter chaps call it met a couple of 
 'em at the hotel. Beastly little narrow streets and
 
 APOLLO AND SOME OTHERS 21 
 
 houses in a shocking state and all that. I like to see 
 property kept up, myself." 
 
 "I am afraid," I said severely, "that you are a 
 philistine !" 
 
 He blinked a little. "Ah quite so!" he mur- 
 mured, recovering himself gallantly. "One of those 
 chaps that backed Goliath against David, what ?" 
 
 From this conversational impasse we were rescued 
 by the interposition of the gentleman opposite, whose 
 small twinkling eyes had been taking me in with in- 
 tentness. 
 
 "I did some flittin' about that little old burg on 
 my own hook," he informed us, "and what I got to 
 say is, it needs wakin' up. Yes, sir, a bunch of live 
 ones from the U. S. A. would shake up that little old 
 graveyard so you wouldn't know it. I might have 
 took a hand in it myself, if I hadn't have met up with 
 Miss Browne and your a'nt. Yes, sir, I had a slick 
 little proposition or two up my sleeve. Backed 
 by some of the biggest capital in the U. S. A. in 
 fact, there's a bunch of fellers up there in God's 
 country that's pretty sore on old H. H. for passin' 
 things up this way. Kep' the wires hummin' for 
 two-three days, tilfthey seen I wasn't to be switched, 
 and then the Old Man himself no use mentioning
 
 22 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 names, but I guess you know who I mean Wall 
 Street would, quick enough, anyway the Old Man 
 himself threatened to put his yacht in commission 
 and come down to find out what sort of little game 
 H. H. was playin' on him. But I done like Br'er 
 Rabbit jes lay low. Hamilton H. Tubbs knows a 
 good thing when he sees it about as quick as the next 
 one and he knows enough to keep mum about it 
 too!" 
 
 "None can appreciate more profoundly than my- 
 self your ability to maintain that reserve so neces- 
 sary to the success of this expedition," remarked 
 Miss Browne weightily from the far end of the ta- 
 ble. "It is to be wished that other members of our 
 party, though tenderly esteemed, and never more 
 than now when weakness of body temporarily over- 
 powers strength of soul, had shared your powers of 
 secrecy !" 
 
 This shaft was aimed quite obviously at me, and 
 as at the moment I could think of nothing in reply 
 short of hurling a plate I sank into a silence which 
 seemed to be contagious, for it spread throughout 
 the table. Three or four rough-looking men, of 
 whom one, a certain Captain Magnus, belonged to
 
 APOLLO AND SOME OTHERS 23 
 
 our party and the rest to the ship, continued vigor- 
 ously to hack their way through the meal with clat- 
 tering knives and forks. Of other sounds there 
 was none. Such gloom weighed heavily on the 
 genial spirit of Mr. Tubbs, and he lightened it by 
 rising to propose a toast. 
 
 "Ladies and gentlemen, to her now unfortunately 
 laid low by the pangs of mal de mer our friend 
 and bony dear, Miss Harding!" 
 
 This was bewildering, for neither by friend nor 
 foe could Aunt Jane be called bony. Later, in the 
 light of Mr. Tubbs's passion for classical allusion, 
 I decided to translate it bona dea, and consider the 
 family complimented. At the moment I sat stunned, 
 but Miss Browne, with greater self-possession, ma- 
 jestically inclined her head and said: 
 
 "In the name of our absent friend, I thank you." 
 
 In spite of wistful looks from the beautiful youth 
 as we rose from the table, and the allurement of a 
 tropic moon, I remained constant to duty and Aunt 
 Jane, and immured myself in her stateroom, where 
 I passed an enlivening evening listening to her 
 moans. She showed a faint returning spark of life 
 when I mentioned Cuthbert Vane, and raised her
 
 24 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 head to murmur that he was Honorable and she un- 
 derstood though not the heir still likely to inherit 
 and perhaps after all Providence 
 
 The unspoken end of Aunt Jane's sentence pur- 
 sued me into dreams in which an unknown gentle- 
 man obligingly broke his neck riding to hounds and 
 left Apollo heir to the title and estates.
 
 Ill 
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 
 
 IT WAS fortunate that I slept well in my narrow 
 berth on board the Rufus Smith, for the next 
 day was one of trial. Aunt Jane had recovered what 
 Mr. Tubbs, with deprecating coughs behind his hand, 
 alluded to as her sea-legs, and staggered forth wanly, 
 leaning on the arm of Miss Higglesby-Browne. Yes, 
 of Miss Browne, while I, Aunt Jane's own niece, 
 trotted meekly in the rear with a cushion. Already 
 I had begun to realize how fatally I had underrated 
 the lady of the hyphen, in imagining I had only to 
 come and see and conquer Aunt Jane. The grim 
 and bony one had made hay while the sun shone 
 while I was idling in California, and those crim- 
 inally supine cousins were allowing Aunt Jane to run 
 about New York at her own wild will. Miss Hig- 
 glesby-Browne had her own collar and tag on Aunt 
 Jane now, while she, so complete was her perversion, 
 fairly hugged her slavery and called it freedom. 
 Yes, she talked about her Emancipation and her 
 25
 
 26 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Soul- force and her Individuality, prattling away like 
 a child that has learned its lesson well. 
 
 "Mercy, aunty, what long words !" I cried gaily, 
 sitting down beside her and patting her hand. 
 Usually I can do anything with her when I pet her 
 up a bit. But the eye of Miss Higglesby-Browne 
 was on her and Aunt Jane actually drew a little 
 away. 
 
 "Really, Virginia," she said, feebly endeavoring 
 to rise to the occasion as she knew Miss Browne 
 would have her rise, "really, while it's very nice to 
 see you and all that, still I hope you realize that I 
 have had a a deep Soul-experience, and that I am 
 no longer to be trifled with and and treated as if 
 I were amusing. I am really at a loss to imagine 
 why you came. I wrote you that I was in the com- 
 pany of trusted friends." 
 
 "Friends?" I echoed aggrievedly. "Friends are 
 all very well, of course, but when you and I have just 
 each other, aunty, I think it is unkind of you to ex- 
 pect me to stay thousands of miles away from you 
 all by myself." 
 
 "But it was you who sent me to New York, and 
 insisted on my staying there !" she cried. Evidently 
 she had been living over her wrongs.
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 27 
 
 "Yes but how different!" I interrupted hastily. 
 "There were the cousins of course I have to spare 
 you sometimes to the rest of the family!" Aunt 
 Jane is strong on family feeling, and frequently re- 
 proaches me with my lack of it. 
 
 But in expecting Aunt Jane to soften at this I 
 reckoned without Miss Higglesby-Browne. A dart 
 from the cold gray eyes galvanized my aunt into a 
 sudden rigid erectness. 
 
 "My dear Virginia," she said with quavering se- 
 verity, "let me remind you that there are ties even 
 dearer than those of blood soul-affinities, you 
 know, and and, in short, in my dear friend Miss 
 Higglesby-Browne I have met for the first time in 
 my life with a a Sympathetic Intelligence that un- 
 derstands Me!" 
 
 So that was Violet's line! I surveyed the Sym- 
 pathetic Intelligence with a smiling interest. 
 
 "Really, how nice ! And of course you feel quite 
 sure that on your side you thoroughly understand 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne ?" 
 
 Miss Browne's hair was rather like a clothes- 
 brush in her mildest moods. In her rising wrath it 
 seemed to quiver like a lion's mane. 
 
 "Miss Harding," she said, in the chest-tones she
 
 28 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 reserved for critical moments, "has a nature impos- 
 sible to deceive, because itself incapable of deception. 
 Miss Harding and I first met on this present plane 
 in an atmosphere unusually favorable to soul-rev- 
 elation. I knew at once that here was the appointed 
 comrade, while in Miss Harding there was the im- 
 mediate recognition of a complementary spiritual 
 force." 
 
 "It's perfectly true, Virginia," exclaimed Aunt 
 Jane, beginning to cry. "You and Susan and every- 
 body have always treated me as if I were a child and 
 didn't know what I wanted, when the fact is I al- 
 ways have known perfectly well!" The last words 
 issued in a wail from the depths of her handkerchief. 
 
 "You mean, I suppose," I exploded, "that what 
 you have always wanted was to go off on this per- 
 fectly crazy chase after imaginary treasure!" 
 There, now I had gone and done it. Of course it 
 was my red hair. 
 
 "Jane," uttered Miss Higglesby-Browne in deep 
 and awful tones, "do you or do you not realize how 
 strangely prophetic were the warnings I gave you 
 from the first that if you revealed our plans malig- 
 nant Influences would be brought to bear? Be 
 strong, Jane cling to the Dynamic Thought !"
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 29 
 
 "I'm clinging!" sniffed Aunt Jane, dabbing away 
 her tears. I never saw any one get so pink about the 
 eyes and nose at the smallest sign of weeping, and 
 yet she is always doing it. "Really, Virginia," she 
 broke out in a whimper, "it is not kind to say, I sup- 
 pose, but I would just as soon you hadn't come! 
 Just when I was learning to expand my individual- 
 ity and then you come and somehow make it seem 
 so much more difficult !" 
 
 I rose. "Very well, Aunt Jane," I said coldly. 
 "Expand all you like. When you get to the burst- 
 ing point I'll do my best to save the pieces. For the 
 present I suppose I had better leave you to company 
 so much more favorable to your soul development !" 
 And I walked away with my head in the air. 
 
 It was so much in the air, and the deck of the 
 Rufus Smith was so unstable, that I fell over a coil 
 of rope and fetched up in the arms of the Honor- 
 able Cuthbert Vane. Fortunately this occurred 
 around the corner of the deck-house, out of sight 
 of my aunt and Miss Browne, so the latter was un- 
 able to shed the lurid light on the episode which she 
 doubtless would if she had seen it. Mr. Vane stood 
 the shock well and promptly set me on my feet. 
 
 "I say !" he exclaimed sympathetically, "not hurt,
 
 30 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 are you? Beastly nuisance, you know, these ropes 
 lying about regular man-traps, I call 'em." 
 
 "Thanks, I'm quite all right," I said, and as I 
 spoke two large genuine tears welled up into my 
 eyes. I hadn't realized till I felt them smarting on 
 my eyelids how deeply hurt I was at the unnatural 
 behavior of Aunt Jane. 
 
 "Ah I'm afraid you are really not quite all 
 right!" returned the Honorable Cuthbert with pro- 
 found concern. "Tell me what's the matter please 
 do!" 
 
 I shook my head. "It's nothing you couldn't 
 help me. It's just Aunt Jane." 
 
 "Your aunt? Has she been kicking up a bit? I 
 thought she looked rather a mild sort." 
 
 "Oh mild! That's just it so mild that she has 
 let this awful Higglesby-Browne person get posses- 
 sion of her body and soul." 
 
 "Oh, I say, aren't you a bit rough on Miss 
 Browne? Thought she was a rather remarkable old 
 party goes in strong for intellect and all that, you 
 know." 
 
 "That's just what fooled Aunt Jane so but I 
 thought a man would know better." My feathers 
 were ruffled again.
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 31 
 
 "Well, fact is, I'm not so much up in that sort 
 of thing myself," he admitted modestly. "Rather 
 took her word for it and all that, you know. There's 
 Shaw, though cleverest chap going, I assure you. 
 I rather fancy Miss Browne couldn't pull the wool 
 over his eyes much." 
 
 "She evidently did, though," I said snappishly, 
 "since he's let her rope him in for such a wild goose 
 chase as this!" In my heart I felt convinced that 
 the clever Mr. Shaw was merely Miss Browne's 
 partner in imposture. 
 
 "Oh, really, now, Miss Harding, you don't think 
 it's that that the thing's all moonshine?" He 
 stared at me in grieved surprise. 
 
 "Why, what else can it be ?" I demanded, driven 
 by my wrongs to the cruelty of shattering his illu- 
 sions. "Who ever heard of a pirate's treasure that 
 wasn't moonshine? The moment I had read Aunt 
 Jane's letter telling of the perfectly absurd business 
 she was setting out on I rushed down by the first 
 boat. Of course I meant to take her back with me, 
 to put a stop to all this madness ; but I was too late 
 and you're glad of it, I dare say!" 
 
 "I can't help being glad, you know," he replied, 
 the color rising to his ingenuous cheeks. "It's so
 
 32 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 frightfully jolly having you along. Only I'm sorry 
 you came against your will. Rather fancy you had 
 it in your head that we were a band of cutthroats, 
 eh? Well, the fact is I don't know much about the 
 two chaps Miss Browne picked up, though I suspect 
 they are a very decent sort. That odd fish, Captain 
 Magnus, now he was quite Miss Browne's own 
 find, I assure you. And as to old H. H. Tubbs, 
 you know Miss Browne met up with him on the 
 boat coming down. The rum old chap got on her 
 soft side somehow, and first thing she had ap- 
 pointed him secretary and treasurer as though we 
 were a meeting of something. Shaw was quite a bit 
 upset about it. He and I were a week later in arriv- 
 ing came straight on from England with the sup- 
 plies, while Miss Browne fixed things up with the 
 little black-and-tan country that owns the island. I 
 say, Miss Harding, you're bound to like Shaw no 
 end when you know him he's such a wonderfully 
 clever chap!" 
 
 I had no wish to blight his faith in the superlative 
 Mr. Shaw, and said nothing. This evidently pained 
 him, and as we stood leaning on the rail in the 
 shadow of the deck-house, watching the blue water 
 slide by, he continued to sound the praises of his
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 33 
 
 idol. It seemed that as soon as Miss Browne had 
 beguiled Aunt Jane into financing her scheme a 
 feat equivalent to robbing an infant-class scholar of 
 his Sunday-school nickel she had cast about for a 
 worthy leader for the forthcoming Harding-Browne 
 expedition. All the winds of fame were bearing 
 abroad just then the name of a certain young ex- 
 plorer who had lately added another continent or 
 two to the British Empire. Linked with his were 
 other names, those of his fellow adventurers, which 
 shone only less brightly than that of their chief. 
 One Dugald Shaw had been among the great man's 
 most trusted lieutenants, but now, on the organiz- 
 ing of the second expedition, he was left behind in 
 London, only half recovered of a wound received 
 in the Antarctic. The hook of a block and tackle 
 had caught him, ripped his forehead open from 
 cheek to temple, and for a time threatened the sight 
 of the eye. Slowly, under the care of the London 
 surgeons, he had recovered, and the eye was saved. 
 Meanwhile his old companions had taken again the 
 path of glory, and were far on their way back to 
 the ice-fields of the South Pole. Only Dugald Shaw 
 was left behind. _- 
 
 "And so," the even voice flowed on, "when I ran
 
 34 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 on to him in London he was feeling fearfully low, 
 I do assure you. A chap of his sort naturally hates 
 to think he's on the shelf. I had known him since 
 I was a little 'un, when we used to go to Scotland 
 for our holidays, and he would be home from sea 
 and staying with his cousin at the manse. He'd 
 make us boats and spin all sorts of yarns, and we 
 thought him a bigger man than the admiral of the 
 fleet. 
 
 "Well, old Shaw was fancying there was nothing 
 for it but to go back to his place with the P. & O., 
 which seemed a bit flat after what he'd been hav- 
 ing, and meant he would never get beyond being 
 the captain of a liner, and not that for a good many 
 years to come, when a cable came from this Miss 
 Higglesby-Brown offering him command of this ex- 
 pedition. As neither of us had ever heard of Miss 
 Higglesby-Browne, we were both a bit floored for 
 a time. But Shaw smoked a pipe on it, and then he 
 said, 'Old chap, if they'll give me my figure, I'm 
 their man.' And I said, 'Quite so, old chap, and I'll 
 go along, too.' 
 
 "I had to argue quite a bit, but in the end the 
 dear old boy let me come after wiring the pater 
 and what not. And I do assure you, Miss Harding,
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 35 
 
 it strikes me as no end of a lark besides expecting 
 it to put old Shaw on his feet and give us hatfuls of 
 money all round." 
 
 Well, it was a plausible story, and I had no doubt, 
 so far as the Honorable Cuthbert was concerned, an 
 absolutely truthful one. The beautiful youth was 
 manifestly as guileless as a small boy playing pirate 
 with a wooden sword. But as to Mr. Shaw, who 
 could tell that it hadn't after all been a trumped-up 
 affair between Miss Browne and him that his sur- 
 prise at the message was not assumed to throw dust 
 in the eyes of his young and trusting friend? Are 
 even the most valiant adventurers invariably hon- 
 est? Left behind by his companions because of his 
 injury, his chance of an enduring fame cut off, with 
 no prospects but those of an officer on an ocean 
 liner, might he not lend a ready ear to a scheme 
 for plucking a fat and willing pigeon? So great 
 was my faith in Aunt Jane's gullibility, so dark my 
 distrust of Miss Browne, that all connected with the 
 enterprise lay under the cloud of my suspicion. The 
 Honorable Mr. Vane I had already so far excul- 
 pated as to wonder if he were not in some way be- 
 ing victimized toe; but Mr. Shaw, after even a cas- 
 ual glimpse of him, one couldn't picture as a victim.
 
 36 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 I felt that he must have gone into the enterprise 
 with his eyes open to its absurdity, and fully aware 
 that the only gold to be won by anybody must come 
 out of the pocket of Aunt Jane. 
 
 As these reflections passed through my mind I 
 looked up and saw the subject of them approaching. 
 He lifted his helmet, but met my eyes unsmilingly, 
 with a sort of sober scrutiny. He had the tanned 
 skin of a sailor, and brown hair cropped close and 
 showing a trace of gray. This and a certain dour 
 grim look he had made me at first consider him 
 quite middle-aged, though I knew later that he was 
 not yet thirty-five. As to the grimness, perhaps, I 
 unwillingly conceded, part of it was due to the scar 
 which seamed the right temple to the eyebrow, in a 
 straight livid line. But it was a grim face anyway, 
 strong-jawed, with piercing steel-blue eyes. 
 
 He was welcomed by Mr. Vane with a joyous 
 thump on the shoulder-blade. "I say, old man, Miss 
 Harding has turned out to be the most fearful 
 doubting Thomas thinks the whole scheme quite 
 mad and all that sort of thing. I'm far too great a 
 duffer to convert her, but perhaps you might, don't 
 you know?" 
 
 Mr. Shaw looked at me steadily. His eyes were
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 37 
 
 the kind that seem to see all and reveal nothing. I 
 felt a hot spark of defiance rising in my own. 
 
 "And indeed it is too bad," he said coolly, "that 
 the trip should not be more to Miss Harding's lik- 
 ing." The rough edges of his Scotch burr had been 
 smoothed down by much wandering, but you knew 
 at once on which side of the Solway he had seen 
 the light. 
 
 "It is not a question of my liking," I retorted, 
 trying to preserve an unmoved and lofty demeanor, 
 though my heart was beating rather quickly at find- 
 ing myself actually crossing swords with the re- 
 doubtable adventurer, this man who had often faced 
 death, I could not refuse to believe, as steadily as 
 he was facing me now. 
 
 "It is not at all a question of my liking or not 
 liking the trip, but of the trip itself being quite the 
 wildest thing ever heard of out of a story-book." 
 Harsher terms had sprung first to my lips, but had 
 somehow failed to get beyond them. 
 
 "Ah yet the world would be the poorer if cer- 
 tain wild trips had not been taken. I seem to re- 
 member one Christopher Columbus, for instance." 
 
 By a vivid lightning-flash of wrath I felt that this 
 adventurer was laughing at me a little under his
 
 38 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 sober exterior even stirring me up as one does an 
 angry kitten. 
 
 "Yes," I flared out, "but Columbus did not in- 
 veigle a confiding old lady to go along with him!" 
 Of course Aunt Jane is not, properly speaking, an 
 old lady, but it was much more effective to pose her 
 as one for the moment. 
 
 It was certainly effective, to judge by the sudden 
 firm setting of his mouth. 
 
 "Lad," he said quietly, "lend a hand below, will 
 you? They are overhauling some of our stuff 'tween 
 decks." 
 
 He waited until the Honorable Cuthbert, looking 
 rather dazed, had retired. We stood facing each 
 other, my breath coming rather hurriedly. There 
 was a kind of still force about this mastered anger 
 of the dour Scot, like the brooding of black clouds 
 that at any moment may send forth their devastat- 
 ing fire. Yet I myself was not endowed with red 
 hair for nothing. 
 
 "Miss Harding," he said slowly, "that was a bit- 
 ter word you said." 
 
 My head went up. 
 
 "Bitter, perhaps," I flung back, "but is it not 
 true? It is for you to answer."
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 39 
 
 "No, it is not for me to answer, because it is not 
 for you to ask. But since you talk of inveigling, let 
 me give the history of my connection with the ex- 
 pedition. You will understand then that I had noth- 
 ing to do with organizing it, but was merely engaged 
 to do my best to carry it through to success." 
 
 "I have already heard a version of the matter 
 from Mr. Vane." 
 
 "And you think he is in the conspiracy too?" 
 
 "Certainly not," I replied hastily. "I mean of 
 course, I know he told me exactly what he believes 
 himself." 
 
 "Yes, you would take the lad's word, of course." 
 This with a slight but significant emphasis of which 
 he was perhaps unconscious. "Then I suppose you 
 consider that he was inveigled too?" 
 
 "I am not required to consider Mr. Vane's status 
 at all," I replied with dignity. "It is my aunt whom 
 I wish to protect." And suddenly to my dismay my 
 voice grew husky. I had to turn my head aside and 
 blink hard at the sea. I seemed to be encountering 
 fearful and unexpected odds in my endeavor to 
 rescue Aunt Jane. 
 
 He stood looking down at me he was a big man, 
 though of lesser height than the superb Cuthbert
 
 40 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 in a way I couldn't quite understand. And what I 
 don't understand always makes me uncomfortable. 
 
 "Very well," he said after a pause. "Maybe your 
 opportunity will come. It would be a pity indeed if 
 Miss Harding were to require no protecting and a 
 young lady here with such a good will to it. But if 
 you will take the suggestion of a man of rather 
 broader experience than your own, you will wait un- 
 til the occasion arises. It is bad generalship, really, 
 to waste your ammunition like this." 
 
 "I dare say I am not a master of strategy," I cried, 
 furious at myself for my moment of weakness and 
 at him for the softening tone which had crept into 
 his voice. "I am merely honest. And when I see 
 Aunt Jane hypnotized by this Violet person " 
 
 "And indeed I have seen no reason to think that 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne is not a most excellent 
 lady," interrupted Mr. Shaw stiffly. "And let me 
 say this, Miss Harding: here we are all together, 
 whether we wish to be or no, and for six weeks or 
 more on the island we shall see no faces but our own. 
 Are we to be divided from the beginning by quar- 
 rels? Are maybe even the men of us to be set by 
 the ears through the bickering of women?" 
 
 Like the flick of a whip came the certainty that he
 
 I ENGAGE THE ENEMY 41 
 
 was thinking of the Honorable Cuthbert, and that 
 I was the rock on which their David-and-Jonathan 
 friendship might split. Otherwise I suppose Miss 
 Higglesby-Browne and I might have clawed each 
 other forever without interference from him. 
 
 "Really," I said with I hope well-simulated 
 scorn, "since I am quite alone against half a dozen 
 of you, I should think you could count on putting 
 down any rebellion on my part very easily. I repeat, 
 I had no other object in coming along though I 
 was really kidnaped along than to look after my 
 aunt. The affairs of the party otherwise or its per- 
 sonnel do not interest me at all. As to the treasure, 
 of course I know perfectly well that there isn't any." 
 
 And I turned my back and looked steadily out to 
 sea. After a moment or two I heard him turn on 
 his heel and go away. It was none too soon, for I 
 had already begun to feel unostentatiously for my 
 handkerchief. Any way, I had had the last word 
 
 The rest of my day was lonely, for the beautiful 
 youth, probably by malevolent design, was kept busy 
 between decks. Mr. Tubbs danced attendance on 
 Aunt Jane and Miss Browne, so assiduously that I 
 already began to see some of my worst fears real- 
 ized. There was nothing for me to do but to retire
 
 42 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 to my berth and peruse a tattered copy of Huckle- 
 berry Finn which I found in the cabin. 
 
 At dinner, having the Honorable Cuthbert at my 
 elbow, it was easier than not to ignore every one 
 else. The small keen eyes of Mr. Tubbs, under his 
 lofty and polished dome of thought, watched us 
 knowingly. You saw that he was getting ready to 
 assume a bless-you-my-children attitude and even to 
 take credit somehow as match-maker. He related 
 anecdotes, in which, as an emissary of Cupid, he 
 played a benevolent and leading role. One detected, 
 too, a grin, ugly and unmirthful, on the unprepos- 
 sessing countenance of Captain Magnus. I was in- 
 different. The man my gaiety was intended for sat 
 at the far end of the table. I had to wipe out the 
 memory of my wet eyes that afternoon. 
 
 Directly dinner was at an end, remorselessly he 
 led the Honorable Cuthbert away. I retired to 
 Huckleberry Finn. But a face with a scar running 
 to the eyebrow looked up at me from the pages, 
 and I held colloquies with it in which I said all the 
 brilliant and cutting things which had occurred to 
 me too late. 
 
 I was thus engaged when a cry rang through the 
 ship: "Land ho!"
 
 IV 
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 
 
 I DROPPED my book and ran on deck. Every 
 one else was already there. I joined the row 
 at the rail, indifferent, for the moment, to the fact 
 that to display so much interest in their ridiculous 
 island involved a descent from my pinnacle. Indeed, 
 the chill altitude of pinnacles never agrees with me 
 for long at a time, so that I am obliged to descend 
 at intervals to breathe the air on the common level. 
 
 The great gleaming orb of the tropic moon was 
 blinding as the sun. Away to the faint translucent 
 line of the horizon rolled an infinity of shining sea. 
 Straight ahead rose a dark conical mass. It was the 
 mountainous shape of Leeward Island. 
 
 Everybody was craning to get a clearer view. 
 "Hail, isle of Fortune!" exclaimed Miss Browne. 
 I think my aunt would not have been surprised if it 
 had begun to rain doubloons upon the deck. 
 
 "I bet we don't jmt it over some on them original 
 Argonaut fellers, hey?" cried Mr. Tubbs. 
 43
 
 44 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Higher and higher across the sky-line cut the dark 
 crest of the island as the freighter steamed valiantly 
 ahead. She had a manner all her own of progress- 
 ing by a series of headlong lunges, followed by a 
 nerve-racking pause before she found her equilib- 
 rium again. But she managed to wallow forward 
 at a good gait, and the island grew clearer momently. 
 Sheer and formidable from the sea rose a line of 
 black cliffs, and above them a single peak threw its 
 shadow far across the water. Faintly we made out 
 the white line of the breakers foaming at the foot 
 of the cliffs. 
 
 We coasted slowly along, looking for the mouth 
 of the little bay. Meanwhile we had collected our 
 belongings, and stood grouped about the deck, ready 
 for the first thrilling plunge into adventure. My 
 aunt and Miss Browne had tied huge green veils 
 over their cork helmets, and were clumping about in 
 tremendous hobnailed boots. I could not hope to 
 rival this severely military get-up, but I had a blue 
 linen skirt and a white middy, and trusted that my 
 small stock of similar garments would last out our 
 time on the island. All the luggage I was allowed 
 to take was in a traveling bag and a gunny-sack, 
 obligingly donated by the cook. Speaking of cooks,
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 45 
 
 I found we had one of our own along, a coal-black 
 negro with grizzled wool, an unctuous voice, and the 
 manners of an old-school family retainer. So far 
 as I know, his name was Cookie. I suppose he had 
 received another once from his sponsors in baptism, 
 but if so, it was buried in oblivion. 
 
 Now a narrow gleaming gap appeared in the wall 
 of cliffs, and the freighter whistled and lay to. 
 There began a bustle at the davits, and shouts of 
 "Lower away !" and for the first time it swept over 
 me that we were to be put ashore in boats. Simul- 
 taneously this fact swept over Aunt Jane, and I think 
 also over Miss Browne, for I saw her fling one wild 
 glance around, as though in search of some impos- 
 sible means of retreat. But she took the blow in a 
 grim silence, while Aunt Jane burst out in lamenta- 
 tion. She would not, could not go in a boat. She 
 had heard all her life that small boats were most un- 
 safe. A little girl had been drowned in a lake near 
 where she was visiting once through going in a boat. 
 Why didn't the captain sail right up to the island as 
 she had expected and put us ashore ? Even at Pan- 
 ama with only a little way to go she had felt it sui- 
 cidal here it was not to be thought of. 
 
 But the preparations for this desperate step went
 
 46 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 on apace, and no one heeded Aunt Jane but Mr. 
 Tubbs, who had hastened to succor beauty in dis- 
 tress, and mingled broken exhortations to courage 
 with hints that if his opinion had been attended to 
 all would be well. 
 
 Then Aunt Jane clutched at Mr. Shaw's coat lapel 
 as he went by, and he stopped long enough to explain 
 patiently that vessels of the freighter's size could not 
 enter the bay, and that there really was no danger, 
 and that Aunt Jane might wait if she liked till the 
 last boat, as it would take several trips to transfer 
 us and our baggage. I supposed of course that this 
 would include me, and stood leaning on the rail, 
 watching the first boat, with Mr. Shaw, Captain 
 Magnus and the cook, fade to a dark speck on the 
 water, when Mr. Vane appeared at my elbow. 
 
 "Ready, Miss Harding? You are to go in the next 
 boat, with me. I asked especially." 
 
 "Oh, thanks!" I cried fervently. He would be 
 much nicer than Mr. Tubbs to cling to as I went 
 down indeed, he was so tall that if it were at all a 
 shallow place I might use him as a stepping-stone 
 md survive. I hoped drowning men didn't gurgle 
 very much meanwhile Mr. Vane had disappeared
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 47 
 
 over the side, and a sailor was lifting me and setting 
 my reluctant feet on the strands of the ladder. 
 
 "Good-by, auntie !" I cried, as I began the descent. 
 "Don't blame yourself too much. Everybody has 
 to go some time, you know, and they say drowning's 
 easy." 
 
 With a stifled cry Aunt Jane forsook Mr. Tubbs 
 and flew to the rail. I was already out of reach. 
 
 "Oh, Virginia !" she wailed. "Oh, my dear child ! 
 If it should be the last parting!" 
 
 "Give my jewelry and things to Bess's baby!" I 
 found strength to call back. What with the wallow- 
 ing of the steamer and the natural instability of rope- 
 ladders I seemed a mere atom tossed about in a 
 swaying, reeling universe. What will Aunt Jane 
 do? flashed through my mind, and I wished I had 
 waited to see. Then the arms of the Honorable Mr. 
 Vane received me. The strong rowers bent their 
 backs, and the boat shot out over the mile or two of 
 bright water between us and the island. Great slow 
 swells lifted us. We dipped with a soothing, cradle- 
 like motion. I forgot to be afraid, in the delight of 
 the warm wind that fanned our cheeks, of the moon- 
 beams that on the crest of every ripple were splin-
 
 48 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 tered to a thousand dancing lights. I forgot fear, 
 forgot Miss Higglesby-Browne, forgot the harsh- 
 ness of the Scotch character. 
 
 "Oh, glorious, glorious!" I cried to Cuthbert 
 Vane. 
 
 "Not so dusty, eh?" he came back in their ridic- 
 ulous English slang. Now an American would have 
 said some little old moon that! We certainly have 
 our points of superiority. 
 
 All around the island white charging lines of 
 breakers foamed on ragged half-seen reefs. You 
 saw the flash of foam leaping half the height of the 
 black cliffs. The thunder of the surf was in our 
 ears, now rising to wild clamor, fierce, hungry, men- 
 acing, now dying to a vast broken mutter. Now our 
 boat felt the lift of the great shoreward rollers, and 
 sprang forward like a living thing. The other boat, 
 empty of all but the rowers and returning from the 
 island to the ship, passed us with a hail. We steered 
 warily away from a wild welter of foam at the end 
 of a long point, and shot beyond it on the heave of 
 a great swell into quiet water. We were in the lit- 
 tle bay under the shadow of the frowning cliffs. 
 
 At the head of the bay, a quarter of a mile away, 
 lay a broad white beach shining under the moon. At
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 49 
 
 the edge of dark woods beyond a fire burned redly. 
 It threw into relief the black moving shapes of men 
 upon the sand. The waters of the cove broke upon 
 the beach in a white lacework of foam. 
 
 Straight for the sand the sailors drove the boat. 
 She struck it with a jar, grinding forward heavily. 
 The men sprang overboard, wading half-way to the 
 waist. And the arms of the Honorable Cuthbert 
 Vane had snatched me up and were bearing me safe 
 and dry to shore. 
 
 The sailors hauled on the boat, dragging it up the 
 beach, and I saw the Scotchman lending them a 
 hand. The hard dry sand was crunching under the 
 heels of Mr. Vane. I wriggled a little and Apollo, 
 who had grown absent-minded apparently, set me 
 down. 
 
 Mr. Shaw approached and the two men greeted 
 each other in their offhand British way. As we 
 couldn't well, under the circumstances, maintain a 
 fiction of mutual invisibility, Mr. Shaw, with a cer- 
 tain obvious hesitation, turned to me. 
 
 "Only lady passenger, eh ? Hope you're not wet 
 through. Cookie's making coffee over yonder." 
 
 "I say, Shaw-," cried the beautiful youth enthusi- 
 astically, "Miss Harding's the most ripping sport,
 
 50 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 you know ! Not the least nervous about the trip, I 
 assure you." 
 
 "I was," I announced, moved to defiance by the 
 neighborhood of Mr. Shaw. "Before we started I 
 was so afraid that if you had listened you might have 
 heard my teeth chattering. But I had at least the 
 comforting thought that if I did go to my end it 
 would not be simply in pursuit of sordid gain !" 
 
 "And indeed that was almost a waste of noble sen- 
 timent under the circumstances," answered the dour 
 Scot,, with the fleeting shadow of an enraging smile. 
 "Such disappointingly calm weather as it is! See 
 that Miss Harding has some coffee, Bert." 
 
 I promised myself, as I went with Mr. Vane to- 
 ward the fire, that some day I would find the weapon 
 that would penetrate the Scotchman's armor and 
 would use it mercilessly. 
 
 Cookie, in his white attire, and with his black 
 shining face and ivory teeth gleaming in the ruddy 
 firelight, looked like a converted cannibal perhaps 
 won from his errors by one of Mr. Vane's mission- 
 ary Johnnies. He received us with unctuous warmth. 
 
 "Well, now, 'clar to goodness if it ain't the li'le 
 lady ! How come you git ashore all dry lak you is? 
 Yes, sah, Cookie'll git you-all some'n hot im-
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 51 
 
 mejusly." He wafted me with stately gestures to a 
 seat on an overturned iron kettle, and served my 
 coffee with an air appropriate to mahogany and 
 plate. It was something to see him wait on Cuth- 
 bert Vane. As Cookie told me later, in the course 
 of our rapidly developing friendship, "dat young 
 gemmun am sure one ob de quality." To indicate the 
 certainty of Cookie's instinct, Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne was never more to him than "dat pusson," 
 and the cold aloofness of his manner toward her, 
 which yet never sank to impertinence, would have 
 done credit to a duke. 
 
 On the beach Mr. Shaw, Captain Magnus and the 
 sailors were toiling, unloading and piling up stores. 
 Rather laggingly, Apollo joined them. I was glad, 
 for a heavy fatigue was stealing over me. Cookie, 
 taking note of my sagging head, brought me some- 
 body's dunnage bag for a pillow. I felt him draw- 
 ing a tarpaulin over me as I sank into bottomless 
 depths of sleep. 
 
 I opened my eyes to the dying stars. The moon 
 had set. Black shapes of tree and boulder loomed 
 portentous through the ashen dimness that precedes 
 the dawn. I heard men shouting, "Here she comes !" 
 "Stand by to lend a hand !" In haste I scrambled up
 
 52 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 and tore for the beach. I must witness the landing 
 of Aunt Jane. 
 
 "Where are they, where are they?" I demanded, 
 rubbing my sleepy eyes. 
 
 "Why didn't you stay by the fire and have your 
 nap out?" asked Mr. Shaw, in a tone which seemed 
 to have forgotten for the moment to be frigid per- 
 haps because I hadn't yet waked up enough to have 
 my quills in good pricking order. 
 
 "Nap? Do you think that for all the treasure ever 
 buried by a pirate I would miss the spectacle of Aunt 
 Jane and Miss Browne arriving ? I expect it to com- 
 pensate me for all I have suffered on this trip so 
 far." 
 
 "See what it is, Bert," exclaimed the Scotchman, 
 "to have a truly gentle and forgiving nature how it 
 brings its own reward. I'm afraid you and I miss 
 a great deal in life, lad." 
 
 The beautiful youth pondered this. 
 
 "I don't know," he replied, "what you say sounds 
 quite fit and proper for the parson, and all that, of 
 course, but I fancy you are a bit out in supposing 
 that Miss Harding is so forgiving, old man." 
 
 "I didn't know that you thought so badly of me,
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 53 
 
 too !" I said timidly. I couldn't help it the temp- 
 tation was too great. 
 
 "I? Oh, really, now, you can't think that!" 
 Through the dusk I saw that he was flushing hotly. 
 
 "Lad," said the Scotchman in a suddenly harsh 
 voice, "lend a hand with this rope, will you?" And 
 in the dusk I turned away to hide my triumphant 
 smiles. I had found the weak spot of my foe as 
 Mr. Tubbs might have said, I was wise to Achilles's 
 heel. 
 
 And now through the dawn-twilight that lay upon 
 the cove the boat drew near that bore Mr. Tubbs and 
 his fair charges. I saw the three cork helmets 
 grouped together in the stern. Then the foaming 
 fringe of wavelets caught the boat, hurled it for- 
 ward, seemed all but to engulf it. Out leaped the 
 sailors. Out leaped Mr. Tubbs, and disappeared at 
 once beneath the waves. Shrill and prolonged rose 
 the shrieks of my aunt and Miss Higglesby-Browne. 
 Valiantly Mr. Shaw and Cuthbert Vane had rushed 
 into the deep. Each now appeared staggering up the 
 steep, foam-swept strand under a struggling burden. 
 Even after they were safely deposited on the sand, 
 Miss Browne and my aunt continued to shriek.
 
 54 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "Save, save Mr. Tubbs !" implored Aunt Jane. 
 
 But Mr. Tubbs, overlooked by all but this thought- 
 ful friend, had cannily saved himself. He advanced 
 upon us dripping. 
 
 "A close call !" he sang out cheerfully. "Thought 
 one time old Nep had got a strangle-hold all right. 
 Thinks I, I guess there'll be something doing when 
 Wall Street gets this news that old H. H. is food 
 for the finny denizens of the deep !" 
 
 "Such an event, Mr. Tubbs," pronounced Violet, 
 who had recovered her form with surprising swift- 
 ness, "might well have sent its vibrations through 
 the financial arteries of the world !" 
 
 "It would have been most most shocking!" 
 quavered poor Aunt Jane with feeling. She was 
 piteously striving to extricate herself from the folds 
 of the green veil. 
 
 I came to her assistance. The poor plump little 
 woman was trembling from head to foot. 
 
 "It was a most unusual experience," she told 
 me as I unwound her. "Probably extremely uni- 
 fying to the soul-forces and all that, as Miss Browne 
 says, but for the moment unsettling. Is my helmet 
 on straight, dear? I think it is a little severe for my 
 type of face, don't you? There was a sweet little
 
 THE ISLE OF FORTUNE 55 
 
 hat in a Fifth Avenue shop simple and yet so chic. 
 I thought it just the thing, but Miss Browne said no, 
 helmets were always worn Coffee? Oh, my dear 
 child, how thankful I shall be!" 
 
 And Aunt Jane clung to me as of yore as I led 
 her up the beach.
 
 THE CAPTAIN S LEGACY 
 
 WHEN in my tender years I was taken to the 
 matinee, usually the most thrilling feature 
 of the spectacle to me was the scene depicted on the 
 drop-curtain. I know not why only the decorators 
 of drop-curtains are inspired to create landscapes of 
 such strange enchantment, of a beauty which not 
 alone beguiles the senses I speak from the stand- 
 point of the ten-year-old but throws wide to fancy 
 the gate of dreams. Directly I was seated in the 
 body and had had my hat taken off and been told 
 not to wriggle, I vaulted airily over the unconscious 
 audience, over an orchestra engaged in tuning up, 
 and was lost in the marvelous landscape of the drop- 
 curtain. The adventures which I had there put to 
 shame any which the raising of the curtain per- 
 mitted to be seen upon the stage. 
 
 I had never hoped to recover in this prosaic world 
 my long-lost paradise of the drop-curtain, but morn- 
 ing revealed it to me here on Leeward Island. Here 
 56
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 57 
 
 was the feathery foliage, the gushing springs, the 
 gorgeous flowers of that enchanted land. And here 
 were the soft and intoxicating perfumes that I had 
 imagined in my curtain landscape. 
 
 Leeward Island measures roughly four miles 
 across from east to west by three from north to 
 south. The core of the island is the peak, rising to 
 a height of nearly three thousand feet. At its base 
 on three sides lies a plateau, its edges gnawed away 
 by the sea to the underlying rocky skeleton. On the 
 southeastern quarter the peak drops by a series of 
 great precipices straight into the sea. 
 
 Back from the cove stretches a little hollow, its 
 floor rising gently to the level of the plateau. In- 
 numerable clear springs which burst from the moun- 
 tain converge to a limpid stream, which winds 
 through the hollow to fall into the little bay. All 
 the plateau and much of the peak are clothed with 
 woods, a beautiful bright green against the sapphire 
 of sea and sky. High above all other growth wave 
 the feathery tops of the cocoa-palms, which flourish 
 here luxuriantly. You saw them in their thousands, 
 slender and swaying, tossing all together in the light 
 sea-wind their crowns of nodding plumes. 
 
 The palms were nowhere more abundant than in
 
 58 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the hollow by the cove where our camp was made, 
 and their size and the regularity of their order spoke 
 of cultivation. Guavas, oranges and lemons grew 
 here, too, and many beautiful banana-palms. The 
 rank forest growth had been so thoroughly cleared 
 out that it had not yet returned, except stealthily in 
 the shape of brilliant-flowered creepers which wound 
 their sinuous way from tree to tree, like fair Delilahs 
 striving to overcome arboreal Samsons by their 
 wiles. They were rankest beside the stream, which 
 ran at one edge of the hollow under the rise of the 
 plateau. 
 
 At the side of the clearing toward the stream 
 stood a hut, built of cocoa-palm logs. Its roof of 
 palm-thatch had been scattered by storms. Nearer 
 the stream on a bench were an old decaying wash- 
 tub and a board. A broken frying-pan and a rusty 
 axe-head lay in the grass. 
 
 In the hut itself were a rude bedstead, a small ta- 
 ble, and a cupboard made of boxes. I was excited 
 at first, and fancied we had come upon the dwelling 
 of a marooned pirate. Without taking the trouble 
 to combat this opinion, Mr. Shaw explained to Cuth- 
 bert Vane that a copra gatherer had once lived here, 
 and that the place must have yielded such a profit
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 59 
 
 that he was only surprised to find it deserted now. 
 Behind this cool, unemphatic speech I sensed an 
 ironic zest in the destruction of my pirate. 
 
 After their thrilling experience of being ferried 
 from the Rufus Smith to the island, my aunt and 
 Miss Browne had been easily persuaded to dispose 
 themselves for naps. Aunt Jane, however, could not 
 be at rest until Mr. Tubbs had been restored by a 
 cordial which she extracted with much effort from 
 the depths of her hand-bag. He partook with grav- 
 ity and the rolled up eyes of gratitude, and retired 
 grimacing to comfort himself from a private bottle 
 of his own. 
 
 The boats of the Rufus Smith had departed from 
 the island, and our relations with humanity were 
 severed. The thought of our isolation awed and 
 fascinated me as I sat meditatively upon a keg of 
 nails watching the miracle of the tropic dawn. The 
 men were hard at work with bales and boxes, except 
 Mr. Tubbs, who gave advice. It must have been 
 valuable advice, for he assured everybody that a 
 word from his lips had invariably been enough to 
 make Wall Street sit up and take notice. But it is 
 a far cry from Wall Street to Leeward Island. Mr. 
 Tubbs, ignored, sought refuge with me at last, and
 
 60 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 pointed out the beauties of Aroarer as she rose from 
 the embrace of Neptune. 
 
 "Aroarer Borealis, to be accurate," he explained, 
 "but they didn't use parties' surnames much in classic 
 times." 
 
 The glad cry of breakfast put an end to Mr. 
 Tubbs's exposition of mythology. 
 
 So does dull reality clog the feet of dreams that 
 it proved impossible to begin the day by digging up 
 the treasure. Camp had to be arranged, for folk 
 must eat and sleep even with the wealth of the Indies 
 to be had for the turning of a sod. The cabin was 
 reroofed and set apart as the bower of Aunt Jane 
 and Miss Browne. I declined to make a third in 
 this sanctuary. You could tell by looking at her that 
 Violet was the sort of person who would inevitably 
 sleep out loud. 
 
 "Hang me up in a tree or anywhere," I insisted, 
 and it ended by my having a tarpaulin shelter rigged 
 up in a group of cocoa-palms. 
 
 Among our earliest discoveries on the island was 
 one regrettable from the point of view of romance, 
 though rich in practical advantages ; the woods were 
 the abode of numerous wild pigs. This is not to 
 write a new chapter on the geographical distribution
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 61 
 
 of the pig, for they were of the humdrum domestic 
 variety, and had doubtless appertained to the copra 
 gatherer's establishment But you should have seen 
 how clean, how seemly, how self-respecting were our 
 Leeward Island pigs to realize how profoundly the 
 pig of Christian lands is a debased and slandered 
 animal. These quadrupeds would have strengthened 
 Jean Jacques's belief in the primitive virtue of man 
 before civilization debauched him. And I shall al- 
 ways paraphrase the familiar line to read : "When 
 wild in woods the noble porker ran." 
 
 Aunt Jane had been dreadfully alarmed by the 
 pigs, and wanted to keep me immured in the cabin 
 o' nights so that I should not be eaten. But nothing 
 less than a Bengal tiger would have driven me to 
 such extremity. 
 
 "Though if a pig should eat me," I suggested, 
 "you might mark him to avoid becoming a cannibal 
 at second hand. I should hate to think of you, Aunt 
 Jane, as the family tomb !" 
 
 "Virginia, you are most unfeeling," said Aunt 
 Jane, getting pink about the eyelids. 
 
 "Ah, I didn't know you Americans went in much 
 for family tombs ?" remarked the beautiful youth in- 
 terestedly.
 
 62 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "No, we do our best to keep out of them," I as- 
 sured him, and he walked off meditatively revolving 
 this. 
 
 If the beautiful youth had been beautiful on ship- 
 board, in the informal costume he affected on the 
 island he was more splendid still. His white cotton 
 shirt and trousers showed him lithe and lean and 
 muscular. His bared arms and chest were like cream 
 solidified to flesh. Instead of his nose peeling like 
 common noses in the hot salt air, every kiss of the 
 sun only gave his skin a warmer, richer glow. With 
 his striped silk sash of red and blue about his waist, 
 and his crown of ambrosial chestnut curls a devel- 
 opment due to the absence of a barber the Honor- 
 able Cuthbert would certainly have been hailed by 
 the natives, if there had been any, as the island's 
 god. 
 
 Camp was made in the early hours of the day. 
 Then came luncheon, prepared with skill by Cookie, 
 and eaten from a table of packing-cases laid in the 
 shade. Afterward every one, hot and weary, re- 
 tired for a siesta. It was now the cool as well as 
 the dry season on the island, yet the heat of the sun 
 at midday was terrific. But the temperature brought 
 us neither illness nor even any great degree of lassi-
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 63 
 
 tude. Always around the island blew the faint cool- 
 ing breath of the sea. No marsh or stagnant water 
 bred insect pests or fever. Every day while we were 
 there the men worked hard, and grew lean and sun- 
 browned, and thrived on it. Every afternoon with 
 unfailing regularity a light shower fell, but in twenty 
 minutes it was over and the sun shone again, greed- 
 ily lapping up the moisture that glittered on the 
 leaves. And forever the sea sang a low muttering 
 bass to the faint threnody of the wind in the palms. 
 On this first day we gathered in the cool of the 
 afternoon about our table of packing-boxes for an 
 event which even I, whose role was that of skeptic, 
 found exciting. Miss Browne was at last to produce 
 her map and reveal the secret of the island. So far, 
 except in general terms, she had imparted it to no 
 one. Everybody, in coming along, had been buying 
 a pig in a poke though to be sure Aunt Jane had 
 paid for it. The Scotchman, Cuthbert Vane had told 
 me incidentally, had insured himself against loss by 
 demanding a retaining fee beforehand. Somehow 
 my opinion, both of his honesty and of his intelli- 
 gence, had risen since I knew this. As to Cuthbert 
 Vane, he had come purely in a spirit of adventure, 
 and had paid his own expenses from the start.
 
 64 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 However, now the great moment was at hand. 
 But before it comes, I will here set down the treas- 
 ure-story of Leeward Island, as I gathered it later, 
 a little here and there, and pieced it together into a 
 coherent whole through many dreaming hours. 
 
 In 1820, the city of Lima, in Peru, being threat- 
 ened by the revolutionaries under Bolivar and San 
 Martin, cautious folk began to take thought for their 
 possessions. To send them out upon the high seas 
 under a foreign flag seemed to offer the best hope of 
 safety, and soon there was more gold afloat on the 
 Pacific than at any time since the sailing of the great 
 plate-galleons of the seventeenth century. Captain 
 Sampson, of the brig Bonny Lass, found himself 
 with a passenger for nowhere in particular in the 
 shape of a certain Spanish merchant of great wealth, 
 reputed custodian of the p'rivate funds of the bishop 
 of Lima. This gentleman brought with him, besides 
 some scanty personal baggage for he took ship in 
 haste a great iron-bound chest. Four stout sailors 
 of the Bonny Lass staggered under the weight of it. 
 
 The Bonny Lass cruised north along the coast, 
 the passenger desiring to put in at Panama in the 
 hope that word might reach him there of quieter 
 times at home. But somewhere off Ecuador on a
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 65 
 
 dark and starless night the merchant of Lima van- 
 ished overboard "and what could you expect," 
 asked Captain Sampson in effect, "when a lubber 
 like him would stay on deck in a gale?" Strange to 
 say, the merchant's body-servant met the fate of the 
 heedless also. 
 
 Shrugging his shoulders at the carelessness of pas- 
 sengers, Captain Sampson bore away to Leeward 
 Island, perhaps from curiosity to see this old refuge 
 of the buccaneers, where the spoils of the sack of 
 Guayaquil were said to have been buried. Who 
 knows but that he, too, was bent on treasure-seek- 
 ing? Be that as it may, the little brig found her 
 way into the bay on the northeast side of the island, 
 where she anchored. Water was needed, and there 
 is refreshment in tropic fruits after a diet of salt 
 horse and hardtack. So all hands had a holiday 
 ashore, where the captain did not disdain to join 
 them. Only he went apart, and had other occupa- 
 tion than swarming up the palms for cocoanuts. 
 
 One fancies, then, a moonless night, a crew sleep- 
 ing off double grog, generously allowed them by the 
 captain ; a boat putting off from the Bonny Lass, in 
 which were captain, mate, and one Bill Halliwell, 
 able seaman, a man of mighty muscle; and as freight
 
 66 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 an object large, angular and ponderous, so that the 
 boat lagged heavily beneath the rowers' strokes. 
 
 Later, Bill, the simple seaman, grows presump- 
 tuous on the strength of this excursion with his bet- 
 ters. It is a word and a blow with the captain of the 
 Bonny Lass, and Bill is conveniently disposed of. 
 Dead, as well as living, he serves the purpose of the 
 captain, but of that later. 
 
 Away sailed the Bonny Lass, sailing once for all 
 out of the story. As for Captain Sampson, there is 
 a long gap in his history, hazily filled by the story of 
 his having been lieutenant to Benito Bonito, and 
 one of the two survivors when Bonito's black flag 
 was brought down by the British frigate Espiegle. 
 But sober history knows nothing of him until he re- 
 appears years later, an aged and broken man, in a 
 back street of Bristol. Here was living a certain 
 Hopperdown, who had been boatswain on the Bonny 
 Lass at the time that she so regrettably lost her pas- 
 sengers overboard. He too had been at Leeward 
 Island, and may have somewhat wondered and 
 questioned as to the happenings during the brig's 
 brief stay there. He saw and recognized his old 
 skipper hobbling along the Bristol quays, and per- 
 haps from pity took the shabby creature home with
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 67 
 
 him. Hopperdown dealt in sailors' slops, and had a 
 snug room or two behind the shop. Here for a 
 while the former Captain Sampson dwelt, and after 
 a swift illness here he died. With the hand of death 
 upon him, his grim lips at last gave up their secret. 
 With stiffening fingers he traced a rough map, to re- 
 fresh Hopperdown's memory after the lapse of time 
 since either had seen the wave-beaten cliffs of Lee- 
 ward Island. For Captain Sampson had never been 
 able to return to claim the treasure which he had left 
 to Bill Halliwell's silent guardianship. Somehow he 
 had lost his own vessel, and there would be rumors 
 about, no doubt, which would make it difficult for 
 him to get another. If he had, indeed, sailed with 
 Bonito, he had kept his secret from his formidable 
 commander. Even as he had dealt with Bill Halli- 
 well, so might Bonito deal by him or at least the 
 lion's share must be yielded to the pirate captain. 
 And the passion of Captain Sampson's life had come 
 to be his gold his hidden hoard on far-off Leeward 
 Island. It was his, now, all his. The only other who 
 knew its hiding-place, his former mate, had been 
 killed in Havana in a tavern brawl. The secret of 
 the bright unattainable treasure was all the captain's 
 own. He dreamed of the doubloons, gloated over
 
 68 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 them, longed for them with a ceaseless gnawing pas- 
 sion of desire. And in the end he died, in Hopper- 
 down's little shop in the narrow Bristol by-street. 
 
 Hopperdown, an aging man himself, and in his 
 humble way contented, fell straightway victim to the 
 gold-virus. He sold all he had, and bought passage 
 in a sailing ship for Valparaiso, trusting that once so 
 far on the way he would find means to accomplish 
 the rest. But the raging of the fever in his thin old 
 blood brought him to his bed, and the ship sailed 
 without him. Before she was midway tn the At- 
 lantic Hopperdown was dead. 
 
 The old man died in the house of a niece, to whom 
 by way of legacy he left his map. For the satisfac- 
 tion of his anxious mind, still poring on the treas- 
 ure, she wrote down what she could grasp of his 
 instructions, and then, being an unimaginative 
 woman, gave the matter little further heed. For 
 years the map lay among other papers in a drawer, 
 and here it was at length discovered by her son, 
 himself a sailor. He learned from her its history, 
 and having been in the Pacific, and heard the tales 
 and rumors that cling about Leeward Island like 
 the everlasting surf of its encompassing seas, this
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 69 
 
 grand-nephew of old Hopperdown's, by name Da- 
 vid Jenkins, became for the rest of his days a fol- 
 lower of the ignis fatuits. An untaught, suspicious, 
 grasping man, he rejected, or knew not how to set 
 about, the one course which offered the least hope, 
 which was to trade his secret for the means of prof- 
 iting by it. All his restless, hungry life he spent in 
 wandering up and down the seas, ever on the watch 
 for some dimly imagined chance by which he might 
 come at the treasure. And so at last he wandered 
 into the London hospital where he died. 
 
 And to me the wildest feature of the whole wild 
 tale was that at the last he should have parted with 
 the cherished secret of a lifetime to Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne. 
 
 In a general way, every one of us knew this his- 
 tory. Even I had had an outline of it from Cuth- 
 bert Vane. But so far nobody had seen the map. 
 And now we were to see it ; the time that intervened 
 before that great event had already dwindled to 
 minutes, to seconds 
 
 But no; for Miss Browne arose and began to 
 make a speech. The beginning of it dealt in a large 
 and generalizing manner with comradeship and loy-
 
 70 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 alty, and the necessity of the proper mental attitude 
 in approaching the business we had in hand. I did 
 not listen closely. The truth is, I wanted to see 
 that map. Under the spell of the island, I had al- 
 most begun to believe in the chest of doubloons. 
 
 Suddenly I awoke with a start to the fact that 
 Miss Browne was talking about me. Yes, I, indubit- 
 ably, was the Young Person whose motives in at- 
 taching herself to the party were so at variance with 
 the amity and mutual confidence which filled all 
 other breasts. It was I who had sought to deprive 
 the party of the presence, counsel and support of 
 a member lacking whom it would have been but a 
 body without a soul. It was I who had uttered 
 words which were painful and astounding to one 
 conscious of unimpugnable motives. In the days of 
 toil to come, we were reminded, the Young Per- 
 son, to wit, myself, would have no share. She 
 would be but skeptic, critic, drone in the busy hive. 
 Thus it was obvious that the Young Person could 
 not with any trace of justice claim part or lot in 
 the treasure. Were it not well, then, that the Young 
 Person be required to make formal and written re- 
 nunciation of all interest in the golden hoard soon 
 to reward the faith and enterprise of the Harding-
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 71 
 
 Browne expedition? Miss Browne requested the 
 sense of the meeting on the matter. 
 
 Under the fire of this arraignment I sat hot- 
 cheeked and incredulous, while a general wave of 
 agitation seemed to stir the drowsy atmosphere. 
 Aunt Jane was quivering, her round eyes fixed on 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne like a fascinated rabbit's 
 on a serpent. Mr. Hamilton H. Tubbs had pursed 
 his lips to an inaudible whistle, and alternately re- 
 garded the summits of the palms and stole swift 
 ferret-glances at the faces of the company. Captain 
 Magnus had taken a sheath-knife from his belt and 
 was balancing it on one finger, casting about him 
 now and then a furtive, crooked, roving look, to 
 meet which made you feel like a party to some hid- 
 den crime. Mr. Vane had remained for some time 
 in happy unconsciousness of the significance of Miss 
 Browne's oration. It was something to see it grad- 
 ually penetrate to his perceptions, vexing the ala- 
 baster brow with a faint wrinkle of perplexity, then 
 suffusing his cheeks with agonized and indignant 
 blushes. "Oh, I say, really, you know !" hovered in 
 unspoken protest on his tongue. He threw implor- 
 ing looks at Mr. Shaw, who alone of all the party 
 sat imperturbable, except for a viciously bitten lip.
 
 72 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne had drawn a deep breath, 
 preparatory to resuming her verbal ramble, but I 
 sprang to my feet. 
 
 "Miss Browne," I said, in tones less coldly calm 
 than I could have wished, "if you have thought it 
 necessary to to orate at this length merely to tell 
 me that I am to have no share in this ridiculous 
 treasure of yours, you have wasted a great deal of 
 energy. In the first place, I don't believe in your 
 treasure." (Which, of course, despite my temporary 
 lapse, I really didn't.) "I think you are sillier than 
 any grown-up people I ever saw. In the second 
 place, anything you do find you are welcome to keep. 
 Do you think I came along with people who didn't 
 want me, and have turned my own aunt against me, 
 for the sake of filthy lucre? Did I come intention- 
 ally at all, or because I was shanghaied and couldn't 
 help myself? Aunt Jane!" I demanded, turning to 
 my stricken relative, who was gazing in anguish and 
 doubt from Miss Browne to me, "haven't you one 
 spark left of family pride I don't talk of affection 
 any longer that you sit still and hear me made 
 speeches at in this fashion? Have you grown so 
 sordid and grasping that you can think of nothing 
 but this blood-stained pirate gold ?"
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 73 
 
 Aunt Jane burst into tears. 
 
 "Good gracious, Virginia," she wailed, "how 
 shocking of you to say such things ! I am sure we 
 all got along very pleasantly until you came and 
 in that dreadfully sudden way. You might at least 
 have been considerate enough to wire beforehand. 
 As to blood-stains, there was a preparation your 
 Aunt Susan had that got them out beautifully I 
 remember the time the little boy's nose bled on the 
 drawing-room rug. But I should think just wash- 
 ing the gold would do very well !" 
 
 It was impossible to feel that these remarks 
 helped greatly to clear the situation. I opened my 
 mouth, but Miss Browne was beforehand with me. 
 
 "Miss Virginia Harding has herself admitted 
 that she has no just or equitable claim to participate 
 in the profits of this expedition I believe I give the 
 gist of your words, Miss Harding?" 
 
 "Have it your own way," I said, shrugging. 
 
 "I move, then, Mr. Secretary" Miss Browne in- 
 clined her head in a stately manner toward Mr. 
 Tubbs "that you offer for Miss Virginia Hard- 
 ing's signature the document prepared by you." 
 
 "Oh, I say!" broke out Mr. Vane suddenly, "I 
 call this rotten, you know!"
 
 74 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "In case of objection by any person," said Miss 
 Browne loftily, "the matter may be put to a vote. 
 All those in favor say aye !" 
 
 An irregular fire of ayes followed. Mr. Tubbs 
 gave his with a cough meant so far as possible to 
 neutralize its effect with a view to some future 
 turning of the tables. Captain Magnus responded 
 with a sudden bellow, which caused him to drop the 
 gleaming knife within an inch of Aunt Jane's toe. 
 Mr. Shaw said briefly, "I think the distribution of 
 the treasure, if any is recovered, should be that 
 agreed upon by the original members of the party. 
 Aye!" 
 
 Aunt Jane's assenting voice issued from the 
 depths of her handkerchief, which was rapidly be- 
 coming so briny and inadequate that I passed her 
 mine. From Cuthbert Vane alone there came a 
 steadfast no and the Scotchman put a hand on 
 the boy's shoulder with a smile which was like sud- 
 den sunlight in a bleak sky. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs then produced a legal-looking docu- 
 ment which I took to be the original agreement of 
 the members of the expedition. Beneath their sig- 
 natures he had inscribed a sort of codicil, by which 
 I relinquished all claim on any treasure recovered
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 75 
 
 by the party. Mr. Tubbs took evident pride in the 
 numerous aforesaids and thereof s and other rolling 
 legal phrases of his composition, and Miss Browne 
 listened with satisfaction as he read it off, as though 
 each word had been a nail in the coffin of my hopes. 
 I signed the clause in a bold and defiant hand, under 
 the attentive eyes of the company. A sort of sigh 
 went round, as though something of vast moment 
 had been concluded. And indeed it had, for now 
 the way was clear for Violet's map. 
 
 I suppose that with a due regard for my dignity 
 I should have risen and departed. I had been so 
 definitely relegated to the position of outsider that 
 to remain to witness the unveiling of the great mys- 
 tery seemed indecently intrusive. Let it be granted, 
 then, that I ought to have got up with stately grace 
 and gone away. Only, I did nothing of the sort. 
 In spite of my exclusion from all its material bene- 
 fits, I had an amateur's appreciation of that map. 
 I felt that I should gloat over it. Perhaps of all 
 those present I alone, free from sordid hopes, would 
 get the true romantic zest and essence of it 
 
 Covertly I watched the faces around me. Mr. 
 Tubbs's eyes had grown bright; he licked his dry 
 lips. His nose, tip-tilted and slightly bulbous, took
 
 76 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 on a more than usually roseate hue. Captain Mag- 
 nus, who was of a restless and jerky habit at the 
 best of times, was like a leashed animal scenting 
 blood. Beneath his open shirt you saw the quick rise 
 and fall of his hairy chest. His lips, drawn back 
 wolfishly, displayed yellow, fang-like teeth. Under 
 the raw crude greed of the man you seemed to 
 glimpse something indescribably vulpine and fero- 
 cious. 
 
 The face of Dugald Shaw was controlled, but 
 there was a slight rigidity in its quiet. A pulse beat 
 rapidly in his cheek. All worldly good, all hope of 
 place, power, independence, hung for him on the 
 contents of the small flat package, wrapped in oil- 
 silk, which Miss Browne was at this moment with- 
 drawing from her pocket. 
 
 Only Cuthbert Vane, seated next to me, main- 
 tained without effort his serenity. For him the 
 whole affair belonged in the category known as 
 sporting, where a gentleman played his stake and 
 accepted with equanimity the issue. 
 
 As Miss Browne undid the oil-silk package 
 everybody held his breath, except poor Aunt Jane, 
 who most inopportunely swallowed a gnat and 
 choked.
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 77 
 
 The dead sailor's legacy consisted of a single 
 sheet of time-stained paper. Two-thirds of the 
 sheet was covered by a roughly-drawn sketch in 
 faded ink, giving the outline of the island shores 
 as we had seen them from the Rufus Smith. Here 
 was the cove, with the name it bears in the Admir- 
 alty charts Lantern Bay written in, and a dotted 
 line indicating the channel. North of the bay the 
 shore line was carried for only a little distance. On 
 the south was shown the long tongue of land which 
 protects the anchorage, and which ends in some 
 detached rocks or islets. At a point on the seaward 
 side of the tongue of land, about on a line with the 
 head of the bay, the sketch ended in a swift back- 
 ward stroke of the pen which gave something the 
 effect of a cross. 
 
 To all appearance the map was merely to give 
 Hopperdown his directions for entering the cove. 
 There was absolutely no mark upon it to show 
 where the treasure had been buried. 
 
 Now for the writing on the sheet below the map. 
 It was in another hand than that which had written 
 Lantern Bay across the face of the cove, and which, 
 though labored, was precise and clear. This other 
 was an uneven, wavering scrawl:
 
 78 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 He sed it is in a Cave with 2 mouths near by the 
 grave of Bill Halliwell wich was cut down for he 
 new to much. He sed you can bring a boat to the 
 cave at the half Tide but beware the turn for the 
 pull is strong. He sed to find the Grave again look 
 for the stone at the head marked B. H. and a Cross 
 Bones. In the Chist is gold Dubloons, a vast lot, 
 also a silver Cross wich he sed leve for the Grave 
 for he sed Bill walks and thats unlucky. 
 
 That was all. A fairly clear direction for any 
 friend who had attended the obsequies of Bill and 
 knew where to look for the stone marked B. H. 
 and a cross-bones, but to perfect strangers it was 
 vague. 
 
 A blank look crept into the intent faces about the 
 table. 
 
 "It it don't happen to say in more deetail jest 
 precisely where that cave might be looked for?" in- 
 quired Mr. Tubbs hopefully. 
 
 "In more detail?" repeated Miss Browne chal- 
 lengingly. "Pray, Mr. Tubbs, what further detail 
 could be required?" 
 
 "A good deal more, I am afraid," remarked the 
 Scotchman grimly. 
 
 Miss Browne whirled upon him. In her cold eye 
 a spark had kindled. And suddenly I had a new
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 79 
 
 vision of her. I saw her no longer as the deluder of 
 Aunt Jane, but as herself the deluded. Her belief 
 in the treasure was an obsession. This map was her 
 talisman, her way of escape from an existence which 
 had been drab and dull enough, I dare say. 
 
 "Mr. Shaw, we are given not one, but several 
 infallible landmarks. The cave has two mouths, it 
 can be approached by sea, it is in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the grave of William Halliwell, 
 which is to be recognized by its headstone. As the 
 area of our search is circumscribed by the narrow 
 limits of this island, I fail to see what further marks 
 of identification can be required." 
 
 "A grave ninety years old and hidden beneath a 
 tropical jungle is not an easy thing to find, Miss 
 Browne. As to caves, I doubt but they are numer- 
 ous. The formation here makes it more than likely. 
 And there'll be more than one with two mouths, I'm 
 thinking." 
 
 "Mr. Shaw" Miss Browne gave the effect of 
 drawing herself up in line of battle "I feel that 
 I must give expression to the thought which comes 
 to me at this moment. It is this that if the mem- 
 bers of this party are to be chilled by carping doubts, 
 the wave of enthusiasm which has floated us thus
 
 80 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 far must inevitably recede, leaving us flotsam on a 
 barren shore. What can one weak woman pardon, 
 rny unfaltering Jane! two women, achieve against 
 the thought of failure firmly held by him to whom 
 we looked to lead us boldly in our forward dash? 
 Mr. Shaw, this is no time for crawling earthworm 
 tactics. It is with the bold and sweeping glance of 
 the eagle that we must survey this island, until, the 
 proper point discerned, we swoop with majestic 
 flight upon our predestined goal!" 
 
 Miss Browne was somewhat exhausted by this 
 effort, and paused for breath, whereupon Mr. 
 Tubbs, anxious to retrieve his recent blunder, seized 
 with dexterity this opportunity. 
 
 "I get you, Miss Browne, I get you," said Mr. 
 Tubbs with conviction. "Victory ain't within the 
 grasp of any individual that carries a heart like a 
 cold pancake in his bosom. What this party needs 
 is pep, and if them that was calculated on to supply 
 it don't, why there's others which is not given to 
 blowin' their own horn, but which might at a pinch 
 dash forward like Arnold no relation to Benedict 
 among the spears. I may be rather a man of 
 thought than action, ma'am, and at present far from 
 my native heath, which is the financial centers of
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S LEGACY 81 
 
 the country, but if I remember right it was Ulysses 
 done the dome-work for the Greeks, while certain 
 persons that was depended on sulked in their tents. 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne, you can count count, I 
 say on old H. H. !" 
 
 "I thank you, Mr. Tubbs, I thank you!" replied 
 Miss Browne with emotion. As for Aunt Jane, she 
 gazed upon the noble countenance of Mr. Tubbs 
 with such ecstatic admiration that her little nose 
 quivered like a guinea-pig's.
 
 VI 
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 
 
 OBSCURE as were the directions which Hop- 
 perdown's niece had taken from his dying 
 lips, one point at least was clear the treasure-cave 
 opened on the sea. This seemed an immense sim- 
 plification of the problem, until you discovered that 
 the great wall of cliffs was honeycombed with fis- 
 sures. The limestone rock of which the island was 
 composed was porous as a sponge. You could stand 
 on the edge of the cliffs and watch the green water 
 slide in and out of unseen caverns at your feet, and 
 hear the sullen thunder of the waves that broke far 
 in under the land. 
 
 One of the boats which had conveyed us from the 
 Rufus Smith had been left with us, and in it Mr. 
 Shaw, with the Honorable Cuthbert and Captain 
 Magnus, made a preliminary voyage of discovery. 
 This yielded the information above set down, plus, 
 however, the thrilling and significant fact that a 
 82
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 83 
 
 cave seemingly predestined to be the hiding-place 
 of treasure, and moreover a cave with the specified 
 two openings, ran under the point which protected 
 the anchorage on the south, connecting the cove with 
 the sea. 
 
 Although in their survey of the coast the voyag- 
 ers had covered only a little distance on either side 
 of the entrance to the bay, the discovery of this 
 great double-doored sea-chamber under the point 
 turned all thoughts from further explorations. Only 
 the Scotchman remained exasperatingly calm and 
 declined to admit that the treasure was as good as 
 found. He refused to be swept off his feet even by 
 Mr. Tubbs's undertaking to double everybody's 
 money within a year, through the favor of certain 
 financial parties with whom he was intimate. 
 
 "I'll wait till I see the color of my money before 
 I reckon the interest on it," he remarked. "It's true 
 the cave would be a likely and convenient place for 
 hiding the chest ; the question is : Wouldn't it be too 
 likely and convenient? Sampson would maybe not 
 choose the spot of all others where the first comer 
 who had got wind of the story would be certain to 
 look." 
 
 Miss Browne, at this, exchanged darkly signifi-
 
 84 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 cant glances with her two main supporters, and Mr. 
 Tubbs came to the fore with an offer to clinch mat- 
 ters by discovering the grave of Bill Halliwell, with 
 its marked stone, on the point above the cave within 
 twenty- four hours. 
 
 "Look for it if you like," replied Mr. Shaw im- 
 patiently. "But don't forget that your tombstone 
 is neither more nor less than such a boulder as there 
 are thousands of on the island, and buried under 
 the tropic growth of ninety years besides." 
 
 Miss Browne murmured to Aunt Jane, in a loud 
 aside, that she well understood now why the eminent 
 explorer had not discovered the South Pole, and 
 Aunt Jane murmured back that to her there had 
 always been something so sacred about a tombstone 
 that she couldn't help wondering if Mr. Shaw's at- 
 titude were really quite reverential. 
 
 "Well, friends," remarked Mr. Tubbs, "there's 
 them that sees nothin' but the hole in the dough- 
 nut, and there's them that see the doughnut that's 
 around the hole. I ain't ashamed to say that old 
 H. H. is in the doughnut class. Why, the Old Man 
 himself used to remark I guess it ain't news to 
 some here about me bein' on the inside with most 
 of the leadin' financial lights of the country he
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 85 
 
 used to remark, 'Tubbs has it in him to bull the mar- 
 ket on a Black Friday/ Ladies, I ain't one that's 
 inclined to boast, but I jest want to warn you not 
 to be too astonished when H. H. makes acquaintance 
 with that tombstone, which I'm willin' to lay he does 
 yet." 
 
 "Well, good luck to you," said the grim Scot, 
 "and let me likewise warn all hands not to be too 
 astonished if we find that the treasure is not in the 
 cave. But I'll admit it is as good a place as any for 
 beginning the search, and there will be none gladder 
 than I if it turns out that I was no judge of the 
 workings of Captain Sampson's mind." 
 
 The cave which was now the center of our hopes 
 I say our, because somehow or other I found my- 
 self hoping and fearing along with the rest, though 
 carefully concealing it ran under the point at its 
 farther end. The sea-mouth of the cave was pro- 
 tected from the full swell of the ocean by some huge 
 detached rocks rising a little way offshore, which 
 caught and broke the waves. The distance was 
 about sixty feet from mouth to mouth, and back of 
 this transverse _ passage a great vaulted chamber 
 stretched far under the land. The walls of the cham- 
 ber rose sheer to a height of fifteen feet or more,
 
 86 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 when a broad ledge broke their smoothness. From 
 this ledge opened cracks and fissures under the roof, 
 suggesting in the dim light infinite possibilities in 
 the way of hiding-places. Besides these, a wide 
 stretch of sand at the upper end of the chamber, 
 which was bare at low tide, invited exploration. At 
 high water the sea flooded the cavern to its farthest 
 extremity and beat upon the walls. Then there 
 was a great surge and roar of waters through the 
 passage from mouth to mouth, and at turn of tide 
 in hopeful agreement with the legend the suck 
 and commotion of a whirlpool, almost, as the sea 
 drew back its waves. Now and again, it was to 
 prove, even the water-worn pavement between the 
 two archways was left bare, and one could walk 
 dry-shod along the rocks under the high land of the 
 point from the beach to the cave. But this was at 
 the very bottom of the ebb. Mostly the lower end 
 of the cave was flooded, and the explorers went back 
 and forth in the boat. 
 
 A certain drawback to boating in our island wa- 
 ters was the presence of hungry hordes of sharks. 
 You might forget them for a moment and sit hap- 
 pily trailing your fingers overboard, and then a huge 
 moving shadow would darken the water, and you
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 87 
 
 saw the ripple cut by a darting fin and the flash of 
 a livid belly as the monster rolled over, ready for 
 his mouthful. I could not but admire the thought- 
 fulness of Mr. Tubbs, who since his submergence 
 on the occasion of arriving had been as delicate 
 about water as a cat, in committing himself to 
 strictly land operations in the search for Bill Halli- 
 well's tombstone. 
 
 Owing, I suppose, to the stoniness of the soil, the 
 woods upon the point were less dense than else- 
 where, and made an agreeable parade ground for 
 Mr. Tubbs and his two companions for he was ac- 
 companied in these daring explorations with un- 
 swerving fidelity by Aunt Jane and Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne. Each of the three carried an umbrella, and 
 they went solemnly in single file, Mr. Tubbs in the 
 lead to ward off peril in the shape of snakes or 
 jungle beasts, 
 
 "To think of what that man exposes himself to 
 for our sakes !" Aunt Jane said to me with emotion. 
 "With no protection but his own bravery in case 
 anything were to spring out !" 
 
 But nothing ever did spring out but an angry old 
 sow with a litter of piglets, before which the three 
 umbrellas beat a rapid retreat.
 
 88 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 The routine of life on the island was now estab- 
 lished for every one but me, who belonged neither 
 to the land nor sea divisions, but dangled forlornly 
 between them like Mahomet's coffin. Aunt Jane had 
 made a magnanimous effort to attach me to the um- 
 brella contingent, and I had felt almost disposed to 
 accept, in order to witness the resultant delight of 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne. But on second thoughts 
 I declined, even though Aunt Jane was thus left 
 unguarded to the blandishments of Mr. Tubbs, pre- 
 ferring, like the little bird in the play, to flock all 
 alone, except when the Honorable Cuthbert could 
 escape from his toil in the cave. 
 
 What with the genius of Cookie and the fruit- 
 fulness of our island, not to speak of supplies from 
 the Army and Navy Stores, we lived like sybarites. 
 There were fish from stream and sea, cocoanuts and 
 bananas and oranges from the trees in the clearing. 
 I had hopes of yams and breadfruit also, but if 
 they grew on Leeward none of us had a speaking 
 acquaintance with them. Cookie did wonders with 
 the pigs that were shot and brought in to him, 
 though I never could sit down with appetite to a 
 massacred infant served up on a platter, which is 
 just what little pigs look like.
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 89 
 
 "Jes' y ' cas' yo' eye on dis yere innahcent," 
 Cookie would request, as he placed the suckling be- 
 fore Mr. Tubbs. "Tendah as a new-bo'n babe, he 
 am. Jes' lak he been tucked up to sleep by his 
 mammy. Sho' now, how yo' got de heart to stick 
 de knife in him, Mistah Tubbs?" 
 
 It was significant that Mr. Tubbs, after occupy- 
 ing for a day or two an undistinguished middle 
 place at the board, had somehow slid into the carv- 
 er's post at the head of the table. Flanking him 
 were the two ladies, so that the Land Forces formed 
 a solid and imposing phalanx. Everybody else had 
 a sense of sitting in outer darkness, particularly I, 
 whom fate had placed opposite Captain Magnus. 
 Since landing on the island, Captain Magnus had 
 forsworn the effeminacy of forks. Loaded to the 
 hilt, his knife would approach his cavernous mouth 
 and disappear in it. Yet when it emerged Captain 
 Magnus was alive. Where did it go? This was a 
 question that agitated me daily. 
 
 The history of Captain Magnus was obscure. It 
 was certain that he had his captain's papers, though 
 how he had mastered the science of navigation suf- 
 ficiently to obtain" them was a problem. Though he 
 held a British navigator's license, he did not appear
 
 90 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 to be an Englishman. None of us ever knew, I 
 think, from what country he originally came. His 
 rough, mumbling, unready speech might have been 
 picked up in any of the seaports of the English- 
 speaking world. His manners smacked of the fore- 
 castle, and he was altogether so difficult to classify 
 that I used to toy with the theory that he had mur- 
 dered the real Captain Magnus for his papers and 
 was masquerading in his character. 
 
 The captain, as Mr. Vane had remarked, was 
 Miss Browne's own find. Before the objections of 
 Mr. Shaw evidently a Negative Influence from 
 the beginning had caused her to abandon the 
 scheme, Miss Browne had planned to charter a ves- 
 sel in New York and sail around the Horn to the 
 island. While nursing this project she had formed 
 an extensive acquaintance with persons frequent- 
 ing the New York water-front, among whom was 
 Captain Magnus. As I heard her remark, he was 
 the one nautical character whom she found sympa- 
 thetic, by which I judge that the others were skep- 
 tical and rude. Being sympathetic, Captain Magnus 
 found it an easy matter to attach himself to the ex- 
 pedition or perhaps it was Violet who annexed 
 him, I don't know which.
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 91 
 
 Mr. Vane used to view the remarkable gastro- 
 nomic feats of Captain Magnus with the innocent 
 and quite unscornful curiosity of a little boy watch- 
 ing the bears in the zoo. Evidently he felt that a 
 horizon hitherto bounded mainly by High Staunton 
 Manor was being greatly enlarged. I knew now 
 that the Honorable Cuthbert's father was a baron, 
 and that he was the younger of two sons, and that 
 the elder was an invalid, so that the beautiful youth 
 was quite certain in the long run to be Lord Gras- 
 mere. I had remained stolid under this informa- 
 tion, feelingly imparted by Aunt Jane. I had re- 
 fused to ask questions about High Staunton Manor. 
 For already there was a vast amount of superfluous 
 chaperoning being done. I couldn't speak to the 
 b. y. which is short for beautiful youth without 
 Violet's cold gray eye being trained upon us. And 
 Aunt Jane grew flustered directly, and I could see 
 her planning an embroidery design of coronets, or 
 whatever is the proper headgear of barons, for my 
 trousseau. Mr. Tubbs had essayed to be facetious 
 on the matter, but I had coldly quenched him. 
 
 But Mr. Shaw~was much the worst. My most 
 innocent remark to the beautiful youth appeared to 
 rouse suspicion in his self-constituted guardian. If
 
 92 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 he did not say in so many words, Beware, dear lad, 
 she's stringing you! or whatever the English of that 
 is, it was because nobody could so wound the faith 
 in the b. y.'s candid eyes. But to see the fluttering, 
 anxious wing the Scotchman tried to spread over 
 that babe of six- feet- two you would have thought 
 me a man-eating tigress. And I laughed, and 
 flaunted my indifference in his sober face, and went 
 away with bitten lips to the hammock they had 
 swung for me among the palms 
 
 The Honorable Cuthbert had a voice, a big, rich, 
 ringing baritone like floods of golden honey. He 
 had also a ridiculous little ukulele, on which he ac- 
 companied himself with a rhythmic strumming. 
 When, like the sudden falling of a curtain, dusky, 
 velvet, star-spangled, the wonderful tropic night 
 came down, we used to build a little fire upon the 
 beach and sit around it. Then Cuthbert Vane would 
 sing. Of all his repertory, made up of music-hall 
 ditties, American ragtime, and sweet old half-for- 
 gotten ballads, we liked best a certain wild rollick- 
 ing song, picked up I don't know where, but won- 
 derfully effective on that island where Davis, and 
 Benito Bonito, and many another of the roving gen- 
 try not to mention that less picturesque villain,
 
 THE CAVE WITH TWO MOUTHS 93 
 
 Captain Sampson of the Bonny Lass had resorted 
 between their flings with fortune. 
 
 Oh, who's, who's with me for the free life of a 
 
 rover ? 
 Oh, who's, who's with me for to sail the broad seas 
 
 over? 
 
 In every port we have gold to fling, 
 And what care we though the end is to swing? 
 Sing ho, sing hey, this life's but a day, 
 So live it free as a rover may. 
 
 Oh, who's, who's with me at Fortune's call to wan- 
 der? 
 
 Then, lads, to sea and ashore with gold to squan- 
 der! 
 
 We'll set our course for the Spanish Main 
 
 Where the great plate-galleons steer for Spain. 
 
 Sing ho, sing hey, this life's but a day, 
 
 Then live it free as a rover may. 
 
 Then leave toil and cold to the lubbers that will 
 
 bear it. 
 The world's fat with gold, and we're the lads to 
 
 share it. 
 
 What though swift death is the rover's lot? 
 We've played the game and we'll pay the shot. 
 Sing ho, sing hey, this life's but a day, 
 Then live it free as a rover may. 
 
 "Sing ho, sing hey!" echoed the audience in a
 
 94 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 loud discordant roar, Cookie over his dishpan fling- 
 ing it back in a tremendous basso. Cookie was the 
 noble youth's only musical rival, and when he had 
 finished his work we would invite him to join us at 
 the fire and regale us with plantation melodies and 
 camp-meeting hymns. The negro's melodious thun- 
 der mingled with the murmur of wind and wave 
 like a kindred note, and the strange plaintive rhythm 
 of his artless songs took one back and back, far up 
 the stream of life, until a fire upon a beach seemed 
 one's ancestral hearth and home. 
 
 I realized that life on Leeward Island might rap- 
 idly become a process of reversion.
 
 VII 
 
 A RABBITS FOOT 
 
 IT WAS fortunate that Cookie knew nothing of 
 the solitary grave somewhere on the island, 
 with its stone marked with B. H. and a cross-bones, 
 nor that the inhabitant thereof was supposed to 
 walk. If he had, I think the strange spectacle of a 
 lone negro in a small boat rowing lustily for the 
 American continent might soon have been witnessed 
 on the Pacific by any eyes that were there to see. 
 And we could ill have spared either boat or cook. 
 
 Yet even though unvexed by this gruesome 
 knowledge, after two or three days I noticed that 
 Cookie was ill at ease. As the leisure member of 
 the party, I enjoyed more of Cookie's society than 
 the rest. On this occasion while the morning was 
 still in its early freshness he was permitting me to 
 make fudge. But his usual joviality was gone. I 
 saw that he glanced over his shoulder at intervals, 
 muttering darkly to himself. Also that a rabbit's 
 foot was slung conspicuously about his neck. 
 95
 
 96 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Having made my fudge and set the pan on a stone 
 in the stream to cool, I was about to retire with a 
 view to conducting a limited exploring expedition 
 of my own. The immunity of the umbrellas and the 
 assurances of Mr. Shaw not personally directed 
 to me, of course; the armed truce under which we 
 lived did not permit of that had convinced me 
 that I had not to dread anything more ferocious 
 than the pigs, and the wildest of them would retire 
 before a stick or stone. Besides, I boasted a little 
 automatic, which I carried strapped about my waist 
 in a businesslike manner. Mr. Vane had almost got 
 me to the point where I could shoot it off without 
 shutting my eyes. 
 
 Thus equipped, I was about to set off into the 
 woods. Secretly I had been rehearsing a dramatic 
 scene, with myself in the leading role : 
 
 Treasure-seekers assembled, including a cold and 
 cynical Scot. Enter Virginia Harding. She wears 
 an expression elaborately casual, but there is a light 
 of concealed triumph in her eye. 
 
 Aunt Jane: You thoughtless child, where have 
 you been? Really, my state of mind about you 
 etc., etc. 
 
 V. H. : Only for a stroll, dear aunt. And by the
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 97 
 
 way, in case it's of interest to any one, I might men- 
 tion that during my walk I fell over a boulder which 
 happened to be marked with the letters B. H. and a 
 cross-bones. 
 
 Immense commotion and excitement. Every gaze 
 turned to V. H. (including that of cynical Scot) 
 while on every cheek is the blush of shame at re- 
 membering that this is the same Young Person 
 whom Miss Higglesby-Browne was permitted to cut 
 off by treaty from the ranks of the authorized trea- 
 sure-seekers. 
 
 Lured by this pleasing vision I had turned my 
 back on Cookie and the camp, when I was arrested 
 by an exclamation : 
 
 "Miss Jinny!" 
 
 1 turned to find Cookie' gazing after me with an 
 expression which, in the familiar phrase of fiction, 
 I could not interpret, though among its ingredients 
 were doubt and anguish. Cookie, too, looked pale. 
 I don't in the least know how he managed it, but 
 that was the impression he conveyed, dusky as he 
 was. 
 
 "Miss Jinny, M it mos' look lak yo' 'bout to go 
 perambulatin' in dese yere woods?" 
 
 "I am, Cookie," I admitted.
 
 
 98 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 The whites of Cookie's eyes became alarmingly 
 conspicuous. Drawing near in a stealthy manner he 
 whispered : 
 
 "Yo' bettah not, Miss Jinny!" 
 
 "Better not?" I repeated, staring. 
 
 He answered with a portentous head-shake. 
 
 "Oh, nonsense, Cookie!" I said impatiently. 
 "There's not a thing on the island but the pigs!" 
 
 "Miss Jinny," he solemnly replied, "dey's pigs 
 and pigs." 
 
 "Yes, but pigs is pigs, you know," I answered, 
 laughing. I was about to walk on, but once more 
 Cookie intervened. 
 
 "Dey's pigs and pigs, chile live ones and dead 
 ones." 
 
 "Dead ones? Of course haven't we been eating 
 them?" 
 
 "Yo' won't neveh eat dis yere kind o' dead pig, 
 Miss Jinny. It's it's a ha'nt !" 
 
 The murder was out. Cookie leaned against a 
 cocoa-palm and wiped his ebon brow. 
 
 Persistently questioned, he told at last how, to- 
 day and yesterday, arising in the dim dawn to build 
 his fire before the camp was stirring, he had seen 
 lurking at the edge of the clearing a white four-
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 99 
 
 footed shape. It was a pig, yet not a pig ; its ghostly 
 hue, its noiseless movements, divided it from all 
 proper mundane porkers by the dreadful gulf which 
 divides the living from the dead. The first morning 
 Cookie, doubtful of his senses, had flung a stone and 
 the spectral Thing had vanished like a shadow. On 
 its second appearance, having had a day and a night 
 for meditation, he had known better than to com- 
 mit such an outrage upon the possessor of ghostly 
 powers, and had resorted to prayer instead. This 
 had answered quite as well, for the phantom pig 
 had dissolved like the morning mists. While the sun 
 blazed, what with his devotions and his rabbit's foot 
 and a cross of twigs nailed to a tree, Cookie felt a 
 fair degree of security. But his teeth chattered in 
 his head at the thought of approaching night. Mean- 
 while he could not in conscience permit me to ven- 
 ture forth into the path of this horror, which might, 
 for all we knew, be lurking in the jungle shadows 
 even through the daylight hours. Also, though he 
 did not avow this motive, I believe he found my 
 company very reassuring. It is immensely easier to 
 face a ghost in the sustaining presence of other flesh 
 and blood. 
 
 "Cookie," said I sternly, "you've been drinking
 
 
 100 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 too much cocoanut-milk and it has gone to your 
 head. What you saw was just a plain ordinary pig." 
 
 Cookie disputed this, citing the pale hue of the 
 apparition as against the fact that all our island pigs 
 were black. 
 
 "Then there happens to be a blond pig among 
 them that we haven't seen," I assured him. 
 
 But the pig of flesh, Cookie reminded me, was a 
 heavy lumbering creature. This Shape was silent 
 as a moonbeam. There was also about it a dreadful 
 appearance of stealth and secrecy Cookie's eyes 
 bulged at the recollection. Nothing living but a 
 witch's cat could have disappeared from Cookie's 
 vision as did the ghostly pig. 
 
 For a moment I wavered in my determination. 
 What if the island had its wild creatures after all? 
 But neither lynx nor panther nor any other beast 
 of prey is white, except a polar bear, and it would 
 be unusual to meet one on a tropical island. 
 
 I decided that Cookie's pig was after all a pig, 
 though still in the flesh. I thought I remembered 
 having seen quite fair pigs, which would pass for 
 white with a frightened negro in the dim light of 
 dawn. So far only black pigs had been visible, but 
 perhaps the light ones were shyer and kept to the
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 101 
 
 remote parts of the island. I consoled Cookie as 
 best I could by promising to cross my fingers if I 
 heard or saw anything suspicious, and struck out 
 into the woods. 
 
 For all my brave words to Cookie, I had no in- 
 tention of going very far afield. From the shore of 
 the cove I had observed that the ground behind the 
 clearing rose to the summit of a low ridge, perhaps 
 four hundred feet in height, which jutted from the 
 base of the peak. From this ridge I thought I might 
 see something more of the island than the limited 
 environment of Lantern Bay. 
 
 As the woods shut out the last glimpse of the 
 white tents in the clearing, as even the familiar 
 sound of the surf died down to a faint, half-imag- 
 ined whisper mingling with the rustling of the palms 
 overhead, I experienced a certain discomfort, which 
 persons given to harsh and unqualified terms might 
 have called fear. It seemed to me as if a very strong 
 cord at the rear of my belt were jerking me back 
 toward the inglorious safety of camp. Fortunately 
 there came to me a vision of the three umbrellas 
 and of Mr. Tubbs heroically exposing his devoted 
 bosom to non-existent perils, and I resolved that the 
 superior smiles with which I had greeted Aunt
 
 102 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Jane's recital should not rise up to shame me now. 
 I fingered my automatic and marched on up the hill, 
 trying not to gasp when a leaf rustled or a cocoanut 
 dropped in the woods. 
 
 There was little undergrowth between the crowd- 
 ing trunks of the cocoa-palms. Far overhead their 
 fronds mingled in a green thatch, through which a 
 soft light filtered down. Here and there the close 
 ranks of the palms were broken by an outcropping 
 of rock, glaring up hot and sunbeaten at a distant 
 patch of the sky. The air of the forest was still and 
 languid, its heat tempered like that of a room with 
 drawn blinds. 
 
 I gained the summit of the ridge, and stood upon 
 a bare rock platform, scantily sheltered by a few 
 trees, large shrubs rather, with a smooth waxy leaf 
 of vivid green. On the left rose the great mass of 
 the peak. From far above among its crags a beau- 
 tiful foamy waterfall came hurtling down. Before 
 me the ground fell away to the level of the low 
 plateau, or mesa, as we say in California, which 
 made up the greater part of the island. Cutting into 
 the green of this was the gleaming curve of a little 
 bay, which in Mr. Shaw's chart of the island showed 
 slightly larger than our cove. Part of it was hidden
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 103 
 
 by the shoulder of the peak, but enough was visible 
 to give a beautiful variety to the picture, which was 
 set in a silver frame of sea. 
 
 I had not dreamed of getting a view so glorious 
 from the little eminence of the ridge. Here was an 
 item of news to take back to camp. Having with 
 great originality christened the place Lookout, I 
 turned to go. And as I turned I saw a shape vanish 
 into the woods. 
 
 It was an animal, not a human shape. And it was 
 light-footed and swift and noiseless and it was 
 white. It had, indeed, every distinguishing trait of 
 Cookie's phantom pig. Only it was not a pig. My 
 brief shadowy glimpse of it had told me that. I 
 knew what it was not, but what it was I could not, 
 as I stood there rooted, even guess. 
 
 Would it attack me, or should I only die of 
 fright? I wondered if my heart were weak, and 
 hoped it was, so that I should not live to feel the 
 teeth of the unknown Thing sink in my flesh. I 
 thought of my revolver and after an infinity of time 
 managed to draw it from the case. My fingers 
 seemed at once nervelessly limp and woodenly rigid. 
 This was not af all the dauntless front with which 
 I had dreamed of meeting danger. I had fancied
 
 104 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 myself with my automatic making a rather pretty 
 picture as a young Amazon but I had now a dread- 
 ful fear that my revolver might spasmodically go 
 off and wound the Thing, and then even if it had 
 meditated letting me go it would certainly attack 
 me. Nevertheless I clung to my revolver as to my 
 last hope. 
 
 I began to edge away crab-wise into the wood. 
 Like a metronome I said to myself over and over 
 monotonously, don't run, don't run! Dim legends 
 about the power of the human eye floated through 
 my brain. But how quell the creature with my eye 
 when I could not see it ? As for the hopeless expe- 
 dient of screaming, I hadn't courage for it. I was 
 silent, as I would fain have been invisible. Only my 
 dry lips kept muttering soundlessly, don't run, don't 
 run! 
 
 I did not run. Instead, I stepped on a smooth sur- 
 face of rock and slid downhill like a human tobog- 
 gan until I fetched up against a dead log. I discov- 
 ered it to be a dead log after a confused interval 
 during which I vaguely believed myself to have 
 been swallowed by an alligator. While the alligator 
 illusion endured I must have lain comatose and im- 
 movable. Indeed, when my senses began to come
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 105 
 
 back I was still quite inert. I experienced that cu- 
 rious tranquillity which is said to visit those who are 
 actually within the jaws of death. There I lay 
 prone, absolutely at the mercy of the mysterious 
 white prowler of the forest and I did not care. 
 The whole petty business of living seemed a long 
 way behind me now. 
 
 Languidly at last I opened my eyes. Within three 
 yards of me, in the open rock-paved glade where I 
 had fallen, stood the Thing. 
 
 As softly as I had opened my eyes I shut them. 
 I had an annoyed conviction that they were deceiv- 
 ing me a very unworthy thing for eyes to do that 
 were soon to be closed in death. Again I lifted my 
 lids. Yes, there it was only now it had put an ear 
 back and was sniffing at me with a mingling of in- 
 terest and apprehension. 
 
 The strange beast of the jungle was a white bull- 
 terrier. 
 
 Abruptly I sat up. The terrier gave a startled 
 sidewise bound, but paused again and stood regard- 
 ing me. 
 
 "Here, pup ! Here, pup ! Nice, nice doggums !" I 
 said in soothing accents. 
 
 The dog gave a low whine and stood shivering,
 
 106 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 eager but afraid. I continued my blandishments. 
 Little by little the forlorn creature drew nearer, un- 
 til I put out a cautious hand and stroked his ears. 
 He dodged affrightedly, but presently crept back 
 again. Soon his head was against my knee, and he 
 was devouring my hand with avid caresses. Some 
 time, before his abandonment on the island, he had 
 been a well-brought-up and petted animal. Months 
 or years of wild life had estranged him from hu- 
 manity, yet at the human touch the old devotion 
 woke again. 
 
 The thing now was to lure him back to camp and 
 restore him to the happy service of his gods. I rose 
 and picked up my pistol, which had regained my 
 confidence by not going off when I dropped it. With 
 another alluring, "Here, doggums!" I started on 
 my way. He shrank, trembled, hesitated, then was 
 after me with a bound. So we went on through the 
 forest. As we neared the camp the four-footed 
 castaway's diffidence increased. I had to pet and 
 coax. But at last I brought him triumphantly across 
 the Rubicon of the little stream, and marched him 
 into camp under the astounded eyes of Cookie. 
 
 At sight of the negro the dog growled softly and
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 107 
 
 crouched against my skirt. Cookie stood like an ef- 
 figy of amazement done in black and white. 
 
 "Fo' de Lawd's sake, Miss Jinny," he burst out 
 at last, "am dat de ghos'-pig?" 
 
 "It was, Cookie, but I changed him into a live 
 dog by crossing my fingers. Mind your rabbit's 
 foot. He might eat it, and then very likely we'd 
 have a ghost on our hands again. But I think he'll 
 stay a dog for the present." 
 
 "Yo' go 'long, Miss Jinny," said Cookie valiantly. 
 "Yo' think I scared of any ghos' what lower hissel 
 to be a live white mong'ol dog? Yere, yo' ki-yi, yo' 
 bettah mek friends with ol' Cookie, 'cause he got 
 charge o' de grub. Yere's a li'le fat ma'ow bone 
 what mebbe come off'n yo' own grandchile, but yo' 
 ain' goin' to mind dat now yo' is trans formulated 
 dis yere way." And evidently the reincarnated 
 ghost-pig did not. 
 
 With the midday reunion my hour of distinction 
 arrived. The tale of the ghost-pig was told from 
 the beginning by Cookie, with high tributes to my 
 courage in sallying forth in pursuit of the .phantom. 
 Even those holding other views of the genesis of 
 the white dog were amazed at his presence on the
 
 108 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 island. In spite of Cookie's aspersions, the creature 
 was no mongrel, but a thoroughbred of points. Not 
 by any means a dog which some little South Amer- 
 ican coaster might have abandoned here when it 
 put in for water. The most reasonable hypothesis 
 seemed to be that he had belonged to the copra gath- 
 erer, and was for some reason left behind on his 
 master's departure. But who that had loved a dog 
 enough to make it the companion of his solitude 
 would go away and leave it? The thing seemed to 
 me incredible. Yet here, otherwise unaccounted for, 
 was the corporeal presence of the dog. 
 
 I had named the terrier in the first ten minutes 
 of our acquaintance. Crusoe was the designation 
 by which he was presented to his new associates. 
 It was good to see how swiftly the habits of civ- 
 ilization returned to him. Soon he was getting un- 
 der foot and courting caresses as eagerly as though 
 all his life he had lived on human bounty, instead 
 of bringing down his own game in royal freedom. 
 Yet with all his well-bred geniality there was no 
 wandering of his allegiance. I was his undisputed 
 queen and lady paramount. 
 
 Crusoe, then, became a member of the party in 
 good and regular standing much more so than his
 
 A RABBIT'S FOOT 109 
 
 mistress. Mr. Tubbs compared him not unfavorably 
 with a remarkable animal of his own, for which 
 the New York Kennel Club had bidden him name 
 his own price, only to be refused with scorn. Violet 
 tolerated him, Aunt Jane called him a dear weenty 
 pettums love, Captain Magnus kicked him when he 
 thought I was not looking, Cuthbert Vane chummed 
 with him in frankest comradeship, and Mr. Shaw 
 softened toward him to an extent which made me 
 inly murmur, Love me, love my dog only reversed. 
 Not that I in tJie least wanted to be loved, only you 
 feel it an impertinence in a person who so palpably 
 does not love you to endeavor to engage the affec- 
 tions of your bull-terrier. 
 
 As to Cookie, he magnanimously consented to 
 overlook Crusoe's dubious past as a ghost-pig, and 
 fed him so liberally that the terrier's lean and grace- 
 ful form threatened to assume the contours of a 
 beer-keg.
 
 VIII 
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 
 
 A THE only person who had yet discovered 
 anything on the island, I was now invested 
 with a certain importance. Also, I had a playfellow 
 and companion for future walks, in lieu of Cuth- 
 bert Vane, held down tight to the thankless toil of 
 treasure-hunting by his stern taskmaster. But at 
 the same time I was provided with an annoying, 
 because unanswerable, question which had lodged 
 at the back of my mind like a crumb in the throat : 
 
 By what strange chance had the copra gatherer 
 gone away and left Crusoe on the island? 
 
 Since the discovery of Crusoe the former inhab- 
 itant of the cabin in the clearing had been much in 
 my thoughts. I had been dissatisfied with him from 
 the beginning, first, because he was not a pirate, and 
 also because he had left behind no relic more fitting 
 than a washtub. Not a locket, not a journal, not his 
 own wasted form stretched upon a pallet 
 
 I had expressed these sentiments to Cuthbert 
 110
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 111 
 
 Vane, who replied that in view of the washtub it 
 was certain that the hermit of the island had not 
 been a pirate, as he understood they never washed. 
 I said neither did any orthodox hermit, to which 
 Mr. Vane rejoined that he probably was not ortho- 
 dox but a Dissenter. He said Dissenters were so 
 apt to be peculiar, don't you know? 
 
 One morning, instead of starting directly after 
 breakfast for the cave, Mr. Shaw busied himself in 
 front of the supply tent with certain explosives 
 which were to be used in the digging operations 
 later. The neighborhood of these explosives was a 
 great trial to Aunt Jane, who was constantly ex- 
 pecting them to go off. I rather expected it too, and 
 used to shudder at the thought that if we all went 
 soaring heavenward together we might come down 
 inextricably mixed. Then when the Rufus Smith 
 returned and they tried to sort us out before inter- 
 ment, I might have portions of Violet, for instance, 
 attributed to me. In that case I felt that, like Bill 
 Halliwell, I should walk. 
 
 Having inquired of the Honorable Cuthbert and 
 found that for .an hour or two the boat would not 
 be in requisition, I permitted the beautiful youth to 
 understand that I would not decline an invitation
 
 112 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 to be rowed about the cove. Mr. Shaw had left his 
 marine glasses lying about, and I had been doing 
 some exploring with them. Under the great cliffs 
 on the north shore of the bay I had seen an object 
 that excited my curiosity. It seemed to be the hull 
 of a small vessel, lying on the narrow strip of rocks 
 and sand under the cliff. Now wreckage anywhere 
 fills me with sad and romantic thoughts, but on the 
 shore of a desolate island even a barrel-hoop seems 
 to suffer a sea-change into something rich and 
 strange. I therefore commanded the b. y. to row 
 me over to the spot where the derelict lay. 
 
 I lay back idly in the stern as the boat skimmed 
 over the smooth water beneath the strokes of my 
 splendid oarsman. More than ever he looked like 
 the island god. Every day he grew more brown and 
 brawny, more superb in his physical vigor. But his 
 hands, once so beautiful, were getting rough and 
 hard with toil. There was a great raw bruise on his 
 arm. I exclaimed pityingly. 
 
 "Oh, it's nothing. We get knocked about a bit 
 by the sea in the cave now and then." 
 
 "You mean you are risking your lives every day 
 for the sake of this legendary treasure that you have 
 no reasonable reason to suppose is there."
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 113 
 
 "Perhaps not," he admitted, "but then it's such 
 good fun looking, you know." 
 
 "That's according to one's idea of fun," I said 
 ironically. 
 
 "Oh, well, a chap can't spend his days on flowery 
 beds of ease, of course. Really, I find this story- 
 book kind of thing we're doing is warm stuff, as you 
 Americans say. And then there's Shaw think of 
 the difference it will make to the dear old chap if 
 we find the gold buy a ship of his own and snap 
 his fingers at the P. & O." 
 
 "And you'll go along as cabin-boy or something?" 
 
 " 'Fraid not," he said quite simply. "A chap has 
 his bit to do at home, you know." 
 
 The cliffs on the north shore of the cove were 
 considerably higher than on the other side. The 
 wreck lay close in, driven high upon the narrow 
 shelf of rocks and sand at the base of the sheer as- 
 cent. Sand had heaped up around her hull and flung 
 itself across her deck like a white winding-sheet. 
 Surprisingly, the vessel was a very small one, a little 
 sloop, indeed, much like the fragile pleasure-boats 
 that cluster under the Sausalito shore at home. The 
 single mast had been broken off short, and the 
 stump of the bowsprit was visible, like a finger beck-
 
 114 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 oning for rescue from the crawling sand. She was 
 embedded most deeply at the stern, and forward of 
 the sand-heaped cockpit the roof of the small cabin 
 was still clear. 
 
 "Poor forlorn little boat!" I said. "What in the 
 world do you suppose brought such a mite of a thing 
 to this unheard-of spot?" 
 
 "Perhaps she belonged to the copra chap. One 
 man could handle her." 
 
 "What would he want with her? A small boat 
 like this is better for fishing and rowing about the 
 cove." 
 
 "Perhaps she brought him here from Panama, 
 though he couldn't have counted on taking back a 
 very bulky cargo." 
 
 "Then why leave her strewn about on the rocks ? 
 And besides" here the puzzle of Crusoe recurred 
 to me and seemed to link itself with this "then 
 how did he get away himself?" 
 
 But my oarsman was much more at home on the 
 solid ground of fact than on the uncharted waters 
 of the hypothetical. 
 
 "Don't know, I'm sure," he returned uninterest- 
 edly. Evidently the hermit had got away, so why 
 concern one's self about the method? I am sure the
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 115 
 
 Light Brigade must have been made up of Cuth- 
 bert Vanes. "Theirs not to reason why, theirs but 
 to do or die " 
 
 We rowed in close under the port bow of the 
 sloop, and on the rail I made out a string of faded 
 letters. I began excitedly to spell them out. 
 
 "I s 1 oh, Island Queen! You see she did 
 belong here. Probably she brought the original por- 
 cine Adam and Eve to the island." 
 
 "Luckily forgot the snake, though!" remarked 
 the Honorable Bertie with unlooked-for vivacity. 
 For so far Aunt Jane's trembling anticipations had 
 been unfulfilled by the sight of a single snake, a 
 fact laid by me to the credit of St. Patrick and by 
 Cookie to that of the pigs. 
 
 "Snakes 'd jes' be oysters on de half shell to dem 
 pigs," declared Cookie. 
 
 As we rowed away from the melancholy little 
 derelict I saw that near by a narrow gully gave ac- 
 cess to the top of the cliff, and I resolved that I 
 would avail myself of this path to visit the Island 
 Queen again. My mind continued to dwell upon 
 the unknown figure of the copra gatherer. Perhaps 
 the loss of his sloop had condemned him to weary 
 months or years of solitude upon the island, before
 
 116 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the rare glimmer of a sail or the trail of a steamer's 
 smoke upon the horizon gladdened his longing eyes. 
 Hadn't he grown very tired of pork, and didn't his 
 soul to this day revolt at a ham sandwich? What 
 would he say if he ever discovered that he might 
 have brought away a harvest of gold instead of 
 copra from the island? Last but not least, did not 
 his heart and conscience, if he by chance possessed 
 them, ache horribly at the thought of the forsaken 
 Crusoe? 
 
 Suddenly I turned to Cuthbert Vane. 
 
 "How do you know, really, that he ever did leave 
 the island?" I demanded. 
 
 "Who the copra chap? Well, why else was the 
 cabin cleared out so carefully no clothes left about 
 or anything?" 
 
 "That's true," I acknowledged. The last occupant 
 of the hut had evidently made a very deliberate and 
 orderly business of packing up to go. 
 
 We drifted about the cove for a while, then 
 steered into the dim murmuring shadow of the 
 treasure-cavern. It was filled with dark-green, lisp- 
 ing water, and a continual resonant whispering in 
 which you seemed to catch half- framed words, and 
 the low ripple of laughter. Mr. Vane indicated the
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 117 
 
 point at which they had arrived in their exploration 
 among the fissures opening from the ledge. 
 
 The place held me with its fascination, but we 
 dared not linger long, for as the tide turned one man 
 would have much ado to manage the boat. So we 
 slid through the archway into the bright sunshine of 
 the cove, and headed for the camp. 
 
 As we neared the beach we saw a figure pacing it. 
 I knew that free stride. It was Dugald Shaw. And 
 quite unexpectedly my heart began to beat with stac- 
 cato quickness. Dugald Shaw, who didn't like me 
 and never looked at me except just sometimes, 
 when he was perfectly sure I didn't know it. Du- 
 gald Shaw, the silent, unboastful man who had 
 striven and starved and frozen on the dreadful 
 southern ice-fields, who had shared the Viking deeds 
 of the heroes whom just to think of warmed my 
 heart with a safe, cuddled, little-girl feeling that I 
 had never known since I was a child on my father's 
 knee. There he was, waiting for us, and splashing 
 into the foam to help Cuthbert beach the boat he 
 for whom a thousand years ago the skalds would 
 have made a saga 
 
 The b. y. hailed him cheerfully as we sprang out 
 upon the sand. But the Scotchman was unsmiling.
 
 118 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "Make haste after your tools, lad," he ordered. 
 "We'll have fine work now to get inside the cave be- 
 fore the turn." 
 
 Those were his words ; his tone and his grim look 
 meant, So in spite of all my care you are being be- 
 guiled by a minx 
 
 It was his tone that I answered. 
 
 "Oh, don't scold Mr. Vane !" I implored. "Every 
 paradise has its serpent, and as there are no others 
 here I suppose I am it. Of course all lady serpents 
 who know their business have red hair. Don't blame 
 Mr. Vane for what was naturally all my fault." 
 
 Not a line of his face changed. Indeed, before 
 my most vicious stabs it never did change. Though 
 of course it would have been much more civil of him, 
 and far less maddening, to show himself a little bit 
 annoyed. 
 
 "To be sure it seems unreasonable to blame the 
 lad," he agreed soberly, "but then he happens to be 
 under my authority." 
 
 "Meaning, I suppose, that you would much pre- 
 fer to blame me" I choked. 
 
 "There's logic, no doubt, in striking at the root of 
 the trouble," he admitted, with an air of calm de- 
 tachment.
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 119 
 
 "Then strike," I said furiously, "strike, why don't 
 you, and not beat about the bush so !" Because then 
 he would be quite hopelessly in the wrong, and I 
 could adopt any of several roles the coldly haughty, 
 the wounded but forgiving, etc., with great enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 But without a change in his glacial manner he 
 quite casually remarked : 
 
 "It would seem I had struck home." 
 
 I walked away wishing the dynamite would go off, 
 even if I had to be mixed with Violet till the last 
 trump. 
 
 Fortunately nobody undertook to exercise any 
 guardianship over Crusoe, and the little white dog 
 bore me faithful company in my rambles. Mostly 
 these were confined to the neighborhood of the cove. 
 I never ventured beyond Lookout ridge, but there 
 I went often with Crusoe, and we would sit upon a 
 rock and talk to each other about our first encounter 
 there, and the fright he had given me. Everybody 
 else had gone, gazed and admired. But the only 
 constant pilgrim, besides myself, was, of all people, 
 Captain Magnus. Soon between us we had worn a 
 path through the woods to the top of the ridge. The 
 captain's unexpected ardor for scenery carried him
 
 120 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 thither whenever he had half an hour to spare from 
 the work in the cave. Needless to say, Crusoe and 
 I timed our visits so as not to conflict with his. A 
 less discreet beast than Crusoe would long ere this 
 have sampled the captain's calves, for the sailor 
 missed no sly chance to exasperate the animal. But 
 the wise dog contented himself with such manifesta- 
 tions as a lifted lip and twitching ears, for he had 
 his own code of behavior, and was not to be goaded 
 into departing from it. 
 
 One day, as Crusoe and I came down from the 
 ridge, we met Captain Magnus ascending. I had in 
 my hand a small metal-backed mirror, which I had 
 found, surprisingly, lying in a mossy cleft between 
 the rocks. It was a thing such as a man might carry 
 in his pocket, though on the island it seemed un- 
 likely that any one would do so. I at once attributed 
 the mirror to Captain Magnus, for I knew that no 
 one else had been to the ridge for days. I was won- 
 dering as I walked along whether by some sublime 
 law of compensation the captain really thought him- 
 self beautiful, and sought this retired spot to admire 
 not the view but his own physiognomy. 
 
 When the captain saw me he stopped full in the 
 path. There was a growth of fern on either side.
 
 "What's your hurry," he asked.
 
 AN EXCURSION AND AN ALARM 121 
 
 I approached slowly, and, as he did not move, 
 paused, and held out the mirror. 
 
 "I think you must have dropped this, Captain 
 Magnus. I found it on the rocks." 
 
 For an instant his face changed. His evasive eyes 
 were turned to me searchingly and sharply. He took 
 the glass from my hand and slipped it into his 
 pocket. I made a movement to pass on, then 
 stopped, with a faint dawning of discomfort. For 
 the heavy figure of the captain still blocked the path. 
 
 A dark flush had come into the man's face. His 
 yellow teeth showed between his parted lips. His 
 eyes had a swimming brightness. 
 
 "What's your hurry?" he remarked, with a cer- 
 tain insinuating emphasis. 
 
 I began to tremble. 
 
 "I am on my way back to camp, Captain Magnus. 
 Please let me pass." 
 
 "It won't do no harm if you're a little late. There 
 ain't no one there keepin' tab. Ain't you always 
 a-strayin' off with the Honorable? I ain't so pretty, 
 but" 
 
 "You are impertinent. Let me pass." 
 
 "Oh, I'm impert'nent, am I ? That means fresh, 
 maybe. I'm a plain man and don't use frills on my
 
 122 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 langwidge. Well, when I meets a little skirt that 
 takes my eyes there ain't no harm in lettin' her know 
 it, is there? Maybe the Honorable could say it 
 nicer " 
 
 With a forward stride he laid a hand upon my 
 arm. I shook him off and stepped back. Fear 
 clutched my throat. I had left my revolver in my 
 quarters. Oh, the dreadful denseness of these 
 woods, the certainty that no wildest cry of mine 
 could pierce them ! 
 
 And then Crusoe, who had been waiting quietly 
 behind me in the path, slipped in between us. Every 
 hair on his neck was bristling. The lifted upper lip 
 snarled unmistakably. He gave me a swift glance 
 which said, Shall I spring ? 
 
 Quite suddenly the gorilla blandishments of Cap- 
 tain Magnus came to an end. 
 
 "Say," he said harshly, "hold back that dog, will 
 you ? I don't want to kill the cur." 
 
 "You had better not," I returned coldly. "I 
 should have to explain how it happened, you know. 
 As it is I shall say nothing. But I shall not forget 
 my revolver again when I go to walk." 
 
 And Crusoe and I went swiftly down the path 
 which the captain no longer disputed.
 
 IX 
 
 TWO or three days later occurred a painful 
 episode. The small unsuspected germ of it 
 had lain ambushed in a discourse of Mr. Shaw's, de- 
 livered shortly after our arrival on the island, on 
 the multifarious uses of the cocoa-palm. He told 
 how the juice from the unexpanded flower-spathes 
 is drawn off to form a potent toddy, so that where 
 every prospect pleases man may still be vile. Cookie, 
 experimentally disposed, set to work. Mr. Vane, 
 also experimentally, sampled the results of Cookie's 
 efforts. The liquor had merely been allowed to fer- 
 ment, whereas a complicated process is necessary for 
 the manufacture of the true arrack, but enough had 
 been achieved to bring about dire consequences for 
 Cuthbert Vane, who had found the liquid cool and 
 refreshing, and was skeptical about its potency. 
 
 Aunt Jane took the matter very hard, and re- 
 buked the ribald mirth of Mr. Tubbs. He had to 
 123
 
 124 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 shed tears over a devastating poem called "The 
 Drunkard's Home," before she would forgive him. 
 Cookie made his peace by engaging to vote the pro- 
 hibition ticket at the next election. My own excuses 
 for the unfortunate were taken in very ill part. My 
 aunt said she had always understood that life in the 
 tropics was very relaxing to the moral fiber, and 
 mine was certainly affected and besides she wasn't 
 certain that barons wore coronets anyhow. 
 
 Mr. Shaw was disturbed over Cuthbert, who was 
 not at all bad, only queer and sleepy, and had to be 
 led away to slumber in retirement. Also, it was an 
 exceptionally low tide and Mr. Shaw had counted 
 on taking advantage of it to work in the cave. Now 
 Cuthbert was laid up 
 
 "You and I will have to manage by ourselves, 
 Magnus." 
 
 "Nothing doing boat got to be patched up go 
 out there without it and get caught !" growled the 
 captain. 
 
 "Well, lend a hand, then. We can be ready with 
 the boat inside an hour." 
 
 The captain hesitated queerly. His wandering 
 eyes seemed to be searching in every quarter for 
 something they did not find. At last he mumbled
 
 "LASSIE, LASSIE . . ." 125 
 
 that he thought he felt a touch of the sun, and had 
 decided to lay off for the afternoon and make his 
 way across the island. He said he wanted to shoot 
 water- fowl and that they had all been frightened 
 away from the cove, but that with the glass he had 
 seen them from Lookout thickly about the other bay. 
 
 "Very well," said the Scotchman coldly. "I sup- 
 pose you must suit yourself. I can get the boat in 
 shape without help, I dare say." I saw him pres- 
 ently looking in an annoyed and puzzled fashion 
 after the vanishing figure of the sailor. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs and the umbrellas soon disappeared 
 into the woods. I believe the search for Bill Halli- 
 well's tombstone was no longer very actively pur- 
 sued, and that the trio spent their time ensconced 
 in a snug little nook with hammocks and cushions, 
 where Mr. Tubbs beguiled the time with reading 
 aloud Aunt Jane and Violet both being provided 
 with literature and relating anecdotes of his rise 
 to greatness in the financial centers of the country. I 
 more than suspected Mr. Tubbs of feeling that such 
 a bird in the hand as Aunt Jane was worth many 
 doubloons in the bush. But in spite of uneasiness 
 about the future, for the present I rested secure in 
 the certainty that they could not elope from the
 
 126 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 island, and that there was no one on it with authority 
 to metamorphose Aunt Jane into Mrs. Hamilton H. 
 Tubbs. 
 
 The waters of the cove had receded until a fringe 
 of rocks under the high land of the point, usually 
 covered, had been left bare. I had watched the 
 emergence of their black jagged surfaces for some 
 time before it occurred to me that they offered a 
 means of access to the cave. The cave place of 
 fascination and mystery! Here was the opportu- 
 nity of all others to explore it, unhampered by any 
 one, just Crusoe and I alone, in the fashion that left 
 me freest to indulge my dreams. 
 
 I waited until the Scotchman's back was safely 
 turned, because if he saw me setting forth on this 
 excursion he was quite certain to command me to 
 return, and I had no intention of submitting to his 
 dictatorial ways and yet was not sure how I was suc- 
 cessfully to defy him. I believed him capable of 
 haling me back by force, while tears or even swoons 
 left him unmoved. Of course he would take the ab- 
 surd ground that the cave was dangerous, in the face 
 of the glaring fact that a girl who had come to this 
 island solely to protect Aunt Jane ought certainly to
 
 "LASSIE, LASSIE . . ." 127 
 
 be able to protect herself. Besides, what right had 
 he to care if I was drowned, anyhow ? 
 
 But of course I was not going to be. 
 
 The retreating tide had left deep pools behind, 
 each a little cosmos of fairy seaweeds and tiny scut- 
 tling crabs and rich and wonderful forms of life 
 which were strange to me. Crusoe and I were very 
 much interested, and lingered a good deal on the 
 way. But at last we reached the great archway, and 
 passed with a suddenness which was like a plunge 
 into cool water from the hot glare of the tropic sun- 
 shine into the green shadow of the cavern. 
 
 At the lower end, between the two arches, a black, 
 water-worn rock paving rang under one's feet. Fur- 
 ther in under the point the floor of the cave was cov- 
 ered with white sand. All the great shadowy place 
 was murmuring like a vast sea-shell. Beyond the 
 southern archway spread the limitless heaving plain 
 of the Pacific. Near at hand bare black rocks rose 
 from the surges, like skeletons of the land that the 
 sea had devoured. And after a while these walls 
 that supported the cavern roof would be nibbled 
 away, and the roof would fall, and the waves roar 
 victorious over the ruins.
 
 128 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 ' 1 wished I could visit the place in darkness. It 
 would be thrice as mysterious, filled with its hollow 
 whispering echoes, as in the day. I dreamed of it as 
 it might have been when a boat from the Bonny 
 Lass crept in, and the faint winking eye of a lan- 
 tern struck a gleam from the dark waters and 
 showed nothing all around but blackness, and more 
 blackness. 
 
 From the ledge far above my head led off those 
 narrow, teasing crevices in which the three ex- 
 plorers did their unrewarded burrowing. I could see 
 the strands of a rope ladder lying coiled at the edge 
 of the shelf, where it was secured by spikes. The 
 men dragged down the ladder with a boat-hook 
 when they wanted to ascend. I looked about with a 
 hope that perhaps they had left the boat-hook some- 
 where. 
 
 I found no boat-hook but instead a spade, which 
 had been driven deep into the sand and left, too 
 firmly imbedded for the tide to bear away. At once 
 a burning hope that I, alone and unassisted, might 
 bring to light the treasure of the Bonny Lass seethed 
 in my veins. I jerked the spade loose and fell to. 
 
 I now discovered the great truth that digging for 
 treasure is the most thrilling and absorbing occupa-
 
 "LASSIE, LASSIE . . ." 129 
 
 tion known to man. Time ceased to be, and the 
 weight of the damp and close-packed sand seemed 
 that of feathers. This temporary state of exaltation 
 passed, to be sure, and the sand got very heavy, and 
 my back ached, but still I dug. Crusoe watched pro- 
 ceedings interestedly at first, then wandered off on 
 business of his own. Presently he returned and be- 
 gan to fuss about and bark. He was a restless little 
 beast, wanting to be always on the move. He came 
 and tugged at my skirt, uttering an uneasy whine. 
 
 "Be quiet, Crusoe!" I commanded, threatening 
 him with my spade. The madness of the treasure- 
 lust possessed me. I was panting now, and my 
 hands began to feel like baseball mitts, but still I 
 dug. Crusoe had ceased to importune me; vaguely 
 I was aware that he had got tired and run off. I 
 toiled on, pausing now and then for breath. I was 
 leaning on my spade, rather dejectedly considering 
 the modest excavation I had achieved, when I felt 
 a little cool splash at my feet. Dropping my spade 
 I whirled around and a shriek echoed through the 
 cave as I saw pouring into it the dark insidious tor- 
 rent of the returning tide. 
 
 How had I forgotten it, that deadly thing, mut- 
 tering to itself out there, ready to spring back like
 
 130 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 an unleashed beast? Crusoe had warned me and 
 then he had forsaken me, and I was alone. 
 
 And yet at first, wild as my terror was, I had no 
 thought but that somehow I could escape. That 
 these waters were for me the very face of death, 
 sure and relentless, terrible and slow, did not at once 
 seize hold upon my heart. 
 
 Frantically I sprang for the entrance on the cove. 
 The floor of the cave was sloping, and the water 
 deepened swiftly as I advanced. Soon I was floun- 
 dering to my knees, and on the instant a great wave 
 rushed in, drenching me to the waist, dazing me 
 with its spray and uproar, and driving me back to 
 the far end of the cave. 
 
 With a dreadful hollow sucking sound the surge 
 retreated. I staggered again toward the archway 
 that was my only door to life. The water was 
 deeper now, and swiftly came another fierce inrush 
 of the sea that drove me back. Between the two 
 archways a terrible current was setting. It poured 
 along with the rush of a mountain river, wild, dark, 
 tumultuous. 
 
 I had fled to the far end of the cave, but the sea 
 pursued me. Swiftly the water climbed it flung
 
 "LASSIE, LASSIE . . ." 131 
 
 me against the wall, then dragged me back. I 
 clutched at the naked rock with bleeding fingers. 
 
 Again, after a paroxysm during which I had 
 seemed to stand a great way off and listen to my own 
 shrieks, there came to me a moment of calm. I knew 
 that my one tenuous thread of hope lay in launch- 
 ing myself into that wild flood that was tearing 
 through into the cove. I was not a strong swimmer, 
 but a buoyant one. I might find refuge on some 
 half -submerged rock on the shores of the cove at 
 least I should perish in the open, in the sunlight, not 
 trapped like a desperate rat. And I began to fight 
 my way toward the opening. 
 
 And then a dreadful vision flashed across my 
 mind, weighed down my feet like lead, choked back 
 even the cry from my frozen lips. Sharks ! The 
 black cutting fin, the livid belly, the dreadful jaws 
 opening no, no, better to die here, better the clean 
 embrace of the waters if indeed the sharks did not 
 come into the cave. 
 
 And then I think I went quite mad. I remember 
 trying to climb up to the ledge which hung beetling 
 fifteen feet above. Afterward my poor hands 
 showed how desperately. And I remember that once
 
 132 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 I slipped and went clear under, and how I choked 
 and strangled in the salt water. For my mouth was 
 always open, screaming, screaming continually. 
 
 And when I saw the boat fighting its way inch by 
 inch into the cave I was sure that it was a vision, 
 and that only my own wild beseeching of him to 
 save me had made the face of Dugald Shaw arise 
 before my dying eyes. Dugald Shaw was still mend- 
 ing the boat on the shore of the cove, and this was 
 a mocking phantom. 
 
 Only the warm human clasp of the arms that drew 
 me into the boat made me believe in him. 
 
 The boat bobbed quietly in the eddy at the far end 
 of the cave, while a wet, sobbing, choking heap clung 
 to Dugald Shaw. I clasped him about the neck and 
 would not let him go, for fear that I should find my- 
 self alone again, perishing in the dark water. My 
 head was on his breast, and he was pressing back 
 my wet hair with strong and tender hands. 
 
 What was this he was saying? "My lassie, my 
 little, little lassie !" 
 
 And no less incredible than this it was to feel his 
 cheek pressed, very gently, against my hair 
 
 After a little my self-control came back to me. I 
 stopped my senseless childish crying, lifted my head
 
 "LASSIE, LASSIE . . ." 133 
 
 and tried to speak. I could only whisper, "You 
 came, you came!" 
 
 "Of course I came!" he said huskily. "There, 
 don't tremble so you are safe safe in my arms !" 
 
 After a while he lifted me into the stern and be- 
 gan to maneuver the boat out of the cave. I sup- 
 pose at another time I should have realized the peril 
 of it. The fierce flow through the archway all but 
 swamped us, the current threatened to hurl us 
 against the rocks, but I felt no fear. He had come 
 to save me, and he would. All at once the dreadful 
 shadow of the cavern was left behind, and the sun- 
 shine immersed my chilled body like a draught of 
 wine. I lay huddled in the stern, my cheek upon my 
 hand, as he rowed swiftly across the cove and drove 
 the boat upon the beach. 
 
 Everybody but Captain Magnus was assembled 
 there, including Crusoe. Crusoe it was who had 
 given warning of my danger. Like a wise little dog, 
 when I ignored his admonitions he had run home. 
 At first his uneasiness and troubled barking had got 
 no notice. Once or twice the Scotchman, worried 
 by his fret fulness, had ordered him away. Then 
 across his preoccupied mind there flashed a doubt. 
 He laid down his tools and spoke to the animal. In-
 
 134 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 stantly Crusoe dashed for the rocks, barking and 
 crying with eagerness. But the path was closed, the 
 tide was hurrying in, and Crusoe whined pitiably as 
 he crept back and crouched against the man who of 
 course knew better than a little dog what must be 
 done. 
 
 Then Mr. Shaw understood. He snatched the 
 painter of the boat and dragged it down the beach. 
 He was shoving off as Cookie, roused by Crusoe's 
 barking, appeared from the seclusion of his after- 
 noon siesta. To him were borne the Scotchman's 
 parting words : 
 
 "Virginia Harding in the cave hot blankets 
 may be drowning " 
 
 "And at dat," said Cookie, relating his part in the 
 near-tragedy with unction, "I jes' natchully plumped 
 right down on mah ma'ah bones and wrestled with 
 de Lawd in prayah." 
 
 This unique proceeding on Cookie's part neces- 
 sarily awoke the interest both of the recovered 
 Cuthbert Vane, just emerging after his prolonged 
 slumbers, and of the trio who had that moment re- 
 turned from the woods. Importuned for an explana- 
 tion, Cookie arose from his' devotional posture and 
 put the portentous query:
 
 "LASSIE, LASSIE . . ." 135 
 
 "Mistah Vane, sah, be dey any propah coffin-wocxl 
 on dis yere island?" 
 
 Instantly connecting my absence with this terrible 
 question, Aunt Jane shrieked and fell into the arms 
 of Mr. Tubbs. I got the story from Cuthbert Vane, 
 and I must say I was unpleasantly struck by the fa- 
 cility with which my aunt seemed to have fallen into 
 Mr. Tubbs's embrace as if with the ease of habit. 
 Mr. Tubbs, it appeared, had staggered a little under 
 his fair burden, which was not to be wondered at, 
 for Aunt Jane is of an overflowing style of figure 
 and Mr. Tubbs more remarkable for brain than 
 brawn. Violet, however, had remained admirably 
 calm, and exhorted Aunt Jane to remember that 
 whatever happened it was all for the best. 
 
 "Poor Violet," I commented. "To think that after 
 all it didn't happen !" 
 
 A slow flush rose to the cheeks of the beautiful 
 youth. He was sitting beside the hammock, where 
 I was supposed to be recuperating. Of course it 
 was to please Aunt Jane that I had to be an invalid, 
 and she had insisted on mounting guard and read- 
 ing aloud from one of Miss Browne's books about 
 Psycho-evolution or something until Cuthbert Vane 
 came along and relieved her and me.
 
 136 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "It would have happened, though," said the Hon- 
 orable Cuthbert solemnly, "if it hadn't been for old 
 Shaw. I can't get over it, Vir Miss Virginia, that 
 I wasn't on deck myself, you know. Here's old Du- 
 gald been doing the heroic all his life, and now he 
 gets his chance again while I'm sleeping off those 
 bally cocoanuts. It's hard on a chap. I I wish it 
 had been me." 
 
 However dubious his grammar, there was no mis- 
 taking the look that brightened like the dawn in the 
 depths of his clear eyes, My breath went from me 
 suddenly. 
 
 "Oh," I cried excitedly, "isn't that yes, I thought 
 it was the dinner gong!" 
 
 For as if in response to my dire need, the clang 
 of Cookie's gong echoed through the island silences.
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 
 
 WHEN after those poignant moments in the 
 boat I met Dugald Shaw in commonplace 
 fashion at the table, a sudden, queer, altogether un- 
 precedented shyness seized me. I sat looking down 
 at my plate with the gaucherie of a silly child. 
 
 The episode of the afternoon provided Mr. Tubbs 
 with ammunition for a perfect fusillade of wit. He 
 warned Mr. Shaw that hereafter he might expect 
 Neptune to have a grudge against him for having 
 robbed the sea-god of his beauteous prey. I said I 
 thought most likely it was not Neptune that was 
 robbed but sharks, but sharks not being classic, Mr. 
 Tubbs would have none of them. He said he be- 
 lieved that if Mr. Shaw had not inopportunely ar- 
 rived, Neptune with his tripod would soon have up- 
 reared upon the wave. 
 
 "Oh tripod, Mr. Tubbs?" I said inquiringly. 
 
 "Yes, sure,"" he returned undaunted. "Them 
 137
 
 138 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 camera supports is named for it, you know. But of 
 course this gay gink of a Sandy had to come buttin' 
 in. Too bad the Honorable Bertie had partook 
 so free. He'd have looked the part all right when 
 it come to rescuin' beauty in distress. But Fortune 
 bein' a lady and naturally capricious, she hands the 
 stunt over to old Sobersides here." 
 
 Just then old Sobersides cut across the flow of Mr. 
 Tubbs's sprightly conversation and with a certain 
 harshness of tone asked Captain Magnus if he had 
 had good sport on the other side of the island. Cap- 
 tain Magnus, as usual, had seemed to feel that time 
 consecrated to eating was wasted in conversation. 
 At this point-blank question he started confusedly, 
 stuttered, and finally explained that though he had 
 taken a rifle he had carried along pistol cartridges, 
 so had come home with an empty bag. 
 
 At this moment I happened to be looking at 
 Cookie, who was setting down a dish before Mr. 
 Tubbs. The negro started visibly, and rolled his 
 eyes at Captain Magnus with astonishment depicted 
 in every dusky feature. He said nothing, although 
 wont to take part in our conversation as it suited 
 him, but I saw him shake his great grizzled head in 
 a disturbed and puzzled fashion as he turned away.
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 139 
 
 After this a chill settled on the table. You felt a 
 disturbance in the air, as though wireless currents 
 were crossing and recrossing in general confusion. 
 Mr. Tubbs began again on the topic of my rescue, 
 and said it was too bad Mr. Shaw's name wasn't 
 Paul, because then we'd be Paul and Virginia, he, 
 he ! My aunt said encouragingly, how true ! because 
 they had lived on an island, hadn't they? She had 
 read the book many years ago, and had mostly for- 
 gotten it, not having Mr. Tubbs's marvelous mem- 
 ory, but she believed there was something quite sad 
 about the end, though very sweet. She agreed with 
 Mr. Tubbs that Mr. Vane would have looked most 
 picturesque going to the rescue on account of his 
 sash, and it was too bad he had not been able, but 
 never mind, it was most kind of Mr. Shaw, and she 
 was sure her niece appreciated it though she was 
 afraid she hadn't thanked Mr. Shaw properly. 
 
 By this time it was perfectly clear that Mr. Shaw 
 had been most inconsiderate in dashing out after me 
 in that thoughtless manner. He should have waked 
 Cuthbert Vane and helped him to array himself be- 
 comingly in the sash and then sent for a moving- 
 picture man to- go out in another boat and immor- 
 talize the touching scene. All this came seething to
 
 140 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 my lips, but I managed to suppress it. It was only 
 on Cuthbert Vane's account. As for my aunt and 
 Mr. Tubbs, I could have bumped their heads to- 
 gether as remorselessly as two cocoanuts. I under- 
 stood Aunt Jane, of course. In spite of the Honor- 
 able Cuthbert's recent lapse, her imagination still 
 played about certain little cards which should an- 
 nounce to an envious world my engagement to the 
 Honorable Cuthbert Patrick Ruthmore Vane, of 
 High Staunton Manor, Kent. So such a -faux pas as 
 my rescue from drowning by a penniless Scotch sea- 
 man couldn't but figure in her mind as a grievance. 
 
 I stole a glance at the recipient of these sorry 
 thanks. His face was set and once I should have 
 called it grim, but I knew better now. There was 
 nothing I could say or do. Any words of mine 
 would have sounded forced and puerile. What he 
 had done was so far beyond thanks that spoken grat- 
 itude belittled it. And yet, suppose he thought that 
 like the rest I had wished another in his place ? Did 
 he think that could he, with the memory of my 
 arms about his neck? 
 
 I only knew that because of the foolish hateful 
 words that had been said, the gulf between us was 
 wider than before.
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 141 
 
 I sat dumb, consumed with misery and hoping 
 that perhaps I might meet his glance and so tell him 
 silently all that words would only mar. But he 
 never looked at me. And then the first bitterness, 
 which had made even Cuthbert seem disloyal in 
 wishing himself in his friend's place, passed, and 
 gave way to dreary doubt. Cuthbert knew, of 
 course, that he himself would have prized what to 
 Dugald Shaw was a matter of indifference. Yes, 
 that was it, and the worst that Dugald Shaw was 
 suffering now was boredom at hearing the affair so 
 everlastingly discussed. 
 
 So I began talking very fast to Mr. Vane and we 
 were very gay and he tied his own necktie on Crusoe 
 on consideration that he be held hereafter jointly. 
 And because I saw that Dugald Shaw was looking 
 now I smiled lingeringly into the eyes of .the beau- 
 tiful youth and said all right, perhaps we needn't 
 quarrel over our mutual dog, and then skipped off 
 lightsomely, feeling exactly like a scorpion that has 
 been wounding itself with its own sting. 
 
 As I passed Cookie at his dishpan a sudden 
 thought struck me. 
 
 "Cookie," I remarked, "y u had a frightfully 
 queer look just now when Captain Magnus told
 
 142 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 about having taken the wrong cartridges. What 
 was the matter?" 
 
 Cookie took his hands out of the water and wiped 
 off the suds, casting about stealthy and mysterious 
 glances. Then he rolled a dubious eye at me. 
 
 "What was it, Cookie?" I urged. 
 
 "War am Cap'n now ?" 
 
 "Down on the beach ; he can't possibly hear you." 
 
 "You won't say nothin' to git Cookie in a rum- 
 pus?" 
 
 "Cross my heart to die, Cookie." 
 
 "Well, den" Cookie spoke in a hoarse whisper 
 "Cap'n say he forgit to take his gun ca'tridges. Miss 
 Jinny, when he come back, I see him empty his gun 
 ca'tridges out'n his belt and put back his pistol 
 cartridges. So dere now !" 
 
 I turned from Cookie, too surprised to speak. 
 Why had Captain Magnus been at pains to invent a 
 lie about so trivial a matter? I recalled, too, that Mr. 
 Shaw's question had confused him, that he had hesi- 
 tated and stammered before answering it. Why? 
 Was he a bad shot and ashamed of it ? Had he pre- 
 ferred to say that he had taken the wrong ammuni- 
 tion rather than admit that he could get no bag? 
 That must be the explanation, because there was no
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 143 
 
 other. Certainly no imaginable errand but the one 
 assigned could have taken the captain to the other 
 side of the island. 
 
 Several days went by, and still the treasure was 
 unfound. Of course, as the unexplored space in the 
 cave contracted, so daily the probability grew 
 stronger that Fortune would shed her golden smile 
 upon us before night. Nevertheless, it seemed to me 
 that the optimistic spirits of most were beginning to 
 flag a little. Only Mr. Shaw, though banned as a 
 confirmed doubter and pessimist, now by the exer- 
 cise of will kept the others to their task. It took all 
 Cuthbert Vane's loyalty, plus an indisposition to be 
 called a slacker, to strive against the temptation to 
 renounce treasure-hunting in favor of roaming with 
 Crusoe and me. As for Captain Magnus, his rest- 
 lessness was manifest. Several times he had sug- 
 gested blowing the lid off the island with dynamite, 
 as the shortest method of getting at the gold. He 
 was always vanishing on solitary excursions inland. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs remarked, scornfully, that a man with 
 a nose for money ought to have smelled out the 
 chest before this, but if his own nasal powers were 
 of that character he did not offer to employ them in 
 the service of the expedition. Miss Higglesby-
 
 144 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Browne, however, had taken to retiring to the hut 
 for long private sessions with herself. My aunt rev- 
 erentially explained their purpose. The hiding-place 
 of the chest being of course known to the Univer- 
 sal Wisdom, all Violet had to do was to put her- 
 self in harmony and the knowledge would be hers. 
 The difficulty was that you had first to overcome 
 your Mundane Consciousness. To accomplish this 
 Violet was struggling in the solitude of the hut. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Tubbs sat at the feet of Aunt 
 Jane, reading aloud from a volume entitled Pecans 
 of Passion, by a celebrated lady lyric poet of our 
 own land. 
 
 After my meeting with Captain Magnus in the 
 forest, Lookout Ridge was barred to me. Crusoe 
 and I must do our rambling in other directions. 
 This being so, I bethought me again of the wrecked 
 sloop lying under the cliffs on the north shore of 
 the cove. I remembered that there had seemed to 
 be a way down the cliffs. I resolved to visit the 
 sloop again. The terrible practicality of the beauti- 
 ful youth made it difficult to indulge in romantic 
 musings in his presence. And to me a derelict 
 brings a keener tang of romance than any other relic 
 of man's multitudinous and futile strivings.
 
 
 -~fc. "*" 
 
 Reading aloud from Pceans of Passion.
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 145 
 
 The descent of the gully proved an easy matter, 
 and soon I was on the sand beside the derelict. 
 Sand had heaped up around her' hull, and filled her 
 cockpit level with the rail, and drifted down the com- 
 panion, stuffing the little cabin nearly to the roof. 
 Only the bow rose free from the white smother of 
 sand. Whatever wounds there were in her buried 
 sides were hidden. You felt that some wild caprice 
 of the storm had lifted her and set her down here, 
 not too roughly, then whirled away and left her to 
 the sand. 
 
 Crusoe slipped into the narrow space under the 
 roof of the cabin, and I leaned idly down to watch 
 him through a warped seam between the planks. 
 Then I found that I was looking, not at Crusoe, but 
 into a little dim enclosure like a locker, in which 
 some small object faintly caught the light. With a 
 revived hope of finding relics I got out my knife a 
 present from Cuthbert Vane and set briskly to 
 work widening the seam. 
 
 I penetrated finally into a small locker or cubby- 
 hole, set in the angle under the roof of the cabin, 
 and, as subsequent investigation showed, so placed 
 as to attract no notice from the casual eye. I ascer- 
 tained this by lying down and wriggling my head
 
 146 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 and shoulders into the cabin. In other words, I had 
 happened on a little private depository, in which the 
 owner of the sloop might stow away certain small 
 matters that concerned him intimately. Yet the con- 
 tents of the locker at first seemed trifling. They 
 were an old-fashioned chased silver shoe-buckle, and 
 a brown-covered manuscript book. 
 
 The book had suffered much from dampness, 
 whether of rains or the wash of the sea. The imi- 
 tation leather cover was flaking off, and the leaves 
 were stuck together. I seated myself on the cabin 
 roof, extracted a hairpin, and began carefully sep- 
 arating the close-written pages. The first three or 
 four were quite illegible, the ink having run. Then 
 the writing became clearer. I made out a word 
 here and there : 
 
 ....directions vague my grandfather.... 
 
 man a ruffian but. . . .no motive. . . .police of Ha- 
 vana. . . . frightful den grandfather made sure 
 
 . . . .registry. . . .Bonny Lass. . . . 
 
 And at that I gave a small excited shriek which 
 brought Crusoe to me in a hurry. What had he to 
 do, the writer of this journal, what had he to do 
 with the Bonny Lass? 
 
 Breathlessly I read on :
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 147 
 
 . . . .thought captain still living but not sure. . . . 
 lost. . . .Benito Bon. . . . 
 
 I closed the book. Now, while the coast was clear, 
 I must get back to camp. It would take hours, per- 
 haps days, to decipher the journal which had sud- 
 denly become of such supreme importance. I must 
 smuggle it unobserved into my own quarters, where 
 I could read at my leisure. As I set out I dropped 
 the silver shoe-buckle into my pocket, smiling to 
 think that it was I who had discovered the first bit 
 of precious metal on the island. Yet the book in my 
 hand, I felt instinctively, was of more value than 
 many shoe-buckles. 
 
 Safely in my hammock, with a pillow under which 
 I could slip the book in case of interruption, I re- 
 sumed the reading. From this point on, although 
 the writing was somewhat faded, it was all, with a 
 little effort, legible. 
 
 THE DIARY 
 
 If Sampson did live to tell his secret, then any day 
 there may be a sail in the offing. And still I can not 
 find it! Oh, if my grandfather had been more 
 worldly wise! If he hadn't been too intent on the
 
 148 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 eternal welfare of the man he rescued from the Ha- 
 vana tavern brawl to question him about his story. 
 A cave on Leeward Island near by a stone marked 
 with the letters B. H. and a cross-bones / told the 
 captain, said the poor dying wretch, we wouldn't 
 have no luck after playing it that low down on Bill! 
 So I presume Bill lies under the stone. 
 
 Well, all I have is in this venture. The old farm 
 paid for the Island Queen or will, if I don't get 
 back in time to prevent foreclosure. All my staid 
 New England relatives think me mad. A copra 
 gatherer ! A fine career for a minister's son ! Think 
 how your father scrimped to send you to college 
 Aunt Sarah reproached me. Well, when I get home 
 with my Spanish doubloons there will be another 
 story to tell. I won't be poor crazy Peter then. And 
 Helen oh, how often I wish I had told her every- 
 thing! It was too much to ask her to trust me 
 blindly as I did. But from the moment I came across 
 the story in grandfather's old, half-forgotten diary 
 by the way, the diary habit seems to run in the 
 family a very passion of secrecy has possessed me. 
 If I had told Helen, I should have had to dread that 
 even in her sweet sleep she might whisper something
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 149 
 
 to put that ferret, her stepmother, on the scent. Oh, 
 Helen, trust me, trust me ! 
 
 December 25. I have a calendar with me, so I 
 am not reduced to notching a stick to keep track of 
 the days. I mark each off carefully in the calendar. 
 If I were to forget to do this, even for a day or two, 
 I believe I should quite lose track. The days are so 
 terribly alike! 
 
 My predecessor here in the copra-gathering busi- 
 ness, old Heintz, really left me a very snug estab- 
 lishment. It was odd that I should have run across 
 him at Panama that way. I sounded him on the 
 question of treasure. He said placidly that of course 
 the island had been the resort of Edward Davis and 
 Benito Bonito and others of the black flag gentry, 
 and he thought it very likely they had left some of 
 their spoils behind them, but though he had done a 
 little investigating as he had time he had come on 
 nothing but a ship's lantern, a large iron kettle, and 
 the golden setting of a bracelet from which the 
 jewels had been removed. He had already dis- 
 posed of the bracelet. The kettle I found here, and 
 sank in the spring to keep the water clear. (Where 
 it still is. V. H.) Evidently old Heintz knew noth-
 
 150 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 ing of the Bonny Lass. This was an immense sat- 
 isfaction, as it proves that the story can not have 
 been noised about. 
 
 Christmas Day ! I wonder what they are all do- 
 ing at home ? 
 
 December 28. Of course the cave under the 
 point is the logical place. I have been unable to find 
 any stone marked B. H. on the ground above it, but 
 I fear that a search after Bill's tombstone would be 
 hopeless. Although the formation of the island is 
 of the sort to contain numerous caves, still they must 
 be considerably less plentiful than possible tomb- 
 stones. Under circumstances such as those of the 
 mate's story, it seems to me that all the probabilities 
 point to their concealing the chest in the cave with 
 an opening on the bay. It must have been necessary 
 for them to act as quickly as possible, that their ab- 
 sence from the ship might go unnoticed though I 
 believe the three conspirators had made the crew 
 drunk. Then to get the boat, laden with the heavy 
 chest, through the surf to any of the other caves - 
 if the various cracks and fissures I have seen are in- 
 deed properly to be called caves would be stiff work
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 151 
 
 for three men. Yes, everything indicates the cavern 
 under the point. The only question is, isn't it indi- 
 cated too clearly? Would a smooth old scoundrel 
 such as this Captain Sampson must have been have 
 hidden his treasure in the very place certain to 
 be ransacked if the secret ever got out? Un- 
 less it was deeply buried, which it could have been 
 only at certain stages of the tide, even old Heintz 
 would have been apt to come across it in the course 
 of his desultory researches for the riches of the buc- 
 caneers. And I am certain placid old Heintz did not 
 mislead me. Besides, at Panama, he was making 
 arrangements to go with some other Germans on a 
 small business venture to Samoa, which he would not 
 have been likely to do if he had just unearthed a vast 
 fortune in buried treasure. Still, I shall explore the 
 cave thoroughly, though with little hope. 
 
 Oh, Helen, if I could watch these tropic stars with 
 you to-night ! 
 
 January 6. I think I am through with the cave 
 under the point the Cavern of the Two Arches, I 
 have named it. It is a dangerous place to work in 
 alone, and my little skiff has been badly battered sev- 
 eral times. But I peered into every crevice in the
 
 152 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 walls, and sounded the sands with a drill. I suppose 
 I would have made a more thorough job of it if I 
 had not been convinced from the first that the chest 
 was not there. It was not reason that told me so 
 I know I may well be attributing too much subtlety 
 of mind to Captain Sampson but that strange guid- 
 ing instinct to put it in its lowest terms which I 
 know in my heart I must follow if I would succeed. 
 Shall I ever forget the feeling that stirred me when 
 first I turned the pages of my grandfather's diary 
 and saw there, in his faded writing, the story of the 
 mate of the Bonny Lass, who died in Havana in my 
 grandfather's arms? My grandfather had gone as 
 supercargo in his own ship, and while he did a good 
 stroke of business in Havana trust his shrewd 
 Yankee instincts for that he managed to combine 
 the service of God with that of Mammon. Many a 
 poor drunken sailor, taking his fling ashore in the 
 bright, treacherous, plague-ridden city, found in him 
 a friend, as did the mate of the Bonny Lass in his 
 dying hour. Oh, if my good grandfather had but 
 made sure from the man's own lips exactly where 
 the treasure lay! It is enough to make one fancy 
 that the unknown Bill, who paid for too much
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 153 
 
 knowledge with his life, has his own fashion of 
 guarding the hoard. But I ramble. I was going to 
 say, that from the moment when I learned from my 
 grandfather's diary of the existence of the treasure, 
 I have been driven by an impulse more overmaster- 
 ing than anything I have ever experienced in my life. 
 It was, I believe, what old-fashioned pious folk 
 would call a leading. The impetus seemed somehow 
 to come from outside my own organism. All my 
 life I had been irresolute, the sport of circumstances, 
 trifling with this and that, unable to set my face 
 steadfastly toward any goal. Yet never, since I have 
 trodden this path, have I looked to right or left. I 
 have defied both human opinion and the obstacles 
 which an unfriendly fate has thrown in my way. All 
 alone, I, a sailor hitherto of pleasure-craft among 
 the bays and islands of the New England coast, put 
 forth in my little sloop for a voyage of three hun- 
 dred miles on the loneliest wastes of the Pacific. All 
 alone, did I say? No, there was Benjy the faithful. 
 His head is at my knee as I write. He knows, I 
 think, that his master's mood is sad to-night. Oh, 
 Helen, if you .ever see these lines, will you realize 
 how I have longed for you how it sometimes seems
 
 154 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 that my soul must tear itself loose from my body and 
 speed to you across half a world? 
 
 February 1. Since my last record my time has 
 been well filled. In the Island Queen I have been 
 surveying the coasts of my domain, sailing as close 
 in as I dared, and taking note of every crevice that 
 might be the mouth of a cave. Then, either in the 
 rowboat or by scrambling down the cliffs, I visit the 
 indicated point. It is bitterly hard labor, but it has 
 its compensations. I am growing hale and strong, 
 brown and muscular. Aunt Sarah won't offer me 
 any more of her miserable decoctions when I go 
 home. Heading first toward the north, I am sys- 
 tematically making the rounds of the island, for, 
 after all, how do I know for certain that Captain 
 Sampson buried his treasure near the east anchor- 
 age? For greater security he may have chosen the 
 other side, where there is another bay, I should judge 
 deeper and freer of rocks than this one, though more 
 open to storms. 
 
 So far I have discovered half a dozen caves, most 
 of them quite small. Any one of them seemed such 
 a likely place that at first I was quite hopeful. But 
 I have found nothing. Usually, the floor of the
 
 WHAT CRUSOE AND I FOUND 155 
 
 cave beneath a few inches of sand is rock. Only in 
 the great cave under the point have I found sand to 
 any depth. The formation in some cases is little 
 more than a hardened clay, but to excavate it would 
 require long toil, probably blasting and I have no 
 explosives. And I go always on the principle that 
 Captain Sampson and his two assistants had not 
 time for any elaborate work of concealment. Most 
 likely they laid the chest in some natural niche. 
 Sailors are unskilled in the use of such implements 
 as spades, and besides, the very heart of the under- 
 taking was haste and secrecy. They must have 
 worked at night and between two tides, for few of 
 the caves can be reached except at the ebb. And I 
 take it as certain that the cave must have opened 
 directly on the sea. For three men to transport 
 such a weight and bulk by land would be sheer im- 
 possibility. 
 
 February 10. To-day a strange, strange thing 
 happened so strange, so wonderful and glorious 
 that it ought to be recorded in luminous ink. And 
 I owe it all to Benjy ! Little dog, you shall go in a 
 golden collar "and eat lamb-chops every day! This 
 morning
 
 156 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Across my absorption in the diary cut the unwel- 
 come clangor of Cookie's gong. Right on the breath- 
 less edge of discovery I was summoned, with my 
 thrilling secret in my breast, to join my unsuspecting 
 companions. I hid the book carefully in my cot. 
 Not until the light of to-morrow morning could I 
 return to its perusal. How I was to survive the in- 
 terval I did not know. But on one point my mind 
 was made up no one should dream of the existence 
 of the diary until I knew all that it had to impart.
 
 XI 
 
 MISS BROWNE HAS A VISION 
 
 PERHAPS because of the secret excitement 
 under which I was laboring, I seemed that 
 evening unusually aware of the emotional fluctua- 
 tions of those about me. Violet looked grimmer than 
 ever, so that I judged her struggles with her mun- 
 dane consciousness to have been exceptionally se- 
 vere. Captain Magnus seemed even beyond his 
 wont restless, loose- jointed and wandering-eyed, and 
 performed extraordinary feats of sword-swallow- 
 ing. Mr. Shaw was very silent, and his forehead 
 knitted now and then into a reflective frown. As 
 for myself, I had much ado to hide my abstraction, 
 and turned cold from head to foot with alarm when 
 I heard my own voice addressing Crusoe as Benjy. 
 
 A faint ripple of surprise passed round the table. 
 
 "Named your dog over again, Miss Jinny?" in- 
 quired Mr. Tubbs. Mr. Tubbs had adopted a fa^ 
 cetiously paternal manner toward me. I knew in an-. 
 157
 
 158 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 ticipation of the moment when he would invite me 
 to call him Uncle Ham. 
 
 "I say, you know," expostulated Cuthbert Vane, 
 "I thought Crusoe rather a nice name. Never heard 
 of any chap named Benjy that lived on an island." 
 
 "When I was a little girl, Virginia," remarked 
 Aunt Jane, with the air of immense age and wisdom 
 which she occasionally assumed, "my grandmother 
 your great-grandmother, of course, my love would 
 never allow me to name my dolls a second time. She 
 did not approve of changeableness. And I am sure 
 it must be partly due to your great-grandmother's 
 teaching that I always know my own mind directly 
 about everything. She was quite a remarkable 
 woman, and very firm. Firmness has been consid- 
 ered a family trait with us. When her husband died 
 your great-grandfather, you know, dear she rose 
 above her grief and made him take some very dis- 
 agreeable medicine to the very last, long after the 
 doctors had given up hope. As some relation or 
 other said, I think your Great-Aunt Susan's father- 
 in-law, anybody else would have allowed poor John 
 Harding to die in peace, but trust Eliza to be firm 
 to the end." 
 
 Under cover of this bit of family history I tried
 
 MISS BROWNE HAS A VISION 159 
 
 to rally from my confusion, but I knew my cheeks 
 were burning. Looks of deepening surprise greeted 
 the scarlet emblems of discomfiture that I hung out. 
 
 "By heck, bet there's a feller at home named 
 Benjy !" cackled Mr. Tubbs shrilly, and for once I 
 blessed him. 
 
 Aunt Jane turned upon him her round innocent 
 eyes. 
 
 "Oh, no, Mr. Tubbs," she assured him, "I don't 
 think a single one of them was named Benjy!" 
 
 The laughter which followed this gave me time to 
 get myself in hand again. 
 
 "Crusoe it is and will be," I asserted. "Like 
 Great-Grandmother Harding, I don't approve of 
 changeableness. It happens that a girl I know at 
 home has a dog named Benjy." Which happened 
 fortunately to be true, for otherwise I should have 
 been obliged to invent it. But the girl is a cat, and 
 the dog a miserable little high-bred something, all 
 shivers and no hair. I should never have thought of 
 him in the same breath with Crusoe. 
 
 That evening Mr. Shaw addressed the gathering 
 at the camp-fire which we made small and bright, 
 and then sat well away from because of the heat 
 and in a few words gave it as his opinion that any
 
 160 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 further search in the cave under the point was use- 
 less. (If he had known the strange confirmatory echo 
 which this awoke in my mind!) He proposed that 
 the shore of the island to a reasonable distance on 
 either side of the bay-entrance should be surveyed, 
 with a view to discover whether some other cave 
 did not exist which would answer the description 
 given by the dying Hopperdown as well as that first 
 explored. 
 
 Mr. Shaw's words were addressed to the ladies, 
 the organizer and financier, respectively, of the ex- 
 pedition, to the very deliberate exclusion of Mr. 
 Tubbs. But he might as well have made up his mind 
 to recognize the triumvirate. Enthroned on a 
 campy-chair sat Aunt Jane, like a little goddess of the 
 Dollar Sign, and on one hand Mr. Tubbs smiled 
 blandly, and on the other Violet gloomed. You saw 
 that in secret council Mr. Shaw's announcement had 
 been foreseen and deliberated upon. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs, who understood very well the role of 
 power behind the throne, left it to Violet to reply. 
 And Miss Browne, who carried an invisible rostrum 
 with her wherever she went, now alertly mounted it. 
 
 "My friends," she began, "those dwelling on a 
 plane where the Material is all may fail to grasp the
 
 MISS BROWNE HAS A VISION 161 
 
 thought which I shall put before you this evening. 
 They may not understand that if a different psychic 
 atmosphere had existed on this island from the first 
 we should not now be gazing into a blank wall of 
 Doubt. My friends, this expedition was, so to speak, 
 called from the Void by Thought. Thought it was, as 
 realized in steamships and other ephemeral forms, 
 which bore us thither over rolling seas. How then 
 can it be otherwise than that Thought should in- 
 fluence our fortunes that success should be unable 
 to materialize before a persistent attitude of Nega- 
 tion ? My friends, you will perceive that there is no 
 break in this sequence of ideas; all is remorseless 
 logic. 
 
 "In order to withdraw myself from this atmos- 
 phere of Negation, for these several days past I have 
 sought seclusion. There in silence I have asserted 
 the power of Positive over Negative Thought, gaz- 
 ing meanwhile into the profound depths of the All. 
 My friends, an answer has been vouchsafed us; I 
 have had a vision of that for which we seek. Now 
 at last, in a spirit of glad confidence, we may ad- 
 vance. For, my friends, the chest is buried in 
 sand." 
 
 With this triumphant announcement Miss Hig-
 
 162 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 glesby-Browne sat down. A heavy silence succeeded. 
 It was broken by a murmur from Mr. Tubbs. 
 
 "Wonderful that's what I call wonderful! Talk 
 about the eloquence of the ancients I believe, by 
 gum, this is on a par with Congressional oratory !" 
 
 "A vision, Miss Browne," said Mr. Shaw gravely, 
 "must be an interesting thing. I have never seen one 
 myself, having no talents that way, but in the little 
 Scotch town of Dumbiedykes where I was born there 
 was an old lady with a remarkable gift of the second 
 sight. Simple folk, not being acquainted with the 
 proper terms to fit the case, called her the Wise 
 Woman. Well, one day my aunt had been to the 
 neighboring town of Micklestane, five miles off, and 
 on the way back to Dumbiedykes she lost her purse. 
 It had three sovereigns in it a great sum to my 
 aunt. In her trouble of mind she hurried to the Wise 
 Woman a thing to make her pious father turn in 
 his grave. The Wise Woman gazed into the All, 
 I suppose, and told my aunt not to fret herself, for 
 she had had a vision of the purse and it lay some- 
 where on the road between Micklestane and Dumbie- 
 dykes. 
 
 "Now, Miss Browne, I'll take the liberty of draw- 
 ing a moral from this story to fit the present in-
 
 MISS BROWNE HAS A VISION 163 
 
 stance : where on the road between Micklestane and 
 Dumbiedykes is the chest?" 
 
 Though startled at the audacity of Mr. Shaw, I 
 was unprepared for the spasm of absolute fury that 
 convulsed Miss Browne's countenance. 
 
 "Mr. Shaw," she thundered, "if you intend to 
 draw a parallel between me and an ignorant Scotch 
 peasant !" 
 
 "Not at all," said Mr. Shaw calmly, "forebye the 
 Wise Woman was a most respectable person and had 
 a grandson in the kirk. The point is, can you indi- 
 cate with any degree of exactness the whereabouts 
 of the chest? For there is a good deal of sand on 
 the shores of this island." 
 
 "Oh, but Mr. Shaw !" interposed Aunt Jane trem- 
 ulously. "In the sand why, I am sure that is such 
 a helpful thought! It shows quite plainly that the 
 chest is not buried in in a rock, you know." She 
 gave the effect of a person trying to deflect a thun- 
 derstorm with a palm-leaf fan. 
 
 "Dynamite dynamite blow the lid off the 
 island !" mumbled Captain Magnus. 
 
 "If any one has a definite plan to propose," said 
 Mr. Shaw, "I am very ready to consider it. I have 
 understood myself from the first to be acting under
 
 164 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the directions of the ladies who planned this expe- 
 dition. As a mere matter of honesty to my em- 
 ployers, I should feel bound to spare no effort to find 
 the treasure, even if my own interests were not so 
 vitally concerned. Considering its importance to 
 myself, no one can well suppose that I am not doing 
 all in my power to bring the chest to light. To- 
 morrow, if the sea is favorable, it is my intention to 
 set out in the boat to determine the character of such 
 other caves as exist on the island. I'll want you with 
 me, lad, and you too, Magnus." 
 
 Captain Magnus looked more ill at ease than usual. 
 
 "Did you think o' rowin' the whole way round the 
 'dinged chunk o* rock ?" he inquired. 
 
 "Certainly not," said Mr. Shaw with an impatient 
 frown. So the man, in addition to his other unat- 
 tractive qualities, was turning out a shirk ! Hitherto, 
 with his strength and feverish if intermittent energy, 
 plus an almost uncanny skill with boats, he had been 
 of value. "Certainly not. We are going to make a 
 careful survey of the cliffs, and explore every likely 
 opening as thoroughly as possible. It will be slow 
 work and hard. As to circumnavigating the island, 
 I see no point in it, for I don't believe the chest can 
 have been carried any great distance from the cove."
 
 MISS BROWNE HAS A VISION 165 
 
 "Oh all right," said Captain Magnus. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs, who had been whispering with Aunt 
 Jane and Miss Browne, now with a very made-to- 
 order casualness proposed to the two ladies that they 
 take a stroll on the beach. This meant that the tri- 
 umvirate were to withdraw for discussion, and; 
 amounted to notice that henceforth the counsels of 
 the company would be divided. 
 
 Captain Magnus, after an uneasy wriggle or two, 
 said he guessed he'd turn in. Cookie's snores were 
 already audible between splashes of the waves on 
 the sands. The Scotchman, Cuthbert Vane and I 
 continued to sit by the dying fire. Mr. Shaw had 
 got out his pipe and sat silently puffing at it. He 
 might have been sitting in solitude on the topmost 
 crag of the island, so remote seemed that impassive 
 presence. Was it possible that ever, except in the 
 sweet madness of a dream, I had been in his arms, 
 pillowed and cherished there, that he had called me 
 lassie 
 
 I lifted my eyes to the kind honest gaze of Cuth- 
 bert Vane. It was as faithful as Crusoe's and no 
 more embarrassing. A great impulse of affection 
 moved me. I was near putting out a hand to pat his 
 splendid head. Oh, how easy, comfortable, and
 
 166 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 calm would be a life with Cuthbert Vane! I wasn't 
 thinking about the title now Cuthbert would be 
 quite worth while for himself. For a moment I al- 
 most saw with Aunt Jane's eyes. Fancy trotting 
 him out before the girls! stole insidiously into my 
 mind. How much more dazzling than a plain Scotch 
 sailor 
 
 I turned in bitterness and yearning from the silent 
 figure by the fire. 
 
 I think in an earlier lifetime I must have been a 
 huntress and loved to pursue the game that fled.
 
 XII 
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN^S FREIGHT 
 
 I WOKE next morning with a great thrill of ex- 
 hilaration. Perhaps before the sun went down 
 again I should know the secret of the island. 
 
 The two divisions of our party, which were desig- 
 nated by me privately the Land and Sea Forces, 
 went their separate ways directly after breakfast, 
 which we ate in the cool of earliest morning. I 
 could retire to the perusal of the journal which I 
 had recovered from the wrecked sloop without fear 
 of interruption. 
 
 I resumed my reading with the entry of Feb- 
 ruary 10. 
 
 This morning, having grown very tired of fish, of 
 which I get plenty every time I go out in the boat by 
 dragging a line behind, I decided to stay ashore and 
 hunt pig. I set out across the base of the point, 
 nearly due south whereas I had been working along 
 167
 
 168 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the coast to the north of the cove. On my right the 
 slope of the mountain rose steeply, and as I ap- 
 proached the south shore the rise of the peak became 
 more abrupt, and great jutting crags leaned out over 
 the tree-tops below. 
 
 I reached the edge of the cliffs and found that on 
 my right hand the mountain dropped in a sheer 
 precipice from hundreds of feet above me straight 
 into the sea. I considered, and made up my mind 
 that by striking back some distance one might by a 
 very rough climb gain the top of the precipice, and 
 so swing around the shoulder of the mountain. I 
 did not feel inclined to attempt it The cliffs at this 
 point offered no means of descent, and the few yards 
 of sand which the receding tide had left bare at their 
 foot led nowhere. 
 
 So far I had seen no pig, and I began to think they 
 must all be feeding on the other side of the island. 
 I turned to go back, and at that moment I heard 
 an outcry in the bushes and Benjy came tearing out 
 at the heels of a fine young porker. I threw up my 
 gun to fire, but the evolutions of Benjy and the pig 
 were such that I was as likely to hit one as the other. 
 The pig, of course, made desperate efforts to escape
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 169 
 
 from the cul-de-sac in which he found himself. His 
 only hope was to get back into the woods on the 
 point. Benjy kept him headed off successfully, and 
 I began to edge up, watching my chance for a shot. 
 Suddenly the pig came dashing straight toward me 
 oblivious, I suppose, to everything but the white 
 snapping terror at his heels. Taken by surprise, I 
 fired and missed. The pig shot between my knees, 
 Benjy after him. I withstood the shock of the pig, 
 but not of Benjy. I fell, clawing wildly, into a 
 matted mass of creepers that covered the ground be- 
 side me. 
 
 I got to my feet quickly, dragging the whole mass 
 of vines up with me. Then I saw that they had cov- 
 ered a curiously regular little patch of ground, out- 
 lined at intervals with small stones. At one end was 
 a larger stone. 
 
 The patch was narrow, about six feet long in- 
 stantly suggestive of a grave. But swift beyond all 
 process of reason was the certainty that flashed into 
 my mind. I fell on my knees beside the stone at the 
 head and pulled away the torn vine-tendrils. I saw 
 the letters B. H. and an attempt at cross-bones rudely 
 cut into the surface of the stone.
 
 170 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 I closed my eyes and tried to steady myself. I 
 thought, / am seeing things. This is the mere pro- 
 jection of the vision which has been in my mind so 
 long. 
 
 I opened my eyes, and lo, the fantasy, if fantasy 
 it were, remained. I smote with my fist upon the 
 stone. The stone was solid it bruised the flesh. 
 And as I saw the blood run, I screamed aloud like a 
 madman, "It's real, real, real!" 
 
 Under the stone lay the guardian of the treasure 
 of the Bonny Lass And his secret was within my 
 grasp. 
 
 I don't know how long I crouched beside the stone, 
 as drunk with joy as any hasheesh toper with his 
 drug. I roused at last to find Benjy at my shoulder, 
 thrusting his cool nose against my feverish cheek. 
 I suppose he didn't understand my ignoring him so, 
 or thought I scorned him for losing out in his race 
 with the pig. Yet when I think of what I owe that 
 pig I could swear never to taste pork again. 
 
 Brought back to earth and sanity, I rose and began 
 to consider my surroundings. Somewhere close at 
 hand was the mouth of the cave but where? The 
 cliffs, as I have already said, were too steep for de-
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 171 
 
 scent. Nothing but a fly could have crawled down 
 them. I turned to the craggy face of the mountain. 
 There, surely, must be the entrance to the cave ! For 
 hours I clambered among the rocks, risking mangled 
 limbs and sunstroke and found no cave. I came 
 back at last, wearily, to the grave. There lay the 
 dust of the brain that had known all and a wild im- 
 pulse came to me to tear away the earth with my 
 bare hands, to dig deep, deep and then with listen- 
 ing ear wait for a whispered word. 
 
 I put the delirious fancy from me and moved away 
 to the edge of the cliffs. Looking down, I saw a nar- 
 row sloping shelf which dropped from the brink to 
 a distance of ten or twelve feet below, where it met 
 a slight projection of the rock. I had seen it before, 
 of course, but it had carried no significance for my 
 mind. Now I stepped down upon the ledge and fol- 
 lowed it to its end in the angle of the rock. 
 
 Snugly hidden in the angle was a low doorway 
 leading into blackness. 
 
 Now of course I ought in prudence to have gone 
 back to the hut and got matches and a lantern and a 
 rope before J set foot in the darkness of that un- 
 known place. But what had I to do to-day with
 
 172 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 prudence Fortune had me by the hand ! In I went 
 boldly, Benjy at my heels. The passage turned 
 sharply, and for a little way we walked in blackness. 
 Then it veered again, and a faint and far-off light 
 seemed to filter its way to us through a web woven 
 of the very stuff of night. The floor sloped a little 
 downward. I felt my way with my feet, and came 
 to a step another. I was going along a descending 
 passage, cut at its steepest into rough, irregular 
 stairs. With either hand I could touch the walls. 
 All the while the light grew clearer. Presently, by 
 another sharp turn, I found myself in a cave, some 
 thirty feet in depth by eighteen across, with an open- 
 ing on the narrow strip of beach I had seen from the 
 top of the cliffs. 
 
 The roof is high, with an effect of Gothic arches. 
 Near the mouth is a tiny spring of ice-cold water, 
 which has worn a clean rock-channel for itself to the 
 sea. Otherwise the cave is perfectly dry. The shin- 
 ing white sand of its floor is above the highest water- 
 mark on the cliffs outside. There is no doubt in my 
 mind that in the great buccaneering days of the sev- 
 enteenth century, and probably much later, the place 
 was the haunt of pirates. One fancies that Captain
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 173 
 
 Sampson of the Bonny Lass may have known of it 
 before he brought the treasure to the island. There 
 were queer folk to be met with in those days in the 
 Western Ocean! The cave is cool at blazing mid- 
 day, and secret, I fancy, even from the sea, because 
 of the droop of great rock-eaves above its mouth. 
 Either for the keeping of stores or as a hiding-place 
 for men or treasure it would be admirable. Yes, the 
 cave has seen many a fierce, sea-tanned face and 
 tarry pigtail, and echoed to strange oaths and wild 
 sea-songs. Men had carved those steps in the pas- 
 sage thirty-two of them. In the sand of the floor, 
 as I kicked it up with my feet, hoping rather child- 
 ishly to strike the corner of the chest, I found the 
 hilt and part of the blade of a rusty cutlass, and a 
 chased silver shoe-buckle. I shall take the buckle 
 home to Helen and yet how trivial it will seem, 
 with all else that I have to offer her! Nevertheless 
 she will prize it as my gift, and because it comes 
 from the place to which some kind angel led me for 
 her sake. 
 
 I left the cave and hurried back to the cabin for a 
 spade, walking on air, breaking with snatches of 
 song the terrible stillness of the woods, where one
 
 174 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 hears only the high fitful sighing of the wind, or 
 the eternal mutter of the sea. As I came out of the 
 hut with the spade over my shoulder I waved my 
 hand to the Island Queen riding at anchor. 
 
 "You'll soon be showing a clean pair of heels to 
 Leeward, old girl !" I cried. Back in the cave, I set 
 to work feverishly, making the light sand fly. I be- 
 gan at the rear of the cavern, reasoning that there 
 the sand would lie at greater depth, also that it 
 would be above the wash of the heaviest storms. At 
 the end of half an hour, at a point close to the angle 
 of the wall my spade struck a hard surface. It lay, 
 I should judge, under about two feet of sand. Soon 
 I had laid bare a patch of dark wood which rang un- 
 der my knuckles almost like iron. A little more, and 
 I had cleared away the sand from the top of a large 
 chest with a convex lid, heavily bound in brass. 
 
 Furiously I flung the sand aside until the chest 
 stood free for half its depth which is roughly three 
 feet. It has handles at the ends, great hand-wrought 
 loops of metal. I tugged my hardest, but the chest 
 seemed fast in its place as the native rock. I laughed 
 exultantly. The weight meant gold gold ! I had 
 hammer and chisel with me, and with these I forced
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 175 
 
 the massive ancient locks. There were three of 
 them, one for each strip of brass which bound the 
 chest. Then I flung up the lid. 
 
 No glittering treasure dazzled me. I saw only a 
 surface of stained canvas, tucked in carefully around 
 the edges. This I tore off and flung aside eclipsing 
 poor Benjy, who was a most interested spectator of 
 my strange proceedings. Still no gleam of gold, 
 merely demure rows of plump brown bags. With 
 both hands I reached for them. Oh, to grasp them 
 all ! I had to be content with two, because they were 
 so heavy, so blessedly heavy! 
 
 I spread the square of canvas on the sand, cut the 
 strings from the bags, and poured out gold, gold ! 
 All fair shining golden coins they were, not a paltry 
 silver piece among them! And they made a soft 
 golden music as they fell in a glorious yellow heap. 
 
 I don't know how long I sat there, playing with 
 my gold, running it through my fingers, clinking the 
 coins together in my palm. Benjy came and sniffed 
 at them indifferently, unable to understand his mas- 
 ter's preoccupation. He thrust his nose into my face 
 and barked, and said as clearly as with words, Come, 
 hunt pig!
 
 176 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "Benjy," I said, "we'll leave the pork alone just 
 now. We have work enough to count our money. 
 We're rich, old boy, rich, rich !" 
 
 Of course, I don't yet know exactly what the value 
 of the treasure is. I have counted the bags in the 
 chest ; there are one hundred and forty-eight. Each, 
 so far as I have determined, contains one thousand 
 doubloons, which makes a total of one hundred and 
 forty-eight thousand. Estimating each coin, for the 
 sake of even figures, at a value of seven dollars a 
 safe minimum you get one million, thirty-six thou- 
 sand dollars. And as many of the coins are ancient, 
 I ought to reap a harvest from collectors. 
 
 Besides the coin, I found, rather surprisingly, laid 
 between the upper layers of bags, a silver crucifix 
 about nine inches long. It is of very quaint old 
 workmanship, and badly tarnished. Its money value 
 must be very trifling, compared to the same bulk of 
 golden coins. I think it must have had some special 
 character of sacredness which led to its preservation 
 here. It is strange to find such a relic among a treas- 
 ure so stained by blood and crime. 
 
 And now I have to think about moving the gold. 
 First of all I must get the chest itself aboard the
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 177 
 
 Island Queen. This means that I shall have to empty 
 it and leave the gold in the cave, while I get the chest 
 out by sea. When the chest is safely in the cabin of 
 the sloop where it won't leave much room for 
 Benjy and his master, I'm afraid I will take the 
 bags of coin out by the land entrance. I can't think 
 of risking my precious doubloons in the voyage 
 around the point. 
 
 Of course I should have liked to get to the task 
 to-day, but after the first mad thrill of the great 
 event was over, I found myself as weak and un- 
 nerved as a woman. So by a great effort I came 
 away and left my glorious golden hoard. Now I 
 dream and gloat, playing with the idea that to-mor- 
 row I shall find it all a fantasy. The pleasure of 
 this is, of course, that all the while I know this wild- 
 est of all Arabian fairy tales to be as real as the most 
 drab and sober fact of my hitherto colorless life. 
 
 After all, on the way back from the cave Benjy 
 brought down a pig. So he is as well pleased with 
 the day as I am. Now I am sitting in the doorway 
 of my cabin, writing up my journal, and trying to 
 calm down enough to go to bed. If it were not for 
 the swift fading of daylight, I would go back to the
 
 178 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 cave for another peep into the chest. But all round 
 the island the sea is moaning with that peculiarly 
 melancholy note that comes with the falling of night. 
 The sea-birds have risen from the cove and gone 
 wheeling off in troops to their nests on the cliffs. 
 Somehow a curious dislike, almost fear, of this wild, 
 sea-girt, solitary place has come over me. I long for 
 the sound of human voices, the touch of human 
 hands. I think of the dead man lying there at the 
 door of the cave, its silent guardian for so long. I 
 suppose he brooded once on the thought of the gold 
 as I do perhaps he has been brooding so these 
 ninety years! I wonder if he is pleased that I, a 
 stranger, have come into possession of his secret 
 hoard at last ? 
 
 Oh, Helen, turn your heavenly face on me be my 
 refuge from these shuddering unwholesome 
 thoughts ! The gold is for you for you ! Surely 
 that must cleanse it of its stains, must loose the 
 clutch of the dead hands that strive to hold it! 
 
 February 11. This morning I was early at the 
 cave. Yes, there it was, the same wonder-chest that 
 I had dreamed of all night long. It was absurd how 
 the tightness in my breast relaxed.
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 179 
 
 . I began at once the work of removing the bags 
 from the chest and stacking them in the corner of 
 the cave. It was a fatiguing job, I had to stoop so. 
 At the bottom of the chest I found a small portfolio 
 of very fine leather containing documents in Span- 
 ish. They bear an official seal. Although I should 
 be interested to know their meaning, I think I shall 
 destroy them. They weaken my feeling of owner- 
 ship; I suppose there is a slight flavor of lawlessness 
 in my carrying off the gold from the island like this. 
 Very likely the little Spanish-American state which 
 has some claim to overlordship here would dispute 
 my right to the treasure-trove. 
 
 I spent so much time unloading the chest and 
 poring over the papers, trying, by means of my ill- 
 remembered Latin, to make out the sense of the kin- 
 dred Spanish, that before I was ready to go for my 
 boat the tide was up and pounding on the rocks be- 
 low the cave. I find that only at certain stages of the 
 tide is the cave approachable by sea. At the turn 
 after high water, for instance, there is such a terrific 
 undertow that it sets up a small maelstrom among 
 the reefs lyingfoff the island. At low tide is the time 
 to come.
 
 180 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 February 12. Got the chest out of the cave, 
 though it was a difficult job. I don't know of what 
 wood the thing is built some South American hard- 
 wood, I fancy but it weighs like metal. The heavy 
 brass clampings count for something, of course. 
 Luckily there was no sea, and I had a smooth pas- 
 sage around the point. I laughed rather ruefully as 
 I passed the Cave of the Two Arches. To think of 
 the toil I wasted there ! I wish Benjy had encoun- 
 tered the fateful pig a little sooner. 
 
 Got the chest aboard the Island Queen and stowed 
 in the cabin. Not room left to swing a kitten. Con- 
 trived an elaborate arrangement of ropes and spikes 
 to keep it in place in a heavy sea. 
 
 In the afternoon began moving the gold. It's the 
 deuce of a job. 
 
 February 15. Been hard at it for three days. 
 Most of the gold moved. Have to think too of pro- 
 visions and water for the trip. I am making rather 
 a liberal allowance, in case of being blown out of my 
 course by a tropical gale. 
 
 February 16. On board the Island Queen. Have 
 moved my traps from the hut and am sleeping on
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 181 
 
 the sloop. Want to be near the gold. "Where the 
 treasure is, there will the heart be also," and in this 
 case the body as well. To-morrow I have only to 
 bring the last of the gold aboard a trifling matter 
 and then go out with the ebb. I would have got 
 all the bags on board to-day, but I noticed a worn 
 stretch in the cable holding the sloop and stopped to 
 repair it. I can't have the sloop going on the rocks 
 in case a blow comes up to-night. There are only 
 about a load and a half of bags left in the cave. 
 
 A queer notion seized me to-day about the cruci- 
 fix, when I was bringing it from the cave. It seemed 
 to float into my Srain I can't say from what quarter 
 that I had better, leave the crucifix for Bill. It 
 wasn't more than he had a right to, really and there 
 is no virtue in a cross-bones to make a man sleep 
 well. 
 
 Of course I put the absurd idea from me, and 
 brought the crucifix aboard along with the rest of 
 the gold. I shall be glad when I know that the vines 
 have again covered that lonely-looking gravestone 
 from sight. I can't help feeling my own glorious 
 good fortune to be somehow an affront to poor un- 
 lucky Bill.
 
 182 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Tomorrow one last trip to the cave, and then hey, 
 for home and Helen ! 
 
 The diary ended here. 
 
 I closed the book, and stared with unseeing eyes 
 into the green shadows of the encompassing woods. 
 W 'hat happened to the writer of the diary on that last 
 trip to the cavef For he had never left the island. 
 Crusoe was here to prove it, as well as the wreck of 
 the Island Queen. And, in all human probability, 
 under the sand which choked the cabin of the derelict 
 was the long-sought chest of Spanish doubloons. 
 
 But what was the mysterious fate of Peter? Had 
 he fallen overboard from the sloop and been 
 drowned? Had he returned to the cave and was 
 he there still? It was all a mystery but a mystery 
 which I burne4 to solve. 
 
 Of course I might have solved it, very quickly, 
 merely by communicating the extraordinary knowl- 
 edge which had come to me to my companions. But 
 for the present at least I meant to keep this astound- 
 ing secret for my own. Somehow or other, by guile 
 or lucky circumstance, I must bring it about that the 
 document I had signed at Miss Browne's behest was 
 canceled. Was I, who all unaided had discovered,
 
 THE ISLAND QUEEN'S FREIGHT 183 
 
 or as good as discovered, the vainly-sought- for treas- 
 ure, to disclose its whereabouts to those who would 
 deny me the smallest claim upon its contents ? Was 
 I to see all those "fair, shining golden coins," par- 
 celed out between Miss Browne, and Mr. Tubbs, and 
 Captain Magnus (the three who loomed large in my 
 indignant thoughts), and not possess a single one 
 myself? Or perhaps accept a little stingy present 
 of a few ? I really wasn't very covetous about the 
 money, taken just as money; but considered as 
 buried treasure it made my mouth water. 
 
 Then besides, while I kept my secret I had power ; 
 everybody's destiny was in my hands. This was a 
 sweet thought. I felt that 1 should enjoy going 
 about with a deceptive meekness, and taking the se- 
 verest snubs from Miss Browne, knowing that at 
 any moment I could blossom forth into the most 
 exalted and thrilling importance. Also, not only 
 did I want a share in the treasure myself, but I 
 wanted, if possible, to divide it up on a different 
 basis from the present. I wanted Cuthbert Vane to 
 have a lot of it and I should have been much better 
 pleased not to let Mr. Tubbs or Captain Magnus 
 have any. I <lid not crave to enrich Violet, and I 
 thought Aunt Jane had already more money than
 
 184 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 was good for her. Give her another half-million, 
 \and Mr. Tubbs would commit bigamy, if necessary, 
 for her sake. 
 
 And then there was Dugald Shaw, who had saved 
 my life, and who seemed to have forgotten it, and 
 that I had ever had my arms about his neck and 
 who was poor and brave 
 
 Yes, decidedly, I should keep my secret yet a 
 while, till I saw how the cards were going to fall.
 
 XIII 
 
 I BRING TO LIGHT A CLUE 
 
 MY FIRST and all but overpowering impulse 
 was to possess myself of a spade and dash 
 for the wreck of the Island Queen. Sober second 
 thought restrained me. Merely to get there and 
 back would consume much time, for the descent of 
 the cliffs, and still more the climb up again, was a 
 toilsome affair. Also, reflection showed me that to 
 dig through the damp close-packed sand of the cabin 
 would be no trifling task, for I should be ham- 
 pered by the need of throwing out the excavated 
 sand behind me through the narrow companionway. 
 I could achieve my end, no doubt, by patient bur- 
 rowing, but it would require much more time than I 
 had at my command before the noon-day sounding 
 of Cookie's gong. I must not be seen departing or 
 returning with a spade, but make off with the imple- 
 ment in a stealthy and burglarious manner. Above 
 all, I must not risk betraying my secret through im- 
 patience. 
 
 185
 
 186 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 But there was nothing to forbid an immediate pil- 
 grimage to the much-sought gravestone with its sin- 
 ister symbol. The account in Peter's diary of his 
 adventure with the pig placed the grave with such 
 exactness that I had no doubt of finding it easily. 
 That done, I would know very nearly where to look 
 for the cave and in order to bid defiance to a cer- 
 tain chill sense of reluctance which beset me at the 
 thought of the cave I started out at once, skirting 
 the clearing with much circumspection, for it seemed 
 to me that even the sight of my vanishing back must 
 shout of mystery to Cookie droning hymns among 
 his pots and pans. Crusoe, of course, came with me, 
 happily unconscious of his own strange relation to 
 our quest. 
 
 Following in the steps of Peter, who seemed in 
 an airy and uncomfortable fashion to be bearing me 
 company, I struck across the point, at the base of 
 the rough slope which marks the first rise of the 
 peak. As I neared the sea on the other side great 
 crags began to overhang the path, which was, of 
 course, no path, but merely the line of least resist- 
 ance through the woods. Soon the noise of the sea, 
 of which one was never altogether free on the island, 
 though it reaches the recesses of the forest only
 
 I BRING TO LIGHT A CLUE 187 
 
 as a vast nameless murmur, broke in heightened 
 clamor on my ears. I heard the waves roaring and 
 dashing on rocks far below and then I stood at the 
 dizzy edge of the plateau looking out over the illim- 
 itable gleaming reaches of the sea. 
 
 Somewhere in this angle between the ragged mar- 
 gin of the cliffs and the abrupt rise of the craggy 
 mountainside, according to Peter's journal, lay the 
 grave. I began systematically to poke with a stick 
 I carried into every low-growing mass of vines or 
 bushes. Because of the comparatively rocky, sterile 
 soil the woods were thinner here, and the under- 
 growth was greater. Only the very definite localiza- 
 tion of the grave by the accommodating diarist gave 
 any hope of finding it. 
 
 And then, quite suddenly, I found it. My prod- 
 dings had displaced a matted mass of ground- 
 creeper. Beneath, looking raw and naked without 
 its leafy covering, was the "curiously regular little 
 patch of ground, outlined at intervals with small 
 stones." Panic-stricken beetles scuttled for refuge. 
 A great green slug undulated painfully across his 
 suddenly denuded pasture. A whole small world 
 found itself hurled back to chaos. 
 
 At the head of the grave lay a large, smoothly-
 
 188 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 rounded stone. I knelt and brushed away some ob- 
 stinate vine-tendrils, and the letters "B. H." revealed 
 themselves, cut deeply and irregularly into the slop- 
 ing face of the stone. Below was the half-intelligi- 
 ble symbol of the crossed bones. 
 
 There was something in the utter loneliness of the 
 place that caught my breath sharply. At once I had 
 the feeling of a marauder. Here slept the guardian 
 of the treasure and yet in defiance of him I meant 
 to have it. So, too, had Peter and I didn't know 
 yet what he had managed to do to Peter but I 
 guessed from his journal that Peter had been a 
 slightly morbid person. He had let the wild soli- 
 tude of the island frighten him. He had indulged 
 foolish fancies about crucifixes. He had in fact 
 let the defenses of his will be undermined ever so 
 little and then of course there was no telling what 
 They could do to you. 
 
 With an impatient shiver I got up quickly from 
 my knees. What abominable nonsense I had been 
 talking was there a miasma about that old grave 
 that affected one? I whistled to Crusoe, who was 
 trotting busily about on mysterious intelligence con- 
 veyed to him by his nose. He ran to me joyfully, 
 and I stooped and patted his warm vigorous body.
 
 JFhen, quite suddenly, I found it.
 
 I BRING TO LIGHT A CLUE 189 
 
 "Let Bill walk, Crusoe," I remarked, "let him! 
 He needn't be a dog in the manger about the treas- 
 ure, anyhow." 
 
 Now came the moment which I had been trying 
 not to think about. I had to find the entrance to 
 the cave, and then go into it or part with my own 
 esteem forever. I went and peered over the cliff. 
 I had an unacknowledged hope that the shelf of 
 which Peter had written had been rent off by some 
 cataclysm and that I could not possibly get down to 
 the doorway in the rock. My hope was vain. The 
 ledge was there not an inviting ledge, nor one on 
 which the unacrobatically inclined would have any 
 impulse to saunter, but a perfectly good ledge, on 
 which I had not the slightest excuse for declining to 
 venture. Seventy feet below I saw a narrow strip 
 of sand, from which the tide was receding. It ran 
 along under the great precipice which rose on my 
 right, forming the face of the mountain on the south 
 side. On that strip of sand the old hiding-place of 
 the pirates opened. I thought I saw the overhanging 
 eaves of rock of which the diary had spoken. 
 
 There was truly nothing dangerous about the 
 ledge. It was nearly three feet wide, and had an 
 easy downward trend. Yet you heard the hungry
 
 190 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 roar of the surf below, and try as you would not to, 
 caught glimpses of the white swirl of it. I moved 
 cautiously, keeping close to the face of the cliff. 
 Crusoe, to my annoyance, sprang down upon the 
 ledge after me. I had a feeling that he must cer- 
 tainly trip me as I picked my way gingerly along. 
 
 An angle in the rock a low dark entrance-way 
 it was all as Peter had described it. I peered in 
 nothing but impenetrable blackness. I took a hesi- 
 tating step. The passage veered sharply, as the 
 diary had recorded. Once around the corner, there 
 would be nothing but darkness anywhere. One 
 would go stumbling on, feeling with feet and hands 
 hands cold with the dread of what they might be 
 going to touch. For, suddenly portentous and over- 
 whelming, there rose before me the unanswered 
 question of what had become of Peter on that last 
 visit to the cave. Unanswered and unanswerable 
 except in one way : by going in to see. 
 
 But if by any strange chance where all chances 
 were strange he were still there, I did not want to 
 see. I did not like to contemplate his possible neigh- 
 borhood. Indeed, he grew enormously more real to 
 me with every instant I stood there, and whereas I 
 had so far thought principally about the treasure, I
 
 I BRING TO LIGHT A CLUE 191 
 
 now began to think with intensity of Peter. What 
 ironic stroke of fate had cut him down in the very 
 moment of his triumph? Had he ever reached the 
 cave to bring away the last of the doubloons ? Were 
 they still waiting there unclaimed? Had he fallen 
 victim to some extraordinary mischance on the way 
 back to the Island Queen? Had a storm come up on 
 that last night, and the weakened cable parted, and 
 the Island Queen gone on the rocks, drowning Peter 
 in the cabin with his gold ? Then how had Crusoe 
 got away, Crusoe, who feared the waves so, and 
 would bark at them and then turn tail and run? 
 
 Speaking of Crusoe, where was he? I realized 
 that a moment ago he had plunged into the passage. 
 I heard the patter of his feet a pause. A queer, 
 dismal little whine echoed along the passage. I 
 heard Crusoe returning but before his nose ap- 
 peared around the angle of the tunnel, his mistress 
 had reached the top of the cliff at a bound and was 
 vanishing at a brisk pace into the woods. 
 
 With bitterness, as I pursued my way to camp, I 
 realized that I was not a heroine. Here was a mys- 
 tery it was the business of a heroine to solve it. 
 Now that I was safely away from the cave, I began 
 to feel the itch of a torturing curiosity. How, with-
 
 192 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 out going into the terrifying place alone, should I 
 find out what was there ? Should I pretend to have 
 accidentally discovered the grave, lead the party to 
 it, and then again accidentally discover the tun- 
 nel? This plan had its merits but I discarded it, 
 for fear that something would be found in the cave 
 to direct attention to the Island Queen. Then I 
 reflected that very likely the explorers would work 
 round the island far enough to find the sea-mouth of 
 the cave. This would take matters entirely out of 
 my hands. I should perhaps be enlightened as to the 
 fate of Peter and the last remaining bags of 
 doubloons, but might also have to share the secret of 
 the derelict with the rest. And then all my dreams 
 of playing fairy godmother and showering down on 
 certain heads like coals of fire torrents of beauti- 
 ful golden doubloons, would be over. 
 
 On the whole I could not tell whether I burned 
 with impatience to have the cave discovered, or was 
 cold with the fear of it. 
 
 And then, so vigorous is the instinct to see one's 
 self in heroic postures, I found I was trying to cheat 
 myself with the pretense that I meant presently to 
 abstract Aunt Jane's electric torch and returning to 
 the tunnel-mouth plunge in dauntlessly.
 
 XIV 
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 
 
 I HAD determined as an offset to my pusillani- 
 mous behavior about the cave to show a dogged 
 industry in the matter of the Island Queen. It 
 would take me a long while to get down through the 
 sand to the chest, but I resolved to accomplish it, 
 and borrowed of Cookie, without his knowledge, a 
 large iron spoon which I thought I could wield more 
 easily than a heavy spade. Besides, Cookie would 
 be less sleuth-like in getting on the trail of his miss- 
 ing property than Mr. Shaw though there would 
 be a certain piquancy in having that martinet hale me 
 before him for stealing a spade. 
 
 But that afternoon I was tired and hot it really 
 called for a grimmer resolve than mine to shovel 
 sand through the languor of a Leeward Island after- 
 noon. Instead, I slept in my hammock, and dreamed 
 that I was queen of a cannibal island, draped in neck- 
 193
 
 194 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 laces made of the doubloons now hidden under the 
 sand in the cabin of the derelict. 
 
 Later, the wailing of Cookie was heard in the 
 land, and I had to restore the spoon to free Crusoe 
 of the charge of having stolen it. I said I had 
 wanted it to dig with. But of course it occurred to 
 no one that it was the treasure I had expected to dig 
 up with Cookie's spoon. It was touching to see the 
 universal faith in the trivial nature of my employ- 
 ments, to know that every one imagined themselves 
 to be seriously occupied, while I was merely a girl 
 there is no common denominator for the qualifying 
 adjective who roamed about idly with a dog, and 
 that no one dreamed that we had thus come to be po- 
 tentially among the richest dogs and girls in these 
 latitudes. 
 
 A more serious obstacle to my explorations on the 
 Island Queen presented itself next day. Instead of 
 putting to sea, Mr. Shaw and Captain Magnus 
 hauled the boat up on the beach and set to work to 
 repair it. The wild work of exploring the coast had 
 left the boat with leaky seams and a damaged gun- 
 wale. The preceding day had been filled with hard- 
 ship and danger so much so that my heart sank a 
 little at the recountal of it. You saw the little boat
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 195 
 
 threading its way among the reefs, tossed like sea- 
 weed by the white teeth of gnawing waves, screamed 
 at by angry gulls whose homes were those clefts and 
 caves which the boat invaded. And all this, poor lit- 
 tle boat, on a hopeless quest for no reward but peril 
 and wounds. Captain Magnus had a bruised and 
 bleeding wrist, but refused to have it dressed, vaunt- 
 ing his hardihood with a savage pride. Cuthbert 
 Vane, however, had a sprained thumb which could 
 not be ignored, and on the strength of which he was 
 dismissed from the boat-repairing contingent, and 
 thrown on my hands to entertain. So of course I 
 had to renounce all thoughts of visiting the sloop. 
 I should not have dared to go there anyway, with 
 Mr. Shaw and the captain able more or less to over- 
 look my motions from the beach, for I was quite 
 morbidly afraid of attracting attention to the der- 
 elict. It seemed to me a happy miracle that no one 
 but myself had taken any interest in her, or been in- 
 spired to ask by what chance so small a boat had 
 come to be wrecked upon these desolate shores. For- 
 tunately in her position in the shadow of the cliff 
 she was inconspicuous, so that she might easily have 
 been taken for the half of a large boat instead of the 
 whole of a small one, or she must before this have
 
 196 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 drawn the questioning notice of the Scotchman. As 
 to the captain, his attention was all set on the effort 
 to discover the cave, and his intelligence was not 
 lively enough to start on an entirely new tack by 
 itself. And the Honorable Cuthbert viewed derelicts 
 as he viewed the planetary bodies ; somehow in the 
 course of nature they happened. 
 
 So, dissembling my excitements and anxieties, I 
 swung placidly in my hammock, and near by sat the 
 beautiful youth with his thumb carried tenderly in 
 a bandage. In my preoccupied state of mind, to en- 
 tertain him might have seemed by no means an idle 
 pastime, if he hadn't unexpectedly developed a talka- 
 tive streak himself. Was it merely my being so 
 distrait, or was it quite another reason, that led him 
 to open up so suddenly about his Kentish home? 
 Strange to say, instead of panting for the title, Cuth- 
 bert wanted his brother to go on living, though there 
 was something queer about his spine, poor fellow, 
 and the doctors said he couldn't possibly Of 
 course I was surprised at Cuthbert's views, for I had 
 always thought that if there were a title in your fam- 
 ily your sentiments toward those who kept you out 
 of it were necessarily murderous, and your tears 
 crocodile when you pretended to weep over their
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 197 
 
 biers. But Cuthbert's feelings were so human that 
 I mentally apologized to the nobility. As to High 
 Staunton Manor, I adored it. It is mostly Jacobean, 
 but with an ancient Tudor wing, and it has a chapel 
 and a ghost and a secret staircase and a frightfully 
 beautiful and wicked ancestress hanging in the hall 
 I mean a portrait of her and quantities of oak 
 paneling quite black with age, and silver that was 
 hidden in the family tombs when Cromwell's soldiers 
 came, and a chamber where Elizabeth once slept, and 
 other romantic details too numerous to mention. It 
 is all a little bit run down and shabby, for lack of 
 money to keep it up, and of course on that account 
 all the more entrancing. Naturally the less money 
 the more aristocracy, for it meant that the family 
 had never descended to marrying coal miners and 
 brewers which comment is my own, for Cuthbert 
 was quite destitute of swank. 
 
 The present Lord Grasmere lived up to his posi- 
 tion so completely that he had the gout and sat with 
 his foot on a cushion exactly like all the elderly aris- 
 tocrats you ever heard of, only when I inquired if 
 his lordship cursed his valet and flung plates at the 
 footmen when his foot hurt him his son was much 
 shocked and pained. He did not realize so well as
 
 198 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 I from an extensive course of novel-reading that 
 such is the usual behavior of titled persons. 
 
 It was delightful, there in the hot stillness of the 
 island, with the palms rustling faintly overhead, to 
 hear of that cool, mossy, ancient place. I asked 
 eager questions I repeated gloatingly fragments 
 of description I wondered enviously what it would 
 be like to have anything so old and proud and beauti- 
 ful in your very blood when suddenly I realized 
 that, misled by my enthusiasm, Cuthbert was saying 
 something which must not be said that he was 
 about to offer the shelter of that ancient roof to me. 
 To me, whose heart could never nest there, but must 
 be ever on the wing, a wild bird of passage in the 
 track of a ship 
 
 I sat up with a galvanic start. "Oh listen 
 didn't you hear something?" I desperately broke 
 in. For somehow I must stop him. I didn't want 
 our nice jolly friendship spoiled and besides, fancy 
 being cooped up on an island with a man you have 
 refused! Especially when all the while you'd be 
 wanting so to pet and console him ! 
 
 But with his calm doggedness Cuthbert began 
 again "I was a bit afraid the old place would 
 have seemed too quiet and dull to you " when the
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 199 
 
 day was saved and my interruption strangely justi- 
 fied by a shrill outcry from the camp. 
 
 I knew that high falsetto tone. It was the voice 
 of Mr. Tubbs, but pitched in a key of quite insane 
 excitement. I sprang up and ran, Crusoe and the 
 Honorable Cuthbert at my heels. There in the midst 
 of the camp Mr. Tubbs stood, the center of a group 
 who were regarding him with astonished looks. Mr. 
 Shaw and the captain had left their tinkering, 
 Cookie his saucepans, and Aunt Jane and Violet had 
 come hurrying from the hut. Among us all stood 
 Mr. Tubbs with folded arms, looking round upon 
 the company with an extraordinary air of com- 
 placency and triumph. 
 
 "What is it, oh, what is it, Mr. Tubbs?" cried 
 Aunt Jane, fluttering with the consciousness of her 
 proprietorship. 
 
 But Mr. Tubbs glanced at her as indifferently as 
 a sated turkey-buzzard at a morsel which has ceased 
 to tempt him. 
 
 "Mr. Tubbs," commanded Violet, "speak ex- 
 plain yourself !" 
 
 "Come, out with it, Tubbs," advised Mr. Shaw. 
 
 Then the lips of Mr. Tubbs parted, and from them 
 issued this solitary word :
 
 200 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "Eureka!" 
 
 "What?" screamed Miss Higglesby-Browne. 
 "You have found it?" 
 
 Solemnly Mr. Tubbs inclined his head. 
 
 "Eureka !" he repeated. "I have found it !" 
 
 Amidst the exclamations, the questions, the gen- 
 eral commotion which ensued, I had room for only 
 one thought that Mr. Tubbs had somehow discov- 
 ered the treasure in the cabin of the Island Queen. 
 Indeed, I should have shrieked the words aloud, but 
 for a providential dumbness that fell upon me. 
 Meanwhile Mr. Tubbs had unfolded his arms from 
 their Napoleonic posture on his bosom long enough 
 to wave his hand for silence. 
 
 "Friends," he began, "it has been known from the 
 start that there was a landmark on this little old 
 island that would give any party discovering the 
 same a line on that chest of money right away. 
 There's been some that was too high up in the ex- 
 ploring business to waste time looking for land- 
 marks. They had ruther do more fancy stunts, 
 where what with surf, and sharks, and bangin' up 
 the boat, they could make a good show of gettin' 
 busy. But old Ham Tubbs, he don't let on to be a 
 ero. Jest a plain man o' business that's old H. H.
 
 
 'Mr. Tubbs explain yourself.
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 201 
 
 Consequence is, he leaves the other fellers have the 
 brass band, while he sets out on the q. t. to run a cer- 
 tain little clue to earth. And, ladies and gentlemen > 
 he's run it !" 
 
 "You have found you have found the treasure I'* 
 shrilled Aunt Jane. 
 
 Contrary to his bland custom, Mr. Tubbs frowned 
 at her darkly. 
 
 "I said I found the clue" he corrected. "Of 
 course, it's the same thing. Ladies and gentlemen, 
 not to appear to be a hot-air artist, I will tell you in 
 a word, that I have located the tombstone of one 
 William Halliwell, deceased !" 
 
 Of course. Not once had I thought of it. Bare, 
 stark, glaring up at the sun, lay the stone carved with 
 the letters and the cross-bones. Forgetting in the 
 haste of my departure to replace the vines upon the 
 grave, I had left the stone to shout its secret to the 
 first comer. And that had happened to be Mr. Tubbs. 
 Happened, I say, for I knew that he had not had 
 the slightest notion where to look for the grave of 
 Bill Halliwell. This running to earth of clues was 
 purely an affair of his own picturesque imagination. 
 
 I wondered uneasily what he had made of the up- 
 rooted vines but he would lay them to the pigs, no
 
 202 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 doubt. In the countenance of Mr. Tubbs, flushed 
 and exultant, there was no suspicion that the secret 
 was not all his own. 
 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne had been settling her hel- 
 met more firmly upon her wiry locks. She had a 
 closed umbrella beneath her arm, and she drew and 
 brandished it like a saber as she took a long stride 
 forward. 
 
 "Mr. Tubbs," she commanded, "lead on!" 
 
 But Mr. Tubbs did not lead on. He stood quite 
 still, regarding Miss Browne with a smile of infinite 
 slyness. 
 
 "Oh, no indeed!" he said. "Old H. H. wasn't 
 born yesterday. It may have struck you that to pos- 
 sess the sole and exclusive knowledge of the where- 
 abouts of a million or two ratin' it low is some 
 considerable of an asset. And it's one I ain't got the 
 least idee of par tin' with unless for inducements held 
 out." 
 
 Aunt Jane gave a faint shriek. I had been 
 silently debating what my own course should be 
 in the face of this unexpected development. Sud- 
 denly I saw my way quite clear. I would say 
 nothing. Mr. Tubbs should reveal his own per- 
 fidy. And the curtain should ring down upon
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 203 
 
 the play, leaving Mr. Tubbs foiled all around, 
 bereft both of the treasure and of Aunt Jane. Oh, 
 how I would enjoy the farce as it was played by the 
 unconscious actors ! How I would step in at the end 
 to reward virtue and punish guilt! And how I 
 would point the moral, later, very gently to Aunt 
 Jane, an Aunt Jane all penitence and docility ! 
 
 Little I dreamed what surprises ensuing acts of 
 the play were to hold for me, or of their astounding 
 contrast with the farce of my joyous imagination. 
 
 I took no part in the storm that raged round Mr. 
 Tubbs. It is said that in the heart of the tempest 
 there is calm, and this great truth of natural philos- 
 ophy Mr. Tubbs exemplified. His face adorned by 
 a seraphic, buttery smile, he stood unmoved, while 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne uttered cyclonic exhorta- 
 tions and reproaches, while Aunt Jane sobbed and 
 said, "Oh, Mr. Tubbs!" while Mr. Shaw strove to 
 make himself heard above the din. He did at least 
 succeed in extracting from the traitor a definite 
 statement of terms. These were nothing less than 
 fifty per cent, of the treasure, secured to him by a 
 document signed, sealed and delivered into his own 
 hands. To a suggestion that as he had discovered 
 the all-important tombstone so might some one else,
 
 204 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 he replied with tranquillity that he thought not, as he 
 had taken precautions against such an eventuality. 
 In other words, as I was later to discover, the wily 
 Mr. Tubbs had contrived to raise the boulder from 
 its bed and push it over the cliff into the sea, after- 
 ward replacing the mass of vines upon the grave. 
 
 As to the entrance to the tunnel, it was apparent 
 to me that Mr. Tubbs had not yet discovered it. 
 Even if he had, I am certain that he would have been 
 no more heroic than myself about exploring it, 
 though there was no missing Peter to haunt his 
 imagination. But with the grave as a starting-point, 
 there could be no question as to the ultimate dis- 
 covery of the cave. 
 
 I was so eager myself to see the inside of the 
 cave, and to know whatever it had to reveal of the 
 fate of Peter, that I was inclined to wish Mr. Tubbs 
 success in driving his hard bargain, especially as it 
 would profit him nothing in the end. But this senti- 
 ment was exclusively my own. On all hands indig- 
 nation greeted the rigorous demands of Mr. Tubbs. 
 With a righteous joy, I saw the fabric of Aunt 
 Jane's illusions shaken by the rude blast of reality. 
 Would it be riven quite in twain? I was dubious, 
 for Aunt Jane's illusions have a toughness in striking
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 205 
 
 contrast to the uncertain nature of her ideas in gen- 
 eral. Darker and darker disclosures of Mr. Tubbs's 
 perfidy would be required. But judging from his 
 present recklessness, they would be forthcoming. 
 For where was the Tubbs of yesterday the honey- 
 tongued, the suave, the anxiously obsequious Tubbs? 
 Gone, quite gone. Instead, here was a Tubbs who 
 cocked his helmet rakishly, and leered round upon 
 the company, deaf to the claims of loyalty, the pleas 
 of friendship, the voice of tenderness Aunt Jane's. 
 Manfully Miss Higglesby-Browne stormed up and 
 down the beach. She demanded of Mr. Shaw, of 
 Cuthbert Vane, of Captain Magnus, each and sev- 
 erally, that Mr. Tubbs be compelled to disgorge his 
 secret. You saw that she would not have shrunk 
 from a regimen of racks and thumbscrews. But 
 there were no racks or thumbscrews on the island. 
 Of course we could have invented various in- 
 struments of torture I felt I could have devel- 
 oped some ingenuity that way myself but too fa- 
 tally well Mr. Tubbs knew the civilized prejudices of 
 those with whom he had to deal. With perfect im- 
 punity he coujd strut about the camp, sure that no 
 weapons worse than words would be brought to 
 bear upon him, that he would not even be turned
 
 206 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 away from the general board to browse on cocoa- 
 nuts in solitude. 
 
 Long ago Mr. Shaw had left the field to Violet 
 and with a curt shrug had turned his back and stood 
 looking out over the cove, stroking his chin reflect- 
 ively. Miss Browne's eloquence had risen to amaz- 
 ing flights, and she already had Mr. Tubbs inex- 
 tricably mixed with Ananias and Sapphira, when 
 the Scotchman broke in upon her ruthlessly. 
 
 "Friends," he said, "so far as I can see we have 
 been put a good bit ahead by this morning's work. 
 First, we know that the grave which should be our 
 landmark has not been entirely obliterated by the 
 jungle, as I had thought most likely. Second, we 
 know that it is on this side of the island, for the rea- 
 son that this chap Tubbs hasn't nerve to go much be- 
 yond shouting distance by himself. Third, as Tubbs 
 has tried this hold-up business I believe we should 
 co.nsider the agreement by which he was to receive 
 a sixteenth share null and void, and decide here and 
 now that he gets nothing whatever. Fourth, the 
 boat is now pretty well to rights, and as soon as we 
 have a snack Bert and Magnus and I will set out, in 
 twice as good heart as before, having had the story
 
 MR. TUBES INTERRUPTS 207 
 
 that brought us here confirmed for the first time. 
 So Tubbs and his tombstone can go to thunder." 
 
 "I can, can I ?" cried Mr. Tubbs. "Say, are you 
 a human iceberg, to talk that cool before a man's 
 own face? Say, I'll " 
 
 But Cuthbert Vane broke in. 
 
 "Three rousing cheers, old boy !" he cried to the 
 Scotchman enthusiastically. "Always did think the 
 chap a frightful bounder, don't you know? We'll 
 stand by old Shaw, won't we, Magnus?" Which 
 comradely outbreak showed the excess of the beauti- 
 ful youth's emotions, for usually he turned a large 
 cold shoulder on the captain, though managing in 
 some mysterious manner to be perfectly civil all the 
 time. Perhaps you have to be born at High Staun- 
 ton Manor or its equivalent to possess the art of rele- 
 gating people to immense distances without seeming 
 to administer even the gentlest shove. 
 
 But unfortunately the effect of the Honorable 
 Cuthbert's cordiality was lost, so far as the object 
 of it was concerned, because of the surprising fact, 
 only now remarked by any one, that Captain Mag- 
 nus had disappeared.
 
 XV 
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 
 
 THE evanishment of Captain Magnus, though 
 quite unlocked for at so critical a moment, 
 was too much in keeping with his eccentric and un- 
 social ways to arouse much comment. Everybody 
 looked about with mild ejaculations of surprise, and 
 then forgot about the matter. 
 
 Whistling a Scotch tune, Dugald Shaw set to work 
 again on the boat. In the face of difficulty or oppo- 
 sition he always grew more brisk and cheerful. I 
 used to wonder whether in the event of a tornado 
 he would not warm into positive geniality. Perhaps 
 it would not have needed a tornado, if I had not be- 
 gun by suspecting him of conspiring against Aunt 
 Jane's pocket, or if the Triumvirate, inspired by Mr. 
 Tubbs, had not sat in gloomy judgment on his every 
 movement. Or if he hadn't been reproached so for 
 saving me from the cave, instead of leaving it to 
 Cuthbert Vane 
 
 208
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 209 
 
 But now under the stimulus of speaking his mind 
 about Mr. Tubbs the Scotchman whistled as he 
 worked, and slapped the noble youth affectionately 
 on the back when he came and got in the way with 
 anxious industry. 
 
 As I wanted to observe developments a very 
 necessary thing when you are playing Providence 
 I chose a central position in the shade and pulled 
 out some very smudgy tatting, a sort of Penelope's 
 web which there was no prospect of my ever com- 
 pleting, but which served admirably to give me an 
 appearance of occupation at critical moments. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs also had sought a shady spot and was 
 fanning himself with his helmet.- From time to time 
 he hummed, in a manner determinedly gay. How- 
 ever he might disguise it from himself, this time Mr. 
 Tubbs had overshot his mark. In the first thrill of 
 his great discovery he had thought the game was in 
 his hands. He had looked for an instant capitula- 
 tion. 
 
 The truth was, since our arrival on the island Mr. 
 Tubbs had felt himself the spoiled child of fortune. 
 Aunt Jane and Miss Higglesby-Browne were the 
 joint commanders of the expedition, and he com- 
 manded them. The Scotchman's theoretical rank
 
 210 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 as leader had involved merely the acceptance of all 
 the responsibility and blame, while authority rested 
 with the petticoat government dominated by the 
 bland and wily Tubbs. 
 
 Had Mr. Tubbs but continued bland and wily, 
 had he taken his fair confederates into his counsels, 
 who knows how fat a share of the treasure they 
 might have voted him. But he had abandoned his 
 safe nook behind the throne, and sought to come out 
 into the open as dictator. Sic semper tyrannis. So 
 had the mighty fallen. 
 
 Faced with the failure of his coup d'etat, Mr. 
 Tubbs's situation was, to say the least, awkward. 
 He had risked all, and lost it. But he maintained an 
 air of jaunty self-confidence, slightly tinged with 
 irony. It was all very well, he seemed to im- 
 ply, for us to try to get along without H. H. We 
 would discover the impossibility of it soon enough. 
 
 Aunt Jane, drooping, had been led away to the 
 cabin by Miss Higglesby-Browne. You now heard 
 the voice of Violet in exhortation, mingled with 
 Aunt Jane's sobs. I seemed to see that an ear of 
 Mr. Tubbs was cocked attentively in that direction. 
 He had indeed erred in the very wantonness of tri- 
 umph, for a single glance would have kept Aunt
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 211 
 
 Jane loyal and prodigal of excuses for him in the 
 face of any treachery. Not even Violet could have 
 clapped the lid on the up-welling fount of sentiment 
 in Aunt Jane's heart. Only the cold contemning eye 
 of H. H. himself had congealed that tepid flood. 
 
 The morning wore on with ever-increasing heat, 
 and as nothing happened I began to find my watch- 
 ful waiting dull. Crusoe, worn out perhaps by 
 some private nocturnal pig-hunt, slept heavily where 
 the drip of the spring over the brim of old Heintz's 
 kettle cooled the air. Aunt Jane's sobs had ceased, 
 and only a low murmur of voices came from the 
 cabin. I began to consider whether it would not be 
 well to take a walk with Cuthbert Vane and discover 
 the tombstone all over again. I knew nothing, of 
 course, of Mr. Tubbs's drastic measures with the 
 celebrated landmark. As to Cuthbert's interrupted 
 courtship, I depended on the vast excitement of dis- 
 covering the cave to distract his mind from it. For 
 that was the idea, of course Cuthbert Vane and I 
 would explore the cave, and then whenever I liked 
 I could prick the bubble of Mr. Tubbs's ambitions, 
 without relating the whole strange story of the diary 
 and the Island Queen. I was immensely pleased al- 
 ready by the elimination of Mr. Tubbs from the
 
 212 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 number of those who need have a finger in the 
 golden pie. I thought that perhaps with time and 
 patience I might coax events to play still further 
 into my hand. 
 
 But meanwhile the cave drew me like a magnet. 
 I jealously desired to be the first to see it, to snatch 
 from Mr. Tubbs the honors of discovery. And I 
 wanted to know about poor Peter and the doub- 
 loons that he had gone back to fetch. 
 
 But already Captain Magnus had forsaken the 
 post of duty and departed on an unknown errand. 
 Could I ask Cuthbert Vane to do it, too? And then 
 I smiled a smile that was half proud. I might ask 
 him but he would refuse me. In Cuthbert's sim- 
 ple code, certain things were "done," certain others 
 not. Among the nots was to fail in standing by a 
 friend. And just now Cuthbert was standing by 
 Dugald Shaw. Therefore nods and becks and 
 wreathed smiles were vain. In Cuthbert's quiet, 
 easy-mannered, thick-headed way he could turn his 
 back calmly on the face of love and follow the harsh 
 call of duty even to death. It would not occur to 
 him not to. And he never would suspect himself of 
 being a hero that would be quite the nicest part 
 of it.
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 213 
 
 And yet I knew poor Cuthbert was an exploded 
 superstition, an anachronism, part of a vanishing 
 order of things, and that the ideal which was re- 
 placing him was a boiler-plated monster with clock- 
 work heart and brain, named Efficiency. And that 
 Cuthbert must go, along with his Jacobean manor, 
 and his family ghost, and the oaks in the park, and 
 everything else that couldn't prove its right to live 
 except by being fine and lovely and full of garnered 
 sweetness of the past 
 
 At this point in my meditations the door of the 
 cabin opened and Miss Browne came out, looking 
 sternly resolute. Aunt Jane followed, very pink 
 about the eyes and nose. She threw an anxious flut- 
 tering glance at Mr. Tubbs, who sat up briskly, and 
 in a nervous manner polished with a large bandana 
 that barren zone, his cranium, which looked torrid 
 enough to scorch the very feet of the flies that 
 walked on it. It was clear that on the lips of Miss 
 Browne there hovered some important announce- 
 ment, which might well be vital to the fortunes of 
 Mr. Tubbs. 
 
 With a commanding gesture Miss Browne sig- 
 naled the rest to approach. Mr. Tubbs bounced up 
 with alacrity. Mr. Shaw and Cuthbert obeyed less
 
 214 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 promptly, but they obeyed. Meanwhile Violet 
 waited, looking implacable as fate. 
 
 "And where is Captain Magnus?" she demanded, 
 glancing about her. 
 
 But no one knew what had become of Captain 
 Magnus. 
 
 As for myself, I continued to sit in the shade and 
 tat. But I could hear with ease all that was said. 
 
 "Mr. Tubbs," began Miss Browne, "your recent 
 claims have been matter of prolonged consideration 
 between Miss Harding and myself. We feel we 
 can not but feel that there was a harshness in your 
 announcement of them, an apparent concentration 
 on your own interests, ill befitting a member of this 
 expedition. Also, that in actual substance, they 
 were excessive. Not half, Mr. Tubbs; oh, no, not 
 half ! But one-quarter, Miss Harding and myself, as 
 the joint heads of the Harding-Browne expedition, 
 are inclined to think no more than the reward which 
 is your due. We suggest, therefore, a simple way 
 out of the difficulty. Mr. Dugald Shaw was en- 
 gaged on liberal terms to find the treasure. He has 
 not found the treasure. He has not found the slight- 
 est clue to its present whereabouts. Mr. Tubbs, on 
 the contrary, has found a clue. It is a clue of the
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 215 
 
 first importance. It is equivalent almost to the ac- 
 tual discovery of the chest. Therefore let Mr. 
 Shaw, convinced I am sure by this calm presentation 
 of the matter of the justice of such a course, resign 
 his claim to a fourth share of the treasure in favor 
 of Mr. Hamilton H. Tubbs, and agree to receive in- 
 stead the former allotment of Mr. Tubbs, namely, 
 one-sixteenth." 
 
 Having offered this remarkable suggestion, Miss 
 Browne folded her arms and waited for it to bear 
 fruit. 
 
 It did in the enthusiastic response of Mr. Tubbs. 
 Having already played his highest trump and missed 
 the trick, he now found himself with an entirely 
 fresh hand dealt to him by the obliging Miss Hig- 
 glesby-Browne. The care in his countenance yielded 
 to beaming smiles. 
 
 "Well, well !" he exclaimed. "To think of your 
 takin' old H. H. that literal! O' course, havin' 
 formed my habits in the financial centers of the 
 country, I named a stiff price at first a stiff price, 
 I won't deny. But that's jest the leetle way of a 
 man used to handlin' large affairs nothin' else to it, 
 I do assure you. The Old Man himself used to say, 
 There's old H. H. you'd think he'd eat the paint
 
 216 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 off a house, he'll show up that graspin' in a deal. 
 And all the time it's jest love of the game. Let him 
 know he's goin' to win out, and bless you, old H. H. 
 will swing right round and fair force the profits on 
 the other party. H. H. is slicker than soap to handle, 
 if only you handle him right.' Can I say without 
 hard feelin's that jest now H. H. was not handled 
 right? Instead o' bein' joshed with, as he looked for, 
 he was took up short, and even them which he might 
 have expected to show confidence" here Mr. 
 Tubbs cast a reproachful eye at Aunt Jane "run 
 off with the notion that he meant jest what he said. 
 All he'd done for this expedition, his loyalty and 
 faith to same, was forgotten, and he was thought of 
 as a self-seeker and Voracious Shark !" The pain of 
 these recollections dammed the torrent of Mr. 
 Tubbs' 9 speech. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Tubbs!" breathed Aunt Jane heart- 
 brokenly, and of course a tear trickled gently down 
 her nose, following the path of many previous tears 
 which had already left their saline traces. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs managed in some impossible fashion 
 to roll one eye tenderly at Aunt Jane, while keeping 
 the other fastened shrewdly on the remainder of his 
 audience.
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 217 
 
 "Miss Higglesby-Browne and Miss Jane Hard- 
 ing," he resumed, "I accept. It would astonish 
 them as has only known H. H. on his financial side 
 to see him agree to a reduction of profits like this 
 without a kick. But I'm a man of impulse, I am. 
 Get me on my soft side and a kitten ain't more im- 
 pulsive than old H. H. And o' course the business 
 of this expedition ain't jest business to me. It's er 
 friendship, and er sentiment in short, there's 
 feelin's that is more than worth their weight in 
 gold!" 
 
 At these significant words the agitation of Aunt 
 Jane was extreme. Was it possible that Mr. Tubbs 
 was declaring himself in the presence of others and 
 was a response demanded from herself would his 
 sensitive nature, so lately wounded by cruel suspi- 
 cion, interpret her silence as fatal to his hopes ? But 
 while she struggled between maiden shyness and the 
 fear of crushing Mr. Tubbs the conversation had 
 swept on. 
 
 "Mr. Shaw," said Miss Browne, "you have heard 
 Mr. Tubbs, in the interest of the expedition, liberally 
 consent to reduce his claim by one-half. Doubtless, 
 if only in a spirit of emulation, you will attempt to 
 match this conduct by canceling our present agree-
 
 218 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 ment and consenting to another crediting you with 
 the former sixteenth share of Mr. Tubbs." 
 
 "Don't do it, Shaw hold the fort, old boy!" 
 broke in Cuthbert Vane. "I say, Miss Browne, this 
 is a bally shame !" 
 
 Miss Browne had always treated the prospective 
 Lord Grasmere with distinguished politeness. Even 
 now her air was mild though lofty. 
 
 "Mr. Vane, I must beg leave to remind you that 
 the object of this expedition was yet unattained 
 when Mr. Tubbs, by following clues ignored by 
 others, brought success within our reach. Mr. 
 Dugald Shaw having conspicuously failed " 
 
 "Failed!" repeated Cuthbert, with unprecedented 
 energy. "Failed ! I say, that's too bad of you, Miss 
 Browne. Wasn't everybody here a lot keener than 
 old Shaw about mucking in that silly cave where 
 those Johnnies would have had hard work to bury 
 anything unless they were mermaids ? Didn't the old 
 chap risk his neck a dozen times a day while this 
 Christopher Columbus stayed high and dry ashore ? 
 Suppose he did find the tombstone by stubbing his 
 silly toes on it so far he hasn't found the cave, 
 much less the box of guineas or whatever those for- 
 eign chaps call their money. Let Mr. Tubbs go sit
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 219 
 
 on the tombstone if he likes. Shaw and I can find 
 the cave quite on our own, can't we, Shaw ?" 
 
 "Mr. Vane," replied the still deferential Violet, 
 "as a member of the British aristocracy, it is not to 
 be supposed that you would view financial matters 
 with the same eye as those of us of the Middle 
 Classes, who, unhappily perhaps for our finer feel- 
 ings, have been obliged to experience the harsh con- 
 tacts of common life. Your devotion to Mr. Shaw 
 has a romantic ardor which I can not but admire. 
 But permit us also our enthusiasm for the perspica- 
 city of Mr. Tubbs, to which we owe the wealth now 
 within our grasp." 
 
 Mr. Shaw now spoke for the first time. 
 
 "Miss Browne, I do not recognize the justice of 
 your standpoint in this matter. I have done and am 
 still prepared to do my best in this business of the 
 treasure. If Mr. Tubbs will not give his informa- 
 tion except for a bribe, I say let him keep it. We 
 are no worse off without it than we were before, and 
 you were then confident of success. My intention, 
 ma'am, is to hold you to our original agreement. I 
 shall continue the search for the treasure on the 
 same lines as at present." 
 
 "One moment," said Miss Browne haughtily. She
 
 220 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 had never spoken otherwise than haughtily to Mr. 
 Shaw since the episode of the Wise Woman of 
 Dumbiedykes. "One moment, Jane and you, Mr. 
 Tubbs " 
 
 She drew them aside, and they moved off out of 
 earshot, where they stood with their backs to us and 
 their heads together. 
 
 It was my opportunity. Violet herself had pro- 
 posed that the original agreement the agreement 
 which bound me to ask for no share of the treasure 
 should be canceled. Nothing now was necessary 
 to the ripening of my hopes but to induce Dugald 
 Shaw to immolate himself. Would he do so on 
 my bare word ? There was no time to explain any- 
 thing he must trust me. 
 
 I sprang up and dashed over to the pair who stood 
 looking gloomily out to sea. They turned in surprise 
 and stared down, the two big men, into my flushed 
 up-tilted face. 
 
 "Mr. Shaw," I whispered quickly, "you must do 
 as Miss Browne wishes." In my earnestness I laid 
 a hand upon his arm. He regarded me bewilderedly. 
 
 "You must you must!" I urged. "You'll spoil 
 everything if you refuse!" 
 
 The surprise in his face yielded to a look com-
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 221 
 
 posed of many elements, but which was mainly hard 
 and bitter. 
 
 "And still I shall refuse," he said sardonically. 
 
 "Oh, no, no," I implored, "you don't understand ! 
 I oh, if you would only believe that I am your 
 friend!" 
 
 His face changed subtly. It was still questioning 
 and guarded, but with a softening in it, too. 
 
 "Why don't you believe it?" I whispered un- 
 steadily. "Do you forget that I owe you my life?" 
 
 And at the recollection of that day in the sea-cave 
 the scarlet burned in my cheeks and my head 
 drooped. But I saw how the lines about his* mouth 
 relaxed. "Surely you must know that I would 
 repay you if I could!" I hurried on. "And not by 
 treachery." 
 
 He laughed suddenly. "Treachery? No! I think 
 you would always be an open foe." 
 
 "Indeed I would !" I answered with a flash of 
 wrath. Then, as I remembered the need of haste, I 
 spoke in an intense quick whisper. "Listen I can't 
 explain, there isn't time. I can only ask you to trust 
 me to agree to what Miss Browne wishes. Every- 
 thing you don't dream how much depends on it !" 
 For I felt that I would let the treasure lie hidden in
 
 222 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the Island Queen forever rather than that Mr. 
 Tubbs should, under the original contract, claim a 
 share of it. 
 
 The doubt had quite left his face. 
 
 "I do trust you, little Virginia," he said gently. 
 "Yes, I trust in your honesty, heaven knows, child. 
 But permit me to question your wisdom in desiring 
 to enrich our friend Tubbs." 
 
 "Enrich him enrich him! The best I wish him 
 is unlimited gruel in an almshouse somewhere. No ! 
 What I want is to get that wretched paper of Miss 
 Browne's nullified. Afterward we can divide things 
 up as we like " 
 
 Bewilderment, shot with a gleam of half-incredu- 
 lous understanding, seemed to transfix him. We 
 stood a long moment, our eyes challenging each 
 other, exchanging their countersign of faith and 
 steadfastness. Then slowly he held out his hand. I 
 laid mine in it-^-we stood hand in hand, comrades at 
 last. Without more words he turned away and 
 strode- over to the council of three. 
 
 I now became aware of Cuthbert Vane, whom 
 perplexity had carried far beyond the bounds of 
 speech and imprisoned in a sort of torpor. He was 
 showing faint symptoms of revival, and had got as
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 223 
 
 far as "I say ?" uttered in the tone of one who 
 finds himself moving about in worlds not realized, 
 when the near-by group dissolved and moved rapidly 
 toward us. Miss Browne, exultant, beaming, was in 
 the van. She set her substantial feet down like a 
 charger pawing the earth. You might almost have 
 said that Violet pranced. Aunt Jane was round- 
 eyed and twittering. Mr. Tubbs wore a look of sup- 
 pressed astonishment, almost of perturbation. 
 What's- his game? was the question in the sophisti- 
 cated eye of Mr. Tubbs. But the Scotchman had 
 when he chose a perfect poker face. The great 
 game of bluff would have suited him to a nicety. 
 Mr. Tubbs interrogated that inexpressive counte- 
 nance in vain, 
 
 Miss Browne advanced on Cuthbert Vane and 
 seized both his hands in an ardent clasp. 
 
 "Mr. Vane," she said with solemnity, "I thank 
 you in the name of this expedition I thank you 
 for the influence you have exerted upon your 
 friend !" 
 
 And this seemed to be to the noble youth the most 
 stunning of all the shocks of that eventful morning. 
 
 Now came the matter of drawing up the new 
 agreement. It was a canny Scot indeed who, acting
 
 224 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 on the hint I had just given him, finally settled its 
 terms. In the first place, the previous agreement 
 was declared null and void. In the second, Mr. 
 Tubbs was to have his fourth only if the treasure 
 were discovered through his direct agency. And it 
 was under this condition and no other that Dugald 
 Shaw bound himself to relinquish his original claim. 
 Virginia Harding signed a new renunciatory clause, 
 but it bore only on treasure discovered by Mr. 
 Tubbs. Indeed, the entire contract was of force only 
 if Mr. Tubbs fulfilled his part of it, and fell to pieces 
 if he did not. Which was exactly what I wanted. 
 
 Miss Browne and Mr. Tubbs demurred a little at 
 the* wording on which Mr. Shaw insisted, but Mr. 
 Tubbs's confidence in the infallibility of the tomb- 
 stone was so great that no real objection was inter- 
 posed. No difficulty was made of the absence of 
 Captain Magnus, as his interests were unaffected by 
 the change. Space was left for his signature. Mine 
 came last of all, as that of a mere interloper and 
 hanger-on. I added it and handed the paper de- 
 murely across to Violet, who consigned it to an ap- 
 parently bottomless pocket. Copies were to be made 
 after lunch. 
 
 My demonstrations of joy at this happy issue of
 
 SOME SECRET DIPLOMACY 225 
 
 my hopes had to be confined to a smile in which 
 for a startled instant Violet had seemed to sense the 
 triumph. It was still on my lips as with a general 
 movement we rose from the table about which we 
 had been grouped during the absorbing business of 
 drawing up the contract. Cookie had been clamor- 
 ing for us to leave, that he might spread the table 
 for lunch. I had opened my mouth to call to him, 
 "All right, Cookie!" when a shrill volley of barks 
 from Crusoe shattered the stillness of the drowsy 
 air. In the same instant the voice of Cookie, raised 
 to a sharp note of alarm, rang through the camp: 
 "M.y Gawd, what all dis yere mean?" 
 I turned, to look into the muzzle of a rifle.
 
 XVI 
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 
 
 FIVE men had emerged from the woods behind 
 the clearing, so quietly that they were in the 
 center of the camp before Crusoe's shrill bark, or the 
 outcry of the cook, warned us of their presence. By 
 that time they had us covered. Three of them car- 
 ried rifles, the other two revolvers. One of these 
 was Captain Magnus. 
 
 Advancing a step or two before the others he 
 ordered us to throw up our hands. Perhaps he. 
 meant only the men but my hands and Aunt Jane's 
 and Miss Higglesby-Browne's also went up with 
 celerity. He grinned into our astounded faces with 
 a wolfish baring of his yellow teeth. 
 
 "Never guessed I wasn't here jest to do the shovel 
 work, but might have my own little side-show to 
 bring off, hey?" he inquired of no one in particular. 
 "Here, Slinker, help me truss 'em up." 
 
 The man addressed thrust his pistol in his belt and 
 came forward, and with his help the hands of the 
 226
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 227 
 
 Scotchman, Cuthbert Vane and Mr. Tubbs were se- 
 curely tied. They were searched for arms, and the 
 sheath-knives which Mr. Shaw and Cuthbert carried 
 at their belts were taken away. The three prisoners 
 were then ordered to seat themselves in a row on the 
 trunk of a prostrate palm. 
 
 The whole thing had happened in the strangest 
 silence. Except for a feeble moaning from Aunt 
 Jane, like the bleating of a sheep, which broke forth 
 at intervals, nobody spoke or made a sound. The 
 three riflemen in the background, standing like im- 
 ages with their weapons raised, looked like a well- 
 trained chorus in an opera. 
 
 And indeed it was all extraordinarily like some- 
 thing on a stage. Slinker, for instance. He had a 
 prowling, sidelong fashion of moving about, and 
 enormous yellow mustaches like a Viking. Surely 
 some artist in the make-up line had invented 
 Slinker! And the burly fellow in the background, 
 with the black whiskers too bad he'd forgotten his 
 earrings 
 
 But I awoke to the horrid reality of it all as Cap- 
 tain Magnus, smiling his wolfish smile, turned and 
 approached me. 
 
 "Well, boys," he remarked to his followers, who
 
 228 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 had now lowered their weapons and were standing 
 about at ease, "here's the little pippin I was tellin' 
 of. 'Fraid we give her a little scare bustin' in so sud- 
 den, so she ain't quite so bright and smilin' as I like 
 to see. It's all right, girlie; you'll soon cheer up 
 when you find out you're goin* to be the little queen 
 o' this camp. Things will be all your way now so 
 long as you treat me right." And the abominable 
 creature thrust forth a hairy paw and deliberately 
 chucked me under the chin. 
 
 I heard a roar from the log and coincidently 
 from Captain Magnus. For with the instant re- 
 sponse of an automaton consciously I had nothing 
 at all to do with it I had reached up and briskly 
 boxed the captain's ears. 
 
 Furiously he caught my wrist. "Ah, you red- 
 headed little devil, you'll pay for this ! I ain't pretty, 
 oh, no! I ain't a handsome mooncalf like the Hon- 
 orable ; I ain't got a title, nor girly pink cheeks, nor 
 fine gentleman ways. No walks with the likes o' me, 
 no tatey-tates in the woods oh, no ! Well, it's goin' 
 to be another story now, girlie. I guess you can 
 learn to like my looks, with a little help from my fist 
 now and then, jest as well as you done the Honor- 
 able's. I guess it won't be long before I have you
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 229 
 
 crawlin' on your knees to me for a word o' kind- 
 ness. I guess " 
 
 "Aw, stow that soft stuff, Magnus," advised 
 Slinker. "You can do your spoonin' with the gal 
 later on. We're here to git that gold, and don't 
 you forget it. Plenty o' time afterwards to spark 
 the wimmen." 
 
 "That's the talk," chimed in Blackbeard. "Don't 
 run us on a lee shore for the sake of a skirt. Skirts 
 is thicker'n herring in every port, ain't they ?" 
 
 "I got a score to settle with this one," growled 
 Magnus sullenly, but his grasp loosened on my arm, 
 and I slipped from him and fled to Aunt Jane yes, 
 to Aunt Jane and clung to her convulsively. The 
 poor little woman was crying, of course, making a 
 low inarticulate whimper like a frightened child. 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne seemed to have petrified. 
 Her skin had a withered look, and a fine network of 
 lines showed on it, suddenly clear, like a tracery on 
 parchment. Beyond her I saw the face of Dugald 
 Shaw, gray with a steely wrath. A gun had been 
 trained anew on him and Cuthbert, and the bearer 
 thereof was arguing with them profanely. I sup- 
 pose the prisoners had threatened outbreak at the 
 spectacle of the chin-chucking.
 
 230 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 No one had bothered to secure Cookie, and he 
 knelt among the pots and pans of his open-air 
 kitchen, pouring forth petitions in a steady stream. 
 Blackbeard, who seemed a jovial brute, burst into a 
 loud guffaw. 
 
 "Ha, ha! Look at old Soot-and-Cinders gittin' 
 hisself ready for glory!" He approached the negro 
 and aimed at him a kick which Cookie, arising with 
 unexpected nimbleness, contrived to dodge. "Looky 
 here, darky, git busy dishin' up the grub, will you? 
 I could stand one good feed after the forecastle 
 slops we been livin' on." 
 
 Blackbeard, whom his companions addressed in- 
 discriminately as "Captain," or "Tony," seemed to 
 exercise a certain authority. He went over to the 
 prisoners on the log and inspected their bonds. 
 
 "You'll do ; can't git loose nohow," he announced. 
 Then, with a savage frown, "But no monkey busi- 
 ness. First o' that I see, it's a dose o' cold lead for 
 youse, savvy?" 
 
 He turned to us women. 
 
 "Well, chickabiddies, we ain't treated you harsh, 
 I hope? Now I don't care about tyin' youse up, in 
 case we can help it, so jest be good girls, and I'll let 
 youse run around loose for a while."
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 231 
 
 But Magnus struck in with an oath. 
 
 "Loose? You're turnin' soft, I say. The future 
 Mrs. M. there which I mean to make her if she be- 
 haves right she's a handful, she is. There ain't no 
 low trick she won't play on us if she gets the chance. 
 Better tie her up, I say." 
 
 "Magnus," responded Tony with severity, "it'd 
 make a person think to hear you talk that you wasn't 
 no gentleman. If you can't keep little Red-top in 
 order without you tie her, why, then hand her over 
 to a guy what can. I bet I wouldn't have a speck o' 
 trouble with her her and me would git along as 
 sweet as two turtle-doves." 
 
 "You dry up, Tony," said Magnus, lowering. 
 "I'll look after my own affairs of the heart. Any- 
 way, here's them two old hens what have been 
 makin' me sick with their jabber and nonsense all 
 these weeks. Ain't I goin' to have a chance to get 
 square ?" 
 
 "Here, youse!" struck in Slinker, "quit your 
 jawin' ! Here's a feed we ain't seen the like of in 
 weeks." 
 
 Tony thereupon ordered the women to sit down 
 on the ground in the shade and not move under pen- 
 alty of "gettin' a wing clipped." We obeyed in si-
 
 232 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 lence and looked on while the pirates with wolfish 
 voracity devoured the meal which had been meant 
 for us. They had pocket-flasks with them, and as 
 they attacked them with frequency the talk grew 
 louder and wilder. By degrees it was possible to 
 comprehend the extraordinary disaster which had 
 befallen us, at least in a sketchy outline of which the 
 detail was filled in later. Tony, it appeared, was the 
 master of a small power-schooner which had been 
 fitting out in San Francisco for a filibustering trip 
 to the Mexican coast. His three companions were 
 the crew. None was of the old hearty breed 
 of sailors, but wharf-rats pure and simple, city- 
 dregs whom chance had led to follow the sea. 
 Tony, in whom one detected a certain rough force 
 and ability, was an Italian, an outlaw specimen of 
 the breed which mans the fishing fleet putting forth 
 from the harbor of San Francisco. When and 
 where he and Magnus had been friends I do not 
 know. But no sooner had the wisdom of Miss 
 Browne imparted the great secret to her chance ac- 
 quaintance of the New York wharves, than he had 
 communicated with his old pal Tony. The power- 
 schooner with her unlawful cargo stole out through 
 the gate, made her delivery in the Mexican port,.
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 233 
 
 took on fresh supplies, and stood away for Leeward 
 Island. The western anchorage had received and 
 snugly hidden her. Captain Magnus, meanwhile, by 
 means of a mirror flashed from Lookout, had main- 
 tained communication with his friends, and even 
 visited them under cover of the supposed shooting 
 expedition. And now, while we had been striving 
 to overcome the recalcitrancy of Mr. Tubbs, Captain 
 Magnus had taken a short cut to the same end. You 
 felt that the secret of Mr. Tubbs would be extracted, 
 if need be, by no delicate methods. 
 
 But Mr. Tubbs's character possessed none of that 
 unreasonable obstinacy which would make harsh 
 measures necessary under such conditions. His 
 countenance, as the illuminating conversation of the 
 pirates had proceeded, lost the speckled appearance 
 which had characterized it at the height of his ter- 
 rors. Something like his normal hue returned. He 
 sat up straighter, moistened his dry lips, and looked 
 around upon us, yes, even upon Aunt Jane and Miss 
 Higglesby-Browne, with whom he had been so lately 
 and so tenderly reconciled, with a sidelong, calculat- 
 ing glance. After the pirates had eaten, the prison- 
 ers on the log were covered with a rifle and their 
 hands untied, while Cookie, in a lugubrious silence
 
 234 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 made eloquent by his rolling eyes, passed around 
 among us the remnants of the food. No one can be 
 said to have eaten with appetite except Mr. Tubbs, 
 who received his portion with wordy gratitude and 
 devoured it with seeming gusto. The pirates, full- 
 fed, with pipes in mouths, were inclined to be affable 
 and jocular. "Feeding the animals," as Slinker 
 called it, seemed to afford them much agreeable di- 
 version. Even Magnus had lost in a degree his usual 
 sullenness, and was wreathed in simian smiles. The 
 intense terror and revulsion which he inspired in me 
 kept my unwilling eyes constantly wandering in his 
 direction. Yet under all the terror was a bedrock 
 confidence that there was, there must be somehow in 
 the essence of things, an eternal rightness which 
 would keep me safe from Captain Magnus. And as 
 I looked across at Dugald Shaw and met for an in- 
 stant his steady watchful eyes, I managed a swift 
 little smile a rather wan smile, I dare say, but still 
 a smile. 
 
 Cuthbert Vane caught, so to speak, the tail of it, 
 and was electrified. I saw his lips form at Mr. 
 Shaw's ear the words, Wonderful little sport, by 
 For some time after our capture by the pi-
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 235 
 
 rates Cuthbert's state had been one of settled incre- 
 dulity. Even when they tied his hands he had con- 
 tinued to contemplate the invaders as illusions. It 
 was, this remarkable episode, altogether a thing 
 without precedent and what was that but another 
 name for the impossible ? And then slowly, by pain- 
 ful degrees you saw them reflected in his candid 
 face it grew upon him that it was precisely the im- 
 possible, the unprecedented, that was happening. 
 
 A curious stiffening came over Cuthbert Vane. 
 For the first time in my knowledge of him he 
 showed the consciousness instead of only the sub- 
 consciousness of the difference between Norman 
 blood and the ordinary sanguine fluid. His shoul- 
 ders squared; he lost his habitual easy lounge and 
 sat erect and tall. Something stern and aquiline 
 showed through the smooth beauty of his face, so 
 that you thought of effigies of crusading knights 
 stretched on their ancient tombs in High Staunton 
 church. He was their true descendant after all, this 
 slow, calm, gentle-mannered Cuthbert. It was a 
 young lion that I had been playing with, and the 
 claws were there, strong and terrible in their velvet 
 sheath.
 
 236 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Captain Tony, having finished his pipe, knocked 
 the ashes out against the heel of his boot and put the 
 pipe in his pocket. 
 
 "Well," he said, stretching, "I'd ruther have a 
 nap, but business is business, so let's get down to it. 
 Which o' them guys has the line on the stuff, Mag- 
 nus?" 
 
 "Old Baldy, here," returned Magnus, with a nod 
 at Mr. Tubbs. "Old Washtubs I call him generally, 
 ha, ha!" 
 
 "Then looky here, Washtubs," said Tony, ad- 
 dressing Mr. Tubbs with sudden sternness, "maybe 
 you could bluff these here soft guys, but we're a dif- 
 ferent breed o' cats, we are. Whatever you know, 
 you'll come through with it and come quick, or it'll 
 be the worse for your hide, see?" 
 
 Mr. Tubbs rose from the log with promptness. 
 
 "Captain," he said earnestly, "from long expe- 
 rience in the financial centers of the country, I have 
 got to be a man what understands human nature. 
 The minute I looked at you, I seen it in your eye 
 that there wasn't no use in tryin' to bluff you. 
 What's more, I don't want to. Once he gets with a 
 congenial crowd, there ain't a feller anywheres that 
 will do more in the cause o' friendship than old
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 237 
 
 Hamilton H. Tubbs. And you are a congenial 
 crowd, you boys gosh, but you do look good to me 
 after the bunch o' stiffs I been playin' up to here ! 
 All I ask is, to let me in on it with you, and I'll be 
 glad to put you wise to the best tricks of a sly old 
 fox who ain't ever been caught yet without two 
 holes to his burrow. I won't ask no half, nor no 
 quarter, either, though I jest signed up for that 
 amount with the old girl here. But give me free- 
 dom, and a bunch o' live wires like you boys ! I've 
 near froze into a plaster figure o' Virtue, what with 
 talkin' like a Sunday-school class, and sparkin' one 
 old maid, and makin' out like I wouldn't melt butter 
 with the other. So H. H. will ship along of you, 
 mates, and we'll off to the China coast somewheres 
 where the spendin' is good and the police not too 
 nosy, and try how far a trunkful of doubloons will 
 go!" 
 
 With a choky little gurgle in her throat Aunt Jane 
 fe 1 ! limply against me. It was too much. All day 
 long she had been tossed back and forth like a shut- 
 tlecock by the battledore of emotion. She had borne 
 the shock of Mr. Tubbs's sordid greed for gold, his 
 disloyalty to "the expedition, his coldness to herself; 
 she had been shaken by the tender stress of the rec-
 
 238 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 onciliation, had been captured by pirates, and now 
 suffered the supreme blow of this final revelation of 
 the treachery of Tubbs. To hear her romance de- 
 scribed as the sparking of an old maid and by the 
 sparker ! From Miss Higglesby-Browne had come a 
 snort of fury, but she said nothing, having appar- 
 ently no confidence in the effect of oratory on pi- 
 rates. She did not even exhort Aunt Jane, but left 
 it to me to sustain my drooping aunt as best I could. 
 
 As Mr. Tubbs made his whole-hearted and mag- 
 nanimous proposal Captain Tony opened his small 
 black eyes and contemplated him with attention. At 
 the conclusion he appeared to meditate. Then he 
 glanced round upon his fellows. 
 
 "What say, boys ? Shall we ship old Washtubs on 
 the schooner and let him have his fling along with 
 us? Eh?" And as Captain Tony uttered these 
 words the lid of his left eye eclipsed for an instant 
 that intelligent optic. 
 
 From the pirates came a scattering volley of as- 
 sents. "All right hooray for old Washtubs sure, 
 close the deal." 
 
 "All right, Washtubs, the boys are willing. So I 
 guess, though this island is the very lid of the hot 
 place, and when I come again it's going to be with
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 239 
 
 an iceberg in tow to keep the air cooled off, I guess 
 we better be moving toward that chest of doub- 
 loons." 
 
 It was arranged that Slinker and a cross-eyed 
 man named Horny should remain at the camp on 
 guard. As a measure of precaution Cookie, too, 
 was bound, and Aunt Jane, Miss Browne and I 
 ordered into the cabin. The three remaining pirates, 
 armed with our spades and picks and dispensing a 
 great deal of jocular profanity, set out for the cave 
 under the guidance of Mr. Tubbs. 
 
 Thankful as I was for the departure of Captain 
 Magnus, I underwent torments in the stifling in- 
 terior of the cabin. Aunt Jane wept piteously. I 
 had almost a fellow-feeling with Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne when she relapsed from her rigidity for a 
 moment and turning on Aunt Jane fiercely ordered 
 her to be still. This completed the wreck of Aunt 
 Jane's universe. Its two main props had now fallen, 
 and she was left sitting solitary amid the ruins. She 
 subsided into a lachrymose heap in the corner of the 
 cabin, where I let her remain for the time, it was 
 really such a comfort to have her out of the way. 
 At last I heard a faint moan : 
 
 "Virginia!"
 
 240 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 I went to her. "Yes, auntie ?" 
 
 "Virginia," she murmured weakly, "I think I 
 shall not live to leave the island, even if I am not 
 not executed. In fact, I have a feeling now as 
 though thfe end were approaching. I have always 
 known that my heart was not strong, even if your 
 Aunt Susan did call it indigestion. But oh, my dear 
 child, it is not my digestion, it is my heart that has 
 been wounded ! To have reposed such confidence in 
 a Serpent! To realize that I might have been im- 
 paled upon its fangs ! Oh, my dear, faithful child, 
 what would I have done if you had not clung to me 
 although I permitted Serpents to turn me from you ! 
 But I am cruelly punished. All I ask is that some 
 day when you are married and happy, dear you 
 will remove from this desolate spot the poor remains 
 of her who of her who " Sobs choked Aunt 
 Jane's utterance. 
 
 "Jane " began Miss Higglesby-Browne. 
 
 "I was speaking to my niece," replied Aunt Jane 
 with unutterable dignity from her corner. Her 
 small features had all but disappeared in her swol- 
 len face, and her hair had slipped down at a rakish 
 angle over one eye. But, of course, being Aunt Jane, 
 she must choose this moment to be queenly.
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 241 
 
 "There, there, auntie," I said soothingly, "of 
 course you are not going to leave your bones on this 
 island. If you did, you know, you and Bill Halli- 
 well might ha'nt around together think how cozy ! 
 (Here Aunt Jane gave a convulsive shudder.) As 
 to my being married, if you were betting just now 
 on anybody's chances they would have to be Captain 
 Magnus's, wouldn't they?" 
 
 "Good gracious, Virginia!" shrieked Aunt Jane 
 faintly. But I went on relentlessly, determined to 
 distract her mind from thoughts of her approaching 
 end. 
 
 "All things considered, I suppose I really ought to 
 ask you to put my affairs in order when you get 
 back. If I am carried off by the pirates, naturally 
 I shall have to jump overboard at once, though I dis- 
 like the idea of drowning, and especially of being 
 eaten by sharks. Would you mind putting up a little 
 headstone it needn't cost much in the family plot, 
 with just 'Virginia' on it? And anything of mine 
 that you don't want yourself I'd like Bess to have 
 for the baby, please. Ask her when the little duck is 
 old enough to tell her my sad story " 
 
 By this time Aunt Jane was sobbing loudly and 
 waving her little hands about in wild beseeching.
 
 242 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "Oh, my precious girl, a headstone! My love, 
 would I grudge you a monument all white marble 
 little angels 'From her heart-broken aunt' ? Oh, 
 why, why are we not safe at home together ? Why 
 was I lured away to wander about the world with 
 perfect strangers ? Why " 
 
 "Jane !" broke in Miss Browne again in awful 
 tones. But at that moment the door of the cabin 
 opened and the face of Slinker peered in. 
 
 "Say," he remarked, "there ain't no sense in you 
 girls stayin' cooped up here that I see. I guess me 
 and Horny can stand you off if you try to rush us. 
 Come out and cool off a little." 
 
 The great heat of the day was over and the sun 
 already dropping behind the peak of the island. Mr. 
 Shaw and Cuthbert had been allowed to sit in the 
 shade, and I thought their wrists were not too 
 tightly bound for comfort. Cookie had been re- 
 leased, and under the eye of Horny was getting sup- 
 per. Crusoe had earlier in the day received a kick in 
 the ribs from Captain Magnus, fortunately too 
 much occupied with the prisoners to pursue his ven- 
 geance further, and had fled precipitately, to my 
 enormous relief. The dog was quite wise enough to
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 243 
 
 know that he would help me best by keeping out of 
 the clutches of our common foe. I hoped he had 
 gone back to his solitary pig-chasing, though I 
 thought I had caught a glimpse of him once at the 
 edge of the wood. But at least he knew better than 
 to venture into the clearing. 
 
 I tried to pass in a casual manner close to Mr. 
 Shaw and Cuthbert who looked more of a crusad- 
 ing Norman than ever in hopes of a whispered 
 word, but was impeded by Aunt Jane, who clung to 
 me tottering. So I led her to a seat and deposited 
 her, with the sympathetic assistance of Slinker. 
 
 "Now, now, old girl, cheer up!" he admonished 
 her. "Between you and me, old Washtubs ain't 
 worth crying over. Sooner or later he'd of give you 
 the slip, no matter how tight a rein you kep' on 
 him." 
 
 As Slinker turned away after this effort at con- 
 solation he came face to face with Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne. I suppose in the stress of surprising and 
 capturing the camp he had not been struck with her 
 peculiarities. Just now, between the indignity of 
 her captive state and the insubordination of Aunt 
 Jane, Miss B~rowne's aspect was considerably grim-
 
 244 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 mer than usual. Slinker favored her with a stare, 
 followed by a prolonged whistle. 
 
 "Say," he remarked to me in a confidential un- 
 dertone, though pitched quite loud enough for Miss 
 Browne's ears, "is it real ? Would it have bendable 
 j'ints, now, same as you and me?" 
 
 Miss Browne whirled upon him. 
 
 " 'Old your tongue, you 'orrid brute !" she 
 shrieked. 
 
 So, in the twinkling of an eye, Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne, fallen forever from her high estate, was 
 strewn in metaphorical fragments at our feet. I 
 turned away, feeling it time to draw the veil of char- 
 ity upon the scene. Not so Slinker. He looked 
 about him carefully on the ground. 
 
 "Lady drop anything?" he inquired solicitously. 
 
 What might have transpired, had Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne had time to gather breath, I dare not think, 
 but just then there came from the woods the sound 
 of footsteps and voices, and the three pirates and 
 Mr. Tubbs entered the clearing. A thrill ran through 
 the camp. Captors and captives forgot all else but 
 the great, the burning question had the treasure 
 been discovered ? And I am sure that no one was so
 
 LIKE A CHAPTER FROM THE PAST 245 
 
 thrilled as I, although in my mind the question took 
 another form. 
 
 For now I was going to know what had been 
 waiting for me there in the cave, when I stood yes- 
 terday at its black entrance, afraid to go in.
 
 XVII 
 
 FROM DEAD HANDS 
 
 A THE head of the file, Captain Tony ad- 
 vanced through the clearing, and what with 
 his flowing black beard, his portly form, and a cer- 
 tain dramatic swagger which he possessed, he looked 
 so entirely Italian and operatic that you expected to 
 hear him at any moment burst out in a sonorous 
 basso. With a sweeping gesture he flung down upon 
 the table two brown canvas bags, which opened and 
 discharged from gaping mouths a flood of golden 
 coins. 
 
 His histrionic instinct equal to the high demands 
 of the moment, Captain Tony stood with folded 
 arms and gazed upon us with a haughty and exult- 
 ant smile. 
 
 Slinker and the cross-eyed man shouted aloud. 
 They ran and clutched at the coins with a savage 
 greed. 
 
 "Gold, gold the real stuff ! It's the doubloons all 
 246
 
 FROM DEAD HANDS 247 
 
 right where' s the rest of 'em?" These cries broke 
 from Slinker and Horny confusedly as the gold slid 
 jingling between their eager fingers. 
 
 "The rest of 'em is where they is," pronounced 
 Tony oracularly. "Somewheres in the sand of the 
 cave, of course. We'll dig 'em up to-morrow morn- 
 ing." 
 
 "What was the point in not digging 'em all up 
 while you was about it ?" demanded Slinker, lower- 
 ing. "What was the good o' digging up jest these 
 here couple o' bags and quitting?" 
 
 "Because we didn't dig 'em up," responded Tony 
 darkly. "Because these was all ready and waiting. 
 Because all we had to do was to say 'Thankee/ to 
 the feller that handed 'em out." 
 
 "I say," interposed one of the party nervously, 
 "what's the good of that kind of talk? They ain't 
 any sense in hunting trouble, that ever I heard of!" 
 He glanced over his shoulder uneasily. 
 
 The rest burst out in a guffaw. 
 
 "Chris is scared. He's been a-going along look- 
 ing behind him ever since. Chris will have bad 
 dreams to-night he'll yell if a owl hoots." But I 
 thought there was a false note in the laughter of 
 more than one.
 
 24S SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "Oh, of course/' remarked Slinker with indignant 
 irony, "me and Horny ain't interested in this at all. 
 We jest stayed bumming round camp here 'cause we 
 was tired. When you're through with this sort of 
 bunk and feel like getting down to business, why 
 jest mention it, and maybe if we ain't got nothing 
 better to do we'll listen to you." 
 
 "I was jest telling you, wasn't I?" demanded 
 Tony. "Only that fool Chris had to butt in. We 
 got these here bags of doubloons, as I says, without 
 havin' to dig for 'em oncet we had found the cave, 
 which it's no thanks to old Washtubs we ain't look- 
 ing for it yet. We got these here bags right out of 
 the fists of a skeleton. Most of him was under a 
 rock, which had fell from the roof and pinned him 
 down amidships. Must of squashed him like a 
 beetle, I guess. But he'd still kep' his hold on the 
 bags." I turned aside, for fear that any one should 
 see how white I was. Much too white to be ac- 
 counted for even by this grisly story. To the rest, 
 these poor bones might indeed bear mute witness to 
 a tragedy, but a tragedy lacking outlines, vague, im- 
 personal, without poignancy. To me, they told with 
 dreadful clearness the last sad chapter of the tale of 
 Peter, Peter who had made me so intimately his con-
 
 FROM DEAD HANDS 249 
 
 fidante, whose love and hopes and solitary strivings I 
 knew all about. Struck down in the moment of his 
 triumph by a great stupid lump of soulless stone, by 
 a blind, relentless mechanism which had been at 
 work from the beginning, timing that rock to fall 
 just then. Not the moment before, not the moment 
 after, out of an eternity of moments, but at that one 
 instant when Peter stooped for the last of his brown 
 bags and then I rejected this, and knew that there 
 was nothing stupid or blind about it and wondered 
 whether it were instead malicious, and whether all 
 might have been well with Peter if he had obeyed 
 the voice that bade him leave the crucifix for Bill 
 
 Vaguely I heard around me a babble of exclama- 
 tions and conjectures. Murmurs of interest rose 
 even from our captive band. Then came Slinker's 
 voice, loud with sudden fear : 
 
 "Say, you don't suppose the the Bones would of 
 got away with the rest of the coin somehow, do 
 you ?" he demanded. 
 
 "Got away with it ?" Tony contemptuously thrust 
 aside the possibility. "Got away with it how? He 
 sure didn't leave the island with it, did he? Would 
 he of dug it up from one place jest to bury it in an- 
 other? Huh! Must of wanted to work if he did!
 
 250 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Now my notion is that this happened to one of the 
 guys that was burying the gold, and that the rest 
 jest left him there for a sort of scarecrow to keep 
 other people out of the cave." 
 
 "But the gold?" protested Slinker. "They 
 wouldn't leave that for a scarecrow, would they?" 
 
 "Maybe not," admitted Tony, "but suppose that 
 feller died awful slow, and went on hollering and 
 clutching at the bags? And they couldn't of got that 
 rock off'n him without a block and tackle, or done 
 much to make things easy for him if they had, him 
 being jest a smear, as you may say. Well, that cave 
 wouldn't be a pleasant place to stay in, would it? 
 And no one would have the nerve to snatch them 
 bags away to bury 'em, 'cause a dying man, espe- 
 cially when he dies hard, can have an awful grip. So 
 what they done was just to shovel the sand in on the 
 gold they'd stowed away and light out quick. And 
 what we got to do to-morrow is to go there and dig 
 it up." 
 
 If the ingenuity of this reasoning was more re- 
 markable than its logic, the pirates were not the men 
 to find fault with it. Indeed, how many human 
 hopes have been bolstered up with arguments no 
 sounder? Desire is the most eloquent of advocates,
 
 FROM DEAD HANDS 251 
 
 and the five ruffians had only to listen to its voice to 
 enjoy in anticipation all the fruits of their iniquitous 
 schemes. The sight of the golden coins intoxicated 
 them. They played with the doubloons like chil- 
 dren, jingling them in their calloused palms, guess- 
 ing at weight and value, calculating their equivalent 
 in the joy of living. Laughter and oaths resounded. 
 Mr. Tubbs, with a somewhat anxious air, endeav- 
 ored to keep himself well to the fore, claiming a 
 share in the triumph with the rest. There was only 
 the thinnest veil of concealment over the pirates' 
 mockery. "Old Washtubs" was ironically encour- 
 aged in his role of boon companion. His air of 
 swaggering recklessness, of elderly dare-deviltry, 
 provoked uproarious amusement. When they sat 
 down to supper Mr. Tubbs was installed at the head 
 of the table. They hailed him as the discoverer who 
 had made their fortunes. From their talk it was 
 clear that there had been much difficulty about find- 
 ing the cave, and that for a time Mr. Tubbs's posi- 
 tion had been precarious. Finally Captain Magnus 
 had stumbled upon the entrance. 
 
 "Jest in time," as he grimly reminded Mr. Tubbs, 
 "to save you a header over the cliff." 
 
 "Ha, ha!" cackled Mr. Tubbs hysterically, "you
 
 252 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 boys will have your little joke, eh? Knew well 
 enough you couldn't get along without the old man, 
 didn't you? Knew you was goin* to need an old 
 financial head to square things in certain quarters 
 a head what understands how to slip a little coin into 
 the scales o' Justice to make 'em tilt the right way. 
 Oh, you can't fool the old man, he, he !" 
 
 While the marauders enjoyed their supper, the 
 women prisoners were bidden to "set down and stay 
 sot," within sweep of Captain Tony's eye. Mr. 
 Shaw and Cuthbert Vane still held the position they 
 had occupied all afternoon, with their backs propped 
 against a palm tree. Occasionally they exchanged a 
 whisper, but for the most part were silent, their cork 
 helmets jammed low over their watchful eyes. I 
 was deeply curious to know what Mr. Shaw had 
 made of the strange story of the skeleton in the cave. 
 He could hardly have accepted Captain Tony's ex- 
 planation of it, which displayed, indeed, an imper- 
 fect knowledge of the legend of the Bonny Lass. 
 Might not the Scotchman, by linking this extraordi- 
 nary discovery with my unexplained request of him 
 this morning, have arrived already at some glimmer- 
 ing of the truth ? I hoped so, and longed to impart to 
 him my own sure knowledge that the confident ex-
 
 FROM DEAD HANDS 253 
 
 pectations of the freebooters for the morrow were 
 doomed to disappointment. There seemed a meas- 
 ure of comfort in this assurance, for our moment of 
 greatest peril well might be that in which the pirates, 
 with the gold in their possession and on the point of 
 fleeing from the island, recalled the respectable be- 
 cause so truthful maxim that dead men tell no tales. 
 Therefore in the postponement of the crucial mo- 
 ment lay our best hope of rescue or escape. 
 
 On the other hand, I fancied them returning from 
 the cave surly and disappointed, ready to vent their 
 wrath on us. All, except the unspeakable Magnus, 
 had shown so far a rough good nature, even amuse- 
 ment at our plight, but you felt the snarl at the cor- 
 ner of the grinning lips. You knew they would be 
 undependable as savages or vicious children, who 
 find pleasure in inflicting pain. And then there was 
 always my own hideous danger as the favored of 
 the wolfish captain 
 
 And I wondered, desperately, if I might buy 
 safety for us all at the price of the secret of the 
 Island Queen, if a promise from the five scoundrels 
 around the table would have more meaning than 
 their wild boasts and shoutings now ? 
 
 And now the night that I unutterably dreaded was
 
 254 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 upon us. But the pirates still thought of nothing but 
 the gold. They had exhausted their own portable 
 supplies of liquor, and were loud in their denuncia- 
 tions of our bone-dry camp, as they termed it. Mr. 
 Tubbs enlarged upon the annoyance which Mn 
 Shaw's restrictions in this matter had been to him, 
 and regretted that he had long ago exhausted the 
 small amount of spirituous refreshment which he 
 had been able to smuggle in. Tony, however, was 
 of another mind. "And a good thing, too," he de- 
 clared, "that you guys can't booze yourselves blind 
 before morning, or there wouldn't be much gold 
 took out of that there cave to-morrow. Once we 
 make port somewheres with that chest of treasure 
 aboard you can pour down enough to irrigate the 
 Mojave Desert if you like." 
 
 It was Tony, too, who intercepted a tentative 
 movement of Captain Magnus in my direction, and 
 ordered me into the cabin with my aunt and Miss 
 Browne. Through the walls of the hut we heard 
 loud and eager talk of the morrow and its certain 
 golden harvest as the pirates made their dispositions 
 for the night. Then the voices trailed off sleepily 
 and silence succeeded, broken only by the ceaseless 
 murmur of the waves around the island.
 
 XVIII 
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 
 
 NEXT morning I came out of the hut in time 
 to see Mr. Shaw and his companion in duress 
 led forth from the sleeping quarters which they had 
 shared with their captors. They were moored as be- 
 fore to a palm tree, by a rope having a play of two 
 or three feet, and their hands unbound while they 
 made a hasty breakfast under the eye of a watchful 
 sentinel. Then their wrists were tied again, not 
 painfully, but with a firmness which made any slip- 
 ping of their bonds impossible. 
 
 While the pirates were breakfasting a spirited dis- 
 pute took place among them as to who should go to 
 the treasure cave and who stay in camp to guard the 
 prisoners. Slinker and Horny urged with justice that 
 as they had missed all the excitement of the preced- 
 ing day it was their turn to visit the cave. There 
 not only the probable rapture of exhuming the chest 
 awaited them, but the certain privilege of inspecting 
 255
 
 256 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "the Bones." This ghastly relic seemed to exercise 
 an immense fascination upon their imaginations, a 
 fascination not unmingled with superstitious dread. 
 The right to see the Bones, then, Slinker and Horny 
 passionately claimed. Tony supported them, and it 
 ended with Chris and Captain Magnus being told 
 off as our guards for the morning. 
 
 At this Chris raised a feeble lamentation, but he 
 was evidently a person whose objections nobody was 
 accustomed to heed. Captain Magnus, who might 
 with plausibility have urged claims superior to those 
 of all the rest, assented to the arrangement with a 
 willingness which filled me with boding. I had 
 caught his restless furtive eye fixed gloatingly upon 
 me more than once. I saw that he was aware of my 
 terror, and exulted in it, and took a feline pleasure 
 in playing me, as it were, and letting me realize by 
 slow degrees what his power over me would be when 
 he chose finally to exert it. My best hope for the 
 present, once the merciful or prudent Tony was out 
 of sight, lay in this disposition of my tormentor to 
 sit quiescent and anticipate the future. Neverthe- 
 less, in leaving the cabin I had slipped into my blouse 
 a small penknife which I had found in Aunt Jane's 
 bag. It was quite new, and I satisfied myself that
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 257 
 
 the blades were keen. My own large sheath-knife 
 and my revolver I had been deprived of at the sug- 
 gestion of the thoughtful Magnus. I had surren- 
 dered them unprotestingly, fearful of all things that 
 my possessions might be ransacked and Peter's 
 diary, though hidden with much art at the bottom of 
 a bag, be brought to light. For I might yet sell the 
 secret of the Island Queen at a price which should 
 redeem us all. 
 
 Unobtrusively clutching for comfort at the pen- 
 knife in my blouse, I watched the departure of the 
 pirates, including my protector Tony. They had 
 taken Mr. Tubbs with them, although he had mag- 
 nanimously offered to remain behind and help guard 
 the camp. Evidently his experience of the previous 
 day had not filled him with confidence in his new 
 friends. It might be quite possible that he intended, 
 if left behind, to turn his coat again and assist us in 
 a break for liberty. If so, he was defeated by the 
 perspicacious Tony, who observed that when he 
 found a pal that suited him as well as Washtubs he 
 liked to keep him under his own eye. With a spade 
 over his reluctant shoulder, and many a dubious 
 backward glance, Mr. Tubbs followed the file into 
 the woods.
 
 258 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Aunt Jane had a bad headache, and as nobody ob- 
 jected she had remained in the cabin. Miss Browne 
 and I had been informed by Tony that we might do 
 as we liked so long as we did not attempt to leave the 
 clearing. Already Violet had betaken herself to a 
 camp-chair in the shade and was reading a work en- 
 titled Thoughts on the Involute Spirality of the 
 Immaterial. Except for the prisoners tied to the 
 palm tree, the camp presented superficially a scene 
 of peace. Cookie busied himself with a great show 
 of briskness in his kitchen. Because of the immense 
 circumspection of his behavior he was being allowed 
 a considerable degree of freedom. He served his 
 new masters apparently as zealously as he had served 
 us, but enveloped in a portentous silence. "Yes, sah 
 no, sah," were the only words which Cookie in 
 captivity had been heard to utter. Yet from time to 
 time I had caught a glance of dark significance from 
 Cookie's rolling eye, and I felt that he was loyal, and 
 that this enforced servitude to the unkempt frater- 
 nity of pirates was a degradation which touched 
 him to the quick. 
 
 I had followed the example of Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne as regards the camp-chair and the book. 
 What the book was I have not the least idea, but I
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 259 
 
 perused it with an appearance of profound abstrac- 
 tion which I hoped might discourage advances on 
 the part of Captain Magnus. Also I made sure that 
 the penknife was within instant reach. Meanwhile 
 my ears, and at cautious intervals my eyes, kept me 
 informed of the movements of our guards. 
 
 For a considerable time the two ruffians, lethargic 
 after an enormous breakfast, lay about idly in the 
 shade and smoked. As I listened to their lazy, frag- 
 mentary conversation vast gulfs of mental vacuity 
 seemed to open before me. I wondered whether 
 after all wicked people were just stupid people and 
 then I thought of Aunt Jane who was certainly not 
 wicked 
 
 As the heat increased a voice of lamentation broke 
 from Chris. He was dry dry enough to drink up 
 the condemned ocean. No, he didn't want spring 
 water, which Cookie obsequiously tendered him ; he 
 wanted a drink wouldn't anybody but a fool nig- 
 ger know that? There was plenty of the real stuff 
 aboard the schooner, on the other side of the adjec- 
 tive island. Why had they, with incredible lack of 
 forethought, brought along nothing but their pocket 
 flasks? Why hadn't they sent the adjective nigger 
 back for more? Where was the bottle or two that
 
 260 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 had been rooted out last night from the medical 
 stores ? Empty ? Every l#st drop gone down- some- 
 body's greedy gullet ? The adjectives. came thick and 
 fast as Chris hurled the bottle into the bay, where it 
 swam bobbingly upon the ripples-. Captain Magnus 
 agreed with the gist of Chris's remarks, but depre- 
 cated, in a truly philosophical spirit, their unprofit- 
 able heat. There wasn't any liquor, so what was the 
 good of making an adjective row? Hadn't he en- 
 dured the equivalent of Chris's present sufferings 
 for weeks ? He was biding his time, he was. Plenty 
 of drink by and by, plenty of all that makes life soft 
 and easy. He bet there wouldn't many hit any 
 higher spots than him. He bet there was one little 
 girl that would be looked on- as lucky, in case she 
 was a good little girl and encouraged him to show 
 his natural kindness. And I was favored with a 
 blood-curdling leer from across the camp, of which 
 I had put as much as possible between myself and 
 the object of my dread. 
 
 But now, like a huge black Ganymede, appeared 
 Cookie, bearing cups and a large stone crock. 
 
 "It suhtinly am a fact, Mistah Chris, sah," said 
 Cookie, "dat dey is a mighty unspirituous fluidity 
 'bout dis yere spring watah. Down war I is come
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 261 
 
 from no pussons of de Four Hund'ed ain't eveh 
 'customed to partake of such. But the sassiety I has 
 been in lately round dis yere camp ain't of de con- 
 vivulous ordah; ole Cookie had to keep it dark dat 
 he got his li'le drop o' comfort on de side. Dis 
 yere's only home-made stuff, sah. 'Tain't what I 
 could off ah to a gennelmun if so be I is got 
 the makin's of a genuwine old-style julep what is de 
 beverage of de fust fam'lies. But bein' as it is, it am 
 mighty coolin', sah, and it got a li'le kick to it not 
 much, but jes' 'bout enough to make a gennelmun 
 feel lak he is one." 
 
 Cookie's tones dripped humility and propitiation. 
 He offered the brimming cup cringingly to the pale- 
 eyed, red-nosed Chris, who reached for it with alac- 
 rity, drank deep, smacked his lips meditatively, and 
 after a moment passed the cup back. 
 
 " 'Tain't so worse," he said approvingly. "Any- 
 how, it's drink!" 
 
 Magnus suddenly began to laugh. 
 
 "S'elp me, it's the same dope what laid out the 
 Honorable !" he chortled. "Here, darky, let's have 
 a swig of it!" . 
 
 Cookie complied, joining respectfully in the cap- 
 tain's mirth.
 
 262 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "I guess you-all is got stronger haids den dat 
 young gennelmun!" he remarked. "Dis yere ole 
 niggah has help hisself mighty freely and dat Pro- 
 hibititionist Miss Harding ain't eveh found it out. 
 Fac' is, it am puffeckly harmless 'cept when de haid 
 is weak." 
 
 False, false Cookie ! Black brother in perfidy to 
 Mr. Tubbs ! One friend the less to be depended on 
 if a chance for freedom ever came to us! A hot 
 flush of surprise and anger dyed my cheeks, and I 
 felt the indignant pang of faith betrayed. I had 
 been as sure of Cookie's devotion as of Crusoe's 
 which reminded me that the little dog had not re- 
 turned to camp since he fled before the onslaught of 
 the vengeful captain. 
 
 Cookie refilled the pirates' cups, and set the crock 
 beside them on the ground. 
 
 "In case you gennelmun feels yo'selfs a li'le 
 thursty later on," he remarked. He was retiring, 
 when Captain Magnus called to him. 
 
 "Blackie, this ain't bad. It's coolin', but thin 
 a real nice ladylike sort of drink, I should say. Sup- 
 pose you take a swig over to Miss Jinny there with 
 my compliments I'm one to always treat a lady 
 generous if she gives me half a chance."
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 263 
 
 Obediently Cookie hastened for another cup, set 
 it on a tray, and approached me with his old-time 
 ornate manner. I faced him with a withering look, 
 but, unmindful, he bowed, presenting me the cup, 
 and interposing his bulky person between me and 
 the deeply-quaffing pirates. At the same time his 
 voice reached me, pitched in a low and anxious key. 
 
 "Fo r de Lawd's sake, Miss Jinny, spill it out ! It 
 am mighty powerful dope it done fumented twice 
 as long as befo' it am boun' to give dat trash de 
 blind-staggahs sho'tly !" 
 
 Instantly I understood, and a thrill of relief and 
 of hope inexpressible shot through me. I raised to 
 the troubled black face a glance which I trust was 
 eloquent it must needs have been to express the 
 thankfulness I felt. Cookie responded with a sol- 
 emn and convulsive wink and I put the cup to my 
 lips and after a brief parade of drinking passed it 
 back to Cookie, spilling the contents on the ground 
 en route. 
 
 Cookie retired with his tray in his most impressive 
 cake-walk fashion, and in passing announced to Cap- 
 tain Magnus that "Miss Jinny say she mos' suhtinly 
 am obligated to de gennelmun fo' de refreshment of 
 dis yere acidulous beverage." Which bare- faced men-
 
 264 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 dacity provoked a loud roar of amusement from the 
 sentinels, who were still sampling the cooling con- 
 tents of the stone crock. 
 
 "Learning to like what I do already, hey?" guf- 
 fawed the captain, and he called on Chris to drain 
 another cup with him to the lady of his choice. 
 
 I have believed since that dragging, interminable 
 time which I now lived through, that complete de- 
 spair, where you rest quite finally on bedrock and 
 have nothing to dread in the way of further tumbles, 
 must be a much happier state than the dreadful one 
 of oscillating between hope and fear. For a leaden- 
 footed eternity, it seemed to me, I oscillated, longing 
 for, yet dreading, the signs that Cookie's powerful 
 dope had begun to work upon our guards for 
 might not the first symptoms be quite different from 
 the anticipated blind staggers? Fancy a murderous 
 maniac pair reeling about the clearing, with death- 
 vomiting revolvers and gleaming knives ! 
 
 And then suddenly time, which had dragged so 
 slowly, appeared to gallop, and the morning to be 
 fleeing past, so that every wave that broke upon the 
 beach was the footfalls of the returning pirates. 
 Long, long before that thirsty, garrulous pair grew 
 still and torpid their companions must return 
 
 \
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 265 
 
 And I saw Cookie, his stratagem discovered, dan- 
 gling from a convenient tree. 
 
 Gradually the rough disjointed talk of the sail- 
 ors began to languish. Covertly watching, I saw 
 that Chris's head had begun to droop. His body, 
 propped comfortably against a tree, sagged a little. 
 The hand that held the cup was lifted, stretched out 
 in the direction of the enticing jar, then forgetting 
 its errand fell heavily. After a few spasmodic 
 twitchings of the eyelids and uneasy grunts, Chris 
 slumbered. 
 
 Captain Magnus was of tougher fiber. But he, too, 
 grew silent and there was a certain meal-sack limp- 
 ness about his attitude. His dulled eyes stared 
 dreamily. All at once with a jerk he roused him- 
 self, turned over, and administered to the sleeping 
 Chris a prod with his large boot. 
 
 "Hey, there, wake up! What right you got to be 
 asleep at the switch?" But Chris only breathed 
 more heavily. 
 
 Captain Magnus himself heaved a tremendous 
 yawn, settled back in greater comfort against his 
 sustaining tree, and closed his eyes. I waited, count- 
 ing the seconds by the beating of the blood in my 
 ears. In the background Cookie hovered appre-
 
 266 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 hensively. Plainly he would go on hovering unless 
 loud snores from the pirates gave him assurance. 
 For myself, I sat fingering my penknife, wondering 
 whether I ought to rush over and plunge it into the 
 sleepers' throats. This would be heroic and practical, 
 but unpleasant. If, on the other hand, I merely 
 tried to free the prisoners and Captain Magnus 
 woke, what then? The palm where they were tied 
 was a dozen yards from me, much nearer to the 
 guards, and within range of even their most languid 
 glance. Beyond the prisoners was Miss Browne, 
 glaring uncomprehendingly over the edge of her 
 book. There was no help in Miss Browne. 
 
 I left my seat and stole on feet which seemed to 
 stir every leaf and twig to loud complaint toward 
 the captive pair. Tense, motionless, with burning 
 eyes, they waited. There was a movement from 
 Captain Magnus; he yawned, turned and muttered. 
 I stood stricken, my heart beating with loud thumps 
 against my ribs. But the captain's eyes remained 
 closed. 
 
 "Virginia quick, Virginia!" Dugald Shaw was 
 stretching out his bound hands to me, and I had 
 dropped on my knees before him and begun to cut at 
 the knotted cords. They were tough strong cords,
 
 OF WHICH COOKIE IS THE HERO 267 
 
 and I was hacking at them feverishly when some- 
 thing bounded across the clearing and flung itself 
 upon me. Crusoe, of course! and wild with the 
 joy of reunion. I strangled a cry of dismay, and 
 with one hand tried to thrust him off while I cut 
 through the rope with the other. 
 
 "Down, Crusoe!" I kept desperately whispering. 
 But Crusoe was unused to whispered orders. He 
 kept bounding up on me, intent to fulfil an un- 
 achieved ambition of licking my ear. Cuthbert Vane 
 tried, under his breath, to lure him away. But Cru- 
 soe's emotions were all for me, and swiftly becoming 
 uncontrollable they burst forth in a volley of shrill 
 yelps. 
 
 A loud cry answered them. It came from Captain 
 Magnus, who had scrambled to his feet and was stag- 
 gering across the clearing. One hand was groping 
 at his belt it was flourished in the air with the 
 gleam of a knife in it and staggering and shout- 
 ing the captain came on. 
 
 "Ah, you would, would you? I'll teach you 
 but first I settle him, the porridge-eatin' Scotch 
 swine " 
 
 The reeling* figure with the knife was right above 
 me. I sprang up, in my hand the little two-inch
 
 268 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 weapon which was all I had for my defense and 
 Dugald Shaw's. There were loud noises in my ears, 
 the shouting of men, and a shrill continuous note 
 which I have since realized came from the lungs of 
 Miss Higglesby-Browne. Magnus made a lunge 
 forward the arm with the knife descended. I 
 caught it wrenched at it frantically striving 
 blindly to wield my little penknife, whether or not 
 with deadly intent I don't know to this day. He 
 turned on me savagely, and the penknife was whirled 
 from my hand as he caught my wrist in a terrible 
 clutch. 
 
 All I remember after that is the terrible steely 
 grip of the captain's arms and a face, flushed, wild- 
 eyed, horrible, that was close to mine and inevitably 
 coming closer, though I fought and tore at it of 
 hot feverish lips whose touch I knew would scorch 
 me to the soul and then I was suddenly free, and 
 falling, falling, a long way through darkness.
 
 XIX 
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 
 
 MY FIRST memory is of voices, and after 
 that I was shot swiftly out of a tunnel from 
 an immense distance and opened my eyes upon the 
 same world which I had left at some indefinite peri- 
 od in the past. Faces, at first very large, by and by 
 adjusted themselves in a proper perspective and be- 
 came quite recognizable and familiar. There was 
 Aunt Jane's, very tearful, and Miss Higglesby- 
 Browne's, very glum, and the Honorable Cuthbert's, 
 very anxious and a little dazed, and Cookie's, very, 
 very black. The face of Dugald Shaw I did not see, 
 for the quite intelligible reason that I was lying with 
 my head upon his shoulder. 
 
 As soon as I realized this I sat up suddenly, while 
 every one exclaimed at once, "There, she's quite all 
 right see how her color is coming back !" 
 
 People kept Aunt Jane from flinging herself upon 
 
 me and soothed her into calm while I found out 
 
 what had happened. The penknife that I had lost 
 
 in my struggle with Captain Magnus had fallen at 
 
 269
 
 270 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the Scotchman's feet. Wrenching himself free of 
 his all but severed bonds he had seized the knife, 
 slashed through the rope that held him to the tree, 
 and flung himself on Captain Magnus. It was a 
 brief struggle a fist neatly planted on the ruffian's 
 jaw had ended it, and the captain, half dazed from 
 his potations, went down limply. 
 
 Meanwhile Cookie had appeared upon the scene 
 flourishing a kitchen knife, though intending it for 
 no more bloody purpose than the setting free of 
 Cuthbert Vane. Throughout the fray Chris slum- 
 bered undisturbed, and he and the unconscious Mag- 
 nus were now reposing side by side, until they should 
 awake to find themselves neatly trussed up with 
 Cookie's clothes-lines. 
 
 But my poor brave Crusoe dragged a broken leg, 
 from a kick bestowed on him by Captain Magnus, 
 at whom he had flown valiantly in my defense. 
 
 So far so good ; we had signally defeated our two 
 guards, and the camp was ours. But what about the 
 pirates who were still in the cave and would shortly 
 be returning from it? They were three armed and 
 sturdy ruffians, not to include Mr. Tubbs, whose 
 habits were strictly non-combative. It would mean 
 a battle to the death.
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 271 
 
 Our best hope would be to wait in ambush behind 
 the trees of the clearing I mean for Dugald Shaw 
 and Cuthbert Vane to do it and shoot down the 
 unsuspecting pirates as they returned. This des- 
 perate plan, which so unpleasantly resembled mur- 
 der, cast gloom on every brow. 
 
 "It's the women, lad," said the Scotchman in a 
 low voice to Cuthbert. "It's it's Virginia." And 
 Cuthbert heavily assented. 
 
 Seeing myself as the motif of such slaughter 
 shocked my mind suddenly back to clearness. 
 
 "Oh," I cried, "not that ! Why not surprise them 
 in the cave, and make them stay there? One man 
 could guard the entrance easily and afterward we 
 could build it up with logs or something." 
 
 Everybody stared. 
 
 "A remarkably neat scheme," said Mr. Shaw, 
 "but impossible of application, I'm afraid, because 
 none of us knows where to find the cave." 
 
 I shook my head. 
 
 "I know!" 
 
 There was a lengthy silence. People looked at 
 one another, and their eyes said, This has been too 
 much for herf~ 
 
 "I know," I impatiently repeated. "I can take
 
 272 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 you straight there. I found the tombstone before 
 Mr. Tubbs did, and the cave too. Come, let's not 
 waste time. We must hurry they'll be getting 
 back!" 
 
 Amazement, still more than half incredulous, 
 surged round me. Then Mr. Shaw said rapidly : 
 
 "You're right. Of course, if you have found the 
 cave, the best thing we can do is to keep them shut 
 up in it. But we must move fast perhaps we're too 
 late already. If they have found the chest they may 
 by now be starting for camp with the first load of 
 doubloons." 
 
 Again I shook my head. 
 
 "They haven't found the gold," I assured him. 
 
 The astonished faces grew more anxious. "It 
 sho' have told on li'le Miss Jinny's brain," muttered 
 Cookie to himself. 
 
 "They haven't found the gold," I reiterated with 
 emphasis, "because the gold is not in the cave. Don't 
 ask me how I know, because there isn't time to tell 
 you. There was no gold there but the two bags that 
 the pirates brought back last night. The the skel- 
 eton moved it all out." 
 
 "My Lawd!" groaned Cookie, staggering back- 
 ward.
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 273 
 
 "Virginia ! I had no idea you were superstitious !" 
 quavered Aunt Jane. 
 
 "I say, do take some sleeping tablets or something 
 and quiet your nerves !" implored Cuthbert with the 
 tenderest solicitude. 
 
 In my exasperation I stamped my foot. 
 
 "And while we are arguing here the pirates may 
 be starting back to camp! And then we'll have to 
 kill them and go home and give ourselves up to be 
 hanged! Please, please, come with me and let me 
 show you that I know !" I lifted my eyes to the in- 
 tent face of Dugald Shaw. 
 
 "All right," he said tersely. "I think you do 
 know. How and what, we'll find out later." 
 Rapidly he made his plan, got together the things 
 needful for its execution, looked to the bonds of 
 the still dazed and drowsy prisoners, posted Cookie 
 in their neighborhood with a pair of pistols, and 
 commanded Aunt Jane to dry her tears and look 
 after Miss Higglesby-Browne, who had dismayed 
 every one by most inopportunely toppling over in a 
 perfectly genuine swoon. 
 
 Then the Scotchman, Cuthbert Vane and I set off 
 through the woods. The men were heavily armed, 
 and I had recovered my own little revolver and re-
 
 274 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 stored it to my belt. Mr. Shaw had seen to this, and 
 had said to me, very quietly : 
 
 "You know, Virginia, if things don't go our way, 
 it may be necessary for you to use it on yourself." 
 
 And I nodded assentingly. 
 
 We went in silence through the green hush of the 
 woods, moving in single file. My place as guide was 
 in the van, but Mr. Shaw deposed me from it and 
 went ahead himself, while Cuthbert Vane brought 
 up the rear. No one spoke, even to whisper. I 
 guided Dugald Shaw, when needful, by a light touch 
 upon the arm. Our enterprise was one of utmost 
 danger. At any moment we might hear the steps 
 and voices of the returning pirates. Thus fore- 
 warned, we might of course retreat into the woods 
 and let them pass, ourselves unseen. But then, what 
 of those whom we had left in camp? Could we 
 leave them undefended to the vengeance of Captain 
 Magnus? No, if we met the pirates it was their 
 lives or ours and I recall with incredulity my reso- 
 lution to imbed five of my six bullets in a pirate be- 
 fore I turned the sixth upon myself. I reflected with 
 satisfaction that five bullets should be a fatal dose to 
 any pirate unless an exceptionally tough one. And 
 I hoped he would not be tough
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 275 
 
 But I tell myself with shudders that it was not I, 
 but some extraordinary recrudescence of a primitive 
 self, that indulged these lethal gloatings. 
 
 No steps but our own, no voices but of birds, 
 broke the stillness of the woods. We moved onward 
 swiftly, and presently the noise of the sea came to 
 us with the sudden loudness that I remembered. I 
 paused, signaled caution to my companions, and 
 crept on. 
 
 We passed the grave, and I saw that the vines had 
 been torn aside again, and that the tombstone was 
 gone. We came to the brink of the cliff, and I 
 pointed silently downward along the ledge to the 
 angle in which lay the mouth of the cave. My 
 breath came quickly, for at any instant a head might 
 be thrust forth from the opening. Already the sun 
 was mounting toward the zenith. The noontide heat 
 and stillness was casting its drowsy spell upon the 
 island. The air seemed thicker, the breeze more 
 languid. And all this meant meal-time and the 
 thoughts of hungry pirates turning toward camp. 
 
 My hope was that they were still preoccupied with 
 the fruitless search in the cave. 
 
 Mr. Shaw and Cuthbert dropped down upon the 
 ledge. Though under whispered orders to retreat
 
 276 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 I could not, but hung over the edge of the cliff, 
 eager and breathless. Then with a bound the men 
 were beside me. Mr. Shaw caught my hand, and 
 we rushed together into the woods. 
 
 A quake, a roar, a shower of flying rocks. It 
 was over the dynamite had done its work, whether 
 successfully or not remained to be seen. After a 
 little the Scotchman ventured back. He returned to 
 us where we waited in the woods Cuthbert to 
 mount guard over me with a cleared face. 
 
 "It's all right," he said. "The entrance is com- 
 pletely blocked. I set the charge six feet inside, but 
 the roof is down clear to the mouth. Poor wretches 
 they have all come pouring out upon the sand " 
 
 All three of us went back to the edge of the cliff. 
 Seventy feet below, on the narrow strip of sand be- 
 fore the sea-mouth of the cave, we saw the figures 
 of four men, who ran wildly about and sought for 
 a foothold on the sheer face of the cliff. As we 
 stood watching them, with, on my part, at least, un- 
 expected qualms of pity and a cold interior sensa- 
 tion very unlike triumph, they discovered us. Then 
 for the first time, I suppose, they understood the na- 
 ture of their disaster. We could not hear their cries, 
 but we saw arms stretched out to us, fists frantically
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 277 
 
 shaken, hands lifted in prayer. We saw Mr. Tubbs 
 flop down upon his unaccustomed knees it was all 
 rather horrible. 
 
 I drew back, shivering. "It won't be for long, of 
 course," I said uncertainly, "just till the steamer 
 comes- and we'll give them lots to eat but I sup- 
 pose they think they will soon be just a lot more 
 skeletons " And here I was threatened with a moist 
 anticlimax to my late Amazonian mood. 
 
 Why should the frequent and natural phenomena 
 of tears produce such panic in the male breast? At 
 a mere April dewiness about my lashes these two 
 strong men quaked. 
 
 "Don't don't cry !" implored Cuthbert earnestly. 
 
 "It's been too much for her!" exclaimed the once 
 dour Scot in tones of anguish. "Hurry, lad we 
 must find her some water " 
 
 "Nonsense," I interposed, winking rapidly. "Just 
 think of some way to calm those creatures, so that I 
 shan't see them in my dreams, begging and beseech- 
 ing " For I had not forgotten the immensity of 
 my debt to Tony. 
 
 So a note was written .on a leaf torn from a 
 pocketbook and "thrown over the cliff weighted with 
 a stone. The captives swooped upon it. Followed
 
 278 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 then a vivid pantomime by Tony, expressive of eased 
 if unrepentant minds, while Mr. Tubbs, by gestures, 
 indicated that 'though sadly misunderstood, old H. 
 H. was still our friend and benefactor. 
 
 It was an attentive group to which on our return 
 to camp I related the circumstances which had made 
 possible our late exploit of imprisoning the pirates in 
 the cave. The tale of my achievements, though re- 
 counted with due modesty, seemed to put the finish- 
 ing touch to the extinction of Violet, for she wilted 
 finally and forever, and was henceforth even bullied 
 by Aunt Jane. ' The diary of Peter was produced, 
 and passed about with awe from hand to hand. Yes- 
 terday's discovery in the cave had rounded out the 
 history of Peter to a melancholy completion. But 
 though we knew the end we guessed in vain at the 
 beginning, at Peter's name, at that of the old grand- 
 father whose thrifty piety had brought him to 
 Havana and to the acquaintance of the dying mate 
 of the Bonny Lass, at the whereabouts of the old 
 New England farm which had been mortgaged to 
 buy the Island Queen, at the identity of Helen, who 
 waited still, perhaps, for the lover who never would 
 return. 
 
 But even our regrets for Peter did not chill the
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 279 
 
 exultation with which we thought of the treasure- 
 chest waiting there under the sand in the cabin of 
 the Island Queen. 
 
 All afternoon we talked of it. That, for the 
 present, was all we could do. There were the two 
 prisoners in camp to be guarded and they had 
 presently awakened and made remarks of a strongly 
 personal and unpleasant trend on discovering their 
 situation. There was Crusoe invalided, and need- 
 ing petting, and getting it from everybody on the 
 score of his romantic past as Benjy as well as of his 
 present virtues. The broken leg had been cleverly 
 set by Dugald somehow in the late upheaval Miss 
 and Mister had dropped quite out of our vocabularies 
 with Cuthbert as surgeon's assistant and me hold- 
 ing the chloroform to the patient's nose. There was 
 the fatigue and reaction from excitement which 
 everybody felt, and Peter's diary to be read, and 
 golden dreams to be indulged. And there was the 
 delicate question to be discussed, of how the treas- 
 ure should be divided. 
 
 "Why, it all belongs to Virginia, of course," said 
 Cuthbert, opening his eyes at the thought of any 
 other view being taken but this obvious one. 
 
 "Nonsense!" I hastily interposed. "My finding
 
 280 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the diary was just an accident ; I'll take a share of it 
 no more." 
 
 Here Miss Browne murmured something half in- 
 audible about " confined to members of the Expe- 
 dition " but subsided for lack of encouragement. 
 
 "I suggest," said Dugald, "that our numbers hav- 
 ing most fortunately diminished and there being, on 
 the basis of Peter's calculations, enough to enrich 
 us all, that we should share and share alike." And 
 this proposal was received with acclamations, as was 
 a second from the same source, devoting a certain 
 percentage of each share to Cookie, to whom the 
 news of his good fortune was to come later as a 
 great surprise. 
 
 As an earnest of our riches, we had the two bags 
 of doubloons which the pirates had recovered from 
 the fleshless fingers of the dead man. They were 
 old worn coins, most of them, many dating from 
 the seventeenth century, and bearing the effigies of 
 successive kings of Spain. Each disk of rich, yellow 
 Peruvian gold, dug from the earth by wretched 
 sweating slaves and bearing the name of a narrow 
 rigid tyrant, had a history, doubtless, more wild 
 and bloody than even that we knew. The merchant
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 281 
 
 of Lima and his servant, Bill Halliwell, and after- 
 ward poor Peter had died for them. For their sake 
 we had been captives in fear of death, and for their 
 sake now four wretched beings were prisoners in the 
 treasure-cave and two more cursed fate and their 
 bonds within hearing of our outraged ears. And 
 who knew how much more of crime and blood and 
 violence we should send forth into the world with 
 the long-buried treasure? Who knew and, ah, me, 
 who cared? So riotous was the gold-lust in my 
 veins that I think if I had known the chest to be an- 
 other Pandora's box I should still have cried out to 
 open it. 
 
 Shortly before sundown Cuthbert and Cookie 
 were despatched by Dugald Shaw to the cliff above 
 the cave with supplies for the inhumed pirates. 
 These were let down by rope. A note was brought 
 up on the rope, signed by Mr. Tubbs, and con- 
 taining strangely jumbled exhortations, prayers and 
 threats. A second descent of the rope elicited 
 another missive, neatly folded and addressed in the 
 same hand to Miss Jane Harding. Cuthbert gave 
 this privately to me, but its contents must forever be 
 unknown, for it went, unread, into Cookie's fire. I
 
 282 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 had no mind to find Aunt Jane, with her umbrella as 
 a parachute, vanishing over the cliffs to seek the 
 arms of a repentant Tubbs. 
 
 The fly in the ointment of our satisfaction, and 
 the one remaining obstacle to our possession of the 
 treasure, was the presence of the two pirates in our 
 midst. They were not nice pirates. They were 
 quite the least choice of the collection. Chris, when 
 he was not swearing, wept moistly, and so touched 
 the heart of Aunt Jane that we lived in fear of her 
 letting him go if she got the opportunity. He told 
 her that he had lost an aunt in his tender youth, of 
 whom she reminded him in the most striking way, 
 and that if this long-mourned relative had lived he 
 felt he should have been a better man and not led 
 away against his higher nature by the chance of fall- 
 ing in with bad companions. Aunt Jane thought 
 her resemblance to Chris's aunt a remarkable coinci- 
 dence and an opportunity for appealing to his better 
 self which should be improved. She wanted to im- 
 prove it by untying his hands, because he had 
 sprained his wrist in his childhood and it was sensi- 
 tive. He had sprained it in rescuing a little compan- 
 ion from drowning, the child of a drunkard who had 
 unfeelingly thrown his offspring down a well. This
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 283 
 
 episode had been an example to Chris which had 
 kept him from drinking all his life, until he had 
 fallen into his present rough company. 
 
 Aunt Jane took it very hard that the Scotchman 
 seemed quite unfeeling about Chris's wrist. She 
 said it seemed very strange to her in a man who had 
 so recently known the sorrows of captivity himself. 
 She said she supposed even suffering would not 
 soften some natures. 
 
 As to Magnus, his state of sullen fury made him 
 indifferent even to threats of punishment. He swore 
 with a determination and fluency worthy of a bet- 
 ter cause. For myself, I could not endure his neigh- 
 borhood. It seemed to me I could not live through 
 the days that must intervene before the arrival of 
 the Rufus Smith in the constant presence of this 
 wretch.' 
 
 More than all, it made Dugald and Cuthbert un- 
 willing to leave the camp together. There was al- 
 ways the possibility that the two ruffians might find 
 means to free themselves, and, with none but Cookie 
 and the women present, to obtain control of the fire- 
 arms and the camp. For the negro, once the men 
 were free, could not surely be depended on to face 
 them. Loyal he was, and valiant in his fashion, but
 
 284 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 old and with the habit of submission. One did not 
 see him standing up for long before two berserker- 
 mad ruffians. 
 
 What to do with the pirates continued for a day 
 and a night a knotty problem. 
 
 It was Cuthbert Vane who solved it, and with the 
 simplicity of genius. 
 
 "Why not send 'em down to their chums the way 
 we do the eats?" he asked. 
 
 It seemed at first incredibly fantastic, but the 
 more you thought of it the more practical it grew. 
 It was characteristic of Cuthbert not to see it as fan- 
 tastic. For him the sharp edges of fact were never 
 shaded off into the dim and nebulous. Cuthbert, 
 when he saw things at all, saw them steadily and 
 whole. He would let down the writhing, swearing 
 Magnus over the cliff as tranquilly as he let down 
 loaves of bread, aware merely of its needing more 
 muscular effort. Only he would take immense care 
 not to hurt him. 
 
 Dire outcries greeted the decision. Aunt Jane 
 wept, and Chris wept, and said this never could have 
 happened to him if his aunt had lived. Oaths flowed 
 from Captain Magnus in a turgid stream. Never- 
 theless the twain were led away, firmly bound, and
 
 THE YOUNG PERSON SCORES 285 
 
 guarded by Dugald, Cuthbert and the negro. And 
 the remarkable program proposed by Cuthbert Vane 
 was triumphantly carried out. Six prisoners now 
 occupied the old cave of the buccaneers. 
 
 With the camp freed from the presence of the 
 pirates all need of watchfulness was over. The 
 prisoners in the cave were provided with no imple- 
 ments but spades, whereas dynamite and crowbars 
 would be necessary to force a way through the 
 debris which choked the mouth of the tunnel. A 
 looking over of the ground at the daily feeding time 
 would be enough. 
 
 To-morrow's sun would see our hopes crowned 
 and all our toil rewarded by the recovery of the 
 treasure from the Island Queen.
 
 XX 
 
 NEXT morning an event occurred sufficiently 
 astonishing to divert our thoughts from even 
 the all-important topic of the Island Queen. Cookie, 
 who had been up on the high land of the point gath- 
 ering firewood, came rushing back to announce that 
 a steamer had appeared in the offing. All the party 
 dropped their occupations and ran to look. That the 
 Rufus Smith had returned at an unexpectedly early 
 date was of course the natural explanation of the 
 appearance of a vessel in these lonely seas. But 
 through the glass the new arrival turned out to be 
 not the tubby freighter but a stranger of clean-cut, 
 rakish build, lying low in the water and designed for 
 speed rather than carrying capacity. 
 
 A mile offshore she lay to, and a boat left her side. 
 
 Wondering and disquieted, we returned to the beach 
 
 to await her coming. Was it another pirate ? What 
 
 possible errand could bring a steamer to this remote, 
 
 286
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 287 
 
 unvisited, all but forgotten little island ? Had some- 
 body else heard the story of the Bonny Lass and 
 come after the doubloons, unknowing that we were 
 beforehand with them? If so, must we do battle 
 for our rights ? 
 
 The boat shot in between the points and skimmed 
 swiftly over the rippling surface of the cove, under 
 the rhythmic strokes of half a dozen flashing oars. 
 The rowers wore a trim white uniform, and in the 
 stern a tall figure, likewise white-clad, turned to- 
 ward us a dark face under a pith helmet. 
 
 As the oarsmen drove the boat upon the beach the 
 man in the stern sprang agilely ashore. Dugald 
 Shaw stepped forward, and the stranger approached, 
 doffing his helmet courteously. 
 
 "You are the American and English party who 
 landed here some weeks ago from the Rufus 
 Smith?" 
 
 His English was easy and correct, though spoken 
 with a pronounced Spanish accent. His dark high- 
 featured face was the face of a Spaniard. And his 
 grace was the grace of a Spaniard, as he bowed 
 sweepingly and handed Mr. Shaw a card. 
 
 "Senor Don Enrique Gonzales," said Dugald, 
 bowing in his stiff-necked fashion, "I am very happy
 
 288 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 to meet you. But as you represent His Excellency 
 the President of the Republic of Santa Marina I 
 suppose you come on business, Sefior Gonzales?" 
 
 "Precisely. I am enchanted that you apprehend 
 the fact without the tiresomeness of explanations. 
 For business is a cold, usually a disagreeable affair, 
 is it not so? That being the case, let us get it over." 
 
 "First do us the honor to be seated, Sefior Gon- 
 zales." 
 
 Comfortably bestowed in a camp-chair in the 
 shade, the Spaniard resumed : 
 
 "My friend, this island belongs, as of course you 
 are aware, to the republic of which I have the honor 
 to be a citizen. All rights and privileges, such as 
 harvesting the copra crop, are strictly conserved by 
 the republic. All persons desiring such are required 
 to negotiate with the Minister of State of the Re- 
 public. And how much more, when it is a question 
 of treasure of a very large treasure, Sefior?" 
 
 The Scotchman's face was dark. 
 
 "I had understood," he replied, without looking 
 in the direction of Miss Higglesby-Browne, who 
 seemed in the last few moments to have undergone 
 some mysterious shrinking process, "that negotia- 
 tions in the proper quarter had been undertaken and
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 289 
 
 brought to a successful conclusion that in short we 
 were here with the express permission of the govern- 
 ment of Santa Marina." 
 
 This was a challenge which Miss Browne could 
 not but meet. 
 
 "I had," she said hoarsely, "I had the assurance 
 of a a person high in the financial circles of 
 the United States, that through his his influence 
 with the government of Santa Marina it would not 
 be necessary in short, that he could fix the Presi- 
 dent I employ his own terms for a considerable 
 sum, which I which my friend Miss Harding gave 
 him." 
 
 "And the name of this influential person?" in- 
 quired the Santa Marinan, suavely. 
 
 "Hamilton H. Tubbs," croaked Miss Browne. 
 
 Senor Gonzales smiled. 
 
 "I remember the name well, madam. It is that of 
 the pretended holder of a concession from our gov- 
 ernment, who a few years ago induced a number of 
 American school-teachers and clergymen and other 
 financially innocent persons to invest in imaginary 
 coffee plantations. He had in some doubtful fashion 
 become possessed of a little entirely worthless land, 
 which formed the basis of his transactions. His
 
 290 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 frauds were discovered while he was in our coun- 
 try, and he was obliged to leave between two days, 
 according to your so picturesque idiom. Needless 
 to say his application for permission to visit Lee- 
 ward Island for any purpose would instantly have 
 been refused, but as a matter of fact it was never 
 made." 
 
 In a benumbed silence we met the blow. The 
 riches that had seemed within our grasp would 
 never be ours. We had no claim upon them, for all 
 our toil and peril ; no right even to be here upon the 
 island. Suddenly I began to laugh; faces wearing 
 various shades of shocked surprise were turned on 
 me. Still I laughed. 
 
 "Don't you see," I cried, "how ridiculous It all 
 is ? All the time it is we who have been pirates !" 
 
 The Spaniard gave me a smile made brilliant by 
 the gleam of smoldering black eyes and the shine of 
 white teeth. 
 
 "Sefiorita, with all regret, I must agree." 
 
 "Miss Virginia Harding," said Miss Browne with 
 all her old severity, rejuvenated apparently by this 
 opportunity to put me in my place, "would do well 
 to consult her dictionary, before applying oppro- 
 brious terms to persons of respectability. A pirate
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 291 
 
 is one who commits robbery upon the high seas. 
 If such a crime lies at the door of any member of 
 this expedition I am unaware of it." 
 
 "What's in a name?" remarked Dugald Shaw, 
 shrugging. "We were after other people's prop- 
 erty, anyway. I am very sorry about it, Senor Gon- 
 zales, but I would like to ask, if you don't mind 
 telling, how you happened to learn of our being here, 
 so long as it was not through the authentic channels. 
 On general principles, I tried to keep the matter 
 quiet." 
 
 "We learned in a manner somewhat what do you 
 say? curious," returned the Spaniard, who, hav- 
 ing presented the men with cigars and by permission 
 lighted one himself, was making himself extremely 
 at home and appeared to have no immediate inten- 
 tion of haling us away to captivity in Santa Marinan 
 dungeons. "But before I go further, kindly tell me 
 whether you have had any ah visitors during 
 your stay on the island ?" 
 
 "We have," Mr. Shaw replied, "very troublesome 
 ones." 
 
 The Spaniard smiled. 
 
 "Then answer your own question. These men, 
 while unloading a contraband cargo in a port of
 
 292 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Mexico near the southern border, grew too merry in 
 a wineshop, and let it be known where they were 
 bound when again they put to sea. The news, after 
 some delay, found its way to our capital. At once 
 the navy of the republic was despatched to investi- 
 gate the matter. It is the navy of Santa Marina, 
 ladies and gentlemen, which at this moment guards 
 the entrance of the bay." And Senor Gonzales 
 waved an ironic hand in the direction of the little 
 steamer lying off the island. 
 
 "On the way here I put in at Panama, where cer- 
 tain inquiries were satisfactorily answered. There 
 were those in that port who had made a shrewd guess 
 at the destination of the party which had shipped on 
 the Rufus Smith. I then pursued my course to Lee- 
 ward. But admit, my friends, that I have not by 
 my arrival, caused you any material loss. Except 
 that I have unfortunately been compelled to pre- 
 sent you to yourselves in the character of as says 
 the young lady pirates madam, I speak under 
 correction I have done you no injury, eh? And 
 that for the simple reason that you have not discov- 
 ered what you sought, and hence can not be required 
 to surrender it." 
 
 We looked at one another doubtfully. The am-
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 293 
 
 biguous words of the Spaniard, the something hu- 
 morous and mocking which lay behind his courtly 
 manner, put us quite in the dark. 
 
 ''Senor Gonzales," replied the Scotchman, after a 
 moment's hesitation, "it is true that so far only a 
 negligible amount of what we came to find has re- 
 warded us. But I can not in honesty conceal from 
 you that we know where to look for the rest of it, 
 and that we had certainly expected to leave the 
 island with it in our possession." 
 
 The dark indolent eyes of our visitor grew sud- 
 denly keen. Half- veiled by the heavy lashes, they 
 searched the face of Dugald Shaw. It seemed that 
 what they found in that bold and open countenance 
 satisfied them. His own face cleared again. 
 
 "I think we speak at cross-purposes, Mr. Shaw," 
 he said courteously, "and that we may better under- 
 stand each other, I am going to tell you a little story. 
 At about this season, two years ago, the navy of 
 Santa Marina, the same which now lies off the 
 island, was making a voyage of inspection along the 
 coast of the republic. It was decided to include Lee- 
 ward in the cruise, as it had been unvisited for a 
 considerable time. I hold no naval rank indeed, 
 we are not a seafaring people, and the captain of La
 
 294 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 Golondrina is a person from Massachusetts, Jere- 
 miah Bowles by name, but as the representative of 
 His Excellency I accompanied La Golondrina. On 
 our arrival at Leeward I came ashore in the boat, 
 and found to my surprise a small sloop at anchor in 
 the cove. About the clearing were the signs of recent 
 habitation, yet I knew that the old German who had 
 had the copra concession here had been gone for 
 some time. There were no personal trifles left in 
 the hut, however, and indeed it was plain that 
 weeks had passed since there had been any one 
 about. No one responded to our shouts and calls. 
 
 "I turned my attention to the sloop. In the cabin, 
 besides a few clothes, I found something that inter- 
 ested me very much a large brass-bound chest, of 
 an antique type such as is common enough in my 
 own country. 
 
 "Of course I had heard of the many legends of 
 treasure buried on Leeward Island. Consequently 
 I was somewhat prepared to find in the chest, what 
 in fact I did find there, over a million dollars in old 
 Spanish coins. 
 
 "These coins, which were packed in strong can- 
 vas bags, were, as you may fancy, very quickly trans- 
 ferred to the cutter. We did not trouble ourselves
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 295 
 
 with the unwieldy chest, and it remains, I suppose, 
 in the cabin of the sloop, which I observed as we 
 crossed the cove to have been washed up upon the 
 rocks. 
 
 "As my curiosity was extremely piqued regarding 
 the owner of the sloop, the manner in which he had 
 discovered the treasure, and still more his extra- 
 ordinary disappearance, I should have wished to 
 make a thorough search of the island. But the sea- 
 son for storms was shortly to begin, and already the 
 weather signs were so threatening that Captain 
 Bowles was reluctant to remain longer in the neigh- 
 borhood of the island, which has a bad name for 
 dangerous shoals and reefs. For the same reason 
 it was thought unwise to risk a man or two aboard 
 the sloop to sail her to the mainland. Indeed, we 
 ourselves were glad to get safely home with our 
 doubloons in the teeth of a tropical gale." 
 
 "This is a very interesting story, Senor Gonzales," 
 said Dugald Shaw quietly, "and as you say, your 
 visit here deprives us of nothing, but merely saves 
 us further unprofitable labor. We are grateful to 
 you." 
 
 The Spaniard bowed. 
 
 "You do me too much honor. But as you remark,
 
 296 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 the story is interesting. It has also the element of 
 mystery. For there remains the question of what 
 became of the owner of the sloop. His final prep- 
 arations for leaving the island had evidently been 
 made, his possessions removed from the hut, pro- 
 visions for the voyage brought on board the sloop 
 and then he had vanished. What had befallen him? 
 Did the gold carry with it some deadly influence? 
 One plays, as it were, with this idea, imagining the 
 so melancholy and bloody history of these old doub- 
 loons. How, in the first place, had he found them? 
 Through chance by following some authentic clue ? 
 And then, in the moment of success, he disappears 
 pouf !" And Senor Gonzales disposed of the un- 
 known by blowing him airily from the tips of his 
 fingers. 
 
 "However, we have the treasure the main point, 
 is it not ? But I have often wondered " 
 
 "If you would like to hear the rest of the story," 
 said Mr. Shaw, "we are in a position to enlighten 
 you. That we are so, is due entirely to this young 
 lady, Miss Virginia Harding." 
 
 The Spaniard rose, and made obeisance pro- 
 foundly. He resumed his seat, prepared to listen
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 297 
 
 no longer the government official, but the cordial 
 and interested guest and friend. 
 
 The story, of course, was a long one. Everybody 
 took a hand in the telling, even Cookie, who was 
 summoned from his retirement in the kitchen to re- 
 ceive the glory due him as a successful strategist. 
 The journal of Peter was produced, and the bags 
 of doubloons handed over to the representative of 
 the little republic. I even offered to resign the silver 
 shoe-buckle which I had found in the secret locker 
 on the Island Queen, but this excess of honesty re- 
 ceived its due reward. 
 
 "The doubloons being now in the possession of 
 the Santa Marinan nation, I beg that you will con- 
 sider as your own the Island Queen and all it may 
 contain," said Don Enrique to me with as magnifi- 
 cent an air as though the sand-filled hulk of a 
 wrecked sloop were really a choice gift to bestow on 
 a young woman. 
 
 Plans were discussed for transferring the pirates 
 from the cave to the cutter, for they were to be taken 
 to Santa Marina to meet whatever punishment was 
 thought fit for their rather indefinite ill-doing. They 
 had not murdered us, they had robbed us of noth-
 
 298 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 ing but the provisions they had eaten, they had, 
 after all, as much right on the island as ourselves. 
 Yet there remained their high-handed conduct in in- 
 vading our camp and treating us as prisoners, with 
 the threat of darker possibilities. I fancy that Santa 
 Marinan justice works mainly by rule of thumb, and 
 that the courts do not embarrass themselves much 
 with precedents. Only I hope they did not shoot 
 the picturesque Tony against a wall.* 
 
 The power-schooner, manned by a crew from the 
 cutter, was to be taken to Santa Marina also. 
 Senor Gonzales remained with us for the day as our 
 guest, and on the next the boats from the cutter 
 took off the pirates from the cave. We did not see 
 them again. Through the convenient elasticity of 
 Santa Marinan procedure, Mr. Tubbs was herded 
 along with the rest, although he might plausibly, if 
 hypocritically, have pleaded that he had complied 
 
 * Since the above was written, Mr. Shaw has run across 
 Tony on the San Francisco water-front. Tony tells him that 
 they got off with three months' imprisonment. The American 
 consul interested himself and the schooner was restored to 
 her owners, who were Tony's relations and hence did not 
 prosecute. Before the discharged prisoners left the republic 
 Captain Magnus was stabbed over a card game by a native. 
 Mr. Tubbs married a wealthy half-caste woman, the owner 
 of a fine plantation, but a perfectly genuine Mrs. Tubbs from 
 Peoria turned up later, and the too much married H. H. was 
 obliged to achieve one of his over-night Sittings.
 
 TWIXT CUP AND LIP 299 
 
 with the will of the invaders under duress. Aunt 
 Jane wept very much, and handed me Pceans of Pas- 
 sion with the request that she might never see it 
 again. 
 
 We parted from Sefior Gonzales not without re- 
 grets. It was an impressive leave-taking indeed, 
 Senor Gonzales in his least word and gesture was 
 impressive. Also, he managed subtly and respect- 
 fully to impart to me the knowledge that he shared 
 Titian's tastes in the matter of hair. On his de- 
 parture he made a pretty little speech, full of com- 
 pliments and floral specimens, and bestowed upon 
 me as being mine by right, he earnestly protested 
 the two bags of Spanish doubloons.
 
 XXI 
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 
 
 WE waited nine days for the coming of the 
 Rufus Smith. During that time an episode 
 occurred as a result of which I sat one morning by 
 myself on the rocks beside the sloop, on which such 
 ardent hopes had been centered, only like the dere- 
 lict itself to be wrecked at last. It was a lonely spot 
 and I wanted to be alone. I felt abused, and sad, 
 and sore. I realized that I was destined to do noth- 
 ing but harm in this world, and to hurt people I was 
 fond of, and be misunderstood by every one, and to 
 live on if I wasn't lucky enough to meet with a 
 premature and sudden end into a sour, lonely, 
 crabbed old age, when I would wish to goodness I 
 had married anybody, and might even finish by ap- 
 plying to a Matrimonial Agency. 
 
 As I sat nursing these melancholy thoughts I 
 heard a footstep. I did not look up for I knew the 
 footstep. I should have known it if it had trodden 
 over my grave. 
 
 300
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 301 
 
 "I take it you are not wanting company, you have 
 come so far out of the way of it," said Dugald 
 Shaw. 
 
 Still I did not look up. 
 
 "Nobody seemed to want me," I remarked sulkily, 
 after a pause. He made no reply, but seated him- 
 self upon the rocks. For a little there was silence. 
 
 "Virginia," he said abruptly, "I'm thinking you 
 have hurt the lad." 
 
 "Oh," I burst out, "that is all you think of the 
 lad, the lad ! How about me ? Don't you suppose it 
 hurt me too?" 
 
 "No," he made deliberate answer. "I was not 
 sure of that. I thought maybe you liked having men 
 at your feet." 
 
 "Liked it ? Liked to wound Cuthbert Cuthbert f 
 Oh, if only it had not happened, if we could have 
 gone on being friends ! It was all my fault for go- 
 ing with him into the cave. It was after you had 
 buried the skeleton, and I wanted to see poor Peter's 
 resting-place. And we spoke of Helen, and it was 
 all frightfully melancholy and tender, and all at 
 once he he said it. And I meant he never should !" 
 In the soreness of my heart I began to weep. 
 
 "There, lassie, there, don't cry!" he said gently.
 
 302 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 "The boy didn't speak of it, of course. But I knew 
 how it must be. It has hit him hard, I am afraid." 
 
 "I suppose," I wept, "you would have had me 
 marry him whether I wanted to or not, just to keep 
 from hurting him." 
 
 "No," he answered quickly. "I did not say that 
 I did not say that I would have had you marry 
 him. No, lass, I did not say that." 
 
 "Then why are you scolding me?" I asked in a 
 choked whisper. 
 
 "Scolding you? I was not. It was only that 
 that I love the lad and I wish you both so well 
 I thought perhaps there was some mistake, and it 
 would not matter about me, if I could see you both 
 happy." 
 
 "There is a mistake," I said clearly. "It is a great 
 mistake, Dugald Shaw, that you should come to me 
 and court me for some one else." 
 
 There was silence for a while, the kind of silence 
 when you hear your heartbeats. 
 
 When he spoke his voice was unsteady. 
 
 "But the boy has everything to offer you his an- 
 cient name, his splendid unstained youth, a heart 
 that is all loyalty. He is strong and brave and 
 beautiful. Virginia, why couldn't you love him?"
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 303 
 
 "I could not love him," I replied, very low, "be- 
 cause my love was not mine any more to give. It 
 belongs to some one else. Is his name ancient? I 
 don't know. It is his, and he ennobles it. Cuthbert 
 has youth, but youth is only promise. In the man 
 I love I find fulfilment. And he is loyal and brave 
 and honest I am afraid he isn't beautiful, but I 
 love him the better for his scars " 
 
 After that I sat quite still, and I knew it depended 
 on the next half minute whether I went all the days 
 of my life crowned and glorious with happiness, or 
 buried my shame and heartbreak under the waters 
 of the cove. 
 
 And then Dugald Shaw took me in his arms. 
 
 By and by he said huskily: 
 
 "Beloved, I had no right to ask you to share such 
 a life as mine must be the life of a poor sailor." 
 
 At this I raised my head from its nestling-place 
 and laughed. 
 
 "Ask me? Silly, I asked you! Of course you 
 could have refused me, but I depended on your not 
 having the courage." 
 
 "And indeed that is a charge I'll not allow that 
 I am so little of a man as to let my courting be done 
 for me. No, no, it was my love compelling you that
 
 304 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 made you speak the words you did the love of a 
 selfish man who should have thought only of shield- 
 ing you from the hardships of such a wandering, 
 homeless life as mine." 
 
 "Well, Heaven reward you for your selfishness," 
 I said earnestly. "I am thankful you were not so 
 noble as to let me throw myself at your head in vain. 
 I have been doing it for ever so long, in fact, but it 
 is such a thick Scotch head that I dare say I made no 
 impression." 
 
 "Sweet imp! You'll pay for that oh, Virginia, 
 if I had only something to offer you!" 
 
 "You can offer me something that I want very 
 much, if you will, and at no cost but to your strong 
 right arm." 
 
 "It is an arm which is at your service for life 
 but what am I to do with it now? And indeed I 
 think it is very well employed at this moment." 
 
 "But it must be employed much more stren- 
 uously," I remarked, moving a little away, "if you 
 are to get me what I want. Before you came, I was 
 meditating possible ways of getting it for myself. I 
 wanted it for a melancholy relic a sort of mauso- 
 leum in which all my hopes were buried. Now its 
 purpose is quite different ; it is to be my bride's chest
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 305 
 
 and hold the dowry which I shall bring to one Du- 
 gald Shaw." 
 
 "You mean the chest the chest that held the 
 Spanish doubloons that lies under the sand in the 
 sloop?" 
 
 "Exactly. And now I shall know whether you 
 are the true prince or not, because he always suc- 
 ceeds in the tasks he undertakes to win the prin- 
 cess." 
 
 It was low tide, such a tide as had all but lured me 
 to my death in the cave. One could go and come 
 from the beach along the rocks, without climbing 
 the steep path up the cliff. It was not long before 
 Dugald was back again with spade and pick. He 
 tore off the shrunken, sun-dried boards from the 
 cabin roof, and fell to work. 
 
 It was not, after all, a labor of Hercules. The 
 cabin was small and the chest large. I watched with 
 the pride of proprietorship the swift ease with which 
 the steel-sinewed arms of the Scot made the caked 
 sand fly. Then the spade struck something which 
 sent back a dull metallic sound through the muffling 
 sand. 
 
 I gave a little shriek of excitement. Hardly could 
 I have been more thrilled if I had believed the chest
 
 306 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 still to contain the treasure of which it had been 
 ravished. It was filled to its brass-bound lid with 
 romance, if not with gold. 
 
 A little more and it lay clear to our view, a con- 
 vex surface of dark smoky brown, crossed by three 
 massive strips of tarnished brass. Dugald dug down 
 until the chest stood free to half its height; then by 
 its handles I recognized the "great hand-wrought 
 loops of metal," of the diary we dragged it from 
 its bed, and drew it forth into the cockpit. 
 
 For a little while we sat before it in happy con- 
 templation. It was indeed for its own sake quite 
 well worth having, that sturdy old chest. Even in 
 an antique shop I should have succumbed to it at 
 once ; how much more when we had dug it up our- 
 selves from a wrecked sloop on a desert island, and 
 knew all its bloody and delightful history. 
 
 At length, kneeling before it, I raised with an 
 effort the heavy lid. 
 
 "Empty, of course no more brown bags. But 
 oh, Dugald, had ever a girl such a wonderful bride's 
 chest as this? O oh!" 
 
 "What's wrong?" 
 
 "Nothing, only there is a crack in the bottom, 
 running all the way along where it joins the side."
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 307 
 
 "Warped a bit, I suppose. No matter, it can be 
 easily repaired crack? I say, lassie, look here !" 
 
 Under the pressure of Dugald's fingers the floor 
 of the chest was swinging upward on an invisible 
 hinge. Between it and the true bottom was a space 
 of about three inches in depth. It seemed to be filled 
 with a layer of yellowed cotton- wool. 
 
 For a long moment we held our breath, gazing at 
 each other with eyes which asked the same question. 
 Then Dugald lifted a corner of the sheet of cotton 
 and plucked it away. 
 
 At once all the hues of the rainbow seemed to be 
 flashing and sparkling before us. Rubies were there 
 like great drops of the blood that the chest and its 
 treasure had wrung from the hearts of men; 
 sapphires, mirroring the blue of the tropic sky; 
 emeralds, green as the island verdure ; pearls, white 
 as the milk of the cocoanuts and softly luminous as 
 the phosphorescent foam which broke on the beach 
 in the darkness. And there were diamonds that 
 caught gleams of all the others' beauty, and then 
 mocked them with a matchless splendor. 
 
 Some of the stones lay loose upon their bed of 
 cotton ; others were in massive settings of curious 
 old-time workmanship. Every gem was of excep-
 
 308 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 tional size and beauty, the pearls, I knew at once, 
 were the rarest I had ever looked upon. They were 
 strung in a necklace, and had a very beautiful pen- 
 dant of mingled pearls and diamonds. 
 
 There were nine heavy bracelets, all jewel-set; 
 twenty-three rings, eight of them for the hand of 
 a man. Some of these rings contained the finest of 
 the diamonds, except for three splendid unset 
 stones. There were numbers of elaborate old-fash- 
 ioned earrings, two rope-like chains of gold adorned 
 with jewels at intervals, and several jeweled 
 lockets. There was a solid gold snuff-box, engraved 
 with a coat of arms and ornamented with seventeen 
 fine emeralds. There were, besides the three dia- 
 monds, eighty-two unset stones, among them, 
 v/rapped by itself in cotton, a ruby of extraordinary 
 size and luster. And there was a sort of coronet or 
 tiara, sown all over with clear white brilliants. 
 
 There is the inventory, not entirely complete, of 
 the treasure which we found hidden under the false 
 bottom of the chest, a treasure whose existence none 
 of those who had striven and slain and perished for 
 the sake of the Spanish doubloons can have sus- 
 pected. The secret of it died with the first guardian
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 309 
 
 of the chest, the merchant of Lima who went over- 
 board from the Bonny Lass on that stormy night 
 ninety years ago. Now sea and sun and sand had 
 done their work and warped the wood of the chest 
 enough to make us masters of its mystery. And we 
 sat in the sand-heaped cock-pit of the wrecked sloop, 
 playing like children with our sparkling toys. 
 
 Ours? Yes, for whether or not there were an 
 infection of piracy in the very air of the island, so 
 that to seize with the high hand, to hold with the 
 iron grasp, seemed the law of life, we decided with- 
 out a qualm against the surrender of our treasure- 
 trove to its technical owners. Technical only; for 
 one felt that, in essence, all talk of ownership by 
 this man or that had long ago become idle. Fate 
 had held the treasure in fee to give or to withhold. 
 Sefior Gonzales had had his chance at the chest, and 
 he had missed the secret of the hidden hoard, had 
 left it to lie forgotten under the sand until in some 
 tropic storm it should be engulfed by the waters of 
 the cove. More than this, had he not most spe- 
 cifically made over to me the Island Queen and all 
 that it contained ? This was a title clear enough to 
 satisfy the most exacting formalist. And we were
 
 310 SPANISH DOUBLOONS 
 
 not formalists, nor inclined in any quibbling spirit 
 to question the decrees of Fortune. As treasure- 
 hunters, we had been her devotees too long. 
 
 So after all it was not my scornful skepticism but 
 the high faith of Miss Higglesby-Browne which was 
 justified by the event, and the Harding-Browne ex- 
 pedition left the island well repaid for its toils and 
 perils. Plus the two bags of doubloons, which were 
 added to the spoils, the treasure brought us a sum so 
 goodly that I dare not name it, for fear of the ap^ 
 parition of Senor Gonzales and the Santa Marinan 
 navy looming up to demand restitution. Like true 
 comrades, we divided share and share alike, and be 
 sure that no one grudged Cookie the percentage 
 which each was taxed for his benefit. 
 
 Certain of the rarest jewels were not sold, but 
 found their way to me as gifts of the Expedition 
 severally and collectively. The brightest of the dia- 
 monds now shines in my engagement ring. Cuth- 
 bert, by the way, showed up so splendidly when I 
 explained to him about the engagement that the 
 responsibility was entirely mine, not Dugald's that 
 I earnestly wished I were twins so that one of me 
 could have married the beautiful youth which in- 
 deed I had wished a little all the time.
 
 THE BISHOP'S CHEST 311 
 
 And now I come to the purpose of this story for 
 though well concealed it has had one from the be- 
 ginning. It is to let Helen, whoever and wherever 
 she may be, if still of this world, know of the fate of 
 Peter, and to tell her that when she asks for them 
 she is to have my most cherished relics of the 
 island, Peter's journal and the silver shoe-buckle 
 which he found in the sand of the treasure-cave and 
 was taking home to her. 
 
 Only, she must let me keep Crusoe, please. 
 
 THE END
 
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