own. "We expect to open the lazaret at daybreak and
you can come with us. You had better send off your boat and stop on
board."

CHAPTER X

BARBARA TAKES CONTROL

The sun was rising and the mist rolled back from the lagoon. The tide
was low and _Arcturus'_ rusty side rose high above the smooth green
water. Damp weed hung from the beams in her poop cabin and a dull light
came down through the broken glass. A sailor, kneeling on the slimy
planks, tried to force a corroded ring-bolt from its niche; another
trimmed a smoky lantern. Lister, Brown and Montgomery waited. In the
half-light, their faces looked gray and worn. The sun had given them a
dull pallor, and on the West African coast nobody sleeps much.

After a few minutes the sailor opened the swollen trap-door and then
went down, Brown carrying the lantern. As a rule a ship's lazaret is a
small, dark strong-room, used for stowing liquor and articles of value.
_Arcturus_ was wet and smelt of salt. A row of shelves crossed the
bulkhead and some water lay in the angle where the slanted floor met the
side sheathing. A thin jacket and an officer's peaked cap were in the
water. Brown indicated the objects.

"Looks as if somebody had stripped before he got to work, and then left
without bothering about his clothes," he said. "I don't know if I
expected this, but we'll examine the thing later." He lifted the lantern
and the flickering beam touched five or six small, thick boxes. "Well,
there's some of the gold!"

Lister seized a box and tried to lift it up, but stopped.

"It feels like gold," he said and signed to a sailor. "Help me get the
stuff on deck, Watson."

They carried the boxes up the ladder and Brown brought the cap and
jacket.

"Second-mate's clothes," he said, indicating the bands round the cuffs
and cap. The imitation gold-lace had gone green but clung to the rotten
material.

"Something in the pocket," he added and taking out a small wet book put
it in the sun. "We'll look at this again, and now for the first box! I
may want you to state you saw me break the seals."

Sitting in the shade of the poop, they opened the box, which was filled
with fine dull-yellow grains. Then Lister sent a man to the boat for
some things he had brought, and when the fellow came back hung a small
steel cup from a spring-balance.

"The scale's pretty accurate; I use it on board," he said. "Well, I got
the specific gravity of gold, zinc and copper from my pocket-ta