e
their eyes. It was not until then that any one noticed that the two
swarthy sailors had recovered and departed, taking with them the
blankets and bottle of rum which had been employed in reviving them. The
skipper swore mightily at this discovery, knocked a few of his men
about, then had the chests of gold stowed on two hand-sleds and set out
for home in full force and at top speed. On reaching Chance Along he
learned that the two swarthy strangers had already been there, and
departed with two sealing-guns and a bag of food. The skipper sent Bill
Brennen and six men on their tracks, for he did not want the strangers
to carry out to the world the news of the wreck of the brig and the
salving of the treasure-chests. He did not follow them himself because
the chests had to be opened, and their contents divided and hidden away
immediately, and the chests themselves destroyed.

The gold was divided into forty equal parts. One part was given, or laid
aside, for every man who had been to the Squid Rocks; two parts went to
each of the men who had accompanied the skipper to the brig itself, and
four were kept by the skipper. There was no grumbling this time. The
harvest was rich beyond the wildest dream and had been fairly shared.
The money belonging to the men who had gone after the two strangers was
placed in the hands of sons, wives or fathers.

"Hide it away, men," said the skipper, "for if them two pirates gets
clear away, they'll sure be back some day wid a crew o' blackguards like
themselves, to try to t'ief all our property away from us."

Bill Brennen and his party returned before sun-down, carrying a wounded
comrade and a dead Frenchman along with them. There had been an ambush
and a fight, and one of the sailors had escaped clean away. The skipper
was in a rage; but, as the faithful Bill Brennen had commanded the party
and Nick Leary had been a member of it, he kept his hands and feet still
and let nothing fly but curses.

Now we must look around for Dick Lynch, who did not go out of this
history when he departed so boldly from Chance Along with his
sealing-gun on his shoulder. Far from it. Dick was intended for greater
things than he knew.

A week after the wreck of the French brig on the Squid Rocks, Dick Lynch
entered a public-house situated near the eastern end of Water Street,
St. John's, sat down at a table near the fire and called for rum. Though
Dick consumed much rum, he did not often buy it at this es