ght. They have given me many since. But I
won't wear one of them--not one!"

How her eyes flashed! I forgot all about Jose.

"I suppose you know why they hadn't room for you in the gig?" she went
on.

"No, I don't know, and I don't care. They had room for you," said I;
"that's all I care about." And to think she could not see I loved her!

"But do you mean to say you don't know that these--murderers--set fire
to the ship?"

"No--yes! I heard you say so last night."

"And you don't want to know what for?"

Out of politeness I protested that I did; but, as I live, all I wanted
to know just then was whether my love loved me--whether she ever
could--whether such happiness was possible under heaven!

"You remember all that mystery about the cargo?" she continued eagerly,
her pretty lips so divinely parted!

"It turned out to be gunpowder," said I, still thinking only of her.

"No--gold!"

"But it was gunpowder," I insisted; for it was my incorrigible passion
for accuracy which had led up to half our arguments on the voyage; but
this time Eva let me off.

"It was also gold: twelve thousand ounces from the diggings. That was
the real mystery. Do you mean to say you never guessed?"

"No, by Jove I didn't!" said I. She had diverted my interest at last. I
asked her if she had known on board.

"Not until the last moment. I found out during the fire. Do you remember
when we said good-by? I was nearly telling you then."

Did I remember! The very letter of that last interview was cut deep in
my heart; not a sleepless night had I passed without rehearsing it word
for word and look for look; and sometimes, when sorrow had spent itself,
and the heart could bleed no more, vain grief had given place to vainer
speculation, and I had cudgelled my wakeful brains for the meaning of
the new and subtle horror which I had read in my darling's eyes at the
last. Now I understood; and the one explanation brought such a tribe
in its train, that even the perilous ecstasy of the present moment was
temporarily forgotten in the horrible past.

"Now I know why they wouldn't have me in the gig!" I cried softly.

"She carried four heavy men's weight in gold."

"When on earth did they get it aboard?"

"In provision boxes at the last; but they had been filling the boxes for
weeks."

"Why, I saw them doing it!" I cried. "But what about the gig? Who picked
you up?"

She was watching that open door once more, and she answered with not