head that the stolen property would be there. I showed some
anxiety, I suspect, as I lifted up the lid. The mate put in his hands
with a careless air, as if he had no idea of the sort. Greatly to my
relief he found nothing. There was but one chest to be examined. It
was Jim's.

Scarcely had I opened it when the mate, throwing off a jacket spread
over the top, uttered an exclamation of surprise. There exposed to view
was a large wooden bowl, procured the day before by the steward for
washing up glasses and cups, and supposed to have fallen overboard, cram
full of sugar.

"Bring it along aft," cried the mate. "I did not think that of Pulley."

"And I don't think it now, sir," I answered, in a confident tone, as I
obeyed his order.

"What's this? Where was it found?" inquired the captain, as we reached
the quarter-deck.

The mate told him.

"I'll swear Jim never put it there, sir; not he!" I exclaimed.

"Swear not at all, my son, albeit thou mayest be right," said the
captain. "Send James Pulley aft."

Jim quickly came.

"Hast thou, James Pulley, been guilty of stealing thy shipmate's sugar?"
asked the captain.

"No, sir, please you, I never took it, and never put it where they say
it was found," answered Jim, boldly.

"Appearances are sadly against thee, James Pulley," observed the
captain, with more sorrow than anger in his tone. "This matter must be
investigated."

"I am sure that Jim speaks the truth, sir," I exclaimed, unable to
contain myself. "Somebody else stole the sugar and put it in his
chest."

The crew had gathered aft, and two or three looked thunder-clouds at me
as I spoke.

"Thine assertion needs proof," observed the captain. "Was thy cask of
sugar open, Andrews?"

"No, sir, tightly headed up," answered Andrews.

"Then it must have been forced open by some iron instrument," said the
captain. "Bring it aft here."

The empty keg was brought.

"I thought so," remarked the captain. "An axe was used to prise it
open. Did any one see an axe in the hands of James Pulley?"

There was no reply for some time. At last, Ben Grimes, one of the men
who had always been most hostile to Jim and me, said, "I thinks I seed
Jim Pulley going along the deck with what looked mighty like the handle
of an axe sticking out from under his jacket."

"The evidence is much against thee, James Pulley," said the captain. "I
must, as in duty bound, report this affair to Mr Gray on our return,