ced me beyond doubt that
I was at the foot of a mystery, and, to my delight, I got employment
from the chief of the gang, named 'Roaring John' by his friends; and
was soon at work on the simple and matter-of-fact business of cutting
planks. This gave me an entry to the dockyard--all I wished at the
moment.

"Now, you may ask, 'Why did you take the trouble to do all this from
the mere motive of curiosity engendered by the strange ship you thought
you saw from the hills?' I will tell you briefly. The fact of my being
watched when I entered the dock convinced me that there was something
there which no stranger might see. That which no stranger may see in a
foreign yard spells also the word money. If there was any information
to be got in that dock, I could sell it to my own Government, or to the
first Government in Europe I chose to haggle with. This reason alone
made me a hewer of wood amongst foul-mouthed companions, a tar-bedaubed
loafer in a crew of loafers.

"You see me, then, at the stage when I had got admission to the dock,
but had learnt nothing of the vessel. It is true that I was admitted
only to the outer basin, where the coasting steamers lay, and that the
man 'Roaring John' threatened me with all the curses he could command
if I passed the gate which opened into the dock beyond; but such
threats to a man whose business it was to lay bare mystery had no more
effect on me than the braying of an ass in a field of clover. Minute by
minute and hour by hour, I waited my opportunity. It came to me on the
morning of the eighth day, when, in the poor hope of getting something
by the loss of sleep, I reached the yard at four o'clock; and the gate
being unopen, I lurked in hiding until the first man should come. He
was no other than the one who had engaged me; and when he had gone in,
about five minutes after I had come, he did not close the second door
after him, there being no men then at their work. I need not tell you
that I used my eyes well in those minutes, and while he was away--this
was no more than a quarter of an hour--I had seen all I wished to see.
There, sure enough, lay the most remarkable warship I had ever
beheld--a great, well-armed cruiser, whose decks were bright with
quick-firing guns, whose lines showed novelty in every inch of them.
More remarkable than anything, however, was the confirmation of that
which I had seen from the hills. The ship, seemingly, was built of the
purest gold. This, of cou