," said Handy Solomon shortly.

"He, he, he!" laughed the negro, without mirth.

"What's the matter with you, Doctor?" demanded Thrackles.

"Treasure!" repeated the Nigger. "You see dat box he done carry so
cairful? You see dat?"

A pause ensued. Somebody scratched a match and lit a pipe.

"No, I don't see that!" broke out Thrackles finally, with some
impatience. "I _sabe_ how a man goes after treasure with a box; but
why should he take treasure away in a box? What do you think, Bucko?" he
suddenly appealed to me.

I looked up from my investigation of the empty berths.

"I don't think much about it," I replied, "except that by the look of the
stores we're due for more than Honolulu; and from the look of the light
we'd better turn to on deck."

An embarrassed pause fell.

"Who are you, anyway?" bluntly demanded the man with the steel hook.

"My name is Eagen," I replied; "I've the berth of mate. Which of these
bunks are empty?"

They indicated what I desired with just a trace of sullenness. I
understood well enough their resentment at having a ship's officer
quartered on them,--the forec'stle they considered as their only liberty
when at sea, and my presence as a curtailment to the freedom of speech. I
subsequently did my best to overcome this feeling, but never quite
succeeded.

At my command the Nigger went to his galley, I ascended to the deck. Dusk
was falling, in the swift Californian fashion. Already the outlines of
the wharf houses were growing indistinct, and the lights of the city were
beginning to twinkle. Captain Selover came to my side and leaned over the
rail, peering critically at the black water against the piles.

"She's at the flood," he squeaked. "And here comes the Lucy Belle."

The tug took us in charge and puffed with us down the harbour and through
the Golden Gate. We had sweated the canvas on her, even to the flying jib
and a huge club topsail she sometimes carried at the main, for the
afternoon trades had lost their strength. About midnight we drew up on
the Farallones.

The schooner handled well. Our crew was divided into three watches--an
unusual arrangement, but comfortable. Two men could sail her handily in
most sorts of weather. Handy Solomon had the wheel. Otherwise the deck
was empty. The man's fantastic headgear, the fringe of his curling oily
locks, the hawk outline of his face momentarily silhouetted against the
phosphorescence astern as he glanced to windward, all lent