; but we were all convinced in our minds that he did
away with those men by poison, and buried them in the brushwood near the
beach. There were seven men to bury the treasure with him, and, big and
strong as he was, and is, he could not have killed them all openly, or
in fair fight. Jose may, or may not, know by this time that I have the
key to the hiding-place of his treasure; but if he does he will not dare
to remove it and attempt to bury it elsewhere; for all in the ship are
aware of what took place when he first buried it, and none would go with
him again to assist him, and he could not undertake the job alone.
Besides, he has always expressed the utmost confidence that no one could
ever translate the cipher without the key, and that he carries in his
own brain; so he will almost surely leave his wealth where it is. I do
not want your seamen to know, for those men could not keep silence; the
news would soon be known to all, and then, of course, it would no longer
be a secret. The papers I have not examined; I merely looked at them to
make certain that the cipher was there, and, finding that it was, I
troubled no further. But you had better examine them, as there may be
something of value among them. I told you in my yarn that we had a
driver on the galley named Alvarez, who left her before Jose Leirya came
aboard, or if I did not, I intended to. Well, I must tell you that
there were originally two copies of the cipher, and Alvarez, whilst an
officer in a Spanish ship of war, employed an agent of his to join the
crew of the pirate vessel and steal the cipher, if possible, as Alvarez
had heard all the circumstances relative to the treasure from one of his
spies, of whom he employs a great number. This spy obeyed his orders,
but was only able to secure one copy, leaving the other, which I now
possess. We discovered the theft while lying in the very harbour where
the treasure is hidden; but the spy got to hear that all was known, and
sprang over the side, intending, of course, to swim ashore. But as he
went he was followed by a shower of bullets, and we saw him no more; so
I feel very certain that he lies at the bottom of the bay, and that
Alvarez did not get the cipher he wanted."

Thought Roger to himself: "I'm pretty certain he did, and, what is more,
I know now that he had it in his cabin aboard the _Gloria del Mundo_,
and this man little thinks that I have the very paper he is talking
about in my pocket a