get leave of absence," said the captain,
throwing himself back in his armchair, in order to be able to admire,
with greater ease, the smoke, as it curled towards the ceiling from
his mouth and pipe.

"I do hope so," said Mrs. Brand, looking up from her knitting, with a
little sigh. Mrs. Brand usually followed up all her remarks with a
little sigh. Sometimes the sigh was very little. It depended a good
deal on the nature of her remark whether the sigh was of the little,
less, or least description; but it never failed, in one or other
degree, to close her every observation.

"I _think_ he will," said Minnie, as she poured a second cup of tea
for the widow.

"Ay, that's right, lass," observed the captain; "there's nothin'
like hope--

'The pleasures of hope told a flatterin' tale
Regardin' the fleet when Lord Nelson get sail.'

Fill me out another cup of tea, Hebe."

It was a pleasant little fiction with the captain to call his
beverage "tea". Minnie filled out a small cupful of the contents of
the little teapot, which did, indeed, resemble tea, but which smelt
marvellously like hot rum and water.

"Enough, enough. Come on, Macduff! Ah! Minnie, this is prime Jamaica;
it's got such a--but I forgot; you don't understand nothin' about
nectar of this sort."

The captain smoked in silence for a few minutes, and then said, with
a sudden chuckle--

"Wasn't it odd, sister, that we should have found it all out in such
an easy sort o' way? If criminals would always tell on themselves as
plainly as Big Swankie did, there would be no use for lawyers."

"Swankie would not have spoken so freely," said Minnie, with a laugh,
"if he had known that we were listening."

"That's true, girl," said the captain, with sudden gravity; "and I
don't feel quite easy in my mind about that same eavesdropping. It's
a dirty thing to do--especially for an old sailor, who likes
everything to be fair and above-board; but then, you see, the natur'
o' the words we couldn't help hearin' justified us in waitin' to hear
more. Yes, it was quite right, as it turned out A little more tea,
Minnie. Thank'ee, lass. Now go, get the case, and let us look over it
again."

The girl rose, and, going to a drawer, quickly returned with a small
red leather case in her hand. It was the identical jewel case that
Swankie had found on the dead body at the Bell Rock!

"Ah! that's it; now, let us see; let us see." He laid aside his pipe,
an