s face was immobile.

"Did he say his name was Bucks?"

"No. I'm not dead sure I have him identified correctly. As Tom would
say, the brand is worn out."

"I never was any good at riddles," he admitted.

"I stumbled over a thigh bone in the jungle. It was sticking out of the
ground, where in the course of time the sand had buried the rest of the
body. I have reason to think it belonged to Bucks because----"

I paused for dramatic effect, my arms folded across my chest to keep the
treasure from slipping down.

"Just so, because----?"

He was as cool as an iced melon, the drawl in his voice not quickening
in the least. But his eyes gave away his tense interest.

"Why, because I found a lot of these in the sand, all of them measuring
up to sample." From under my coat I drew the shining yellow bars and
handed them to him.

"Gold!" he cried softly. "By Jove, this is a find."

"And a lot more where those came from, or I miss my guess. There is a
mound there that looks to me like a cache."

"But what was Bucks doing there?"

"That's a guess. Here is mine. It doesn't cost you a cent even if you
don't accept it. After he had made the cache we'll say that he hiked off
to try to find a settlement. Very likely he had no idea where to look
and he found progress through the jungle impossible. After a while he
wandered back, half starved and exhausted. Perhaps his idea may have
been that the _Truxillo_ was still on the ground. If so, he may have
wanted to offer the gold in exchange for his life. Anyhow, back he
comes, to find that he is too late. The brig has gone. In his delirium
he has some notion of digging up the treasure to buy food. He gets the
first sack of bullion up and then quits, too weak to do any more."

"Sounds reasonable enough. The chief point is that you've found the
gold. I'll order a force ashore to help you."

There is something in the very thought of treasure-trove that unsettles
the most sane. Not a word was said to anybody except Tom about what I
had found, but everybody on board was sure the bullion had been found.

Before the eyes of each man danced shining yellow ingots and pieces of
eight. We could tell it by the eagerness with which they volunteered for
shore duty.

I chose Yeager, the chief engineer--he was a lank Yankee named
Stubbs--and Jamaica Ginger, as we called our second fireman. With us we
took ashore a stout box, in which to pack the loose gold.

Those left on board cheered us