and no man had gone ashore. The decks were cleaned, prayers
said, breakfast eaten, and the rough plan of Oxenham's hiding-place
nailed down on the compass-box, where all could see it. Then Captain
Drake and the gentlemen of the company went ashore with Nick and Ned
Johnson. Hearts beat excitedly in the ship's boat, and hearts throbbed
in unison amongst those who waited on the deck. The party landed.
They clambered up the bank and pushed aside the tangled undergrowth,
some of the men using their swords in order to make the quicker way.
Some one kicks against a mass of green creeper; his boot strikes
something wooden and hollow; he has not lighted upon an empty bush.
Quickly he tears aside the clinging mass; a beautifully striped snake
wriggles out, hissing angrily. The man scarcely heeds the dangerous
thing. He shouts aloud; the others come up. What has he found? The
ruins of one of Oxenham's boats. Nick recognizes it. "I worked to
help build it," he says softly. "The Dons came upon us before we could
finish." The rough fellow uncovered his head.

The adventurers gazed with a strange interest upon the relic of a
former bold adventure. They turned it over almost reverently. "Brave
John Oxenham!" murmured Captain Drake.

But sentimental recollections were soon swept away. The discovery of
the half-finished boat put aside all doubts as to the identity of their
anchorage with that of Oxenham's. "How far off was the treasure
buried?" was the next eager question.

"Just out of the tide-way in the heart of a cluster of mangroves; we
notched the biggest tree," answered Nick. He looked around. "Yonder's
the spot," he cried. All followed him.

The quick-growing vegetation had enwreathed the trees with gay
creepers, but Nick soon found the mark of the axe on the bark.
Undergrowths choked up the gaps between the trunks of the trees, but a
couple of axes cleared a path. The men thronged into the inner space.
The ground was hard and overgrown, and certainly had not been touched
for a long time. Hopes rose higher than ever. Apparently the ground
had never been disturbed since Oxenham's visit. Captain Drake decided
to get to work at once. He rowed back to the ship, ordered the
pickaxes and shovels to be brought up from below, and chose out a first
gang of sailors and soldiers to go ashore and commence digging. A
couple of hours ought to suffice for the securing of the treasure.

The men tumbled into the bo