Bring it out and make it crackle, captain;
it's a bank-note for half a million."

The captain shook his head and a slight frown marred his usually amiable
features. He got up and, turning his back on them, filled his pipe from
a jar on the mantelpiece.

"You never will see it, Chalk," said Edward Tredgold, in tones of much
conviction. "I'll bet you two to one in golden sovereigns that you'll
sink into your honoured family vault with your justifiable curiosity
still unsatisfied. And I shouldn't wonder if your perturbed spirit walks
the captain's bedroom afterwards."

Miss Drewitt looked up and eyed the speaker with scornful comprehension.
"Take the bet, Mr. Chalk," she said, slowly.

Mr. Chalk turned in hopeful amaze; then he leaned over and shook hands
solemnly with Mr. Tredgold. "I'll take the bet," he said.

"Uncle will show it to you to please me," announced Prudence, in a clear
voice. "Won't you, uncle?"

The captain turned and took the matches from the table. "Certainly, my
dear, if I can find it," he said, in a hesitating fashion. "But I'm
afraid I've mislaid it. I haven't seen it since I unpacked."

"Mislaid it!" ejaculated the startled Mr. Chalk. "Good heavens! Suppose
somebody should find it? What about your word to Don Silvio then?"

"I've got it somewhere," said the captain, brusquely; "I'll have a hunt
for it. All the same, I don't know that it's quite fair to interfere in
a bet."

Miss Drewitt waved the objection away, remarking that people who made
bets must risk losing their money.

"I'll begin to save up," said Mr. Tredgold, with a lightness which was
not lost upon Miss Drewitt. "The captain has got to find it before you
can see it, Chalk."

Mr. Chalk, with a satisfied smile, said that when the captain promised a
thing it was as good as done.

For the next few days he waited patiently, and, ransacking an old
lumber-room, divided his time pretty equally between a volume of
"Captain Cook's Voyages" that he found there and "Famous Shipwrecks."
By this means and the exercise of great self-control he ceased from
troubling Dialstone Lane for a week. Even then it was Edward Tredgold
who took him there. The latter was in high spirits, and in explanation
informed the company, with a cheerful smile, that he had saved five and
ninepence, and was forming habits which bade fair to make him a rich man
in time.

[Illustration: "He ransacked an old lumber-room."]

"Don't you be in too