e young fellow. "That don't make no
matter; I ain't afraid of you or the lidy stealin' the stuff; I wasn't
hidin' it from either of you."

"No?" queried I. "From whom, then, were you hiding it?"

"Why, from the rest of 'em, of course. We're _all_ hidin' our stuff
from one another. We don't _tell_ each other so; but we're doin' it all
the same."

"I see," said I. "You are unable to trust each other. Well, that is a
pity. One would have thought that there was not a man among you who
would not have felt abundantly satisfied with what he has secured."

"Maybe we are; but maybe we ain't," answered the fellow. "Anyhow, when
I sees the rest all distrustin' one another, I thinks it's time for me
to distrust them. So I spent all day yesterday huntin' for a good spot,
and comed along this way, and thought I couldn't do better than stow the
stuff at the foot of this big tree."

"Well," said I, "if I were you I should choose some other place. How
are you to know that one of the men you distrust is not even now
watching you--and guessing your occupation--from some place of
concealment among the bushes? Choose a spot that you can easily find
again somewhere in the heart of the bush, and bury it there, where
nobody can see what you are about."

"Thank'ee sir; I will. I think I know a good place not far off," said
the fellow; and therewith, giving a sea-scrape with his foot, he turned
away and left us. As for us, we resumed our walk, and were very careful
not to turn round or otherwise behave in such a manner as to lead the
man to suppose we desired to watch him.

During the period to which I am now referring, O'Gorman and his men did
no work whatever, but--after each had succeeded in satisfactorily
concealing his own share of treasure--spent their time in strolling
aimlessly--sometimes alone, and sometimes in parties of two or three
together--about the island, hunting for fruit, or climbing the cocoa-nut
trees to get at the nuts. Then--I think it was about the sixteenth day
after the unearthing of the treasure--without any previous warning or
notice whatever to me--I saw them striking tents ashore, immediately
after breakfast; and by noon everything had been brought off to the brig
again, and the men had once more taken up their quarters in her
forecastle. The remainder of that day was devoted to the task of
rebending the canvas; but it was not until noon of the next day that the
brig was again in a condition to