ig crew, and what's more, he'd figure the fewer the better
when it came to splitting up the gold. I doubt if there's above fifteen
men--maybe only fourteen now." He grinned as he thought of the big
pirate who had attacked him in the woods.

"Good," said Job. "We'll have sixteen besides you, Mr. Swan, and your
two boys. An even twenty, counting myself. If we can't put that crowd
under hatches, I'm no sailorman."

The crew of the _Tiger_, bristling with arms and eager for action, now
came up. Without wasting time Job told them what was afoot and they
moved forward up the hill.

Once among the trees the attacking party spread out in irregular
fan-formation, with Tom and Jeremy scouting a little in advance. The
stillness of the woods was almost oppressive as they went forward. All
the men seemed to feel it and proceeded with more and more caution. Used
to the hurly-burly of sea-fighting, they did not relish this silent
approach against an unseen enemy.

Clearing the ridge they came down at length to the edge of the beach,
close to the old pirate anchorage, and Jeremy led the way along through
the bushes toward the mouth of the reedy inlet. Working carefully down
the shore to the place whence Bob and he had sighted the spars of the
buccaneer, he climbed above the reeds and peered up the creek. To his
surprise the masts had disappeared.

"She's gone!" he gasped.

Job and Tom looked in turn. Certain it was that no vessel lay in the
creek!

"Perhaps they sighted the _Tiger_," suggested Jeremy. "If so, they can't
have gotten far. They've likely taken the rest of the gold. And Bob must
be aboard, too, if he's still alive."

As they turned to go back, one of the sailors who had walked down to the
reeds at the edge of the creek, hurried up with a dark object in his
fist. He held it out as he drew near and they saw that it was a pistol,
covered with a mass of black mud, Jeremy saw a gleam of metal through
the sticky lump, and quickly scraping away the mud from the mounting he
disclosed a silver plate which bore the still terrible name "Stede
Bonnet." The boy gave a cry of pleasure as he saw it, and thrust the
weapon quickly into Job's hands.

"Look!" he exclaimed. "It's Bob's pistol. And there's only one way it
could have gotten where it was. He must have thrown it from the sloop's
deck as they went past, thinking we'd find it. See here! They can't be
gone more than a few hours, for there's not a bit of rust on the iron