fallen. Then the mate
abruptly pushed the coins across the table, and faced the captain,
breathing heavily.

"Cap'n Hollinger," he said, with a visible effort, "when you took me on
you knew that I'd had a more or less shaky kind o' past, didn't you?"

"Eh?" The captain flung him a keen glance. "What do you mean, Mr.
Swanson?"

"Just this, Cap'n. Once, when I was a fool young fellow, I got mixed up
wi' old Jerry. He was a trader among the islands then, nothin' short of
piracy it was in them days. When he come aboard this yacht, wi' them
four men out o' his old crew, I knowed there was trouble brewin'. He
finally told me about this here treasure, and how he was a-goin' to take
the yacht, and wanted me to join him. I warned him off, Cap'n, and I was
fool enough to think he'd take the warnin'. But he didn't. Now that it's
come out right, I wanted to get it off'n my conscience, that's all."

Captain Hollinger reached across the table, and gripped Swanson's hand.

"Mr. Swanson," he said, smiling, "I'm proud of you. Your wages are
doubled this trip--no, no protests, please! Evidently Jerry led me
astray all along, and the only gold in this lagoon was the treasure. Now
I think you'd better take the deck, Mr. Swanson."

"Yes, sir," replied Swanson humbly, his eyes gleaming oddly. "And what
about them four men on the island, sir?"

"Let them go, Swanson. They'll get food from the Malays, and they can
easily make their way to Singapore in the boat. I'll not prosecute them.
As for Jerry, we'll bury him in the morning."

Swanson lumbered out of the cabin. Captain Hollinger turned to Mart, and
asked him to go over his fight with the Pirate Shark in more detail.
Mart did so, for by this time he had recovered entirely except for a
shakiness in his legs. The captain listened to the story silently, then
nodded.

"I'm pretty sure you finished off the brute, Mart. That finishing blow
of yours seems to have driven in the kris either through his throat or
else through his mouth to the brain."

"But you didn't see anything of the body as you came?" asked Bob
anxiously.

"No. He'd probably not rise until to-morrow, in any case. I've no doubt,
however, that we'll find his body to-morrow or next day, boys. What a
trophy his skin would make, eh?"

"Could we have it mounted, dad?" queried Bob.

"Too big," retorted Mart practically. "The only place it could be used
would be in a museum, Holly."

"Well, why not?" smiled the captain