his venomous eye on me as if he would
like to kill me because I knew more than he did. But I didn't concern
myself about him, and down I went, and this time I got myself aboard the
English vessel just as soon as I could.

"It wasn't as interesting as the old Spanish vessel, but still I saw
enough to fill up a book if I had time to tell it. There were more signs
of fighting than there had been on the other ship. Muskets and swords
were scattered about everywhere, and, although she was plainly a
merchant-vessel, she had a lot of the small cannon used in those days.

"I looked about a great deal, and it struck me that she had been a
merchantman trading with the West Indies, but glad enough to fight a
Spanish treasure-ship if she happened to come across one. It was more
than likely that her crew had been a regular set of half-buccaneers,
willing to trade if there was trade, and fight if there was any fighting
on hand. Anyway, the two vessels had had a tough time of it, and each
of them had met her match. I could see the grappling-irons which had
fastened them together. They had blown so many holes in each other's
sides that they had gone to the bottom as peaceably as a pair of twins
holding each other by the hands.

"I worked hard on that English ship, and I went everywhere where I dared
to go, but I couldn't find any signs that she had carried treasure. I
hadn't the least doubt that she was on an outward voyage, and that the
Spaniard was homeward bound.

"At last I got down into the hold, and there I found a great number of
big hogsheads, that were packed in so well under the deck that they had
never moved in all these years. Of course I wanted to know what was in
them, for, although it would not be gold or silver, it might be
something almost as precious if it happened to be spirits of the olden
time.

"After banging and working for some time I got out the bung of one of
these hogsheads, and immediately air began to bubble up, and I could
hear the water running in. It was plain the hogshead was empty, and I
clapped the bung in again as quick as I could. I wasn't accustomed to
sounding barrels or hogsheads under water, but as I knew this was an
empty one I sounded it with my hatchet; and then I went around and got
the same kind of a sound from each of the others that I hammered on.
They were all empty, every blessed one of them.

"Now I was certain that this vessel had been outward bound; she had been
taking out emp