rfectly straight line across the sand,
counting each step as he took it. "And twenty-five, and twenty-six,
and twenty-seven, and twenty-eight, and twenty-nine, and thirty."

[Illustration]

Behind him walked two other figures; one was the half-naked negro, the
other the man with the plaited queue and the earrings, whom Tom had
seen lifting the chest out of the boat. Now they were carrying the
heavy box between them, laboring through the sand with shuffling tread
as they bore it onward.

As he who was counting pronounced the word "thirty," the two men set
the chest down on the sand with a grunt, the white man panting and
blowing and wiping his sleeve across his forehead. And immediately he
who counted took out a slip of paper and marked something down upon
it. They stood there for a long time, during which Tom lay behind the
sand hummock watching them, and for a while the silence was
uninterrupted. In the perfect stillness Tom could hear the washing of
the little waves beating upon the distant beach, and once the far-away
sound of a laugh from one of those who stood by the ship's boat.

One, two, three minutes passed, and then the men picked up the chest
and started on again; and then again the other man began his counting.
"Thirty and one, and thirty and two, and thirty and three, and thirty
and four"--he walked straight across the level open, still looking
intently at that which he held in his hand--"and thirty and five, and
thirty and six, and thirty and seven," and so on, until the three
figures disappeared in the little hollow between the two sand hills on
the opposite side of the open, and still Tom could hear the sound of
the counting voice in the distance.

Just as they disappeared behind the hill there was a sudden faint
flash of light; and by and by, as Tom lay still listening to the
counting, he heard, after a long interval, a far-away muffled rumble
of distant thunder. He waited for a while, and then arose and stepped
to the top of the sand hummock behind which he had been lying. He
looked all about him, but there was no one else to be seen. Then he
stepped down from the hummock and followed in the direction which the
pirate captain and the two men carrying the chest had gone. He crept
along cautiously, stopping now and then to make sure that he still
heard the counting voice, and when it ceased he lay down upon the sand
and waited until it began again.

Presently, so following the pirates, he saw the