CHAPTER X.

AN ANXIOUS TIME--THE CHASE AND BATTLE--HOW ALL ENDED.

“‘Now haste, my men, and launch the boat, Our pursuers are at hand; Once on our bark we’ll safety have, But there’s danger on the land.’”

“A wet sheet and a flowing sea, A wind that follows fast, And fills the white and rustling sail, And bends the gallant mast.”

Now, having been granted leave by the proprietors of the land to excavate and to carry away curios, we knew well that no state would give permission to any swift yacht to follow and capture us; still we well knew what enterprising men there are in the Southern states, and how quickly a vessel of exceeding swiftness could be hired for any private adventure.

I for one, therefore, was not a bit surprised next morning at sunrise when told by Miguel that a small, wicked-looking, black steamer was bearing down on us, and coming up with us indeed, hand over hand.

“She’ll overhaul us in a couple of hours,” he said.

I dressed quickly and went on deck. Captain Reeves was already there, and all eyes were turned astern.

“The fact is,” he said, in answer to a question put by me, “we are short of coals, and the mate, thinking all was perfectly safe, had banked fires, and was dodging on under sail with the little bit of wind there was. Fires are only just stirred up, but that little fiend has the weather-gage on us.”

“It’s a private venture?” I said inquiringly.

“A private venture!” cried the mate angrily; “it is more--it is a piratical adventure, and I for one would counsel resistance to the last. So sorry the fault is mine. Well, we have two six-pounders. I’ll take the fault. I’m a good shot, and blame me more than ever if I don’t make her trip over the wreck of her own rigging.”

So the guns were loaded with ball and run aft all ready.

On came the black one; on went we. We had bags of lard and even a fat ham or two to pop into the fire when we wanted to fly.

By ten o’clock the enemy was near enough to hail us through the speaking-trumpet.

“Lie to at once, or we’ll grapple and board you. Don’t want any loss of life; but we are five-and-twenty strong, and each man has a revolver.”

The answer went from the speaking-trumpet of bold Captain Reeves,--

“If you come three fathoms nearer, we’ll astonish your weak nerves; we shall treat you as pirates, and sink you.”

There was simply an ironical cheer by way of reply.

“Get the fat in the fire now,” shouted Reeves to the engineer. “Get all pressure of steam up, anyhow. Now, mate.”

The first gun was run out and fired.

Brr--rr--rang!

Hardly had the smoke cleared away ere we could notice the consternation on board the black one.

The funnel was a wreck.

“Change your course and haul off, or we’ll give you another,” cried Reeves.

No notice was taken by the enemy.

The mate took very great pains indeed with this second shot.

It struck their foremast not a fathom above deck, and down it came thundering over the bows.

We saw we had the victory. I should be sorry to think any one was killed or hurt; but we gave them three cheers, and as steam was now fully up, we went tearing through the water, and in an hour’s time we were out of sight over the horizon.

A splendid, spanking breeze now sprang up, and in a few days we were able to take in coals at an island which for obvious reasons must be nameless.

We steamed away in the gloaming still south and by east, but as soon as night fell we altered our course to north-east by north, and were soon far away on the dark blue sea, and on our way to British shores.

We were all very happy and very hopeful now, but above everything it was a treat to witness the quiet joy of poor Miguel. Ah! youth is indeed a glorious time; but when he talked to us of his future, the young fellow’s face seemed really to be transformed, and to shine.

Then at all other times he was just his same old self, and the life of everybody on board. He was, perhaps, somewhat of a republican at heart; for he talked with the men as if they were quite on a

[Illustration: The fellow went down like a shot, and lay there stunned and insensible]

footing of equality with him mentally and socially, and he even played and sang to them, and kept them laughing of an evening until they used to declare that their very sides ached again. I am certain that there was not a single member of the crew who would not have fought for the young minister, as they called him, until blinded with their own blood, so much beloved was he.

And now, while sailing along on a gentle breeze and doing but little over six knots an hour--for so thoroughly were we enjoying the voyage that no one seemed to be in the least hurry to get back again even to bonnie Scotland--a day was set apart to count our coin.

It took us quite a long time. The gold was of the purest, and all was in Spanish doubloons.

It ran up to the very respectable sum of sixty thousand pounds. We took the men partly into our confidence, telling them that the money--we said nothing about the amount--had belonged to our ancestors, and therefore was ours; and that on the day when it was safely lodged in bank, the engineer should have a gift of one hundred and fifty pounds, the mate the same, and each of the sailors one hundred pounds. The announcement was received with a wild, ringing British cheer. Then things went on just as before.

Now there was more money buried in the island at the foot of another tree, but contrary to the account given by American papers, this did not amount to over ten thousand dollars; a goodly sum, however, for a man like Winkey to get his hands upon.

He was welcome to it as far as we were concerned. But the finding of it and the behaviour of Winkey afterwards make quite a little story all by themselves.

Winkey, it seems, had stolen a portion of our plans describing and locating the smaller portion of gold, which also lay at the foot of a tree. We had hardly sailed, it seems, ere he got hold of a certain Mr. Green (again the name is fictitious) and communicated the wonderful tidings to him. Then they employed another man to assist them to dig, and one night they all set out on their gold-hunting expedition. Their excitement was really feverish, and the old rye they consumed to banish nervousness only served to excite them more.

But it made them reckless.

Arrived by the weird old tree, they commenced operations at once, first with shovel and pick, and next with axes.

Gnarled and hard were the roots of that ancient king of the forest, and loudly rang the sound of the blows on the stillness of the night. Still they worked away with a will.

Not a great distance off from the spot where they were at work stands the farm of Mr. M. W. H. The unusual sound disturbed the good people there.

I quote from an American paper dated June 6, 1897, when I say:--

“Mr. M. W. H. lives within two hundred yards of the spot, and heard distinctly the noise of the axes. As this was unusual at such an hour, he and his son went out to investigate. They found the three men at work digging, but as they were on other property, decided not to disturb them.

“After hours of hard work, the treasure-delvers at last struck metal. Feverishly they cleared out the impeding earth, and speedily laid bare a much-rusted iron box. In a state of intense excitement they lifted it to the surface, and leaving the hole as it was hurriedly dragged it away.

“After going a short distance toward the city, they stopped for consultation. The third man was paid, and directed to go home and keep his mouth shut.

“Green and Winkey laboured painfully home with the box, and before morning succeeded in getting it into Green’s room.

“Here they hurriedly removed the lid, whose lock and hinge had rusted off, and there before them lay a fortune in Spanish doubloons.”

The fortune, reader, as I have already stated--knowing, as I well do, all the outs and ins of the matter--was not such a wondrous one after all. But as what followed forms a rather curious story of human credulity and over-confidence, I must tell it briefly.

To begin with, then:--Green and Winkey were of opinion that as soon as the owner of the property on which the old tree stood discovered the find he would claim the gold, so they decided that the safest plan was to get it away out of Fernandina with all speed. But as Green could not go from home just then, but had the utmost confidence in Winkey, it was decided that the latter should start at once for Brunswick, he--Green--to join him later on, when they could amicably divide the spoil.

This was playing at the game of confidence with a vengeance, and we shall soon see what came of it.

The baggage-master at Fernandina distinctly remembers checking the luggage, and wondering at the same time how a man in Winkey’s poor station of life came to have so many trunks. The fact was that Winkey had put the gold in several boxes, so as to distribute the weight, and thus evade suspicion.

And now Green lived for a time in a kind of fool’s paradise, building castles in the air both by day and long into the night after going to bed. He also threw out many mysterious hints to his friends, though he told them nothing definite. Only he wanted them to know that he would soon be far above poverty, and that he need trouble himself but little more about work or business either.

So Green sold out his business, and sold off all his possessions in Florida, determining to live elsewhere, and with his newly-acquired wealth act the _rôle_ of gentleman.

He thought it strange, however, that he did not hear from Winkey.

Post after post, and never a single letter.

“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,” and thoroughly alarmed at last Green hurried off to Brunswick. Never a Winkey was there, and from the information he was able to glean at the railway depôt the man must have gone on to northward; how much farther it would be difficult indeed to say.

No wonder poor Green was now heartbroken. All the gold gone--his business sold for a song, and very little indeed to live upon! It was terrible.

In his agony of mind he consulted a young lawyer.

This man, Mr. W. A. H., was smart enough. At first he would scarcely credit the story, but the testimony of the farmer and his son who had heard the gold-seeker digging, and that of the baggage-master who had checked the boxes, finally convinced him.

Green offered him twenty-five dollars for his assistance in tracing Winkey.

“If you be Green, I’m _not_,” said the lawyer. “Five-and-twenty dollars, indeed! How liberal you are! No, sir; I shall have one-half the gold, and nothing less, and an agreement must be made out to that effect.”

And so this was done.

But now comes the most curious part of the story. The man who had assisted in digging somehow or other had got Winkey’s address. It was almost indistinct as written, but “Fifth Avenue, New York,” could just be made out.

This the man gave to Mr. W. A. H., and he in turn gave it to Green, in whose honesty the lawyer had the utmost confidence. But it was necessary to success that Winkey be run to earth at once; so the lawyer dispatched Green to New York to find the runaway and confront him with a charge of roguery.

Probably Green was not so great a fool as he looked.

In all probability he found Winkey, and after a quarrel resumed partnership.

Perhaps this was so; but as Burns says,--

“Facts are chiels that winna ding,”

and the fact is that the clever but over-confiding lawyer has not up to the present date, July 15, 1897, heard again of either Winkey or Green. Very likely they are enjoying themselves together at some Continental or British watering-place.

While I write, it is a most brilliant sunny summer’s day, and only six miles from here Henley regatta is in full swing. When I finish this