CHAPTER VIII AN AMERICAN FRIGATE BECOMES A CORSAIR'S CATTLESHIP
When I felt the deck of the George Washington beneath my feet, I felt a different thrill than that which had run through me when I stepped aboard The Rose of Egypt. I was a navy lad now, and my own quest for treasure, that had absorbed all of my attentions, dwindled before the fact that it was now my duty to consider the interests of my country more than my own selfish aims.
Moreover I was to meet men, and find adventures, that made my treasure hunt for the time being a secondary interest. I intended before I quitted the Barbary coast to make the search; meanwhile I was content to take what experiences navy life brought me, awaiting my opportunity to enter the desert in search of the riches. The Egyptian, I had reason to believe, had been killed in the hurricane. The secret of the treasure was safe with me. Time would unfold my opportunity.
As for those who are following this chronicle, let us hope that the thrilling naval activities these pages will now mirror will be more absorbing even than the personal experiences I have told about; yet if any wonder as to the result of my quest for treasure, let me encourage them by saying that it was the historic events I am now about to relate that placed me at last in a position to reach the spot where the jewels and trinkets described by the rector were buried.
My good friend Samuel Childs found an old comrade on board the George Washington—one Reuben James. The two had been shipmates in the merchant service. Reuben, though now scarcely more than a boy, was a veteran sailor. He had gone to sea at the age of thirteen, had sailed around the world, and had every sort of experience that comes to a seaman. All of us became members of the frigate's crew, and Samuel and I were chosen for Reuben's watch, so that the three of us had many a chance to talk things over.
From Reuben I drew forth an account of the release of Alexander and the other American captives. It was not until Samuel told him that I was a brother to one of the captives that he displayed interest in me; after he had discovered this fact, however, he went out of his way to be kind to me.