Yet when Murray turned to face us I noted the tiny wrinkle betwixt his eyebrows which was a sure indication that he was worried.
Moira O'Donnell, who had been standing with Peter and me, listening to my recital of the song about the island, was the first to speak.
"Will you have had to shoot that man?" she challenged.
"'Twas that or maybe the deaths of all of us, my lass," he replied, unwontedly grim. "A shipload of men like my crew are a volcano of lawlessness held in restraint by fear. Let them once break the spell of discipline—which is maintained by fear—and they in their numbers would soon overpower us. This incident is relatively unimportant, but it points a lesson I should be reckless not to heed.
"To be brief, my friends," my great-uncle, summed up, "I dare not leave the Royal James whilst any of the treasure is aboard; nor would it be safe for me to entrust any of my crew with the location of the hiding-place."
He took snuff, staring contemplatively at the sand-hillocks of the Dead Man's Chest.
"Here, then, is my plan," he pursued. "I will have eight hundred thousand pounds set ashore in the boats—my own share of one hundred thousand, chevalier, as well as the seven hundred thousand pounds guaranteed to your friends. I will then land you four, with sufficient provisions, and bear away in the James to the so'th'ard, returning in five days to pick you up. In the intervening period you should be able to transport the treasure to a safe spot and bury it. In that way, chevalier, its safety can be assured until we are able to return for it with the James or some other craft dispatched by your friends."
"Your plan is maybe the best in the circumstances," answered O'Donnell, "but I'd have ye remember, Murray, that of the four people who will know of the gold's location two are Hanoverians and the third is my daughter, who is a weak maid."
My great-uncle laughed.
"You need have no fear on the score of those three. You little know Mistress Moira if you call her a weak maid; and as for Robert and Peter, they are men of honor—and best of all, are not likely to be submitted to the temptation to reveal the treasure to their political friends. No, no, colonel; by my plan the treasure will be safer than in a bank."