On the way home the rector questioned me concerning the contents of the sacks, but I evaded him. Now, as we stood in the hallway, with the sacks at our feet, I myself popped a question.
"Rector," I said, "if you were suddenly handed a good-sized fortune, what would you do with it?"
He smiled.
"I suppose, David, that we all like to indulge in such day-dreams. First, I should erect a larger church here—this business of hanging our church-bell to a tree is getting sadly out of fashion. Then I should build mission chapels in the border settlements. Then Alexander should have capital with which to expand his trade with the West Indies. Then I should send you to Yale College—it's really time now, David, that you settled down to your studies. Then I should send General Eaton some funds. Congress praised him, but has since neglected him, and the poor fellow is low in spirits and failing in health. Then——"
"Rector," I said, "all those wishes and as many more are granted. I found both Aladdin's lamp and Ali Baba's cave in the deserts of Africa. Stand by and watch me bring all of your day-dreams true! Fall too, Mustapha, servant of the geni!"
With our jackknives we slashed open the sacks. The treasure hoard of the ancients—the priceless jewelry and trinkets which the rector long ago had discovered and then sealed up and abandoned—poured out in gleaming confusion at his feet.
POSTSCRIPT
THE END OF THE PIRATES