Bartlett—The cook o’ the Triton and the ship’s boy. We’d been on the island two days—an island barren as hell, mind—without food or drink. We was roasted by the sun and nigh mad with thirst. Then, on the second day, I seed a Malay canoe—a proper war canoe such as the pirates use—sunk down inside the reef. I sent Jimmy down to go over her thinkin’ they might be some cask o’ water in her the sea’d not got to. [With impressive emphasis.] He found no water, boy, but he did find—d’ye know what, boy?
Nat—[Exultantly.] The gold, of course!
Bartlett—[Laughing harshly.] Ha-ha! Ye do believe right enough, don’t ye! Aye, the gold—in a chest. We hauled her up ashore and forced the lid open. [Gloatingly.] And there it was afore our eyes in the sun—gold bracelets and rings and ornaments o’ all sorts fixed up fancy with diamonds and emeralds and rubies and sech—red and green—shinin’ in the sun! [He stops impressively.]
Nat—[Fascinatedly.] Diamonds and—— But how did they get there?
Bartlett—Looted treasure o’ some Chinese junk, likely. What matter how it come about? There it was afore our eyes. And then, mind ye, that thief o’ a cook came runnin’ up from where he’d been shirkin’ to look at what we’d found. “No share for ye, ye swab,” I yelled at him; and then he says: “It ain’t gold—brass and junk,” he says and run off for fear o’ me. Aye, he run off to the boy and told him to jine with his sneakin’ plan to steal the gold from us!
Nat—[Savagely.] But why didn’t you stop him? Why didn’t you——?
Bartlett—I be comin’ to that, boy, and ye’ll see if I did wrong. We carried the chest to the shade o’ a palm and there was that thief o’ a cook an’ the boy waitin’. I collared ’em both and made ’em look at the gold. “Look and tell me if it’s gold or no,” I says. [Triumphantly.] They was afeerd to lie. Even that thief o’ a cook owned up ’twas gold. Then when I turned ’em loose, because he knowed he’d git no share, he shouted again: “Brass and junk. Not worth a damn.”
Nat—[Furiously.] But why did you allow—— Why didn’t you——
Bartlett—[With mad satisfaction.] Aye, ye be seein’ the way o’ it, boy. It was just then we sighted the schooner that picked us up after. We made a map and was burryin’ the gold when we noticed them two thieves sneakin’ about to see where we’d hide it. I saw ’em plain, the scum! That thief o’ a cook was thinkin’ he’d tell the folks on the schooner and go shares with them—and leave us on the island to rot; or he was thinkin’ he and the boy’d be able to come back and dig it up afore I could. We had to do somethin’ quick to spile their plan afore the schooner come. [In a tone of savage satisfaction.] And so—though I spoke no word to him—Jimmy knifed ’em both and covered ’em up with sand. But I spoke no word, d’ye hear? Their deaths be on Jimmy’s head alone.
Nat—[Passionately.] And what if you had? They deserved what they got.