“‘I told Morgan nothing about this, for certain I am that though he liked me well as a friend, had he known I was about to leave, or desert as he would have called it, his suspicions would have been aroused: and for fear of that hidden gold being taken, he would have found means to murder me as he had to murder those faithful and honest sailors.
“‘Well, Morgan was an excellent commander, and a thorough fighting sailor, but he was very far indeed from being a good scholar.
“‘I determined, therefore, to punish him for the crime he had just been guilty of.
“‘“That hidden gold shall never be thine, Morgan,” I said to myself.
“‘Then I proceeded to execute a plan which I had well thought out.
“‘There in the privacy of my cabin I prepared a chart of the rocks, the sea-shore, the woods, and the haunted jungle, which to a casual observer in every way resembled the true chart I had given to Morgan. The figures and measurements, however, were entirely altered, so that with my new plan any one attempting to find the place where the gold was would be completely led astray.
“‘It was clever. I credit myself with being no fool.
“‘And now to change the two charts.
“‘Morgan’s locker was easily opened, so I chose a time when he had just gone on deck. I hurried to his cabin with a heart that thumped almost audibly against my ribs.
“‘Fortune favoured me. The locker opened easily, and very quickly indeed did I effect the exchange and rush away back to my own cabin.