"'Where there was one there must more,' he said, and as soon as he could charter a ship he could raise the sunken treasure and become a millionaire. As he never let his friends handle the nugget, if nugget of gold it was, and as he was somewhat dissipated in his mode of life, he got no one to believe him. He had lost his ship owing to drunkenness while in charge of a watch and hadn't found another.
"Reduced at last to penury he determined to pawn his nugget, and for that purpose it seems he visited his uncle as the saying is. The pawn-broker was a shrewd old Jew. But although he called the nugget a mere trinket, he was glad to offer money on it nevertheless. Not enough, however, to satisfy the man, who picked up the sea-worn gold and quickly left the shop. He was followed at once to his lodgings and the address taken.
"A few nights after this he was waited upon not by one Jew but two.
"They had been, they said, thinking over his story, and were willing to advance a considerable sum not on the bit of gold, but if the ex-mate would show them a chart and give the exact latitude and longitude of the unknown island.
"A magnum of champagne was sent for and they three talked over the matter.
"But the mate's ultimatum was this: he refused to give the position of the island, but would take command of the search-ship, and the Jews should have half of all the gold, the other to be his unreservedly.
"Before coming to terms one of the Jews hazarded a last shot. Doubtless, he said, they could find the latitude and longitude from some of the others that had been on board the barque at the time.
"The mate helped himself to more wine. He was a man who could fill his hold without fear of his ballast shifting.
"'That you won't,' he said. 'I knew the only two young fellows that had the secret. One was a steward, the other a ship's cook's slush boy. Both, I've heard, were killed by cannibals, and I alone possess the secret, which I means to stick to, till I find more generous partners than you. Good-night.'
"But it seems the mate's last shot told home.