“Yes?”
“Well, how are we to get rid of it?”
Sagesse laughed.
“You are one of those that look far ahead. So am I. Suppose we find stuff there, well, who does it belong to but us? We have located it, we have got an expedition together to find it, the island belongs to no government, the stuff belonged to people who were dead when you and I were born. The stuff belongs to us by all right. Is that not so?”
“As you put it, yes.”
“Well, my friend, there is no such thing as Right in this world. As soon as it is known that we have found the old money-box, broken her open and taken the contributions, some government will say, ‘That island is mine,’ some man will rise up with a lying charter, proving that he bought the island and the ship years ago, some rascal trick will be played by some rascal, and we will have law-suits; the stuff will be impounded, witnesses will be brought from the ends of the world to bear false witness, our characters will be enquired into—” Sagesse laughed as he spoke, crossed the deck to the lee rail, spat into the sea, and returned. “They will say, these lawyer-men, ‘who is this Monsieur Sagesse who finds old treasure-ships? Let’s hunt up all about him, and if we can’t find anything against him, let us make something against him.’ No, my friend, I wish to have nothing to do with the law; nothing to do with governments; nothing to do with enemies on this occasion. So, being a man who looks ahead, I have already made my plans for disposing of the stuff in America—” Sagesse came to a dead stop. His habit of talking had got possession of him and carried him further than he meant to go.
“In America?”
“There, or somewhere else.”
At this moment Jules came out of the fo’cs’le, where only a few minutes before Pedro had disappeared, and came along the deck to Sagesse. He spoke a couple of words in an undertone, and Sagesse following him they both went forward.
Gaspard watched them vanishing down the fo’cs’le hatch. The thought that Pedro had been seriously injured crossed his mind for a moment, but his mind, filled with the words of Sagesse, had no room for thoughts about Pedro. America! If they had to go to America to dispose of the stuff, the voyage might last months, and to Gaspard the few hours that had passed since losing sight of Martinique seemed months. He had found all he wanted in life, and he had left it behind him there in Martinique.