At this moment Nicholls and Simpson made their appearance upon the scene, much to Turnbull’s amazement, and turning to them Leslie said—
“Here is your prisoner, lads. Have you your lashings ready? And is the cave empty of everything that we intend to take away with us? Very well, then; march this fellow in there and bind his two feet and his right hand together securely—his left arm is broken and useless, you need not therefore trouble about that. And when you have done that I will set his broken arm and dress his wound for him. Keep him in the cave until I give you further instructions concerning him, and meanwhile give him a sufficiency of food and water to keep him from starving.”
For a moment Turnbull, wounded as he was, seemed very much disposed to make a final struggle for his liberty; but although he was a strong man, Simpson would have been more than a match for him even if he had been unwounded, and presently, recognising the futility and folly of resistance he sulkily entered the cave and submitted to be bound, growling and cursing horribly all the while, however. Then Leslie, assisted by Nicholls, dressed his wound and set the broken bone of the arm; lashing it firmly with splints hastily cut out of small branches from the nearest trees. Satisfied now that the fellow was absolutely secured, and quite incapable either of escaping or of inflicting any very serious injury upon himself, the three men at length left him to his; own devices, and proceeded to get the remainder of the treasure aboard the cutter and snugly stowed away—a task that they accomplished early enough to enable Dick to get back to the camp ere nightfall. Arrived there, Leslie at once set to work to prepare himself a good substantial meal, which he subsequently devoured with much gusto—having eaten nothing since breakfast; and, this important matter being disposed of, he immediately turned in, desiring to secure a few hours’ sleep ere setting out upon his nocturnal trip off to the barque.
When, at about half an hour after midnight, he again approached the Minerva, observing the same precautions as before, he found the steward awaiting his arrival with considerable trepidation. The man again descended into the canoe by way of the rope over the stern; and again Leslie allowed the little craft to drive with the wind to a perfectly safe distance before opening the conversation. At length, however, he said—
“Now I think we are far enough away to permit of our talking freely without being either heard or seen; so go ahead, Reynolds, and give me the news. Has Turnbull’s failure to return to the ship caused any uneasiness to the others of his gang?”
“Well, it ’ave, and it ’aven’t, if you can understand me, sir,” answered the man. “What I mean to say is this,” he continued, by way of explanation, “the chaps—Burton and the rest of ’em—seems a bit puzzled that ’e ’aven’t come off aboard to sleep to-night; but so far as I can make out, they thinks ’e’s stayin’ ashore with you, chummin’ up with you, in a manner of speakin’, and tryin’ to get to wind’ard of you. They seems to think that Turnbull—who thinks ’isself a mighty clever chap, but ain’t nothin’ of the sort—’aven’t been able to hinvent an excuse to get away from you, and that you’ve been goin’ about with ’im all day, showin’ ’im round the hisland and such-like; and that ’e’s stayin’ ashore to-night ’opin’ to be able to give you the slip early in the mornin’ and get off by ’isself to ’ave a look for ’is treasure-cave. That’s what they thinks; but of course it ain’t nothin’ of the sort. You knows what ’ave ’appened to ’im, sir; no doubt?”
“Oh yes,” answered Leslie, with a laugh; “I know quite well what has happened to him. He is alive; but he will not come off to the barque again.”
“Thank God for that!” ejaculated the steward, piously. “Well, sir,” he resumed, “what is to be the next move?”
“That,” answered Leslie, “will depend upon circumstances—or, in other words, upon the action of Turnbull’s accomplices. It would no doubt be easy enough to recapture the barque without further delay, if I were willing to risk a fight. But I am not, for two very good reasons; one of which is that my own party is so small that I cannot afford to have either of them hurt; and the other is that your party is also so small that if even a single man should happen to be disabled in a fight it would be exceedingly difficult for the remainder of you to handle the barque. Therefore I would very much rather spend a few more days over this business, and recapture the vessel without any fighting, than rush the matter and perhaps get somebody badly hurt. By the way, what sort of men are these accomplices of Turnbull’s? Are they of the resolute and determined sort?”
“Ay,” answered the steward, “you bet your life they are, sir. Turnbull took ’em in with ’im just because ’e couldn’t ’elp ’isself. ’E ’ad to ’ave ’elp to take the barque, and naterally ’e chose the chaps as ’e thought would be most useful to ’im, ’specially as ’e didn’t want to ’ave more ’n ’e could ’elp to go shares with ’im. Now these ’ere four—Burton and the rest of ’em—are big, strong fellers, all of ’em. Either of ’em could tackle any two of the rest of us in a stand-up fight and make mincemeat of us; so I reckon that’s the reason why Turnbull chose ’em. With they four and the cook on ’is side, and the mate safe in irons and locked up in ’is cabin, ’e could laugh at the rest of us, and do just ezactly as ’e liked.”