"Do you know anything of this affair, Bill?" asked Charlie, looking up hopefully into the face of his friend.
"I expect I do."
"What is it?" questioned our hero, eagerly.
"I shall save it till it will do some good. But see, they have nearly finished searching your chest. Perhaps the ring is not there after all."
As Bill said, the search was nearly completed. Charlie's clothes had been unceremoniously tumbled out upon deck, which was not calculated to improve their appearance, and the captain and mate, who had shown themselves particularly active on the occasion, were peering about in search of the lost ring.
It chanced, however, that the ring had got in a fold of one of the shirts which lay upon deck. Of course, therefore, the search in the chest proved unavailing.
"I doubt whether it is here," said the captain, in a tone of disappointment.
"Let us look a little longer," said the mate, who could not so easily resign the chance of getting into trouble the boy whom he hated with a malevolence such as his nature was capable of.