First, the shovel had been smuggled from the coal-cellar and secreted in a corner of the yard behind the ash-barrel, together with an iron crowbar to use as a lever, and an empty sack to aid in the removal of the treasure.
I scarcely slept that night; and when I did, my mind was filled with wild imaginings. The next morning we were heedless scholars indeed, and at dinner I ate so little that Mrs. Handsomebody was moved to remark jocularly that somebody not a thousand miles away was shaping for a bilious bout.
At four o’clock Captain Pegg appeared at his window, looking the picture of cheerful confidence. He said it warmed his heart to be at his old profession again, and indeed I never saw a merrier twinkle in any one’s eyes. He had found the plan of the yard sent by Jenks, and he had no doubt that we should soon be in possession of the Spanish treasure.
'But there’s one thing, my lads,' he said solemnly: 'I make no claim whatever to any share in this booty. Let that be understood. Anything we find is to be yours entirely. If I were to take any such goods into my son’s house, his wife would get suspicious, and uncomfortable questions would be asked, and it’d be all up with this archæologist business.'
'Couldn’t you hide it under your bed?' I suggested.
'Oh, she’d be sure to find it,' he replied sadly. 'She’s into everything. And even if they didn’t locate it till I am dead, they’d feel disgraced to think their father had been a pirate. You’ll have to take it.'
We agreed, therefore, to ease him of the responsibility of his strangely gotten gain. We then parted, with the understanding that we were to meet him in the alley between the two houses promptly at midnight, and that in the meantime, we were to preserve a calm and commonplace demeanor.
With the addition of four crullers and a slab of cold bread pudding filched from the pantry, our preparations were now complete.
We were well-disciplined little animals; we always went to bed without a murmur, but on this night we literally flew there. The Seraph ended his prayers with—'And for this piwate tweasure make us twuly thankful. Amen.'
The next moment we had dived under the bedclothes and snuggled there in wild expectancy.