"Yes, sir," said the Bo's'n, with wandering gaze.
"What are you looking for, Bo's'n?"
"Only to see if there wasn't any more anywhere about, sir. It seems as if the boy might have forgotten some, or perhaps he didn't look——"
I laughed aloud.
"You avaricious old jacky!" said I. "Here is as much as would buy the Bank of England, and you are searching for more."
The Bo's'n looked down, abashed at my laughter.
"Don't mind my laughing, Bo's'n," said I kindly. "We are born that way, all of us. I have not enough in my pocket to buy myself a pair of shoes, yet I feel just as you do. That hill of riches seems to have grown small since we came back and looked at it again. Let's bury it out of sight before it vanishes altogether."
The Bo's'n stood gazing at the glittering mass. He shook his head. "How can we ever get it all to Belleville?" he asked.
"We can't get it there now, perhaps not for a long time," I answered. "Listen, Bo's'n. I want to talk quick before any one comes. When we get back home—it may be in a month from now, and it may be in a year—I want to fit out a vessel and come down and get this treasure and take it home. Never any more going to sea for us, Bo's'n, after that."
"No, sir, that's so, sir," returned the Bo's'n.