No one answered him, and no one appeared to have found a key about the deck. He had just discovered the loss of his key, and I concluded that it was this circumstance which made him ugly.
"I have lost the key of my trunk," added Waterford. "Has any one found it?"
No one had, and so there was no answer.
"Why don't you say something?"
"I haven't found any key, sir," replied Jack Sanderson; and so said a dozen others.
The mate set all hands to searching about the deck for the key. I looked with the others, but I had not the least hope of finding it. No one else was any more successful, and the search on deck was abandoned. The mate went into the cabin again, and the men continued their work. The second mate gave me another job to do, but as it was simpler than the first, I succeeded very well. In fact, I began to think myself that I was an able seaman. Just before eight bells, Waterford came on deck again, looking tenfold more ugly than before. I concluded that he had opened his trunk, and discovered the loss of a portion of his gold, or rather the loss of that portion which belonged to me.
"Where's the key of your trunk, Phil?" demanded he.
"In my pocket, sir."
"Give it to me," he added, sternly.
"Am I not allowed to keep the key of my own trunk, sir?"