The voyage of the Golden Hope was over.
The news of the success of the Prince of Orange was hailed with delight by the former crew of the Neptune. To them it meant that they were free to return to their homes in the marshes of Somerset, without fear of being again hauled before the justices and sentenced to a horrible existence in the unhealthy swamps of Barbados; and on this account we, too, felt glad at the unexpected solution of their difficulties.
Our first care was to get the passengers and crew of the Phoenix safely ashore. There was, we heard, a stout barque on the point of sailing for Virginia in a few days' time, so that those who were of a mind to cross the ocean, and had sufficient means to pay for their passage, could avail themselves of her departure.
Mistress Farndale and her family had resolved to do this, but ere they went ashore I promised to call upon them as soon as my duties would permit, for until the matter of sharing the treasure was settled Captain Jeremy would allow no communication with the land.
Three days later two assessors, being duly qualified Government officers, came post haste from the Royal Mint and boarded us. The seals of the strong room were broken and the massive locks unfastened, and the task of allotting the wealth proceeded.
Having set aside the tithe claimed by the state, and also the amount due to Sir William Soams (who received a good eight hundred per centum on his outlay), the shares owing to the original crew of the Golden Hope and to the men of the Neptune were duly paid out.
Then the residue, by a rough calculation of the value of 180,000 pounds, was to be equally divided 'twixt Captain Jeremy and the heirs of the late Captain Richard Hammond. I could hardly realize the value of this immense sum, though I knew that our share was sufficient to restore the fortunes of our house to its former greatness.
The Golden Hope was now moored alongside a wharf on the Hamworthy side of the harbour, and at two bells in the afternoon watch the men mustered on deck, those who came off the Neptune having fallen in on the larboard side, each with his bundle ready for his long tramp to distant Sedgemoor.
In a few hearty words Captain Jeremy addressed them, thanking them for their services, and wishing them every success in their future. Then, after three ringing cheers, the "Neptunes", their pockets filled with coin, went ashore, amid the boisterous farewells of their comrades of the last two years and more; and as the little band of men, who were now returning to till the soil instead of ploughing the deep, disappeared from our view, I felt that another link with the past had been finally severed.
Our share of the treasure having been placed in safe keeping in the town vaults of the corporation of Poole, those of the crew who wished to take their discharge were dismissed, and under the command of Clemens and the master gunner the Golden Hope sailed for the Thames, where she was to be handed back to her owners.