"Yes," replied Sir Hugh. "What happened?"
"Happened?" repeated Swaine, with a chuckle. "He wrenched open the door, and the result so astonished him that he went up, leaving me to find the gold. It's there, right enough."
CHAPTER XXIV
The Hurricane
"Hanged if I like the look of things," commented Beverley. "The glass has fallen six-tenths in the last two hours, and the sunset looks like a blurr of pea-soup. We're in for something before morning."
It was the evening of Villier's unpleasant experience and the discovery of the Fusi Yama gold. Work on the wreck had been suspended for the rest of the day, although Jack pluckily volunteered to make another descent with Swaine, and to begin the actual salvage of the treasure. This proposal Harborough had negatived. He believed in moderation.
"No use putting in one and a half working days in one if it takes two days to get over it," he remarked. "I don't believe in making spurts until I'm on the last lap."
Merridew, who was officer of the watch on shore, agreed with Beverley's observations about the sunset.
"I think we'll have the tents struck," he added. "We can sleep in the store-house. That ought to stick it out. How will your buses get on, Alec?"