us; we've bin done like that afore."

And then what must I do but produce a handful of silver and show it
them as earnest of my promise. I could not have done a stupider
thing. At the sight of the money the men fell upon me, and emptied
my pocket (despite my resistance) of every stiver it contained; so
that I was now, as once before in my life, bare of everything save
my clothes and Cludde's crown piece, which was hidden under my
shirt. Then, with many a chuckle, the scoundrels left me, to
meditate on the exceeding folly of trying to make terms with
buccaneers.

So three days passed. I was never allowed to quit my room; Jack and
Bill guarded it by day, two other men by night. I became more and
more miserable and anxious. I could get no news from my jailers,
nor did I ever see the overseer in whose house I was; and I
suffered from a constant dread that Vetch's plans, whatever they
were, were maturing, and that it would soon be too late for any
intervention.

On the third night of my imprisonment in the overseer's house (the
fourth since my arrival) I was very restless. My enforced
inactivity, and the lack of fresh air, were producing the natural
effect; every night I slept less, waking frequently, to toss and
heave until I sank again into a troubled slumber.

In one of these intervals, I heard a scratching sound--just such a
sound as a mouse makes behind the wainscot. I had not noticed it
before, and it caused me nothing but irritation now, for when a man
is wakeful, such sounds, however slight they may be, become