"I have it all!" said Bright, turning to his companions with an assuring
nod of the head, and lowering his voice. "Toodleburg--Chapman--a
Dutchman and a Yankee--pick-axes, crowbars, and big ropes. Put them all
together; add going off at night to it--dark and misty night at
that--and there's something we'll all hear from in the wind. If Hanz and
that quarrelsome Yankee have got their heads together, then the devil
will get cheated out of Kidd's money. Sarves him right, too. Now them
two is after Kidd's money. Always knew old Hanz could tell where it
was."

The inn-keeper and his friends now returned to the inn and discussed the
matter over warm punch until nearly midnight, or until their wits became
so confused that the four men in the boat increased to forty. In short,
Nyack waked up on the following morning to find herself filled with the
wildest reports concerning this midnight expedition and its object.

The little boat moved on steadily up the stream, her sturdy oarsmen
pulling at a measured stroke through the bewildering fog. In this way
the boat was kept on up the river until past midnight, a glimpse of the
land being caught here and there, an assurance to Hanz that they were
not far out at sea. Indeed, Hanz began to get somewhat uneasy, and to
wish himself back with Angeline in the little house. As this expedition,
however, was to establish a solid basis for the great Kidd Discovery
Company, out of which a fortune for Tite was to come, he was willing to
run the risk of being lost in the fog for a night or two.

Towards morning the men became uneasy and hungry, and began cursing Kidd
and all connected with him, and enquired of Chapman if he knew where he
was going. Indeed, one of them declared it his belief that they had been
brought on a fool's errand. Chapman, however, assured them that he knew