made last v'y'ge from that there 'Santa Maria.' An', o' course,
big haul as it was, it aint nothin' at all to what's buried right
here on this island. Why, all the loot that we've taken for sixty-
five year is in the ground within half a mile of where we stand--
all on it, way back to what we took outer that there 'Spirito
Santo."

"And old Halyard paused, and blushed a little, as he remembered
the embarrassing incident of that day.

"'Well,' said the Captain, 'go on.'" '"Well, sir, all on a suddent
like, it come over us: what good is that there plunder a-doin'
of?'

"'What good?' asked Black Pedro.

"'Yessir, what good? There's all that there gold an' silver, an'
all them jooels an' preshis stones an' all them fine clo'es an'
what not, an' what good is it all a-doin' of, a-buried in the
ground? The book-keeper here, Mike the Shark, was a-reckonin' up
this morning, an' a-addin' this last lot o' gold, an' he tells us
that 'cordin' to the 'greement the share of ev'ry man jack on us
reckons up to a powerful big figger.'

"The book-keeper stepped forward. 'For each man,' said he, 'the
precise sum to date is nine hundred and sixty-six thousand, seven
hundred and forty-three dollars, and twenty-two cents.'

"'An' all hard-earned money, too,' said old Aaron; 'we've been a-
sailin,' an' a-fightin', an' a-shootin' folks, an a-stabbin' on