enough, for he had guessed shrewdly that the gallery was connected with the great chamber by some secret egress.

And who knew? Might not Dolores have taken in her haste but part of her vast store? Stumpy knew as well as Red Jabez the tremendous wealth that had been deposited in that chamber of mysteries; for he had been with the red chief from the beginning; he had seen with his own eyes the riches of a hundred ships taken in there, and never a thing come out.

“She can’t have bagged the lot,” he muttered, fanning his torch into a red flare. “But she’ll pay for deserting Stumpy, or Stumpy’s a liar!”

He found the powder train, and the moisture had dried from it, leaving only a little line of dry, quick-igniting