“Yes,” said Edna, “there is more of it,” and she began to read again: 

“’I intended to stop here and give you the rest of the matter in another letter, but now, as I have a good chance to write, I think it is better to keep on, although this letter is already as long as the pay-roll of the navy.  When I told Shirley about the gold, he made a bounce pretty nearly as big as the others, but this time I had him in a stout arm-chair, and he did no damage.  He had in his pocket one of the gold bars he spoke of, and I had one of mine in my trunk, and when we put them together they were as like as two peas.  What I told him dazed him at first, and he did not seem properly to understand what it all meant, but, after a little, a fair view of it came to him, and for hours we talked over the matter.  Who the man was who had gone there after we left did not matter, for he could never come hack again.

“’We decided that what we should do was to go and get that gold as soon as possible, and Shirley agreed to go with me.  He believed we could trust Burke to join us, and, with my four black men,—­who have really become good sailors,—­we would have a crew of seven men altogether, with which we could work a fair-sized brig to Havre or some other French port.  Before he went away our business was settled.  He agreed to go with me as first mate, to do his best to help me get that gold to France, to consider the whole treasure as mine, because I had discovered it,—­I explained the reason to him, as I did to you,—­and to accept as regular pay one hundred dollars a day, from then until we should land the cargo in a European port, and then to leave it to me how much more I would give him.  I told him there were a lot of people to be considered, and I was going to try to make the division as fair as possible, and he said he was willing to trust it to me.

“’If we did not get the gold, he was to have eighteen dollars a month for the time he sailed with me, and if we got safely back, I would give him his share of what I had already secured.  He was quite sure that Burke would make the same agreement, and we telegraphed him to come immediately.  I am going to be very careful about Burke, however, and sound him well before I tell him anything.

“’Yesterday we found our vessel.  She arrived in port a few days ago, and is now unloading.  She is a small brig, and I think she will do; in fact, she has got to do.  By the time Burke gets here I think we shall be ready to sail.  Up to that time we shall be as busy as men can be, and it will be impossible for me to go to San Francisco.  I must attend to the shipping of the treasure I have stored in the City of Mexico.  I shall send some to one place and some to another, but want it all turned into coin or bonds before I start.  Besides, I must be on hand to see Burke the moment he arrives.  I am not yet quite sure about him, and if Shirley should let anything slip while I was away our looked-for fortune might be lost to us.’