The captain smiled.  “That is not an easy question to answer, but I think we shall settle it very satisfactorily.  Of course, the first thing to do is to get it safely entered and stored away in the great money centres over here.  A good portion of it, in fact, is to be shipped to Philadelphia to be coined.  Of course, all that business is in the hands of my bankers.  The fact that I originally sailed from California was a great help to us.  To ascertain my legal rights in the case was the main object of my visit to London.  There Wraxton and I put the matter before three leading lawyers in that line of business, and although their opinions differed somewhat, and although we have not yet come to a final conclusion as to what should be done, the matter is pretty well straightened out as far as we are concerned.  Of course, the affair is greatly simplified by the fact that there is no one on the other side to be a claimant of the treasure, but we consider it as if there were a claimant, or two of them, in fact.  These can be no other than the present government of Peru, and that portion of the population of the country which is native to the soil, and the latter, if our suppositions are correct, are the only real heirs to the treasure which I discovered.  But what are the laws of Peru in regard to treasure-trove, or what may be the disposition of the government toward the native population and their rights, of course we cannot find out now.  That will take time.  But of one thing we are certain:  I am entitled to a fair remuneration for the discovery of this treasure, just the same as if I claimed salvage for having brought a wrecked steamer into port.  On this point the lawyers are all agreed.  I have, therefore, made my claim, and shall stand by it with enough legal force behind me to support me in any emergency.

“But it is not believed that either the Peruvian government, or the natives acting as a body, if it shall be possible for them to act in that way, will give us any trouble.  We have the matter entirely in our own hands.  They do not know of the existence of this treasure, or that they have any rights to it, until we inform them of the fact, and without our assistance it will be almost impossible for them to claim anything or prove anything.  Therefore, it will be good policy and common sense for them to acknowledge that we are acting honestly, and, more than that, generously, and to agree to take what we offer them, and that we shall keep what is considered by the best legal authorities to be our rights.

“As soon as possible, an agent will be sent to Peru to attend to the matter.  But this matter is in the hands of my lawyers, although, of course, I shall not keep out of the negotiations.”

“And how much percentage, captain?” asked Mrs. Cliff.  “What part do they think you ought to keep?”

“We have agreed,” said he, “upon twenty per cent. of the whole.  After careful consideration and advice, I made that claim.  I shall retain it.  Indeed, it is already secured to me, no matter what may happen to the rest of the treasure.”