Each time the divers came up from the opaque white water they brought more reports.  Binnacles, whistle, wheels, and all movable deck fittings were gone already.  The chart-house had been looted down to the bare boards.  Hatches were off, both forward and aft, and already the cargo had begun to diminish.  The black men of the district had been making good use of their time; and as the probabilities were that they would return in force to glean from this store which they considered legally theirs, it was advisable to collect as much as possible into the salvage steamer before any disturbances began.

News came from the cool mysterious water to the baking region of air above, almost at the second hour of the search, that the Grecian could never be refloated.  In addition to the holes already made in two of her compartments, she had settled on a sharp jag of rock, which had pierced her in a third place aft.  But at the same time this one piece of rock was the only solid spot in the neighborhood.  All the rest of the sea floor was paved with pulpy white clay, and in this the unfortunate wreck had settled till already it was flush with her lower decks.  There were evidences, too, that the ooze was creeping higher every day, so that all that remained was to strip her as quickly as might be before she was swallowed up for always.

Tazzuchi asked Captain Kettle for his opinion that night in the chart-house.  “I’m to be guided by you, of course,” he said, “but my idea is that we should go for the specie first thing, and let everything slide till that’s snugly on board here.  Birds gave L5,400 for the wreck, and there’s L8,000 in cash down there in a room they built specially for it over the shaft-tunnel.  If we can grab that, it will pay our expenses and commission and all the other actual outlay, and Birds will be out of the wood.  Afterward, if we can weigh any more of the cargo, well, that will be all clear profit.”

“Yes,” thought Kettle, “you want those gold boxes in your hands, you blessed Dago, and then you’ll begin to play your monkey tricks.  I wonder if you think you’re going to jam a knife into me by way of making things snug and safe?” But aloud he expressed agreement to Captain Tazzuchi’s plan.

He felt that this was diplomacy, and though the diplomatic art was new and strange to him, he told himself that it was the correct weapon to use under the circumstances.  He had risen out of his old grade of hole-and-corner shipmaster, where it had been his province to carry things through by rough blows and violent words.  He was a Captain in a regular line—­the Bird line—­now, and (with a trifle of a sigh) he remembered that wild fights and scrimmages were beneath the dignity of his position.

Accordingly, as soon as dawn gave a waking light, the boats were put out again, and the divers were given orders to let the further survey of the vessel rest, and put all their efforts into getting the specie boxes on to the end of the salvage steamer’s winch chain.  They were quickly helmed and sent below, and presently an increased cloudiness in the water told him that they were actively at work.  A lot of dhows were showing here and there amongst the reefs, obviously watching them, and Tazzuchi was beginning to get nervous.