“Fifteen two and a pair make four,
  Two for his heels, and that makes six.”

We listened, awestruck, with blanched faces, scarce daring to look at one another.  For myself, I am bold to confess that I crept under the sheltering table and hid my head in my hands.  Again the mournful notes were moaned forth—­

  “Fifteen two and a pair make four,
  Two for his heels, and—­”

But ere it was ended, Captain JAWKINS had sprung forward, and rushed into the further corner of the parlour.  “I know that voice,” he cried aloud; “I know it amid a thousand!” And even as he spoke, a strange light dispelled the shadows, and by its rays we could see the crouching form of BILL BLUENOSE, with the red seam across his face where the devil had long since done his work.

CHAPTER III.

I had forgot to say that, as he ran, the Captain had drawn his sword.  In the confusion which followed on the discovery of BLUENOSE, I could not rightly tell how each thing fell out; indeed, from where I lay, with the men crowding together in front of me, to see at all was no easy matter.  But this I saw clearly.  The Captain stood in the corner, his blade raised to strike.  BLUENOSE never stirred, but his breath came and went, and his eyelids blinked strangely, like the flutter of a sere leaf against the wall.  There came a roar of voices, and, in the tumult, the Captain’s sword flashed quickly, and fell.  Then, with a broken cry like a sheep’s bleat, the great seamed face fell separate from the body, and a fountain of blood rose into the air from the severed neck, and splashed heavily upon the sanded floor of the parlour.

“Man, man!” cried the Doctor, angrily, “what have ye done?  Ye’ve kilt BLUENOSE, and with him goes our chance of the treasure.  But, maybe, it’s not yet too late.”

So saying, he plucked the head from the floor and clapped it again upon its shoulders.  Then, drawing a long stick of sealing-wax from his pocket, he held it well before the Captain’s ruddy face.  The wax splattered and melted.  The Doctor applied it to the cut with deft fingers, and with a strange condescension of manner in one so proud.  My heart beat like a bird’s, both quick and little; and on a sudden BLUENOSE raised his dripping hands, and in a quavering kind of voice piped out—­

  “Fifteen two and a pair make four.”

But we had heard too much, and the next moment we were speeding with terror at our backs across the desert moorland.

CHAPTER IV.

You are to remember that when the events I have narrated befell I was but a lad, and had a lad’s horror of that which smacked of the supernatural.  As we ran, I must have fallen in a swoon, for I remember nothing more until I found myself walking with trembling feet through the policies of the ancient mansion of Dearodear.  By my side strode a young nobleman, whom I straightway recognised as the Master.  His gallant bearing and handsome face served but to conceal the black heart that beat within his breast.  He gazed at me with a curious look in his eyes.