“Hell!  I bes nigh perished entirely wid the cold, skipper!” he cried.

“Then swallow this,” said the skipper, leaning down and tilting a bottle of brandy to the other’s lips.  “I found it right here in the bunk, half-empty; aye, an’ two more like it, but wid nary a drop in ’em.  There, Nick, that bes enough for ye.”

Leary dragged himself up beside the skipper.  As the deadlight had been closed over the port, the state-room was illumined only by a gray half-gloom from the cabin.

“This bunk bes nigh full o’ junk,” said Nolan.  “The skipper o’ this ship must ha’ slept in the lower bunk an’ kept his stores here.  Here bes t’ree boxes wid the ship’s gold an’ papers, I take it; an’ a medicine-chest, by the smell o’ it; an’ an entire case o’ brandy, by Garge!  Sure, Nick, it bes no wonder he got off his course!  Take another suck at the bottle, Nick, an’ then get overside wid ye an’ pass out these boxes.”

Nick was still deriving warmth from the bottle when a third man entered the state-room, with just his head and neck above water.

“She bes down by the starn desperate, skipper,” he said.  “Saints presarve me, I bes ice to the bones!”

At a word from the skipper, the last arrival took the bottle from Leary.  Others reached the scene of action and the three iron boxes and the case of brandy were soon safe on deck.  From there they were winched up to the top of the cliff.

“We’ll break into the lazaret when the tide bes out,” said the skipper.  “She’ll drain out, ye can lay to that, wid a hole in her as big as the roof o’ a house.”

They salvaged a few cases of tinned provisions from the steward’s pantry.  Five state-rooms were situated on either side of the main or outer cabins.  They looted those to port first, where the water was only a few feet deep, finding little but clothing and bedding and one leather purse containing thirty pounds in gold.  The skipper put the purse into a submerged pocket, and sent the other stuff to the deck, to be winched aloft.  The cabins on the starboard side contained but little of value.  A few leather boxes and bags were sent up unopened.  The water was still shoulder-deep to starboard.  The door of the fifth room on the starboard side was fastened.  The skipper pulled and jerked at it, then lowered his head beneath the water, and saw that it was locked on the inside.  But the lock was a light one, and the wood of the door was not heavy.  He called for a capstan-bar; and in spite of the fact that he had to strike blindly under several feet of water, the lock was soon shattered.  By this time, a dozen men were clustered around, their curiosity and greed uncooled by the cold water to their shoulders.

“There bes somethin’ wort’ salvin’ in there, ye kin lay to that!” said one.

“The passengers’ store-room, I bes a-t’inkin’,” said another.

“Naught but the sail-locker,” said a third.  “D’ye look to find gold an’ dimins in every blessed corner o’ every blessed ship?”