The lanyard came away, and Harman, plunging his big hand in, produced it filled with British sovereigns.

Not one of them moved or said a word for a moment, then Ginnell suddenly squatted down on the grating beside Harman, and, taking a sovereign between finger and thumb gingerly, as though he feared it might burn him, examined it with a laugh.  Then he bit it, spun it in the air, caught it in his left hand and brought his great right palm down on it with a bang.

“Hids or tails!” cried Ginnell.  “Hids I win, tails you lose.”  He gave a coarse laugh as he opened his palm, where the coin lay tail up.

“Hids it is,” he cried, then he tossed it back into the bag and rose to his feet.

“Come on, boys,” said he, “let’s bring the stuff down to the saloon and count it.”

“Better get it aboard,” said Blood.

Harman looked up.  The grin on his face stamped by the finding of the gold was still there, and in the light coming through the hatch his forehead showed beaded with sweat.

“I’m with Ginnell,” said he, “let’s get down to the saloon for an overhaul.  I can’t wait whiles we row off to the schooner.  I wants to feel the stuff and I wants to divide it, b’g-d, right off and now.  Boys, we’re rich, we sure are.  It’s the stroke of my life, and I can’t wait for no rowin’ on board no schooners before we divide up.”

“Come on, then,” said Blood.

The sack was much bigger than its contents, so there was plenty of grip for him as he seized one corner.  Then, Harman grasping it by the neck, they lugged it out and along the deck and down the saloon companionway, Ginnell following.

The Chinese had opened nearly all the cabin port-holes for the sake of light to assist them in their plundering, and now as Blood and Harman placed the sack on the slanting saloon table, the crying of gulls came clearly and derisively from the cliffs outside, mixed with the hush of the sea and the boost of the swell as it broke creaming and squattering among the rocks.  The lackadaisical ventilator cowl, which took an occasional movement from stray puffs of air, added its voice now and then, whining and complaining like some lost yet inconsiderable soul.

No other sound could be heard as the three men ranged themselves, Ginnell on the starboard, and Blood and Harman on the port side of the table.

The swivel seats, though all aslant, were practicable, and Harman was in the act of taking his place in the seat he had chosen when Ginnell interposed.

“One moment, Mr. Harman,” said the owner of the Heart of Ireland.  “I’ve a word to say to you and Mr. Blood—­sure, I beg your pardon—­I mane Capt’in Blood.”

“Well,” said Blood, grasping a chair-back.  “What have you to say?”

“Only this,” replied Ginnell with a grin.  “I’ve got back me revolver.”

Blood clapped his hand to his pocket.  It was empty.