February lo, 1916. 
LAND AND WATER 
but by no means would I risk more money to get my thousand 
back in this particular venture. I hope I am not worrying 
you, but 1 always like to explain what is in my mind." 
" Not at all — not at all," cried Tillman and Houghton. 
Macquart said nothing ; he was rubbing his hands, palms 
together, under the table. He nodded to the others in 
approval, but not a word escaped his lips. 
" I have determined, then, to take a thousand pounds," 
went on Screed, " and — lose it." 
Macquart broke into a laugh. 
" That is the spirit I like," said he. " That's what 
brings success." 
" My terms," finished Screed, rather coldly, " will be 
half profits." 
" Half profits," said Tillman. 
Macquart said nothing. 
" There are three of us," began Houghton, then he 
stopped and glanced at the others as if to find out what was 
in their minds, but they gave him no lead. 
Screed, who had taken a paper and pencil from his pocket, 
placed the paper on the table and holding the pencil between 
his fingers went on : 
" U the money is there, and if it amounts to the sum 
named, a third share — after deducting my allowance — will 
mean that each of you receives a very large fortune. 
" I am not against Mr. Scieed taking half profits," said 
Macquart, speaking to the others. " He fits out the ex- 
pedition, we are no use at all without him. A thousand that 
brings him in two hundred-and-fifty per cent, will be a good 
investment — but then there's the risk." 
" Oh, I'm not objecting," said Houghton. " I'm only 
thinking that there are three of us, you, Tillman, and myself. 
How do we stand towards one another in the matter of 
sharing ? " 
" That's the rub," said Tillman. 
Screed moved restlessly, and Macquart, as though 
fearful of any friction making the wool-broker break away 
from the business, cut in : 
" We won't quarrel over that," said he. " Right here 
and now I'll settle it. We are the three working partners 
and will share alike. , Eighty thousand is enough for me, I'm 
no dud to go scraping after the last halfpenny. I only want 
enough to be comfortable while I live — what do you say ? 
This splendid generosity nearly did for the business. 
For a moment, Screed took fright, and whilst Tillman was 
shaking the generous one's hand, the turn of a hair would have 
made the wool broker cry off. 
Instinct told him that Macquart and Generosity formed a 
suspicious alliance, instinct told him that this man would 
most certainly diddle his partners ii he had the change. Then 
Reason reassured him. The gold was useless to Macquart 
without a man to handle it for him and get rid of it, and he — 
Screed — was the only man for that purpose. This was not 
exactly a shady job, but it was, so to speak, an extra-govern- 
mental job. Macquart trying to dispose of the treasure off 
his own bat would rouse enquiries, and then all sorts of claims 
would come down on the money, it would be held up, and if 
the treasure seekers received a tithe of it after years of worry, 
they would be fortunate. Screed had the means to obviate 
all that. 
^ Besides, though Macquart might try to diddle his partners, 
Tillman and Houghton were not children, but very wide- 
awake individuals indeed, and well able to look after their 
own interests and the interests of Screed as well. 
So, instead of breaking off from the business, he opened 
the paper which, he had taken from his pocket and spread it 
on the table beside the charts. 
" I have made out a few lines with reference to this busi- 
ness," said he. " It's not exactly an agreement, for between 
you and me a legal agreement is not of much count, con- 
sidering the fact that not one of us will be able to invoke the 
law, seeing that the law if it stepped in would place its hand 
most cert amly on the money. It's just a letter of promise, 
so to speak, from the three of you, stating that in view of the 
fact that I am fitting out your expedition you agree to divide 
equally with me all moneys accruing from that expedition. 
Then,'"' finished Screed, with cold jocularity, " in the unlikely 
event of the death of any one of you, I would be assured of 
half his share, and in the more unlikely event of the three of 
you trying to play me false — don't say anything, Mr. Tillman, 
I am only making a legal joke— I would be able to pursue you 
and call the law in, not to get me my money but to prevent 
you from enjoying yours, and this document, you will 
notice," finished Sere d, " says nothing about treasure at all. 
So that should I be driven to pursue you in law, I am free to 
make any statement I fike about the object of your venture ; 
for instance, I might say it was a pearling venture, leaving 
a lawyer to dig out of you in open court all about the 
treasure." 
Macquart said nothing ; the tortuous, cautious and trap- 
like nature of Screed's mind thus suddenly disclosed seemed to 
have disconcerted him. Tillman flushed and Houghton, with 
a spark in his eyes, looked straight across the table at the 
wool-broker. 
" We aren't going to chisel you," said he. " You are 
dealing with gentlemen, I hope." 
" Mr. Houghton," said Screed, " there are no such 
things as gentlemen in business, there are only men. There 
is no such thing as friendship in business, only calculation and 
Profit and Loss. In business, one must secure the safety of 
one's interests by every possible means, and in going into a 
wild-cat venture of this sort, I am going to tie }ou all up to 
my interests by every possible means. There, you have it 
quite plain. Now will you all sign this paper, please — if you 
want my thousand pounds." 
Macquart signed first, then Tillman, then Houghton. 
Screed put the document away in a drawer and lit a cigar, 
the first he had smoked that evening. 
" Now," said he, " we have settled that and we can get to 
work. I have my hand on the boat you want ; she a fifty- 
foot fishing yawl built by Bowers, she's only six years old, 
she has been in the pearling business and she was re-fitted 
last year. I have some interest in shipping matters and only 
a week ago Mr. Culloch took me over her, wanting me to buy. 
I telephoned to him this afternoon and found she was still 
unsold, so I told him to hold her for me on an option. You 
are a good schooner sailor, Tillman ; what do j^ou say to a 
yawl ? " 
" I'd sooner handle a yawl than a schooner," said Till- 
man ; " best rig in the world if one is short-handed." 
" I know all about yawls," said Houghton. " Ought 
to ; I owned one for a year and lived in her — only a thirty- 
footer though." 
" I haven't used yawls, but I've used every other rig 
from a jackass barque to a catamaran," said Macquart. 
" Sail handling is pretty much a matter of instinct, I reckon ; 
besides, I'm ready to do the navigating. I'm not an Ai 
navigator, but I've got all the essentials and I know the rnad. 
Give me a chronometer properly wound and set, and a decent 
sextant and charts, and I reckon I can make good. Why, 
down Sooloo way I sailed with a Dutchman ; he had a pearl 
boat, but he was crazy with rum most of the time, and I 
guess he was the first sailor after Noah. He'd got one of those 
Amstel Charts of the Sooloo waters, made in Amsterdam they 
were, and they've got dolphins and mermaids figured on them, 
and for sextant he used a back-stick, one of the first sextants 
ever used. That hooker would have been the Flying Dutch- 
man, only she didn't fly, yet we made out somehow." 
" I can do a bit of navigating myself," said Tillman, 
" and Houghton here tells me he has got the rudiments." 
" Not much more," said Houghton. 
" That's all to the good," replied Screed, who was putting 
the charts away. " The question was uppermost in my mind 
whether we would require a navigating officer, and I didn't 
much like the idea. We don't want any more than we can 
help in this job, but you can" take a black fellow with you to 
give a hand." 
Macquart rose to his feet. 
" Well," said he, " that's settled ; and when can we see 
the hooker and how long do you expect to be in getting stores 
on board ? " 
" We will arrange all that to-morrow," said Screed. " I 
want the three of you to be here at six o'clock in the morning, 
sharp at six ; I have to be at the office at nine. The yawl is 
lying near Farm Cove and I want to take you over her. I will 
have some coffee and sandwiches here for you at six. And 
now, one point more. This business is a secret. I don't 
want my partner to know of it, I don't want my friends to 
know of it, and I don't want the authorities to know of it. 
You are going on a pearling venture, that is your explanation 
to anyone who may poke his nose into the affair. If the real 
business leaks out, I will throw up everything." 
" We'll be mum," said Tillman. " You may rest assured 
— and now about ready money. I have enough for myself, 
but Houghton here is badly placed ; in fact, he's on the rocks 
— and as to Mr. Macquart " 
" Oh, a hundred dollars will do me," said Macquart," or 
less ; I'm not bothering about present money, I m only think- 
ing of the ixpedition." 
" Ten pounds would do me," said Houghton. " I owe 
four pounds to my landlord and six will carry me on." 
Screed took ten sovereigns from a drawer and divided 
them between Macquart and Houghton. 
" That will carry you on for the present," said he, " and 
mind, six sharp to-morrow." 
" By the way," said Tillman, as they took their de- 
parture, " what's the name of the yawl ? " 
" The Barracuda," rephed Screed." 
(To be continued.) 
[The story began in Land a.nd Water, February 3.] 
