"There's my beauty!" cried Wicks, viewing it with a
cocked head; "that's better than a bonfire. What! we
have a chest here, and bills for close upon two
thousand pounds; there's no show to that--it would go
in your vest-pocket--but the rest! upwards of forty
pounds avoirdupois of coined gold, and close on two
hundredweight of Chile silver! What! ain't that good
enough to fetch a fleet? Do you mean to say that won't
affect a ship's compass? Do you mean to tell me that
the look-out won't turn to and SMELL it?" he cried.
Mac, who had no part nor lot in the bills, the forty
pounds of gold, or the two hundredweight of silver,
heard this with impatience, and fell into a bitter,
choking laughter. "You'll see!" he said harshly.
"You'll be glad to feed them bills into the fire before
you're through with ut!" And he turned, passed by
himself out of the ring of the fire-light, and stood
gazing seaward.
His speech and his departure extinguished instantly
those sparks of better humour kindled by the dinner and
the chest. The group fell again to an ill-favoured
silence, and Hemstead began to touch the banjo, as was
his habit of an evening.
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