"That sounds familiar enough to me," was Joe Hawkridge's comment. "And the rest of his writing will be much like it."
"Not so fast," exclaimed Captain Wellsby. "Scan the next page, Jack. 'Twill fetch you up all standing. Not that it puts gold in our pockets, for we know not where to search, but I swear it will make your eyes sparkle and your mouth water."
Trying to hide his excitement, Jack saw a kind of rough inventory, and it ran like this:
1 Bag 54 Silver Barrs. 1 Bag 79 Barrs & Peaces of Silver.
1 Bag Coyned Gold. 1 Bag Dust Gold. 2 Bags Gold Barrs.
1 Bag Silver Rings & Sundry Precious Stones. 3 Bags Unpolyshed Stones.
1 Silver Box set with Diamonds. 4 Golden Lockets.
Also 1 Silver Porringer--2 Gold Boxons--7 Green Stones--Rubies Great & Small 67--P'cl Peaces of Eight & Dollars--Also 1 Bag Lump Silver--a Small Chaine--a corral Necklace--1 Bag English Crowns."
Captain Jonathan Wellsby listened to this luscious recital with an air of mild amusement. He was of a temper too stolid and sensible to waste his time on random treasure hunting. Blackbeard might have chosen his hiding-place anywhere along hundreds of leagues of coast. He could understand the agitation of these two adventurous lads to whom this memorandum was like a magic spell. Of such was the spirit of youth.
"Any more of it?" demanded Joe Hawkridge.
"The next page was ripped out of the journal," answered the skipper. "What cruise did he mean? If it was this last one, he may have hid it on the Virginia or Carolina coast."
Master Cockrell gave it as an excuse that he had sat up long enough and would return to his bunk. He was fairly bursting for a conference with Joe, and as soon as they were alone he exclaimed:
"It may be the sea-chest! What do you think?"
"A handsome clue, I call it, something to warm the cockles of your heart," grinned the sea urchin. "Aye, Jack, I should wager he wrote that down whilst he lay at anchor in Cherokee Inlet."
"It seems shabby of us to keep the secret from Captain Wellsby, but there is an obligation on us----"
"To Bill Saxby and the old sea wolf," said Joe. "We'll not forget this trump of a skipper when it comes to splittin' up the treasure."
"I am anxious for Captain Bonnet and his crew," remarked Jack. "With this crusade against pirates afoot, our friends may be hanged before we see them again."