“To be sure I do.  We was shut up in the same prison, and we talked the matter over at least twenty times, before he was swung off.  When they was satisfied I had nothing to do with the pirates, I was cleared; and I was on my way to the Vineyard, to get some craft or other, to go a’ter these two treasures (for one is just as much a treasure as t’other) when I was put ashore here.  It’s much the same to me, whether the craft sails from Oyster Pond or from the Vineyard.”

“Of course.  Well, as much to oblige you, and to put your mind at rest, as anything else, I’ve bought this Sea Lion, and engaged young Roswell Gar’ner to go out in her, as her master.  She’ll be ready to sail in a fortnight, and, if things turn out as you say, a good voyage will she make.  All interested in her will have reason to rejoice.  I see but one thing needful just now, and that is that you should give me the chart at once, in order that I may study it well, before the schooner sails.”

“Do you mean to make the v’y’ge yourself, deacon?” asked Daggett, in some surprise.

“Not in person, certainly,” was the answer.  “I’m getting somewhat too old to leave home for so long a time; and, though born and brought up in sight of salt-water, I’ve never tried it beyond a trip to York, or one to Boston.  Still, I shall have my property in the adventure, and it’s nat’ral to keep an eye on that.  Now, the chart well studied before-hand would be much more useful, it seems to me, than it can possibly be, if taken up at a late hour.”

“There will be time enough for captain Gar’ner to overhaul his chart well, afore he reaches either of his ports,” returned the mariner, evasively.  “If I sail with him, as I suppose I must, nothing will be easier than for me to give all the courses and distances.”

This reply produced a long and brooding silence.  By this time, the reader will have got a clue to the nature of the secret that was discussed so much, and so often, between these two men.  Daggett, finding himself sick, poor, and friendless, among strangers, had early cast about him for the means of obtaining an interest with those who might serve him.  He had soon got an insight into the character of Deacon Pratt, from the passing remarks of the Widow White, who was induced to allude to the uncle, in consequence of the charitable visits of the niece.  One day, when matters appeared to be at a very low ebb with him, and shortly after he had been put ashore, the sick mariner requested an interview with the deacon himself.  The request had been reluctantly granted; but, during the visit, Daggett had managed so well to whet his visiter’s appetite for gain, that henceforth there was no trouble in procuring the deacon’s company.  Little by little had Daggett let out his facts, always keeping enough in reserve to render himself necessary, until he had got his new acquaintance in the highest state of feverish excitement.  The schooner was purchased, and all the arrangements necessary to her outfit were pressed forward as fast as prudence would at all allow.  The chart, and the latitude and longitude, were the circumstances over which Daggett retained the control.  These he kept to himself, though he averred that he had laid down on the charts that were in his chest the two important points which had been the subjects of his communications.