Thus questioned, the widow cheerfully opened her stores of knowledge.  As she proceeded in her account of the secret conferences between Deacon Pratt and her late inmate, her zeal became quickened, and she omitted nothing that she had ever heard, besides including a great deal that she had not heard.  But her companion was accustomed to such narratives, and knew reasonably well how to make allowances.  He listened with a determination not to believe more than half of what she said, and by dint of long experience, he succeeded in separating the credible portions of the woman’s almost breathless accounts, from those that ought to have been regarded as incredible, with a surprising degree of success.  The greatest difficulty in the way of comprehending the Widow White’s report, arose from the fact that she had altogether missed the preliminary and most explicit conference.  This left so much to be understood and inferred, that, in her own efforts to supply the deficiencies, she made a great deal of confusion in the statements.  Captain Daggett was fully assured that the deacon knew of the existence of the sealing-island, at least; though he was in doubt whether the rumour that had been brought to him, touching the buried treasure, had also been imparted to this person.  The purchase and equipment of the Sea Lion, taken in connection with the widow’s account, were enough, of themselves, to convince one of his experience and foresight, that an expedition after seal was then fitting out, on the information derived from his deceased relative.  Of this much he had no doubt; but he was not able to assure himself, quite so satisfactorily, that the key was to be looked at by the way.

The interview between Captain Daggett and the Widow White lasted more than an hour.  In that time the former had gleaned all the information the latter could give, and they parted on the best terms in the world.  It is true that the captain gave the widow nothing—­he had acquitted his conscience on this score, by re-paying the deacon the money the last had advanced—­but he listened in the most exemplary manner to all she had to say; and, with a certain class of vehement talkers, the most favoured being in the world is your good listener.  Interest had given the stranger an air of great attention, and the delighted woman had poured out her torrent of words in a way that gratified, in the highest degree, her intense desire to be imparting information.  When they separated, it was with an understanding that letters, on the same interesting subject, should pass between them.

That afternoon, Captain Daggett found means to remove the chest of his late kinsman, across the bays, to Sag Harbour, whither he proceeded himself by the same conveyance.  There, he passed an hour or two in making inquiries touching the state of equipment, and the probable time of the departure of the Sea Lion.  The fitting out of this schooner was the cause of a good deal of discourse in all that region,