It fell and rolled under a great, yellow-wood chest full of curiosities that I had collected, which it took all our united strength to move.

We dragged it aside and not without some excitement, for really a good deal hung upon the chance, I lit a match and peered into the shadow.

There in the dust lay the coin.
"What is it ?" I asked of Somers, who was stretched on his stomach on the chest.
"Orchid--I mean head," he answered.

"Well, that's settled, so we needn't bother any more." The next fortnight was a busy time for me.

As it happened there was a schooner in the bay of about one hundred tons burden which belonged to a Portuguese trader named Delgado, who dealt in goods that he carried to the various East African ports and Madagascar.