He pulled the halves apart and found, as he had suspected, it was but a shell, the whole of the fruit having been scooped out.

But he gave an exclamation of pleasure on seeing that instead, as he feared, of a large ball of rope being inside, the interior was filled with neatly made hanks, each containing several yards of thin but strong rope, together with a hank of strong string.
Unbuttoning his coat, he thrust them in; then he took the melon rind and broke it into very small pieces and threw them about.

He then went up to his room and thrust the hanks, unobserved, one by one among the straw which, covered by an army blanket, constituted his bed.

To-morrow, no doubt, Dan would supply him somehow with a screw-driver.

On going down to the gate next day he found that the negro had changed his commodity, and that this time his basket contained very large and fine cucumbers.
These were selling briskly, and Vincent saw that Dan was looking round anxiously, and that an expression of relief came over his face as he perceived him.