BARTLETT--Down to the reef with ye, Horne! [_Giving the prostrate_ CATES _a kick_.] Up out o’ that, Cates! Go with Horne, and when ye see the schooner hull up, wave to ’em, and yell like mad, d’ye hear? HORNE--Aye, aye, sir! BARTLETT--I’ll stay here and bury the gold. It’s best to be quick about it! They may turn a spyglass on us when they raise the island from deck! Off with ye! [_He gives_ CATES _another kick_.] CATES--[_Groaning._] I’m sick! [_Incoherently._] Can’t--report for duty--this watch. [_With a shout._] Water! BARTLETT--[_Contemptuously._] Ye dog! Give him a hand, Horne. HORNE--[_Putting a hand under his shoulder._] Up, man! We’re to signal the schooner. There’ll be water on board o’ her--barrels of it! CATES--[_Aroused, scrambles to his feet, violently shaking off Horne’s hand._] Water aboard o’ her! [_His staring eyes catch the schooner’s sails on the horizon. He breaks into a staggering run and disappears down toward the beach, right rear, waving his arms wildly and shouting._] Ahoy! Ahoy! Water! [HORNE _walks out quickly after him_.] [_Left alone_, BARTLETT, _after a quick glance around, sinks on his knees beside the chest and shoves both hands into it. From the chest comes a metallic clink as he fingers the pieces in his hands gloatingly._] Ye’re safe now! There’s none to tell left livin’! He’s dead--damn him!--that lied about ye. And ye’ll rest safe here till I come back for ye! [_In a dreaming tone, his eyes fixed before him in an ecstatic vision._] No more whalin’ on the dirty seas! Rest to home! Gold! I’ve been dreamin’ o’ it all my life! Aye--we’ll rest now, Sarah! Your father be a rich man, Nat and Sue! [_Shaking himself--savagely._] Ye fool! What drivel be ye talkin’? Loosin’ your senses, be ye? Time ye was picked up! Lucky! [_He shoves down the lid and places the chest in the hole. He pushes the sand in on top of it, whispering hoarsely._] Lay safe, d’ye hear. For I’ll be back for ye! Aye--in spite of hell I’ll dig ye up again! [_The voices of_ HORNE _and_ JIMMY _can be heard from the distance shouting as_ [_The Curtain Falls_] ACT TWO SCENE--_Interior of an old boat-shed on the wharf of the Bartlett place on the California coast. In the rear, a double doorway looking out over the end of the wharf to the bay with the open sea beyond. On the left, two windows, and another door, opening on the dock. Near this door, a cot with blankets and a pillow without a slip. In the center, front, a table with a bottle and glasses on it, and three cane-bottomed chairs. On the right, a fishing dory. Here and there about the shed all sorts of odds and ends pertaining to a ship--old anchors, ropes, tackle, paint-pots, old spars, etc._ _It is late afternoon of a day six months later. Sunlight filters feebly through the stained, cobwebby window panes._