BARTLETT--[_Angrily._] I’ve ordered ye not to set foot in this cabin o’ mine. Git below where ye belong. Where’s Sue? I told her to keep ye away. NAT--She can’t prevent me this time. I’ve made up my mind. Listen, Pa. I’m going away tomorrow. BARTLETT--[_Uncertainly._] Goin’ away? NAT--Yes, and I’m never coming back. I’m going to start a new life. That’s why I want a final talk with you--before I go. BARTLETT--[_Dully._] I’ve naught to say to ye. NAT--You will have. Listen. I’ve absolute proof the Sarah Allen is lost. BARTLETT--[_Fiercely._] Ye lie! NAT--[_Curiously._] Why do you say that? You know it’s true. It’s just that you _won’t believe_. BARTLETT--[_Wanderingly--the word heading his mind into another channel._] Believe? Aye, he wouldn’t believe. Brass and junk, he said, not worth a damn--but in the end I made him own up ’twas gold. NAT--[_Repeating the word fascinatedly._] Gold? BARTLETT--A year ago today she sailed. Ye lie! Ye don’t believe either, do ye?--like him. But I’ll show ye! I’ll make ye own up as I made him! [_With mad exultation._] She’s comin’ home tonight as I ordered Horne she must! I kin feel her makin’ for home, I tell ye! A red an’ a green at the mainm’sthead if ye make port o’ night, I ordered Horne. Ye’ll see! [_He goes to look out of a porthole._ NAT, _as if under a spell, goes to another_.] NAT--[_Turning away disappointedly--making an effort to throw off his thoughts--without conviction._] Nonsense. There’s nothing there--no lights--and I don’t believe there ever will be. BARTLETT--[_His wild eyes fixed on his son’s with an intense effort of will as if he were trying to break down his resistance._] Ye’ll see, I tell ye--a red and a green! It ain’t time yet, boy, but when it be they’ll be plain in the night afore your eyes. [_He goes and sits down by the table._ NAT _follows him and sits down in the other chair. He sees the map and stares at it fascinatedly._] NAT--What is this--the map of the island? [_He reaches out his hand for it._] BARTLETT--[_Snatching it up--with a momentary return to reason--frightenedly._] Not for ye, boy. Keep clear o’ this for your own good. [_Then with a crazed triumph._] Aye! Ye’d believe this soon enough, wouldn’t ye? NAT--[_Intensely._] I’ve always believed there was something--and a moment ago you mentioned gold. [_Triumphant in his turn._] So you needn’t try to hide the secret any longer. I know now. It’s gold--gold you found on that island--gold you fitted out the Sarah Allen to sail back for--gold you buried where I saw that cross marked on the map! [_Passionately._] Why have you been afraid to confide in me, your own son? Why didn’t you let me sail back in your place? Were you afraid I’d give the secret away? Did you think I wouldn’t believe----? BARTLETT--[_With a mad chuckle._] Aye, ye believe now, right enough.