It was only the work of a minute to draw himself up, round over round. At the rail he paused and surveyed the deck in both directions. No one was in sight. Only from the cabin forward came a murmur of voices. The guard--if there was one--was to the far side and apparently in ignorance of the fact that a boarder had come over the side. Jay's mission was to find out something of the craft and her crew. He resolved first to take a peep into that lighted cabin. Forthwith he directed his course in that direction, keeping a sharp lookout on either side of him. His presence so far was undiscovered. In a few seconds he had arrived by the nearest port. Now he must be careful, indeed. Inch by inch he moved his head along until one eye gazed through the glass. And what a sight! There in the cabin sat three men around a table. Upon the table were laid a number of bars of shining metal. Gold--the bullion, at least a portion of it, from the _Dominion_! The lad gasped. Here were pirates who had discovered the _Dominion_ and salvaged some of her precious stores. But who were these men? Jay could see the faces of two of them. They were unfamiliar faces to him. The third sat with his back to the Brighton youth. But there was something about the shape of the head, the contour of the shoulders and the general physical build that was familiar. Who was he? CHAPTER XX THE TREASURE RECLAIMED Just then one of the trio stirred at the table and Jay drew back hurriedly lest his presence be noted. At the same time the Brighton lad heard the guard moving on the other side of the ship. It was time to get out of here. And why not? He had seen enough to acquaint him with the fact that whoever these men were aboard this palatial craft, they were pirates bold who had filched from the _Dominion_ some of her gold bullion. The lad hesitated not a moment, but quickly ran back over the deck to the rope ladder and as deftly lowered over the side. He had come aboard all unsuspected and undetected. Now he would hasten back to the _Jules Verne_ and tell Captain Austin all that he had seen. It would be up to the chief officer of the salvage ship to say what next should be done. "They must not get away at all hazards," Jay told himself. He hated to go, for his own disposition was to confront these chaps and demand of them by what right they had helped themselves to the gold that reposed here in American waters where only qualified agents could search it out. But that, of course, would have been foolhardy. The only thing to do was to get back to the _Jules Verne_ and report his find. The trip back was as easily negotiated as the trip over. The distance was short, not more than two hundred yards at most, and the athletic diver found himself still strong and sturdy as he came alongside the _Jules Verne_. A low soft whistle brought Dick to the rail in a hurry.