Taking these with him he makes account of the treasure; and there are, as well as he can see—he may make a mistake of one or two—one hundred and seventy-nine bags of gold, each sealed with Alva’s arms and labeled twenty thousand crowns and about four hundred thousand Spanish silver dollars in some two hundred and fifty sacks. Besides these there is a strong case that Chester does not open, but guesses it contains jewels, plate and such pleasant things. Leaving Corker in charge, he orders that each of the men carry out as many sacks as possible to the cellar and to continue this work until he returns. All this time he keeps four men heavily armed on guard at the entrance, and these have orders to defend the house from any sudden attack. Then going along the dark streets to the counting room of Bodé Volcker, his step exalted and his mind on fire, Chester strides up to the merchant, who says to him—for he has not been very long upon this work—“No success—nothing!—a fool’s story!” “A fool’s story worth five millions!” “Hel en duivel! Five millions! God bless you, my noble boy. Let us go and get it at once.” “No; there’s been no one troubling us,” jeers Guy. “For that reason it’s dangerous, Bodé Volcker.” But Bodé Volcker can no more be kept from seeing Alva’s treasure than he could be kept from running away from it before; and he goes back with Guy to the house of Mother Dumb Devil. Here he says: “Leave everything in my charge. I’ll get it out; every dollar shall be accounted for to you on the honor of a merchant.” To this Chester answers: “The honor of a merchant is sufficient for me. But in our freebooter’s way, I have directed Corker to tally every bag and store every coin on the Esperanza. We’ll divide it at Flushing. But you get it out. You’re better at this business than I am.” And in truth Bodé Volcker is, for his whole soul is in the transaction, while Guy has only half his heart in it, the best half being at Sandvliet with Alva’s daughter. So the matter is arranged; the men are to carry out all the gold into the cellar during this night, then the iron doors in the gallery are to be closed again, all of them, and during the day Bodé Volcker is to transfer the treasure done up as sailors’ bedding on board the Esperanza. This his facilities as merchant permit him to do with little chance of suspicion. The next night with fresh men they are to bring out the silver from the vault to the cellar of the house and get it away in the same manner during the daytime, also the box containing jewels. “When we have the gold I think we’ll have the main value of it,” says Bodé Volcker. “Meantime I’ll commence to put cargo into the Esperanza, to give commercial reason for the vessel sailing from Antwerp again.”