"I was a sub-officer on the _Maria Braganza_," he began, and went on to narrate the history of the voyage of that remarkable battleship from the day it left Rio until it steamed into the roadstead off Cadiz. "We stayed at Cadiz much longer than we expected, and the men were grumbling--because our next port was to have been Rio. But for some reason our Captain Lombrosa did not wish to sail. Then one day he came on board--he spent most of his time ashore--looking extremely happy. Previous to this he had lived and walked in gloom, as though some matter were preying on his mind. But this was all changed now. Whatever troubles he had were evaporated. He walked about the deck, smiling and cracking jokes, and we naturally concluded that he had received his orders to sail back to Brazil at once. "That same day we were ordered to take on board stores which the Government had purchased. Whatever stores these were, they were extremely heavy. They were packed in little square boxes, strongly made and clamped with steel. Of these boxes we took two hundred and fifty, and the business of transporting them occupied the greater part of a whole day." "What was the weight of them?" asked T. B. "About fifty kilos," said the man, "and," he added with an assumption of carelessness, "they each contained gold." T. B. did a little sum in his head. "In fact a million and a half of English pounds," he said half to himself. "As to that I do not know," said the other, "but it was enormous; I discovered the gold by accident, for I and another officer had been chosen to store the boxes in one of the ammunition flats, and, owing to the breaking of a box, I saw--what I saw. "However, to get back to the captain. In the evening he came aboard, having first given orders for steam to be ready and every preparation made for slipping. "Then it was I told him that I had seen the contents of one of the boxes, and he was distressed. "'Who else has seen this?' he asked, and I informed him of the sub-officer who had been with me. "'Do not speak of this matter, as you value your soul,' he said, 'for this is a high Government secret--send sub-officer Alverez to me'--that was the name of my companion. I obeyed and sent Alverez aft. He too received similar injunctions, and was dismissed. "At ten o'clock that night, the quartermasters went to their stations, and all stood ready for dropping our mooring. "As the hours wore on, the captain began to show signs of impatience. I was on the bridge with the officer of the watch, and the captain was pacing up and down, now looking at his watch and swearing, now training his binocular on a portion of the land to the north of the town. "I had forgotten to say that at 8.30 the ship's steam pinnace had been sent away, and that it had not returned. "It was for the coming of the pinnace, and whoever was coming with it, that our captain displayed so much anxiety.