Also the ordeal of gulping it under four pairs of eyes
was not a light one. But Miss Belcher insisted, and Miss Belcher
stood no nonsense.
I told them of my acquaintance with Captain Coffin; how he had
invited me to his lodgings and promised me wealth; of his studying
navigation, of his reference to the island and the treasure hidden on
it, and of the one occasion when he vouchsafed me a glimpse of the
chart; of the French prisoner, Aaron Glass, and how we escaped from
him, and of the plan we arranged together at the old windmill; how
Captain Danny had taken boat to board the St. Mawes packet; how the
man Glass had followed; how I had visited the lodgings, and of the
confusion I found there. I described the ex-prisoner's appearance
and clothing in detail, and here I had Mr. Goodfellow to confirm me
under cross-examination.
"An' the cap'n," said he, "was afraid of him. I give you my word,
ladies and gentlemen, I never saw a man worse scared in my life.
Put up his hands, he did, an' fairly screeched, an' bolted out o' the
door with his arm linked in the lad's."
Three or four times in the course of my narrative I happened to
thrust my hands into my breeches-pocket, and was reminded of the gold
eyeglass concealed there.
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