spliced into the circumference of the net we attached the canvas flotation bags and inflated them from our air bottles.
We went up with the case, controlling its ascent by either spilling air from the bags, or adding more from our bottles. We came out beside the whaleboat and Angelo passed us half a dozen nylon slings with which we secured the case before climbing aboard.
The weight of the case defeated our efforts to lift it over the side, for the whaleboat heeled dangerously when the three of us made the attempt. We had to step the mast and use it as a derrick, only then did our combined efforts suffice and the case swung on board, spouting water from its seams.
The moment that it sank to the deck Chubby scrambled back to the motors and ran for the channel. The tide pressed closely on our heels as we went.
The case was too weighty and our curiosity too strong to allow us to carry it up to the caves. We opened it on the beach, prising the lid open with a pair of jennny bars. The elaborate locking device in the lid was of brass and had withstood the ravages of salt sea water. It resisted our efforts bravely, but at last with a rending of woodwork the lid flew back and creaked against the heavily corroded hinges.
My disappointment was immediate, for it was clear that this was no tiger throne. It was only when Sherry lifted out one of the large gleaming discs and turned it curiously in her hands that I began to suspect that we had been awarded an enormous bonus.
It was an entre plate she held, and my first thought was that it was of solid gold. However, when I snatched a mate from its slot in the cunningly designed rack and turned it to examine the hallmarks, I realized that it was silver and gold gilt.
The gold plating had protected it from the sea so that it was perfectly preserved, a masterpiece of the silversmith’s art with a raised coat of arms in the centre and the rim wondrously chased with scenes of woods and deer, of huntsmen and birds.
The plate I held weighed almost two pounds and as I set it aside and examined the rest of the set I saw the weight of the chest fully accounted for.
There were servings for thirty-six guests in the set; soup bowls, fish - plates, entre plates, dessert bowls, side plates and all the cutlery to go with it. There were serving dishes, a magnificent chafing dish, wine coolers, dish covers and a carving dish almost the size of a baby’s bath.
Every piece was wrought with the same coat of arms, and the ornamental scenes of wild animals and huntsmen, and the case had been designed to hold this array of plate.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said, “as your chairman, it behaves me to assure you, one and all, that our little venture is now in profit.”
“It’s just plates and things,” said Angelo, and I winced theatrically.
“My dear Angelo, this is probably one of the few COMPlete sets of Georgian banquet silverware remaining “anywhere in the world - it’s priceless.” “How much?” asked Chubby, doubtfully.
“Good Lord, I don’t know. It would depend of course on the maker and the original owner. - this coat of arms “:,probably belongs to some noble house. A wealthy nobleman on service in India, an earl, a duke perhaps, even a viceroy.” Chubby looked at me as though I was trying to sell him a spavined horse.
“How much?“he repeated.
“At Messrs Sothebys on a good day,” I hesitated, “I don’t know, say, a hundred thousand pounds.”
Chubby spat into the sand and shook his head. You couldn’t fool old Chubby.
“This fellow Sotheby, does he run a loony house?”
“It’s true, Chubby,” Sherry cut in. “this stuff is worth a fortune.
It could be more than that.”
Chubby was now torn between natural scepticism and chivalry. It would be an un-gentlemanly act to call Sherry a liar. He compromised by lifting his hat and rubbing his head, spitting once more and saying nothing.
However, he handled the case with new respect when we dragged it up through the palms to the caves. We stored it behind the stack of jerrycans, and I went to fetch a new bottle of whisky.
“Even if there is no tiger throne in the wreck, we aren’t going to do too badly out of this,” I told them.
Chubby sipped at his whisky mug and muttered, “A hundred thousand - they’ve got to be crazy.”
“We’ve got to go through that hold and the cabins more carefally.
We are going to leave a fortune down there if we don’t.”
“Even the little items, less spectacular than the silver plate, they have enormous antique value,” Sherry agreed. “Trouble is when you touch anything down there it stirs up such a fog you can’t see the tip of your nose,” gloomed Chubby, and I refilled his mug with good cheer.
“Listen, Chubby, you know the centrifugal water pump that Arnie Andrews has got out at Monkey Bay?” I asked, and Chubby nodded.
“Will he lend it to us?” Arnie was Chubby’s uncle. He owned a small market garden on the southern side of St. Mary’s island.
“He might,” Chubby answered warily. “Why?”
“I want to try and rig a dredge pump,” I explained and sketched it for them in the sand between my feet. “We set the pump up in the whaleboat, and we use a length of steam hose to reach the wreck - like this.” I roughed it out with my finger. “Then we use it like a vacuum cleaner in the hold, suck out all that muck and pump it to the surface,”
“Hey, that’s right,” Angelo burst out enthusiastically. “When it spills out of the pump we run it through a sieve, and we will be able to pick up all the small stuff.”
“That’s right. Only muck and small light items will go up the spout - anything large or heavy will be left behind.”
We discussed it for an hour working out details and refinements on the basic idea. During that time Chubby tried manfully to show no signs of enthusiasm, but finally he could contain himself no longer.
“It might work,” he muttered, which from him was a high accolade.
“Well, you better go fetch that pump then, hadn’t you?” I asked.
“I think I will have one more drink,” he procrastinated, and I handed him the bottle.
“Take it with you,” I suggested. “It will save time.” He grunted, and went to fetch his overcoat.
Sherry and I slept late, gloating on the lazy day ahead and at the feeling of having the island entirely to ourselves. We did not expect Chubby and Angelo to return before noon.
After breakfast we crossed the saddle between the hills and went down to the beach. We were playing in the shallows, and the rumble of the surf on the outer reef and our own splashing and laughter blanketed any other sounds. It was only by chance that I looked UP and saw the light aircraft sweeping in from the landward channel.
“Run!” I shouted at Sherry, and she thought I was joking until I pointed urgently at the approaching aircraft “Run! Don’t let him see us,” and this time she responded quickly. We floundered naked from the water, and went up the beach at top speed.
Now I could hear the buzz of the aircraft engines and I glanced over my shoulder. it was banking low over the southernmost peak of the island and levelling over the long straight beach towards us.
“Faster!” I yelled at Sherry, as she ran long-legged and fullbottomed ahead of me with the wet tresses of her sable hair dangling down her darkly tanned back.
I looked back and the aircraft was headed directly at us, SItill about a mile distant, but I could see that it was twinengined. As I watched, it sank lower towards the snowy expanse of coral sands.
We snatched up our discarded clothing at full run, and sprinted the last few yards into the palm grove. There was a mound formed by a fallen palm tree and the fronds torn off the trees by the storm. It was a convenient shelter and I grabbed sherrys arm and dragged her down.
We rolled under the shelter of the dead fronds and lay side by side, panting wildly from the run up the beach, I saw now that it was a twinengined Cessna. It came down the beach and swept past our hideaway only twenty feet above the water’s edge.
The fuselage was painted a distinctive daisy yellow and was blazoned with the name
“Africair’. I recognized the aircraft. I had seen it before at St. Mary’s Airport on half a dozen occasions, usually discharging or picking up groups of wealthy tourists. I knew that Afticair was a charter company based on the mainland, and that its aircraft were for hire on a mileage tariff. I wondered who was paying for the hire on this
