Page:St. Nicholas, vol. 40.1 (1912-1913).djvu/263

1912.] these men? If I drop them into the sea, you will have nobody to man your two ships. If I release them as they are, they will kill you and escape with the gold.”

“That is very true,” said the Mining Mariner. “But I had rather try my luck alone than with these men.”

“Perhaps,” said Billy; “but I have a mind to make these men serve you.”

At this the Pirates raged, and one of them said: “We have never served any man, and we will not serve this Mining Mariner. You may do many things, Big Man, but you cannot make us do this.”

“I have a plan at this moment,” said Billy. “I have four wishes left; I can use one for this thing. You all shall become apes, each for as many years as he stole bags of gold. If you serve this man well, when you have served your time, you shall be men again; and this Mining Mariner shall give you each one bag of gold, and you shall go whither you will.”

Then the bags of gold were counted, all that were in the ship or in the boats at the foot of the cliff; and there were a hundred and twenty bags.

“Then,” said Billy to the Mining Mariner, “there were six bags for each man. Therefore each man shall serve you six years.”

So he turned the ring three times on his finger, and said aloud: “I wish that these twenty men may become apes for a space of six years; and all that time they shall serve the Mining Mariner; and at the end of that time, if they have served him well, they shall become men again, and go whither they will.”

No sooner said than done. The twenty Pirates changed into twenty apes. They could not talk, but only grin and chatter; and hair covered their hands and faces.

“Now,” said Billy, “you have crews to man your two ships. Unbind your prisoners and take them home. You shall have great glory when you return home laden with gold and with this troop of apes to do your bidding.”

“But what,” said the Mining Mariner, “shall I do to reward you?”

“Nothing at all,” said Billy; “nothing at all. This is my adventure.”

“But I wish to reward you,” said the Mining Mariner. “Will you not take the half of my gold?”

“I could not,” said Billy, “it would sink my ship. But if your heart is set upon a reward, send a bag with a thousand pieces of gold to my mother. She gave me ten pieces when I set out on my adventures; it will be a fine thing to return her so much more.”

“A fine thing, indeed,” said the Mining Mariner, “and I will surely send her the gold.” So he wrote down in a book the name of Billy’s mother and her address, so that he could find her.