This was just what I wanted, and so we settled there and then that we would get the Bonaventure to
land us in the Isle of Wight instead of at St Malo. Since man first walked upon this earth, a tale of buried
treasure must have had a master-power - to stir his blood, and mine was hotly stirred. Even Elzevir,
though he did not show it, was moved, I thought, at heart; and we chafed in our cave prison, and those
eight days went wearily enough. Yet 'twas not time lost, for every day my leg grew stronger; and like a
wolf which I saw once in a cage at Dorchester Fair, I spent hours in marching round the cave to kill the
time and put more vigour in my steps. Ratsey did not visit us again, but in spite of what he said, met
Elzevir more than once, and got money for him from Dorchester and many other things he needed. It
was after meeting Ratsey that Elzevir came back one night, bringing a long whip in one hand, and in the
other a bundle which held clothes to mask us in the next scene. There was a carter's smock for him,
white and quilted over with needlework, such as carters wear on the Down farms, and for me a smaller
one, and hats and leather leggings all to match. We tried them on, and were for all the world carter and
carter's boy; and I laughed long to see Elzevir stand there and practise how to crack his whip and cry
"Who-ho" as carters do to horses And for all he was so grave, there was a smile on face too, and he
showed me how to twist a wisp of straw out of the bed to bind above my ankles at the bottom of the
leggings. He had cut off his beard, and yet lost nothing of his looks; for his jaw and deep chin showed
firm and powerful. And as for me, we made a broth of young walnut leaves and twigs, and tanned my
hands and face with it a ruddy brown, so that I looked a different lad.