"Right. Spent most of his time in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Started as a gunner aboard the Pelican around 1696, then aboard the Dolphin. Around 1699 the Dolphin was cornered by a British fleet near Reunion Island. Some of the crew surrendered; some, including Booth, escaped to Madagascar, where Booth and a another pirate captain, John Bowen, combined forces and hijacked the Speaker, a four-hundred-fifty-ton, fifty-gun slave ship. Booth was elected captain, and then around 1700 he took the Speaker to Zanzibar. When they went ashore for supplies, the landing party was attacked by Arab troops. Booth was killed and Bowen survived. From there, Bowen took the Speaker back to the waters around Madagascar, before dying a few years later on Mauritius."

"You said the Dolphin was cornered near Reunion Island," Sam repeated. "How close to the Sainte Marie commune?"

"A few miles offshore," Selma replied. "Legend says Booth and his crew had just finished raiding the commune."

"Having made off with the Adelise coins," Remi finished.

"So says the legend. And so said Demont Molyneux in an official letter of complaint to Louis XIV, the king of France."

"So let's play this out," Sam said. "Booth and the other escapees from the Dolphin take with them the Adelise coins, then meet up with Bowen. They then hijack the Speaker and head for Zanzibar, where they . . . what? Bury their booty on Chumbe Island? Dump it in shallow water for later recovery?"

"Or maybe the Speaker never got away," Remi added. "Maybe the stories are wrong. Maybe she was sunk in the channel."

"Half a dozen of one, six of the other," Selma replied. "Either way, the coin you found is from the Adelise lot."

"The question is," Sam said, "does our bell belong to the Speaker?"

CHAPTER 4

ZANZIBAR

THE STORM THAT HAD CLOSED OVER THE ISLAND IN THE EARLY-MORNING hours had moved on by dawn, leaving the air crisp and the foliage around their bungalow glistening with dew. Sam and Remi sat on the rear porch overlooking the beach and shared a meal of fruit, bread, cheese, and strong black coffee. In the trees around them, hidden birds squawked.

Suddenly a pinkie-sized gecko scaled the leg of Remi's chair and skittered across her lap and onto the table, where it navigated the dishes before retreating down Sam's chair.

"Wrong turn, I guess," Sam remarked.

"I have a way with reptiles," Remi said.

They shared one more cup of coffee, then cleaned up, packed their backpacks, and walked down to the beach, where they'd grounded the cabin cruiser. Sam tossed their backpacks over the railing, then gave Remi a boost.

"Anchor?" she called.

"Coming."

Sam squatted beside the auger-shaped beach anchor, wriggled it free, then handed it up to Remi. She disappeared, and he could hear her feet padding along the deck, and then a few seconds later the engines growled to life and settled into a sputtering idle.

"Slow back," Sam called.