The Castaways

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER ELEVEN.

  THE ISLAND.

  Standing on as we were going, we ratched past the island until it wasleft a couple of miles astern of us, when we tacked ship, and broughtthe land on our lee beam. Then, steering full and by, half an hour'ssailing sufficed to bring the summit of the hill to the requiredcompass-bearing of south-east, half-south, whereupon we bore dead awayfor it, and, leaving O'Gorman in charge of the deck, I sprang into thefore rigging and mounted to the crosstrees, from which commandingelevation I intended to con the brig to her anchorage. Miss Onslow wason deck by this time, drinking in, with eager, flashing eyes, the beautyand brilliant colour of the picture presented by the emerald island inits setting of sapphire sea; but as I sprang into the rigging I noticedthat her gaze followed me; and when I swung myself out to clamber overthe rim of the top--a performance which, to the eye of the landsman,appears distinctly hazardous--she suddenly clasped her hands upon herbreast, as though in terror for my safety. The action was triflingenough, perhaps, yet I was disposed to regard it as not quiteinsignificant, since I had often stood by her side as she had watched--with evidently no stronger emotion than amusement--others perform thesame feat.

  Upon reaching my perch I found that we were still in deep water, no signwhatever of the bottom being visible through the depths of theexquisitely beautiful, clear, crystalline blue; but ahead, at the veryfringe of the breakers that were dashing themselves into diamond andpearl-white spray upon the stubborn rampart of the barrier reef, therewas a change of colour that told of shoaling depths; and a qualm ofanxiety swept over me as I pictured to myself what would probably happenif, sweeping in before the wind as we were, we should plunge into thatbelt of seething white water, and find that there was not depth enoughto float us. For a few minutes I was full of anxiety; but presently, aswe slid nearer and nearer still to the reef, I detected the opening--anarrow passage barely wide enough, apparently, for a boat to traverse,but of unbroken water, merely flecked here and there with the froth ofthe boil on either hand. We were running as straight for it as thoughit had been in sight for an hour; and as we were following thedirections given in O'Gorman's paper, this fact seemed to point to anaccurate knowledge of the place on the part of the author of thosedirections; which assumption I fervently hoped would be confirmed inevery particular.

  As we bore rapidly down upon the reef, the passage through it graduallyassumed its true proportion of width, and I saw that there was ampleroom to allow of the passage, not only of the brig, but of a couple ofline-of-battle ships abreast. The island had the appearance of beingsimply the topmost ridge of a mountain rising with a tolerably evencontinuous slope from the bottom of the sea; and the barrier reef wasmerely an excrescence or wall of coral built on to one side of it, andfounded at a depth of ten fathoms below the surface of the ocean, as ourlead presently told us. The basin thus formed had, during the course ofages, become partially filled with sand, forming a beautifully smooth,and even white floor, gradually sloping upward toward the surface fromthe reef to the shore of the island. All this was quite plain to me aswe drove in through the break in the long, sweeping circle of foam; and,once in still water, I was able from my perch to see the sandy bottom asclearly as though it had been bare of water, every tiny fish and everyfragment of weed that passed within a hundred feet of us being perfectlyvisible.

  Once fairly through the opening in the reef and into the basin, wehauled up to south a quarter west, which course brought our jib-boompointing to what then had the appearance of the mouth of aninsignificant stream. But as we slid athwart the basin the openingassumed an appearance of increasingly greater importance, until whenwithin half a mile of it I saw that it was really the comparativelynarrow entrance of a fairly spacious little bay, or loch, penetratingfor some distance into the land. Soon afterwards the big rock mentionedin O'Gorman's document separated itself from the background of bush andtrees with which it had hitherto been merged, and proclaimed itself asan obelisk-like monolith of basalt rearing its apex to a height of someninety feet above the water level. When fairly abreast of this thecanvas was clewed up, and the brig slid into the loch with the way thatshe had on her. This loch, or channel, wound gradually round for alength of about a cable, and then widened into a nearly circular lagoonabout half a mile in diameter, in the very centre of which stood a smallislet, thickly overgrown with trees and dense jungle. Keeping thisislet on our starboard beam, at a distance of some twenty fathoms, weslowly circled round it until it was immediately between us and theoutlet to the larger lagoon, when we let go our anchor in four fathoms,amid the exultant cheers of the men, who thus found themselvestriumphantly at their destination. That we actually had found theidentical island referred to in O'Gorman's paper there could be noshadow of doubt, since the landmarks mentioned agreed perfectly; and mystrongest emotion was one of surprise that an island of such dimensionsshould thus far have escaped the notice of the hydrographers.

  All hands now went to breakfast; and when the men again turned to, uponthe conclusion of their meal, their first act was to swarm aloft andunbend the whole of the canvas, from the royals down--a proceeding whichseemed to confirm my previous surmise that they intended their sojournupon the island to be of some duration. This task occupied them theentire morning; but when they knocked off at eight bells for dinner, thebrig's spars and stays were entirely denuded of their canvas. TheIrishman had some little difficulty in persuading his satellites to goto work again after dinner, there being a very evident tendency on thepart of all hands to take matters easily now, after their long spell atsea; but he eventually got them out from the shadow of the bulwarks andupon their feet again, when the boats were all lowered, the entire stockof the brig's sails, new and old, struck into them, the spare boomslaunched overboard and towed ashore; and the remainder of the day wasspent in erecting tents upon a small open patch of grass, upon themainland--if I may so call it--that happened to be immediately abreastthe brig. Miss Onslow and myself were thus left alone together onboard, nobody seeming to take either of us into consideration in themaking of their arrangements. There were arguments both in favour ofand against this arrangement; for instance, our cabins aboard the brigwere unpleasantly hot and stuffy in the parallels that we had nowreached, and I had no doubt that we should have found sleeping ashore ina nice, airy tent very much more comfortable; but on the other hand, ifwe were to be allowed to occupy the brig we should at least be byourselves, and the risk of nocturnal intrusion would be very much less;I was therefore disposed to consider that, on the whole, matters weremore satisfactory as they were. Yet it went against the grain with methat we should be so completely ignored, and our comfort and convenienceso completely neglected, by a crowd of graceless, unmannerly louts, andI was casting about for some means whereby I could compel at least areasonable measure of consideration from them, when fortune unexpectedlyintervened to help me. It happened in this wise.

  After conveying ashore the sails and spars, and erecting the tents, themen came off to the brig again, and took ashore their chests andbelongings generally, together with an abundant supply of food, and astill more abundant supply of liquor, with the natural result that aregular drunken orgy occurred that night, of such a character as tocompel my gratitude that Miss Onslow was not an occupant of any portionof that camp. As it was, I deemed it only prudent to maintain a watchuntil the riot ashore had ceased, and the rioters had safely subsidedinto a drunken slumber. But my companion and I had to prepare ourevening meal for ourselves, that night, or we should have gonesupperless to our cabins. And, in like manner, we also had to prepareour own breakfast next morning.

  That simple meal was over some considerable time before there was anystir or sign of movement in the camp on shore; but at length the cookappeared, still, apparently, in a semi-drunken condition, and by and bywe saw the men sitting down to breakfast. They occupied anunconscionably long time over their meal, and when it was over most ofthe party lit their pipes and staggered away back into the shelteringshade of
their tents again. There were two or three exceptions, one ofwhom was O'Gorman, who, after lighting his pipe, strolled down to thewater's edge with a paper in his hand that looked very much like thepaper from which he had quoted the instructions for making the island,and which he appeared to be studying most intently, with a dubious airthat, even as I watched him, rapidly changed into one ofsteadily-increasing perplexity.

  At length, with a gesture of savage impatience, he folded up the paper,slipped it into his breast-pocket, and went off to the tent, from whichhe presently emerged again followed by two very sick-and-sorry,unwilling-looking members of his gang. The trio tumbled into one of theboats, shoved off, and headed directly for the brig. Miss Onslow was ondeck with me, but as soon as I saw that the little party intendedboarding the brig, I directed her attention to their condition, andrequested her to retire out of sight to her cabin, which she did, verysubmissively, somewhat to my surprise.

  The distance from the shore to the brig was but short, and in a fewminutes the boat was alongside, and O'Gorman on deck, his two companionselecting to spare themselves the fatigue of dragging themselves up thebrig's side, and stretching themselves out upon the thwarts instead,with their caps drawn over their faces, in which position they almostimmediately fell asleep.

  It was evident from O'Gorman's embarrassed manner as he approached methat he had something to say, or some proposition to make, withoutexactly knowing how best to set about it. It seemed to me that he hadunexpectedly found himself in some way at a serious disadvantage, butwas anxious above all things to prevent my discovering his predicament.Then he was civil, which I had learned to accept as an unerringindication that he wished to inveigle me into consciously orunconsciously rendering him a service.

  "The top o' the mornin' to ye, misther," he began. "I hopes that youand the lady slept well last night, in this quiet, snug little harbour;havin' the brig all to yourselves, too."

  "Ay," retorted I; "and having to prepare our own supper last night, andour breakfast this morning. As for quiet, the place is quiet enough; itis the drunken blackguards occupying it that make all the row. Oh yes,we slept well enough, thank you--after the crowd ashore had guzzledthemselves into a state of drunken insensibility."

  "Begorra, thin," he exclaimed, in affected surprise, "did the shpalpeenskeep ye awake? Whoy, Oi'd have thought you'd have heard the sorra asound out here. But it's not goin' to happen again; it was just a bitof a jollification we threated ourselves to upon the strength offoindin' the oiland all right; but there'll be no more of it--barrin',maybe, a bit of a spree when our work's done here, and we're ready tosail for home again. And, as to your breakfast, bedad Oi forgot itintoirely, but Oi'll send the shteward off, wid ordhers that he's to donothin' but just wait upon ye and the lady, and make things comfortablefor ye."

  "What the mischief does he want me to do for him?" wondered I. "It mustbe something of especial moment, or he would never be so extraordinarilycivil and obliging!"

  But I merely answered:

  "Thanks! It was part of our agreement, you will remember, that we wereto be properly looked after, and waited upon. And, while we are uponthe subject, there is another matter I should like to mention. It isexceedingly close and stuffy below, in this climate, and I shouldtherefore like to have an awning, or something of the kind, rigged upabaft here, so that I may be able to arrange sleeping places on deck forMiss Onslow and myself while we are lying here."

  "An awning is it?" exclaimed O'Gorman, with effusion. "Begorra ye shallhave that same, and welcome as the flowers of spring. Ay, and Oi'llsend ye off a topsail to throw over the spanker-boom and so make ye twoilligant staterooms, one on each side the deck."

  "It certainly must be some very extraordinary service that he wishes meto render him!" thought I. But I answered:

  "Very well. As soon as the people are sober enough to behavethemselves, send them off with the canvas and some lashing, and I willtell them what I want done."

  "Oi'll do that same," answered O'Gorman. "And now," he continued, "Isuppose you and the lady 'd loike a run ashore, wouldn't ye?"

  "Yes, certainly," I answered, "but not to-day. We will wait untileverybody has had time to get completely sober again. I do not choosethat the lady should be subjected to the annoyance of encountering, andperhaps being insulted by, some half-drunken lout. But you will notrequire all the boats, I suppose, so you had better send off thesmallest one, with a pair of oars, that we may have the means of goingto and from the ship and the shore at our own pleasure, andindependently of your people."

  This was too much for the fiery temper of the Irishman; genial andobliging as he had striven to be, it had been clearly apparent to methat he was growing increasingly restive under the lengthening list ofmy demands, and now this cool requisition of a boat was the last strawthat broke the camel's back--or, in other words, exhausted theIrishman's slender stock of patience; he looked at me with blazing eyesfor a moment, and then rapped out:

  "Boat is it, thin? The divil a boat will I let ye have; if ye want aboat, go ashore and build one for yoursilf. And go to the divil and getyour awning, and your canvas, and your lashings, and your cook, too,begorra! for sorra a one of anny of thim will ye get from me! I was afool to promise ye annything, but I wanted your help, and I thought Oi'dget it by humourin' ye. But _now_, be jabers, Oi'll _make_ ye help me,whither ye like it or not; and the divil a thing will I do for ye inreturn!"

  "What is it you want me to do for you?" asked I quietly, determined tokeep my temper whatever might happen, and curious to know what serviceit could possibly be that had caused the fellow to constrain himself sofar in the endeavour to conciliate me.

  "I want ye to do this--and, understand me, ye'll _have_ to do it,whither it plaises ye or not," he answered. "There's a spot somewhereon that bit of an oiland,"--indicating the small islet opposite whichthe brig was moored--"that I want to find. Whin I first read the paperthat speaks of it, it seemed the simplest thing in the worruld to comehere and put me fut on it; but now that Oi'm here, and have seen theplace, by me sowl I can't see or understand how Oi'm to go about it.And no more can anny of the rest of us. So the long and the short of itis, misther, that you'll have to find the place for us."

  "What do your instructions direct you to do?" demanded I.

  "My instructions, is it?" repeated O'Gorman. "Oh, begorra, they'resimple enough. They say,"--here he paused, fumbled in hisbreast-pocket, and presently produced the dirty, greasy slip of paper,with the appearance of which I was now becoming familiar, and carefullyunfolding it, read:

  "`Dhraw a loine from one black rock to the other, and on this loineproject another to the summit of the peak, makin' an angle ofsixty-foive degrees to the west'ard. Dig there, and,'--well, the resthas got nothing to do with it."

  "Um!" said I musingly; "I am not surprised to learn that none of you mencan understand such directions as those; I am not at all sure that Iunderstand them myself. At the same time there is hint enough to put meon the right track. And now, O'Gorman," continued I, throwing all theimpressiveness I could muster into my manner, "I want you to listen tome, and mark well what I say, for I am in downright earnest, and nomistake. I gather, from the whole drift of this adventure, that yourobject in coming here is to hunt for a certain buried treasure, thehiding-place of which is indicated on that paper in your hand. Now, Ihave brought you to this spot, and it is exceedingly probable that I maybe able to help you to find the treasure--if it is still where it wasoriginally hidden--while I am absolutely certain that you will _never_find it without my help--and, when all is done, I can help you to conveyyour booty successfully home. Now, understand me, I want no rewardwhatever, either in the shape of a share of the treasure, or otherwise,for affording you this assistance; but I tell you plainly that I willhave respectful treatment, and perfect freedom, both for myself and forthe lady, together with every one of those little comforts andconveniences for which I have asked. Stop, I have not finished yet," Icontinued, as I saw that he was
about to bluster. "You have beenlabouring under the delusion, all along, that Miss Onslow's presenceamong us affords you an effective means of coercing me to do certainthings for you. Now, it is time that such an impression should beremoved. I am perfectly willing to help you in any and every way, solong as we are both treated with civility and consideration; but if you,or any one of your men, should dare to molest Miss Onslow in any way, orshow her the slightest incivility, from that moment I will cease to helpor do anything whatever for you--which means, that even should yousucceed in obtaining the treasure that you are after, you will never beable to take it home and enjoy it. Now, think over what I have said,and let me know your decision as soon as you have made up your mind.But do not you ever again attempt to coerce me by uttering threats ofviolence to the lady, for it will not do! My chief stipulation is thatshe shall be as absolutely secure from insult or injury among you asthough she were under the protection of her father's roof, and I meanthat she shall be so, or I will send the whole lot of you to the devil,even if I have to accompany you."

  To defy the whole gang in so uncompromising a manner was undoubtedly abold game to play, but it proved to be the right thing to do; for as Istared the Irishman unshrinkingly in the eyes I saw his gaze waveringunder mine, and presently his scowling expression relaxed into a smileas he exclaimed:

  "Begorra, Misther Conyers, ye're a brave man intoirely to brazen thething out in that stoyle, one against sixteen of us. But it's yourselfthat knows right well that ye've got the pull of us, by raison of youreddicashin, so I suppose we may as well let ye have your own way, andmake no more bones about it. All we want is your help to find thethreasure and get it safely home; and if ye'll give us that ye may haveyour own way in ivery thing else; it'll make no real differ to us."

  "Very well," said I; "you are now speaking like a reasonable andsensible man, and it is a bargain between us that I shall afford you thefullest possible assistance to carry out your schemes--so far as theymay be lawful--upon the terms and conditions which I have stipulated.Now, if you will let me have your paper, in order that I may study it asa whole, I shall perhaps be able to gather the writer's full meaning,and thus enable you to find the exact spot of which you are in search.Meanwhile, you had better go ashore again, and give your immediateattention to the few little matters that I mentioned just now, beforeyou lost your temper."

  The fellow hesitated a moment, gazing doubtfully and still somewhatdistrustfully at me, and then, with a sigh, handed over the paper to mykeeping. Then, without a word, he turned away, went down over the sideinto his boat, and was forthwith pulled ashore.

  As the boat shoved off from the brig's side, I opened the paper andglanced at its contents. The complete document read as follows:--

  "Latitude 2 degrees 48 minutes 40 seconds South. Longitude 144 degrees10 minutes 10 seconds West. Approach island from north-west, and standtoward it with summit of hill bearing South-East by a half South, whichleads through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to South bya quarter West for the mouth of the bight at the bottom of the bay.Stand boldly in until abreast of the big rock at the mouth of the bight,when clew up and furl everything. Follow the bight until you reach thelagoon, when anchor anywhere not closer than within a dozen fathoms ofthe island. The gems are buried in the earth at a spot which may thusbe identified. Draw a line from one black rock to the other; and onthis line project another to the summit of the peak, making an angle ofsixty-five degrees to the westward. Dig there, and the gems will befound at a depth of three feet below the surface. I write this that thetreasure may not be lost should I die ere I find opportunity to secureit.

  "John Withicombe."

  The document was written in the calligraphy of an evidently educatedman; and now that I had it in its complete form in my hands I began toregard the whole matter in a very different light from what I hadhitherto done; up to now I had been disposed to regard the adventure asone that was more than likely to prove a wild-goose chase; but as Inoted the evidences of intelligence and education that the documentrevealed on the part of the writer it suddenly dawned upon me that afterall there might be something in it. But who was John Withicombe, andhow did he become acquainted with the existence of the treasure? Did hehide it himself, or did he discover its whereabouts by accident? Andwhere did the treasure come from?

  I was still puzzling over these questions when I was startled out of myreverie by a light step beside me; and, turning, I beheld Miss Onslowregarding me with eyes so brilliant that I could almost fancy they weregemmed with tears.

  "So," she exclaimed playfully, "you have been fighting another wordybattle with that Irish wretch; and this time, having kept your temperunder control, you have emerged victorious from the conflict. But oh,Mr Conyers," she continued, her voice suddenly changing to a tone ofdeep earnestness, "I cannot express to you how profoundly sorry I amthat you should thus continually be harassed and worried on my account--oh yes, I heard everything; I was in the cabin, and the skylight wasopen, so I could not help hearing what passed. I know that these menare taking advantage of my presence to coerce and terrorise you by meansof threats of violence toward me, and I cannot help feeling howdreadfully you are hampered and embarrassed by having me to look afterand protect. But you have never wavered or faltered for one instant,you have forgotten all about yourself and have thought wholly and onlyof me; and--and--I think it only right you should know how greatly Iappreciate your goodness, and--how--how--grateful I am for all that youhave done and are still doing for me."

  There undoubtedly _were_ tears in her eyes as she concluded; but acertain wild, delirious hope, that had half formed itself as I noted theenthusiasm with which she had begun her speech, died out again as shefaltered and hesitated, and finally concluded in as sober, impassive,conventional a tone as though she had been thanking me for procuring acab for her on a rainy night. I hastened to assure her that she wasquite mistaken in supposing that her presence aboard the brig was anembarrassment to me; that, on the contrary, it was the only pleasantfeature of the whole adventure, so far as I was concerned; and then,fearing lest her gracious mood should tempt me to say more than shewould be willing to listen to, I hastily turned the conversation towardO'Gorman's document, which I placed in her hands, asking her to read itand tell me what she thought of it.

  She read it carefully through once, and then handed it back to me withthe remark:

  "I think it is perfectly genuine--everything appears to point in thatdirection--and I have no doubt whatever that the gems will be found inthe spot indicated."

  "I am now inclined to that opinion myself," said I. "But how is thespot indicated to be found? The writer, you will observe, mentions twoblack rocks, but he furnishes no clue whatever as to their whereabouts.Where are we to look for these rocks? and how are we to identify them?"

  "That particular passage," answered she, "is, I admit, decidedlyobscure. Yet I think the context furnishes a clue to its elucidation.It reads thus:--`anchor anywhere not closer than within a dozen fathomsof the island,'--which I take to mean this small island, or islet,opposite us. The island was evidently the most prominent object in thewriter's mind when he penned the words immediately following those thatI have just quoted; and I therefore conclude that it is somewhere inthat small island--a most suitable hiding-place, I think you willadmit--that the treasure lies concealed. And it is there also, I think,that the two black rocks should be searched for. As to how the rocksare to be identified, the writer speaks of them in such a manner as tosuggest that there is no possibility of mistaking them; and I thereforeinfer that there are two rocks--_and two only_--that can possibly beassociated with the instructions given in the paper."

  "Yes," said I; "I quite see your line of reasoning; and I believe youare right. At all events, the suggestion is so reasonable that it isquite worth following; and it is upon those lines that I shall adviseO'Gorman to go to work. Ah, by Jove! look there! I believe the fellowactually means to stick to his bargain at last: here com
e the men withthe sails and so on that I have asked for; and to-night I hope you willbe able to rest in comparative coolness out here on deck, with anawning, and all other proper shelter from the dew."

  The boat, with half a dozen hands in her, was soon alongside, and bymidday we had not only an awning spread over the whole of theafter-deck, from the taffrail to the mainmast, but also a spaciouscanvas sleeping-tent under it, divided into two compartments, and soarranged that my companion might enjoy the most absolute privacy. Thesteward also came off, and resumed possession of his usual quarters, andas he was one of the quietest and most respectable men of the party, wasas good a cook as "the doctor" himself, and seemed genuinely anxious todo his best for us, it soon appeared as though we were about to befavoured with a spell of peace and quietness.

  Meanwhile, O'Gorman religiously refrained from obtruding himself upon usuntil I had dismissed the boat's crew upon the completion of theirlabours, when he came aboard, ostensibly to ascertain whether everythinghad been done to my satisfaction, but actually--as I soon discovered--toclaim the assistance that I had undertaken to afford him. And this, ofcourse, I was more than ready to give, now that I had obtained from himwhat I wanted, being feverishly anxious to bring the entire adventure toa conclusion as speedily as possible, in order that I might be free toconvey Miss Onslow in all safety and honour to her father's arms. So Ithrew myself heartily into the spirit of the search, accompanyingO'Gorman and a search-party to the islet, and actively participating ina hunt for the two black rocks. But, after persevering for more thanthree hours, it became evident that the little spot was so completelyovergrown with tangled, impenetrable jungle that but one course was opento us, that of clearing the ground by cutting down and destroying thenetwork of creepers that choked up the spaces between the tree-trunks.This proved to be a lengthy and arduous undertaking, it being necessaryto cut the undergrowth away in blocks, as it were, and then drag thedetached masses to the water's edge and tumble them overboard. Butafter four days of this work, at the end of which there was very littleresult to show for our labour, we found evidences of the islet having atsome previous period been cleared by means of fire, the workers havingencountered several charred and blackened tree-stumps; so we determinedto adopt a similar course, the vegetation being dry and in excellentcondition for such an experiment. Accordingly, the undergrowth wasattacked with knives and axes on the weather side of the island, and thedetached masses, instead of being hove overboard, were allowed to remainand thoroughly dry in the sun. Then, when our accumulation of drybrushwood seemed sufficient for our purpose, it was set alight, and inhalf an hour the entire island was a blazing mass, there being just windenough to fan the flames and cause them to spread. In two hours theoperation was complete, the once verdant and beautiful spot having beenconverted into an ugly patch of flat and fire-blackened soil, some fiftyacres in extent, with two conspicuous outcrops of black rock protrudingfrom the ashes and debris of the conflagration.

  There was very little doubt in my mind that the two outcrops of rockrendered visible by the destruction of the vegetation upon the isletwere those referred to by John Withicombe, and I said as much toO'Gorman, whose impatience to test the truth of my conviction was suchthat he would have had me go to work with my rods and sextant that sameafternoon; but when we attempted to land upon the islet we found thatalthough the ashes were black on the surface they were still a dullglowing red in the heart of them, and so hot that they were not yet tobe stood upon, leaving out of the question the veil of acrid,suffocating, blue smoke that still wreathed and curled from out them.

  Our enforced detention, however, was by no means wasted time, for nowthat the surface of the island was bare, and I could see what I had towork upon, I could also see that several long, slender ranging-poleswould be necessary, and the obtaining and preparation of these kept allhands busy for the remainder of that day. And immediately afterbreakfast, next morning, I got out my sextant, and, all hands of uslanding upon the islet, we went to work with a will. First of all, Imade my way to one of the masses of rock, and climbed up on it. Bothmasses had well-defined "peaks," and I came to the conclusion that theinstruction to "draw a line from one black rock to the other" would meanthat a _straight_ line must be drawn, or _ranged_, from one of thesewell-defined peaks to the other. So I temporarily removed the telescopefrom my sextant, and, levelling it upon the extreme peak, or highestpoint of the rock I occupied, brought it to bear upon the correspondingpeak of the other rock. Then I sent a man along with instructions tostart from the other rock and walk toward me, halting whenever I raisedmy hand and sticking a rod perpendicularly in the ground. I met with agreat deal more difficulty than I had anticipated in securing thesatisfactory execution of this apparently simple operation, but bykeeping the telescope levelled from the one peak and bearing upon theother, and making the man hold the rods truly vertical, I at lengthsucceeded in ranging out a perfectly straight line from the one rock tothe other. Then, setting the limb of my sextant to an angle ofsixty-five degrees, and stationing myself at certain points in theline--which I was easily able to do by means of the rods--I at lengthfound the exact point required, which I marked by driving a stake intothe ground. "There," said I to O'Gorman, "is your point--if myinterpretation of the instructions given in your paper is the correctone; and at a depth of a yard or thereabouts below the surface you oughtto find your treasure. If you do not find it at this precise spot Iwould recommend you to try a little to right and left, in line with thepoles that, as you see, I have left standing."