"Now, take a turn anywhere you can, and as often as you can," shouted O'Gorman, "and then follow me. And if they offer any resistance, knock 'em down, or heave 'em overboard."

"Why, good Heavens! they have run the barque aboard, and are taking her!" I exclaimed, astonished and shocked beyond expression, as it dawned upon me that the wretches were committing a further act of piracy. And I made as though to spring to my feet. In an instant Miss Onslow had seized my hand in hers, gripping me so firmly that I could not break away from her without exercising a certain measure of violence.

"And if they are?" said she, "can you do anything to prevent it?"

"No," answered I. "But I will tell you what I can do. If you will suffer me to go on deck I can see whether all hands have boarded the barque. And, if they have, and there appears to be the slightest possibility of our being able to effect our escape, I will cut the brig adrift, and make off with her!"

"Do you really think such a feat possible?" demanded my companion, with sparkling eyes.

"I scarcely know," answered I. "If the breeze has freshened at all within the last few minutes, it might be done; not otherwise; because in the latter event they could lower the barque's boats and overhaul us in a very few minutes."

"At all events it is quite worth while to ascertain whether there is any chance of success. Let us go on deck and see!" exclaimed Miss Onslow, her features at once all aglow with excitement as she sprang to her feet.

"Agreed!" cried I, overjoyed to find the young lady so unexpectedly yielding approval to my rather desperate plan. "I will go on deck first, and ascertain the precise state of affairs; and if I find that there is a sufficiently fair prospect of success to justify us in the attempt I will call to you through the skylight as soon as I need your help."

My companion regarded me somewhat doubtfully for a moment, and then reseated herself, saying:

"Very well. I think I can trust you now. But please be very careful; and do not attempt anything unless you feel certain of success."

Meanwhile, the uproar that had prevailed for a few minutes prior to and following upon the contact between the two craft had suddenly ceased; and as I emerged from the companion-way I saw that, even supposing there had ever been a prospect of my plan proving successful—which there had not, the wind having died away to the merest breathing—I was now too late. For the two vessels—their hulls prevented from grinding together by several cork fenders hung between them—were so securely lashed together that it would have cost me several minutes' hard work to cut them adrift. Moreover, O'Gorman, followed by half a dozen of his gang, were just in the act of scrambling inboard again from the stranger. The Irishman saw me upon the instant of my emerging from the companion, and immediately shouted:

"Here, Misther Conyers, ye're just the man we want! Do you spake Frinch?"

"Yes," answered I, believing that I saw my opportunity. "Why?"

"Becase," he replied, "the chaps aboard the barque don't seem to be able to undershtand a worrud we say to thim; and bedad we're in the same fix with regar-rd to thim. So we want an interpreter; and maybe you'll be able to act that same for us."

"Very well," said I; "what do you want me to do?"

"Whoy, we'll take it kindly of ye if you'll just be so obligin' as to shtep aboard the barque, and say what we want ye to say," answered the fellow. "But, mind," he added warningly, "don't ye attimpt to say annything else, or by the Piper it'll be the worse for ye—and for the young woman down below. I can undershtand Frinch like a native—so I shall know everything that you say—but begorra the Oirish brogue of me makes it difficult for thim froggies to undershtand me when I shpake to thim."

"All right," I answered, perfectly easy in my mind, "you can stand alongside me, and hear everything that passes."

So saying, without further ado I leapt upon the brig's bulwarks, from thence to those of the barque, and so down upon her deck, closely followed by O'Gorman.



CHAPTER TEN.

WE PLUNDER THE FRENCH BARQUE.

As my feet touched the barque's deck, I flung a lightning glance about me to gather as much information as possible, not knowing but that at any moment such knowledge might be of priceless value to me. The craft was somewhat bigger than I had at first set her down to be, being of fully four hundred, or maybe four hundred and fifty, tons measurement. Looking for'ard to the swell of her bows, I saw that she must evidently be of a motherly build, which accorded well with the fact that she had lost steerage-way long before such had been the case with the brig. Her decks were in a very dirty and untidy condition, looking as though they had not been washed down, or even swept, for at least a week, and they were lumbered up with quite an unusual number of spars and booms. Yet she was evidently a passenger ship, for the cabin under her full poop was brilliantly lighted up, and through its open door I caught a glimpse of several men and women so attired as to at once proclaim their status on board; moreover, the quarter-deck was also occupied by a group of men and women, evidently passengers, with two or three sailorly-looking men among them, over whom a party of O'Gorman's people were mounting guard, the remainder being stationed on guard over the fore-scuttle, down which I presumed the barque's crew had been driven.

My attention was almost instantly attracted toward the little party on the quarter-deck, and especially toward a grey-haired man in uniform, whom I imagined might be the skipper. I advanced toward the party, with a bow, and said, in French:

"I wish to speak to the captain of this vessel: may I ask if he happens to be among you?"

The old gentleman in uniform at once advanced a pace and, acknowledging my salute by raising his gold-laced cap, answered:

"I am he. And I demand to know, monsieur, by what right you and your crew of ruffians have dared to run aboard me in this outrageous fashion, driving my crew below, stationing a guard athwart my decks, and frightening my passengers very nearly out of their senses. Are you pirates, or what?"

"Monsieur," answered I, "there is nothing to be gained by attempting to deceive you, and I will therefore at once say that I fear you will find that you have fallen into the hands of pirates. The big man beside me is their captain, while I, and a young lady aboard the brig, have the misfortune to be their prisoners. I shall probably not be afforded an opportunity to explain to you the unfortunate situation of the young lady and myself; but as soon as I became aware of the intention of these men to board you I prepared a letter which will explain everything—it is unfortunately written in English, but that, I am sure, will prove no obstacle to you. This letter I will presently endeavour to pass, unobserved, to one of you; and if you will kindly act in accordance with the request set forth therein, you will very greatly oblige two most unhappy people."

"Monsieur," said the Frenchman, "I will gladly do anything in my power to help you; but as to effecting your rescue—" he glanced expressively at O'Gorman and his companions, and shrugged his shoulders in a way that very clearly indicated his helplessness.

Here O'Gorman cut in. "Well, what has the ould chap got to say for himsilf?" he demanded.

"Why," answered I, "you heard what he said. He wants to know what we mean by boarding his ship in this outrageous fashion and driving his crew below."

"Ask him what is the name of his ship, where he is from, and where bound to," ordered the Irishman.

I put the questions; and the skipper answered:

"This is the Marie Renaud, of and from Marseilles, for Bourbon, with a general cargo."

I translated, turning to O'Gorman—and slightly away from the group of Frenchmen—to do so; and while I was speaking a hand touched mine—which I held, clenched, behind my back, with the letter, folded small, within it—while a voice murmured in my ear:

"Your letter, monsieur?"

I opened my fingers, and felt the missive gently abstracted.

"Thank God for that opportunity!" thought I fervently, as O'Gorman said:

"Ask him if he has plenty of provisions and water aboard."

I at once saw the villain's game: he was going to replenish the brig's stores by plundering the barque, thus rendering it unnecessary to touch at any port. So, while translating the question to the French skipper, I took it upon myself to very tersely mention my suspicions, and to recommend the adoption of any precautionary measures that might suggest themselves.

"The bulk of my stores is stowed in the after hold," answered the French skipper, "but there is about enough in the lazarette to carry us to Cape Town. If they can be persuaded to be satisfied with what is there only, we shall come to no great harm."

"You hear?" said I, turning to O'Gorman again, quite certain, by this time, of his inability to understand a single word of French; "they are very short of provisions, having only sufficient in their lazarette to carry them to Cape Town."

"Is that all?" demanded the Irishman. "Thin, be jabers, I'm sorry for thim, for there's a good manny miles bechuxt here and Cape Town, and I'm afraid they'll be mortial hungry before they get there. For I'm goin' to help mesilf to everything ateable that the barque carries, and so ye may tell the skipper—bad cess to him for a mismanagin' shpalpeen! Whoy didn't he lay in stores enough to carry him to the ind of his v'yage? And ye may tell him, too, to start all hands to get those stores on deck in a hurry; our own lads will have enough to do in lookin' afther everybody, and seein' that none of the Frenchies thries to play anny tricks wid us."

I translated the gist of these remarks to the French captain, and at the same time gave him a hint to exhibit a proper amount of righteous indignation over the robbery; which he did to perfection, wringing his hands, rumpling his hair, and pacing the deck with the air of a madman while he poured out anathemas enough upon O'Gorman and his gang to sink the entire party to the nethermost depths of perdition. Meanwhile, the French crew, under the supervision of the mates—with Price watching the operation to see that a clean sweep was made of the lazarette—went to work to pass the stores on deck; and in less than an hour everything that the lazarette had contained was safely transferred to the brig, and stowed away.

While this operation was in progress, O'Gorman made a tour of the various cabins, compelling the unfortunate passengers to turn out their trunks before him, and appropriating the whole of their cash, jewellery, weapons, and ammunition, together with as much of their clothing as happened to take his fancy. As he executed his self-imposed task with considerable deliberation, those passengers whose turn was still to come had plenty of time to meditate upon their coming despoilment, and one of them—the individual who had so kindly relieved me of my letter—took it into his head to do me a good turn. Withdrawing quietly to his cabin, he presently reappeared with a mahogany case, to which he unostentatiously directed my attention, immediately afterwards laying it carelessly down in a dark corner of the cabin.

Then he came and stood close beside me, and murmured in my ear:

"A brace of duelling-pistols, with a full supply of ammunition, monsieur. Since apparently they must go, I would rather that they should fall into monsieur's hands, if possible. He may perhaps find them useful some time in the future."

"A thousand thanks, monsieur," returned I, in a whisper. "Should we ever meet again I will endeavour to repay your kindness with interest."

Then, watching my opportunity, I possessed myself of the case of pistols, made my way on deck with them, and—thanks to the bustle of trans-shipping the stores—managed to slip on board the brig with it and convey it, undetected, to my own cabin. Having done which, I spoke a reassuring word or two to Miss Onslow—who had retired to her own cabin—lighted a pipe, and sauntered up on deck again with the most careless demeanour imaginable.

It was long past midnight by the time that O'Gorman had finished rifling the barque, by which time he had secured all the provisions out of the unfortunate craft's lazarette, had taken four brass nine-pounder guns, two dozen stand of muskets, the same number of cutlasses and boarding pikes, together with a considerable quantity of ammunition, had emptied one of the barque's water-tanks, and had robbed them, in addition, of their two best boats—fine twenty-seven feet gigs—with their whole equipment. Then, the weather still being stark calm, he compelled the Frenchmen to hoist out their remaining two boats and to tow the brig clear of and about a mile distant from the barque. Before that moment arrived, however, the French skipper contrived to get a hurried word with me.

"Monsieur," he said, "the contents of your letter have been communicated to me; and permit me to say that you and Mademoiselle Onslow have the heartiest sympathy and commiseration of myself and my passengers in your most unpleasant situation. But, monsieur, I fear I cannot possibly help you in the way that would doubtless be most acceptable to you—namely, by receiving you on board my ship. The scoundrels who hold you in their power would never permit it; and even were it possible for you and mademoiselle to slip aboard, unperceived, and secrete yourselves, your absence would be quickly discovered, it would be guessed what had become of you, and the pirates would assuredly give chase and recapture you— for the barque, fine ship though she be, certainly is a trifle slow— and who knows what vengeance the wretches might wreck upon us for having presumed to abet you in your attempt to escape them? You will perceive, I am sure, that my duty to my passengers forbids my exposing them to such a risk. But I shall now call at Cape Town, to replace what those villains have taken from me; and you may rest assured that I will not only report the act of piracy that has been perpetrated upon me, but I will also make known the unfortunate situation of yourself and mademoiselle, so that your countrymen may be enabled to take such steps as they may see fit to effect your rescue."

This was as much as I could reasonably hope; and I thanked the skipper heartily for undertaking even so much as that.

In the early hours of the morning a gentle little air from the northward—that gradually strengthened to a nice working breeze—sprang up; and when I went on deck at seven bells the Marie Renaud was out of sight, and we were alone once more on the tumbling waste of waters.

From that time forward nothing of importance occurred until we arrived in the longitude of the Horn, our passage of this notorious headland being accomplished in gloriously fine weather—for a wonder—with half a gale of wind from the eastward, blowing over our taffrail, to which we showed every rag that we could set upon the hooker. The actual passage occurred in the early morning—about six o'clock, according to our dead reckoning—and upon working out the sights that I had secured after breakfast for the determination of the longitude, I found that we were thirty miles to the westward of it, and far enough south to permit of our shifting our helm for the mysterious island to which we were supposed to be bound. Accordingly, having verified my figures, and pricked off the brig's position on the chart, I made my way up on deck, and informed O'Gorman of the state of affairs.

"So we're actually now in the moighty Pacific, eh?" he exclaimed in high elation. "Bedad that's good news, annyhow, and we'll cilibrate the occasion by takin' an exthry tot o' grog all round, and dhrinkin' shuccess to the v'yage. But, sthop a minute; ye want to know where ye're to shape a coorse for, now? By the powers, misther, I'll tell ye that same in a brace of shakes. Let me go and get the paper out o' me chist, and I'll soon make ye as wise as mesilf."

The fellow hurried away for'ard, and dived below into the forecastle, from which he soon emerged again, bearing in his hand an oblong envelope. From this he carefully withdrew a paper, folded lengthwise, and, opening it, read:

"'Latichood: Two, forty-eight, forty; south. Longitood: One hundred and forty-four, ten, ten; west. Approach island from nor'-west, and stand towards it with summit of hill bearin' south-east half-south, which leads through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south a quarter west for the mouth of the bight'—and that's enough: there's no call to read the rest to ye," he concluded abruptly.

"As you please," answered I; "I have no desire whatever to know anything more of the matter than what is absolutely necessary to enable me to navigate the brig to the spot, and afterwards to make a civilised port in the shortest possible time. I will, however, have a look at the chart, and ascertain the particular island to which those figures of yours refer."

"You might as well bring the chart up on deck, and let me see it: I'd loike to see just where we're bound to, and how long it'll take us to git there," remarked O'Gorman.

I accordingly went below, secured the chart, together with a pencil, a pair of dividers, and a parallel ruler, and took the whole on deck. Then, spreading the chart open, I pricked off the latitude and longitude given by O'Gorman, and, to my astonishment, found that the spot was located in open water.

"I am very much afraid that your information is faulty, O'Gorman," said I, pointing to the spot. "Do you see that? There is no island shown in your latitude and longitude. The nearest land to it is the Marquesas group, and Hiau—the nearest of them—is three hundred and sixty miles distant from your spot."

O'Gorman stared blankly at the chart for a full minute or more, glared suspiciously at me for nearly as long; looked at his paper again, to assure himself that he had made no mistake; and finally rapped out a string of oaths in his consternation. Then he nipped his profanity short off as a comforting reflection occurred to him.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "but this oiland as Oi'm talkin' about is unbeknownst, so av coorse it won't be drawed on the chart. That's all right, misther; you navigate the brig to that place, and you'll find an oiland there, safe enough."

"But, supposing that we do not," I suggested; "supposing that your information happens to be incorrect; what then?"

"Ay, but it won't be," he snarled back; "it'll be correct, and we'll find the oiland where Oi told ye. And if we don't, why bedad it'll be the worse for you and the gal, for we'll cruise for it until we find it, if we has to cruise until the Judgment Day, like the Flyin' Dutchman!"

"All right," I said. "If the island is where you say it is, I will find it for you, never fear. If it is not—well, then it will not be found; and that is all there is about it."

"Oi tell ye it will be found; it must be found!" shouted O'Gorman, goaded to fury at the suggestion that perhaps, after all, a dire disappointment lay in store for him. "If the oiland isn't there, it's somewheres thereabouts, widin a few miles more or less; and we've got to find it afore the hooker turns her nose towards home. Now I hopes that's plain enough for ye."

And, smiting the chart a mighty blow with his clenched fist, he turned on his heel and walked forward.

It need scarcely be said that after such a dogmatic statement as this I found my anxiety greatly increased; for I by this time knew the Irishman well enough to be fully aware that no mule could be more obstinate than he, and that, having once made up his mind that his island existed, he would never abandon his search until he had found it—or something that might pass for it. And I was determined that should our search prove unsuccessful, I would at once bear up for the Marquesas, and let him take his choice from among the whole group. Indeed, for a moment I felt tempted to shape as straight a course as I could for the centre of the group, without troubling to hunt for O'Gorman's particular island at all, as I gravely doubted whether it really had an existence outside the man's own imagination. But, on the other hand, his information was drawn from a document that, while stained and discoloured with age, had every appearance—from my casual inspection of it—of being genuine; and, if so, the island might possibly exist, although uncharted. Moreover, O'Gorman had not seized the brig and become a pirate merely to satisfy an idle curiosity as to the accuracy of the document he had produced; he was going there for a certain definite purpose; to search for something, probably; and, if so, nothing short of our arrival at that particular island would satisfy him. So, having laid off the course upon the chart, I gave it to the helmsman, and called the hands aft to trim sail.

Of our passage into the solitudes of the Pacific I have nothing to relate, save that Miss Onslow's demeanour toward me became, if possible, more perplexing and tantalising than ever. To convey a clear and accurate idea of her varying moods it would be necessary to relate in tolerably minute detail the particulars of our daily intercourse throughout the voyage—a course of procedure which would not only expand my story far beyond its proper limits, but would also entirely alter its character—I must therefore content myself with merely stating that I believe I may, without exaggeration, assert that I never found her upon any two occasions to behave in a precisely similar manner. She appeared to regulate her treatment of me by the behaviour of the men. She had long ago abandoned that almost insolent hauteur of manner that distinguished her at the outset of our acquaintance; but if the weather was fine, the wind fair, the men upon their best behaviour—as sometimes happened—in short, if things were going well with me in other respects, she invariably kept me at arm's-length by a certain indefinable, but none the less unmistakable, coolness, indifference, and distance of manner just sufficiently pronounced to suggest a desire to be left to herself. But in proportion as difficulties, anxieties, and vexations arose, so did her manner warm to me until there were times when it became almost caressingly tender; so that, as my passion for her grew, I sometimes felt almost tempted to feign an anxiety or a distress that did not exist, for the mere delight of finding her manner warming to me. But I take credit to myself that I always resisted the temptation, fighting against it as a thing to yield to which would be mean and unmanly on my part.

In this strange and contradictory condition of alternate peace, rendered insipid by Miss Onslow's coolness, and anxiety converted into happiness unspeakable by the warmth and tenderness of her sympathy, I carried the brig toward the spot indicated in O'Gorman's document; and at noon on a certain day my observations showed that we had arrived within sixty miles of it. The weather was then brilliantly fine, with a gentle breeze out from about west-north-west, that wafted the brig along over the low, long mounds of the Pacific swell at a rate of about five knots; consequently, if the island happened to be in the position assigned to it, we ought to reach it about midnight. O'Gorman's desire to be made acquainted with our exact position daily had been growing ever since we had shifted our helm after rounding the Horn, beginning as a condition of languid curiosity, which had strengthened into a state of feverish restlessness and anxiety that, on the day in question, as soon as I had conveyed to him the customary information, found vent in an order that a man should go aloft and maintain a lookout from the topgallant yard until the island should be sighted, the remainder of the crew being set to work during the afternoon to rouse out and bend the cables, and to attend to the various other matters incidental to the approach of a vessel to a port. He also had the spare spars overhauled and suitable ones selected for the purpose of erecting tents in conjunction with the brig's old sails, from all of which I inferred that our stay at the island—should we happen to find it—would be a somewhat protracted one.

As to the probability of our finding the place, I was exceedingly doubtful; for although I was well aware that hitherto unknown islands were still occasionally being discovered in the Pacific, I was equally well aware that these new islands were almost invariably low, and of insignificant dimensions, being, in fact, merely coral reefs that have been gradually lifted above the surface of the ocean; whereas O'Gorman's document contained mention of a hill, and the presence of a hill argued a probable existence of ages, and a consequently corresponding likelihood of comparatively early discovery.

But at two bells in the second dog-watch, that night, all doubt was put an end to by a sudden, startling cry from the lookout on the fore-topgallant yard of:

"Land ho; right ahead!"

I was on deck at the time, and far from expecting to hear such a cry; indeed so incredulous was I still that I quite concluded the man had allowed his imagination to run away with him, and was mistaking the shoulder of some low-lying cloud for distant land. So I hailed him with:

"Topgallant yard, there! are you quite sure that what you see is land, and not a hummock of cloud?"

"Yes, sir," he shouted back; "I'm quite sure of it. I've been watchin' it growin' for the last quarter of a hour or more, and it haven't changed its shape the least bit all that time; only growed the leastest bit bigger and clearer."

Meanwhile, O'Gorman had sprung into the rigging and was by this time clawing his way over the rim of the top. Another minute, and he was on the topgallant yard, alongside the other man, peering ahead into the fast gathering dusk, under the sharp of his hand. He stared at it for a good five minutes; then, shouting down "It's all right, mates; it's land, and no mistake!" he swung himself on to the backstay, and came down on deck by way of it. He no sooner reached the deck than he plunged into the forecastle, from which he presently emerged again, bearing in his hand a packet that I presently recognised as his precious document. He came straight aft to me with it, and said:

"Now, misther, I want ye to get a bit of paper and write down the directions that Oi'll read out to ye. Oi'm all right in deep wather, and wid plenty of say-room to come and go upon; but whin it comes to navigatin' narrow channels, and kapin' clear of the rocks, and takin' a vessel to her anchorage, bedad I'm nowhere. So I'll be obliged to ask ye to write down the instructions that Oi've got here, and then ye'll take command of the brig until she's safe at anchor."

"Very well," I said. "Are the instructions very long?"

"Two or three dozen words 'll cover the lot," answered the Irishman.

"All right," said I; "fire away." And drawing a pencil and paper from my pocket, I prepared to copy down whatever he might read to me.

"'Approach island from nor'-west,'" began O'Gorman, "'and stand towards it wid summit of hill bearin' south-east, half-south; which leads through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south a quarter west, for the mouth of the bight at the bottom of the bay. Stand boldly in until ye come abreast of the big rock at the mouth of the bight, when clew up and furl everything. Follow the bight until ye reach the lagoon, when ye may anchor annywhere not closer than a dozen fadoms of the oiland. The gems'—oh, bedad, but that's another matther intoirely," he hastily concluded.

"The directions seem explicit enough," said I; "and as no mention is made of any dangers to be avoided I suppose there are none. All the same, we shall need daylight for the job of taking the brig to the berth mentioned, so I shall stand on until four bells in the first watch, and then heave-to for the remainder of the night. At daylight we will fill away again and work round to the nor'-west side of the island, when, if the water happens to be clear, we shall perhaps be able to see the bottom from aloft, and thus safely pilot the vessel to her anchorage. I will con her myself from the fore-topmast crosstrees."

At four bells—ten o'clock—that night, the island showed through the clear darkness upon the horizon as an irregularly-shaped pyramid, with a peak nearly in the centre of it, rising to a height which I estimated at about six or seven hundred feet. The island itself was at that time some ten miles distant, and, measured from end to end, as we then looked at it, I took it to be about four miles across. We hove the brig to, and tried a cast first with the hand lead, and then with the deep-sea lead, but got no bottom, at which I was by no means surprised, as I had already heard that many of the islands in the Pacific—especially those of coral formation—rise sheer from the very bottom of the sea.

At daybreak the next morning I was called by the steward, and, dressing, went on deck, to find that the weather was as it had been all through the preceding day, namely, a light breeze from the westward, with a cloudless sky of crystalline clearness overhead, and a long, low sluggish swell undulating athwart the gently-ruffled surface of the ocean. The island now bore about four points on our weather quarter, some sixteen miles distant; so we filled the main-topsail, got way upon the ship, and hauled up to "full-and-by," when it was found that we should just handsomely fetch clear of the most leeward point of the land.

Viewed by the early daylight, the island presented a most attractive appearance, rising against the background of sky as a picture painted in an infinite variety of delicate purple tones of shadow, through which, with the aid of the glass, could be made out the several declivities, gorges, precipices, and ravines that went to make up the contour of the country. It was thickly wooded everywhere, seemingly from the water's edge to within some eighty feet or so of the summit, the latter rising naked into the clear air. But attractive as it looked under the soft, subdued light of the early dawn, in the delicate monochrome of distance, and the absence of direct sunlight, it looked even more beautiful when, after sunrise, as we approached it more closely, the countless subtle variations of tint in the foliage, from this in brightest sunlight, to that in deepest, richest purple shadow, became manifest; and so powerful an impression did it make upon the men that I overheard them freely discussing the desirability of making a lengthened sojourn there.

"Yes," said I, when O'Gorman, carried away by his enthusiasm at the beauty of the place, hinted at such a possibility, "that is all very well, and sounds very attractive just now; but has it yet occurred to you that yonder island may be peopled by a race of savages who, if we give them the opportunity, will gladly make a barbecue of all hands?"

"Phew! begorra, but Oi nivver thought of that!" he ejaculated in sudden dismay. "Oi'm obliged to ye for the hint, misther. We'll load the guns and muskets, and make ready generally for the blagguards, if they have the impidence to be there."

And forthwith he shambled away for'ard, unceremoniously cutting into the holiday plans that the men were busily concocting, and instructing them to load the guns and arm themselves in readiness for any emergency that might arise.

As we stood in toward the land I kept a bright lookout for smoke, for huts peeping from among the trees, for canoes hauled up on the beach, or any other indications of the presence of human life on the island, but could see nothing. At this, however, I was not very greatly surprised, for although we were on the lee side of the island, the surf was breaking so heavily all along the shore as to render it impracticable for canoes. If the island happened to be inhabited, the inhabitants would probably be found located on its weather side, which, according to O'Gorman's document, was protected from the surf by a barrier reef, with a passage through it.

As we stood on it became apparent that the island was nearer five than four miles long—as I had estimated it to be on the previous night—that its general trend was from north-east to south-west, and that, if surveyed and laid down upon the chart, it would present a somewhat flat and irregular crescent-like plan. The barrier reef sprang from the north-east extremity of the island, sweeping seaward on the arc of a circle on its north-western side, and uniting again with the island at its south-western extremity, forming a lagoon of the same length as the island, and about three-quarters of a mile wide at its widest point. The barrier reef, in fact, constituted a magnificent natural breakwater, upon which the surf eternally broke in a loud, sullen roar of everlasting thunder, while inside it the water was smooth as a mill pond, shoaling very gradually from the reef to the shore of the island, which consisted of a narrow beach of dazzling white sand, bordered by a fringe of thousands of cocoa-nut palms, the long, plume-like branches of which swayed gently in the soft, warm morning breeze. It was on this side of the island, I concluded, that, if anywhere, traces of inhabitants would be found, and I scanned the shore carefully and anxiously through the ship's glass in search of such; but nothing of the kind was to be seen; and I at length closed the telescope with a clash, relieved to believe that, whatever anxieties there might be awaiting me in the immediate future, trouble with hostile natives was not to be one of them.



CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE ISLAND.

Standing on as we were going, we ratched past the island until it was left a couple of miles astern of us, when we tacked ship, and brought the land on our lee beam. Then, steering full and by, half an hour's sailing sufficed to bring the summit of the hill to the required compass-bearing of south-east, half-south, whereupon we bore dead away for it, and, leaving O'Gorman in charge of the deck, I sprang into the fore rigging and mounted to the crosstrees, from which commanding elevation I intended to con the brig to her anchorage. Miss Onslow was on deck by this time, drinking in, with eager, flashing eyes, the beauty and brilliant colour of the picture presented by the emerald island in its setting of sapphire sea; but as I sprang into the rigging I noticed that her gaze followed me; and when I swung myself out to clamber over the rim of the top—a performance which, to the eye of the landsman, appears distinctly hazardous—she suddenly clasped her hands upon her breast, as though in terror for my safety. The action was trifling enough, perhaps, yet I was disposed to regard it as not quite insignificant, since I had often stood by her side as she had watched— with evidently no stronger emotion than amusement—others perform the same feat.

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

As we bore rapidly down upon the reef, the passage through it gradually assumed its true proportion of width, and I saw that there was ample room to allow of the passage, not only of the brig, but of a couple of line-of-battle ships abreast. The island had the appearance of being simply the topmost ridge of a mountain rising with a tolerably even continuous slope from the bottom of the sea; and the barrier reef was merely an excrescence or wall of coral built on to one side of it, and founded at a depth of ten fathoms below the surface of the ocean, as our lead presently told us. The basin thus formed had, during the course of ages, become partially filled with sand, forming a beautifully smooth, and even white floor, gradually sloping upward toward the surface from the reef to the shore of the island. All this was quite plain to me as we 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 as clearly as though it had been bare of water, every tiny fish and every fragment of weed that passed within a hundred feet of us being perfectly visible.

Once fairly through the opening in the reef and into the basin, we hauled up to south a quarter west, which course brought our jib-boom pointing to what then had the appearance of the mouth of an insignificant stream. But as we slid athwart the basin the opening assumed an appearance of increasingly greater importance, until when within half a mile of it I saw that it was really the comparatively narrow entrance of a fairly spacious little bay, or loch, penetrating for some distance into the land. Soon afterwards the big rock mentioned in O'Gorman's document separated itself from the background of bush and trees with which it had hitherto been merged, and proclaimed itself as an obelisk-like monolith of basalt rearing its apex to a height of some ninety feet above the water level. When fairly abreast of this the canvas was clewed up, and the brig slid into the loch with the way that she had on her. This loch, or channel, wound gradually round for a length of about a cable, and then widened into a nearly circular lagoon about half a mile in diameter, in the very centre of which stood a small islet, thickly overgrown with trees and dense jungle. Keeping this islet on our starboard beam, at a distance of some twenty fathoms, we slowly circled round it until it was immediately between us and the outlet to the larger lagoon, when we let go our anchor in four fathoms, amid the exultant cheers of the men, who thus found themselves triumphantly at their destination. That we actually had found the identical island referred to in O'Gorman's paper there could be no shadow of doubt, since the landmarks mentioned agreed perfectly; and my strongest emotion was one of surprise that an island of such dimensions should thus far have escaped the notice of the hydrographers.

All hands now went to breakfast; and when the men again turned to, upon the conclusion of their meal, their first act was to swarm aloft and unbend the whole of the canvas, from the royals down—a proceeding which seemed to confirm my previous surmise that they intended their sojourn upon the island to be of some duration. This task occupied them the entire morning; but when they knocked off at eight bells for dinner, the brig's spars and stays were entirely denuded of their canvas. The Irishman had some little difficulty in persuading his satellites to go to work again after dinner, there being a very evident tendency on the part of all hands to take matters easily now, after their long spell at sea; but he eventually got them out from the shadow of the bulwarks and upon their feet again, when the boats were all lowered, the entire stock of the brig's sails, new and old, struck into them, the spare booms launched overboard and towed ashore; and the remainder of the day was spent in erecting tents upon a small open patch of grass, upon the mainland—if I may so call it—that happened to be immediately abreast the brig. Miss Onslow and myself were thus left alone together on board, nobody seeming to take either of us into consideration in the making of their arrangements. There were arguments both in favour of and against this arrangement; for instance, our cabins aboard the brig were unpleasantly hot and stuffy in the parallels that we had now reached, and I had no doubt that we should have found sleeping ashore in a nice, airy tent very much more comfortable; but on the other hand, if we were to be allowed to occupy the brig we should at least be by ourselves, and the risk of nocturnal intrusion would be very much less; I was therefore disposed to consider that, on the whole, matters were more satisfactory as they were. Yet it went against the grain with me that we should be so completely ignored, and our comfort and convenience so completely neglected, by a crowd of graceless, unmannerly louts, and I was casting about for some means whereby I could compel at least a reasonable measure of consideration from them, when fortune unexpectedly intervened to help me. It happened in this wise.

After conveying ashore the sails and spars, and erecting the tents, the men came off to the brig again, and took ashore their chests and belongings generally, together with an abundant supply of food, and a still more abundant supply of liquor, with the natural result that a regular drunken orgy occurred that night, of such a character as to compel my gratitude that Miss Onslow was not an occupant of any portion of that camp. As it was, I deemed it only prudent to maintain a watch until the riot ashore had ceased, and the rioters had safely subsided into a drunken slumber. But my companion and I had to prepare our evening meal for ourselves, that night, or we should have gone supperless to our cabins. And, in like manner, we also had to prepare our own breakfast next morning.

That simple meal was over some considerable time before there was any stir or sign of movement in the camp on shore; but at length the cook appeared, still, apparently, in a semi-drunken condition, and by and by we saw the men sitting down to breakfast. They occupied an unconscionably long time over their meal, and when it was over most of the party lit their pipes and staggered away back into the sheltering shade of their tents again. There were two or three exceptions, one of whom was O'Gorman, who, after lighting his pipe, strolled down to the water's edge with a paper in his hand that looked very much like the paper from which he had quoted the instructions for making the island, and which he appeared to be studying most intently, with a dubious air that, even as I watched him, rapidly changed into one of steadily-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 which he presently emerged again followed by two very sick-and-sorry, unwilling-looking members of his gang. The trio tumbled into one of the boats, shoved off, and headed directly for the brig. Miss Onslow was on deck with me, but as soon as I saw that the little party intended boarding the brig, I directed her attention to their condition, and requested her to retire out of sight to her cabin, which she did, very submissively, somewhat to my surprise.

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

It was evident from O'Gorman's embarrassed manner as he approached me that he had something to say, or some proposition to make, without exactly knowing how best to set about it. It seemed to me that he had unexpectedly found himself in some way at a serious disadvantage, but was anxious above all things to prevent my discovering his predicament. Then he was civil, which I had learned to accept as an unerring indication that he wished to inveigle me into consciously or unconsciously rendering him a service.

"The top o' the mornin' to ye, misther," he began. "I hopes that you and 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, and our breakfast this morning. As for quiet, the place is quiet enough; it is the drunken blackguards occupying it that make all the row. Oh yes, we slept well enough, thank you—after the crowd ashore had guzzled themselves into a state of drunken insensibility."

"Begorra, thin," he exclaimed, in affected surprise, "did the shpalpeens keep ye awake? Whoy, Oi'd have thought you'd have heard the sorra a sound out here. But it's not goin' to happen again; it was just a bit of a jollification we threated ourselves to upon the strength of foindin' 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 to sail for home again. And, as to your breakfast, bedad Oi forgot it intoirely, but Oi'll send the shteward off, wid ordhers that he's to do nothin' but just wait upon ye and the lady, and make things comfortable for ye."

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

But I merely answered:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Boat is it, thin? The divil a boat will I let ye have; if ye want a boat, go ashore and build one for yoursilf. And go to the divil and get your 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 a fool to promise ye annything, but I wanted your help, and I thought Oi'd get 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 in return!"

"What is it you want me to do for you?" asked I quietly, determined to keep my temper whatever might happen, and curious to know what service it could possibly be that had caused the fellow to constrain himself so far 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 somewhere on that bit of an oiland,"—indicating the small islet opposite which the brig was moored—"that I want to find. Whin I first read the paper that speaks of it, it seemed the simplest thing in the worruld to come here and put me fut on it; but now that Oi'm here, and have seen the place, 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 it is, 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're simple enough. They say,"—here he paused, fumbled in his breast-pocket, and presently produced the dirty, greasy slip of paper, with the appearance of which I was now becoming familiar, and carefully unfolding it, read:

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

"Um!" said I musingly; "I am not surprised to learn that none of you men can understand such directions as those; I am not at all sure that I understand them myself. At the same time there is hint enough to put me on the right track. And now, O'Gorman," continued I, throwing all the impressiveness I could muster into my manner, "I want you to listen to me, and mark well what I say, for I am in downright earnest, and no mistake. I gather, from the whole drift of this adventure, that your object in coming here is to hunt for a certain buried treasure, the hiding-place of which is indicated on that paper in your hand. Now, I have brought you to this spot, and it is exceedingly probable that I may be able to help you to find the treasure—if it is still where it was originally 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 convey your booty successfully home. Now, understand me, I want no reward whatever, either in the shape of a share of the treasure, or otherwise, for affording you this assistance; but I tell you plainly that I will have respectful treatment, and perfect freedom, both for myself and for the lady, together with every one of those little comforts and conveniences for which I have asked. Stop, I have not finished yet," I continued, as I saw that he was about to bluster. "You have been labouring under the delusion, all along, that Miss Onslow's presence among us affords you an effective means of coercing me to do certain things for you. Now, it is time that such an impression should be removed. I am perfectly willing to help you in any and every way, so long 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, or show her the slightest incivility, from that moment I will cease to help or do anything whatever for you—which means, that even should you succeed in obtaining the treasure that you are after, you will never be able 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 of violence to the lady, for it will not do! My chief stipulation is that she shall be as absolutely secure from insult or injury among you as though she were under the protection of her father's roof, and I mean that 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 a bold game to play, but it proved to be the right thing to do; for as I stared the Irishman unshrinkingly in the eyes I saw his gaze wavering under mine, and presently his scowling expression relaxed into a smile as he exclaimed:

"Begorra, Misther Conyers, ye're a brave man intoirely to brazen the thing out in that stoyle, one against sixteen of us. But it's yourself that knows right well that ye've got the pull of us, by raison of your eddicashin, so I suppose we may as well let ye have your own way, and make no more bones about it. All we want is your help to find the threasure and get it safely home; and if ye'll give us that ye may have your 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 and sensible man, and it is a bargain between us that I shall afford you the fullest possible assistance to carry out your schemes—so far as they may 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 as a 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 immediate attention to the few little matters that I mentioned just now, before you lost your temper."

The fellow hesitated a moment, gazing doubtfully and still somewhat distrustfully at me, and then, with a sigh, handed over the paper to my keeping. Then, without a word, he turned away, went down over the side into his boat, and was forthwith pulled ashore.

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

"Latitude 2 degrees 48 minutes 40 seconds South. Longitude 144 degrees 10 minutes 10 seconds West. Approach island from north-west, and stand toward it with summit of hill bearing South-East by a half South, which leads through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to South by a 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 the lagoon, when anchor anywhere not closer than within a dozen fathoms of the island. The gems are buried in the earth at a spot which may thus be identified. Draw a line from one black rock to the other; and on this line project another to the summit of the peak, making an angle of sixty-five degrees to the westward. Dig there, and the gems will be found at a depth of three feet below the surface. I write this that the treasure may not be lost should I die ere I find opportunity to secure it.

"John Withicombe."

The document was written in the calligraphy of an evidently educated man; and now that I had it in its complete form in my hands I began to regard the whole matter in a very different light from what I had hitherto done; up to now I had been disposed to regard the adventure as one that was more than likely to prove a wild-goose chase; but as I noted the evidences of intelligence and education that the document revealed on the part of the writer it suddenly dawned upon me that after all there might be something in it. But who was John Withicombe, and how did he become acquainted with the existence of the treasure? Did he hide it himself, or did he discover its whereabouts by accident? And where did the treasure come from?

I was still puzzling over these questions when I was startled out of my reverie by a light step beside me; and, turning, I beheld Miss Onslow regarding me with eyes so brilliant that I could almost fancy they were gemmed with tears.

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

There undoubtedly were tears in her eyes as she concluded; but a certain wild, delirious hope, that had half formed itself as I noted the enthusiasm with which she had begun her speech, died out again as she faltered and hesitated, and finally concluded in as sober, impassive, conventional a tone as though she had been thanking me for procuring a cab for her on a rainy night. I hastened to assure her that she was quite mistaken in supposing that her presence aboard the brig was an embarrassment to me; that, on the contrary, it was the only pleasant feature of the whole adventure, so far as I was concerned; and then, fearing lest her gracious mood should tempt me to say more than she would be willing to listen to, I hastily turned the conversation toward O'Gorman's document, which I placed in her hands, asking her to read it and tell me what she thought of it.

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

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

"I am now inclined to that opinion myself," said I. "But how is the spot indicated to be found? The writer, you will observe, mentions two black 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, decidedly obscure. Yet I think the context furnishes a clue to its elucidation. It reads thus:—'anchor anywhere not closer than within a dozen fathoms of the island,'—which I take to mean this small island, or islet, opposite us. The island was evidently the most prominent object in the writer's mind when he penned the words immediately following those that I have just quoted; and I therefore conclude that it is somewhere in that small island—a most suitable hiding-place, I think you will admit—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 rocks are to be identified, the writer speaks of them in such a manner as to suggest that there is no possibility of mistaking them; and I therefore infer that there are two rocks—and two only—that can possibly be associated with the instructions given in the paper."

"Yes," said I; "I quite see your line of reasoning; and I believe you are right. At all events, the suggestion is so reasonable that it is quite worth following; and it is upon those lines that I shall advise O'Gorman to go to work. Ah, by Jove! look there! I believe the fellow actually means to stick to his bargain at last: here come the men with the sails and so on that I have asked for; and to-night I hope you will be able to rest in comparative coolness out here on deck, with an awning, and all other proper shelter from the dew."

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

Meanwhile, O'Gorman religiously refrained from obtruding himself upon us until I had dismissed the boat's crew upon the completion of their labours, when he came aboard, ostensibly to ascertain whether everything had been done to my satisfaction, but actually—as I soon discovered—to claim the assistance that I had undertaken to afford him. And this, of course, I was more than ready to give, now that I had obtained from him what I wanted, being feverishly anxious to bring the entire adventure to a conclusion as speedily as possible, in order that I might be free to convey Miss Onslow in all safety and honour to her father's arms. So I threw myself heartily into the spirit of the search, accompanying O'Gorman and a search-party to the islet, and actively participating in a hunt for the two black rocks. But, after persevering for more than three hours, it became evident that the little spot was so completely overgrown with tangled, impenetrable jungle that but one course was open to us, that of clearing the ground by cutting down and destroying the network of creepers that choked up the spaces between the tree-trunks. This proved to be a lengthy and arduous undertaking, it being necessary to cut the undergrowth away in blocks, as it were, and then drag the detached masses to the water's edge and tumble them overboard. But after four days of this work, at the end of which there was very little result to show for our labour, we found evidences of the islet having at some previous period been cleared by means of fire, the workers having encountered several charred and blackened tree-stumps; so we determined to adopt a similar course, the vegetation being dry and in excellent condition for such an experiment. Accordingly, the undergrowth was attacked with knives and axes on the weather side of the island, and the detached masses, instead of being hove overboard, were allowed to remain and thoroughly dry in the sun. Then, when our accumulation of dry brushwood seemed sufficient for our purpose, it was set alight, and in half an hour the entire island was a blazing mass, there being just wind enough to fan the flames and cause them to spread. In two hours the operation was complete, the once verdant and beautiful spot having been converted into an ugly patch of flat and fire-blackened soil, some fifty acres in extent, with two conspicuous outcrops of black rock protruding from the ashes and debris of the conflagration.

There was very little doubt in my mind that the two outcrops of rock rendered visible by the destruction of the vegetation upon the islet were those referred to by John Withicombe, and I said as much to O'Gorman, whose impatience to test the truth of my conviction was such that he would have had me go to work with my rods and sextant that same afternoon; but when we attempted to land upon the islet we found that although the ashes were black on the surface they were still a dull glowing red in the heart of them, and so hot that they were not yet to be 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 now that the surface of the island was bare, and I could see what I had to work upon, I could also see that several long, slender ranging-poles would be necessary, and the obtaining and preparation of these kept all hands busy for the remainder of that day. And immediately after breakfast, next morning, I got out my sextant, and, all hands of us landing upon the islet, we went to work with a will. First of all, I made my way to one of the masses of rock, and climbed up on it. Both masses had well-defined "peaks," and I came to the conclusion that the instruction to "draw a line from one black rock to the other" would mean that a straight line must be drawn, or ranged, from one of these well-defined peaks to the other. So I temporarily removed the telescope from my sextant, and, levelling it upon the extreme peak, or highest point of the rock I occupied, brought it to bear upon the corresponding peak of the other rock. Then I sent a man along with instructions to start from the other rock and walk toward me, halting whenever I raised my hand and sticking a rod perpendicularly in the ground. I met with a great deal more difficulty than I had anticipated in securing the satisfactory execution of this apparently simple operation, but by keeping the telescope levelled from the one peak and bearing upon the other, and making the man hold the rods truly vertical, I at length succeeded in ranging out a perfectly straight line from the one rock to the other. Then, setting the limb of my sextant to an angle of sixty-five degrees, and stationing myself at certain points in the line—which I was easily able to do by means of the rods—I at length found the exact point required, which I marked by driving a stake into the ground. "There," said I to O'Gorman, "is your point—if my interpretation of the instructions given in your paper is the correct one; and at a depth of a yard or thereabouts below the surface you ought to find your treasure. If you do not find it at this precise spot I would recommend you to try a little to right and left, in line with the poles that, as you see, I have left standing."



CHAPTER TWELVE.

FINDING THE TREASURE.

O'Gorman and his entire train of satellites being now upon the islet, ready to dig until they had reached the buried treasure, I thought the opportunity a good one to afford Miss Onslow a run ashore; so, taking possession of the boat that O'Gorman had graciously intimated I might use—the same craft that had done us such good service ere we fell in with the Governor Smeaton—I paddled alongside the brig, and suggested to the young lady that we should devote the remainder of the day to an exploration of the island proper. To this my companion acceded with alacrity and evident delight; so, packing a small basket with everything required for a substantial luncheon, I stepped the boat's mast, set her canvas, and we got under way, working out through the loch into the big lagoon formed by the barrier reef, and then coasting alongshore until we reached a promising-looking landing-place. Here we ran the boat up on the beach, secured her, and, stepping ashore, decided to lunch before proceeding farther, since it was by this time drawing well on toward midday. Then, having made a hearty meal, we plunged into the jungle, with the idea of reaching the summit of the hill if we could hit upon a practicable path. Viewed from the sea, the island had the appearance of being as completely and thickly overgrown with jungle as had been the islet where O'Gorman and his gang were hunting for treasure, but upon entering the forest we found that it was not so, and that, by keeping our eyes about us, we might manage with very little difficulty to work our way through the comparatively open spaces that occurred at frequent intervals. And we had not proceeded very far when we were fortunate enough to fall athwart a tiny stream, with just the merest trickle of water in it now, but which was evidently, in the rainy season, a roaring, raging torrent. The bed of this stream was full of small boulders, that served very well as stepping-stones, and as we knew we could not go astray if we followed the course of the stream, and as we knew, moreover, that by so doing we should be constantly rising, and as, further, we should thus avoid being impeded by the necessity to wind our way through the jungle, we decided to adopt this course, with the happy result that in about an hour's time we found ourselves close to the summit, and above the line of vegetation. There still remained about a hundred feet of climbing to be done, however, ere we could attain the summit; and this climbing had to be accomplished on a slope of some sixty degrees, composed of fine, loose scoria, that gave way and slid downward as soon as stepped upon. I did not like to be beaten, however, but soon found that, without poles to assist us, we should never make any progress; so we contented ourselves with a walk round the peak— which I now felt convinced was the crater of a quiescent if not extinct volcano—and a leisurely survey of the magnificent panorama that lay spread out beneath us. By the simple process of walking round the peak we obtained a view of the entire island, with its lagoon and barrier reef; and so clear and pure was the atmosphere that we could not only see but also identify every member of the working-party. They were still digging vigorously; but even as we watched them there arose a sudden commotion and an excited rushing together among them, and a second or two later the sound of their voices reached us; but although it was perfectly evident that the speakers were powerfully excited, we were too far distant from them to distinguish what was said; and presently work was resumed for about ten minutes, at the expiration of which several men leaped down into the excavation, and a minute or two later we saw a not very bulky object lifted out of the hole and laid on the surface of the ground, amid the frantic cheers of the entire party.

"The treasure!" I exclaimed. "They have found it, by Jove! And they have not been very long about it, either. Well, I am sincerely glad and thankful, for now we may hope soon to be homeward-bound, or at least bound to some spot from which it will be possible for us to secure passage to Calcutta."

I spoke with some enthusiasm; but my companion did not respond; she remained silent, gazing dreamily into the far distance; and when I looked at her, awaiting some answering remark, I saw that she was quite pale, that she was biting her under-lip in a fruitless endeavour to stay its quivering, and that there were undoubtedly tears in her eyes. She averted her face quickly, but I was confident that I was not mistaken as to those indications of emotion. Presently she spoke.

"I am glad," said she, "that you find cause for rejoicing in the discovery that those wretches appear to have just made; and at first sight it would almost seem as though your troubles should now be nearly over. But I cannot forget that those men have been guilty of two very serious offences—first in seizing the brig from you and compelling you to navigate her to this lonely spot, and next in their act of piracy in connection with the Marie Renaud; and I fear—oh, I fear terribly— that by and by, when we are nearing the end of our journey, they will take some desperate step to effectually prevent your ever bearing witness against them. Have you ever thought of that as a possible danger to which you may be exposed?"

"Well, yes," said I; "I must confess that such a contingency has suggested itself to me; but they will require my help to get their booty home and landed; and I will make it my business to discuss this matter with O'Gorman in such a manner as to convince him that he cannot do without me. And meanwhile I must see if I cannot forestall any possible action on their part by devising some plan which will enable us to effect our escape in one of the boats when within easy distance of land."

"Do you think such a thing possible?" she demanded, in much more animated tones than those she had shortly before used.

"Why, yes," answered I. "That is to say, we must make it possible; we must endeavour to devise some definite scheme, to be carried out at the very first favourable opportunity, and we must then devote all our energies to so arranging matters that when the moment arrives everything will be in readiness."

We discussed this topic at some length, with no very definite result, however; and finally, as it appeared to be exercising a distinctly depressing effect upon Miss Onslow's spirits, I changed the subject, and we made our way down to the boat again, and so aboard the brig.

But as we entered the inner lagoon we found that all hands had knocked off work and had crossed to their camp; and presently O'Gorman made his appearance at the entrance of one of the tents, beckoning us to approach. I waved my hand in assent, but made as though to put Miss Onslow aboard the brig first, whereupon O'Gorman hailed that he wanted us both to land and look at what had been found. So I put a bold face upon it, and ran the boat in upon the beach, from which we walked together up to O'Gorman's tent.

As we entered, the first thing that met my gaze was a rusty and earth-grimed iron chest, measuring about two feet square by perhaps sixteen inches deep, on either side of which sat a man with a brace of cocked pistols in his belt, evidently on guard. The chest had been fastened by two heavy padlocks of distinctly antiquated design, but these had both been smashed, and the lid prised open, not without inflicting some damage to the hinges. I noticed, almost at once, that O'Gorman and his companions wore a decidedly perplexed and slightly chagrined air, and the reason therefor soon became apparent.

"So," said I, in a congratulatory tone, "you soon found your treasure, then. I hope it proves to be worth all the trouble you have taken to secure it?"

"Begorra, thin, it's mesilf that'd be glad to be able to say 'yis' to that," answered the Irishman. "But I'm puzzled; I can't make it out," he continued. "This is what we've found,"—giving the chest a kick that betrayed a certain amount of temper—"but beyant a gallon or so of pearls there's nothin' in it but pebbles; and I'd like ye to say whether you think them pebbles is worth annything or not."

So saying, O'Gorman raised the heavy lid of the chest, disclosing an interior subdivided into four compartments by thin hardwood partitions running diagonally from corner to corner. One compartment was packed as full as it would hold of pearls, nearly all of which—if one might judge by the top layer—were of very fair size, while a few, scattered here and there, were exceptionally fine; and their exquisite satiny sheen seemed to indicate that they were all of the first water. Miss Onslow could not suppress a cry of admiration and delight as she gazed upon them—which tribute to their beauty—and consequent value—seemed to afford considerable satisfaction to the finders.

"May I touch them?" asked I of O'Gorman.

"Oh yes," he answered, "I suppose there's no harm in y'r touchin' 'em, if ye wants to."

I plunged my hand down into the heart of the compartment, turning over the pearls, and bringing others to the surface; and it appeared that they were all of pretty much the same quality and value. "Why," said I, "here is a respectable fortune for each of you in these pearls alone, even if the 'pebbles' turn out to be valueless, which is scarcely likely to be the case, or they would not have been so carefully stowed away in this chest. Now, these, for example," I continued, turning to a contiguous compartment more than half full of crystals that looked like splintered fragments of rather dull glass, "are uncut diamonds. Yes," as I felt two or three of them between my finger and thumb, "there is no doubt about it: they have the true soapy feel; they are diamonds, and, taken in bulk, of very great value. And here, again," as I turned to the next compartment, about as full as that containing the diamonds, "these are rubies, unless I am very greatly mistaken; while, as to these," turning to the last compartment, "they are emeralds—and there are some beauties among them, too, apparently," as I fished up one or two remarkably fine ones. "Why, O'Gorman," I exclaimed, "you are rich men—every mother's son of you—there are sixteen handsome fortunes in this chest, fortunes big enough to set you all up as gentry, or to ruin you in double-quick time, according to the use that you make of your wealth."

"Begorra, sorr, that's the plisintest thing I iver heard ye say!" exclaimed the Irishman, in high glee at my verdict as to the value of the "pebbles," while the beaming countenances of the twain on guard betrayed that their delight was fully as great as that of their leader.

There were further sounds of revelry ashore, that night, intermingled, more than once, with other sounds suggestive of altercation and quarrel; and just at sunrise, while I was taking a matutinal swim round the ship, I saw all hands march out, in somewhat formal order, along the glade upon which their camp was pitched, and disappear across the sand-spit that formed one side of the loch entrance. Ten minutes later, while I was towelling myself on the fore deck, in the seclusion afforded by the position of the galley, I was startled by what sounded like a distant volley of pistol-shots; and about half an hour afterwards I saw the crowd returning to camp by the way that they had gone. As I watched them shambling along over the somewhat uneven ground I was struck by something rather unusual in their appearance; and presently I discovered what it was: there seemed to be not quite so many of them. By the time that I had slipped into my clothes the party had arrived pretty nearly abreast of the brig, and were close enough, to enable me not only to count but to identify them. They were now only fourteen in number; and the two absent ones were the men whom I had seen guarding the treasure on the previous night! Somehow, the absence of these two men instantly became associated in my mind with the volley of pistol-shots that I had heard while overboard; and I began to wonder, gloomily, whether the unearthed treasure had already brought a tragedy in its train. I was full of this idea as I sat down to breakfast; but as Miss Onslow did not make any remark or inquiry concerning the pistol volley, I concluded that she had not heard it, and was careful to say nothing whatever to her about my suspicions.

O'Gorman and his companions remained in the seclusion of their tents all the morning, not one of them, excepting the cook, showing themselves until after dinner. Then the Irishman and two hands appeared; and presently they jumped into a boat and headed for the brig. I went to the gangway to receive them—so that we might be out of ear-shot of Miss Onslow, who was sitting in the after-end of her sleeping-tent, reading— and, even before the boat got alongside, I could see, by the sober faces of those in her, that something serious was the matter.

O'Gorman boarded the brig alone, leaving his two companions in the boat alongside. I led him for'ard, and not until we had reached the fore deck did either of us open our mouths. Then the Irishman, turning to me with a very serious face, said:

"Misther Conyers, we want y'r help again, son."

"Very well," said I; "I shall be pleased to help you in any way possible. What is it that you wish me to do?"

"We wish ye to divide up the threasure aiqually into fourteen parts, and to give to aich man his own share, so that he may take care of it for himself. As things are now, wid all the gims lumped together in the iron chist, the timptation and the opporchunity to shteal is too great, and we've already lost two of our number through it."

"Lost two of your number? Good Heavens, O'Gorman, what do you mean?" I demanded, my thoughts instantly reverting to the suspicious proceedings of the morning.

"Why," explained O'Gorman, "it's loike this, ye see. Whin we dug up that chist yesterday, and got it over here, we could none of us be satisfied until we'd broke it open and found out what it contained. Then, as we couldn't fasten it up again, we decided to mount guard over it, two men at a time, so that nobody should rob the others by sneakin' away and helpin' himself unbeknownst. But whin the first two guards was relieved, last night, the cook took it into his head that they ought to be searched; and whin this was done, by the Powers! we found that aich of 'em had helped himself to a handful of the stones, and had 'em stowed away in their pockets. We thried 'em there and thin, found 'em guilty, and sintenced 'em to be shot! Which was done this morning."

"So!" I exclaimed in horror, "this is the first result of your so-called good fortune, is it? A theft; and two of your number slain! Man! do you know that the fourteen of you have committed murder!"

"Murder, is it? Sorra a bit!" exclaimed the Irishman indignantly. "We thried the two of 'em, and found 'em guilty, all in regular, proper ordher."

"But," said I, "you have no authority or legal right to try men, sentence them to death, and execute them. Whatever you may consider it, you will find that the law will regard it as wilful murder."

"The law?" ejaculated O'Gorman, with a contemptuous sniff. "Oh, begorra, we'll take our chance of that! But we don't want any more executions, Misther Conyers, so will ye help us to make a fair division of our prize, that aich man may have his own and not be tempted to shteal from another?"

"Are you making this request on your own account, or on behalf of the rest as well?" demanded I. "Perhaps the others may be unwilling to trust to my fairness."

"Oh, but they will," answered O'Gorman. "The proposal was mine, but iverybody agreed to it."

"Very well, then," said I. "I am willing to undertake the job, and will do my best to make the division an equitable one."

So saying, I went aft and explained to Miss Onslow that I was going ashore for an hour or two with O'Gorman, to afford him the benefit of my advice in a certain matter, dived below to my cabin for some sheets of writing-paper, which I rolled up and put in my pocket, and then, returning to the deck, descended the side and entered the boat.

On reaching the shore, O'Gorman led me at once to the largest tent, where I found the entire remainder of the party seated in a circle on the ground, with the chest of treasure-trove in the centre; they had evidently so little faith in each other that each had deemed it necessary to individually watch the chest in his own interest. The incident would have been amusing but for the terrible element of tragedy that had been imparted to it by the proceedings of the morning.

My first act, on entering the tent, was to provide, from my little stock of writing-paper, fourteen pieces of exactly equal size and shape, which I numbered from one to fourteen; afterwards folding the pieces identically, so that the numbers written upon them were concealed, and it became impossible to distinguish one piece from another. These papers I put on the ground in one of the men's caps, mixing and shuffling them all together; and next I called for a square of canvas. They brought me a boat's lug sail, which I caused to be spread flat and smooth upon the ground; and then I had the chest lifted on to the middle of the sail, seating myself beside it. Then, starting with the pearls, I picked out fourteen of practically equal value, and laid them, singly and well apart, on the canvas before me, explaining my intentions as I did so. Then to these I similarly added fourteen more, and so on, until each heap contained the same number of pearls, and was, as nearly as I could judge, of the same value. There were five pearls left over, and these I reserved as possible make-weights, so to speak, in the further division of the gems. Then I proceeded with the diamonds in the same way, following on with the rubies, and finishing off with the emeralds, until the entire treasure was subdivided into fourteen parts of practically equal value. This done, I inquired whether they were all of opinion that the division had been evenly made; and upon receiving a reply to the effect that "they supposed so," I gave the tickets in the sailor's cap a vigorous, final shaking up, and then passed the cap round in succession, requesting each man to take one paper. Then, when all had been drawn, I requested them to open their papers and look at the numbers written thereon. And, finally, the man who held number one was allowed first choice from the fourteen heaps, number two the second choice, and so on, until only one heap was left, which fell to the man holding ticket number fourteen. It was interesting to note the difference in the behaviour of the men in choosing their heaps; some hung fire and seemed quite unable to make up their minds for as much as ten minutes or a quarter of an hour—and they would probably have been longer but for the impatient remonstrances of their fellows—while others simply laid their caps alongside the nearest heap and swept the latter into the former with as little emotion as though they had been purchasing a penn'orth of gooseberries at a street-barrow.

This process of subdivision of the treasure had run away with a considerable amount of time, with the result that when I returned to the brig the usual hour of "supper"—as the evening meal is generally termed at sea—was long past; and, what was of far greater consequence, I found that during my prolonged absence Miss Onslow had worked herself into a perfect fever of apprehension as to my safety; which was not at all surprising when one came to reflect upon what her situation would have been—alone among all those ruffians—had anything perchance happened to me. But she quickly recovered her spirits when I informed her as to how I had been occupied; and it was a great relief to me to discover, as I did in the course of the evening, by means of sundry subtle questions and remarks, that the poor girl entertained no suspicion whatever of the morning's tragedy. Such being the case, I resolved to keep the news from her as long as possible; and, with a view thereto, I strenuously impressed upon the steward that he was not, under any circumstances whatever, to make the most distant reference to it.

During the fortnight that now ensued, the weather remaining gloriously fine, I took Miss Onslow away in the boat daily, and together we explored the island until we had become perfectly acquainted with every inch of it, and knew exactly where to find its many beauty-spots. On the first two or three days of these excursions we frequently encountered members of O'Gorman's gang wandering about the island in a more or less apparently aimless fashion—most of them carrying canvas bundles in their hands, which they invariably endeavoured unsuccessfully to conceal from our view. At first I was at a loss to understand what all this meant; but on the third day it happened that, on emerging from a jungle-path that we had made for ourselves, we came upon a kneeling man busily engaged in digging a hole with a stick at the foot of a tree. So intent was he upon his occupation that he did not hear us until we were close upon him, and then he sprang to his feet and faced us with an expression of mingled consternation and defiance, that changed to one of confusion as he recognised us. It was the young Cockney whom I have already had occasion to mention once or twice; and he had gradually impressed me as being about the most harmless and well-meaning of the whole gang.

"Hillo, Harry!" I exclaimed, "what are you after? seeking for more treasure?"

"Why, no, sir," answered he, fingering the peak of his cap as he met Miss Onslow's gaze. He hesitated a few seconds, considering, and then proceeded:

"The fact is, Mr Conyers, I was thinkin' of hidin' my little whack."

"Well," said I, "in that case I am exceedingly sorry that we disturbed you, for now I fear that you will have to hunt for another hiding-place."

"What for, sir?" demanded he.

"Why, because this lady and I have discovered your secret, don't you see?"

"Oh, that be blowed!" exclaimed the young fellow. "That don't make no matter; I ain't afraid of you or the lidy stealin' the stuff; I wasn't hidin' it from either of you."

"No?" queried I. "From whom, then, were you hiding it?"

"Why, from the rest of 'em, of course. We're all hidin' our stuff from one another. We don't tell each other so; but we're doin' it all the same."

"I see," said I. "You are unable to trust each other. Well, that is a pity. One would have thought that there was not a man among you who would not have felt abundantly satisfied with what he has secured."

"Maybe we are; but maybe we ain't," answered the fellow. "Anyhow, when I sees the rest all distrustin' one another, I thinks it's time for me to distrust them. So I spent all day yesterday huntin' for a good spot, and comed along this way, and thought I couldn't do better than stow the stuff at the foot of this big tree."