and said that
we could cut a pair of sheer-poles in the woods. We were very much
encouraged by the confident way in which Old Jacob talked about cutting
sheer-poles; it sounded wonderfully business-like. Susan, of course, was
very desirous of going along, and I very much wanted to take her. But
as we intended to stay all night, in case we did not find the treasure
during our first day's search, and as the only place where we could
sleep was an oysterman's shanty that Old Jacob knew about, she saw
herself that it would not do. So she made the best of staying at home,
in her usual cheery fashion, and promised, as we drove off, to have a
famous supper ready for us the next night--when we would come home with
our wagon-load of silver and gold.

It was a long, hot, dusty drive, and the mosquitoes were pretty bad
as we drew near the coast. But we were cheered by the thought of
the fortune that was so nearly ours, and we smoked our pipes at the
mosquitoes in a way that astonished them. After we had taken out the
horses and had eaten our dinner (Susan had put us up a great basket of
provisions, with two of her own delicious peach pies on top) we walked
down to the bay-side, with Old Jacob leading, to look for the place
where the _Martha Ann_ used to anchor. I took the tape-measure along,
both because it might be useful, and because it made me think of Susan.

I was sorry to find that the clearer the lay of the land and water
became, the more indistinct grew Old Jacob's remembrance of where his
father had told him that the schooner used to lie.

"It mought hev ben about here," he said, pointing across to a little bay
some way off on our left; "an' agin it mought hev ben about thar," with
a wave of his hand towards a low point of land nearly half a mile off
on our right; "an' agin it mought hev ben sorter atwixt an' at ween 'em.
Here or hereabouts, thet's w'at I say; here or hereabouts, sure."

Now this was perplexing. My plan, based upon Old Jacob's assurance that
he could locate the anchorage precisely, was to hunt near the shore for
likely-looking places and dig them up, one after another, until we
found the treasure. But to dig up all the places where treasure might be
buried along a whole mile of coast was not to be thought of. We implored
Old Jacob to brush up his memory, to look attentively at the shape of
the coast, and to try to fix definitely the spot off which the schooner
had lain. But the more that he tried, the m