the
canoe reached the extremity of the point, and Pencroft was preparing
to return, when Herbert, rising, pointed to a black object, saying,--

"What do I see down there on the beach?"

All eyes turned towards the point indicated.

"Why," said the reporter, "there is something. It looks like part of a
wreck half buried in the sand."

"Ah!" cried Pencroft, "I see what it is!"

"What?" asked Neb.

"Barrels, barrels, which perhaps are full," replied the sailor.

"Pull to the shore, Pencroft!" said Cyrus.

A few strokes of the oar brought the canoe into a little creek, and
its passengers leapt on shore.

Pencroft was not mistaken. Two barrels were there, half buried in the
sand, but still firmly attached to a large chest, which, sustained by
them, had floated to the moment when it stranded on the beach.

"There has been a wreck, then, in some part of the island," said
Herbert.

"Evidently," replied Spilett.

"But what's in this chest?" cried Pencroft, with very natural
impatience. "What's in this chest? It is shut up, and nothing to open
it with! Well, perhaps a stone--"

And the sailor, raising a heavy block, was about to break in one of
the sides of the chest, when the engineer arrested his hand.

"Pencroft," said he, "can you restrain your impatience for one hour
only?"

"But, captain, just think! Perhaps there is everything we want in
there!"

"We shall find that out, Pencroft," replied the engineer; "but trust
to me, and do not break the chest, which may be useful to us. We must
convey it to Granite House, where we can open it easily and without
breaking it. It is quite prepared for a voyage, and, since it has
floated here, it may just as well float to the mouth of the river."

"You are right, captain, and I was wrong, as usual," replied the
sailor.

The engineer's advice was good. In fact, the canoe probably would not
have been able to contain the articles possibly enclosed in the chest,
which doubtless was heavy, since two empty barrels were required to
buoy it up. It was, therefore, much better to tow it to the beach at
Granite House.

And now, whence had this chest come? That was the important question
Cyrus Harding and his companions looked attentively around them, and
examined the shore for several hundred steps. No other articles or
pieces of wreck could be found. Herbert and Neb climbed a high rock to
survey the sea, but there was nothing in sight--neither a dismasted
vessel nor a shi