, as it might be, the deacon got
another clue to the stranger's knowledge, that gave him increased
uneasiness. He was now convinced that, by means of the masters of the brig
and the sloop, such information had been sent to the relatives of Daggett
as had prepared them to expect the very revelations on which he hoped to
establish his own fortunes. To what extent these revelations had been
made, of course he could only conjecture; but there must have been a good
deal of particularity to induce the individual who had come over to Oyster
Pond to look into the two charts so closely. Under the circumstances,
therefore, he felicitated himself on the precaution he had so early taken
to erase the important notations from the paper.

"Captain Gar'ner, your eyes are younger than mine," said the Vineyard-man,
holding the chart up to the light--"will you be good enough to look
here?--does it not seem as if that key had been noted, and the words
rubbed off the chart?"

This caused the deacon to peer over Roswell Gardiner's shoulder, and glad
enough was he to ascertain that the stranger had placed his finger on a
key that must lie several hundred miles from that which was supposed to
hold the buried treasure of the pirates. Something like an erasure did
appear at the indicated point; but the chart was so old and dirty, that
little satisfaction could be had by examining it. Should the inquirer
settle down on the key he evidently had in his eye, all would be well,
since it was far enough from the spot really noted.

"It is strange that so old a seafaring man should wear out a chart, and
make no observation on it!" repeated the stranger, who was both vexed and
at a loss what to conjecture. "All my charts are written over and marked
off, just as if I meant to get out an edition for myself."

"Men differ in their tastes and habits," answered Roswell Gardiner,
carelessly. "Some navigators are for ever finding rocks, and white water,
and scribbling on their charts, or in the newspapers, when they get back;
but I never knew any good come of it. The men who make the charts are most
to be trusted. For my part, I would not give a sixpence for a note made by
a man who passes a shoal or a rock, in a squall or a gale."

"What would you say to the note of a sealer who should lay down an island
where the seals lie about on the beach like pigs in a pen, sunning
themselves? Would you not call a chart so noted a treasure?"

"That would alter the ca