Cocoa-nut palms formed a continuous fringe along the inner
margin of the sandy beach; and beyond them were to be seen every
imaginable species of tropical plant and tree, with foliage ranging in
tint from the palest, most delicate green to deepest olive or purple
black. The waving fronds of the delicate feathery bamboo were
everywhere visible, while creepers in endless variety trailed their long
cordlike stems and gaudy blossoms in all directions. The still, evening
air vibrated with the continuous hissing buzz of countless millions of
insects, and a few birds flitted noiselessly hither and thither among
the gathering shadows; but no sign of a human form, not even the imprint
of a footstep on the soft white sand, anywhere met my searching gaze.

At a distance of about half a mile, or perhaps a little less, from the
mouth of the river, the shore on our starboard hand merged into a low
wooded point, round which we swept, out of the main channel, into a
charming basin, some two miles wide, surrounded on every side by high
land, sloping gently backward from the water's edge, and magnificently
broken by deep, precipitous ravines, some of which could be traced from
the heart of the surrounding hills clear down to the water's edge. The
centre of the basin was occupied by an islet, roughly circular in shape,
and about half a mile in diameter, as we discovered by pulling round it.
This islet was the hiding-place of the treasure, if the cryptogram was
to be believed; and I accordingly inspected it as narrowly as the
swiftly gathering darkness would permit, so that I might carry a
tolerably distinct impression of it in my mind's eye, as an aid to the
plan that I must now definitely form and arrange before the next
sunrise. As may be supposed, I had by this time got the words of the
cryptogram off by heart--and, indeed, had destroyed the translation,
lest it should fall into other hands--I therefore knew exactly what I
had to look for as a mark to guide me to the hiding-place of the
treasure, and accordingly kept a very sharp lookout for "the obelisk
rock." There was only one rock to be seen on the islet that at all
answered to this description, and that, so far as I could distinguish in
the gloom, was a pointed, needle-like mass, forming the summit of a
steep cliff that rose precipitously from the water's edge and
constituted the northern extremity of the islet. But on getting round
to the other side I was vexed and chagrin