ed to find that the whole
surface of the islet on the southern side of this curious cliff was
densely overgrown with trees and scrub, which would certainly have to be
cut deeply into in order to arrive at the spot where the treasure was
said to be buried. This condition of affairs, natural enough though it
was, had somehow never occurred to me; I had fully expected to find the
hiding-place located in an open space that might be conveniently
traversed in any and every direction, enabling the situation of the
treasure to be determined by the simple process of measuring off a
thousand feet in a direction due south from the base of the obelisk
rock. Possibly that might have been the condition of the islet at the
period when the treasure was buried--indeed, it very probably was--but
there had been ample time for the ground to have become overgrown since
then; and now it was so densely covered with vegetation that it would be
hopeless to think of getting at the hiding-place without the assistance
of the men. And that meant the absolute overthrow of my plan to keep
the recovery of the treasure a secret from them!

What was to be done? I racked my brains during the whole of the long,
hot, breathless night in a fruitless endeavour to devise some
satisfactory way out of the difficulty, and arose from my sleepless bunk
next morning with a splitting headache, and nothing in the shape of a
settled plan beyond the determination to find a good long job for the
men, the execution of which should afford me further time for
reflection, and perhaps allow events to develop themselves.

Acting, then, upon this resolution, I caused the gig to be brought
alongside immediately after breakfast; and ordered the axes and shovels
to be passed into her, at the same time issuing instructions for all
hands except the cook and steward to get into her and go on shore with
me. The men bustled about, nothing loth--for were they not going to get
a change from the monotony of sea life, and, at the same time, provide
themselves with the means of unlimited indulgence in more or less
vicious enjoyment for the remainder of their lives?--and I noticed, with
impotent anger, that, having at length arrived, as they supposed, at the
goal of their villainous schemes, with the wealth which was to be the
reward of their treachery all but within their grasp, as they believed,
the restraint which they had hitherto _so_ rigorously imposed upon
themselves was in a m