rds in so agreeable a manner. When I returned to the
deck, Bob asked me, previous to his going below to get his breakfast,
what I intended to do with, the boats and the canoe, all of which were
in tow. I had not thought very much about it, but now that the question
was put, I decided to retain the canoe altogether. She was so small and
so light, that I thought we could easily carry her on deck in anything
but very bad weather, and, ordinarily, she would tow very comfortably
astern. If we could contrive to keep her, I thought, she would
frequently save wear and tear in our tube-boat; and where a passage of a
short distance across the calm surface of a lagoon, from the cutter to
the shore, was all that was required, she would answer the purpose
perfectly well. As to the boats of the _Albatross_, I decided to tow
them fairly out of sight of the island, and then abandon them; thus
effectually precluding the possibility of their getting back into their
owners' hands, the prevailing winds there being from about south-east,
which would drive the boats ever farther and farther from the island.
We accordingly retained them in tow for the remainder of that day and
all next night, and cast them adrift on the following morning.

We were now within two days' easy sail of the spot which had been
indicated to me as the position of the treasure-island: and our thoughts
naturally reverted to the question as to whether the treasure really
existed or not; Bob feeling the utmost confidence that it would be found
precisely as the dying Spaniard had described it, whilst I began to
entertain grave doubts as to our success. The important conversation in
which the existence and position of the treasure were revealed was
recalled, almost word for word, and the notes which I had made at the
time were frequently referred to; and certainly everything seemed to
abundantly justify Bob's confidence, whilst I was quite unable to point
to a single word or circumstance tending to confirm my doubts; the fact
is, I suppose, that as we drew nearer to our goal, and began to realise
more fully the vast influence which the possession of the treasure would
exercise upon our future, I must have been influenced by a feeling that
it was "too good to be true." There was so very decided an infusion of
the romantic element into everything connected with the affair, that my
matter-of-fact mind seemed unable to accept the possibility that there
might be truth in