n, where they had
flourished amazingly under the not very efficient gardening skill which
had been bestowed upon them by the two recluses. Of animal food there
was no lack, the small island being almost overrun by the many
descendants of three pigs and half-a-dozen fowls, which the mutineers
had, in an unaccountable paroxysm of generosity, left behind.

The remainder of the day was spent in a tour quite over my father's
limited dominions, Bob and Winter having, however, devoted the afternoon
to the rigging up of a couple of tents close alongside the hut, for the
accommodation of us of the cutter's crew. During our ramble, which Ella
shared--though she at first wished to remain aloof, thinking my father
and I might have private matters to discuss after so long a separation--
the subject of the treasure-island again came uppermost; and my father
seemed to be strongly of opinion that, in spite of our failure to find
it, it really existed, and that our disappointment had arisen in some
error as to its exact position. For my own part, I hardly knew what to
think. I could not for a moment believe that the Spaniard, knowing
himself to be a dying man, would tell a wanton and objectless falsehood;
and I had never supposed him to be otherwise than in the full possession
of his senses whilst relating his story. But he had given the position
of the island definitely, and, on our arrival at the latitude and
longitude named, we had found no land at all. True, there had been a
certain amount of reservation in his statement. He had given the
position "as near as he could ascertain it," or in words to that effect;
but, allowing the possibility of an error, that error was not likely to
exceed a few miles, and I thought that, had the island really existed,
we ought to have been able, at all events, to see it from our mast-head
when in the position ascribed to it.

We talked the matter over at some length--for no one is quite
indifferent to the advantages accruing from the possession of wealth--
but we could make nothing very satisfactory of it; so at last the
subject was changed, and we discussed and arranged our plan of immediate
operations, my father's longing for home being a thousand times
increased now that he knew we had sent information home of the
possibility of his still being in existence. We all fully shared in his
impatience, as I knew that Ada would soon begin to feel uneasy, if she
were not already so, at the long p