prepared to give him credit for, would
not listen to the idea for a moment, on the pretence that if we made any
movement for the treasure, except during the night time, we should be
defeated in our purpose.

I laughed at such a whim; but it was in vain that I attempted to change
his ideas, and then to humor him, so that in case we were not successful
in our search, no blame could be attached to me, I consented to be
governed as he wished, and we walked towards the spot which corresponded
with the directions of Bill Swinton.

We found the island, a rather small spot of earth, as he had stated,
surrounded by bogs, with the exception of a narrow peninsula, not over a
foot in width, and more than forty in length. It was a singular
formation, surrounded as it was on all sides by soft mud, black and
bottomless, for I attempted with the branch of a tree, some thirty feet
long, to sound, but the limb sunk slowly out of sight, and the slime
quickly gathered in the opening, and hid the place where the pole went
down. I thought if one of us should lose his balance and fall while
crossing the natural bridge, what little probability there would be of a
rescue. The same sentiments disturbed the mind of my friend, for he
uttered words of caution, and even removed a good sized stone that was
lying on the path, for fear of stumbling over it in the night time.

We walked carefully to the island--as I shall call it--and then examined
the unequal surface of the ground for indications of what we sought. The
grass was dried up, and seemed to be of equal length in every gulley and
every hole that we passed over; neither could we discover any
indications that the earth had been moved for many years, but that was
not surprising, for the winter rains would have washed away all
superfluous soil, even if a man like Swinton, who was cunning and up to
all kinds of dodges, had not taken the precaution to remove all traces
of his concealed treasure.

"It is no use," Mr. Brown said, wiping the perspiration from his face,
and seating himself on a small rock, "for us to dig at random. We should
get nothing for our labor. We must wait until to-morrow night, when the
moon fulls, and precisely at twelve o'clock a shadow will be cast upon
the spot."

"If the sky is filled with clouds what are we to do?" I asked.

That was something that Mr. Brown had not thought of. He mopped his face
with renewed energy, and looked puzzled.

"Can't we make a calcul