The cart was fetched, and Alec assisted me on it; but oh dear me! I thought the jolting would have shaken me literally to pieces, so I sang out "Halt! Wo!" and told Alec I could go no farther, and then I fainted away.

It was only of five minutes' duration, but when I came to I felt as if I was dying, and told Alec I thought my time had come, which greatly alarmed the good fellow.

"Do you mind my leaving you a few minutes," said he, "while I fire the big gun for assistance?"

"No, no, Alec, I will not consent to that; for if my time has come, all the doctors[4] in the world cannot save me; and if I am not so badly hurt as I fear, I shall pull through. Assist me to get on 'Eddy's' back."

By great exertion on the part of Alec, and great forbearance from crying out on mine, I was presently mounted on the donkey, and being supported on Alec's broad shoulder as he walked on the left side, I was at length able to reach the house.

Although in dreadful pain, I could not resist asking Alec if he did not notice how well our group on the rocky path realized the parable of the Good Samaritan. Here we were carrying out the story exactly. I was the "Certain Man" wounded; Alec the Good Samaritan; and "Eddy" the beast.

The house being reached, next came the dreadful dismounting, and being supported to bed; but even this was at last safely managed, and lying on the coverlet for a time I felt much easier.

Alec busied himself like a trained nurse, he took off my boots, gave me some brandy, washed the blood from my head and hands, and then without my knowledge gave me a sleeping draught from my medicine chest.

When I awoke it was still daylight, and Alec had prepared me a good supper, with which, like a good fellow, he fed me, and then we held a consultation as to the nature of my hurts.

We tried each leg, but beyond great black bruises there were no bones broken; my hands were a mass of cuts and scratches, and my head was in no better condition; but when we came to the right arm we found something radically wrong at the shoulder, which had now become greatly swollen, while as I sat on the edge of the bed the limb hung loosely down in a way that caused us to think it was broken; at any rate it was perfectly useless.

We consulted Dr. Ogilvie's book upon all kinds of accidents that bones are heir to, and came to the conclusion that either my collar bone was broken or displaced, or my arm was out of the socket at the shoulder.

Alec soon set to work, and ripped my coat and shirt off, and after a deliberate diagnosis of my upper man, concluded that my shoulder was out of joint and must be put in. Again my comrade wished to fire the big gun for assistance, but I made up my mind to attempt my own cure with his help, as I had seen several cases of a similar nature treated on the hunting field.

My arm is a strong one, and I must draw a veil over the agony which resulted from the clumsy way in which we hauled the poor limb about; but we clicked the bone in at last, and then faint from pain I must have gone off into a deep sleep, for the last I remember was feeling Alec wipe the perspiration from my forehead as I fell back on my pillow in a faint.

For days I kept my bed, as every part of my anatomy had received a tremendous battering when I took my flight over the jagged stones that barred my way.

My constant thought as I lay on the bed with the glorious sunshine streaming in from the open window, which gave me a view of the dark trees standing out against the azure sunlit sky, was about the hieroglyphics on the paper. What did the skull portend, and what did the letters and figures refer to?

The skull I set down as the point to which the most importance was to be attached, and as I believed it referred to some hidden articles or treasure stowed away more than a century ago, I was naturally very eager to find out its whereabouts.

Well, say the skull represented the treasure spot, what did the square surrounding it mean? I gave it up. "Then what," I asked myself, "is the meaning of the letters at certain angles round the square both inside and out?" These I assumed to be the bearings of certain objects, as the person stood at the spot in which the goods were hidden; the figures I conjectured were the number of feet or yards distant of the "treasure spot" from the various objects.

Next, where was it most likely a man would hide anything of value, beneath the sea or upon dry land? Land certainly. Would it be among the rocks or where the ground was softer? Certainly the latter, I should say.

Then I set to thinking of the different places on the island where the nature of the soil would allow of digging, and could call to mind but few, and these mostly on the higher parts of the island. I determined when I was able to get about that I would inspect all these places, and see if I could find objects to correspond with the bearings and distances given in the sketch. Having thus promised myself to pursue the search further at a more appropriate time, I dismissed the subject from my mind for the time being.

After several days of enforced idleness I was at length able once more to go out, but at first felt very weak in the legs for want of exercise.

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CHAPTER XVI.

"Well," said he, "that's rather personal, is it not? But still, I may as well tell you truly—I have. But as it is now very risky work, and some of my experience is recent, I shall not tell you of my own adventures in that line of business, though I see but little harm in outwitting a revenue officer, and at the same time enabling your neighbours to obtain a luxury or two, which otherwise they would never have. Did I ever do any smuggling? Rather! and my father and grandfather before me. In fact, in the village of my birth a man is thought little of who has not, at some time or other, been 'smarter than a revenue officer.'"

These remarks aroused my curiosity, so I asked, "Were you ever caught at the game?"

"No," said he, "but I'll tell you how my father was once bowled over by the sun taking part against him. It was in the month of August, 185-, that he had, by manœuvring, brought ashore quite a nice little lot of contraband during the night, and not liking to keep it in the house, placed a couple of men on watch while he buried it in the garden. He had a little plot of cabbages near one side of the garden, and he uprooted about a dozen of these in the middle of the patch; then, digging a somewhat shallow hole, he placed his goods in, and re-casting the mould back, replanted the cabbages, not forgetting to remove the surplus mould in pails. So far so good; but early the next morning a customs officer had, by some means, heard that my father had been seen in his boat on the previous day, in close proximity to a trading vessel which had signalled for water, one of her casks having been started by the heat. Of course my father was very pleased to see the officer (or apparently so), and after showing him over the place, invited him to stay to breakfast, which he gladly did. About ten o'clock he took his departure, apparently quite as satisfied with his visit, as my father was pleased at his departure. All seemed very easy now—simply to wait till dark, when one or two friends would divide the haul and take it away in some secret manner. But a little after noon back came the officer, accompanied by another. Here was evidently something in the wind, and my father felt very anxious.

"'Very sorry to trouble you, M. Ducas, but duty is duty, you know. Will you kindly accompany us over your premises?'

"'Certainly.'

"Then they searched high and low, but nothing could they find. Dinner was being served. Would they join us at table?

"'Thanks, very pleased to.'

"So they sat down. My father, after dinner, handed them a bottle of the 'right sort,' of which they were connoisseurs, and they enjoyed it. It was a hot day, and everything was greatly in want of rain, and being so hot and dry they strolled out into the garden, preparatory to taking their leave.

"'How are monsieur's pigs? Oh, ah, very fine fellows! Do you give them much green food?'

"Yes, a fair amount,' my father replied, and pulling up the nearest cabbage to him, threw it to the animals.

"'What a pity to waste such a fine cabbage,' said the chief officer. 'Why not give them one of those which are languishing so for want of water?' and reaching over he made a big pull at one, which, to his astonishment, came out of the ground without any resistance. 'Hello! what's this, Ducas? Why, all the middle ones seem to be in a sad way! See, they are-hanging their heads. Perhaps the soil is not congenial to their growth. Have you a spade?'

"It was all up. The spade had to be forthcoming, and the end of it was,—'Fined two hundred francs or thirty-five days in prison.'"

"Well, Alec, that's not half bad. Spin us another."

"Ah, well, I could spin you enough yarns to make a frigate's cable, and a thick one too, if you would only listen to them."

"Very good. Then let me have another strand towards the said ship's cable; but don't spin it too thick."

"Let's see, which one shall I give you? Oh, I know; but it's one that did not end in a fine, though it was a very close shave. I was quite a youngster, but anything but a green hand at the business, for I had accompanied my father on many occasions on which he did not bring home merely soles or longue-nez for freight. Just before the occasion of which I am about to tell you there had been a gale, and during the worst of the blow a Norwegian vessel had jettisoned her deck load of spruce poles, and we being out fishing a day or two after, happened, as luck would have it, to fall in with some of them. As we had some spare rope aboard we made a kind of raft of them, and commenced towing them towards the harbour, which was only five or six miles distant.

"Now it so happened that a fishing boat passed us as we tugged our timber along, and what is more remarkable, upon my father holding up a white pail a man at the stern of the lugger did the same, then altering her canvas she made a tack (where one was not required), and coming very close to us dropped overboard a series of black tin cases, which were no doubt hermetically sealed, to preserve their contents. These cylinders were so nicely balanced that the rounded sides of them just showed above the water, and no more. Some more cabalistic signs then passed between my father and the lugger's skipper, as she stood away on her course, and in an hour was out of sight round the cape. We made fast the cylinders (which were attached to a rope) underneath the raft, and standing in for shore and entered the little port.

"We moored our logs, and my father at once went to the authorities and reported the finding of a raft, and as usual an officer came down to inspect and put a mark on the timbers. His inspection was finished, and he was about to go upon other business when a boy who had, with some companions, been scampering about the raft, fell into the water. At once a number of men jumped on the raft, which was nearly submerged by the additional weight; but what was worse the cordage binding the logs together gave way, and behold, bobbing among the floating men were seen a series of floating cylinders! The men were hauled out of the water, and so were the curious tin cases, while with the latter my father was hauled off to appear before the magistrates on a charge of smuggling."

"A clear case I should say, Alec," I remarked.

"Well, so everyone thought; but, strange to say, my father was discharged with a caution. The turning point of the case was, did we pick up separate logs of timber and construct the raft, or did we find the raft already made? Our case was that we had picked up the whole raft at sea, and not having examined it, were not supposed to know what was hanging beneath it. Beside which, had not M. Ducas gone straight away and given notice to the proper authorities? We obtained the benefit of the doubt, but it was a very close squeak."

"It was indeed. Now do you not remember any little adventure of your own you could tell me?"

"Adventures! I could fill a whole book with them; some of them so strange that they would appear to most people more like falsehoods than solid fact."

"But, you know, Alec, it is only a hair line that frequently separates the sublime from the ridiculous, and perhaps the line that divides your true tales of the marvellous from story book fiction is so thin, that ordinary persons cannot quite detect it; but never mind, let's have something mild, and I'll undertake to swallow everything you tell me, even if I have to bite it in two first."

"There, now, you're laughing at me before I begin, and you shall not have a strand of a yarn, so you may go to sleep again at once."

Then I had to coax him, and he soon came round. He could not bear to be doubted, much less laughed at.

"Tell me about bringing that little cockle-shell of a yacht from London to Guernsey, that you were speaking about the other day."

"Oh! the 'Dewdrop.' Why, that's no yarn at all."

Then, thought I to myself, here's something really true: and so I afterwards proved it to be.

"The 'Dewdrop' was one of the smallest yachts that ever ventured across the Channel in the month of March. I left London with a fair wind from the west, and got along the London river well enough; but once past the Nore I found it quite lumpy enough to make things very wet and uncomfortable, and after leaving Dover behind I had serious thoughts of putting into Folkestone, or one of the south coast ports, but as I am not one to take a task in hand and then give it up, I shaped my course for Guernsey, making up my mind to give Cape La Hogue a wide berth. There was a high west wind blowing, and a choppy sea rolling the white horses along at a great pace, so that it required some amount of attention to handle a light built twenty-foot yacht. Everything stood as we bowled along, but having no one to help me I felt dreadfully tired and hungry, for I could not leave the tiller to get a proper meal. Two or three hours more and the wind backed a little to the south south-west and blew harder than ever, while, in proportion as the wind rose, so did the sea, so that the poor little 'Dewdrop,' with nearly a head wind, was labouring heavily. How I got through the night I cannot tell, for with cold and hunger I was nearly dead, and what was more, I was lost. When I say lost, I could not tell within a score miles where I was. I looked for the Casquet Light, but could not see it. Then I strained my eyes ahead, trying to penetrate the darkness and discern Alderney Light, but in vain. Turning my head to the left I looked out for the lights of Cape La Hogue, but again was disappointed. Where was I? I could not tell, but I fancied I knew where I should be in a very short time, for the seas were such as to make it a marvel how such a cockle-shell could float in such a turmoil of black seething water. It was a terrible night, for death rode near me on every crested wave, any one of which breaking aboard would have formed my winding sheet. To make matters worse, towards morning a dense sea fog set in, and I so far gave myself up as to say my prayers at least half a dozen times in as many half hours.

"Although apparently very reluctant to do so, the sun did rise at last, and behold, as the fog melted away, not two miles off, on my starboard beam, was Alderney. I never felt such a thrill of joy in my life as when I saw the breakwaters at the entrance to Braye Harbour, extending their arms as if to receive me into their snug embrace. I was glad to get into smooth water once again, and inside a harbour to boot, for I had never expected to set foot on dry land again. The old hands could scarcely believe that I had crossed the Channel in such a gale; but there I was, and there was the 'Dewdrop' to prove my assertion, therefore they could not doubt it. I pumped her out, and repaired the little craft as well as I could, and on the third day of being in port had eaten everything eatable aboard, and as there was no chance of resuming the voyage yet I had to get some food on 'tick.' This was all very well for a day or two, but after I had been a week in Braye, with no prospect of getting away, the landlord of the tavern from which I obtained my food, told me that as I was a perfect stranger to him he could not afford, to keep me any longer on credit. What security could I give him for further food? This was a poser, but the end of it was that I left my whole kit in pawn with him, including even my watch. At length, on the twelfth morning after my arrival the sea became calm enough for me to proceed, and with a west wind I was in Guernsey Harbour four hours after leaving Braye. I think this was the most adventurous voyage I ever made, as it took me sixteen days to make two hundred and fifty miles. I think if the pay was a guinea an hour I should not care about again crossing the Channel during an equinoxial gale, especially to be skipper and crew of such a midge as the 'Dewdrop.'"

"That's what I call a decent little yarn, Alec,—multum in parvo—one that might be drawn out into quite a long story, and if it were in the hands of some men they would so spin it out, that the telling would occupy almost as many hours as you were days on the voyage. Nothing like condensing the agony and expanding the joy in a yarn, it makes the listeners in a better mode, and more sociable with each other."

"Sociability," said Alec, "among seafaring men is pretty general. It is usually 'Hail, fellow, well met!' with us, for we endeavour to get all the fun we can out of life, because we know that whenever he gets the chance, Death will have his gibe at us. A sailor must, of necessity, often face death, and therefore his motto is, 'Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die'; and death does come to him frequently when least he expects it. I'll tell you an instance of this in which I and some of my relatives were concerned.

"Nine miles from the shore of my native village there is a most dreadful sand-bank, in the form of the letter U, which at low tide is frequently bare, while at high tide not more than two fathoms of water cover it. It has been a death-trap to many a stout vessel, and at the time I am speaking of had nothing near it in the form of a lighthouse, lightship, or even a buoy to mark its dread presence. At daybreak on a rough November morning the look-out on duty discovered that a small trading schooner was fast on the sands, and after the usual half-hour's excitement in the village the surf boat, containing eleven men, was launched and proceeded to the wreck. There was quite a little party of my family aboard, as beside myself, the crew also contained my father, brother, and two cousins.

"To make a long story short, I will simply say, that after a three hours' exhausting pull we reached the vessel, but were grieved to find that of the crew of six hands, only one was left alive. Our attention was therefore turned to the saving of this poor sailor, who had lashed himself to the bowsprit, where he had sat all through the cold night, and was so benumbed that he could scarcely speak. We shouted to him, and made him understand that if he would cut his lashings, we would when opportunity served, pull the boat under the bowsprit so that as we glided by he might drop in and be saved. His knife was quickly at work, and to show that he was free he held up his hands and moved himself on the bowsprit. We gave him a cheer, and watching our best time, glided in on the crest of a wave to deliver the poor fellow. Alas! in his excitement he jumped too soon, and dropped between the bows of the vessel and our heavy boat. His head was for a second visible on the surface, but before an arm could be stretched out to save him the two vessels came crash together, with his head between them. A gush of blood was all we saw of him, for the next moment we were all in the sea, struggling for our own lives. Our boat had stove its bows in against the ship, which we had approached too closely, in our endeavour to save the poor man.

"I was fortunate enough to secure an oar, and working gradually to leeward of the wreck, with great exertion at length got aboard, where, to my joy, I found my father. The boat still floated bottom upwards, with five men upon the keel, who were constantly lashed by the cold waves, till presently a larger wave than the others broke the hold of two of the men, and washed them into eternity. Gradually in the swirl and foam of the mighty waters the boat beat round to the leeward of the ship, and I then saw that the men on the keel were my two cousins and brother. They could all swim, and seeing that my father and I were ready with ropes, quitted their precarious seat on the keel, and struck out towards the ship. My brother and cousin Phillipe, after a terrible struggle, were drawn aboard, but Gabriel, who could not swim so strongly, presently became exhausted and cried out for a rope. The distance appeared too far to fling it, but with a powerful swing my father threw the coil, the end of which fell a yard short of the swimmer. If I live a thousand years I shall never forget the look of despair upon my cousin's face as he sank back in the water completely exhausted. As his head disappeared his hand, like an eagle's claw, came above the surface of the water and gave one wild clutch at the rope which should have proved his salvation, then it disappeared also, and he was no more.

"Thus, out of eleven men, only four were saved. Incredible as it may seem, these were all of them relatives—my brother, father, cousin, and self—it was quite a family party. We were taken off the wreck in the afternoon by another boat and safely landed. Ducas was a lucky name that day, and so it proved three years after, for my brother was the only survivor when his fishing boat was run down, and a crew of eight men perished."

Seeing that we had just had one melancholy recital I thought it best to start something more pleasant, so I handed Alec a large mug of coffee, and said:

"Take a drink, my comrade, and while you are slaking your thirst I will spin you a drinking story."

Then I recounted to him the story of Count Tilly of Brabant, and the Holy Prior. How, during one of Tilly's numerous campaigns, a certain town held out far too long for the general's liking, but at last it was forced to surrender. Tilly had six of the chief men brought before him, and commanded, as the town had laughed at his terms, that they should die, to expiate the rest of the citizens. All kinds of conditions were laid before him to avoid the doom of these unfortunate men, but they were of no avail with him; he was implacable. One, Prior Hirsch, sought him and tried to melt his adamantine heart, and being a man of experience with human foibles, concluded to try the effect of some of the good old wine for which the country is famous, and his own monastery in particular. A huge flagon being introduced, filled with some of the very "A1" of the district, Tilly was induced to try some.

"Very good wine indeed," exclaimed the General, "but it is no use your trying to get round me in that way to pardon your burgesses, for I can no more turn from my word than you can empty this goodly flagon at a draught."

"Is the case indeed so hopeless?" said the priest.

"Yes, indeed," said the Count rising, "Drink me the contents of this flagon at a draught, and your citizens are free; else at noon they swing," and with a mocking smile on his lips he was about to stride out of the room, when the priest arrested his steps with,

"One moment, good Count, and I will e'en essay the task."

Then, taking up the flagon, which held thirteen pints, he emptied it to the very dregs, and fell back into his townsmen's arms.

Tilly was as good as his word, and released his captives.

"Whew!" whistled Alec; "where's the salt box? Thirteen pints at a draught—thirteen pints! Why, your old priest would make a good second to our maire's cat!"

"What did his cat do?" queried I, innocently.

"Oh, I thought everyone had heard of Curat's cat," premised Alec. "You must know that his cat was growing old and spiteful, so he determined to kill it; but although he tried various means, and got very near accomplishing his end on several occasions the cat would always appear again to trouble him. One evening, as a final effort in assassination, before retiring to bed, he tied a heavy piece of iron round the cat's neck, and dropped it into a water-butt which stood in his garden. Next morning he was down betimes, and standing on the tiptoe both of expectation and of his boots, he peeped over the edge of the tub, when lo! there, on the bottom of the butt sat the cat looking up at him with tears in her eyes, for she was too heavily anchored to climb out."

But I broke in, "Where was the water?"

"Well, you see," said Alec, "being her only means of escape, she had swallowed it, as your priest did the wine, which accounted for her swollen condition. So now, Mr. Thirteen Pints, I think we are about quits."

We were; Alec scored a point.

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CHAPTER XVII.

From joking in the first instance we had now become quite familiar with our new appellations; thus I was Crusoe, and Alec was Monday, that being the day on which I saved him. For the sake of being as near like the hero of Juan Fernandez as possible, I should have liked to call him Friday; in fact, Good Friday, but as he came on the wrong day, Monday had to be his name.

As I write these pages, I can, in fancy, hear his voice shouting to me on the island,

"Crusoe! Crusoe! where are you? Rob—in—son Cru—soe, ahoy!"

Being August, the fruit was ripe and very plentiful; in fact, it seemed a sin to see it hang on the bushes and trees till it dropped upon the ground, simply to serve the purpose of manure. To obviate this we made a whole copper full of jam, and in making it we got into a pretty pickle, both of us being up to our elbows in stickiness, but the jam was prime!

Whatever I did, or wherever I went, the paper I had found in the old leathern cup always haunted me. Moreover, when it did not haunt me, I haunted it; for I took it to various parts of the island, and taking my stand in a certain place, would represent the spot shewn by the skull in the drawing. Then Monday would measure in various directions to see if he could get the measurements correct to certain rocks or tree stumps, to see if they tallied with the paper, but it was no use, nothing would coincide with that faded paper.

We tried the Creviçhon, but nothing there agreed; then La Fauconnaire, but could make nothing of that either, so we had again to let the matter rest.

One day, however, it suddenly struck me that as none of the trees on the island were one hundred years old, I might have spared myself the trouble of attempting them when making my calculations and measurements.

By the way, perhaps it would be as well to state what the precise contents of my document were. Here is a copy:—

"This is the Will of Jean Tussaud, Master Mariner of C—— (sometimes called Barbe Rouge). To the person who is lucky enough to find my treasure house, I herewith declare him to be my heir, and whatsoever he may find shall be his, and for his sole benefit.

"My chief mate, William Trefry, a Cornish man, wished to become my heir before my death, but I could not agree with him on that point, although I left him in possession of the key of my 'petites fées' (little fairies). The key and a valuable knife are all I gave him.

"The bearings of my treasure house are these:—

THE PUZZLING DOCUMENT

-THE PUZZLING DOCUMENT-

"The lucky one will find the following property.... (Here follows a list of many valuable articles, and winds up with), 'and lastly my pretty box of petites fées.'

"I leave Jethou to-night to join my vessel, which is about to make a voyage to the West Indies, to see what business can be done there. I leave this paper, so that should I never return, the goods I have so industriously and riskily gathered together, may still be of service to someone who may have skill enough to discover their whereabouts.

Signed

"JEAN TUSSAUD (Barbe Rouge),

"Feb. 19, 17—."

Here was a puzzle to which for weeks I could obtain no clue whatever, but one day as I was sitting under the shade of the huge walnut tree overlooking the garden, the idea came into my mind that this kind of tree flourishes for generations, and from the gigantic proportions of this particular tree, it must be a great deal more than a century old.

I found Monday, and asked him how old he thought it would be, and he gave it as his opinion that it was one hundred and fifty years old, if it was a day. Then said I,

"What is the French for walnut tree?"

"Noyer," was his reply, and into my pocket went my hand to bring out the mystic document to see if there was an N on the chart. Joy, there was, and at sight of it my hand trembled violently, and I felt ready to choke with excitement, as I believed I had now a key to the finding of the treasure.

Monday was as excited as myself, all he could exclaim was, "Oh, la, la! Oh, la, la!" which was with him a mark of supreme delight.

We fetched the yard measure, and commenced our survey, as I shrewdly guessed the fine old mulberry tree had something to do with the calculations; if so the distance from the mulberry tree (Murier accounting for the letter M) to the walnut tree would be twenty-four yards; so we measured, but could not make the distance correct, as we made it 26-2/3 yards, or just eight feet too much. This quite nonplussed us, and our excitement greatly abated; but we were not yet vanquished, and set our wits to work to discover the meaning of another of the letters from which we could take further measurements.

Being near N (the walnut tree) I walked round the garden wall to the point marked EC, but could there find no landmark at all from which to measure. A century ago something may have stood there, but now it was a bare spot. Here was another rebuff which seemed to upset my theory altogether, and Monday with long visage said,

"Crusoe, you are on the wrong scent, you have 'shaken hands with a shadow.'"

"Wait a bit, Monday. 'A cracked pitcher will hold some water,' and although I may be wrong on some of the points, I may find at least one correct one presently."

We then walked along to the corner of the wall at the angle of which was the letter P. At this point stood the well.

"What is French for 'well', Monday."

"Puit."

"Puit?"

At this I gave a yell of delight.

"Eureka! I believe. Measure away, good comrade; measure away!"

"Where to, noble Crusoe?"

"Ah, where," said I to myself. "Well, measure off twelve yards towards the centre of the garden, and see if it cuts the line between the mulberry tree and the big walnut."

We measured to the wall and climbed over, and continued our measuring, but alas, it went beyond the bee-line between the two trees by about five feet! Wrong again!

Now I began to get angry, as I saw Monday was laughing up his sleeve at me, and I called him Alec to shew him I was not in a laughing humour but thoroughly in earnest.

I walked along next inside the wall to about the point on the paper marked P, which appeared to me to be at the window of the house.

"What is window, Alec?"

"Fenêtre."

That would not do.

"Now look here, Alec, you are laughing at me again, and I don't like it; laugh some other time, but for the present give me your full attention, and don't be a ninny. It is no joking matter, but one upon which I am very serious and anxious, as I believe there is something attached to this quest which is really worth a little trouble to elucidate."

"And," replied he, still smiling, "when you get to the end of your quest, I believe you will 'shake hands with a shadow' as I told you before. But, Bold Crusoe, I will do my best to help you as a good comrade should, so I will bottle up my hilarious mood till you find your treasure, and then I will explode."

"Very well, Monday," I replied. "I trust soon to be able to make you have a perfect earthquake when I shew you Old Barbe Rouge's 'Petites fées.' Fenêtre will not do. Now what are we standing near that commences in French with the letter P?"

Monday looked about and quickly said,

"La porte, the door, porche, the porch; how will they do?"

"Capital! now we are surely on the right track."

So again we brought our measuring stick into play, but again the measure was not quite right, but still not far out. We made it nearly eleven yards instead of ten, and although not perfectly correct, it gave me great hope.

With but little trouble we made out the letters PM to be Porte Magasin (door of the store house), and again we were about a yard too much in the measurement. So we left it, and proceeded to the last point, the letters CC.

The point was outside the walls, and the longest distance of all—the figures twenty being written on the line. As in the other instances I asked Monday the names of all kinds of objects to locate the letters CC, but failed in this, except that I presumed C might be Chaumière = Cottage.

Next taking our stand at the point which we supposed the centre of the diagram—the place of the skull—we measured twenty yards towards the cottage, but it fell short of the nearest point of the building by nearly six feet; therefore probably it did not refer to the cottage at all.

We assumed therefore, that a tree or some such object, to which the letters CC referred, once stood on what was now a pathway joining the cottage.

We paused in our search for the day, resolving on the morrow to try our luck by digging a deep hole in the garden at the spot which we thought was the axis of the different radial measurements.

"Begum" followed us about like a district surveyor, and seemed to know something was on foot as well as himself.

Our work of fishing, shooting, and field work seemed quite in the background, and very insignificant compared with my treasure hunt; but Alec seemed to be quite indifferent to it; in fact, I think he had an idea that my fall had slightly shaken my brain, and perhaps addled it. I more than suspected this, for I noticed he kept his eye ever on me, and would scarcely let me out of his sight. Good, faithful fellow!

"What say you to a sail this evening, Crusoe?"

"Just the thing, Monday; it is such a glorious night, and the cool breeze will do us good. What do you say to a drag with the trawl?"

"The very thing; more fish are caught in one night than in two days, so let's set to at once, that is, after a good substantial tea."

The meal being finished, we soon got the trawl and gear aboard the "Anglo-Franc," and away we went in the lovely moonlight, scouring the bottom of the Perchée between the head of Jethou and the tail of Herm. The latter island looked delightful in the pale greenish light of the moon, while Creviçhon towering up against the sky, with the moon behind it, caused it to look like a silhouette cut out of black cardboard.

"Who would be stifled up in a town with wealth and its attending cares, in preference to this life of liberty I was leading?" I asked myself, and for answer gave, "While one is young, full of health, and with no encumbrances, a Bohemian life is all very well; but what when a wife and family are dependent on one? That puts a different complexion on the matter, for one can roam no more."

I recollect this night well, for I revelled in its very antithesis to life in England. Everything seemed so strange and quiet; the great black rocks casting their shadows over the phosphorescent waves; the star-studded sky, with the pale round moon, across which a gentle breeze wafted silvery gauze-like clouds; the feeling of motion, the sense of freedom, the love of labour to haul the net, the expectation of what would be our luck, the merry badinage between my comrade and me, our little songs between the hauls, and a score of other things cause me to look back upon this night (and many others) with the thought, "Shall I ever know such happiness again?"

Many persons, yes, most persons, must have recollections of past pure delights that steal across their memories of things which happened long years ago, and cause them to ask themselves the same question, "Shall I ever know such happiness again?"

Why not? It always seems to strike me that when we are supremely happy, we do not realise it at the time; but when the happy time has fled, and has become a memory, we long for its return in vain. We long in vain for that particular pleasure, but there are present joys for us to which at the time we do not give heed enough, or instead of bemoaning the past (which has flown) we should live and enjoy the tangible present.

From moralising to fishing is a long jump, but we must take the leap and attend to our net again.

After two or three hauls we had almost enough fish, but Alec said, "One more for luck," and he being Skipper afloat, I Commandant ashore, like a good A.B., I obeyed. We had caught several fair soles, but our last haul brought us up two of the largest it has been my lot to capture.

"They are two, but not a pair," remarked Alec.

Neither were they, for when they were measured one was nineteen and a half inches long, and the other exactly twenty-three inches. We christened them Adam and Eve, and like a couple of cannibals declared our intention of eating them for our supper when we got ashore.

As we sailed slowly in against the tide, the question arose who should devour Adam and who Eve; so we agreed to guess the length of the trawl beam between the irons for choice of fish.

I guessed first: "Ten feet."

"There," said Monday, "you have nearly taken my guess out of my mouth, for I was going to say three metres, and that makes it about, let me see, nine feet ten inches."

"How much is a metre?" I asked eagerly.

"Why about thirty-nine inches and a quarter of your measure," was his ready reply.

"Then," I rejoined, bubbling over with excitement, "I've discovered the measurements in the document. Why Old Barbe Rouge was a Frenchman, and of course used French measure,—the metre! Hurrah!" and I made the rocks echo with my excited hurrahs and loud laughter.

Adam and Eve were duly cooked, but they were not half eaten, for either they were too large or our appetites too small by reason of our great excitement; anyhow, Adam would have sufficed for us both, and Eve would have made a capital breakfast for us in the morning. As it was, the mangled remains of the patriarchs remained for our dinner the next day, as breakfast was, under the circumstances of what happened next day, quite out of the question.

As we did not get to bed till four a.m. we were not up till ten; in fact, I slept but little, as dreams of treasure islands, fairy land, and wonderful nuggets of gold persistently kept me tossing about feverishly, till my comrade ran in and wanted to know if he was to dig the treasure up before I was out of bed.

I sprang out of bed and dressed, and in five minutes we were busy with paper and rule.

Hurrah! with metres instead of yards the distances tallied within a few inches, so that near the centre of the garden we had a number of pegs stuck in the mould all round a currant bush, of perhaps three or four years' growth, which had thus accidentally marked the spot that was indicated by a skull on the paper.

Now came Alec's turn for excitement, and he was intensely excited. I must say I liked my form of excitement best, for Monday seemed completely off his head, and was gesticulating like a monkey dancing a hornpipe on hot bricks; he was fairly beside himself. I took mine in a calmer manner, that is, although I was brimful and even bubbling over with it, I did not rave, but kept as cool as possible, and I remember at the time thinking it was due to our different nationalities, the excitable and phlegmatic temperaments predominating in the two individuals and giving character. Probably a stranger looking on would have thought us either a couple of fools or a pair of lunatics.

Off came our jackets, and our sleeves were quickly rolled above our elbows, displaying arms as brown as those of gypsies.

Monday took the pick and I the shovel, and to work we went.

I must not forget to mention that I had told Alec that whatever we found I should consider it my duty to give up to M. Oudin as the real proprietor of the island, and to this he readily assented, mentioning that he at all events could say nothing to my plans, as he was simply my assistant, my Monday.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

Then said Monday, "What say you now of your quest, Crusoe? Don't you think it's all moonshine, or rather (wiping the perspiration from his brow) sunshine and shadow?"

I was fain to confess that it did seem like it, but asked,

"Will you help me dig to a depth of ten feet from the surface? and if nothing gives indication of what we are in search, I will then give up."

"What, dig down ten feet, and be buried alive in this crumbling grave? Just look at it, it is ready even now to tumble its sides in upon us."

"Well, but," persisted I, "let us shore it up as we go down."

"Very well then," he rejoined, "but I bargain for one hour's rest before we delve further, and here goes for a swim."

Then climbing up our improvised ladder away he went to the beach, whither "Begum" and I quickly followed, and in five minutes we, who had been so lately in a grave, were swimming about in the deliriously cool water, dog and men thoroughly enjoying the exhilarating reaction.

Our bathe being over, we strolled up to the house, and made another attack upon Adam and Eve, and this time finished them; they were delicious. As Monday would have his full sixty minutes' cessation, just as Shylock would have his pound of flesh, we smoked the rest of the time away, and then resumed our labours.

We first took the precaution to shore up the sides of our pit with stout pieces of wreckage and any other wood we could find, for fear of a landslip, which might have resulted in serious if not fatal consequences to us.

Before we had dug ten minutes my spade struck on something hard and hollow, which quite startled us; but clearing the mould away from the spot, I soon discovered the impediment to be a kind of wooden floor. This we quickly cleared, and found it covered a space about four feet by three. As we lifted the first piece with great expectancy, we found it was oak, about two inches thick, and very little the worse for its long burial, as the surrounding soil was dry.

We looked into the narrow aperture left by the taking out of the oaken plank, but could see nothing, as the depth of our pit made it somewhat dark at the bottom, so I knelt down, and thrust my hand through the opening and felt about. Presently I felt something hard, like a bundle of sticks, and with a tug drew them through the opening, only to drop them the next minute with a cry of horror, for it was a skeleton's hand that came to view in my grasp.

We looked at each other in dismay, as if to say,

"How awful! what shall we do now?"

Then we paused, and looked at each other again, till I broke out with,

"There, Alec, your prophecy has come true, I have 'shaken hands with a shadow,' or what is very near it—a skeleton. What shall we do next?"

"Had we not better take up the flooring and see if we have come simply upon a grave or what else is beneath us?"

To this I acquiesced. The hole we had dug was about six feet square, to enable both of us to work in it at once; so in this pit or chamber we had plenty of room, and as I have already said, the oak floor we came upon was only four feet by three feet, so that we could stand at the side of the flooring as we removed it piece by piece.

At last we had taken up the nine narrow pieces of oak which formed the floor, and there before us lay the entire skeleton of a man, some remnants of the clothes still covering parts of the frame, and a few locks of yellow hair still adhering to the cranium.

The skeleton was lying face downward, and neither of us liked to turn it over to see if anything could be gathered from an inspection of the front of it, or to ascertain if anything were hidden beneath it; so we both knelt down, and bodily lifted the light but hideous occupant of this awful pit, and placed it in a sitting posture in one corner. As we did so, first a foot and then a leg dropped off at the knee joint, and fell back into the hole, which sent an indescribable thrill of horror through me, and no doubt it acted upon Alec in the same manner.

When we came to look at the awful thing, Alec noticed something glitter at its breast, and reaching forth his hand, attempted to take it to see what it was.

He gave the object a pull, but instead of coming away in his hand, it only had the effect of pulling the ghastly form down upon him, so that the orbless skull came with some force, right into his face. He uttered a cry of dismay, and was about to fly up the ladder, when I arrested his movements by bursting out laughing. The whole thing, although hideous and startling, was rendered ludicrous by the accelerated movements of Alec when the grinning jaws snapped right in his face. To save himself from falling into the hole beneath, he clutched the frail form round the body, causing its rags and bones to fall in tatters and pieces on to something below, which gave a metallic ring.

THE TENANT OF THE TREASURE HOUSE.

The first shock of his fright being over, for he thought the man had come to life again, we again propped it up in the corner, and examined it closely.

The glittering projection on the breast was the jewelled haft of a dagger, the blade of which was thrust quite through the sternum or breastbone, showing that a most powerful blow had given the poor man, whoever he was, his quietus. Death must have been instantaneous, for the position of the blade shewed that it had probably passed quite through the heart.

Another thing also attracted our attention; this was a pair of keys suspended round the neck by a rusty chain. We took possession of both dagger and keys; then placing the bony one in a piece of sail cloth, hoisted him above ground and covered him up.

Down into the hole we went again, almost breathless with excitement, and recommenced our now light task of making further search for whatever might be of value, being fully persuaded that something really worth having now awaited us.

Nor were we wrong in our conjecture, for the first things we came upon were four large dishes of metal, resembling gold; but as they had been rolled up like a scroll by some great force, we did not stop to unroll them to enquire of what metal they really were. Beside them were five or six golden cups of curious work, being beautifully chased, two of them containing jewels in the band of raised work which encircled the stems. Then there were two utensils about a foot high, something in shape between a pitcher and a flagon, which were perfect in form, not a dent being visible in them, their only blemish being the tarnish with which more than a century had marred them, but this could easily be removed.

There were many bundles containing lace, but for the most part this was so mouldy and musty, that it came to pieces with very little pulling, so we threw it aside. Then we came upon quite an armoury of swords, daggers, and pistols; but as most of them were much rusted, we only selected a few of the better preserved ones, and left the rest.

Among those we kept were three pairs of pistols, one pair of which were a marvel of workmanship. The barrels were of silver, and engraved all over with fruit and flowers, while the stocks of ivory were also carved in every part, and were quite perfect, not even discoloured like the wood work in the pit. They were wrapped in soft leather, and enclosed in a velvet case which was in a somewhat discoloured and decayed state, but still in a sufficiently whole form to preserve the pistols intact.

Several swords I kept for decorative purposes, and also some of the huge flintlock pistols.

The bottom of the treasure-hole was filled with bundles of what had once been costly garments of silk, velvet, satin, cloth with gold braid, and wonderfully fine linen; but these were now useless, for time had quite spoiled them. Among these raiments of a bygone age were a number of copes, chasubles, stoles, and such-like ecclesiastic raiment; there was also a beautifully worked mitre, and as these were in good condition we kept them. Their preservation was evidently owing to their being contained in a bullock's hide, which was sewn together apparently by the sinews of the same animal.

Then we came upon a whole pile of sashes, and breeches, and boots, and goodness knows what in the way of wearing apparel, all in a state of dry rot; in fact, they made such a dust that we ascended to terra firma for a few minutes to get it out of our throats.

We now appeared to have cleared the place, but what of the "petite fées"? Had we seen them or what were they? To make sure we had secured everything, we cleared the hole completely out, and in doing so luckily saw the end of a box protruding from the side of the treasure chamber. A kind of cave or tunnel had been made for the reception of this chest, and it was a wonder we did not miss seeing it altogether.

No doubt it contained the "petite fées," whatever they were; but to our astonishment it was so heavy we could not move it. We therefore set to work, and cleared away the surrounding earth, and by dint of hard tugging in the confined space, we at length drew it from its hiding place into the centre of the pit. It was securely locked with two huge padlocks.

We concluded we would hoist it out of its bed and examine it at our leisure above ground. To compass this we had to erect a kind of tripod of three long pieces of deal, which had evidently at some time been top-sail yards of some vessel probably wrecked on rocky Jethou. From this we suspended a block and fall, and soon had our iron chest safely above ground.

About this time an unaccountable feeling seized us both; I know not what it was, but it appeared to us that we were doing something wrong, violating the grave of the dead man near us, or something of the kind.

We seemed to feel that the bones should again be buried as quickly as possible, for fear someone should see us at our task. Why this feeling came over us I know not, but it did, so we fastened the rope attached to the block round the waist of the grinning skeleton, and commenced to lower him into his last home again; but he saved us further trouble by breaking in two just above the hips and falling into the bottom of the well-like hole. We quickly covered him with old clothes and hid him from view.

It was a work of some difficulty to get the iron chest to the house, but this we accomplished at last with the donkey's help, and having brought in the other goods, we cleared up for the day, completely tired out.

At nine o'clock, an hour after supper, we retired to bed, each of us fancying we should have our rest stopped by hideous dreams; but we were mistaken, for we slept like the dead in the pit till six o'clock, when we arose much refreshed by our long night's rest.

It was raining fast, and as the drops pattered on the window pane, they seemed like tears for the poor fellow lying unburied in the hole yonder; but we let him lie unburied, as we knew he was past all harm from catarrh or rheumatism, and every other ailment of this world.

We did not go out all day, but devoted our time to examining the great find. The keys (as we suspected) which depended from the neck of the skeleton, belonged to the iron chest; but as they were rusty, we had to clean the wards with oil and ashes, but even then we could not shoot the bolts in the locks, as probably they were rusty. There was but one way left, and that was to raise the lid by force; but even this we did in a gentle manner by filing through the hinges and finishing with a few taps from a heavy hammer.

No wonder the chest was so heavy, for the bottom of it was covered with seventeen leather bags, each containing one hundred Spanish coins, called doubloons, which I believe are worth for the mere intrinsic value of the metal, about ten shillings each, but their monetary value was about twelve shillings and sixpence each. This was something like a find.

At the end of the chest was a portion partitioned off, which contained two drawers, a large and a small one, both of iron, lined with wood. The large one contained three parchment books written in French, the first of which Alec declared was an account of the life of Barbe Rouge, and the other two were log books of his various voyages.[5]

In the right hand or small drawer was a very small gold casket of exquisite workmanship, filled quite full of precious stones in their natural rough state, together with a few cut gems of medium size. I should say altogether they would have just filled a half-pint measure; not that I believe they are ever sold in this manner, as if they were nuts or peas. These then were Tussaud's "petite fées," and pretty ones too.

Of course we put a fabulous price on this part of our treasure; I think in our ignorance we mentioned ten thousand pounds as about their value; but when they were sold in London some months after, in a well-known auction room, they realised but little more than a tithe of this amount.

Next day being fine we carefully filled the hole up again, ramming the earth down with a heavy wooden ram, and finished up by replanting the currant bush, which I believe still lives, or its descendant, to mark the spot where we discovered Jean (Barbe Rouge) Tussaud's treasures.

We presumed at the time that the skeleton we found was that of the mate, William Treffry, mentioned in the document, who had quarrelled with Red Beard as to the property, and that the latter had stabbed him to the heart, afterwards throwing the corpse upon the treasure, thus burying his guilt and his goods at the same time. A translation of the books we found corroborated us in this surmise, and accounted for many other things regarding the property which at the time we could not understand.

I may add that among the clothing, we found a number of odds and ends, relics of the eighteenth century, which I still treasure in my home, one room of which forms quite a respectable museum, as since my sojourn in Jethou I have brought many curious things from Holland, France, and Spain, many of which have pleasant stories attached to them.

We found miniature portraits of a Spanish gentleman, and a handsome fresh-coloured young lady with an English name, for their names were painted round the margin; a pair of gloves apparently blood-stained, a case of writing materials, four jewelled rings, a tress of dark brown hair nearly four feet long, an English Bible, two watches with enamelled cases (about the size of small turnips), and several other things which need not be mentioned here, but of which we discovered the history in the parchment books.[6]