“You!� she flashed out in one of those sudden changes of mood, sometimes so delightful and sometimes the reverse.
“I am a seafaring man, as you know, Mistress,� said I humbly, “and I have seen many strange gods in different parts of the world. Also I am accustomed to study maps and charts. Perhaps this may contain information vital to your fortunes which I can decipher more easily than another.�
She nodded and went rapidly out of the room. In a few moments she came back with another piece of parchment and a little stone figure, which I glanced at and laid aside for the moment, fixing my attention on the parchments. I placed them side by side and the torn and jagged edges fitted into each other perfectly. I had laid them on a table and bent over them in great excitement, excitement on my part caused by her proximity rather than by the faded, yellow sheepskin.
“It is an island!� she exclaimed.
“Yes,� said I.
“Where is it?� she asked.
I pointed with my huge index finger to the figures in the upper left-hand corner and the upper right-hand corner marked respectively latitude and longitude.
“That will tell us exactly.�
“And you can find it?�
“If it be there, where the figures say it is, I can, as easily as I can find the park gate yonder.�