He pointed to a rocky cave on the shore, just above our landing- place. We walked over to examine it, but we couldn't find anything there except some egg-shells and paper boxes, where someone had eaten luncheon. Then we started on an exploring trip around the island. It was almost bare of trees, rocky in many places, and partly covered with scrubby grass. We found half a dozen pits and shafts where the treasure-seekers had been at work. We climbed the little hill where the tree stood,—it was gnarled and broken, "a blasted tree" declared Mr. Daddles in rapture.
"Here's where the treasure chest ought to be buried," he remarked, "with the skeleton of a pirate or two on top of it."
"This is where the old dead horse was buried," Ed Mason observed, digging into some loose earth with his foot.
"That must have meant something," I said. "Why should they bring a horse way up here to bury him?"
"Perhaps they didn't," Ed replied, "perhaps the horse lived up here."
"I'm afraid you were never made for a treasure-seeker," said Mr.
Daddles.
Jimmy Toppan pointed to the beach on the other side of the hill.
There was a smooth, sandy shore.
"Why not go in swimming down there?" he suggested.
The idea was a good one; we were not making much progress toward finding any treasure, and the beach certainly looked like a good place for a swim. The three of us ran down the hill, pulling off our clothes as we ran. Mr. Daddles lingered for a while, but presently joined us, and we all had a swim.
After we had dressed we walked around the island, keeping near the water. Everywhere there were signs of digging, but no signs of treasure. We were in no hurry, so we strolled along, on the watch for anything we might discover. The shore of the cove where we landed was covered with flat stones, and we spent some time skipping them on the water, and a still longer time throwing stones at an empty bottle which we found and set afloat. After a while Jimmy Toppan thought we ought to be going.