It clung to perfection, and he resumed his shirt and coat. The banknote that he had taken from the pocket-book of Sagesse, the white pearl, and the gold coin, were all in the left hand coat pocket; he felt them over with his left hand whilst his right examined again the bulge made by the jewels contained in the right hand pocket.
It was not so very noticeable and no one would have dreamed that it was caused by treasure. He looked around him on the sand to make sure that he had forgotten nothing, and then came back to the vantage point in the centre of the islet.
Yes, there she was, palpable to the sight and definite, no longer a smudge on the sky-line, but a vessel with all sail set and steering, one would have thought, straight for the islet.
Then, assured of this, he set to with his sheath knife, cutting dead brushwood and heaping it on the pathway; the smoke of a signal fire was his only chance of attracting her attention; and having made his preparations he knelt down by the heap and put his hand in his trousers pocket for his tinder box and steel.
It was gone.
CHAPTER XLIII
DELIVERANCE
For a moment he knelt helpless, with idle hands. He knew quite well that though the vessel seemed steering straight for the island, she might pass it a long distance away; a smoke signal could not but attract her attention, yet he was debarred from making it.
The tricky spirit that seemed to haunt the islet seemed still active and at work, filling his pockets with jewels, yet holding back from him the means of escape.