“To-morrow noon, if this wind holds. Go into the cabin, and by looking at the chart which is spread out on the table, you will learn exactly where the sufferers were when this gull was set free.”
The boys went below, after looking once more at the bird which had performed its mission, even in death, and then it was not difficult to ascertain very nearly the position of the schooner, for the course had been traced in pencil on the chart up to that morning.
“We can’t be delayed very long,” Gil said, after they had gratified their curiosity, “for if the men are yet alive they’ll be ready to leave the key at a moment’s notice; but I suppose it will be necessary to put them ashore somewhere before we go to Hayti.”
“You are talking as if we knew exactly where to find the place marked out on the paper we found.”
“Well, don’t we?”
“I wouldn’t like to say that I do.”
“It doesn’t seem as if there could be any question about it. The piece of newspaper referred to what had taken place on the Tortuga de Mar, and the fragment of chart showed that island——”
“Yes, and a portion of Hayti as well.”
“But the drawing represents a small body of land.”
“Look at it again, and you’ll see that only a part has been shown. How do you know it does not represent the end of some other key?”