“We ought to be off Cedar Island to-morrow, lads,� said Uncle Toby, strolling up, “on Tom Tiddler’s ground picking up gold and silver.�
“Haven’t you ever thought there might be a possibility of the stone chest being gone?� asked Jack, “that is, if it was ever there?�
His uncle looked at him as if he had uttered some terrible heresy.
“Why, of course it’s there,â€� he declared, stamping his wooden leg; “where else: would it be? Didn’t Cap’n Walters say——â€�
“Deck ahoy!� came from the lookout forward.
“Ahoy,� roared Uncle Toby, “what’s up?�
“There is a mist right ahead and what looks like the top of a mountain,� came back the reply.
“Can it be Cedar Island?� wondered Jack.
“No, it’s not Cedar Island,� declared his uncle, “we couldn’t have made a landfall of that yet. Wait a brace of shakes and I’ll see what it is.�
With extraordinary agility he clambered into the weather main shrouds, bracing himself by thrusting his wooden leg through the ratlines. Then he clapped his glasses to his eyes. A puzzled look came over his weather-beaten countenance.