At almost his first glance about him, he detected the schooner lying in a small bay on the opposite side of the island to the cove. On the beach he spied what appeared to be a camp. A boat was plying between the schooner and the shore.
“I wonder if they have found out yet that the treasure, if it’s here at all, is ungettable,� murmured Jack.
He used caution in going about the top of the mountain after that, crouching behind rocky mounds to avoid being seen from the schooner or Terrill’s camp.
The “island in the air,� as it might have been fittingly called, was filled with deep crannies, in some of which snow still lay. To have fallen down one of them would have meant a miserable, lingering death, without possibility of rescue.
“Well, this is a unique adventure,� thought Jack. “Even if there is no stone chest, it will have been well worth the experience.�
He made for the great dead cedar by a circuitous route. His heart beat a little faster as, at its foot, he saw there had been erected a rough stone cairn.
“That makes part of the story true at any rate,� he reflected, “but I see no sign of the chest.�
The boy did not feel much disappointment. He had distrusted the story right along. So that he was not downcast to find that he had drawn a blank. There was no trace of a stone chest, or anything even remotely resembling it anywhere.
“Euchred!� murmured the boy, “poor Uncle Toby!�
There came a sudden shout from below. The lad rushed to the edge of the cliff and looked over. What he saw gave him an unpleasant shock. Unperceived by him, three canoes had landed on the east end of the island.