Even the wind, little as there was of it, wailed and sobbed as it moved along the waters, while birds, the like of which I had never seen before, cried as though they were in bitter pain.
"Eli," I said, "surely we are on the devil's mission, and God is forbidding us to go further."
Eli made no answer save to grunt savagely.
"Let us row back to St. Mary's again," I said, "this place is given over to Satan."
"Then you'll go by yourself, Jasper Pennington!" snarled Eli. "I ded'n come 'ere to go away without gittin' what I wanted. Besides, 'tes nearly dark. I be'ant goin' to go 'way from here till daylight. Ef we tried we should both be drowned."
I saw that he spoke the truth. None but a madman would put out to sea off Annette in the dark, and I saw by the gathering darkness that in a few minutes night would be upon us.
"Cheer up," continued Eli, "Pennington es 'ere, so es the purty maid. Eli do love Jasper, Eli do," and the dwarf caught my hands and fondled them.
In spite of myself I was cheered by his words, and throwing off my superstitious fears, I made my way southward to the spot where the great rock was supposed to lie.
When we had walked a few minutes we saw that the island tapered down to a narrow point; we saw, too, that the strip of land was about three quarters of a mile long, perhaps a quarter of a mile broad, and lay pretty well north and south. Arriving at the southern extremity, we looked eagerly around. As I said, day was fast departing, but there was sufficient light to see the general features of the coast.
I gave a start. Yes, there was the rock mentioned in the paper which I have described.