It was nearly noon when he halted suddenly.
We had come to the edge of the forest. Before us lay a broad table-land, barren of any trees or brush whatever, and beyond this strip of rock the blue sea stretched away to the horizon.
“Why, we’ve crossed the island!” I exclaimed.
“Only one end of de island,” corrected Nux. “De bay where our ship lays ain’t half a mile away.”
It surprised me that the shrewd black should know this, but I did not question his statement. Just now my attention was drawn to the robbers, who had halted upon the further edge of the table-land, which even from where we stood, could be seen to form a high bluff above the ocean. At this place it ran out into a little point, and just beyond this point, but separated from the mainland by a wide gulf, stood an island-like peak of rock, its flat surface on a level with the bluff. It must at one time have formed a part of the mainland, but some convulsion of nature had broken it away, and now a deep fissure isolated it from the bluff.
Nature was responsible for two other curious freaks. One was a group of tall pines, three in number, which grew on the separate peak where there seemed scarcely enough soil covering the rock to hold the roots of the trees. Yet on the main bluff there were no trees at all.
The other phenomenon was a great rock, that must have weighed thousands of tons, which lay upon the edge of the bluff so nicely balanced that it almost seemed as if a good push would precipitate it into the gulf below. It was triangular in shape, and the base rested on the bluff while its outer point projected far over the gulf till it towered almost above the isolated point of rock I have described.
The robbers, when we first saw them, were engaged in earnest consultation. It appeared that Daggett was explaining something about the great rock, for he pointed toward it several times, and then at the islet. The others leaned over the edge of the gulf, looked into the chasm below, at the triangular rock, at the barren islet, and then drew back and shook their heads.
Then Daggett, whom I had always considered a coward, did what struck me as being a very brave act. He climbed upon the sloping rock, and gradually crept upward on his hands and knees. When he reached a point above the center the huge rock began to tremble. Daggett crept a little further along, and now the entire mass of rock, which was poised to a nicety, raised its vast bulk and tipped slowly outward. Daggett slid forward; the point of rock under him touched the islet and came to rest, and then he leaped off and stood safely upon the peak, while the rocking-stone, relieved of his weight, slowly returned to its former position.
A cheer went up from the men, and they hesitated no longer. Bry crept up the stone next, and was tipped gracefully upon the islet. One after another Hayes, Judson and Larkin mounted the rocking-stone and were deposited upon the rocky point, together with their bundles of gold and provisions.