At daybreak the force picked out for the expedition paraded outside the stockade. There were forty-five all told, composed of fifteen of the original crew of the Golden Hope on whom we could thoroughly rely and thirty of the peasants whom we had rescued from the Neptune.
All were armed with muskets and cutlasses, while in the barrows were piled hatchets, spades, and mattocks, together with a goodly supply of provisions.
Amid the cheers of those who were left behind, for all, whether true or false, wished us success, the expedition set out, Captain Jeremy and I walking at the head of the column.
Unless untoward events prevented it, another thirty-six hours would see the treasure of the Madre de Dios within our grasp.
CHAPTER XXV
We Arrive at the Hiding-place of the Treasure
Having gained the crest of the hill that terminated in the headland where I had met with my adventures in the cave, we descended by a gradually sloping path that followed closely to the coast. On our left the ground rose in uneven terraces, covered with thick, tropical vegetation; while on the right I could see the shoals whither I had been carried by the ebb tide.
At a distance of about six miles from the stockade we reached the north-eastern extremity of the island, where, owing to the hilly nature of the ground, we had to follow a course that resembled three sides of a square. Thence, proceeding due west, and still following the coast line, we arrived at the place where the master gunner had successfully ambushed the retreating buccaneers.
Here we found the termination of a well-defined path that had been made by the rascally pirates during their occupation of the island. This path, we now knew, made a junction with another track from the buccaneers' settlement, and, proceeding in an almost southerly direction, led to a small cove on the south side of the island.
The character of the scenery changed at this place, for the path plunged into a defile, the side of which showed traces of volcanic agency. Yet, though it was uphill for nearly four miles, the gradients of the road offered no great difficulty.