I laughed at such a whim; but it was in vain that I attempted to change his ideas, and then to humor him, so that in case we were not successful in our search, no blame could be attached to me, I consented to be governed as he wished, and we walked towards the spot which corresponded with the directions of Bill Swinton.
We found the island, a rather small spot of earth, as he had stated, surrounded by bogs, with the exception of a narrow peninsula, not over a foot in width, and more than forty in length. It was a singular formation, surrounded as it was on all sides by soft mud, black and bottomless, for I attempted with the branch of a tree, some thirty feet long, to sound, but the limb sunk slowly out of sight, and the slime quickly gathered in the opening, and hid the place where the pole went down. I thought if one of us should lose his balance and fall while crossing the natural bridge, what little probability there would be of a rescue. The same sentiments disturbed the mind of my friend, for he uttered words of caution, and even removed a good sized stone that was lying on the path, for fear of stumbling over it in the night time.
We walked carefully to the island—as I shall call it—and then examined the unequal surface of the ground for indications of what we sought. The grass was dried up, and seemed to be of equal length in every gulley and every hole that we passed over; neither could we discover any indications that the earth had been moved for many years, but that was not surprising, for the winter rains would have washed away all superfluous soil, even if a man like Swinton, who was cunning and up to all kinds of dodges, had not taken the precaution to remove all traces of his concealed treasure.
"It is no use," Mr. Brown said, wiping the perspiration from his face, and seating himself on a small rock, "for us to dig at random. We should get nothing for our labor. We must wait until to-morrow night, when the moon fulls, and precisely at twelve o'clock a shadow will be cast upon the spot."
"If the sky is filled with clouds what are we to do?" I asked.
That was something that Mr. Brown had not thought of. He mopped his face with renewed energy, and looked puzzled.
"Can't we make a calculation if such a thing should happen?" my companion inquired.
I didn't know but that we might, and relieved the heart of Mr. Brown of a great weight by the admission.
It was useless for us to sit there and speculate; so after another hasty glance over the island, with no bettor luck than before, we returned to our camp, and got ready for passing the night, which was fast approaching.
As soon as it was dark, however, and while Mr. Brown was getting ready his blankets, I suggested, much to his astonishment, a change in our camp, and recommended retreating to the banks of the Lodden, where we could find water for our animals, and good quarters for ourselves.