[Illustration:  “Mr. Chalk, with the air of an old campaigner, made a small fire and prepared breakfast.”]

Day by day they scanned the sea for any signs of a sail, but in vain.  Cocoa-nuts and a few birds shot by Mr. Stobell—­who had been an expert at pigeon-shooting in his youth—­together with a species of fish which Mr. Chalk pronounced to be edible a few hours after the others had partaken of it, furnished them with a welcome change of diet.  In the smooth water inside the reef they pulled about in the boat, and, becoming bolder and more expert in the management of it, sometimes ventured outside.  Mr. Stobell pronounced the life to be more monotonous than that on board ship, and once, in a moment of severe depression, induced by five days’ heavy rain, spoke affectionately of Mrs. Stobell.  To Mr. Chalk’s reminder that the rain had enabled them to replenish their water supply he made a churlish rejoinder.

He passed his time in devising plans for the capture and punishment of Captain Brisket, and caused a serious misunderstanding by expressing his regret that that unscrupulous mariner had not rendered himself liable to the extreme penalty of the law by knocking Mr. Chalk on the head on the night of the attack.  His belated explanation that he wished Mr. Chalk no harm was pronounced by that gentleman to be childish.

“We can do nothing to Brisket even if we escape from this place,” said Tredgold, peremptorily.

“Do nothing?” roared Stobell.  “Why not?”

“In the first place we sha’n’t find him,” said Tredgold.  “After they have got the treasure they will get rid of the ship and disperse all over the world.”

Mr. Stobell, with heavy sarcasm, said that once, many years before, he had heard of people called detectives.

“In the second place,” continued Tredgold, “we can’t explain.  It wasn’t our map, and, strictly speaking, we had no business with it.  Even if we caught Brisket, we should have no legal claim to the treasure.  And if you want to blurt out to all Binchester how we were tricked and frightened out of our lives by imitation savages, I don’t.”

“He stole our ship,” growled Stobell, after a long pause.  “We could have him for that.”

“Mutiny on the high seas,” added Chalk, with an important air.

“The whole story would have to come out,” said Tredgold, sharply.  “Verdict:  served them right.  Once we had got the treasure we could have given Captain Bowers his share, or more than his share, and it would have been all right.  As it is, nobody must know that we went for it.”

Mr. Stobell, unable to trust himself with speech, stumped fiercely up and down the beach.

“But it will all have to come out if we are rescued,” objected Mr. Chalk.

“We can tell what story we like,” said Tredgold.  “We can say that the schooner went to pieces on a reef in the night; we got separated from the other boat and made our way here.  We have got plenty of time to concoct a story, and there is nobody to contradict it.”