“Are you sure this is the one, Brisket?” he inquired, carelessly.

“Certainly, sir,” said the captain, in some surprise.  “At least, it’s the one you told me to steer for.”

“Don’t look much like the map,” said Stobell, in a low aside.  “Where’s the mountain?”

Tredgold looked again.  “I fancy it’s a bit higher towards the middle,” he said, after a prolonged inspection;” and, besides, it’s ‘mount,’ not ‘mountain.’”

Captain Brisket, who had with great delicacy drawn a little apart in recognition of their whispers, stepped towards them again.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this particular island before,” he said, frankly;” likely not; but it’s the one you told me to find.  There’s over a couple of hundred of them, large and small, knocking about.  If you think you’ve made a mistake we might try some of the others.”

“No,” said Tredgold, after a pause and a prolonged inspection;” this must be right.”

Mr. Chalk came down from aloft, his eyes shining with pure joy, and joined them.

“How long before we’re alongside?” he inquired.

“Two hours,” replied the captain; “perhaps three,” he added, considering.

Mr. Chalk glanced aloft and, after a knowing question or two as to the wind, began in a low voice to converse with his friends.  Mr. Tredgold’s misgivings as to the identity of the island he dismissed at once as baseless.  The mount satisfied him, and when, as they approached nearer, discrepancies in shape between the island and the map were pointed out to him he easily explained them by speaking of the difficulties of cartography to an amateur.

“There’s our point,” he said, indicating it with a forefinger, which the incensed Stobell at once struck down.  “We couldn’t have managed it better so far as time is concerned.  We’ll sleep ashore tonight in the tent and start the search at daybreak.”

Captain Brisket approached the island cautiously.  To the eyes of the voyagers it seemed to change shape as they neared it, until finally, the Fair Emily anchoring off the reef which guarded it, it revealed itself as a small island about three-quarters of a mile long and two or three hundred yards wide.  A beach of coral sand shelved steeply to the sea, and a background of cocoa-nut trees and other vegetation completed a picture on which Mr. Chalk gazed with the rapture of a devotee at a shrine.

He went below as the anchor ran out, and after a short absence reappeared on deck bedizened with weapons.  A small tent, with blankets and provisions, and a long deal box containing a couple of spades and a pick, were put into one of the boats, and the three friends, after giving minute instructions to the captain, followed.  Mr. Duckett took the helm, and after a short pull along the edge of the reef discovered an opening which gave access to the smooth water inside.

[Illustration:  “Mr. Duckett took the helm.” ]