“Why,” said the reporter, “there is something.  It looks like part of a wreck half buried in the sand.”

“Ah!” cried Pencroft, “I see what it is!”

“What?” asked Neb.

“Barrels, barrels, which perhaps are full,” replied the sailor.

“Pull to the shore, Pencroft!” said Cyrus.

A few strokes of the oar brought the canoe into a little creek, and its passengers leaped on shore.

Pencroft was not mistaken.  Two barrels were there, half buried in the sand, but still firmly attached to a large chest, which, sustained by them, had floated to the moment when it stranded on the beach.

“There has been a wreck, then, in some part of the island,” said Herbert.

“Evidently,” replied Spilett.

“But what’s in this chest?” cried Pencroft, with very natural impatience.  “What’s in this chest?  It is shut up, and nothing to open it with!  Well, perhaps a stone—­”

And the sailor, raising a heavy block, was about to break in one of the sides of the chest, when the engineer arrested his hand.

“Pencroft,” said he, “can you restrain your impatience for one hour only?”

But, captain, just think!  Perhaps there is everything we want in there!”

“We shall find that out, Pencroft,” replied the engineer; “but trust to me, and do not break the chest, which may be useful to us.  We must convey it to Granite House, where we can open it easily, and without breaking it.  It is quite prepared for a voyage; and since it has floated here, it may just as well float to the mouth of the river.”

“You are right, captain, and I was wrong, as usual,” replied the sailor.

The engineer’s advice was good.  In fact, the canoe probably would not have been able to contain the articles possibly enclosed in the chest, which doubtless was heavy, since two empty barrels were required to buoy it up.  It was, therefore, much better to tow it to the beach at Granite House.

And now, whence had this chest come?  That was the important question.  Cyrus Harding and his companions looked attentively around them, and examined the shore for several hundred steps.  No other articles or pieces of wreck could be found.  Herbert and Neb climbed a high rock to survey the sea, but there was nothing in sight—­neither a dismasted vessel nor a ship under sail.

However, there was no doubt that there had been a wreck.  Perhaps this incident was connected with that of the bullet?  Perhaps strangers had landed on another part of the island?  Perhaps they were still there?  But the thought which came naturally to the settlers was, that these strangers could not be Malay pirates, for the chest was evidently of American or European make.