With but little trouble we made out the letters PM to be Porte Magasin (door of the store house), and again we were about a yard too much in the measurement.  So we left it, and proceeded to the last point, the letters CC.

The point was outside the walls, and the longest distance of all—­the figures twenty being written on the line.  As in the other instances I asked Monday the names of all kinds of objects to locate the letters CC, but failed in this, except that I presumed C might be Chaumiere = Cottage.

Next taking our stand at the point which we supposed the centre of the diagram—­the place of the skull—­we measured twenty yards towards the cottage, but it fell short of the nearest point of the building by nearly six feet; therefore probably it did not refer to the cottage at all.

We assumed therefore, that a tree or some such object, to which the letters CC referred, once stood on what was now a pathway joining the cottage.

We paused in our search for the day, resolving on the morrow to try our luck by digging a deep hole in the garden at the spot which we thought was the axis of the different radial measurements.

“Begum” followed us about like a district surveyor, and seemed to know something was on foot as well as himself.

Our work of fishing, shooting, and field work seemed quite in the background, and very insignificant compared with my treasure hunt; but Alec seemed to be quite indifferent to it; in fact, I think he had an idea that my fall had slightly shaken my brain, and perhaps addled it.  I more than suspected this, for I noticed he kept his eye ever on me, and would scarcely let me out of his sight.  Good, faithful fellow!

“What say you to a sail this evening, Crusoe?”

“Just the thing, Monday; it is such a glorious night, and the cool breeze will do us good.  What do you say to a drag with the trawl?”

“The very thing; more fish are caught in one night than in two days, so let’s set to at once, that is, after a good substantial tea.”

The meal being finished, we soon got the trawl and gear aboard the “Anglo-Franc,” and away we went in the lovely moonlight, scouring the bottom of the Perchee between the head of Jethou and the tail of Herm.  The latter island looked delightful in the pale greenish light of the moon, while Crevichon towering up against the sky, with the moon behind it, caused it to look like a silhouette cut out of black cardboard.

“Who would be stifled up in a town with wealth and its attending cares, in preference to this life of liberty I was leading?” I asked myself, and for answer gave, “While one is young, full of health, and with no encumbrances, a Bohemian life is all very well; but what when a wife and family are dependent on one?  That puts a different complexion on the matter, for one can roam no more.”