CHAPTER XXVI
THE SPOT IS MARKED
"You've got your compass, haven't you, Pop?" demanded Grant.
"Right in my hand," replied George, holding the precious article inquestion up to view.
"Does it work?" asked Fred, slyly.
"Of course it works," said George loftily. "Anything that I have is allright. You ought to know that by this time."
"If we didn't have so much work ahead of us this morning," said Fred, "Ishould suggest that we stop here for a minute and take the conceit outof him."
"Oh, Pop's all right," laughed Grant. "He just feels good to-day."
"Why didn't you bring your nice gentle little parrot along, Pop?"inquired John. "He'd have enjoyed seeing his owner do some work."
"I was going to bring him," said George, "but look what he did to me,"and he held up a bleeding finger. "That's his answer to my invitation tocome along."
"Isn't he affectionate?" laughed John. "My, I wish I had a parrot."
"He'll be all right some day," said George seriously. "You see if hewon't."
"I'm glad you're the trainer and not I, anyway," said John grimly.
Laughing and joking, bantering one another and full of spirits they sooncame to their destination, and prepared to measure off the distancesaccording to the code.
"Read what the code says first of all, Grant," exclaimed Fred. "That'llhelp us all to know just what we are to do."
"You ought to know it by heart now I should think," laughed Grant."Still, I'll read it if you say so."
"Go ahead, Grant," urged John, and once more they listened to the wordsthat meant so much to every one of them.
"Take a course due north one hundred feet from the southern extremity ofshark rock, then east fifty feet and north by east thirty-three. Dig."
"Dig," cried George. "That's the important word. Dig! Dig! Dig!"
"Wait a minute, Pop," exclaimed Grant. "We've got to find the placewhere we are to dig first, you know."
"All right," said George eagerly. "Here's the compass."
"Lay it flat out on the rock," directed Grant. "We'll take our firstobservation."
The little instrument was placed on top of the great rock while the fivegold seekers crowded around it eagerly. The delicate indicator flutteredexcitedly for some moments, then its fluctuations gradually became lessand less. At last it stopped entirely, the tiny needle pointing exactlynorth.
"There we are," exclaimed George. "Now if we go directly opposite to theway that needle is pointing we'll find the southern extremity of thisrock."
"That's what we want," cried Grant. "You walk down there, Fred."
Fred hastened to obey and soon stationed himself at the opposite end ofthe rock, which happened to be the tail of the shark.
"Get in direct line now," directed Grant.
"You'll have to tell me what that is," replied Fred. "I can't tell theexact spot, you know, from looking at it."
"That's right," agreed John, "and we don't want to make any mistake atthe very beginning of our calculations. That would throw us 'way offlater on."
"Take this stick," suggested George, bringing up a long thin shoot hehad torn from one of the nearby bushes. "Lay it flat out on the rock andin a direct line with the needle. Be sure to get it exact and if we dowe can easily enough find the 'southern extremity.'"
This was quickly done, and in a few moments the exact spot desired waslocated beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"Now," exclaimed Grant, "the next thing to do is to measure off adistance due north from here."
"Here's your tape measure," laughed John, offering his shoe to Grant."That's exactly ten inches long. I'll take my oath to that."
"Let's see," mused Grant. "We want to measure a hundred feet from hereand the shoe is ten inches long. How are we going to figure that out?"
"That's easy enough," exclaimed John. "You do it this way: there aretwelve inches in a foot, of course, and in one hundred feet there wouldbe one hundred times twelve, or twelve hundred. Now the shoe is teninches long, so you divide twelve hundred by ten, which is--"
"One hundred and twenty," said Grant quickly.
"Right," exclaimed John. "In other words, we want to measure a distanceone hundred and twenty times the length of my shoe due north from here."
"Go ahead and do it," urged George. "I'll do it myself."
"You see to it that we keep going straight north," advised Grant. "Thatis one of the most important things of all."
"That suits me," said George. "Start your measurements."
The course led off across the sandy beach towards a little clump of pinetrees. Placing the toe of John's shoe close up against the spot onshark's rock that was their starting place, Grant began to measure. Witha small stick he marked the place to which the heel of the shoe extendedand then repeated the operation, using the marker for a starting-point.George kept close watch with his compass to see that the correctdirection was being followed.
It was slow work and arduous. Everybody was on his hands and kneeskeeping careful watch of all the operations. The sun was hot and in someplaces sharp stones or bits of coral were mixed in with the sand so thatmore than one of the little party soon had bleeding knees and hands as aresult. No one seemed to mind or even to notice these discomforts,however. The task they were engaged in was so interesting and absorbingto them that they paid scant attention to anything else.
"Be sure to keep track of the number of times we have measured, Fred,"reminded Grant. "We don't want any slip-up, you know."
"Don't worry about that," said Fred confidently. "Every time you shiftthat shoe I make a mark on this page from George's diary. When there arefive marks made I cross them off."
"How many so far?" inquired John.
"Seventy," replied Fred after a rapid calculation. "Fifty more to go."
"Don't hurry," warned Grant. "We want it right, you know."
"We certainly do," agreed George. "We don't want to do all this work fornothing."
The measurements were continued, painfully and slowly. Every ten incheswas marked off with the greatest of care, and if John's statement thathis shoe was exactly ten inches long was correct it seemed impossiblethat any mistake had crept into their calculations. John insisted overand over again that the length quoted was absolutely correct, but hisfriends kept on asking him, so anxious were they to be perfectly sure.
"One hundred and twenty," announced Fred at length. "That's the end ofthe first journey."
"Thank goodness," exclaimed Grant, wiping the perspiration from hisbrow. "That's about as hard work as I care to do."
"I should say it is," agreed George. "Let's rest for a few minutes."
"I've got to," said Grant. "I'll never last otherwise."
"Mark the exact spot where we are to start on the next lap," said John,"and then let's go up here in the shade and rest for a little while."
"Good idea," exclaimed Grant. "I'll put this stick in the ground."
The important spot plainly indicated, the whole party withdrew to theshade afforded by a neighboring clump of palms and stretched themselvesupon the ground for a well earned rest.
"I don't suppose we have any business to be working out in that sun inthe middle of the day anyway," said Grant. "It's entirely too hot."
"Do you think we're apt to get a sunstroke?" queried John.
"There's a good chance of it, I should think. I don't believe thatpeople who are used to living in the tropics would be working out in iteither."
"Suttinly dey wouldn't," said Sam with great conviction. "It am bery,bery dangerous."
"I think so too," exclaimed George. "I say we don't do anything moreuntil the sun begins to go down a little. We've got more than half of itmeasured out anyway, and it won't take us so very long to do the rest."
"The only trouble is," remarked Fred, "that if we wait until then tofinish the measuring we won't be able to do any digging to-day."
"What of it?" demanded Grant. "Gold won't evaporate, you know,
and ifit's there to-day it'll be there just as much to-morrow."
"You're right, Grant," agreed George. "There's no hurry, and much as Iwant to see that gold, I'm willing to wait 'till to-morrow rather thanrun the risk of sunstroke or something."
Having reached this decision they lay about in the shade all through thetropical noon and discussed the treasure for the thousandth time sincethey first had come into possession of the code. Sometimes they dozedand Sam, true to the traditions of his race, slept soundly.
At last the shadows began to lengthen and a cool breeze sprang up offthe water. It was like food to a starving man it was so refreshing andstrengthening.
"We're off!" cried Grant, springing eagerly to his feet.
Every one joined him quickly and the task was resumed, and the air beingcooler now, they all worked better and more easily.
"This next course is just half as long as the last one, isn't it?" saidGrant.
"Yes," said John, "that makes just sixty times the length of my shoe."
Due east they measured off the distance and before very long had markedthe completion of the second stage of their journey.
"Now," exclaimed Grant, "we go north by east thirty-three feet. How manylengths of your shoe is that, John?"
"You figure it out, Fred," urged John. "You've got pencil and paper andall you have to do, you know, is to multiply thirty-three by twelve anddivide by ten."
"Thirty-nine and six-tenths times," announced Fred. "How can we measurethat fraction exactly?"
"We won't need to," said Grant. "It's the last figure and we can get itwithin a couple of inches. We'll dig a hole a couple of feet square allaround our last marker, so two or three inches won't make anydifference."
"That's right," agreed Fred, and the measurements were continued.
Soon they came to the end, but there an unexpected complicationpresented itself. Thirty-three feet from the last point brought themsquarely up against a palm tree some twelve or fifteen inches indiameter.
"That's the end," exclaimed Fred. "How can we dig down through a treelike that though? We must have made a mistake in our calculations."
"Why so?" demanded George.
"I don't see how it could be any other way," insisted Fred. "In thefirst place how can any one bury anything underneath a tree like that?"
"They didn't," said George. "They buried the treasure here and thenplanted this palm tree to mark the spot. Do you notice that it is theonly one within fifty or a hundred feet of here?"
"You're right, Pop," exclaimed Grant. "I believe that that's exactlywhat happened."