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 in
question up to view.
"Does it work?" asked Fred, slyly.
"Of course it works," said George loftily. "Anything that I have is all
right. You ought to know that by this time."
"If we didn't have so much work ahead of us this morning," said Fred, "I
should suggest that we stop here for a minute and take the conceit out
of 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 to
come 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 he
won'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 soon
came to their destination, and prepared to measure off the distances
according to the code.
"Read what the code says first of all, Grant," exclaimed Fred. "That'll
help 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 words
that meant so much to every one of them.
"Take a course due north one hundred feet from the southern extremity of
shark 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 place
where 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 first
observation."
The little instrument was placed on top of the great rock while the five
gold seekers crowded around it eagerly. The delicate indicator fluttered
excitedly for some moments, then its fluctuations gradually became less
and less. At last it stopped entirely, the tiny needle pointing exactly
north.
"There we are," exclaimed George. "Now if we go directly opposite to the
way that needle is pointing we'll find the southern extremity of this
rock."
"That's what we want," cried Grant. "You walk down there, Fred."
Fred hastened to obey and soon stationed himself at the opposite end of
the 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 the
exact spot, you know, from looking at it."
"That's right," agreed John, "and we don't want to make any mistake at
the very beginning of our calculations. That would throw us 'way off
later on."
"Take this stick," suggested George, bringing up a long thin shoot he
had torn from one of the nearby bushes. "Lay it flat out on the rock and
in a direct line with the needle. Be sure to get it exact and if we do
we can easily enough find the 'southern extremity.'"
This was quickly done, and in a few moments the exact spot desired was
located beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"Now," exclaimed Grant, "the next thing to do is to measure off a
distance 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 here
and 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 are
twelve inches in a foot, of course, and in one hundred feet there would
be one hundred times twelve, or twelve hundred. Now the shoe is ten
inches 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 distance
one 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. "That
is 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 pine
trees. Placing the toe of John's shoe close up against the spot on
shark's rock that was their starting place, Grant began to measure. With
a small stick he marked the place to which the heel of the shoe extended
and then repeated the operation, using the marker for a starting-point.
George kept close watch with his compass to see that the correct
direction was being followed.
It was slow work and arduous. Everybody was on his hands and knees
keeping careful watch of all the operations. The sun was hot and in some
places sharp stones or bits of coral were mixed in with the sand so that
more than one of the little party soon had bleeding knees and hands as a
result. No one seemed to mind or even to notice these discomforts,
however. The task they were engaged in was so interesting and absorbing
to 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 shift
that shoe I make a mark on this page from George's diary. When there are
five 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 for
nothing."
The measurements were continued, painfully and slowly. Every ten inches
was marked off with the greatest of care, and if John's statement that
his shoe was exactly ten inches long was correct it seemed impossible
that any mistake had crept into their calculations. John insisted over
and over again that the length quoted was absolutely correct, but his
friends kept on asking him, so anxious were they to be perfectly sure.
"One hundred and twenty," announced Fred at length. "That's the end of
the first journey."
"Thank goodness," exclaimed Grant, wiping the perspiration from his
brow. "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 the
shade afforded by a neighboring clump of palms and stretched themselves
upon the ground for a well earned rest.
"I don't suppose we have any business to be working out in that sun in
the 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 that
people who are used to living in the tropics would be working out in it
either."
"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 more
until the sun begins to go down a little. We've got more than half of it
measured 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 to
finish 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 if
it'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 I
want to see that gold, I'm willing to wait 'till to-morrow rather than
run the risk of sunstroke or something."
Having reached this decision they lay about in the shade all through the
tropical noon and discussed the treasure for the thousandth time since
they first had come into possession of the code. Sometimes they dozed
and Sam, true to the traditions of his race, slept soundly.
At last the shadows began to lengthen and a cool breeze sprang up off
the water. It was like food to a starving man it was so refreshing and
strengthening.
"We're off!" cried Grant, springing eagerly to his feet.
Every one joined him quickly and the task was resumed, and the air being
cooler now, they all worked better and more easily.
"This next course is just half as long as the last one, isn't it?" said
Grant.
"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 marked
the completion of the second stage of their journey.
"Now," exclaimed Grant, "we go north by east thirty-three feet. How many
lengths of your shoe is that, John?"
"You figure it out, Fred," urged John. "You've got pencil and paper and
all you have to do, you know, is to multiply thirty-three by twelve and
divide by ten."
"Thirty-nine and six-tenths times," announced Fred. "How can we measure
that fraction exactly?"
"We won't need to," said Grant. "It's the last figure and we can get it
within a couple of inches. We'll dig a hole a couple of feet square all
around our last marker, so two or three inches won't make any
difference."
"That's right," agreed Fred, and the measurements were continued.
Soon they came to the end, but there an unexpected complication
presented itself. Thirty-three feet from the last point brought them
squarely up against a palm tree some twelve or fifteen inches in
diameter.
"That's the end," exclaimed Fred. "How can we dig down through a tree
like 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 the
first place how can any one bury anything underneath a tree like that?"
"They didn't," said George. "They buried the treasure here and then
planted this palm tree to mark the spot. Do you notice that it is the
only one within fifty or a hundred feet of here?"
"You're right, Pop," exclaimed Grant. "I believe that that's exactly
what happened."