see, Cary says that Leirya hasn't been heard of for some
time. That seems to point either to his death or the disbandment of his
crew.

"Now, Cary says he was here in 1582, in the summer, and mentions that
that date was just after the time when Leirya was committing such
atrocities on the high seas. There is what is presumably a date at the
beginning of our document, and that date--if such it is--is 1581, the
year before Cary came to these parts. People do not write in cipher
save to conceal important information from the eyes of those not in the
secret, do they? Very well.

"Now, what would any man wish to conceal by cipher save hidden treasure?
There are other things, certainly, he might wish to write about in such
a way that the ordinary run of people should not understand the writing,
but, to my mind, treasure is the most likely, and the dates coincide
very well. Our date is 1581, and Cary says that when he was here in
1582 it was just after the pirate's depredations; and he has not,
apparently, been heard of since. This, I say, points to his death or to
the disbandment of his crew; and what more likely than that, before
either of these occurrences, he should bury his accumulated booty and
locate its position by cipher? I believe most strongly, Harry, that we
have in our possession the key to the hiding-place of all the treasure
of Jose Leirya--and he must have accumulated millions of dollars' worth
in his time--if we can but come upon the translation of it. What do you
think of it, Harry?"

"Well, Roger, lad," said Harry, "as you put it, certainly it does seem
as though you might be right, and that there may be something in it. We
must make another attempt to find the key to the cipher, and when that
is found I certainly think we shall obtain something valuable for our
trouble, even though it should not be this great treasure of Jose
Leirya. But we had better go below now and try to get some sleep, for
we shall have a hard day before us to-morrow."

They were roused early next morning by the boatswain's whistle, and,
having dressed, came up on deck to find that the boats were just being
got over the side again to take away the kedge anchors, by which to haul
the ships closer inshore for careening purposes.

It was decided by Cavendish that, as the beach was very spacious, and
there were four ships to be careened, they should careen two at a time,
instead of one only, as usual. The vessels that most