blundered up against what is now known as the Pedro Bank and
its cays, and there the latter lay, not more than a mile to leeward of
the ship, which was already in discoloured water, with the sea breaking
heavily at no great distance to the north of her and all round four
small islets within easy distance of each other. Fortunately, the
weather was fine, and a very brief study of the situation sufficed to
convince Saint Leger that the ship was not in any danger, now that the
islands had been seen and timely measures taken to avoid running upon
them. But the sight of them had crystallised in his mind an idea that
had been floating there during the last few days, ever since they had
left Margarita, indeed, and he issued orders for sail to be reduced, and
for the ship to dodge to and fro to windward of the islets, keeping them
in sight until the morning. For he had suddenly made up his mind to
devote a few hours to the examination of these islets by daylight, with
the object of determining their suitability as a hiding-place for the
treasure which he now had on board. He regarded it as altogether too
valuable to be risked in a fight with its accompanying possibilities of
capture, and he felt convinced, from occasional remarks which had
reached his ears, that all hands would fight with greater freedom, and
much easier minds, if they felt that, in the event of a reverse, their
loss would be confined to that of the ship, and possibly their own
freedom--strange to say, they were quite willing to risk the latter,
convinced that if they fell into the hands of the enemy their loss of
freedom would be but temporary, but if they chanced to lose the treasure
it would be gone for ever.

Accordingly the ship dodged off and on during the remaining hours of the
night, and at daybreak George was called, and at once proceeded into the
foretop, accompanied by Dyer, where the pair again carefully
reconnoitred their surroundings. From this elevation it was seen that
the four islets occupied the south-eastern extremity of a shoal, or
bank, of somewhat irregular shape, widening out from a point at its
eastern extremity, to a width of some twenty-five miles at the spot
occupied by the islets, and stretching away in a westerly direction to
the very verge of the horizon, and possibly farther still. The four
islets lay in a group, about four miles apart, nearly equidistant from
each other, and ran in a direction approximately North-North-East,