and
South-South-West, the most southerly islet standing quite close to the
edge of the shoal. The one next it to the northward, which was the
largest of them all, was only a very small affair, being about half a
mile long by about a quarter of a mile broad. But it was the
northernmost islet that chiefly appealed to George. All of them were
low and shaggy with stunted bush, but this one stood higher out of the
water than any of the others, being some twelve or fifteen feet high at
its highest part; moreover it had a few coconut trees upon it, which the
others had not, and the young captain was quick to see how usefully
these might be employed as landmarks in the event of his determining to
bury the treasure there. Accordingly, as soon as he and his companion
had familiarised themselves with the features of the place, George
descended to the deck and took command of the ship, leaving Dyer perched
aloft to act as pilot and con the ship to her anchorage. Half an hour
later the _Nonsuch_, having slid round the tail of a reef that jutted
out about half a mile from the southern extremity of the island, clewed
up her canvas and came to an anchor at a distance of less than a quarter
of a mile from the beautifully smooth, sandy beach, and all hands went
below to breakfast.

As George more than half-expected, there was a very marked disposition
to murmur and to betray strong dissatisfaction when it came to be known
that the captain had called a halt at this little group of desolate,
uninteresting islets with the express object of burying the rich booty
that had been so easily acquired, some of the malcontents going so far
as to express aloud their firm conviction that when once the islets had
been lost sight of it would be impossible to ever find them again. And
such a fear was by no means ill-founded, for it must be remembered that
when George Saint Leger embarked upon his great adventure the science of
navigation was in a very different condition from what it now is.
Latitude was only determinable very roughly by means of one or another
of two crude instruments, one of which was called the _astrolabe_ and
the other the _cross staff_, while there was no method of determining
the longitude at all, save by what is now known as the "dead reckoning,"
that is to say, a more or less careful record of the courses steered and
the distances sailed; hence when mariners ventured out of sight of land
their only means of reaching any d