men had got tired of handling it before its
transfer had been completed; nay more, they were actually _satisfied_
with the amount of their wealth; and when George first announced his
intention of burying it with the rest, prior to pursuing his search for
his lost brother, there were those among his crew who loudly protested
that they were now rich enough to return at once to England with what
they had; that it would simply be a tempting of Providence to pursue the
adventure further, and that, for their part, they had had quite enough
of the Indies. But Saint Leger speedily quelled these murmurs by
mustering the crew and reading to them the Articles of Agreement which
all had signed, and which clearly set forth the objects with which the
voyage had been undertaken, among which was distinctly specified the
finding and deliverance of Mr Hubert Saint Leger. And having read
these Articles, George proceeded to inform the crew of his determination
to hold all hands to their bargain, reminded them of the pains and
penalties provided by way of punishment for breaches, or even attempted
breaches, of any Article of the covenant, and wound up by declaring
that, rather than abandon his search for his brother, he would maroon
the malcontents and leave them to find their way back home as best they
could. And, as the malcontents proved after all to be but a small
proportion of the crew, this threat quietened them, at least for the
time being, and no further murmurs were heard.

On the morning of the ninth day after their departure from the harbour
of San Juan de Ulua the adventurers sighted Cape Catoche, the most
northerly point of the Peninsula of Yucatan, broad on the lee bow,
tacked two hours later and made a stretch off the land until sunset,
when they tacked again to the southward; and on the following day at
noon their reckoning showed that they had accomplished their passage
through the Strait of Yucatan and were once more in the Caribbean Sea.
Eight days later the treasure island was sighted from aloft at sunrise;
and by noon the _Nonsuch_ with her cargo of treasure was safely at
anchor under the lee of the island, and as close to the beach as it was
prudent to take her. As soon as the canvas was furled and everything
made snug aloft, all hands were piped to dinner; and at the conclusion
of the meal two boats were lowered and manned, their crews well provided
with mattocks, shovels, and other implements for digging, and wer