he
mother of my children; but we could neither of us endure the other's
presence for any length of time without a squabble, so that our
domestic infelicity became a jest and a byword even among our servants.
In these circumstances I felt it would be better that we should part.
It is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I was
convinced that I would regard Pauline with more kindly feelings if seas
between us rolled than were possible if we remained together in the
same house, and I have no doubt that Pauline thoroughly reciprocated my
sentiments.

In this mood I sought my old comrade Dirk Hartog. I found him, as I
expected, at a tavern which he frequented. He was seated at a table
with Bantum and Janstins, poring over a chart in which all three
appeared to be deeply interested.

CHAPTER XL

THE YELLOW PARCHMENT

"Welcome, Peter!" cried Hartog, when he saw me. "I'd have wagered you'd
be with us, and here you are in the nick of time."

"What's in the wind now?" I asked, as I drew a chair to the table at
which the three were seated.

"The greatest and best chance that was ever offered to seafarers,"
answered Hartog. "Read that, and say whether any man with the blood of
a rover in him could sit tamely at home when such a country as this is
waiting to be explored."

With these words he pushed toward me a parchment yellow with age, but
very clearly written, so it was easy to decipher. The paper, a
translation in Spanish from some ancient tongue, read as follows:

"The Ruby Mountains. Among these mountains there are certain great and
deep valleys to the bottom of which there is no access. These valleys
are full of rubies. Wherefore the men who go in search of them take
with them a piece of flesh as lean as they can get, and this they east
into the bottom of the valley. Now there are a number of white eagles
that haunt these mountains and feed upon the serpents in which the
valley abounds. When the eagles see the meat thrown down, they pounce
upon it, and carry it up to some rocky hill-top, where they begin to
rend it. But there are men on the watch, and as soon as they see that
the eagles have, settled they raise a loud shouting to drive them off.
And when the eagles are thus scared away, the men recover the pieces of
meat, and find them full of rubies, which have stuck to the meat down
in the bottom of the valley. The abundance of rubies in these depths is
astonishing, but none can get down, and i