[Illustration: "He ransacked an old lumber-room."]
"Don't you be in too much of a hurry to find that map, captain," he said.
"It's found," said Miss Drewitt, with a little note of triumph in her
voice.
"Found it this morning," said Captain Bowers. He crossed over to an oak
bureau which stood in the corner by the fireplace, and taking a paper
from a pigeon-hole slowly unfolded it and spread it on the table before
the delighted Mr. Chalk. Miss Drewitt and Edward Tredgold advanced to
the table and eyed it curiously.
The map, which was drawn in lead-pencil, was on a piece of ruled paper,
yellow with age and cracked in the folds. The island was in shape a
rough oval, the coast-line being broken by small bays and headlands. Mr.
Chalk eyed it with all the fervour usually bestowed on a holy relic, and,
breathlessly reading off such terms as "Cape Silvio," "Bowers Bay," and
"Mount Lonesome," gazed with breathless interest at the discoverer.
"And is that the grave?" he inquired, in a trembling voice, pointing to a
mark in the north-east corner.
The captain removed it with his finger-nail.
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