"It left me also in the dark," replied Legrand, "for a few days, during
which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of Sullivan's
Island, for any building, which went by the name of the 'Bishop's
Hotel'—for of course I dropped the obsolete word 'hostel.' Gaining no
information on the subject, I was on the point of extending my sphere
of search, and proceeding in a more systematic manner, when, one
morning, it entered into my head, quite suddenly, that this 'Bishop's
Hostel' might have some reference to an old family, of the name of
Bessop, which, time out of mind, had held possession of an ancient
manor-house, about four miles to the northward of the island. I
accordingly went over to the plantation, and reinstituted my inquiries
among the older negroes of the place. At length one of the most aged of
the women said that she had heard of such a place as _Bessop's Castle_
and thought that she could guide me to it, but that it was not a
castle, nor tavern, but a high rock.
"I offered to pay her well for her trouble, and, after some demur, she
consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it without much
difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the place. The
'castle' consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one
of the latter being quite remarkable for its height as well as for its
insulated and artificial appearance, I clambered to its apex, and then
felt much at a loss as to what should be next done.
"While I was buried in reflection, my eyes fell upon a narrow ledge in
the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the summit upon
which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen inches, and was not
more than a foot wide, while a niche in the cliff just above it gave it
a rude resemblance to one of the hollow-backed chairs used by our
ancestors. I made no doubt that here was the 'devil's seat' alluded to
in the Ms., and now I seemed to grasp the full secret of the riddle.
"The 'good glass,' I knew, could have reference to nothing but a
telescope; for the word 'glass' is rarely employed in any other sense
by seamen. Now here, I at once saw, was a telescope to be used, and a
definite point of view, _admitting no variation_, from which to use it.
Nor did I hesitate to believe that the phrase 'twenty-one degrees and
thirteen minutes' and 'northeast and by north,' were intended as
directions for the levelling of the glass. Greatly excited by these
discoveries, I hurried home, procured a telescope, and returned to the
rock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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