Besides my father's papers there were the papers which Worthing's clerk had given me. I studied these carefully, but they contained nothing but a clear and precise account of the investments he had made with my money. So clear indeed was the statement that even I could understand it, and I knew I should have no difficulty in conducting my own affairs when occasion called. I felt a gush of gratitude to my dead friend who had taken such care of my concerns. I thought of how he had sacrificed pride and principle to rescue me from Rancey Bridge, and how he had sustained and guided me in the days that had followed that dreadful first of May. And in return I had killed him! Well, I knew it was useless brooding over things which couldn't be amended, yet my heart was heavy with the weight of sorrows it had to bear. Meanwhile by day I was searching the countryside for traces of the mysterious passage which should reveal to me the secret of the treasure. Again I enquired of the obstinate Dragon's Mouth; but the great tongue remained foolishly thrust out at me, and the wide jagged lips were dumb. I sounded up and down through the Smugglers' Tunnel, and knocked at the fallen doors of Ebb-Tide Gate; but nothing opened to my knocking. So at last I set myself to explore Drift-Wood Cavern. I think I delayed the exploration as long as possible because I still remembered the strange fear which had possessed me when I first entered those green and evil waters. There was a dread holding me away from the place. But I knew I must face the ordeal, so at length I took my courage in my hands and dived into the darkness. I was gratified to find that the old fear didn't return, only a sense of faint disgust at the furtive clinging weeds and the slow smooth drifts of refuse which had gathered there through the years. I provided myself with clothes and lantern, and such tools as I thought might be necessary, also a tin of ship's biscuits, thrusting them into the crevice from the Smugglers' Tunnel so that I merely had to reach for them when in the cavern. And so I was sheltered from the cold of wetness and nakedness, and had a light to search by and tools to probe with. I was determined that if the place really held a secret I would wrest it away before I had done.