Then Daggett, whom I had always considered a coward, did what struck me as being a very brave act. He climbed upon the sloping rock, and gradually crept upward on his hands and knees. When he reached a point above the center the huge rock began to tremble. Daggett crept a little further along, and now the entire mass of rock, which was poised to a nicety, raised its vast bulk and tipped slowly outward. Daggett slid forward; the point of rock under him touched the islet and came to rest, and then he leaped off and stood safely upon the peak, while the rocking-stone, relieved of his weight, slowly returned to its former position. A cheer went up from the men, and they hesitated no longer. Bry crept up the stone next, and was tipped gracefully upon the islet. One after another Hayes, Judson and Larkin mounted the rocking-stone and were deposited upon the rocky point, together with their bundles of gold and provisions. We could not see very well what became of them, after this, for the big rock hid them from our view; but as it was evident they could not get back again—at least by the same means they had employed to reach the islet,—Nux and I made bold to creep out of our shelter and approach the point that jutted outward into the sea. Then, to our surprise, we saw that the flat top of the rock was deserted. The robbers, together with Bry and the treasure, seemed to have vanished into thin air! CHAPTER XI. THE CAVERN. From our better position we could now see the sides of the great rock which reared itself nearly a hundred feet from the shore and stood like some gigantic, flat topped obelisk, keeping guard by the lonely sea. Some ancient convulsion of nature, such as an earthquake or a lightning bolt, had evidently split it from the main precipice of rock near which it stood; for the huge crevice that separated it, and which extended entirely down to the beach, almost followed its outlines in every particular. But what had cast up that great rocking-stone, and placed it in so finely balanced a position that it could be made a curious but effective bridge to the isolated peak? No one can tell. Another freak of nature, doubtless, for no mortal hands could ever have moved so great a weight of solid rock.