In various places we observed fragments of coral reef, and beche-de-mer was so abundant that our schooner might have taken a full cargo of it.
Hunt walked on in silence with downcast eyes, until as we were close upon the beach to the east, he, being about ten paces ahead, stopped abruptly, and summoned us to him by a hurried gesture.
In an instant we were by his side.

Hunt had evinced no surprise on the subject of the piece of wood first found, but his attitude changed when he knelt down in front of a worm-eaten plank lying on the sand.

He felt it all over with his huge hands, as though he were seeking sotne tracery on its rough surface whose signification might be intelligible to him.

The black paint was hidden under the thick dirt that had accumulated upon it.

The plank had probably formed part of a ship's stern, as the boatswain requested us to observe.
"Yes, yes," repeated Captain Len Guy, "it made part of a stern." Hunt, who still remained kneeling, nodded his big head in assent.
"But," I remarked, "this plank must have been cast upon Bennet Islet from a wreck! The cross-currents must have found it in the open sea, and--" "If that were so--" cried the captain.
The same thought had occurred to both of us.