"You have seen nothing, I suppose, Tom?" he asked the sailor stationed in the main-top.
Nat continued his way up, and took his seat on the yard of the topsail. Leaning back against the mast, he brought his telescope to bear upon the land, and for half an hour scanned every rock and tree. At last something caught his eye.
"Come up here, Tom," he called to the sailor below. "Look there, you see that black streak on the face of the cliff?"
"Well, look above the first line of trees exactly over it: isn't that a pole with a truck on the top of it?"
"You are right, sir! you are right!" the sailor said, as he got the glass to bear upon the object Nat had indicated, "that is the upper spar of a vessel of some sort, sure enough."
"What is it, Mr. Glover?" the first lieutenant answered.
"I can make out the upper spar of a craft in among the trees over there, sir."
"You are sure that you are not mistaken?"
"Quite sure, sir. With the glass I can make out the truck quite distinctly. It is certainly either the upper spar of a craft of some kind or a flag-staff, of course I cannot say which."
The first lieutenant himself ran up the ratlines and joined Nat. The breeze was very light, and the _Orpheus_ was scarcely moving through the water. Nat handed his telescope to Mr. Hill.
"There, sir, it is about a yard to the west of that black streak on the rock."
"I see it," the lieutenant exclaimed after a long gaze at the shore. "You are right, it must be, as you say, either the spar of a ship or a flag-staff; though how a ship could get in there is more than I can say. There, it has gone now!"
"The trees were rather lower at the point where we saw it, and the higher trees have shut it in."
He descended to the deck followed by Nat.
"Well, what do you make of it, Mr. Hill?" enquired the captain, who had come out of his cabin on hearing Nat's hail.
"There is no doubt that Mr. Glover is right, sir, and that it is the upper spar of a craft of some kind, unless it is a flag-staff on shore, and it is hardly the sort of place in which you would expect to find a flag-staff. It is a marvel Mr. Glover made it out, for even with his glass I had a great difficulty in finding it, though he gave me the exact bearing."