I had put together two links of a great
chain. There was a boat lying upon a seacoast, and not far from
the boat was a parchment--NOT A PAPER--with a skull depicted upon
it. You will, of course, ask 'where is the connection?' I reply
that the skull, or death's head, is the well-known emblem of the
pirate. The flag of the death's head is hoisted in all
engagements.
"I have said that the scrap was parchment, and not paper.
Parchment is durable--almost imperishable. Matters of little
moment are rarely consigned to parchment; since, for the mere
ordinary purposes of drawing or writing, it is not nearly so well
adapted as paper. This reflection suggested some meaning--some
relevancy--in the death's head. I did not fail to observe, also,
the FORM of the parchment. Although one of its corners had been,
by some accident, destroyed, it could be seen that the original
form was oblong. It was just such a slip, indeed, as might have
been chosen for a memorandum--for a record of something to be long
remembered, and carefully preserved."
"But," I interposed, "you say that the skull was NOT upon the
parchment when you made the drawing of the beetle.
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