What seems to me the chief ingenuity in this
whole business, is the fact (for repeated experiment has convinced
me it IS a fact) that the circular opening in question is visible
from no other attainable point of view than that afforded by the
narrow ledge upon the face of the rock.
"In this expedition to the 'Bishop's Hotel' I had been attended by
Jupiter, who had, no doubt, observed, for some weeks past, the
abstraction of my demeanor, and took especial care not to leave me
alone. But, on the next day, getting up very early, I contrived to
give him the slip, and went into the hills in search of the tree.
After much toil I found it. When I came home at night my valet
proposed to give me a flogging. With the rest of the adventure I
believe you are as well acquainted as myself."
"I suppose," said I, "you missed the spot, in the first attempt at
digging, through Jupiter's stupidity in letting the bug fall
through the right instead of through the left eye of the skull."
"Precisely. This mistake made a difference of about two inches and
a half in the 'shot'--that is to say, in the position of the peg
nearest the tree; and had the treasure been BENEATH the 'shot,' the
error would have been of little moment; but 'the shot,' together
with the nearest point of the tree, were merely two points for the
establishment of a line of direction; of course the error, however
trivial in the beginning, increased as we proceeded with the line,
and by the time we had gone fifty feet threw us quite off the
scent.
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