Mr. Oliver Cockspur had a pocket compass, and rejoiced not a little in being the agent of our preservation. He re-animated our exhausted spirits, and put new vigour in our wearied limbs, by the glad tidings of our being within a mile of Napoleon, which, by the course we had taken, was considerably nearer than Babelmandel.

As he appeared to wonder a good deal at what could have been the object of our journey, especially when he heard we had spent the night in the bush, I let him partly into my confidence; and never was a time better chosen for any communication, for he had his tests with him—it being a rule and habit with him and his brother never to go into the forest without them; so that, before reaching Napoleon, my business was in a manner determined, for the water proved excellent brine, and I resolved to purchase the land at once.

Accordingly, though in need of rest and refreshment, I sent the party on to the tavern, to order some repast to be prepared, and went myself straight to the land-office, where I made an extraordinary discovery of the cunning of Bailie Waft. On speaking to the agent for the lot of land, which I described as well as I could, for we did not happen to notice any of the surveyor's marks and monuments—indeed, the weather was such we could not look for them; he mentioned Mr. Waft had been with him some time before, with a proposal to disclose the secret of a mineral discovery he had made on the shores of the lake; but the agent, having no faith in his judgment, did not listen to his proposition. It was, therefore, most fortunate that I had sent him on to the tavern; for had he been with me, suspicions might have arisen, as well as troublesome cross-questioning—a thing which I do not like; I had really had enough of it as it was, for the agent expressed his surprise that I should think of buying only one lot of land so far from the settlements.