With Peggy at the oars and Nancy steering the sisters brought Amazon into the harbour at Wild Cat Island after a day exploring the far shore of the lake. As the boat gently grounded on the beach Peggy shipped the oars and jumped out with the painter to secure it to a tree, while Nancy unshipped the rudder and generally tidied up.

"Look at this."

Nancy looked up to see Peggy standing on the beach with a something in her hand and a puzzled expression on her face.

"What have you got there?" called Nancy.

"It's an envelope," replied Peggy. "It was wedged in a crack in the marker stump."

Nancy jumped ashore and held out her hand. "Let me see."

Peggy passed over the envelope, saying "It is meant for us. Look, it's addressed to The Amazon Pirates."

Nancy looked at the words printed in big black letters. "I think it's Uncle Jim's writing, though you can't always tell with printing. But he went to London yesterday, how did it get here?"

"Don't worry about that now. Hurry up and open it!"

Taking out her pocket knife Nancy slit open the envelope. She took out a single sheet of folded paper, stained brown and tattered around the edges.

"Let me see!" urged Peggy, reaching out and grabbing the paper.

"Don't pull you donk, you'll tear it."

Nancy unfolded the paper and held it flat so they could both see it.

"It's a map," said Peggy.

"Shiver my timbers! I can see that you galoot, but a map of where?"

It certainly was a map, but a very simple map, showing what looked like an island, or part of an island, for the paper had been torn in half. There were very few details, the only name was 'Treasure Island' written diagonally across the centre. There were no buildings marked, only an arrow labelled "N" to show north, and a cross marked in red ink off the north-western shore. Near the top was a note:

X marks the spot but not the treasure.

First find the last in line of four,

At six bells after noon four fathoms measure.

That's all you get, there is no more.

Capt. Jas. Nobeard

Nancy read the clue out aloud, then said, "So this is what Uncle Jim meant when he said he'd make sure we were kept busy."

"What does it mean?"

"Obviously at the X there is something that points to where something is hidden. Six bells after noon. Ships' bells are rung every half an hour, so six bells is three o'clock. I think it means we have to go four fathoms, that's twenty four feet, in the direction of the pointer."

"What's the pointer?"

"I don't know, perhaps it's a post leaning over at angle. In Treasure Island the pointer was a skeleton!"

Peggy shivered, "But the cross is in the water."

"I know. We have to work out which island this is. It must be one in the lake somewhere. It's certainly not Wild Cat, the shape's all wrong with too many bays and headlands, nor Long Island. And a line of four? Four what? Let's get back to camp and look at it while we have tea."

Pausing only to make sure Amazon was secure in the harbour Nancy and Peggy made their way back to the campsite. Once there Peggy set about laying and lighting the fire while Nancy went down to the landing place to fill the kettle. After taking the kettle back to Peggy Nancy made her way to the north end of the island and looked up the lake towards Beckfoot.

A steamer was making her way down the lake between the islands that clustered islands off the town on the eastern shore. As Nancy watched it she wondered if one of those was the one shown on the map. She pulled the map from her pocket and again tried to match the outline to what she knew. She had sailed or rowed around them all at some time, but none seemed to fit the picture in her hand.

A shout from the camp told her that tea was ready so she went back to Peggy, who had two steaming mugs ready and was busy buttering bread rolls.

Nancy held out the map, "Have you any ideas where this?" she asked.

Peggy shook her head, "It looks familiar but I don't know which island it is."

"I agree. Uncle Jim wouldn't send us away from this lake. We'll just have to sail around every island there is until we recognise the right one. It shouldn't be too hard to find, we just need to look out for four somethings."

o – o – O – o – o

When tea was finished and tidied away Nancy and Peggy again looked at the map.

"Uncle Jim has a map of the lake in his study. Why don't we go there tomorrow and look at that? We can see all the islands then." Suggested Peggy.

"Perhaps, but it's a bit like admitting defeat. I'm sure he thinks we can solve this by ourselves. It does say 'That's all you get'"

Both girls were silent for a while as they studied the map again. Suddenly Nancy gave yell, "Got it! We're a right pair of galoots. Uncle Jim is out to confuse us. It's not an island!"

"What do you mean, not an island?"

"The land and water have been reversed. Look at that long, narrow headland next to a deep bay. That's the Amazon River, and the bay is actually the Beckfoot promontory! It all makes sense now."

"So the X is on land then."

"Yes, it must be a tree or a signpost or something. We'll go there first thing in the morning and find it. It should be jolly obvious."

"Why first thing? The clue says to go in the afternoon. Why's that?"

"Well we can still get there early to make sure it's the right place."

"What do we do if it isn't the right place?"

Nancy did not reply. Deep in thought she was studying the rough map again. "I think I know what it is. Beyond the edge of the woods above Beckfoot there is a line of old fir trees sticking out into the moor. I'm sure there are four of them."

Peggy regarded her sister uncertainly, "Are you sure? I can't remember them."

"Of course I'm sure. Tomorrow we set sail straight after breakfast for the Spanish Main! There will be hoards of doubloons and pieces of eight! Good old Uncle Jim! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!"