He, poor man, swore that he kept the light burning to guide his brother fishermen to and fro between Boulay Bay and the Ecrehos.

The captain of the frigate tried severities; but the fisherman stuck to his tale, and the light burned on as before--a lantern stuck upon a pole.

One day, with a telescope, Buonespoir had seen the exact position of the staff supporting the light, and had mapped out his course accordingly.

He would head straight for the beacon and pass between the Marmotier and the Maitre Ile, where is a narrow channel for a boat drawing only a few feet of water.

Unless he made this, he must run south and skirt the Ecriviere Rock and bank, where the streams setting over the sandy ridges make a confusing perilous sea to mariners in bad weather.