The very simplicity of the directions argued their authenticity.

Charlie Webster was inclined to back me in this view, but neither of my friends showed any optimism in regard to the possible discovery of the treasure.
The character of the brush on the out-islands alone, they said, made the task of search well nigh hopeless.

To cut one's way through twenty miles of such stubborn thickets, would cost almost as much in labour as the treasure was worth.

And then the peculiar nature of the jagged coral rock, like endless wastes of clinker, almost denuded of earth, would make the task the more arduous.

As well look for a particular fish in the sea.