the masthead that I may know thy vessel when I desire to return. Now get
out the boat."

The captain thought his voyager queer of taste; nevertheless he did as
told. In a short time the skiff--if the familiar word can be pardoned--
put off with the negro and his master, the latter at the oars.

In preparation for the excursion the gurglet half full of water and the
sheepskin mantle of the black man were lowered into the little vessel.
The boat moved away in the direction of Prinkipo, the mother isle of the
group; and as the night deepened, it passed from view.

When out of sight from the galley's deck, the master gave the rowing to
the negro, and taking seat by the rudder, changed direction to the
southeast; after which he kept on and on, until Plati lay directly in
his course.

The southern extremity of Plati makes quite a bold bluff. In a period
long gone a stone tower had been constructed there, a lookout and
shelter for guardsmen on duty; and there being no earthly chance of
escape for prisoners, so securely were they immured, the duty must have
been against robbers from the mainland on the east, and from pirates
generally. Under the tower there was a climb difficult for most persons
in daylight, and from the manoeuvring of the boat, the climb was
obviously the object drawing the master. He at length found it, and
stepped out on a shelving stone. The gurglet and mantle were passed to
him, and soon he and his follower were feeling their way upward.

On the summit, the chief walked once around the tower, now the merest
ruin, a tumbledown without form, in places overgrown with sickly vines.