. We'll
even help if we can."

"Then the--the person in question has confided in you?"

"Not at all," said Tish loftily. "I hope we can put two and two
together. Have you got a revolver?"

He looked startled at that. "I have one," he said; "but I guess I'll not
need it. The first night or two a skunk hung round; two, in fact--mother
and child--but I think they're gone."

"Would you like some fish?"

"My God, no!"

This is a truthful narrative. That is exactly what he said.

"I'll tell you what I do need, ladies," he went on: "If you've got
a spare suit of underwear over there, I could use it. It'd stretch,
probably. And I'd like a pen and some ink. I must have lost my fountain
pen out of my pocket stooping over the bank to wash my face."

"Do you know the wireless code?" Tish asked suddenly.

"Wireless?"

"I have every reason to believe," she said impressively, "that one of
the great trees on that island conceals a wireless outfit."

"I see!" He edged back a little from us both.

"I should think," Tish said, eyeing him, "that a knowledge of the
wireless code would be essential to you in your occupation."

"We--we get a smattering of all sorts of things," he said; but he was
uneasy--you could see that with half an eye.

He accompanied us down to the canoe; but once, when Tish turned
suddenly, he ducked back as though he had been struck and changed color.
He thanked us for the tea and corn, and said he wished we had a spare
razor--but, of course, he supposed not. Then:--

"I suppose the--the person in question will stay as long as you do?" he
asked, rather nervously.

"It looks like it," said Tish grimly. "I've no intention of being driven
away, if that's what you mean. We'll stay as long as the fishing's
good."

He groaned under his breath. "The whole d--d river is full of fish," he
said. "They crawled up the bank last night and ate all the crackers I'd
saved for to-day. Oh, I'll pay somebody out for this, all right! Good
gracious, ladies, your boat's full of water!"

"It has a hole in it," Tish replied and upturned it to empty it.

When he saw the hole his eyes stuck out. "You can't go out in that leaky
canoe! It's suicidal!"

"Not at all," Tish assured him. "My friend here will sit on the leak.
Get in quick, Lizzie. It's filling."

The last we saw of the detective that night he was standing on the bank,
staring after us. Afterward, when a good many things were cleared up, he
said he decided