brown study, "the
accident must have happened just upon high-water; in which case Mr.
Rogers will do best to start searching to westward along the north
shore of Brefar, following the set of the ebb."

"I reckon he'll take that line, sir, if he finds nothing at Piper's
Hole," the coxswain answered. "But his plan, as he told it to me, was
to land Leggo, with two of our men, by the schoolhouse, and send them
up the hill with ropes and lanterns, while he pulled round and searched
Piper's Hole from seaward."

The Doctor appeared to digest this plan for a full minute. "Pope," he
said, abruptly as before, "do you happen to know if the Lord Proprietor
had made his will?"

"Good Lord!" answered Mr. Pope, testily, "I am not his lawyer."

"He has relatives?"

"Some distant cousins, I believe; none nearer. Why do you ask?"

"Because," answered the Doctor, imperturably, "it occurred to me as a
natural question under the circumstances. Then it would appear, my
friend, that Sir Caesar's decease (if we suppose it) is a very serious
affair indeed for you?"

"Man alive!" snapped Mr. Pope. "Of what else do you suppose I have been
thinking, ever since I heard this news?"

Dr. Bonaday did not reply in words; but the Commandant--who happened to
be gazing just then towards North Island, where the great sea-light
seemed to search the outer tides with its monstrous eye--heard, or
fancied that he heard, a sound as of a quiet chuckle. Suddenly he
remembered Mr. Pope's scornful criticism of old Constable Ward:
remembered it, and glanced at the Doctor. But the Doctor was an uncanny
fellow, and inscrutable.

Though the coastguardsmen, pulling with a will, overtook and passed at
least a dozen boats on their way, it cost them close upon an hour to
reach the upper end of Cromwell's Sound and open the coast along the
north side of Inniscaw. They had no need to search for Mr. Rogers and
the jolly-boat. Flares were burning and torches waving in and around
the entrance to Piper's Hole, and as the gig drew closer the Commandant
discerned the figures of half-a-dozen searchers, roped and moving
cautiously with lanterns from ledge to ledge of the dizzy cliff. The
jolly-boat lay beached on a bank of fine shingle left by the receding
tide at the entrance of the cave, and beside it stood Mr. Rogers
shouting orders.

He hailed the newcomers as soon as he caught sight of them. Leggo and
his two men had found Sir Caesar's gun, and recovered it from th