ew forth two cartridges,
the one empty, the other unused. He pocketed these and examined the
barrels. Clearly, one shot--and one only--had been fired since the gun
was last cleaned.

He invited Mr. Rogers to verify these simple observations; and then,
turning the gun over, was aware of a trace of earth on the
trigger-guard and another on the point of the butt. These were easily
accounted for. The weapon, no doubt, had slid for some distance down
the cliff--probably from the very top--before lodging in the bushes
where Leggo had found it.

Half an hour's exploration of the cave, the cove, the cliff-face, had
yielded no further clue. Mr. Rogers drew off his men, and, embarking
them, started to search the shore to the westward.

By this time some thirty boats had gathered, and through the long
night, in every creek and cranny of the shore, from the extreme east of
Inniscaw to the extreme west of Brefar, the search went on. The wind,
chopping to the north-west, rose to a stiff breeze, and not only blew
bitterly cold, with squalls of rain and sleet, but raised a sea that
made it dangerous to explore the rocks closely. Nevertheless, not a
single boat put back, and not a few took incredible risks.

Day broke--a dull smurr of gray in an interval between two sleet-laden
squalls. In the cheerless light of it the Commandant, who, albeit numb
with cold, had had not yet found time to feel fatigue, caught sight of
Dr. Bonaday's face, and was smitten with sudden compunction. The old
Doctor had sat through six distressful hours like the stoic he was; but
his face showed like that of a corpse, and the usually plump and florid
cheeks of Mr. Pope hung flaccid, blue with the pinch of the cold and
yellow for lack of sleep. The Commandant spoke to the coxswain, and,
running up the gig alongside the jolly-boat, suggested to the
indomitable Mr. Rogers that the men were almost dead-beat, to which,
indeed, the faces of all bore witness in the broadening daylight.

"We must not exhaust ourselves utterly," suggested Mr. Pope. "It is
already day, and the Council of Twelve ought to meet before noon."

"Indeed? Why?" asked the Commandant, absently.

"Why, to advertise the Lord Proprietor's disappearance, with a printed
description of him!"

"Is that necessary? Surely by this time everyone in the Islands has
heard the news; and, as for describing him----"

"It is the proper course to pursue," insisted Mr. Pope, who was
something of a formal