e placed, one of the greatest moment. If,
therefore, there is any unseemly joking, any trick, or secret project
in contemplation, with which this affair is connected, do not conceal
it any longer."

All the boys again reiterated their innocence of the matter in
question.

Becker then called to mind the mysterious disappearance of Willis,
and, although they were too short in duration to admit of his having
been at Falcon's Nest, still he deemed it advisable to put the
question to him individually.

Willis declared that the present was the first time he had been in the
vicinity of the Nest, and his word was known to be sacred.

"There can be no mistake then," said Becker; "the traces are
self-evident. This is altogether a circumstance calculated to give us
serious uneasiness. Nevertheless, we must view the matter calmly, and
consider what steps we should take to unravel the mystery."

"Let us instantly beat up the island," suggested Fritz.

"It appears to me," remarked Willis, "that the _Nelson_ has been
wrecked after all, and that one of the men has escaped."

"That," replied Ernest, "is very unlikely. All the crew knew that the
island was inhabited, and consequently, had any one of them been
thrown on shore, he would have come at once to Rockhouse, and not
stopped here."

"As regards the Captain or Lieutenant Dunsley," said Willis, "who were
on shore, and could easily find their way, what you say is quite true;
but the men were kept on board; and if we suppose that a sailor had
been thrown on the opposite coast, he would not be able to determine
his position in fifteen days."

"Much less could he expect to find a villa in a fig-tree."

"To say nothing of the light that has been kept burning recently on
Shark's Island, nor of the buildings with which the land is strewn,
nor the fields and plantations that are to be met with in all
directions. For, although a swallow alone is sufficient to convey the
seeds of a forest from one continent to another, still it requires the
hand of man to arrange the trees in rows and furnish them with props."

"Perhaps we may have crossed each other on the way; and the stranger,
after passing the night here, has steered, by some circuitous route,
in the direction of Safety Bay."

"May it not have been a large monkey," suggested Jack, "who has
resolved to play us a trick for having massacred its companions at
Waldeck?"

"Monkeys," replied Ernest, "do not generally open doors,