ole from his cousin. Part of the
directions for finding the treasure are on it."

"But Miss Wallace has another copy."

"An inaccurate one. Her father changed the directions on purpose in case
some one found it."

Blythe smoked for a minute without answering.

"You're a devilish cool hand, Sedgwick. I'm a law-abiding citizen
myself."

"And so am I--when the other fellow will let me. But if a chap hits me
on the head with a bit of scantling I'll not stop to look for a
policeman."

"Just so. I was about to say that since I'm a law-abiding citizen it's
my duty to take from Bothwell the goods he has stolen. I'm with you to
search his rooms for that paper."

Underneath his British phlegm I could see that he was as keen on the
thing as Jack Sedgwick. Looking back on it from this distance, it seems
odd that two reputable citizens should have adventured into
housebreaking so gaily as we did.

But Bothwell had brought it on himself, and both of us were eager to
show him he had some one more formidable than a young woman to deal
with. Moreover, there is something about the very name of buried
treasure that knocks the pins of respectability from under a man.

Up to date I had led the normal life of a super-civilized city dweller,
but within a fortnight I was to shoot a man down and count it just part
of the day's work. None of us knows how strong the savage is in us until
we are brought up against life in the raw.

My trailers followed me about next day as usual, but I chuckled whenever
I saw them. For we were doing a little sleuthing ourselves. I borrowed
Jimmie from the firm and the little gamin kept tab on Bothwell.

The captain did not leave his room until nearly midday, but as soon as
he had turned the corner next to his hotel, the Argonaut, on the way to
his breakfast-lunch, Jimmie dodged in at the side entrance, slipped up
the stairs and along a corridor, up a second and a third flight by the
back way, down another passage, and stopped at a room numbered 417.

With him he had a great bunch of keys similar to those used in that
hotel. One after another he tried these, stopping whenever he heard
approaching footsteps to hide the keys under his coat. Several persons
passed, but found nothing unusual in the sight of a boy knocking
innocently on a door.

At last Jimmie found a key which turned in the socket. That was all he
wanted. Relocking the door he went down the stairs to the street, his
fingers tightly cle