any fuss, Robin's
boat was launched, and manned by that veteran himself, together with old
Joe and Bob, who had long been chewing the quid of expectation, and at
the bow oar Jack Anerley. Their orders were to slip quietly round, and
wait in the Dovecote till the diver came. Mordacks saw them on their
way; and then he strode up the deserted path, and struck away toward a
northern cove, where the diver's little boat was housed. There he found
Nicholas the fish, spread out in all his glory, like a polypod awash, or
a basking turtle, or a well-fed calf of Proteus. Laid on his back, where
the wavelets broke, and beaded a silver fringe upon the golden ruff of
sand, he gave his body to soft lullaby, and his mind to perfect holiday.
His breadth, and the spring of fresh air inside it, kept him gently up
and down; and his calm enjoyment was enriched by the baffled wrath of
his enemies. For flies, of innumerable sorts and sizes, held a hopeless
buzz above him, being put upon their mettle to get at him, and perishing
sweetly in the vain attempt.

With a grunt of reluctance he awoke to business, swam for his boat, and
embarking Mr. Mordacks, pulled him across the placid bay to the cave
where his forces were assembled.

"Let there be no mistake about it," the factor shouted from the
mermaids' shelf, having promised his Calpurnia to keep upon dry land
whenever the water permitted him; "our friend the great diver will first
ascertain whether the thing which we seek is here. If so, he will
leave it where it is until the arrival of the Preventive boat. You all
understand that we wish to put the matter so that even a lawyer can not
pick any hole in the evidence. Light no links until I tell you. Now,
Nicholas the fish, go down at once."

Without a word the diver plunged, having taken something between his
teeth which he would not let the others see. The watery floor of the
cavern was as smooth as a mill-pond in July, and he plunged so neatly
that he made no splash; nothing but a flicker of reflection on the roof,
and a lapping murmur round the sides, gave token that a big man was
gone into the deep. For several minutes no one spoke, but every eye was
strained upon the glassy dimness, and every ear intent for the first
break of sound.

"T' goop ha' got un," cried old Robin, indignant at this outrage by a
stranger to his caves, "God niver mahd mon to pree intil 's ain warks."

Old Joe and Bob grunted approbation, and Mordacks himself wa