hey killed Mr. Bryce and they made a mess of the
Dad--and it's all right thinking, as Mr. Bryce did, that they've come to
the end of their tether and are waiting for us to set the pace for them.
There's been so many miracles in this play already that it doesn't do to
risk the chance of any more. We've got no absolute guarantee that they
won't stumble on the key to everything while we're wasting time here.
You say you've got a cypher Mr. Bryce left you. Well, that cypher
contains the position of the treasure; there's no doubt about that in my
mind. Bradby carved it on the wood--neither he nor the Dad had any paper
with them at the time--and from what I've heard of the man I'm confident
that it's the kind of thing he would do. Then when Mr. Bryce got hold of
it he burnt the wood and threw what was on it into a sort of cryptogram.
One way and another he was pretty cautious when the fit took him, though
I must say that when it was a question of his own life he wasn't so
particular. It boils down to this. The Dad's out of the game for good
and we've got to use our own wits. Within limits we've got a fair idea
of the position of the valley, and, once we've solved the cypher, we'll
probably have something more definite to go on."

"That," I remarked, "is supposing we do solve it. As far as I can see
it's too weird for anything."

"Uncle," said Moira severely, "wouldn't have written it if he didn't
think you could solve it. That's why he made it easy."

"If you think it's easy," I retorted, "take it yourself and see what you
can make of it."

"That's a good idea," Cumshaw cut in, turning my own shaft against
myself. "Suppose we all have a shot at it and see what we can make of
it. We might get it all out and again we mightn't. When we get as far as
we can we'll all pool our efforts, and maybe we'll make something out of
it that way."

"An excellent suggestion, Mr. Cumshaw," Moira said, and darted a glance
of triumph at me. It said as plainly as so many words that here was a
champion for her, a man who would defend her against the whole world. Of
course I ignored it. What man would do anything else under the
circumstances? But there are some things, of which this was one, that
the more one ignores them the more insistent as to their presence do
they become. So, though I affected not to see Moira's little glance of
triumph, it photographed itself upon my mind's eye and completely
spoiled the evening for me.

"We'll get Jim