is is in
our favor. We're better off than we were before."

"I don't see how that is," he replied.

"But it is," I persisted, "and I'll show you why when the time comes.
And now there's plenty to be done. One of us has to go back for the
provisions that we left behind last night, and the other's got to stop
here with Miss Drummond and run up a bit of a bark humpy that'll keep
off the wind and won't let the rain through. Now if you're as hungry as
I am you'll understand just how pressing the need of that food is. It's
you or I, Cumshaw. Which of us is to go?"

"I'll toss you," Cumshaw offered.

I nodded, and he drew a coin from out his pocket and spun it in the air.

"Heads!" I called.

We bent down over it. "It's tail," said Cumshaw. "I go back for the
food," I said.

I straightened up and spoke seriously to the pair of them. "Cumshaw," I
said, "do as much as you can while I'm away, and keep one eye on the
horizon all the time. You must remember that there's always danger
about; the luck's been with us so far, but it may turn any minute, and
our rivals are just the sort of men who'd come on you suddenly and shoot
before you could say 'Jack Robinson.' And as for you, Moira, keep out of
harm's way and do what you can towards keeping a good lookout. I'm going
across to the other side, as I reckon that we must have travelled round
the valley last night."

"You'll be careful, won't you, Jim, dear?" Moira whispered.

"Aren't I always careful?" I said. "It's you that's got to watch out.
Now, one kiss, dear. I'll be back as soon as I can possibly manage it."

* * * * *

Five minutes later I had gained the further wall of the valley, and
found that, with the help of the bushes, it was the easiest thing
imaginable for an active man like myself to haul himself up over the
ridge and drop on the track which Abel Cumshaw and the late Mr. Bradby
had trodden so many years before. I took my bearings carefully, then
snapped up my pocket-compass and set off down the road with as jaunty a
swing as I was capable of. I had long got over my stiffness, and now
that the sun was shining brightly I began to feel more confident than
ever that all was going well. If it had not been for the terrible way in
which the dread purpose of our rivals had been brought home to us
already I would have felt absolutely at ease. As it was I did not let my
rosy anticipations of the future interfere at all with my sense