ures on the island, with the 'X' and the dot?"

"I cannot tell you at present," he said. "I take it that the line
across the island signifies this gap or canyon, and the small
intersecting line the cave. But 32 divided by 1, and an 'X' surmounted
by a dot are cabalistic. They would cause even Sherlock Holmes to smoke
at least two pipes. I have barely started one."

[Illustration]

She ran to fetch a glowing stick to enable him to relight his pipe.

"Why do you give me such nasty little digs?" she asked. "You need not
have stopped smoking just because I stood close to you."

"Really, Miss Deane--"

"There, don't protest. I like the smell of that tobacco. I thought
sailors invariably smoked rank, black stuff which they call thick
twist."

"I am a beginner, as a sailor. After a few more years before the mast I
may hope to reach perfection."

Their eyes exchanged a quaintly pleasant challenge. Thus the man--"She
is determined to learn something of my past, but she will not succeed."

And the woman--"The wretch! He is close as an oyster. But I will make
him open his mouth, see if I don't."

She reverted to the piece of tin. "It looks quite mysterious, like the
things you read of in stories of pirates and buried treasure."

"Yes," he admitted. "It is unquestionably a plan, a guidance, given to
a person not previously acquainted with the island but cognizant of
some fact connected with it. Unfortunately none of the buccaneers I can
bring to mind frequented these seas. The poor beggar who left it here
must have had some other motive than searching for a cache."

"Did he dig the cave and the well, I wonder?"

"Probably the former, but not the well. No man could do it unaided."

"Why do you assume he was alone?"

He strolled towards the fire to kick a stray log. "It is only idle
speculation at the best, Miss Deane," he replied. "Would you like to
help me to drag some timber up from the beach? If we get a few big
planks we can build a fire that will last for hours. We want some extra
clothes, too, and it will soon be dark."

The request for co-operation gratified her. She complied eagerly, and
without much exertion they hauled a respectable load of firewood to
their new camping-ground. They also brought a number of coats to serve
as coverings. Then Jenks tackled the lamp. Between the rust and the
soreness of his index finger it was a most difficult operation to open
it.

Before the sun went down he succeeded,