y much heated, with her
hair dishevelled. Kalliope spent some time trying to rub the dirt off
the front of her frock.

An hour later Stephanos climbed slowly to the high plateau of the
island and sat down on the edge of a cliff. This time Phillips stalked
him, making his way up the steep gully which led to a part of the
cliff behind the old man's seat. Stephanos sat gazing at the sea,
apparently unconscious that any one was near him. But when Phillips
emerged from his gully the old man was there waiting for him, bowing
with placid politeness just as he had bowed to the Queen.

The complete failure of this sleuth work would have been a
disappointment to many people. The Queen and Phillips remained
perfectly cheerful and laughed happily at their own misfortunes.

Kalliope regarded them with some wonder. The ways of highly civilized
people were strange to her. She became slightly contemptuous of
Phillips and wondered that the Queen tolerated him so long. Kalliope
had a lover of her own, a young man much more direct and rapid than
Phillips was. She was of opinion that a very diffident lover was
unsatisfactory. He wasted time. It seemed to her foolish to spend
hours talking and consulting in the corner of a balcony, playing
hide-and-seek about a house, and a whole day climbing over an island,
when it was quite easy to kiss and be happy at once. She longed to
express her sympathy, condole with the Queen over Phillips' insulting
apathy. It was, perhaps, fortunate that Kalliope's English was wholly
insufficient for such confidences.

Before the next day was over Kalliope thought better of Phillips.

The envelope yielded little useful information. The shadowing of Smith
and Stephanos was entirely useless. But neither the Queen nor Phillips
lost heart. They were as eager as ever to solve the mystery. There
remained the third clue, the cisterns in the cave.

The Queen, Phillips and Kalliope started early next day. They went in
the small island boat which Kalliope rowed. Smith was on the palace
steps to see them off. He had with him a large basket packed with
food.

"Thank you, Smith," said the Queen. "I expect we'll be back for
luncheon, but we may not. One never knows. We meant to be back
yesterday, but----"

"Yes, your Majesty," said Smith. "Not knowing where you thought of
going, I packed the basket."

"Oh, not far," said the Queen. "Still, we may not be back."

Smith stood respectful as a footman who has closed hi