graph. We must send word to Sweeney to
be on the look-out for him. I will send Samson the Redoubtable with a
message to him this morning. Meanwhile, we will smoke and think."

Then for the next hour the "King" thought--aloud; while Calypso and I
sat and listened, occasionally throwing in a parenthesis of comment or
suggestion. It was evident, we all agreed, that Calypso had been right.
It had been Tobias and none other whose evil eye had sent her so
breathless back to me, waiting in the shadow of the woods; and it was
the same evil eye that had fallen vulture-like on her golden doubloon
exposed on Sweeney's counter.

Now what were we to think of Tobias?--what really were his notions
about this supposititious treasure?--and what was likely to be his plan
of action? Had he really any private knowledge of the whereabouts of his
alleged ancestral treasure?--or was his first authentic hint of its
whereabouts derived from the manuscript--first overheard while
eavesdropping at John Saunders's office, and afterward purloined from
John Saunders's verandah?

There seemed little doubt that this second surmise was correct; for, if
he had had any previous knowledge, he would have had no need of the
manuscript and long ago he would have gone after the treasure for
himself, and found it or not, as the case might be. Probably there was a
tradition in his family of the existence somewhere of his grandfather's
treasure; but that tradition was very likely the sum of his inheritance;
and doubtless it was the mere accident of his dropping into Saunders's
office that morning which had set him on the track.

It was also likely, indeed practically certain, that he had been able to
make no more out of the manuscript than I had; that he had concluded
that I had somehow or other unearthed more about it than he; and that,
therefore, his most promising clue to its discovery would be my actions.
To keep me in sight was the first step. So far so good.

But thus far, it would appear to him, I had had no very positive
success. Otherwise, I would not still be on the quest. He had probably
been aware of my movements, and may have been lying hidden on the island
longer than we suspected. From some of his spies he had heard of my
presence in the settlement, and, chance having directed him to Sweeney's
store at the moment of Calypso's ringing down that Spanish gold on the
counter, he had somehow connected Calypso's doubloon with me.

At all events, it