ns' suspicions had any grounds for
fact. The girl's threat that she would withdraw her support from the
cannery if not permitted to go with the expedition, was only a bluff:
Why had he not remained firm? He knew the answer. There was a look in
the girl's eyes which he could not withstand. Something in her voice
which left him powerless to refuse as she had said:

"Our fathers were not afraid. They died in one boat to learn Diablo's
secret. We've fought together from the start. Don't leave me at the
finish." She might have added: "If they get you, they might as well get
me too."

But her eyes told him that. Well, it was too late now to change his
mind. The girl was here and it was up to him to leave her in a place of
safety if such could be found upon the island. While Hawkins conferred
with his two friends, Gregory laid his plans.

He would leave Dickie with the _Richard_. She had her automatic and a
rifle. They would lay in close to shore on the south shore, opposite the
Hell-Hole. The island was narrowest there and it was generally in that
vicinity that things had happened oftenest in the past. That was where
the _Gray Ghost_ put in, the place too where his father and Bill Lang
had met their death. With the fishing fleet fighting Mascola's boats on
the north side the opposite shore of the island might not be held in
such rigid surveillance.

His thoughts turned again to the girl by his side. The rock-shadowed
coves would afford a fair anchorage for the _Richard_, even on such a
night as this. There Dickie could see without being seen. Should danger
threaten while the landing party were ashore, she must put to sea. He
must make that perfectly clear to her at once.

As he expected, he encountered stubborn resistance from Dickie Lang. If
there was anything to be found out, she wanted to be there to see it.
She was not afraid. She could shoot as well as a bunch of newspapermen.
What was the idea of leaving her clear out of it? Gregory smiled at her
slurring reference to Hawkins' two friends. Then he reflected that what
the girl did not know concerning the real object of the mission to
Diablo would cause her no worry. Until the party landed at least, he was
in command of the expedition. And orders must be obeyed.

"You'll have to do as I say," he concluded. "Whether you like it or
not."

Dickie's lip curled and she turned her head away to hide her face. "All
right," she answered. "I'll stay on the _Richard_." To he