ome over here, Hiram, and I'll explain."

Clancy led his companion to a couple of chairs.

"Now," said he, after, they had seated themselves, "we're about to
decide whether we're going to Catalina Island, in the morning, or to San
Diego."

"That's already decided!" asserted Hill. "Whatever makes you think it
ain't?"

"Look at that letter you received at noon, Hiram," went on Clancy. "You
were asked to come to eighteen-twenty 'Q' Street, weren't you?"

"Yes," Hiram answered, consulting the letter.

"Well," explained Clancy, "I wired the chief of police at San Diego,
asking him who lives at that number in Q Street. If this reply to my
message says that Upton Hill lives at that address, then I'll
congratulate you, and we will go on together to, San Diego in the
morning.

"Sure!"

"But if the message says that some one else lives at the address, it's
proof positive that your letter was a fake, and that going to San Diego
is worse than a waste of time, eh?"

"Let's see what the message says," parried Hill.

Clancy opened it, removed the folded yellow sheet, opened it out, and he
and Hill read the following:

"OWEN CLANCY, Renfrew House, Los Angeles: No such street as 'Q' in the
city. No such man as Upton Hill in directory. Never heard of him.
PENNYPACKER, Chief of Police."

"What do you think of that?" asked Clancy.

"I reckon your judgment is good, Clancy," answered the baffled Hill. "If
it wasn't, I'd not have asked you to help me run out this trail."

"Then we'll cut out San Diego and go to Catalina?"

"What's the use o' goin' to San Diego; lookin' for a street they haven't
got in the town? Of course we'll try the island--nothin' else for us to
do."

CHAPTER VI.

THE GLASS-BOTTOM BOAT.

The distance from the mainland to the island of Catalina is only about
twenty miles, and the steamer from San Pedro makes the trip in something
like two hours and a half.

At ten o'clock in the morning Clancy and Hill went aboard, at
ten-fifteen the boat got under way, and promptly at ten-seventeen Hiram
became seasick. There wasn't anything halfway about it, either, he was
sick all through and all over. For an hour he was afraid he was going to
die, and for an hour and a half he was afraid he wasn't.

Clancy was so busy with Hill that he had no time to enjoy the trip. As
soon as the boat tied up at the Avalon pier and the gangplank was run
out, Hill galloped ashore, and sank down on the dock with a