."

"For a certainty the child is mad!" Mr. Rogers stared at me
round-eyed. "_I_ saw you? _I_ pretended not to? Why, man alive,
from the time we left the ship I never set eyes on you (how should
I?), nor ever guessed you were ashore till we came back and found
your boat beside the dinghy. And as for standing under those trees,
I was never on the bank there for one second--no, nor for the half of
one. The Captain and I walked around the spit together--the tide has
covered our footmarks or I could show 'em to you."

"At any rate there _was_ a man," I persisted. "And he couldn't have
been the Captain either, for he was wearing dark clothes--"

"The devil! I say, Branscome, listen to this--"

"I am listening," answered the Captain, gravely, taking, as he
stepped forward, a long look at the bank above us and at the dense
forest to right and left. "Did you see the man's face, Harry?"

"No, sir, or I should not have mistaken him for Mr. Rogers. He was
standing there, under the boughs, and seemed to be looking through
them and watching me. I was sculling the boat along with a paddle
slipped in the stern notch, and he let me come pretty close--I
couldn't have been two hundred yards away--when he slipped to the
back of the trees, and I lost him."

"You didn't see him again?"

"No, sir; I didn't land just at once. I had a mind at first to put
about and row to the schooner, thinking that Mr. Rogers had meant it
for a hint. When I brought the boat ashore, five minutes later, he
was gone."

"Which way did you take, then?"

"I went straight after you, sir, up the waterfalls; but couldn't find
any trace of you except at one spot just beside a waterfall--the
fourth, it was--where some one had slipped a foot--"

"Mr. Rogers," the Captain interrupted, "we had best get back to the
_Espriella_ with all speed. I may tell you, Harry, that we never
went up by the waterfalls at all. It was a climb, and my half-pay
leg didn't like the look of it. But, jump into your boat, boy, and
pull ahead of us. You and I must do a little serious talking later
on."

We pulled back briskly for the _Espriella_ and reached her just as
she began to swing with the turn of the tide. As we drew close--the
cockboat leading--I glanced over my shoulder and spied Plinny leaning
against the bulwarks by the starboard quarter, in the attitude of one
gently enjoying the sunset scene; but at the sight of my torn shirt
all her composure left h