to-night would
probably be the crucial time, and determined to get in ahead of every one
else. The storm was a piece of good fortune to me, as it concealed things
so well, and about nine o'clock I was on the spot, proceeding to dig down
by the old log. Pretty soon I realized, though, that there was some one
else around. And just as I'd unearthed the bag, which _had_ been
mysteriously returned to its hiding-place, you appeared out of somewhere,
young man, fell on me like a thousand of bricks, and we had a grand old
tussle. I'll give you credit for being _some_ wrestler, but I was getting
the best of it, when along came you others with that terrible beast and
did the business for me!

"I thought all along, though, that you, Mr. Ted, were one of the
Chinamen. But that person must have been on the scene also, probably
lurking in the shelter of the bungalow and watching the fracas. And when
your electric light blazed on the scene, Miss," he turned to Phyllis, "he
no doubt saw the bag in my hand. Then, when the light went out for a
moment, he rushed in and grabbed the prize and was off while we two were
so busy with one another!

"It was a losing game all around. While I was in the village, I 'phoned
my department in New York to meet his train when it got in and arrest
him, if they could find him, and search him at once. But after I'd been
to the doctor's (I had a long session there) I 'phoned them again and
heard that the train had been met, but no one answering such description
as I could give had got off. No doubt he was canny enough to get off at
some station short of New York and so was lost to sight.

"Well, the prize is lost for this time, but perhaps we can pick up the
trail again. At any rate, Gaines is probably free, for they promised to
release him as soon as the letters were obtained."

When he had ceased speaking, Leslie got up from her chair and disappeared
into the kitchen. When she returned, she laid a dark bundle in the lap of
Eileen.

"I guess the prize was found some time ago!" she remarked quietly.
"Suppose you open that bag and see, Eileen!"

And amid an astounded silence, Eileen's fingers managed to unloose the
fastening of the bag and insert themselves in its depths. Then with a
little cry of joy, she drew out and held up, for all to view, the bronze
box that had caused all the disturbance--the Dragon's Secret!

* * * * *

The complicated explanations