on that
kind of a night. Isn't that so?"

"It certainly seems to be," agreed Phyllis, "but what do you prove by
that?"

"I don't _prove_ anything, but I've drawn a conclusion from it that I'll
tell you later. Then, there's the matter of this little bead. I know you
rather scorned it when I first showed it to you, but do you realize one
thing? We may be able to identify the owner by means of it."

Phyllis stared at her incredulously, but Leslie continued: "Yes, I really
think so, and I'll tell you why. This isn't an ordinary bead. In the
first place, it's a rather peculiar shade of green--one you don't
ordinarily see. Then, though it's so small, it's cut in a different way,
too, sort of melon-shaped, only with about six sides. Do you see?"

On closer examination, Phyllis did see. And she had to acknowledge that
Leslie was right.

"Then there's the broken penknife and the brick with one side pried out,"
went on Leslie. "It's pretty plain that the person was trying to pry up
that brick with the penknife and found it hard work because the mortar or
cement is solid. Then the blade of the knife broke and the attempt was
probably given up. Now why did they want to pry up that brick?"

"I know!--I know!" cried Phyllis, triumphantly. "They wanted to bury 'The
Dragon's Secret' under it!"

"Maybe they did and maybe they didn't," replied Leslie, more cautiously.
"They certainly tried to pry up the brick, but perhaps it was to _look_
for something under it, rather than to hide anything. However, I rather
think it was to hide it. And because they didn't succeed, they went out
and buried it in the sand, instead. How about _that_?"

Phyllis sprang up and hugged her impetuously. "You have a brain like a
regulation sleuth-hound's!" she laughed. "What else?"

"Well, this is what I can't understand. Suppose this person (we're sure
now it must be a woman) came down here that first stormy night with 'The
Dragon's Secret,' and tried to hide it somewhere, and finally buried it
in the sand outside. The question is, what did she come for the _second_
time?"

"To get it again?" suggested Phyllis.

"I'm almost absolutely certain not, because, if so, all she would have
had to do was to go outside and dig. (Of course, she wouldn't have found
it because we had it!) But she never went outside at all. I know that
positively. I passed right by the place where Rags dug the hole, on my
way up from your bungalow, and it was quite untouched, j