the box--a
package done up in paper.

For a while he did not investigate the package, but devoted his
attention to sounding the rest of the near-by planks with the hope
that they might give into a larger opening and furnish a means of
egress. For half an hour he worked and then gave up. He had covered
every inch of wall and every niche, and this was all!

At last he turned to the contents of the box that he had uncovered.
Removing the package, he slid the cover down over the opening for fear
that his guard, looking in a window, might become aware of what he had
discovered. Then, sitting on the bed, he unwrapped the package.

It was a beautiful, clear mirror bound with silver nickel and fitted
with screw attachments as though it were intended to be fastened to
something.

At first this unusual discovery meant nothing whatever to him. Then,
as he turned the object listlessly in his hands, his eyes fell upon
three engraved letters, C. A. S., and a date, 1908.

Then he remembered.

When he was twenty years old his father had taught him the science of
navigation, so that if anything happened Code might sail the old _May
Schofield_.

Because of the fact that a position at sea was found by observing the
heavenly bodies, Code had become interested in astronomy, and had
learned to chart them on a sky map of his own.

The object in his hand was an artificial horizon, a mirror attached to
the sextant which could be fixed at the exact angle of the horizon
should the real horizon be obscured. This valuable instrument his
father had given him on his twenty-first birthday because the old man
had been vastly pleased with his interest in a science of which he
himself knew little or nothing.

Code remembered that, for a year or two, he had pursued this hobby of
his with deep interest and considerable success, and that his great
object in life had been to some day have a small telescope of his own
by which to learn more of the secrets of the heavens. But, after his
father died, he had been forced to take up the active support of the
family, and had let this passion die.

But how did it happen that the mirror was here?

He recalled that the rest of his paraphernalia had gone to the bottom
with the _May Schofield_. It was true that he had not overhauled his
equipment for some time, and that it had been in a drawer in the
_May's_ cabin, but that drawer had not been opened.

He pursued the train of thought no farther. His bra