he blue water; and away to the east the Highland hills rose among
the clouds.

'It must be awfully jolly, having an island all to yourselves,'
continued Harry.

'Yes,' replied Marjorie, perched on a boulder, 'and it's jollier still
to have an island of your very own, where no one comes but ourselves,
and we can do exactly as we like.'

'Where's that?' inquired Harry.

'I may tell them, mayn't I?' asked Marjorie of the others.

'Of course you may,' replied Allan; 'we must take them there some day
soon.'

Marjorie slipped down from her perch.

'Do you see the little island over there?' she said, pointing
southwards; 'a little black dot on the water, with some bright green in
the middle of it? Well, that's our _own_ island which we have all to
ourselves, and we've made a place in it that we call our secret
hiding-place or Pirates' Den. We must show it to you some day.'

The boys stood up and gazed out to sea, their eyes widening and
brightening.

'I say, this is jolly,' they murmured, rather than said to any one in
particular.

'Hamish,' said Allan, who had been looking at some object on the
southern side of the island; 'is that your father's gig, that has just
stopped before Mrs. Macdonnell's cottage?'

Hamish looked in the direction indicated.

'Yes, I believe it is,' he said. 'It must be true then, what we heard
Duncan say, that Mrs. Macdonnell is very ill.'

Such a grieved silence fell upon the island young people that the
Grahams looked at them inquiringly.

'They said that she would fall ill,' said Marjorie in a low voice,
'if--if she continued to fret so about----'

Allan pushed his cap to the back of his head, and Reggie looked hard in
the direction of the cottage, where the black dot was still standing by
the gate.

'Nothing else found in the ruins?' said Allan in an undertone.

'Nothing yet,' replied Hamish; 'the police are still trying to follow
up the clue----'

Marjorie's eyes encountered those of the guests, and she looked at
Allan and Reggie.

'Are you going to let them know about it?' she asked. 'Might as well,
you know; for they are sure to hear of it before long.'

Allan put his hands in his pockets and reflected; then he consulted
Reggie with a look, after which he turned to Hamish. 'Perhaps we might
as well tell them,' he said, and the others consented.

'Well, Graham major and Graham minor,' he began, to the boys who were
waiting expectantly; 'we are very much bothered