promise
never to rest until we show that Neil is innocent and have him brought
home again."'

Reggie held the papers down to keep them from blowing away, while Allan
made out fresh copies of the agreement; then all the documents received
the signature of Harry, who wrote his name with much ceremony and
handed the pen to Gerald.

'What an awful lark,' said Harry, who had clambered on to the boulder
and sat swinging his legs; 'it will be fine fun tracking the thief.'

Allan began to whistle.

'We haven't found much to track yet,' he said; 'neither have the
police, who have been at it nearly three weeks. The less you talk
about it the better, except among ourselves, for it isn't a game, this.'

'Come along,' said Marjorie, springing up, as Harry looked somewhat
crestfallen, 'we've dawdled long enough; let's run down the side of the
hill, and then we shan't take long to get to the cliffs.'

'All right,' said Harry briskly, 'let's go to the Smugglers' Caves; oh,
I say, what a jolly island this is!'

All started to run down the steep descent, bounding from one tuft of
heather to the other, their speed increasing as they neared the bottom.

Allan, Marjorie, and Reggie reached level ground at about the same
time; then they turned to look at Harry and Gerald, who arrived next,
looking somewhat shaken, and Hamish, who had stopped to help Tricksy.

'Not far now to the caves,' said Marjorie encouragingly. 'Do you see
that headland, stretching far out into the sea? They are on the side
farthest away from us. Tired, Tricksy?'

'Not at all,' protested the child, stepping alone and trying to hide a
little roll in her gait, although her small face was beginning to look
pale.

Reggie glanced at her approvingly as Tricksy toiled along beside
Hamish, hoping that no one observed that she was hanging on to big hand.

'Oh, what a height from the ground,' said Gerald in an awed tone of
voice, as the moor ended abruptly and they found themselves gazing down
from the crest of what seemed a sheer precipice, with long lines of
breakers falling upon the strip of sand at the foot. 'What a
disturbance the birds are making, and what strange noises there are.'

'It's the waves echoing among the rocks,' said Marjorie. 'You must
come here some stormy day when the tide is up; the caves get flooded
and the noise is just like thunder.'

'If you'll come a little further along,' said Allan, 'there's a break
in the cliffs where we can ge