in," he said, "and the rising tide
brought me within a few yards of the mouth of the cave. The light
was burning but I could see neither of them. I hailed twice and got
no answer. All was still as the grave and I went near enough to the
shore to satisfy myself that there was nobody there. The cave was
empty. Now I am a good deal alarmed and I come back to you."

"You didn't land?"

"I didn't touch shore, but I was within five yards of the cave, none
the less, for the tide is now risen. The light shone upon
emptiness. I beg you will return with me, for I feel that some evil
thing may have happened."

Much puzzled, Brendon delayed only to get his revolver and an
electric torch. He then descended with Doria to the water and they
were soon afloat again. The boat ran at full speed for a few
minutes; then her course was changed and she turned in under the
cliffs. Mark soon saw a solitary gleam of light, like a glowworm, at
sea level in the solid darkness of the precipices, and Doria,
slowing down, crept in toward it. Presently he shut off his engine
and the launch grounded her prow on a little beach before the
entrance of Robert Redmayne's hiding-place. The lamp shone brightly,
but its illumination, though serving to show the cavern empty, was
not sufficient to light its lofty roof, or reveal a second exit,
where a tunnel ran up at the rear and could be climbed by steps
roughly hewn in the stone.

"It is a place my master showed me long ago," explained Doria. "It
was used by smugglers in the old days and they have cut steps that
still exist."

Both men landed and Giuseppe made fast the launch. Then immediate
evidence of tragedy confronted them. The floor of the cave was of
very fine shingle intermixed with sand. The sides were much broken
and the strata of the rock had wrinkled and bent in upon itself. The
lamp stood on a ledge and flung a radius of light over the floor
beneath. Here had been collected the food and drink supplied to
Redmayne on the previous day, and it was clear that he had eaten
and drunk heartily. But the arresting fact appeared on the beaten
and broken surface of the ground. Heavy boots had torn this up and
plowed furrows in it. At one spot lay an impression, as though some
large object had fallen, and here Brendon saw blood--a dark patch
already drying, for the substance of it was soaked away in the sandy
shingle on which it had dropped.

It was a blot rather than a pool and under his electric l