about her, as if
she were wild to be off. "Then we'll say good-bye for the present, Mr.
LeFleur. And may I mention again how much we have appreciated your
thoughtfulness?"

Rene LeFleur aroused himself. "But it was a pleasure, a very great
pleasure, Miss Ralestone. You are returning to Pirate's Haven now?"

"Well--" she hesitated. Mystified at what lay behind her unexplainable
actions, Val could only stand and listen. "We did have some errands. Of
course, this news--"

LeFleur gestured widely. "But it will come all right. It must. There are
papers somewhere."

Firmly Ricky broke away from more protracted farewells. As the
Ralestones turned out of the courtyard into which their host had
conducted them, Val matched his step with hers.

"Well? What's the matter?" he demanded.

"We had an eavesdropper."

Val stopped short. "What do you mean?"

"I was facing the door to the balcony. There was the shadow of a head on
the floor. When you spoke about Rick having the sword, it went away--the
shadow, I mean. But someone had been listening and now he knows about
the Luck and what it means to us."

Aiming a kick at the nearest tire of the roadster, Val regarded the
mud-stained rubber moodily. "Fine mess!"

"Yes, isn't it? And there seems to be no loose end to the thing," Ricky
protested. "It's like holding a big tangle of wool and being told to
have it all straightened out before night--the plot of a fairy-tale. We
have so many odd sections but no ends. There's that boy in the garden
this morning who said that he has as much right at Pirate's Haven as we
have, and then there's that handkerchief, and now this man who claims
half the estate--"

"And our mysterious listener," finished her brother. "What shall we do
now? Go home?"

"No. We might as well do the errands." She seated herself in the car.
"Val--"

"Yes?"

"I know one thing." She leaned toward him and her eyes shone green as
they did when she was excited or greatly troubled. "We aren't going to
let go of our tangle until we do find an end. We _are_ the Ralestones of
Pirate's Haven and we are going to continue to be the Ralestones of
Pirate's Haven."

"In spite of the enemy? I agree." Val stepped on the starter. "You know,
a hundred years ago there would have been a very simple remedy for this
rival-claimant business."

"What?"

"Pistols for two--coffee for one. Rupert or I would have met him out at
the dueling oaks and that would have been the end of