lines of
three words apiece, and ran thus:--

MOON END SOUTH.
N.N.W. 22 FEET.
NORTH SIDE 4.
DEEP AT POINT.
WATER 1.5 HOURS.

I read the words a full dozen times, and then, failing of any
interpretation, turned to Uncle Loveday--

"Jasper," said he, "to my mind those words make nonsense."

"And to mine, uncle."

"Now attend to me, Jasper. This is evidently but one half of the
clasp which your father discovered. That's as plain as daylight.
The question is, what has become of the other half, of the hook that
should fit into this eye? Now, what I want you to do is to try and
remember if this was all that the man Railton gave you."

"This was all."

"You are quite certain?"

"Quite."

"You did not leave the other piece behind in the cow-shed by any
chance?"

"No, for I looked at the packet before I hid it, and there was only
one piece of metal."

"Very well. One half of the golden clasp being lost, the next
question is, what has become of it?"

I nodded.

"To this," said Uncle Loveday, bending forward over the table, "two
answers are possible. Either it lies at the bottom of the sea with
the rest of the freight of the _Belle Fortune_, or it is in
Colliver's possession."

"It may lie beneath Dead Man's Rock, in John Railton's pocket," I
suggested.

"True, my boy, true; you put another case. But anyhow it makes no
difference. If it lies at the bottom of the sea, whether in
Railton's pocket or not, the secret is safe. If it is in Colliver's
possession the secret is safe, unless he has seen and learnt by heart
this half of the inscription. In any case, I am sorry to tell you--
and this is what I was coming to--the secret is closed against us for
the time."

"That is not certain," said I.

"Excuse me, Jasper, it is quite certain. You admit yourself that
this writing is nonsense. Well and good. But besides this, I would
have you remember," pursued Uncle Loveday, turning once more to my
father's Journal, "that Ezekiel expressly says, 'The inscription ran
right across the clasp.' It could be read easily enough and
contained accurate directions for searching in some spot, but where
that spot was it did not reveal--"

"Quite so," I interrupted, "and that is just what we have to
discover."

"How?"

"Why, by means of the key, as the parchment and the Will plainly
show. We m