. Seaton.

"I'm on tenterhooks to get back," confessed the charter-man.

"Anxious about your friend, Clodis, of course," nodded Tom,
understandingly.

"Partly that, yes. But there's another matter that's bothering me
fearfully, too. You remember the packet of papers I took from Clodis's
trunk?" asked Mr. Seaton, lowering his voice.

"Yes," murmured Tom. "But you have those in an inner pocket."

"I wish I had!" uttered Powell Seaton. "Halstead, the truth is, after
you young men went out, this evening, to patrol about the island, I
became a little uneasy about that packet, and took it out and hid
it--under some boxes of ammunition in the cupboard where I keep my
gun. Then I locked the closet door. When Dawson called me from the
porch, in such haste, and I was needed on board with my gun, I clean
forgot the packet for the instant."

"Oh, it will be safe, anyway," Tom assured his employer. "Even if
Dalton had been able to get a boat at once, in this neighborhood,
there's no other craft in these waters capable of reaching Lonely
Island earlier than we shall do it."

"I _do_ hope that packet is safe," muttered Mr. Seaton, in a voice
tense with anxiety. "Halstead, you've no notion of the fearful blow it
would be to friends and to myself to have it disappear."

Hearing a slight noise on the opposite side of the deck-house top,
Seaton and Tom Halstead turned together. They were just in time to see
one of the new guards leaning toward them, one hand out as though to
steady himself.

"It's rough footing on deck to-night," said the guard, with a pleasant
laugh, then passed on aft.

Tom took the helm again as the "Restless," after picking up the
landing place with the searchlight, moved into the harbor and went to
her berth.

Powell Seaton led all of his guards but one up to the bungalow. The
eighth man, armed with a rifle, was left aboard the "Restless," with
the searchlight turned on, ready for use at any moment. Tom and Joe
went up to the bungalow with their employer.

"Wait out on the porch for just a little while," called Mr. Seaton, in
a low voice. "And be careful to make no noise that will disturb the
sick man."

Five minutes later Mr. Seaton returned to the porch.

"I've been looking for that packet," he whispered to the young
skipper. "It's safe, so I've left it in the same place."

Then, after a moment, the owner of the bungalow added:

"Captain, you can have your friend, Butts, now, as we can do witho