are there whether he saw them or not.

"I think he did not see them. But it is certain from this water color
that some one did; and Maartin is the only explorer that could have done
such a color. As soon as I thought of Maartin I knew the thing could
have been done by no other."

Lady Muriel had remained motionless on the stair. The door to the
drawing room, before her, was partly open. She stepped in to the angle
of the wall and drew the door slowly back until it covered this angle in
which she stood.

She was rich in such experiences, for her success had depended, not a
little, on overhearing what was being said. Through the crack of the
door the whole interior of the room was visible.

Sir Godfrey Halleck, a little dapper man, was sitting across the table
from Bramwell Winton. His elbows were on the table, and he was looking
eagerly at the biologist. Bramwell Winton had in his hands the thing
under discussion.

It seemed to be a piece of cardboard or heavy paper about six inches in
length by, perhaps, four in width. Lady Muriel could not see what was
drawn or painted on this paper. But the heart in her bosom quickened.
She had chanced on the spoor of something worth while.

The little dapper man flung his head up.

"Oh, it's certain, Bramwell; it's beyond any question now. My word!
If Tony were only alive, or I twenty years younger! It's no great
undertaking, to go in to the Karamajo Mountains. One could start from
the West Coast, unship any place and pick up a bunch of natives. The map
on the back of the water color is accurate. The man who made that knew
how to travel in an unknown country. He must have had a theodolite and
the very best equipment. Anybody could follow that map."

There was a battered old dispatch box on the table beside Sir Godfrey's
arm--one that had seen rough service.

"Of course," he went on, "we don't know when Tony picked up this
drawing. It was in this box here with his diary, an automatic pistol and
some quinine. The date of the diary entry is the only clue. That would
indicate that he was near the Karamajo range at the time, not far from
the spot."

He snapped his fingers.

"What damned luck!"

He clinched his hands and brought them down on the table.

"I'm nearly seventy, Bramwell, but you're ten years under that. You
could go in. No one need know the object of your expedition. Hector
Bartlett didn't tell the whole of England when he went out to Syria for
the gold plates