can be sure of this--whatever secret he held was
got from somebody else. He may have been twenty, thirty, even fifty
miles out. But we know something--the Netherfield who was with him on
the _Elizabeth Robinson_ hailed from Blyth, in this county. I'm going
to Blyth myself--tomorrow; I'll find out if there are Netherfields
buried about there. Personally, I believe Miss Raven's hit the nail on
the head--this is a rough chart of a spot Salter Quick wanted to
find--where, no doubt, something is hidden. What? Who knows?
But--judging from the fact that two men have been murdered for the
secret of it--something of great value. Buried treasure, no doubt."

"That's precisely what I've been thinking from the very first,"
murmured Mr. Cazalette. "And ye'll have to go back--to go back, my
man!"

"It's certainly the only way of going forward," agreed Scarterfield
with a laugh. "But now, before we part, gentlemen, let us see where
we've got to. I, for myself, have drawn five distinct conclusions
about this affair:

"_First_--That the Quicks, Noah and Salter, were in possession of a
secret, which was probably connected with their shipmate of the
_Elizabeth Robinson_, Netherfield, who hailed from Blyth;

"_Second_--That certain men knew the Quicks to be in possession of
that secret and murdered both to get hold of it;

"_Third_--That they failed to get it from either Noah or Salter;

"_Fourth_--That Mr. Cazalette's zeal about the tobacco-box, publicly
expressed, put the criminals on a new scent, and that they, in
pursuance of it, stole both the tobacco-box and Mr. Cazalette's
pocket-book;

"_Fifth_--That the criminals are--or were very recently, in fact, this
very morning--in the vicinity of this place.

"So," he continued, looking round, "the thing's narrowing. Let Mr.
Wing there help by getting some news of Chuh Fen, if possible; as for
me, I'm going to follow up the Netherfield line. I think we shall
track these fellows yet--you never know how unexpectedly a clue may
turn up."

"You've not said anything about the handkerchief that I found,"
observed Mr. Cazalette. "There's a clue, surely!"

"Difficult to follow up, sir," replied Scarterfield. "There is such a
thing as little articles of that sort being lost at the laundry, put
into the wrong basket, and so on. Now if we could trace the owner of
the handkerchief and find where he gets his washing done, and a great
deal more--you see? But we'll not lose sight of it, Mr.