iness to secure a couple of thousand skins, and
get them dry for packing by the time the next boat arrived,
probably in the middle of August.

He had beached his boat, and spent an hour or more wandering round
the crags, and planning the campaign against the luckless gulls,
which dozed in sleepy content on the sunny slopes of the inlet.
Then, taking to his boat again, he pulled himself back towards Seal
Cove, maturing his plans on the way. He was passing a rocky
promontory just before reaching the fish-flakes, when he heard a
yelping noise, and, looking up, saw a big dog running to and fro on
the rocks in evident distress. But there were so many big dogs
running loose in the woods and the wilds at this time of the year,
and as they were mostly in distress over something or other, he
took very little notice of the creature, and, working steadily on,
arrived in due course at the fish shed.

Jervis was tired, having pulled many miles through a choppy sea
with the wind against him, and he was thinking that it would be
really pleasant to sit writing for an hour or two somewhere out of
the roaring of the wind. Entering his office, he took off his
jacket and sat down on the rough stool before the equally rough
desk where his clerical work was principally done.

But he had not entered two items in his book of takings when Mr.
Selincourt came in hastily, with a worried look on his face.

"Have you seen Mary in your travels?" he asked.

"No; I didn't even know that Miss Selincourt was at Seal Cove this
morning," Jervis answered, looking up from his writing.

"She came down a good two hours before I did; said she wanted to go
over the rocks to test some ironstone formation which she
discovered the other day. She promised to be back here to meet me
when I arrived, but that is three hours ago, and she has not come
yet."

Jervis sat looking at him in an abstracted fashion, as if trying to
settle some clue which threatened to escape him; then, with a
start, he asked: "Had she a dog with her?"

"Most likely; she never moves very far without one or two of those
great brutes from the store to keep her company, and a good thing
too. I always feel more comfortable about her then, than if she
were alone."

Jervis jumped up and began to pull on his jacket with nervous
haste. He was remembering the dog he had seen on the rocks an hour
or two ago, and the creature's evident distress, which probably
meant that Miss Selincourt