ted the decision. Aunt Jane wept, and Chris
wept, and said this never could have happened to him if his aunt
had lived. Oaths flowed from Captain Magnus in a turgid stream.
Nevertheless the twain were led away, firmly bound, and guarded by
Dugald, Cuthbert and the negro. And the remarkable program
proposed by Cuthbert Vane was triumphantly carried out. Six
prisoners now occupied the old cave of the buccaneers.

With the camp freed from the presence of the pirates all need of
watchfulness was over. The prisoners in the cave were provided
with no implements but spades, whereas dynamite and crowbars would
be necessary to force a way through the debris which choked the
mouth of the tunnel. A looking over of the ground at the daily
feeding time would be enough.

To-morrow's sun would see our hopes crowned and all our toil
rewarded by the recovery of the treasure from the _Island Queen_.

XX

'TWIXT CUP AND LIP

Next morning an event occurred sufficiently astonishing to divert
our thoughts from even the all-important topic of the _Island
Queen_. Cookie, who had been up on the high land of the point
gathering firewood, came rushing back to announce that a steamer
had appeared in the offing. All the party dropped their
occupations and ran to look. That the _Rufus Smith_ had returned
at an unexpectedly early date was of course the natural explanation
of the appearance of a vessel in these lonely seas. But through
the glass the new arrival turned out to be not the tubby freighter
but a stranger of clean-cut, rakish build, lying low in the water
and designed for speed rather than carrying capacity.

A mile offshore she lay to, and a boat left her side. Wondering
and disquieted, we returned to the beach to await her coming. Was
it another pirate? What possible errand could bring a steamer to
this remote, unvisited, all but forgotten little island? Had
somebody else heard the story of the _Bonny Lass_ and come after
the doubloons, unknowing that we were beforehand with them? If so,
must we do battle for our rights?

The boat shot in between the points and skimmed swiftly over the
rippling surface of the cove, under the rhythmic strokes of half a
dozen flashing oars. The rowers wore a trim white uniform, and in
the stern a tall figure, likewise white-clad, turned toward us a
dark face under a pith helmet.

As the oarsmen drove the boat upon the beach the man in the stern
sprang agilely ashore. Dugal