ere other and real jewels, too, in the collection,
which they were soon to discover.

"Oh," murmured Mollie, "if I could only find some trace of mother's
silver service among those things!"

The detective looked up sharply. "Have you folks lost anything?" he
asked.

"Oh, yes!" Mollie explained. "Mother lost her silver tea service that
has been in the family for ever so many years, besides an expensive jet
necklace. And, besides that, Miss Ford's father had his pet thoroughbred
horse stolen."

"And one of the big stores in Deepdale was looted," Betty added. "Oh,
there was tremendous excitement there for a time."

"Hum," said the spokesman, stroking his beardless chin thoughtfully. "It
looks as if we might be able to trace a good many things." And he
continued to explore the contents of the bag to the very bottom.

The other one was treated in like manner but nothing familiar met the
watching eyes. Of course, all were disappointed, but Mr. Mendall, for
such was the sheriff's name, warned the young people that it was not yet
time to give up hope--there were plenty more bags where these had come
from.

"But we haven't time to go through all of them now," he stated. "I
simply wanted to assure myself that the things were valuable. Now that I
am satisfied on that score, the best thing to do is to get the loot away
as soon as possible and then set somebody to watch for those gypsies. I
never saw anything like them when it comes to nerve," he added, waxing
enthusiastic on the subject. "Why, I believe if you were crossing a
chasm with only a board between you and eternity, and they happened to
need that board for kindling wood they would pull it out from under you
without the slightest compunction."

The girls laughed, but they could not help thinking that the statement
was somewhat exaggerated.

"But you are not going to leave the cave unprotected until you get the
loot away?" Mollie cried. "Suppose they should come back in the
meantime?"

"Then they would fall into a very prettily laid trap," was the grim
answer. "No, my dear young lady, we are not going to leave the cave
unguarded. I'll have men watching day and night until we catch them
red-handed. It is sure to come sooner or later."

The girls drew a relieved sigh. They had not liked the idea of being
alone on this end of the island when the gypsies returned to find the
cave empty.

Mr. Mendall rose to his feet, gripping a bag in each hand, but together
the