'No use, Miss Marjorie,' said Neil. 'If he means ill by me he will give the alarm; it will be better for me to be landing while there iss still a chance. I'm not afraid if I only have him to deal with.'

He stood up once more, then turned to the others. 'Remember,' he said, 'whatever happens, my mother iss to be told that I haf left the island.

Miss Marjorie, you promise?'

'I promise,' answered Marjorie; then Neil sprang on sh.o.r.e and vanished behind a ma.s.s of rock.

For a minute or two they remained looking up at the cliff, but nothing was to be seen of Andrew MacPeters; then they rowed slowly back to the place where the Craft had been moored.

'Well?' said Allan and Reggie, who met them half-way on the road to Ardnavoir.

The others gave a brief account of what had taken place.

'Bad luck,' said Allan when they had described the encounter with Andrew MacPeters. 'I'd back Neil against Andrew any day; he won't interfere with Neil himself, but then the fellow's quite capable of giving the alarm to the police.'

They wandered disconsolately a little farther.

'It seems horrid to have to give Mrs. Macdonnell that message,' said Marjorie; 'but it will have to be done, I suppose, since we promised.'

'Yes, Marjorie,' said Hamish, 'it will have to be done. It would be enough to kill her if she knew that Neil was in danger.'

Who was to be entrusted with the message? Every one looked at Marjorie, who became red and looked unhappy as she realised what was expected of her.

'You will have to do it,' said Allan.

'Me?' said Marjorie; 'no, you go, Allan.'

'No,' said Allan decidedly; 'it's not the kind of thing for a fellow.

It needs a girl, so it will have to be you.'

'Allan is quite right, Marjorie,' joined in Hamish; 'there is no one but you who can do it. Mind you don't let her see that you are not telling the truth.'

Marjorie looked very distressed, but saw she must make up her mind.

'Well, you come with me as far as the cottage,' she said; and the entire party set off.

Arrived at the gate, Allan threw it open, and Marjorie walked up the path and disappeared inside the cottage.

The others sat down on the heather and waited.

A long time seemed to pa.s.s, and then Marjorie reappeared looking very subdued.

'All right, Marjorie?' inquired Allan.

Marjorie nodded without speaking, and others judged it best to refrain from asking questions.

For some time they walked in silence, and then Tricksy quietly slipped into the place next to Marjorie.

After a while, finding that the boys were out of earshot. Tricksy sidled closer, and ventured to ask Marjorie very gently how Mrs.

Macdonnell had received the message.

'I--I--I--she was in bed,' said Marjorie, 'and I went to her, and it was rather dark, and after I had asked how she was and all that, I--I--I just told her. She never thought I was saying what wasn't true, for she said "Thank G.o.d for that."'

Marjorie ended with a little tearless sob, and neither of the girls could find anything to say for a little while.

When the boys came beside them again Tricksy walked on silently for a little way, then she suddenly burst out--

'I don't care, but what's the use of a Compact if we can't do anything to help Neil? There he is, in great danger, and Mrs. Macdonnell may hear of it any day, and if she does it will kill her; and we haven't done anything that's of any use.'

'What do you think we can do?' replied Reggie gruffly.

'Why, bustle about until we find out who stole the letters. Here we are, and we find little bits of paper which ought to tell us something if we had any sense, but we don't get further. Seven of us and we can't help poor Neil when he is in trouble.'

n.o.body seemed to have anything to say, and Tricksy burst out again--

'You say you know who was the real thief?'

'We think we do, Tricksy,' interposed Hamish; 'but we don't know for certain.'

'Then why don't we make sure?'

'How would you do it, Tricksy?' asked Allan, while the others trudged steadily onwards.

'Why, watch him wherever he goes; and we'd soon find out where he kept the papers if he had taken them.'

There was no answer for a moment.

Then Allan said gravely, 'That wouldn't be honourable, Tricksy. We must play fair, you know.'

'Honourable! Honourable to a thief!--But yes, of course we must.

Well, I don't know what's to be done then,' and Tricksy concluded by a big sigh.

When the coastguard station came in view a man was standing at the gate, scanning the road with a telescope. Upon catching sight of the young people he lowered the gla.s.s and came forward.

'Euan Macdonnell,' said Reggie, quickening his pace; 'let's hear whether he has any news.'

'I was on the lookout for you, young ladies and gentlemen,' said Euan.

'We've just got a telephone message from the Corrachin lighthouse sent by Rob MacLean. We were to tell you that Neil has reached the caves and is safe for the meanwhile, and he supposes that you, young ladies and gentlemen, have remembered the message to his mother.'

'If only Andrew hasn't seen him,' said Marjorie after the first exclamations of thankfulness.

Euan looked grave as he heard how Andrew had witnessed the landing.

'I don't trust that fellow for an instant,' he said. 'He would think nothing of putting the police on the alert if he had a mind to. We can only hope that he hasn't recognised Neil, or that Rob will find a way of getting the poor lad out of the island before any harm comes.'

When the young people had reached Ardnavoir, weary and discouraged, Mr.

Stewart was in the hall. 'I know who was with you this morning,' he said abruptly. 'Was it by accident that you met?'

'Yes,' said Allan.