the clever screen of the surprised conspirator who was hunting for
a plan.

We entered the cave, and he flung his pack into a corner. 'Last
time I was here,' he said, 'I covered the floor with heather. We
must get some more if we would sleep soft.' In the twilight he was
a dim figure, but he seemed a new man from the one I had last seen
in the Moot Hall at Biggleswick. There was a wiry vigour in his
body and a purpose in his face. What a fool I had been to set him
down as no more than a conceited fidneur!

He went out to the shelf again and sniffed the fresh evening.
There was a wonderful red sky in the west, but in the crevice the
shades had fallen, and only the bright patches at either end told of
the sunset.
'Wake,' I said, 'you and I have to understand each other. I'm a
friend of Ivery and I know the meaning of this place. I discovered
it by accident, but I want you to know that I'm heart and soul with
you. You may trust me in tonight's job as if I were Ivery himself.'

He swung round and looked at me sharply. His eyes were hot
again, as I remembered them at our first meeting.

'What do you mean? How much do you know?'

The hammer was going hard in my forehead, and I had to pull
myself together to answer.

'I know that at the end of this crack a message was left last night,
and that someone came out of the sea and picked it up. That