Meggs shook his head reassuringly. "The top of the headland may be
inaccessible, m'lord. We may find that they--Heh! what's that?"

He leaned forward to peer through his glasses at a second headland
that was swinging into view around the corner of the cliffs.

"_Smoke!_" he cried. "_Smoke!--and a flag!_"

"Gad!" murmured Lord James, hastily bringing his own glasses to bear.

The second headland was about five miles away. The thin column of
smoke that was ascending from its crest near the outer end, could
plainly be seen with the naked eye. But a sunlit cloud beyond
necessitated the full magnifying power of the binoculars to disclose
the white signal flag that flapped lazily on a slender staff near the
beacon.

Lord James drew in a deep breath, and his gray eyes glowed with hope.
Here was evidence that not all aboard the wrecked or foundered
_Impala_ had been lost.

"Meggs," he cried, "you're the one and only skipper! It must be their
signal--it _is_ their signal! But which of them?--who went under and
who escaped!--Miss Genevieve? Tom?"

"This Mr. Blake?" ventured Meggs. "I take it, he's some relation to
your lordship."

"No; chum--American engineer. Gad! if he went down! But it's