"What bothers me is to understand why he called out, and let us all know
he'd struck a find," Owen continued.

"Same here," Max added.

"You'd think that if Steve was the thief he seemed to be, his first act
would have been to quietly pocket this big pearl, and just keep mum. Ain't
it so, Max?"

"Seems that way," came the ready answer. "To do that would save a heap of
trouble in taking it out of the bag while the rest of us slept."

"But perhaps Steve really enjoys that exciting part of the business,"
suggested Owen.

"Do you know, a thought struck me, though I can't take much stock in it,"
Max went on.

"Let's hear it, anyhow," remarked his chum.

"Well, in order to make sure of the valuable pearls here, I'm putting them
away in my private purse. Well, what if some notion like that has struck
our comrade, and he's hiding 'em unbeknown to us, either for a trick, or
to make doubly sure they don't get lost."

Owen sneered plainly, as if to express his disbelief in this far-fetched
theory.

"It's just like you to try and screen a chum, old fellow," he observed;
"but the idea seems too thin for me to take any stock in it. To tell the