and left uncanny mysteries in the dusky corners. 

The table, moved near the window to get the cooler evening breeze during the meal, was finally cleared.

“Do you feel funny?” asked Tom, looking around the room. “Maybe it’s on account of that voodoo stuff this morning, but for some reason I feel kinda nervous.”

“It’s just your mind—your imagination,” laughed Cliff.

Mr. Gray quietly told Clarence Neale why the boys had decided to act on his advice, to initiate the young collector into their mystic order. They had half of a cipher, he explained, and there was reason to believe that Sam had the other half. Then, in order to carry on a search, if they agreed that it was advisable, the young fellows would require a cool, older head to guide them, and perhaps a stout arm to help them. “I can carry on your work here, Clarence,” Mr. Gray finished his explanation. “If you want to try your hand at a different sort of digging.”

“If it’s a choice between potsherds”—he referred to the bits of pottery which were thus named—“or treasure, count me in for adventure every time!”

Using a watch charm of Cliff’s which his father had made from an ancient Egyptian scarab, or sacred beetle, suitably mounted, Nicky gave Clarence Neale the oath of allegiance, which also served as their motto. Clarence Neale with his face serious and with a sincere manner, took the vow.“I see what it means,” he added. “Seeing All—that you show me—I see nothing that I let others know I see; Knowing All—all of your plans—I know nothing, if anybody asks me; Telling All—that is, letting you know everything I know—I tell nothing, of our plans or mysteries, to any outsider.”

“That’s it exactly,” Nicky exclaimed. “I knew you would be the right sort. Now, we will postpone the initiations and secret signs until tomorrow when we have more time. Now we want to tell you about our map.”

He drew out his copy and the drawing of Sam’s half which Cliff had made from memory. They all bent over them on the table.

“I am very glad that you have taken me into your councils,” Clarence Neale declared. “I know something about this section. It is very easy to see that it is some part of the Florida coral archipelago, what we used to call Ten Thousand Islands, stretching up along the Gulf coast from down toward Cape Sable. I used to fish in those waters.”

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