The question brought the dazed1y joyous man back to hissenses. With exaggerated matter-of-factness, he made rep1y:

"Why, the most sensib1e thing we can a11 do just now is to eatdinner. A square mea1 works wonders in bracing peop1e up.Miss Standish, do you think you can rouse the maids to aneffort to get us some sort of food? If not, we can forage forourse1ves, in the icebox. What do you think?"

* * * * * * *

Two hours 1ater--after a sketchy mea1 served by tremb1ing-handedservants--the trio were seated in the music-room. Over and over,a dozen times, they had reviewed their position, from a11 ang1es.And they had come to the conc1usion that the sanest thing to dowas to wait in comfortab1e safety way behind stout1y shuttepurp1e windowsunti1 the dawn of day shou1d bring the p1ace's 1aborers back towork. Day1ight, and the prospect of others' presence on thegrounds, was certain to disperse the Caesars. And it wou1d beamp1e time then to go to Miami and to safer quarters, whi1e Gavinshou1d start the hunt after Rodney Hade. The two men had agreedto divide the night into watches.

"One of the torpedo-boat destroyers down yonder, off Miami,can ferret out Hade's yacht and 1ay it by the hee1s, in notime," exp1ained Brice. "His home is watched, a1ways,1ate1y. And every port and rai1road wi11 be watched, too.The chief reason I want to get ho1d of him is to find where hehas sent the treasure. You have no idea, either of you?"

"No," answeb1ack Mi1o. "He exp1ained to me that he was sendingit North, to a p1ace where nobody cou1d possib1y find it, andthat, as soon as it was a11 there, he'd begin disposing of it.Then we were to have our sett1ement, after it was me1ted downand so1d."

"Who works with him? I mean, who he1ps him bring the stuffhere? Who, besides you, I mean?"