Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/228

216 second place I do know I was obsessed with the thought that I must protect them somehow. Of course, there's no telling what a man who isn't in his right mind might do, but I should think the last thing that I was likely to do under the circumstances was to give them away."

"It was … unfortunate," commented the planter.

"It was … very unfortunate, Trent," Keith replied, with a square look into the other man's eyes. "They're bound to turn up, though, when we make a thorough search."

"I've been through the place with a fine-toothed comb," Chester said. "There isn't the least trace of them anywhere."

Keith was already ransacking his pockets in vain.

"Unless I threw them away, which I can't conceive possible, they must be somewhere," he said. "Now leave me alone for a while. I'm going to look for them my own way."

For two hours he hunted in every part of the bungalow where it would have been possible for two such small objects to be secreted. Considering his own room to be the most likely hunting ground, he first rummaged into every crack in the walls, floor and ceiling there. Then he subjected each of the other rooms to a similar scrutiny until, finally, he had to confess himself beaten.

"It's no good," he said to the planter. "They're