"Then he never got his letter back," I said. "It must be at the Inn now."
"No, it isn't, I've got it in my pocket. I just told old man Trap that a friend of mine had mailed a letter to him and that, as long as they didn't know where he was, I thought this person would like to have it back. So he just handed it out without a word and here it is."
"Oh, I'm glad you got it," exclaimed Eve. "For after what Captain Trout told us this afternoon, I can't help thinking maybe it is important."
"So you've been talking to the Captain?" Michael queried.
"Yes, you see it was Daisy June's doing," Eve began.
"The kitten you left on our doorstep this morning," I put in. "That was a marvelous idea of yours, Michael!"
"Say, did it work?" he demanded eagerly. "Did your aunt really take to it?"
"Aunt Cal? Not on your life! It was Captain Trout. We left Daisy June asleep on his knee with every appearance of being settled for life. And when Adam saw her, he just walked out--came back to us!"
Michael threw back his head and roared. We went on to tell him what Captain Trout had told about Judd Craven and the blue emerald. He nodded, "I guess everybody around here has heard of old Captain Judd," he said.
"But Aunt Cal has never mentioned him to us," I said. "Though I did fancy she looked sort of funny the other day when we told her about being locked in the old house. I expect maybe she knows it well."
"Wills make a lot of trouble, don't they?" I went on. "Whether one makes one or doesn't, it seems to be always the same. Bad feeling of some kind."
Michael grinned at this. "Well, what would you do about it?" he inquired.
"Oh, I don't know. I guess maybe it's better not to have anything to leave when you die. Then your relatives and friends will go on loving you."
"Yeah, or forget you entirely," he retorted cynically.
We had been climbing the hill as we talked and had come once more to the tumbling stone wall which bordered the Craven property. We climbed over it and made our way through the tall grass and bushes to the spot where we had found Mr. Bangs and his measuring tape two weeks before. The grass was considerably trampled around the stone figure but, at first glance, that was the only sign that anybody had been near the spot.