The commander of the expedition, Captain Cecil Burlinghame, a retired naval officer, was in advance. They had penetrated the woods nearly to the beach when his foot struck against a package wrapped in the skin of a small rodent. He stooped and picked it up. "Here is the first evidence that another human being than ourselves has ever set foot upon this island," he said as he cut the gut lacing with his pocket knife. Within the first wrapping he found a chamois-bag such as women sometimes use to carry jewels about their persons. From this he emptied into his palm a dozen priceless rings, a few old-fashioned brooches, bracelets, and lockets. In one of the latter he discovered the ivory miniature of a woman--a very beautiful woman. In the other side of the locket was engraved: "To Eugénie Marie Céleste de la Valois, Countess of Crecy, from Henri, her husband. 17th January, 18--" "Gad!" cried the old captain. "Now what do you make of that? "The Count and Countess of Crecy were returning to Paris from their honeymoon trip round the world in the steam yacht _Dolphin_ nearly twenty years ago, and after they touched at Australia were never heard of again. "What tragedy, what mystery, what romance might not these sparkling gems disclose had they but tongues!" THE CAVE GIRL PART II NOTE: _Part II of this book appeared serially under the title_ "The Cave Man" CHAPTER I KING BIG FIST Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones, scion of the aristocratic house of the John Alden Smith-Joneses of Boston, clambered up the rocky face of the precipitous cliff with the agility of a monkey. His right hand clasped the slim brown fingers of his half-naked mate, assisting her over the more dangerous or difficult stretches. At the summit the two turned their faces back toward the sea. Beyond the gently waving forest trees stretched the broad expanse of shimmering ocean. In the foreground, upon the bosom of a tiny harbor, lay a graceful yacht--a beautiful toy it looked from the distance of the cliff top. For the first time the man obtained an unobstructed view of the craft. Before, when they first had discovered it, the boles of the forest trees had revealed it but in part. Now he saw it fully from stem to stern with all its well-known, graceful lines standing out distinctly against the deep blue of the water. The shock of recognition brought an involuntary exclamation from his lips. The girl looked quickly up into his face. "What is it, Thandar?" she asked. "What do you see?" "The yacht!" he whispered. "It is the _Priscilla_--my father's. He is searching for me." "And you wish to go?" For some time he did not speak--only stood there gazing at the distant yacht. And the young girl at his side remained quite motionless and silent, too, looking up at the man's profile, watching the expression upon his face with a look of dumb misery upon her own.