"Then I can see what we ought to do," I cried, and in a few graphic sentences I sketched out a plan of action that met with instant approval from both my companions. CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. REVEALS A SCHEME. This, in a few words, was my scheme. For my own part, I was certain that one or other of the many parties who were after the deeds--the Foreign Office, the Jesuits, the representatives of Spain, or the company promoters--would, somehow, make a desperate effort to seize them. Therefore our first duty was clear-- to hide them so effectually that none could find them. Where, then, should they be placed? Both Cooper-Nassington and Jose Casteno had various suggestions to make in this respect. One was in favour of secreting them under a certain tree in the garden of St Bruno's. The other suggested that they should be tied to the clapper in the great iron bell that hung in a dome on the roof. But in the end, for good or for evil, my notion was adopted. We all repaired to the entrance hall, which happened, luckily, to be quite deserted, and there, at the back of the statue of the poor misguided idol of the founder, in a little opening in the pedestal which the base of the figure left uncovered, we bestowed those most precious documents. Afterwards we returned to the study, and then I produced those three most excellent forgeries of the real deeds which Paul Zouche had made at the hunchback's request, and by which that precious pair of worthies hoped to throw all unpleasantly close inquirers off the scent when the chase got too hot at the curiosity shop in Westminster. "It's a pity that these should not have a chance of showing what they can do in the direction of baffling the inquisitive and the unprincipled," I observed, with a sly smile, adding the particulars of how and when I got possession of them. "What do you say to labelling these quite openly: `Documents _re_ Sacred Lake,' and placing them in the safe of the Order of St Bruno, the first place thieves will search if they have come after the deeds?" "A most excellent suggestion!" exclaimed Cooper-Nassington, with an approving nod. "And I move," added Casteno, "that we act on it at once."