"And who is indebted to young Atherton for saving my life, and to him and his fellow Scouts for saving the lives of several of the crew of one of my ships," added the baronet. "One of your ships, sir?" asked Atherton, in astonishment. "Yes, the _Polybus_: you saw the account in this morning's papers, Mr----?" "Buckley," said the Scoutmaster. "Yes, I saw the account in the papers, but I did not notice to whom the vessel belonged." "Haven't you seen the papers, lads?" asked Sir Silas. "No, sir," was the reply. "H'm; when you do I hope you won't suffer with swollen heads, lads. All the same it was a gallant deed. Do you know, Mr Buckley, up to only a few days ago I held strong unfavourable views on the Scout movement. It will be unnecessary for me to state what they were as I am now convinced of my error. If all Scouts are like these--and I have been assured that they are no better and no worse than their fellows in all parts of the world--mankind owes a debt of gratitude to the founder of the movement. To show my practical appreciation of what these lads have done, I have come down to Polkerwyck House for the rest of the time they remain at Seal Island. Mr Buckley, I trust you will avail yourself of my offer and ride down to Polkerwyck in my car?" "But these lads?" asked the Scoutmaster. "They, of course, are included: the more the merrier. My car is a fairly large one, and I have no doubt that the Scouts can exercise their ingenuity in stowing themselves somewhere." So saying, Sir Silas led the way out of the station to where a powerful six-seater was drawn up. Sir Silas and the Scoutmaster occupied a seat each, one of the Scouts perched himself beside the chauffeur, and the remaining five contrived to squeeze in without regard to their cramped quarters. All the lads agreed that it was infinitely better than tramping up and down dale upon the hard granite roads, for the car, under the guidance of the skilled chauffeur, simply flew. Eleven minutes from the time of leaving the station the car drew up at the gates of Polkerwyck House. The lodge keeper hastened to throw open the massive iron gates embellished with Sir Silas Gwinnear's arms, but before the chauffeur could restart, a sergeant of the Cornish constabulary, accompanied by a policeman and a plain-clothes officer, stepped up and saluted the baronet. "Sorry to have to inform you, Sir Silas, that up to the present we haven't any clue," said the sergeant. "Clue? What on earth do you mean, Coombes?" asked the baronet in astonishment. "About the burglary, sir; haven't----" "Burglary--where?" "Didn't Mr Tassh wire to you, sir?" "Certainly not. What's wrong now?" "Mr Tassh reported to us early this morning that Polkerwyck House had been broken into during the night and a large quantity of silver had been taken away." "My silver? Surely none of the presentation plate I had given me by Lloyds'?" "Unfortunately, sir, that is missing."