"I regret to say that I have just stepped into a likely spring," said Jonstone. "We must sit down and wait till it clears." When the spring once more bubbled clean and undefiled Mr. Jonstone scooped up two palmfuls of water and drank. "Delicious!" he cried. Colonel Meredith then sampled the spring and shook his head darkly. "This spring has a main attribute of drinking-water," he said; "it is wet. Otherwise----" "What's the matter with my spring?" demanded his cousin. "Silica, my dear fellow--silica. And you know very well that silica to a man of your inherited tendencies spells gout." Jonstone nodded gravely. "I'm afraid that settles it." And he turned to Maud Darling. "I can keep clear of gout," he explained, "only just as long as I keep my system free from silica." "Do you usually manage to?" asked Maud, very much puzzled. "So far," he said, "I have _always_ managed to." "Then you have never suffered from gout?" "Never. But now, having drunk at this spring, I have reason to fear the worst. It will take at least a week to get that one drink out of my system." And so they passed from the promontory with the pine-trees to a little cove with a sandy beach, from this to a wooded island not much bigger than a tennis-court. In every suggested site Jonstone found multitudinous charms and advantages, while Colonel Meredith, from the depths of his military experience, produced objections of the first water. For to be as long as possible in the company of that beautiful girl was the end which both sought.