She shook her head. "So he tried to tell me that Monday afternoon. But there was something in his tone—I may be in Hawaii, but I'm not quite mad. Youth, John Quincy, youth doesn't return, whatever they may say out here." She pressed his hand, and stood. "If your chance comes, dear boy," she added, "don't be such a fool."
She moved hastily away through the garden, and John Quincy looked after her with a new affection in his eyes.
Presently he saw the yellow glare of a match beyond the wire. Amos again, still loitering under his algaroba tree. John Quincy rose and strolled over to him.
"Hello, Cousin Amos," he said. "When are you going to take down this fence?"
"Oh, I'll get round to it some time," Amos answered. "By the way, I wanted to ask you. Any new developments?"
"Several," John Quincy told him. "But nothing that gets us anywhere. So far as I can see, the case has blown up completely."
"Well, I've been thinking it over," Amos said. "Maybe that would be the best outcome, after all. Suppose they do discover who did for Dan—it may only reveal a new scandal, worse than any of the others."
"I'll take a chance on that," replied John Quincy. "For my part, I intend to see this thing through—"
Haku came briskly through the garden. "Cable message for Mr. John Quincy Winterslip. Boy say collect. Requests money."
John Quincy followed quickly to the front door. A bored small boy awaited him. He paid the sum due and tore open the cable. It was signed by the postmaster at Des Moines, and it read: