One by one the Scouts placed on the table the spoons and forks they had discovered. Polglaze snatched one up and examined.
"Yes, that's part of Sir Silas' stuff," he announced. "Is that all you've found?"
"Yes, sir," answered Atherton. "With the bowl, of course."
"Then there's a heap more to be recovered," said the detective. "Tell me about the tunnel."
Polglaze listened attentively and in silence to the Scout's narrative.
"You are quite sure you examined every part of the tunnel?" he asked, when Atherton had finished. "There is no place where Tassh might hide that you neglected to make sure of?"
"I think not, sir."
"Good. I'll inform Sir Silas."
The detective was certainly jealous of the Scouts' success, but the news could not be withheld from the baronet. It also opened a fresh channel for the detective's energies. Since the robber's retreat was discovered, the ends could be bricked up and no further attention paid to it. Polglaze would be free to devote his skill to the tracking of the butler on Seal Island.
Great was the astonishment of Sir Silas to find that the dust-grimed members of the "Otter" patrol had entered his house by a means hitherto unknown to him.