we managed
to get this block out into the park, and attempted to crush it with
the sledge-hammers belonging to the forge, in which we were entirely
unsuccessful. The more it resisted our efforts, the more certain we
became that the coins would be found within it. As this would not be
treasure-trove in the sense that the Government might make a claim
upon it, there was no particular necessity for secrecy, so we had up a
man from the mines near by with drills and dynamite, who speedily
shattered the block into a million pieces, more or less. Alas! there
was no trace in its debris of 'pay dirt,' as the western miner puts
it. While the dynamite expert was on the spot, we induced him to
shatter the anvil as well as the block of cement, and then the
workman, doubtless thinking the new earl was as insane as the old one
had been, shouldered his tools, and went back to his mine.

The earl reverted to his former opinion that the gold was concealed in
the park, while I held even more firmly to my own belief that the
fortune rested in the library.

'It is obvious,' I said to him, 'that if the treasure is buried
outside, someone must have dug the hole. A man so timorous and so
reticent as your uncle would allow no one to do this but himself.
Higgins maintained the other evening that all picks and spades were
safely locked up by himself each night in the tool-house. The mansion
itself was barricaded with such exceeding care that it would have been
difficult for your uncle to get outside even if he wished to do so.
Then such a man as your uncle is described to have been would
continually desire ocular demonstration that his savings were intact,
which would be practically impossible if the gold had found a grave in
the park. I propose now that we abandon violence and dynamite, and
proceed to an intellectual search of the library.'

'Very well,' replied the young earl, 'but as I have already searched
the library very thoroughly, your use of the word "intellectual",
Monsieur Valmont, is not in accord with your customary politeness.
However, I am with you. 'Tis for you to command, and me to obey.'

'Pardon me, my lord,' I said, 'I used the word "intellectual" in
contradistinction to the word "dynamite". It had no reference to your
former search. I merely propose that we now abandon the use of
chemical reaction, and employ the much greater force of mental
activity. Did you notice any writing on the margins of the newspapers
you examin