er from a spring near at hand, and departed with his aide.

And after the two were far down the slope, Mr. Wagg called in his
campmates with the caution of a hen partridge assembling the brood after
the hunter has passed. "It means that we've got to stick close by this
camp and mind our business for a week, at any rate," he said, after he
had reported the conversation.

Vaniman could not keep the complacency out of his countenance. He caught
the short man squinting at him with a peculiar expression. "It would be
mighty dangerous for any one of us to go far from this camp," said the
young man.

"It sure would!" agreed the convict, sententiously.

Vaniman was promptly conscious that his innocent air had not been
convincing.

He became more fully aware of that fact when the tall man and the short
man resumed guard duty that night, turn about. It was plain that they
proposed to hang grimly to the token in their possession until the token
could be cashed in for the coin.

The confinement behind prison bars had tested Vaniman's powers of
endurance; this everlasting espionage by the men who had set themselves
over him tried him still more bitterly. They lacked the sanction of
the law which even an innocent man respects while he chafes. While
that situation continued he was prevented from taking any step toward
clearing up his tangled affairs. He could look down on the roofs of
the village of Egypt and meditate savagely--and that was all. Vona had
apprised him of Britt's plans regarding a mansion. He could see that
structure was taking shape rapidly. Men swarmed over it like bees over
a hive. He did not doubt the loyalty of the girl. But he was left to
wonder how long her loyalty to the memory of a dead man would endure.

Day by day, through dragging hours, he suffered from the agonizing
monotony of the camp. But the future offered only a somber prospect.
After this respite in the insistence of the treasure seekers, he could
expect only ugly determination when they dared to make a move in the
matter. They had plenty of leisure for talk. They were already spending
that money! Wagg was even more impatient than the others.

Though Vaniman had been cruelly tortured by thoughts of the injustice
that had been visited on him, by his reflections that the Egyptians
had shown him no consideration, he had nursed the hope that he might
contrive to give them back their money after he had dragged from Britt
the truth.

But at last