off'm, a dead man's eyes, and bread out of the mouths of infants."
He stopped his tirade long enough to suck at the neck of a black
bottle.

"Come on! Come one, come all!" he screamed. "I'll split every head
open. I'll stay here till I starve. Ye'll have to walk over my dead
body to get it."

"Well, he's good and drunk, and gone crazy into the bargain," snorted
the Cap'n, disgustedly.

"It's a sad thing," remarked Colonel Ward, his little, hard eyes
gleaming with singular fires, and trying to compose his features.
"I'm afraid of what may happen if any one tries to go down there."

"I'll come pretty near to goin' down into my own hole if I want to,"
blurted the Cap'n.

"I'll kill ye jest so sure's hell's a good place to thaw plumbin',"
cried Mr. Bodge. "I've got ye placed. You was goin' to steal my brains.
You was goin' to suck Bodge dry and laugh behind his back. You're
an old thief and liar."

"There's no bald-headed old sosh that can call me names--not when
I can stop it by droppin' a rock on his head," stated the Cap'n with
vigor.

"You don't mean to say you'd hurt that unfortunate man?" inquired
Colonel Ward. "He has gone insane, I think. He ought to be treated
gently. I probably feel different about it than either of you, who
are comparative strangers in Smyrna. But I've always known Eleazar
Bodge, and I should hate to see any harm come to him. As it is, his
brain has been turned by this folly over buried treasure." The
Colonel tried to speak with calmness and dignity, but his tones were
husky and his voice trembled. "Perhaps I can handle him better than
any of the rest of you. I was talkin' with him when you came up."

"You all go away and leave me with Colonel Gid Ward," bawled Bodge.
"He's the only friend I've got in the world. He'll be good to me."

"It's pretty bad business," commented Hiram, peering down into the
pit with much apprehension.

"It's apt to be worse before it's over with," returned the Colonel.

And, catching a look in Hiram's eyes that seemed to hint at something,
he called the showman aside.

"I can't talk with my brother-in-law," he began. "He seems to get
very impatient with me when we try to talk business. But I've got
a proposition to make, and perhaps I can make it through you."

Then, seeing that the Cap'n was bending malevolent gaze on them, he
drew Hiram farther away, and they entered into spirited colloquy.

"It's this way," reported the showman, returning at last t