ption of the stuff we were seeking. At last, after seemingly
eternal hours of incredible toil, though in reality it couldn't have
been more than a few seconds, the earth came away, and my spade lay bare
four bags of mouldering leather--four torn and decaying things through
which came the dull golden gleam of minted metal. With a smothered cry
Cumshaw threw himself on the saddle-bags and hugged and clawed them like
a man gone demented. For the moment there came a curious vulpine look
into his face, and then it passed so swiftly that I could have fancied
that it had never been there or anywhere else save in my imagination.

"We've found it at last," I said, and was surprised to find how thin my
voice had become. It was the first rational word since I had begun to
dig, and it acted on Cumshaw like a douche of cold water. He dropped the
bags as if he had been stung, and climbed out of the hole rather
shamefacedly.

Moira opened her mouth as if to speak and then shut it again. Ludicrous
as it all looked, it was sufficient to show me just how unbalanced sane
people can become at the sight of gold. The three of us looked at each
other, and then I fancy we all laughed, albeit a little hysterically.

The rest is soon told. We got the rotting bags out somehow, and portion
of their contents spilled out on the ground, though we didn't mind that
at the time. There was more money in each of the bags than any one of us
had ever handled before. In the light of what happened afterwards I'm
positive that it was Cumshaw who suggested filling up the hole.

"A good idea," I thought. A gaping hole in the ground might attract the
attention of strangers and lead to further enquiries--the kind of
enquiries that would not be welcomed by us. I had thrown all but the
last shovelful in when Cumshaw drew something from his pocket, looked at
it a moment, and then, with a muttered exclamation, threw it into the
hole and trod it deep into the earth. I got but the one look at it, and
it seemed to me to be an ordinary leather-covered pocket-book. I was on
the point of asking him the meaning of his action when I chanced to
glance up at his face, and what I saw there made me shut my lips down
like a steel trap. I said nothing, and beyond my first natural start of
surprise I don't think I gave myself away at all.

* * * * *

It doesn't matter just how much we made out of it. If I were to write
down the exact figures no on