and have as much freedom
as the place afforded."

"At first my interviews with him were like attempting to tame an enraged
bull, and all my advances were rejected. Other men might have got
disgusted, but not so with me. I persevered, and gradually softened his
rugged nature, but it was like water wearing away stone. At length I
perceived that confinement was telling on the prisoner, and then I
hinted how much better it would be for my welfare if I was rich and
independent of the police force; and although at first my insinuations
were rejected with scorn, yet time and an even temper effected my
purpose; and one day after Bill had had a bad attack of fainting fits
and convulsions, he told me his whole history, and ended with a
confession that the dust which he had stolen, was buried, with other
treasure, near the banks of the Lodden, within sight of Mount
Tarrengower. That there was only one way to reach it, for quicksands
surrounded the spot where the money was hid, and that I could find it by
searching precisely at the hour of twelve o'clock in the evening, when
the moon was full, for then Mount Tarrengower threw a shadow upon the
edge of the spot, and no mistake could occur. In fact, he gave me such
explicit directions, that I do not fear failure."

CHAPTER LXV.

THE EXPEDITION AFTER BILL SWINTON'S BURIED TREASURES.

"And you think that Bill was not deceiving you?" Fred asked, after a
moment's consideration.

"If you could have seen his death bed--how pleasantly and cheerfully he
left this world for the next, and how comfortable he was with new pipes
and an unlimited supply of tobacco, and two hard candles, got at my own
expense, you would not have thought that the fellow was endeavoring to
deceive me. Besides, he died so much like a Christian, forgiving every
one, and entertaining no malice, that I can hardly believe he would have
been guilty of such rascally hypocrisy."

"How do you know that Bill did not impart his secret to others?" I
asked.

"Simply because I gave orders that no conversation was to be held with
him; and to see that my orders were carried out, I sat up with him on
the night that he died. Almost with his last breath he told me to
'remember the shadow.' I feel so confident that he told me the true spot
where the money is buried, that I would not take one thousand pounds for
my share."

We thought the matter over, and considered the subject in all its
bearings. If Bill had spoken t