“What！——atreasure——dugup？“
“Yes——buriedwealth——treasuretrove。Comeoutoftheground。WhatIkeptonsaying——regulartreasure……“Helookedatmewithunusualdisrespect。
“Itwasn’tmorethanafootdeep，notthetopofit，“hesaid。
“I’d’ardlygotthirstylike，beforeIcomeonthecorner。“
“Goon，“Isaid。“Ididn’tunderstand。“
“Why！DirectlyI’ittheboxIknewitwastreasure。Asortofinstincttoldme。Somethingseemedtoshoutinsideofme——’Now’syourchance——
lielow。’It’sluckyIknewthelawsoftreasuretroveorI’d’avebeenshoutin’thereandthen。Idaresayyouknow——“
“Crownbagsit，“Isaid，“allbutonepercent。Goon。It’sashame。
Whatdidyoudo？“
“Uncoveredthetopofthebox。Therewasn’tanybodyinthegardenoraboutlike。Janewas’elping’ermotherdothe’ouse。IWAS
excited——Itellyou。Itriedthelockandthengaveawhackatthehinges。Openitcame。Silvercoins——full！Shining。Itmademetrembletosee’em。Andjestthen——I’mblessedifthedustmandidn’tcomeroundthebackofthe’ouse。Itprettynearlygaveme’eartdiseasetothinkwhatafoolIwasto’avethatmoneyshowing。AnddirectlyafterI’eardthechapnextdoor——’ewas’olidaying，too——
I’eardhimwatering’isbeans。Ifonly’e’dlookedoverthefence！“
“Whatdidyoudo？“
“Kickedthelidonagainandcoveredituplikeashot，andwentondiggingaboutayardawayfromit——likemad。Andmyface，sotospeak，waslaughingonitsownaccounttillIhadithid。ItellyouIwasregularscaredlikeatmyluck。Ijestthoughtthatit’adtobekep’closeandthatwasall。’Treasure，’Ikep’whisperin’
tomyself，’Treasure’and’’undredsofpounds，’undreds，’undredsofpounds。’Whisperingtomyselflike，anddigginglikeblazes。Itseemedtometheboxwasregularstickingoutandshowing，likeyourlegsdounderthesheetsinbed，andIwentandputalltheearthI’dgotoutofmy’olefortherockeryslapontopofit。IWAS
inasweat。Andinthemidstofitallouttoddles’erfather。
Hedidn’tsayanythingtome，jeststoodbehindmeandstared，butJanetolemeafterwardswhenhewentindoors，’esays，’Thattherejackanapesofyours，Jane’——healwayscalledmeajackanapessome’ow——’knows’owtoput’isbackintoitafterall。’Seemedquiteimpressedbyit，’edid。“
“Howlongwasthebox？“Iasked，suddenly。
“’Owlong？“saidMr。Brisher。
“Yes——inlength？“
“Oh！’boutso-by-so。“Mr。Brisherindicatedamoderate-sizedtrunk。
“FULL？“saidI。
“Fullupofsilvercoins——’arf-crowns，Ibelieve。“
“Why！“Icried，“thatwouldmean——hundredsofpounds。“
“Thousands，“saidMr。Brisher，inasortofsadcalm。“Icalc’lateditout。“
“Buthowdidtheygetthere？“
“AllIknowiswhatIfound。WhatIthoughtatthetimewasthis。
Thechapwho’downedthe’ousebefore’erfather’dbeenaregularslap-upburglar。Whatyou’dcalla’igh-classcriminal。Usedtodrive’istrap——likePeacedid。“Mr。Brishermeditatedonthedifficultiesofnarrationandembarkedonacomplicatedparenthesis。“Idon’tknowifItoldyouit’dbeenaburglar’s’ousebeforeitwasmygirl’sfather’s，andIknew’e’drobbedamailtrainonce，Ididknowthat。
Itseemedtome——“
“That’sverylikely，“Isaid。“Butwhatdidyoudo？“
“Sweated，“saidMr。Brisher。“Regularrunorfme。Allthatmorning，“
saidMr。Brisher，“Iwasatit，pretendingtomakethatrockeryandwonderingwhatIshoulddo。I’d’avetold’erfatherp’r’aps，onlyIwasdoubtfulof’ishonesty——Iwasafraidhemightrobmeofitlike，andgiveituptotheauthorities——andbesides，consideringIwasmarryingintothefamily，Ithoughtitwouldbenicerlikeifitcamethroughme。Putmeonabetterfooting，sotospeak。
Well，I’adthreedaysbeforemeleftofmy’olidays，sotherewasn’tnohurry，soIcovereditupandwentondigging，andtriedtopuzzleout’owIwastomakesureofit。OnlyIcouldn’t。
“Ithought，“saidMr。Brisher，“ANDIthought。OnceIgotregulardoubtfulwhetherI’dseenitornot，andwentdowntoitand’adituncoveredagain，justashermacameoutto’angupabitofwashin’
she’ddone。Jumpsagain！AfterwardsIwasjustthinkingI’d’aveanothergoatit，whenJanecomestotellmedinnerwasready。
’You’llwantit，’shesaid，’seeingallthe’oleyou’vedug。’
“Iwasinaregulardazealldinner，wonderingwhetherthatchapnextdoorwasn’toverthefenceandfilling’ispockets。ButintheafternoonIgoteasierinmymind——itseemedtomeitmust’avebeentheresolongitwasprettysuretostopabitlonger——andItriedtogetupabitofadiscussiontodrorouttheoldmanandseewhat’Ethoughtoftreasuretrove。“
Mr。Brisherpaused，andaffectedamusementatthememory。
“Theoldmanwasascorcher，“hesaid；“aregularscorcher。“
“What！“saidI；“didhe——？“
“Itwaslikethis，“explainedMr。Brisher，layingafriendlyhandonmyarmandbreathingintomyfacetocalmme。“Justtodror’imout，ItoldastoryofachapIsaidIknew——pretendin’，youknow——who’dfoundasovringinanovercoat’e’dborrowed。Isaid’estucktoit，butIsaidIwasn’tsurewhetherthatwasrightornot。Andthentheoldmanbegan。Lor’！’eDIDletme’aveit！“
Mr。Brisheraffectedaninsincereamusement。“’Ewas，well——whatyoumightcallarare’andatSnacks。Saidthatwasthesortoffriend’e’dnaturallyexpectmeto’ave。Said’e’dnaturallyexpectthatfromthefriendofaout-of-workloaferwhotookupwithdaughterswhodidn’tbelongto’im。There！Icouldn’ttellyou’ARF’esaid。
’Ewentonmostoutrageous。Istoodupto’imaboutit，justtodror’imout。’Wouldn’tyousticktoa’arf-sov’，notifyoufounditinthestreet？’Isays。’Certainlynot，’’esays；’certainlyIwouldn’t。’
’What！notifyoufounditasasortoftreasure？’’Youngman，’
’esays，’there’s’i’er’thoritythanmine——RenderuntoCaesar’——
whatisit？Yes。Well，hefetchedupthat。Arare’andat’ittingyouoverthe’edwiththeBible，wastheoldman。Andsohewenton。
’EgottosuchSnacksaboutmeatlastIcouldn’tstandit。I’dpromisedJanenottoanswer’imback，butitgotabitTOOthick。
I——Igiveit’im……“
Mr。Brisher，bymeansofenigmaticalfacework，triedtomakemethinkhehadhadthebestofthatargument，butIknewbetter。
“Iwentoutina’uffatlast。ButnotbeforeIwasprettysureI
’adtoliftthattreasurebymyself。Theonlythingthatkep’meupwasthinking’owI’dtakeitoutof’imwhenI’adthecash。“
Therewasalengthypause。
“Now，you’d’ardlybelieveit，butallthemthreedaysInever’adachanceattheblessedtreasure，nevergotoutnotevena’arf-crown。TherewasalwaysaSomethink——always。
“’Stonishingthingitisn’tthoughtofmore，“saidMr。Brisher。
“Findingtreasure’snogreatshakes。It’sgettin’it。Idon’tsupposeIslep’awinkanyofthosenights，thinkingwhereIwastotakeit，whatIwastodowithit，’owIwastoexplainit。
Itmademeregularill。AnddaysIwasthatdull，itmadeJaneregular’uffy。’Youain’tthesamechapyouwasinLondon，’shesays，severaltimes。Itriedtolayiton’erfatherand’isSnacks，butblessyou，sheknewbetter。Whatmustshe’avebutthatI’dgotanothergirlonmymind！SaidIwasn’tTrue。Well，wehadabitofarow。ButIwasthatsetontheTreasure，Ididn’tseemtomindabitAnythingshesaid。
“Well，atlastIgotasortofplan。Iwasalwaysabitgoodatplanning，thoughcarryingoutisn’tsomuchinmyline。Ithoughtitalloutandsettledonaplan。First，Iwasgoingtotakeallmypocketsfullofthese’ere’arf-crowns——see？——andafterwardsasI
shalltell。
“Well，IgottothatstateIcouldn’tthinkofgettingattheTreasureagaininthedaytime，soIwaiteduntilthenightbeforeIhadtogo，andthen，wheneverythingwasstill，upIgetsandslipsdowntothebackdoor，meaningtogetmypocketsfull。WhatmustIdointhescullerybutfalloverapail！Upgets’erfatherwithagun——’ewasalightsleeperwas’erfather，andverysuspiciousandtherewasme:’adtoexplainI’dcomedowntothepumpforadrinkbecausemywater-bottlewasbad。’Edidn’tletmeoffaSnackortwooverthatbit，youlayabob。“
“Andyoumeantosay——“Ibegan。
