HE NOVELS OF 
 G-A-BIRMINGHAM 
 
 t3 CAGE'S LOVERS 
 
 <; |> ^ : M r;n -, ,;, 
 
 'IE SEARCH PARTY 
 THE SIMPKIN'S PLOT 
 THE MAJOR'S NIECE 
 PRISCILLA'S SPIES 
 
. - 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
UNIFORM EDITION of the WORKS of 
 
 G. A. BIRMINGHAM 
 
 Each, net $l.%0 
 
 LALAGE'S LOVERS 
 SPANISH GOLD 
 THE SEARCH PARTY 
 THE SIMPKINS PLOT 
 THE MAJOR'S NIECE 
 PRISCILLA'S SPIES 
 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 G. A. BIRMINGHAM 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SEARCH PARTY," " LALAGE'S LOVERS" 
 
 HODDER & STOUGHTON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
355 
 
 4243 
 
 TO 
 
 THEODOSIA AND ALTHEA, 
 
 WHO ASKED ME TO WRITE A STORY 
 
 ABOUT TREASURE BURIED 
 
 ON AN ISLAND 
 
 269786 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 MOY BAY is full of islands, inhabited and unin- 
 habited, and has many smaller bays leading 
 from its main waters far inland. If it were anywhere 
 but in Connacht it would be the haunt of yachts- 
 men. Being where it is, a pleasure boat rarely sails 
 on it. At the south-eastern corner of the bay stands 
 the town of Ballymoy. It is rich, like most West 
 of Ireland towns, in public-houses and ecclesiastical 
 buildings. It is rich in nothing else. Westwards, 
 along the shore of the bay, runs the road which 
 connects the town with the farmhouses of the neigh- 
 bourhood and at last with the poverty-stricken villages 
 which are scattered over the great bog. On this 
 road there is a great deal of traffic. Country carts, 
 droves of cattle, donkeys laden with panniers of turf 
 and Major Kent's smart dogcart come into the town 
 along it on market days and fair days. Therefore 
 during nine-tenths of the year it is extremely muddy. 
 When it is not muddy the dust blows in great clouds 
 over it, to the discomfort of wayfarers who are accus- 
 tomed to wet feet and mud-clogged boots, but hate to 
 feel limestone grit between their teeth and in their eyes. 
 
 i 
 
2 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 The Rev. Joseph John Meldon bicycled along this 
 road one afternoon near the end of May. The day was 
 very hot and the little wind there was blew against him 
 as he rode. The dust had powdered his black clothes 
 till they looked grey, and lay thick in the creases of his 
 trousers, which were bound round his ankles by thin 
 steel clasps. He rode rapidly and was most uncom- 
 fortably hot. His hands were red and moist. Every 
 now and then a drop of sweat gathered beside his nose, 
 trickled down and lodged among the hairs of his thick 
 red moustache. A soft felt hat, grey with dust like his 
 clothes, was pushed back from his glistening forehead. 
 
 There was no reason why Mr. Meldon, curate of 
 Ballymoy, should have ridden fast on such a day. 
 He was out upon no desperate enterprise, rode no 
 race against death or misfortune, would win no bet by 
 arriving anywhere at any specified time. His day's 
 work, not a very arduous one for members of the 
 Church of Ireland are few in Ballymoy was done. 
 He might have ridden slowly if he liked, might have 
 walked, need not have travelled the road at all unless 
 he chose. The afternoon and evening were before him, 
 and he proposed to spend them with Major Kent at 
 Portsmouth Lodge. It made no difference when he 
 arrived there. Four o'clock, five o'clock, six o'clock, 
 any hour up to seven o'clock, when he dined, would be 
 the same to Major Kent, who was one of those fortunate 
 gentlemen who have nothing particular to do in life. 
 Mr. Meldon rode fast and got hot, when he might have 
 ridden slowly and been no more than warm, because he 
 was a young man of impetuous energy and liked going 
 as quickly as he could on all occasions. 
 
 " I hope," he murmured, conscious of hi heat while 
 
SPANISH GOLD 3 
 
 he enjoyed increasing it, "that old Kent will give me 
 a proper drink when I arrive. I could do nicely this 
 minute with a lemon squash." 
 
 Another man, while dwelling with pleasure on thei 
 expectation of a drink, would have also wished for a 
 wash and the use of a clothes brush. The ideal curate, 
 the " dilettante, delicate-handed priest " of Tenny- 
 son's poems, the beloved of ladies in English country 
 towns, would have wished first to be clean and then 
 desired some mild refreshment tea, perhaps, served 
 in an old china cup. But Mr. Meldon was no such 
 curate. Indeed, those who knew him well wondered 
 at his being a curate at all. He was more at his ease 
 in a smoking-room than a drawing-room, and pre- 
 ferred a gun to a Sunday-school roll-book. He cared 
 very little about his personal appearance, and con- 
 sidered that he paid sufficient respect to the virtue of 
 cleanliness if he washed every morning. He was 
 physically strong, played most games well, had been 
 distinguished as an athlete in college, smoked black 
 tobacco, and was engaged to be married. Also though 
 no one ever gave him credit for being studious, he read 
 a great many books. 
 
 "A dash of whisky," he murmured again, "would 
 improve that lemon squash. To do the Major justice, 
 he's free with his drinks. A fellow has to be careful 
 of himself with that old boy." 
 
 A dogcart approached him, driven towards Bally- 
 moy. The driver was a stout, fair man. Beside him, 
 wrapped in a shabby, fur-lined coat, sat a thin, sallow 
 youth. 
 
 " Hullo, Doyle," shouted Meldon, " what brings you 
 out here ? " 
 
$ SPANISH GOLD 
 
 He dismounted from his bicycle and stood in the 
 middle of the road. He recognized that the sallow 
 youth in the fur coat was a stranger in Ballymoy. 
 Meldon wanted to find out something about him 
 all about him if possible. Ballymoy is situated in a 
 district not frequented by tourists. Therefore strangers 
 are rare and objects of great curiosity to the regular 
 inhabitants. There are, broadly speaking, just two 
 classes of strangers to be met in West of Ireland towns 
 which lie off the tourist track. There are gentlemen 
 connected with the Government, the engineers, sur- 
 veyors, and inspectors of our various benevolent 
 boards; Members of Parliament on tour, and jour- 
 nalists despatched by editors to report on the state of 
 Ireland, who are regarded by the people of Bally- 
 moy as more or less connected with the Govern- 
 ment, a sort of camp followers. This class of strangers 
 is only moderately interesting. In Connacht we 
 are getting quite familiar with the Government, 
 and familiarity breeds, if not actual contempt, 
 at all events a lack of curiosity. The second 
 class consists of men who have come to grief 
 somewhere else, through wine, women, or one of 
 the other usual causes of disgrace, and are seeking 
 seclusion till the memory of their misdeeds has faded 
 from the minds of relatives and friends. Respectable 
 relatives and friends, English for the most part, have 
 apparently come to the conclusion that the pastures of 
 the West of Ireland are peculiarly suitable to black 
 sheep. This class is smaller than the other, but much 
 more interesting. The stories of the exile's misdeeds, 
 when we get to know them, as we always do in the end, 
 are frequently most diverting. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 5 
 
 Meldon leaped to the conclusion that Mr. Doyle's 
 Companion belonged to the class of scandalous livers. 
 He had not the look of benevolent intelligence whicK 
 is always to be found on the faces of men connected 
 with the Government, and he wore a fur coat, whereas 
 officials, Members of Parliament, and journalists 
 always wear brown tweed suits and disdain luxurious; 
 overcoats when they wander in wild places. Besides, 
 Mr. Doyle, the owner of the principal inn in 
 Ballymoy, was likely to have a stranger of the second 
 class under his care, while any one connected with the 
 Government would prefer to go round the country with 
 a priest or a policeman. Meldon wondered whether it 
 iwas love, or debt, or whisky, which had brought this 
 prodigal to Ballymoy. 
 
 Mr. Doyle pulled up his horse and greeted the 
 curate. 
 
 " Good-evening to you, Mr. Meldon. A warm even- 
 ing for the end of May. I'd rather be driving, than 
 riding that machine of yours to-day. On your way to 
 see the Major, eh? You'll find him at home. We've 
 just been out at his place." 
 
 " Oh, have you ? Wanting to buy the chestnut filly ? 
 Take my advice and don't do it. She wouldn't suit 
 your work at all. She's cut out for a polo pony, that 
 one. You're too fat to start polo, Doyle. It wouldn't 
 agree with you at your time of life. You may take my 
 word for that." 
 
 Doyle grinned. 
 
 " It wasn't the filly I was after. The fact is that this 
 gentleman, Mr. Langley " 
 
 " Langton," said the stranger. 
 
 " That this gentleman," said Doyle, avoiding a second 
 
6 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 attempt at the name, "wants to hire a yacht, and I 
 thought the Major might let him have the Spindrift. 
 She's the best boat about these parts, though there's 
 others, of course plenty of others." 
 
 " I have one myself," said Meldon. 
 
 " You have," said Doyle, " and I was intending to take 
 the gentleman round to your place this evening. Your 
 boat would just suit him." 
 
 " What sort of a boat does he want ? " said Meldon. 
 
 " I'm looking out for a small yacht," said Langton, 
 "anything from ten tons down to five would do. I 
 and a friend intend to take a little cruise together, and 
 we want something that we can work without profes- 
 sional assistance." 
 
 " The Major didn't see his way to hiring his," said 
 Doyle. 
 
 Meldon eyed the stranger and thought that the 
 Major was quite right in refusing to trust the smart, 
 well found Spindrift to Mr. Langton. The man 
 didn't look as if he ought to go to sea without 
 professional assistance. He looked like a man who 
 might make a wreck of a boat through incapacity to 
 manage her. Meldon's own boat was neither smart nor 
 well found. He had got her cheap because her hull 
 was rotten and most of her rigging untrustworthy. 
 It was one thing to hire the trim Spindrift to a chance 
 stranger, who might knock the bottom out of her or 
 ruin her sails; it was quite a different thing to 
 bargain for the use of his own Aureole, which no 
 amount of battering could make much worse than she 
 was. Like every one else in the West of Ireland, cleric 
 or layman, Meldon had a keen taste for making money 
 out of a stranger. He looked at Langton and hoped 
 
SPANISH GOLD 7 
 
 that it was love or whisky, not debt, which had driven 
 him to Ballymoy. 
 
 " There's more boats in the country than the Major's," 
 he said. 
 
 " That's what I'm just after telling the gentleman," 
 said Doyle, " there's yours." 
 
 " I'm wanting her for my own use." 
 
 " She's a good boat," said Doyle. 
 
 " I must be getting along," said Meldon. " Good- 
 evening to you, Doyle. Good-evening, Mr. Langton." 
 
 " You wouldn't be wanting to hire her ? " said Doyle, 
 unimpressed by the curate's farewell. " It's not often 
 you take her out." 
 
 "How long would your friend require her for?" 
 
 " One month," said Langton. " My friend and I wan? 
 to have a cruise on your charming coast, to take a 
 pleasure trip. To find repose from the tumult of the 
 world on the bosom of the Atlantic." 
 
 Doyle winked at the curate. Meldon, reflecting that 
 a man who talked in such a way in broad daylight must 
 be a fool about money, determined to hire the Aureole 
 to the stranger. 
 
 " I can't wait now," he said, " but I'll call round af 
 your place to-night, Doyle. Don't go to bed till I come. 
 We'll talk the matter over." 
 
 He mounted his bicycle and rode on towards Ports- 
 mouth Lodge. 
 
 Kent is an English name. The traveller meets it in 
 Connacht with surprise; perhaps, if he is an amateur 
 of local colour, with disgust. An inhabitant of Mayo 
 or Galway ought to have a name beginning with O', a 
 name with several apparently unnecessary letters in it. 
 He has no business to sign himself John Kent. Still 
 
8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 less has a house in the West of Ireland any right to 
 a name like Portsmouth Lodge. It raises thoughts of 
 merry England, of the concreted parade of some naval 
 town. It is incongruous. It meets the sentimental 
 traveller, who expects the Celtic glamour, Tir-na-noge, 
 and fairy lore, like a slap in the face. Yet it never 
 occurred to the Major to alter one name or the other. 
 He was born too early to come under the spell of the 
 Gaelic revival, and never felt the slightest inclination 
 to write himself Seaghan Ceannt, or to translate his 
 address into Beal an Chuain. He had inherited both 
 names from his grandfather, an English sailor, the first 
 of his family to settle in Ireland. 
 
 The Major himself had served for many consecutive 
 years in a line regiment. The drill, to which he took 
 naturally, being the kind of man who enjoys drill, had 
 straightened his back, and it continued to be straight 
 long after his retirement from military life. The feel- 
 ing in favour of smartness of attire which prevails 
 among men holding His Majesty's commission re- 
 mained with Major Kent and distinguished him 
 among the small landholders and professional men 
 of the Ballymoy district. They preferred comfort to 
 neatness. Major Kent, at great sacrifice of leisure, 
 creased his trousers and dressed for dinner every 
 night. He had a taste for discipline which he carried 
 into the management of his small estate and into the 
 business of the petty sessions court. He annoyed 
 both his tenants and his neighbours by his fads, but 
 was a popular man because of the real goodness of 
 his heart. He was an excellent shot, a good amateur 
 yachtsman, a regular subscriber to the funds of the 
 church, and a bachelor. He had formed a friendship 
 
SPANISH GOLD 9 
 
 with the Rev. Joseph John Meldon in spite of the 
 curate's free-and-easy manners, habitual unpunctuality, 
 and incurable untidiness. It is said that men are at- 
 tracted to those who differ from them, that like does 
 not readily mate with like. If this is a law of nature, 
 the friendship between Major Kent and the curate 
 formed a fine example of its working. 
 
 Meldon entered the dining-room of Portsmouth 
 Lodge and found the Major at the writing-table with 
 a pile of papers and parchments beside him. Papers 
 of any kind, except the Times, which the Major read 
 regularly, were rare in Portsmouth Lodge. To see his 
 friend occupied with what looked like legal documents 
 was unprecedented in Meldon's experience. He stood 
 amazed at the sight. The Major looked up. 
 
 " Who the devil's disturbing me now ? Oh, it's you, 
 J. J. I beg your reverence's pardon for swearing, but 
 this is the fourth time I've been interrupted this after- 
 noon already. First there was James Fintan, the 
 publican from Ballyglunin, wanting an occasional 
 licence for the day of the races, the old reprobate. 
 He'll poison half the county with the stuff he sells as 
 whisky in those tents of his. Then nothing would do 
 the chestnut filly but to cut her near hind leg on the 
 barbed wire, and she had to be seen to. Then Jemmy 
 Doyle came over with some stranger who wanted to 
 hire the Spindrift. As if I'd lend my boat to a man 
 I've never set eyes on before a fellow in a fur coat, 
 who most likely knows no more about sailing than I 
 do about midwifery. And now it's you, J. J. But sit 
 down and light your pipe. I suppose you want a drink. 
 There's whisky and a syphon of soda on the side- 
 board." 
 
lo SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "I want a lemon," said the curate, "and a big 
 tumbler." 
 
 " Well, then, you'll have to ring the bell. The house- 
 keeper will get them for you. When you've settled your- 
 self you may as well give me a hand with the job I'm 
 at." 
 
 "I'll go out to the kitchen and get what I want," 
 said Meldon. " That'll be quicker and easier than ring- 
 ing bells." 
 
 He secured his lemon and concocted for himself the: 
 drink he desired. With the tumbler on the floor be- 
 side him, he stretched himself in a deep chair and lit his 
 pipe. 
 
 "Now, Major," he said, "I'm ready. What can I 
 do for you ? " 
 
 " Can you read Latin and Greek? " said the Major. 
 
 "Of course I can. I'm a B.A. of Trinity College, 
 Dublin, and that means that I've read a heap of Latin 
 and Greek in my day. At the same time, Major, I 
 warn you fairly, that if you want me to sit here trans- 
 lating Plato or Aristotle to you all the evening, I'm not 
 on. The weather's too hot." 
 
 "What are you talking about?" said the Major. 
 " Who wants you to translate Plato ? When I asked 
 if you could read Latin and Greek what I meant was, 
 can you read lawyer's English ? " 
 
 " Oh, you meant that, did you ? Well, I can read 
 lawyer's English or any other kind of English for that 
 matter. I tell you, Major, a man who has been 
 through the Divinity School of T.C.D. and read 
 Pearson on the Creed isn't likely to be beaten by 
 anything a lawyer could write. What's your diffi- 
 culty?" 
 
SPANISH GOLD II 
 
 " Old Sir Giles Buckley's dead," said the Major. 
 
 " I know that. The rector's in a fine fizz over losing 
 his .mbscription to the church. The old boy hasn't been 
 near the place this twenty years, but he paid up like 
 a man. Now the property has gone to a nephew, who 
 means to sell it, I hear, as soon as he can, and who 
 doesn't care a rap about the church. By the way, isn't: 
 there a son somewhere?" 
 
 " There is. A bad lot and always was a bad lot. 
 Cards, women, horses, and the devil. The Lord alone 
 knows where he is now. He got the baronetcy, of 
 course, and the house and demesne, which were en- 
 tailed. But that's all. Old Sir Giles didn't leave him 
 a penny nor an acre more than he could help. But 
 that's no affair of mine. The point for me is this. 
 My grandfather got the land I hold now from old Sir 
 Giles's father. He got it for services rendered in '98, 
 when the French landed at Killala. He was a sailor, a 
 naval man " 
 
 " I know," said Meldon. " ' Hearts of oak are our 
 ships, hearts of oak are our men/ and all that sort of 
 thing." 
 
 " The Sir Giles of that day got into a panic when 
 the French landed. It appears that he wasn't par- 
 ticularly popular in the county, and he didn't feel quite 
 sure what the people might do to him." 
 
 " They might have done several things. They might, 
 for instance, have hanged him." 
 
 " So he seemed to think. Well, my grandfather took 
 him off in his sloop, which happened to be lying in 
 the bay at the time, and kept him safe till the busi- 
 ness was over. In return he got the land out of old 
 Buckley, and here we are, father and son, three 
 
12 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 generations of us, ever since, the Kents of Ports- 
 mouth Lodge. Now that this new man is going to sell 
 the estate, the question comes up what kind of title 
 have I?" 
 
 "That'll be all right," said Meldon. "Don't you 
 worry about the matter. I'll see you through. Just 
 you hand me over those papers. You trot off and do 
 anything you think you have to do before dinner. I'll 
 get the meaning out of the papers for you and have a 
 clear statement of the case ready when you get back. 
 Give me the whole bundle. There's a little brown book 
 left on your desk. Hand it over with the rest." 
 
 " It's of no importance." 
 
 " Is it private ? No ? Then pass it over. What you 
 think of no importance is just as likely as not to be 
 the vital document. It's always the papers that seem 
 unimportant to the mere amateur which turn out to con- 
 tain the clue in these cases of disputed inheritance, and 
 so forth. You don't read many novels, I know, Major, 
 but you must have noticed that fact." 
 
 " But this little book is nothing but an old diary of 
 my grandfather's." 
 
 "Quite so," said Meldon. "That's just the sort of 
 thing I want to get at. Now do you be off and leave 
 me in peace." 
 
 " I'll go down and have a look at the Spindrift" said 
 the Major. " I'm having her overhauled and fitted out 
 for a cruise. What do you say, J. J.? Will you come 
 with me for a week? We might go off to Inishgowlan 
 and shoot seals." 
 
 " Are there seals on Inishgowlan ? " 
 
 "There are, I believe. When do you get your holi- 
 day?" 
 
SPANISH GOLD 13 
 
 " June," said Meldon. " The rector's taking July and 
 a bit of August. I don't care to put off till Septem- 
 ber. But I can't go with you. I'm booked. I prom- 
 ised to spend a week with my old governor and 
 the rest of the time with my little girl in Rath- 
 mines." 
 
 " Bother your little girl." 
 
 " You wouldn't say that if you saw her. She's a re- 
 markably nice little girl, nicer than any you've ever seen. 
 
 I have her photo here " He put his hand into his 
 
 breast pocket. 
 
 " Thanks," said the Major. " You've shown me her 
 photo before." 
 
 "This is a different photo. It's a new one, done by 
 a first-rate man. Look here." 
 
 " Keep it till after dinner. I must be off to take a 
 look at the Spindrift." 
 
 " Very well then, go. But you may whistle for the 
 photo after dinner. I won't show it to you. No man 
 shall say I rammed my little girl down his throat. You 
 may be a callous old mysogynist, Major " 
 
 "A what? I wish you wouldn't use that sort of 
 language out of the pulpit, J. J." 
 
 " A mysogynist. It means a sort of curmudgeon who 
 doesn't care to look at the photo of a pretty girl when 
 he gets the chance." 
 
 " A mysogynist shows some sense then," chuckled the 
 Major. 
 
 " You may think so ; but I can tell you a mysogynist 
 is the exact opposite kind of man to what Solomon was, 
 and he is generally given credit for not being quite a 
 fool." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MAJOR KENT returned at half-past six o'clock, 
 well satisfied with the condition of the Spindrift. 
 He found Meldon absorbed in the little brown book, 
 the diary of the Kent who was a sea captain and flour- 
 ished in 1798. 
 
 " Have you worked through the papers ? " asked the 
 Major. 
 
 " Haven't looked at one of them," said Meldon, " and 
 don't mean to. I've got something here worth Ports- 
 mouth Lodge and your whole footy little property along 
 with it." 
 
 " I don't believe you." 
 
 "Very well, then, don't. Be an incredulous Jew, if 
 you like. But I can tell you you'll open your eyes when 
 you hear what I've found." 
 
 "Hurry up, then, and tell me. It's time for me to 
 go and dress for dinner." 
 
 " Go on. Get into your starched shirt and your silk- 
 lined coat. After dinner I'll tell you all about it." 
 
 " Wouldn't you like a wash yourself, J. J. ? " 
 
 " No," said the curate, " I'm a busy man. I can't 
 spend hours and hours every day washing and dress- 
 ing myself. I've something else to do. At present I 
 have to run through this log of your grandfather's again 
 and copy out a few of the most important bits." 
 
 14 
 
SPANISH GOLD 15 
 
 Major Kent dressed quietly. He dined with a good 
 appetite and without hurry. Meldon seemed excited 
 and eager to get dinner over. Contrary to his usual 
 custom, he ate very little. He kept the old diary beside 
 his plate, and every now and then stroked it affection- 
 ately. 
 
 At last the meal came to an end. The servant, after 
 leaving coffee on the table, finally withdrew. Major 
 Kent lit a pipe and lay back in a comfortable chair, Mel- 
 don stood with his back against the chimneypiece. 
 
 " I'm coming with you on your cruise to Inishgowlan," 
 he said. 
 
 "What about your poor old governor and the little 
 girl in Rathmines ? " 
 
 " Never you mind about them. When I've explained 
 things to you a bit you'll see that it'll be a jolly sight 
 better both for my governor and for my little girl if I 
 go with you." 
 
 " You mean to shoot seals and to make muffs out of 
 their skins for the little girl ? " 
 
 " No, I don't. I know well enough that the seals off 
 this coast don't have the proper sort of skins for muffs. 
 I mean to go to Inishgowlan and bring back a whole 
 pot of money, thousands and thousands of pounds. I'll 
 rig my little girl out in proper furs when I get back. 
 She shall have silk dresses and real lace and a motor- 
 car, and I'll drive her up and down Grafton Street and 
 buy her any mortal thing she chooses. I'll take my 
 poor old governor out of that beastly dispensary, where 
 he's slaving away doctoring people who neither pay nor 
 say ' Thank you/ I'll set him up in a jolly little house 
 down near Kingstown with a couple of daily papers, a 
 bottle of good whisky, and as much tobacco as he cares 
 
i6 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 fo smoke. I'll give the rector a couple of hundred or 
 'so for the church, and make his mind easy about the 
 loss of Sir Giles's subscription. I'll " 
 
 " Perhaps you'll tell me," said the Major, " where this 
 enormous fortune is to come from." 
 
 " Out of Inishgowlan." 
 
 " Oh ! out of Inishgowlan. I see. But how ? " 
 
 " Look here, Major. Your grandfather went to that 
 island in 1798 with Sir Giles and Lady Buckley. He 
 anchored his sloop in the bay, and, naturally, as they 
 were there nearly six weeks, they occasionally went on 
 shore." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder if they did." 
 
 " Very well. The people of Inishgowlan in those days 
 talked nothing but Irish, and so naturally your grand- 
 father and Sir Giles couldn't understand them. But 
 Lady Buckley could." 
 
 " I know what you're at now," said the Major. " I've 
 read that diary or log or whatever the old man called 
 it. You've got a hold of that cock-and-bull story 
 about the Spanish Armada shipwreck and the lost 
 treasure." 
 
 " Do you mean to deny," said Meldon, " that a Spanish 
 ship was wrecked on Inishgowlan ? " 
 
 " No, I don't. I dare say there was one wrecked 
 there. That Armada seems to have piled up ships all 
 round this coast. My grandfather brought back an 
 old iron chest from Inishgowlan which is in the 
 house this minute. I always heard it was an Armada 
 chest." 
 
 " So far, so good. You give in to the shipwreck. 
 Now it appears that Lady Buckley didn't say a word 
 to her husband or your grandfather at the time about 
 
SPANISH GOLD 17 
 
 what she heard from the island people. But when she 
 came home she told them a long story. All the people 
 believed then that there was a pile of gold hidden some- 
 where on the island. They said that the Spanish cap- 
 tain left the island with the remains of his crew in two 
 of their curraghs, or rather their great-grandfather's 
 curraghs, and didn't, in fact, couldn't, take anything with 
 him except some papers and arms. That's the story 
 Lady Buckley heard." 
 
 " I don't think much of it," said the Major. " I don't 
 see where the treasure comes in." 
 
 " Well, you must be uncommonly thick-headed if you 
 don't. If the Spanish captain didn't carry off the treas- 
 ure, he must have left it on the island. You follow that 
 reasoning, I suppose ? " 
 
 " I do, of course, but " 
 
 " Well, if the treasure had been found any time be- 
 tween the shipwreck and 1798 the people would 
 have known about it, wouldn't they? And they 
 wouldn't have told Lady Buckley it was still on the is- 
 land. Therefore the treasure was still there in 1798. 
 See?" 
 
 " But " 
 
 "Wait a moment. If the treasure was discovered 
 since 1798 we'd have heard of it. Those Inishgowlan 
 men come in here to Ballymoy to do their marketing. 
 Now suppose they'd taken to offering the shopkeepers 
 hundreds and thousands of Spanish gold coins any 
 time during the last century, do you suppose we 
 shouldn't have heard of it? Why, man, the whole 
 country would be full of stories of their find. But no- 
 body in this neighbourhood has ever so much as seen 
 a Spanish coin, therefore the Inishgowlan people can't 
 
18 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 have found the treasure. Therefore it's on the island 
 still." 
 
 Meldon paused triumphantly. His chain of reasoning 
 was complete. 
 
 " That's all right," said the Major, " supposing there 
 ever was any treasure to find." 
 
 " My dear Major, do try to be sensible. Further on 
 in the log-book, which you say you've read, I find that 
 old Sir Giles and your grandfather, having heard Lady 
 Buckley's story, made another expedition to the island 
 to look for the treasure." 
 
 " They did, and brought back the old iron chest that's 
 in my bedroom this minute." 
 
 " Now I ask you," said Meldon, " were your grand- 
 father and old Sir Giles the kind of men to go off on 
 a wild-goose chase after treasure which didn't exist? 
 They weren't that kind of men at all, either of them. 
 They were shrewd, hard-headed men who thought 
 things out carefully before they acted. If they had a 
 fault, it was that they were a bit too keen about 
 money." 
 
 " How do you know all that ? " 
 
 " It stands to common sense," said Meldon. " Peo- 
 ple who keep their property safe, as the Buckleys 
 did, all through the eighteenth century in Ireland, 
 must have been pretty sharp business men. Besides, 
 I always heard that the first Buckley came over 
 from Scotland. And the Scots, as we all know, 
 don't waste their time fooling after treasure which 
 doesn't exist. You may take my word for it, Major, 
 that those two old gentlemen knew what they were 
 about." 
 
 " They didn't find it." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 19 
 
 " No, they didn't. That's where we come in. If 
 they'd found it, it wouldn't be there for us, would 
 it?" 
 
 " I don't see that you've proved yet that there was, 
 any treasure to find. The ship, supposing there was a 
 ship wrecked there, mightn't have had treasure in her." 
 
 " That's where your want of a proper education tells 
 against you, Major. If you'd read history you'd know 
 that all those Spanish ships were full of treasure. Take 
 Kingsley's ' Westward Ho ! ' for instance. You may 
 have read that perhaps." 
 
 " That's only a novel." 
 
 " Well, I can't help quoting novels to you when you've 
 read nothing else, and very few of them. If you'd 
 read other books I'd refer you to them. But ' West- 
 ward Ho ! ' will show you that the Spaniards never 
 went to sea without a good supply of gold in the holds 
 of their ships, besides silver cups and any amount of 
 ecclesiastical robes, copes, and mitres and things, simply 
 studded with gems. That's the kind of men the Span- 
 iards were." 
 
 " I suppose you think you're going to find all this 
 wonderful treasure yourself." 
 
 " Of course I am. It only wants a little intelli- 
 gence." 
 
 " You said just now that old Sir Giles and my grand- 
 father were intelligent men, and they didn't find 
 it." 
 
 " They hadn't the advantages we have now," said 
 Meldon. " I don't deny their intelligence, but they 
 didn't know, they couldn't know, how to go about the 
 business. The discovery of buried treasure hadn't be- 
 come an exact science in their time. Edgar Allan Poe 
 
20 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 hadn't written his stories. The art of the detective 
 hadn't been developed. They hadn't so much as heard 
 of Sherlock Holmes. They had about as much chance 
 of finding that treasure as Galileo with his old-fashioned 
 telescope had of discovering a disease germ. Now we 
 are in quite a different position. We start with all 
 the methods of highly-trained intellects ready to our 
 hand, so to speak. There's only one thing I'm sorry 
 for, and that is that there isn't a cryptogram. I'm par- 
 ticularly good at cryptograms." 
 " How do you mean to start ? " 
 
 " It would have been easier," said Meldon, " if there 
 had been a cryptogram. However, there isn't. Or, if 
 there is, we haven't got it. As it is, we've got to do 
 without it. The first thing is to put ourselves in the 
 place of the Spanish captain. That's the way great 
 detectives always begin. They put themselves in the 
 other fellow's place and think what they'd have done 
 if they'd been him. Now, supposing you'd been the 
 Spanish captain and found that you couldn't carry off 
 your treasure, what would you have done with it ? " 
 " I suppose I'd have dug a hole and buried it." 
 " No, you wouldn't. Not unless you'd been a perfect 
 fool. If you'd been the Spanish captain you'd have had 
 more sense than you appear to have now." 
 
 " Then it wouldn't have been me." 
 
 " It would, because we started with the supposition 
 that you were the Spanish captain, and he must have 
 had some sense. You don't suppose the Spaniards, 
 the greatest nation on earth at the time, would have 
 started off a thing like that Armada without seeing that 
 the captains of the ships were sensible men. Of course 
 they wouldn't." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 21 
 
 " But if the captain had sense and I haven't " 
 
 " There's no use arguing round a subject in that way. 
 Put it like this. Suppose I was the Spanish captain, 
 what would I have done? I wouldn't have dug a hole, 
 because I would have known that the people of the 
 island would have watched me dig it. Even if I'd dug 
 it at night they'd have seen the marks next morning, 
 and the moment my back was turned they'd have dug 
 the treasure up again. You must give the captain credit 
 for being a reasonable man." 
 
 " Well, now you've barred burying the treasure, which 
 I still think was the obvious thing " 
 
 " Too obvious. That's my point." 
 
 "What would you do? There aren't any caves on 
 the island that ever I heard of." 
 
 " I shouldn't have put it into a cave in any case. A 
 cave is exactly the place the amateur treasure-seeker 
 always looks for first. No. If I were the Spanish cap- 
 tain I should have picked out an unobtrusive-looking hole 
 or cleft in the rocks, just above high-water mark, and 
 dumped my stuff down there. What we have to do is 
 to find that hole or cleft." 
 
 " That will be a longish job," said the Major. " I 
 should guess the island to be about two miles around. 
 It will take some time to poke into every hole in two 
 miles of rough rocks." 
 
 "We shan't do that. We shall proceed on a care- 
 fully reasoned, scientific plan, which I shall think out 
 and explain to you when we get there." 
 
 Meldon lit his pipe, which he had hitherto neglected, 
 poured himself out a cup of coffee, and sat down. He 
 remained silent, and it was evident that he was think- 
 ing out the scientific plan. The Major took up his 
 
22 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Times and began to read a leading article on the appall- 
 ingly lawless condition of Ireland. At the end of a 
 quarter of an hour Meldon spoke. 
 
 " Have you a map of the island ? " 
 
 " No. I have a chart and the sailing directions, but 
 they are on board the Spindrift." 
 
 Again Meldon remained silent for a time. Then he 
 asked 
 
 " Are there many people on the island ? " 
 
 "Ten families, I believe," said the Major. "All 
 cousins of each other." 
 
 " I ask," said Meldon, " because if there are people 
 there we may find it necessary to adopt some disguise." 
 
 "If you imagine for a moment that I'm going to 
 wander round that island, or any other, dressed up in 
 a false beard and blue spectacles " 
 
 " I don't imagine anything of the kind. When I said 
 that we must adopt some disguise, I meant that we must 
 be able to give a reasonable account of our proceedings 
 to the natives. If we let them know we're after their 
 treasure there may be trouble. They will naturally want 
 to go shares in our find." 
 
 " I'd take half a crown," said the Major, " for all I 
 find." 
 
 Meldon knocked the ashes out of his pipe and 
 rose. 
 
 " I must be off," he said. " I've got to see Doyle 
 and that fellow Langton to-night about hiring my 
 boat to them. I was thinking of asking 30 for the 
 month." 
 
 " The boat's not worth it to buy," said the Major. 
 " You only gave 25 for her." 
 
 "Well, I gaid I'd ask 30. I'm quite prepared to 
 
SPANISH GOLD 23 
 
 take 25. That will simply be getting my money back, 
 with no profit on the business at all." 
 
 " You'll have the boat at the end of the month." 
 
 "Will I? Unless the friend he talks about is a dif- 
 ferent sort of man from what Langton looks there'll 
 be precious little of the Aureole left at the end of the 
 month." 
 
 " All right," said the Major. " Get what you can. 
 If the man is fool enough to hire your Aureole for 
 25 he's certainly fool enough to smash her up. But 
 I advise you to see the colour of his money before you 
 hand over the boat." 
 
 Meldon winked. 
 
 " In any case," said the Major, " he'd be a fool to go 
 to sea in her. She's rotten." 
 
 " I don't expect he wants to go to sea," said Meldon. 
 " He'll just potter about among the islands in the bay. 
 Anyway, he's got to take my boat if he wants one at 
 all. You won't hire yours, and there's no other. 
 Doyle said this afternoon that there were plenty, but 
 that was only to encourage Langton to stay on at the 
 hotel. There's nothing else that could be called a 
 yacht within fifty miles of Ballymoy. But I must be 
 off. Let me see, is there anything else we have to 
 settle?" 
 
 " You might fix a day for starting," said the Major. 
 
 " Monday next. I'll see the rector to-morrow and 
 arrange about it. I could start on Sunday night if you 
 like. It's my turn to preach in the evening and I'd cut 
 it a bit short, so as to be out here with you by half-past 
 seven." 
 
 " No, thanks. Monday morning will be time enough 
 for me, But we'll get off early. You'd better come 
 
24 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 out and sleep Here or on the boat I'm glad you're: 
 coming, J. J. We'll have a jolly cruise. We'll spend 
 a couple of days on the small island and then run across 
 to the big one." 
 
 " We'll do nothing of the sort. I can't give more 
 than a week altogether, and it will take us all that time 
 to get the treasure." 
 
 " You don't mean to say that you really expect to get 
 that treasure?" 
 
 " I do, of course. I tell you, Major, I've all my life 
 had a taste for treasure-seeking. Next to piracy or 
 being wrecked on a desert island, there's nothing in 
 the world I'm so keen on as hidden treasure. I'm 
 pretty sure that I have a special talent for finding it. 
 Do you suppose I'm going to miss my chance now I've 
 got it? Not likely." 
 
 "J. J.," said the Major solemnly, "you're a bigger 
 fool than any one would take you for by your looks." 
 
 " All right. Just you wait till we're coming home 
 again, and see who is the fool then." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MELDON mounted his bicycle and rode towards 
 Ballymoy even more rapidly than he had ridden 
 out in the afternoon. It was a moonless night and the 
 road in some places was difficult to see. About three 
 miles from the town Meldon ran into a donkey, which, 
 after a fashion common among donkeys in Connacht, 
 was lying asleep in the middle of the road. The crea- 
 ture was greatly startled but not much hurt. It floun- 
 dered over the bank into the nearest field as quickly 
 as its hobbled forelegs allowed it. Meldon was pitched 
 over his handle-bars and cut the palms of both his 
 hands. He picked himself up and found that the 
 front forks of his bicycle were badly bent. It was im- 
 possible to ride and almost impossible to wheel the ma- 
 chine. With the perfect confidence in everybody's 
 honesty which residence in the West of Ireland begets 
 in a man, he laid the machine in the ditch and walked 
 on. His card was in the tool-bag, and he felt sure that 
 some carter would bring the thing into the town in the 
 morning. He whistled cheerfully as he tramped 
 along. The Rev. J. J. Meldon had an excellent 
 temper. It took more than a trifling accident and a 
 few cuts to upset it. He didn't even use unkind language 
 about the donkey. 
 
 25 
 
26 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 It was late when he arrived in Ballymoy. The win- 
 dows of most of the houses were dark and the people 
 were in bed. A light still burned in an upper window 
 of Mr. Doyle's hotel. Before the days of the Land 
 League it had been called the " Buckley Arms." Mr. 
 Doyle's father, recognising the fact that politicians and 
 farmers were his best customers, had taken down the 
 old sign, which might have been offensive, and put up 
 in large gilt letters, "The Imperial Hotel." Some day, 
 perhaps, if patriotism becomes the motive power of 
 Irish agitation, another Doyle will change the name again 
 and call his house " The National." In the mean- 
 while " The Imperial " is a good name. It suggests 
 a certain spacious sumptuousness and justifies the 
 price which Mr. Doyle charges for beds, dinners, and 
 breakfasts. 
 
 The prospect of the large fortune which he expected 
 to get on Inishgowlan Island did not in the least modify 
 Meldon's eagerness to make the best possible bargain 
 with the stranger. Even if he had actually secured all 
 the Spanish gold, he would still have been keenly anx- 
 ious to get the most he could for his boat. Like all 
 Irishmen, he found a pleasure in bargaining, and 
 haggled for shillings without being particularly covetous, 
 in the spirit of the sportsman who hunts foxes which 
 he doesn't want to eat. Meldon looked forward to be- 
 ing able to brag afterwards of having got the better 
 of a stranger. That, and the delight of proving him- 
 self the better man, were the attractive things, not the 
 mere acquisition of a pound or two. 
 
 He entered the hotel and found Mr. Langton sitting 
 in lonely splendour in a room called the drawing-room. 
 There was a bottle of whisky on a table before him 
 
SPANISH GOLD 27 
 
 and a jug of water. But Mr. Eangton, perhaps be- 
 cause the visitor he expected was a clergyman, had drunk 
 very little. The bottle was almost full. The carpet 
 was littered with tobacco ash and the ends of cigarettes. 
 All the books which usually adorned Mr. Doyle's 
 solitary bookshelf were on the floor. Mr. Lang- 
 ton had been trying to read them and had failed. 
 There were four sixpenny novels, three biographies 
 of saints with gilt tops to their leaves, a prayer-book 
 with an imitation ivory cross on its cover, a copy of 
 Moore's " Melodies " with the music, and several very 
 old magazines. There was also a tattered book called 
 " Speeches from the Dock," which Mr. Langton seemed 
 to have found more interesting than the others, for he 
 held it in his hand. 
 
 " Good-evening to you, sir," said Meldon, " I called 
 with reference to the boat about which we were speak- 
 ing this afternoon." 
 
 " Quite so. I'm glad to see you. Sit down. Do 
 you mind if I ring the bell for Mr. Doyle? He kindly 
 promised to give me the benefit of his advice." 
 
 " I don't believe that bell acts," said Meldon, as Lang- 
 ton tugged at a knob beside the chimneypiece. " For 
 the matter of that I don't know a bell in Ballymoy that 
 does act, barring, of course, the church bell and the 
 chapel bell, which are different." 
 
 " Stupid of me," said Langton. " I ought to have 
 guessed that, except those of the various churches, which 
 are, as you say, different, the bells in this country 
 wouldn't be meant to ring. It is, if I may say so, 
 characteristic of Ireland that they don't," 
 
 Meldon looked at the man in front of him. It 
 crossed his mind that the stranger might possibly be 
 
2 8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 poking fun at him. He dismissed the idea at once as; 
 absurd. 
 
 " If you want Doyle," he said, " the best thing to do 
 is to go to the top of the stairs and shout. I told him 
 not to go to bed till after I'd called." 
 
 Langton shouted as he was bidden, and in a few min- 
 utes Doyle entered the room. 
 
 " Good-evening to you, Mr. Meldon," he said. " I 
 suppose now you didn't succeed in persuading the Major 
 to change his mind about the boat." 
 
 " I did not," said Meldon. 
 
 " I wouldn't wonder now if you didn't try very hard." 
 Doyle cast a knowing look at Langton out of the cor- 
 ners of his eyes as he spoke. " Nor it couldn't be ex- 
 pected that you would, seeing as how you have a boat 
 of your own that might suit." 
 
 " I don't know yet that she would suit," said Meldon. 
 " What do you want her for ? " 
 
 " My friend and I want to cruise about your bay," 
 said Langton. " We are spending our holiday here." 
 
 " She's a good boat," said Doyle. " And what's more 
 than that, she's a safe boat. I never heard tell yet of 
 any man being drowned out of her, long as I'm liv- 
 ing here ; and there's many a boat you couldn't say that 
 for." 
 
 " Is she for hire," said Langton, " and at what: 
 price ? " 
 
 But this direct method of arriving at the point of 
 the negotiation did not commend itself either to Doyle 
 or Meldon. 
 
 " I mind well," said Doyle, " when old Tommy 
 Devoren used to be sailing her for the R.M. that was 
 in it them times, he'd say how divil a safer nor a drier 
 
SPANISH GOLD 29 
 
 boat for a lady ever he come across, and him taking 
 the R.M.'s two daughters out in her maybe as often as 
 twice in a week." 
 
 " Is there a cabin in the boat," asked Langton, " in 
 which my friend and I could sleep ? " 
 
 "Cabin! What would hinder there to be a cabin? 
 Tell the gentleman what kind of a cabin there is in' 
 her, Mr. Meldon. Sure you know it better than 
 me." 
 
 " There is a cockpit and a small cabin," said Meldon. 
 " She's a five-ton boat." 
 
 " That would suit. Now what do you want for her 
 by the month?" 
 
 " Can you sail a boat ? " said Meldon. " I don't want 
 to be giving my Aureole to a man that would knock the 
 bottom out of her on some rock. And let me tell you 
 there are plenty of rocks in this bay." 
 
 " Sail her ! " said Doyle. " Why wouldn't he be able 
 to sail her? Is it likely now, Mr. Meldon I put it to 
 you as a gentleman who knows a boat when he sees 
 one is it likely that Mr. Langton would come all the 
 way to Ballymoy to look for a boat if he couldn't sail 
 her when he gpt her? Sail her! I'll answer for it 
 he can sail her right enough." 
 
 Mr. Doyle was anxious to preserve an air of find 
 impartiality. He praised Mr. Langton's seamanship, of 
 which he knew nothing, with an air of profound 
 conviction, just as he praised Meldon's boat, of which 
 he knew all there was to know. His argument was 
 powerful and unanswerable. Why should a man 
 travel all the way to Ballymoy, which is twenty miles! 
 from the nearest railway station, to look for a boat, 
 unless he felt himself able to make some use of her? 
 
30 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I'm not much of a sailor myself," said Langton, 
 " but my friend is. I give you my word that he's well 
 able to look after your boat." 
 
 " Who is your friend ? " said Meldon. 
 
 " I don't see what business that is of yours," said 
 Langton, displaying a certain irritation for the first time. 
 " If you won't hire your boat without seeing our bap- 
 tismal certificates and our mothers' marriage lines you 
 may keep her. I'm prepared to pay for what I want, 
 and nothing else matters to you." 
 
 " Good-evening," said Meldon, rising. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Doyle, " gentlemen both, this is 
 no way to do business. Mr. Meldon, you've no right 
 to be asking the gentleman questions about his mother. 
 Isn't his money just as good as if he never had a mother 
 at all? Mr. Langton, sir, you'll excuse me, but Mr. 
 Meldon is a clergyman, and it's only right that he 
 shouldn't want his boat to fall into bad hands." 
 
 "Will you hire the boat or not?" asked Lang- 
 ton. 
 
 "You can have her for a month," said Meldon, still 
 standing hat in hand, " for thirty pounds, money down 
 in advance, and I'll have no more talk about the matter. 
 You may take it or leave it." 
 
 " Thirty pounds ! " said Doyle. " Come now, Mr. 
 Meldon, it's joking you are." 
 
 " Considering the risk I run, I'll not take a penny 
 less." 
 
 " Thirty pounds ! " said Doyle, " is a big lump of 
 money." 
 
 " Take it or leave it." 
 
 " I don't deny that she's a good boat and well suited 
 to what Mr. Langton wants her for. But thirty 
 
SPANISH GOLD 31 
 
 pounds! Come now. The gentleman here is a friend 
 of mine. You mustn't be hard on him. Say twenty 
 pounds." 
 
 " Thirty," said Meldon. " After all, I don't want to 
 let the boat at all. I'd just as soon keep her for my 
 own use." 
 
 Like every one else in Ballymoy, Doyle knew exactly 
 what Meldon had paid for the boat, and was very well 
 aware of the rottenness of her hull and the dilapidated 
 condition of her rigging. 
 
 " You're a hard man, so you are," he said. " I never 
 knew priest nor parson yet but was desperate hard to 
 get the better of in a matter of money. I'll tell you 
 now what you ought to do. Split the differ and say 
 twenty-five pounds." 
 
 " Well, rather than stop here all night talking about 
 it," said Meldon, " I'll call it twenty-five pounds." 
 
 " And a pound back out of that for luck," said 
 Doyle. 
 
 " No, not a penny back. Twenty-five, money 
 down." 
 
 Doyle drew his chair over to Langton and whispered. 
 
 "It's a fair offer. You'll find it hard to better it. 
 The Major now would have asked fifty for his old 
 Spindrift. It's my advice to you, Mr. Langton, to 
 close on it this minute before he has time to sleep 
 on the offer. Maybe to-morrow morning he might be 
 asking the advice of some one that would be for putting 
 up the price on you. What do you say now ? " 
 
 " I'll give it," said Langton, " on your assurance that 
 the boat is as represented." 
 
 " The gentleman takes your offer, Mr. Meldon," said 
 Doyle. " Twenty-five pounds down and the boat to 
 
32 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 be returned in good condition, all damages to be made 
 good. What do you say now to a drop of something 
 to wet the bargain ? " 
 
 But Meldon would not drink. He went home to his 
 lodgings and meditated, as he smoked a final pipe, on 
 the glories and splendours which would be his when 
 he had found the treasure on Inishgowlan. His 
 conscience was quite untroubled by the thought of 
 his bargain with Langton. The boat was rotten so 
 rotten that a man who knew anything about boats would 
 hesitate to go to sea in her. If Langton's friend 
 knew no more about boats than Langton did, some 
 kind of accident was certain to happen. Meldon con- 
 soled himself with the thought that it would happen 
 before they got far enough away from land to run any 
 serious risk of drowning. Moy Bay was full of islands, 
 and the water was always calm in summer time inside 
 the bay. If the Aureole did go to pieces Langton and 
 his friend could row to one of the islands in the punt. 
 Meldon's punt was a good one. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE Spindrift, close hauled, thrasKed Ker way out; 
 towards Inishgowlan against a south-westerly 
 breeze. The coast to the east, a low dark line, lay 
 almost hidden in the haze. The entrance to Moy 
 Bay was scarcely distinguishable. Major Kent, in an 
 oilskin coat, sat at the tiller. The Rev. J. J. Meldon, 
 most under ically clad in a blue fisherman's jersey, 
 old grey tweed trousers, and a pair of sea-boots, 
 sprawled on the deck near the mast. He was ap- 
 parently indifferent to the sheets of spray which 
 broke over the bow of the boat now and then, when 
 she struck one of the short seas which happened to 
 be a little larger than its fellows. His red hair was a 
 tangle of thick wet curls. His face and the backs 
 of his hands were speckled with white where the 
 Salt had dried on them. The skin of his nose, 
 under the influence of bright sunshine and sea- 
 water, already showed signs of beginning to peel 
 off. He had a pair of field-glasses in his hand, 
 which he polished occasionally with a red cotton 
 pocket-handkerchief, and through which he gazed 
 at the island in front of him. To the south lay 
 Innishmore, the larger of the two islands. Dead 
 ahead was Inishgowlan, a long green bank as it 
 
 33 
 
34 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 seemed, sloping down eastward, dotted over with small 
 white cabins, and divided into tiny fields of the most 
 irregular shapes imaginable. 
 
 "In another half-hour," said the Major, "we'll be 
 well under the lee of the island and the water will be 
 a bit calmer. Then we'll have something to eat." 
 
 " I suppose we anchor in that bay," said Meldon, 
 pointing forward. 
 
 He was more interested in the island and in the adven- 
 ture before him than in the prospect of luncheon. 
 
 "Yes. It's a fine, safe bay, good bottom, perfect 
 shelter from the west, south, and north, and deep water 
 up to the very shore. You could anchor a man-of- 
 war in that bay and lie snug the whole winter 
 through." 
 
 " I thought you told me," said Meldon, a few minutes 
 later, " that there was nobody upon the island except 
 natives." 
 
 " No more there is. At least, there wasn't last time 
 I was there five years ago." 
 
 " And that they live in thatched cabins." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, they don't. There's a galvanised iron hut on 
 the grass just above the shore of the bay." 
 
 " Nonsense ! There can't be such a thing on 
 Inishgowlan. Why would the people fetch a galvan- 
 ised iron house out from the mainland when they can 
 build anything they like out of stones ready to their 
 hands?" 
 
 " I don't know. But the thing's there." 
 
 " Do you take the tiller for a minute," said the Major, 
 " and give me the glasses." 
 
 He gazed at the island. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 35 
 
 You're right enough," he said. " The thing's there. 
 It's exactly like the one the engineers lived in when 
 they were making the railway down to Achill. Now 
 I wonder who the deuce put a thing like that on 
 Inishgowlan ? " 
 
 "They couldn't be building a railway on the island, 
 could they?" 
 
 " No, they couldn't. Who'd build a railway on an 
 island a mile long? " 
 
 " The Government would," said Meldon, " if the fancy 
 struck them. But it's more likely to be a pier, and 
 the Board of Works engineer will be living in that 
 hut." 
 
 " It can't be a pier. They built a pier there only 
 three years ago. You can see it, if you look, on the; 
 south side of the bay." 
 
 " That wouldn't stop them building another," said 
 Meldon. " I dare say you've observed, Major, how 
 singularly little originality there is about Chief Secre- 
 taries. One of them, whose name is lost in the mists 
 of antiquity, thought of piers and seed potatoes, and 
 since then all his successors have gone on building 
 piers and giving out seed potatoes. They never hit on 
 anything original. Now if I was a Chief Secretary 
 I'd strike out a line of my own. When I found I 
 had to build something I'd run up a few round 
 towers." 
 
 " I dare say you would." 
 
 " Of course there would be difficulties in the way. 
 A pier is a comparatively simple thing to build, because 
 part of it must be in the sea and the rest on some 
 beach which nobody in particular owns. Whereas I 
 should have to get a site in somebody's field for my 
 
36 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 round tower, and I should probably have the League 
 denouncing me for land grabbing." 
 
 The Major took the tiller again, and Meldon rei- 
 sumed his inspection of the island through the 
 glasses. 
 
 " Do you know," he said after a while, " if there is 
 a Government official of any kind in that iron hut it 
 may turn out awkward for us." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " I'm not quite sure of the law on the subject, but 
 I've always understood that the Government sets up to 
 have a claim to all treasure that's found buried or hidden 
 anywhere. It won't do to let this fellow, whoever he is, 
 find out what we're after." 
 
 Major Kent, who had never taken the treasure-seeking 
 very seriously, made no reply to this remark. 
 
 " We'll have to adopt a disguise," said Meldon. " I 
 told you all along that we probably would." 
 
 I won't " 
 
 " Now don't make that remark about the false beard 
 again. What we have to do is to invent some plausible 
 excuse for spending a week on the island." 
 
 " Tell him we're out trawling." 
 
 " That won't do. In the first place we shan't trawl ; 
 in the second place he'd ask where our nets were. 
 Those fellows who spend their lives watching other 
 people doing things develop an unholy curiosity about 
 everybody else's business. We must hit on something 
 more likely than that. Suppose we told him we were 
 out to learn Irish ? " 
 
 "Stuff!" said the Major; "you wouldn't take in a 
 newspaper correspondent with that tale. Just look at 
 me. I've turned fifty, and I'm developing an elderly 
 
SPANISH GOLD 37 
 
 ;spread. Do I look like the kind of man wh'o would 
 go off to a desert island to learn Irish ? " 
 
 " Oh, well, there may not be an engineer there after 
 all. It'll be time enough to think of what we'll say when 
 we see him." 
 
 " Besides," continued the Major, in whosei mind the 
 idea of learning Irish seemed to rankle, "the fool 
 will very likely be learning Irish himself. Lots of 
 those fellows do, I'm told. Then he'd want us to join 
 him, and it might end in our having to learn 
 Irish, whether we liked it or not. Here, take the 
 tiller, and I'll go below and get some grub up on 
 deck." 
 
 Still grumbling at the idea of learning Irish, the Major 
 fetched some cold meat, bread, and a bottle of whisky 
 from the cabin. The Spindrift was in calmer water, 
 and Meldon was able to give both hands to the task 
 of feeding himself, steadying the tiller by hooking a 
 leg over it. The boat raced into the shelter of the bay, 
 and the Major, having stowed away the remainder of 
 the food in the cabin, busied himself in getting ready 
 the anchor. 
 
 "The inhabitants," said Meldon, "are turning out 
 en masse to welcome us. They are all down on the 
 end of the pier 
 
 "'Old men and babes and loving friends, 
 And youths and maidens gay/ 
 
 And there is an engineer there. At least, if he isn't 
 an engineer, he's mighty like one. He's dressed in grey 
 tweed knickers and brown boots, and I think he has 
 spectacles. There isn't a doctor on the island by any 
 k chance?" 
 
38 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " There is not, nor ever was. Cock the likes of those 
 fellows up with a doctor ! " 
 
 "Well, then he's an engineer. He couldn't be any- 
 thing else. Pass the glasses aft till I get a good look 
 at him." 
 
 "He is wearing spectacles," said Meldon, staring 
 through the glasses. " And I fancy I know him. He's 
 a fellow called Higginbotham ; he was in my class in 
 college. We went in for our Little-Go together. I 
 heard he had got a job under the Congested Districts 
 Board. Now could the Congested Districts Board have 
 a man out here ? " 
 
 " They might ; there's no saying where you'd run 
 across one of their officials. The less likely the place 
 is the more certain you are to meet one of them. Round 
 her up into the wind, J. J. ; we're near enough to the 
 shore." 
 
 The boat edged up into the wind; the jib and the 
 mainsail flapped furiously. The anchor splashed into the 
 water and the chain rattled out. Meldon ran forward 
 and slacked the jib halyards. The Major gathered in 
 the sail. 
 
 " If that's Higginbotham," said Meldon a few minutes 
 later, when he and the Major were making up the main- 
 sail, " it's all right. There'll be no difficulty whatever 
 in dealing with Higginbotham. In the first place he's 
 a thoroughly decent sort, and I don't believe he'd want 
 to meddle with the treasure ; in the second place he's 
 quite an easy man to deceive. He always took what's 
 called an intelligent interest in his work when he was 
 in college, and never paid the least attention to any- 
 thing else. If they've sent him to cover the whole island 
 over with galvanised iron sheds, he'll do it quietly. He'll 
 
SPANISH GOLD 39 
 
 talk and think of nothing else till it's done. Any lie 
 will do for Higginbotham ; he'll believe whatever I tell 
 him." 
 
 " If you are going to stuff him up with any cock-and- 
 bull story," said the Major, "you may go and do it by 
 yourself. I'll stay here and tidy up. You take the punt 
 and go ashore to your long-lost friend. But, mind now, 
 if you say a word about learning Irish, I'll go back on 
 you straight away." 
 
 A collapsible canvas punt lay folded amidships. 
 Meldon stretched her out, fixed the seat, and lowered 
 her carefully into the water. He seated himself in her 
 with the utmost caution, complaining that he was quite 
 unused to a boat of the kind, and paddled towards the 
 pier. In a few minutes he was shaking hands with 
 Higginbotham in the middle of a group of admiring 
 islanders. 
 
 "Well, now," he said, "isn't the world small? Last 
 time I saw you was at the winter commencements in old 
 Trinity, when we took our degrees together? Fancy 
 meeting you here of all places ! " 
 
 " I'm very glad to see you," said Higginbotham, blink- 
 ing benignantly through his large round-glassed spec- 
 tacles. " I find it lonely here, with nobody to speak to. 
 But I thought you were a parson, J. J. ? " 
 
 He eyed Meldon's collarless neck, the blue jersey, the 
 shabby trousers and sea-boots, dubiously. Higginbotham 
 himself was a young man who took care to be faultlessly 
 attired on all occasions. Even on Inishgowlan he wore 
 a clean collar, a light blue tie, and a well-cut Norfolk 
 jacket. He carried his affection for civilised usage so 
 far as to change his shirt and wear a smoking jacket 
 every evening in his, iron hut. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " So I am," said Meldon ; " but you can't expect me to 
 wear a dog-collar and a black coat on a ten tonner. 
 Tell me, now what brings you to this island?" 
 
 "The Board has bought the island, and I'm here 
 striping it. You know what I mean, don't you? I'm 
 dividing it up into proper-sized, compact farms, building 
 fences and walls, so that the people won't be holding 
 it, as they do at present, in little bits and scraps, and 
 not knowing properly what belongs to each of 
 them." 
 
 " Will you soon be done ? " 
 
 "I would be done very soon," said Higginbotham, 
 " only for one old fellow who's blocking the whole busi- 
 ness. He refuses to stir from a wretched little field, 
 right in the middle of the island, and the most miserable, 
 tumble-down shed of a house you ever saw a place 
 you'd be sorry to put a pig into." 
 
 " I wouldn't ; I hate pigs. Pigs and cats I'd put them 
 anywhere." 
 
 " There's a hole in the middle of his field, too," said 
 Higginbotham, in an aggrieved voice, " a hole that a 
 heifer once fell into and got killed, and he won't so 
 much as let me near it to put up a fence." 
 
 " Why don't you reason with him, and show him that 
 you're acting for his own good? You a$e acting for 
 his good, aren't you? You haven't any little game on 
 of your own, I suppose ? " 
 
 " I try to reason with him, but he doesn't understand 
 English. He speaks nothing but Irish himself." 
 
 " Well, why don't you tackle him in Irish ? Do you 
 mean to tell me, Higginbotham, that you can't talk Irish ? 
 You ought to be ashamed of yourself." 
 
 " I'm trying to learn," said Higginbotham. " In fact, 
 
SPANISH GOLD 41 
 
 I'm 'determined to master the language. I've got a gram- 
 mar and a dictionary up in my house now. I'll talk to 
 that old man in a way that he'll understand before I've 
 done with him." 
 
 " Quite right. I'd offer to help you myself, only that 
 I'm afraid I shan't have time." 
 
 " Are you going off to-morrow ? I'm sorry. I hoped 
 you might have been here for a few days." 
 
 " We shall be here for a week at* least," said Meldon, 
 "but I shan't have time to teach you Irish. We shall 
 be frightfully busy." 
 
 " Busy ! What are you going to do? " 
 
 " I'm here with my friend, Major Kent. He's been 
 sent to make a geological survey of the island." 
 
 "Really! I never heard anything about that. The 
 Board ought to have let me know." 
 
 " He isn't acting for the Board. It was the Lord- 
 Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary who sent him here. 
 The fact is, Higginbotham, that the Major's business 
 is of rather a private nature. I don't mind telling you, 
 but it mustn't go any further, that an important syndicate 
 has made the Government an offer for the mining rights 
 of this island ? " 
 
 "Over the head of the Board?" 
 
 " Oh, I know nothing about that. In fact, neither 
 the Major nor I knew anything about the Board having 
 bought the island when we came here. You know the 
 way these Government departments overlap each other, 
 and none of them know what the others are doing. I 
 shouldn't wonder a bit if the Estates Commissioners 
 turned up before long and said the island was theirs. 
 However, you can understand that the Chief Secretary 
 jvasn't going to sell the mining rights of the place without 
 
2 SPANISH GOLI3 
 
 finding out what they were worth. He sent out Major 
 Kent to make a report." 
 
 "But but there must be some mistake. Can you 
 have come to the wrong island ? " 
 
 " Certainly not," said Meldon. " You ought to know 
 me better than that, Higginbotham. Am I the sort of 
 man who comes to a wrong island ? " 
 
 " Of course not. But there must be some mistake. 
 There are no minerals on the island at all. The whole 
 place is nothing but pliocene clay." 
 
 " You may be right or you may be wrong. My friend 
 Major Kent will find that out for himself. I'm not a 
 mining expert, so I don't offer an opinion; but I'll just 
 say this, speaking as a man with no special knowledge 
 of geology, but still with a good general education 
 it doesn't look to me like pliocene clay, not in the 
 least." 
 
 " I assure you, J. J., the geological map " 
 
 " I'm not an expert, Higginbotharn, and I don't pro- 
 pose to start an argument with you on the subject. 
 What's more, I don't advise you to try to argue with 1 
 the Major. He's a good-natured man and easy to get 
 on with so long as you don't touch his own particular 
 subject. But he's as snappy as a fox in a trap if any 
 one starts talking geology to him. You know what 
 these experts are. It's the artistic temperament. You 
 wouldn't like it yourself if some outsider began laying 
 down the law to you about galvanised iron sheds." 
 
 " Still, I'd like to tell him " 
 
 " Take my advice and don't. If you so much as 
 mention pliocene clay, or tertiary deposits, or aurifer- 
 ous reefs, or anything of that kind to the Major, 
 you'll be sorry afterwards. The best thing for you 
 
SPANISH GOLD 43 
 
 is not to let on that you know what he's here for at 
 all." 
 
 " I won't, of course, if you say I'm not to, but " 
 
 "That's right. It's better not, for your own sake. 
 And besides, you'd only get me into a mess. I'd no 
 business to tell you about the matter. The Major 
 is frightfully particular about official reticence and all 
 that kind of thing. He's a man of violent temper if 
 he's roused. He'd do anything when his blood's up. 
 In fact, they say that his career in the army was cut 
 short on account of his smashing up a man who insisted 
 on asking him questions he didn't want to answer. The! 
 man recovered more or less in the end and the thing 
 was hushed up, but the Major had to resign. Of course 
 I can't be sure of the truth of that story. I only heard 
 it at third hand. It may be nothing but gossip. But 
 any way, don't you worry the Major. Let him potter 
 about the island tapping rocks if he likes. He won't 
 do you any harm." 
 
 " All right, old man. And look here, you and the 
 Major had better come and feed with me to-night. I 
 can't call it dinner, but I'll do the best I can. I've got 
 a tinned tongue and a lobster." 
 
 "Delighted. I'll answer for the Major. And we'll 
 subscribe to the feast. On a desert island every ship- 
 wrecked mariner brings what he can to the common 
 store. We'll contribute some corned beef and a tin of 
 sardines. What time ? " 
 
 " I've a little writing to do," said Higginbotham. 
 " Shall we say 7.30? Of course you needn't dress." 
 
 :< Thanks," said Meldon, with a grin ; " we won't, if 
 you're sure you don't mind. I'll take a stroll round the 
 island and then go and fetch the Major." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE island of Inishgowlan is formed on a simple 
 plan, common among islands off the west coast 
 of Ireland. The western side consists of a series of 
 bluffs, rising occasionally to the dignity of cliffs. At 
 the base of these the Atlantic rollers break themselves, 
 carving out narrow gullies wherever they find a suitably 
 soft place. From these bluffs the island slopes gradually 
 down to its eastern coast. 
 
 Meldon, after leaving Higginbotham, walked to the 
 top of the western ridge, climbing a number of loose 
 stone walls on his way. He made his way to the highest 
 point of the island, and from it surveyed the whole coast 
 line. Then he sat down and thought. He was working 
 out a plan for discovering the treasure, which, as he 
 believed, lay concealed somewhere. After smoking two 
 pipes he went down again to the pier, embarked in the 
 collapsible punt, and paddled off to the Spindrift. The 
 Major was sound asleep in the little cabin. Meldon 
 woke him. 
 
 "It's all right," he said. " I've put Higginbotham 
 completely off the scent. We can go where we like 
 and do what we like and he'll ask no questions. We're 
 to dine with him to-night. I hope you won't mind. I 
 promised to bring along your corned beef and some 
 
 44 
 
SPANISH GOLD 45 
 
 sardines. Higginbotham doesn't seem to have anything 
 except a tinned tongue and a lobster. I don't Joiow 
 how you feel, but I fancy I could account for the whole 
 tongue myself without spoiling my appetite for the 
 lobster." 
 
 " You're quite right," said the Major. " But what 
 about drink? Shall we bring some whisky?" 
 
 " It might be just as well. Higginbotham wasn't a 
 teetotaller when I knew him in college, but he may be 
 now you never can tell what fads a man will take up. 
 He told me he was learning Irish." 
 
 " We'll take the whisky, then," said the Major. 
 
 The beef, the sardines, and the bottle were stowed 
 in the bow of the punt. The Major seated himself in 
 the stern. Meldon took the paddles. 
 
 " By the way," said Meldon, when about half the 
 journey was accomplished, " what is pliocene clay ? " 
 
 " I don't know. How could I know a thing like that? 
 I never heard of the stuff before. Is there any of it on 
 the island?" 
 
 " According to Higginbotham the whole island consists 
 of nothing else." 
 
 " Let it. It makes no odds to us what it consists of." 
 
 " It may make a great deal of odds to you, Major." 
 
 Meldon had stopped paddling and sat looking at his 
 friend. A smile lurked under his moustache; his eyes 
 twinkled. A feeling of uneasiness, a premonition of 
 coming evil, a sudden suspicion, took possession of the 
 Major's mind. 
 
 " J. J.," he said solemnly, " tell me the truth. What 
 did you say to that Congested Districts friend of yours J 
 What did you tell him we were here for ? " 
 
 " I told him that you were a mining expert and that? 
 
#5 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 you'd been sent by the Lord-Lieutenant and the Chief 
 Secretary to make a geological survey of the island." 
 
 "Great Scott!" 
 
 The Major started so violently that the punt rocked 
 from side to side. The water lipped in first over one 
 gunwale, then over the other. 
 
 "Sit still," said Meldon. "This is no place to be 
 giving way to strong emotion. Remember that you are 
 floating about in a beastly umbrella turned upside down, 
 a thing that might shut up under you at any moment. 
 It may not matter to you whether you are drowned 
 or not, but I want to see my little girl again before 
 I die." 
 
 " But but gracious Heavens, J. J. " 
 
 " He believed it all right in the end," said Meldon. 
 " He seemed a bit surprised at first, but I put it to him 
 in a convincing way and I think he believed me. That 
 was how we got on the subject of pliocene clay." 
 
 " Turn round," said the Major sternly, " and row back 
 to the Spindrift. I'll up anchor and leave this place 
 to-night! I'm not going ashore to be made a fool of 
 by your abominable inventions." 
 
 " It's all right. You won't be made a fool of. Hig- 
 ginbotham will respect you all the more for being an 
 expert. He's just the sort of man who looks up to 
 experts. And he won't bother you with questions. I 
 told him you were a man of violent temper and couldn't 
 bear being worried about your work." 
 
 Meldon began to paddle towards the pier. The Major 
 sat limp in the stern of the punt. A sweat had broken 
 out on his forehead. 
 
 " What else did you tell him? Let me have the whole 
 of it." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 47 
 
 " Oh, nothing else. I never say a word more than is 
 necessary. There's no commoner mistake than over- 
 doing one's disguise." 
 
 " That's all well enough, but why couldn't you have 
 put the disguise, as you call it, on yourself instead of 
 me? Why didn't you say that you were a mining 
 expert ? " 
 
 " He wouldn't have believed that. I simply couldn't 
 have made him believe that I know anything about 
 pliocene clay." 
 
 " Well, you might have told him something else about 
 yourself, something he would have believed. I hate 
 being dragged into these entanglements." 
 
 " There's no entanglement that I can see," said Meldon. 
 " But I'm sorry now that I mentioned you at all. If 
 I'd known the way you'd feel about it, I wouldn't. I'll 
 tell you what it is, Major, I'll take the very first oppor- 
 tunity of telling him something about myself. I'll 
 shift the whole business off your shoulders. Higgin- 
 botham will forget all about you. Come, now, I can't 
 do more than that. I don't say it will be easy to get 
 him to swallow a second story immediately on top of 
 the first, but for your sake, Major, I'm willing to 
 try." 
 
 The spirit of Higginbotham's hospitality was all that 
 could be desired. His means of making his guests com- 
 fortable were limited. He had only two plates in his 
 establishment. They were given to Meldon and Major 
 Kent. Higginbotham himself ate off a saucer. The 
 tongue was placed on the table in its tin, and morsels 
 were dug out of it with a knife. There was no dish 
 for the corned beef, so Meldon laid it on a drawing 
 board with a newspaper underneath it. There was one 
 
48 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 tumbler, a cup, and a sugar-basin to drink out of. Hig- 
 ginbotham turned out not to be a teetotaller. He pro- 
 vided bottled stout for his guests. The lobster, when 
 it came to the time for eating it, was torn in pieces by 
 Meldon and then taken outside to have its shell broken 
 with stones. Major Kent was accommodated with a 
 hammock chair, from which he reached his food with 
 great difficulty. Meldon had a wooden stool. Higgin- 
 botham sat on a corner of his bed, which he dragged 
 into the middle of the room. 
 
 When the meal was over the three men went out of 
 doors and smoked. The evening was beautifully fine. 
 The breeze which blew earlier in the day had died 
 away. The water of the bay was motionless. The 
 Spindrift lay at her anchor, a double boat, every spar 
 and rope, every detail of her hull, reflected beneath her. 
 On the beach near the pier lay two canvas curraghs, 
 turned upside down, their gunwales resting on little 
 piles of stones. Some children played round them. On 
 the pier stood a group of five or six men, who smoked, 
 gazed at the Spindrift, and occasionally made 
 a remark to each other. The hammock chair was 
 brought out for Major Kent, and he lay back in it 
 luxuriously. Meldon and Higginbotham sprawled on 
 the grass. When the dew made it uncomfortably wet, 
 Meldon fetched a blanket off Higginbotham's bed and 
 spread it for himself. Higginbotham perched, stiffly, on 
 a stone. 
 
 For a long time the conversation kept on perfectly 
 safe topics. Higginbotham described the operations of 
 the Congested Districts Board on Inishgowlan and else- 
 where. He waxed enthusiastic over the social and 
 material regeneration of the islanders; he spoke with 
 
SPANISH GOLD 49 
 
 pitying contempt of their original way of living. They 
 grew, it appeared, wretched potato crops in fields so 
 badly fenced that stray cattle wandered in and trampled 
 the young plants at critical stages of their growth. The 
 people lived in ill-lighted, ill-ventilated, and, according 
 to modern ideas, wholly insanitary cabins. Their 
 system of land tenure was extraordinarily complicated 
 and inconvenient. The holdings were inextricably 
 mixed up, so that hardly any one could walk 
 through his own fields without trespassing on his 
 neighbour's. 
 
 " You'll hardly believe me," said Higginbotham, " but 
 [sometimes a man holds a bit of land not much larger 
 than a decent table-cloth, entirely surrounded by a field 
 belonging to some one else." 
 
 This evil condition of things Higginbotham, at the 
 bidding of his Board, had undertaken to remedy. He 
 brought out from his hut a map of the island, and 
 showed how he proposed to divide it into parallel 
 strips. He explained that each strip was to be 
 bounded by a fence six feet high; that good wooden 
 gates were to be erected; that a house was to be built 
 at the top of each strip a house with a slated roof, 
 three rooms, and a concrete floor in the kitchen. 
 He displayed with great pride a picture, curiously 
 wanting in perspective, of a whole row of singularly 
 ugly houses perched along the western ridge of the 
 island. 
 
 The Major yawned without an attempt to hide the 
 fact that he was bored. He had no taste whatever for 
 philanthropy, and hated what he called Government 
 meddling. Higginbotham continued to display plans and 
 elevations with unabated enthusiasm. He was, as 
 
50 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Meldon had said, a young man who took a real interest 
 in his work. His eyes, behind his spectacles, beamed 
 with benignant satisfaction while he described the earthly 
 paradise he meant to create. Suddenly his face clouded 
 and the joy died out of it. 
 
 " But the whole thing is blocked," he said, " by the 
 pig-headed stupidity of one old man." 
 
 " Tell the Major about him," said Meldon. 
 
 " They call him the king of the island," said Higgin- 
 botham, " but of course he's not really a king any more 
 than I am myself." 
 
 " Not nearly so much," said Meldon. " From all 
 you've told us I should say you are what's called a 
 benevolent despot." 
 
 " He's simply a sort of head of the family," said 
 Higginbotham. " They are all brothers and sisters and 
 cousins on the island. His name is Thomas O'Flaherty 
 Pat. At least, that's what the people call him. I don't 
 see much sense myself in sticking in the Pat at the 
 end." 
 
 " No more do I," said Meldon. " Thomas O'Flaherty 
 ought to be name enough for any king." 
 
 " Of course, there are three other Thomas O'Fla- 
 hertys on the island, and it might be difficult to 
 distinguish them. There's Thomas O'Flaherty Tom, 
 and Thomas " 
 
 The Major yawned more obviously than ever. He 
 had spent a long day on the sea; he had eaten with a 
 good appetite; he 'had smoked a satisfying quantity of 
 tobacco. He was totally uninterested in the family of 
 the O'Flahertys. Higginbotham became aware that he 
 was boring his principal guest. Inspired, perhaps, by 
 some malignant spirit, he changed the subject of the 
 
SPANISH GOLD 51 
 
 conversation to one more likely to hold the attention of 
 Major Kent. 
 
 " I'm afraid you won't find Inishgowlan very interest- 
 ing, Major, from your point of view." 
 
 " My point of view ? " 
 
 " I mean as a scientific man." 
 
 The Major woke up and scowled at Meldon. 
 
 " The geological formation " said Higginbotham. 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," said Meldon, cheerfully. " As 
 a matter of fact the Major's tremendously interested in 
 pliocene clay. It has been a hobby of his from his child- 
 hood. You'd be surprised all there is to know about 
 pliocene clay. The Major has quite a library of books 
 on the subject, and he tells me that it isn't by any means 
 fully investigated yet." 
 
 As he spoke he leaned forward from his blanket and 
 pinched the calf of Higginbotham's leg severely. 
 
 " All right," said his victim, " I'll drop the subject if 
 you like ; but I was going to say " 
 
 " I took a walk before dinner," said Meldon, " and 
 had a look at the island. I came to the conclusion 
 that we couldn't find a better place for the 
 school " 
 
 " What school ? " said Higginbotham. 
 
 " The school I was telling you about this afternoon. 
 But perhaps I forgot to mention it." 
 
 The scowl on the Major's face deepened. He realised 
 that Meldon, in fulfilment of his promise, was going 
 to shift the burden of the disguise to his own 
 shoulders. 
 
 " I never heard anything about a school," said 
 Higginbotham. 
 
 " I wonder you didn't. But I dare say the post is 
 
52 SPANISH GOLD, 
 
 rather irregular here. The fact is that the Board not 
 your Board, you know, but the Board of National Edu- 
 cation has determined to build a school on the island 
 and asked me to run across and look out for a 
 site." 
 
 The Major with a struggle sat upright in his hammock 
 chair. His mouth opened. He made an effort to 
 speak. 
 
 "It's all right," said Meldon soothingly. "I know 
 what you are going to say official reticence, and that 
 sort of thing. But it doesn't matter mentioning these 
 things to Higginbotham. He's in the Government 
 Service himself." 
 
 The Major opened his mouth again, but his thoughts 
 failed to express themselves. Meldon felt the necessity 
 of modifying his statement. 
 
 " Of course the Board didn't actually send me here 
 specially for the purpose. They heard I was coming 
 here with the Major, and just dropped me a line to say 
 that I may keep my eyes open and let them know if 
 there was a suitable site for a school." 
 
 Higginbotham stared in blank amazement. As an 
 official he knew something of the ways of Irish Govern- 
 ments and was seldom astonished at their doings. He 
 had swallowed, with some little misgiving, the story of 
 Major Kent's mission. It was just possible that a Lord- 
 Lieutenant and a Chief Secretary, in a moment of 
 temporary insanity brought on by overwork and much 
 anxiety, might have sent an expert to make a geological 
 survey of Inishgowlan. It was quite incredible that 
 the National Board of Education could, of its own free 
 will, intend to build a school. Meldon was unpleasantly 
 conscious of having aroused scepticism. He nerved 
 
SPANISH GOLD 53 
 
 himself to reduce Higginbotham to a condition of passive 
 belief. 
 
 " The Board has heard of all you're doing here," he 
 said, " and naturally wants to put a finishing touch to 
 the work by providing for the education of the children. 
 After all you've done in the way of improving the 
 material conditions of life, the Commissioners feel that 
 it would be a national disgrace if the rising generation 
 is left in a condition of barbaric ignorance. You recol- 
 lect what the hymn says: 
 
 " ' Every prospect pleases 
 And only man is vile/ 
 
 That's how the Commissioners feel, and you can't blame 
 them." 
 
 " But there are only nine -children on the whole island," 
 said Higginbotham. 
 
 " Still there are nine. Why should nine children go 
 ignorant to their graves? It isn't the fault of the nine 
 that there aren't more. Besides, there may be more. 
 That's what the Board of Education feels there may 
 be more. The Commissioners are long-headed men, 
 Higginbotham; not a cuter lot on any Board in 
 Ireland. They look to the future. They see before 
 them generations of Thomas O'Flahertys yet unborn, 
 little toddlers coming out of those slated houses of yours 
 with copy-books in their chubby fists, all of them filled 
 with a desire for knowledge. I tell you what, it's an 
 inspiring picture, say what you like." 
 
 " Where," said Higginbotham, overwhelmed by this 
 vision of the future, " where do you propose to build 
 the school?" 
 
 " There's a house," said Meldon, " if you can call it 
 
54 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 a house, at the end of a particularly abominable bohireen. 
 The thatch, what there is of it, is tied on with straw 
 ropes, and there's only one small window to it that 
 I could see. It's just under the brow of the hill 
 above the place we're sitting now. It's bang in the 
 middle of the island, and it's just the place for a 
 school." 
 
 " That's the very cabin we've been talking about," said 
 Higginbotham. " That's Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's the 
 place he won't give up." 
 
 "Oh, I'll manage him," said Meldon. "Don't you 
 worry. Give me a week and I'll talk the old boy round. 
 And now I think the Major and I had better be getting 
 back to our floating home. We've got to navigate the 
 bay in a punt that's more like the half of the cover of 
 a football than anything else, and I don't much fancy 
 doing it in the dark." 
 
 The Major, remained obstinately silent while Meldon 
 paddled him home. Nor did he make any reply to 
 Meldon's remarks while undressing to go to bed. Half 
 an hour later he put his head over the side of his bunk 
 and said: 
 
 " I'm not going to stand this, J. J. It's all very fine. 
 I don't deny that you're a fluent liar, but I'm not going 
 to be made a fool of. I won't stand it. Either you tell 
 Higginbotham to-morrow that you've been pulling his 
 leg, or I leave the island. Do you hear me ? Why, 
 man, we might get into serious trouble if these stories 
 of yours ever came out. Are you listening to me ? " 
 
 " More or less," said Meldon sleepily. " Don't you 
 worry. Leave it to me ! I'll manage all right. Good- 
 night, Major. Don't you get dreaming of pliocene 
 clay." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MELDON woke early next morning. At six 
 o'clock he plunged overboard and swam delight- 
 edly round the yacht. Treasure or no treasure, he 
 intended to enjoy his holiday, and the June weather was 
 as good as could be wished for better than any reason- 
 able man would dare to hope. Half an hour later he 
 roused Major Kent, and then set to work to light the 
 stove in the galley. Every now and then he poked his 
 head up and shouted a remark to the Major, who was 
 making his toilet on deck. 
 
 " We'll go ashore directly after breakfast and set 
 to work. Have you any plan of operation in your 
 mind?" ' 
 
 The Major stopped shaving and, razor in hand, looked 
 over to the place from which the red head of the curate 
 had already disappeared. 
 
 "I have not," he shouted. "I left that to you. I 
 took it for granted that you would know the exact spot 
 where the treasure lies, and that I would have nothing 
 to do but walk there and put the gold into a hand- 
 bag." 
 
 The Major, though not intellectually nimble, prided 
 himself on his power of polished sarcasm. He was 
 disappointed to find that his taunt had apparently failed 
 
 55 
 
56 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 to reach the curate. He received no reply; but a noise 
 of frizzling and a pleasant smell of bacon melting on 
 a frying-pan reached him from the fore hatch. Then 
 Meldon's voice, this time without the appearance of his 
 head, reached him again: 
 
 " There are only six eggs. I suppose I may as well 
 fry them all." 
 
 " Yes, and some ham along with them." 
 
 " It's bacon I have on the pan, but I'll do a slice or 
 two of ham for you, if you like." 
 
 Half of Meldon's body emerged from the hatchway, 
 and the shells of six eggs were pitched overboard. 
 
 " It was full tide at six this morning," he said, return- 
 ing to the subject of the treasure hunt; "I expect by 
 eight o'clock we ought to be able to make our way round 
 the base of the cliffs on the west side of the island. 
 We'll be all right there till one or two o'clock, any way. 
 What do you say?" 
 
 The Major finished shaving and proceeded to fill a 
 tin basin with water. 
 
 " What do you expect to take by doing that? " he said. 
 
 He got no answer for a time. The frying-pan 
 demanded Meldon's whole attention. The noise of 
 frizzling increased rapidly. The Major balanced his 
 basin on the cabin skylight and scrubbed himself 
 vigorously. On the deck beside him lay a cake of soap, 
 a towel, and a small piece of pumice-stone. They who 
 go down to the sea in ships are apt to get tarry sub- 
 stances stuck on their hands, and the Major was a 
 man who liked to be clean once a day at least. Beside 
 the basin on the skylight lay his tooth-brush and a box 
 of carbolic powder, but he did not get a chance of 
 enjoying these. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 57 
 
 " Breakfast's ready," shouted Meldon. " Shall I drag 
 it all up on deck? The air's pleasant." 
 
 "No, let's; be as civilised as we can and eat in the 
 cabin." 
 
 Realising that the curate's appetite would not endure 
 much delay and that his own chance of securing a fair 
 share of the six eggs depended on his promptitude, the 
 Major slipped on the jacket of his pyjamas and went 
 below. The eggs, bacon, and ham steamed together in 
 a heap on a dish. Plates, knives, and forks were set 
 out. The teapot and a tin of condensed milk stood at 
 the end of the table. 
 
 " I call this jolly," said Meldon. " I only wish my 
 little girl was here to take a share with us." 
 
 " God forbid ! " said the Major, with pious gravity. 
 " How can you wish for such a thing, J. J. ? Just fancy 
 a woman on a boat like this." 
 
 " You don't know her. She wouldn't mind a bit. In 
 fact she'd enjoy roughing it. It would be the greatest 
 fun out for her." 
 
 " Well, it wouldn't be any fun for me," said the Major. 
 " But tell me, what's this plan of yours about scrambling 
 about among the rocks ? " 
 
 " I've given a lot of serious thought to the subject 
 of the treasure," said Meldon. " I sat for nearly an 
 hour on the top of this island yesterday afternoon and, 
 as the hymn says, * I viewed the landscape o'er/ 
 The result is that I've picked out the scene of the 
 shipwreck." 
 
 " Oh, have you ? You're quite certain you're right, 
 of course." 
 
 " Not quite certain tolerably certain. It's this way. 
 The galleon-r " 
 
58 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "The what?" 
 
 " The galleon. I wish you'd try not to interrupt me 
 so often. All Spanish ships were galleons if they were 
 big and caraques if they were small. Our one was big, 
 therefore she must have been a galleon. We may just 
 as well call things by their right names and go to work 
 in a business-like way. The galleon was wrecked. Very 
 well. Where was she likely to be wrecked? On the 
 west coast of the island." 
 
 " I don't see why." 
 
 " Because of course if she'd got to the east side she'd 
 have been in calm water under the lee of the land, and 
 she wouldn't have been wrecked." 
 
 " That doesn't follow. The wind might have been 
 nor'-east." 
 
 " I'm pretty sure it wasn't," said Meldon, " because it 
 hardly ever is. Even nowadays, with all the improve- 
 ments there are in things, there's hardly ever a nor'-east 
 wind on this coast, and in those days two hundred years 
 and more ago I expect the wind just shifted about 
 through three points of the compass, nor'-west, west, 
 and sou'-west. However, if you like, I'll argue out the 
 other possibilities afterwards. For the present we'll say 
 the galleon was most likely wrecked on the west side of 
 the island. Now, put yourself in the place of the 
 Spanish captain." 
 
 " I've done that before," said the Major, " and it was 
 no good." 
 
 " I remember now ; it wasn't. But anyhow we came 
 to the conclusion that he stored his treasure in some 
 hole in the rocks. Obviously, on account of the weight 
 of the treasure and the difficulty of carrying large quan- 
 tities of loose coin, he'd choose a hole as near the scene 
 
SPANISH GOLD 59 
 
 of the shipwreck as possible. Having fixed the scene 
 of the shipwreck " 
 
 " You haven't explained how you fixed that." 
 
 " I can't either till I show you the place. Once you'v6 
 seen it you'll admit that it is by far the likeliest place 
 for a thing of the kind. In fact it's the only really 
 suitable place I saw. What we've got to do is to search 
 the rocks in the immediate neighbourhood for the hole 
 that caught the eye of the Spanish captain." 
 
 "That's all well enough. But the treasure, if there 
 ever was any treasure, was hidden more than two hun- 
 dred years ago. The place must be entirely altered since 
 then. I understand that the whole island is made up 
 of pliocene clay." 
 
 "What's that got to do with it?" 
 
 " Of course," said the Major, " I don't know what 
 pliocene clay is. But if it's like any other kind of clay 
 it'll be soft stuff, and any hole there might have been 
 two hundred years ago will be all washed away or 
 covered up now." 
 
 " In the first place," said Meldon, " we've only got 
 Higginbotham's word for it that the island is pliocene 
 clay, and in the next place I don't believe pliocene clay 
 is that kind of stuff at all. It stands to reason that it 
 can't be. Why, man, if it was anything like common 
 clay the whole island would b gone ages ago. You 
 take my word for it, pliocene clay is some uncommonly 
 hard substance that doesn't melt anything worth speaking 
 of in a couple of centuries." 
 
 " Then why is it called pliocene clay ? " 
 
 " Oh, that's the sort of way those scientific Johnnies 
 talk. I believe they do it just to deceive the general 
 public. You know they speak about lunacy, although 
 
60 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 they know jolly well it hasn't got anything to do with 
 the moon. What they like is to get hold of a name 
 which is sure to deceive plain, straightforward men like 
 you and me, and then when we take it at its face value, 
 put the obvious meaning on to one of their own words, 
 they make us look like fools for not knowing any 
 better. It's just the same with typhoid fever. I was 
 talking to a doctor once, not a common castor-oil and 
 linseed-poultice doctor, but one of the sort that runs 
 to germs and microscopes and things, and he told me 
 I forget exactly how he put it, but it amounted to 
 this: that any one who went by the name typhoid 
 would get on a wrong track altogether wouldn't, in 
 fact, have proper typhoid but something else. I think 
 he said he'd have something like typhus, which is an 
 entirely different disease; beastly infectious, for one 
 thing, whereas the real typhoid, the thing that the name 
 doesn't mean, if you understand me, isn't catching at 
 all. Which just shows how much trust you can put 
 in scientific names. No, Major, you take my word for; 
 it, pliocene clay is some jolly hard kind of rock 
 igneous, I expect and this island is pretty much as old 
 Don What's-his-name found it when he scrambled on 
 shore out of that galleon." 
 
 " Very well," said the Major, " but I believe we're on 
 a fool's errand. I doubt very much if there's any treas- 
 ure there at all. And I'm sure we won't find it." 
 
 " Don't croke," said Meldon. " You get into your 
 duds and light your pipe. I'll wash up and get out the 
 punt. It's getting on for eight o'clock and we ought 
 to be off." 
 
 An elderly man and five out of the nine children 
 resident on the island stood on the end of the pier; 
 
 
SPANISH GOLD 61 
 
 when Meldon and the Major landed. The man was 
 clad in a very dirty white flannel jacket and a pair of 
 yellowish flannel trousers, which hung in a tattered 
 fringe round his naked feet and ankles. He had a 
 long white beard and grey hair, long as a woman's, 
 drawn straight back from his forehead. The hair 
 and beard were both unkempt and matted. But the man 
 held himself erect and looked straight at the strangers 
 through great dark eyes. His hands, though battered 
 and scarred with toil, were long and shapely. His face 
 had a look of dignity, of a certain calm and satisfied 
 superiority. Men of this kind are to be met with here 
 and there among the Connacht peasantry. They are 
 in reality children of a vanishing race, of a lost 
 civilisation, a bygone culture. They watch the encroach- 
 ments of another race and new ideas with a sort of 
 sorrowful contempt. It is as if, understanding and 
 despising what they see around them, they do not con- 
 sider it worth while to try and explain themselves; as 
 if, possessing a wisdom of their own, and aesthetic joy 
 of which the modern world knows nothing, they are 
 content to let both die with them rather than attempt 
 to teach them to men of a wholly different outlook upon 
 life. 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder," said Meldon to the Major, " if 
 that was old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat himself. He has 
 a royal look about him, hasn't he ? But I can't say much 
 for his robes of state. I wonder if he'd talk to us." 
 He approached the old man. " Good-morning to you. 
 Glorious weather we're having. Looks as if it meant 
 
 ;to hold up too." 
 "Ni Beurla agam" ("I have no English"), said the 
 old man. 
 
62 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Come now," said Meldon cheerfully, " you needn't 
 play that game off on me. I can understand your doing 
 it to Higginbotham. He's a Government official, and 
 naturally you distrust him ; but I'm a private man, I don't 
 want to turn you out of your house, and I won't give 
 you away." 
 
 " Ni Beurla agam air bith. Ni aon focal " '(" I have 
 no English at all, not one word"), said the old man. 
 
 Meldon turned to the five children, and singled out a 
 little girl who stood staring open-mouthed at him. 
 
 " Molly O'Flaherty," he said, " come here." 
 
 The children, holding on to each other, edged away 
 'doubtfully. 
 
 "Bridgy O'Flaherty," said Meldon, "if you're not 
 Molly I suppose you're sure to be Bridgy. Tell me what 
 the old gentleman's name is." 
 
 He stepped forward suddenly and seized the child by 
 the arm. She struggled for a minute and then began 
 to cry. 
 
 " There now," said Meldon, soothingly, " don't cry ; 
 I'm not going to hurt you. Major, give me a penny. 
 You haven't got one? Never mind, a sixpence will do 
 quite as well. Here now, Nora Acushla, look at the 
 pretty silver sixpence. That's for you. Stretch out your 
 hand and take it, and I'll tell your mammy what a good 
 girl you are." 
 
 The child seized the sixpence, stopped crying, and 
 looked up timidly to Meldon's face. 
 " "That's right," he said, patting her head. "Now 
 we're friends again. Tell me now, Nora is it Nora 
 they call you?" 
 
 " It is not," said the child. " It's Mary Kate." 
 
 " There now. I might have guessed it. Sorra a pret- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 63 
 
 tier name there is in the whole province of Connacht 
 than Mary Kate, nor a prettier little girl than your- 
 self. I've a little girl of my own away in Dublin, and 
 they call her Gladys Muriel, but I declare I think Mary 
 Kate's a nicer name. Tell me now, Mary Kate, is 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat the name they have on the old 
 man there ? " 
 
 " It might," said Mary Kate. 
 
 " Off with you then," said Meldon. " Have you got 
 the sixpence safe? Take it up to the gentleman that 
 lives in the new iron house, the gentleman from the 
 Board you know who I mean." 
 
 Mary Kate grinned. 
 
 " Is it the man that does; be measuring out the 
 land?" 
 
 " It is," said Meldon. " That exact man. Do you 
 take your sixpence up to him and ask him to give you 
 the worth of it in sugar candy. Don't be put off if he 
 tells you he hasn't got any. He has sacks and sacks 
 of it stored away there in the house, and he does be 
 eating it himself whenever he thinks there's nobody 
 looking at him." 
 
 " Do we go round the north or the south side of the 
 island," said the Major, as he and Meldon left the pier, 
 " to reach this treasure-cave of yours ? " 
 
 " The scene of the shipwreck," said Meldon severely, 
 " is about the middle of the west coast. We'd get to it 
 just as quick one way as the other, but I think we'll go 
 by the north. Higginbotham's house is to the south of 
 us, and there is no use passing his door oftener than we 
 can help; especially just now when Mary Kate is ap- 
 proaching him on the subject of sugar candy." 
 
 Walking in Inishgowlan is slow work because there 
 
64 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 are no regular roads, and because the whole island 
 is laced with loose stone walls which have to be 
 climbed. These are built not so much to separate the 
 fields from each other, as with a view to collecting into 
 manageable heaps the stones of which the walls con- 
 sist. Originally the stones lay scattered over the grass; 
 in such numbers that ploughing and even digging 
 were difficult. Here and there, where it is evidently im- 
 possible to pile any more stones on the walls without 
 making them dangerously top-heavy, cairns have been 
 built in the middle of the fields and the superfluous 
 metal got rid of in that way. This superabundance of 
 stones was a serious trouble to Higginbotham. He had 
 devised a plan for building a very high wall, a solid 
 structure with mortar in its joints, along the western 
 ridge of the island. He represented to his Board that 
 such a wall would form a splendid shelter for the whole 
 island from the westerly gales and would prevent care- 
 less sheep from falling over into the sea. The Board 
 was still deliberating on the scheme. 
 
 Major Kent grumbled a good deal at having to climb 
 so many walls; but Meldon, generally a field in front 
 of him, encouraged him with false promises of easier 
 walking further on. Thomas O'Flaherty Pat followed 
 them at a distance. Meldon stopped to light his pipe, 
 and allowed the Major to overtake him. 
 
 " I rather think," he said looking back, " that the old 
 chappie in the ragged clothes is tracking us." 
 
 " Let him," said the Major, who was rather out of 
 breath and disinclined for discussion. " He can't do us 
 any harm." 
 
 " He might not, but all the same I'd like to know 
 .what he has in his mind. I wish now that I'd brought 
 
SPANISH GOLD 65 
 
 Mary Kate along with me. She'd have come for another 
 sixpence, I expect." 
 
 "Another of my sixpences." 
 
 " Oh, well, you needn't grumble. What's sixpence 
 here or there compared to the pile of gold that we're 
 going to take home with us? Think of it, Major, 
 great fat doubloons, no wretched little slips of coins 
 like our modern sovereigns, but thick, round chunks, 
 weighing, maybe, as much as an ounce or an ounce 
 and a half each, solid gold! And very likely there'll 
 be gems, golden goblets with precious stones stuck 
 in them. Those Spaniards were awful dogs for 
 luxury." 
 
 " You don't really expect to find diamonds and emer- 
 alds, do you, J. J.?" 
 
 "Of course I do. What else have I come for if it 
 isn't to find every kind of treasure? But here we are, 
 Major, at the other end of nowhere. We've got to 
 scramble round now." 
 
 The cliffs on the western coast of Inishgowlan are not 
 very lofty, nor, except in odd places, are they really 
 precipitous. Here and there the sea at high tide washes 
 against their bases. Elsewhere there are long shelves 
 of rock which are never more than half-covered by the 
 waves, and wildernesses of huge boulders, worn into all 
 sorts of fantastic shapes, among which on calm days the 
 sea winds itself into curiously fascinating pools and chan- 
 nels, where in storms there is a welter of foam and spray 
 and angry water. 
 
 Meldon, keeping a few paces in front of the Major, 
 scrambled along with the greatest activity. He scaled 
 apparently impossible rocks, and seemed actually to 
 enjoy slipping and stumbling among the pools. After 
 
66 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 an hour's hard work, with scratched hands and a large 
 rent in the knee of his trousers, he reached the mouth 
 of a little bay. There, seated on a large stone at the 
 bottom of the cliff, was Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. 
 
 A few hundred yards from the north end of the island 
 there is a break in the line of cliffs. A narrow path, 
 very steep and rough, has been made from the top of 
 the ridge to the beach below. It is used during the kelp- 
 burning season by men and girls, who climb down it, 
 gather sea wrack among the rocks, and toilsomely ascend 
 again with dripping creels on their backs and soaked 
 garments flapping round their legs. Old Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat had used this path as a short-cut, and in- 
 tercepted the men he was following. 
 
 Meldon waited for the Major, who was some distance 
 behind. 
 
 "Look here," he said, "there's that old gentleman, 
 Higginbotham's favourite enemy, waiting for us again. 
 Now, what on earth does he want ? " 
 
 " I don't know, and what's more, I don't care. But 
 I see the path he came by, and I vote we take it as the 
 shortest way home. I've had enough of this ridiculous 
 expedition." 
 
 " Nonsense, Major. You can't go back now. We've 
 hours before us still. But we'll recollect that path. 
 It'll save us going the whole way back to the north point 
 of the island when we've done. I wish I knew what 
 T. O'Flaherty Pat supposes he's doing. It's perfectly 
 ridiculous not being able to get him to talk. I can't 
 imagine why he keeps up the pretence of not knowing 
 English with me." 
 
 " Perhaps he doesn't know any." 
 
 " Rot ! Excuse my putting it plainly, but that's sim- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 67 
 
 pie rot. Of course he knows English. Everybody must 
 know English." 
 
 " Well, there's no use standing here and staring at 
 him. We shan't find out anything that way. Let's go 
 on if you're bent on going." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder," said Meldon, " if he had some 
 kind of inkling of what we're after. Your great aunt 
 said in her diary " 
 
 "My grandfather. I never had a great aunt that I 
 know of." 
 
 " Well, your grandfather. It's all the same. He said 
 anyhow that the natives here knew about the treasure 
 in this day. Now that's just the kind of information 
 that would be handed down from father to son, and old 
 T. O. P. is just the sort of man " 
 
 " Who's T. O. P.?" 
 
 "T. O. P.? Oh, Thomas O'Flaherty Pat, of course. 
 You can't expect me to say that whole name over 
 again each time. Our friend Tommy is just the kind 
 of elderly ass who'd be sure to remember the story even 
 if everybody else had forgotten it. You back he's gone 
 treasure-hunting on his own every fine day for the last 
 fifty years, and now when he sees we're after it and 
 going about the job in a jolly sight more intelligent 
 way than ever he did, he thinks he's nothing to do but 
 hang on to us till we find it, and then chip in and claim 
 a share. I'll tell you what it is, Major. It's absolutely 
 necessary to put him off the scent." 
 
 " How will you do that when you can't talk to 
 him?" 
 
 " Oh, I'll manage. Mind you, he can understand 
 every word we say. Come along, now. I'm going to 
 pretend to be a bug hunter, an entomologist, one of 
 
68 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 the fellows who look for marine monsters of unusual 
 kinds in little pools. I wish to goodness I'd thought 
 of bringing a butterfly net with me; a nice green but- 
 terfly net would have completed the disguise. Come 
 along, Major. Take my arm and try and look affec- 
 tionate. Put on the sort of expression you'd wear if 
 we were scientific pals out of the same laboratory in 
 London. Do your best to display an intelligent interest 
 in what I say." 
 
 Stumbling among the stones, but walking arm-in-arm, 
 they approached Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. 
 
 " Major," whispered Meldon, " do you happen to rec- 
 ollect the name of any insect ? " 
 
 " The flea," said the Major promptly. 
 
 "The scientific name," said Meldon. "What good 
 are fleas ? He knows what fleas are well enough, and 
 is probably much better acquainted with their habits 
 than we are. He knows that we wouldn't come here 
 to look for fleas. Tell me a scientific name. I can't 
 think of one myself, except ' f ritillary.' Well never 
 mind. If you can't, you can't. Now, listen." 
 
 In a clear, loud voice, calculated to carry some dis- 
 tance, he said 
 
 " I hope, Professor, that our long journey has not been 
 in vain ; I hope, I trust, not. This place, the rocks and 
 pools beyond us, seems to me a likely habitat for the 
 Athalonia miser abilis, the marvellous sea-beetle, found 
 nowhere but on these western shores." 
 
 He cast a rapid glance at Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. 
 The old man appeared wholly unimpressed, and sat 
 gazing with wide, dreamy eyes past the strangers 
 straight out to sea. But Meldon was not the man 
 to be baffled by any affectation of indifference and 
 
SPANISH GOLD; 69 
 
 inattention. Convinced that the old man understood 
 English, and was keenly interested in what he heard, 
 he took the Major slowly across the beach, climbed a 
 neighbouring ledge of rock, and stooped down as if to 
 make a minute examination of a weedy pool. Look- 
 ing up, he was gratified to see the eyes of Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat fixed on him. 
 
 " I thought I'd rouse him," he said to the Major. 
 " Now I'll make him quite sure that I'm after nothing 
 more thrilling than the corpse of an Athalonia 
 miserabilis" 
 
 With every appearance of intense excitement, Meldon 
 dropped on his knees beside the pool. He took off his 1 
 coat and rolled up one of his shirt sleeves; he lay flat 
 on his stomach; he plunged his bare arm deep into the 
 water. Then he rose and looked round to see how 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat was taking the performance. 
 The old man had left the stone on which he sat, and was 
 approaching the pool. 
 
 " I thought I'd draw him," said Meldon. 
 
 After examining minutely some shreds of green 
 seaweed which he had dredged from the depths of the 
 pool, he plunged his arm in again. Thomas O'Flaherty 
 Pat came quite close, looked at the curate with an ex- 
 pression of some wonder, and passed on. Reaching the 
 edge of the sea, he, too, lay flat down, bared his arm 
 and plunged it into the water. Meldon, rising to his 
 knees, looked at him. 
 
 " What's the old boy at now?" he said. 
 
 " Looks very much," said the Major, " as if he was 
 trying to catch a Paphlagonia What's-its-name, too." 
 
 "Athalonia miserabilis" said Meldon. "Do try to 
 get things right, Major. You set up to be a tidy man 
 
70 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 and take it on yourself to lecture me every now and 
 then for getting things into wrong places, but you're the 
 most untidy person I ever met in conversation. You 
 never get a name right." 
 
 " Well, Athalonia whatever you like. Anyhow, he's 
 trying to catch one." 
 
 "He can't be, can't possibly be. There's no such 
 creature, so far as I know." 
 
 " Well, he's catching something, and what's more he's 
 caught it and he's bringing it over to you." 
 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat came towards them, and cer- 
 tainly carried booty of some sort in his hand. With a 
 dignified and gracious bow, he presented Meldon with 
 a large red crab. 
 
 "Good Lord!" said Major Kent. 
 
 The curate took the creature carefully, and bowed 
 politely in return. 
 
 " Thanks awfully," he said. " I mean to say, of course, 
 merci beaucoup" 
 
 " Ni Beurla agam," said the old man. 
 
 " Oh, never mind about the Beurla. What I want 
 you to know is this, I'm greatly obliged to you for 
 the crab. So's the professor here. We weren't exactly 
 looking for crabs. We were looking for an Athalonia 
 miserabilis, but we're just as much pleased as if you 
 brought us one. The fact is we're both passionately 
 fond of crab, dressed with breadcrumbs and pepper, you 
 know. And in London, where we come from, the chief 
 city of the Sassenach you know the place I mean 
 crabs are too expensive for poor men like us to buy. 
 You can't pick them up there the way you do here. 
 You'd hardly believe the price a fishmonger would charge 
 for a crab like this." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 71 
 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat shook his head solemnly. 
 
 " Ni Beurla agam air bith," he said. 
 
 " All right," said Meldon. " Goodbye for the present. 
 So long, old boy. We oughtn't to be taking up your 
 valuable time. I really believe he doesn't know a word 
 I'm saying. Look here " 
 
 He seized the old man's hand and shook it heartily. 
 
 " Ceud mile f ailte there, that's all the Irish I know, 
 and if that doesn't send you off home I can do no 
 more." 
 
 This hearty welcome produced the effect intended. 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat, after a courteous salutation 
 turned and climbed slowly up the path which led to the 
 top of the cliff. 
 
 " I hope," said the Major, " that that will be a lesson 
 to you, J. J." 
 
 "A lesson about what?" 
 
 " About telling lies. You see the trouble they get you 
 into." 
 
 " I see nothing of the sort. My lies, as you call 
 them, got rid of that troublesome old fool, who might 
 have gone on following us all day. Also they secured 
 us this excellent crab, which I shall cook for supper 
 to-night. And anyhow, they aren't lies. They are 
 what is called diplomacy, and that's an art 
 practised by the most honourable men lords, and 
 marquises, and kings, and people of that kind. Do 
 you suppose that the Prime Minister, when he thinks 
 he'll have to go to war with Germany, tells the literal 
 truth? Does he go and ask to have the first battle 
 put off for a week because he's short of cartridges? 
 Of course he doesn't. He gives the Germans to under- 
 stand that England is chock full of cartridges of all 
 
72 SPANISH GOLQ 
 
 sizes. The fewer he really has the more he says he 
 has. That's diplomacy, and it's reckoned to be a very 
 noble line of life. Well, the principle applies to 
 treasure-seeking just as much as to international 
 politics. No treasure would ever have been found 
 if the people who were on the track of it went telling 
 all they knew to every chance acquaintance. They 
 simply have to put the general public people like 
 Higginbotham and Thomas O'Flaherty Pat off the 
 scent, and there's no way of doing that except the 
 one. Besides, it wouldn't be the slightest use telling 
 the literal truth. People wouldn't believe you. 
 Suppose I went up to Higginbotham and said that 
 you and I were here on a treasure hunt. Do you 
 think he'd believe it? Not he. He'd laugh. He 
 hasn't got enough imagination to believe the truth 
 if you hung it up before him. His mind isn't fit 
 for it. If you knew any theology, Major, you'd 
 understand that economy, as it's called, consists of 
 dealing out to the average man just the amount of 
 truth he's fit to receive, and no more. The Church 
 has always gone on that principle, and I'm acting in 
 the same way towards Higginbotham and Thomas 
 O'Flaherty." 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MELDON, encouraging the reluctant Major by 
 example and exhortation, continued to scramble 
 southwards along the base of the cliffs. It grew very 
 hot. Now and then Major Kent sat down, mopped his 
 face, and declared that he would go no further. On 
 such occasions Meldon lit his pipe and argued with his 
 friend. It always ended in the Major going on, slip- 
 ping, staggering, clutching. At last he sat down with an 
 air of great determination. 
 
 "J. J.," he said, "the tide has turned. I'm going 
 back. We've passed some nasty corners, places we 
 couldn't get round at half-tide. I've no fancy for being 
 drowned. You know I can't swim." 
 
 "All right," said Meldon, "trust me. I'll pull you 
 through." 
 
 " If you mean that you propose to save my life in a 
 heroic manner and get credit and perhaps medals for 
 it afterwards, I tell you plainly that I don't mean to give 
 you the chance. I'm going home the way I came, partly 
 on my two feet, partly on my hands and knees. I'm 
 not going to be towed about the sea to gratify your 
 vanity." 
 
 " The place I'm going to is just ahead of us. It's 
 the very next promontory. We've time enough to get 
 
 73 
 
74 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 round it. You'll be sorry, Major, if you go back 
 now." 
 
 The Major rose with a sigh, and followed Meldon to 
 a headland which jutted further out into the sea than 
 any they had passed. It was very difficult to get round 
 it. The sea washed almost against the base of the pre- 
 cipitous rocks. There was no more than a narrow 
 ledge, three or four feet above the level of the water, 
 along which it was possible to walk; and even there 
 it was necessary to press close to the side of the cliff. 
 Once round the point, a long, narrow inlet opened be- 
 fore them. It was, even at the entrance, not more 
 than thirty feet across, and it narrowed as it reached 
 inland. On the south side of the channel the rocks 
 rose sheer out of the water to a height of thirty or 
 forty feet. Above them was a steep slope of short, 
 wiry grass. On the north side, where Meldon and the 
 Major stood, the cliff rose less precipitously, and it 
 was possible to scramble along for a short distance. 
 The tide was almost at dead ebb, and at the end of 
 the channel the water lapped on a tiny beach, 
 surrounded closely on three sides by cliffs. At the 
 shoreward end of the beach, a few feet from the 
 water, was a small hole, hardly to be dignified by 
 the name of cave. It was evident that when the 
 tide rose a little the water would reach the hole, and 
 that at half-tide the entrance to it would be entirely 
 covered. 
 
 Meldon gazed down the channel and saw the hole 
 in the cliff. His face wore a look of intense satisfac- 
 tion. Major Kent also seemed pleased. He gave a sigh 
 expressive of relief. 
 
 "Now," he said, "we're stuck and we can't go any 
 
SPANISH GOLD 75 
 
 further. We've reached the last rock on which it is 
 possible to climb, and I can neither swim nor fly. Sup- 
 pose we start to go back ? " 
 
 Meldon sat down and began to take off his boots. 
 
 " This," he said, " is the scene of the shipwreck, and 
 in that hole the Spanish captain concealed his treasure. 
 Reconstruct the scene for yourself, Major. The gal- 
 leon, partially disabled by the loss of one or more of her 
 masts, comes driving down on the island before a nor'- 
 westerly gale. I gave you my reasons for saying the 
 wind was nor'-west, so we needn't go into that again. 
 Where does she strike? On the point we've just passed. 
 It's the furthest sticking-out point there is, so of course 
 she struck on it. You follow me so far? What hap- 
 pens next ? " 
 
 Meldon, having got rid of his boots and socks, stood 
 up while he took off his coat and waistcoat. 
 
 " What are you going to do ? " said the Major. 
 
 " Swim to the end of the channel, of course, and see 
 what's inside that hole. You can stay here and mind 
 my clothes. But to go on where you interrupted me. 
 Where was I? Oh yes. The galleon had just struck on 
 the point. What happens next? A great sea lifts her 
 stern and slews it round. Her bow slips off the ledge 
 of rock over which we walked it would be about half- 
 tide when the thing happened and the galleon drifts 
 stern foremost into this channel and sticks fast just 
 where we're standing now. You follow me all right, 
 don't you?" 
 
 " It's very interesting," said the Major, " but I don't 
 suppose for a moment it's true." 
 
 " Of course it's true. It's what must have happened. 
 Don't you see that under the circumstances nothing 
 
76 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 else could happen? Tell me this, now if a wave, 
 with a nor'-west wind, lifted the stern of the galleon 
 round in the way I have described, what could the old 
 hooker do but go stern first along this channel until she 
 stuck?" 
 
 " Oh, I dare say that's right enough, but there's such 
 a lot went before that." 
 
 " Have you any other hypothesis which meets the 
 facts of the case better? No. Very well, then, accept 
 mine. That's the way all scientific advance is made. 
 Some Johnny with brains produces a hypothesis. Every- 
 body calls him a rotter at first. But he remains calm 
 in the face of opprobrium." 
 
 " I'm the opprobrium, I suppose," said the Major. 
 
 " Well, in this case you represent the opprobrient. 
 But to go on. What does the scientific Johnny do 
 next?" 
 
 " You needn't go on." 
 
 " Oh, but I will. I read the whole thing up at col- 
 lege in Mill's 4 Logic when I was thinking of going in 
 for honours. I was young then. The scientific Johnny 
 says, ' Take my hypothesis. If it doesn't account for 
 the facts give it the chuck out; but if does, then stop 
 scoffing and get ready a statue to erect in my honour/ 
 Now, what I say is this, Does my hypothesis cover 
 the facts? There now, you've kicked one of my socks 
 into a pool. I do wish you wouldn't fidget in a place 
 like this. There isn't room for a display of tern- 
 per." 
 
 Meldon got his shirt off and stood poised on the edge 
 of the rock for his plunge. " I'll finish explaining what 
 happened when I get back," he said. " I won't be long. 
 Hallo! Who's that? Oh, Great Scott!" 
 
SPANISH GOLD 77. 
 
 He pointed with his finger to the top of the grassy 
 slope which crowned the cliff opposite him. The Major 
 looked upwards and saw, seated above the hole, 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. The old man, his hair and 
 beard blown in picturesque wisps, by the sea-breeze, 
 was watching Meldon with a calm, disinterested 
 gaze. 
 
 " What are you going to do now ? " asked the 
 Major. 
 
 " I'm going home again for to-day," said Meldon, 
 clutching at his shirt. " I'm not going on with that old 
 boy watching me. I tell you he knows what we are 
 after. He can't have believed that story about the 
 Athalonia miser abilis. What horrid sceptics these un- 
 sophisticated-looking people are in their hearts ! " 
 
 " He'd have been a precious ass if he had believed 
 it. You give nobody credit for any intelligence, J. J. 
 You invent stories which wouldn't deceive a babe 
 in arms, and then expect people to be taken in by 
 them." 
 
 " Well," said Meldon, " Higginbotham believed much 
 taller stories than that one." 
 
 " I knew you were going too far with that sea-insect 
 of yours. Why couldn't you'have invented something 
 more likely if you had to invent ? " 
 
 " Oh, well, if we're going to enter upon a course of 
 mutual recrimination, why couldn't you have refrained 
 from kicking my sock into a pool ? " 
 
 Meldon was pulling his boot over the damp garment, 
 and spoke feelingly. 
 
 " But never mind, Major, I'm not by any means at the 
 end of my tether yet. To-morrow we'll come back here 
 at low tide and I'll swim to the hole then." 
 
8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "What about Thomas O'Flaherty Pat? Hell follow 
 us again." 
 
 " Oh no, he won't. I'll manage him." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " That'll be all right, Major. You leave it to me. If 
 I say I'll manage him, you may take it as a fixed thing 
 that he'll be managed. I can't tell you just this mo- 
 ment how I'm going to do it. I shall have to think the 
 matter out by myself. But you may feel perfectly cer- 
 tain that it'll be all right. I've not done badly so far, 
 have I?" 
 
 " In the matter of lies," said the Major, " you've shown 
 an inventive power which has surprised me." 
 
 " Don't call them lies ; call them disguises. Nine fel- 
 lows out of every ten who go out treasure-seeking have 
 to adopt some sort of disguise, and it's always considered 
 quite right. Now, what's the difference, the moral dif- 
 ference, between a detective " 
 
 " We're not detectives." 
 
 " The principle is exactly the same between the de- 
 tective getting himself up as a dock labourer in order 
 to deceive the wily criminal, and our saying that we're 
 bug hunters in order to put old T. O. P. off the scent? 
 There's no earthly difference that I can see; so there's; 
 no use being offensive and talking about lies. Come on, 
 now. I'm dressed, and we ought to be getting back 
 before the tide rises." 
 
 " I said so an hour ago." 
 
 " Apart altogether from the disguises that we've been 
 compelled to adopt," said Meldon, when they had scram- 
 bled round the point and conversation became possible 
 again, " I maintain that I've done pretty well so 
 far." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 79 
 
 " I don't see that you've done anything except cut a 
 hole in the knee of your best trousers." 
 
 " They're not my best ; they're the oldest pair I have. 
 I bought them two years before I was ordained. That's 
 how they come to be the colour they are." 
 
 Mr. Meldon meant that the date of their purchase ex- 
 plained their having once been light grey. It also ex- 
 plained the fact that they were now considerably faded 
 and mottled with a fine variety of stains. 
 
 " But leaving my trousers out of the question," he 
 went on, " I think I've done a good deal. I've located 
 to a certainty the exact scene of the wreck; I've recon- 
 structed the catastrophe precisely as it happened, and 
 I'm practically sure I know where the treasure was hid- 
 den." 
 
 " Oh, you're sure of that, are you ? " 
 
 " Practically sure, is what I said. I don't set up to 
 be infallible. The best men may make mistakes. 
 Listen to me, now, till I explain. The galleon is lying 
 jammed in that channel. The water is, of course, com- 
 paratively calm there on account of the shelter of the 
 headland. The Spanish captain, not being a fool 
 we agreed from the first, you remember, that the 
 Spanish captain wasn't an absolute fool sees that 
 there is no immediate danger of the galleon breaking 
 up. These Spanish galleons were all pretty tough. 
 You remember the one that came ashore on Robinson 
 Crusoe's island. It was pretty tough, and so was our 
 one. Well, what does the Spanish captain do? He 
 lowers his one remaining boat over the stern of the 
 galleon and ferries his treasure into the mouth of the 
 hole in the cliff. Then he drags it inland as far as the 
 hole goes, maybe twenty yards or so. Afterwards he 
 
8o SPANISH GOLD 
 
 and the survivors of the crew landed just where we were 
 standing, scrambled round the rocks by that time it 
 would be dead low water very likely go up the same 
 path that Thomas O'Flaherty Pat came down to meet 
 us. Now what do you say to that? " 
 
 " I don't say anything," said the Major. 
 
 " No, you don't. You save yourself up so as to say, 
 ' I told you so/ in case there happens to be any trifling 
 miscalculation. Or if, as is far more likely, I turn out 
 to be perfectly right, then you're in a position to pretend 
 you agreed with me all along. But it's waste of breath 
 talking to you." 
 
 " It is," said the Major. 
 
 " I'm glad you agree with me there, anyhow. Here's 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's path. Let's go up it and get 
 back to the Spindrift. I'm as hungry as a wolf. That's 
 the worst of breakfasting so early. By the way, where's 
 the crab?" 
 
 "What crab?" 
 
 " The large red crab that old Tommy Pat caught and 
 gave to me. Major, have you left it behind?" 
 
 " I never had it. If anybody's left it behind it was 
 you. You were carrying it." 
 
 " But I told you to mind it while I swam up the 
 channel." 
 
 "You did not." 
 
 " Well, I meant to, and anyway you ought to have 
 known. How was I to go swimming with a large crab 
 in my hand? Of course you ought to have minded 
 it." 
 
 " I'm sorry," said the Major. 
 
 " Oh, well, it doesn't much matter. I don't so much 
 care about the crab itself. I dare say we shouldn't have 
 
SPANISH GOLD Si 
 
 been able to cook it properly even if we had it. What 
 I'm thinking of is poor old T. O. P.'s feelings. I'm 
 afraid he'll be hurt if he sees us coming back without 
 his crab." 
 
 " I shouldn't fret about that if I were you." 
 
 "Oh, but I do. It's not altogether Patsy Tom 
 O'Flaherty's feelings that I mind. But on these occa- 
 sions you ought always to try to win the good-will and 
 confidence of the natives." 
 
 "You go a queer way about it, then, if that's what 
 you want." 
 
 " Any book of travel," said Meldon, ignoring the Ma- 
 jor's last remark, " will tell you that the really important 
 thing is to get the natives to trust you thoroughly from 
 the start." 
 
 " That's why you told that yarn about the sea insect, 
 I suppose ? " 
 
 " Look here, Major, what's the good of rubbing it in 
 about the Athalonia miserabilisf I've owned up that 
 that was a slip. I can't do more, can I? I don't keep 
 harping on to you about the way you put my sock into 
 the pool and forgot the crab, and those are a jolly sight 
 worse things than any I've done." 
 
 " I wouldn't care much," said the Major, as they 
 neared the top of the steep and slippery pathway, "to 
 be climbing up this five or six times a day with a creel 
 of seaweed on my back." 
 
 " No more would I," said the curate. " Seaweed's 
 poor stuff, but I wouldn't mind doing it that number 
 of times and more with a parcel of doubloons slung 
 over my shoulder; gold, Major, good solid gold. 
 It's this way that we'll have to bring it up from that 
 hole. I've been reckoning out how many journeys 
 
82 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 we'll have to make with it. Supposing, now, that 
 there's - " 
 
 " Do shut up, J. J. ! What on earth's the use of talk- 
 ing like that? You know as well as I do that there's 
 not the smallest likelihood of our getting any gold out 
 of your hole." 
 
 "Oh, I'll shut up if you like. But I'll just say 
 this: it's a good job for you, Major, that you have a 
 man with you who has a little foresight, who figures 
 things out beforehand and lays his plans in advance. 
 [You'd be particularly helpless if you were left to your- 
 
 They reached the top of the cliff. In front of them 
 lay the long, green slope of the island, a patchwork of 
 ridiculous little fields seamed with an intolerable 
 complexity of grey stone walls. Below, near the 
 further sea, were the cabins of the people, little white- 
 washed buildings, thatched with half-rotten straw. 
 On the roofs of many of them long grass grew. From 
 a chimney here and there a thin column of smoke was 
 blown eastwards and vanished in the clear air a few 
 yards from the hole from which it emerged. Gaunt 
 cattle, dejected creatures, stood here and there idle, 
 as if the task of seeking for grass long enough to lick 
 up had grown too hard for them. In the muddy 
 bohireens long, lean sows, creatures more like hounds 
 of some grotesque, antique breed than modern domestic 
 swine, roamed and rooted. Now and then a woman 
 emerged from a door with a pot or dish in her hands, 
 and fowls, fearfully excited, gathered from the dung- 
 heaps to her petticoats. Men, leaning heavily on their 
 loys, or digging sullenly and slowly, were casting earth 
 upon the wide potato ridges. Apart from the other 
 
SPANISH GOLD 83 
 
 habitations stood Higginbotham's egregious iron hut; 
 the very type of a hideous, utilitarian, utterly self-suffi- 
 cient civilisation thrust in upon a picturesque dilapida- 
 tion. It gave to the island an air of half-comic vulgarity, 
 much such an air as Thomas O'Flaherty Pat might have 
 worn if some one had added to his customary garments 
 a new silk hat. Beyond all lay the bay, round which the 
 island folded its arms, a sheet of glancing, glittering 
 water with darker sea behind it, and far away the dim 
 outline of the mainland coast. 
 
 The Spindrift lay at her moorings, and beyond her 
 another boat, cutter rigged also, which had just dropped 
 anchor. Her jib was stowed; her mainsail shook in the 
 breeze. Two men were to be seen casting loose the hal- 
 yards. Soon the sail was down, and the men were 
 gathering the folds of it in their hands and lashing the 
 gaff to the boom. Major Kent and Meldon stared at 
 the boat in surprise. For a time neither of them spoke. 
 Then, taking his companion by the arm, the Major 
 said 
 
 "What boat's that?" 
 
 " She looks to me," said Meldon, " uncommonly like 
 my old Aureole." 
 
 " I just thought she did. Now what brings her here? " 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Look here, J. J., you go in for being clever ; you've 
 been swaggering all day about the way you understand 
 everything and get the hang of whatever happens, even 
 if it's two hundred years ago; just set your great mind 
 to work on that boat and tell me what she's doing out 
 there." 
 
 Stirred by the taunt, Meldon spoke with some appear- 
 ance of recovering self-confidence. 
 
84 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " It's the Aureole right enough. I hired her to a 
 man in a mangy fur coat, who said he didn't know 
 anything about boats but had a friend who did. Now 
 I'll tell you this, Major, to start with. Either that 
 friend knows nothing about boats either, or else he has 
 some pretty strong reason for wishing to get to this 
 island. Nobody but a fool, or a man who was prepared 
 to take big risks, would have ventured out here in her. 
 Why, every rope in her rigging is as rotten as a bad 
 banana. If there'd come on the least bit of a blow 
 that fellow in the fur coat and the other play boy, who- 
 ever he is, would have been at the bottom of the briny 
 sea." 
 
 " Well, they're not," said the Major, " so their deaths 
 are not on your conscience." 
 
 "They wouldn't have been in any case," said 
 Meldon. " I never thought they'd go outside Moy 
 Bay, or I wouldn't have hired the boat to them. Who'd 
 expect a seedy individual in a fur coat, a fellow that 
 looked sodden with drink, to take a boat out on to the 
 broad Atlantic? At the same time the other fellow 
 can't be altogether a fool. He must know something 
 about sailing, otherwise he wouldn't have fetched 
 up here at all. Now, what on earth brings him out 
 here?" 
 
 " Maybe he's a tourist looking out for scenery." 
 
 " He is not, then. There isn't any scenery here, not 
 what tourists call scenery. And there's not a guide- 
 book in the world that so much as mentions Inishgowlan. 
 The place isn't even marked on most maps. Whatever 
 (else he is, he's not a tourist." 
 
 " He might be a journalist." 
 
 " He might," said Meldon. " And yet I don't think 
 
SPANISH GOLD 85 
 
 he is. It's quite true that a journalist might come to 
 see Higginbotham. Higginbotham is the sort of man 
 a journalist would fasten on at once. A really smart 
 man at his trade would scent Higginbotham from miles 
 and miles away, and would track him over land and 
 sea. Higginbotham would talk all day long if he got any 
 encouragement. He'd pour out just the sort of senti- 
 mental rot about improving the conditions of the peo- 
 ple's life that the plump, kind-hearted Englishman loves 
 to read. There's a good deal to be said for that jour- 
 nalist hypothesis of yours, Major, but there are serious 
 objections to it too." 
 
 Major Kent did not answer; he was not really much 
 interested in the strangers. Meldon went on 
 
 " In the first place, if he was a journalist, or if he 
 was any kind of inspector, the Congested Districts 
 Board would bring him round in their own steamer. 
 They always take care to do a journalist middling well 
 when they catch him, and they keep their eye on him. 
 They don't let him off by himself in a boat to pry into 
 all sorts of things which he has no business to see. 
 That's one objection. The second is this: if he is a 
 journalist, who is the other chappie, the one in the fur 
 coat? Journalists never go about in couples. It 
 would ruin their business if they did. No, on the 
 whole I think we may decide that he's not a journalist. 
 There's only one other thing he can be a Member of 
 Parliament, one of the conscientious, inquiring kind, who 
 wants to look into the condition of Ireland for him- 
 self before he commits himself to an opinion on Home 
 Rule." 
 
 " I hope," said the Major anxiously, " that his 
 coming won't make it necessary for you to tell 
 
86 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 any more I mean to say to adopt any more dis- 
 guises." 
 
 " I expect I shall have to." 
 
 " Well now, J. J., like a good fellow, draw it mild 
 this time. Remember, if he's a Member of Parliament 
 he'll see through the ordinary disguise at once." 
 
 " That's just it," said Meldon gloomily. " If he's an 
 M.P. he's sure to have made inquiries about our educa- 
 tional system and he'll never believe that story about the 
 National Board wanting to build a school." 
 
 " He certainly won't believe about my geological sur- 
 vey." 
 
 " You mean on account of the pliocene clay ? I don't 
 expect he knows much about clay not enough to make 
 him sceptical, anyhow." 
 
 " I wasn't thinking of the pliocene clay. What I had 
 in my mind was the inherent absurdity of the whole 
 story." 
 
 " I don't see that at all," said Meldon. " On the con- 
 trary, I'm inclined to think that he will believe that 
 story. Anyhow, he'll ask a question in the House of 
 Commons about it." 
 
 " I hope to God he won't ! I should look a nice fool 
 if that story ever got into the papers." 
 
 " You'd do worse than look a fool. You'd probably 
 be called to the bar of the House, or be sent to jail for 
 contempt of the Chief Secretary. I'll tell you what it 
 is, Major, if that M.P. gets hold of the story you'd bet- 
 ter sail straight to America." 
 
 " But it's not my story, it's yours." 
 
 " It's you they'd prosecute, though. That's the beauty 
 of Ireland. The clergy are perfectly safe. Even the 
 Chief Secretary daren't proceed against me; but he 
 
SPANISH GOLD 87 
 
 would against you, like a shot. He might set a Royal 
 Commission on you." 
 
 " Don't be an ass, J. J." 
 
 " I'm not being an ass. I'm looking facts straight 
 in the face and drawing conclusions. It's my opinion 
 that if that man in my boat turns out to be a Member 
 of Parliament I say if we shall have to adopt some 
 fresh disguise." 
 
 " I can't stand another, J. J. I can't be four things 
 at once. My brain won't stand it." 
 
 " It'll have to." 
 
 " What do you mean to tell him? " 
 
 " I don't know yet. I must be guided by circum- 
 stances. But you leave it to me, Major, and you'll find 
 it'll pan out all right. I'm not by any means such a fool 
 as people are inclined to take me for. After all, what's 
 a Member of Parliament?" 
 
 The Major's spirits sank as Meldon's revived. He 
 was a plain man with an immense dislike of com- 
 plications, and he foresaw bewildering confusion before 
 him. 
 
 " J. J.," he said solemnly, " I'm Major Kent, I'm also 
 a mining expert in the pay of the Lord-Lieutenant and 
 the Chief Secretary. I'm also a professor of sea-ser- 
 pents and things of that sort. I can't and won't set up 
 to be anything else on this trip." 
 
 " Oh, we're done with the sea-serpent. You can get 
 that off your mind as soon as you like. That was only 
 temporary. Remember, Major, what Shakespeare said, 
 or if it wasn't Shakespeare it was some one else ' One 
 man in his time plays many parts.' You're a man, aren't 
 you ? Well, there you are. You can't go behind Shake- 
 speare in a matter of this kind. As soon as we've had 
 
88 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 a bite to eat I'll paddle across to the Aureole and call on 
 the Member of Parliament." 
 
 " You will not," said the Major. " What's the use of 
 running unnecessary risks ? You leave him alone unless 
 he goes for you in any way." 
 
 " That's the very worst possible policy to pursue," said 
 Meldon. " He'll be off to collogue with Higginbotham 
 straight away if I don't stop him; and it's ten to one 
 he'll hear about the school or the geological survey. No, 
 no. I'll take him in hand. If necessary I'll trot him 
 round myself. How would it be, now, if I dropped a 
 hint that we were members of the Irish Lights Com- 
 mission going about inspecting lighthouses? He might 
 believe that, and it wouldn't interest him enough to set 
 him asking more questions." 
 
 " But there's no lighthouse here." 
 
 " That's true, of course. Still, we might be thinking 
 of building one. But anyhow it's time enough to think 
 about that. I can't possibly tell what the best thing to 
 say is till I see the man. In the meanwhile let's go and 
 get out dinner. I was hungry before; I'm simply rav- 
 enous now." 
 
 " My appetite is pretty well gone," said the Major. 
 
 " Rot ! What is there to affect your appetite ? Why, 
 man, we're getting on swimmingly, far better than I 
 expected. You can't go out treasure-seeking without 
 meeting an occasional difficulty. That's where the sport 
 comes in. And listen to me, Major, it doesn't in the 
 least matter what I tell the Member of Parliament or 
 what he hears from Higginbotham. The old Aureole 
 is absolutely certain to drown him on his way home, and 
 anything he happens to have learned will go to the bot- 
 tom of the sea with him. It's nothing short of a miracle 
 that he got here safe," 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HAVING paddled the Major out to the Spindrift, 
 Meldon suggested that they should dine on tinned 
 brawn and bread-and-butter. It would, as he pointed 
 out, take a long time to light the galley stove and boil 
 potatoes; and every moment was of value now that 
 the strangers on the Aureole had arrived and might 
 go on shore to interview Higginbotham. It is likely 
 also that extreme hunger made the prospect of an 
 hour's delay very unpleasant. The Major, in spite of 
 the anxiety which affected his appetite, agreed to dine 
 at once. A tin was opened and a loaf of bread taken 
 from the locker. 
 
 " Last loaf but one," said the Major, as he set it 
 on the table. " To-morrow we shall be reduced to bis- 
 cuits." 
 
 " Not at all," said Meldon. " I'll make a point of 
 seeing Mary Kate's mother this evening and getting her 
 to make us a loaf of soda bread. There's nothing so 
 good as one of those pot-oven loaves, baked over a turf 
 fire, and Mary Kate's mother is just the woman to do 
 it well." 
 
 " You know nothing about the woman. You've never 
 seen her. How do you know whether she can bake or 
 not?" 
 
 89 
 
go SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I've seen Mary Kate, and that's enough. You're 
 very unobservant, Major. It's a great fault in you. 
 And when by any chance you do observe anything, you 
 fail to draw the most obvious inference. Now I know 
 all about Mary Kate's mother by looking at Mary 
 Kate. She's a plump, well-nourished little girl, com- 
 paratively clean, with a nice, comfortable, red petti- 
 coat on her, therefore observe the simple nature of 
 the inference therefore Mary Kate's mother is a com- 
 petent woman. Is it likely that a woman who couldn't 
 bake an ordinary loaf would have reared a child like 
 Mary Kate?" 
 
 " She may not have a mother at all," said the Major. 
 " It might be her grandmother or her aunt that reared 
 her." 
 
 " There you are again. That's your wretched, nig- 
 gling, Anglo-Saxon way of grubbing about at details in- 
 stead of grasping the broad principles of things. It 
 doesn't matter to us whether Mary Kate has a mother or 
 not. The point is that somewhere behind Mary Kate 
 there's a competent woman, a grandmother, or an aunt, 
 or a deceased wife's sister it doesn't in the least matter 
 which. Whoever she is she can bake. But I'll tell you 
 what it is, Major, if we had my little girl here on board, 
 we shouldn't be going on our bended knees to strange 
 women for the want of a bit of bread. We'd be sitting 
 down now to a good dish of steaming hot potatoes, with 
 their skins just beginning to peel off them. In fact, I 
 shouldn't wonder if she had them fried for us. Think 
 of that!" 
 
 " I'd rather " 
 
 The Major's remark was interrupted by a heavy bump 
 on the side of the yacht. It was clear from the sound 
 
SPANISH GOLD 91 
 
 of scraping that followed that a boat had come along- 
 side. 
 
 " That fellow, whoever he is," said the Major, " will 
 have all the paint off us before he's done." 
 
 "It must be the Member of Parliament off the 
 "Aureole, 33 said Meldon. " I call this most fortunate." 
 
 He sprang up and climbed on deck. The moment 
 afterwards he thrust his head into the cabin again and 
 said 
 
 " It's not the Member of Parliament after all. It's 
 only Higginbotham." 
 
 He plunged forward as he spoke until half his body 
 hung down the ladder. 
 
 " Best thing that could have happened," he whispered. 
 " So long as Higginbotham is here we are safe, and the 
 Member of Parliament can't get at him. I'll bring him 
 down and give him a bit of brawn. We can open an- 
 other tin if he seems hungry." 
 
 With a violent wriggle Meldon got his head and shoul- 
 ders on deck again. He welcomed Higginbotham with 
 effusive hospitality, and warmly invited him to go be- 
 low and have some dinner. It appeared, however, that 
 Higginbotham was not hungry. His face wore a look 
 of perplexity and irritation. There was evidently some- 
 thing troubling him which he was anxious to have cleared 
 up. 
 
 " I saw you leave the shore," he said, " and I got 
 young Jamesy O'Flaherty to put me off. I hope you 
 don't mind ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," said Meldon. " We're delighted to see 
 you. You say you won't have any brawn. Well, try 
 a slice of bread-and-jam. Major, get out the straw- 
 berry jam; it's in the locker under you." 
 
g2 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " No thanks. The fact is I only came out for a few 
 minutes' conversation with you. I " 
 
 " If you like," said Meldon, " I'll light the galley fire 
 and make you a cup of tea." 
 
 " No thanks. I want to speak to you for a few min- 
 utes and then I'll go back to my work. I've been rather 
 annoyed this morning. I'm sure there's some ridiculous 
 mistake which can be cleared up in ten minutes. I 
 thought it better to come straight to you." 
 
 " Quite right," said Meldon ; " if the thing is clear- 
 able at all, I'll clear it. I'm rather good at clearing 
 things up. Ask the Major if I'm not. Just you make 
 a clean breast of whatever the trouble is. You won't 
 mind our eating while you talk." 
 
 " It's about sugar candy," said Higginbotham. 
 
 "Great Scott!" said Meldon. "Mary Kate!" 
 
 " I don't know anything about Mary Kate, but all the 
 children on the island have been following me about and 
 bothering the life out of me for sugar candy. They say 
 you set them on." 
 
 " Look here, Higginbotham," said Meldon severely. 
 "The Major and I are busy men, whatever you 
 may be. If you're in any real trouble we're quite 
 ready to do our best to pull you through, but I 
 don't think it's fair of you to come here wasting 
 our time over some trumpery business about sugar 
 candy." 
 
 " But the children said you sent them to me." 
 
 " It's all well enough for you to be fussing and agi- 
 tating in this way about mere trifles, but I have serious 
 matters on my mind. I simply haven't time to waste 
 over sugar candy. If the children have taken your 
 sugar candy, gee their parents about it and get them 
 
SPANISH GOLD 93 
 
 properly whipped. You can't expect us to go about 
 taking sticky stuff out of their mouths to gratify 
 you." 
 
 " I didn't say they'd stolen my sugar candy. They 
 haven't. What I said " 
 
 " Very well, then, what are you making all this 
 row about? Do you mean to suggest that we took 
 your sugar candy? Neither the Major nor I ever 
 eat sugar candy. If you set half a pound of it down 
 on this table now, and invited us to gorge we 
 simply wouldn't touch it. Look here, Higginbotham, 
 you and I are old friends, and you often used to 
 go up to Rathmines with me to see my little girl, 
 so I'll just give you a word of advice that I wouldn't 
 give to a stranger if you want to get on with the 
 people on this island, don't go quarrelling with their 
 children. There's old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat, for in- 
 stance, as decent an old fellow as I ever met, and 
 quite easy to make friends with. He went out to-day, 
 quite off his own bat, without so much as a hint from 
 me, and caught a crab and gave it to me. Any one 
 with a grain of tact could get on with poor Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat. As quiet a man as you'd see anywhere. 
 But you go and rub him up the wrong way, get his 
 back up, and generally play old hokey with his temper 
 by nagging at his granddaughter about some barley 
 sugar." 
 
 " It was sugar candy," said Higginbotham, feebly ; 
 " and besides " 
 
 " Well, sugar candy, then it's all the same. It 
 wouldn't make any difference if it was peppermint 
 lozenges. You worry and threaten the poor child 
 about a pennyworth of some ridiculous sweetmeat, 
 
94 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 and then you profess to be astonished that the old man 
 won't give up his house to you. I'd have been very 
 much surprised indeed if he did under the circumstances. 
 No man likes to have his grandchildren ragged. You 
 wouldn't like it yourself if you had any. And a little 
 girl, too! Higginbotham, you ought to be ashamed of 
 yourself." 
 
 " If you'd let me speak for a moment," said Higgin- 
 botham, " I'd explain." 
 
 "You're far too fond of speaking," said Meldon. 
 " Half your troubles come from talking too much." 
 
 " But you've taken the thing up wrong. I'm not 
 blaming you. There's a mistake somewhere, I know. 
 I wish you'd let me say one word." 
 
 " I can't and won't spend the rest of the day arguing 
 with you about sugar candy. It wouldn't be for your 
 own good if I did. Are you aware, Higginbotham, that 
 there are two English Members of Parliament in that 
 boat, anchored 'a few yards away, and that they've come 
 here expressly to see how you are getting on ? " 
 
 " How do you know that ? " 
 
 "Well, I don't absolutely know it. But I can't im- 
 agine what would bring a Member of Parliament to 
 this island if it wasn't to inspect your work. They don't 
 come here for the salmon fishing ; you may bet your hat 
 on that. Now, if you'll take my advice you would 
 seize the earliest opportunity of smoothing down old 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat before they get listening to his 
 Story." 
 
 " But the old man can only talk Irish." 
 
 " Don't you trust too much to that, Higginbotham. 
 In the first place I strongly suspect that he can talk 
 English just as well as you can; and besides, you can't 
 
SPANISH GOLD; 95 
 
 be sure that the Members of Parliament don't know 
 Irish. I can tell you there are some mighty smart 
 men in Parliament now. It just happens, Higgin- 
 botham, that this morning, while you were chasing and 
 ballyragging that unfortunate little Mary Kate round 
 and round the island for the sake of a bit of sugar 
 candy, I was having a quiet chat with Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat. It just shows me the kind of fellow 
 you are. You don't hesitate to come here bothering the 
 Major and me with your wretched little grievances while 
 I've been doing you a good turn in a really important 
 matter." 
 
 "What?" said Higginbotham. 
 
 " I've a very good mind not to tell you after the way 
 you've behaved. But I'll just say this much. You want 
 old Thomas OTlaherty Pat's house and bit of land, don't 
 you? Very well, you go up there to-morrow at half- 
 past eight and talk to him about it." 
 
 " Have you persuaded him to give it tip ? " 
 
 " I won't say another word. Just go up and see for 
 yourself." 
 
 " I'm awfully obliged to you, Meldon ; I really am. 
 I'm sorry for bothering you about the sugar candy. 
 I wouldn't have mentioned the matter to you 
 only " 
 
 " All right," said Meldon graciously. " Don't trouble 
 to apologise. The Major and I don't mind a bit. 
 But I'll tell you what you can do now. I have to 
 go and call on the Members of Parliament. Will 
 you ?" 
 
 " There's no use doing that," said Higginbotham. " I 
 saw them going ashore in their punt as I came off to 
 you." 
 
96 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " All the same, 111 look them up," said Meldon. " I'm 
 sure to find them somewhere about on the island. What 
 I want you to do is to stay here and play chess with thei 
 Major till I get back." 
 
 He winked fiercely at Major Kent as he spoke. 
 
 " I know you play, Higginbotham, for you were a 
 member of the chess club in college. You'll enjoy hav- 
 ing a go at the Major. He's a perfect whale at the 
 Muzio gambit. Very few men know the ins and outs 
 of it as he does." 
 
 " I don't," said the Major sulkily ; " and anyway, there 
 isn't a chessboard on the yacht." 
 
 Meldon winked again, this time with fervent appeal. 
 
 " It's all right about the board," he said. " I saw one 
 in Higginbotham's house last night. I'll go ashore in 
 your curragh, Higginbotham, and send it off to you. 
 Goodbye. Oh! Before I go, Major, you might as well 
 give me another sixpence in case I meet Mary Kate again. 
 You may as well give it to me as be losing it to Higgin- 
 botham, making bets as to how one of your gambits will 
 turn out." 
 
 There was no one on the little pier when Meldon 
 reached it. He supposed, quite rightly, that those of 
 the inhabitants of the island who were interested in 
 strangers had gone after the M.P.'s. It seemed likely 
 that Mary Kate had followed them. She was a child 
 of inquisitive mind. He walked up to Higginbotham's 
 house, obtained the chessboard, and sent it off in the 
 curragh to the yacht. Then he made his way to the 
 nearest cottage, knocked at the door, and entered. A 
 young woman, bare-armed, with a thick stick in her hands, 
 was pounding a mass of potatoes and turnips in a large 
 tub. 
 
 
SPANISH GOLD 97 
 
 " Good-evening to you," said Meldon cheerfully. 
 " Getting the food ready for the pigs ? That's right. 
 Feed your pigs well. There's nothing like it. Here, give 
 me a turn at that stick. You look as if you were getting 
 hot." 
 
 " It isn't the like of this work that you'd be used to," 
 said the woman smiling. 
 
 " Oh, but I can do it," said Meldon, taking the stick 
 from her. He pounded vigorously at the unsavoury mess 
 for a while. Then he said, " Are you the woman of the 
 house?" 
 
 " I am, your honour." 
 
 "Well, then, where's Mary Kate this afternoon?" 
 
 " Is it Michael O'Flaherty Tom's Mary Kate you'll bs 
 wanting ? " 
 
 " How many more Mary Kates are there ? " 
 
 " There's ne'er another in it only herself." 
 
 "Well, then, it's her I want. Where have you 
 her?" 
 
 " She's no child of mine," said the woman. " I 
 haven't but the one, and he's beyond there in the cradle. 
 If she was letting on to your honour that she belonged 
 to me she was just deceiving you. Faith, and it's not 
 the only time the same little lady was at them sort of 
 tricks. I hear that herself and the rest of the children 
 had the life fair bothered out of the gentleman that does 
 be measuring out the land, about sugar candy or some 
 such talk." 
 
 " I wouldn't wonder at her," said Meldon ; " but where 
 would she be now, do you think ? " 
 
 " She might be off chasing home the brown cow and 
 the little heifer for her da." 
 
 " And where would the brown cow be ? " 
 
98 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Faith, that same cow is mighty fond of roaming 
 where she's no call to go." 
 
 The woman stepped outside her cottage door and 
 peered up and down. " Come here now, your honour, 
 and leave off mashing them turnips. If that isn't her- 
 self with the brown cow in front of her and the little 
 heifer beyond there over by the wall, it's mighty like 
 her." 
 
 " I'm much obliged to you," said Meldon. " Good- 
 evening." 
 
 He crossed two stone walls, waded through a boggy 
 field, and came within hail of the child who drove the 
 cattle. 
 
 " Mary Kate ! " he shouted. " Hullo there, Mary Kate 
 O'Flaherty!" 
 
 She turned and looked at him in wonder. Then, recog- 
 nising the giver of the sixpence in the morning, grinned 
 shyly. 
 
 " Mary Kate," shouted Meldon again, " will you come 
 over here and speak to me ? Leave those cows alone and 
 come here. Do you think I've nothing to do only to be 
 running about the island chasing little girleens like your- 
 self?" 
 
 But Mary Kate had no intention of leaving the cow 
 and the heifer. With a devotion to the pure instinct 
 of duty which would have excited the admiration of any 
 Englishman and a Casabianca-like determination to abide 
 by her father's word, she began driving the cattle towards 
 Meldon. Four fields, one of them boggy, and five loose 
 stone walls lay between her and the curate. There were 
 no gates. Such obstacles might have daunted an older 
 head. They didn't trouble Kate in the least. Reach- 
 ing the first wall she deliberately toppled stone 
 
SPANISH GOLD 99 
 
 after stone off it until she had made a practicable 
 gap. 
 
 The cow and the heifer, understanding what was 
 expected of them, stalked into the field beyond, pick- 
 ing their steps with an ease which told of long prac- 
 tice, among the scattered debris of the broken wall. 
 Meldon, with a courteous desire to save the child 
 extra trouble, crossed the wall nearest him. Mary 
 Kate dealt with a second obstacle as she had with 
 the first and reached the boggy field. The cattle, 
 encouraged by her shouts, floundered through, draw- 
 ing their hoofs out of the deep mud with evident 
 exertion. Mary Kate, light as she was, sank to her 
 ankles in places and splashed the calves of her legs 
 with slime. Meldon, who wore boots and had to be 
 careful where he walked, waited for her on dry 
 ground. 
 
 " Well, Mary Kate," he said. " Here you are at last. 
 A nice chase I had after you. Tell me this now, did 
 you see the two strange gentlemen that came off the 
 other boat?" 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " Did either of them give you a sixpence the same as 
 I did this morning ? " 
 
 " They did not." 
 
 " Didn't they now ? I'd hardly call them gentlemen at 
 all then, would you ? " 
 
 Mary Kate grinned. Her first shyness was disappear- 
 ing. She began to find Meldon a companionable per- 
 son. 
 
 "Where did they go when they came ashore? Was 
 it up to the iron house of the gentleman that does be 
 measuring out the land ? " 
 
ioo SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Meldon had gathered from the woman whom he had 
 interviewed on his way that this was the proper descrip- 
 tion of Higginbotham. 
 
 Mary Kate understood him at once. 
 
 " They did not then." 
 
 "Well, and if they didn't go there, where did they 
 go?" 
 
 " Back west." 
 
 " Do you mean up the hill there to the place where 
 the cliffs are?" 
 
 Mary Kate grinned assent. She was a child who 
 set a proper value on words and used as few as 
 possible in conversation. Meldon wondered why the 
 Members of Parliament had gone straight past the hu- 
 man habitations and the works of Higginbotham, which 
 might be supposed to interest them, to the desolate re- 
 gion where only very active sheep grazed. He decided 
 that they must have gone to look at the view, and he 
 thought less of them. The tourist the mere unmiti- 
 gated tourist with no political or social objects before 
 his mind, goes to look at views. No one else certainly 
 no proper, serious-minded Member of Parliament would 
 waste his time over a view. 
 
 " Mary Kate," he began again after a pause. 
 "You're Michael O'Flaherty Tom's Mary Kate, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 " I might then." 
 
 " What's the good of saying you might when you know 
 you are? You can't get over me with that sort of talk. 
 Do you see that ? " 
 
 He held up between his finger and thumb Major Kent's 
 second sixpence. 
 
 Mary Kate grinned. 
 
SPANISH GOLD ui 
 
 " Well, take a good look at it. Now, tell me this, Is 
 Thomas O'Flaherty Pat your grandfather ? " 
 
 " Is it me grandda you mean ? " 
 
 " It is. Is Thomas O'Flaherty Pat your grandda ? " 
 
 " He might," said Mary Kate. 
 
 " Well, go you up to him wherever he is and tell 
 him this : that the gentleman who does be measuring 
 out the land wants to see him to-morrow morning 
 at half -past eight o'clock. Do you understand me 
 now?" 
 
 " I do surely." 
 
 " Well, what are you to tell him? " 
 
 " I'm to tell him that the gentleman from the Board 
 who does be measuring out the land wants to take the 
 house off him." 
 
 " Well," said Meldon, " you can put it that way if you 
 like. And mind this, Mary Kate are you listening to 
 me now? mind this, if your grandda isn't there at half- 
 past eight o'clock the house will be took off him whether 
 he likes it or not. But if he's there, maybe it won't. Do 
 you understand that ? " 
 
 " I do." 
 
 " Well, now, there's one thing more. You're a mighty 
 clever little girl, Mary Kate. I suppose now you can 
 speak the Irish just as well as you can the English. Well, 
 then, you be up at your grandda's house at the same time 
 to-morrow, so as you'll be able to tell him what the gen- 
 tleman says to him and tell the gentleman what he wants 
 to say." 
 
 " Sure, there's no need." 
 
 " I know there's no need just as well as you do. But 
 you're to be there all the same. Will you promise me 
 now that you'll go ? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I do be in dread of the gentleman," said Mary Kate 
 doubtfully. 
 
 "And well you may after plaguing the life out of 
 him all day for barley sugar. Oh, I heard about your 
 goings on. But don't you be afraid. That'll be all 
 right." 
 
 " Will he be for beating me? " 
 
 " He will not. I made it all right with him, and he 
 won't raise a hand to you, so you needn't be afraid. 
 Just you face up to him and tell him what your 
 grandda says about the house. Now, here's the other 
 sixpence for you. Be a good girl and mind what I said, 
 and maybe you'll get another sixpence yet." 
 
 Meldon left the child and strolled down to the pier. 
 He was gratified to see the two strangers in their punt 
 rowing off to the Aureole. Their taste for scenery was, 
 evidently satisfied. He paddled out to the Spindrift very 
 well satisfied with himself. He found Major Kent 
 and Higginbotham sitting over the chessboard in the 
 cabin. The Major had just been checkmated for the 
 fourth time and was in a very bad temper. Higgin- 
 botham had taken quite the wrong way of soothing him. 
 There is nothing more irritating than to have the mis- 
 takes of the past brought up and explained, all their 
 foolishness exposed. Higginbotham, with that curious 
 memory which only chess-players possess, had in- 
 sisted on going over each of the four games he had 
 won and showing to the Major where the weakness of 
 his moves lay. Meldon interrupted the fourth demon- 
 stration. 
 
 " Wake up, you two," he cried as he entered the 
 cabin, " and let's get tea. I'm as hungry as if I hadn't 
 touched food to-day. I'll tell you what it is, Higgin- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 103 
 
 botham; I wouldn't like to be an inhabitant of this 
 island of yours when there's a famine on. I never came 
 across such a place in my life for raising an appetite on 
 a man. You ought to get your Board to run it as a 
 health resort for dyspeptic people who can't or won't 
 eat." 
 
 " Dyspeptic people," said the Major sullenly, " are the 
 ones who eat too much." 
 
 " Oh ! well, you know the kind of people I mean. 
 I may have got the name wrong. I'm not a boss at 
 scientific names and I never said I was. I leave that 
 to you and Higginbotham. You like talking about 
 pliocene clay and such things. Hullo! Where are you 
 going?" 
 
 The Major had risen from his seat and was making 
 for the galley. He disliked the mention of pliocene 
 clay. It seemed to him that it might lead to inquiries 
 from Higginbotham about the geological survey of the 
 island. 
 
 " I'm going to light the stove," he said. 
 
 " Oh, I'll do that," said Meldon. " I know you hate 
 messing about with coal and paraffin oil. It dirties your 
 hands. You and Higginbotham spread the cloth and get 
 out the cups and things." 
 
 " I'm afraid I can't stay for tea," said Higginbotham. 
 " I've got a lot of writing to do." 
 
 " Nonsense," said Meldon hospitably. " You can't 
 really want to write. No posts go out from this 
 island." 
 
 " No, they don't. But I'm expecting some members 
 of our Board round before the end of the month, and I 
 like to have a report of my work written up. I didn't 
 realise that it was so late till you came on board." 
 
SPANISH GOLD; 
 
 "Very well, Higginbotham, we won't interfere witK 
 your work. The Major and I both know what official 
 work is. We're sorry to lose your company, but of 
 course we quite understand. Major, if you put Higgin- 
 botham ashore in the punt, I'll light the stove. Good- 
 bye, old fellow. Mind you don't forget to be up at old 
 O'Flaherty's to-morrow at 8.30. It's most important. 
 Are you ready, Major?" 
 
 Major Kent was already busy at the stove and 
 refused to leave it. It was Meldon who took Higgin- 
 botham to the pier. When he returned the stove was 
 lit, the kettle on it, and Major Kent was waiting for 
 him. 
 
 " J. J.," said he, " I'll stand no more of this. If you 
 want to entertain Higginbotham you must do it your- 
 self. You know I'm no good at chess. What do you 
 mean by dumping a man like that down on me for the 
 afternoon ? " 
 
 " I thought you'd like a game," said Meldon. 
 
 "You thought nothing of the sort. You knew I 
 was no match for a fellow who has won championship 
 cups and things. He talked to me about the Sicilian 
 defence. What do I know about the Sicilian de- 
 fences?" 
 
 " If he hadn't had Sicilian defences to talk about he'd 
 have talked about geology, and that would have been a 
 great deal more unpleasant for you." 
 
 " I don't see why he need have been kept here to talk 
 at all." 
 
 " My dear Major, aren't you a little unreasonable? I 
 had to keep Higginbotham occupied in some way. I had 
 to keep him off the island. Don't you see that if he 
 landed he'd have been almost certain to knock up against 
 
SPANISH GOLD 105 
 
 one or other of those Members of Parliament? Then 
 he'd have let the whole thing out geological survey, 
 school, and all. You wouldn't have liked that. You 
 told me yourself you wouldn't like it." 
 
 " He'll see them to-morrow any way. It'll be all the 
 same in the end." 
 
 " He may not see them to-morrow. They may be 
 gone out of this. You don't realise, Major, what a 
 restless animal the modern Member of Parliament is. 
 He never stops long in one place. He can't, you know. 
 The British Empire has grown so enormously of late 
 that the Members of Parliament simply have to dart 
 round to get a look at it at all. Besides, even if Higgin- 
 botham does see them it won't matter. I have everything 
 fixed up for to-morrow. By the evening we'll have our 
 hands on the treasure and be in a position to laugh at 
 the whole Government. Ah! there's the kettle boil- 
 ing." 
 
 A few minutes later Meldon entered the cabin with 
 the teapot in his hand. 
 
 " I was just going to tell you," he said, " when the 
 kettle boiled and interrupted me, that I've made it all 
 right about old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. He won't track 
 us to-morrow." 
 
 " What did you do? " said the Major a little anxiously. 
 " Did you disguise yourself again ? " 
 
 "I .did not then," said Meldon, "but I don't deny 
 that I more or less disguised Mary Kate's grandda, and 
 for the matter of that, Mary Kate herself and Higgin- 
 botham. I resorted to what you military men call a 
 stratagem." 
 
 "What did you do?" 
 
 " .Well, maybe as you've been a magistrate since you've 
 
io6 SPANISH GOLDS 
 
 given up the army, you'll understand me better if I say 
 that I established an alibi." 
 
 " I wish you'd talk sense, not that I care what you did. 
 I'm past caring." 
 
 " An alibi," said Meldon, " is what they call it when 
 a man is in another place from where the prosecuting 
 counsel wants him to be. Nqw I don't want old 
 O'Flaherty down on the pier to-morrow morning when 
 we land. I don't want Higginbotham either. For the 
 matter of that I don't particularly care about seeing Mary 
 Kate there. So I've settled things in such a way that 
 they'll all three of them be somewhere else between half- 
 past eight and half -past nine to-morrow morning. That's 
 the alibi. See?" 
 
 " I do not." 
 
 " Well, I can't help your not seeing. The facts are 
 just the same as if you did. We want to get off to that 
 hole to-morrow without being tracked by old T. O. P., 
 or talked at by Higginbotham. That's so, isn't it ? Very 
 well, we'll get off, unseen and unknown. That's what 
 comes of managing these things with some little intelli- 
 gence." 
 
 " What about the Members of Parliament, if they are 
 Members of Parliament ? " 
 
 " As I think I told you before," said Meldon, " they'll 
 probably be gone to-morrow morning. But even if 
 they're not, it won't matter. They went off this after- 
 noon up to the top of the mountain to look at the view. 
 Now fellows who go wandering about after scenery aren't 
 likely to interfere seriously with us. We needn't bother 
 about them." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 MELDON'S stratagem was entirely successful. 
 Not only did Higginbotham and old O'Flaherty 
 keep their engagement punctually, and Mary Kate go 
 to act as interpreter, but almost all the rest of the inhab- 
 itants of the island went to listen to the discussion. The 
 pier and the fields through which it was necessary to 
 pass in order to reach the path down the cliff were 
 entirely deserted. Meldon carried a bathing towel 
 slung round his neck. The Major had a basket 
 with some luncheon in it. After landing they took a 
 look at the Aureole. The two strangers were busy on 
 deck. 
 
 " What on earth are they doing? " said the Major. 
 
 " It looks to me uncommonly like as if they were 
 trying to pull the halyard clear of the block at the 
 throat," said Meldon. " If they do they may reeve 
 it again themselves. I'm not going over to help 
 them." 
 
 " But what can they want to do that for? " 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know. Maybe they've got a new 
 one on board. The old one's pretty bad. I shouldn't 
 wonder if they wanted to get rid of it. But anyhow 
 it's no business of ours. Come along." 
 
 " I wish very much," said the Major an hour later, 
 
 107 
 
io8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 when they were scrambling among the rocks below the 
 cliff, "that there was some nearer way to this beastly 
 treasure-hole of yours." 
 
 " Well, there isn't ; not unless you like to let your- 
 self down off the top of the cliff where the old boy 
 was sitting yesterday, or off the other one on the north 
 side of the bay. I think it dropped more sheer. By 
 the way, that mightn't be a bad idea for getting the 
 treasure up. You could stand on the top and let down 
 a bag to me. I'd fill it with doubloons and then you'd 
 haul up. See? It would be a great deal easier than 
 carrying the stuff all round here and up the path. 
 We'd run it down the hill to the pier in half an 
 hour." 
 
 " It would be easier," said the Major. " But it will 
 be time enough to arrange about that when you've got 
 the gold." 
 
 They reached the shelf of rock outside the cave at 
 last. 
 
 " It's a pity you can't swim," said Meldon. " You look 
 hot enough to enjoy the cold water this minute." 
 
 Meldon himself stripped, stood for a minute on the 
 edge of the rock stretching himself in the warm air. 
 Then he plunged into the water. He lay on his back, 
 rolled over, splashed his feet and hands, dived as a 
 porpoise does. Then, after a farewell to the Major, he 
 struck out along the channel. In a few minutes he 
 felt bottom with his feet and stood upright. He heard 
 the Major shout something, but the echo of the cliffs 
 around him prevented his catching the words. He 
 swam again towards the shore. The Major continued 
 to shout. 'Meldon stopped swimming, stood waist- 
 deep in the water, and looked round. The Major 
 
SPANISH GOLD 109 
 
 pointed with his hand to the cliff at the end of the 
 channel. Meldon looked up. A man with a rope 
 round him was rapidly descending. Meldon gazed 
 at him in astonishment. He was not one of the 
 islanders. He was dressed in well-fitting, dark-blue 
 clothes, wore rubber-soled canvas shoes and a neat 
 yachting cap. He reached the beach safely and faced 
 Meldon. For a short time both men stood without 
 speaking. The Major's shouts ceased. Then the 
 stranger said 
 
 " Who the devil are you? " 
 
 " I am the Rev. Joseph John Meldon, B.A., T.C.D., 
 Curate of Ballymoy. Who are you and what are you 
 doing here ? " 
 
 " Damn it ! " said the stranger. 
 
 " I wish," said Meldon, " that you wouldn't swear. 
 It's bad form." 
 
 " Damn it ! " said the stranger again with considerable 
 emphasis. 
 
 " I've mentioned to you that I'm a parson. You must 
 recognise that it's particularly bad form to swear when 
 you're talking to me. You ought to remember my 
 cloth." 
 
 The stranger grinned. 
 
 " There's devilish little cloth about you to remem- 
 ber this minute," he said. " I never saw a man witK 
 less. But any way, I don't care a tinker's curse for 
 your cloth or your religion either. I'll swear if I 
 like." 
 
 " You don't quite catch my point," said Meldon. " I 
 don't mind if you swear yourself blue in the face ori 
 ordinary occasions. But if you're a gentleman and you 
 look as if you wanted to be taken for one you'll recog-i 
 
no SPANISH GOLD 
 
 nise that it's bad form to swear when you're talking to 
 me. Being a parson, I can't swear back at you, and so 
 you get an unfair advantage in any conversation there 
 may be between us the kind of advantage no gentleman 
 would care to take." 
 
 "Well, I'm hanged!" 
 
 " Think over what I've said. I'm sure you'll come 
 to see that there's something in it. By the way, I seem 
 to recognise the rope you've got round you. If I'm not 
 greatly mistaken, it's the throat halyard of my boat. I 
 know it by the splice I put in where I cut away a bit 
 that was badly worn. It's a remarkably neat splice. 
 Now, if you don't mind my saying so, you're a fool to 
 go swinging over a cliff at the end of that rope. It's 
 rotten." 
 
 " Like everything else in your damned I mean to 
 say your infernal old boat. You may be a parson, but 
 I call you a common swindler if you're the man who 
 hired that boat to my friend Langton." 
 
 " Are you a Liberal or a Conservative ? " asked Mel- 
 don in a cheerful, conversational tone. 
 
 " What the devil I mean, what on earth has that got 
 to do with you ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing, of course. Only as you're a Member 
 of Parliament I naturally thought you'd like to talk poli- 
 tics, and it would be easier for me if I knew to start with 
 which side you were on." 
 
 " I'm not a Member of Parliament." 
 
 " Well, I suppose Mr. Langton is. It's all the same 
 thing. I might have guessed he was something of the 
 sort when I saw him in that fur coat. Is he a Liberal 
 or a Conservative?" 
 
 " Are you an escaped lunatic? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD in 
 
 " Don't lose your temper," said Meldon. " If he isn't 
 a Member of Parliament, say so, calmly and quietly. 
 There's nothing, so far as I know, insulting about the 
 suggestion that you and he are Members of Parlia- 
 ment. Lots of fellows are quite keen on getting into 
 Parliament and spend piles of money on it. I think my- 
 self that it's rather a futile line of life. But then I'm 
 not naturally fond of listening to other fellows' speeches. 
 It's all a question of taste. Some people like that kind 
 of thing well enough. I don't blame them. There's 
 nothing to be ashamed of in writing M.P. after your 
 name. There's certainly nothing to get angry about 
 in my supposing that you do. But if you like, we'll 
 drop the subject. What did you say your name is. 
 Mine, I think I told you. It's Meldon Joseph John 
 Meldon, B.A." 
 
 " And what are you doing here, Mr. Joseph John 
 Meldon?" 
 
 " Bathing. What are you doing ? " 
 
 " I'm bird's-nesting." ' 
 
 "Ah!" said Meldon. "Now I was very keen on 
 bird's-nesting myself when I was a boy. I remember 
 one time going off to an island in the lake near my 
 old home, swimming, you know, and coming back 
 with four waterhen's eggs in my mouth. One broke 
 on the way and it happened to be a bit you know 
 what I mean a bit high. I sometimes think I can taste * 
 it still. I couldn't spit it out on account of the other 
 three " 
 
 " How long do you mean to stand there talking? " 
 
 " I'm in no hurry," said Meldon. " It's early yet, and 
 it isn't every day I get the chance of talking to a Mem- 
 ber of Parliament." 
 
112 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I've told you once already that I'm not a Member 
 of Parliament." 
 
 " Come now, I can understand modesty, and I can 
 understand a man's adopting a disguise. I've done that 
 myself before now. But it's a bit too thick when it 
 comes to trying to persuade me that you're not a Mem- 
 ber of Parliament. Is there any kind of man except 
 an inquiring English M.P. who'd come off to Inishgow- 
 lan in a five-tonner and swing off the face of a cliff on 
 a rotten rope? What would anybody else do it for? 
 iTell me that. Where would be the sense in it? You 
 tell Higginbotham you're not a Member of Parliament 
 if you like, and he'll maybe believe you, though I doubt 
 if even Higginbotham would. Or try it on with Major 
 Kent. He's an innocent sort of man. But there's no 
 good talking that way to me. If you're not a Member of 
 Parliament, what are you ? " 
 
 " Perhaps you'll believe me and clear out of this if 
 I tell you that my name's Buckley, Sir Giles Buckley, 
 and that I haven't been in this cursed country, or 
 England either, for the last ten years until a week 
 ago." 
 
 A sudden light flashed on Meldon's mind. Old Sir 
 Giles Buckley, the grandfather of the man in front of 
 him, had known about the Spanish treasure. He had 
 heard the story, just as Captain Kent had, from Lady 
 Buckley. No doubt he, too, had written it down in 
 some diary, or had left notes of his expedition in 
 search of the treasure. This man this disreputable, 
 disinherited son of the last Sir Giles had of necessity 
 been heir to Ballymoy House and the papers it con- 
 tained. The situation became clear to Meldon. Here 
 was a rival treasure-seeker, a man evidently possessed 
 
SPANISH GOLD 113 
 
 of information superior to that of Major Kent's grand- 
 father, for he came straight to the very spot which Mel- 
 don had taken much pains to discover. 
 
 " I'm delighted to meet you," said Meldon. " Your 
 father was always a liberal subscriber to the funds of 
 the church in our parish. I hope you mean to keep 
 up his subscription. The rector has been worried a 
 lot over the loss of what your father used to give. It's 
 most fortunate my meeting you in this way. I'll 
 explain the situation to you in a moment. When 
 the Church of Ireland ceased to be established by 
 law Gladstone, you know, I think it was in 
 !86g " 
 
 " I'm not going to subscribe one penny to your church," 
 said Sir Giles. " I haven't any money, and if I had I 
 wouldn't give a solitary shilling towards paying a fellow 
 like you." 
 
 " Well, anyhow it can do you no harm to understand 
 how we're situated. Under the Act of Disestablishment 
 Jhe existing clergy " 
 
 " Damn it ! " said Sir Giles. 
 
 Then he pulled vigorously at the rope which was still 
 round his armpits and shouted, " Langton, Langton, haul 
 up, will you ? Have you gone to sleep ? Haul up, I tell 
 you. Not too quick. Do you want to knock my brains 
 out?" 
 
 He swung slowly up, clinging with both hands to 
 the rope above his head and pushing himself off the 
 face of the cliff with his feet. Meldon, with a broad 
 grin on his face, watched him reach the top and then 
 turned and swam back to the rock where the Major 
 waited. 
 
 " I say, Major," he gasped, " those fellows aren't Mem- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 bers of Parliament after all, and the treasure is certainly 
 in that hole." 
 
 " I could see you standing up to your middle in water 
 talking to a man. I couldn't hear a word you said, of 
 course. Who is he ? " 
 
 "He's Sir Giles Buckley, and that's why I say the! 
 treasure is certainly in that hole." 
 
 " I don't," said the Major, " precisely see how the one 
 thing follows from the other." 
 
 Meldon climbed out of the water and began to rub 
 himself briskly with his towel. 
 
 " You wouldn't," he said, " but it does follow. Noth- 
 ing could follow more plainly. It's like a beastly syllo- 
 gism. Here's a man two men, in fact who have no 
 earthly business in Inishgowlan. It's impossible even to 
 invent a motive for their coming here now that we 
 know that they're not Members of Parliament. Very 
 well. They're here all the same, and one of them risks 
 his life on a rotten rope to get down the face of a cliff 
 to a certain hole at the bottom of it. What would he do 
 that for?" 
 
 Meldon paused. 
 
 " I don't quite see yet," said the Major, " how you 
 prove that there is treasure in that hole." 
 
 " Very well, I'll start at the thing from the other di- 
 rection. Hitherto I've been proceeding on what's called 
 the inductive method of reasoning. Bacon, you know, 
 was the man who invented that. Now I'll try deduction. 
 Who else besides ourselves knows about that treas- 
 ure?" 
 
 " We don't know. At least I don't. You're trying to 
 prove the treasure to me at present by some method or 
 other." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 115 
 
 " Major, at times you'd make a saint go near 
 swearing. Have I got to go through the whole story 
 of the wreck of that Spanish galleon again? If you 
 don't trust me you might at least believe your own 
 grandfather. He said the treasure was here. Now, 
 who else knew about it? Old Sir Giles Buckley did. 
 Now, assume that he wrote down what he knew, just 
 as your grandfather did. There's nothing more likely. 
 His son never reads the paper any more than your 
 father did. But you read your grandfather's diary 
 after the death of the late Sir Giles. You follow me so 
 far?" 
 
 " I follow you all right, but why don't you put on your 
 clothes? I'd have thought you'd have had enough of 
 standing about in your skin for one day." 
 
 " I'm not going to dress yet," said Meldon. " I may 
 have to swim down the channel again at any moment. 
 Suppose Sir Giles takes it into his head to drop over 
 the cliff the minute he thinks that my back is turned. 
 I can't afford to let him nip into the hole by himself." 
 
 " Do you mean to stand there stark naked day and 
 night until Sir Giles chooses to leave the island? " 
 
 " No, I don't. In another hour the tide will have risen, 
 so that nobody can get into the hole. The mouth of it 
 will be covered and the whole thing full of water inside. 
 Hullo! There's Sir Giles and Langton with him sitting 
 on the cliff opposite us just where old T. O. P. sat yester- 
 day. They're watching us. Very well, let them watch. 
 I'll dress." 
 
 " You may as well for all the good you're likely to 
 get out of that hole." 
 
 " Just you wait," said Meldon, " till I get into my shirt 
 and trousers and I'll explain to you." 
 
Ii6 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "Now, where was I? Oh, yes! Sir Giles Buckley 
 "dies. His son, that playboy sitting on the cliff opposite, 
 gets next to nothing out of the property, but he collars 
 some family papers. He reads them. He sees, just as 
 I saw, just as any man with a glimmer of intelligence 
 would see, that he's got a soft thing in this treasure. 
 He doesn't care about being recognised in Ballymoy, 
 where he very likely owes money, so he sends a friend 
 to hire a boat for him. He gets my boat and off he 
 comes." 
 
 " I don't see that you've proved anything," said the 
 Major, " except that there's one other ass in the world 
 as giddy as yourself." 
 
 "Unpack the luncheon," said Meldon. "Your tem- 
 per will improve while you eat. There's just one thing 
 left which puzzles me." 
 
 " I shouldn't have supposed that there was anything 
 in the world that could puzzle you." 
 
 "Well, there aren't many things," said Meldon 
 frankly. " In fact, I've not yet come across anything 
 which regularly defeated me when I gave my mind to 
 it, but I don't mind owning up that just for the 
 moment I'm bothered over one point in this business. 
 How did Buckley know about the hole in the cliff? 
 How did he locate the exact spot where the treasure 
 lies? He does know, for he walked straight up to it 
 without hesitation. The minute he landed yesterday 
 he went up to the top of that cliff. I thought that he 
 was just a simple Member of Parliament looking for a 
 view, but I was wrong. He was prospecting about for 
 the best way of getting at that hole. Now, how did he 
 know ? We only arrived at it by a process of exhaustive 
 reasoning based on a careful examination of the locality. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 117 
 
 He walks straight up to it as if he'd known all along 
 exactly where to go." 
 
 " Perhaps he reasoned it out before he started." 
 
 " He couldn't. No man on earth could. I couldn't 
 have done it by myself. It wasn't till I got to the spot 
 that I was able to reconstruct the shipwreck and track 
 the working of the Spanish captain's mind. That dis- 
 poses of your first suggestion. Got another?" 
 
 " Perhaps his grandfather knew the spot and made a 
 note of it." 
 
 " Won't wash either. We know that his grandfather 
 couldn't find the treasure any more than yours could. 
 If he'd known about that hole in the cliff he would have 
 found the treasure." 
 
 " Always supposing it's there," said the Major. 
 
 Meldon glared at him. 
 
 " If it's there ! Major, you're the Apostle Thomas 
 and the Jew Apella and the modern scientific man rolled 
 into one for invincible scepticism. Is it possible to con- 
 vince you of anything? Tell me that." 
 
 For a time they ate in silence. Now and then 
 Meldon glanced at the cliff opposite to assure himself 
 that Sir Giles and Langton were still there. At last he 
 said 
 
 " It appears to me that Langton must be mixed up 
 in the business somehow. Why did Sir Giles bring 
 him? He isn't any good at sailing the boat. He 
 doesn't look as if he'd be much good for anything. De- 
 pend upon it, he must have given the tip about the hole, 
 but how he comes to be in the know I don't precisely 
 see. However, one thing is pretty clear. We've got to 
 keep a very sharp eye on those two gentlemen oppo- 
 site." 
 
ii8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Unless you mean to sit here day and night," said the 
 Major, " I don't see how you're going to do it." 
 
 " I told you before that you can only get into that 
 hole from about three-quarters low water to a quarter 
 flood. Buckley knows that too, for he's seen the place. 
 He won't come here at high tide nor yet at half tide. 
 What we've got to do is to watch him at the other times. 
 That gives us a chance to eat and sleep." 
 
 " I expect he'll watch you, too. That is to say, if he's 
 really after the treasure." 
 
 " Let him. I'll back myself to get the better of any 
 man living at a game of hide-and-seek. Don't you worry 
 yourself about his watching us, Major. I'll arrange a 
 plan for circumventing him. Look at the way I've did- 
 dled Higginbotham and old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat and 
 Mary Kate. What's to stop me dealing with Buckley 
 on similar lines ? " 
 
 Half an hour later, having finished their luncheon and 
 smoked their pipes, Major Kent and Meldon started to 
 scramble back. The tide had risen sufficiently to pre- 
 vent any one not an experienced diver from getting into 
 the hole. As they neared the pier they saw Sir Giles 
 Buckley and his friend Langton rowing off to the Aureole 
 in their punt. 
 
 " That's all right," said Meldon. " Now we can take 
 it easy and think things over till to-morrow morning. 
 They won't attempt to get down that cliff in the dark. 
 Hullo! Here's Higginbotham coming out of his tin 
 wigwam to meet us. Do you know, I think Higgin- 
 botham is becoming rather a nuisance. I'm beginning 
 to feel that I could get on nicely without Higginbotham. 
 I wonder if we could get rid of him off the island any- 
 how?" 
 
SPANISH GOLD 119 
 
 " Unless you cut his throat and sink the body," said 
 the Major, " I don't see how you can." 
 
 " I'd be sorry to do that. I've rather a liking for 
 Higginbotham, though he is a bit of an ass. He used 
 to come out with me sometimes of a Sunday afternoon 
 when I was going to see my little girl in Rathmines. 
 He used to talk to the mother on those occasions and 
 I've always had a feeling of gratitude to him ever 
 since. No ; Higginbotham's a nuisance, but I wouldn't 
 wish him any bodily harm. I won't agree to your 
 cutting his throat, Major, so drop the idea. Besides, 
 you never can tell but he might come in useful to us 
 in some way. He's done us no harm so far, thanks to 
 the way I've managed him. Hullo, Higginbotham ! 
 How did you get on with the old boy about the house 
 this morning?" 
 
 " That's what I wanted to talk to you about," said 
 Higginbotham. " There was some sort of misunder- 
 standing." 
 
 " Do you tell me that ? Well now, I'm greatly sur- 
 prised. I thought I'd left everything coiled down clear 
 for running so that there couldn't have been a hitch. 
 Tell me now, Higginbotham, you didn't try to revenge 
 yourself in any way on Mary Kate, did you ? " 
 
 " Mary Kate ! Oh, is she the little girl who came about 
 the sugar candy ? " 
 
 " Don't hark back to that sugar candy. I've told you 
 before, Higginbotham, that the Major and I aren't going 
 into that sugar-candy row either on one side or the other. 
 We're dead-sick of the whole subject. You've gone and 
 botched a perfectly simple business with dear old Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat. I don't know what you've done ex- 
 actly, but I strongly suspect that you've made yourself 
 
120 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 offensive in some way about Mary Kate. Why can't you 
 leave that child alone ? " 
 
 " I didn't do anything to her," said Higginbotham. 
 "I didn't even remember that she was the same child. 
 But what between nobody except the old man being able 
 to speak Irish and him not being able to speak anything 
 else " 
 
 " Now, that's all nonsense," said Meldon, " and you 
 know it. Mary Kate speaks both languages fluently. 
 I'm here acting for the National Board of Education, 
 as I told you before, and I've made it my business to 
 find out what Mary Kate knows and what she doesn't. 
 You can't have taken the child the right way. I expect 
 you've been trying to come the Government official 
 over her, and it won't do. No child would stand 
 it, especially a high-spirited little creature like Mary 
 Kate. You ought to cultivate a more ingratiating man- 
 ner. You mean well, I know ; but good intentions aren't 
 everything." 
 
 " The fact is " said Higginbotham. 
 
 " Look here. I had a long talk this morning with Sir 
 Giles Buckley. You know Sir Giles ? " 
 
 "No, I don't. Who is he?" 
 
 " He's something in the Castle. I forget this moment 
 what his particular tack is, but I know he's an important 
 man. Major, do you recollect what Sir Giles is? Does 
 he run the Crimes' Acts, or is he the man who bosses 
 the Royal Commissions ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I never " 
 
 " Oh, well, never mind. I think he specialises, so 
 to speak, in Royal Commissions; but it doesn't really 
 matter much. If you read the newspapers you'll be 
 familiar with his name. He happens to be going 
 
SPANISH GOLD 121 
 
 round Ireland at present with Langton, his private secre- 
 tary " 
 
 " Not Euseby Langton ? " said Higginbotham. 
 
 " Euseby Langton ! I don't know. I didn't ask his 
 Christian name. By the way, who is Euseby Langton? 
 I seem to recognise the name, but somehow I can't quite 
 fix the man." 
 
 " I don't think you knew him ; but I did very well. 
 He was in the library in College in our time some sort 
 of an assistant there. He got sacked. They always said 
 it was drink, but I don't know. He went abroad some- 
 where afterwards." 
 
 " I remember," said Meldon, " but this is a different 
 man couldn't possibly be the same, you know." 
 
 " Well," said Higginbotham, for Meldon had relapsed 
 into silence, " go on." 
 
 "Go on with what?" 
 
 " With what you were telling me about Sir Giles Buck- 
 ley." 
 
 " Oh ! Ah ! yes, Sir Giles, of course. Well, I put in 
 a good word for you. I explained that you were doing 
 the best you could with Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. He 
 seemed rather anxious about that business. I said I 
 expected it would pan out right enough in the end if 
 he gave you a free hand. He evidently had some no- 
 tion of stepping in to settle it himself. Now, what I 
 want to know is this: Would you like him to try his 
 hand at it, or would you rather he left you alone to work 
 it in your own way ? " 
 
 " Of course if Sir Giles it would be very kind of 
 him " 
 
 " Very well. I'll arrange that. You leave it to me, 
 Higginbotham, And for goodness' sake don't go talk- 
 
122 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 ing to Sir Giles about it yourself. You've no tact. You 
 know you haven't. You'd just put your foot into it again 
 the way you did with Mary Kate." 
 
 " I won't go near him till you tell me." 
 
 " That's right. Stick to that. I'll see him as soon as 
 I can and I'll let you know. Goodbye for the present, 
 old chap." 
 
 " Thanks awfully, Meldon. I'm really more obliged 
 to you than I can say. If ever I can do you a good turn 
 of any sort " 
 
 " Don't mention it. I'm only delighted to do what I 
 can to help you. Goodbye." 
 
 After dinner Major Kent and Meldon sat on the deck 
 of the Spindrift and smoked. On the deck of the Aureole 
 sat Sir Giles Buckley and Langton, who also smoked. 
 Neither party made any attempt to go on shore. The 
 Major tried two or three times to start a conversation 
 and was severely snubbed. Meldon declared that he 
 wanted time to think things over quietly. The situation 
 was obviously a difficult one, and frivolous talk on such 
 subjects as a slight fall of the barometer or the possibil- 
 ity of getting some fresh milk was quite out of place. 
 After finishing his pipe, the Major dropped off to sleep 
 in an uncomfortable position. At about half-past five; 
 Meldon woke him up. 
 
 " I think I've fixed that fellow Langton," he said. 
 
 The Major yawned. 
 
 " Have you ? " he said. " What have you done to 
 him?" 
 
 " I haven't done anything to him yet. What I mean 
 is that I've discovered where he comes in, how he hap- 
 pened to be in a position to gives Sir Giles the tip about 
 the hole under the cliff. You heard what Higginbotham 
 

 SPANISH GOLD 123 
 
 said about Euseby Langton. Well, I recollect that this 
 fellow signed the agreement I drew up about the 
 Aureole ' E. Langton/ He's evidently Higginbotham's 
 man." 
 
 " He might not be," said the Major. " ' E. Langton ' 
 might stand for Edward Langton or Edgar Langton or 
 Ethelbert Langton." 
 
 " It might stand for Ebenezer Ledbeater, but I'm 
 pretty sure it doesn't. It stands for Euseby Langton. 
 Euseby Langton got the sack for drink, and this fellow 
 looks as if he drank a lot, which also goes to show that 
 he's the same man." 
 
 " Well, suppose he is ? " 
 
 "The next point is where did Euseby Langton get 
 sacked from ? " 
 
 " I forget. I wasn't listening to Higginbotham." 
 
 "Well, luckily enough I was. Euseby Langton got 
 sacked from Trinity College Library. He had some 
 sort of job there poking about among catalogues and 
 things. Now you may not be aware, Major, of the fact 
 that Trinity College Library is the biggest in the world. 
 There are books in it that no man has ever read. 
 Nobody could. I couldn't myself, even if I gave my 
 whole time to nothing else. What's to hinder our 
 friend Langton from picking up the tip about the 
 place where the treasure is from some book in the 
 library?" 
 
 " There's no such book." 
 
 " I wouldn't be too sure of that. There are some 
 extraordinary books in that library books that aren't 
 in the college course anywhere that even the men who 
 go in for honours know nothing about. Besides, it 
 mightn't be a book exactly. It might be a manuscript 
 
SPANISH GOLD; 
 
 not a large illuminated missal of a thing stuck in 
 a glass case for every fool to stare at, but some quiet, 
 unobtrusive, rather tattered manuscript which had lain 
 for years, perhaps centuries, under a pile of other manu- 
 scripts. That's the sort of place the information would 
 be." 
 
 " I don't see how it could." 
 
 "It might, in fact, be the log of the Spanish cap- 
 tain himself. You know there's an organ in the big 
 examination hall that was taken out of a Spanish Armada 
 ship. Well, if they fetched a thing like an organ all 
 the way to the college, you may be pretty sure that 
 they fetched lots of manuscripts too. Once Euseby 
 Langton got a taste for hunting up old manuscripts he'd 
 be just as likely as not to hit upon the log of our cap- 
 tain." 
 
 " But you said he drank. Is it likely he had a taste 
 for manuscripts ? " 
 
 " He's almost sure to have had. Most probably it 
 was the manuscripts that drove him to drink. They 
 would, you know, unless he was exceptionally strong 
 minded, and Langton clearly wasn't that. Now sup- 
 pose " 
 
 " You can suppose any rigmarole you like." 
 
 " I explained to you before, Major, the nature of a 
 scientific supposition or hypothesis. It always strikes 
 the outsider at first as a rigmarole. I needn't go into 
 that again. What we have to deal with is fact hard 
 fact and to get some sort of reasonable explanation of 
 things as they are. It's quite evident that Sir Giles and 
 Langton know that the treasure is in the hole under that 
 cliff. It's also evident that Langton gave Sir Giles the: 
 tip. It follows that Langton must have found the thing 
 
SPANISH GOLD 125 
 
 out somewhere. I don't say for certain that he found 
 it in a manuscript in the college library. I only say that, 
 considering all the circumstances of the case, he's more 
 likely to have found it there than anywhere else. That 
 may not strike you as a very good hypothesis; but un- 
 less you have a better one to propose, it seems to me quite 
 good enough to go on with." 
 
 " All right, go on with it. But I don't see where you 
 expect to arrive/' 
 
 " I'll arrive, if you want to know, at a nice comfort- 
 able income and a good, well-furnished house, a place I 
 can take my little girl to with some sort of satisfaction. 
 That's where I'll arrive and I'm putting the treasure at 
 the lowest possible figure." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 MELDON was very little troubled by the prob- 
 lems and perplexities which pressed on him. 
 He turned into his bunk at nine o'clock and slept the 
 unbroken sleep of a just man until six the next morn- 
 ing. Then he got up and plunged overboard for 
 his morning dip. He swam in the direction of the 
 'Aureole and was rewarded by seeing Langton come 
 on deck in his pyjamas. A few minutes later Sir 
 Giles emerged, and the two stood in consultation watch- 
 ing the Spindrift. Meldon, having had as much of 
 the water as he cared for, climbed on board and 
 waved a greeting to the Aureole with his towel. He 
 noticed while he dressed that Sir Giles and Lang- 
 ton did not go below together. Either one or the other 
 of them remained on deck to watch the Spindrift. 
 Meldon roused the Major and then got breakfast ready. 
 The meal, in spite of the Major's opposition, was eaten 
 on deck. 
 
 " It's quite evident to me," said Meldon, " that those 
 fellows mean to watch us. They're pretty certain that 
 we're after the treasure, and they don't intend to let us 
 get round to the hole in the cliff without them." 
 
 Major Kent snorted contemptuously. He, too, had 
 slept well and had wakened in one of those moods of 
 
 126 
 
SPANISH GOLD 127 
 
 sound common sense which are strongest in men of 
 Anglo-Saxon temperament during the early part of the 
 day. The idea of treasure-seeking seemed to him more 
 than ever absurd as he sat in the morning sunshine 
 eating fried bacon and drinking tea. That two strangers 
 in an ordinary and somewhat battered yacht like the 
 Aureole should be spying upon his actions, as if he 
 and they were conspirators, was a grotesquely impos- 
 sible thought. Such -things might have happened in 
 the sixteenth century, or might happen even now 
 in places like Russia. They couldn't be real during the 
 twentieth century anywhere in the dominions of His 
 Britannic Majesty. 
 
 " I must make arrangements for dealing with them," 
 said Meldon. 
 
 "J. J.," said the Major, with another snort of 
 contempt, " I've had enough of this play-acting. 
 You and I aren't children that we should spend our 
 time pretending we are brigands and hunting other fel- 
 lows about in smugglers' caves. I'll have no more of 
 it." 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me that you don't believe those 
 two fellows are watching us, afraid of their lives that 
 we should succeed in dodging them and getting the treas- 
 ure?" 
 
 " Of course I don't believe anything of the sort. It's 
 absurd on the face of it. I don't deny that it was odd 
 their turning up yesterday at the very place you fancied 
 there was treasure hidden; but as for their being after 
 it or watching us, I simply don't and won't and can't 
 believe a word of it." 
 
 " Very well. I'll have to prove it to you." 
 
 " You'd prove anything," said the Major " any blessed 
 
128 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 thing, once you start talking, but you won't convince me. 
 I've heard too many of your proofs." 
 
 " I'll prove it this time by the evidence of your own 
 eyes and ears. You say that Sir Giles and Langton 
 aren't watching us and don't mean to track us if we go 
 after the treasure. Very well, I'll demonstrate to you 
 that they are and do." 
 
 He stood up and hauled the punt alongside. 
 
 " Get in," he said to the Major. 
 
 " Why should I get in ? I don't want to go 
 ashore." 
 
 "You'll get in because I tell you and because once 
 for all you're going to be shaken out of that vile atti- 
 tude of sceptical superiority which you've chosen to as- 
 isume." 
 
 Major Kent shrugged his shoulders and submitted. 
 Meldon stepped into the punt after him and began pad- 
 dling towards the pier. 
 
 There was a stir on board the Aureole. Langton was 
 on watch when Meldon shoved off from the Spindrift. 
 He went below at once. Then he and Sir Giles came 
 on deck together and pulled their punt alongside. Mel- 
 don, who could watch the 'Aureole as he rowed, judged 
 from the look on his face that Sir Giles Buckley was in 
 a bad temper. 
 
 " I'd be prepared to bet now," he said, " that Sir Giles 
 is swearing like anything this minute. I expect he hadn't 
 finished his breakfast and hates being routed out at this 
 hour to follow us. Don't you look round, Major. If 
 you do it's ten to one you upset this patent punt, and I 
 shouldn't care to rely on Sir Giles to pick you up in his 
 present mood." 
 
 Having reached the pier, Meldon, followed unwillingly 
 
SPANISH GOLD 129 
 
 by Major Kent, set out briskly towards the south end of 
 the island. 
 
 " Where are we going now? " asked the Major. 
 
 " We're going to convince you. If you don't like it, 
 you can lay the blame on your own sceptical nature. 
 Look round now and tell me if the other two aren't fol- 
 lowing us." 
 
 They were. The Major unwillingly admitted the 
 fact. 
 
 " They're certainly coming this way," he said. " But 
 I don't see why you should take it for granted that they're 
 tracking us." 
 
 " Come on," said Meldon. 
 
 He reached the house of the woman to whom he had 
 talked on the occasion of his second interview with Mary 
 Kate. He tapped at the door and entered, dragging the 
 Major after him. 
 
 " Good-morning to you, Mrs. O'Flaherty," he said. 
 " I'm glad to see the baby looking well." 
 
 " He's finely, thanks be to God." 
 
 "Do you happen to want to have him vaccinated or 
 anything of that sort?" 
 
 " I do not." 
 
 " I dare say you're right. I asked the question be- 
 cause there's a gentleman coming along this way in a 
 few minutes who's a great doctor. He's on his holiday, 
 of course; but I'm sure he'd vaccinate a fine boy like 
 yours if you asked him to." 
 
 " Would he give me a bottle for the old woman, do 
 you think ? " 
 
 " He would, of course. What's the matter with' 
 her?" 
 
 " She's ravelling in her talk this long time, and sorra 
 
130 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 the bit she'll stir out of her bed, and me with all the work 
 to do and never a one to give me a hand." 
 
 " That's the very sort of case this doctor likes best. 
 Come along with me now and we'll speak to him. But 
 don't be calling him ' doctor ' to his face. It's a kind of 
 lord he is. Call him ' Sir Giles ' when you speak to 
 him." 
 
 Meldon, Mrs. O'Flaherty with her baby in her arms, 
 and Major Kent, who lingered a little behind, set out to 
 meet Sir Giles and Langton. 
 
 " Good-morning, Sir Giles," said Meldon. " Good- 
 morning, Mr. Langton. You got home safe yesterday 
 off that cliff? That's right. Take my advice and don't 
 risk it again. There isn't a bird's egg in the world worth 
 a broken neck. Do you happen to have a bottle about 
 you?" 
 
 Sir Giles scowled. Meldon's good-humoured greeting 
 evidently irritated him. 
 
 " No," he said. " I haven't." 
 
 " Oh, well," said Meldon, " it can't be helped. I dare 1 
 say you have one on the yacht." 
 
 " I don't know what you're talking about," said Sir 
 Giles. " Do you, Langton? " 
 
 " Damned if I do," said Langton. " What are you 
 talking about, eh ? " 
 
 " Bottles," said Meldon. " I was asking if you had 
 a bottle on the yacht." 
 
 " What the devil is it to you whether I have or not ? " 
 said Sir Giles. 
 
 " Oh, nothing to me nothing whatever only Mrs. 
 O'Flaherty wants a bottle for her old mother-in-law. 
 Isn't that so, Mrs. O'Flaherty? " 
 
 " It is, your honour. It is, Sir Giles. The old 
 
SPANISH GOLD 131 
 
 woman's ravelling in her talk this long time, and what's 
 more, she won't stir out of her bed ; and if your honour 
 would give her a bottle 
 
 " Come now," said Meldon, " you won't refuse her, 
 Sir Giles. It's a small request. What's a bottle to you 
 one way or another ? Slip back to the yacht and get her 
 one. It won't take you an hour. The Major and I will 
 wait about till you come back." 
 
 He winked at the Major as he spoke a large obvious 
 wink, which neither Sir Giles nor Langton could fail to 
 notice. 
 
 " Now look here, Mr. John James Meldon " said 
 
 Sir Giles. 
 
 " Joseph John," said Meldon, " not that it matters ; 
 only just in case anything should turn up afterwards, 
 it's as well to be accurate." 
 
 "I really don't know," said Sir Giles, "whether 
 you're more knave or fool, but if you think you're 
 going to send me back to the yacht on a hunt after 
 a bottle or some such ridiculous thing while you go 
 round the base of the cliffs again, you're greatly mis- 
 taken." 
 
 " Mrs. O'Flaherty," said Meldon, " Sir Giles's temper 
 is a little short this morning, but he's a good man at 
 heart. Try him for the bottle again to-morrow and you'll 
 very likely get one. Good-morning, Sir Giles. Good- 
 morning, Mr. Langton. This is better than grubbing 
 about among fusty old manuscripts in the College library, 
 isn't it? Come along, Major. We'll be getting 
 back." 
 
 " I suppose," said Major Kent, when they reached 
 the pier, " that there wouldn't be any use in my asking 
 for an explanation of that performance ? " 
 
132 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I told you before I started," said Meldon, " that I 
 was going to offer you ocular and oral demonstration that 
 those fellows mean to track us, and won't let us stir in 
 the direction of the cliffs without them. Now you've 
 got it. I hope you're convinced." 
 
 " Couldn't you have done it without that bottle fool- 
 ery?" 
 
 "Well, I might. To tell you the truth, Major, the 
 bottle incident was not part of my original plan. It's 
 what I call a brilliant improvisation. It came on me 
 like a flash when I saw that plump baby of Mrs. 
 O'Flaherty's, and thought how the poor little beggar 
 had never been vaccinated. It developed in my mind 
 when she began talking about her mother-in-law. 
 After that the thing simply worked itself out, and 
 worked well. I don't take any credit for it, not the 
 least. But I'm rather pleased with the results. In the 
 first place I've convinced Sir Giles that I'm a perfect 
 fool." 
 
 " He's not far out if he believes that." 
 
 "Whether he is or not, Major, remains to be seen. 
 In the second place I've convinced you that he and Lang- 
 ton mean to keep a close watch on us, which was the 
 thing I set out to do originally. I have convinced you, 
 haven't I?" 
 
 " I think you're all mad together," said the Major. 
 " I don't understand what's going on between you." 
 
 " You mean that you won't understand. You could, of 
 course, if you liked." 
 
 " What do you intend to do now ? " 
 
 " For the present, nothing. When the time comes 
 for eluding the vigilance of Sir Giles, I'll elude it. There 
 will be difficulties, of course. Higginbotham will be a 
 
SPANISH GOLD 133 
 
 difficulty so, very likely, will Mary Kate. In the mean- 
 while we'll sit down here and wait till the tide rises 
 and makes it impossible to get at the treasure. They 
 are watching us from the hill beyond there. I don't be- 
 lieve they mean to try for it themselves to-day. Now 
 I come to think of it, they can't; for they didn't bring 
 the rope with them. Come along, Major, we may safely 
 go back on board." 
 
 " This," said Meldon, as he paddled the collapsible 
 punt towards the Spindrift, " is out-and-away the 
 best holiday I've ever had. I tell you, Major, it's 
 fine." 
 
 " I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Sure you 
 wouldn't like to slip off home and take out the rest of 
 your time with your little girl ? " 
 
 " I wouldn't leave the treasure," said Meldon, " at this 
 stage of the proceedings, not if Gladys Muriel went down 
 on her bended knees to beg me. I wouldn't do it even 
 if Sir Giles and Langton weren't here. Now that they 
 have come, and added a spice of real adventure to the 
 hunt, I wouldn't go away to marry the eldest daugh- 
 ter of the Emperor of Germany. I'm enjoying 
 myself." 
 
 There was no doubt that Meldon spoke the literal 
 truth. Excitement and pleasure beamed from his very 
 eyes. He sent the Major to get the dinner ready while 
 he lay on deck, and with his eye just over the low 
 gunwale of the yacht, watched Sir Giles and Langton 
 row back to the Aureole in their punt. He ate his din- 
 ner hurriedly, breaking in upon the meal at short intervals 
 to mount the companion-ladder and take a look at the 
 'Aureole. 
 
 " Patience and calm," he said after one of these ex- 
 
134 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 cursions, "are the great things after all. There's a 
 French proverb about getting a thing in the end if you 
 only wait quietly." 
 
 " I suppose you think you're practising those virtues 
 how," said the Major. 
 
 " I know I am. A man with less self-control would 
 have darted off to the cave this morning and probably 
 had a free-fight with Sir Giles, which would have ended 
 in Higginbotham taking possession of the treasure in 
 the name of the Government. Whereas I sit here quietly 
 and wait for the next move on the part of thei 
 enemy." 
 
 "Oh, that's the game now, is it?" 
 
 " That's the game. Let Sir Giles show his hand and 
 I'll deal with him." 
 
 For some time it appeared that Sir Giles also 
 intended to play a waiting game. He and Euseby 
 Langton sat on the deck of the Aureole and watched 
 the spindrift. They gazed at Meldon and the Major 
 through binoculars when they had seen all they could 
 with the unassisted eye. Meldon, in return, got out 
 a pair of glasses and stared at them. The afternoon 
 became very hot. The water of the bay lay in an un- 
 broken sheet around the boats, and glowed a sullen reflec- 
 tion of the light. The Major fetched some cushions from 
 the cabin, made himself really comfortable, and went to 
 sleep. 
 
 At about four o'clock there was a stir on board the 
 'Aureole. Langton dragged the punt alongside. He 
 and Sir Giles got into her and pulled for the shore. 
 Meldon, watching them intently through his glasses, 
 observed that they took no rope with them. He made 
 up his mind that they did not intend to descend the 
 
SPANISH GOLD 135 
 
 cliff. The tide was still too high to permit of any one 
 entering the hole. Yet it seemed evident to Meldon 
 that this expedition to the shore must have some 
 object. He became very anxious to discover what 
 they were at. It was easy enough to row on shore 
 after them and then follow them, as they had followed 
 him in the morning. But he realised that on an island 
 without trees or hedges it would be totally impossible 
 to follow them without himself being seen; and their 
 plan, whatever it was, would certainly not be carried 
 out before his eyes. Scanning the land with his 
 glasses, he detected Mary Kate sitting in the shade of 
 Higginbotham's house to watch the strangers land. His 
 mind was made up in a moment. He shook the Ma- 
 jor. 
 
 " Give me another sixpence," he said ; " I'm going 
 ashore." 
 
 " My money's in the pocket of my other trousers," said 
 the Major; " and they're hanging beside my bunk. Take 
 what you want and for Heaven's sake leave me to have 
 my sleep in peace. It's the only comfort I get since I 
 came to this island." 
 
 Meldon made all the speed he could in the canvas 
 punt, a craft singularly ill-suited to a man in a hurry. 
 He reached the pier shortly after Sir Giles and Lang- 
 ton had landed. Mary Kate, who had hesitated for some 
 time between the desire to follow the strangers and the 
 hope of another sixpence from the approaching Meldon, 
 was on the pier to meet him. She grinned amiably when 
 he greeted her. 
 
 " Mary Kate," he said, " I've got another sixpence for 
 you. You'll be the richest girl in the island in a few days 
 if this goes on." 
 
I 3 6 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I will so." She spoke in a tone of conviction. 
 
 "Well now, go you up after those two gentlemen 
 and just watch what they do. You needn't go too close 
 to them. And, listen to me now: if it should happen 
 that they speak to you, just you take a leaf out of your 
 grandda's book and answer them in Irish, ' Ni Beurla ' 
 what do you call it? You know how to do it, don't 
 you?" 
 
 Mary Kate nodded. The instructions were not abso- 
 lutely lucid, but she grasped their meaning. 
 
 " Not another word out of your head now, mind that. 
 And look as stupid as you can. I'll run down and pay 
 a visit to your aunt. Isn't she your aunt ? " 
 
 " She is not." 
 
 " Well, you know who I mean, anyhow. Mrs. 
 O'Flaherty beyond there, the one that owns the baby 
 with the nice fat legs. You drop down there as soon 
 as ever those two gentlemen go back to their yacht, and 
 tell me what they've been doing. I needn't explain to 
 you, Mary Kate, that I wouldn't be setting you on a 
 job of this kind if those two fellows weren't a pair 
 of bad ones. The fact is they're land-grabbers the 
 worst kind of land-grabbers. That will probably con- 
 vey to you better than anything else the sort of fellows 
 they really are." 
 
 He noticed that Mary Kate's attention had wandered, 
 but he continued speaking for his own satisfaction. 
 
 " If that isn't exactly the literal truth, as people like 
 the Major would say, it's the nearest thing to the truth 
 that you're at all likely to understand. It will convey 
 to you a perfectly true idea of the character of the men. 
 You understand what I mean, Mary Kate, when I say 
 they're land-grabbers, don't you ? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD 137 
 
 The child wasn't listening to him. Her eyes were 
 on the now distant figures of Sir Giles and Langton. 
 Even if she had listened, it is doubtful whether the 
 word " land-grabber " would have conveyed anything to 
 her. Politicians rarely, if ever, visit Inishgowlan, and 
 the people, even the grown men, are uninstructed in the 
 simple principles of modern nationalism. It had never 
 been worth the while, even of a publican, to grab the 
 land on Inishgowlan. In any case, whether she had un- 
 derstood him or not, Meldon's motives for having the 
 strangers watched would not have interested Mary Kate. 
 It was sufficient for her that she was to be paid sixpence 
 for doing what natural curiosity would have prompted 
 her to do without a bribe. 
 
 Mrs. O'Flaherty seemed surprised to see Meldon. 
 She was churning, plunging up and down an old- 
 fashioned dash in the most primitive kind of churn. 
 She was dressed in a sleeveless garment, tucked in to 
 an old red petticoat which seemed likely, as her body 
 swayed, to work its fastenings loose and fall off. Drops 
 of milk, splashed from the churn, bespattered her. She 
 was exceedingly hot, partly from her exertion, partly 
 with annoyance at the lamentable howls of her baby, who 
 had of necessity been left to the care of the old woman 
 in the room off the kitchen. She was at first far from 
 being well pleased at seeing a visitor. She was not, in- 
 deed, embarrassed by the scantiness of her costume, but 
 she foresaw that in mere politeness she might be obliged 
 to stop churning, and to stop at a certain stage of the 
 process is fatal to the production of butter. Meldon's 
 first. words reassured her. 
 
 " Give me the dash," he said, " and go you in and get 
 the baby." 
 
138 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I will not," she said. " I'd be spoiling your good 
 clothes on you if I let you do the like of this work." 
 
 " Did you never hear that there's no luck when 
 the stranger that comes in doesn't put a hand to the 
 churn?" 
 
 " Faith, and that's true. But who'd think of the likes 
 of you knowing it ? " 
 
 " I know more than that," said Meldon. " I know 
 things that would surprise you now, wise as you are. 
 Give me the dash, I say." 
 
 He took it from her and began to work vigorously. 
 Mrs. O'Flaherty watched him. 
 
 " Maybe now it isn't the first time you've done that," 
 she said. 
 
 " It is not, nor the second. But go you and take your 
 baby. The shouts of him is enough to stop the butter 
 coming." 
 
 She returned in a few minutes with the child, quickly 
 pacified, in her arms. 
 
 "Where's himself?" said Meldon. "Why wouldn't 
 he be giving you a hand at this work ? " 
 
 " Sure he does do a turn for me odd times, when he 
 wouldn't be earthing up the potatoes, or saving the hay, 
 or burning the kelp or the like of that." 
 
 Meldon began to feel hot. 
 
 " The butter's a mighty long time coming," he said. 
 
 " You may say that. Whether it's the warmth of the 
 day or maybe but sure you're tired. It's terrible hard 
 work for them that's not used to it. Give it up to me 
 now." 
 
 " Very well ; I'll have a try at the baby. Come here 
 to me, Anthony Tom. Did you say Anthony Tom was 
 the name you had on him? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD 139 
 
 " It is not, then, but Michael Pat." 
 
 Meldon took Michael Pat in his arms. He was very 
 successful as a nurse, but he found the work almost as 
 hot as the churning. Michael Pat had reached the age 
 at which happiness is found in perpetual motion, and 
 it was necessary to keep on jumping him up and 
 down. 
 
 " I'll tell you what it is," said Meldon at last. " I'd 
 rather be saving hay or burning kelp, or doing any 
 other mortal thing, than trying to mind a baby and 
 make butter at the same time. Men have a much bet- 
 ter time of it than women as things are arranged at 
 present." 
 
 " They might," said Mrs. O'Flaherty, " but what would 
 they be doing if it wasn't for the women ? " 
 
 " That's true," said Meldon ; " but it isn't saying that 
 men don't have the best of it." 
 
 " And for the matter of that, how would the women 
 get along wanting the men ? " 
 
 " There's something in that, too." 
 
 " Sure, God is good, and the troubles He does be 
 sending is no worse for me than another. If so be that 
 Michael Pat doesn't be cutting or burning himself when 
 I have him reared to be out of my arms, I've no cause 
 to be complaining. And himself is a good head to 
 me." 
 
 Meldon danced Michael Pat vigorously. The sweat 
 ran down his face, but he stuck to his work, realising 
 more and more clearly the strenuousness of a woman's 
 life. At last he spoke again, jerkily for want of breath. 
 
 " Mrs. O'Flaherty, ma'am, tell me this. Is there e'er 
 a branch of the Woman's Suffrage Association in this 
 island?" 
 
140 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I never heard tell of any such a thing." 
 
 " Well, take my advice. Found one at once. It 
 may not do you much good, but it will relieve your 
 feelings. You're suffering under an intolerable injus- 
 tice." 
 
 " Is it the Government you mean ? " said Mrs. 
 O'Flaherty, whose husband occasionally read a copy of 
 the Ballymoy Tribune. 
 
 " It is not ; it's the men. What you want is what's 
 called sexuo-economic independence of women. Just 
 wipe Michael Pat's mouth with something, will you. I 
 haven't a handkerchief on me, and he's dribbling worse 
 than I could have believed possible." 
 
 The half-door of the cabin was pushed open, and 
 Mary Kate entered. At the sight of Meldon with 
 Michael Pat in his arms she stood still and grinned 
 broadly. 
 
 " Thank God ! " said Meldon fervently. " Come here, 
 Mary Kate. Sit down on the creepy stool there by the 
 hearth and take the baby." 
 
 Mary Kate hung back, still grinning. 
 
 " Do what the gentleman bids you," said Mrs. 
 O'Flaherty. 
 
 Mary Kate obeyed reluctantly. She foresaw that it 
 might be very difficult for her to escape from Michael 
 Pat if she once accepted the charge of him. She had the 
 makings of a feminist in her. She valued her independ- 
 ence. 
 
 " Tell me now," said Meldon, " did you do what I 
 bid you?" 
 
 " I did," said Mary Kate. 
 
 " And have the gentlemen gone back to the yacht ? " 
 
 " They're after going this minute," 
 
SPANISH GOLD 141 
 
 " And where were they ? " 
 
 " Beyond." 
 
 " Listen to me now, Mary Kate. I'm not going to 
 spend the rest of the day dragging information out of 
 you as if each word you say is a tooth that it hurts you 
 to part with. Tell me now straight, and no more non- 
 sense where did they go ? " 
 
 " It's yourself that's the stubborn little lady," said 
 Mrs. O'Flaherty. " Why wouldn't you be speaking to 
 the gentleman when he wants to be listening to 
 you?" 
 
 " They were up beyond at my grandda's." 
 
 " At Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's ! Were they talking to 
 'him?" 
 
 " They were not, then, for himself wasn't in it." 
 
 " What were they doing? " 
 
 " Looking at the Poll-na-phuca." 
 
 "At the what?" 
 
 " That's the hole that there does be in the field back 
 west of the house," said Mrs. O'Flaherty. " Poll-na- 
 phuca is the name there does be on it on account of them 
 that's in it." 
 
 "Is that all they did?" 
 
 " Sorra a thing else." 
 
 " Well," said Meldon, " that beats all. I must be get- 
 ting away now, Mrs. O'Flaherty. I've had a delightful 
 afternoon. Goodbye. Goodbye, Mary Kate. Be kind 
 to Michael Pat. Remember that you were once that size! 
 yourself, and somebody had to sit on a stool and hold 
 you." 
 
 He walked down to the seashore, selected a large! 
 flat stone, and sat down on it. He was very much) 
 puzzled by the account which Mary Kate had giveri 
 
1 4 2 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 him of the movements of Sir Giles and Euseby 
 Langton. He could not understand why they had 
 gone up to Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's cabin or why 
 they had looked at the hole in the field. He recalled 
 the appearance of the cabin. It was a very dilapidated 
 place, standing by itself two fields higher up than the 
 cottage in which Mary Kate's father lived. He went 
 over all he knew about the field with the hole in it. 
 It was, so Higginbotham said, a very small and barren 
 field. There was no fence round the hole; Higgin- 
 botham had lamented that. A heifer had fallen into it 
 and got killed. There was nothing, so far as he could 
 see, which could possibly interest Sir Giles about the 
 cabin, the field, or the hole. Why should a man, out 
 on a search for treasure, care to view the scene of a 
 heifer's death? A heifer is not a very important 
 animal, even on Inishgowlan. He recollected that 
 Poll-na-phuca meant the fairy's hole. He had under- 
 stood from Higginbotham that the place was regarded 
 by the islanders with some awe as the home of malev- 
 olent spirits. But this threw^ no light on his problem. 
 He could not suppose that Sir Giles was an amateur of 
 folk-lore, so enthusiastic as to suspend his treasure search 
 for the purpose of investigating a local superstition, how- 
 ever interesting. 
 
 Meldon's pipe went out, half-smoked. He wrinkled 
 his forehead and half-shut his eyes in bitter perplexity. 
 It hurt him that he could not understand what Sir 
 Giles had been doing. At last he rose from his stone 
 with a deep sigh and walked ten or fifteen yards along 
 the shore. He found another flat stone and sat down 
 on it. He knocked the plug of tobacco out, refilled 
 his pipe and lit it. He deliberately gave up the problem 
 
SPANISH GOLD 143 
 
 which he could not solve, and set himself to work on 
 another. He decided that he must himself reach the 
 hole where the treasure lay at the earliest possible mo- 
 ment the next day, and that Sir Giles must be pre- 
 vented from following him. He smoked steadily this 
 time, and his face gradually cleared of the wrinkles the 
 other problem had impressed upon it. At last he smiled 
 slightly. Then he grinned. He knocked the ashes out 
 of his pipe and put it in his pocket. He picked up a 
 few pebbles and flung them cheerfully into the sea. 
 Then he rose and walked back to Mrs. OTlaherty's cot- 
 tage. 
 
 The churning was over. Mrs. OTlaherty was work- 
 ing the butter with her hands at the table. Mary Kate 
 still sat with the baby on her knee. 
 
 " Good-evening to you, Mrs. OTlaherty," said Mel- 
 don. 
 
 " Is it yourself again ? Faith, I thought you were gone 
 for to-day anyway." 
 
 " I looked in again to see if Michael Pat was all right 
 after the shaking I gave him. Would you sooner be 
 churning the butter or churning the baby, Mrs. 
 OTlaherty? Or would you rather be taking them in 
 turns the way we did this afternoon? I see you've got 
 him asleep there, Mary Kate. Just put him into the 
 cradle now and he'll be all right." 
 
 " Mind, but he'll wake on you," said Mrs. OTlaherty, 
 " and me in the middle of squeezing the butter." 
 
 " He will not. Do you think I don't know when a 
 baby's asleep? You wouldn't wake him now if you 
 put him into the churn head first. Do what I bid you, 
 Mary Kate. That's a good girl. Now the next thing 
 you have to do is to run up to the iron house where the 
 
144 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 gentleman lives that does be measuring out the land and 
 tell him I want to see him this evening. He's to get some 
 one to put him off to the yacht; do you understand? 
 I'm not coming ashore again. Will you do that for me, 
 like a good girl ? " 
 
 " I might." 
 
 "Well, then, do. And look here. If he isn't there, 
 just you sit down outside the door and wait till he 
 comes. Now off with you. I'll follow in a minute or 
 two. It wouldn't do for you and me to be seen walking 
 about together every hour of the day, Mary Kate. They 
 might say we were courting; and that wouldn't suit 
 you any more than myself. Goodbye to you, Mrs. 
 O'Flaherty. I'm really off this time, but very likely 
 I'll look in to-morrow to see Michael Pat and the but- 
 ter. Will you be off out of this, Mary Kate? You'll 
 spoil the look of your mouth for life if you stand there 
 grinning much longer." 
 
 Meldon walked to the pier, passed it, and went down 
 to the sandy beach which lay beyond. There were 
 three curraghs drawn up and laid, as the custom is 
 with such boats, bottom upward on the sand. One 
 of them Meldon recognised as that in which Higgin- 
 botham had come off to the Spindrift. It was the 
 property of Jamesy O'Flaherty. Meldon passed it and 
 looked at the next. The canvas bottom revealed a large 
 rent. It could not possibly go to sea. The third was 
 sound. Meldon knelt down and looked under it. The 
 oars were there as he expected. He went back to the 
 pier, embarked in the collapsible punt, and rowed out to 
 the Spindrift. 
 
 He found that Major Kent had finished his nap and 
 was reading, for want of other literature, the sheet of 
 
SPANISH GOLD 145 
 
 a week-old newspaper. It was spotted with grease and 
 a good deal crumpled, having, in fact, been used to wrap 
 up the bacon which they ate at breakfast. The occupa- 
 tion showed that the Major was very much bored. He 
 gave frank expression to his feelings. 
 
 " How much longer do you intend to spend mousing 
 round this wretched little island, J. J. ? I'm about sick 
 of it. This isn't my idea of a cruise at all. I mean to 
 up anchor and slip across to Inishmore to-morrow for a 
 change." 
 
 " Don't you do anything of the sort. You'll be sorry 
 all your life afterwards if you do. I don't mind telling 
 ycu that we're just on the very verge of bagging the 
 treasure." 
 
 " I don't believe it." 
 
 " I'll give you my word, Major, that if you stay here 
 to-morrow, I'll be ready to go anywhere you like the 
 next day. The next twenty-four hours, or thirty-six 
 hours at the outside, will see the thing through." 
 
 " That's all very well. But if your treasure-hunting 
 consists in sitting here all day watching those other two 
 fellows on the Aureole, I tell you plainly it's not good 
 enough." 
 
 " If it's a little excitement you want, you shall have 
 it to-morrow. I was thinking things out a bit after I fin- 
 ished nursing Michael Pat, and " 
 
 "Finished what?" 
 
 " Nursing Michael Pat, the baby Sir Giles wouldn't 
 vaccinate this morning. But you're a slow-witted man, 
 Major. It's one of your great faults. Everything has 
 to be explained to you. I suppose I must begin at the 
 beginning." 
 
 " I wish you would." 
 
146 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Well, I will. But first of all, I may as well mention 
 that I've planned a coup d'etat for to-morrow. I'm not 
 sure that I've got the expression quite right. Perhaps I 
 ought to say a coup de theatre; but you know what I 
 mean, anyhow." 
 
 " I don't ; but I might make a guess if you'd begin 
 at the beginning instead of in the middle or at the 
 end." 
 
 " The epic poet," said Meldoti, " always begins in the 
 middle. It's a well-known literary law that all first- 
 rate narrative begins in the middle. If you don't know 
 the middle of a thing, how on earth can you appreciate 
 the beginning? My coup we'll call it simply a coup, 
 so as to get over the difficuH^of not knowing exactly 
 which sort of coup it is comes ofif to-morrow, but it 
 begins this evening. I don't expect you to play up to 
 me. That would probably be beyond you, but I hope 
 you'll try and not actually give the show away when 
 Higginbotham comes." 
 
 " Oh, Higginbotham's in it, is he? " 
 
 " Of course Higginbotham's in it. So is Mary Kate, 
 so is Sir Giles, so is Langton, so are you and I. It 
 wouldn't be a coup of any sort if we weren't all in 
 it." 
 
 " If it involves my adopting another disguise But 
 
 what's the good of my talking ? " 
 
 " None. Just you listen. I went on shore this after- 
 noon to find out what Sir Giles and the other man were 
 after. I took sixpence with me for Mary Kate. I set 
 the dear little girl on to watch Sir Giles while I went and 
 nursed Michael Pat a fine, plump baby, Michael Pat, 
 but boisterous." 
 
 " Is he part of the coup? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD 147 
 
 " No. I should like to have him in it if I could, but 
 I can't manage it. Well, after a time Mary Kate re- 
 turned and told me that Sir Giles and the man who owns 
 the fur coat went up to Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's field 
 and looked at the hole there is in it." 
 
 " Is the hole part of the coup ? " 
 
 " It is not. The fact is I don't quite see how the 
 hole comes in. That's what has me so set on bringing 
 off my coup without delay. If I understood why they 
 looked at that hole I might see my way to checkmate 
 their move whatever it is. But I don't. They may have 
 a game on or they may not. I'm not going to give them 
 a chance." 
 
 " Perhaps," said the Major, " you'll get to the coup 
 soon." 
 
 " I wanted to tell you about the coup first thing ; but 
 you kept nagging at me to go back to the beginning. 
 Now I've gone back to the beginning and you're discon- 
 tented because you haven't got the end straight off. 
 [You're a very hard man to please." 
 
 " All I mean," said the Major, " is that it's near tea 
 lime." 
 
 " That reminds me that Higginbotham may be her 
 at any moment. Listen now. There seem to me to 
 be only two available boats on this island, Jamesy 
 O'Flaherty's curragh and another." 
 
 " There's a third. I saw three on the beach this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " One of those has a hole in her bottom you could 
 put your foot through ; so there are only two to be con- 
 sidered. Now if Jamesy O'Flaherty was to go off to- 
 morrow to Inishmore in his curragh and if I could put 
 the other one hors de combat, so to speak , J'- 
 
I 4 8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Knock a hole in her, I suppose." 
 
 " Now would I do a thing like that to a curragh that 
 belongs to a poor man, for all I know to the contrary 
 to Mary Kate's father ? I wouldn't if you paid me. All 
 I mean to do is to temporarily conceal her oars so that 
 she can't be rowed. Now if Jamesy's curragh is off at 
 sea and the other one is not available, and if the Aureole's 
 punt were to go adrift, I don't quite see how those two 
 jokers could get ashore, do you? " 
 
 " So that's the coup, is it? " 
 
 "Yes. You see it requires some management. 
 There are three distinct points. First, Jamesy 
 O'Flaherty's curragh must be sent off. Next, the 
 other curragh must be dealt with. Finally we must 
 hope that the 'Aureole's punt will go adrift during the 
 night." 
 
 " It won't," said the Major. " Why should it? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, it will. I mean to see to it myself that it 
 goes adrift." 
 
 "Do you mean to set Higginbotham afloat in it?" 
 
 " No, I don't. I told you before that I had a regard 
 for Higginbotham. I don't want to send him off 
 without oars in an unseaworthy punt. I wouldn't do 
 it to any man, much less to a fellow who used to come 
 up with me every second Sunday to Rathmines when 
 I " 
 
 " Don't begin again about your little girl." 
 
 " I wasn't going to mention my little girl. But as 
 you've introduced the subject of little girls, I must 
 say that I think your tone about women is most 
 discourteous. You display what I may call a graceless 
 want of chivalry. I'm not a feminist myself or any- 
 thing extreme of any kind, but I think a man ought to 
 
SPANISH GOLD 149 
 
 show some respect to women, and not be always sneering 
 at them as you are. After all, Major, if you hadn't had 
 a mother where would you be now? You ought to try 
 and remember little things like that." 
 
 " Would there be anything unchivalrous," said the Ma- 
 jor, " in asking where Higginbotham does come in if he's 
 not to go to sea in Sir Giles's punt? " 
 
 " It's my punt, not Sir Giles's. But we needn't argue 
 about that. The thing's quite simple. Higginbotham is 
 to go to Inishmore in Jamesy O'Flaherty's curragh." 
 
 "Oh, is he?" 
 
 " Yes. He's to start early, about six a.m." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because I don't see how I'm to get Jamesy 
 O'Flaherty off to Inishmore for the day in his curragh 
 unless I make Higginbotham hire him for the purpose. 
 Besides, I want Higginbotham out of the way, too. If 
 he's on the island he'll do some sort of mischief, with 
 the best intentions, of course, and spoil the whole coup. 
 There's no saying what a kind-hearted man like Hig- 
 ginbotham would do when he found out that Sir Giles 
 and Langton were shut up on the Aureole and couldn't 
 get ashore. He might hunt us up and make us go off 
 for them. No ; I don't want even to inconvenience Hig- 
 ginbotham more than I can help ; but I can't have him on 
 this island to-morrow." 
 
 " The whole thing seems to me enormously compli- 
 cated," said the Major. " I don't see how you can ex- 
 pect it to work without a hitch. All I insist on is that 
 you don't bring me into it." 
 
 " It's perfectly simple," said Meldon. " I don't see 
 where a hitch can come in if the thing's properly 
 worked." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 MAJOR KENT and Meldon had finished their 
 eggs and were eating bread-and-jam when Hig- 
 ginbotham, rowed by Jamesy O'Flaherty, reached the 
 Spindrift. At the sound of a bump against the yacht's 
 side Meldon went on deck. 
 
 " Come along, Higginbotham," he said. " Come be- 
 low and have a cup of tea. Jamesy O'Flaherty, do you 
 make your curragh fast and get on board. I'll bring 
 you up a glass of whisky in a minute." 
 
 He shepherded Higginbotham into the cabin. The 
 Major rose to his feet nervously. He foresaw that the 
 process of persuading Higginbotham to set out for Inish- 
 more in a curragh at six the next morning would be try- 
 ing. 
 
 " I think," he said, " I'll go on deck and have a chat 
 with Jamesy OTlaherty." 
 
 " Do," said Meldon, " and take a glass of whisky 
 with you. I want to have a quiet talk with Higgin- 
 botham." 
 
 The Major departed, well satisfied that he would 
 escape taking part in the quiet talk which was to fol- 
 low. 
 
 " Help yourself to some tea," said Meldon to Hig- 
 ginbotham, " and make yourself comfortable with a slice 
 
 150 
 

 SPANISH GOLD 151 
 
 of bread-and-jam. I think I mentioned to you yester- 
 day that Sir Giles Buckley is rather a big bug in his own 
 way." 
 
 " You said he was something in the Castle." 
 
 " He is. I hinted, I think, that either Crimes Acts 
 or Royal Commissions were his particular line. I was 
 wrong there. I confused him for the moment with an- 
 other man whose name is somewhat similar. The fact 
 is that Sir Giles is the man whom they keep unattached, 
 as it were, to take up any particular job that happens 
 to be prominent at the moment. It may be a famine, 
 or it may be crochet, or sick nurses, or Christmas-trees 
 for workhouse children. Whatever it is, Sir Giles is 
 the man who runs it. At present it happens to be 
 tuberculosis." 
 
 " I never heard of there being any such man in the 
 Castle." 
 
 " I dare say not. You official people get into very 
 narrow grooves. You all of you seem to think that 
 your own footy little Board is the only one in the coun- 
 try. Whereas there are lots and lots of others besides 
 the one you happen to be connected with. Not that I 
 mean to suggest that Sir Giles is a Board. He isn't. 
 He's simply, as I said, unattached." 
 
 " Still, I think I must have heard of him if he's what 
 you say." 
 
 " You might not. I tell you, Higginbotham, there 
 aren't half a dozen men in Ireland who could tell you 
 even the principal kinds of regular officials ; and when 
 it comes to unattached freelances like Sir Giles, hardly 
 anybody knows exactly what they are. I'm liable to 
 make mistakes about them myself, as you saw when I 
 spoke about Sir Giles yesterday." 
 
152 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 still " 
 
 " I may not be using technically correct language 
 when I call Sir Giles an unattached official. I dare 
 say there's some other name for what he is which you 
 would recognise if you heard it. But the gist of the 
 matter is the same, however you express it. He's in 
 charge of the anti-tuberculosis movement, fighting the 
 Great White Plague. That's what he's here for. This 
 morning he made an examination of young Mrs. O'Fla- 
 herty's baby, little Michael Pat. You might have seen 
 him going off in that direction at about half-past 
 eight." 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " You saw him talking to her on the side of the road 
 and her with the baby in her arms ? " 
 
 " Yes. I happened at the time to be going " 
 
 " Well, there you are. If Sir Giles isn't investigating 
 tuberculosis on behalf of the Government, why should 
 he bother his head about making a prolonged and minute 
 examination of Mrs. O'Flaherty's baby? Tell me 
 that." 
 
 " I don't know. I suppose it's all right." 
 
 " Well, then, don't contradict me flat when I'm giving 
 you information which may come in useful to you. 
 The fact is that Sir Giles wants you to help him to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " But but I don't know anything about tuber- 
 culosis." 
 
 " Nobody supposes you do. What he wants you 
 to do is to go over early to-morrow to Inishmore 
 in Jamesy O'Flaherty's curragh and make a list of 
 all the cases of consumption you can find. You 
 know the people, or at any rate you ought to, and 
 
SPANISH GOLD 153 
 
 of course Sir Giles doesn't. His plan is to follow 
 you later on in the Aureole. You're to start about 
 six a.m. Allowing an hour and a half for the row 
 over, you'll be there by seven-thirty. After you've 
 had a bit of breakfast Sir Giles was most particular 
 that you should breakfast properly he thinks you 
 might catch the thing yourself if you went at it on 
 an empty stomach. After breakfast you're to stroll 
 round the island and keep your eye lifting for con- 
 sumptives. You needn't drag them out and lay them 
 on the beach or anything of that sort. Just take a 
 note of any case you come across so that when Sir 
 Giles arrives there'll be no unnecessary waste of 
 time." 
 
 " I never heard of such a job in my life." 
 
 " Very likely not. But you ought to recollect, Hig- 
 ginbotham, that you'd never heard of Sir Giles till I told 
 you about him. And you'd never heard of the anti- 
 tuberculosis crusade." 
 
 " I had heard of that." 
 
 " Oh, had you ? Well, this morning you saw with 
 your own eyes the way Sir Giles was examining little 
 Michael Pat." 
 
 " I didn't say I saw him examining the child. I said 
 I saw 
 
 " Don't go back on what you've just admitted. You 
 said you were watching Sir Giles this morning. I don't 
 call it a very gentlemanly action. But there's no use 
 making the matter worse now by denying that you did 
 it." 
 
 Higginbotham stroked his moustache nervously. He 
 took off his spectacles and rubbed the glasses with his 
 handkerchief. He cleared his throat. 
 
154 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I can't do a thing like that," he said. " I don't know 
 how." 
 
 " It'll be all right," said Meldon. " Call on the parish 
 priest when you land; he'll help you." 
 
 Higginbotham still displayed signs of uneasiness. 
 
 " Why does Sir Giles send me this message through 
 you ? " he asked. " Why doesn't he speak to me him- 
 self." 
 
 " He tried to. He and I were searching the island 
 for you all afternoon. He went up to old Thomas 
 O'Flaherty's place to look for you. I told him that you 
 were likely to be there, but you weren't." 
 
 " I heard he was up there. I thought he might have 
 been speaking to the old man about " 
 
 " Well, he wasn't. He was simply looking for you. 
 Now, Higginbotham, the question is simply this: will 
 you go or will you not? I'd go myself in a minute, 
 only I thought you'd like to get the chance. I've noth- 
 ing to gain by being civil to Sir Giles, but you have. 
 Why, man, your whole future depends upon the kind 
 of impression you make upon these big officials. You 
 know the way they talk to each other in their clubs 
 after luncheon. I tell you there's very little they don't 
 know about every inspector and engineer in the coun- 
 try. If you've any sense you'll make yourself as pleas- 
 ant and obliging to Sir Giles as you possibly can. I 
 hope you don't mind my speaking plainly. It's for your 
 own good." 
 
 " I think," said Higginbotham, " that I'll row over now 
 and see Sir Giles myself." 
 
 " You'd much better not." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Oh, well, I don't like repeating these things. But 
 
SPANISH GOLD 155 
 
 of course it's pretty well public property. The fact 
 
 Meldon took a cup from the table, put it to his lips, 
 'slowly raised his elbow and threw back his head. 
 
 " Only in the evenings," he continued, " after he's left 
 the office. He never allows it to interfere with his work 
 in the slightest." 
 
 Higginbotham gasped. Meldon nodded solemnly. 
 
 " Naturally," he went on, " the poor fellow doesn't 
 care about having unexpected visitors dropping in on him 
 during the evening." 
 
 " Good God ! " said Higginbotham. 
 
 " Yes, it's frightfully sad. In every other respect he's 
 a splendid fellow, one of the very best. We keep it as 
 quiet as we can, but, you can see it for yourself. You've 
 only got to look at Langton's face to see it. You told me 
 yourself that he'd got sacked out of the College Library 
 for drink." 
 
 "But Sir Giles!" 
 
 " Oh, tarred with the same brush. Birds of a 
 feather, you know. You see now why it wouldn't 
 do for you to be going over there this evening. 
 You're an official yourself, and I need scarcely say 
 that a subordinate official is the very last kind of man 
 who should mix himself up in a business of this 
 kind." 
 
 " I see that, of course." 
 
 " I needn't say, Higginbotham, that it's no pleasure 
 to me to repeat stories of this kind. I wouldn't have 
 said a word if you hadn't forced me. I'm extremely 
 sorry for Sir Giles and for poor Langton. What a prom- 
 ising career that man had before him ! With his taste for 
 manuscripts and the whole College Library at his dis- 
 
156 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 posal, he might have made a European reputation. 
 Drink's an awful curse." 
 
 " But I thought you said he wasn't the same man." 
 
 " I may have said that at the time. I naturally wanted 
 to shield Sir Giles as long as I could. But he is the 
 exact same man. Poor old Euseby Langton ! But we'll 
 drop the subject now. I don't care to spend the whole 
 evening gloating over other men's infirmities. The point 
 I want to get at is this : Will you go to Inishmore to- 
 morrow morning ? " 
 
 " I suppose I'd better." 
 
 "Quite right. Take my word for it you'll be glad 
 afterwards you did. And now, as you've got to make 
 an early start I daresay you'd like to be getting home. 
 Don't let Jamesy O'Flaherty oversleep himself in the 
 morning." 
 
 " Major," said Mel don, when Higginbotham had de- 
 parted, " I've settled that all right. Higginbotham and 
 the curragh go to Inishmore to-morrow. They start at 
 six a.m." 
 
 " How did you arrange it ? " 
 
 " Don't ask me. I had a tough job." 
 
 Meldon lit his pipe and puffed great clouds of smoke. 
 His nerves required steadying after the conversation with 
 Higginbotham. For a time he remained silent. 
 
 The Major was filled with curiosity the morbid 
 curiosity which makes some men eager to gaze on sights 
 which fill them with horror. He pressed Meldon to 
 tell him how the expedition to Inishmore had been ar- 
 ranged. 
 
 " I'm glad we'll get that treasure to-morrow," said 
 Meldon. " I don't believe it will be possible to keep 
 Higginbotham going much longer without his sus- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 157 
 
 pecting that there is something up. He's becoming 
 extraordinarily sceptical about the things I tell him. I 
 give you my word, Major, that at times to-night it took 
 me all I knew to persuade him that I was telling the 
 truth." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder." 
 
 " I've made up my mind," said Meldon, after another 
 pause, " that, if we get anything like the haul I expect 
 to-morrow out of the Spanish captain's hoard, we'll give 
 Higginbotham a good bagful of doubloons for himself. 
 We owe it to him to do him a good turn of some sort. 
 I don't feel that we've treated him quite fairly. It's 
 rough on a man to set him searching for tubercle bacilli 
 all day long on an island by himself. It's not in Higgin- 
 botham's regular line of work and I'm afraid he won't 
 like it at all. I'm sorry I had to do it." 
 
 " What have you done ? " 
 
 " I've just told you. I've sent him off to Inishmore 
 to make a kind of census of all the consumptive people 
 on the island. I told him he'd better get the parish priest 
 to help him. By the way, <vhat sort of a fellow is the 
 parish priest of Inishmore ? " 
 
 " He's a man called Mulcrone." 
 
 " Has he a sense of humour ? I mean, will he see' 
 the joke afterwards, or is he the kind who'll make a 
 row?" 
 
 " He can see ordinary jokes. At least he has some- 
 thing of a reputation for making them, but whether he'll 
 see your kind of joke, of course I can't say." 
 
 " Oh, well, it won't much matter what he does once 
 we have the treasure, and there's very little between 
 us and it now. I think I'll turn in, Major. I'm a bit 
 fagged. Michael Pat took more out of me this after- 
 
158 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 noon than I suspected at the time. I advise you to turn 
 in too. We've a long day before us to-morrow. Good- 
 night." 
 
 Half an hour later Meldon from his bunk addressed 
 Major Kent, who had been on deck to wash his teeth. 
 
 " Major, Higginbotham's not nearly such a fool as 
 you appear to think. If I were you I'd slide off that 
 geological survey story of yours quietly and unobtru- 
 sively. Don't try and keep the thing up. I doubt very 
 much whether you'll be believed if you do. Any dis- 
 guise you assume in future when dealing with Higgin- 
 botham had better be very carefully tested beforehand. 
 Good-night." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 NEXT morning Meldon awoke earlier than usual. 
 He turned out of his bunk at half-past five, and, 
 as yachtsmen often do, began the day by tapping the 
 barometer. It had fallen during the night and was still 
 falling. He went on deck and looked round him. There 
 was no sign visible as yet of a change in the weather. 
 Everything pointed to the certainty of at least one more 
 hot day. He returned to the cabin and shook Major 
 Kent. 
 
 " It's not time for you to get up yet," he said. 
 " But I thought I might as well warn you that you'll 
 have to be dressed and ready to start by half-past 
 six." 
 
 " I'm not going on a fool's errand at any such hour in 
 the morning," growled the Major. 
 
 " I thought you'd very likely say that when you woke. 
 That's the reason I shook you up a bit before it was 
 absolutely necessary. Some people are at their best when 
 they first wake. All really great men are. I am, myself. 
 Other people wake slowly and are uncommonly short in 
 their temper for an hour or so after they get up. That's 
 the sort you are. If you had a wife I'd pity her at 
 breakfast-time." 
 
 Meldon went on deck again and surveyed first the 
 
 i59 
 
160 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 'Aureole, then Higginbotham's hut. At the end of a quar- 
 ter of an hour he returned to the Major. 
 
 " It's all right," he said. " Higginbotham is stirring 
 and I see Jamesy O'Flaherty fiddling about at the cur- 
 ragh. They'll be off in a few minutes. You'd better 
 be getting up if you want half an hour to dress yourself. 
 We'll breakfast on shore." 
 
 " I won't." 
 
 Meldon made no answer to this flat refusal. He went 
 on deck again and stared through the glasses at the 
 beach beside the pier. He saw Higginbotham embark 
 in the curragh, watched Jamesy O'Flaherty take the oars, 
 shove off and begin to row steadily. He returned to 
 Major Kent. 
 
 " He's gone," he reported. " I hardly dared to hope 
 he would, but he has. In a few minutes he'll be out of 
 the bay. Then I'll swim across to the Aureole at once." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " To deal with the punt, of course. There's a nice 
 little westerly breeze, and when I cast loose the painter 
 she'll drift quietly out to sea." 
 
 " J. J., I've stood a lot of your foolery, but I'm not 
 going to allow you to commit theft before my eyes and 
 I'm not going ashore without my breakfast." 
 
 " I'll take your two points separately," said Meldon. 
 " There doesn't seem to be any connection between them. 
 First, there's no theft in taking my own punt and send- 
 ing her out to sea. Second, you must come on shore 
 at once or else the other fellows will wake. They can't 
 get off the Aureole when they do, of course. But I'd 
 rather not have them howling after us. It wouldn't look 
 well if we refused to go back for them. People might 
 say afterwards that we'd taken their punt from them. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 161 
 
 Whereas if we're well out of the way before they wake 
 we can't be blamed for their being stuck all day on the 
 Aureole." 
 
 " It's ten to one they see you setting the punt adrift, 
 and then there'll be a nice row." 
 
 " They won't. What would have them up at this hour 
 of the day? They knovv jolly well that the tide won't 
 be low enough to get into that hole at the bottom of 
 the cliff till about ten o'clock. They won't expect us 
 to stir till after eight, anyhow. But I can't stop here 
 arguing with you. You get a few bits of bread and 
 some butter and sardines and things together, and I'll 
 be off." 
 
 Meldon dropped over the side of the Spindrift and 
 struck out for the Aureole. He watched her keenly as 
 he swam, and saw no signs of life on board her. The 
 morning breeze ruffled the surface of the water 
 slightly. The tiny ripples beat against his chin and 
 cheek. The sun shone red through a faint haze. 
 Meldon swam joyously. He was filled with the spirit 
 of adventure and with delightful anticipations of 
 success. The Aureole lay with her bow pointing to 
 the shore. The punt was astern of her. Now and 
 then she pulled at her painter just sufficiently strongly 
 to lift it from the water and haul it taut. Then, while 
 the drops still fell from it, the rope grew slack again 
 and the punt ran up a little towards the yacht. The 
 gurgling wash of the ripples against her side was 
 pleasant to hear. Meldon gripped her by the stern, 
 steadied himself, and lay almost flat on the water with 
 his legs near the surface to avoid the suction of the 
 punt. Then with a sharp jerk of his arms he raised 
 himself till hi chest touched the gunwale. He climbed 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 cautiously on board, loosed the painter from the ring 
 in the bow and lay still for a minute or two, watching 
 the distance between him and the 'Aureole widen 
 slowly. The breeze was light, and the punt did not 
 drift very fast. Still, she moved towards the mouth of 
 the bay. Sir Giles and Langton were apparently 
 sound asleep. Meldon slid quietly into the water 
 again and started on his return journey to the Spin- 
 drift. Now and then he turned over on his back 
 and swam for a few yards with his eyes fixed on the 
 Aureole. There was no sign of awakening on board of 
 her. 
 
 He climbed into the Spindrift by the bight of rope 
 he had left hanging over the side for his accommoda- 
 tion. 
 
 " Major," he said in a delighted whisper, " the coup 
 has come off. Where's my shirt? Isn't it extraordi- 
 nary the way things move about during the night. I 
 could have sworn I left it on the end of my bunk. 
 Ah! I have it. Now the sooner we're off the better. 
 Slip the breakfast into the punt and get in yourself. 
 Go on, man. If you want to argue, argue when we're 
 on shore. We haven't a minute to lose. I wouldn't 
 trust that beast Langton not to sneak up in his pyjamas 
 to have a look at us. He did yesterday." 
 
 Major Kent, grumbling and protesting, was hustled 
 into the punt. Meldon followed him and paddled briskly 
 to the shore. There was no one, not even Mary Kate, 
 on the pier when they reached it. 
 
 " Now," said Meldon, " get that punt ashore and fold 
 her up. We're going to take her with us." 
 
 " Why should we drag the punt ? We'll only be cut- 
 ting her to pieces on the rocks." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 163 
 
 "Why? Because in the first place, as you'd see if 
 you troubled yourself to think for a single instant, if 
 we leave her here some fool will go off to the Aureole 
 in her when those fellows begin to shout for help. In 
 the next place, because you can't swim, and we'll want 
 her to carry you up the channel to the bottom of the 
 cliff. I must say that these collapsible punts, beastly 
 as they are to row in, have certain good points. We 
 couldn't have carried the ordinary wooden boat all round 
 the island. Just you fold her up while I go over to the 
 curragh there on the shore." 
 
 Major Kent lifted the punt out of the water and folded 
 her flat. Then he looked up and saw Meldon, with four 
 oars on his shoulders, going up the hill towards Higgin- 
 botham's house. 
 
 " What are you doing? " he called. 
 
 " I found four oars," said Meldon, " and I'm going 
 to put them in through one of the windows of Higgin- 
 botham's house. Nobody will think of looking for them 
 there. I wish to goodness you wouldn't shout at 
 me like that. You'll waken every man on the island 
 before you've done, to say nothing of Sir Giles and Lang- 
 ton." 
 
 The Major pursued Meldon up the hill and seized him 
 by the arm. 
 
 " J. J," he said earnestly, " I call this theft." 
 
 He had the true English respect for law in spite of 
 the fact that both him and his father had spent their 
 lives in Ireland. The very thought of an unhallowed 
 interference with property shocked him inexpressi- 
 bly. 
 
 "You may call it arson if you like," said Meldon, 
 who had nothing but Irish blood in his veins, "or 
 
164 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 malicious injury, or agrarian outrage, or intimidation. 
 I don't care if you call it cattle-driving or even boy- 
 cotting. I'm going to stow the oars away all the same. 
 I can't have the owners of the curragh rowing off to 
 the Aureole and putting Sir Giles on shore as soon as 
 our backs are turned." 
 
 Meldon breasted the hill and reached the iron hut. 
 He tried each of the four windows in turn. They were 
 all bolted. With the end of one of the oars he delib- 
 erately smashed a pane of glass. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, don't," said the Major. 
 
 " I must ; Higginbotham will probably grumble, but 
 that can't be helped. He'd no right to go away and 
 leave his house barred and bolted as if he was afraid of 
 burglars." 
 
 " He very well might be afraid of burglars when you're 
 about." 
 
 " Now look here," said Meldon as he shoved the 
 oars through the broken pane, " I don't mind your 
 being abusive, not the least bit. You've been calling 
 me a liar and a burglar and other bad names since 
 ever I brought you to this island. I haven't resented 
 it a bit and I don't. But I tell you what I do dislike, 
 and that's your abominable unreasonableness. I can't 
 bear men who are carried away by mere words and 
 don't stop to think about the meaning of what they 
 say. What is burglary? Isn't it taking a man's own 
 things out of his house when he's not looking? You 
 agree to that definition, I suppose. Very well. What 
 am I doing? I'm putting other people's things into a 
 man's house when he's not looking. Now that's just 
 the exact, bang opposite to what burgling is. There- 
 fore, I'm not a burglar. In fact, I'm the very an- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 165 
 
 tithesis of a burglar. You may not know what an an- 
 tithesis is, but " 
 
 " I do know, so you need not trouble to explain." 
 
 " Very well, I'll pursue my line of reasoning. 
 Burglary is wrong. You hinted that yourself a 
 minute ago. But the antithesis of wrong is right. 
 What I'm doing is the antithesis of burglary. 
 Therefore " 
 
 " There's no need to go on talking that rot," said the 
 Major. " It doesn't impress me in the least." 
 
 " I feared it wouldn't. Never mind, Major, even if 
 you don't pocket a single doubloon and I'll be greatly 
 surprised if you're not weighed down with them before 
 morning, but even if you don't pocket one, you're getting 
 a liberal education. The things I've told you about ge- 
 ology, entomology, theology, ethics, and philosophy in 
 general, since we came to this island would set up an 
 ordinary professor handsomely." 
 
 Meldon slung the folded punt across his shoulders, 
 took a last look at the Aureole and started to tramp up 
 to the head of the path which led down the cliff to the 
 western beach of the island. Major Kent, with the 
 paddles, the rowlocks, and the basket which contained 
 the breakfast, followed him. The inhabitants of Inish- 
 gowlan are not early risers. A few women peered out 
 through the doors of the cabins. Nobody attempted 
 to speak to them or follow them. Neither Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat nor Mary Kate appeared at all. Meldon 
 and the Major walked rapidly. At the top of the cliff 
 they paused. 
 
 " We're pretty safe now," said Meldon, " and we'll take 
 a few minutes' rest, but we won't breakfast till we're 
 down among the rocks." 
 
i66 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 He swung the punt off his shoulders as he spoke, sat 
 down and wiped his brow. 
 
 " If I'm not mistaken," said the Major, " there's some 
 one on the deck of the Aureole now." 
 
 Meldon stood up and looked eagerly. 
 
 "There is," he said. "You're quite right. See 
 now, they're both on deck. Well, they can stay 
 there." 
 
 "What'll they do now?" 
 
 " Shout, I should think. I can't myself see what els 
 there is for them to do. Sir Giles might swim, but 
 it's not likely the other fellow can. That sort of man 
 never does anything really useful. Anyway, if they do 
 swim, they can't carry all their tackle with them for 
 getting down the cliff. All the same, I think we'll move 
 on a bit." 
 
 "I'm inclined to go back to them," said the Major. 
 
 " I don't like After all, they've not done anything 
 
 to us." 
 
 " It's not what they've done so much as what they want 
 to do which makes me determine to keep them there. 
 Recollect, Major, they're after the treasure." 
 
 " Well, haven't they as good a right to it as we have ? 
 I like to play fair." 
 
 "They have not as good a right as we have. I 
 deny that entirely. Think of the use those fellows 
 would make of the treasure if they got it. You told 
 me yourself that Sir Giles was a bad hat so bad that 
 his own father left the family property away from 
 him, as much of it as he could. Langton's no better. 
 You heard what Higginbotham said about his 
 drinking, and he must have a hideously corrupted 
 mind after poking about for years among those manu- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 167 
 
 scripts in the College Library. You don't know how 
 bad most manuscripts are. That's the reason they 
 remain manuscripts. No decent printer would set them 
 up in type. I tell you, if those two fellows get a hold 
 of the treasure, they'll spend it in ways that will make 
 the Spanish captain shiver in his grave, and I don't 
 expect he was exactly a squeamish man. It's nothing 
 but a public duty to prevent their getting a hold of the 
 money, even if we never touch a penny of it our- 
 selves." 
 
 " I don't see what all that, even if it's true, has to do 
 with their right to take the treasure if they can, always 
 supposing there is any treasure to take." 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't qualify everything you say witK 
 a whole string of ' if s/ It robs your conversation of 
 piquancy. But come on now. We must get out of this. 
 They might see us with their glasses. When we've had 
 our breakfast, I'll explain to you why Sir Giles has no 
 right to the treasure." 
 
 They made their way down the steep path and reached 
 the rocks at the foot of the cliff. Meldon laid the punt 
 down carefully. The basket was unpacked and a suffi- 
 cient supply of bread, butter, sardines, potted meat, and 
 jam was spread out on a flat stone. For a while Mel- 
 don ate without speaking. An early swim, a long walk, 
 and an hour or two of anxious excitement, whet a man's 
 appetite for breakfast. Major Kent began to hope that 
 he would escape an explanation of his own moral right 
 to the treasure. He was disappointed. Meldon, his ap- 
 petite sated, lit a pipe and leaned back comfortably against 
 a rock. 
 
 " We may as well take it easy for a bit," he said. 
 "The tide won't be out far enough to let us get into 
 
.168 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 that hole for another two hours, and it won't take us 
 more than one to get there." 
 
 He smoked contentedly for a few minutes and then 
 began to speak again 
 
 "You read the Times, Major, so I suppose you take 
 some interest in politics." 
 
 " I know that the Nationalists are blackguards, if that's 
 what you mean." 
 
 " I'm not talking now of these petty little local squab- 
 bles. When I say politics, I refer to the great stream 
 of European thought, to the wide movements discernible 
 among all civilised peoples." 
 
 He waved his hand towards the ocean to indicate the 
 immensity of his subject. 
 
 " I don't know anything about that," said the Major. 
 
 " I thought you wouldn't, but you ought to. Are you 
 aware that our modern civilisation is on the very verge 
 of a bust-up? No? Well, it is. The Governments of 
 the various countries are, generally speaking, unaware of 
 the catastrophe which threatens them; or, if they guess 
 anything, are foolish enough to think that they can stifle 
 an explosion by sitting on the safety-valve. You catch 
 my meaning, I suppose ? " 
 
 " You appear to mean," said the Major, " that all 
 Kings, Princes, Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Parlia- 
 ments are fools." 
 
 " Precisely. They all are." 
 
 " It's a pity you don't tell them so." 
 
 " I will. I've always intended to tell the first ond 
 I met. Look at Russia. Choke-full of anarchists and 
 nihilists. Look at Portugal. They're murdering kings 
 and rioting in churches. Look at Finland, admitting 
 women to their Parliament; not that I object to 
 
SPANISH GOLD 169 
 
 women in the way you do, Major. I think they're 
 all right in their proper place. I only quote Finland 
 as an instance of the general tendency I'm speaking of. 
 Look at New York, with its Socialist riots. Look at 
 Austria-Hungary, or Italy, or any other country you 
 choose to name. Look at the Labour Members in the 
 English House of Commons. Now what does all that 
 mean?" 
 
 " I don't know in the least, and I don't care. 
 Things were always pretty much the same. There's 
 nothing new in the condition of the world that I can 
 see." 
 
 " You may not see it, but there is. We're on the 
 brink of a revolution the biggest thing of the kind 
 that there has ever been. And the cause of it is the 
 concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people who 
 are using it for purely selfish purposes. Any student of 
 sociology will tell you the same thing. It's a well-known 
 fact. Now what is our duty under the circumstances? 
 What is the duty of every well-disposed person who 
 values the stability of civilisation? Obviously it is to 
 prevent the selfish, depraved, and fundamentally immoral 
 people from acquiring wealth ; to see that only the well- 
 intentioned and public-spirited get rich. That is the gen- 
 eral principle. Now apply it to the particular case we are 
 discussing. On this island there is untold wealth in solid 
 gold." 
 
 " I suppose," said the Major, " that I shall come to 
 believe that in the end. I hear it so often that I shan't 
 be able to help myself." 
 
 " There are just two parties who stand a chance of 
 possessing 'themselves of it. There's no one else in the 
 running for this particular scoop." 
 
170 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " What about Higginbotham and Thomas 
 O'Flaherty?" 
 
 " You might just as well say, What about Mary Kate 
 and Michael Pat? They're not in it. Higginbotham 
 is a Government official, to mention only one point, and 
 is so much occupied in ameliorating the condition of the 
 people that he simply wouldn't have time to spend the 
 money, even if he got it. No. There's us and there's 
 Sir Giles and Langton. That's all. Now, ex hypothesi 
 you know what I mean by ex hypothesi, don't 
 you?" 
 
 " I do, but don't let that stop you if you have any 
 fancy for explaining it. I shan't mind listening." 
 
 "Your suggestion, Major, as one of the members of 
 our District Council said the other day, when some one 
 accused them all of being drunk, is quite uncalled for. 
 It's only for your sake, to quiet your conscience about 
 the treasure, that I'm going into the matter at all. My 
 own mind is quite clear. I haven't any doubts about Sir 
 Giles." 
 
 " If that's all, you needn't go into it any more." 
 
 " All right. I won't. Have another sardine ? 
 There are two left in the tin. Now that I've finished 
 my pipe I feel that I could do with one of them. In 
 fact I could manage them both if you don't want the 
 other." 
 
 " I don't." 
 
 " Sure ? Oh, well, rather than let them go to waste, 
 I'll eat them." 
 
 He took them one after the other by their tails, and, 
 throwing his head back, dropped them into his mouth. 
 With his penknife he scraped out of the pot Some frag- 
 ments of jam which lingered near the bottom. There 
 
SPANISH GOLD 171 
 
 was no more bread. Having finished this scanty second 
 breakfast he stood up and stretched himself. Then he 
 announced that it was time to start. Major Kent rose 
 unwillingly and took up the paddles. Meldon swung the 
 punt on to his back again. 
 
 " No sign of old T. O. P. this morning," he said. 
 " We've successfully given him the slip. I expect he's 
 cowering in his gloomy cabin, meditating on fresh ways 
 of defeating Higginbotham. Sir Giles and Langton have 
 probably stopped shouting for help by this time. They're 
 too hoarse, I expect, to shout any more. They are now 
 reduced to gnashing their teeth silently and muttering 
 frightful oaths. Higginbotham is searching for bacilli 
 on Inishmore. Poor Higginbotham ! I'm afraid it'll be 
 a dull and trying day for him. But we'll make it up to 
 him afterwards. Mary Kate is, I hope, doing her duty by 
 her little cousin Michael Pat and making things a bit 
 easier for young Mrs. O'Flaherty. When we get back 
 to Ballymoy, Major, we'll send a good stiff bottle off to 
 the old woman. Remind me of that, will you, in case it 
 slips my memory. On the whole, things look rosy for 
 you and me a great deal rosier than I ever recollect them 
 looking before. Come along now, we've no more time to 
 waste." 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IT is not easy to carry a punt even the kind of 
 punt that folds up over rugged and slippery 
 rocks. Meldon stumbled frequently and fell three 
 times. He cut his elbow and reopened the rent in 
 the knee of his trousers which he had laboriously 
 sewed up after his first expedition round the coast 
 of the island. His cheerfulness was untouched by 
 misfortune. His energy carried him far ahead of 
 Major Kent, who had the lighter load. Even when 
 he found himself on his hands and knees among 
 seaweed and pools he preserved the punt from injury. 
 He arrived at last at the point on which he had 
 decided that the Spanish galleon must have struck, 
 scrambled round it and reached the ledge of rock 
 above the channel. He was breathless, dishevelled, 
 and so hot that he wished very much to swim 
 rather than row to the hole in the cliff. He put 
 the temptation aside. Major Kent, labouring heavily 
 with the paddles over one shoulder, appeared at the cor- 
 ner. Meldon unfolded and stretched the canvas punt. 
 He made fast the rope, which he had used as a sling, 
 to the ring in her bow, and launched her very carefully. 
 He insisted on embarking at once when the Major ar- 
 rived. 
 
 172 
 
SPANISH GOLD 173 
 
 " No sign of any one swinging down over the cliff 
 to-day," he said, looking over his shoulder as he paddled 
 up the channel. " Sir Giles is otherwise and perhaps] 
 less innocently occupied. He is certainly swearing fright- 
 fully. He is very likely at this moment cutting Lang- 
 ton's throat." 
 
 " It isn't Langton's throat he'll cut. Langton didn't 
 set his punt adrift." 
 
 " I dare say he'd rather cut mine if he could, but 
 in the sort of temper he's in at present it'll be almost 
 necessary for him to murder somebody at once." 
 
 " But what has he against Langton ? " 
 
 " Oh, you can't always account for deeds of that sort. 
 They are what the French call crimes of passion. By 
 the way, did you ever read Lombroso on Crime? You 
 ought to. He's a tremendous fellow for the physical 
 characteristics of the criminal. I'd like him to have 
 
 a look at Sir Giles. I expect Hullo! here we 
 
 are!" 
 
 The punt grounded at the very mouth of the hole. 
 There were still a few inches of water in the entrance, 
 and the little beach on which Sir Giles had stood two 
 days before was not yet uncovered. Meldon stepped 
 out of the punt, knelt down, and peered into the 
 hole. 
 
 " It's all right," he said. " We can get in easily. H 
 doesn't matter if we get a little wet." 
 
 He took the painter of the punt in his hand and 
 crawled into the hole. In a couple of minutes his voice, 
 sounding hollowly, reached Major Kent. 
 
 " Come along. It's only the entrance that's really 
 narrow. It's quite a large cave when you're inside, 
 and not nearly so dark as you'd expect. You 
 
174 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 have to crawl more than a few yards in the water. 
 The ground rises rapidly and it's quite dry where I 
 am now." 
 
 Major Kent disliked very much the idea of crawling 
 even a few yards through water; but he knew that it 
 was no use holding back. Meldon was quite capable of 
 emerging and dragging him by main force into the hole. 
 Very .unwillingly he stooped down and crept for- 
 ward. 
 
 " It's not a bad place, is it ? " said Meldon, " and a 
 pretty good size. You can sit straight up here and 
 hardly bump your head at all." 
 
 He made fast the painter of the punt to a large stone 
 as he spoke. " She'll be all safe. The tide will leave 
 her high and dry in another half-hour. I wonder 
 how far this cave goes? I expect the Spanish captain 
 dumped his treasure right at the far end. Come 
 along." 
 
 It was difficult to get along at first. Walking over 
 large round stones which roll about when trodden 
 on is never easy. It becomes extremely troublesome 
 when it is only possible to proceed either on all 
 fours or bent double when the roof is so low that 
 an unguarded movement results in a blow on the 
 head. But things got pleasanter after a little while. 
 The ground sloped rapidly upwards. Meldon and 
 the Major were soon above high-water mark. Then 
 the stones on which they walked were no longer 
 so smoothly rounded and were much less liable to 
 roll. 
 
 " What beats me about this cave," said Meldon, " is 
 that it isn't darker. It doesn't seem to get any darker 
 either as we go on." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 175 
 
 The roof rose higher. It became possible to walk up- 
 right. Major Kent stretched himself at last to his full 
 height and looked round him. The rocks on each side 
 had widened out, leaving a space between them. They 
 and the roof were quite visible in a dim light which came 
 from the depths of the cave. 
 
 "It's interesting to think," said Meldon, "that the 
 last human feet which trod these stones were those of 
 the Spanish captain and his crew. It must have been 
 tough work dragging the cases of bullion along through 
 that narrow part. We can't have much farther to go 
 now. I see what looks like the end in front of 
 us. But I can't understand where the light comes 
 from." 
 
 He went on a few yards and then gave a sudden 
 shout a kind of cheer half-smothered by excitement. 
 He ran forward, stumbling desperately among the 
 loose stones, but picking himself up and bounding 
 on with outstretched arms. Major Kent, stirred at 
 last out of his grumbling indifference, ran after him. 
 Meldon stopped abruptly. Before him, laid on a 
 slab of rock at the side of the cave, were two iron chests. 
 Their lids stood wide open. They were perfectly 
 empty. 
 
 "Good God!" said Major Kent, "there was 
 something here after all, I must say, J. J., I didn't 
 believe in your treasure till this minute, and now it's 
 gone." 
 
 " It's gone," said Meldon, " but it can't be gone far. 
 Every argument for believing that it's still on the island 
 holds good. Don't you lose heart. What we've got to 
 do now is to turn to and find out where it's gone and 
 who's got it." 
 
176 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 He took another glance at the empty chests and then 
 looked on from where they lay. 
 
 " This isn't the end of the cave," he said. " It takes 
 a sharp bend to the right. See how the light, coming 
 round the corner strikes that wall. Let's go on and see 
 where the cave does end and where the light comes 
 from." 
 
 " I don't see," he said as he stumbled on, " how Sir 
 Giles can have got it. I've watched him like a cat does 
 a mouse. The only time he got away from me was yes- 
 terday afternoon when he went up to Thomas O'Flaherty 
 Pat's house, and I had Mary Kate watching him then. 
 Great Scott ! What's that ? " 
 
 The crash of some heavy body falling on the boulders 
 set the whole cave echoing. Meldon stood still in aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 " If you ask me," said the Major, " I should say that 
 the roof's falling in. We'd better clear out of this while 
 we can." 
 
 " I don't care," said Meldon, " if the roof does fall in. 
 I don't care if the whole island crumbles into bits and 
 comes rattling down on top of my head. I'm going to 
 see this business through." 
 
 He went forward very cautiously, peering in front of 
 him, until he reached the place where the cave bent to 
 the right. He stood still for a minute. Then he turned 
 and went back to where the Major waited. 
 
 " It's Sir Giles," he said. " He's come down through 
 the roof, and he's standing there looking up while 
 something is being lowered to him. I have it, Major. 
 The hole in Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's field! Mary 
 Kate told me they were looking at it yesterday. What 
 an ass I was not to think of it before! Of course it 
 
SPANISH GOLD 177 
 
 Opens straight down into this cave. It couldn't do any- 
 thing else. Why didn't I think of that sooner? Come 
 on, now, Major. As Sir Giles is here, we may as well 
 have a talk with him." 
 
 Taking Major Kent by the arm he stepped forward, 
 turned the corner, and came in sight of Sir Giles Buck- 
 ley, who was lighting a lantern. Meldon recognised it 
 at once as the riding-light of the Aureole. 
 
 " Good-morning, Sir Giles," he said. " You won't need 
 that lantern. The cave is quite light." 
 
 Sir Giles started and turned quickly. 
 
 " Oh, it's the damned parson," he said. " I more than 
 half expected you'd be here." 
 
 " I don't mind owning," said Meldon, " that I did not 
 expect to see you. You swam ashore from the yacht, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " No, you didn't expect me. I dare say you thought 
 you had me boxed up for the day when you played that 
 fool's trick, setting my punt adrift." 
 
 " It's my punt, not yours. But as we're on the sub- 
 ject of the punt, how did you get ashore? " 
 
 " As soon as I found she was gone," said Sir Giles, 
 " I got up the mainsail and went after her. Any one 
 who wasn't a perfect ass would have known before- 
 hand that I'd do that. You must think that everybody 
 in the world is as big an idiot as you are yourself. Did 
 you suppose that I'd sit still and whistle hymn-tunes un- 
 til you came back and put me ashore ? " 
 
 " I didn't suppose anything of the sort. I thought 
 you'd swear every oath you knew five or six times over 
 and then cut Langton's throat." 
 
 " You drivelling imbecile ! " 
 
 " Go on," said Meldon, " call me any other name that 
 
178 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 occurs to you. When you've finished perhaps you'll 
 walk down the cave a bit and I'll show you whether I'm 
 a fool or not." 
 
 He turned and walked away, followed by Major Kent. 
 Sir Giles eyed them doubtfully for a minute and then 
 went after them. When he reached the slab of rock on 
 which the chests lay, Meldon turned and made sure that 
 Sir Giles was at his heels. With a dramatic gesture he 
 pointed to the chests. 
 
 " Empty, Sir Giles," he said. " Look in and make sure. 
 Quite empty." 
 
 "Have you got the stuff?" said Sir Giles. "Damn 
 it! you can't have it. I don't believe you've touched it." 
 
 " Believe whatever you like, but there's one thing you 
 may bet on with perfect safety. Whether we've got it 
 or not, you haven't, and what's more you never will. 
 Now, who's the fool, the ass, the idiot, and the drivelling 
 imbecile ? " 
 
 Sir Giles glared at Meldon. It was evident that he. 
 was in an extremely bad temper. His face became 
 first white and then crimson. He opened his mouth 
 to speak, but no sound issued from it except a sort of 
 hoarse gurgle produced apparently far down in his 
 throat. 
 
 "Don't let your temper get the better of you," said 
 Meldon. " It's foolish, besides being bad form. And 
 remember what I said to you the day we first met about 
 swearing. Excuse my reminding you of that, but I can't 
 help thinking that you mean to curse as soon as ever 
 you can. You have all the appearance of a man who is 
 struggling to find expression for strong feelings of some 
 kind." 
 
 Sir Giles stuttered out an oath. Having succeeded 
 
SPANISH GOLD 179 
 
 in giving utterance to one intelligible syllable, he 
 obtained all at once complete command of his powers 
 of speech. He poured forth a series of voluble im- 
 precations and expressed hopes for Meldon's future 
 which would have startled the author of the mcst 
 emphatic of the Psalms. He was interrupted by a 
 loud crash from the depths of the cave. He started 
 violently. 
 
 "What the devil's that?" 
 
 " It's uncommonly like the noise you made yourself 
 when you came down through the roof. My own opin- 
 ion is that it's Langton. He'd be likely enough to drop 
 in to see that you didn't sneak off with any more than 
 your own proper share of the treasure. Come along and 
 we'll see." 
 
 He went up again to the place where he had met Sir 
 Giles. Langton, who had descended very much more 
 rapidly than he wished, sat on a stone nursing a bruised 
 knee. 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Langton," said Meldon. " Fm 
 delighted to see you. I hope you haven't hurt your- 
 self. As far as I could judge by the noise, you must 
 have come down rather hard. However, I'm glad 
 you're here. You must take Sir Giles in hand and look 
 after him a bit. He very nearly had a fit just now. 
 You ought to see to it that he takes some kind of cool- 
 ing medicine three times a day bromides, or castor- 
 oil, or something of that sort. Any chemist would make 
 the mixture up for you if you told him the kind of thing 
 you wanted. Or if there's no good man in your neigh- 
 bourhood try one of those soothing syrup stuffs you'll 
 see advertised in Christmas numbers. I dare say they're 
 all right. I hesitate as a rule about recommending patent 
 
i8o SPANISH GOLD 
 
 medicines, but you can see for yourself that your friend 
 wants something." 
 
 " What the devil brings you here ? " said Sir Giles. " I 
 told you to wait at the top for me. Who's going to haul 
 us up now, I'd like to know ? " 
 
 Langton, still nursing his knee, sat in sulky silence. 
 Meldon looked up at the hole above his head. Peer- 
 ing over the hedge of it was the benevolent and aristo- 
 cratic face of Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. His long white 
 beard drooped down. His white hair completed a kind 
 of moonlight aureole round his head. His face expressed 
 a mild and entirely courteous interest in the doings of the 
 men below him. 
 
 " It's all right," said Meldon to Sir Giles. " There's 
 a dear old fellow up there, a great friend of mine, who'll 
 do what he can to pull you up, I'm sure. He's not very 
 strong, and he may not be able to haul you quite the 
 whole way, but he'll do his best. And you're taking risks 
 in any case. I see you're using the throat halyard of my 
 boat again in spite of the warning I gave you the day 
 before yesterday. If I were you I'd make Langton lie 
 down flat underneath you as you go up. He'd break 
 your fall a good deal in* case " 
 
 " Come out of this," said Sir Giles, taking the rope 
 from Langton and fitting it round his own armpits. 
 " I'll go mad if I have to stand here any longer listen- 
 ing to that ape gibbering. Hi ! you above there ! Haul 
 up!" 
 
 "I forgot to mention," said Meldon, "that the old 
 gentleman doesn't understand a word of English. My 
 v friend Higginbotham, who has important business to 
 transact with him, is learning Irish on purpose to be able 
 to carry on the necessary conversations." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 181 
 
 Sir Giles plucked furiously at the rope and shouted 
 again. 
 
 " There's no use trying to make him understand by 
 shouting," said Meldon, " he's not the least deaf. The 
 best thing you can do is to wait here quietly till the 
 Major and I get away in our punt and back to the far 
 side of the island. It'll only take us about two hours. 
 You and Langton can talk things over together while 
 you're waiting. I'll send up a little girl called Mary Kate 
 who understands both languages. You can tell her what 
 you want and she will explain it to her grandfather. But 
 I do ask you to remember, Sir Giles, that she's a little girl. 
 I don't want to rub it in about your language, but there 
 are some things that a girl of ten years old you know 
 what I mean." 
 
 Sir Giles stooped and took up a large stone in both 
 hands. 
 
 " If you utter another word," he said, " I'll bash in 
 your skull with this." 
 
 " If you'd keep calm," said Meldon, " you'd run much 
 less chance of bursting a blood-vessel. You ought to be 
 able to realise that I'm giving you sound advice and speak- 
 ing for your own good." 
 
 Sir Giles raised his two hands above his head with 
 the stone between them. He held it there, poised for 
 several seconds, taking aim at Meldon. The rope round 
 his armpits tightened suddenly. He was lifted from his 
 feet. He dangled in mid-air, hands and feet hanging 
 down. When he was about eight feet above the ground 
 he ceased to ascend. He writhed and wriggled, with the 
 result that he began to spin rapidly round and round at 
 the end of the rope. 
 
 " If I were you," said Meldon, " I'd drop that stone. 
 
182 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 It adds considerably to your weight. I told you before 
 that old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat is anything but a 
 strong man. Fm sure he's doing his best, but it looks 
 to me as if he was pretty nearly played out. It's trying 
 him too high to make him hoist both you and the stone 
 at once. I'll send it up to you afterwards if you really 
 want it. But I can't see what use it will be to you. 
 There are plenty of stones up above. The island is 
 simply covered with stones, every bit as good a r that 
 one." 
 
 The ascent commenced again and continued jerkily with 
 many pauses, until at last Sir Giles disappeared through 
 the hole. 
 
 " I think," said Meldon to the Major, " that you and 
 I may as well be dodging off home now. Goodbye, 
 Mr. Langton. We can't be of any further use to you. 
 Sir Giles will pull you up all right. If I were you I 
 wouldn't be in too great a hurry to go. His temper 
 won't be by any means improved by the argument 
 he'll have with Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. You can't 
 imagine how trying it is to argue with a man who 
 can't understand a word you say and can't speak so 
 as you can understand him. That old fellow has just 
 one sentence, something about ' Ni beurla.' He says it 
 over and over again in a way that would get on the 
 nerves of a cow. It takes a cool man to stand it. 
 Higginbotham gets quite mad, and even I have to keep 
 a tight grip on my temper. The effect on Sir Giles 
 will be frightful. And he has that stone with him. 
 He would insist on clinging to it. Goodbye, Mr. 
 Langton." 
 
 Meldon and Major Kent went down the cave to- 
 gether. The tide had completely ebbed, and it was pos- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 183 
 
 sible to crawl through the entrance without getting wet. 
 The punt, which lay high and dry, was carried down to 
 the water and launched. Meldon, as usual, took the pad- 
 dles. 
 
 " One thing," he said thoughtfully, " seems perfectly 
 clear. Sir Giles hasn't got the treasure. If he had he 
 wouldn't have got into such a beastly temper." 
 
 "That coup of yours about the punt didn't precisely 
 come off," said the Major with a grin. " He rather had 
 you over that, I thought." 
 
 Meldon ignored the taunt. 
 
 " The question now is," he said, " who has the treasure? 
 The position seems to me to require some thinking out. 
 It is becoming complex. I'm glad we have a long, quiet 
 afternoon before us." 
 
 They reached the shelf of rock, disembarked, and folded 
 up the punt. 
 
 " I wish," said Meldon, " that you hadn't insisted on 
 my finishing off those two sardines this morning. I'm 
 very hungry now." 
 
 " You'll get nothing more to eat till you get back 
 to the Spindrift, unless you happen to come across 
 that crab which you lost the first day we were 
 here." 
 
 " I wouldn't eat a raw crab any way. I'm not a 
 cannibal. Come on and let us get back as quick as we 
 can." 
 
 The disappointment of the morning and the sharp 
 appetite which followed hard work in the open 
 air affected even Meldon's temper. He spoke no more 
 for some time, but scrambled doggedly along, only 
 a few yards ahead of Major Kent. Gradually the 
 extreme interest of the treasure-hunt took possession 
 
184 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 of his mind again and restored his cheerful self- 
 confidence. 
 
 "You'll admit now," he said, "that I reasoned per- 
 fectly correctly about that treasure. The Spanish captain 
 hid it precisely where I said he did." 
 
 " There was only one point you went wrong about," 
 said the Major. " You said the treasure was in that 
 cave and it wasn't." 
 
 " It was, originally. I couldn't be expected to fore- 
 see that some one would remove it and hide it again 
 in another place. That's what has happened. Now that 
 I know it's gone, I'll turn to and reason out where it's 
 gone to. If it hasn't got any rightful owner we'll get 
 it yet." 
 
 " What do you mean by a rightful owner? " 
 
 " A live man," said Meldon. " If it was removed and 
 hidden by some fellow that's dead and gone, then he's no 
 more the owner of it now than the Spanish captain is. 
 If there is a rightful owner, of course we're done. I'm 
 not going to commit robbery even for the sake of getting 
 that treasure." 
 
 " I'm glad to hear that anyway." 
 
 " Now, there are just two people at present alive who 
 can possibly have that treasure. One is Higginbotham. 
 The other is Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. I'll take Higgin- 
 botham first." 
 
 " What's the good of that? If Higginbotham has it he 
 will keep it." 
 
 " Still it would be interesting to know. In favour 
 of Higginbotham it may be urged that he has evidently 
 made a very careful investigation of this island. You 
 see how glibly he came out with that information 
 about the pliocene clay. Now would he have known 
 
SPANISH GOLD 185 
 
 that if he hadn't, so to speak, got at the inside of the 
 island? That sort of clay doesn't lie about on the sur- 
 face for everybody to see." 
 
 "Why shouldn't it?" 
 
 " Oh, just because those fundamental things never 
 do lie on the surface. A fellow wouldn't find out 
 what your backbone consisted of by just looking at your 
 skin, would he? He'd have to put you on an operating 
 table and cut a hole in you to find that out. It's just 
 the same with islands. Higginbotham knew that this 
 island consisted of pliocene clay. Very well, it follows 
 that he must have gone beyond the surface of the 
 island." 
 
 " Prompted, I suppose, by an unholy curiosity." 
 
 " Prompted by a stern sense of duty. He is 
 employed by the Government at an enormous salary, 
 no doubt, to find out all he can about this island. 
 Naturally he either digs a hole or goes down some 
 hole already in existence. Now, so far as we know, 
 Thomas O'Flaherty's hole is the only one there is. 
 Therefore it seems likely that Higginbotham went 
 down it. If he did he found the treasure and has it 
 now." 
 
 " It's all the same to us who has it. As I said before, 
 if Higginbotham has it, he'll keep it." 
 
 " I didn't say Higginbotham had it. So far I've only 
 considered what is to be said in favour of what I may call 
 the Higginbotham hypothesis." 
 
 " Don't start on hypotheses again, J. J. I'm sick of the 
 sound of the word." 
 
 " I can't help it if you are. The proposal of an 
 hypothesis is the only known method of finding out 
 truth. I tell you, Major, I've gone pretty deep into 
 
186 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 these philosophic and scientific questions, and I know 
 what I'm talking about. You ask any first-rate man and 
 he'll tell you the same thing. Now, against Higginbotham 
 there's just one broad fact to be urged, but I candidly 
 confess it seems to me to be decisive. Higginbotham 
 isn't the kind of man who would come upon hidden treas- 
 ure even by accident. He has too much of the official 
 mind. It's almost impossible to think of a Congested 
 Districts Board official gloating over Spanish gold. That 
 puts Higginbotham out of court. There remains Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat. You'll recollect that I've always had 
 my suspicions of that old man. The way he followed 
 us the first day we went round the cliffs was peculiar, 
 to say the least of it. His persistent refusal to speak 
 a word of English points to the fact that he has some- 
 thing or other to conceal. I shall have to go into his 
 case very carefully indeed. But here we are at the 
 foot of the path. I can't climb up a cliff with a 
 punt on my back and talk at the same time. I'll have to 
 put off discussing old O'Flaherty till we get to the 
 top." 
 
 After a quarter of an hour's hard work Meldon reached 
 the head of the path, drew a long breath; and took a look 
 at the bay below him. Then he laid down the punt hur- 
 riedly and turned to the Major, who was still struggling 
 upwards. 
 
 " There's another yacht in the bay," he said " a big 
 steam yacht." 
 
 Major Kent hurried over the last few steps of the 
 climb. 
 
 "You're right," he said. "There is. If I'd known 
 that this was to be a kind of Cowes week at Inish- 
 gowlan I wouldn't have come near the place. I 
 
SPANISH GOLD 187 
 
 suppose the next thing will be some fellow coming 
 round and asking us to act on the committee of a 
 regatta." 
 
 " That's a biggish boat," said Meldon. " The man who 
 owns her must be pretty wealthy. Now what has he come 
 here for?" 
 
 " Treasure-hunting, of course," said the Major. " No- 
 body comes here for anything else." 
 
 " Don't jump at conclusions in that way. There's noth- 
 ing so unphilosophic as forming conclusions on insufficient 
 evidence, and in this case you simply haven't any evidence 
 at all." 
 
 " It wasn't a conclusion," said the Major. " It was an 
 hypothesis. Of course if you've any better hypothesis to 
 offer " 
 
 " I have. I believe, in fact I'm practically certain, that 
 the men on that yacht are Members of Parliament." 
 
 " You said that about Sir Giles and you turned out to 
 be wrong." 
 
 " That's just what makes me so sure I'm right 
 now. I'll explain it to you in one minute. You've some- 
 times played pitch-and-toss, I suppose I mean as a 
 boy." 
 
 " I have." 
 
 " Very well. Now suppose the other fellow tossed the 
 penny. You called heads and it turned out that you were 
 wrong. You'd be practically certain it was tails, wouldn't 
 you? There you are, then. I was wrong about Sir 
 Giles being a Member of Parliament, therefore 
 I'm nearly sure to be right when I say that this man 
 is." 
 
 " I don't see that. Not that it's any use arguing with 
 you." 
 
i88 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " If you don't see a simple thing like that, it isn't any 
 use." 
 
 " All the same I will," said the Major. " Just for once 
 I'll show you what rot you talk. You said it must be 
 either heads or tails." 
 
 " I didn't. I said it was nearly sure to be either heads 
 or tails. The penny might light in a mud heap and stand 
 on its edge." 
 
 " It's no use reasoning with you." 
 
 " It isn't," said Meldon, " if you won't reason right." 
 
 " Look here. You say if it isn't heads it's nearly sure 
 to be tails. But suppose he tossed another coin. That's 
 what's happened in this case." 
 
 " It's just the same with any coin. There are only two 
 sides to the best of them." 
 
 " What I mean is this. Here's a fresh yacht altogether. 
 Quite a different yacht from the Aureole with quite differ- 
 ent people in her. It isn't a case of heads or tails at 
 all." 
 
 " I don't in the least see what you mean, and I 
 don't believe you see yourself. But you may talsei 
 my word for it, Major, that there is at least one 
 Member of Parliament in that yacht. There may 
 be more, but I'll bet my hat there's one. Don't 
 bother your head any more about that. These 
 things only make you irritable. We'll get along 
 back to the Spindrift and have a bite to eat. Then 
 I'll take a long, quiet afternoon thinking things 
 out. If I get them sized up to my satisfaction I 
 may go on shore before tea and have a look at 
 Michael Pat. In the evening I'll find out how Higgin- 
 botham got on with the tuberculosis bacilli on Inish- 
 more." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 MELDON stretched himself along the seat 
 of the Spindrift's cabin. He had dined 
 very heartily off tinned corned beef and potatoes, 
 followed by several cups of strong tea. He had 
 lit his pipe and felt happy. The unpleasant duty 
 of washing up the plates and cups was post- 
 poned until after the evening meal, when one job 
 could be made of all the crockery dirtied during the 
 day. 
 
 "There's one good thing about a morning's work 
 such as we have had," he said. " Even if you haven't 
 pulled off the exact thing you went out to do, you 
 enjoy your dinner and your smoke afterwards tre- 
 mendously. I expect there are fellows at this moment 
 sitting in London restaurants and clubs and places 
 smoking half-crown cigars after gorging themselves with 
 iced souffles and pates of various kinds, who aren't get- 
 ting half the satisfaction that I am out of this pipe of 
 common twist." 
 
 Major Kent grunted. He was disinclined for philo- 
 sophic argument. 
 
 " There's something in one of Horace's odes about its 
 not being Sicilian feasts but hard work and a good 
 Dnscience which bring real satisfaction. I can't recollect 
 
 189 
 
igo SPANISH GOLD 
 
 the exact words, but if I had a Horace I could find 
 them." 
 
 " I wouldn't give Horace too much credit for the 
 remark, even if he made it. An obvious truth of that 
 sort must, I should think, have been discovered by 
 Adam." 
 
 "Adam couldn't have discovered it," said Meldon. 
 " As long as he had a quiet conscience he did no work, 
 and when he had to work his conscience was at him 
 day and night." 
 
 Major Kent allowed this to pass without contradic- 
 tion. 
 
 " Besides," said Meldon, " I doubt very much 
 whether Adam understood the use of tobacco. If he 
 did I don't see how the secret could have died out. It 
 was Sir Walter Raleigh, as well as I recollect, who 
 brought Hullo ! there's somebody hailing us." 
 
 " Spindrift abay I* 
 
 The shout floated through the open skylight of the 
 cabin while Meldon spoke. 
 
 " I wonder if that's Higginbotham back from Inish- 
 more," said Major Kent. " I hope he hasn't brought 
 a consumptive patient with him. If he has you may 
 deal with him yourself, J. J. It's no affair of mine and 
 I won't help." 
 
 " I hope it's not Higginbotham ; I don't feel in the 
 mood for dealing with Higginbotham just now. It's 
 as likely as not that he'd be unreasonable about the 
 bacillus hunt." 
 
 The hail was repeated: "Ahoy there! Spindrift 
 ahoy!" 
 
 "It can't be Higginbotham," said Meldon. "He 
 always comes on board without hailing. It must be 
 
SPANISH GOLD 191 
 
 that new Member of Parliament off the steam 
 yacht." 
 
 " Let's lie low then and pretend we're not here." 
 
 " Nonsense. Members of Parliament are often ex- 
 tremely amusing. We'll have him in and listen to him 
 talking about the Irish problem. Get out the whisky, 
 Major. These fellows all drink whisky when they come 
 to this country, whether they actually like it or not. I'll 
 fetch him on board." 
 
 He went on deck and discovered to his surprise 
 Sir Giles Buckley and Langton in the Aureole's punt 
 alongside. 
 
 "Hullo!" he said. "What brings you here? If 
 it's a new throat halyard you want you may as well 
 go straight back again. We haven't a rope to spare, 
 and I warned you to be careful about the one you 
 had." 
 
 "The throat halyard is all right," said Sir Giles. 
 " We haven't come about that. We want to have a little 
 chat with you and your friend." 
 
 He smiled as he spoke. Langton also smiled. It was 
 evident that they had agreed together to be civil and 
 agreeable. 
 
 " Very well," said Meldon. " Come on board if you 
 like." 
 
 His tone was not very cordial. Sir Giles evidently 
 felt the necessity of making some sort of an apology 
 before he accepted the invitation. 
 
 " I should like to explain," he said, " that I'm sorry 
 for losing my temper with you in the cave this 
 morning. I don't make any excuse for myself, of 
 course, but " 
 
 "It's all right," said Meldon more graciously. "In 
 
192 SPANISH GOLD: 
 
 fact, I ought to apologise first. I played you rather a 
 shabby trick with the punt this morning/' 
 
 "Oh, that was nothing. We didn't mind, did we, 
 Langton ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," said Langton. " We laughed." 
 
 " Come below," said Meldon, " and have a drink." 
 
 Sir Giles and Langton seated themselves at one side 
 of the table in the Spindrift's cabin. Major Kent and 
 Meldon faced them. A bottle of whisky and two 
 syphons of soda-water stood on the table. Tumblers 
 were filled and the ceremony of pledging each other duly 
 performed. Then Sir Giles spoke : 
 
 " Langton and I were naturally disappointed this 
 morning when we found that those chests in the cave 
 were empty. I think I may take it for granted that you 
 two gentlemen were disappointed too, though I'm bound 
 to say you didn't show it." 
 
 " You may take it that way for the sake of argument, 
 if you like," said Meldon cautiously. " But I don't ad- 
 mit that we have any reason to be disappointed. It all 
 depends on who emptied the chests." 
 
 " Come now," said Sir Giles. " We quite understand 
 that you don't want to give yourselves away. But we 
 don't believe you have the treasure. In fact, we're 
 certain you haven't. I think it will pay you better in 
 the long run to be straight with us. We're all of us 
 out of it at present. What I've come to propose is 
 this. Let us join forces and find the stuff wherever it 
 is. I don't deny that Langton and I would rather 
 keep it all to ourselves. So, no doubt, would you and 
 your friend. But we'd rather go shares with you than 
 lose it altogether. And that's what will happen if we 
 spend our time chasing each other round and round 
 
SPANISH GOLD 193 
 
 this wretched little island as we've been doing for the 
 last three days." 
 
 " What do you propose to do ? " said Meldon. 
 
 " First of all I would suggest that we table all the 
 information we have about the treasure. Well tell all 
 we know and you'll tell all you know. To show you 
 that we mean to play fair I don't mind speaking 
 first." 
 
 " Very well," said Meldon. " We agree to that. Go 
 ahead with your story and I'll tell ours afterwards." 
 
 " After my father's death," said Sir Giles, " I got the 
 family place, house, furniture, and so forth, and 
 precious little else. I gave orders to have the furniture 
 sold and the lawyer sent me out a bundle of old 
 papers. I wouldn't have bothered myself about the 
 papers at all, only that just at the time they came I had 
 nothing in the world to do. I don't mind owning that 
 I was pretty well stony-broke just then and was stuck 
 in a lodging in a dirty little French town. I read the 
 papers. Among them was an old diary kept by my 
 grandfather. It appears that he paid a visit to this 
 island in 1798, and " 
 
 " You needn't go into that," said Meldon. " We have 
 papers ourselves which give us all the information your 
 grandfather had. Major Kent's grandfather kept a log, 
 as he called it, of that expedition. I expect that both 
 the old gentlemen wrote down pretty much the same 
 thing all they knew about the matter." 
 
 "I didn't think anything of it," went on Sir Giles, 
 "until I happened to meet another stony-broke 
 Englishman." 
 
 " I'm an Irishman," said Langton. 
 
 " It's all the same thing," said Sir Giles. 
 
194 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Langton. " It's not the 
 same thing at all." 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Meldon, " if this conference is 
 to go on it must be conducted on strictly non-political 
 lines." 
 
 " What ! " said Sir Giles. 
 
 " My friend, Major Kent," said Meldon, " is a strong 
 Unionist, and I can't allow him to be compromised by 
 any political arguments of a Nationalist kind." 
 
 Sir Giles gaped at him. 
 
 " I wasn't talking politics," he said. " I wasn't think- 
 ing about politics. As a matter of fact, I don't care a 
 hang for any politics." 
 
 " Langton was talking politics," said Meldon, " and 
 you were arguing with him. He said he was an Irish- 
 man and you said he wasn't. Any one with any 
 experience of this country knows where that sort of 
 talk leads to. The Major can't be expected to stand 
 it. He's a Unionist, one of the loyal and oppressed 
 minority, and it isn't right to outrage his feelings by 
 introducing politics into what ought to be a simple busi- 
 ness discussion." 
 
 Sir Giles checked what was evidently a strong 
 impulse to curse. 
 
 " Go on with your story," said Meldon. " I'm sorry 
 for having to interrupt, but do try and keep politics 
 out of it. You were just telling us that you met 
 Langton." 
 
 " I met Langton," said Sir Giles, " who was also at 
 the time stony-broke. We got yarning together, 
 having nothing better to do. Naturally we talked a 
 good deal about money, the thing both our minds 
 were dwelling on, because we hadn't got any. I told 
 
SPANISH GOLD 195 
 
 Langton the story of my grandfather's diary and the 
 Spanish treasure on Inishgowlan. It turned out that 
 Langton had read somewhere " 
 
 " In Trinity College Library/' said Langton, " before 
 I resigned my post there." 
 
 " Resigned ? " said Meldon with a grin. 
 
 "If politics are barred/' said Sir Giles, " so are 
 offensive remarks. I have agreed to respect Major 
 Kent's feelings about the Union Jack, though I'm blest 
 if I understand how they come in. You must not insult 
 my friend Langton." 
 
 " I apologise," said Meldon. " We'll be non-sectarian 
 as well as non-political." 
 
 " You tell this part, Langton/' said Sir Giles. 
 
 "There's not much to tell. While I was in the 
 College Library I came across an old manuscript 
 written in Spanish. It was a good deal mutilated in 
 fact there was neither beginning nor end to it. It 
 appeared to be the log of one of the Armada captains. 
 It began with an account of being shipwrecked on a 
 small island off the west coast of Ireland. The island 
 wasn't named, nor was the situation described, but he 
 told how he and his crew left the island in two 
 curraghs. Their own boats were, I suppose, destroyed. 
 Before they went " 
 
 " They hid the treasure," said Meldon. 
 
 "Precisely. They couldn't take it in the curraghs. 
 They meant to go back for it." 
 
 " Did he mention the hole in Thomas O'Flaherty's 
 field?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I see. I could not understand how you got at that. 
 This is most interesting. Go on." 
 
196 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " There isn't much more to tell/' said Sir Giles. 
 " We put our stories together " 
 
 " Oh, but I want to hear what happened to the 
 Spaniard/' said Meldon. 
 
 " It doesn't matter about him. The log broke off 
 abruptly, didn't it, Langton? What we did was, put 
 our stories together. We made up our minds that the 
 thing was good enough to try for. The sale of the 
 furniture in Ballymoy House brought in some money. 
 I sent Langton over to hire a small yacht. He knew 
 nothing about boats, and you stuck him badly with 
 your old Aureole." 
 
 " I don't like that," said Meldon. " We agreed to be 
 non-sectarian and you go introducing religion." 
 
 " I only said you stuck him over the boat. There's 
 nothing religious about that remark." 
 
 " There is," said Meldon. " To stick a man is a 
 form of swindling, and swindling is a distinct breach 
 of one of the Ten Commandments. There isn't a sect 
 of Christians in the world which doesn't profess to have 
 more or less respect for the Ten Commandments, there- 
 fore your remark about sticking Langton over the boat 
 is in the highest degree sectarian and a distinct infringe- 
 ment of the terms of our agreement." 
 
 " I've knocked about a good deal in my day," said 
 Sir Giles, " and I've met lots of queer people. In fact, 
 I thought I'd met every kind of man there is in the 
 world. But I'm hanged ' hanged ' isn't swearing, it's 
 only a form of emphasis I'm hanged if I ever met quite 
 as queer a fellow as you." 
 
 "What do you propose to do now?" said the Major. 
 
 It was his first contribution to the discussion, and the 
 other three men looked at him in surprise. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 197; 
 
 " Before going into that," said Sir Giles, " we'd likcS 
 to hear what you know about the treasure. You've had 
 our story. Let us hear yours." 
 
 "We've no story," said Meldon. "We had the 
 information in Major Kent's grandfather's log, pretty 
 much the same as what you got from your grandfather. 
 That's all." 
 
 Sir Giles and Langton looked at each other. Sus- 
 picion was in both their faces. 
 
 " We had nothing else to go on," said Meldon. 
 
 " Then how did you find the cave ? " 
 
 " By inductive reasoning," said Meldon. " By care- 
 ful observation, and a proper use of what is called the 
 scientific imagination." 
 
 " If you won't be open and above-board with us," 
 said Sir Giles, " there's no use our talking to you. 
 It's neither fair nor honourable of you to keep a card 
 up your sleeve in this way when we've laid all ours on 
 the table." 
 
 " I've got no card up my sleeve," said Meldon. " As 
 a matter of fact I don't play cards, so I wouldn't be 
 likely to have one about me up my sleeve or anywhere 
 else. I haven't played cards since I left college, and even 
 there I didn't cheat." 
 
 " Do you expect us to believe that out of all possible 
 places on this island where that treasure might have 
 been hidden you lit on that cave straight off by 
 accident ? " 
 
 " I don't expect you to believe anything of the sort. 
 What I said was, that I arrived at the cave by a 
 process of reasoning. You may not be able to reason 
 yourself, but there's no use denying that other people 
 can." 
 
I 9 8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Strikes me as a bit thick, that. What do you say, 
 Langton?" 
 
 " It's a damned lie," said Langton. 
 
 " Now, if I said a thing like that to either of you," 
 Said Meldon, "you'd lose your tempers and try to 
 break my head with a stone. But I happen to have some 
 self -control/' 
 
 "I believe," said the Major to Meldon, with a broad 
 grin, " that this is the first time you've spoken the truth 
 since we came to this island, and it's the only time you 
 haven't been believed." 
 
 "We may as well go," said Sir Giles. "There's 
 nothing to be gained by staying here arguing with men 
 who have no sense of honour or decency." 
 
 Langton gulped down the remains of his whisky and 
 water and stood up. A sharp bump against the yacht's 
 side shook him into his seat again. 
 
 " What the devil's that? " said Sir Giles. 
 
 " It must be Higginbotham," said Major Kent. " He 
 always does that. He's come on board twice before, 
 and each time he has rammed the yacht as if he were 
 a torpedo specially paid to knock holes in the sides of 
 ships." 
 
 " I'll fetch him down," said Meldon. " Don't go 
 yet, Sir Giles. You'll like Higginbotham when you 
 meet him, I'm sure. He'll want to talk to you about 
 tuberculosis. He's frightfully keen on every kind of 
 consumption, and he's got it into his head that you're 
 interested in the subject." 
 
 He rose to go on deck. Before he succeeded in getting 
 clear of the table, Higginbotham descended rapidly, 
 legs first, into the cabin. He was flushed, eager, and 
 evidently in a condition of great nervous excitement. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 199 
 
 " I've just got back," he said. " I came off at once 
 = I haven't a minute to spare to tell you that the 
 Granuaile is in." 
 
 "What is the Granuaile?" said Sir Giles. 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon. I didn't see that you were 
 here, Sir Giles. I was going over to your yacht to tell 
 you. I thought you'd like to know. It will be time 
 enough to give my report later on, won't it? I can't 
 stay now." 
 
 "What's the Granuaile?" said Sir Giles. "Let's get 
 that first." 
 
 " She's the C.D.B. yacht, and the " 
 
 " For God's sake, man, don't talk alphabetical 
 riddles. What's the A.B.C. ? " 
 
 "C.D.B.," said Meldon mildly, "stands for Con- 
 gested Districts Board. Mr. Higginbotham is part of 
 the C.D.B. He's the Board's representative on Inish- 
 gowlan." 
 
 " The Chief Secretary is here," said Higginbotham. 
 " I can't possibly stay. I'm expecting him up at my 
 place every minute. I must be there to meet him. 
 Goodbye. I suppose you'll come ashore soon and pay 
 your respects. Goodbye for the present." 
 
 He backed rapidly up the companion ladder and 
 disappeared. A minute later there was a sound of 
 scraping and another bump against the yacht's side. 
 
 "Am I to understand," said Major Kent, "that the 
 Chief Secretary is on the island?" 
 
 " Apparently he is," said Meldon. " I wasn't ex- 
 pecting him, but now that he has turned up we 
 must all try to make his stay as pleasant for him as 
 possible." 
 
 "Who is the Chief Secretary?" said Sir Giles. 
 
SPANISH GOLD: 
 
 " What is he Chief Secretary of? Is it that A.B.C. thing 
 which the last lunatic talked about ? " 
 
 " You've lived abroad," said Meldon, " or else you'd 
 know that the Chief Secretary is the principal boss of 
 the Government of this country. In fact, he is the 
 Government. He's far and away a bigger man than the 
 Lord-Lieutenant, although he doesn't wear such good 
 clothes or look so ornamental. He varies, of course, 
 from time to time according to circumstances, that is 
 to say, according to whether the English people think 
 they'd like a Conservative or a Liberal for Prime 
 Minister. At present he's a man called Willoughby 
 the Right Honourable Eustace Willoughby, M.P. By 
 the way, Major, I told you there was sure to be a 
 Member of Parliament on that steam yacht. I turned 
 out to be right, you see, in spite of your sneers. I 
 don't happen to have met this Chief Secretary, but they 
 tell me he's not a bad sort of man in private life. I 
 shall look forward to having some quiet chats with him 
 while he's here." 
 
 " You won't get them," said the Major, in a deter- 
 mined tone. " I'm off at once." 
 
 " Whatever he is, he has nothing to do with us," 
 said Sir Giles. " We've got our own business to see 
 to. Come now, Mr. Meldon, before we go, you may 
 as well tell us the truth about how you found that 
 cave." 
 
 " There's no use my repeating what I've said before. 
 I've told you all we know about the matter. If you 
 don't choose to believe me, don't believe me. I can't 
 help it." 
 
 Sir Giles scowled at him. 
 
 "Very well, Mr. Parson, if you are a parson, which 
 
SPANISH GOLD 201 
 
 I doubt. We've offered to run this business in partner- 
 ship with you and to go shares. It was a fair offer and 
 you've refused it. You won't have me for your friend. 
 You'll find me a nasty enemy to deal with. I tell you 
 straight I mean to handle that treasure before I leave the 
 island. Come along, Langton." 
 
 Meldon went on deck with them, saw them into their 
 punt, and waved a cheerful farewell as they rowed away. 
 Sir Giles, who was rowing and faced the Spindrift, 
 scowled in reply, and, to Meldon's intense delight, began 
 to swear. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 MAJOR KENT came on deck. He was agitated 
 and showed signs of being in a hurry. With- 
 out speaking a word to Meldon he went to the end of 
 the boom and began to unlace the cover of the mainsail. 
 Meldon watched him take it off, roll it up, and stow it 
 in the sail locker. 
 
 " What are you at now ? " said Meldon. 
 
 " I'm going to get up sail and go home at once. I'll 
 listen to no more talk from you, J. J. I've had too much 
 of it already. My mind is made up. Til not stay in 
 this place another hour/' 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Why ? " said the Major, who was casting loose the 
 ties which bound the mainsail to the boom. " Do you 
 ask me why? Didn't you hear Higginbotham saying 
 that the Chief Secretary is on the island. I'm not 
 going to stay here to be made look like a fool over all 
 the lies you've told. What could I say to the man if I 
 met him?" 
 
 " Do you mean about the geological survey ? " 
 
 "Yes, I do. Of course I do. And about Sir 
 Giles being a medical missionary or whatever the 
 fool lie you told about him was. And about the 
 National Board of Education building a school, 
 
 202 
 
SPANISH GOLD 203 
 
 Higginbotham is sure to tell him everything you've 
 said." 
 
 " You may make your mind quite easy so far as the 
 school is concerned. That is no business of the Chief 
 Secretary's. The Education Board is the one thing 
 in the country that he has no control over. That came 
 out in Parliament some time ago, as you ought to 
 remember." 
 
 " Well, what about the geological survey ? You 
 said Fd been sent here by the Chief Secretary and 
 the Lord-Lieutenant. And what about Sir Giles and the 
 tuberculosis ? " 
 
 " Take one thing at a time, Major, like a good 
 man, and don't confuse yourself. You're afraid he'll 
 be angry because I said he sent you here to make 
 a geological survey of the island. I assure you he 
 won't even be surprised. You don't know these 
 Cabinet Ministers, and of course it's hard for you 
 to realise the life they lead. Now just listen to me. 
 That man, Eustace Willoughby, spends his time 
 mainly in receiving deputations. Hundreds and 
 hundreds of deputations wait on him every week. 
 There isn't a public body in the country, not so 
 much as an Association of Licensed Publicans, 
 which doesn't send two or three deputations to 
 each Chief Secretary. I expect he's receiving one 
 this moment, headed by Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. 
 To every deputation he says something something 
 nice and sympathetic. He must, you know. That's 
 how he earns his salary. Now I put it to you as 
 a sensible man, can he possibly recollect all the 
 things he's said to all the deputations? He can't, 
 of course. You put a bold face on it. Speak to 
 
204 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 him civilly but without any show of timidity. Tell 
 him that you went to him as part of a deputation 
 from the Irish Incorporated Geological Surveyors 
 Institute, and that he sent you to this island. He 
 won't know in the least what you're talking about, 
 but he'll be afraid to give himself away by saying 
 he doesn't remember. He'll believe what you say. 
 He must." 
 
 " I don't mean to give him the chance. I'm going 
 home." 
 
 "Well, if you funk it," said Meldon, "though I 
 can't myself see what there is to be afraid of, I'll 
 go on shore and talk to him. I'll settle the matter all 
 right. You can trust me not to let you in for anything 
 unpleasant." 
 
 " I wouldn't trust you an inch. I've trusted you a 
 great deal too much already, and look at the fix I'm in. 
 I'm going straight home." 
 
 " Think of the treasure." 
 
 " I wouldn't give you the chance of talking to the 
 Chief Secretary for 500 down. You'd make things 
 worse than they are at present, if that's possible." 
 
 " Do think of the treasure," said Meldon per- 
 suasively. 
 
 " There's no treasure, or if there is, somebody elsei 
 has got it. I tell you I wouldn't stay here to be 
 ballyragged and bullied by a Chief Secretary for all the; 
 treasure in the world." 
 
 " I'm not putting the matter before you in that 
 selfish way at all. Do try to be a little altruistic, 
 Major. I am speaking about the treasure from the 
 point of view of public duty. Either Higginbotham 
 or Thomas O'Flaherty Pat, probably the latter, has 
 
SPANISH GOLD 205 
 
 the treasure. But that scoundrel Sir Giles means 
 to steal it. I could see it in his eye that he meant 
 to, and so could you. Sir Giles, as you know, is a 
 man who sticks at nothing. He wanted to murder 
 me to-day with a stone. We're the only people on 
 the island who are in a position to interfere with his 
 abominable plans. If we go away he'll do poor old 
 Thomas O'Flaherty out of his hard-earned gold. 
 Hell rob Mary Kate of her inheritance, of the money 
 that would make life brighter for her. I tell you, 
 Major, I've got to be very fond of that little girl and 
 I won't let the thing be done. Or, if it's Higgin- 
 botham that has the money, Sir Giles will go at 
 night and cut Higginbotham's throat. You wouldn't 
 like to think of poor Higginbotham lying all gory 
 in a lonely grave in Inishgowlan, far from his family 
 burying-place and the associations of his innocent 
 youth. It'll be your fault, remember, if he does, 
 because you won't stay here to protect him. I should 
 think that Higginbotham's ghost, a most objectionable- 
 looking spectre, will haunt you to the end of your life. 
 And you'll richly deserve it." 
 
 Major Kent made no answer. He loosed the 
 halyard from the belaying pin at the foot of the 
 mast. 
 
 "You're still determined," said Meldon, "after all 
 I've said, to get up sail." 
 
 " Yes ; I'm going home." 
 
 " You may get up sail but you'll not go home." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because there's no wind, as you could have seen 
 for yourself long ago if you hadn't been off your head 
 with nervousness. It may amuse you to hoist the! 
 
 
206 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 sails and get up anchor, and then drift about, up and 
 down the bay, till night-time. The only result will 
 be that you'll go foul of the Aureole or the Granuaile. 
 If that's what you want to do, I'll help you, of course; 
 but I must say it seems to me a rotten way of spending 
 the afternoon." 
 
 Major Kent sat down on the deck and glared at 
 Meldon. 
 
 " Why couldn't you have told me that before," he 
 said, " instead of standing there and talking like a 
 born fool?" 
 
 " I preferred," said Meldon, " to appeal to your 
 higher nature first. I'd like to have seen you doing 
 your plain duty voluntarily. There's very little credit 
 in staying here simply because there's no wind to take 
 you away." 
 
 Major Kent smiled feebly. 
 
 " I give up," he said. " Say what you like to the 
 Chief Secretary; make any muddle you can. You'll 
 most likely land me in prison before you've done. You'll 
 certainly have every newspaper in the three kingdoms 
 making fun of us. I can't help it. I can do no more. 
 I don't even mean to try." 
 
 " You needn't ; I'll manage all right. All you have 
 to do is to keep cool and avoid fuss and excitement. 
 Come on shore and let us interview the Chief Secre- 
 tary at once. I expect we'll find him quite a reason- 
 able man. After all, a fellow can't climb right up to 
 the top of the tree, become a Chief Secretary, a Cabinet 
 Minister, and all that sort of thing, without being 
 more or less reasonable. As long as a man is reason- 
 able it's always quite easy to get^ on with him. The 
 people who kick up rows and make themselves un- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 207 
 
 pleasant are the smaller kind, the men with prejudices 
 and ridiculous conventional views. Willoughby must 
 have knocked about a good deal in his day. I know he's 
 been ragged a lot by Suffragettes, and that shakes a man 
 up. I expect we'll find him quite amusing/' 
 
 A boat pulled by two men with a coxswain in the 
 stern left the pier and headed for the Granuaile. Major 
 Kent saw her and pointed her out. 
 
 " Perhaps he's leaving at once," he said ; " the yacht 
 has steam up still." 
 
 Meldon got the glasses and took a long look at the 
 boat, following her in her course to the Granuaile. 
 
 "He's not in that boat," he said. "He wouldn't 
 be pulling an oar himself. That wouldn't be suitable 
 for a man in his position, and the fellow who's 
 steering is evidently one of the yacht's officers. He 
 has gold buttons on his coat. Besides, they'd be sure 
 to fly a white ensign, or whistle ' God Save the King,' 
 or make some kind of show if they had a Chief Secre- 
 tary on board; whereas that's just a plain, ordinary 
 boat." 
 
 He laid down the glasses and looked at the pier. 
 
 " I see a stranger standing there with Higginbotham," 
 he said ; " a plump, little man in light grey clothes 
 with a Panama hat. Give me the glasses again. He 
 has a small brown moustache and a thick, short nose* 
 I can see him distinctly. It's certainly the Right 
 Honourable Eustace Willoughby. I'd know him any- 
 where by his likeness to a cartoon there was of him in 
 Punch a couple of weeks ago. I wonder, now, why the 
 boat's going off and leaving him there ? " 
 
 He shifted his position and looked at the Granuaile 
 again. 
 
208 SPANISH GOLD; 
 
 " By Jove ! the yacht's getting up anchor and 
 hoisting the boat on the davits. She's off somewhere 
 in the dickens of a hurry. But why have they left the 
 Chief Secretary behind? What will he do? He 
 can't surely mean to stop the night in Higginbotham's 
 wigwam. There's only one bed, and I happen to 
 know that it's full of broken glass. It was just under- 
 neath the pane I smashed this morning when I hove 
 the oars in through the window. All the bits of glass' 
 went into the bed; I saw them. This is becoming 
 serious. The Granuaile is certainly off. He must 
 mean to sleep in Higginbotham's bed. He'll probably 
 lose his temper if he does. No man likes being cut 
 about the body with broken glass just as he's going off 
 to sleep. I wouldn't like it myself, and I expect it would 
 be perfect torture to a plump man like Willoughby. 
 What had I better do?" 
 
 " I don't know," said the Major. " I dare say you're 
 sorry now that there's no wind. I think if I were you 
 I'd go ashore and try to slip round some back way and 
 sweep out Higginbotham's bed before night." 
 
 " I won't do that. I hate sneaking, underhand ways 
 of doing things. Let us be gentlemen, Major, what- 
 iever else we are. We'll go ashore with our heads up. 
 We've nothing to be ashamed of." 
 
 "You may go by yourself. I won't. I'll stay on 
 the yacht till there's breeze enough to take her out of 
 this." 
 
 " Very well, I'll go alone. After all, the man is a 
 stranger here, and whether there's glass in his bed or 
 not we ought to try and cheer him up. Higginbotham 
 isn't very interesting. I'm sure he's boring Willoughby 
 already. I expect the poor man is feeling a bit lonely 
 
SPANISH GOLD 209 
 
 too, seeing the Granuaile go off. By the way, I wonder 
 where she's going to? She headed for the south point 
 of the island, and that looks rather as if she meant to 
 fetch Inishmore. I hope to goodness Higginbotham 
 hasn't been talking about Sir Giles and the tubercu- 
 losis. I'd like to have a chance of making a good 
 impression before I have to begin explaining that 
 business. I wish Sir Giles hadn't gone off in a 
 ridiculous huff. If we'd been friends I might have 
 got him to stand over the tuberculosis and it would 
 have been all right. The Chief Secretary couldn't 
 well contradict a baronet, whatever he might think 
 in his own mind. It isn't my fault Sir Giles took 
 offence the way he did. I was telling him the literal 
 truth. I couldn't start inventing a lot of lies just to 
 please him." 
 
 " I don't see why you couldn't. You've invented 
 plenty the last few days." 
 
 " I'm going on shore now," said Meldon. " I see 
 Willoughby and Higginbotham strolling up together 
 towards the hut. I don't suppose he's likely to go to 
 bed at this hour of the afternoon, but in case of accidents 
 I'll go at once." 
 
 " The only thing you seem to mind about is that 
 broken glass. It doesn't seem to me nearly so serious 
 as the other things." 
 
 " It isn't. Considered by itself, it isn't really serious 
 at all. The thing is that Higginbotham won't know 
 how it got there. He won't have any explanation 
 to offer. The Chief Secretary, gashed and bleeding, 
 will blame the wrong man. He'll think that Higgin- 
 botham has been playing off some new kind of apple- 
 pie bed on him and he'll be upset about it. That will 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 ruin Higginbotham's prospects in life. That's why 
 I'm anxious about the bed. I must get off at 
 once." 
 
 "Go on/' said the Major with a sigh. "The Lord 
 alone knows what you'll do when you get ashore. 
 Things can't be much worse, anyway." 
 
 "Don't be gloomy," said Meldon, as he got into the 
 punt. "Just trust me a little. I'm not at the end of 
 my resources yet, by any means. After all, what's a 
 Chief Secretary? I suppose he's only flesh and blood 
 like the rest of us. And besides, he's a migratory kind 
 of bird. He's here to-day, and back in his native 
 England to-morrow." 
 
 Higginbotham, his face white with anxiety and 
 distress, ran down the hill from his hut and greeted 
 Meldon as he came alongside the pier. 
 
 " Meldon," he said, " I'm awfully sorry, but you'd 
 better go back to the yacht at once. Don't come 
 on shore. Like a good man, go back. I can't tell 
 you how sorry I am about it all. He's frightfully 
 angry." 
 
 " Who's angry ? " said Meldon, stepping ashore 
 with the painter in his hand. " Do try to be in- 
 telligible, Higginbotham, and don't speak till you've 
 got your breath. I hate having things gasped out at 
 me. Who's angry?" 
 
 " The Chief Secretary." 
 
 "Has he gone to bed yet?" 
 
 "No, he hasn't. Why should he go to bed? He's 
 up at my place sitting on a chair. I left him just 
 for a moment when I saw you coming ashore. I 
 ran down to warn you, in case you thought of 
 coming up." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 211 
 
 " If he hasn't gone to bed/' said Meldon, " I don't see 
 that he's anything particular to be angry about." 
 
 " It's about Major Kent and the geological survey 
 of the island. He said he'd never heard of such a 
 thing in his life. He said a most unwarrantable use 
 had been made of his name. I can't tell you all he 
 said. He called it intolerable insolence. I give you 
 my word, Meldon, I wouldn't have mentioned the 
 matter if I'd had the slightest idea that you were only 
 pulling my leg. I really believed you. Why didn't you 
 tell me?" 
 
 " If I'd told you I shouldn't have pulled your leg. 
 What on earth would be the use of playing off a 
 spoof on a man and at the same time telling him you 
 were doing it? I wish you'd be reasonable, Higgin- 
 botham." 
 
 "Fortunately I didn't mention the National School 
 or Sir Giles Buckley. When I saw how things really 
 were, I dried up at once. I'm more sorry than I can 
 possibly tell you. Somehow I never thought " 
 
 "That'll do," said Meldon. "Don't go on apologis- 
 ing. I don't blame you in the least. You acted in a 
 perfectly natural way." 
 
 Meldon stooped and made fast the painter of the 
 punt. 
 
 " You're not coming ashore, are you ? " said Higgin- 
 botham. " Don't do it. Please don't. Go back to the 
 yacht." 
 
 " I'm going up to have a chat with the Chief 
 Secretary," said Meldon. 
 
 " But he won't speak to you, I know he won't. I tell 
 you he's simply savage." 
 
 "It's for your sake I'm going. I want to prevent 
 
212 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 your getting into trouble. I don't want to have your 
 prospects blighted on account of any misunderstanding 
 with the Chief Secretary." 
 
 " But I'm not in any trouble. I assure you he doesn't 
 blame me. He said so himself. It's only you he's 
 angry with." 
 
 " If he's not angry with you now, he very soon will 
 be. As soon as ever he gets into bed he'll be wanting 
 to tear you limb from limb, unless I go up and straighten 
 things out." 
 
 " But why? What has he to be angry with me 
 about?" 
 
 "You'll find that put as soon as he gets into 
 bed." 
 
 Meldon began to walk towards the hut. Higgin- 
 botham's fears came back on him and rendered him 
 almost inarticulate. He seized Meldon by the arm 
 and tried to hold him forcibly. With actual tears in 
 his eyes he entreated his friend to stop. He ejaculated 
 unintelligible sentences about " awful rows," " legal pro- 
 ceedings," and "public disgrace." He even mentioned 
 high treason. 
 
 " Don't be an ass," said Meldon. " I'm going up to 
 talk sense to that Chief Secretary. If everybody else 
 he comes across is as much afraid of him as you 
 are, it's quite time that somebody that isn't took him 
 in hand. Pull yourself together, Higginbotham, and 
 come up with me. I want you to introduce me. It's 
 awkward walking in on a man you've never met without 
 an introduction." 
 
 Higginbotham shook his head. After a last appeal 
 he sat down helplessly on the grass. Meldon walked on 
 towards the hut. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 /TT\HE Chief Secretary lay back in Higginbotham's 
 hammock-chair. There was a frown on his 
 face. His sense of personal dignity was outraged 
 by the story he had just heard. He had not been 
 very long Chief Secretary of Ireland and, though 
 not without a sense of humour, he took himself 
 and his office very seriously. He came to Ireland 
 intending to do justice and show mercy. He looked 
 forward to a career of real usefulness. He was 
 prepared to be opposed, maligned, misunderstood, 
 declared capable of every kind of iniquity. He did 
 not expect to be treated as a fool. He did not expect 
 that an official in the pay of one of the Government 
 Boards would assume as a matter of course that he 
 was a fool and believe any story about him, however 
 intrinsically absurd. He failed to imagine any motive 
 for the telling of such a story. There must, he assumed, 
 have been a motive, but what it was he could not even 
 guess. 
 
 Meldon entered the hut without knocking at the 
 door. 
 
 " Mr. Willoughby, I believe," he said cheerily. 
 "You must allow me to introduce myself since 
 
 213 
 
214 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Higginbotham isn't here to do it for me. My name is 
 Meldon the Rev. J. J. Meldon, B.A., of T.C.D." 
 
 The Chief Secretary intended to rise with dignity and 
 walk out of the hut. He failed because no one can 
 rise otherwise than awkwardly out of the depths of a 
 hammock-chair. 
 
 " Don't stir/' said Meldon, watching his struggles. 
 " Please don't stir. I shouldn't dream of taking your 
 chair. I'll sit on a corner of the table. I'll be quite 
 comfortable, I assure you. How do you like Inish- 
 gowlan, now you are here? It's a nice little island, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 Mr. Willoughby succeeded in getting out of the chair. 
 He walked across the hut, turned his back on Meldon, 
 and stared out of the window. 
 
 " I came up here to have a chat with you," said 
 Meldon. " Perhaps you wouldn't mind turning round. 
 I always find it more convenient to talk to a man who 
 isn't looking the other way. I don't make a point of 
 it, of course. If you've got into the habit of keeping 
 your back turned to people, I don't want you to alter it 
 on my account." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby turned round. He seemed to be 
 on the point of making an angry remark. Meldon 
 faced him with a bland smile. The look of irrita- 
 tion faded in Mr. Willoughby's face. He appeared 
 puzzled. 
 
 " It's about Higginbotham's bed," said Meldon, " that 
 I want to speak. It's an excellent bed, I believe, though 
 I never slept in it myself. But " 
 
 " If there's anything the matter with the bed," said 
 Mr. Willoughby severely, " Mr. Higginbotham should 
 himself represent the facts to the proper authorities." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 215 
 
 " You quite misunderstand me. And in any case 
 Higginbotham can't move in the matter because he 
 doesn't, at present, know that there's anything wrong 
 about the bed. By the time he finds it out it will be too 
 late to do anything. I simply ^want to give you a 
 word of advice. Don't sleep in Higginbotham's bed 
 to-night." 
 
 " I haven't the slightest intention of sleeping in it." 
 
 "That's all right. I'm glad you haven't. The fact 
 is" Meldon's voice sank almost to a whisper 
 "there happens to be a quantity of broken glass in 
 that bed. I need scarcely tell a man with your experi- 
 ence of life that broken glass in a bed isn't a thing which 
 suits everybody. It's all right, of course, if you're used 
 to it, but I don't suppose you are." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby turned, this time towards the door. 
 There was something in the ingenuous friendliness of 
 Meldon's face which tempted him to smile. He 
 caught sight of Higginbotham standing white and 
 miserable on the threshold. He made a snatch at the 
 dignity which had nearly escaped him and frowned 
 severely. 
 
 " I think, Mr. Higginbotham," he said, " that I should 
 like to take a stroll round the island." 
 
 " Come along," said Meldon. " I'll show you the 
 sights. You don't mind climbing walls, I hope. 
 You'll find the place most interesting. Do you care 
 about babies? There's a nice little beggar called 
 Michael Pat. Any one with a taste for babies would 
 take to him at once. And there's a little girl called 
 Mary Kate, a great friend of Higginbotham's. She's 
 the granddaughter of old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. 
 By the way, how are you going to manage about 
 
216 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Thomas O'Flaherty's bit of land? There's been a lot of 
 trouble over that ? " 
 
 Mr. Willoughby sat down again in the hammock-chair 
 and stared at Meldon. 
 
 " Of course it's your affair, not mine," said Meldon. 
 " Still, if I can be of any help to you, you've only got 
 to say so. I know old O'Flaherty pretty well, and I may 
 say without boasting that I have as much influence with 
 him as any man on the island." 
 
 " If I want your assistance I shall ask for it," said 
 Mr. Willoughby coldly. 
 
 "That's right," said Meldon. "I'll do anything I 
 can. The great difficulty, of course, is the language. 
 You don't talk Irish yourself, I suppose. Higgin- 
 botham tells me he's learning. It's a very difficult 
 language, highly inflected. I'm not very good at it 
 myself. I can't carry on a regular business conversa- 
 tion in it. By the way, what is your opinion of the 
 Gaelic League? " 
 
 A silence followed. Mr. Willoughby gave no opinion 
 of the Gaelic League. Meldon sat down again on the 
 corner of the table and began to swing his legs. Higgin- 
 botham still stood in the doorway. Mr. Willoughby, 
 with a bewildered look on his face, lay back in the 
 hammock-chair. 
 
 " I see," said Meldon, " that you've sent your yacht 
 away. That was what made me think you were going 
 to sleep in Higginbotham's bed. I suppose she'll be back 
 before night." 
 
 " Really " began Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 Meldon replied at once to the tone in which the word 
 was spoken. 
 
 "I don't want to be asking questions. If there's 
 
SPANISH GOLD 217 
 
 any secret about the matter you're quite right to keep 
 it to yourself. I quite understand that you Cabinet 
 Ministers can't always say out everything that's in 
 your mind. I only mentioned the steamer because 
 the conversation seemed to be languishing. You 
 wouldn't talk about Thomas O'Flaherty Pat's field, 
 and you wouldn't talk about the Gaelic League, 
 though I thought that would be sure to interest you. 
 Now you won't talk about the steamer. However, it's 
 quite easy to get on some other subject. Do you think 
 the weather will hold up? The glass has been dropping 
 the last two days." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby struggled out of the hammock-chair 
 again. He drew himself up to his full height and 
 squared his shoulders. His face assumed an expres- 
 sion of rigid determination. He addressed Higgin- 
 botham. 
 
 " Will you be so good as to go up to the old man you 
 spoke of " 
 
 "Thomas O'Flaherty Pat," said Meldon. "That's 
 the man he means you know, Higginbotham." 
 
 " And tell him " went on Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " If you're to tell him anything," said Meldon, 
 "don't forget to take some one with you who under- 
 stands Irish." 
 
 "And tell him," repeated Mr. Willoughby, "that I 
 shall expect him here in about an hour to meet Father 
 Mulcrone." 
 
 " I see," said Meldon. " So that's where the yacht's 
 gone. You've sent for the priest to talk sense to the 
 old boy. Well, I dare say you're right, though I think 
 we could have managed with the help of Mary Kate. 
 She knows both languages well, and she'd do anything 
 
2i8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 for me, though she has rather a down on Higgin- 
 botham. It's a pity you didn't consult me before send- 
 ing the steamer off all the way to Inishmore. However, 
 it can't be helped now/' 
 
 Higginbotham departed on his errand and shut the 
 door of the hut after him. The Chief Secretary turned 
 to Meldon. 
 
 "You've chosen," he said, "to force your company 
 on me this afternoon in a most unwarrantable 
 manner." 
 
 " I'll go at once if you like," said Meldon. " I only 
 came up here for your own good, to warn you about 
 the state of Higginbotham's bed. You ought to be 
 more grateful to me than you are. It isn't every man 
 who'd have taken the trouble to come all this way to 
 save a total stranger from getting his legs cut with 
 broken glass. However, if you hunt me away, of 
 course I'll go. Only I think you'll be sorry afterwards 
 if I do. I may say without vanity that I'm far and 
 away the most amusing person on this island at 
 present." 
 
 " As you are here," said Mr. Willoughby, " I take the 
 opportunity of asking you what you mean by telling 
 that outrageous story to Mr. Higginbotham. I'm not 
 accustomed to having my name used in that way and, 
 to speak plainly, I regard it as insolence." 
 
 " You are probably referring to the geological survey 
 of this island." 
 
 " Yes. To your assertion that I employed a man 
 called Kent to survey this island. That is precisely 
 what I do refer to." 
 
 " Then you ought to have said so plainly at first, and 
 not have left me to guess at what you were talking 
 
SPANISH GOLD 219 
 
 about. Many men couldn't have guessed, and then 
 we should have been rambling about at cross purposes 
 for the next hour or so without getting any further. 
 Always try and say plainly what you mean, Mr. 
 Willoughby. I know it's difficult, but I think you'll find 
 it pays in the end. Now that I know what's in your 
 mind, I'll be very glad to thrash it out with you. You 
 know Higginbotham, of course." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Intimately?" 
 
 " I met him this afternoon for the first time." 
 
 " Then you can't be said really to know Higgin- 
 botham. That's a pity, because without a close and 
 intimate knowledge of Higginbotham you're not in a 
 position to understand that geological survey story. 
 Take my advice and drop the whole subject until you 
 know Higginbotham better. After spending a few 
 days on the island in constant intercourse with 
 Higginbotham you'll be able to understand the whole 
 thing. Then you'll appreciate it. In the meanwhile 
 I'm sure you won't mind my adding, since we are 
 on the subject and it was you who introduced it- 
 that you ought not to go leaping to conclusions 
 without a proper knowledge of the facts. I said the 
 same thing this morning to Major Kent when he 
 insisted that you had come here to search for buried 
 treasure." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby pulled himself together with an 
 effort. He felt a sense of bewilderment and hopeless 
 confusion. The sensation was familiar. He had ex- 
 perienced it before in the House of Commons when 
 Irish Members of both parties asked questions on the 
 same subject. He knew that his only chance was. to 
 
220 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 ignore side-issues, however fascinating, and get back at 
 once to the original point. 
 
 " I'm willing," he said, " to listen to any explanation 
 you have to offer; but I do not see how Mr. 
 Higginbotham's character alters, or can alter, the fact 
 that you told him what I can only describe as an 
 outrageous lie." 
 
 " The worst thing about you Englishmen is that 
 you have such blunt minds. You don't appreciate the! 
 lights and shades, the finer nuances, what I may 
 perhaps describe as the chiaroscuro of things. It's 
 just the same with my friend Major Kent. By the 
 way, I ought to apologise for him. He ought to have 
 come ashore and called upon you this afternoon. It 
 isn't the want of loyalty which prevented him. He's a 
 strong Unionist, and on principle he respects his 
 Majesty's Ministers whatever party they belong to. 
 The fact is he was a bit nervous about this geological 
 survey business. He didn't know exactly how you'd 
 take it. I told him that you were a reasonable man 
 and that you'd see the thing in a proper light, but he 
 wouldn't come." 
 
 "Will you kindly tell me what is the proper light 
 in which to view, this extraordinary performance of 
 yours ? " 
 
 " Certainly. It will be a little difficult, of course, 
 when you don't know Higginbotham, but I'll try." 
 
 " Leave Mr. Higginbotham out," said the Chief 
 Secretary irritably. " Tell me simply this, were you 
 justified in making a statement which you knew to be 
 a baseless invention? How do you explain the fact 
 that you told a deliberate that you didn't speak the! 
 truth?" 
 
SPANISH GOLD 221 
 
 " I've always heard of you as an educated and 
 cultured man. I may assume therefore that you know 
 all about pragmatism." 
 
 " I don't." 
 
 " Well, you ought to. It's a most interesting system 
 of philosophy quite worth your while to study. I'm 
 Sure you'd like it if you understood it. In fact, I ex- 
 pect you're a pragmatist already without knowing it. 
 Most of us practical men are." 
 
 " I'm waiting for an explanation of the story you told 
 Mr. Higginbotham." 
 
 " Quite right. I'm coming to that in a minute. 
 Don't be impatient. If you'd been familiar with the 
 pragmatist philosophy it would have saved time. As 
 you're not though as Chief Secretary for Ireland I 
 think you ought to be I'll have to explain. Prag- 
 matism may be described as the secularising of the 
 Ritschlian system of theological thought. You under- 
 stand the Ritschlian theory of value judgments, of 
 course ? " 
 
 " No, I don't." Mr. Willoughby began to feel very 
 helpless. It seemed easier to let the tide of this 
 strange lecture sweep over him than to make any 
 effort to assert himself. 
 
 "Do you mind if I smoke?" he said. "I think I 
 could listen to your explanation better if I smoked." 
 
 He took from his pocket a silver cigar-case. 
 
 " Smoke away," said Meldon. " I don't mind in the 
 least. In fact I'll take a cigar from you and smoke too. 
 I can't afford cigars myself, but I enjoy them when 
 they're good. I suppose a Chief Secretary is pretty 
 well bound to keep decent cigars on account of his' 
 
 Dsition." 
 
222 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Mr. Willoughby handed over the case. Meldon 
 selected a cigar and lit it. Then he went on 
 
 " The central position of the pragmatist philosophy 
 and the Ritschlian theology is that truth and usefulness 
 are identical." 
 
 "Eh?" 
 
 " What that means is this. A thing is true if it turns 
 out in actual practice to be useful and false if it turns 
 but in actual practice to be useless. I dare say that 
 sounds startling to you at first, but if you think it over 
 quietly for a while you'll get to see that there's a good 
 deal in it." 
 
 Meldon puffed at his cigar without speaking. He 
 wished to give Mr. Willoughby an opportunity for 
 meditation. Then he went on 
 
 " The usual illustration the one you'll find in all the 
 text-books is the old puzzle of the monkey on the 
 tree. A man sees a monkey clinging to the far side of 
 the trunk of the tree. I never could make out how he 
 did see it, but that doesn't matter for the purposes of 
 the illustration. He, the man, determines to go round 
 the tree and get a better look at the monkey. But the 
 monkey creeps round the tree so as always to keep the 
 trunk between him and the man. The question is 
 whether, when he's gone round the tree, the man has 
 or has not gone round the monkey. The older philoso- 
 phies simply gave that problem up. They couldn't solve 
 it, but the pragmatist " 
 
 " Either you or I," said Mr. Willoughby feebly, 
 " must be going mad." 
 
 " Your cigar has gone out," said Meldon. " Don't 
 light it again. There's nothing tastes worse than a 
 relighted cigar. Take a fresh one. There are still 
 
SPANISH GOLD 223 
 
 two in the case, and I shall be able to manage along 
 with one more." 
 
 " Would you mind leaving out the monkey on 
 the tree and getting back to the geological survey 
 story?" 
 
 " Not a bit. If it bores you to hear an explanation 
 of the pragmatist theory of truth I won't go on with it. 
 It was only for your sake I went into it. You can just 
 take it from me that the test of truth is usefulness. 
 That's the general theory. Now apply it to this 
 particular case. The story I told Higginbotham 
 turned out to be extremely useful quite as useful as 
 I had any reason to expect. In fact, I don't see that 
 we could very well have got on without it. I can't 
 explain to you just how it was useful. If I did, I 
 should be giving away Major Kent, Sir Giles Buckley, 
 Euseby Langton, and perhaps Old Thomas O'Flaherty 
 Pat; but you may take it that the utility of the story- 
 has been demonstrated." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby made an effort to rally. He 
 reminded himself that he was a Cabinet Minister and 
 a great man, that he had withstood the fieriest elo- 
 quence of Members for Munster constituencies and 
 survived the most searching catechisms of the men from 
 Antrim and Down. He called to mind the fact that 
 he had resolutely said " No " to at least twenty-five per 
 cent, of the people who came to him in Dublin Castle 
 seeking to have jobs perpetrated. He tried to realise 
 the impossibility of a mere country curate talking him 
 down. He hardened his heart with the recollection 
 that he was in the right and the curate utterly in the 
 wrong. He sat up as well as he could in the hammock- 
 chair and said sternly 
 
224 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "Am I to understand that you regard any lie a? 
 justifiable if it serves its purpose? " 
 
 " Certainly not/' said Meldon ; " you are missing the; 
 whole point. I was afraid you would when you pre- 
 vented me from explaining the theory of truth to you. 
 I never justify lies under any circumstances whatever. 
 The thing I'm trying to help you to grasp is this: A 
 statement isn't a lie if it proves itself in actual practice 
 to be useful it's true. There now, you've let that 
 second cigar go out. You'd better light that one again. 
 I hate to see a man wasting cigar after cigar, especially 
 when they're good ones." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby fumbled with the matches and made 
 more than one attempt to relight the cigar. 
 
 " The reason," Meldon went on, " why I think you're 
 almost certain to be a pragmatist is that you're a 
 politician. You're constantly having to make speeches, 
 of course; and in every speech you must more or less; 
 say something about Ireland. When you are Chief 
 Secretary the other fellow, the man in opposition who 
 wants to be Chief Secretary but isn't, gets up and says 
 you are telling a pack of lies. That's not the way 
 he expresses himself, but it's exactly what he means. 
 When his turn comes to be Chief Secretary and you 
 are in opposition, you very naturally say that he's 
 telling lies. Now that's a very crude way of talking. 
 You are, both of you, as patriotic and loyal men, 
 doing your best to say what is really useful. If the 
 things you say turn out in the end to be useful, why 
 then, if you happen to be pragmatists, they aren't 
 lies." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby stuck doggedly to his point. Just 
 so his countrymen, though beaten by all the rules of 
 
SPANISH GOLD 225 
 
 war, have from time to time clung to positions which 
 they ought to have evacuated. 
 
 "A lie," he said, "is a lie. I don't see that you've 
 made your case at all." 
 
 "I know I haven't, but that's because you would 
 insist on stopping me. If you'll allow me to go back 
 to the man who went round the tree with the monkey 
 on it " 
 
 " Don't do that. I can't bear it." 
 
 " Very well. I won't. I suppose we may consider 
 the whole matter closed now and go on to talk of 
 something else." 
 
 " No. It's not closed," said Mr. Willoughby with a 
 fine show of spirited indignation. " I still want to 
 know why you told Mr. Higginbotham that I sent 
 Major Kent to make a geological survey of this island. 
 It's all very well to talk as you've been doing, but 
 a man is bound to tell the truth and not to deceive inno- 
 cent people." 
 
 "Look here, Mr. Willoughby," said Meldon, "I've 
 sat and listened to you calling me a liar half a dozen 
 times, and I haven't turned a hair. I'm a man of 
 remarkable self-control and I appreciate your point 
 of view. You are irritated because you think that 
 you are not being treated with proper respect. You 
 assert what you are pleased to call your dignity by 
 trying to prove that I'm a liar. I've stood it from 
 you so far, but I'm not bound to stand it any longer 
 and I won't. It doesn't suit you one bit to take 
 up that high and mighty moral tone, and I may tell 
 you that it doesn't impress me. I'm not the British 
 public, and that bluff honesty pose isn't one I admire. 
 All those platitudes about lies being lies simply run 
 
226 SPANISH GOLE[ 
 
 off my skin. I know that your own game of 
 politics couldn't be played for a single hour with- 
 out what you choose to describe as deceiving 
 innocent people. Mind you, I'm not blaming you in 
 the least. I quite give in that you can't always be 
 blabbing out the exact literal truth about everything. 
 Things couldn't go on if you did. All I say is, 
 that being in the line of life you are, you ought 
 not to set yourself up as a model of every kind of 
 integrity and come out here to an island which, so 
 far as I know, nobody ever invited you to visit, and 
 talk ideal morality to me in the way you've been doing. 
 Hullo! Here's Higginbotham back again. I wonder if 
 he's brought Thomas O'Flaherty Pat with him. You'll 
 be interested in seeing that old man, even if you can't 
 speak to him." 
 
 Higginbotham started as he entered the hut. He 
 did not expect to find Meldon there. He was sur- 
 prised to see Mr. Willoughby crumpled-up, crushed, 
 and cowed in the depths of the hammock-chair, 
 while Meldon, cheerful and triumphant, sat on the 
 edge of the table swinging his legs and smoking a 
 cigar. 
 
 " You'd better get that oil stove of yours lit, Higgin- 
 botham," said Meldon. " The Chief Secretary is dying 
 for a cup of tea. You'd like some tea, wouldn't you, 
 Mr. Willoughby?" 
 
 " I would. I feel as if I wanted tea. You won't say 
 that I'm posing for the benefit of the British public if 
 I drink tea, will you ? " 
 
 It was Meldon who lit the stove and busied himself 
 with the cups and saucers. Higginbotham was too much 
 astonished to assist. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "There's no water in your kettle," said Meldori. 
 "I'd better run across to the well and get some. 
 Or I'll go to Michael Pat's mother and get some hot. 
 That will save time. When I'm there I'll collar a loaf 
 of soda-bread and some butter if I can. I happen 
 to know that she has fresh butter because I helped to 
 make it." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby rallied a little when the door closed 
 behind Meldon. 
 
 " Your friend/' he said to Higginbotham, " seems to 
 me to be a most remarkable man." 
 
 " He is. In college we always believed that if only 
 he'd given his mind to it and taken some interest in his; 
 work, he could have done anything." 
 
 "I haven't the slightest doubt of it. He has given 
 me a talking to this afternoon such as I haven't had 
 since I left school not since I left the nursery. Did 
 you ever read a book on pragmatism ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "You don't happen to know the name of the best 
 book on the subject?" 
 
 " No, but I'm sure that Meldon " 
 
 " Don't," said Mr. Willoughby. " I'd rather not starf 
 him on the subject again. Have you any cigars? I 
 want one badly. I got no good of the two* I half-smoked 
 while he was here." 
 
 " I'm afraid not. But your own cigar-case has one 
 in it. It's on the table." 
 
 " I can't smoke that one. To put it plainly, I daren't. 
 Your friend Meldon said he might want it. I'd be 
 afraid to face him if it was gone." 
 
 " But it's your own cigar ! Why should Mel- 
 don " 
 
228 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " It's not my cigar. Nothing in the world is mine any 
 more, not even my mind or my morality or my self- 
 respect is my own. Mr. Meldon has taken them from 
 me and torn them in pieces before my eyes. He has left 
 me a nervous wreck of the man I once was. Did you 
 say he was a parson ? " 
 
 " Yes. He's curate of Ballymoy." 
 
 "Thank God I don't live in that parish! I should 
 be hypnotised into going to church every time he 
 
 preached, and then Hush ! Can he be coming back 
 
 already? I believe he is. No other man would whistle 
 so loud as that. If he begins to ill-treat me again, Mr. 
 Higginbotham, I hope you'll try and drag him off. I 
 can't stand much more." 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MELDON flung open the door of the hut and 
 entered. He at once took possession of the 
 remaining cigar and lit it. 
 
 " I met Mary Kate," he said, " and I sent her on with 
 the kettle. By the way, Mr. Willoughby, have you such 
 a thing as half a crown about you ? " 
 
 The Chief Secretary plunged his hand into his 
 pocket and brought out a number of coins, gold 
 and silver. 
 
 "Take it all," he said; "I don't feel as if I should 
 ever want money any more." 
 
 "Thanks," said Meldon. "I'll take half a crown. 
 It's for Mary Kate. As a rule I only give her sixpence 
 at a time, but she'll naturally expect more when she's 
 fetching water for a Chief Secretary's tea. Higgin- 
 botham generally gives her sugar-candy." 
 
 Meldon's grin and the look of embarrassment on 
 Higginbotham's face hinted to Mr. Willoughby of a 
 joke behind. 
 
 " I wish," he said, " you'd tell me about Mary Kate 
 and the sugar-candy." 
 
 "Oh, that story's hardly worth telling," said Meldon. 
 " It was only that she nearly had the face ate off 
 Higginbotham one afternoon." 
 
 229 
 
'230 SPANISH GOLDS 
 
 " She ate his face ! But surely " 
 
 " He wasn't trying to kiss her, if that's what you're 
 thinking of. Higginbotham's not that kind of man 
 at all. Besides, she's quite a little girl, though remark- 
 ably intelligent. No. There was some slight mis- 
 understanding about some sugar-candy between her 
 and Higginbotham. Both of them came to me and 
 complained. I did what I could to set the matter 
 right. YouVe not been troubled about it lately, have 
 you, Higginbotham ? " 
 
 " No; it's all right now." 
 
 "Is that all I'm to be told?" said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 "There's really nothing more to tell, and besides 
 I want, while I think of it, to warn Higginbotham 
 about the condition of his bed. I happened to spill 
 some broken glass and a few oars on to your bed 
 this morning, Higginbotham. It doesn't really matter 
 about the oars. You'd be sure to notice them as 
 you got in, but you might not see the glass. What 
 I advise you to do is to take the blankets and 
 things outside the door and shake them well before 
 you go to bed." 
 
 " I don't suppose it would be any use my asking," 
 said Mr. Willoughby; "but I should greatly like to 
 know how you came to strew Mr. Higginbotham's bed 
 with oars and broken glass." 
 
 "I don't think it would interest you much," said 
 Meldon. 
 
 " I assure you it would. I can't even imagine cir- 
 cumstances under which it would be any temptation 
 to me to put oars of all things in the world and 
 broken bottles into another man's bed." 
 
 " It wasn't broken bottles. It was a broken window- 
 
SPANISH GOLD 231 
 
 pane. The circumstances were these: This morning 
 I wanted to conceal some oars " 
 
 "From?" 
 
 " From their owners, and " 
 
 " Oh, from their owners. I see. Stupid of me not 
 to have guessed. Please go on." 
 
 " From their owners, who would, or at all events 
 might, have made a very bad use of the oars if they 
 had been able to get at them. Very well. I naturally 
 thought at once of Higginbotham's bed." 
 
 " I don't see why you say ' naturally/ It doesn't: 
 seem to me at all a natural place to think of. I'm sure 
 I should never have thought of it." 
 
 " It doesn't much matter in this case what you 
 would have thought. Higginbotham's bed was the 
 place I thought of at once; and I am still of opinion, 
 in spite of anything you say, that it was a good place. 
 I couldn't open the window, so I smashed it. That's 
 the whole story. I don't suppose it's as good a one as' 
 you expected. But you would have it." 
 
 "It's better than I expected," said Mr. Willoughby, 
 "and I'm much obliged to you for telling me." 
 
 There was a gentle tap at the door. Meldon jumped 
 down from his seat on the table and took his cigar out 
 of his mouth. 
 
 " That's Mary Kate, I expect, with the hot water." 
 
 It was Mary Kate. She entered the room with a 
 sheepish grin on her face. In one hand she carried a 
 kettle of hot water, in the other hand a loaf of soda- 
 bread. The kettle was a good deal the heavier burden 
 of the two, and she had evidently carried it first in one 
 hand and then in the other. Its handle had some flour 
 on it. The bread was mottled with black off the kettle. 
 
SPANISH GOLD: 
 
 " That's a good girl," said Meldon. " Here's half a 
 crown for you. How much money is that you have now 
 altogether?" 
 
 " It's four shillings," said Mary Kate. 
 
 " There," said Meldon, " I told you she was an 
 intelligent child. Now listen to me, Mary Kate. The 
 reason you're getting half a crown this time is that the 
 gentleman over there in the chair is the Chief Secretary. 
 Do you know what a Chief Secretary is ? " 
 
 " I do not." 
 
 "Well, I haven't time to explain it to you now; 
 but if you come up here to-morrow to Mr. Higgin- 
 botham he'll tell you all about the Chief Secretary. 
 How's Michael Pat?" 
 
 Mary Kate grinned. 
 
 " If you're going to grin like that when I ask you 
 questions," said Meldon, " you'd better go home." 
 
 He pushed her gently from the room and shut the 
 door. 
 
 " Now, Higginbotham, put that kettle on your stove 
 and bring it to the boil again. And you'd better take 
 a note of your engagement with that child. It won't 
 do for you to be out when she comes. Now for tea." 
 
 " Mr. Meldon," said the Chief Secretary, " I'd take 
 it as a personal favour if you'd stay here and see me 
 through the interview between Father Mulcrone and 
 the old man who won't give up his land." 
 
 " Certainly. You're not expecting any sort of a 
 fight, are you? If you are, I'd better go and borrow 
 a stick somewhere." 
 
 "Oh, no. Nothing of that sort. It's only that the; 
 priest got rather the better of me yesterday. He 
 made me promise what will cost the Government a 
 
SPANISH GOLD 233 
 
 thousand pounds and he'll probably want to get as 
 much more out of me this afternoon." 
 
 " That'll be all right," said Meldon. " You leave it to 
 me. Give me a free hand, that's all I ask. I'll manage 
 him for you." 
 
 "Thank you," said the Chief Secretary; "he's a 
 persistent man, but if anybody can get the better of 
 him I'm sure you can." 
 
 " I suppose," said Meldon, " it was either a pier 
 or seed potatoes he wanted the money for. Probably 
 seed potatoes. The place must be rotten with piers 
 already." 
 
 " He wanted both," said Mr. Willoughby. " It was 
 the potatoes I promised." 
 
 " Well, I'll get you out of that if I can. But don't 
 count on it. I may not be able to manage." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby looked rather doubtfully at the 
 loaf of bread with the smears of kettle-black which 
 Mary Kate's fingers left on it. He was not reassured 
 by the way in which Meldon cut it up. The plan 
 was simple. Grasping the loaf firmly, he sliced off 
 long strips. These he laid one by one flat along the 
 palm of his left hand and held them in position by 
 pressing his thumb into the corners. Then he drew 
 a buttery knife across them. Higginbotham laid out 
 his two cups and his slop bowl. They were quite 
 clean. Mel don's hands were not. When tea was over 
 Meldon suggested that they should smoke. 
 
 " I'm sorry," said Mr. Willoughby, " that I've no more 
 cigars with me. The rest of my supply is on board 
 the Granuaile" 
 
 " Higginbotham," said Meldon, " stick your head 
 outside the door and see if the steamer is coming into 
 
234 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 the bay yet. You must try a fill of my baccy, Mr. 
 Willoughby. I'm sure Higginbotham will have a spare 
 pipe." 
 
 He pulled a lump of black twist tobacco out of his 
 trousers pocket and handed it to the Chief Secretary. 
 Then he rose and began to search for a pipe. Mr. 
 Willoughby eyed the tobacco, turning it over and over 
 in his hand. Higginbotham returned with the news 
 that the Granuaile had just appeared round the south 
 point of the bay. 
 
 "I fear," said Mr. Willoughby, "that this tobacco 
 is too strong for me. I think that as the Granuaile 
 is so near I'll wait until I can get some more of my 
 own cigars." 
 
 "All right," said Meldon. "I'll have a pipe. I'll 
 step down to the pier as soon as I have it lighted and 
 be ready to meet Father Mulcrone. I'll send the 
 boat back for the cigars. In the meanwhile, Higgin- 
 botham, you'd better go and collar Thomas O'Flaherty 
 Pat." 
 
 " He promised to come here," said Higginbotham, 
 " as soon as ever the Granuaile dropped anchor." 
 
 " Don't you rely too much on his promises," said 
 Meldon. " That old boy has taken you in once or 
 twice already. You can't believe a word these people 
 say," he explained to Mr. Willoughby. " Even Mary 
 Kate would lie to you if she stood to gain anything by 
 it. They simply don't know what truth is." 
 
 " Are they pragmatists ? " asked Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " No ; they're not," said Meldon severely. " If you 
 had listened to me when I was explaining to you 
 what pragmatism is, you'd know that these people 
 aren't pragmatists. I can't go into the whole question 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 235 
 
 again now; but I'll just say this much: The prag- 
 matists, according to their own idea, know what truth 
 is. And what's more, they're the only people in the 
 world who do. Now what I said about Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat and Mary Kate is that they don't know ; 
 therefore they can't be pragmatists. That ought to 
 be fairly obvious. I'm off now to meet Father Mul- 
 crone. Goodbye." 
 
 " Mr. Higginbotham," said the Chief Secretary, 
 " did you follow that reasoning about the pragmatists 
 and Mary Kate?" 
 
 " Not not quite. But I didn't take up ethics in 
 College. Meldon did." 
 
 " Did you watch him cut the bread-and-butter for 
 tea?" 
 
 " I did. I was sorry he insisted on cutting it. His 
 
 hands were But he's a really good sort at bottom, 
 
 though he has his peculiarities. I've known him for 
 years." 
 
 " It must have been a great privilege. Did you see 
 the bit of tobacco he offered me ? " 
 
 " No; was there anything wrong with it? " 
 
 " He took it out of his trousers pocket," said Mr. 
 Willoughby, "and it was quite warm. Mr. Meldon 
 is certainly a very remarkable man. I wonder how 
 he'll get on with Father Mulcrone. I wonder will he 
 succeed in capturing all my cigars." 
 
 The Granuaile's boat, with Father Mulcrone seated 
 in the stern, approached the pier. Meldon hailed her. 
 The priest, a plump man, with a weather-beaten face 
 and small, keen grey eyes, waved his hand in response. 
 
 "Delighted to see you," said Meldon, as the boat 
 touched the pier and the priest stepped ashore. " I 1 
 
236 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 have heard a good deal about you. My name is 
 Meldon J. J. Meldon. I'm acting with the Chief 
 Secretary here and he asked me to meet you." 
 
 " How do you do ? How do you do ? " said the 
 priest. 
 
 "Quite well. I needn't ask how you are. Flowers 
 in May are nothing to you in the matter of bloom of 
 appearance." 
 
 Father Mulcrone seemed a little surprised at this 
 warm compliment. 
 
 " What does the Chief Secretary want with me now ? " 
 
 "We'll come to that in a minute. First of all I 
 want to know is there nothing else that would do you 
 except a pier ? " 
 
 "A pier!" 
 
 " Well, seed potatoes, then. I forgot for the moment 
 which it was." 
 
 "The season's very backward, very backward 
 indeed," said the priest, " and the poor people will 
 be badly off next spring. Unless we get some help 
 from the Government there'll be starvation in our 
 midst." 
 
 " Have you a Board of Guardians on the island ? " 
 
 " We have not. And I wouldn't say but we're as well 
 without one." 
 
 " I dare say you're right," said Meldon. " But about 
 those seed potatoes. The thing for you to do is to 
 get the nearest Board of Guardians to pass a good 
 strong resolution." 
 
 " That might be done." 
 
 "Tell them to put something in about the represent- 
 atives of the people and the inalienable rights of the 
 tillers of the soil." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 237 
 
 " They'll do that whether I ask them or not." 
 
 " Get that resolution forwarded to the Local Govern- 
 ment Board in Dublin. Then wait three weeks." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " Oh, it's the usual thing. If these things aren't 
 done properly the Chief Secretary can't act, simply 
 can't. Then send a deputation to wait on the President 
 of the Board. You understand me ? " 
 
 " I do, of course." 
 
 " It'll be as well if you could spare the time to go up 
 with the deputation yourself. Lay the matter before 
 them in temperate language strong but temperate. 
 Then you'll see what'll happen about the seed 
 potatoes." 
 
 Father Mulcrone winked at Meldon. 
 
 " Do you take me for a born fool," he said, " that 
 you're talking that way to me ? " 
 
 " As you've asked me the question straight, I may 
 as well say that I don't take you for anything of the 
 . sort. I knew the kind of man you were the minute 
 I set eyes on you. But I promised the Chief Secretary 
 that I'd try and do you out of those seed potatoes if 
 I could." 
 
 " So you thought you'd get him of? if you persuaded 
 me to have a lot of resolutions passed and go on a 
 deputation." 
 
 " I did think that, and what's more I think it still. 
 But you wouldn't fall in with the plan." 
 
 " I would not." 
 
 " Very well, then. We'll pass on, as they say, to the 
 next business. There's an old fellow on this island 
 called Thomas O'Flaherty Pat." 
 
 " I know him well," said the priest. 
 
238 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "Well, you'll hardly believe it, but that old fellow 
 is holding out against the entire Congested Districts 
 Board. He won't give up his wretched little house 
 and the bit of land round it, hardly big enough to sod 
 a lark, and it with a hole in the middle that would 
 swallow a heifer." 
 
 " I'll talk to him," said the priest. 
 
 " I thought you would. That's the reason I sent for 
 you. Come along. We have him set out waiting for 
 you. At least I told Higginbotham to go and get him." 
 
 Taking Father Mulcrone's arm he walked up towards 
 the hut. 
 
 "I almost forgot to tell you," he said, "that the 
 great difficulty about old O'Flaherty is that he can't 
 talk English." 
 
 " He'll talk it quick enough when I get at him." 
 
 " I just thought he would." 
 
 " For the matter of that I'm not sure that I wouldn't 
 as soon sort him in Irish." 
 
 " Just as you like, of course," said Meldon. " It's 
 all the same to us, so long as you bring him to his; 
 senses." 
 
 " What right has a man like him to be thwarting the 
 excellent intentions of the Board?" 
 
 " None," said Meldon ; " and poor Higginbotham, 
 who's brimful of the most excellent intentions you 
 can possibly imagine, is nearly heart-broken about it. 
 You'd be sorry for Higginbotham if you saw him; he's 
 growing thin." 
 
 "I have seen him," said the priest, "if he's the 
 inspector the Board sent out. He was over at Inish- 
 more this morning, just after the yacht left, looking 
 out to see which of the people had consumption." 
 
SPANISH GOLD. 239 
 
 They reached the hut and found Mr. Willoughby 
 seated in the hammock-chair. Higginbotham was 
 absent in pursuit of the reluctant Thomas O'Flaherty 
 Pat Mr. Willoughby rose at once and offered the chair 
 to the priest. 
 
 " No, thank you ; no, thank you," said Father Mul- 
 crone. " If I sat down in the like of that chair I'd 
 never get out. I'm a heavy man." 
 
 " Father Mulcrone and I will sit on the bed," said 
 Meldon. "Oh, it's all right, Mr. Willoughby. I'll 
 move the oars and give the quilt a shake. I don't 
 want to set Father Mulcrone down on a pile of 
 broken glass. I've more respect for him than to do 
 that." 
 
 He took the quilt outside the hut and flapped it 
 vigorously up and down. 
 
 " I see Higginbotham and the old man coming 
 down the hill together," he said. " There's quite a 
 little crowd after them, but we needn't let anybody in 
 unless we like. By the way, Mr. Willoughby, Father 
 Mulcrone and I had a chat on the way up from the 
 pier about those seed potatoes. He can't do without 
 them. It's a case of potatoes or coffins for the people 
 on those islands next spring." 
 
 " I feared so," said Mr. Willoughby with a sigh ; 
 " but I'm sure you did your best." 
 
 Higginbotham, with Thomas O'Flaherty Pat, a 
 dignified captive, entered the hut. The old man took 
 off his hat and bowed courteously to the men in 
 front of him. He held himself erect. His fine eyes 
 wandered gravely round the hut. His face expressed 
 neither curiosity nor obsequiousness. Mr. Willoughby 
 was a gentleman, accustomed to the society of titled 
 
240 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 hostesses and the manners of exclusive London 
 clubs. Higginbotham could behave gracefully at 
 suburban tennis parties. Meldon and Father Mul- 
 crone were strong and self-assertive men. Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat looked and behaved in this company 
 like a genuine aristocrat. He waited for what was to 
 be said to him with an air of courteous aloofness. He 
 appeared fully conscious of a certain superiority in 
 himself, a superiority so self-evident as to require 
 neither assertion nor emphasis. 
 
 "You are Mr. Thomas O'Flaherty, I think," said 
 Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Ni beurla agam," said the old man, bowing again. 
 
 Then Father Mulcrone began. He spoke in Irish, 
 rapidly and at some length. Thomas O'Flaherty Pat 
 replied in a few calm words. The priest spoke again, 
 raising his voice indignantly. Again he received only 
 the briefest of answers. A torrent of words followed 
 from the priest. Father Mulcrone had made no idle 
 boast when he said that he could deal with the old 
 man in Irish. He never paused for an instant, never 
 hesitated for a word. Thomas O'Flaherty was moved 
 to quite a long reply. The priest interrupted him 
 frequently, but the old man showed no sign of excite- 
 ment and spoke all the time with gentle courtesy. 
 When he stopped, Father Mulcrone rose from the bed 
 and spoke with unabated volubility. He gesticulated 
 violently, waving his arms and bringing the palms of 
 his hands together with loud smacks. For half an 
 hour the dispute continued, heated argument on the 
 one side, dignified reply on the other. At last Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat shrugged his shoulders with a gesture 
 of despair. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 241 
 
 " I have him persuaded at last," said Father Mul- 
 crone, wiping his brow with the back of his hand, 
 "but I had a tough job of it. A more obstinate man 
 I never met in all my born days." 
 
 " I thought you'd get him in the end," said Meldon. 
 " I couldn't understand a word you were saying, of 
 course, but the way you said it made me feel that the 
 poor old fellow hadn't half a chance." 
 
 " If you have the papers ready to-morrow morning," 
 said Father Mulcrone to Higginbotham, " 111 see that 
 he signs them." 
 
 " We're all greatly obliged to you," said Meldon. 
 " Without your help I really don't know what we 
 should have done." 
 
 " As Mr. Meldon says," added the Chief Secretary, 
 " we're greatly obliged to you. And now, gentlemen, 
 I hope you'll come and dine with me on the Granuaile. 
 I can offer you a small cabin for the night, Father 
 Mulcrone. It's too late to go back to Inishmore." 
 
 "Thanks," said Meldon. "We'll go, of course. 
 What do you say, Father Mulcrone? I'm only sorry 
 the Major won't be with us." 
 
 "The Major!" said Mr. Willoughby. "Oh, yes; 
 Major Kent, of course, the geological expert. Go and 
 fetch him, Mr. Meldon. I shall be delighted to see him." 
 
 " He wouldn't come if I did," said Meldon. " Apart 
 altogether from the survey business he wouldn't come. 
 Nothing would induce him to dine out without a dress- 
 coat, and he hasn't got one on the yacht. That's the 
 kind of man he is. In any case I don't want to go 
 back to the yacht to ask him. There's a breeze getting 
 up now and if the Major got me on board he'd want 
 to up anchor and run home." 
 
242 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Meldon took possession of the Chief Secretary and 
 led the way to the pier. He looked up at the sky 
 and sniffed the air suspiciously. 
 
 " There's a change coming," he said. " It will be 
 blowing hard before morning." 
 
 "Which of the two yachts is yours?" asked Mr. 
 Willoughby. 
 
 "Do you mean which of the two actually belongs to 
 me, or do you mean which do I happen to be cruising 
 in at present ? " 
 
 "That," said Mr. Willoughby, "sounds like another 
 riddle. Does it by any chance illustrate the pragmatist 
 philosophy ? " 
 
 " It might, if properly worked out. But I'm too 
 hungry to attempt that now. About those yachts the 
 one to the south is Major Kent's Spindrift. I'm with 
 him for this cruise. The other is my Aureole. I've 
 hired her to Sir Giles Buckley. I see him and his 
 friend Euseby Langton coming ashore now in their 
 punt. By Jove ! That reminds me. Higginbotham ! " 
 
 He stood still suddenly. The Chief Secretary also 
 halted. His face expressed patient expectation and a 
 determination not to be surprised. Higginbotham 
 and Father Mulcrone overtook them. 
 
 "Higginbotham," said Meldon, "did you lock the 
 door of your hut ? " 
 
 " No, I didn't. I locked it this morning when I 
 went " 
 
 "And you found your bed full of oars and broken 
 glass," said Mr. Willoughby. "I think you're right 
 to leave the door open this time." 
 
 "When I tell you," said Meldon, "that Sir Giles 
 is coming ashore in his punt and that he went down 
 
SPANISH GOLD 243 
 
 the hole in Thomas O'Flaherty's field this morning, 
 perhaps you will go back and lock your door." 
 
 " I will, if you like, but I don't know what you 
 mean." 
 
 " If you don't understand what I'm telling you," 
 said Meldon, "you needn't bother about the door; 
 but in that case Thomas O'Flaherty Pat ought certainly 
 to be warned." 
 
 " I thought when I first heard of you," said Mr. 
 Willoughby, "that you were an impudent liar. Next 
 I decided that you were a lunatic. Then I made sure 
 you were a man of unusual force of character and 
 mental agility. Now I'm getting puzzled about you 
 again." 
 
 "Don't bother about me," said Meldon. "I'm 
 sorry for Thomas O'Flaherty Pat, that's all. It makes 
 me a bit nervous to see Sir Giles coming ashore in the 
 dusk of the evening." 
 
 "Who is Sir Giles?" asked Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " He's rather a hot lot. In fact, he's a bit of a lad. 
 He'd" Meldon paused and looked meaningly at the 
 priest, then he whistled " as soon as drink a pint of 
 porter. You know what I mean, Father Mulcrone." 
 
 " I do," said the priest; " I do well." 
 
 "I don't," said Mr. Willoughby. "I wish you'd 
 explain. Do you know, Mr. Higginbotham ? " 
 
 " I do a little," said Higginbotham. " That's to say, 
 I more or less guess." 
 
 " I suppose," said Mr. Willoughby plaintively, " that 
 it's better for me not to know. I am a mere child 
 compared to you two reverend gentlemen. I ought 
 to be grateful to you for respecting my innocence and 
 for not speaking more plainly than you do." 
 
244 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 A boat from the Granuaile lay alongside the pier. 
 The party embarked just as Sir Giles Buckley's punt 
 reached the shore. 
 
 " Good-evening, Sir Giles," said Meldon. " Surely 
 you're not going down that hole again to-night." 
 
 Sir Giles scowled in reply. 
 
 " That gentleman doesn't seem to be on very good 
 terms with you," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " He's not just at present," said Meldon. " I had a 
 conversation with him this afternoon. He chose to 
 assume that I wasn't speaking the truth, and he hasn't 
 got over it since." 
 
 " I have a certain sympathy with him," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. " I dare say he knows little or nothing 
 about pragmatism. I went very near getting angry 
 myself when I thought just for the moment that you 
 had been deceiving Mr. Higginbotham." 
 
 " You got over it all right," said Meldon. " Nobody 
 minds a man flaring out now and then as you did. 
 [You don't keep on sulking like that beast Sir Giles. 
 [You are a more or less reasonable man." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 ON board the Granuaile Mr. Willoughby showed 
 himself a courteous host. He took Father 
 Mulcrone to a cabin and offered to provide him with 
 anything he wanted. But the priest, having foreseen 
 that he would sleep elsewhere than in his own bed, 
 had with him a small bag which contained all that he 
 required. Higginbotham and Meldon were put into 
 another cabin. The party assembled in the saloon and 
 dinner was served. 
 
 " You do yourself pretty well on this boat," said 
 Meldon as he tasted the soup. " The Major and I have 
 been living principally on sardines and tinned brawn. 
 Higginbotham gets a lobster now and then. I suppose 
 you have more lobsters than you care about in the 
 course of the summer, Father Mulcrone?" 
 
 " I get plenty," said the priest. " Lobsters, potatoes, 
 and tea. They're the easiest things to get on Inish- 
 more." 
 
 After this the conversation languished. Mr. Wil- 
 loughby was disappointed. He expected an amusing 
 dinner. He found himself obliged to talk on dull 
 subjects to Higginbotham, who was too much over- 
 awed by the company of a Chief Secretary to do more 
 than make respectful replies. Meldon said a word in 
 
 245 
 
246 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 praise of each dish he tasted, and Father Mulcrone 
 supplemented what he said in the manner of a man 
 who seconds a vote of thanks. Otherwise, neither of 
 the two clergymen talked. They were both hungry. 
 They were both accustomed to take their meals alone. 
 They both regarded the eating of a good dinner as a 
 serious business, demanding undivided attention. Mr. 
 Willoughby, tired of Higginbotham, undertook a 
 monologue, and kept it going quietly until dinner was 
 over and cigars were lit. 
 
 Then Father Mulcrone told a story. Meldon capped 
 it with another. Father Mulcrone replied with a 
 better one. Meldon outwent it. The stories became 
 more and more extravagant. Mr. Willoughby looked 
 from one clergyman to the other and laughed heartily. 
 Higginbotham giggled convulsively in a corner. 
 Neither of the clergymen even smiled. With perfectly 
 grave faces, in tones which would have suited a 
 scientific lecture, they narrated absurdity after ab- 
 surdity. It was Meldon who reached the climax, who 
 told a story so monstrously improbable that Father 
 Mulcrone gave up the attempt to better it. 
 
 " For a young man," said the priest, " and I wouldn't 
 say you were more than seven-and-twenty " 
 
 " I'll be that in three weeks, if I live so long," said 
 Meldon. 
 
 " You've a deal of experience of this country and 
 the ways of the people." 
 
 " For the matter of that you've seen a thing or two 
 yourself." 
 
 " I have ; but when I was your age I didn't know 
 the half of what you do." 
 
 It was a handsome tribute. Meldon appreciated it. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 247 
 
 He raised his glass of whisky and water, nodded to 
 Father Mulcrone and said 
 
 " May the devil fly away with the roof of the house 
 where you and I aren't welcome." 
 
 " I consider myself fortunate," said Mr. Willoughby, 
 " in having as my guests to-night two men with the 
 knowledge of Ireland which you possess. I'm learn- 
 ing more from your conversation than from all the 
 Blue Books I ever read." 
 
 " I think we may understand from that remark," 
 said Father Mulcrone, "that there's no danger of 
 the slates being taken off the Lodge in the Phoenix 
 while you're in it." 
 
 " You'll . be welcome there, either of you," said 
 Mr. Willoughby, "while I hold office. You'll be all 
 the more welcome if you come together." 
 
 " We'll do it," said Meldon. 
 
 " What are the authorities of your Churches thinking 
 of," said Mr. Willoughby, " when they leave you a 
 curate, Mr. Meldon, and you no more than a parish 
 priest, Father Mulcrone?" 
 
 "I'd be well off if I was that itself. It's a C.C. 
 I am, and so far as I know it's a C.C. I'm likely 
 to remain." 
 
 " You ought," said Mr. Willoughby, " to be bishops 
 at least, both of you. If I had the arranging of these 
 things you'd be archbishops. Why aren't you ? " 
 
 " I haven't reached the canonical age," said Meldon. 
 " You can't be a bishop till you're thirty. I've three 
 years more to wait." 
 
 " I went very near being a bishop once," said Father 
 Mulcrone, " and it's my sincere hope I'll never be 
 as near it again. It wasn't in this diocese but another, 
 
248 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 and I won't tell you where for fear of an action for 
 libel. The old man that was the bishop died. The 
 night after they buried him I happened to be going 
 along the road in the dark. It might have been ten 
 o'clock or half-past. Who did I see coming along 
 towards me but the dead man, dressed up in his 
 robes, and his episcopal ring on his thumb. When 
 he caught sight of me he took off the ring and held 
 it out to me as much as to say, ' It's yourself, Father 
 Mulcrone, that's to succeed me/ I was pleased, I 
 can tell you. I stuck out my thumb for him to put 
 the ring on, seeing that was what he seemed to be 
 wanting to do. Would you believe it, gentlemen? 
 The ring was red hot ! " 
 
 "And is that," said Meldon, "the place bishops 
 go to when they're dead ? " 
 
 " It's the only place ever I heard of," said Father 
 Mulcrone, " where a ring could get into such a state 
 as that." 
 
 " On the whole, then, I think I'll stick to my curacy. 
 It's safer." 
 
 " You're right. It's what I've done myself." 
 
 There was a silence for a minute or two, broken 
 Only by half -suppressed sniggers from Higginbotham. 
 Then Meldon rose with a sigh. 
 
 " You have me beat, Father Mulcrone. I give in 
 to you. The equal of the experience you've just 
 narrated never came my way. I think I'll be saying 
 > good-night, Mr. Willoughby. If you'll send a boat 
 to the pier with me and Higginbotham, I'll get my 
 punt there and go off to the Spindrift.' 9 
 
 The Granuaile's boat landed Meldon and Higgin- 
 botham at about eleven o'clock. A change in the 
 
SPANISH GOLD 249 
 
 weather was certainly coming. Great masses of 
 clouds were piled up over the western half of the 
 sky. Broken fragments, the advance guard of their 
 army, rushed eastwards. The little wind there had 
 been earlier in the afternoon was gone. The air 
 was ominously still. From the far side of the island 
 came the roar of waves. The sea was dashing sullenly 
 against the rocks and dragging at the stones on the 
 beaches. Not yet lashed by the storm, it already 
 felt a premonition of the storm's coming. Even the 
 water in the sheltered bay was affected with a vague 
 uneasiness. Dark lumps rose here and there on itsi 
 surface and sank again. Silent surges crept un- 
 expectedly up the smooth sides of the pier, mouthing 
 at the stones, slipping down again unsatisfied, eddying 
 in hungry circles. 
 
 Meldon looked round him uncomfortably. 
 
 " I'll take the punt on board to-night," he said, 
 " and I'll pay out a few extra fathom of anchor chain. 
 There'll be a blow before morning. If I were you, 
 Higginbotham, I'd stuff an old towel or something 
 into that broken window. It's going to rain and 
 rain heavy. Good-night." 
 
 " Good-night. What a pleasant man Mr. Willoughby 
 is! I am so glad there was no trouble between you 
 and him. Good-night." 
 
 Meldon struck a match and lit his pipe. Then he 
 stooped down to loose the painter of the punt. As 
 he did so he heard footsteps on the granite surface of 
 the pier, the footsteps of some one who approached 
 him. He supposed that Higginbotham had returned 
 again to say some forgotten word. With the rope he 
 had cast loose in his hand he stood and waited. It 
 
2$o SPANISH GOLD 
 
 was not Higginbotham who approached. Whoever 
 it was stopped about ten yards away from him. 
 Meldon could dimly discern the figure of a man much 
 taller than Higginbotham. A voice, raised very little 
 above a whisper, reached him 
 
 " Master." 
 
 Meldon stooped and refastened the painter. He 
 heard the voice again but did not recognise it. 
 
 " Master." 
 
 He approached the tall figure, peering eagerly 
 through the darkness. 
 
 "I'm blessed," he said, "if it isn't old Thomas 
 O'Flaherty Pat! So you've got one word of English, 
 have you? Maybe now if you searched in the corner 
 of your mind you might find a little more." 
 
 " I have plenty," said the old man. " There's few 
 have more English nor better English than myself." 
 
 "I always thought you had," said Meldon. " I'd 
 have laid long odds on it if I'd been a betting man, 
 which, of course, I'm not. Now what is it you want ? " 
 
 " It's yourself, Master." 
 
 " Is it, then ? And what would you do with me 
 supposing you had me? Tell me that. Is it wanting 
 me to speak a word for you to the Chief Secretary you 
 are, to get back your house and land ? " 
 
 " It is not." 
 
 " If it is, I'll do it, of course ; but I tell you straight 
 that it won't be the smallest bit of use. The whole 
 might of the British Empire is against you. They'll 
 get your land out of you if they have to send a 
 man-of-war round to do it. Besides, you know, you 
 gave yourself away badly in that interview with Father 
 Mulcrone to-day. I don't blame you. I knew very 
 
SPANISH GOLD 251 
 
 well you were done for when they fetched the priest 
 to you. It was a mean trick, that. No real sportsman 
 would have done it. It was a sort of sitting shot. 
 You didn't have the ghost of a chance. Now if you'd 
 been treated fairly and left to worry it out with 
 nobody but Mary Kate to come between you and the 
 Board, you might have kept them arguing till either 
 they or you were dead." 
 
 " It isn't wanting you to speak for me I am. 
 Neither to himself, nor his reverence, nor to any 
 other man." 
 
 " Is it a writing, then ? " 
 
 " It is not." 
 
 " Well, I'm glad to hear that any way, for I haven't 
 brought my fountain pen with me on this cruise, and 
 I'm thinking it's poorly I'd write with any pen and ink 
 that you are likely to have. But if it isn't to speak 
 nor yet to write I don't quite see what it is you do 
 want." 
 
 " It's yourself." 
 
 "That's all very fine. I owe you a good turn for 
 giving me that crab, and I admire the plucky way in 
 which you've stood up to Higginbotham and the 
 Board, but I'm not going to hand myself over body 
 and soul to a man I've only known for three days 
 without finding out what he wants me for. Has any- 
 thing gone wrong with Mary Kate or Michael Pat ? " 
 
 " I'd be thankful to you if you'd step up to my 
 little houseen, the place that they're going to take 
 from me." 
 
 "What for?" said Meldon. "I declare to good- 
 ness it's very near as hard to make out what you want 
 now you're talking English as it was before." 
 
SPANISH GOLD; 
 
 "There's that there that I'd be glad to show you. 
 Maybe you'd tell me what would be the best to be 
 done. It's what I never expected to show to any man, 
 let alone a stranger like yourself. But my mind's 
 made up, and I'll show it to you." 
 
 Meldon gripped the old man by the arm. 
 
 " Is it the treasure you have hid there? " 
 
 "Treasure?" 
 
 "Treasure; yes. Gold. Do you understand? Is 
 it gold you have up in your house ? " 
 
 " It might, then." 
 
 " Is there much of it? How much is there? " 
 
 "There's a power. Glory be to God, there's a 
 mighty deal of it! More, maybe, than ever you saw in 
 one place together in all your life." 
 
 " Come on, then," said Meldon. " Let me set eyes] 
 on it. I dare say you guessed I always said you 
 weren't such a fool as you tried to make out to 
 Higginbotham I dare say you guessed that the Major 
 and I were after that treasure ourselves." 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " I thought you did. And the gentlemen from the 
 other yacht were after it, too. You guessed that, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " Didn't I see them going down the Poll-na-phuca ? 
 What else would the likes of them be after in such 
 a place ? " 
 
 " Well, I'll say this. If I wasn't to get it myself, I'd 
 sooner you had it than another. I hope you'll make 
 a good use of it and not be wasting it on drink 
 and foolishness. Give Mary Kate a good fortune 
 when the time comes and marry her to a decent 
 man." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 253 
 
 "Sure, what's the use of talking?" said the old man 
 in a tone of despair. " It'll be took from me along 
 with the house. The Board will take it and never a 
 penny will the little lady be the better of it, no more 
 than myself or any other one." 
 
 " Maybe they won't get taking it," said Meldon, 
 " though indeed for all the good you're getting out of 
 it at present they might as well. I don't see that it's 
 any use to you if you don't so much as buy yourself a 
 decent suit of clothes and spend sixpence on getting 
 your hair cut. It's a shame for a rich man like you to 
 be going about the way you are." 
 
 " What good would grand clothes be to the likes 
 of me?" 
 
 " I'm beginning to understand things a bit," said 
 Meldon, whose thoughts had passed away from the 
 use to be made of the money. " I see the reason now 
 why you wouldn't give up the house and land to 
 Higginbotham. You're certainly no fool. That dodge 
 of yours, pretending you couldn't speak a word of 
 any language except Irish, was uncommonly nippy. I 
 doubt if I could have hit on anything better myself, and 
 I've had some experience in disguises. Only for the 
 priest you might have kept them all at bay. I don't see 
 what they could have done to you, even if they took 
 to asking questions in Parliament." 
 
 " What was the good ? They have it taken off me 
 now at the latter end." 
 
 " They have the house and land," said Meldon. 
 "There's no doubt of that. But I wouldn't say they 
 have the treasure yet. You came to the right man 
 when you came to me. If that treasure can be saved, 
 I'll save it. What would you say now if we carried 
 
254 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 it down to-night to Mrs. O'Flaherty's, Michael Pat's 
 mother, and hid it under the old woman's bed ? " 
 
 " I wouldn't trust her. She'd steal it on me." 
 
 " I don't believe she would. Not if you gave her 
 a bit for herself and bought a silver mug or something 
 for Michael Pat. But if you don't like the notion of 
 her, what about Mary Kate's mother? She's your 
 own daughter." 
 
 " She'd steal it on me as quick as another." 
 
 " Would she, then ? I declare to goodness you 
 have a pretty low opinion of your relatives and 
 friends. I don't believe they'd touch a penny of it. 
 Have you any plan in your own head ? " 
 
 " Let you be coming up and taking a look at it." 
 
 " I will, of course ; I'm most anxious to see it. 
 But tell me what it is you think of doing with it? " 
 
 " I thought maybe " the old man paused and 
 
 laid his hand on Meldon's arm. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " I thought maybe you and the other gentleman 
 would take it with you in the yacht and put it in 
 the savings bank beyond in the big town." 
 
 "That beats all," said Meldon. "And what would 
 hinder us from making off with it and never coming 
 next or nigh you again ? " 
 
 " You wouldn't do the like." 
 
 " Well, as a matter of fact I wouldn't. No more 
 would the Major. But how do you know that? It's 
 a queer thing that a man who wouldn't trust his 
 own daughter, and her living under his very eye, 
 would hand over a lot of money like that to two 
 strangers." 
 
 " Sure, I could see by the face of you the minute 
 
SPANISH GOLD 255 
 
 you first set foot on the pier that you were as simple 
 and innocent and harmless as could be. Anybody 
 could tell by the talk of you that you couldn't get 
 the better of a child, let alone a grown man like 
 myself, begging your honour's pardon for thinking 
 that ever you'd want to do the like." 
 
 "You're quite wrong about that," said Meldon, 
 irritated by this compliment to his integrity, " and if 
 you dare to say such a thing again I'll not help you 
 with your treasure. Mind what I say. Another word 
 of that sort out of your head and I'll go straight 
 down to Higginbotham and tell him what you've 
 got." 
 
 " Let you be coming along now," said Thomas 
 
 PO'Flaherty in an indulgent tone, "and don't be 
 wasting the night talking. Walk easy. It's a rough 
 way from this on to my houseen, and there's stones 
 on it would break the leg of a bullock, let alone yours 
 or mine." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 /TMIEY reached the cabin. Old O'Flaherty fumbled 
 
 JL at the latch and opened the door. Inside, the 
 place was almost quite dark. A few sparks glowed 
 faintly on the hearth. The small square window 
 looked like a grey patch on the black wall. Meldon 
 paused at the threshold, unwilling to advance without 
 light towards unknown furniture, over a pitted and 
 hilly earthen floor. O'Flaherty disappeared into a 
 corner and could be heard breaking sticks. The 
 fragments were flung on the hearth. The old man 
 went down on his knees and blew the embers. 
 
 " I have the end of a candle on the dresser beyond," 
 he said, " if I could come by as much fire as would 
 light it." 
 
 " If that's what you're after," said Meldon, " I have 
 a box of matches in my pocket." 
 
 He drew out the box and struck one. O'Flaherty 
 pounced on his candle, lit it, and set it on the stone 
 seat which filled an angle of the wide hearth. 
 
 " Let you give me a hand now, and we'll shift the 
 dresser," he said. " I could do it myself, but it'll be 
 done quicker if you take the near end of it." 
 
 Meldon caught hold of the dresser and pulled it 
 over to the far side of the room. O'Flaherty stood on 
 
 256 
 
SPANISH GOLD: 257 
 
 a wooden stool and took down a shovel which rested 
 among the rafters of the roof. He scooped away 
 loose earth from the place where the dresser had 
 stood. At the depth of about an inch he came upon a 
 number of boards laid close together. He prized up 
 one of them with the edge of the shovel and lifted the 
 others out. A hole lay open. Meldon peered into it 
 but could see nothing. He fumbled for his matches. 
 O'Flaherty fetched the candle from the stone seat in 
 the hearth. He lay flat and, stretching his hand into 
 the hole, held the candle far down. Meldon saw piles 
 of coins standing in neat rows. He, too, lay down on 
 the floor, reached into the hole, and, touching them 
 with his fingers, counted the piles. There were 
 ninety-eight of them. He lifted one and counted the 
 coins in it. There were twenty. 
 
 " Hold the candle here," he said. 
 
 Thomas OTlaherty, rising to his knees, set the 
 candle on the floor at the edge of the hole. 
 
 " They're all gold, every single one of them," said 
 Meldon. "If those were no more than just ordinary 
 sovereigns you'd have pretty near two thousand 
 pounds. But by the weight of them I'd say that 
 they're worth two or three sovereigns each. You're a 
 rich man, Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. There may be 
 richer men in the province of Connacht, but I don't 
 believe there's one with the same command of ready 
 cash. I declare to goodness, if it wasn't for Gladys 
 Muriel, I'd wait a few years on the chance of getting 
 Mary Kate. However did you get all that money up 
 out of the cave ? " 
 
 " I did have a bit of rope fixed to a big stone the 
 way it wouldn't shift on me and me going up and 
 
258 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 down. The lids of the iron boxes gave me my 
 'nough of work before I got them lifted, and them 
 rusty with the damp there was in it. But, with the 
 help of God, I got them lifted at the latter end. Then 
 I'd be putting the gold into a bit of a bag that I had 
 on me. It was very little I could take at the one time, 
 for it would surprise you how heavy it is, and me 
 having to climb the rope and not one at the top to 
 give me a hand. Maybe it wouldn't be more than 
 once in the day and often not that much itself that I'd 
 go down. I did be in dread that some of the boys 
 would discover what I was after. From first to last I 
 wasn't less than a whole year at the job." 
 
 "You would be all that/' said Meldon. "It's a 
 mortal pity I wasn't here at the time. We'd have 
 rigged up some sort of pulley at the top of the hole, 
 and with me filling at the bottom and you taking the 
 stuff at the top we'd have had it out in a single day. 
 But there's no use talking about that now. The 
 gold's here, right enough, however you got it." 
 
 Meldon turned the coins over and over in his hand, 
 held one to the light and then another, felt the weight 
 of them singly and then two or three at a time. 
 
 " What put you on to it ? " he said. " What made 
 you think of looking in that hole ? " 
 
 " Sure the people always had it that there was a deal 
 of gold on the island somewhere. My father knew it 
 and his father before him, and everybody had heard 
 tell of it. Long ago they did be searching for it. There 
 was two of the gentry once came to look after it. But 
 people got tired, finding nothing, and at the latter end 
 they gave it up. It's maybe a hundred years since 
 anybody laid down his mind to look for it. But there 
 
SPANISH GOLD 259 
 
 was one place that I knew nobody ever searched, and 
 that was the Poll-na-phuca." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " They'd be in dread on account of them that do be 
 in it." 
 
 " Them that oh, the fairies, of course ! " 
 
 " Well, I used to be turning it over and over in my 
 mind and me no more than a gossure. And I said to 
 myself that seeing the gold was somewhere and that 
 there was just one place that nobody would be caring 
 to look for it, it was there it must surely be. It came 
 into my mind, too, that the like of them that hid it first 
 wouldn't be in dread of who might be in the hole or 
 who might not. I've heard them say that the gentry 
 doesn't give much heed to them tales. Indeed, they 
 might choose out the Poll-na-phuca just by reason of 
 there being many another that wouldn't go next or 
 nigh it" 
 
 " That was a fine piece of deductive reasoning," said 
 Meldon. " I couldn't have argued the thing out better 
 myself. I say, Tom you won't mind my calling you 
 Tom, will you? I'll say Pat if you like, but your 
 whole name is too long for frequent use the wind's 
 rising. Did you hear that last gust? It's going to be 
 a nasty night." 
 
 " It was long enough," said old O'Flaherty, shading 
 the candle from the draught, "before I could get my 
 mind laid down to go into the Poll-na-phuca. I'd be 
 saying to myself in the daytime that I'd go and think- 
 ing maybe I'd better not when it was dark. Or it 
 would be the storms in the winter and the noises 
 there'd be coming out of it would make me think it 
 would be wiser to leave that sort of people to them- 
 
260 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Selves and not be meddling with them. But in the 
 latter end, when I was getting used to living near it and 
 no harm coming to me, I went down." 
 
 " And did ever you come across a leprachaun or 
 anything of that sort? Tell me the truth now/' 
 
 " I might, then. Believe you me there's queer 
 things that nobody, not the clergy themselves, knows 
 about, down in the depths of the bowels of the earth 
 where the sun doesn't be shining. There's queer 
 things there." 
 
 " Higginbotham says there's pliocene clay." 
 
 " There might. I wouldn't say but there is. The 
 likes of him would surely know. But there's more." 
 
 " I wouldn't wonder," said Meldon. " I didn't come 
 across anything of the sort myself; but then I was 
 only there once, and besides, I'm not the sort of man 
 that a fairy would come near. But we can't afford to 
 spend the night in gossiping. Are you still bent 
 on my taking the gold away with me in the yacht ? " 
 
 " I am." 
 
 "It'll take the best part of the night to get it on 
 board. For one thing I'm bound to waken Major 
 Kent the first trip and then I'll have to give him some 
 sort of an explanation of what I'm doing. You don't 
 know the Major and so you can hardly realise the 
 length of time it takes to explain anything to him. 
 He'll want to argue, and he's always in a bad temper 
 when you first wake him. The morning will hardly 
 see us through the job. Luckily the only person with 
 any sort of right to interfere is Higginbotham. He's 
 frightfully officious, and you never can tell what his 
 Board might regard as coming under the head of 
 mining rights. But it's easy to put Higginbotham off 
 
SPANISH GOLD: 261 
 
 the scent. Do you happen to have that bag anywhere 
 about, the one you used to take down into the cave ? " 
 
 O'Flaherty rose, climbed on his stool again, and 
 grubbed among some dirty sails and nets which hung 
 on a beam above the hearth. He descended with an 
 ancient flour sack in his hand. 
 
 " That's not such a small bag as you led me to 
 believe," said Meldon. " I wouldn't care to go off in 
 out punt with that bag full of gold. You may have 
 noticed that ours is one of those patent collapsible 
 punts, and you have to be uncommonly careful what 
 you take in them. The best thing we can do is put a 
 few hundred of your doubloons in the bottom of the 
 sack, ferry them off, and then come back for more. 
 My goodness, listen to that! There must be half a 
 gale of wind blowing this minute and that won't make 
 the job of navigating the Major's beastly hat of a punt 
 any easier. Still, if nothing else will do you except to 
 
 get the stuff on to the Spindrift, we'll Hallo! 
 
 what on earth are you doing with the candle ? " 
 
 Old O'Flaherty rose suddenly to his knees as Meldon 
 spoke, held the light aloft, gave an inarticulate cry, 
 and then dropped the candle. As he did so Meldon 
 was struck on the head from behind and rolled over 
 senseless on the floor. 
 
 " I've settled the curate/' said Sir Giles Buckley. 
 " Have you got a hold of the old man ? " 
 
 Euseby Langton had not got hold of O'Flaherty. 
 His nerve had failed him at the moment of assault and 
 he stood helpless in the door. Thomas O'Flaherty 
 realised his position at once. He rose from his knees 
 and began to move silently through the hut It was 
 quite dark. 
 
262 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " No," said Langton. " I I missed him." 
 
 " Damn it ! " said Sir Giles ; " we must get him or, 
 he'll raise hell all over the island. I can't see a 
 stim." 
 
 O'Flaherty guessed from the sound of his voice that 
 Langton was in the door and that his way of escape 
 was barred. He moved through the hut in the hope 
 that Langton might be tempted to pursue him. Sir 
 Giles felt after him in the dark; but the place, familiar 
 to O'Flaherty, was strange to him. 
 
 "Stay in the door, Langton," he cried. "Don't let 
 him pass you." 
 
 He struck a match and caught sight of O'Flaherty 
 standing a few yards in front of him. But the old 
 man was ready for the manoeuvre and had his wits 
 about him. He struck at the match with his hand and 
 extinguished it. Sir Giles made an effort to grapple 
 him, failed, and dropped his match-box. O'Flaherty 
 moved away from him, felt the shovel with his feet, 
 stooped and picked it up. 
 
 " Strike a match, Langton," said Sir Giles. 
 
 The moment the first sparkle of light shone 
 O'Flaherty struck at Sir Giles with the shovel. He 
 brought the flat of the blade down on the arm which 
 Sir Giles stretched out to guard his head. Then, with 
 a call to Langton for help, Sir Giles flung himself on 
 the old man. O'Flaherty was feeble, but he fought 
 desperately. Sir Giles's right arm was numbed from 
 the blow of the shovel. He called again for help. 
 Langton seized O'Flaherty round the neck and pulled 
 him backwards. Between them they overpowered the 
 old man and laid him on the floor. They had come 
 well provided with what they were likely to want. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 263 
 
 Ropes were produced. O'Flaherty was securely bound 
 and gagged. Sir Giles drew a candle from his pocket 
 and lit it. 
 
 " Now for the curate," he said. " I've knocked the 
 senses out of him anyway. It's a good job I hit hard. 
 I wouldn't care to be scrapping in the dark with him. 
 The old fellow gave me enough to do, and you're 
 nothing but a damned coward, Langton. Now we'll 
 tie up the Rev. J. J. Meldon and gag him, so that he 
 won't stir even if he comes to. When there's light 
 enough we'll lower the two of them into the cave 
 and leave them there." 
 
 " That'll be murder," said Langton, " and I told you 
 I'd have nothing to do with murder." 
 
 " Don't be an infernal ass. There's no murder. 
 Some fool or other will find them to-morrow or the 
 day after, and they'll be alive all right. We must get 
 a clear start out of this. Don't you know that the 
 steamer would overtake us at once if she started after 
 us? And she will if those two fellows are found and 
 tell their story. Come and give me a hand." 
 
 Meldon's legs were tied together. His hands were 
 lashed to his sides. A gag was forced into his mouth 
 and secured. 
 
 " Now we have him safe," said Sir Giles, " even if he 
 does come to. Let's get at the gold. We've no time 
 to waste." 
 
 Meldon's head was a hard one. Very shortly after 
 he was bound he recovered consciousness. He recog- 
 nised Sir Giles and Langton and saw that they were 
 stooping over the hole where the treasure lay. He 
 saw them lifting out the coins and putting them into 
 a leather hand-bag which lay beside them on the floor. 
 
264 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 He could recollect nothing of what had happened, bu 
 he grasped at once the obvious fact that old O'Flaherty 
 was being robbed. He struggled at the ropes which 
 bound his hands and feet, but found that he could not 
 stir them. The gag prevented him from either speak- 
 ing or crying. One form of activity alone remained 
 possible for him. He rolled across the floor of 
 the hut. 
 
 It is not easy to roll in a straight line towards any 
 given object. The human body, like a biassed bowl, 
 has a tendency to turn on the hips as on an axle, and 
 arrive ultimately somewhere near the place from which 
 it started. But the distance which Meldon had to 
 travel was not great. He succeeded, after convulsive 
 efforts, in cannoning with some force against Langton. 
 Taken completely unawares, Langton toppled forwards, 
 extinguishing the candle in his fall. A further effort 
 upset the bag into the hole, and then Meldon followed 
 it and fell, doubled up, on top of the treasure. 
 
 Sir Giles cursed vehemently. He stood up in 
 order that he might curse with better emphasis. As 
 a further relief to his feelings he kicked Langton, who 
 still sprawled beside the hole. Then he went down 
 on his hands and knees and felt about for the candle. 
 The search drew from him other expressions of 
 annoyance. Meldon, though his position in the hole 
 was extremely uncomfortable, found a good deal of 
 pleasure in listening to Sir Giles. At last the candle 
 was retrieved and lit again. 
 
 " I'd better knock that infernal parson on the head 
 again," said Sir Giles. " It's the only possible way of 
 keeping him quiet." 
 
 " Don't; you'll most likely kill him." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 265 
 
 " Nothing would kill that fellow. He wouldn't die 
 if you hanged him." 
 
 " I won't have you smashing his skull anyway. 
 Can't you take him outside the door and leave him 
 there?" 
 
 Meldon was pulled out of the hole, dragged across 
 the floor of the hut, and deposited on a bank of grass 
 opposite the door. It was raining heavily. 
 
 " Cool yourself there awhile," said Sir Giles. " When 
 it's light enough I'm going to drop you down into 
 the cave that the treasure came out of. You and that 
 damned old ragman can lie at the bottom of it and 
 look at each other till somebody comes to rescue 
 you." 
 
 Meldon received a good many bruises and scratches, 
 but he retained his consciousness. He knew where 
 he was. Below him was the end of the bohireen and 
 the door of the hut. His mind was filled with a 
 vehement rage against Sir Giles. He was totally 
 indifferent to anything that might happen to himself. 
 He desired intensely to do something which would 
 obstruct, annoy, and, if possible, injure the man whom 
 he regarded as a personal enemy. He hit upon a plan 
 which seemed hopeful. 
 
 He writhed to and fro until he succeeded in rolling 
 down the bank to the bohireen. By much wriggling 
 he arranged himself across the path. His head was 
 on the grass at one side, his feet on the grass at the 
 other. He lay on his side with his face towards the 
 door of the hut. He was extremely uncomfortable. 
 !A stream of water was running down the stony track. 
 His body dammed it, and it mounted up against him, 
 soaking him through. The wind blew more water 
 
266 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 against the part of his clothes which the stream did 
 not reach. A sharp-pointed stone stuck into his right 
 shoulder. His face was cut and plastered with mud. 
 His body seemed to be bruised all over. His head 
 ached violently. But all this mattered nothing to 
 him for the moment. His faculties were absorbed 
 in watching the door of the hut. 
 
 Sir Giles and Langton appeared. They carried 
 between them the leather bag, full almost to the 
 bursting-point. Langton held the candle in one 
 hand, but it was almost immediately extinguished by 
 a gust of wind. Their eyes were not yet accustomed 
 to the darkness. They took the first few steps 
 cautiously. Meldon turned over on his face and 
 waited, lying quite flat. He felt a foot touch him. 
 He drew his knees up under him and arched his back 
 Suddenly. The stratagem was entirely successful. Sir 
 Giles pitched forward and fell, dragging the bag from 
 Langton's hands. It burst open and the contents were 
 scattered broadcast over the muddy lane. Meldon, 
 highly delighted, waited for the volley of oaths which 
 was to be expected. He was disappointed. Sir Giles 
 rose in silence. His anger this time was too fierce for 
 blasphemy. He stood over Meldon and kicked him 
 savagely on arms and legs and body. He was wearing 
 rubber-soled yachting shoes, and his vengeance was 
 not as ferocious as it looked. Missing Meldon once 
 or twice owing to the darkness and his rage, he 
 kicked stones and hurt his own toes greatly. Langton, 
 who failed to realise the feebleness of the assault, 
 protested. 
 
 "Drop that. Drop it, I say. Do you want to let 
 yourself and me in for being hanged? If you leave 
 
SPANISH GOLD 267 
 
 the man in the middle of the path you've no one to 
 blame but yourself when you trip over him. What's 
 the use of behaving like a madman ? " 
 
 " I didn't leave him here. He crawled here himself." 
 
 " Rot," said Langton. " He couldn't crawl." 
 
 " I'll put him somewhere this time that he won't get 
 away from so easy." 
 
 He gripped Meldon by the feet and hauled him up 
 the bank. He dragged him along the grass till he 
 came to a wall. He called Langton to his assistance 
 and between them they lifted Meldon over it and 
 deposited him in a ditch at the far side. 
 
 " Get back over that if you can," said Sir Giles. 
 
 He kicked Meldon again. "So far," he said, "I've 
 just had one solid piece of satisfaction this evening. 
 I've stopped your talking with that gag. If I did right 
 I'd cut your tongue out now I have you tied, so that 
 you'd never be able to talk again." 
 
 Meldon listened. It annoyed him very much that 
 he could not speak. He wanted to refer Sir Giles to 
 the case, discussed by the historian Gibbon, of certain 
 Christian martyrs, who spoke fluently and well after 
 being deprived of their tongues by an executioner. 
 He also wanted to say, that so far, working against 
 long odds, he had got the better of the struggle and 
 had annoyed Sir Giles more than Sir Giles had annoyed 
 him. He tried to give expression to his feelings by 
 winking first with one eye and then with the other. 
 But it was so dark that the winks could not be seen, 
 and Sir Giles departed without knowing what Meldon 
 thought of him. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 SIR GILES and Langton went back to the lane and 
 set about the task of hunting for the gold which 
 had been scattered. They found the bag at once and 
 in a corner of it a couple of dozen coins. The rest 
 were strewed about among the mud, the pools, the 
 running water, and the loose stones. The wind tore 
 across the island in violent gusts. The rain beat 
 furiously upon them. The candle which Langton had 
 put in his pocket was lighted and promptly extinguished. 
 Sir Giles made a kind of shelter for it with his coat 
 and tried to keep it burning. He succeeded for a 
 minute or two. Then a gust of wind whirled over the 
 coat and the candle was blown out again. 
 
 " Let's give it up," said Langton. " Let's go back 
 and get another load/' 
 
 " I will not give it up. Do you suppose I'm going 
 to leave a small fortune lying in this lane when I might 
 have it for the gathering? Go back to the hut and 
 try if you can find any kind of a lantern." 
 
 Langton searched in vain, for old O'Flaherty owned 
 no lantern. He returned to report his ill-success. 
 
 " I'll go down to the yacht," said Sir Giles, " and get 
 one of her lamps. You wait for me here and pick up 
 what you can in the meanwhile." 
 
 268 
 
SPANISH GOLD 
 
 But Langton had no taste for crawling about on his 
 hands and knees feeling for coins in mud and water. 
 He was chilled and dispirited. When Sir Giles left 
 him he stumbled back into the hut, wrung the water 
 out of his coat, and waited in shelter. In about three- 
 quarters of an hour Sir Giles returned with the Aureole** 
 riding light in his hand. The search began again. 
 After half an hour's hard work the bag was nearly 
 filled, and, carrying it between them, the two men set 
 out for the Aureole. 
 
 "Two more trips will be enough," said Sir Giles. 
 " If we haven't got it all we shall have to leave the rest 
 behind us. Thank the gods, the rain is stopping. 
 The wind will go down now. If it doesn't, Langton, 
 you may say your prayers. We'd never fetch Ballymoy 
 or anywhere else in this gale." 
 
 Meldon lay in his ditch. The ropes with which he 
 was bound began to cut into his flesh. He was more 
 bruised than ever. But he found a real satisfaction in 
 picturing to himself Sir Giles as he searched for the! 
 coins in the dark. He was determined to try and free 
 himself. A few efforts convinced him that he could 
 do nothing with the ropes on his arms and legs. The 
 gag seemed more hopeful It was a woollen scarf. 
 It was forced between his teeth, pulled tight front 
 behind so as to drag his lips out into a kind of grin 
 and knotted firmly at the back of his neck. He tried 
 to gnaw it through with his teeth, but only succeeded 
 in biting the insides of his cheeks until they bled. He! 
 wriggled along the ditch and got the side of his head 
 against a stone with a sharp edge. He worked his 
 head up and down, rubbing the woollen gag against 
 the stone. He hoped in this way to wear the stuffl 
 
-270 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 through. The work was tedious and painful. But he 
 persevered and in the end reaped his reward. The 
 last strands of the wool parted. His mouth was free. 
 
 He looked round him and took stock of his position. 
 At first he could see nothing but the stone wall, the 
 grassy side of the ditch, and the sky. He noticed that 
 it was beginning to get light. The rain had ceased. 
 The clouds were being blown apart. Meldon guessed 
 that it must be nearly three o'clock. He remembered 
 that Sir Giles intended to lower him into the Poll-na- 
 phuca as soon as there was light enough. He had no 
 intention of being buried alive there if he could help 
 it. He set to work to writhe and wriggle himself out 
 of the ditch. He found himself at last in the field 
 below O'Flaherty's house. He had a clear view of 
 the bay and saw Sir Giles rowing out to the Aureole. 
 The light increased and he noticed with great satisfac- 
 tion that there was a heavy sea running outside the 
 bay. He reflected that it would be totally impossible 
 for the Aureole to leave her sheltered anchorage. 
 But the wind was falling. In a couple of hours a 
 venturous man might attempt to run for the mainland 
 with three or four reefs tied down in his sail. 
 
 Sir Giles and Langton left the yacht again and 
 pulled for the pier. Meldon decided that they must 
 still have another load of treasure to ship. They had, 
 as he calculated, an hour and a half's work before 
 them. He saw below him, two fields off, the house in 
 which Mary Kate and her parents lived. He made up 
 his mind that he must get near enough to waken 
 somebody in it before Sir Giles came to him again. 
 There was only one possible way of getting there. 
 He must roll down the hill. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 271 
 
 He made up his mind to act at once. Having the 
 use of his mouth he shouted a word of encouragement 
 to Thomas O'Flaherty before he started: 
 
 "Hullo! Thomas O'Flaherty Pat! Hullo! I 
 expect you're gagged and tied somewhere and can't 
 answer. But I've got the beastly thing worked out 
 of my mouth and I'm going to get the better of those 
 two blackguards yet. It'll all depend on my being 
 able to get hold of Mary Kate. Goodbye. I'll see 
 that this business pans out all right in the end." 
 
 The field in which he lay sloped even more steeply 
 than most fields in the island. At the bottom of it 
 was a wall and in the middle of the wall a gap. 
 Beyond the gap was another steep field and at the 
 bottom of it was the house. Meldon aimed for the 
 gap. He congratulated himself that Higginbotham's 
 philanthropic plans for the bettering of the islanders' 
 system of land tenure had not yet been carried out. 
 In the fences that were to be erected there would not 
 be gaps and no man could roll over a six-foot 
 Congested Districts Board bank. 
 
 He wriggled himself into position and started 
 rolling down the hill. He advanced rapidly for a few 
 yards and then came to a dead stop, lying up and 
 down the hill. He wriggled again, rolled again, and 
 was again brought up short by the impossibility of 
 keeping his body parallel to the slope of the hill. 
 Still he advanced and at length actually arrived at 
 the gap. He lay still, giddy and breathless. He saw 
 Sir Giles and Langton go into the hut. He started, as 
 soon as he could, to roll across the second field. 
 There were four bullocks in it which were lying 
 together in a group when Meldon rolled suddenly 
 
272 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 among them. They were startled, struggled to their 
 feet and galloped off in four different directions. 
 After a while curiosity conquered their terror. They 
 returned cautiously and slowly, sniffing and pawing, 
 starting now and then in fresh alarm. Convinced at 
 last that Meldon was harmless they gathered close 
 round him and eyed him with wonder. He lay quite 
 still because he could see Sir Giles and Langton 
 coming out of the hut and suspected that they would 
 search for him. He realised that the cattle hid him 
 effectually. 
 
 Having lowered O'Flaherty into the cave Sir Giles 
 and Langton went to the ditch in which they had 
 left Meldon. They were surprised to find that he had 
 disappeared. 
 
 " Can he have got loose? " said Langton nervously. 
 
 " If he'd got so much as his tongue loose," said Sir 
 Giles, " he'd have raised the hell of a row by this time. 
 That fellow would no more keep quiet than a corn- 
 crake would stop making the vile row it does make in 
 the middle of the night. He can't have gone far. We 
 must look for him." 
 
 " No. Let's get out of this at once. The people 
 will be awake and about soon." 
 
 " We ought to have been off two hours ago," said 
 Sir Giles. " Only for that cursed parson we would 
 have been. First we had to waste the time dragging him 
 out of the hut, and then his infernal practical jokes 
 cost us another hour and a half. We'll have to leave 
 him now and chance it. We can only hope he's lying 
 dead somewhere." 
 
 Meldon watched them tramp down the bohireen 
 and realised that he was safe. He understood also 
 
SPANISH GOLD 273 
 
 that he had very little time to spare. In half an hour 
 Sir Giles would be on board the yacht again. 
 
 " He'll have to tie down three reefs," said Meldon 
 to the nearest bullock, " if he doesn't want to be 
 drowned. And that'll take him some time with 
 nobody but Langton to help him." 
 
 The remark caused the bullocks to edge away a 
 little. Meldon started rolling again towards the 
 cottage. Now and then as he drew nearer to it he 
 shouted. At length, when he had got within about 
 twenty yards of it the door opened and Mary Kate 
 peered out Meldon shouted to her: 
 
 " Mary Kate ! I say, Mary Kate ! come here as 
 quick as you can." 
 
 The child approached him cautiously. Like the 
 bullocks, she had never before seen anything exactly 
 like Meldon as he lay in the field. 
 
 " Mary Kate," he said, in tones meant to be re- 
 assuring, " do you go to bed in your clothes ? " 
 
 The question was reasonable. The child was dressed 
 just as usual in her red petticoat and flannel bodice. 
 
 " I do not," said Mary Kate. " I dressed myself 
 when I heard the shouts of you." 
 
 " Very well, then. Go and get a knife." 
 
 "A knife, is it?" 
 
 " It is," said Meldon. " A knife." 
 
 "What sort of a knife?" 
 
 " Any sort of a knife you like, from a scythe down 
 to a lancet, will do. In fact, I dare say we could 
 manage with your mother's scissors. But run now 
 and get something that will cut." 
 
 Mary Kate went back into the house and returned 
 with a sickle. 
 
274 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " My da will be wanting the scythe to-day," she 
 said, "but if this will do you, you can have the loan 
 of it." 
 
 " I don't want the loan of it. I want you to cut the 
 rope that's round my arms, and be quick about it." 
 
 "The Lord save us and help us! Is it tied you 
 are? Who's after doing the like of that to you? " 
 
 " I am tied. But if you'd stop standing there 
 staring like a stuck pig, and come over here with the 
 sickle, I'd soon be loose." 
 
 Mary Kate approached him grinning. 
 
 "Don't grin," said Meldon. "I've said that to you 
 before. Look here, Mary Kate, I've been cracking 
 you up all over the island the last three days for one 
 of the most intelligent children I ever met. It was 
 only last night I offered your grandfather to marry 
 you if he liked. But I'll not marry you. And I'll 
 never say another good word for you, and what's more 
 I'll take the half-crown and the three sixpences away 
 from you unless you come here and cut the rope." 
 
 " You couldn't," said Mary Kate. 
 
 But the threat produced its effect on her. She 
 stopped grinning and began sawing at the rope. The 
 sickle was blunt but Mary Kate worked vigorously. 
 One strand after another parted. Meldon got his 
 arms free. 
 
 " Give me the sickle," he said. 
 
 His hands were numb and he was obliged to rub 
 them up and down against his legs before he could 
 take a firm grip of it. At last he managed to hold it, 
 and set to work at the rope that bound his ankles. 
 
 " Mary Kate," he said, " go back to your da. Is he 
 in bed?" 
 
SPANISH GOLD 275 
 
 " He might, then." 
 
 " Well, if he is, get him out and tell him to go up to 
 the Poll-na-phuca with a rope and a ladder, and he'll 
 find your grandda at the bottom of it if he isn't dead." 
 
 "The Lord save us! They've took him at the 
 latter end." 
 
 " Don't," said Meldon, " get any rotten idea about 
 fairies into your head. This isn't a fairy matter at 
 all. Tell your father that if he doesn't go at once 
 the old man will be dead, and as sure as ever he is 
 I'll have your father hanged for murdering him. Do 
 you understand me now ? " 
 
 " I do," said Mary Kate. 
 
 Meldon found it difficult to stand, and was only 
 able to totter down towards the pier. He saw Sir Giles 
 and Langton reach the Aureole and board her. He 
 quickened his pace as much as his numbed, stiff limbs 
 would allow. He watched the mainsail being hoisted, 
 and noticed that the gaff was pulled little more than 
 three-quarters way up the mast. 
 
 "Thank God!" he muttered, "they see that they 
 must tie down some reefs. I'll do them yet." 
 
 He reached the pier. Realising that the water was 
 still rough, he turned from the Major's punt and went 
 along the beach to Jamesy O'Flaherty's curragh. He 
 launched it and took the oars. There was no need for 
 him to row. The wind drifted him rapidly from the 
 shore. Sir Giles and Langton were tying down reef- 
 points in the flapping mainsail of the Aureole and 
 did not see him. He headed the curragh for the 
 Granuaile and climbed on to the steamer's deck. 
 Everybody on board was asleep. As the readiest way 
 of attracting attention Meldon began to ring the bell 
 
276 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 which hung amidships and to shout " Fire ! " at the top 
 of his voice. 
 
 A couple of sailors ran on deck and stood staring at 
 him. Others followed them and began to ask ques- 
 tions. Meldon continued shouting " Fire ! " and ringing 
 the bell. He saw that Sir Giles had stopped tying reef- 
 points and was hoisting the sail as quickly as he could. 
 
 The Chief Secretary emerged in his pyjamas. Father 
 Mulcrone followed him in a white cotton night-shirt 
 and a pair of trousers. 
 
 "What's on fire?" said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Nothing," said Meldon. " I wanted to wake you 
 up, that's all. Send a boat at once and stop that yacht 
 sailing." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 Meldon's mind worked quickly. He realised that 
 long before he could tell the story of the treasure and 
 reply to all the questions which would necessarily be 
 asked, Sir Giles would have got off. Already he could 
 see that the Aureole's jib was being hoisted. 
 
 " Never mind why," he said. " Do it." 
 
 " I can't possibly," said Mr. Willoughby, " send a 
 boat to capture a gentleman's yacht without rhyme 
 or reason. It would, I imagine, amount to an act of 
 piracy on the high seas. I'd do a good deal for you, 
 Mr. Meldon; but, after all, I have to recollect that I 
 am Chief Secretary for Ireland. Just fancy the House 
 of Commons the newspapers " 
 
 Meldon turned without listening to the end of the 
 apology. He appealed to the crew of the Granuaile. 
 
 " Will any of you lower a boat and come with me ? " 
 
 The men hung back, some grinning, some open- 
 mouthed in blank astonishment. One glance at them 
 
SPANISH GOLD 277 
 
 convinced Meldon of the hopelessness of his appeal. 
 He looked round him and caught sight of Father 
 Mulcrone. 
 
 " Come along, Father Mulcrone. You're the only 
 man in the whole crowd. Hop into the curragh as 
 quick as you can." 
 
 " Give me time to tuck my night-shirt into my 
 trousers and I'm with you," said the priest. 
 
 He crossed the deck and dropped into the curragh. 
 Meldon followed him. Mr. Willoughby peered over 
 the bulwarks of the Granuaile. 
 
 "Stop!" he shouted. "Wait! Hold on!" 
 
 The curragh shot out from the steamer's side. 
 
 "It's no good," said Mr. Willoughby, "they're 
 off. I have always heard that the clergy did queer 
 things here in the West of Ireland, but I'm hanged 
 if the other fellows don't seem as anxious to get off as 
 the priest and the parson are to catch them." 
 
 Sir Giles and Langton, one at each side of the winch 
 in the bow of the Aureole, were working with frenzied 
 vigour to get the anchor up. 
 
 " He can't cut the cable," said Meldon to the priest. 
 " Thank God, it's chain ; the only thing on board the 
 Aureole that isn't absolutely rotten." 
 
 " Pull away," said Father Mulcrone. " She's over 
 her anchor now. He'll have it off the bottom in a 
 minute." 
 
 Meldon pulled hard. 
 
 " He has it," said the priest. " Now he's hauling the 
 jib across her to get her head round. Shove the stern 
 of the curragh in, and I'll grab her before she gets 
 way on." 
 
 The Aureole's head paid slowly round and the main- 
 
278 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 sail began to draw. In obedience to a violent tug at 
 the oars the curragh spun round and her stern struck 
 the yacht amidships. Father Mulcrone gripped the 
 weather bulwarks with both hands. The curragh 
 swung alongside and was dragged stern first through 
 the water as the yacht gathered way. Sir Giles left 
 the tiller, sprang across the deck and- began hammer- 
 ing at the priest's hands with his clenched fists. 
 
 "Let go," he yelled; "let go." 
 
 He stood up and kicked at the priest' s hands. Then 
 he trampled on them, still yelling, " Let go." Father 
 Mulcrone held on. Sir Giles kicked at his face, holding 
 on to the weather runner to preserve his balance. 
 
 " Let go or I'll brain you." 
 
 Father Mulcrone held on. He was not the kind of 
 man who lets go. Mr. Willoughby had discovered 
 this about him when dealing with the question of seed 
 potatoes for Inishmore. Meldon scrambled on board 
 the yacht. He came on Sir Giles from behind, seized 
 him by the shoulders, swung him round, rushed him 
 across the sharply sloping deck, and flung him over- 
 board. 
 
 " Let go now," he shouted to Father Mulcrone, 
 "and pick up the fellow I've pitched into the sea. 
 He may be able to swim or he may not. In any case 
 you'd better look after him. I'll manage the other 
 man and the yacht." 
 
 Langton sat dazed and helpless in the cockpit, hold- 
 ing the end of the mainsheet in his hand. Meldon 
 snatched it from him and seized the tiller. 
 
 " Loose the jib sheet," he shouted, " and let me get 
 her sailing." 
 
 Langton did not stir. Meldon dropped the tiller, 
 
SPANISH GOLD 279 
 
 ran forward and loosened the sheet himself. Then he 
 got the yacht under command and set her racing to 
 windward across the bay. 
 
 " If you stir hand or foot," he said to Langton, " I'll 
 pitch you into the sea. I don't believe you can swim, 
 whatever Sir Giles can do. Ready about now, and 
 mind yourself." 
 
 The yacht swung round and flew off on the new 
 tack. The half-reefed mainsail bellied ridiculously. 
 The water rushed green along the deck and foamed 
 over the coaming of the cockpit. Meldon, a light 
 of triumph on his face, stood up and looked round 
 him. 
 
 Father Mulcrone had Sir Giles in tow behind the 
 curragh and was pulling for the shore. It is difficult 
 to get a swimmer into any small boat. It is totally 
 impossible to get one into a canvas curragh. The 
 priest had gone as near rescuing Sir Giles as was 
 possible under the circumstances. A boat was lowered 
 hastily from the Granuaile and the Chief Secretary, 
 still in his pyjamas, got into her. She was pulled 
 towards the curragh. A small group of islanders, men 
 and women, stood on the end of the pier. Major 
 Kent was awake and watched the exciting scene from 
 the deck of the Spindrift. The Aureole ran under her 
 lee. Meldon threw his boat up into the wind and 
 hailed the Major. 
 
 " Hullo ! Everything's all right. IVe got the trea- 
 sure safe here. I always said I would and I have. I'll 
 send Father Mulcrone off for you as soon as he's done 
 rescuing Sir Giles." 
 
 The Granuaile's boat reached the curragh. Sir Giles, 
 spluttering sea-water and curses, was hauled on board. 
 
2 8o SPANISH GOLD 
 
 Meldon, having got the Aureole on the third tack, flew 
 past them and shouted 
 
 "I say, Father Mulcrone, just put back to the 
 Spindrift and bring Major Kent ashore. It's a pity for 
 him to be missing all the fun." 
 
 A little group of men came down the hill towards 
 the pier. Among them, supported by his son-in-law 
 and a nephew, was old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat. In 
 front of him, dancing with delight and excitement, her 
 hair blown wild with the wind, went Mary Kate. 
 
 Meldon's tacks became shorter as he neared the 
 land. The men on the pier cheered him each time he 
 passed them. He waved his hand in response, and, 
 when that seemed an inadequate acknowledgment of 
 the enthusiasm, took Langton's cap and waved it. 
 The Granuaile's boat reached the pier and was greeted 
 with more cheers. The people of Inishgowlan, not 
 yet aware of what had happened, were ready to cheer 
 anybody. The Chief Secretary, stepping daintily, for 
 he was barefooted, went on shore. Sir Giles, dripping 
 and dismal, followed him. Meldon made his last tack 
 and beached the Aureole close alongside the pier. 
 The islanders and the men from the Granuaile's boat 
 ran to him with offers of help. Meldon gripped 
 Langton by the collar of the coat and lifted him over 
 the side of the yacht into the water. 
 
 "Take him," he said, "and stand him up on the 
 pier beside the other blackguard." 
 
 He stepped over the side himself. 
 
 " I expect the boat has a hole in her," he said to 
 three of the men who still waited. " You had better 
 get the anchor on shore and make it fast. If she goes 
 adrift on us now, she'll sink." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 281 
 
 He waded ashore, went to the pier and greeted 
 Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Sorry I hustled you this morning," he said. " It 
 seemed the only thing to do at the time/' 
 
 "I don't mind being hustled in the least," said 
 Mr. Willoughby. " Living the kind of quiet, monoto- 
 nous life a Chief Secretary does live, I'm sure a hustle 
 now and then is good for me." 
 
 " It's very kind of you to say so. Sure you don't 
 mind coming ashore in your pyjamas?" 
 
 " Not a bit. I rather enjoy it for a change. But 
 I'd greatly like to know what this is all about." 
 
 " I never," said Meldon, " saw pyjamas just that 
 particular shade of pink before. Where do you get 
 them?" 
 
 " They're Irish manufacture, if that's what you're 
 driving at. I daren't wear anything else even at night. 
 But you haven't told me yet " 
 
 " Oh, that's a long story." 
 
 "I'm sure it must be. Perhaps you'd rather put off 
 telling it till after breakfast?" 
 
 "Not at all," said Meldon. "It's not so long as 
 that. Oh, here's Father Mulcrone. Didn't you get 
 the Major?" 
 
 " He wouldn't come ashore," said Father Mulcrone. 
 "He didn't seem to care about meeting the Chief 
 Secretary." 
 
 " Oh, the geological survey, I suppose," said 
 Meldon. " That's all over and done with ; isn't it, 
 Mr. Willoughby?" 
 
 "Quite," said Mr. Willoughby. "It lies buried in a 
 remote past. Things move so rapidly on this island 
 that the affairs of yesterday are prehistoric before we 
 
282 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 are dressed this morning. Besides, a geological survey 
 is nothing compared to the the pragmatist method 
 by which you roused us from our berths. Why did 
 you give us the idea that something was on fire ? " 
 
 " Because I wanted you to prevent Sir Giles Buckley 
 from sailing off in the Aureole! 3 
 
 " I gathered that from the way you spoke at the 
 time. But please tell me why you wanted to stop 
 him." 
 
 Meldon glanced at the dripping Sir Giles. He 
 was most unwilling to tell the story of the gold which 
 lay in the Aureole's cabin. He wondered whether Sir 
 Giles could be counted on to back up a version of the 
 morning's adventure in which no mention of the 
 treasure appeared. 
 
 " You may not know that that boat " he indicated 
 the Aureole with his thumb " is rotten. Everything 
 in her is rotten except the anchor chain." 
 
 "Yes?" said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Well," said Meldon, " that explains what you want 
 to know, doesn't it ? " 
 
 " Not quite. I'm stupid, I suppose ; but as a matter 
 of fact it doesn't explain anything to me." 
 
 " Don't you see that if Sir Giles had gone to sea 
 in a rotten boat with the wind that's blowing to-day, 
 he'd have been drowned to a certainty ? " 
 
 "Oh," said Mr. Willoughby, "you wanted to save 
 him from drowning." 
 
 " Him and his friend." 
 
 " But, as well as I could make out, you flung him 
 into the sea." 
 
 "Quite so," said Meldon. "There wasn't anything 
 else to do. Was there, Father Mulcrone ? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD 283 
 
 "There was not," said the priest. "The man was 
 dancing on my knuckles and trying to kick my face." 
 
 " I suppose he must have very much wanted to be 
 drowned/' said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Well, I wouldn't go as far as that," said Meldon. 
 " But there's no use taking up these speculative 
 questions. Where's Higginbotham ? " 
 
 " He must be asleep still," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 "Dear me," said Meldon; "that's a pity now. 
 Higginbotham is just the man who might have helped 
 to clear things up." 
 
 "I don't know if it interests any of you" it was 
 Sir Giles Buckley who spoke "but you're listening 
 to a pack of damned lies." 
 
 "I wish," said Meldon, "that you'd try and break 
 yourself of that habit of swearing, Sir Giles. I think 
 I've mentioned it to you before." 
 
 " Of course," said Mr. Willoughby, " it's no business 
 of mine. Still, I should like very much to understand 
 what all this fuss has been about. Perhaps, Father 
 Mulcrone, you may be able to throw a little light 
 on it." 
 
 "Not a bit," said the priest. "All I know is that 
 the gentleman there who seems; to be catching his 
 death of cold " 
 
 " So am I, for that matter," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " I see," said the priest, " that the men have come 
 up from your boat, Mr. Meldon. They seem rather 
 angry about something. Old Thomas O'Flaherty is 
 talking to them hot and strong and he's pointing this 
 way. Perhaps we'd better go somewhere else before 
 entering on an explanation." 
 
 " Right," said Meldon. " Higginbotham's tin house 
 
284 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 is handy. Let's go there. It would do Higginbotham 
 good to be made to get out of bed." 
 
 " I should prefer the Granuaile myself," said 
 Mr. Willoughby. "I'd like to get into a suit of 
 clothes." 
 
 " Right," said Meldon. " It's all the same to me. In 
 fact, of the two I rather prefer the Granuaile. I don't 
 expect Higginbotham could rise to much in the way 
 of breakfast for this party. We'd better take Sir Giles 
 and Langton with us. Those fellows at the other end 
 of the pier are looking rather nasty, and I happen to 
 know that I'm not the man they want to kill." 
 
 " It can't be me," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " It is not you," said Meldon. " Nor it's not Father 
 Mulcrone. It's Sir Giles. That's the reason I said 
 we ought to take him with us. But before we start 
 I think you should make the men a speech, Mr. 
 Willoughby. It might quiet them down." 
 
 "A speech! Good gracious! What about?" 
 
 " Oh, anything. The University question, or the 
 intentions of the Government about the land, or 
 Devolution. Yes, Devolution would be the proper 
 thing. It would turn their minds away from Sir Giles 
 and Langton. Try them with Devolution." 
 
 "Get into the boat," said Mr. Willoughby. "I 
 can't stand on this pier and make a speech in my 
 pyjamas." 
 
 "No? Perhaps not. Well, you have a go at them, 
 Father Mulcrone. You won't? I suppose we'd 
 better not turn on Sir Giles. He might make them 
 more irritable. I'll have to do it myself, though I 
 must say it's rather hard on me. I'm the one of the 
 party who has worked hardest during the night. I 
 
SPANISH GOLD 285 
 
 can't tell you how trying it is to have to roll about in 
 the dark with your hands and feet tied." 
 
 The Chief Secretary and Father Mulcrone remon- 
 strated with him vigorously. He yielded to them so 
 far as to forbear making a speech, but he insisted on 
 having a word in private with Mary Kate. 
 
 Taking the child out of earshot, he said to her 
 
 " Mary Kate, go you to your grandda and tell him 
 this from me: If there's anything that belongs to him 
 in that yacht let him get it out of her and away with it 
 before we come on shore again. Do you understand 
 me now ? " 
 
 Mary Kate nodded, grinning. Meldon joined Mr. 
 Willoughby and Father Mulcrone in the Granuaile's 
 boat. Sir Giles and Langton eyed the men who were 
 standing in a group at the far end of the pier and then 
 followed Meldon. 
 
 " You're right to come with us," said Meldon. " Old 
 Thomas O'Flaherty is looking uncommon wicked, and 
 you can't altogether blame him. He's working the 
 rest of them up. I don't think that Inishgowlan will 
 be exactly a safe island for you to picnic on, Sir Giles ; 
 not for a few weeks anyhow." 
 
 " I'm becoming more and more curious," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. " I want a key to the mysteries which 
 surround me. I'm a little anxious, too. If ever we 
 get back to civilisation we may find ourselves in a 
 police-court. Don't mix me up in anything criminal if 
 you can help it, Mr. Meldon. Consider my position as 
 Chief Secretary." 
 
 " You're pledged," said Father Mulcrone with a grin, 
 " to the preservation of law and order in Ireland." 
 
 " It's all right," said Meldon. " I'll keep your name 
 
286 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 out of the business as far as I can. Father Mulcrone 
 and I will take whatever blame there is." 
 
 " I won't take any blame," said the priest. " I know 
 nothing about what's going on, either good or bad." 
 
 "You'll have to," said Meldon, "whether you like it 
 or not. It's your parish, so of course you're respon- 
 sible if anything goes wrong." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 I COULD do with a wash," said Meldon when 
 the party reached the Granuaile. 
 
 "You shall have it," said Mr. Willoughby. "You 
 shall have my bath/' 
 
 " Oh, don't bother about a bath. There's no use 
 funning into extremes. I'm a moderate man in every 
 way, politically and otherwise." 
 
 " Better have the bath." 
 
 "All right, then, I will. But if I do, somebody'll 
 have to go over to the Spindrift and get me another 
 suit of clothes. Father Mulcrone, perhaps you wouldn't 
 m ind " 
 
 "I'll send a boat," said Mr. Willoughby. "Father 
 Mulcrone wants to dress like the rest of us." 
 
 "All right," said Meldon. "I don't care who goes. 
 But I wouldn't like to get into these things again if 
 once I took them off. By the way, have you any 
 sticking-plaster ? " 
 
 " I think I have a bit in my dressing-case," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. 
 
 " I'll want a good bit yards of it, I expect. I'm 
 not sure till I get my clothes off, but I fancy there are 
 very few parts of me just this minute with the skin 
 on." 
 
 287 
 
288 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "I'll send you what I have. And now, Sir Giles, I 
 must get a dry suit of clothes for you." 
 
 In about half an hour the party reassembled for 
 breakfast. Mr. Willoughby made another appeal for 
 an explanation of the morning's events. 
 
 " I told you my story," said Meldon, " and Sir Giles 
 contradicted me flat not that I mind being contra- 
 dicted. I'm accustomed to it. But I think it's his 
 turn to speak now. Anyway I want to eat my break- 
 fast." 
 
 Sir Giles was hot eating heartily, but he seemed 
 unwilling to speak. 
 
 "You hinted," said Mr. Willoughby to Sir Giles, 
 "that the account which Mr. Meldon gave us of his 
 actions was er perhaps exaggerated." 
 
 " ' Damned lies ' was his expression," said Meldon. 
 " I don't know if that's your idea of a hint that I 
 exaggerated." 
 
 " You appeared to think," said Mr. Willoughby, 
 "that Mr. Meldon omitted from his statement some 
 points of interest." 
 
 Meldon, whose mouth was full, got into difficulties 
 in suppressing a laugh. Sir Giles stared sulkily at 
 Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Come, now," said Father Mulcrone, " let's have 
 your story. You'll feel easier when it's off your mind." 
 
 " I'm not in your confessional," said Sir Giles, " and 
 I'm damned if I'll speak unless I choose." 
 
 " Come, gentlemen," said Mr. Willoughby, " we 
 needn't any of us lose our tempers. I think, Sir Giles, 
 that you are bound either to substantiate or withdraw 
 the very offensive statement that you made on the pier 
 this morning. You called Mr. Meldon a liar." 
 
SPANISH GOLD, 289 
 
 "So far as I'm concerned," said Meldon, "I don't 
 mind that in the least. I'm quite accustomed to it. 
 There's hardly a man on this island who hasn't called 
 me a liar. I quite recognise that Sir Giles's temper 
 wasn't altogether under control when he spoke. He 
 has a hot temper. I've had to speak to him about it 
 before." 
 
 "I suppose that you think it good fun," said Sir 
 Giles, "to sit there bating me and setting that cursed 
 curate on to sling insults at me. But I've stood all 
 I'm going to stand of it. I'll stay here no longer. 
 Come, Langton." 
 
 The whole party, with the exception of Meldon, 
 Stood up. 
 
 "Don't go away like this," said Mr. Willoughby to 
 Sir Giles. " Sit down again and talk things over. I 
 am sure we can come to some understanding if we 
 can only find out what all this trouble is about." 
 
 " Make your mind easy," said Meldon, " he can't go 
 just yet." 
 
 "Can't go!" said Sir Giles furiously. "Why not? 
 Who's going to stop me? So far as I know, nobody 
 has a warrant out for my arrest." 
 
 " You can't go yet," said Meldon, " because you've 
 got on the Chief Secretary's Sunday clothes." 
 
 Father Mulcrone burst into a loud laugh. 
 
 "That's easily remedied," said Sir Giles. "I'll 
 change." 
 
 " Please don't worry about the clothes," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. "You're welcome to them. I wouldn't 
 like you to put on your own things yet. They can't 
 be dry." 
 
 " Lend him your pink pyjamas," said Meldon. 
 
290 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 For a moment it seemed likely that Sir Giles 
 would make a violent assault on Meldon. His hands 
 twitched. His face was deeply flushed. But he re- 
 strained himself and went into the cabin where his 
 own clothes lay. 
 
 " This is an extraordinary business," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. " Surely, Mr. Meldon, you'll tell me 
 what it all means/' 
 
 " He can't go far," said Meldon. " I'm prepared to 
 bet my best hat that there's a hole in the bottom of 
 the Aureole and the Major won't take him in the 
 Spindrift!' 
 
 "I don't like it at all," said Mr. Willoughby plain- 
 tively. " I hate being kept in the dark." 
 
 He took Father Mulcrone aside and spoke to him. 
 
 "What do you advise?" he said. "What do you 
 think of all this?" 
 
 " I think," said the priest, " that you and I had 
 better go ashore with Sir Giles and the other man. 
 I expect the people on the island know the ins and outs 
 of the whole story by this time, and I'll be able to get 
 it from some of them. There's been some rough work 
 during the night. You saw the state Mr. Meldon was 
 in when he came on board. I expect that Sir Giles, 
 whoever he may be, has been up to some mischief. 
 I don't like that man." 
 
 " Still, it's an awkward affair. It seems to me that 
 we're aiding and abetting Mr. Meldon in robbery and 
 something like an attempt at murder. He threw Sir 
 Giles into the sea, you know." 
 
 " I expect Mr. Meldon's all right. But we can't say 
 anything till we get on shore and hear the whole 
 Story." 
 
SPANISH GOLD 291 
 
 Mr. Willoughby turned to Meldon. 
 
 "Father Mulcrone and I," he said, "have decided 
 to go Dear me, he's fast asleep ! " 
 
 Meldon had fallen forward. His head lay among 
 the crumbs beside his plate on the breakfast-table. 
 His arms sprawled among the cups and dishes. A 
 half-smoked cigar burned a hole in the tablecloth. 
 Meldon slumbered profoundly. 
 
 "He's done up," said Father Mulcrone. "Let the 
 poor fellow have his sleep out." 
 
 " We'll make him more comfortable anyhow." 
 
 Meldon lay like a log while they lifted him, laid him 
 down, and put a cushion under his head. Sir Giles 
 Buckley and Langton entered the cabin. 
 
 " Hush ! " said Father Mulcrone, pointing to 
 Meldon. " Don't wake him." 
 
 Sir Giles spoke in a tone likely to waken any 
 sleeper. 
 
 " Let me have a boat at once. I demand to be put 
 on shore." 
 
 " Will you whisht ? " said the priest. " Can't you 
 see the man's asleep ? " 
 
 " I warn you that if you attempt to detain me I shall 
 take an action against you for illegal imprisonment." 
 
 " Nobody has the least intention of detaining you," 
 said Mr. Willoughby. " The boat which brought us 
 on board is still alongside." 
 
 He led the way on deck, and the four men got into 
 the boat. 
 
 "You're not bringing the curate with you, then?" 
 said Sir Giles. 
 
 " Mr. Meldon," said the Chief Secretary, " is asleep, 
 as you saw for yourselves." 
 
292 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " It's a good job he doesn't talk in his sleep. He 
 never stops when he's awake." 
 
 " He gave you credit for a hot temper/' said Father 
 Mulcrone. " I should call it a sulky temper if I was 
 giving my opinion." 
 
 Mr. Willoughby interfered as peacemaker. The 
 priest did not like Sir Giles, and was at no pains to 
 conceal his feelings. Without the good offices of 
 Mr. Willoughby Sir Giles might easily have come to 
 dislike Father Mulcrone as heartily as he did Meldon. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 TWO hours later Mr. Willoughby and Father 
 Mulcrone returned to the Granuaile. The Chief 
 Secretary's face wore an expression of delight, 
 tempered by anxiety. Father Mulcrone was jubilant 
 and triumphant. They descended at once to the 
 cabin where Meldon still slept on the sofa. Father 
 Mulcrone shook him vigorously. 
 
 " Mr. Meldon, wake up ; wake up at once." 
 
 Meldon opened his eyes, and saw the Chief Secretary 
 and the priest standing over him. 
 
 " Hullo ! " he said. " I believe I must have had a 
 nap. Breakfast has been cleared away, I see. I wonder 
 what they did with my cigar. I had a cigar, I know, 
 and I don't believe I finished it." 
 
 "Here's the box," said Mr. Willoughby, "take 
 another." 
 
 "Thanks, I will. Where are Sir Giles and Langton? 
 They were here at breakfast, weren't they?" 
 
 " They're on shore," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Oh, are they ? They haven't gone off in thei 
 Aureole by any chance?" 
 
 The priest smiled. " They have not," he said. 
 
 " I told you they wouldn't couldn't, in fact. 
 Nobody but me knows how rotten that boat is 
 
 293 
 
294 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 and what a little bump would knock a hole in 
 her." 
 
 " We've been on shore," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " Have you ? Pleasant spot that island. I wonder 
 more people don't come here in the summer." 
 
 "We heard the whole story," said Mr. Willoughby, 
 " and we both want to congratulate you on the way 
 you behaved." 
 
 "Now, who did you hear it from?" 
 
 "Well, partly from Thomas O'Flaherty and " 
 
 " I didn't think the old boy was such a fool." 
 
 " And partly," went on Mr. Willoughby, " from a 
 little girl." 
 
 " Mary Kate O'Flaherty," said the priest. 
 
 "I thought better of Mary Kate," said Meldon. 
 " She ought to have had a keener eye to her own 
 interest than to tell that story. I suppose you've 
 grabbed the treasure in the name of the Government." 
 
 " He has not, then," said Father Mulcrone grinning. 
 
 "No," said Mr. Willoughby. "There was no 
 treasure to grab. At least we couldn't find any. To 
 put the matter plainly, the Aureole has been looted." 
 
 "That's all right," said Meldon. "I wouldn't have 
 liked to see poor old Thomas O'Flaherty Pat robbed 
 by the Government any more than by Sir Giles. But 
 how did you get the story? As far as I know Thomas 
 O'Flaherty he's not the sort of man to talk more than 
 he need, and I never got more than half a dozen words 
 and a grin out of Mary Kate at one time." 
 
 " The way of it was this," said Father Mulcrone. 
 " No sooner did Sir Giles and Langton leave us to go 
 down to the Aureole than all the children on the island, 
 seven or eight of them, began to boo at them and 
 
SPANISH GOLD 295 
 
 throw stones. Mary Kate O'Flaherty was at the head 
 of the crowd." 
 
 " She would," said Meldon. " I always said she 
 was a high-spirited little thing besides being intelligent. 
 I expect, now, she hit them with as many as three out 
 of every four stones she threw." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder," said the priest. " Anyhow, 
 Sir Giles lost his temper." 
 
 " He's always doing that. I hope he didn't hurt 
 Mary Kate in any way or use language that a little 
 girl oughtn't to listen to." 
 
 "The language," said Mr. Willoughby, "so far as 
 I could hear it I was some way off was pretty bad. 
 But he didn't do the children any bodily harm." 
 
 " It wasn't for want of wishing to if he didn't," 
 said the priest. "He looked as if he'd have been 
 glad to skin the lot of them alive and pickle them 
 afterwards." 
 
 " They ran for their lives, I suppose ? " 
 
 "No, then, they did not. But the fathers and 
 the mothers of them came at Sir Giles with scythes 
 and pitchforks and hayrakes and all sorts. It was] 
 then we thought we'd better interfere. Well, I'm 
 not a coward exactly. You'll give me credit for 
 that. But I give you my word I didn't fancy running 
 into that crowd at all. I could have faced the men 
 
 right enough, but the women ! Did ever you 
 
 notice, Mr. Meldon, that a woman when she gets her 
 blood up is twice as reckless as any man? She doesn't 
 care who she hits or where she hits him. I tell you 
 I thought twice about facing the women. But 
 the Chief Secretary is a hero, a regular hero." 
 
 " It was nothing," said Mr. Willoughby modestly. 
 
296 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "I'm accustomed to women. A Cabinet Minister 
 must be nowadays. If he didn't get hardened to 
 it he would be dead in a year." 
 
 "Anyway you went for them like an hero," said 
 Father Mulcrone. " I never admired a man more." 
 
 "I'll tell you what it is," said Meldon to the priest, 
 "you ought to let him off those seed potatoes as a 
 token of your respect and esteem." 
 
 " I will," said the priest. " I'll do that. I wish you'd 
 seen young Mrs. O'Flaherty brandishing a flail and 
 looking as if she'd skelp an archbishop if he came 
 her way." 
 
 " Had she Michael Pat with her? " 
 
 " She had not." 
 
 "Well, if nobody was left at home to mind Michael 
 Pat I expect the old woman's dead by now. But 
 that can't be helped. Go on with the story." 
 
 " We got them quietened down after a bit," said 
 Father Mulcrone, "and then Mr. Willoughby made 
 them a short speech." 
 
 "Was it Devolution, land, or universities?" asked 
 Meldon. 
 
 "I can't for the moment recollect which it was, but 
 I know it was a soothing sort of speech," said Mr. 
 Willoughby. 
 
 "I expect it was Devolution, then," Said Meldon, 
 "not that it matters, of course, so long as you pacified 
 the people. But I'd like to know where Higginbotham 
 was all the while. You don't mean to tell me he slept 
 through a battle of that kind, and it raging in front of 
 his hall door." 
 
 "I understand," said Mr. Willoughby, "that the 
 people locked Mr. Higginbotham into his hut earlier in 
 
SPANISH GOLD 297 
 
 the day. He wasn't able to do anything except give 
 us good advice through the window/' 
 
 "The fact is," said Father Mulcrone, "that when 
 they started to pillage your yacht " 
 
 " I expect Thomas O'Flaherty Pat was in the thick 
 of that work/' said Meldon. 
 
 " He might," said the priest. " Anyhow, when they 
 started at the yacht that was while we were at 
 breakfast on board here Mr. Higginbotham came 
 out of his hut and tried to stop them. Of course 
 they weren't going to put up with any interference 
 from him. They ran him back into the hut and 
 locked him up." 
 
 "They didn't hurt him," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 "They seem rather to like Higginbotham." 
 
 " Are you sure Mary Kate didn't fling a stone at 
 him ? " said Meldon. 
 
 " Not that I heard of." 
 
 " I shouldn't have wondered a bit if she had. She 
 had a grudge against him on account of a misunder- 
 standing about some sugar-candy, and she might have 
 considered it a good opportunity of paying him out. 
 However, you say she didn't, so I suppose that's all 
 right. Go on with the story. You left off just where 
 you had made a soothing speech." 
 
 "After that," said Mr. Willoughby, "everybody 
 began to talk at once. I imagine that most of them 
 spoke in Irish. I couldn't understand a word anybody 
 said. Fortunately, Father Mulcrone kept his head. 
 He got old O'Flaherty away from the crowd and 
 dragged the truth out of him somehow. Then he took 
 the little girl and got the rest of the story out of her. 
 There's just one thing we can't any of us understand, 
 
298 SPANISH GOLD; 
 
 and that is how you managed to get down the hill 
 from the. old man's house to the place where the child 
 found you." 
 
 " Oh, that was simple enough. I rolled." 
 
 " Rolled ! " 
 
 "Yes. Rolled. That's the reason I asked you for 
 sticking-plaster this morning. I haven't rolled as much 
 for years and years, and it's a kind of exercise that re- 
 quires preliminary training. But what have you done 
 with Sir Giles and Lahgton? If you've left them un- 
 protected on the island Mary Kate will have at them 
 again and Michael Pat's mother will back her up. 
 She has it in for Sir Giles ever since the day he 
 wouldn't give the bottle to the old woman." 
 
 "What bottle?" asked Mr. Willoughby. "I heard 
 nothing about a bottle. It seems to me that this affair 
 is even more complicated than I thought. You 
 alluded casually a moment ago to sugar-candy, and 
 now you speak of a bottle." 
 
 " The sugar-candy and the bottle are side-issues\ 
 I strongly recommend you not to go into them at all. 
 [You'll gain nothing by it if you do, and you'll get 
 yourself confused. But you haven't told me what you 
 did with Sir Giles." 
 
 " He's quite safe. We locked him and Mr. Langton 
 into Higginbotham's hut. It was Father Mulcrone's 
 suggestion." 
 
 " I hope you let Higginbotham out first." 
 
 " Oh, yes. We let him out. In fact, we left him on 
 guard outside the door." 
 
 " And did O'Flaherty get his treasure back safe ? " 
 
 " I didn't get any very definite information about 
 the treasure," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
SPANISH GOLD 299 
 
 " If you ask me," said Father Mulcrone, " I should 
 say that every man on the island has his own whack 
 of that treasure by this time. If half old O'Flaherty 
 says is true, they have money enough among them 
 now to buy out the island without asking a penny 
 from the Board/' 
 
 " Then poor Higginbotham will be out of his job. 
 I'm sorry for Higginbotham. I intended to give him 
 a trifle if I got the treasure, to make up for not taking 
 him entirely into my confidence at the start, and on 
 account of the tuberculosis business." 
 
 "That, I suppose, is another side-issue," said Mr. 
 Willoughby, " and perhaps of a pragmatist kind." 
 
 "It is," said Meldon with a grin. "It's both. But 
 I think you might stop rubbing that pragmatist 
 philosophy into me now. It's not my philosophy, 
 you know, any more than it's yours. I'm not con- 
 tinually throwing it in your teeth that you're a 
 politician, although you are. Why can't you let the: 
 dead past bury its dead? It's not good form to be 
 for ever dragging skeletons out of cupboards. I see 
 that I've forgotten to wind up my watch and it's 
 stopped. Would you mind telling me what time 
 it is?" 
 
 " It's half-past twelve." 
 
 " I dare say you'll be lunching early to-day. I may 
 as well stay where I am till after that. Then I'll ask 
 you to have me rowed across to the Spindrift. The 
 Major will be getting anxious about me if I stay away 
 too long. In fact, I expect he's rather worried now. 
 I wonder if you'd mind going over to him, Father 
 Mulcrone, and reassuring him a bit. He'll be delighted 
 to see you. You'll get sardines and biscuits for lunch. 
 
300 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 He hadn't any bread when I left him, and I don't 
 see how he can have got any since." 
 
 "Take a loaf with you if you go," said Mr. 
 Willoughby, "and the remains of the ham we had at 
 breakfast" 
 
 "Are you sure we can spare the ham?" said 
 Meldon. " It was a very good ham." 
 
 " There's another on board," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 "Very well, then, Father Mulcrone, take the loaf 
 and the ham and give them to him with the Chief 
 Secretary's compliments. That will reassure him. As 
 you will be spending some time with him, you may 
 as well tell him the whole story. It'll give you some- 
 thing to talk about. If you don't tell him I shall have 
 to, and I hate telling stories to the Major." 
 
 " Isn't he interested in stories ? " said Mr. Willoughby. 
 
 " He's too interested," said Meldon. " He keeps on 
 asking questions, questions about details; and any one 
 who has ever told a story knows that the details won't 
 always bear working out. It's awfully good of you, 
 Father Mulcrone, going like this just to oblige me. 
 You're sure you don't mind ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," said the priest. " I shall enjoy telling 
 the story, as much as I know of it." 
 
 "You're doing a kind act," said Meldon. "The 
 Major's a lonely man at the best of times, and he's 
 been shut up on the Spindrift ever since the Granuaile 
 came into the bay." 
 
 "Mr. Meldon," said the Chief Secretary after the 
 priest had left them, " I should like to say that I think 
 you behaved uncommonly " 
 
 " Oh, don't start that," said Meldon. " You wouldn't 
 expect me to join in robbing old Thomas O'Flaherty 
 
SPANISH GOLD 301 
 
 Pat, would you? Besides, if I'd wanted to itself I 
 couldn't have done it. They didn't give me a chance. 
 Sir Giles knocked me on the head without any pre- 
 liminary negotiations." 
 
 " It isn't simply about last night's work that I 
 Wanted to speak. The fact is that I've got something 
 rather important to say to you, and I'm very glad of 
 this opportunity of speaking privately." 
 
 "Is it the geological survey again?" 
 
 " No, no, not that" 
 
 " It can't be the tuberculosis business, or the national 
 school. Surely to goodness old O'Flaherty hasn't 
 raked up the Athalonia miser abilis ?" 
 
 "It's nothing of that sort. It's something quite 
 'different. Just before I left Dublin I had a letter from 
 my friend Lord Cumberley." 
 
 " I don't know him," said Meldon. " Is he an Irish 
 peer?" 
 
 " No. He's an Englishman." 
 
 " That wouldn't prevent his being an Irish peer." 
 
 "Do listen to me," said Mr. Willoughby. "What I 
 have to say is really rather important, and I can't get 
 on with it if you keep interrupting me." 
 
 " Go ahead," said Meldon. " I won't open my lips 
 till you give me leave." 
 
 " Lord Cumberley is a man with a large property in 
 Nottinghamshire and he is the patron of several livings 
 there. One of them is now vacant, and he writes to 
 me to know if I can recommend a man to him whom 
 he might nominate. He wants an Irishman because' 
 he thinks that only the Irish Church now produces 
 genuine evangelicals." Mr. Willoughby paused. 
 
 "Am I to say anything yet?" asked Meldon. 
 
302 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 " Perhaps not yet. Let me tell you a little more. 
 The value of this particular living has been largely 
 increased lately by the opening of a coal mine. It 
 used to be a quiet country parish. Now it's becoming 
 a small town, a town inhabited by colliers. I under- 
 stand that from an ecclesiastical point of view colliers 
 are not pleasant parishioners. Lord Cumberley writes 
 that he wants an energetic man, not thin-skinned, re- 
 sourceful, determined, and capable of making some 
 impression on a rather rough class of people. From 
 what I've seen of you since I came to Inishgowlan I 
 think you'd suit the work very well. By the way, arei 
 you married ? " 
 
 " Not at present, but I have a little girl Gladys 
 Muriel is her name who is engaged to be married 
 to me. I have her photograph in my coat pocket. 
 I'll just get it. Where is my coat?" 
 
 "Don't trouble to get it. Lord Cumberley is 
 anxious to get a married' man; but the lady's personal 
 appearance is not of any importance." 
 
 " It is to me," said Meldon, " and I think you'd likd 
 lo see the photo." 
 
 " I should. But not just now. Would you mind 
 telling me, are you an evangelical ? " 
 
 " Now, that," said Meldon, " is a difficult question. 
 I may say at once that I'm not a ritualist; but it 
 doesn't quite follow that I'm what your friend would 
 call an evangelical. Some time ago there was rather 
 a row about a sermon I preached." 
 
 " I can quite understand that there might be. In 
 fact, I'm surprised if there's only been one row." 
 
 "A dear old sheep went bleating to the bishop " 
 
 " Had you been preaching in its field ? " 
 
SPANISH GOLD 303 
 
 " I was speaking figuratively," said Meldon severely. 
 " When I said a sheep I meant an elderly country 
 gentleman. You know what they are, Mr. Willoughby. 
 Excellent old fellows, every one of them, with a kind 
 of Mrs. Hemans' way of looking at things." 
 
 " I've come across them at times," said Mr. Wil- 
 loughby. " They form an interesting class. But why do 
 you speak of them as sheep? Is it the prevailing type 
 of countenance which suggests the comparison ? " 
 
 " Partly, and partly their habit of following each 
 other through gaps. Also they're all so respectable, 
 and they let themselves be driven in flocks by 
 people wha bark at them. But I needn't go on 
 working out the idea. If your friend, Lord Cumber- 
 ley, is the kind of man who expects a parson always, 
 to say precisely the usual thing he'd better not get me 
 into one of his parishes." 
 
 " I respect your wish to make your position clear," 
 said Mr. Willoughby. "How did the the bleat to 
 the bishop end ? " 
 
 " The bishop was asked to excommunicate me, or 
 haul me up before all the rest of the bishops, or 
 something, that's all." 
 
 "But what happened?" 
 
 " Nothing happened. Father Mulcrone may say 
 what he likes about bishops, but they aren't absolute 
 fools." 
 
 " If nothing happened, I suppose we may take it 
 that the incident is of no real importance? " 
 
 " Not the least bit in t the world. Only, if Lord 
 Cumberley happens, as I said before, to be that kind 
 of man, there might be unpleasantness unpleasantness 
 for him, I mean. I shan't mind." 
 
304 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 "I think we may risk it," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 " He never goes near the parish himself. He lives 
 miles away and detests the place." 
 
 "Goodbye," said Meldon. "I think I must be 
 getting back to the Spindrift at once." 
 
 " But you said you would stay for luncheon." 
 
 " Can't possibly. If we're to get home to-night we 
 must start at once." 
 
 " But need you get home to-night ? " 
 
 " Of course I must. I have to telegraph to my little 
 girl to tell her to get ready to be married at once. If 
 Lord Cumberley insists on a married man there's no 
 time to be lost." 
 
 "But I'm sure Lord Cumberley wouldn't wish to 
 hurry Miss Miss Gladys Muriel in any way." 
 
 " Oh, she won't mind. She's just as keen on getting 
 married as I am. By the way, now that the Aureole's 
 wrecked, what's going to happen to Sir Giles and 
 Euseby Langton? You can't leave them here 
 marooned on the island. It would be rough on 
 Higginbotham." 
 
 " I can't well take them in the Granuaile" said the 
 Chief Secretary. " I wonder if Father Mulcrone 
 would keep them on Inishmore till I send off a hooker 
 for them from the mainland ? " 
 
 " I should think not. They wouldn't get on with 
 him a bit, and I don't think he likes them. If you've 
 no other plans for disposing of them I'll persuade 
 Major Kent to bring them back in the Spindrift!' 
 
 " But won't that be rather unpleasant for you and 
 Major Kent?" 
 
 " It will. But I'd put up with more than that to do 
 you a good turn. I owe it to you on account of the 
 
SPANISH GOLD 305 
 
 parish. And you are in rather a hole about those two 
 thieves, aren't you ? " 
 
 " I suppose I am, though I confess the difficulty 
 hadn't occurred to me till you suggested it. I'm 
 greatly obliged to you for helping me out." 
 
 " Don't mention it. Apart altogether from my 
 feelings of gratitude to you personally, I enjoy helping 
 people out of difficulties. If ever you find yourself in 
 any kind of fix " 
 
 " I'm never out of a fix," said Mr. Willoughby. 
 " The position of Chief Secretary for Ireland is one 
 which involves a man in a continual series of fixes." 
 
 " Well," said Meldon, " you've nothing to do when 
 you're stuck but wire to me. I'll go to you at once. 
 But I haven't time to go into any more of your diffi- 
 culties just now. I must be off at once." 
 
 "I'm inclined to think," said Mr. Willoughby 
 meditatively, " that you ought to be Chief Secretary 
 and let me go to Lord Cumberley's parish. You 
 would get on admirably." 
 
 "I'm sure I should. But how would you suit the 
 parish?" 
 
 " I'm afraid I should be a failure." 
 
 "That's it. We can't risk that. A man at your 
 time of life, with a reputation to keep up, can't run 
 the risk of coming a bad cropper. It will be better to 
 leave things as they are. You stick to Ireland. I'll 
 go and hammer the fear of God into those colliers." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 TWO years later Major Kent took another cruisg 
 in the Spindrift, this time with a hired man 
 to assist him in managing the boat. He anchored 
 for an hour in the bay at Inishgowlan, and then, not 
 feeling inclined to go ashore alone, sailed on to 
 Inishmore. He found Father Mulcrone in the 
 presbytery and invited him to spend the evening 
 in the cabin of the Spindrift. There had been a 
 change of government some months before, and 
 Mr. Willoughby had left Ireland. The priest lamented 
 his loss. 
 
 " The new man's not his equal," he said. " I don't 
 say but what he means well. Only it's my belief that 
 he'll never understand this country. I met him when 
 he was round seeing the West. I told him the way 
 the treasure was found on Inishgowlan, and what do 
 you think he said to me ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said the Major. " What was it? " 
 " He said, ' That's a good story, Father Mulcrone/ 
 Now that was as much as to tell me to my face that 
 the story wasn't one an honest man would take his 
 oath to in a court of justice. There's unbelief for you. 
 !A fellow that starts off by thinking himself clever 
 enough to know what's true and what isn't will do 
 
 306 
 
I 
 
 SPANISH GOLD 307 
 
 no good in Ireland. A simple-hearted, innocent kind 
 of a man has a better chance/' 
 
 "One like Higginbotham ? " said the Major. 
 
 " I hear he's high up now, earning a good salary. 
 He deserves it. How's Mr. Meldon getting along with 
 his parish ? " 
 
 "I was over there last summer," said the Major. 
 " I was standing godfather to the baby. She had 
 another godfather, too, which is unusual with a girl. 
 It was Mr. Willoughby stood along with me." 
 
 "And what did they call her?" 
 
 " Cecily May was the name the mother chose." 
 
 "But what about the parish? I heard the men in 
 it were a rough lot and disrespectful to their clergy." 
 
 " They're cured of that now. There was a man 
 there, a sort of leader among the colliers, who set up 
 to be an agnostic or something of that kind, and was 
 for ever talking to the rest of them about the folly of 
 believing what the clergy said." 
 
 "A fellow like that would turn the milk with his 
 blasphemies. I've heard of such." 
 
 " Well, the Rev. J. J. used to go to that man's house 
 two evenings in the week and argue with him. The 
 rest of the people took to coming to listen until they 
 had to move into the schoolroom to accommodate 
 the congregation. By the time I got over there that 
 agnostic was singing in the choir with a surplice on 
 him." 
 
 " He was convinced in the end, then ? " 
 
 " I'm not sure that he was convinced. I was talking 
 to him one day and he told me, privately, that he 
 wasn't any more persuaded than ever he was. He 
 said he'd lost his taste for arguing. My own belief is 
 
* 
 
 3 o8 SPANISH GOLD 
 
 that the man was cowed, and that if J. J. had wanted 
 him to swear publicly to the truth of all the con- 
 fessions of faith of all the Churches in Christendom 
 he'd have done it for fear of having to argue any more. 
 !And he wasn't the only man in the place that changed 
 his way of living. There was more than one that gave 
 up beating his wife on account of the amount of talk 
 he got from J. J. whenever he was caught at it. The 
 very worst of them mended their language. You'd 
 see a man looking round him and up and down the 
 road before he'd venture on a simple ' damn/ I 
 needn't tell you, Father Mulcrone, that the necessity 
 for that sort of precaution takes all the pleasure out of 
 a. swear. And as for drink " 
 
 "What did he do about the drink? I've had my 
 own trouble over that. Since ever the people of 
 Inishgowlan got the gold out of the yacht I've been 
 administering the temperance pledge to them in 
 batches of half a dozen at a time, and often to the 
 jsame lot twice in six months. I'd like to hear what 
 Mr. Meldon did about the drink." 
 
 " I don't quite know how he did it," said the Major, 
 " but I'm told that whenever a man in that parish feels 
 that he must have a burst he goes off somewhere else 
 and doesn't come back till there isn't a sign left on 
 him of what he's been doing. And even so he's 
 generally made to feel sorry for himself." 
 
 "I'd like to have a talk with Mr. Meldon about the 
 way he manages." 
 
 " He's coming over to Dublin next Christmas," said 
 the Major, "and I mean to get him down to spend a 
 'few days with me. If you'll come, too, I'll give you a 
 room in my house with pleasure. J. J. is going to 
 
SPANISH GOLD 309 
 
 take out his M.A. degree. He thinks it's time for him 
 to be wearing a blue silk hood in church. I had a 
 letter from him just before I left home. He says he's 
 going to make his old rabbit-skin hood into a cot quilt 
 for Mary Kate." 
 
 "For Mary Kate, is it?" 
 
 "That's the baby. They christened her Cecily May 
 to please the mother, but I never heard J. J. speak of 
 her by any other name except Mary Kate." 
 

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