41 Lure O Gold 1904

"
The Lure o 9
Gold
"I think I have it; and what happens in the next
few days will prove I m right.
These fellows, Somers
and Trust, have been fooled by Max Fishley that
is,
assuming that he was in with them, which you in
sisted upon so stoutly and if that is so, they don t
know where that gold
is
any more than you
or I."
"Well," said I, "how does that account for their not
caring to go to work at the first when they might stand
as good a chance as any of us to find the treasure and
put
it aside here somewhere in a dark corner ?
"I
thought of that too,"
said Doctor Quaritch.
"I
thought that after Fishley had secretly
removed the
gold from the place where the three of them had hidden
it, and they had discovered his duplicity while lurking
about when we removed that floor panel, they had
nearly despaired of ever seeing the gold again.
After
their arrest no doubt they gave up the game entirely,
and may have planned to turn State s evidence against
Fishley a little later.
In the first hours of their release
from the irons they could see nothing in this business
down here but hard work, and that they did not relish
in the least, as such fellows never do. But when they
it occurred to them
saw Fishley come prying about,
that the gold might be secreted somewhere down here,
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