THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 332, 7 March 1910, Page 6

THE STORYTELLER.

THE GOLDFINDER. * AND THE PART IT PLAYED IN A CURIOUS WILL. I (By Drayton Ford.) I uncle William -was originally a j market gardener; made his money by i celling cabbages and onions, and that sort of tiling. | When he departed '"to hoe the Goldan Acres" lie left two cottages. One at High Barnet went to my brother Horace, and the other at lvew fell to me. It was a pretty villa, and even to be in temporary possession of it gladdened niv artistic soul. I cal] it "temporary" because of the •eccentric and indefensible terms of my •relative's will. It stated that whereas •we (meaning Horace and myself) had always led a life of idleness, and had never done a day's real hard work since we were horn, and because we had shown contempt for an honest and reputable occupation which originated with Adam (!), therefore the cottages would become our own properties only when we had, by toil and application, shown ourselves worthy of them. . To each was attached about an acre of ground. This we were to cultivate • and convert into a sort of kitclien-gar-iden. We were expressly forbidden to employ any outside labour, on pain of forfeiture, and \*e were given one year ■hi which to complete this loathsome job. ' I considered it a hideous outrage, and I said so to Woolett, the legal Johnny who communicated to u,s the news of this atrocity. He only smiled, and advised us both to lose no time in getting to work. "You've got a good deal to do, as you'll find," he said, "and only twelve 'months in which to do it. I shall look round from time to time to see how you are getting along, and make sure that you do not contravene the stipulation about outside help." ■ When I went down to Kew and saw the place, my heart sank. The ground was a wilderness, choked with stinging nettles and all kinds of weeds. "I fiaw it would take me months to clear these away. However, there was plenty of time, and I never did see the use of rushing things. The next morning I was looking out to see what sort of a day it was when I saw a sailor coming along the road. Seeing me at the window, he stopped and asked if I could direct him to Richmond. "You're going away from it," I told •him. "That's likely," he answered; "I don't know my way about. It's twenty-three years since I was in these parts. I ' only landed from India last week." India! I am not an emotional man, Ibu"; that wonderful land fascinates me. India' is my one hobby. Anyone who can tell me anything about it, or who has. been there, is welcome to talk all night. I flung on a dressing-gown, hurried downstairs, and invited him in. He was hot and dusty and thirsty, and 1 was glad •! had some bread and cheese and plenty of beer in the house. While he ate and drank I looked at him with peculiar interest. His sturdy, wiry frame, the bronze on his face, neck and arms, and nis crisp hair, all bore the unmistakable stamp of the East to my eyes. He wore an unusual number of ornaments. and they were all solid gold. Besides the thick rings in his ears, there were two massive ones on his arms, ami several smaller on his fingers. "Looking at the gold, sir?" he said, catching my gaze. "Ah, I've got a bit of that, haven't I? And I'm going find a heap more, thanks to what I've brought iionie with me." Then he unbuttoned the front of his shirt and hauled up something that was attached 10 a thin chain, which he slipped over his head and he'.d out to me. It looked like a small compass, but on a further scrutiny I saw that there was one dissimilarity. As he shook it j and set the needle vibrating, this lat- | ter swung vertically instead of horizontal! v. "What is this?" I "That's a gold-finder," replied the : sailor, whose name was Windward. | "Got it from an Indian fakir at Be- ! nares. Did him a good turn cnee and | he did me one. I don't understand it | myself, but there's magic in it, and I you know what those fellows over there i can do in that line. As far as I can 1 make out it's oil the principle of the i divining-rod. You've seen a man ->o ' round with a hazel-twig to find water? : Well, to find gold you do the same with | j this little article. When the needle dips ] —it's some kind of magnetised ore, I i believe —lucre's your treasure." ' T said the thing was absurd. He ! stuck to it that there were lots of I places where old enns and ancient gold ] vessels were buried, and that the golclI finder was goint; to make his fortune. We were walking about in the garden, arguing, when suddenly he stopped, i While speaking he'd been holding the I little compass before him as he walked, ' and now we both looked at it in one electrical unity of thought. The needle was standing straight up and down! "Hullo! There's gold here!" I burst out. "Don't move! Don't stir an inch! T'll get the pick!" I darted off to the porch, and was back in no time with both p.ck and shovel, and one of tlie garden-forks as well. I thrust the pick into Windward's hand, threw off my coat and begged him to start excavating at once. "Well, sir," he replied quite coolly, "I want half of whatever we find before I'll dig an inch." I thought this was pretty steep, considering it was my ground and my pick snd shovel. But I couldn't persuade dim to. look at the matter in a just sui

reasonable way. He said I shouldn't j know where to look without his gold-1 finder, and that, in fact, it was half j shares or nothing. I never met such an obstinate man. When he got up to go, without considering me and my feelings in the least, I gave in. Tie said he would trust to my word I of honour, and as he rolled up his I .sleeves, he made, as it struck me. a j •most unnecessary display of his over- j tdeveloped biceps, then he hove up the pick, and we set to work. I As miners say, we "struck the lode" | almost at once. The pick grated on j something, and up came a potted-meat tin. We wrenched off the soldered-down lid, and—there was twenty golden sovereigns inside it. ... After that I would have back-1 ed Windward and his machine against the world. The very fever of the hunt was in mv Wood, and I begge'd Windward to let me handle the "finder" and do some prospecting myself. But he clung to the thing and wouldn't let it out of his hands for a moment. During the course of the next aiv hours we unearthed, in various spots and at varying distances from each other, a biscuit tin. half a flour bag (tied ■ with string), two jam-pots, a candle-box, a couple of canvas moneybags (such as cashiers use in banks), and another pickle-jar. And all of these contained .sovereigns and halfsovereigns, in what amounts we did not stop to ascertain. • Windward was plainly elated at this extraordinary El Dorado which we had stumbled upon. As for me, I was frankly delirious. At length, however, it became evident that the golden vein was worked out. At my earnest entreaty we continued to explore, and I think we did not neglect a single foot of ground anywhere, but the needle no longer dipped. "That's the lot/-' said Windward, and as It was by now nearly dark, I agreed with him that we had done enough. We bore our assorted spoil to the house and dumped it upon the dining-room table. Poured out in a heap it was a rapturous sight. I lit the gas, and then Windward sat .down, and, m his methodical way, began to "count up," as though it were .quite an everyday occurrence, instead of being an altogether incredible mystery. , " The total came to £2sd. He counted again, and divided tlid ■whole into two piles. Then taking up one of the canvas bags we had found he shovelled one of the piles into it .with a capacious hand. 'Tour share, sir, £125," he said, pushing the bag across to me. He shot the remainder of the gold, handfuls at a time, into the other bag. "And this," he said, twisting a piece of string round the neck—"this is my half." ' Then he dropped the bag into his pocket, and said he must cut along to ■Richmond, or all his folk would be in bed. Before I quite realised the turn affairs were taking, he was shaking me warmly by the hand, wishing me luck, and promising to look me up again one day; and the door slammed, and I heard him crunching down the road, singing j a seaman's song at the top of liis voice. He was gone. Gone off, I reflected, with one hundred and twenty-five golden sovereigns, which it certainly seemed to me Well, I came to the conclusion that his views were most unprincipled. The very next day I got a horrible shock. I was just going out when a ; .visitor arrived. He was a tall, dis- j tinguished-lookmg man, immaculately!

dressed, and the gloss on his top-hat I almost took your breath away. He ! handed me his card, and directly I read the words, "Mr Mortimer Franklin, i .Aryan Club, Bombay." my spine began j to feel chilly. I didn't know why; but j it did. j "I have only just arrived from India," i began my visitor. "It was your uncle, Mv John llice, whom I wished to see. | But his solicitor, Mr Woolett, told me ! yesterday that he is dead, and so ho j has sent me to you." j I waited. Mr Franklin fidgeted with I .his watch-chain and seemed embarrassed. "My errant is rather a humiliating one," he said at length, with an obvious effort. "You probalbly have heard of. the Bombay Universal Bank frauds! which occurred some years ago. Tlie j absconding cashier, who got away with a large sum of money, was—was my I father. The facte which he oommuni- j cated to me on his death-bed are these: •' He came to England and leased this l house from your uncle. Finding at last that he was about to be arrested he secreted several hundreds of pounds in the garden, meaning to return foi» the money when he should once more be free. He was taken bade to India,' •where he was sentenced, and died. "My object, in coming here is to re-t-over that moietv of his defalcations which is interred in your garden and ,restore it to its rightful owners. For that purpose, Mr Wollett has advised me to see you and arrange to have this done at once." Tt did not take me two minutes to realise that there was absolutely no way out of this mess except by telling ( •the truth. I told him everything from the time Windward arrived to the moment of his departure with £125 in •his pocket. And I finished by going to the cupboard, and fetching the canvas bag which contained my snare of the gold-finding enterprise. "That's all I've got," I said, and'bade a mute farewell to all my hopes. Mr Franklin had listened patiently, courteously, ana without remark to my account. Now, still without a word, he took up the Ibag, untied the string I had twisted round its neck, and tilted some of the sovereigns into his hand. Then he let them drop back into the bag. and tied it up again. "This is a very strange story you tell me, Mr Rice," he said at'last—"very strange, indeed! I liave lived all my life in

India, and I have never heard of the kind of gold-finder which you allege your sailor-friend made use of. I do not think there is such a thing in existence." We had a little argument here. I had seen the thing at work, and he hadn't. "Well, well," lie said finally, "it is such an extraordinary story that I think we must leave this matter for , .adjustment in the hands of those wno arc legally qualified to investigate it. "I shall not, ox course, take this •money'away with me; under the present circumstances it would be neither possible nor advisable that I should do so. You must permit, however, to take precautions/that it cannot be tampered with until the matter is settled. Have you some sealing-wax?" I went to a drawer in my writingtable and fetched what lie required. He melted the wax thickly round the string, and sealed it with a signet ring on his finger. "That is all I think I need trouble you with at present, - ' lie added, picking up his hat, and moving to the door. "I shall at once put this matter in the j hands of Mr Wollett." | He marched off, still as a ramrod. I j slung that sealed bag into a cupboard, [ and thought I would go out and get some fresh air. I felt I wanted it—lots >of it. Turning round T trod on something, and when I picked it up —it was the gold-finder! Windward must have dropped it. And that blessed needle was verticle again! Then I saw the dodge. There was a •spring in the side of the rim, and my ' foot had done what, I found, the slightl test pressure of a finger could effect— I move the needle up or down at will. My brain buzzed. Frightful doulbts began to assail me. The gold-finder was a fraud! If so, then Windward, the sailor, was a swindler. But I could make nothing of it. If Windward had tricked me, and the gold-finder was a sham, then how had lie known the exact spots at which to delude me by manoeuvring the compass, and how was it that money was found in those places ? I took a cab to Woolett's Chambers at once. Of course, he didn't kqow anyone called Mortimer Franklin, and no gentleman answering to that name had called on him, or was likely to, he thought, » ■' - He Asked ttie {o describe Windward, •and when I had done so, inquired whether he had a slight cast in the left eye. I remembered that he had. "I am strongly inclined to think," said the lawyer, "from your description ami other circumstances, that the real name of your sailor friend is Baynes. He was my head clerk until a fortnight ago. Clever fellow, Bavnes, with a taste for amateur theatricals, and for living beyond his income. There were discrepancies. . . . Well, I couldn't prosecute, but he had to go. "By the way, it was Baynes who suggested this scheme to your uncle. Rice was in here one day complaining that he couldn't make his nephews work, and that he wouldn't leave them a cent if they didn't, meaning you and your brother. Baynes at onee proposed this plan of the cottage and the buried money. The old man was mightily taken with the idea. Baynes very likely helped him to buy the coin, and ox course knew where every parcel lay. Getting it again wasn't like burglary; it had to be done in the day, and without arousing vour su-picinns. So Bavnes. as the sailor, gets half first with fu's fakement, and the other man ibags the balance. Franklin's dodge in sealing that bag and leaving was a master stroke." "My dear sir," I burst out, "if the man was a robber and came to rob me. why on earth did he leave the bag at all ?"

"Oh, he did, did he?" observed Woolett. "Of course lie did!" I cried, out of patience. "Didn't T tell you that it's at home now, locked in my cupboard?" ! "Really? Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? So you won't be so very much the loser after all!" With this dry remark Woolett . .bowed me out. His manner alarmed me. T tore back to Kew, rushed for the cupboard, and —yes, the bag was still there. I lugged it out. It felt all right. The familiar "chink" of the contents reassured me. I broke the seals and cut the string. Kind friends, you, of course, have anticipated what I found. I had not. That beastly tag held a large assortmen of those round, gilt sequins, or spangles, which theatrical costumiers employ lavishly at pantomime time. Pretty but valueless. Then there was another shock to 'come. I thought I would write to Horace, and when I pulled open the drawer of my writing-table—well, this is what had happened. When Windward left me I had been disagreeably impressed by his parting look. It struck me. that, knowing I had that sum of money in the house, and also knowing his way about in it, he might pay me a surreptitious visit in the night, on plunder bent. It occurred to me that what I ought to have done was to empty the bag, fill it up again r with coal-dust, cinders from the grate, anything, strew a few sovereigns on the top, in ease he took a look in, tie it up again, and leave it ready to be burgled that way. T was just congratulating myself on this scheme, and intending to get up and see to it, when I iell asleep. Now, since childhood I have invariably walked in my sleep. I must have done so that night. The last thing 1 was thinking of guided my actions, as it does all somnambulists, so I must have carried out mv plan, prepared the dummy bag and hid the money. And that is why I now found more than one hundred sovereigns in the drawer of my writing-desk! I was rattier pleased to remember that when I brought the bag from the cupboard and handed it t \lr Franklin" it had been (though neither he nor I knew it then) as much a "dummy" as the one fie must have had ready in his own pocket. He. of course, changed the hags while I was getting the sealingwax and had my back turned to him. I went to bed consoled with the thought that, at any rate, thanks to Windward, that garden was dug up, and the morrow should see nie planting cucumbers. The morrow did not see me doing anything of the sort. Tt saw me readin? a curt note from Woolett. He said that T need not trouble to do anything further to the ground, as T had contravened the terms of the will I by taking advantage of outside help! Words fail me.