“Then the bushranger revealed the secret?” we eagerly asked.

“Listen, and you shall judge.  When we had Bill in custody that day, I thought from his boastful style of talking, that he had money buried somewhere, and I determined to obtain it if possible, for I reasoned that gold would do me much more good than the cold earth.”

“With this idea I visited Bill frequently while in prison, and each time gave him some little luxury, that the rules of the institution prevented his getting, unless money was plenty, and the fellow was destitute.  I put off his trial on one pretext and another, and always gave orders in his hearing, that he should be treated kindly, and have as much freedom as the place afforded.”

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

CHAPTER LXV.

THE EXPEDITION AFTER BILL SWINTON’S BURIED TREASURES.

“And you think that Bill was not deceiving you?” Fred asked, after a moment’s consideration.

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

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

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