“But I was kept by something which I heard, although it was uttered in a very low voice only.
“Jacob said to my father,—
“‘It would not be so difficult to ascertain that.’
“‘How so?’
“‘You need only search his person: and if he has the other bulbs, we shall find them, as there usually are three suckers!’”
“Three suckers!” cried Cornelius. “Did you say that I have three?”
“The word certainly struck me just as much as it does you. I turned round. They were both of them so deeply engaged in their conversation that they did not observe my movement.
“‘But,’ said my father, ‘perhaps he has not got his bulbs about him?’
“‘Then take him down, under some pretext or other and I will search his cell in the meanwhile.’”
“Halloa, halloa!” said Cornelius. “But this Mr. Jacob of yours is a villain, it seems.”