Then the thought came to his mind–what if that gold had been discovered by someone and removed? In what other way could the legend of bloody gold have come into existence?
But speculation was not congenial to his temper just then. He had gone, so far, and nothing short of success or failure would satisfy him now.
That night his wounds pained when he lay down, and he slept but little. Indeed, it was nearly morning before anything like sound slumber fell upon his eyelids.
And even then he dreamed wild, exciting dreams, occasioned, of course, by the events of the day before. But in one of them he thought he saw Batavsky, and he smiled upon him, and while uttering no word, encouraged him by his looks to persevere. With this he awoke, and the thread of the dream ran through his mind again.
"This will never do," said he, calling his servant to light a candle. "There is something in the very air of mountainous Germany that is not real, and that kindles superstition. I will read until morning."
But after reading awhile on a drowsy romance he fell asleep again, and the sun was shining in at the lattice when he awoke.
When the surgeon had dressed his wounds again that day, he felt so much better that he was assisted to a chair that stood under a broad linden-tree, where, a part of the time, he read and restudied Batavsky's queer diagram until it was fairly burned into his memory.
Then he would smoke, and make glad the landlord's heart by indulging in a bottle of wine, and again employ his servant in setting up targets for him to practice upon with his pistol.
Already he had become somewhat famous for his eccentricities, but when the landlord and his one or two guests saw with what ease he shot a hole through the Ace of Spades at fifty paces, they were unbounded in their applause.
Barnwell was indeed a wonderful shot, both with a rifle and a pistol, having won several prizes in shooting tournaments at home, and it seemed as though the experiences he had gone through during the previous two or three years had toughened his muscles and steadied his nerves to a remarkable degree.