"So far away?"
"Yes, for there is liberty and safety nowhere short of there. If you succeed, the money is yours, to do with as you like, only assure me that a portion of it shall eke your revenge, and mine."
"I promise you, sir."
"Good. If you live to reach Germany, make inquiries for the village of Mertz. Once there, become familiar with the place and its mountainous surroundings, after which this diagram will assist you in finding the cave where the gold is hidden," and he took from his breast, next to his poor old wrinkled flesh, a strip of folded parchment, which, when unfolded, was about eight inches square.
Barnwell took it with hands that trembled fully as much as the old man's did.
"On it is a map which you can easily study out and decipher, and which will surely lead you to the hidden treasure. It is a wild and uninhabited part of the town, only about five miles from the frontier border. That red dot there marks the spot where it is secreted, and you notice that all lines on the diagram lead to it. Mark the line leading up from the old post-road, and on it are marked the—"
At that instant a servant entered the cell and announced that the surgeon wanted "No. 1000," which was Barnwell; and remembering how long he had been absent, he hastily thrust the parchment under his shirt.
"I come," said he in Russian, and the slave went away. "I will see you again at the first opportunity. Drink the remainder of the brandy," and he almost pressed it to his thin lips.
"Be on your guard, my son; for from this hour your watchfulness must begin. Farewell."
"Farewell; and I shall hope to find you better when I come again," said Barnwell.