'To—to drag Harry out o' the water.'
There were three distinct gasps at this, and even the detective's eyelids went up a trifle.
'Go on, Dick.'
Now having started, Dick told his story in full. The incidents were not told consecutively, and he needed considerable cross-examining before the tale was properly fitted together and his audience of four had grasped the full details. Then Mrs. Hardy arose from her seat and moved towards him somewhat unsteadily; knelt by his side, took him in her arms softly and quietly, kissed him, and said in a very low voice:
'God bless you, Richard; God bless you, my brave boy.'
This, for some reason quite incomprehensible to the boy, caused a lump to swell in his breast and gave him an altogether uncalled-for inclination to blubber; but he swallowed it down with an effort, and then his mother hugged him in that billowy energetic way of hers. After which Harry took his hand and shook it for quite a long time without speaking a word. The detective alone was undemonstrative.
'Now,' said he, 'what about this gold? You hid it?'
'Yes. In our shaft.'
'Look here, Master Dick, why have you kept all this so quiet? Why did you go down that mine in stead of running for help? Come, there is something at the back of all this; out with it!
Dick's lips closed in a familiar way, and their colourlessness indicated a stubborn defiance of all argument and persuasion.