“Indeed I do. But you mustn’t tell yet a while.”
When they reached the house on their return, Mrs. Hodges awaited them in the doorway.
“Found any nuggets, Ben?” she facetiously remarked.
“No,” he laughed. “That yarn about finding them in chimneys was a fairy tale, I think. But we’ve found the stuff to make them out of, which answers our purpose quite as well.”
Her husband looked over her shoulder.
“If the lease was never recorded, or was done wrong, Ben, couldn’t Fish oust you if he wanted to?”
“I suppose he could, strictly speaking,” Ben replied. “But, you see, he overreached. He played a mean, dishonest trick in having a false entry made in the record, and now he doesn’t dare to come back for fear of being arrested.”
“But he’ll come back some time when the thing’s blown over.”