And so it was that for the third time the Boulbys were to undergo a night attack.
Miss Katherine was not the sort of woman to be caught sleeping. She had been unable to continue the excavation, owing to a slight attack of rheumatism. She felt uneasy about so vast a treasure lying unguarded and begged Joseph to make himself some sort of shelter in the garden and keep watch during the night.
“You wouldn’t have to keep awake all the time,” she said, “you’d hear any noise in your sleep and it would do you good to sleep out in the fresh air.”
But Joseph was not a fresh air enthusiast, and the very idea of sleeping in the garden gave him rheumatic twinges. However, Miss Katherine was not to be balked. She took the faithful old dog Bruno by the collar and led him to the garden where she pointed out the box and explained his duty to him. Bruno understood and consented.
“A woman has always one she can depend on, if she has a dog,” Miss Katherine cuttingly remarked as she re-entered the house.
Just a word about Mr. Murphy before we proceed with the night attack.
He had been very busy all day, walking about the village, chatting with the boys and gossiping with the women. There might have been method in his gossip, as he seemed to elicit just what he desired. Towards evening he took a walk along the shore and held communion with himself.
“I don’t think she’d call it chivalrous to scare them. But she’d rate it pretty high if I kept watch to come to the rescue of the besieged or the besiegers, whichever needs help.”
As Mr. Murphy has reached this satisfactory conclusion we will leave him and return to follow the female posse across the fields to the Boulbys’ garden.
When the group of trembling females had reached the garden fence they beheld the confirmation of the boy’s story.