"And went to look for the treasure?" asked Frank.
"No, sir. It was a wild country where there were many Indians. We should have been killed had we gone alone. My master returned to the diggings and offered to share the treasure with Berry and with Mr. Denham, if they would come with him to find it."
"Did they agree?" asked Natty, eagerly.
"Of course they did, or all this trouble wouldn't have come about," put in Eustace, decisively.
"You are not altogether right, Mr. Jarman," said the negro, quietly. "Only Mr. Denham would go. Berry was making money at the diggings, and preferred the bird in the hand to the two in the bush. But he came with us for a little way. Mr. Lancaster, knowing he was a good shot and a fearless man, wanted him greatly to come, and promised him a share. But he refused and turned back. We went on without him."
"And you found the treasure?"
"Yes. We had hard work, though. It was quite a year before we came across the rock marked with the Scarlet Bat. Also we had to fight our way through a hostile country, and several of our men died. At last we reached the rock and found the treasure. With the greatest difficulty we transported it to civilisation. I need not tell you all the hardships we underwent, or how we got the treasure safely landed. But we did. I had a share, and then Mr. Denham and Mr. Lancaster divided the rest between them."
"So that's how my father made his money," muttered Natty. "He spent it on a large scale."
"He did, sir," said the negro, gravely. "He spent all he had, with the exception of that portion he saved for you."
"He didn't save much. Why didn't he leave me more?"