An ugly look came into Chirk’s eyes. He said: “Won’t I? Take care, Soldier!”
John let him go. “If that’s the mind you’re in, draw your pistol, and add me to the men who have been murdered for this gold!”
Chirk flushed, and growled: “Ah, have done! You know I wouldn’t do that! But you can’t stop me taking some of it! There’ll never come such a chance again! It’s all very well for a well-breeched cove like you to stick to pound dealing, but—”
“Pound dealing! Ay, that’s just what this is!” John interrupted, with a short laugh. “These are pounds, not the old guineas! You fool, don’t you see why the chests have been stored here, and not a sovereign taken from them? This is the most perilous treasure that was ever stolen! One of these coins would send you to the gallows! Take a bag of them, and try if you can buy your farm with them! Try if there’s a fence alive who will give you flimsies in exchange for them! I’ll come to see you hanged! This coinage was only minted this summer: none of it’s in circulation yet! That’s why it has been stored in this place! I should doubt whether it would be safe to touch it under a year.”
Chirk sat down limply on one of the chests. “A year! But—it could be hid away! just a few bags of it!”
John dropped a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, Jerry! I didn’t tell you, but Stogumber—the man you rescued last night—isn’t searching for an estate, as he’s tried to hoax us into believing. He’s searching for this gold, and for the men who stole it. He’s a Bow Street Runner!”
The shoulder stiffened under his hand. “What?” Chirk said. “A Redbreast? A Redbreast which I—I!—saved from being stuck in the back?”
“You never did a better day’s work in your life. He’s not ungrateful, and I fancy I see how he may be made more grateful yet! Don’t look so blue-devilled! You’ll win your fortune! Why, Jerry, where have your wits gone begging? There will be a huge reward paid to the man who discovers these chests! You told me you wanted no more than a monkey to set you up: if all these cases hold sovereigns and half-sovereigns, as I think they may well, a monkey won’t be more than a fraction of what the Government will pay for their recovery!”
Chirk drew in his breath with a hissing sound. “That’s so!” he said, as though a great light had dawned. “And pound dealing, too! But this Redbreast—! You’re not gammoning me, Soldier?”
“No. While you were holding his head over the sink last night, I picked up the notebook which had fallen from his pocket when we threw his coat aside. Have you heard of Occurrence Books?” Chirk nodded. “This was one. He doesn’t know yet that I’ve smoked him: I think he has a notion I too may be concerned in this business.”