“We think there is, lady,” answered Rother.
“Whose money is it?” demanded Luke. “Suppose you tell us about it. Everything you do to save us work will count in your favor.”
“Well, it was going to be our money if we found it,” said Rother. “But at the start it belonged to Collis Ingleton.”
“The heavy drinker?” asked Luke at a venture.
“How’d you know that?” asked Meggs with a perceptible start.
“Never mind how. Was he a drinker?”
“He was a soak, if that’s what you mean, asking the ladies’ pardon for giving it a plain name,” said Rother. “And when he couldn’t get what he wanted elsewhere we supplied him. He said we would be rewarded by finding the box of gold in this cellar and we’ve been trying for it ever since.”
“Then the money didn’t belong to Mr. Stower?” asked Ruth.
“Maybe some of it did. He and this Ingleton were in business together once on a time,” Meggs answered. “But Ingleton said it was all his, and Mr. Stower took it from him to save it and buried it.”
“But Ingleton said we could have it if we found it. That was to pay for keeping him in liquor,” said Rother. “Oh, I know it’s a terrible bad thing,” he admitted, as he saw the look of loathing on the faces of the girls. “We’re bad men—not as bad as some, maybe, but bad enough. This man suffered a lot. And he couldn’t stop. He just had to have liquor.”