"You sent me that note last night?" asked Copplestone, taking a seat and filling his pipe. "How did you get it there—unseen?"
"Got a cousin as is odd-job man at the 'Admiral's Arms,'" replied Spurge. "He slipped it in for me. You may ha' seen him there, guv'nor—chap with one eye, and queer-looking, but to be trusted. As I am!—down to the ground."
"And what do you want to see me about?" inquired Copplestone. "What's this bit of news you've got to tell?"
Zachary Spurge thrust a hand inside his velveteen jacket and drew out a much folded and creased paper, which, on being unwrapped, proved to be the bill which offered a reward for the finding of Bassett Oliver. He held it up before his visitor.
"This!" he said. "A thousand pound is a vast lot o' money, guv'nor! Now, if I was to tell something as I knows of, what chances should I have of getting that there money?"
"That depends," replied Copplestone. "The reward is to be given to—but you see the plain wording of it. Can you give information of that sort?"
"I can give a certain piece of information, guv'nor," said Spurge. "Whether it'll lead to the finding of that there gentleman or not I can't say. But something I do know—certain sure!"
Copplestone reflected awhile.
"Ill tell you what, Spurge," he said. "I'll promise you this much. If you can give any information I'll give you my word that—whether what you can tell is worth much or little—you shall be well paid. That do?"
"That'll do, guv'nor," responded Spurge. "I take your word as between gentlemen! Well, now, it's this here—you see me as I am, here in a cave, like one o' them old eremites that used to be in the ancient days. Why am I here! 'Cause just now it ain't quite convenient for me to show my face in Scarhaven. I'm wanted for poaching, guv'nor—that's the fact! This here is a safe retreat. If I was tracked here, I could make my way out at the back of this hole—there's a passage here—before anybody could climb that rock. However, nobody suspects I'm here. They think—that is, that old devil Chatfield and the police—they think I'm off to sea. However, here I am—and last Sunday afternoon as ever was, I was in Scarhaven! In the wood I was, guv'nor, at the back of the Keep. Never mind what for—I was there. And at precisely ten minutes to three o'clock I saw Bassett Oliver."