‘Sir Giles Waggonwright!’ sneered another voice. ‘What a name! And whoever heard of making a knight of a boy that age? How old is he now?—Sixteen. Huh! And when he was raised to the nobility he was barely ten. The King must have been mad—bringing a workman’s boy to the palace to lord it over his betters. Well, we’ll see the end of him soon now. A whole lifetime couldn’t be long enough to discover my hiding-place. The Coronation Ring—with the Persian Emerald—it’s under a fathom of mud in the Turtle Pool. Let us see if his cheeky little peasant nose can dig that out. May the plague rot him!’
Then a third voice joined in—a fourth. And a fifth. The rattle of wine cups. Curses and laughter.
For a full half-hour the talk went on and Giles listened. Although no names were mentioned he recognized every voice. And before the shell grew cold he had learned where each one of the boasting courtiers had hidden his part of the treasure.
The dawn was just breaking as Giles, with Luke behind him, slipped out into the castle garden. They stopped a moment at the gardener’s tool-house, which was quickly opened with the Finder’s pass keys.
And when the King, a few hours later, sat down to breakfast in his rooms, there lay all the missing jewels upon the table before him.
His Majesty tried hard to make Giles tell how and where he had discovered them. But the Finder begged to be allowed to keep his secret.
‘Very good, Giles,’ he said at last, smiling. ‘So long as you stay in my service I am content. For truly I believe that so long as I have you I need not worry if I lose my crown and kingdom. Sit down and have some eggs with me.’
And so out of this plot against him came nothing but greater fame for Giles; and the Lord Treasurer was ordered to add another hundred crowns to the yearly wage of the King’s Finder.
But the five courtiers, whenever they passed him in the corridors and passages of the palace, quickly looked the other way and would not meet his eye. And before long they asked the royal permission to travel for their health, and they left the King’s Court, never to return again.