Brinkley finished his cigar leisurely, and then strolled back to the caravan.
CHAPTER IX.—THE SECRET OF THE CAVE.
The young man of the caravan was now thoroughly convinced that one of two things must be true, either that William Jones had been instructed to keep a watch upon him, or that he, William Jones, had a secret of some sort which he was anxious not to have revealed. After both suppositions had been duly weighed, the second was accepted as the most likely; and it forthwith received the young man’s consideration.
If there was a secret, he argued, it was in some way connected, firstly, with William Jones’s worldly prosperity; secondly, with the reports current of treasure hidden in times past among the sand-hills or the dangerous caverns of the sea. Was it possible, after all, that those reports were true, and that in some mysterious manner Jones had become acquainted with the hiding-place? It seemed very improbable for many reasons, one of the chief being the man’s extreme poverty, which appeared to touch the very edge of sheer starvation.
A little inquiry in the neighbourhood, however, elicited the information that Jones, despite his abject penury, was certainly well-to-do, and had money in the bank of the neighbouring market town; that the ruined village of Abertaw belonged almost entirely to him; and that, in short, he was by nature and habit a miserly person, who would prefer hoarding up whatever he possessed to purchasing with it the commonest necessaries of life.
An old coastguard, whom Brinkley found next day on the station, was his chief informant.
“Don’t you believe him, sir,” said this old salt, “if he tells you he’s poor. He’s a shark, William Jones is, and couldn’t own up even to his own father. It’s my belief he’s got gold hidden somewheres among them sandhills, let alone what he’s got in the savings bank. Ah, he’s a artful one, is William Jones.”
Brinkley had said nothing of his own private suspicions, but had merely introduced in a general way the subject of Jones’s worldly position. Further conversation with Tim, who had made a few straggling acquaintances in the district, corroborated the other testimony. The young man became more and more convinced that William Jones was worth studying.