The intermediary entered into an agreement with the dealer that he would take no money for introducing him to the finder, but would accept a commission on the profits made when the articles were sold.
“I will send for the man to come,” he declared, “because people will see us going to his house, and they will become suspicious and inform the authorities, who will put the man in prison or punish him in some way. Stay here, my friend. It is better so. I will send for the farmer to come.”
“But when will he come?” asked the dealer.
“In the night, when it is dark,” replied the intermediary.
The dealer waited and waited, and between his fear of being killed and robbed, and his anxiety to get more things, he had no sleep. Each time the door opened—and it opened many times—he sat up and asked if the man had come.
The reply was always, “No, not yet.”
In the early morning the dealer became suspicious and said, “Well, I must go home now, I cannot wait any longer.”
The intermediary said, “Yes, you go home, and if the man brings anything I will come over to your shop and bring them with me.”
After two days he came alone, bringing a gold ring with a Greek head upon it, and asked the dealer for £10 in order to buy some more things from the farmer, who had grown suspicious and would not disclose what else he had. The dealer gave the money, and after two days the intermediary returned, this time with two gold coins, some more rings and stamped gold foil, and saying positively that they were from the same tomb.
So the dealer bought the coins, rings, and some of the other things for £80. He took them to an expert authority, who said, “This is excellent, for now we shall know from the date on the coins the age of the relics.”