"He must have found that by tapping," said Tom Tripe.
"Yes, but look why he wanted it!" Yasmini answered. "Tom, could you be as malicious as that?"
"As what, Your Ladyship?"
"See, he has poured gold into the fissure, hoping to close it up again so that nobody could find it!"
"But why didn't he work his way out with the crow-bar?" Dick objected from his perch between the bags of bullion.
"What was his life worth to him outside?" Yasmini asked. "Samson knew who murdered Mukhum Dass. He would have been a prisoner for the rest of his life to all intents and purposes. No! He preferred to hide the treasure again, and then wait here for me, suspecting that I knew where it is and would come for it! Only we came too soon, before he had it hidden!"
But it was Patali afterward, between boasting and confession, who explained that Dick was Gungadhura's real objective after all. He preferred vengeance on the American even to a settled account with Yasmini. He must have found the treasure by accident after crawling into the unsealed crack in the wall to wait there against Dick's coming.
"The money must stay here, and be removed little by little," said Utirupa.
"First of all Blaine sahib's share of it!" Yasmini added. "Who shall count it? Who!"
"Never mind the money now," Tess answered. "Dick's alive! When did you first know you'd found the treasure, Dick?"