half. At first I thought he was fooling, or wasn't just right
in his mind, but a nugget of gold--even a little one--isn't to be
sneezed at, and it wouldn't cost me nuthing to go down cellar and look.
So I starts to go down the stairs when he says to be careful, that he
would look around, to make sure nobuddy was a-spying on him. He said
the nugget was in the northwest corner. I went down and the next thing
I knew I heard a strange cry upstairs. 'You shan't rob me! The nugget
is mine!' yells that fellow and bang! goes that trap door, and then he
up and bolts it fast, so I couldn't open it. I calls to let me out,
and he calls back for me to keep quiet until he got some friends, so I
couldn't rob him of that nugget. Then he slammed around upstairs here
something awful. At last he went away; and that's the last I seen or
heard of him."

"What did you do? Didn't you try to get out?" questioned Songbird.

"For a long time I waited, thinking he would come back. And as he
seemed so sure about the nugget I took the lantern and looked for it.
But there wasn't no signs of any gold. Then the lantern got dry and
went out, leaving me in the dark. I didn't know what to make of it. I
went up the stairs and tried to open the door, but I couldn't budge it.
Then I tried to dig my way out of the hole, but the old shovel I had
broke and there I was. I'm an old man and pretty full of rheumatism,
and staying down cellar all night has most finished me," concluded
Hiram Duff, with a groan.

"Did the fellow say where he was going?" asked Sam, after a pause.

"Said he was going to get help, that's all, so I couldn't rob him of
that nugget. I don't know what to make of it. Might be he was a
lunatic, eh?" went on the old miser, suddenly. "Maybe he run away from
some asylum."

"Possibly," answered Sam, shortly. "Did he take anything, do you
suppose?" he went on.

"Take anything? You mean steal anything?" cried Hiram Duff, and
started back. The sandwich he had made for himself dropped from his
hand. "I--I wonder if he did take anything," he muttered, and his eyes
roved towards the other room of the cottage.

"Better take a look around, if you had anything of value," said Sam,
and gave Songbird a meaning look.

With feeble steps the old miser walked out of the kitchen into what had
been the sitting room of the cottage. As he was too feeble to sleep
upstairs, Hiram Duff now used the apartment for a bedroom as well. He