was built in much the same
way, with the courses overlapping, and the top crowned with a great
flat flag instead of a keystone. But with the architecture of the
Talayot we bothered our heads little then, and indeed our solitary
candle showed it up but poorly. Right opposite the entrance a strip of
the wall had been plastered, and at that the schoolmaster and I sprang
with a simultaneous rush.

There was some writing on it!

Steadying the flame in the hollow of my hand, I held it near and
withdrew the guard.

"Good God," shrieked Weems, "what's that!"

The one word I saw was--_Hereingefallen_, scrawled in white
letters, and on the ground beneath was a piece of billiard chalk. There
was nothing on the plastered surface beside, except the scratchings of
a knife-blade. Some one had been there, read the Recipe, and then
obliterated every letter.

In a flash these things occurred to me, and I turned to see my
companion collapse on to the ground like an empty sack. It required an
effort to avoid following his example. The shock was a cruel one.

The thing had been there. The old diary had lied in no single item. And
here the treasure had been snatched away from us when it was almost
within our grasp. And--then came the most strange conclusion of all--by
some one who knew we were to follow.

Haigh was out of the question. He knew no German. It was no elaborate
joke of his. But who could it be? I sat down on the earthen floor with
my head between my fists trying to think it out. _Hereingefallen!_
Yes, "sold" indeed. But who, who, who had done it?

CHAPTER XI.

THE RED DELF AMPHORA.

The candle, stepped in a puddle of wax, burnt up steadily. There wasn't
the ghost of a draught in the place. The walls were dry-built, but
their thickness was so great that no breath drove in from the outside,
and the air of the chamber was heavy and earthlike. The place was
bone-dry. I picked up the billiard chalk, and felt that the green paper
wrapping was crisp and stiff. The name of Rolandi et Cie. was printed
upon it, but there was nothing which told me whence it came or how long
it had been there. Only that scribbled word _Hereingefallen_ on
the newly-scraped plaster seemed to fix a date on the spoiler's visit.
It appeared to me that no one would have taken the trouble to chalk up
a jibe unless he had good reasons for supposing that some one else
would come after to read and appreciate it. And yet this was only a
guess. T