way, but, being too short
to reach the gap in the roof, asked for assistance. I blew out the
candle and went and hove him up, and afterwards climbed to outer air
and sunshine myself. He was standing by the lip of the pit, clenching
and unclenching his fists, shivering, sweating, and periodically
groaning.

A thought struck me, and I promptly gave him the benefit of it without
reserve.

"We're in a nice pickle, Mr. Weems, aren't we? You've spent a lot of
the money you're so close-fisted about, and will have to travel cheap
if you mean getting home again. And I'm in a ten times worse fix. I've
chucked up a steamer-berth at Genoa; I'm on a God-forsaken island where
there's next to no sea-traffic; and I've run up debts with no prospect
of repayment. It looks a bit as if jail's somewhere very close under my
lee. And whom have we to thank for it? Why you, my sportsman, and no
one else."

"Great heavens, what do you mean?"

"Why, that word _Hereingefallen_ shows that the chap who looted
this Talayot knew we were on the track; and as I haven't mentioned a
word about the affair to any one except Haigh, it stands to reason
you've split."

"I assure you, Mr. Cospatric----"

"Oh, very likely you didn't do it on purpose. But you've got into
conversation with some smart fellow, who's pumped you carefully without
letting you get an inkling of what he's got hold of."

"Upon my word of honour as a gentleman, sir----"

"Faith, gentleman! your word of honour! What's that worth?"

"I must say you are very--very--er--rude. I would have you remember
that I am a graduate of Oxford, and as such----"

"Of course take brevet rank as 'gentleman.' An 'M.A. and a gentleman.'
Lovely!"

"And you," shouted the little man, with a sudden spasm of rage--"you
who presume to lecture me are a man who has been expelled from Cambridge,
a man of no means and no profession, a blackmailer--a--a----"

He spluttered and stopped for want of epithets.

"Blackleg," I suggested, "_chevalier d'industrie_, and all the rest of
it. Very well; I'll admit the whole indictment if it pleases you.
And"--I laughed, and stopped to load and light a pipe--"and now let's
stop slanging one another like a pair of drabs in a sailor's pothouse,
and go our several ways. I'm sure I don't want to see your face again,
and I don't suppose you're anxious to feast your eyes on mine."

"I'm not," said Weems.

Those were the last words I heard him speak. We climbed the roads