the time and threw their cards down
anyhow. Night after night the soldiers got up poorer men, and the
poorer they got the more keen they were to play. Major Sholto was the
hardest hit. He used to pay in notes and gold at first, but soon it
came to notes of hand and for big sums. He sometimes would win for a
few deals, just to give him heart, and then the luck would set in
against him worse than ever. All day he would wander about as black as
thunder, and he took to drinking a deal more than was good for him.

"One night he lost even more heavily than usual. I was sitting in my
hut when he and Captain Morstan came stumbling along on the way to
their quarters. They were bosom friends, those two, and never far
apart. The major was raving about his losses.

"'It's all up, Morstan,' he was saying, as they passed my hut. 'I shall
have to send in my papers. I am a ruined man.'

"'Nonsense, old chap!' said the other, slapping him upon the shoulder.
'I've had a nasty facer myself, but--' That was all I could hear, but
it was enough to set me thinking.

"A couple of days later Major Sholto was strolling on the beach: so I
took the chance of speaking to him.

"'I wish to have your advice, major,' said I.

"'Well, Small, what is it?' he asked, taking his cheroot from his lips.

"'I wanted to ask you, sir,' said I, 'who is the proper person to whom
hidden treasure should be handed over. I know where half a million
worth lies, and, as I cannot use it myself, I thought perhaps the best
thing that I could do would be to hand it over to the proper
authorities, and then perhaps they would get my sentence shortened for
me.'

"'Half a million, Small?' he gasped, looking hard at me to see if I was
in earnest.

"'Quite that, sir,--in jewels and pearls. It lies there ready for any
one. And the queer thing about it is that the real owner is outlawed
and cannot hold property, so that it belongs to the first comer.'

"'To government, Small,' he stammered,--'to government.' But he said
it in a halting fashion, and I knew in my heart that I had got him.

"'You think, then, sir, that I should give the information to the
Governor-General?' said I, quietly.

"'Well, well, you must not do anything rash, or that you might repent.
Let me hear all about it, Small. Give me the facts.'

"I told him the whole story, with small changes so that he could not
identify the places. When I had finished he stood stock still and full