the
lid sufficiently to admit the point of the pick, and, while Coristine
hung on to the box, the Squire wrenched it open. The tin box was full of
notes and gold.

"There's thoosands an' thoosands here, Coristine, eneuch to keep yon
puir body o' a Matilda in comfort aa' her days. Man, it's a graun'
discovery, an' you're the chiel that's fund it," cried the Squire, with
exultation. The lawyer peered in too, when, suddenly, he heard a shot, a
bullet whizzed past his ear, and, the next moment, with a sickening
thud, Carruthers fell to the ground. Coristine rose to his feet like
lightning, and faced an apparition; the Grinstun man, with pistol in one
hand and life preserver in the other, was before him. Without a moment's
hesitation he regained his grasp of his spade, and stretched the ghost
at his feet, mercifully with the flat of it, and then relieved his
victim of pistol and loaded skull-cracker. He heard voices hailing, and
recognized them as those of the veteran and the fisherman. He replied
with a loud cry of "Hurry, hurry, help!" which roused the prostrate
spectre. It arose and made a dash for the tin box, but Coristine threw
himself upon the substantial ghost, and a struggle for life began. They
clasped, they wrestled, they fell over the poor unconscious Squire, and
upset the tin box. They clasped each other by the throat, the hair; they
kicked with their feet, and pounded with their knees. It was Grinstun's
last ditch, and he was game to hold it; but the lawyer was game too.
Sometimes he was up and had his hand on his opponent's throat, and
again, he could not tell how, he was turned over, and the heavy squat
form of Rawdon fell like an awful nightmare on his chest. But he would
not give in. He saw his antagonist reach for a weapon, pistol,
skull-cracker, he knew not what it was, but that reach released one hand
from his throat. With a tremendous effort, he turned, and lay side to
side with his enemy, when Timotheus dashed in, and, bodily picking up
the Grinstun man in his arms, hammered his head on the big flat stone,
till the breathless lawyer begged him to stop. Up came Mr. Bigglethorpe
and Mr. Terry in great consternation, and gazed with wonder upon the
lately active ghost. "Make him fast," cried Coristine with difficulty,
"while I look after the poor Squire." So, Timotheus and the fisher took
off Rawdon's coat and braces, and bound him hand and foot with his own
belongings. But the veteran had already looked